#like practically realistically speaking it's not That big of a deal and it will be ok No Matter What truly but FUCK my brain and body!

[wreckedhoney]

my heart feels sooooo cold with anxiety and ofc it's because of work aGAIN,

[hariboz]

PROMISE ME…!

“when you don’t tell your boyfriend you’re sick and still perform!”

pairing: idol!bf!ricky x gn!idol!reader

genre: fluff, tiny angst (?)

warning: mention of headaches, blurry vision, nausea and similar symptoms, softie bf!ricky, that’s it i think?

notes: ty to nonnie for requesting this!! i got a little carried away but i got into a pretty good flow writing it so i hope you enjoy 🥹🫶🏻 also!! this is my first time writing idol!reader so i hope it feels somewhat realistic…? as realistic as it can be i guess 😵‍💫

word count: 1.8k (😵‍💫 how and why…)

five, six, seven, eight.

five, six, seven, eight.

five, six, seven—

“y/n, are you okay?” the voice of your leader rips you out of your trance, your tired eyes meeting in the mirror. you nod and put on a bright, although fake smile in hopes of being reassuring, though you’re not sure you were being all too convincing — either way, none of your members pry, because they understand. they understand the need to push through, especially now with all these end of the year award shows happening; you simply can’t afford to be sick, to fall behind and to be absent from such huge events. so, you decide to push through the dizziness, nausea and pain. you’ll take some medication later, it’ll be fine. (at least that’s what you’re telling yourself when you catch yourself stumbling from the dizziness when you get ready to practice your solo entrance.) even though there is a silent understanding between you and your members, there still is one person you know you won’t be able to convince, no matter how hard you’ll try — your boyfriend and professional overthinker in regards to your well-being, ricky.

it’s quite cute, the juxtaposition of his public image and the way he tends to worry. did you eat? does your throat hurt from vocal practice? did you trip during dance practice again? (a question that’s especially annoying considering you told him about tripping once, roughly six months ago. he refuses to let it go.) he sends you teas and throat sprays to make sure your voice is taken care of, secretly checks the soles of your shoes to make sure they aren’t getting slippery, somehow manages to pack you little snacks you can munch on when you haven’t eaten anything before practice again. he’s very rarely stern, much too soft-spoken and gentle towards you to speak to you in a more serious manner when he’s worried, so he shows his care and love through these things — which makes you feel all the more guilty when you straight up have to lie to him when he asks if practice is going fine, if you’re feeling well, and letting you know how excited he (along with gyuvin, he mentions) is to see you perform in person up close.

you try your hardest to get better before the performance, you really do. well, as much as you can between hours and hours of practice and barely any sleep, at least. all your efforts seem to be in vain, though, because the day of the performance seems to be the worst day yet — if you had a choice, you would bury yourself under every blanket available and not leave your bed for at least a week, that’s how awful you feel when you and your members are picked up from your dorm during the wee hours of the morning.

unfortunately, the little perfectionistic gremlin that lives at the back of your mind refuses to let all these weeks of practice go to waste, so you muster up a brave smile through your shaking pupils and tell your worrying members that you have everything under control — you’ll smash this performance just like all the other ones, even if you have to do it while being a little dizzy. it’s no big deal, you’re a professional after all.

your stylists is making some last minute adjustments to your outfits when a gentle knock sounds through the room, a very familiar blonde head of hair popping in. you rush over to ricky, his arms snaking around you immediately. “hey, handsome,” you mutter as you observe his face, a small grin playing on his lips. “you’re not looking to bad yourself, hm?” his voice is smooth as he brushes some of your hair out of your face, careful to not interfere with your hairstylist’s hard work. you’re thrown off your balance a little when another dizziness spell hits you out of nowhere, the look on ricky’s face immediately morphing into one of concern, “are you okay?”

you muster up a smile and just nod, eyes blinking rapidly to dispel the black dots bouncing around in your vision, “yeah, i’m just a little nervous,” you reach up to adjust his collar to avoid meeting his worried eyes, “i’m fine. just freaking out a little, that’s all.” you can tell ricky doesn’t entirely believe you, but he trusts that you would come to him if there was something wrong — so he reluctantly lets the subject go. he steals a quick kiss to your lips, whispering a “good luck, i love you.” before he turns to leave to make any last preparations for his own performance.

your first wave of regret overcomes you when you stand ready beneath the stage, you and your members getting into position to perform the intro to your performance. your head feels like it’s about to split and your hands are shaky, but it’s too late to turn back now — as queen sunmi once said, the show must go on.

your second wave of regret comes when you’re actually on stage, all the lights, the music, the screams and your in-ear monitor feeling less like the dream you’ve worked so hard to achieve and more like your own personal hell. your group having your own amazing entrance with one of the stage elevators excited you at first; unfortunately, right now you’re preoccupied with managing your expressions to make sure you won’t let any irritation or discomfort slip.

your third and final wave of regret comes when you stand in the middle of the stage in this massive venue, tens of thousands of eyes on you as you start to perform your solo part of the song — your head is pounding and you can barely hear your own voice through your in-ears anymore, your steps are shaky and imprecise, your vision is blurry. you manage to push through, somehow, but it’s clear in the way your chest is heaving once the lights go out that you’re not well.

the atmosphere is very much tense in the part of the audience where your fellow idols sit, all of them having to cover their very obvious concern with faux excitement — you pulled it off well enough, but it’s clear to every single one of them that you’re sick and that you probably should not have performed. ricky especially has to keep his expressions in check, because the mix of worry and concern but also frustration and maybe a little anger is raging heavily inside him right now.

the worry and concern are obvious, the last thing he wants to see is you being sick, much less performing in that state. the frustration is bubbling inside him because he knows that you know better, that even the chance of you hurting yourself even worse by performing while sick is enough reason to sit out one performance. the anger is entirely directed at your staff and maybe some of your members, your leader at least — they must’ve seen that you were unwell, no? and they still let you on stage? is that not what managers and leaders are for, to take matters into their own hands and to know what’s best for their members? it all comes to a head when your members join the other idols in the audience while you’re nowhere in sight.

ricky is getting restless, his hands sprawling against his dress pants, occasionally pinching the fabric to keep his mind occupied. gyuvin and matthew both gave him little reassuring pats on his back but neither did much to comfort him, his mind entirely preoccupied with worrying about you and counting down the minutes to when he will finally be able to check up on you backstage.

it’s about an hour later when the award show is finally over, and for once ricky is the first one to rush backstage, a little ahead of all of his members. he swerves past staff and security and doesn’t even bother knocking on your group’s dressing room, ripping the door open to find your shocked but still very exhausted eyes staring up at him in surprise, “ricky?”

he’s in front of you in the blink of an eye, squatting down to meet you eye-to-eye, his hands gently cradling your face, “are you okay? for real, this time?” his brows are furrowed and you feel a little bad for thinking that he looks pretty handsome all serious like this. you nod sheepishly, apology ready to spill from your lips when he squishes your cheeks together to silence you, “shhh, you listen to me. never do that again, okay? do you know how scary that was, watching you perform like that? what if something had happened, you know you could’ve—,” he stumbles over his words a little, clearly worked up, “i don’t know, fallen off stage or something. you could’ve fainted! or you could’ve broken something or— i don’t know, just, promise me, don’t do that again.” ricky’s once so stern voice turns soft towards the end again, never really able to keep up his serious tone for long, especially towards you.

“‘m sorry, just didn’t want to let anyone down,” you mumble, leaning into his touch. his cold hands on your face feel incredibly nice, a stark contrast to your feverish face. he sighs and one of his hands comes up to brush your hair away from your face, his hand stroking your head softly, “i know, but still. don’t do stuff like that, okay? talk to someone when you’re not feeling well. your managers, your members, me — there’s so many people you can go to, okay? anyone, as long as you tell someone,” you nod along to him, and maybe it’s the guilt of making him worry so much or the fact that you’re overwhelmed from the amount of affection coming from him while you’re still a little delirious, but you feel like you need to lighten the atmosphere with a little joke.

“even gyuvin?” the gentle expression on his face falls almost immediately, replaced by a very unimpressed stare. you break out into quiet giggles, muttering a “sorry” before pressing a kiss to his cheek. ricky grumbles a little before getting back up, running his hand through your hair gently one last time. “i have to go back now but i’m ordering you some soup to your dorm later. you’re on bedrest for the next few days, you hear me?” he tries to sound stern again and puts on his best serious face, but his façade is broken when you smile up at him so tiredly, the exhaustion clear on your face.

“thank you, i love you,” you call after him when he turns to leave, ricky sending you a flying kiss before leaving the room, “love you too.”

(your fourth wave of regret came when you realised ricky formed an alliance with your members, all of them exchanging “y/n intel” to make sure all of them can keep an eye on you while you’re recovering.)

[dimlylittorch]

part 1 ended with angst :( i made myself very sad so here is a second part

My Masterlist🌱

Silco x transmasc!chubby!sweetheart!assistant!reader

small synopsis: more silco and his assistant working out their dynamic. sorry these aren’t longer !! i have adhd so its easier to do multiple parts

The walk home after that night had been.. rough. To say the least. Tears slipping down your cheeks, feeling that crushing pain of doing something wrong. Misinterpreting something. Ruining any connection you had with your boss.

The next day you walked into work with your head down and your gaze averted. Not making eye contact with anyone like you usually would, not even bothering to put up a somewhat realistic fake smile. Walking into the office where Silco sat at his desk smoking and reading papers, you walked to your desk and sat down without a word. No greeting. No kind words. Not even a smile.

Silco feels a stabbing pain in his heart when he sees how crestfallen you look. His eyes follow your soft form as you sit at your desk, pulling your supplies out of your bag and getting started on your paper work immediately. Usually you’d offer to get him a coffee, make small talk. But not today.

You both sat in silence for a small while, silently hoping there wouldn’t be a moment where you were forced to speak. You wanted to stay quiet, not knowing what to say. He wanted to speak, but he had no idea how to put his feelings into words. After a few moments, you spoke before he could.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

His brain practically stops at your words. Uncomfortable? The thought that he could even be uncomfortable anymore.. when was the last time someone cared about his comfort? He puts out his cigar in the ashtray on his desk before standing up and slowly walking over to where you sat. Moving behind your desk, he sits on the corner of it with his gaze locked on you.

“You’re a silly little thing.” He murmurs, grabbing a pen on your desk and twirling it between his fingers. “I’m not used to dealing with something this.. weak.”

His words make your grip on your own pen tighten. You know you’re not strong like everyone else down here- but weak? That was rich. You let out a shaky breath as you try to calm yourself, trying not to snap.

When he sees how your body tenses, a small smirk appears on his lips. Teasing you was a way to make you look at him.. god how he wanted you to look at him. But he’d never seen you angry before. Maybe a little annoyed.. but never like this. He leans down so his breath ghosts over the shell of your ear. “Pathetic.” He breathes.

You suddenly slam your hands on your desk, pushing your chair back as you stand up as quickly as you can. As you move your head hits against his slightly, mainly hitting his nose. He quickly leans back, holding his nose with a huff, his eyes still on you. “Pathetic? I’m pathetic?” You seethe as you turn towards him, face flushed and a rage in your eyes he’d never seen before. “That’s hilarious coming from the man that is only powerful because of other people- why are you in charge again? Because of shimmer. Do you make shimmer? Do you sell shimmer? Do you even sign off on the shimmer contracts you make? No! Because guess what? I do- I forge your signature just like you told me to. Your entire empire was made off of the backs of other people. Without manipulating others, you’re nothing.” You yell at him, ragged breaths slipping past your lips. When you see how he’s simply staring at you blankly, you grab his collar and push him into the wall. “What? Not a big scary man anymore? Just going to let your stupid brainless assistant push you around?” You hiss.

Silco knew it from the second you raised your voice. He was gone. His little ball of fluff could turn into a ball of rage. You were perfect. He can’t help but gaze at you as you yell at him, simply admiring how nice you looked when you were angry.

When he sits there staring at you, your breathing start to slow and you just stare back at him. It starts to set in what you’d done.. yelling at your boss. Pushing him into a wall. Fuck, you were definitely fired. But before you can say anything or make a move to leave, he grabs your chin and pulls you into a kiss.

“You’re anything but brainless” he whispers against your lips when he pulls back for only a moment, his eyes locked on yours. You’d stopped breathing completely, frozen in shock. “You’re.. everything.” He says faintly before he kisses you again, slipping one hand to the back of your head and the other around your waist.

After a few seconds, your brain starts to catch up with everything. And you can’t help but push him away slightly, looking at him with pure confusion, breath ragged. “I- I just-“ you stutter out. “I just yelled at you.”

“Yes. You did.” He says quietly as he cups your chin, his thumb gently tracing over your lips. “You remember what I said, don’t you?” You stare up at him with confusion which makes him chuckle. “I said.. if someone has a problem with you, they have a problem with me.” He murmurs. “I couldn’t protect you from myself.”

“Silco..” you say softly, confusion turning to concern.

“You were a good boy.” He says firmly, making your heart skip a beat. “You stood up for yourself.. when I couldn’t.” He sighs. “Last night my heart tore itself to shreds for what I said to you. Soft little thing.. I am the weak one. Not you.”

Your breath hitches at his words and you look downcast, trying to think. “You.. you still hurt my feelings.” You say faintly. While his words made your heart stir, you still had some sense of self preservation.

He frowns slightly, letting out a soft sigh as he moves his hand to cup your cheek. “I’m sorry.” He whispers. Christ.. when was the last time he said those words to someone? Anyone? “I’m a stupid man. With a scarred heart.”

You let out a breath at his words, leaning into his hand a little. “I’m sorry too.” You murmur, looking up and cupping his cheeks, pulling his face close. “Is your nose okay? I didn’t mean to hit you.” You say softly as concerned eyes trail over his face.

He chuckles faintly, covering your hands with his own. “I know you didn’t.” He says comfortingly. “I shouldn’t have teased you.. but I’d rather angry you than emotionless you.” He smiles.

“You can hit me back if you want” you smile softly. “Settle the score.”

He sighs at your words, leaning forward and resting his forehead against your own as his eyes close. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, little one.” You both stay like that for a few moments before you break the silence.

“You kissed me.” You murmur faintly as you both straighten up again, looking at each other as your hands leave his face. “A minute ago.”

“I did.”

A few seconds of silence pass as you try to think of what to say next. What could you say?

“Was that alright?” He asks softly before you can say anything.

You gaze up at him for a moment, a million thoughts swirling behind your eyes. “I wish you had done that last night.” You murmur softly with a faint chuckle. “You would’ve saved me a few tears.”

“Don’t tell me you cried over me?” He smiles faintly.

“Shut up.. I’d walked in here today fully prepared to be over you. And now look at me.” You murmur, looking down at how close the two of you were.

He sighs softly, his hand moving from your back to your hip, gently molding the flesh in his hand. “I was going to fuck the anger out of you if I had to.” He whispers under his breath. “But a pretty little thing like you.. so forgiving. More so than I deserve.”

Your heart rate picks up at his words, letting out a shaky breath before it turns into a small chuckle. “Not everything has to be rough you know.”

He looks up, his eyes meeting your own. “Rough is all I know.” He confesses quietly. You don’t think you’ve ever heard his voice so.. raw before.

“Hm.” You hum as you gently cup his cheek again. “For such a powerful man, there sure are quite a few things you don’t know.” You smile teasingly.

A weak laugh slips past his lips as he only slightly leans into your touch. “Teach me.” He muses.

[yuri-is-online]

Do you think the twst universe has had a moon landing? If I tell idia or ace and duece or azul that we put a bunch of shit into space and then some people on the moon in the 60s, and that they're planning on establishing a base on the moon by 2026, do you think they'll freak out?

"Damn that moon looks lit asf"

"Yeah...oh yeah I've been meaning to ask, did yall have a moon landing?"

"....a what?"

"A moon landing. You know, like some country or something put people on the moon and then brought them back home?"

"...The moon."

"Yeah-"

"The freaking moon in the sky"

I am so glad you asked this because I have unironically been thinking about this for a while now, we must be buying our brain cells from the same store.

So. Gather around kids because no. Yuri, theorist of some sort that she is, does not believe Twisted Wonderland has had a moon landing and allow me to explain why:

It would be really funny. But I guess if you want actual evidence I have that too.

In Book 6-76 we see Idia's flashback where he recreates Ortho and he mentions that one day "he'll be able to go into space unassisted. He treats this as a big deal and it is also treated as a big deal when Ortho manages to do just that in the Wish Upon a Stars event.

This might be a bit dumb but space exploration, rocket science, and astronautics aren't listed as internship possibilities by Cater when he's naming things in Book 7-4. Granted he does list IT which could maybe fall into those categories but he also specifically mentions ocean surveying, which is hyper specific and could have been replaced with astronautics.

Realistically speaking, what reason do the people of Twisted Wonderland have to go to the moon? I feel like if magic is real, as are mermaids, dragons, beastfolk, and ruins that potentially contain magical artifacts and curses... your government probably has other things they want to spend their money on, and it's not going to the moon.

As a side note I remember once reading a fantasy book about a Griffin? Whose goal was to visit the moon in a magic bubble or something but I don't remember much more about it other than that. Space travel isn't something most fantasy settings do.

I think if you told Idia that was possible he might get it into his head that he wants to be the one who puts someone on the moon, he already wanted to send Ortho to space so hey why not? Ace is actually really practical sometimes so I imagine he'd point out the bit about how Yuu's world is able to focus on things like that because they don't have magical issues to worry about while Deuce would just be impressed and as for Azul-

think he's got a new fear unlocked. The moon in the fucking sky WHY DO HUMANS INSIST ON FLYING PLACES ALL THE DAMN TIME????

[riacte]

I know you made a post a while back on how to write Rendog, do you by any chance have tips for False or any posts on how to write her? The docs I have found on False are very limited XP

Thanks for the ask!

I personally find False tricky to characterise because her reactions can be finnicky and unpredictable, but that's why I like her.

False loves animals. Her bases are full of them and she gives them silly names like Noddy (she's bad with names)

False has mentioned her favourite animals are foxes and she didn't really understand the bird association until chat pointed out it was because she built an eagle for like two times

False knows she has an intimidating reputation but she doesn't fully vibe with it because she thinks she's rusty and out of practice.

False is community oriented and quietly connects different areas done by hermits (what she did at the end of S6, especially prominent with the districts, also what she's doing with the rivers this season). She keeps the group together and keeps infrastructure running (she contributed to the HC7 Nether hub) without making a big deal out of it

Based off the above, False has a flexible style and can work with a variety of aesthetics/styles while keeping them coherent with the overall landscape, clean, and on a realistic scale (realistic for Minecraft builds anyway). She has a keen eye and can easily pick up the finer details of someone's build/vision.

False's kindness really shines through her actions. She may be snarky and sarcastic a lot of the time, so you may not hear her say she cares for someone or openly show verbal affection but you know she does because she does favours for them/spends time with them/remembers specific details about them. Which ironically ties to the following:

False has bad memory and Does Not Remember a lot of "significant" things (she forgot her MCC10 Orange team once)

Some phrases to pepper in [insert British accent]: "Oh my goodness" "Blimey" "What the heck man?" "Flippin'" and her catchphrase of sorts for this season in the form of a horn— "Oh my God HI"

False sometimes introduces her male collaborators with a mister prefix to the audience presumably for fun and whimsy, I don't know if she does this for the female collaborators

False is VERY skittish and scared while being competent at facing whatever she's scared of. She's constantly confused. Think Xisuma and Mumbo's type of British confusion. She's paranoid.

False is mischievous and quick witted. She can come up with pranks on the fly and execute them swiftly. (For example, the invisible hat/briefcase prank on Gem) She loves punching/shooting/killing people and throwing them into one block holes.

Honestly, False is just random at times. Why does she have two phantoms in boats on her base? Dunno. Why does she sleep in that awfully cramped staircase bed? Dunno but it doesn't seem like she's changing it. Why is it called Big Business? It just is. It's for fun and whimsy (until she gets scared and starts crying and running away).

False has a tendency to randomly sneak up on someone and randomly escape. She's hard to catch. She's an enigma.

False tends to stay quiet during big group events and is also the type to get talked over

It takes time for her to warm up to new people so she'll be pretty quiet around them, however she will speak up for business/practical purposes (eg. her comms when she plays competitively).

I think this already gets talked a lot but False has great spatial awareness + reflexes and does a lot of the wrangling when it comes to team games

I don't think this can make it into a fanfic but she LOVES using emojis 😄🤨😒 I think for her HC7, most of her episode titles have an emoji

This is more of a personal interpretation but False seems like she would be scared/wary/paranoid of things most people don't care about but then when something actually freaky shows up she's like "yeah sure whatever".

False disrupts the flow when she's expected to go with it and goes with the flow when she's expected to disrupt it.

TLDR:

Surface level: quiet, skittish, alarmed, confused, nervous, wary, awkward, snarky, sarcastic

Under the surface level: cautious, considerate, kind, patient, loyal, humble

I really want to emphasize that she teases/kills/roasts her friends because that's how she shows affection. The more I watch her, the more it hits me how kind and patient she is but I guess that doesn't fit into the slay girlboss trope. And if she does show affection, it's in a subtle way, like quietly correcting someone's self deprecating joke or giving "gifts" to them in the form of pranks.

[slamdunkhcs]

hi omg this is my first time sending a request but um anyways can you please write something like rukawa being in love 😭😭😭😭😭😭 i know it’s not realistic at all but im so delulu rn help 💀💀 maybe just some hcs abt him being romantic or sth like that 😭😭 anyways tysm for reading loooloolllol

Heyy sorry for the late reply anon. I gave it some thought. I think rukawa could be solid in a relationship but itd have to be when hes older

rukawa in love

Ok, realistically I’d see Rukawa not getting into a relationship with anyone until he’s in the US

I think in a relationship, he would be more of an actions type of person rather than words. Rukawa isn’t the one to openly express his emotions or shower his partner with grand gestures of affection, but he’d show his affection in more subtle ways, like remembering small details about her or being there when she needs it or picking up something his partner mentioned needing without being asked OR staying up late to accompany them during a stressful time.

I definitely think he’d be a bit emotionally distant. I mean that mf is in LOVE with basketball 😂😂😂. His partner might feel secondary to his goals, but this wouldn’t stem from a lack of love—it’s just that Rukawa struggles to balance his ambitions with emotional intimacy.

He might miss a date due to practice or seem distracted during conversations, but when he does make time, it’s meaningful. Like he would make sure his focus is entirely on you in those moments.

Also I feel like he’d actually be communicative??? Like he’s gonna be dry asl over text but I can see him texting his girl about where he is or where he’s going like “At practice. Will be back at 8”

One thing about Rukawa is HES GONNA BE LOYAL ASL 😂😂😂. If he can barely talk to one girl, what makes you think he would talk to multiple 😂😂😂😂. His girlfriend would never feel insecure in the relationship and think he was speaking to other women. I don’t think he’d be out right disrespectful to other girls but he wouldn’t think of entertaining a girl flirting with him

I imagine him dating another introverted girl, and I feel like dates with him would be moreso silent and peaceful, like going for a walk with him along the beach, watching the sunset after basketball practice, hanging out at a cat cafe, etc. For Rukawa his priority is moreso just being with you, words are secondary.

I don’t see him as a major PDA person but imagine him falling asleep on a taxi ride and leaning on your shoulder 😭😭😭 or squeezing your hand when he’s anxious

HERE ARE JUST SOME THINGS I CAN IMAGINE HIM DOING IN A RELATIONSHIP:

If his partner likes coffee or lattests, he might bring them their favorite drink after practice, casually handing it over with a “Here” and no explanation 😭

Or if his partner enjoys reading, he might buy them a book by their favorite author. He’d leave it on their desk without a word, and let them discover it on their own. He wouldn’t even say he bought it 😭😭😭

If his partner forgets their umbrella, he might show up at their school or workplace with one, acting like it’s no big deal.

He would sit with his partner in silence when they’re upset, letting them vent or cry without pushing them to talk. If they needed space, he’d respect that but stay nearby to make sure they’re okay.

Omg I can see Rukawa taking a rare selfie with his girl because he knows it would make her happy, even though he dislikes photos

[heian-era-housewife]

more realistic smut please (I'm begging)

Idk why but somehow it was more erotic may God help me with this need TO FUCK THESE MEN

No need to beg! There are more on the way 😁 The big all-in-one post took me out though, so I'll be doing individual releases this time around.

Anon, I feel ya. I'm so down bad for these guys it's not even funny. 😩

Please enjoy some Choso in the meantime and thanks so much for reading!

~Yuri

Synopsis | Choso learns that not everything on the internet can be trusted. But he can always trust in you ♡

Content | mdni, Choso x fem!reader

This is part 2 of a "realistic" smut series. Read part 1 here!

Choso is ready. He's done his research. He's come prepared. Armed with new knowledge and bolstered by fresh confidence, he wants nothing more than to show you what he's learned and put the memory of your most recent amorous encounter behind you both. That's why he flashes you a clever grin as he pulls out not one, but two condoms to set on your bedside table.

"Ooh, someone's been thinking ahead!" You praise him, taking notice. "Always good to have a backup."

"I didn't want a repeat of last time," he recalls, one bashfull hand rubbing the back of his neck. "So, I did some reading up on my own this time."

"Impressive!" You coo.

With a coy smile, he slides on the first condom, watching as you give your hips a little wiggle of anticipation. Ready to impress, he reaches for the second.

"Wait, Cho, what are you doing...?"

"I told you," he smirks. "I don't want a repeat of last time, so I'll be wearing two. They call it 'double bagging.'"

"Oh...Cho, that's not ummm..." you squirm, trying to find the right words.

"What's wrong?"

"That's actually not the best idea, despite what some people might think. They're actually more likely to rip or come off..." your voice trails away watching as his face falls. "It's not your fault, though!" You hasten to reassure him. "The internet is full of misinformation. I'd love to hear what else you've learned!" Face brightening, Choso scooches forward eargerly for his chance at redemption.

"Let's see..." he recollects. "Size isn't as big a deal as people make it."

"Good! I'm glad you understand that," you encourage.

"Oh! And communication is really important!"

"Absolutely! You can always be open and honest with me, Cho!"

"I know," he says. "That's why I haven't been faking any of my orgasms!"

"Oh, wow I-" It's all you can do not to burst out laughing. "I figured as much."

"Speaking of fake, I never realized porn could be so misleading!"

"Yeah...unfortunately it's full of misconceptions and myths," you agree.

"Yeah! Like the g-spot!"

"Oh. Actually, that one's real," you can't help but laugh this time. "It's just really hard to find. We'll work on it."

"Ughhh!" He cries in frustration, falling back against the bed. "How does anyone figure this all out?!"

"Time and patience. Lots of practice," you say with a wink. "And you don't have to rely on the internet alone. You can always come to me with questions, you know."

"There is something I wanted to ask you!" He remembers, sitting up. "What's a MILF?"

"A MILF?!" You repeat in surprise.

"Yeah! I keep getting these advertisements. Whatever it is, there are dozens in our area!"

MDNI banner by @cafekitsune ♡

[ninyard]

omg your hypotheticals about the aaron murder trial are making me THINK! A core part of the defense’s argument has to be that Aaron isn’t a criminal and doesn’t have a murderer disposition. That means he needs witnesses to testify to his character.

Since you established the only witnesses from the Foxes will be Andrew (who’s obviously biased as his twin brother and the one Aaron was protecting) and Neil, it will be up to Neil to give the jury testimony on Aaron being a good person seeing as he spends a lot of time with him but they are not close personal friends. But murder trials are a big deal so they would probably bring in Katelyn and his other friends to also testify to his character, realistically speaking.

However, the comedic potential of Neil being forced to say nice things about Aaron is unmatched. How you do think that would go?

(Sorry for rambling I love your posts about the trial and I’m interested in criminal defense )

OH MAN like

imagine andrew on the stand having to talk about the Good Times with aaron just to defend his character and neither him nor neil talking about the fact that him and aaron actually hardly speak, the only reason they were at nicky's parent's house was to work on repairing their shitty family relationship, they literally had to go to therapy to be able to talk to each other

but also picturing katelyn & aaron's other friends outside the foxes talking about him makes me wanna SOB

katelyn talking about how aaron has been plagued by nightmares every night since the murder. how he barely sleeps, and he cries all the time, and she's spent the last year worried about him because what he did was so against what he would ever do it's literally destroying him from the inside. marissa talking about how good aaron has been for katelyn, how he makes her happy, how gentle he is with her.

keauna talking about how kind hearted aaron is. jonah talking about how aaron has pulled him back from the brink, how supportive he's been to him when he's been in crisis. paolo talking about how aaron has been tutoring him because he feel behind on one of their classes. all of these people neither andrew nor neil have ever even heard of talking about aaron in such a way that couldn't be real. aaron is full of joy? relaxed and outgoing? caring and attentive and empathetic?

idk. none of those people even exist. because we don't know what kind of a life aaron had outside of the foxes. all we know about is the aaron who gets chills each and every time he picks up a raquet, who had to leave practice to have a panic attack when he accidentally picked up a raquet that wasn't his own, a racquet heavier than his own, a racquet he'd only held once before, when it was quickly covered in blood and then shown in court during the worst week of his life.

hmm.

yeah.

i love the idea of neil having to talk about aarons character. but i love the idea more of andrew, neil, kevin, and nicky sitting in court while aaron's friends describe a person that simply couldn't be the aaron they know.

[levieske]

(𝟓) 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞

In which Yuji Itadori accidentally spoils Hana Akiwara’s plans by ingesting Sukuna’s finger, and Satoru Gojo is constantly humbled as a result.

satoru gojo x ofc x suguru geto

[ canon divergence, fix-it au, everybody lives, no kenjaku, no shibuya incident, jjk s1, slow-burn, aged-up characters, age gap, questionable relationships, mentor-student relationships, unresolved sexual tension, more mature and graphic in future chapters, crack heavy for now, tvd references if you squint ]

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“Idiot.” Hana grumbled under her breath as the door clicked shut behind Kenji, signaling his departure. She turned to face the annoying older sorcerer, who hovered too close for comfort. “Ignore him.”

He was looking at her with an amused smile. Yuji, who stood rigidly beside them, seemed to be waiting for a fight to break out. Maybe it just would. Hana scooped to the other side of the couch before Satoru could take her brother’s seat on the armrest. He seemed entertained by her awkwardness, as he took it once she had already put some space between them.

Prick. Hana took back what she said about him looking normal and less annoying.

The man patted the space that Hana had vacated, and Yuji hesitantly took it.

“So, where were we?” The man adjusted his glasses, his eyes twinkling with a mischievous sparkle. “Ah, yes, Jujutsu Tech. With your brother’s dramatic exit, I assume we no longer need his blessing?”

Hana scrowled. She had no desire to engage in this conversation, and neither had Kenji. Her twin had an “akiwaresque” line of thinking, you could say. His disdain for Satoru was no secret; he saw the sorcerer as nothing more than a nuisance, an imbecile and a stalker. Kenji was convinced that getting involved with sorcerers was a risky move, especially when dealing with an unhinged sorcerer from one of the Big Three Families.

The siblings had been unsuccessful in their attempts to avoid drawing attention to themselves, as being active members in jujutsu seemed to attract other active members. The Akiwaras had decided to stay away from them since January. Not that there were many curse users lingering in Tokyo after whatever happened in December… The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Hana shrunk herself in her seat, shaking off the gloomy feeling that thinking about that brought her. Kenji and her were in the US, peacefully celebrating the festivities with their family when hell broke loose in Shinjuku and Kyoto. Hana exhaled, they were safe.

Well, as safe as they could be now that their paths had intertwined with sorcerers.

The constant presence of Gojo and the looming threat that hung over their heads were already taking a toll on Hana, fueling her temper and her need for surrender. She had even noticed a shift in Kenji’s judgment. Whether it was driven by boredom, the realization that they couldn’t get rid of Gojo, or having heard Hana bawl her eyes out too much for his liking; Kenji was having a change of heart. 

The heart-to-heart the twins had after Yuji’s death and subsequent resurrection had been a turning point. Hana’s tears had flowed freely, a release of pent-up emotions she couldn’t quite comprehend. Then, after her eyes were all irritated and her head hurt from crying, they had weighed their options:

Option A: Run away.

Option B: Surrender.

And, option C: Fight (this was their favorite)

Option A was out of the question. Nuh-uh. They had come to Japan with a purpose; to stop hiding and practice jujutsu freely. Option B was annoying and option C had to be discarded if they ever wanted to live in peace. So B they settled with. Of course, they wouldn’t give up easily. They had some requests for Gojo and if they could buy themselves more time, they would. In case the situation escalated, they were also prepared for option C and A. In that specific order, yes.

Realistically speaking, as now turned pacifists, there were few paths the Akiwaras could follow that didn't involve a bunch of questionable stuff to get rid of their problem. They weren’t particularly opposed to it if things got to that point, but Kenji recognized Yuji’s importance in his sister’s life. He was considering option B for her sake, begrudgingly. It was one of the reasons why he left her to deal with Satoru, but he was also just a prick.

Kenji only had to endure him for less than an hour. It was unfair.

“Um, Hana?” Itadori’s gentle shakes drew her attention back to the conversation. He gave her a concerned stare. Behind him, his teacher looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “I asked if Kenji and you had thought it over?”

“Oh, yes… We did.” Hana nodded, speaking softly.

“And?” Satoru pressed, leaning in slightly.

“We will, but-!” She made a pause and held up a hand at Gojo, halting his response. “Not yet. Not until Yuji does, alright? We want a break from all this mess.”

The sorcerer’s skepticism was palpable. “I’m glad you chose correctly, but what exactly would prevent you from running away?”

“Nothing.” She admitted with a smile, relishing the wariness in his tone. “But I think it’ll be great if we started on better terms and, since you don’t trust us and we don’t trust you, we’ve decided to show you our little collection of cursed trinkets.” His glare became more pointed. Hana rolled her eyes. “ And I’ll give you back the finger. Just let me end the sentence, geez.”

Yuji muffled a laugh behind his hand at the exchange. Hana was probably the only person able to annoy his mentor this way.

“Excellent.” The sorcerer’s smile returned, his demeanor shifting to one of satisfaction. “And, just so we are clear, I didn’t say I didn’t trust you, I just didn’t trust you too much! But I do trust you a little.”

The curse user lifted her thin, black eyebrows. “You should really work on your words, Satoru.”

“Hey! I’m being honest here.” Satoru leaned on the couch’s backrest, inclining to his side in an uncomfortable position. “You didn’t let me down.”

Hana leaned in the opposite direction, using Yuji as a human wall dividing her space from his. “I don’t need your approval. You’re not my teacher.”

“But I will be!” Satoru countered with a hint of triumph.

“Whatever.” Hana rolled her eyes, her sigh was a soft exhalation of her frustration with him. “Do you actually want to see our artifacts or not?” Gojo rose from his seat, almost too enthusiastically for her liking. She gave him a look, her gray eyes inspecting him before she continued. “No touching, just watching, got it?”

Both Gojo and Itadori nodded in agreement, the latter in a more credible manner. Akiwara stood and led them down the corridor to a simple, built-in closet. With a flick of her wrist, she slid open the door and revealed shelves full of different talismans, amulets and artifacts. Each piece emanated a distinct and unique cursed energy that was only now being noticeable.

Itadori’s eyes widened at the sight, completely awed. Gojo, however, remained unfazed, his attention drawn instead to the protective rune etched inside the closet. He had seen it in the living and kitchen area, alongside another he didn’t recognize. He guessed this one hid cursed energy and the other prevented unwanted guests like him.

“You have quite the liking for hiding yourselves, heh?” Satoru voiced his thoughts, to which Hana replied with a hum and shrug.

It was something he should have expected, now that he knew what kind of trinkets they had. Their little collection amounted to quite the sum of cursed objects Hana and her brother had been manufacturing over the years. Or kindly borrowed , Satoru suspected as he eyed some objects he had briefly heard about. Thankfully, they weren’t special-grade type of cursed objects. They weren’t even powerful enough to have to be confiscated, but it still made him wonder if they were Hana’s practice dummies so to speak. The sorcerer wanted to believe she wasn’t using sorcerers as guinea pigs, but he had half a mind to ask about it.

Both Hana and Kenji had decided to show him their collection as a little truce, but Satoru knew he was one stupid comment away from having the cursed energy sucked out of him. It hadn’t been pleasant when the curse user to his left did it before and he’d love to never have to experience that ever again. Plus, the fact that his infinity proved to be useless with her unnerved him. Just as she kept some things to herself, he did too, forcing a small smile on his mouth as he eyed the trinkets again.

The woman watched as the man recognized some of the items, silently confirming his theory. The twins had a habit of taking what they deemed worthy of other curse users when they were, conveniently, unable to protest. It wasn’t stealing if what they took was stolen in the first place, alright?

Hana caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, Satoru’s hand inching towards the shelves. “No touching!” She chastised him, swatting his hand away from the closet.

Yuji stopped looking at the insides in curiosity and turned to the sound of her voice, anticipating some kind of argument to erupt over the tension. Instead, his mentor only chuckled at his friend’s fierce protectiveness. She crossed her arms as Itadori scratched his head, knowing he was probably overdoing it with the worrying. He didn’t comprehend if his teacher and his friend hated each other’s guts or were in the path of friendship. Also, Sukuna’s monologue recognizing some of the artifacts didn’t help his peanut-sized brain to decipher it either.

“Now, where’s the finger?” Gojo inquired, making Itadori realize he had probably missed Hana’s explanation about what was in the closet. It wasn’t like he would have understood that much about it, aside from the basics. 

“Obviously not here.” The girl closed the door with a swift movement. The oppressive cursed energy dissipated the moment the closet was shut, lessening the tension in the air. 

Hana retreated to her room, her steps quick and purposeful. Kneeling down, she lifted a specific loose floorboard with a familiarity, and peered into the hidden compartment only to find it empty. “Yuji?” Hana called him out, her voice tinged with a mix of confusion and accusation.

“Um, yes?” Her friend appeared at the doorway, his expression completely dumbfounded.

“Did you have a midnight snack?” Hana grimaced as Yuji blinked at the implication of her words stilling outside her room. “A finger, perhaps?”

The teacher stepped into her line of view, his towering presence filling the space next to Yuji. “You let him sleep in the same room you were hiding the finger?” He questioned the woman with a raised eyebrow.

“You said he was in complete control.” Hana tossed her black hair to the side and put the floorboard back in place before staring back at the man. Her gaze was defiant as she remained seated on the floor, earning another pointed look with a raised eyebrow from Satoru. “How would have I known?”

“Rookie mistake.” Satoru chidded, the corners of his mouth turning up in a knowing smile. He took a few long strides into her room and removed his black lenses, surveying the space with a critical eye. His gaze swept over the room, noting the absence of any residual cursed energy, save for the aura surrounding Yuji himself. “When dealing with a vessel, you need to be more careful.”

“I’m dealing with my friend.” Hana retorted, her voice softening despite her irritation. “Besides, isn’t it good that he consumed it? You were going to make him do it either way.”

“Well, yes, but in a controlled environment.” Satoru exhaled a sigh. He readjusted his glasses, his eyes meeting hers once more. “Did he take over… or anything?”

The two friends looked at each other before shaking their heads.

Gojo blinked, processing the silent exchange. “I was right, then. You have unknowingly made a binding vow of shorts with Sukuna, Yuji.” His tone was casual, almost conversational, as if they weren’t discussing the catastrophe a biding vow was. “And now he’s able to overpower you. We should learn what the grounds for that are, because you are strong enough to control him.”

Hana’s glare shifted from Gojo to Itadori, her eyes narrowing. “You didn’t think it was important to tell me you had made a binding vow with him?”

“We weren’t sure.” The vessel looked like a kicked puppy with his crestfallen expression.

“But now we are!” Gojo interjected, clapping his hands together with a sense of finality. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

Hana was seething and she felt a migraine brewing. She let out a long, drawn-out sigh, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she lifted her face towards the older sorcerer. “If that’s all, can you leave?”

“We still haven’t discussed-” Satoru began, but Hana cut him off with a sharp gesture.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” She exclaimed, her arms crossing over her chest in a defensive posture.. “Just make up some story about me helping you with a mission or whatever. I need time, and I’d rather join when he does.” Her gaze flicked to Yuji, who had resorted to just watching them. Her friend had a feeling he hadn’t done a great job convincing Hana, so it would probably be best if he sat this one out… “What’s the point of making us enroll when summer break is about to start?”

Gojo’s smile was infuriatingly serene, too calm in comparison to what Akiwara was feeling. “You might have a point there.” He conceded and paused. “But don’t think I’m letting you guys off the hook.”

“Whatever.” Hana sighed, her voice a mixture of exasperation and resignation. “Just do something on my terms for once.”

Fortunately, the sorcerer didn't argue further, leaving her bedroom instead. Yuji muttered a goodbye, to which she gave an acknowledging nod, and he followed Satoru out of her home. It was only when she heard the front door close that Hana let out another tired breath, leaning against her bed while still sitting on the floor.

Fingerless Hana 2 - The Strongest 1

Gojo knew that woman had already put him in his place multiple times. Meeting her had been a humbling experience, to say the least. Yet, as he descended the stairs with Itadori, a small, triumphant smile played on his lips. He was slowly but surely going to make up for it.

˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚  ♡  ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖

For a few more minutes, Hana remained motionless sitting on the floor of her room. Her thoughts were a whirlwind, circling the revelation of Sukuna’s binding vow with Yuji. All the possibilities of what could have happened to Kenji weighed heavily on her, complicating an already messy situation she found herself in. The brief mention of her nana the night before had stirred some memories in her, prompting her to get up from the floor. Hana walked towards her desk, where she had a framed picture of her grandmother and her. In the picture, a teenager Hana had her arms wrapped around her elderly grandmother. The photograph was a couple of years old, it was her high school graduation, before her grandmother got sick. Hana was looking beautiful, but what caught her eye was the necklace she always used to wear.

The actual necklace was hung over the frame. It was made from silver and had a small circular locket with a detailed design, adorned with a tiny ruby. It was probably the most expensive item she owned, and the one that held the most memories. Her nana, Mineko Akiwara, had made it when she ran away from Japan with her sister, who didn’t have cursed energy. She wore it regularly in fear of a sorcerer ever finding her.

When her own children showed no signs of jujutsu, Mineko had set the necklace aside, believing that cursed energy in their lineage had ended with her. The birth of Kenji and Hana, children of her second son, reignited her deepest fears. They had the spark of cursed energy, but it wasn’t until years later that they tapped into jujutsu and discovered their cursed techniques. Hana had inherited the clan’s cursed technique, whereas Kenji displayed a natural talent for crafting cursed tools and possessed a more subtle reserve of cursed energy, just like their grandmother had.

Most sorcerers of Mineko’s age and their ancestors had often lacked a distinct technique, their jujutsu watering down from generation to generation. Instead, they relied on their profound understanding and creation of cursed tools and weapons, their sharpness being passed down. Yet, it had proven not to be enough when the clan had to face the Big Three Families, and running was all that was left for them. Mineko was determined to keep her grandchildren away from sorcerers, mentoring Kenji how to make artifacts. His first creation was two rings that would cloak them completely from sorcerers. It was an emergency measure, sure, but they had put it to use in Japan.

For Hana, it was another story. Their nana had her using her old necklace, as a means to dwell down her cursed energy. The fear that sorcerer’s instilled in Mineko was still great, even if she was in a completely different continent and hadn’t met any of them in over thirty years. Her life had been marred by tragedy, the loss of her entire family at the hands of sorcerers left her with severe trauma that only shared with her sister. She had passed away before Hana and Kenji were born, and Mineko, being the matriarch of the clan, had to make some decisions for the well-being of her family. Her sons, nieces and nephews, as well as their respective spouses hadn’t opposed her choice. They felt the beacon Hana could grow up into, sadly. In her desperation, Mineko believed the best course was to veil Hana’s powers from the world.

Even as a little girl, Hana wasn’t capable of resenting her grandmother. The loss of her cursed energy when she wore the necklace was noticeable, feeling a void within. She knew a piece of herself was being restrained, but she remained an obedient child and never took off the necklace.

It was only at a family gathering that Hana’s interest in jujutsu was piqued. Most of her extended family had attended, filling her nana’s already packed home. Some of her relatives from her great aunt’s side started discussing jujutsu and the clan’s history. They mentioned Hana and her technique, which was the one who could “restore the family’s honor”. That was the Akiwara’s legacy, a centuries-old legend about a savior who would bring back the clan’s old glory and avenge their ancestors. To Hana, it was some story her ancestors had made to keep their hopes up, as they were being massacred left and right. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, really. If sorcerers kept killing them, it was a matter of time before one tried to return the favor. Yet, as much as she disliked sorcerers, she didn’t want to start a war.

Not then, and not now.

Mineko’s reaction to their conversation was one of alarm. She got pretty upset with the other family members, as she didn’t want them putting those ideas in Hana’s head, but it was already too late. Hana asked her grandmother about what they meant, and Mineko reluctantly explained that her technique was supposed to be able to beat the Big Three Families. She never wanted to put Hana at risk and believed she would be safer away from jujutsu, which they knew was the truth. Hana, nearing the end of high school by that time, was determined to fly to Japan and get stronger. It wasn’t to comply with the family's legacy, but for the peace of mind it would offer her grandmother. Mineko’s heart swelled with mixed emotions, pride mingling with fear. Kenji supported his sister’s decision, also believing that going to Japan would be great in order for both of them to get stronger and possibly to allow their family to come back to their roots.

The twins left for Tokyo the fall following their graduation, as nothing else aside from their family and a few friends stopped them from going. They settled down in Kichijoji, a neighborhood close to what would eventually become their campus, Sugisawa College. In the time being before the start of the school year in April, they grew accustomed to a routine of training and working at their part-time jobs. Hana was recruited by the café she currently worked at, and Kenji was briefly a supermarket clerk before taking a position as an instructor in the local gym they frequented. Kenji wanted his sister to learn self defense, just in case running away wasn’t an option one day. Back in high school, Hana used to be on the track team. She was an excellent runner, quite faster than the average, but also wanted to be able to fend for herself. In the first months in Tokyo, she made quick progress while her brother perfected what he already knew.

But their learning didn’t stop there; the twins also trained jujutsu at home. Kenji had deciphered the rune that made cursed energy untraceable inside their flat after a few weeks of investigation and sleepless nights, a matter Hana wasn’t able to help him with. Until then, his sister wore Mineko’s necklace even to go to sleep, just as she had done for the last eight years. Kenji’s rune allowed her to get used to her own cursed energy, as well as accustomed to sensing others’ and seeing curses, in the safety of their home. Her brother counted and described many curses when they went outside, a great contrast to America’s fewer and weaker curses. Hana worried that without her necklace, the flood of cursed energy might overwhelm her senses and not only because she was fairly new to it. Since her technique specialized in detecting cursed energy, she was quite sensitive like somebody with good hearing or a strong sense of smell

Nowadays, Hana wondered if that was what Satoru felt like. She suspected his problem was a lot bigger than hers was, as the man had to cover his eyes. Her nana had mentioned briefly the abilities the Six-Eyes had or, at least, what she knew about them. Satoru was basically the best glorified curse detector.

In those initial months in Tokyo, the necklace remained clasped around Hana’s neck. It was a part of her, the memories of being gently chided by Mineko for forgetting to wear it still clear in her mind. Yet, Hana was also doing it for her grandmother’s sake; the poor woman would have a heart attack if she knew Hana was “flaunting” her cursed energy. What the Akiwara’s matriarch hadn't realized was that the necklace also emanated a strong cursed energy and it was hard to miss once you had spotted it.

That was what provoked Hana’s second meeting with another fellow cursed user to take a different turn. However, her first meeting was a lot grimmer.

The twins had been searching for a cursed object for Hana to channel and practice on, as she still didn’t have a great grip on her technique. Using it on Kenji was out of the question. If she stripped off a sorcerer all their cursed energy, they would die. The siblings found out about that when their paths crossed with a curse user, a man that had been looking for the very same cursed trinket they just acquired. He made sure to let them know of his intentions, knocking Kenji unconscious upon his arrival. Hana used her technique on the man, grabbing him by the shoulders.

She didn’t realize what she had done until she dropped his gray, desiccated body. That was the effect of her technique when she exceeded the limit of how much cursed energy the victim produced. If the rate at which she took it was faster, she would eventually deplete her opponent of cursed energy.

This encounter made Hana more wary of sorcerers, if that was even possible. She practiced daily with the tool, while Kenji made more of them for her to train on. His trinkets were weaker in comparison, but she dedicated herself to master the balance, to understand when to stop at varying cursed energy levels. There were more positives to using objects. It meant they could put cursed energy inside it again and reuse it, whereas if Hana used sorcerers, their bodies would pile up.

Do not get it twisted: Hana didn’t want to hurt anybody, but she also didn’t feel remorseful for taking that man’s life. The woman would always choose their safety over a stranger’s life. There just were more risks in letting the curse user live when he already had made it known he wanted to kill them.

Another great point in using cursed objects was that they could sell them afterwards. There was a large underground market many curse users were a part of that they could exploit. You see, the average idiot buying off of them didn’t realize that the cursed object they were sold had been stripped out of its original cursed energy and instead had been replaced by some to resemble it, making it practically useless. The item didn’t have its original properties, which meant Hana and Kenji were actually doing Jujutsu Tech a favor, getting all of these dangerous weapons away from curse users' paws and, instead, giving them useless copies. 

Their operation was a well-oiled machine, shipping out packages to eager buyers who were none the wiser. For safety reasons, it was best if they weren’t present when the buyer realized their mistake, but there was one curse user who offered a great sum of money. Money they needed for college, as what they had gathered until that moment wasn’t enough to cover for both their tuitions.

They needed 1.64 million yen, roughly 10k dollars, and they were halfway there by the start of December. The Akiwaras had three months to come up with the rest of money to continue with their education, and the stranger curse user’s offer of 900,000 yen to sweeten them had worked. Mineko Akiwara was adamant they went to college and tried to live a normal life, and the twins' efforts to accomplish her wishes grew as her health deteriorated. That was the only thing their grandmother asked them to do, since she knew there was no point in stopping them from going to Japan. Both Hana and Kenji knew their grandmother wouldn’t live to see them graduate, but they wanted to make her proud and happy that they were enjoying life despite jujutsu.

Thankfully, tuition in Japan was less expensive than in the States, but it still didn’t mean they could ask their family for help. The Akiwaras didn’t come from money and some of their relatives were already struggling. They actually intended on sending them money from their “business” once their college fees were paid.

So, against Kenji’s judgment, Hana accepted the curse user’s kind offer and met him one cold night of December in a quiet park. The silence was filled with her breaths and her steps as she navigated through the park. Whatever bad feeling she had about the encounter was kept at bay with the reminder that all she had to do was drain his opponent if it came to it.

The man she was to meet had signed off as S.G., and she didn’t even know what he looked like. They just agreed to a place and a time, but Hana believed she wouldn’t have trouble spotting him. Even wearing her necklace, which prevented her from recognizing cursed energy, they would probably be the only people in the park at that hour. It wouldn’t be difficult.

Just as she thought about it, she reached their agreed spot. It was a bench near the lake, already occupied by a man. He had been pretty punctual, which was something she appreciated.

The sound of her boots scraping the paved pathway made the stranger turn his head towards the source. As her figure emerged from the trees and approached him, the man inspected her. Hana was clad in black clothing excepting her scarf, which engulfed her neck making her look even tinier than she already was. She sported a layered bob cut that framed her pale face and made her gray eyes adorned with eyeliner pop.

The image would have made him chuckle if it weren’t for the fact that he hadn’t noticed an ounce of cursed energy emitting from her, only from the object he had purchased. There were lines forming on his forehead before he erased his annoyed expression with a more kind one. Hana lifted her thin eyebrows at his reaction, insulted.

He probably wasn’t expecting a woman to arrive, just as she wasn’t expecting a monk.

The man had beautiful sharp features and pretty fox-like brown eyes, that closed into crescent moons when he smiled upon her arrival. A very fake smile now that she had seen him frown, Hana may add. He wore blue robes and sandals, which resembled a buddhist priest’s attire. Hana thought he seemed fairly young to be one, and knowing he was a curse user just like her, it was probably some kind of ruse.

The woman put her hand inside her bag and grabbed the object the fake monk was waiting for. With a flick of her wrist, Hana tossed the object towards him, keeping some distance from him. The man caught the item with ease, his smile faltering. He then took a stack of money from under his clothes and actually handed it to her, like a normal person would. Hana stored it in her bag, smiling now that the exchange was complete. She spun on her heel, thoughts already drifting to the warmth of hot chocolate.

But the man wasn’t done. “I paid you, and you’re not going to tell me the object is fake?” His voice sliced through the cold night air, sharp with accusation.

Stupid monk. 

Hana stopped dead in her tracks, as panic took over her. She mustered the picture perfect face of innocence before turning to the man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It isn’t fake.” Her voice didn’t waver, as she feigned confusion.

“No, you’re right.” He shook his head, getting up from his seat on the bench. “It is the original piece, but it doesn’t have the cursed energy it used to have.” His eyes firmly fixed on her, his expression worryingly tranquil as he discarded the useless trinket onto the frosty grass. “ You don’t have the cursed energy you should have. I suppose that’s the job of the talisman you carry, am I correct?”

Stupid monk and his stupid keen eye.

Hana was frozen a few steps away from him, almost rooted to the spot. Her hand instinctively went to her necklace when she saw him try to shorten the distance between them. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” She warned him, her voice barely above a whisper

But the man, sharing the white-haired sorcerer’s stubbornness, paid her no mind. Hana took off her necklace with a swift movement, her other palm colliding with the man’s chest before he stepped closer. She held onto his robes, feeling the exhilarating rush of sucking the cursed energy from him. A pleased smile played on her lips as he grimaced at the feeling. The man had a big amount of cursed energy, Hana noticed. She still didn’t fully know how to control her technique, the process stopping as she wasn’t concentrating anymore.

The man retracted a few steps from her, staring at her with wide eyes. Hana’s stance remained defensive, her hand extended in front of her warily. The man had underestimated her, that much was clear, but he also took notice of her hesitant nature. Her raw power was unrefined, yet the potential was undeniable. The cursed object he was looking for was nothing in comparison to who had delivered it to him. It had been four years since he had seen an exhibit of power like that, so needless to say he was intrigued.

Especially with a technique like that.

“That’s all?” Hana challenged him with a look, lowering her arm.

The man didn’t respond, which she attributed to shock. Instead of waiting for his answer, the woman turned and started walking. She had barely taken a few steps when his voice pierced the silence.

“Wait!” He called out.

Hana paused, her shoulder tensing, but spun back. “I’d rather not talk to curse users I’m not making business with.” She sighed. She was growing tired of his shenanigans already.

The man gave her an eerie smile. His expressions seemed performed, only natural when she had taken him by surprise. “Meet me here on Saturday and I won’t spread the word about your shady business.” He proposed, a certain glint in his eyes, but just Hana raised her brows at him in an unimpressed manner. “Alright, and I’ll give you an extra 100,000 yen.”

That was better.

The mention of money drew a smile from Hana as she clasped her necklace back on. The man watched it work with interest. “Saturday at 12, sharp. Right here. And you’re buying lunch, eh…” She trailed off, her brow furrowing slightly.  “What’s your name again?”

“Suguru Geto.” He replied, a note of amusement in his voice that did seem real. Hana nodded in acknowledgement, his name didn’t ring any bells, although she found it cute. “Yours?”

“Hana Akiwara.” She shot back and turned again, this time decided to get home no matter what he said. She waved her hand without looking in his direction, which was more dismissal than farewell. “See you then, Suguru!”

As she vanished into the night, Suguru stood motionless, a rare flicker of confusion crossing his features at the use of his first name by the stranger. It was the first time somebody was able to make him break his practiced character multiple times in a row, which he found more interesting than unsettling. His seller was turning out to be a delightful surprise.

˖ ⁺ ‧ ₊ ˚  ♡  ˚ ₊ ‧ ⁺ ˖

previous - ao3 link - masterlist - next

"Why is a filthy monkey delivering the cursed object?"

"Filthy monkey? Is this a racist thing?" Hana was stunted. "Look man, I just want the money"

i initially wanted to add this but geto is like one of the characters i want to take seriously hahahahaha

i promise as the story goes on i'll make my tone more serious for the tiniest bits of angst i'll write, but be warned that this is mostly a fix-it crack fic, i don't want to see my babies suffer :(

mmmm also let's forget i said kenji and hana lived in sendai, i didn't take into account the distance it had from tokyo so it didn't make much sense... sugisawa college is now in tokyo

on another note, has anybody noticed the vampire diares references at all???? or the fact that hana and kenji are basically mikasa and levi from shingeki physically?? i just love when i notice this in other fics, kinda cute, hope you don't find it annoying!!

and as always, comments and suggestions are highly appreciated! hope you guys like how it's turning out <3

[xxfaggatronxx]

A bit of angst warning ‼️

I want Ghoap content but in an angsty, healing way after Johnny got shot, but…

Realistically.

I want the journey of Johnny waking up only to find his speech stuttered and hearing practically gone, Simon desperate to communicate, Johnny taking it in stride, if he can’t use his mouth, he’ll use his hands.

Learning BSL like he was born for it, and if he gets a little too animated, he reverts back to military hand signals. Simple words change until he can mutter or speak a little more, but he can’t fully recover. It hurts Simon the most that he can’t call into their house and have Johnny come tumbling out of their room like an overeager puppy to greet them.

Months of therapy and yet Soap can only mutter stuttered, soft words. It takes three years before Soap grunts one morning “Bonn-ie yoo a-wa—ke?”

Simon shoots up and Johnny looks surprised too, but he just grins and signs sadly ‘*Dunno if I can do that again soon, love,*’ Simon nods, and its only a few days later when he finds out Johnny was practicing his name, a stuttered “Si-mo—n,” as Johnny smiles and Simon tears up. ‘*I told you I would practice,*’ he signs.

I want the doctor to ask him to wriggle the toes in his left leg, and have the description of his face falling and Simon’s eyes widen some more: more problems to deal with, to live with, to overcome. Johnny refusing to have his left leg removed, the right one already in a brace from a previous injury. Simon pleads him to at least get a wheelchair, and he does.

Stuttered, scratchy, raspy cackles as he uses his arms to race through the hallways, pushing the wheels to see how fast and far he can go… until Simon races after him, a smiling yet scolding tone as they wheels Johnny back to his hospital room, even athoughs he pouts and his hands fly up in messy signs.

“Runnin’ from me, Johnny?”

‘*Wouldn’t have to if let leave*’ The Scot’s fingers a blur.

A few weeks later crutches become the more permanent option, and Soap limps around with a big grin on his face, acting like a cat as he bats at Gaz’s ankles with the end of a crutch. Teasingly taps Simon’s ass with the end of the pole until the Lieutenant, smiling and teasing, threatens to take them away.

He knocks Price’s papers off the table, getting a scowl, and then a small chuckle from the older man who mutters: ‘Gettin’ too good at using those, considered a weapon in your hands, MacTavish,”

I want Johnny waking up…. Different. Same Johnny, thank god, remembers them, but he forgot things. Some important things. What was he doing in the train tunnel?

‘On a mission’ Johnny scrawls with shaking hands

What was the goal of the mission? Johnny pauses and thinks, but the doctor shushes him, and leaves Johnny and Simon alone. Two weeks later, Johnny signs ‘Who’ and the sign for a question. Gaz is sitting with him, Price too. Simon was out getting lunch.

“Who what, mate?” Gaz asks, confused.

‘Who’ Johnny gives a questioning look, then makes the sign a moment later. Price frowns with Gaz, and Johnny looks frustrated, signing ‘who’ a couple more times, and pointing to his head.

“Oh… who shot you?” Price is quiet when Gaz speaks. Johnny nods, then does the sign. It was painful, reminding Johnny of Makarov. He had also forgotten who Laswell, Graves, and a few other people in his life were. He had even forgot that Price was his boss, had forgotten he had tattoos, forgotten he had been called ‘Soap’ once. He remembered serving, but not much else on the SAS track. He never really got his memory back, but he remembered the little things.

He even remembered Simon liked baby’s breath flowers. Johnny being wheeled past a window and making a loud ‘AH!’ Noise, waving his hand to get Simon’s attention as he clumsily pointed with a smile to the flowers outside. ‘*Your favorite*’ Johnny smiled, making Simon’s heart flutter.

And who cares if it’s five years down the line? When Johnny shows up to the award ceremony to promote Simon to Captain. He rolls in through the front doors, in a kilt and suit top. He stops his chair by the door, and Simon’s heart clenched: using the chair meant Johnny was having a really bad day with his legs.

And then he stands. No crutches, no wheels. Grinning as he limps up to Simon, their mouth open as their boyfriend limps forwards, and pins the new rank to his chest, smoothing his hand over their suit to wipe off the dust, then, wobbling, Johnny sinks to one knee, and speaks.

“Would-ould you ma-ke me the happ-iest m-man in the world-ld, and be my per-menen-t partner…,” Johnny paused and smiled, wobbling in his knee with happiness in his eyes, meeting Simon’s wide, disbelieving ones. “Simon…. Riley,” no stutter.

He really had been practicing.

[olderthannetfic]

One of the things I've seen people who support End OTW Racism talk about is wanting to make sure only people who should reclaim slurs use them in their work. This raises a lot of questions to me, such as 1. how are you going to determine who gets to reclaim a slur 2. how are you going to determine that an individual is in the group you've decided should be allowed to once you figure out the answer to point 1, and 3. how are you going to deal with the fact that sometimes, a word is a slur in one language or one region of the world and not the rest? A lot of people I know in the United States only found out what the slur is for Pakistani people when a YouTuber from the UK (who is black, not Pakistani himself) got heat for saying it, for instance. If someone accidentally uses it as an abbreviation, not knowing it's a slur in the UK, then how is the moderation team supposed to handle that?

I like the idea of having more moderators who can review instances of harassment and racism, but I feel that some of these proposed ideas are not practical or realistic to implement online in large-scale on a site as big as AO3. I hate that anyone who asks these questions is being framed as being "pro-racism". Of course I'm anti-racist, I'm not white and I've experienced it in fandom, but having been in fandom for this long, I'm aware that it's a big space. It seems to me to be an impossible task to check that every single person using a slur is someone you've decided should be allowed to do so for every single instance of it being used in every story on the entire archive. My main fandom alone is half a million works. It would take an astounding amount of volunteers to look through that.

Also, though... people lie. People lie about their race a lot online. I have caught out many, many people in the act of lying when they claim to be Afghani because, as a mixed black/Pashtun person myself, I know enough about the region to ask them things like what language their parents speak or what part of the country they're from, etc., and people haven't put in enough effort to read up on the thing they're pretending to be, so they say something so incorrect it's readily apparent. But there are a lot of Afghani-Americans with very little knowledge of the country, too, as a result of generational trauma. Even I have sometimes found myself going, "Is this a lie, or is this someone who's just disconnected from their roots?" So how are volunteers on AO3 supposed to know if someone is or isn't the race they say they are? Even BIPOC can misidentify someone as a liar or believe someone who is actually lying if the liar in question put in a lot of work into their grift.

And that's without getting into the obvious fact that people are assholes who will lie about authors and forge evidence against them to try to convince the mods so-and-so is lying about being black so they shouldn't be allowed to use the word 'colored' in their historical fandom set in the 1890's. You know people would do that to each other, it's fandom. Fandom has always had toxic people in it.

A lot of people who back End OTW Racism keep saying, "we're just holding AO3 to it's promise back in 2020" but don't seem to have thought through their suggestions on how AO3 does that. I really want to be onboard here, but these ideas were not well thought-out. Even disregarding how many people it'd take to moderate a site this big, the flaw baked into this and many other proposals is that it falls into asking the moderators to make personal judgments and assessments of sensitive matters and situations where they don't have all the information they'd need to make that judgment call.

Honestly I think before calling for action, they should've had a list of actionable ideas for what AO3 do that are not so obviously rife with flaws and room for abuse by bad-faith actors.

--

There really doesn't seem to be a lot of willingness to deal with the reality of both racefakers and POC getting harassed for doing their own identities "wrong".

Frankly, I'd rather have lots of questionable works than one instance of demanding some hapless minority teenager prove their identity because they ~don't sound authentic~.

How much must that fuck a person up, especially if they're young? Especially, especially if they're some kind of diaspora, quite possibly displaced for unpleasant reasons.

I frankly think people massively overestimate any "harm" from some crappy fic a person refused to click back on and massively underestimate this other kind of harm.

[anistarrose]

Lup's terms of endearment

[Plain text: "Lup's terms of endearment". End plain text.]

Lup is a character that it takes a lot of practice for me to write, but there's a particular calling card for Lup that jumps out both from her canon dialogue and from fanon, right? We all know it: Lup absolutely loves to call people "babe".

But... when I'm writing her, I also end up wondering if I'm overusing any given signature vocative, or other element of her speech. After all, fanfic writers, myself very much included, are always looking for quick effective ways to make characters sound like themselves — and in a case of a character like Lup, peppering in a "babe" often seems to work like a charm in terms of making her more Lup-like, especially if you're writing Blupjeans.

The thing about this vocative-centric, vocabulary-centric approach to character voice is that it can, at least theoretically, lead to us overdoing it, and overshooting how the amount that Lup would use "babe" in canon. Which isn't a big deal, it's just fic — but I'm very hyperfixated and I love Lup very much, so I wanted to break down a some of when, where, and why she uses "babe" and other terms of endearment, as well as other little nuances I noticed.

Continuing under the cut, but the tl;dr is: Lup absolutely calls people "babe" a lot, but it's not exclusively romantic, it can be either sincere or teasing in tone, and she tends to do so more as time goes on, not so much at the start of the century.

(Partially inspired by and overlapping with the contents of this post (link) by @keplercryptids!)

"Babe"

[Plaintext: "Babe". End plaintext.]

Lup (to Barry): Don’t blow yourself up, babe, I’m sure your beautiful body’s gonna get killed by the Hunger soon enough.

-Ep. 67: Story and Song Part 1.

Lup (to Barry): Babe, I love you more than life and undeath itself, but let’s get somewhere safe first, so we can really savor this tender reunion.

-Ep. 67: Story and Song Part 1.

Lup: Taako, Barry and I got this. You gotta keep trying babe, I know you can do this.

-Ep. 68: Story and Song Part 2.

Lup (to Barry): Hear that, babe? We're legends.

-Ep. 68: Story and Song Part 2.

Lup (to Barry): I’m about to smooch your fucking brains out, babe.

-Ep. 69: Story and Song Part 3.

Lup (to Barry, during heist planning): We’re good, babe.

-Live in Nashville!

The first thing that jumps out at me is how back-loaded, for lack of a better term, the use of "babe" is among all Lup's appearances. It's part of one of her most iconic lines from Story and Song, but she doesn't drop a single "babe" throughout the whole The Stolen Century! Go up and read those lines again — pre-Story and Song, there's not a single one!

I have a few conjectures here that might explain this. First, on a Doyalist level, one could attribute this to small sample size (Lup just doesn't have that much dialogue relative to her thematic presence), and/or to Griffin himself still feeling out her character in the first few episodes that she appeared in.

But on a Watsonian level: I'm purely speculating, but I wonder if it was a nickname she that first started using (or at least, using with regularity) for Barry at some point well into the establishment of their relationship, and from there, it bled out into platonic contexts too. Speaking of which, the fact that she predominantly uses it for Barry doesn't stop her from using it for Taako — in fact, though it only comes up once, it's in a very sincere moment of encouragement (as Taako struggles to transmute all of Phandalin into sapphire).

On that note, if there's anything I'll personally admit to wanting to see more of in fic, it's more of Lup using "babe" in platonic/familial contexts! It's hard to extrapolate from canon if this is a "just Taako" thing, an "any close platonic bond" thing, or an "anyone whatsoever" thing, but I just think it's so cute! (And I'd personally vibe check it as realistic for her to say to other IPRE crewmates, for example — but I'm possibly biased, as a Lup and Magnus friendship writer/enjoyer.)

Lastly on the topic of "babe," it comes up in a variety of contexts, but as alluded to above, it can be sincere or teasing — of which the teasing can, but doesn't necessarily, overlap with flirting.

Specifically, Lup uses "babe" twice while gently, lightheartedly questioning Barry's decisions or priorities, like his intent to blow himself up. It also comes up in teasing or flirtatious moments within emotionally charged moments, like the reunion, or when she gets her body back. It's just not exclusively used for deflating tension — see her sheer confidence in the "we're legends" line and how she revels in it, for example.

All in all, "babe" is clearly one of Lup's go-to all-purpose words, and I like that it shows her voice evolving over time, whether or not that was intentional by Griffin. "Babe" is by far the most worth analyzing of Lup's terms of endearment, but we'll also talk about:

"Dear"

[Plain text: "Dear". End plain text.]

Lup: We need to make sure our friends in the ethereal plane aren’t listening. Taako, could you do the honors and shoo them away? Taako: Go away! Lup: Dear, you need to Blink.

-Ep. 66, The Stolen Century Part 7.

Lup: Lucretia, dear, I’ve already forgotten about the whole thing. Oh, uh! [Smiling] Sorry, bad choice of words.

-Ep. 68, Story and Song Part 2.

With the obligatory caveat that we have an even smaller sample size here, it jumps out at me that Lup only ever uses "dear" in teasing contexts, reacting to mistakes both big and small. But it's also a word she uses to emphasize love and forgiveness — especially communicating that she won't breeze past a mistake like it didn't happen, but also isn't going to maintain hostility over it, which we see with Lucretia.

(You can even make an argument that Lup teasing Taako with a "dear" is at least a little tension-defusing too, because that scene happens in the leadup to Lup and Barry presenting the Relic plan. But it's less clear there if she's using it consciously with that purpose.)

Miscellaneous: "Honey," "Bud," "(My) Man"

[Plain text: "Miscellaneous". End plain text.]

Barry: I mean um… the Conservatories, I guess, for obvious reasons. Lup: Oh, oh sure, honey, that was a… that was a good one but, man, the food in Tesseralia though, like. It's hard to beat that.

-Ep. 66: The Stolen Century Part 6

Lup (to Magnus): What are you- why? [Laughs] We need to get- we need to- we gotta bounce. Look up. Look up, bud. It’s, it’s the Big H. It’s time to roll.

-Ep. 64: The Stolen Century Part 5.

Taako: Am I…? I’m not going to lose you again. Lup: Never. Never again, bud.

-Ep. 68, Story and Song Part 2.

Lup: So, uh, Davenport, bud, kinda curious why you’d, uh, decided to come back out here after you wrote us about all the ghost-based dangers you encountered, my man, didn’t you consider that we’d be coming to collect for, you know, the goddess of death?

-Live in San Francisco!

Now, a few more odds and ends for the sake of completeness! The first thing I noticed is that she calls Barry "honey" while teasing him a little bit, as they compare their favorite cycles (though I don't think she's necessarily lying, either) — overall very similar to how she uses "babe" in playful contexts sometimes, or how she uses "dear" with Taako or Lucretia.

"Bud" is for Taako, Magnus, and Davenport! Like "babe," it seems to be a very multi-purpose vocative — ranging from questioning her friends' judgment, all the way to deeply sincere moments. (Taako seems to bring out the sincerity more than anyone, unsurprisingly.)

Lastly, "Man" is used both as a general filler word/emphasizing word without necessarily filling in for a name or subject, or alternatively, transforms into "my man" exactly once when talking to Davenport. That one's interesting to me because "my man" is something associated a lot more with Taako — and specifically, used by Taako with people he likes and trusts (link), though it may or may not actually be a serious context.

Merle (giving Taako some shitty kelp shoes):  There’s a lot of give in kelp and if they’re too small, get ‘em wet and they’ll get bigger and these— These are for you. Taako (pretending he won't immediately cast Levitate on them): Oh, well, thank you, my man. These are just beautiful!

-Ep. 62: The Stolen Century Part 3.

Taako: Barry, I— You got all the time in the world, my man.

-Ep. 62: The Stolen Century Part 3.

To compare and contrast, Lup's only known "my man" is deployed against Davenport when she's kind of questioning his judgment, but he's obviously a person she likes. If you'll let me speculate, I wouldn't be shocked if Lup overheard Taako hit Davenport with plenty of "my man"-s over the course of the Stolen Century — just a guess, but it's something I'd really like to believe in, because the twins influencing each other's speaking styles is just so cute.

And that's all! This was an exercise I undertook to get better at writing Lup, but I always really intended to post it too, so I hope it was interesting and insightful — I knew it definitely left me with a new appreciation for how Lup's way of speaking evolves over time, in particular!

[bitethedevil]

Writer game!

What recurring themes/topics in your writing do you have?

TW: Talk of Abuse and Trauma

Also: beware of spoilers if you haven't yet read Living with The Devil You Know and want to.

I think in general there’s a big theme of trauma and abusive and toxic behavior in my writing. This is also why I prefer writing Dark!Raphael. It’s almost hard not to include those subjects with him, which might be why I’m enjoying writing him so much. I’ve directed plays in the past, and for some reason the major theme in those plays have always ended up being trauma.

It’s an interesting concept to explore I think, and perhaps also, on a more personal note, because I find it therapeutic to explore it through art. Also, before I keep yapping, I also just want to say that there is no wrong way to experience trauma, and that the things I write about are mainly from my own perspective and things I have learned about myself through dealing with my past and by talking to others with similar experiences (Nothing to worry about at all btw, I am better than I have ever been. Therapy is a godsend).

I try to make it as realistic as I can. Such as small things and reactions from my characters that I don’t blatantly point out is due to trauma, but it makes sense in that context.

My best example is Tav in ‘Living with The Devil You Know’ (Spoilers). She’s grown up with a cruel father who beat her, and it’s hinted at that he also verbally abused her. Her trauma presents itself both mentally and physically in the form of the burn scars on her face that she had chosen to hide for years.

Ironically, it’s Raphael who reveals them, even though he is the same kind of man as her father was. She shows it to him without knowing if he accepts her for it or he simply does it to ‘pour salt in the wound’, so to speak. Tav also learns that just ignoring her scars of the past, metaphorically and literally, does not mean that they have gone away.

On the other hand, she also continues the cycle of abuse in a way. She’s cold, selfish and overly practical at times towards other people, because that is how she has learned to survive. She begins to see herself as evil instead of trying to understand where it is all coming from, which I think unfortunately is very realistic for many survivors of abuse. It’s much easier to simply demonize oneself than to start dealing with the past and explore where those survival mechanisms are coming from.

I also think their relationship is depressingly representative of a lot of abusive and toxic relationships. I think that very few people figure out immediately that ‘Oh shit. My partner is cruel and abusive towards me, and they are actually not a good person’. It’s more ‘Oh they did manipulate me that one time, and they did do that other horrible thing too, but other times they are really nice and loving! They’re human too and makes mistakes!”.

Tav rationalizes the shit out of everything that man does A LOT. I love writing characters like that. With Tav specifically, her tragic flaw is that she has been abused in the past. She knows how it works. She is aware of what’s going on. And still: a part of her thinks she deserves it, because she sees herself as ‘evil’ too.

(Spoilerspoilerspoiler if you haven’t read the latest chapter. Though it is pretty obvious that it would happen eventually) Even after she is freed, as she has longed for, she goes right back to him, though she knows exactly what kind of person he is. Because the depressing truth about a lot of untreated trauma is that abuse and evil starts feeling safer and more like home, than a functional relationship ever could, because such a relationship is unknown.

I find Raphael interesting for many reasons, but the themes of abuse and toxicity are so interesting for me to work with when it comes to him, because it just makes sense. An abusive relationship with an abusive person on paper sounds horrible and one might not understand how those things even happen. Like why would a person ever “”accept”” being abused?

But then you see someone like Raphael, who we all know is an evil little shit, and we still love him. We still want to be with him, and we are still attracted to him. He has his redeeming qualities and it’s very possible that he has been through some shit himself, sure, but that’s the point: such is the case with most abusers. They don’t appear as monsters or devils (though Raphael quite literally does), they appear as nuanced human beings. Doesn’t make them less abusive or dangerous though.

I like writing about conflicted people who does things against their best interests, because they have been somehow wired or indirectly forced to do so. I like making my characters take decisions that are objectively ‘stupid’, but still make myself (and the reader, hopefully) think about if I really would have done much differently given the same circumstances?

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

(And thank you so much for letting me participate and giving the opportunity to yap about my writing <3<3)

[thecaroliner]

NATLA: An Extremely Mediocre Mess

I spent the entire day watching Netflix's ATLA adaptation and oh boy was it...something.

I struggle sometimes with putting my full thoughts into words but here goes. No idea how long this will be.

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

I want to start out by getting a few things I thought were good or at least fine out of the way.

First off I wanna mention the acting (aside from Gran Gran) was fine. I think Gordon Cormier has a lot of potential and it really felt like sometimes he was being held back by the script and direction. Really hope this role opens up new doors for him in his acting career!

Not that I think ATLA needed more violence or anything, and initially I was against them adding more violence just to make it more "realistic", but I actually didn't mind it. It was way more gruesome than I thought it would be, both Sozin and Ozai literally set people on fire and burn them to a crisp. Kind of does help set in the actual horror of what they're doing. We even saw the same happen to Kya in a flashback. Again, this wasn't needed, but I didn't mind it.

The bending effects DID look a little better than in the trailers I thought. Firebending in particular I thought was decent, all the other elements were just okay, with waterbending I feel suffering the most from it. The rest of the CGI kind of sucked though which I'll get into later.

Having Gyatso be more of a presence I thought was nice, as I always felt like he could've been a little more to the front of Aang's mind in the original series than what he was. I honestly LOVE the idea of him hanging around in the Spirit World for Aang, as in the past I've thought of that idea and wished it had happened. Except....they just kind of throw this plotline away later for no reason. So that's great.

Lastly, it was neat to see Indian culture being represented in Omashu.

Now that that's out of the way....time to really dig in.

The series starts with the Air Nomad genocide, pretty brutal stuff but I don't have much to say about this aside from the moments with Gyatso being nice.

Aang can apparently just fly now, but he only really does it to show off in this first episode. Apparently it's because he's an Airbending prodigy, despite the fact that the ability to fly was established in LOK as being a very rare occurance that only comes after letting go of every earthly attachment. But sure, let's just have Aang fly now. Why even have his glider in the first place?

He gets frozen in pretty much the exact same way, which now leads us to the Southern Water Tribe, where Katara is practicing waterbending in secret in the abandoned Fire Nation ship. It's mentioned later that Sokka and Gran Gran forbid her from practicing bending in case the Fire Nation comes back and tries to kill her, which...sure, I guess.

They find Aang's iceberg, but since Sokka isn't sexist anymore, her anger at him isn't what opens the ice, it's her attempting to pull their canoe back to them and she accidentally splits the iceberg open.

Speaking of Sokka's sexism, remember when people were trying to say "Oh the show isn't getting rid of that arc, it's just updating it because a lot of moments in the original show were iffy!" Yeah, no, they got rid of that arc entirely. Which, honestly if they had just done that without making a big deal out of it in interviews wouldn't have been an issue. The issue is them trying to act as though the narrative of the show itself was sexist and not actively showing us that Sokka is in the wrong.

Anyways, Aang literally just falls out of the iceberg and it's lowkey funny cause he just slides out like he's going down a water slide.

They take him back to the village unconscious and once he wakes up, Gran Gran (who's acting was awful by the way. Not sure if it was the actress' fault or the direction, it really felt like the direction to me). She immediately recognizes Aang's tattoos and just tells him flatly that the Air Nomads are all dead. No compassion or anything. Oh, and she out of the blue begins narrating the original series' intro verbatim which was so out of place and funny. HEY REMEMBER THE OPENING FOR THE CARTOON?? THAT'S IN HERE TOO!!!!!

Weirdly enough....it almost felt like Sokka and Aang had more of a bond than Katara and Aang. Sokka was initially skeptical of Aang but then instantly wants to go save him and I swear they had more interactions than Aang did with Katara. The two of them don't even really feel like friends until the last two episodes or so.

Also, they go to the Southern Air Temple in the first episode where Katara doesn't calm Aang down from the Avatar State but rather a memory of Gyatso did. Okay....

Oh, this also had one more thing I liked, and it was Aang giving Gyatso a proper burial. I always assumed that happened at some point, whether during the series or sometime afterwards. Nice to see it here.

Okay, so my thoughts after this are just gonna skip around a bit because I was writing them down as I went. The first half the series really didn't have much egregiously wrong with it, it was mostly just mid.

It's mentioned briefly that...Aang's airbending went out of control sometimes? Like the reason he had to train with the monks was so that he would stop accidentally hurting his friends with airbending. Because why have the storyline of him accidentally hurt Katara with firebending when you could have this instead?

The like...purple and motion blur effects they used for the Spirit World scenes was such an eyestrain....

In the Spirit World, Kyoshi gives Aang a vision of the attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Before, Aang had no reason to even bother going here, because Katara is teaching herself waterbending (turns out Gran Gran had the waterbending scroll the whole time! But hid it from Katara til now). Aang also doesn't even attempt waterbending at all this season btw

The Gaang gets to Omashu, where they decide to combine The King of Omashu, Jet, The Northern Air Temple...and The Cave of Two Lovers. Despite this sounding clunky and weird, I think these storylines together actually did mesh well (except for the COTL, which OH BOY I WILL GET TO)

The idea here is that the Mechanist, whose name is now Sai (don't know if this was ever mentioned in any supplemental material or if it was just made up for this show) and Teo live here. Jet and the Freedom Fighters also live nearby, where they are trying to plant bombs around Omashu and make the Gaang think it's the Fire Nation.

One scene I wanna mention, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I SWEAR Sai said he needed to control the "attitude" of the hot air balloon...not "altitude."

Aang ends up getting captured by Bumi's generals, and he almost immediately figures out who Bumi is. Which...I cannot believe Aang named his son after THIS Bumi. He's kind of a huge asshole and is mad at Aang for abandoning them for the past century. Like you really had to make the character angry at him Bumi???

So, um. Let's talk about the COTL plot now.

Katara and Sokka go to try and find Aang and find out that there's a series of elaborate tunnels underneath Omashu, where they run into the singing nomads. This was literally only a plotline so that they had an excuse to sing Secret Tunnel this season. They explain to the siblings the story of Oma and Shu (which is just verbatim from the original series), ending with "Love is brightest in the dark."

Remember that. They preface the storyline of the tunnels by explicitly telling Katara and Sokka about the two lovers. Very romantic.

Katara and Sokka quickly realize that the cave crystals glow in the dark and begin to follow the path. Love is brightest in the dark, right? Along they way they begin bickering because Katara feels like Sokka still sees and treats her like a child.

Eventually they get pursued by a badger mole who begins to chase them. They apologize to one another and hold hands as they think they're about to be killed but...the badger mole stops attacking.

Why does it stop attacking, you ask?

Because now apparently badger moles can feel human emotions. They don't like feeling people fight and want to feel the love between them instead.

I was LOSING IT at this part. "Love is brightest in the dark" was apparently metaphorical.

And don't get me wrong, I love seeing platonic and familial love portrayed in media...but like, to do this storyline...don't preface it with a romantic tale of two lovers????? It gives off a very unintentionally creepy vibe for the siblings. And I'm sure I don't have to explain why badger moles being able to sense love is just dumb as shit.

Moving on....Bumi is nice again. Yay.

They go to the town where Hei Bai is attacking and Aang somehow accidentally pulls Katara and Sokka into the spirit world with him because the writers also wanted to have The Swamp here. Oh, and the Koh storyline. He doesn't steal faces for showing emotion anymore either, he just captures people and eats them later and steals their faces then. Cool.

Oh, and Wan Shi Tong is there and he looks emaciated.

Katara relives the night her mom dies, while Sokka sees a mysterious looking fox in the forest. Initially I assumed this was one of Wan Shi Tong's knowledge seekers but oh no. Oh no, it is much, MUCH worse. We'll come back to it.

Aang manages to find Gyatso in the Spirit World, which again is an idea that I LOVE. Gyatso explains that after he died, he never moved on to the next cycle of enlightenment, instead choosing to stay in case Aang needed him. They have a really touching moment, and Aang promises to come find him again after he finds Katara and Sokka.........which we'll come back to.

The events of The Blue Spirit happen, not much to talk about here. Aang connects with Roku (apparently he can only connect with past Avatars at their respective shrines, btw) and finds out Roku stole a totem of The Mother of Faces from Koh and that's why Koh hates the Avatar. Why steal that totem?? Hell if I know. Roku's also a funny man now I guess.

Aang saves Katara and Sokka from being Koh food and all is well. Yay.

They finally get to the North and this is where the show really went from being mid to pure cringe for me.

The "women only learn healing" plot is still here. Katara is rightfully angry about it, but Aang's like "oh well maybe you should listen to them". Yes, really.

Here Aang is so worried about losing anyone else, which, obviously understandable. But he doesn't want Katara and Sokka, especially Katara, to fight AT ALL. Which I mean. OG Aang never once tried discouraging her from learning to fight. Obviously he loves her and does have concern for her safety a number of times throughout the show and comics, but he also knows she can kick ass and stand her ground on her own and never tries to stop her.

Katara fights Pakku, and despite literally the day before saying she still has a lot to learn and a long way to go, she's just instantly declared a master waterbender now!

And oh boy my friends, buckle in because now we're gonna talk about Yue.

First off...her wig looks BAD. Like I'm pretty certain I saw her real hair sticking through a few times. Why not just dye the actress' hair....even Shyamalan's Yue hairstyle looked better than this, and we all know what that looked like.

So right off the bat Sokka asks Katara if Yue is at all familiar. Katara says no but Sokka keeps pressing and eventually follows Yue, where we learn she's a waterbender? Okay, not like her being a waterbender or not has any affect whatsoever on the story, but sure. We also learn that she had previously been engaged to Hahn but broke it off because he "wasn't the boy of her dreams". Not sure why they bothered to write him in the first place.

So...Yue and Sokka begin talking, and Sokka finally realizes why she's familiar to him.

I genuinely had to pause the episode to laugh when this reveal happened.

YUE WAS THE FOX SPIRIT SOKKA SAW IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.

Yes, I'm being 100% serious. When Yue was healed by the moon spirit, she turned into Danny Phantom and can now just hop in and out of the Spirit World. As a fox for God knows what reason.

BTW, this has jack shit to do with anything overall. It adds nothing. It serves NO PURPOSE. Genuinely do not know what the hell they were trying to do with that.

Um, so yeah. Moving on.

Apparently in this version, Tui and La only become mortal fish once a year or something? On the night of the "ice moon". Your guess as to what on earth an ice moon is is as good as mine.

Zhao begins to lead an invasion on the north and Momo is killed in the crossfire.

Well, almost.

Again I just busted out laughing because Momo has served NO PURPOSE until now, he's just been there because he was in the og series. I'm sorry Momo, as much as I love you....why were you here.

To save a kid from being crushed by falling debris. He just pushes them out of the way and is crushed. The reason is just so that Yue can take him to the Oasis and use healing on him with the Spirit Water.

Katara and Zuko have their classic fight and Zuko says "Oh you've found a master haven't you?" To which Katara replies, "Yeah, me" because she's a master now after 2 days remember?

Koizilla happens...the tribe is saved...Yue makes her sacrifice. So now she can go be the moon instead of a fox I guess.

Also, I think Iroh killed Zhao, despite earlier in the series refusing to kill the Earth Kingdom soldier who captured him because "we've all seen enough death."

And then...Aang goes back to the Spirit World, to find that the little "house" Gyatso was in is empty now. Gyatso is just gone now, with no explanation, although he seemed to know when he met with Aang beforehand that he would be gone from the Spirit World next time Aang tried to find him. Great job, taking the only interesting storyline made up for this series and just throwing it out the window for no rhyme or reason!

Now lemme talk about Azula....

She's not even Azula anymore. She's really insecure and worried about pleasing her father. Because whenever I thought of Azula, I always thought "insecure!" Like I get what they were going for, Zhao says this honestly kinda raw line about Zuko merely being the fire to sharpen the iron that was Azula, but like....why did she have to be this insecure person now? Also why is she even an archer now? It again has nothing to do with anything

Mai and Ty Lee are there for also no reason at all other than to be like "HEY REMEMBER THESE TWO CHARACTERS FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOW?!" They just stand there and watch Azula train sometimes.

The show ends with a Fire Sage showing Ozai through their planetarium (which they have now I guess) that Sozin's Comet is returning "soon." Who knows when! Just soon!

Also, Kataang shippers do not get your hopes up. Not that I expected much Kataang here at all, but I swear they barely even feel like friends until the end. It almost seems like Katara is more interested in him than he is in her.

My expectations of this series were low from the beginning. When it was first announced this project was in development, I said it was unnecessary and couldn't improve upon the OG in any way...and I was right. Even as its own thing entirely divorced from the cartoon, it's just kind of bland and downright confusing at times.

Anyways, my fingers hurt now so I'm going to wrap this up. Apparently I've been typing for like 1.5 hr now lol

Watch the original series instead :)

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

Also, on a separate note from my last post, I just want to say that, as cool as it is flavor-wise, Sandygast and Palossand’s signature ability, Water Compaction, is kind of ineffective in practice. Palossand is supposed to be rewarded by being hit by water type moves, granting it a massive 2 stage boost to its defense. But the ability grants no resistance or immunity to water, so Palossand, as a ground/ghost type, still takes double damage from water moves. Palossand has a decent but not noteworthy special defense stat of 75, and the ability doesn’t boost special defense, so it clearly isn’t intended to help Palossand deal with special water moves, which are a significant amount of water type threats. Palossand’s defense stat is a solid 110, which is good but not particularly amazing. If the intent of the ability was to make Palossand good at tanking physical water moves, it isn’t particularly effective, as the first water-type move will do double damage, and then all subsequent physical water moves will have their damage be halved each turn due to the sharply raised defense stat. This sounds good on paper, but in many scenarios that first hit will leave Palossand quite low, probably under half hp. This makes it hard for Palossand to be switched in specifically to take a water type attack, especially because Palossand is quite slow (35 base speed) and will likely take a second hit before it can use its signature move Shore Up to heal back half of its hp. And speaking of Shore Up, the move incentivizes use on sand teams by being boosted to healing 2/3rds max hp in a sandstorm, but because Palossand is a ground type and not a rock type, it does not receive the special defense bonus from being in a sandstorm so Palossand still has no real tools to defend against special water moves

If you were really dedicated to trying to maximize the effectiveness of the ability, you could use a Passho Berry to halve the damage of the first water type attack (regardless of special or physical). Against physical water moves this would mean that the second and first hits do about the same amount of damage. However it is fairly impractical unless you’re planning on using Palossand specifically in a metagame where physical water moves are a big threat. Another option could be to use the much more widely useful sitrus berry to recover some health after dropping below half. Both of these options would make it more realistic that your Palossand might survive long enough to use shore up and become healthy on top of having the boosted defense stats. It still wouldn’t give Palossand any way of dealing with special attacks, and I could be wrong but I feel like special water attacks are somewhat more common than physical.

Another interesting thing to consider is that the opposing Pokémon likely won’t keep using the water move if it stops being effective. Once again, on paper this seems like a good thing. But the thing is that most water type Pokémon can learn decent ice type moves, and Palossand is weak to ice just as it is to water. If you aren’t switching in specifically to try to make Palossand get hit by a physical water type move, then you are relying on the opponent either not knowing or not caring that Palossand has water compaction. And frankly, assuming they’re using a powerful enough physical attacker, the opponent might not have much reason to take water compaction into consideration. However, if the Palossand user anticipates the use of the water type physical move and selects shore up at full health, there is a decent chance Palossand survives the initial hit, gets its defense doubled, restores half of its hp, and then is set up for the next turn. It is a pretty specific scenario and isn’t particularly reliable but it does mean there are scenarios in which the ability is somewhat useful.

One last point I will make about this, Palossand cannot learn body press or any special defense boosting move (outside of stockpile) and is too reliant on status moves to make use of assault vest, so having the increased defensive bulk from the boost doesn’t give Palossand a particularly huge advantage unless the opponent only has physical attackers. The opponent could easily switch to a special attacker, which does give the Palossand user one free turn, which it can use to put down stealth rocks, inflict the opponent with toxic or infestation, set up a substitute, get one stockpile boost, or use a few other fairly impactful moves in its arsenal, none of which are particularly massive moves to make with a free turn, but are definitely worth mentioning. Of course then you have to worry about whether it can actually stay out to tank the incoming special moves which it probably can’t so then you need to switch out and now the defense boosts are gone and it was all for very little effective gain. It’s kind of a shame because if it gave immunity or even just resistance to water it would be an amazing ability

[lightwise]

Ahsoka Episode 4 Spoilers/Thoughts

This was...a big one, to say the least.

Also note to self do NOT open tumblr while in the middle of watching an episode or you will be spoiled for that epic ending *sobs* oh well...

SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

2/2 Star Wars characters repairing ship wiring on their back...v nice

Sabine, you realize none of you would be in this position if you hadn't squirreled away with the map in your tower...jus sayin...

"Can I count on you?" Yeah I'm gonna say that's a no...

Sabine loading her blasters is super cool but also giving me flashbacks to trying to reload staple gun or nail gun cartridges and hoping you don't launch them into your face in the process

Natasha plays Sabine's nervous energy very well and Rosario is showing Ahsoka's own unease, reserve, but also very caring concern, extremely well. I really wish we could see the history between these two--animated in between series anyone??

I wonder why Dave doesn't bring up the fact that Ahsoka owes Ezra her life. It's only focused on what Ezra means to Sabine, but he means a lot to Ahsoka too.

Huyang's lil hands on hips...you can tell he's a full practical build here.

Speaking of...I REALLY want to know if the practical robot was used for this fight scene, or if they switched to someone in a costume/CGI. It seems like the HK droids are people/CGI but I could be wrong about that. Either way, go Huyang go!

It's always a treat to see Mandos and Jedi fighting styles together. And Sabine's Wonder Woman vambrace block was great.

Ahsoka's white lightsabers are so stunning in live action.

"May I make one request of you both?" LISTEN TO HUYANG. HE KNOWS WHAT'S UP. "Stay together." And WHAT ARE THEY NOT GONNA DO SMH

"Mom, how come I have to do what I'm told and you don't" lmao

Jacen is so spunky and I'm so glad Dave is having him be a full part of the series.

Carson Teva my man! And Brendan!

BUT WHERE ARE ZEB AND KALLUS. WHERE ARE OUR MARRIED BOIS

"Faith? I lost that a long time ago" Baylon's backstory pleaseeeee. Who was his master. How far did he get in training. Was he knighted? Did he have a padawan pre-order 66? Where was he during the war? Where was he during Order 66? When did he walk away, and what did he walk away to? What are his goals now? How did he find Shin/why did he want to train her? We desperately need a comic or a book here Lucasfilm

The graphics for the countdown clock (and the droids manning them) are super cool

Shin dear lord can you be any more dramatic

Sabine and Shin running off like rabid wolves while Ahsoka is just like, oh please, do I really have to deal with this right now

Ahsoka > any inquisitor, dead or alive, magic or real, anytime, any place, any age LOL

Ugh the parallels to Obi-Wan and Maul are impeccable.

So I totally knew Marrok would be a nobody/throwaway character but a nightsister necromancer ghost??? Did not see that coming at all. Eerie

Shin seems honestly disturbed by seeing Marrok fall. I wonder if the body that was used was someone she knew or had a connection to.

The lightsaber usage in this show is so interesting and such a unique blend of samurai techniques, OT trilogy techniques, and more realistic stabbing and swiping and slicing motions. I love the choreography and cinematography of Shin and Sabine going at it as well as how the trees and landscape are used in their fight.

Looks like Shin got her dramatics from her master. Sitting there with his hood up for effect lol

Definitely getting flashbacks to Ahsoka's sass in her fight with Maul in TCW.

Baylon's textured armor is so incredible. I want to see him leading a 13th century cavalcade

Can he read people's minds? Or does he do in depth research like Thrawn does so he knows the weak points of his opponents?

“One must destroy in order to create.” No. You are incorrect sir. One must die. One must morph, must change, in order to create. But that is different than destroying.

Again with the one saber. It's such an odd choice for Ahsoka to do that, and it honestly feels like an excuse for Baylon to be able to overpower her later. I don't quite like it.

It is very interesting how Baylon views Ahsoka, and tells her that her legacy is death and broken promises. What exactly does he think her legacy is? Because that is Anakin's legacy, not hers (at least through Rebels). What has happened since then?

He looks so sad, honestly.

There's way too much leaving oneself open to attack in this episode.

The fight scene definitely looks slowed down a little, and it's a little clunky, but man Baylon is brutal with his saber. Again why is Ahsoka not using both of hers to combat is strength??

Either there's a trailer shot that never made it into this fight, or Baylon and Ahsoka fight again. I'm missing where she kicks back against one of those tall rocks and flips over. That was such a cool shot.

I honestly can't believe Shin was able to block the whistling birds lol. That would be an intense hit to the face. Also I love how much of the shots and sparks in these shows are practical. It makes it feel so much more real.

The map burning Ahsoka is wild. It makes sense but very unfortunate.

Hot damn Ahsoka! She definitely was tapping into some anger there. In real life that hit to the back of the head should have seriously injured Shin. Filoni is really being gritty and brutal with the fights in this show, they're raw and dirty in ways that the trilogies were not.

Aaaaaand while I know Ahsoka isn't dead yet (there's no way Filoni would kill off the title character halfway through a first season) holy cow that was heartwrenching

Baylon is a master manipulator. He makes Maul look like a babbling teenager. And yet he doesn't seem to derive any twisted pleasure from it. He just is doing what he thinks he needs to do.

I'm sorry Ahsoka had WHAT to do with Sabine's family dying???? In the Purge??? Ugh geez that's awful.

Gah DAMN it Sabine!! C'mon girl!! Bad decision, bad decision!

WHAT IS THIS GREATER GOOD BAYLON

I would have loved to see Obi-Wan face off against Baylon. The quiet patience and calm strength...too much for one room

He is just not done digging at Ahsoka is he. Again, master manipulator, but why?

Huyang's little magnifying glass!

Dave definitely nailed the lighting in this show. Even if the volume is still apparent in some shots, the lighting is finally dialed in and soft and realistic and atmospheric. That shot of Baylon after decimating the map is epic.

Yeahhh, Hera, ya'll might want to skedaddle right quick before you get....oh, too late....

"Mom? I've got a bad feeling." Me too kid, me too.

"Lady Wren, Lady Tano" *sobbing* Hera make sure Huyang makes it back pls

This transition.

Oh boy

I know what's coming bc I got on tumblr too early but OH MAN

ahhhh it's so gorgeous

it's here, it's finally here and it's BEAUTIFUL (The World Between Worlds, who did you think I was talking about, Anakin? ;)

I'm KIDDING ANAKIN IS BEAUTIFUL TOO OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE MY EYES

"Hello Snips" I can't I truly can't

"I didn't expect to see you so soon" so is she dead? Dying? Disassociating while drowning? Dave if you kill Ahsoka off in this show I will never forgive you

She is in shock omg look at him she is reunited with her brother, her master, her friend!!

We think--DAVE WHAT DOES VADER THEME MEAN. DAVE, SIR, HOW DARE YOU KNOW HOW TO LEAVE US ON SUCH A CLIFFHANGER IT IS UNFAIR.

Welp I have no idea what to do with myself until next week and we find out what's going on here. I swear if that's not the real Anakin I will be beside myself.

Let's get ready for flashbacks folks. What an episode.