#like technically there's nothing wrong w it as a term but for some reason i only ever see it come up to delegitimize

[skrunksthatwunk]

had a very funny experience where someone rb'd a vaguely ship flavored post of mine with smth like "i love a good bromance" and because i get unjustifiably defensive every time someone uses that term (and also bc i like doing this sometimes) i went to their blog to like snoop around a bit and below a couple of posts of calling them bromanced up in the tags there's fanart of them kissing with tongue and i had to pause bc like. shit my bad there cowboy you're not in homophobic denial you do just genuinely love a good bromance

[awrkive]

tlp extra where one of the surgeons gang catches him admiring tlp OC please 🙏🏽

summary: tlp drabble #2 where taehyung figures jungkook out

w/c: 1.5k

note: instead of an extra heres a Drabble 🤓 the official introduction of taehyung into the surgeons gang study group. timeline is first semester of second year. this got a little angsty in the end but nothing major u'll see angst if u squint. also pls dont judge me if i got some of the technical medical stuff wrong 💔 i was armed with google searches n tiktok 💔

Taehyung can already hear the sound of laughter and your voices slipping through the hallways as he makes his way to Moon’s Print Shop. 

When he enters, he immediately sees the three of you – Doyeon, Jungkook, and you, huddled in the long table, with Doyeon seated across from you and Jungkook who are sitting close together on one side like usual. From where he is at the door, he gets the view of Jungkook circling his arm around the back of your chair, his head leaning down to the side of your direction, listening to you and Doyeon talk. 

“Oh, hey, Taehyung!” You snap your head to the direction of the door when Taehyung enters. The other two follow, greeting him simultaneously while he gives the same back, going straight to the chair available next to Doyeon. 

“We’re doing clinical reasoning. __ here is trying to do it in under three minutes.” Doyeon says, chuckling a little at the end of her sentence.

“Yeah, she’s trying to beat my record.” Jungkook muses beside you, and Taehyung watches as you turn to Jungkook with your bottom lip jutted out, frowning.

“I don’t know how you can do it in a minute. Teach me.” 

Jungkook chuckles, forming crinkles at both sides of his eyes. He lifts his hand – the one that’s not around your chair – to pinch your cheek a little. 

“You gotta study a lot, buddy.” 

“Don’t be cocky,” You say, swatting his arm and turning to Doyeon. “Okay, give me a new case. Jungkook, press record.” 

Doyeon and Taehyung laugh at both your antics. While Taehyung prepares his iPad and books, Doyeon begins to tell you about the patient, reading through a reviewer. 

“Okay, so the patient, a 42-year-old male, presents to the ER with increasing shortness of breath. He’s wheezing and coughing.” Doyeon starts. 

Cocking your head to the side, you ask, “Does he have a history of asthma or any allergies?” When Doyeon says "no", you try again. “Smoking?” She shakes her head. “Okay, well uhm… is his cough dry… or?” 

“Yep. It is dry.” Doyeon nods while looking at the paper. 

“What about the chest X-ray?” 

“Marked hyperinflation.”

“Is the AP diameter also increased?” 

“Yes.” 

“Oh,” Taehyung watches as some sort of enlightenment crosses over your face. With curiosity, he tries to peek at Doyeon’s paper but she immediately puts it down so he can’t see it. She arches her brow at him and he rolls his eyes, sitting upright back on his chair again. He watches you instead, getting invested. “Can you tell me about the ABG report, then?” 

“It’s PaO2 of 63 and PaCO2 of 54.”

“Oh, oh!” You lean towards Doyeon enthusiastically. “So the patient is hypoxic and hypercapniac… what about the spirometry, the FEV1?” 

“Zero point sixty.” 

Taehyung watches as a confused expression paints your face again. “So obstructive in nature…” It takes you awhile to ask another question, and even though Taehyung has only known you for only around a term, he knows that look on your face. You’re beginning to feel anxious now. With a hesitant tone, you cock your head to the side as you ask, “What about the bronchodilator response— is it significant?” 

“No, no.” Doyeon responds immediately. 

You pout. 

That’s when Taehyung sees Jungkook’s face beginning to contort into an expression of concern. 

It makes him arch a brow, but Jungkook’s too busy staring at the side of your face to even notice and question Taehyung about it.

“Okay… let’s go for the CT scan. Was there primarily an upper or lower lobe involved?” 

“Lower lobe, yes.” Doyeon nods.

You subtly look at Jungkook’s phone laying on the table with the timer up, grimacing at whatever you saw. 

Taehyung tears a piece of paper from his notebook and writes, [What is it?], and when he’s done, he slides it to Jungkook’s direction. It does a good job of straying his friend's eyes from you, his attention now to the scratch that Taehyung gave him. 

Jungkook quickly scribbles down something and returns the paper back to Taehyung. 

[Not sure. First impression is COPD. Waiting for blood work up.]

Taehyung’s mouth forms an O-shape upon reading the note, everything suddenly also making sense to him. He’s about to give Jungkook an impressed look but he’s already back to staring at you again, but this time you meet his gaze, and for awhile it’s like you two are communicating in a language he, neither Doyeon, know anything about – and Taehyung suddenly feels as if he’s… third-wheeling. 

The moment is cut short when you suddenly look at Doyeon, voice sounding full again. Confident this time. “Does the blood work up show that there’s deficiency in alpha-1 antitrypsin?”

“Yes.” 

Now there’s a grin on your face, and when Taehyung’s gaze falls back to Jungkook again, he smiles the same time you do. His arm around your chair comes up to pinch your arm, rubbing there softly – subtly – and your grin grows even wider – like his – when you finally tell your final diagnosis. 

“If he's AAT deficient then that's COPD. In his case, specifically, emphysema.” 

"And referral?"

Your excitement feels palpable as you say, "AAT replacement therapy and pulmonary rehab."

“You got it.” Doyeon says, smiling at you. 

“Oh my god,” You look at Jungkook’s phone and your eyes widen. “I did it in two minutes and thirty one seconds.” 

“Yeah,” Jungkook chuckles. He looks down at his phone as well and then gazes back at you. ���That was hella good.”

“Right?” You grin, taking in the praise from Doyeon as well. 

“That was really impressive, __.” 

Taehyung throws a compliment, as well. He’s admittedly a bit slow at clinical reasoning – slower than Jungkook and you, at least. 

“That was, wow—” he shakes his head to the side and claps slowly for the theatrics.

The others follow through the silliness and applauds you. Meanwhile, you stand up from the chair and begin to curtsy jokingly, relishing in the exaggerated celebration. 

When you come back to your seat, Jungkook makes sure to scoot your chair closer so you land on it well, and you chuckle as he does so. 

Doyeon probably didn’t catch it as she’s back to reading her notes again, but Taehyung catches Jungkook mouthing, “I’m proud of you” to you in which you give him a sweet smile for.

“What was that yesterday?” Taehyung asks Jungkook as both guys wait for you and Doyeon at the cafeteria for lunch. 

Jungkook looks at him wide-eyed as he stops sipping on his shake. “Huh?”

“The whole thing with __.”

With a deepening frown, Jungkook continues to look confused. 

“I don’t understand.” 

Taehyung deadpans. “Oh, so, like, rubbing your friend’s shoulder to calm them down during a clinical reasoning test and staring at them intently while doing it, being all proud and supportive and shot, is normal to you?” He adds, “I caught that “I’m proud of you” line, by the way. I was watching you closely.” Taehyung makes a show of pointing two of his fingers to his eyes and then to Jungkook to emphasize his point. 

Jungkook scoffs. “What the hell does that mean?” 

“You like her.”

“Who?” 

“__.” 

Jungkook chokes on his drink. Taehyung doesn’t bother to give him his glass of water, squinting his eyes at his friend instead.

When Jungkook recovers, he jabs at his chest as he glares at Taehyung. “What are you talking about? No, I don’t like __. Not like that.” 

Taehyung doesn’t say anything for awhile, just stares at Jungkook to see the reaction of his face. He keeps on tightening his brows so Taehyung can’t decipher anything – a defense mechanism, really, but he knows he’s blown his friend’s cover when Jungkook scoffs again and rolls his eyes. 

“Alright, fine. You win. I like her.” 

Taehyung snorts. “I knew it.” 

“You didn’t.” Jungkook rolls his eyes again.

“I thought about it a few times. Dude, you’re like a golden retriever around her. Jackson totally digs __ but he thinks you’re both together the way you act around her.” 

“W-what?” Jungkook stammers. “Jackson? Senior?” 

Taehyung nods. “Yep.” 

Looking away, Jungkook stares at the glass wall. “Well. That’s not possible. She has a boyfriend.” 

That makes Taehyung's grin fade. 

Clearing his throat, he sips from his water on the table. “Well. Yeah. She has a boyfriend. The Eunwoo guy, right? The architect, or something.” 

Taehyung sees something that flashes across his friend’s face – hurt? jealousy? – he’s not sure. But the air begins to feel thick at the sudden drop of mood. 

“Yeah.” 

Both of them are quiet for awhile until Taehyung speaks. 

“That’s tough, Jungkook.” 

“I know.” But there’s a bitter smile on his face. “Just… don’t tell her about it, okay?” 

The sincerity and vulnerability in his voice were something Taehyung doesn’t expect at all. It makes his tongue fumble for the right words, but he settles with, “Okay. She won’t hear anything from me.” 

Jungkook gives him a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks, Taehyung.” 

[deadlysoupy]

DATV banter if my Rook (Urchin) was a companion >> 1 << / >> 2 << / 3 / ?

took a little break for the holidays, want to get back into this bc it was fun!

Neve: Rook. You started wearing more Tevinter clothes. Is it because you’re away from the Lords? Rook: Maybe? I just wanted a change of style. I’m used to running in ruins, barely any clothes on. I should cover at least something. For the public. Neve: (laughs) Right. Don’t want anyone staring at you. Rook: Oh. (coughs) I guess.

~~

Neve: Rook, have you been in Minrathous before? Rook: I… have, yes. Neve: Would you look at that. Rook: What? Neve: I’m surprised you answered, to be honest. But that wasn’t why I asked. Truth is, the word of a very peculiar person spread all over the Shadow Dragons a couple of years ago. Wondering if you’ve had anything to do with it. Rook: Oh? Why’d you think I would? Neve: The rumour mostly included a hooded figure. Rivaini clothes, loud giggles, the jiggle of gold… Just asking if you know someone who matches that description. Rook: Hm. Can’t say I do. You have a lead? Neve: Maybe. It went dead more than a year ago, unfortunately. Rook: Well, keep me updated on that mysterious person. I’m curious, myself. Neve: Sure thing.

~~

Rook: About you being a cat. Lucanis: I’m listening. Rook: You’re hard to get close to, you need space, you slink, you purr, you’re quiet… Lucanis: What was the one before that? Rook: You slink? Lucanis: No, after… (sighs) Forget it. But… you aren’t wrong. Rook: Aw! Well, good. Lucanis: If I’m a cat, you’re a magpie. Rook: (laughs) Can’t deny that! I do love shiny trinkets. Lucanis: And you’re loud. Rook: Wow. Ouch. Lucanis: Don’t worry. It’s not a bad quality.

~~

Lucanis: Watch your step. Rook: Aw-w, are you worried about me? Lucanis: It’s basic safety. You get distracted easily. Don’t trip. Rook: I won’t trip if you hold my hand. Lucanis: (laughs) You won’t, but you’ll never learn to look where you’re going. Rook: You’re a spoilsport.

~~

Bellara: You know a lot about magic and engineering! I didn’t expect that. Rook: I’m sorry? Bellara: Oh, I meant that you don’t really know any terms or technicalities, it’s almost like you’re going by your gut. You helped me a lot, Rook, I hope you know that. Rook: Aw, it’s nothing, I’m glad it worked out. Truth is, I’ve had experience in fixing things, like you, I guess. Mine just wasn’t… voluntary. Bellara: I… see what you mean. At least it turned out to be useful! Rook: (chuckles) I guess so, yeah.

~~

Rook: Bel, what was the relationship with your Dalish clan like? Bellara: Oh, we got along great! Well, mostly. I wouldn’t say Cyrian and I were the “outcasts”, but our studies certainly met some resistance. But our clan still supported us — we just wanted what was best for the elves, after all. Rook: And… after? Bellara: After? I didn’t care. Cyrian was gone, and I had no reason to stay. The Veiljumpers took up most of my time, and the search for the Nadas Dirthalen, of course. Rook: Hm. Okay.

~~

Davrin: Rook. The thing I wanted to talk about earlier. Rook: M-hm? Davrin: You don’t have a vallaslin. You come from an alienage? Rook: (grunts) Great topic to talk about, Davrin. No, I’m not from an alienage. Davrin: Hey, I just asked. What’s got your tunic in a twist? Rook: It’s nothing. Not a pleasant topic to talk about. Why do you want to know? Davrin: Simple curiosity. Allies, as well as enemies, need to be studied. Rook: O-okay, that’s definitely not creepy.

~~

Davrin: Where are you from, then? Rook: Davrin. My sweet, brick-headed Davrin. Why would you want to know that? Davrin: Specifically because you don’t want to talk about it. Besides, you know where I’m from. It’s only fair I get to know, too. Rook: Now’s really not the time, Hero. Ask me tomorrow at lunch. Davrin: Will you actually answer? Rook: Let’s find out.

~~

Harding: I’ve noticed you don’t ask me much about the Inquisition. Rook: I don’t. Harding: Why? It’s the thing most people know me for. Rook: I don’t like judging people by their past. Who they worked for, what they did. The present to me matters more than anything. And I’ve known you as an excellent scout, friend, and a sucker for gross taste combos. Ham and jam? Really? Harding: You’re lucky I don’t get offended much. But you aren’t interested in the Inquisition in the slightest? Rook: Nope. Too many important people in one place. Trevelyan seems… intense. I have problems with an authority like her. Harding: Inquisitor Trevelyan was intense, alright. We didn’t have a pleasant interaction that wasn’t about “The Cause” even once. Rook: See? That’s what I mean. So, no. To me, you’re Lace, not “the Inquisition’s famous scout”. Harding: Huh. Thanks. Rook: For what? Harding: For seeing me as me.

~~

Harding: You remind me of someone from the Inquisition, actually. Rook: Ugh. I hope not Solas. Harding: (laughs) No, not at all! Sera, actually. Rook: Sera? The Red Jenny girl? Harding: And you said you weren’t interested. Rook: What comes around goes around. The Lords worked with them once. Rumours there spread like wildfire, so. Harding: Oh, wow! Didn’t know they weren’t really a secret. But, yeah, you remind me of her in many ways. You’re both elves, both aren’t very elf-y, take almost nothing seriously, interrupt others, have a shaky moral compass, hate the rich, love pranks… Rook: Okay, I get it! Fasta vass. Just say I’m annoying, at this point. Harding: Woah, I never meant it like that. Sera was a shining light in many people’s eyes. To some allies, she was inspiring, to others she was a nuisance to watch out for. But to our enemies — she was an unpredictable force to be reckoned with. Rook: “Unpredictable force”, huh? I can work with that. Harding: And inattentive, too. Rook: Ps-sh.

[fanfic-recs-01]

Merthur Fics

This is just a list of all the Merlin/Arthur fics I like on AO3, if you have any recs for me feel free to send me some!

Updated 6/15/24

If I was a Wizard (I'd mess up all my spells) by reallyneedsalife 

~Magic is now legal in Camelot, a change which is widely embraced. But while there is happiness in the change, there is also hatred.

While on a simple hunting trip, Merlin and the knights run into trouble. Trouble that leads one of their own to die to the blade of another.

Well, kind of- anyway.~

Did You Know? by TheAsexualofSpades

~Merlin is…confused.

He’s doing his job as a servant—not that he’s begrudging his position that much, destiny is destiny, after all—and putting up with all the things that servants are supposed to put up with.~

If You Die, I'll Kill You by mamie_pink

~Arthur has the foolhardy idea while taking the knights and Merlin on a hunting trip to pass through the Valley of the Fallen Kings. He doesn't heed Merlin's cautions and needless to say things do not go well for them.~

Emrys the Really, Truly Terrible by lindenwaverly

~In which magic is legal and Merlin is still lying for reasons that are absolutely, totally 100% valid and have nothing to do with his love for Arthur~

Maybe the Hoard is the Friends we Made Along the Way by charcharizard5

~After Balinor dies Merlin inherits his Dragonlord abilities. Though no one informed him he would be inheriting dragon traits as well. It shouldn't be too hard to hide. Until his hoarding tendencies surface.~

Worst Fear by simple_shrimp

~A curse placed on Camelot reveals everyone's worst fear. ~

Don't You See? by TheAsexualofSpades

~It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, Merlin thinks, not like this at all.Granted, he hadn’t exactly been super picky about how his magic got revealed in the first place, seeing as he’d come to terms with the fact that it would just be his secret until he died.But this…this was far from ideal.

The Technicalities of Family by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

~While traveling from Ealdor, Merlin runs into some knights of another kingdom. Upon finding Ygraine’s sigil, he is assumed to be part of the royal family.Merlin isn’t sure what’s going on.~

Nobody's Fool by foxy_mulder

~Duke Ben-something-or-other clears his throat and looks Merlin up and down. “Apologies, my lord, I have not introduced myself. I am Duke Benedict Earl James the Fourteenth." He stands and bows.“And I’m Merlin.” Merlin scratches his armpit.Arthur rolls his eyes. “He means your title, idiot.”“Oh. I’m the Court Jester.”~

Change in Crowns by derekstilinski

~Arthur has traveled to sign a treaty of friendship with other kingdoms, when he realizes they've intended to set him up to marry as well. He doesn't want to marry for the sake of marrying, so he pulls a clumsy, crowned Merlin in with false talk that they married quietly.~

Thick as Sorcerers by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

~Merlin hates Mordred and Mordred is determined to put an end to that. Arthur is convinced that this child is after his man.~

Complement (Two Halves of a Whole) by greymantledlady

~Merlin dashes fiercely at the tears that have started to trickle down his face, and waits. Because if Arthur wants to take him back to Camelot as a prisoner, to a cold cell and death in the grey morning – if that is what Arthur wants, Merlin will let him, because he can’t deny Arthur anything.~

Fool Me Once by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

~Uther finds out about Merlin’s magic, but can’t seem to kill him. Merlin is just trying to protect Arthur. They become a begrudgingly effective duo. Arthur doesn't understand why they think he isn't noticing this.~

Damsel in a Phone Booth by Blackwidina

~“it’s the middle of the night and i’m walking home alone in the dark and there’s this guy following me and he’s starting to gain on me and i found this phone booth with a lock on the door and i tried to call my best friend but my hands were shaking so badly i accidentally dialed the wrong number and i don’t even know you but help me” au~

A Warlock's Worth by ella_bane 

~When a visiting prince sets his sights on Merlin, Arthur is not amused.~

No Harm Will Come to You Here by fancyh

~Merlin gets hit with a spell meant for Arthur and loses his memory. Revelations ensue. Set sometime after 5x02.~

Have you Heard by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

~The knights keep hearing various (dramatic) rumors about the great and mighty Emrys. Everyone is such a gossip. Merlin is trying not to have a heart attack. Lancelot is loving life.~

[bandtrees]

hello o//

i heard you had a fursona and i was curious to know about them if you’re willing to share :]

(/nf of course)

oh of course!!! :]] here he is!

i <3 robot furries so he's a robot dog! i based him most obviously off of transformers (specifically idw tailgate and ironfist) (named kibble both cuz dog and cuz that's the term in transformers fandom for extraneous robot-parts that don't serve much purpose on a 'human' body ie wheels etc) but i also wanted to, in 2024 redesigning him for this ref sheet, make him a bit easier to follow as an anthro dog design and able to be worked into furry stuff, while still being visibly mechanical ^_^

in the ways of lore i really don't have much for him - honestly he's just a standin for myself - but i have the concept that he was made to be a sort of living computer. genius database, future of technology, etc... but his storage capacity's small and his scope of interests even smaller, so he doesn't really have much actually technically helpful knowledge... he does, however, have encyclopedic levels of knowledge about nonsense things like tvtropes and trivia for whatever show he's into now.

(^really this is just a way (FOR ME PERSONALLY i should say as i know 'autistic robot' is a bad stereotype for a reason) to express autism as that's what it feels like for me a lot of the time. having a lot of passion and drive to learn but only in the few things your brain's latched onto - and of course the social hurdles that will come with being a robot in 'human'(furry?) society)

he's very inexpressive - doesn't have pupils, doesn't blink, has no mouth (the robotic muzzle isn't a mask, it's just what his face looks like), and i imagine he speaks mechanically too (i waffle between making him mute, giving him a text-to-speech type thing, or limiting his communication to pulling up webpages haha)

he's also one of those fursonas that has a few different designs and such depending on the 'verse, i've drawn him in the context of transformers designs for selfshipping a few times (specifically w/ mtmte first aid, and moreso idw/es tarantulas) and i should do that again :] depending on the situation his design falls in many different places along the furry-mech scale lolol

to get real: i've been a furry and had fursonas since. like. im gonna say as far as 2008, since i was very small :]c but kibble's the first one in a long time i feel actually suits me in both a "feels like me" sense and a "fun character to draw with some degree of fun fantasy" - cuz for a long stretch of time, when i stopped being into sparklecats and the like as a teenager, i fell hard into the "truesona" type of furry designs...

...which, nothing wrong with those, but as someone with crummy self esteem, just kind of led to me hyperfocusing on myself as a kind of "boring slob" type of character. not interesting enough to be anything but a plainly colored realistic animal, and too self-conscious about my appearance to feel too comfortable straying from "fat, depressed, tired and messy slob", as to portray myself as anything but that felt dishonest.

until one day, and this was at the height of my transformers hyperfixation so i'd grown attached to very inhuman robot-y designs, i just kind of realized, "hey, if i wanted, i could make my sona anything i want, right? i like robots and my friends compare me to dogs, i could make a robot dog! i could have fun designing a mech anthro dog!" and. i did lol. and it's the happiest i've been with a fursona, both from a design standpoint and a 'me' standpoint :]]

thank you for the ask! sorry for suddenly getting so real, i don't think you expected me to, kibble as an oc just means a lot to me :'D

(i also have other, non-sona, furry ocs if you ever wanna hear about furry boy band drama lol. i only recently reopened asks again so i'm trying to get more comfortable with em despite my constant Inbox Paranoia. ty again!!)

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

By p5 you mean in terms of plot and themes or in terms of salt? (Go off either way I'm always down to hear riffing on Wish)

It's the plot/themes tbh. In terms of salt...... I didn't mind the film but it def gave "undercook chicken vibes" TT0TT (I could probs bitch about Raya more, but I guess I can muster up some grievances with this film klasjfdlkj;af but before that P5). (edit of me from the future after getting to the end of this ask: while writing this I went from "eh" on Wish, to "I hold this new hc rewrite very dear to me for some reason" I dunno if y'all wanna hear a outline rewrite of Wish but I'd be down for it kasfdjklf):

Before the bitching about Wish's issues, let's address the P5 (well more P5R/P5S with the whole stealing OTHER people's wishes-I mean desires, and then also granting said wishes) parallels first. So I DID NOT know it was going to be.....technically a heist film (without the fun heist tropes ;w; and technically also only for a small duration ;w;) Suddenly it was "You can't take people's desires-I mean wishes", and "I'll take them back! They don't belong to you!" and the villain crushing the desire-I mean wish harms the original person (as well as it being taken seems to affect them too??? Or was that just Sleep-I mean Simon? Or was there even a connection? It's not really explored well! :'D) And then the team uses a star to take down a wish granting god, AND the masses of the people take down the controlling god as well-....you have a rag tag team of people to help rebel against the authority, as well as someone from that same group who betrays them and is controlled by the godly being ("controlled" in Goro's case, Wish did a better job exploring that than P5 imo >_> by that I mean literal bare minimum) and also has a knight motif (I think black mask, along with Mako's outfit, have a knight motif)

There's a lot of similarities. aklfjdlksajf I was NOT expecting it.

Ok now for just.......salt. Diet salt? Frustrations but w/o the hate? *shrugs*

So the pacing was a thing. I was wondering how they'd get from one point to the next, and then realized they were just gonna barrel and quirk their way through. TT0TT

I REALLY hated Asha's character when she was *~quirky~*. That only worked for Tangled/Frozen, `1) it wasn't overplayed (Tangled literally started it, so by Frozen it was like 2 instances by this point only), 2) It made sense for those chars (locked away during a critical part of their life, yeah no wonder they weren't well adjusted), 3) they looked similar and the cameo just kinda fueled the theory they are (distant) cousins (aka so maybe hereditary personality trait).

Everyone else has been......not original and it's just......boring/annoying. (Raya I think was the closest we got away from it, but she's kinda just a Korra clone, cool but with dorky moments.......sigh I'll take it).

I physically cringed in the theater during her interview bc of the dorkiness. TT0TT I cringed so much that....I think I might've missed the reason why the king even bothered to show Asha the wishes???? He trusted her? She interested him??? That's the vibe I got but like.....WHY?????? (again was cringing and she was like 'oh I'm bombing" and he's like "no you have my attention" and I'm like "oh this dialogue is so bad TT0TT Get me outttttt!!!!") Before moving onto the next point, when she's not *~quirky~* she's......there. Fine. I prefer her at her basic just don't give me her worst, I can't handle her at her worst. TT0TT

This whole thing could've/would've/should've been avoided if the King didn't let her see the wishes! Or explain in detail! Like you're smarter than this aren't you my dude? This seems like something you keep hidden only for the MC to find out later and THAT causes a big stir. Not "let's show the MC I'm sure nothing wrong will surely come from it!" Like????? I need a better reasoning!!!

Now the actual act of the villain. Not saying what he was doing was right or good. The guy is a dick, a narcissistic dick. But.......everyone seemed relatively happy? TT0TT Like not even in a mind control way. And he wasn't doing anything bad to the wishes (not doing a lot in general but at least he wasn't hurting them??????). Like I know it's technically using it as a means to keep people there (dangling a carrot in front of their face, manipulation) but....I just feel like we aren't given enough information and they spend so much time on people being so chill it's like???? Is it really an issue??? TT0TT Like we have the dialogue about Simon losing his spark or some BS but like.....no one else seems to have the same issue TT0TT

I dunno, his whole "using it for control" and lack of doing anything evil with them to begin with is kinda.........not well developed. :') Like on the surface, yeah he's bad, but digging deeper ...well it's just not that deep. All the shit he does afterwards is bc Asha challenged him and accidentally wished a star down. (tldr; his "control" on everyone doesn't really feel well defined)

Basically, if they were doing a grey->evil pipeline, they didn't do a good job. Either he needed more fleshing out, or just start him off as pretty not great and then going full blown sorcerer at the end.

While I'm still on the king, I was REALLY BOTHERED by how much they kept leaning into his sad backstory. Once? Ok. But like they ref it like 2-4 times so I'm like "????? Did HE cause the tragedy???? WHAT was the tragedy????" Like I kept expecting more of a twist with it (like the king was actually the reason for it) and for them to go into detail but no it's just dropped. TT0TT ????? Was it really just there to make him grey/justified in his actions??? Well it'd help if I KNEW MORE OF WHAT HAPPENED!

I also kept expecting more from Asha's dad. Like they kept bringing up that mfers back on that gd tree but...nope nothing!

Ok moving onto songs. Wow only 6 songs? I'm surprised. Tho one felt like it went on for WAY too long.

"I'm a star" was a song....that when it showed up I was like "Oh geez.....why???" It just brought the pacing to a halt. TT0TT I don't want to hear people bitch about Fixer Upper ever again, at least that progressed SOMETHING. (both are still better from A Guy Like You from the looks of it......and F1's "In Summer" but not cause In Summer was bad, but because the point could've been summed up in a line or three/was summed up already.......those mfers almost cut Do you want to build a snowman but were gonna keep THAT??? I would've rioted fsakljdlkfja TT0TT....oh right Fixer upper vs I'm a star)

Ok ok, so both have something that's important to the plot. Ngl I was wondering what IAS was doing until.....the climax where I was like "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ok, ok I....alright." (aka where everyone uses "the star power within them to defeat the evil). So the meaning behind it I don't mind, it's the.....execution.

So with Fixer Upper, it's a similar thing. FU (haha) contains something important to the plot that'll help the heroes out later (or explain a key part of the story). FU is basically stating/reminding the audience (and Anna) "Elsa is scared and stressed, but if you keep showing your Love to her, Anna, you'll break through to her. Love brings out the best in people!" It's the point of F1. It's the point of The Snow Queen. It's what's been going on this entire film. It also helps develop Anna/Kristoff as well. Because of this it doesn't derail the plot.

I know it DOES feel similar to A Guy Like you, where they put some comedy right in between more serious moments. The difference is Paris is on literal fire, and Anna....due to dramatic irony, isn't aware of shit hitting the fan just yet (or that she's about to die). So she's in a position of just one last moment of brevity unlike Hunchback (from what I remember of Hunchback, gotta rewatch tbh but I know people HATE A guy like you so TT0TT)

Now FU is towards the end of the film and.....F1 is paced fairly well imo. Stuff's happening, nothing feels wasted. Back to Wish.....I'm a Star....doesn't. It has answers for later, but it felt like it brought the pacing to a screeching halt to give me a weird and very eh version of Be Our Guest.

I know in musicals "when talking isn't enough, you sing. When singing isn't enough, you dance."

I do not get the....well...NEED for the scene to be like this. Just talking could've done it justice, and esp saved time (a handful of seconds vs minutes TT0TT)

Like for the climax a scene with THIS SONG needed to happen. But how it comes about is just......it's not it. It's not paced well. Be Our Guest works because Belle knew ALL these chars for a bit. FU worked because the AUDIENCE still recognized these chars from the beginning (and at least KRISTOFF knew who they were). I'm a Star is mostly with random animals and plants that just....happens. TT0TT "Just go with it" no I don't think I want to little rabbit (I feel like a plant/animal said that line but I don't remember which, maybe it was Bambi)

I dunno the set up isn't....great. Wait, it's really just "I have a dream" but.......shittier, like not as well executed. But I have a dream doesn't come outta nowhere, it's set up by Flynn and then executed. The Star just sprinkles some magic dust and it's like "well I guess this is happening."

Tldr; I'm a star isn't well executed even tho it's important to the plot. It needs to be paced better.

Ok other songs (tbh I was eh on the songs but I'm not really liking At all Costs and This Wish).....Welcome to Rosas reminded me a LOT of Encanto's opening and dancing (only thing I was positive towards that movie on). But that dancing is....never brought back? Ok. The framing of the intro song is similar. Exposition through song is ok. (I didn't like F2's Some thing never change but it does catch us up). It's fine.

This is the thanks I get: I liked it when I heard it. Kinda laughable, because of how evil he just....turned into. The king is a real let down ngl, but I already kinda went into my issues with him earlier. I think it's nice he doesn't make them pay rent like wtf let me live there. u_u

At all costs. I........really like this song ngl. It sounds like a love song. The demo even more so (to the point people wondered if it was originally for the King/Queen and/or Asha/Star). Part of me likes the K/Q and Asha/Star duality, but I also........really just like the twisted-ness of King/Asha just singing their own mindset. I dunno I find the idea hauntingly beautiful and is a better villain song for King. Why couldn't King be more evil earlier? It would've been SOOOO GOOD HERE! TT0TT

This Wish: I like it. Was looking forward to this song ngl. Not my most fav song in the world or disney verse, but I like it. I also like the reprise version, they stuck the landing the best they could with that imo. (it's only held back by the other issues of the film). I think I read on TV tropes this song was written first and then a plot made around it? TT0TT I dunno.

The Revolution song I literally forgot of: Probs the most forgettable, like ok sure whatever. At least it wasn't cringy like I'm a star but 8U

Also I JUST found out (after typing most of this) that apparently the song writers were......mostly known for pop songs????? And not musical theater???? Which...ok that makes sense with the whole "when talking isn't enough, you sing. When singing isn't enough, you dance" combined with the thing I read on TV tropes and This Wish..... There wasn't a lot of synergy with how/why some of those song scenes are happening. TT0TT

I mean I'm a basic bitch who likes pop songs don't get me wrong, I'm over here vibbing to This Wish (OG and Reprise) and At All Costs. But Disney did not let those two live up to their full potential ;w; And I believe it's because they......forgot it was a musical and to do more musical theater choices. TT0TT

Thoughts on characters. I don't care for the grandpa/mom ngl. I don't hate them but I don't care. Not a fan of Asha's dad, just.....such a nothing char. Her 7 friends are ok (too many perhaps, put some on the chopping block jalkfdjska). I wish the goat didn't speak (or just sounded cute), or if he did speak in that voice he didn't appear in ALMOST EVERY SCENE (I think Asha/Star duo would've been best). Queen ok, should've been evil. King is ok, should've put him in the over longer tho (and made him more evil from the start).

What could've been: Queen was also suppose to be evil (she should've). Star was gonna be a tumblr Jack Frost esque twink. Disney dropped the ball on that u_u Did he HAVE to exist? Depends on the story (twink or cute star creature, either work it just depends on what the focus is and how you go about it). But the Queen should've been evil.

Oh my thoughts on the meta ending........I.....don't.....it .....didn't make sense? I know people are saying 'oh Disney's just saying it's references! They're backtracking on the extended universe!" and.....like it feels more like references tbh. Like Peter Pan, the guy iirc was an adult (wait of course he has to be an adult, you give your wish away at 18!), he wants to make a plane with the lady. He just looks like Peter Pan. I don't think they are the same Peter. Same with Bambi, OG Bambi isn't a surfer stoner. I think it's just a reference. I think the movie is just too full of references.

"Asha changes race and becomes the fairy god mother to Cindy!" I..dunno.....maybe? She said she'd be ROSAS' fairy god mother....I don't think Cindy takes place anywhere near that. No seaside from that movie iirc. (I mean she can travel but......I dunno)

The only thing I'd buy is Star maybe connecting with Pinocchio or something from across the milkyway. And the sky is the cinematic universe, because I just....can't buy the other refs being part of something greater. So if it's just the sky part.....then 1) it's kinda just pointless tbh cause it doesn't really matter. 2) they wanna be Kingdom Hearts so bad TT0TT I hope KH4 has Wish in it, I'd love to see how that mess will roll. (they can't make it any worse :'D it can only go up from here....esp compared to KH3's Frozen world *sobs* I'll never forgive you KH3 *sobs harder* A game about hearts......and a plot device of a FROZEN HEART YOU COULD'VE EXPANDED YOUR LORE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *ugly cries* *coughs* I can see them doing something with your "inner star" and KH hearts tbh >_>)

Anyway I do think it's more references than cinematic universe.

[myonmukyuu]

Art Summary: 2022

It's that time of year again! This makes my 9th year of art summaries... Kind of insane to think about.

It's been a very eventful year and I have a lot to say. Extended art performance review under the cut 👌 (3k words lmao)

Previous: 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021

ABOUT THE COMIC:

So! What happened this year? Well, my book happened. I'm not sure if anything else happened ahfhasjkdkasf

See, I actually cheated this art summary a tiny bit. Usually I use the upload date of the art to place it in the summary. But if I did that for this year, there would be at least 4 blank spots. That's why February, April and May all feature different pages of the same comic (CH 9).

I really did spend the first half of the year finishing my comic. I only released 2 chapters too (the finale and the epilogue). In March I took a week and a half off to work on a short for Ayumu's birthday, but otherwise slaved all the way until June for the webcomic.

Then I spent July and August doing all of the redrawing and edits required for a physical release. Those who have a copy of my book might already know but the first two chapters have been redrawn. I also had to go through the entire comic, fixing it so that it could actually be printed (because the webcomic version definitely can't be printed as it is.) It was super time-consuming. Like, I can't even begin to describe. Moving forward I'll try to draw every comic so that it's printable from the beginning so I don't have to deal with reformatting ever again...

I'm pretty sure it was in August that I had the first copy of the book done. Then the preordering period opened in Septemeber... and now we're here! People are just now starting to receive their books. Sorry it took so long guys ;w;

I'm very happy though... Depending on who you ask, 100 sales might not be a lot, but it's a lot to me. To think that so many people would spend the money to buy this kind of product is just so surprising to me... It's expensive and all of the content is already available to read for free!!! So it's really surprising and I'm so incredibly grateful. That's why I went through the trouble of creating that golden special print for everyone! It was quite a bit of money out of my pocket, but I really wanted to show my appreciation.

As a side note, the 100 sales were really exhausting to pack. My body was sore in November because of it LMAO

So I'd say this year was great for my comic! Both its webcomic finale and its physical release. But this summary isn't meant to be about my comic, it's supposed to be about my art and me as an artist.

ABOUT MY ART:

So how did my art go this year?

Looking back I feel nothing but exhaustion. I know I'm happy to have my comic released but, my body and mind is still very very tired. I feel like I took at least 2-3 weeks off or more from work throughout the year to keep the comic on track. It's just a huge undertaking.

What I'm getting at is I feel a tired and... a little disappointed. But don't get me wrong, I don't feel regret! It's just that... well every artist draws for their own reasons. For me, I love getting my ideas and stories out there. So I guess I felt creatively-starved spending about half a year polishing and releasing an already-complete product. Also technically starved - you don't really see much improvement if all you're doing is cleaning up art. I didn't really have a lot of time to draw because of the physical release so I often felt like I wasn't doing enough.

And honestly that's my main sentiment. While I feel happy and satisfied with releasing the book, another part of me feels like she didn't do enough.

In terms of technical skill, I definitely saw improvement this year. It's like something clicked in me and I had a better understanding of atmospheric lighting. CH 9 and the epilogue are probably some of my favourite bits of colouring I've ever done. I just love how it turned out. In CH 9, the gradual setting of the sun to create this orange/pink/purple colour palette was so fun to implement. And in the Epilogue, this blue/green/yellow rainy day came out perfectly. It was a rainy day, but unlike CH 7, it wasn't a dreary downpour but something more hopeful instead. I have a love for creating atmosphere and especially through colour. And I think I did well there.

In the realm of black/white, I also feel lots of improvement! I'm becoming more confident with monochrome and am starting to push it further. I'm not satisfied with my skill level, but I think it's promising. I may be more confident with creating tone through colour, but I'm sure I can do the same without it!

This year I also did quite a bit of painting. I really love how the October and November artworks came out. Honestly it was around this point in the year, I had the most time to output works as the only comic work I had to do was purely admin (until I started packaging things in November). I could go into technical depth, but this post is long enough. Just know that I'm happy with the little leaps my colouring skills made.

GOALS FOR 2022:

For my art summaries, I've been doing a performance review styled thing where I create goals for the upcoming year. Let's take a look at what goals I wrote for 2022 and how I went with them.

“I want to finish my comic series”

Passed with flying colours! I think the comic release was a success. This goal is a little cheap of a goal though, since I don't think I'd let myself live it down if I gave up.

“I also want to continue to try things that are outside of my comfort zone. I want to see myself try things like different angles/perspectives and more complex backgrounds.”

Now this goal... I think I made progress here. I'm not sure if people noticed but I did definitely try to slip in different angles here and there. I'm particularly good at them... but I'm trying! And I think that's the least I can do. You won't get good at something if you don't try after all. That being said, I should push backgrounds more... I rarely do them 😅

"I want to do more illustrations/quick drawings on top of my comic work."

My comic work was suffocating a lot of the time. But I did try to draw on top of it. I haven't really talked about it, nor shown anyone, but I started learning copic markers this year (borrowed my friend's set!). So in the background I've been doing 30-60 minute traditional art exercises. I'm not terribly diligent, but diligent enough that I already think it's made an impact on my art. See, I'm only doing monochrome copic markers (I'm not confident enough to do colour just yet). I'm pretty sure doing monochrome markers has helped me with my manga skills 😂. I have a better understanding of tones and values because of it! Isn't that kind of amazing? Come to think of it, it's linked to the next goals.

"I want to learn to paint."

"I want to learn to draw faster."

While I still have a long way to go, somehow my marker exercises have helped me with these too. The understanding of tones/values has made an impact on coloured work and painting as well. And because I'm doing shorter pieces, my speed has increased a tiny bit. I'm sure if I keep at it, I can continue to develop better habits!

"I want to draft more quickly and be smarter about it."

Now this goal is something I have just been trying to mentally direct myself to. It's working... a little bit. I still need to try harder.

See, I think my drafting process is really slow and inefficient. This results in me spending too much time drawing a comic because I've drafted like 5 extraneous pages. If I wanna increase my output and lower my workload, I have to learn to be more clever with how I compose each page. I think I got a tiny bit better. Need to work harder on that for sure (it's quite hard to just "learn" though...)

MOVING FORWARD:

With the past year in mind, how do I want 2023 to go? To be honest, I still feel so exhausted because of 2022, I definitely need some time to recover, so let's not go too crazy next year.

But before I create my next goals, I wanted to talk about where I want to go in general - the grand scheme of things. Like I mentioned, I feel a lot of disappointment, like I wasn't doing enough. Which is contradictory because I also feel like I did too much with how exhausted I am... But the source of that disappointment is really tied in with how I feel about my art skill on a technical level.

I'm nearing a whole decade of hobby artist experience. And I don't feel like my art shows it. While there are things that I am better at, there's so much that I struggle with.

I want to become better. I want to improve.

It's hard to explain but I feel like I'm not doing the best I can for the stories I want to tell if I don't keep pushing and learning. And I love what I make, so I want to do those stories justice.

So it's really important to me that I keep trying to improve.

In the long term, I think my dream is to be like a pro-manga artist. Please don't make fun of me LMFAO. But there's more to it. See, I don't actually want to be a pro artist. I never want to compromise my creative vision for the sake of pandering to an audience. I sincerely think I wouldn't be able to succeed without doing that so I'm content with drawing as a hobby. A programmer as my day job and a manga artist by night...

I want to be as skilled as a pro some day though.

To be honest, I think the distance is so great that it's basically impossible. So my true goal is a little lower than that.

My true long-term goal is to be... a little comparable to a pro.

And I don't think I'm at that point. And I don't want to use "being a hobbyist" as an excuse to allow myself to remain like this.

I think it's terrifying actually. Where I'm at with my art.

I'm really happy people enjoy it, and don't get me wrong - I love my own work. I love drawing. But I think it's important to be critical of it - if I want to be able to reach my goals.

I think if people read this far, they might be thinking something like "but you're already so good!" or something to that effect. But I don't think it's true.

I think it's terrifying because there's so much I'm not good at. Comics are scary because they're an amalgamation of so many different skillsets. I possess some of these skills but there's just so many different ways that I feel that I'm lacking.

For instance, my art itself has such stiff lines. I'm not great at perspective. My art isn't dynamic. And this is just a few examples of stuff related to my illustration skills.

But comics are more than that.

There's the individual panel compositions that come together to create a unifying page composition. The visual flow - controlling how the reader scans the page. The storytelling skills - pacing, dialogue, story beats. The dialogue writing skills. The typesetting.

I think there's so many places I'm weak with and it's scary because it's difficult to just pick something to improve at when it feels like everything is wrong at once. It's so easy for me to pick up some manga from a shelf, flick through and think "this artist does x better than me, how can I learn from them?" but learning is hard and I'm not good at it so I'm just stuck with this awareness that I could be better.

But at the end of the day, I just have to pick a direction and go, right? I think that's all I can do and that's okay. It's just hard to shake the feeling of drowning in my own mediocrity.

Sorry I didn't mean to bring down the mood of this art summary.

I promise that at the end of the day that I love drawing. This is just my overly-critical side shining through. I don't have too much natural talent, just a very stubborn mind. I kind of need to be critical so I can push myself in the right direction. And I'm fairly happy with the way I've been pushing myself through these past years.

I'm not particularly fussed if my works receive a lot of traction or not because what's most important to me is the way I see my own work. My personal satisfaction.

And that's just tied with doing the best I can!

So with that in mind...

GOALS FOR 2023:

"Improve at atmospheric lighting"

This isn't particularly ambitious because it's something I'm already working on, but I know I can push lighting even further. So expect to see me experimenting more and more!

"Participate in a paid online course"

Now this is linked to my wall of text just now. I feel very overwhelmed so I think having an unbiased and experienced teacher's guidance could be valuable. I'm eyeing ones that include personalised feedback. The only concern is that it's hard to find the time for things like this when I work full-time.

Also it's a bit scary having a professional roast me, but I think it'd be good for me.

"Continue to practise traditionally"

This is linked to all of my technical art gripes. I think continuing to do traditional art exercises will help me with a lot of my weak points.

"Continue to be ambitious with art"

I don't mean ambition on a work-load level, but I want to continue to push out of my comfort-zone. Keep trying those weird angles and backgrounds, be more experimental!

"Start planning that next story"

I always have a billion different story ideas in my back pocket that I am itching to tell. I also don't wanna die of overwork though. So lets keep the bar low.

I have many great ideas, so I want to start outlining the next one! This is just a vague goal to remind myself to keep thinking ahead.

"Rest up."

I think this is the most important goal. Like I said I feel completely and utterly exhausted this year.

So I want Myon in 2023 to have more time for herself. Improve her health, catch up with her relationships, spend more time watching movies and playing video games.

Don't work too hard next year.

EXTRA REFLECTION:

I seriously don't know if anyone actually reads these reflections. I wonder what kind of person I come off across... (probably a try-hard 😂)

I wanted to talk about one more thing. It's not really linked to goals, just the future in general.

So I've been drawing for Nijigasaki for 2 years now. I think a lot of people are moving on from it though.

To be honest, I think that's okay. I'm kind of used to the people around me shifting into new interests. I think I'll still be with Niji for a long time to come. I just have a lot of large scale ideas and will probably stick with them unless something sweeps me off my feet.

I mean, even if my ideas take too long to actualise while I'm interested in Niji, I'm also open to converting things into original content. There are just so many stories to tell...

It makes me wonder why my readers enjoy my work and how they interact with it? Are people a fan of me? The ship/characters/fandom? Or the stories?

Probably some mix of the above. It's not terribly important why though.

I'm sorry that I'm not very good at keeping up with everyone's interests. I think the world moves too quickly and I draw too slow and I can barely keep up. But I'm a bit too stubborn with my own desires so I keep working on my own things without another thought. So maybe that apology is a bit empty eheh

But I hope people will continue to enjoy the stories that I make.

I should be less harsh on myself though. 9 years of art isn't something to just shrug off.

Anyways, before I keep rambling. Happy new year everyone. Let's keep working hard in 2023!

[kyouxa]

Diabolik lovers Chaos Lineage: Shin Tsukinami (Story 11+CG)

In terms of the gameplay: The black choices lead up to a bad ending, the white choices lead up to a good ending. Please no reposting onto other sites, ask me before translating this into another language too! If you enjoy these translations, please consider supporting me on ko-fi.

Monologue

We sneaked into Violet’s mansion, aiming for the chance that Carla-san and his members had gone out.

In the end, we were discovered by none other than Carla-san himself though.

Thanks to Shin-kun’s quick wittedness, we managed to successfully get away behind his back.

However, Shin-kun has injured himself during that time.

Shin-kun said that it’s not a big deal for him and that there’s no need for me to worry, yet I can’t help but be concerned about his current condition.

Place: Outside — Forest

Yui: (It seems that Carla-san hasn’t been chasing after us for a long time since that happened)

(I wonder, Kino-kun hasn’t come back either, since he’s scouting around the area. But is it really okay for me not to worry about him as well?)

(Thanks to that though, we’re able to rest by an open-air fire in the forest all by ourselves)

Looks as if Kino-kun’s not coming back from scouting any time soon, don’t you think?

Shin: He said he’d be looking around each of the three mansions, so it might really take some time after all, right?

Yui: True...

Shin: ...Kch

Yui: ...Nn! Shin-kun, does your injured leg hurt a lot?

(It must’ve happened when he kicked the chandelier. So he said he was fine, but at the end he isn’t)

Shin: It’s nothing too trivial, seriously.

Yui: But you’re still bleeding… at least let me bind something around it for the sake of stopping it.

*Yui rips clothes*

Shin: Wait! What are you doing without warning!?

Yui: I’m tearing my clothes in order to make a bandage for you. It’ll be fine, it’s just the inner fabric so you can’t tell from the outside that I tore it.

Anyway, now I can finally stop the bleeding.

Shin: Hah… you’re really something...

Yui: ...Hm, Shin-kun. Show me your injured foot.

*Shin shows his foot*

Shin: ...Nn…

Yui: It might hurt a little, but please be patient about it. If I don’t tie it strongly enough, the bleeding won’t stop after all.

Shin: ...Ngh

Yui: Ah, I’m sorry… ! This might’ve been a bit too strong.

Shin: No, it’s fine like this… thank you.

Yui: For the time being, let’s rest now. It would be bad if the wound stretched itself even more dreadfully.

Shin: …..

Yui: (Why’s he so quiet… ? He’s looking at me pretty firmly…)

Shin-kun? What’s wrong? Don’t tell me… ! Did it open one of your weak points even more… !?

Shin: No, that’s not it.

Yui: ….. ?

Yui: ...Eh! Hey, Shin-kun!?

(W-What’s he doing... ? He suddenly hugged me)

Shin: If you want to take care of it… I’d appreciate your blood.

Yui: ...Nn.

(Could it be… that he’s behaving like a spoiled child again? I’m pretty sure he’s acting like this because of him being mentally tired of his injury and worrying about Carla-san)

Shin: That guy isn’t around right now anyway, so it’s okay to stay like this for a while, right?

Yui: (It’s rare for Shin-kun to ask me directly like this, so let’s maybe spoil him right here)

Okay… sure.

Shin: Nn, thanks.

I’m somehow really worn-out today. I just want to touch you even more.

Yui: You can hold me until you’re satisfied, Shin-kun.

Shin: Ah… it feels so good to hold you in my arms like this...

Yui: Shin-kun…

Shin: When I embrace you as closely as I do right now, I always feel so calm. Almost as if you’re exceptionally good at this.

Yui: Heh, you think so? I don’t know about that myself.

Shin: You’ll see what I mean eventually. For now, I’m glad I’m the only one to know. Besides, if I teased you about it, I’d surely provoke an interesting reaction out of you.

Yui: ...Nn! Eh, Shin-kun, where are you touching!? Stop it, it’s tickling me.

Shin: Kuku, I knew it. I can see your body move alongside where I traced the side of your torso nicely, isn’t that right?

Yui: Ah, that’s natural! Anyone who’d touch someone else there would react with it being ticklish and stuff!

Shin: No, you’re the only one who’s as sensitive as that. I already smell the sweet blood coming from your skin just from that.

Haa… seriously, you need to put an end to that. Otherwise I might end up unintentionally getting all crazy about it.

Say… could I suck some if it’s okay? It’ll be useless even if you do end up saying “no”.

Yui: Fine… but only take as much as necessary, okay… ?

♡Roses♡

Shin’s mouth: This really is the best! It’s such a pain to resist and forcibly hold myself back, but it feels so good to get a proper look at your face while sucking now.

Shin’s arm: When it’s just the two of us, without our companion making fun of us, I can finally stop feeling irritated in our relationship.

Shin: Kuku. I don’t hate it when you’re being as obedient as that. Nn… Mm… Nn… !

Yui: Nn… !

Shin: ...Haa… Nn… Mm...

Yui: Shin… kun… Nn, does it feel good… ?

Shin: Haa… yes… it’s still as good as always. Your blood really is the best after all.

The more excited you get about it, the sweeter and richer your blood becomes as well. Nn… Mm… Mm...

Yui: Ah… Nn...

Shin: See, your voice is giving off nice hints too. Why not let me hear how much you’re really feeling it? Mm...

Yui: Ah… !

Shin: Mm… Haa… you really got a dreamy face on. Seems as if you really do love my fangs a lot, right?

Yui: T-That’s not even… true...

(But… I don’t have any power anymore either...)

Kino: Hm?

Yui: Kyaaa!!

Shin: Tch… obviously you had to come in at the best point.

Kino: How annoying. You two let others work their ass off while you were doing what exactly if I might ask?

Yui: N-N-N-Nothing! W-Welcome back, Kino-kun! We were really worried about you and almost got tired of waiting.

Kino: It didn’t seem like nothing happened though. Your face is all red, but what’s the matter? Your eyes are moist and your breath is rising as well, am I right?

Yui: (Uhh… by the way Kino-kun’s talking�� he must’ve surely seen us. I’m so very embarrassed and I want to hide so badly…)

Kino: You don’t have to hide yourself now. You’re not the most honest person, hm?

Tell me, are you two in a relationship with another?

Yui: (Kino-kun is definitely enjoying himself right now…)

Choices

1) We’re nothing (black)

2) It’s a secret (white)♡ ♡ ♡

— We’re nothing

Yui: We’re nothing at all, really… ! All I did was check whether or not his injury needs internal medicine...

Kino: What was that? That excuse must’ve been painful to handle.

Don’t you realize that the more you deny it, the more suspicious you get?

Yui: Uhh…

Shin: Haa, the secrets out. You’re seriously one of the worst people when it comes to lying to others.

Yui: S-Sorry…

Shin: Doesn’t matter. We don’t have to necessarily hide our relationship from him anymore now.

— It’s a secret♡

Yui: I-It’s a secret between Shin-kun and I, only the both of us… !

Kino: Eh, why? You’re being unfair. Why am I the only one in the group not involved… ?

Yui: Um…

Shin: Yui, it’s fine. We should probably tell this guy sooner or later anyway.

end Choices

Shin: Kino, I’ll tell you now since it’s the perfect opportunity, so listen. This woman belongs to none other than myself.

It’s best to be clear here for the sake of you not trying any childish pranks or even worse  trying to make a move on her.

Kino: ’Kay, not that I bother. I only want to know more about the detailed beginning of your love and such.

Shin: Hah? Who are you to ask me if I could inform you about how we worked out together?

Kino: Aight, let’s go back to that abandoned house now. It looks like they haven’t found it yet, so it’s safer there than being here.

To be honest, I can’t tell if a member of any family is pursuing me or us as we talk right now either. But we should move as soon as possible.

Yui: (Pursuers, hm…)

Shin: You’re probably right. Every mansion has their own trollers unexpectedly turn up. I’m sure they’re looking for us with a bloody eye.

Yui: (Carla-san and Ruki-kun are looking for us… just thinking about it makes me feel scared)

Shin: Yui, what’s with the face you’re making? Are you okay?

Yui: Y-Yes, I’m fine.

But to be honest, I have to admit that I do get scared thinking of how everyone is chasing and looking after us.

Actually, it’s kind of different… I just want to find a way to get everything back to when it all was normal.

Shin: ...Geez. You’re being scared and just exaggerating everything again. Well, it’s not unreasonable to feel scared though.

You’ll always be by my side in any case. So there’s no need to worry. I’ll always protect you no matter what.

Yui: Yes, that’s true. Shin-kun will always be there with me. Thank you!

Kino: C’mon, hurry up, both of you.

Yui: (Technically there really is no reason for me to feel scared. After all, Shin-kun’s always next to me. I have to do my best for this as well!)

Place: Abandoned house — Inside

Yui: ...Zzz…

Shin: (She’s a really soundly sleeper…)

(I assume you’re tired from always worrying about me and dealing with this guy as well, isn’t that right?)

(It’s always the same tiresome thing with this guy. I have to be careful not to worry too much about him myself—)

Kino: Ahh~, she’s an extreme sound sleeper. I wonder if the strategy was too much for a girl like her?

Shin: Shouldn’t you rather say that this is the fault of your useless breaking into houses here and there? You’re the one continuously making us feel nervous.

Kino: Eh, am I? I’m just playing around a bit, that’s all.

Shin: It didn’t seem like you just “ordinarily” played around.

Kino: —Leaving that aside, don’t you think it’s slowly time for you to hear me out as well?

Shin: About what?

Kino: Al-righ-ty.

How far is your relationship with her? Don’t leave any details, tell me.

Shin: What? Why do you want to know? You know I already told you that I’m not telling you anything.

Kino: I thought you’re simply not telling me anything interesting about it as long as she’s awake.

And now you can technically say things that you usually can’t say, right? So, do you really like that girl?

Shin: ...Shut up! Why would I tell you something like that?

It shouldn’t matter to you if I like her or not. I don’t even understand what you mean anyway.

Kino: This doesn’t have anything to do with any “meaning”. I’m just interested in hearing those kinds of stories from others.

...Hey, I need you to tell me. I want to know what attracted or fascinated you in this woman whatsoever.

Shin: What? You got seriously all of the sudden for that?

Kino: As for this, I’ll be completely serious. When I see you two, I think you do look nice together.

Shin: Huh? Are you feeling sick? You’re acting sort of weird.

Kino: “I’m acting weird”, he said. That’s really mean, y’know?

At the very beginning, I just wanted to use you both for my own benefits.

Shin: ...Heh, is that so? We already knew you must’ve had some ulterior motive.

Kino: But that’s not the case anymore now, y’know? You wouldn’t have suddenly put your trust into me after all.

Shin: Well, more or less. I was only wondering if you really could be of any use for us anyway.

Kino: And even though both of us suspected each other, we somehow joined hands. But—

I didn’t think it would be as much fun as it is when we three are together like this, which makes this game kind of enjoyable for the first time. Also—

You didn’t abandon me when I was at a clear disadvantage while being cornered by Carla from the Violet family.

That made me really happy. I really felt that way.

Shin: …..

Kino: That’s why I want to understand. Until now I didn’t think I needed that feeling, but welp, it’s not that I hate it.

So is that what it means to cooperate with friends? I don’t know yet.

Shin: ...I guess.

Kino: …..

Shin: …..

Kino: Hold on, why are you all quiet now? You’re making this awkward, man. At least say something.

Shin: Me too… I also think I just learned that recently.

Kino: Eh?

Shin: I’m a founder, and my ancestors were absolute in the past.

No-one was ever allowed to go against them. Moreover, those who didn’t obey them were beaten mercilessly.

Anybody and everybody was beating me. But there was a guy who surpassed him over me being injured.

Kino: You mean...

Shin: Yes, it was my brother.

No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t ever surpass my brother and that’s why I’ll never become the founder’s king.

I was so annoyed and frustrated by that fact, yet I couldn’t ever admit or recognize that.

Because of that, I wasn’t able to see through my own stupidity and never showed actual respect to my elder brother.

Kino: ...Yeah, I get that feeling. Ever since the moment I was born, I never felt anything other than regret. I never knew what to do and cried a lot as well.

I only wanted for someone to recognize my existence. And just like that, I’ve been continuously searching for the meaning of my existence...

Shin: Kino… don’t tell me you—

*Kino stays silent*

Kino: ...I’m fine with it, wanna continue?

Shin: ...Well, even if I was trying my hardest, it felt as if nothing I did helped me bear the burdens on my shoulders.

But when I met this guy, I was actually able to face my problem properly. I finally understood something I wanted.

And thanks to realizing that, I actually noticed the greatness of my brother now. All that thanks to that one guy.

Kino: Hmm… So does that mean you understand it now? The fact that you can’t surpass your brother, I mean.

Shin: No, that’s not really what I tried to get across the table with what I said...

In other words, I became aware how narrowed my field of vision used to be.

Therefore I’m really worried about my brother.

Kino: Heh. I’m glad you understood whatever you’re confident about now.

Shin: Before we escaped the Violet mansion some time ago, I left a letter for him to read there.

I hope this might give him a chance of somehow restoring his memory. Even if it might not make any sense to him.

I really want him to regain his memory as quickly as possible again, but that’s all I can do for now. I don’t think I’d be up to do that task straight away anyway…

*Kino stays silent*

Kino: At least you're doing whatever you’re able to right now.

Shin: Yes, I guess you could say so.

Kino: …..

Shin: ……

Kino: ...Well, if you’re leaving it as it is, he has to come back to you someday, right? So don’t feel too depressed about it.

Shin: Wait, what happened to your attitude? You were serious just a second ago.

Kino: Because I’m pretty sure he’ll remember and then come back to you. If I believe in that, you’ll do too, right?

Shin: ...Nn!

Kino: So don’t think too much about it. Let’s take a rest for today in preparation for what’s gonna happen tomorrow. I’m going to sleep now, good night.

Shin: Eh?

Kino: Zz… Zz…

Shin: —And he’s asleep already.

The chance of him coming back, hm… ? I really hope he will.

(But I do feel a little bit lighter all of the sudden now)

(When we first joined hands with each other I thought he’d only be a pretty troublesome person…)

(And despite that, maybe Kino and I could get unexpectedly along with each other)

[duckprintspress]

What is a Story?

When Duck Prints Press put out our call for applicants, we asked everyone to submit “a sample of their work (between 1,000 and 2,000 words)… [that] must function as a short story.” When we reviewed the 100+ samples we received, we noticed many areas where writers commonly struggled. Based on what we learned, we’ve planned a number of blog posts to discuss these challenging areas, and we’ve decided to tackle one of the most frequent issues first. Many otherwise strong submissions lost points on our rubric line regarding “plot and events,” and specifically, they scored a 1 or a 2 because “the story has no plot (for example, is a vignette).” 

So, this begs the question, what is a story, and, of course, what isn’t a story?

(note that throughout this post, I use the word “narrative” to refer to any amount of text that may or may not be a story, and I use story only in a more narrow, specific sense.)

What is a story?

The answer is deceptively simple: a story is any narrative that has a plot. But...what is a plot? There are many ways to define a plot, but at its most basic, a plot has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and by the ending, something has changed. If, at the end of the story, nothing has changed, then it’s not a story. However, even if something has changed, it’s still not necessarily a story, because characters and time-frame also influence the definition. A narrative without at least one character is not a story. Likewise, a narrative time-frame, if it’s discussing events at a meta-level (“this happened, then this happened, then this happened”) may show that changes occur, but it’s still not a story - it’s an overview or an outline. The lines, of course, can be blurry - and where any given author, reader, or DPP reviewer draws the line between “this is a story” and “this isn’t a story” will vary. 

How is a story communicated to the reader?

To function as a story, the narrative must include characters. Now, character doesn’t necessarily have to mean person, or even require sentience, but there must be some point of view being explored, and if the character is an animal or an inanimate object, writing it as a character will require a degree of anthropomorphizing. The key aspect is that the character has some form of agency - some ability to interact with and influence their surroundings. This character will have a point of view and a perspective that affects how they perceive the story’s setting, and by the end of the story this character should have either changed themselves, or changed their surroundings, or changed their relationships. The circumstances around this character must be different by the end of the story than they were at the beginning - or else it’s not a story.

What is change?

As part of the narrative, one or more characters in the story must engage in some form of activity that results in the world around them changing. Writing advice most oftenly calls this “conflict,” but honestly? I hate that word. The classic couching of “person vs. self, person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. society, person vs. fate” as the available types of conflict is tired. Defining the only kind of change as conflict and specifically describing it as “x versus y” is to automatically get a potential writer thinking in terms of antagonism. While antagonism is one available type of change, it’s not the only, and while many pieces of writing advice point out that these “versus” constructions don’t mean enmity by nature...why not simply choose a less confusing construction, one that doesn’t require addenda to explain the existence of narratives that clearly are stories but are less “versus” and more “and” - “person and self,” “person and person,” “person and nature,” “person and society,” “person and fate.” I’ve opted to use the word change, because one of the clearest ways to tell if a narrative is a story or not is to look at the nature of the character(s) are at the beginning, and look at the nature of them at the end, and say - what’s different? Maybe they’ve built something. Maybe they’ve reached a new understanding. Maybe they’ve conquered a challenge. Maybe they’ve altered their perspective. Maybe they’ve learned something. Maybe, they’ve changed the world, or maybe, they’ve just changed a light bulb - but something has changed.

Before some writing snob comes at me and says, “okay, fine, we dare you to come up with a plot that doesn’t fit into the classic five conflict types” ...of course we can’t. That model functions because all stories can be shoehorned into it, as long as very loose definition of “conflict” and “versus” are used. But because it’s described in oppositional terms, a lot of writers get distracted by that terminology and think there has to be, well, a conflict, in the narrow definition of the word. And that’s clearly absurd - many of our favorite fanfiction tropes, for example, are fluffy and comforting and soft precisely because they’re not about conflict, they’re about harmony. Yes, “enemies to lovers” is wonderful, but so is “friends to lovers.” Two people going on a date that ends with a marriage proposal is a story: they started out as a couple and ended engaged. Something has changed - their relationship status. But to call that “person versus person,” while perhaps technically correct, is ludicrous. Now, to keep it interesting, there might be some “person versus self” - “I’m not worthy of this love, omg do they really care for me, oh will society give us problems if we say yes?” which is how it can be shoehorned into the “conflict” model. But be it ever so soft, and their love ever so accepted, and their faith in each other ever so steady - if there really is no conflict, just those two people meeting up and having a nice night and ending in a proposal...it’s still a story. To say it’s not a story because there was no conflict, only an advancement of their relationship...yes, a story like that is borderline to being a vignette or “slice of life” narrative. Certainly, if there’s zero sources of tension, it may not be a very interesting story, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a story. 

What else does a story need?

Honestly - not much. Don’t get us wrong - a story is stronger if it has a setting so that it doesn’t just take place in endless blankness. A story with multiple characters but no form of dialog (verbal or non-verbal) may be a little flat. A story where something changes but some of the introduced plot elements aren’t resolved will feel incomplete to a reader. A story without any negativity could be boring. Stories lacking these elements may not be good stories...or they could be amazing, and innovative, showing how a tale can be told without elements we usually consider essential! As long as something or someone has changed, and the story is told in a narrative, descriptive format that includes a character - it’s a story.

What isn’t a story?

Things that aren’t stories fall into two broad categories:

Narratives that have description, characters, dialogue, setting, and other story elements, but nothing changes. Examples of this are “slice of life” narratives and what, in fandom-parlance, would be called an episode coda or canon insert - a chunk of narrative deliberately meant to make a bridge between two established events but in which nothing can change because the surrounding events remain established. (A coda or insert might be a story, it varies.)

Narratives that are either entirely “show” (for example, a vignette) or entirely “tell” (for example, a synopsis),  These can also be seen as relating to time - either there’s little or no passage of time (usually the case in vignettes) or far too much passage of time (usually the case in synopses). Narratives like this may or may not include a character, but even if they do, they’re still not stories. Why not? Because any story that is entirely “show” and involves minimal passage of time is unlikely to result in change, and instead will be an extended description of a moment. And any story that is entirely “tell” and depicts a large swath are overviews - there’s no element to actually grab a reader and no reason the reader should care about this dry relationship of events. That’s not a story - it’s a history textbook.

Drawing the lines between these categories can be difficult, and to some extent will come down to taste. Anyone who says there’s a hard-and-fast rule in writing is a liar. Just because a synopsis or a “slice of life” narrative isn’t usually a story doesn’t mean they will never be one. But, in general, if you’re looking at a piece of work and you’re trying to determine if it’s a story or not, there are some signs that will strongly suggest it’s not a story:

There are no characters.

There is no setting.

Nothing has changed between the beginning and ending of the narrative.

The entire narrative is an extended description of a single person/object/setting.

The entire narrative could easily be reworded into a sequence of, “thing one happened, then thing two happened, then thing three happened, then thing four happened.”

The narrative feels like a “pause,” or a “bridge” that takes place between two events that aren’t depicted in the narrative.

A central conflict or issue is introduced or described in details, but nothing is done to try to solve the issue.

Now, for the most important part of this discussion of what isn’t a story: writing something that isn’t a story isn’t a bad thing! Especially in fanfiction communities, we live for self-indulgent narratives that make us happy. We love to see those “moments between.” We live for a thought-out thousand-year history for some setting that didn’t originally have that much background. These kinds of narratives are fun to write, and especially when they’re part of an existing franchise, can be a delight to read. We are not saying that there is literally anything wrong with writing a narrative that isn’t a story. 

That said, Duck Prints Press’s applicant call specifically asked authors to submit a writing sample that was a story, with the eventual goal of selecting authors to write short stories for an anthology. Which is to say: there’s nothing wrong at all with writing “slice of life” stories, codas, canon inserts, vignettes, or synopses - it’s simply not what we asked people to submit in this specific case, and we’ve come to see that a lot of people submitted non-stories without an apparent understanding of the difference, and we wanted to explain that difference.

But, to everyone reading this: write whatever brings you joy, in as much detail or vagueness as makes you happy, and share it with whoever you want. Just also understand, that for many types of narratives, if you’re asked “is that a story?” it’s not. That’s not to create a hierarchy - they’re all equal as art forms, they’re just not the same.

Okay I kinda understand this in theory but what do these differences actually look like in practice?

In long-form works, it’s usually relatively easy to recognize what is a story and what isn’t. Almost every novel ever published has a plot, and has things change, and is therefore a story. (though there are exceptions - Wikipedia lists a few longer vignettes and, when done thoughtfully, it can be astonishingly effective.) However, in shorter works, it can be difficult to tell the difference - and, as previously mentioned, the lines can blur.

In the interest of giving an idea of what the differences are, here are a few examples I quickly cooked up to try to show you all, since I’ve done a lot of “telling” so far (this blog post: also not a story, ha!) and very little demonstration. These are each around 150 words, to show that even in a tiny word count, any of these narrative structures is a viable choice. (Sorry these aren’t high literature - I just threw them together for this post, so I’d have something that suited.)

(read more)

A story - a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end, where something changes:

The door slammed open. Looking up from her embroidery, Victoria blinked as Margaret strode into the room.There was an air of expectancy that was inexplicable to Victoria; she grew more confused when Margaret approached and dropped to one knee.

“What are you doing?” Heart pounding, Victoria attempted self-restraint, but she couldn’t rein in her hope, because it almost looked like...it seemed like...but--

“Proposing,” announced Margaret, pulling a velvet-covered box from her pocket and opening to reveal an emerald set in a gold band.

“But you can’t!”

Margaret tilted her head to the side and frowned. “Why not?”

Objections occurred to Victoria, but examining them...she couldn’t think of a one that Margaret wouldn’t demolish with her usual brilliance. “You know what? You’re right. Who’s to stop us? And...I accept.”

And as Margaret slipped the ring onto Victoria’s finger, she knew: there could be no objection. Nothing had ever felt so right in her life.

“Slice of life” - a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end, where nothing changes:

“What a day!” said James, dropping onto the couch with an exhausted sigh. 

“I know what you mean,” Tom agreed. He fumbled a hand across the cushion separating them, and James delighted in the simple comfort of threading their fingers together.

A beep, beep, beep sounded in the kitchen, announcing that the microwave had finished nuking their leftovers.

“You getting that?” asked Tom.

“It’s your turn!” James countered.

“But I don’t want to let go of your hand.” Tom gave his hand a squeeze, and a pleased glow suffused James’s chest.

It was Tom’s turn to retrieve their dinner.

But Tom was right - holding hands was wonderful.

“Let’s get it together,” James suggested. 

Hesitating, Tom remained still as James sit up and gave a tug on their joined arms, then he broke into a smile and rose at James’s side.

“I love the way you think.”

“I love you, too, darling”

And together - always together - they got their dinner.

“Bridge” scene, episode coda, or canon insert-style fic - a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end, where nothing changes:

Arriving home after the battle, Sandy opened the rough-hewn door and shed her damaged armor. Her dented cuirass had left an aching bruise across her chest; she carried it to the smithy out back for repair in the morning. A gash on her thigh throbbed where an arrow had pierced the straps holding her greaves in places; she brought them to her leather-working station. Nicks and fissures marred her once-gleaming sword blade. All Sandy wanted was to collapse in bed, but resisted the pull of relaxation, because blood limned the damaged places red, and repair to the damaged weapon couldn’t wait. Taking a seat, placed her feet on the treadles that set her whet stone to spinning and set about polishing out every imperfection.

Yes, she was exhausted.

But her sword must be cleaned, and smoothed, and honed, and prepared.

Sandy must be prepared.

There would always be another battle to be fought.

Vignette, a narrative without a beginning, a middle, or an end, which may or may not have a character, and nothing changes and in which the emphasis is on showing, rather than telling (but, as in this example, a combination may be used):

The wind blew chill down the narrow mountain pass. All was silent, save for the rush of the breeze. All was still, save where gusts stirred the tall grasses and the branches of trees that reached, claw-like, toward the sky. 

Once upon a time, a stream had carved this cut through the cliffs, forcing its way through soft chalk and hard shale, leaving jagged stones that emerged from the steep pass walls like teeth. The stream was long dry, now, only water-smoothed stones strewn across the ground to show where it had ever been.

Once upon a time, travellers had traversed the dried-up rill bed, pounding down the dirt, knocking the rocks aside, leaving scars where their fires burned. They’d lived, and laughed, and explored, and sought...and left, never to return.

Now, there was nothing: nothing but the storm.

And all was silent.

And all was still.

And the wind blew, chill, down the narrow mountain pass.

Synopsis, a narrative with a beginning, a middle and an end, which may or may not have characters, and where something changes, and in which  the emphasis is on telling rather showing:

Emperor Xiang Zhen was born in 9884 to Dowager Empress Luo Zexi and the warlord Xiang Yijun. After his birth, there was a long period of strife. Those who supported Xiang Yijun’s claim to the throne battled those who still supported the Dowager Empress’s deceased husband Peng Zhenya. Eventually, the factions found common ground when Xiang Zhen came of age, and he was enthroned in 9902. 

With his reign came peace and prosperity. The arts flourished. Scholarship advanced, and many great Dao masters arose, using cultivation to rid the land of evil’s left by the long war. Xiang Zhen longed to join a Night Hunt himself, but he was trapped by his political position. He didn’t dare risk the fragile stability in the Empire. If something happened to him, the results could be catastrophic. So he studied, and ruled, and adjudicated, and endowed, and endured.

Xiang Zhen did as he must.

But, oh...he wished he weren’t alone.

I know this is long, so we’ll leave this discussion at this point. Hopefully you found it helpful, and please do let me know if you have any questions! Duck Prints Press is always here to offer support to writers, and we love getting writing asks!

[catie-does-things]

Patterns in Given Names in the World of Avatar

Or, Naming Your Avatar OC’s: Beyond Baby Name Lists

Naming an original character in any fantasy setting can be a tricky business. Do you use a real name? Do you make one up? Either way, it has to sound like it fits into the established world - but you don’t want it to sound too similar to the names of canon characters, either. In this post, I will offer an analysis of canon names of major and minor characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, looking for discernible patterns in the names of each of the fictional cultures of that world, and offer some suggestions based on my own experience for how to choose or create names for original characters in that world.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using a “baby name list” for inspiration or even taking a real name from one of the cultures the show is based on and using it. But since the fictional cultures of the show are not complete carbon copies of real cultures, just picking a name from a list of Inuit or Japanese names won’t always give you one that actually fits in with the Avatar world. And maybe you’ve seen enough Water Tribe OC’s named Nanook (I’m guilty of this one myself) and want to get a little more creative. In that case, welcome to the advanced OC naming class.

And yes, there will be color coded spreadsheets.

Methods and Goals

To get a feel for what sort of names will sound like they fit into the world of Avatar, we of course have to look at the names of canon characters. For our purposes, I chose to exclude characters who only appear in spin-off material such as the comics or Kyoshi novels, and only look at the given names of characters from the two shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. I have sorted the characters by nation, as well as into cultural subdivisions where applicable. LoK characters from the United Republic of Nations have their own category, since in most cases we do not technically know the specific cultural origin of those characters’ names - though based on the patterns below and other context clues, we can make a reasonable guess for many of them. Characters whose names appear to be nicknames or pseudonyms (such as Longshot and Lightning Bolt Zolt) have also been left out. 

The aim of this analysis is to look for phonetic and other patterns in the names of each cultural group within the world of Avatar. We will be looking at the names as spelled using the Latin alphabet, since this is how most fan fiction is written, and how the character names are given in official material, but keep in mind that within the world of the show, all nations use the Han Chinese writing system, so names or syllables spelled differently in the Latin alphabet might be represented by the same character in-universe, or vice versa.

Finally, my guidelines and suggestions for how to choose or create OC names are just that: guidelines and suggestions. These are not rules. It’s your OC, you do what you want.

Without further ado, let’s start looking at some names.

The Water Tribes.

We don’t have quite the sample size for Water Tribe characters that we’ll see for some of the other nations, but 28 names is still plenty to look at. Notably, we have far more male (18) than female (10) names, a pattern we will see repeated without exception. Draw your own conclusions.

Water Tribe names appear to mostly be two or three syllables long, with most of the one syllable names being from the Foggy Swamp Tribe. Hahn from the Northern Water Tribe is the only other one syllable name. Two syllable names are the most common with 19 names, which is about two-thirds of the total. Three syllable names account for 5 out of the total 28, or less than one fifth - still, this makes them more common than names of the same length in any other nation, and more common than one syllable names in the Water Tribes, especially if you exclude the Foggy Swamp. If you’re looking to use an authentic Inuit or other Arctic indigenous name for your Water Tribe OC, I would be wary of names longer than three syllables, though, as we have none of these in canon.

Consistent with Inuit names, we do have a lot of /k/ and /g/ sounds. The letters K and Q are pronounced the same in Water Tribe names, though in Inuit they represent different sounds. 18 out of the 28 names have at least one of these sounds, with /k/ being far more common than /g/ (17 vs. 2 names). Of course, having the letter K in your Water Tribe OC’s name is by no means necessary, and especially if you are creating a lot of Water Tribe characters, you probably want some variation.

The digraphic consonant sounds /ch/, /sh/, and /th/ are almost totally absent, with the exception of one name from the Foggy Swamp, Tho. The /r/ sound is also never found at the beginning of a name, and the /j/, /l/, /w/, and /f/ sounds are totally absent. The /v/ sound is absent from all given names, but notably appears in the surname Varrick not included above.

Regarding gender differences, both male and female names can end in -a, but this is much more common for female names, with 3 male names compared to 8 female names having this ending. Notably, this accounts for all but two of the female names, and all of the female names end in a vowel. Consonant endings appear to be exclusively masculine, with final /k/ sounds being common, whether spelled with K or Q (8 out of 18 male names), though masculine names can also end in vowel sounds.

There do not appear to be major differences between the Northern and Southern Water Tribe names, however the three names we have from the Foggy Swamp Tribe are definitely distinct - all one syllable, and all open syllables ending in vowels. These sound more like Earth Kingdom names, as we’ll see, which makes sense given the location of the Foggy Swamp.

To my knowledge, only handful of the Water Tribe names are authentic Inuit names, and they are all characters from LoK: Desna, Yakone, Noatak, Unalaq, and Tonraq, or 5 out of the 28 total names. Yue is an authentic name, but a Chinese one. The main Water Tribe characters such as Katara, Sokka, and Korra all have invented names. So yes, you can pick from an Inuit baby names list (and Nanook does fit the patterns we see above), but you are by no means limited to this.

The Earth Kingdom

Since the Earth Kingdom is the largest of the nations, it makes sense that we have the most names to look at here, with 79 names total, including 56 male names and 23 female names. I’ve included Jet with a question mark, because he may be using a pseudonym like the rest of the Freedom Fighters do, but his name is also plausible as the one his parents gave him. Macmu-Ling, the name of the haiku master in Ba Sing Se, may also be a surname, but this is unclear given the limited information on the character.

One syllable names are much more common in the Earth Kingdom, accounting for 30 out of 56 male names and 10 out of 23 female names. This is roughly half of all Earth Kingdom names, or 40 out of 79. Two syllable names account for 34 out of the 79, or about 43%, with three syllable names being rare overall, just 5 names or 6%. Overall, Earth Kingdom names tend to be shorter, which is consistent with a basis in Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese names.

Unlike with Water Tribe names, there do not appear to be specific sounds that stand out as distinctively Earth Kingdom. Notably, nearly all names begin with consonants, with only 6 names beginning with a vowel, and always A or O. All of the consonant sounds found in English are represented in at least one name. The /ch/, /sh/, and /th/ digraphic sounds are all present, though not abundantly common. The Earth Kingdom being large and diverse, this greater diversity in names also makes sense.

There is evidence of unisex names in the Earth Kingdom. Wu is used by both a male and female character (Prince Wu and Aunt Wu), and the name Song which is listed as female above we will see again as the name of a male earthbender in Republic City. Other names could also be unisex, but as most are only used by one character, we have no way to know. The only noticeable gendered pattern seems to be that several female characters have English names, which I separated into the fifth column above. This seems to be exclusive or near-exclusive to Earth Kingdom women. Jet could also be interpreted as an English name, but as previously mentioned, this is possibly a pseudonym anyway.

The few named characters we have from Kyoshi Island all have authentic Japanese names, or at least names taken from the Japanese language - oyaji is an affectionate term meaning “old man” or “father”. Kyoshi is distinct from the rest of the Earth Kingdom in many other ways, including a history of isolationism which Japan also has. As for the sandbenders, we only have two names, but Ghashiun stands out as rather distinct in its spelling. Visually, the sandbenders resemble the Tuareg people of the Sahara region, so that might be the direction you want to go if you’re looking for authentic names to use for your sandbender OC’s.

The curious name Macmu-Ling is based on the surname of the writer for the episode she appeared in, Lauren MacMullan.

Fire Nation

We have 13 female names and 33 male names, for a total of 46 known Fire Nation names. 

Two syllable names are most common, with 20 male and 6 female names, accounting for 26 out of the total 46, which is more than half. 15 names have one syllable, which is about one third of the total. Only 5 names have three syllables, or just one tenth, and once again there are no names longer than that. 

The letter Z stands out as appearing in 8 names, while it’s much more rare in the other nations - though notably the Z in Zhao is pronounced differently than in the other names. Also worth noting is that all the names with Z other than Zhao - that is, all the names where Z is pronounced as it would be in English - are names of members of the royal family, with the exception of Kuzon. The digraphic sounds /ch/ and /sh/ are both present, but /th/ is not. Other absent sounds include /v/ and /w/.

The Fire Nation gives us our only example of gendered variants on the same name with Azulon and Azula. This implies that the -a ending is generally feminine, though we only have two female names that use it. Ilah ends with the same sound, albeit spelled with a silent H. There is also one masculine name, Yon Rha, that ends in -a, though with a different pronunciation (/ah/ vs. /uh/). The -on ending may also be masculine or generally masculine, but again, only two names use it. Female names are also more likely to end in the /ee/ sound, whether spelled -i or -ee, with 6 of the 13 female names ending this way. Only two male names end with this sound, and one of them, Li, is unisex. 

In terms of basis in real world cultures, the Fire Nation often gets heavily identified with Japan in fanon, because they are an island nation with a history of imperialism, but what we see in canon is much more of a blend of Asian cultures, like the other nations. Some names, like Izumi and Roku are Japanese in origin, but some are also Chinese or Chinese-based such as Chan and Lu Ten. And as with the Water Tribes, the main characters like Zuko, Azula, Iroh, and Ozai, tend to have invented names. (Zuko especially would be odd as a Japanese name, since the -ko suffix in Japanese is feminine.) The name Ursa, curiously, is Latin - the feminine form of the word for “bear”. So while you certainly can use Japanese names for your Fire Nation OC’s, as with Inuit names in the Water Tribe, you’re not limited to that by any means. In fact, based on what we see in canon, I would say that if you’re creating several Fire Nation OC’s, you should have about an even mix of Japanese, Chinese, and invented names.

Air Nomads

With only 13 names, of which 9 are male and 4 are female, this is the smallest sample we have for any of the nations - understandably, since the Air Nomads are all but extinct for most of both shows. We’re even technically assuming that all of Tenzin’s children have Air Nomad names, but this is probably a safe assumption.

Two syllable names are still most common, with 9 of the 13, or about three fourths of the total. There are three names with three syllables, or a little less than one fourth. Aang has the only one syllable name.

With so few names, it’s hard to draw firm conclusions about phonetic patterns. The -a ending is seen on one name for each gender, as is the -i ending, and the -o ending appears on two male names and one female name. The -u ending only appears on one male name, but given the small sample size this doesn’t necessarily indicate a female Air Nomad name couldn’t have the same ending.

We do have clear and distinct real world basis for several Air Nomad names. Tenzin and Gyatso are both taken from the religious name of the current Dalai Lama. Rohan is an Indian name, and Laghima is a Hindu term for the spiritual power of becoming weightless. (Coincidentally, Rohan is also a French surname, but it was presumably the Indian name that the show meant to reference.) Pasang is a Nepali name, though a female one as far as I can tell, whereas it is used for a male Air Nomad. Tibetan, Nepalese, and Sanskrit names would thus all be good places to look for inspiration for your Air Nomad OC’s - though again, don’t feel limited to that. Chinese inspired names would also fit in, and Aang, like all the main characters, has an invented name.

United Republic of Nations

This group of character names, all from The Legend of Korra obviously, has to be considered differently. While we can make educated guesses as to the fictional ethnicity of most of these names, the fact is that many of these characters may be of mixed heritage and we can’t say for sure what the origins of their names are. In the chart below, I have color coded the names according to my best guess for nation of origin, rather than by gender. Names left in white, in my opinion, could be either Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation, and nothing about those characters gives us further clues.

With 31 names, we do have a decent sample size. Presumably Mako is a Fire Nation name and Bolin is Earth Kingdom, and based on the sound they do seem to fit in with those nations respectively. Raiko has a question mark because it is unclear if this is a given name or surname, but it does seem to follow the Zuko and Mako pattern and thus be most likely Fire Nation in origin. We also have the name Yasuko, for a character who is supposed to be of Fire Nation descent, using the -ko suffix on a feminine name.

Ginger and Buttercup I have designated as most likely Earth Kingdom because they are English names, and as we previously saw, only Earth Kingdom women seem to have names of this variety. Pema is presumably of at least partial Earth Kingdom descent based on her green eyes - this is also a real Bhutanese name. Characters like Lu, Gang, Daw, and Chung are all shown wearing green, and have one syllable names of the kind which are most common in the Earth Kingdom.

Hasook has a very distinctively Water Tribe name, and is of course a waterbender. Tahno and Ming-Hua are both waterbenders as well, though their names are less distinctively Water Tribe. These could simply be less typical names from one of the two polar tribes, or they may have Foggy Swamp Tribe heritage. (I believe this was a popular headcanon for Tahno, at least.) The possibility also exists that they have mixed heritage and may have Earth Kingdom or even Fire Nation names in spite of being waterbenders.

Conclusion

Like everything else in the world of Avatar, the names of the characters are inspired by and based on many real world cultures, primarily Asian, but no one fictional nation in the Avatar world corresponds exactly to a real world culture. When we look for or create names for original characters in this world, we want to respect the real world basis of these fictional cultures, but simply picking a Chinese, Japanese, or Inuit name from a list may not always jive with what we see in canon, in addition to running the risk of being a bit stereotypical.

With the canon patterns outlined above, fan fiction writers and fan artists should feel free to expand their search for names to other Asian, Arctic, or North African cultures, such as Thai, Burmese, Nepalese, Yupik, Aleut, or Berber names. Baby name lists can be helpful, but are often dubiously reliable, especially for non-Western cultures. Personally, when I want to give an OC an authentic name, I prefer to use Wikipedia to find real people from the culture or cultures I’m drawing on. I’ve joked about my own tendency to pick names of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean saints for my fan fiction, but searching for Wikipedia lists or categories of artists, philosophers, or scientists from a given culture can also be useful.

Wherever one chooses to look, name lists are best treated as a starting place - a name from a given real culture won’t necessarily fit into a given Avatar culture, and a name from a certain Avatar culture does not have to come from any particular real world culture. Fans should also feel free to invent names of their own, as the creators of Avatar did. Of the 20 major OC’s in my story Fate Deferred, half of them have real names or variations on real names, and the other half are invented.

And if you want to have a female Earth Kingdom OC named something like Jasmine or Crystal - these are also perfectly in line with canon.

[razorblade180]

Interdimensional Moms: part 1

Intro <-

Yang:So how we doin this? Drawing straws or... well we actually don’t have straws here so-

Weiss:It’s obvious that you wanna go first.

Blake:Extremely obvious.

Ruby:All over your face.

Yang:Hey now, don’t call me out like that! We all have so much to sort out here. I don’t even know where to begin. Differences could start and stop anywhere for all we really know.

Blake:From what it seems, Beacon itself would have one or two minor changes, but the real changes start after the fall. At least, for you three that is.

Weiss:You saying you’re different?

Blake:Unless you three started going on dates with Jaune at Beacon, then yes, I’m different.

RWY:(They’ve been together that long!?)

Yang:Okay, starting from Beacon...nothing really stands out too much. Jaune and I were just friends. *cringes* Back then, a certain faunus caught my eye.

Blake:Ah...right. I guess that tracks in practically every universe.

RW:Oh yeah it does. You two are joined at the hip.

Yang:Haha, really? Glad to hear it. My Blake and I are best buds! Remnant has never seen such a dynamic duo! Can’t say it didn’t take a lot of time effort after a rough patch. We actually dated in my world.

Blake:Same.

Yang:What!? How long?

Blake:I don’t know, it was pretty on again off again.

Yang:Well for me it was after Haven. Both of us had gotten pretty serious. All the growing we’ve done together and apart had brought us closer. However, Adam unintentionally put a wedge between us. His attempt to change and the problems that came with it were-

Yang stopped midway and saw the confused faces of her otherworldly teammates. They were shocked, confused even. Especially Blake, who looked the most shocked of all.

Yang:Umm did I say something odd?

Blake:Adam, he...isn’t dead?

Yang:Oh, well I guess that’s the start of the major changes then. Blake and I fought Adam at Argus. Stabbed him through the chest and watched him fall down rocks into a river.

Ruby:That lines you with my world. Dude died that day. Like any normal person should.

Yang:Well Adam is anything but fucking normal. Man has the craziest luck. A young women, the winter maiden in fact, she saved his life. She’s not exactly normal either. The maiden, Jacquelyn, ended up sticking by him to see if she could change his ways. This naturally meant we’d run into them again. And that’s how things fell apart.

Blake:What do you mean?

Yang:You were fully committed to seeing if Adam could actually change. I wasn’t, so we constantly butted heads in any situation involving him. Then we would fight about things that had nothing to do with at all. Eventually, we broke it off. We remained on decent terms but I was pretty heartbroken about the disconnect. Enter our lovable blonde idiot. Jaune did everything in his power to cheer me up.

Weiss:Sounds like him. Always such a bleeding heart. That boy just can’t help himself. Let me guess, his kindness and concern made you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Yang:Hehe, guilty. It was more of his willingness to laugh at my puns. Jaune’s always been interesting to talk to. He tries to act cool and calm even though he’s terrible at it, then comes clean right after. Before I knew it I was telling him things I hadn’t talked about with people before. I could tell he looked at me like most guys do, but also genuinely wanted to listen to me. Talk about playing unfair; he got defenseless. Suddenly I was smiling again. Anytime with him was time well spent. Then one day, I kissed him.

Ruby:Happily ever after?

Yang:Not even close! Hahaha!

Weiss:Why do you sound proud?

Yang:It’s funny looking back at it to a certain degree. Gods, I was such a brat. More than a few fights are on me. Between Blake, Raven, and other experiences, my insecurities flared up in ugly ways over nothing. It even got us to break up too. I was officially done with dating. My Ruby was out in an uncomfortable position.

Ruby:I bet! I’d never want you two fighting. Especially in my world. Picking between the person I love and my sister!? I don’t know what will happen.

Yang:I kinda do. *sets up* You’d start dating Jaune because you’ve looked at him since Beacon. The two of you would confide in each other and share a special kind of love, but it would be bittersweet. All because your sister still pines for him and never met to make him leave, and Jaune never says it, but he hates how things fell apart. He’s faithful to you and would never do you wrong, a guy to truly cherish. So... you let him go. Watch him walk back to your sister like you asked, because my happiness was worth that much to you.

Ruby:....

Yang: In my world at least. Honestly it’s still the most amazing thing I’ve seen you do. We must’ve cried over that conversation for hours. I felt so guilty and you only smiled, hugging me tight. Jaune and I had a few more stumbles. Nothing serious though. Eventually we moved in together when the world was saved. You and Oscar got together officially which made me happy. Even made our weddings a competition of who’d make dad bawl his eyes out the most. You won by the way; Raven came back into our family and into dad’s arms. Last but not least I had a baby. Yujin Xiao Long, my fucking pride and joy from above.

Weiss:Wow, that’s a lot.

Blake:What am I doing? Did I marry Sun?

Yang:Yep. You and blondes Blake, I tell ya.

Weiss:Hold the phone! Who am I with!?

Yang:Pretty sure you’re technically single. Buuuut, Neo and your have gotten pretty friendly from what I managed to interrogate out of you.

Weiss:That’s, highly unexpected. For a number of reasons.

Yang:Better believe it. Besides Cinder, a few crazies, and Salem, a few people made something of themselves. Dying sucks after all.

Ruby:You have a dead Cinder?

WBY: You don’t?

Ruby:*crosses arms* Hmph, I’ll wait my turn. Yang, you said you’re the only mother from our team. If Blake and I have been married for quite some time then what, we don’t want kids?

The joyful sunshine from Yang slipped into grayer skies. Her smile faded and it increasingly got harder to look at this Ruby without thinking of her own.

Yang:Are you sure that’s something you wanna know? I’ll tell you, but I didn’t want to bring down the mood with the problems where I from.

Blake:Problems? How big of a problem.

Yang:The biggest we’ve faced. It’s...a lot.

Ruby:Well we’ve listened this far. *takes hand* Lay it on us.

Yang:Pfft, oh boy. So...umm...another secret war came up. One that caused us to leave our friends and family for over a decade.

Weiss:A decade!?

Blake:What gets worse after Salem!? Who tries anything after a grimm queen!?

Yang:So a majority of Remnant was still unaware of her, but a fight like that can only be kept under wraps so tightly. Plenty of people still learned fractions of the truth. A few of those people weren’t exactly nice guys. They idolized her efforts and became her followers that wanted to keep her will alive, starting with taking revenge on the people who defeated her. We were so unaware. So caught up in normalcy. They ambushed us, and I mean everyone. We...we didn’t come out unscathed. Ren was crippled badly. Weiss, you almost your brother. Jaune’s family got hit but thankfully lived. The real casualties were aimed to hurt Ruby.

Ruby:Oh, of course. S-So, either you’re about to say I had no time to start a family, or...

Yang:...

Yang:When I tell you the look you made when you learned what happened to Oscar, to Qrow... that’s the moment it felt like my little sister left forever. Till this day you don’t smile like you used to. Very recently, now that it’s finally over, you’ve started looking better, but those ten years were hell. We choose to go out and fight again, avoiding contact with family. I haven’t had a real opportunity to be in my daughters life.

Ruby:How old is she?

Yang:Sixteen soon. Left her when she was four so you know. *tearing up* I missed everything. Just about anyways. Ironically it was Raven and Adam that helped her through the years with Jaune and Dad. Eventually we came back and ooohh boy was Yujin not thrilled in the slightest. Hehehe. Her right hook is really strong. I only had about a week with her before things got complicated again. *wipes eyes* But it’s okay. We left on good term. Something I definitely don’t feel like I deserve.

Blake:I can’t believe a thing like that would be possible.

Yang:Cults are a huge problem in Remnant now. You’re definitely aware of that. You actually oversee a little group from the shadows to deal with them in secret. An idea you got from experience. Adam works for you and everything. Hate to admit, but he’s become the guy you wanted him to be. Even has a family. I’m grateful to him. He personally kept my girl safe.

Blake:To think I’d hear you say that. Now I know this isn’t my world.

Yang:Don’t get me wrong, I still will hit him if given the chance. My life hasn’t been charmed and sacrifices too great were happening way too many times but it finally has gotten to a point where everyone feels like we’re taking steps towards a better future.

Weiss:Moving forward?

Yang:Yes, I was trying to avoid the phrase but yes Weiss, we’re moving forward. Still... *looks at Ruby*....

Ruby:W-What?

Yang:It’s unreal seeing you like this. My Ruby has become so strong and endured but hasn’t really picked herself up completely. All her tragedy stemmed from the loss of Oscar and Qrow; her last talk with Oscar was fight about kids too. That’s the entire reason she went off alone in the first place. Looking at you I can’t help but question my own choices. If...I just let her stay with Jaune, then maybe-

Ruby:Nope.

Yang:Huh?

Ruby:Look, if I know anything about your world, then it’s gonna be me and I can tell you without a doubt your Ruby doesn’t blame or would consider her own happiness without you. She loved you enough to take the chance to find love again. You really think there’s anything you could’ve done differently at that point. That girl is as stubborn as they come! *smiles* So buck up cowgirl. You deserve it.

A sense of warmth came over Yang as she heard those words. This other Ruby smiled at her with the same love as her own; completely caring about Yang’s feeling before her own. Yang felt so...unburdened. She couldn’t help but cry a little, laughing softly as she did. Who would’ve thought love could transcend worlds? It was so vindicating, therapeutic even.

Yang:Ruby, you’re something else entirely, you know that?

Ruby:It’s my curse. All I ever wanted was normal knees but the world said “no, special eyes!”

Yang:Well I guess I should thank the world then?

Weiss:You said your Ruby is getting better? That’s good. Still, it must be pretty weird looking at Jaune. Can’t imagine how lonely it must feel losing a love twice.

Blake:It never numbs.

Yang:Geez you two, lighten up. We can’t all be depressed. Ruby also didn’t lose Jaune. Actually....there may or may not have been an interesting...arrangement for a brief period of time.

Ruby:Ehhh what?

Yang:Hehehe well, hahaha, ummmm a decade is a very long time without feeling any kind of pleasure in a bleak situation. And you know me, I have to share things with you all my life.

Ruby:OH MY GOD!!!

Blake:*grinning* Yooooo! You loaned out Jaune!?

Weiss:That’s....accurate; in a lot of ways.

Ruby:That’s so scandalous! How could you!?

Yang:I didn’t force it! I gave the option, you said no, then you changed your mind because things got real stressful. Like come on, a decade of death and loneliness.

Ruby:Sigh...yeah. I can see it. Still, it’s so filthy. He’s a married man. What, so I’d just look at you and say “Yang I’m gonna sleep with Jaune, don’t come in the room.”

Yang:....

Ruby:What?

Yang:....Nothing.

Ruby:Bullshit! What is it!?

Yang:*scratches head* Well, I was lonely too, and a week is only so long-

Weiss:Oh so it was a group thing!!?

Ruby:WHAT!?

Yang:Only sometimes!

Ruby:SOMETIMES!?

Blake:HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! THAT IS AMAZING!

Ruby:Why are you laughing!?

Blake:Because that’s just so extreme, and not, all at the same time. I could totally see that happening.

Weiss:Same. Dang, Jaune slept with sisters. That’s dangerously close to being like your dad.

Ruby:That’s different!

Blake:Is it though?

Yang:Eh, I don’t see the problem. We’re all grown and make choices. Plus I’m the one who guided you through awkward teenage changes. It not like we didn’t share a room for years.

Ruby:That doesn’t make it okay.

Yang:Eh debatable.

Ruby:*red* It isn’t though! How could I do something so bold!? So taboo!?

Weiss:It isn’t like you’re the one who did it. Just a version of you.

Ruby:Not better!

Yang:Awwww it’s okay Ruby. Let’s hug it out. Hehehe *opens arms*

Ruby:Don’t touch me!

Weiss and Blake laugh until their sides hurt as Ruby tries escaping the bear hug that terrorized her. Yang’s world found interesting for sure. Weiss finally decides to help Ruby out.

Weiss:Got a picture of Yujin?

Yang’s eyes lit up and pulled out her scroll. Her team huddled around her and collectively cooed like that parents they are at the sight of a blonde young girl with gorgeous blue eyes with a black combat school graduation cap and gown and a certificate proudly raised up high. If it wasn’t for those eyes and shoulders length hair, they might’ve mistaken her for Yang.

Yang:She’s going to Beacon early because she’s fucking awesome like her mom.

Ruby:I think you mean her aunt?

Yang:I know what I said.

Weiss:I bet she’s just as hardheaded.

Blake:What do you think your kid is up to right now?

Yang: Well...*smiles*

xxxx

The girl in question sat at a work bench with oil on her face and her hands busy tinkering with gauntlets. She looked over at blueprints in a journal. If they were right, then she was definitely doing something wrong. How her mother made something so complex was crazy!

Yujin:Come on Yujin. You can fix a car, making gauntlets into a sword that don’t break should be easy!

Footsteps came up from behind her and a plate stacked with sandwiches. She looked up and smiled at her dad that gave her a wink, then kissed her forehead.

Jaune:Haveing fun, you grease monkey.

Yujin:Jokes on you, I like monkeys. Just a few more attempts and I’ll have the coolest weapon in Remnant. That entrance exam is as good as aced.

Jaune:Not if you don’t have a landing strategy. Tomorrow we’re going on a trip.

Yujin:Does it happen to be near a cliff?

Jaune:Who can say? Rule one of being a huntsman, be prepared for everything.

He ruffled her hair and left, laughing evilly. Yujin could tell he’s been waiting for this day. She pulled out her scroll and searched through a collection of videos labeled “mom” and found a super early one. She hit play and watched her mother give a peace sign to the camera as trees increasingly got closer from below.

Yang:Beacon rules!!!! Wooohooo!

The camera flipped and focused on a familiar blonde flailing through the air like a doll in the distance.

Yang:Oof, hate to be that guy! Wait, that’s vomit boy! Hahah, hope he survives. He owes me shoes. Poor dude. I guess he needs more training in flirting and landing. Wait, eugh I think he barfed again! Hahaha!

Jaune:Stop watching that one!!!!

Yujin:Hahaha but it’s the best one. The ending is priceless.

Jaune: *walks back down*

Yang:Well if he survives this I guess I can off him at least I can offer him mints and company. Fake it to ya make Jaune. Between me and Ruby, at least you’ll look like a player. Heh, nah, I don’t think I can support a bunny onesie.

Yujin and Jaune:*grinning* And then she did! *high-fives* Arc charm, baby!

[calwrites]

The Halloween Party

Summary: Reader has lived across the hall from Penelope Garcia for a couple years and considers her to be one of her best friends. That’s the only reason she agreed to go to a Halloween match making party.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.2k

I wrote this very quickly so it’s not the best, but I couldn’t let Halloween go by without writing something for Reid.

——————

“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this stupid match making thing,” you grumbled at the blonde currently on your couch.

Penelope Garcia smiled at you over her wine glass. “Well I wanted to go but only if my favorite neighbor did it too.”

“I’m the only neighbor you talk to,” you pointed out. Penelope stuck her tongue out at you and waved her empty glass in the air. You rolled your eyes, but refilled her glass anyway.

You and Penelope had lived in the same building for a few years. When you had seen the brightly dressed woman lugging boxes down the hall, you had offered to help her move everything in. She had intrigued you. You had passed each other in the hall a couple of times after that, but had never really talked until one evening when you heard a knock on your door.

It had puzzled you because you were still pretty new to the area so you didn’t have any friends who would be dropping by unexpectedly. Opening the door, you had found Penelope standing in the hall crying.

“I had a really bad day at work. I just really need someone to talk to,” she had said. You ushered her in and spent the night learning about Penelope’s job as a technical analyst for the BAU. Now whenever Penelope’s team got through with a tough case, she would come collapse on your couch while the two of you drank wine and decompressed.

“You’re also the one who told me to get out there and forget about Kevin,” Penelope countered.

“Yeah well I didn’t think you’d drag me along.”

“It’s not just you! I convinced some of my friends at the BAU to sign up too. Besides, I know you’re excited for the party. You already bought two dresses.” She pointed at the dresses still laying out on your kitchen table. You were trying to decide whether a black dress or white dress would be better for your costume.

“I’m always excited for a Halloween costume party. I just never thought I’d be one of those sad people who signs up for a matchmaking party.”

“Y/N, you are one of the smartest people I know. And I work for the FBI. I know a lot of smart people. The only reason you’re still single is because whenever you get time off from teaching you spend it trying to solve impossible math equations. And I thought you said your match sounded nice.”

You sighed. “Trying to solve an impossible math equation is arguably the most important part of my job. I think the university cares more about that than the courses I teach sometimes. I guess he does seem nice. He’s either very smart or he’s very good at using google to sound smart. Either way, when you look at the data, the likelihood of finding a long term partner through a survey is-“

Penelope groaned. “No! I get enough info dumping at work. Let’s just talk about the party. It’s next weekend and you’re buying clothes for it so I assume you and your partner decided on your costumes. What is it?”

When Penelope had invited you to a Halloween costume party, you had been quick to accept. She then told you that it was a matchmaking party where you had to fill out a survey and were then matched with another attendee. Pairs would have to decide on costumes and then find each other at the party. Until then, pairs wouldn’t know who the other person was. Definitely not your usual definition of fun.

“I’m not telling you,” you teased. Penelope gasped on faux anger before the two of you burst into laughter and decided on a movie to watch.

——————

You stared at your computer screen intently, willing the message to change.

I’ve been out of state for a work trip for the past few days. I didn’t mention it earlier because I was hoping that we would get back in plenty of time. It took a couple more days than we were anticipating though. We’re about to take off, so I’ll make it back in time for the party but I won’t have time to put out on my whole costume. I can just wear the cape or something if you don’t have any better suggestions. I’m looking forward to meeting you tonight.

You chewed your lip thoughtfully before an idea popped into your head. And you began typing back a response.

That’s a shame. I was looking forward to seeing your Masque of the Red Death costume. I have a new idea though. What character refused to wear a costume to a costume ball?

The response came back almost immediately.

And I was looking forward to seeing your Leonore costume. I’m sure that there are a number of characters who fit that description. Would you like a list?

You smiled and rolled your eyes.

It’s another gothic story. He’s throwing the fancy dress party, but he refuses to dress up. His new wife’s costume causes a bit of a stir. Enough clues?

The reply caused you to get up quickly to begin sorting out your new costume.

I’ll see you tonight, Mrs. de Winters.

A few hours later found you ready to leave. You were thankful that you still had the white dress you had previously purchased with the idea of using it for Leonore. You were even more thankful that you still had a wig from a few Halloween’s ago that worked for your costume. So now, with a white dress and curly dark hair, you were ready to leave.

“Ok I give up,” Penelope said when she opened her door. “What are you supposed to be?”

“I’m the narrator from Rebecca,” you told her. “It’s kind of a last minute costume. I’m glad your case wrapped up today. I would be bummed if I had to go without you.”

“Well it’s a good thing it didn’t come to that.” Penelope looped her arm through yours and pulled you down the hallway, the two of you laughing as you went.

——————

Thankfully the room wasn’t too loud when you and Penelope arrived. Jack-o-lanterns and bowls of candy sat on tables around the edge of the room, and bats and ghosts hung from the ceiling. You and Penelope made a circuit around the room, trying to find your matches.

“Maybe ours guys are running late,” Penelope suggested. The two of you had moved to a snack table while you surveyed the sea of costumes around you.

“Or they’re ditching us.” Penelope gave you a playful swat. You were saved from another attack by Penelope’s phone dinging.

“Oh! Some of my friends are here. Come meet them.” Before you could protest, Penelope was dragging you across the room. Two people stood against the wall talking, but broke into smiles and waved when they saw Penelope approaching.

“Y/N, this is Derek and Emily. Guys, this is my neighbor Y/N.”

You smiled and shook hands with the two FBI agents.

“So you’re the famous Y/N,” Derek grinned. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Famous? If anyone is famous it’s Derek “chocolate thunder” Morgan. The way Penelope talks about you, I was imagining a superhero. She wasn’t wrong.”

“I like her,” Derek laughed.

Emily groaned. “He does not need a bigger ego.”

“Where’s Reid?” Penelope asked. “Don’t tell me he bailed.”

“He said he needed to stop by his apartment first. We came straight from the plane. And don’t worry, Hotch and JJ both assured us they would take pictures of the kids in their costumes.” Penelope squealed and clapped her hands excitedly.

You chatted with Penelope and her friends for a few more minutes before Penelope spotted a man wearing a matching costume to hers. She waved bye to your little group and rushed off to meet him, leaving you with the two FBI agents.

“Oh there’s Pretty Boy,” Derek cried.

“I was kind of expecting you to show up in an intricate costume. You love Halloween, Spencer,” Emily said.

You turned to find a handsome man approaching your group. He was wearing a nice suit and had a leather satchel slung over his shoulder.

“No time, unfortunately.” The man shrugged. “I just had to pick up some books from my apartment. Hi. I’m Dr. Spencer Reid. You must be Garcia’s friend.” He turned to you, but didn’t extend a hand. You realized that this must be the young genius Penelope mentioned from time to time.

“Y/N,” you replied. Spencer’s eyes took in your costume carefully. You tried not to shift uncomfortably.

“Are you planning on doing some reading tonight?” Derek asked.

“No. My date and I were discussing a volume of poetry that I have, so I wanted to bring it to show her.”

“What a ladies man,” Emily teased. “How’s she going to know it’s you though? You’re not wearing a costume.”

“Actually, I am.” Spencer smiled slightly at the confused looks on his friends’ faces. What he just said clicked for you suddenly.

“Maxim?” You asked before you could stop yourself.

Spencer blinked at you in surprise before smiling widely. “Mrs. de Winters?”

Emily and Derek looked between of you in slight confusion, but you and Spencer smiled at each other in delight. “We’ll leave you two to it,” Derek teased as he and Emily walked away.

“I’m glad that you’re a friend of Penelope’s and not a complete stranger,” you admitted. “I was a little worried I’d get stuck with some weirdo. Not that you sounded weird when we talked!”

“Well our first conversation was about the statistics of meeting a murderer when online dating. That’s a little weird.” The two of you laughed slightly.

“I’m a math professor, so I’m interested in anything statistics,” you admitted. “I’m kind of a nerd.”

“Same,” Spencer laughed. “You know these last minute costumes were a good idea.”

“I still want to see your Masque of the Red Death costume sometime.”

“Deal, but only if you tell me what you teach.”

You waved your hand. “Oh nothing exciting. Just some upper level math that nobody wants to take. The fun part of my job is trying to solve the Riemann hypothesis.”

“You’re trying to solve one of the Millennium Prize problems?” Spencer asked in surprise.

“I’m surprised you know about it.” Most people you talked to had no idea what the Millennium Prize problems were. You were sure they wondered why a university would tenure you just so you could keep trying to solve a math problem.

“I’ve looked over them before,” Spencer admitted shyly, like he was waiting for you to make fun of him.

“No luck?”

“Way beyond my level.” The two of you laughed slightly. A slower song began to play and couples danced slowly across the dance floor.

“Want to dance?” you suggested. Spencer hesitated and you worried for a second that you had overstepped, but then he smiled and held out his hand.

Neither one of you were very good dancers, but what you lacked in talent you made up for in smiles. You continued to discuss everything from mathematical theory to what working at the FBI was like to classic literature.

“Do you think this is how the Manderley fancy dress party would have gone if Mrs. Danvers hadn’t sabotaged the narrator?” you asked. “They could have been as happy as us dancing.”

Spencer thought for a moment. “I don’t think so. I don’t think they could have been truly happy together with all of the secrets still between them.”

“True,” you agreed. “So you think we’re happy?”

When Spencer smiled at you, your heart fluttered. “I’m pretty happy. This is going a lot better than I expected. Not that I didn’t think you sounded great when we talked online! But Derek said something about you sounding too good to be true, so I started to worry that you wouldn’t be as amazing in person, but I shouldn’t have. You’re even better in person.”

You smiled gently back at Spencer. “You’re better in person too.”

Spencer studied your face intently for a few seconds, a look of uncertainty on his face. “Can I kiss you?” he asked quickly, like he was afraid he would lose his nerve if he waited.

Your smile grew. “I’d like that,” you responded.

Spencer put one hand gently on your cheek, the other still resting on your waist, and brought his lips down to meet yours. When the two of you broke away, still smiling widely, you were totally oblivious to the looks of shock and delight on the FBI agents’ faces.

“I think we might have to do this again sometime, Mrs. de Winters.”

“I think so, Maxim.”

Without speaking, the two of you leaned in again, and you were able to capture Spencer’s lips once more. You didn’t think you’d get tired of this any time soon. If only you had taken Penelope up on her offer to set the two of you up last year.

[zukkacore]

danganronpa for the fandom ask thingy?

I just realized I meant to answer this earlier but it was late and then had work!

Anyway favs, I’m gonna try to stick to THH but I cheated ngl:

Blorbo (absolute fav): I really wanna say Taka bc he’s been my fav since I was in high school, I love him so much and will love him forever (a big part of the reason just being that I related to him a lot, I was like, high perfectionist and my feelings were always kinda hurt when ppl said they didn’t like him bc he was too sensitive or was a crybaby bc I I’ve always been a HUGE crybaby) but ngl the real estate in my head lately has been going a lot more to other characters like Sayaka and Mukuro. He’s still THEE character of all time tho.

Scrunkly (my baby): I wanna say Taka again but also Chihiro for sure? Chihiro’s just a sweetheart I love her

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/under-appreciated fav): probably Leon! A lot of ppl forget abt him since he’s a ch 1 death & u don’t rly get to know him but he’s great, actually! I used to rly write him off but I actually think he’s really interesting and nuanced! I get that bc the game doesn’t incentivize you to get to know him a lot of ppl just write him off as like oh he’s just like a womanizer and a loser (or lump him in with like—canonical dork ass loser full on CREEPS when he’s like, kinda just a regular ass guy?) but the way his character is actually a really compelling foil for Sayaka is really really interesting to me. Also, ppl are just, weird abt his trauma & im defensive abt him because of my own reasons & I’ll just leave it at that.

glup shitto (obscure fav): a lot of ppl would probably disagree on whether this even counts bc she gets more content later on. But Mukuro. Like, Mukuro FOR SURE, I love her so much. even the content we do get it’s relatively sparse in comparison to the others so when she shows up I get SO excited, I’ve been wanting real sprites of her not in disguise forever & it just never happens :((((. Also this technically doesn’t count bc it’s sdr2 but imposter, I love them sm….

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): Haha depending on what this means probably either Hagakure or Sayaka. Sayaka is definitely more on the “problematic” side as opposed to pathetic. like I don’t think she is at least not any more than the rest of the characters but I do think ppl are like, weird abt her more than normal. She’s a mess but like. She’s my mess. Absolute beloved. But Hagakure is THEE poor little meow meow of all time I love him sm he’s so pathetic and offputting and in canon his personality does kinda suck but I love that he sucks, I can’t help it. He wants makoto’s organs and I’d let him have them. I just think he’s the funniest little guy ever. And ppl hate him for being useless and never contributing anything but I’m a Hagakure apologist so sucks to suck everyone who wishes he didn’t survive, if Hagakure sucks why does he keep winning lol

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): probably Togami. I just love to put him Through It bc he sucks but he sucks in a way I find hilarious. I bully him but I mostly just bully him with love. Leon is another character too I tend to horse plinko the shit out of not necessarily for the same reason as Togami (aka thinking he deserves some lighthearted chirping from his classmates to build moral character and humble him a little), like Leon I don’t have a reason why I’m mean to him. There’s nothing wrong w him I just think it’s funny when he’s sad. I’m the number one fan of the LeoSaya high profile miserable celebrity couple to sad pathetic divorcees pipeline for them. I am championing sad divorcee Leon so hard, the inner Junko in me comes out so much when I think abt him bc I just think his quarter life crisis would have been so funny, I’m so disappointed Junko didn’t draw things out longer bc I think she could’ve gotten way more long term misery out of everyone if she’d kept them alive

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): listen. I try to be nice abt him bc I rly don’t like that as a franchise DR is super weird abt how it characterizes fat ppl (like the only one who isn’t creepy is imposter & even then they make a lot of fat jokes abt them :///) & if asked I do think Teruteru is worse (even tho I like his design a lot) but. Hifumi is just. He just. Ugh. But this feels really extreme, I don’t hate him he’s just distasteful. My real more childish answer is Celeste tho, like I do like her but I’m also mean and petty and I mostly blame her for chapter 3 regarding Death Of A Fav, even tho it was a team effort lol. I’m petty. I know a lot of ppl like her, she’s cool she’s interesting but ch 3 is always what’s kept me from liking her. The Taka stan only recognizes her as the enemy I’m sorry. If I’m allowed to say characters from sdr2 then like. Saoinji or Teruteru tho. I swear I try to be measured and not too irrationally just vitriolic abt them esp saoinji bc like I get it, I get what she’s about but I can’t help myself she’s just so grating. Or the monokubs. Bc jfc.

[mythicamagic]

#29 i have a fetish this week, i guess lol.

29: a kiss on the inside of the wrist.

Wind whipped her hair back to thrash in the breeze, and Kagome tightened her coat around her. One of Miroku and Sango's twins inched a little too close to the edge, and the miko quickly snatched her up before she could fall.

"Careful," she smiled, tapping the cute munchkin's nose.

Hachi was generously giving them a lift to the former Demon Slayer's Village where Kohaku awaited them. It was thankfully faster than travelling on foot. Kagome couldn't help but stare wistfully at the passing scenery, mind cast adrift.

"Don't worry, Lady Kagome!" Miroku called from up front, "we're making good time."

"Hm?"

"You looked a little bored," he chuckled.

Kagome blushed and noticed Sango staring. "N-no! I was just wondering if the village would be alright without us," she lied, feeling terrible that her priorities were so missed up that she wasn't worried about them.

"Inuyasha is there to protect everyone, try to relax. This is meant to be a break," Sango smiled.

Nodding, she returned it, playing with their twin's feet and causing her to giggle.

After a few moments of being left alone to her thoughts however, Kagome naturally fell back into her musings. She began recalling that night. That fateful rainy night Sesshoumaru had extended an offer to her that would change the nature of their relationship forever.

----

Rain poured hard, pelting her shoulders like icy needles. Kagome shuddered miserably, arms curled tight around herself as she hurried towards a tree. Ducking down against the bark gave her mild relief, feeling only small droplets reach her from the position. She sighed heavily, breath fanning out visible.

In retrospect, navigating by night from the Bone Eater's Well towards the village hadn't been a wise decision without a torch. ‘I'd been in too much of a hurry to leave.’

Mindling soaked dark strands back from her damp forehead, Kagome blinked and squinted into the darkness. Something was flying through the rain filled skies. Faint green flames could be seen like flickering stars. They drew closer, a black square shape becoming visible.

Kagome wasn't sure what to make of it. The structure resembled an ancient Japanese court carriage, the shutters thick black lacquer to ensure privacy, lanterns hanging from the roof. Flowers patterned its side, carved into the wood in intricate, sprawling patterns and shining gold.

Instead of being pulled by a man or horse though, it was a demon drawn carriage. Small kappa-like demons ensured the carriage glided through the air smoothly. Kagome shivered. She could taste youki the air it seeped so thick and strong. Familiar...

The carriage hovered, lowering itself to muddy, rainsoaked ground. From the back, wooden blinds were turned and snapped up sharply, letting a thick haze of pipe smoke escape like a dusty exhale from a dragon.

Sesshoumaru gazed at her from within the carriage, endowed with more grandeur and finery than she'd ever seen him wear before. Usually his outfit comprised of refined beauty mixed with practicality and strength. Without battle armour, he looked softer. Lilac silks were patterned with his house crest. Earrings glittered upon pointed ears. An ornate pipe was held between deft fingers, and he took a drag, observing her with watchful curiosity.

"Are you going to stand there all night, miko?"

Kagome gaped and glanced around, wondering if Kaede had appeared or Kikyo had risen from the dead a fourth time. Surely he wasn't talking to her?

But sure enough, that flat, unimpressed gaze was mistakable. Kagome swallowed and hurried out from the shelter of the trees. Climbing up into the back entrance of the carriage, she found the space limited and swathed in furs. Cosy, but alarmingly close to Sesshoumaru. Their knees were almost touching as she sat opposite him. The blinds were snapped down over the exit before she could protest, her body swaying forward from momentum as the carriage ascended once more. Kagome quickly righted herself before she could land atop his lap.

Sesshoumaru observed her with mild amusement, tilting a regal chin up. "Is there a reason I find you by yourself?"

Kagome bristled and hugged her arms "I don't need Inuyasha to mind me like a child. I can do things on my own," she grumbled.

"Mn, so I have observed. You have often been alone lately, miko."

Her teeth ground, shivering violently. She jumped upon feeling plumes of lavish fur wrap around her shoulders. It practically drowned her in warmth. "T-thanks."

Busying himself with another languid drag, looking decadent yet exuding opulence, Sesshoumaru hummed. He seemed to be waiting for her to continue, so Kagome sighed and reluctantly elaborated.

"We broke up a few months ago. Things are still a little strained between us, is all. Why do you care?"

"I do not, this one is merely making conversation."

She frowned, gesturing to him. "Your turn. How come I find you cruising around Japan in this era's equivalent of a Porsche?"

"What is a Porsche?"

"It's a car."

"What is a-"

"We're getting off the subject," Kagome giggled, catching herself. Had she ever giggled around him before?

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to mind, now pouring himself some saké, "I am returning from a gathering of influential demons."

"Ohhh now I get it," her eyes danced. "You're drunk because of a party, that's why you're so amiable tonight. Makes sense."

Golden eyes immediately turned flat. They were relaxed and not as sharp as per the norm but awareness kept his pupils focused. "This is not my true form. I have not nearly consumed enough to become inebriated."

Kagome glanced him over, frowning when he offered her a cup of the clear liquid- ultimately shrugging and accepting it. Taking a tentative sip, she choked and coughed, blinking rapidly. "That tastes vile," the words came out as a squeak.

He sniffed primly, giving a haughty look and eyeing the cup. "...You are entirely correct. This is not good saké. Perhaps Lord Onozuka was attempting to poison me."

She nodded seriously. "My Grandpa's stuff is better- though at 18, it's technically illegal for me to have tried it. Don't tell anyone," a grin was working its way onto her mouth.

"Would not dream of it," his lips curved, honeyed gaze smiling. "Perhaps you are not as pure and innocent as first assumed, miko."

She abruptly lost her playful mood, glancing away with thin lips. Silence engulfed them, filling up with large consuming bursts of miserable scent as her emotions rolled turbulently. "...Surely...you can tell I'm not 'pure' anymore," Kagome mumbled. "Are you making fun of me?"

Sesshoumaru stared at her levelly, nostrils flaring. Winter lashes lowered slightly. "I could scent that you were no longer a virgin, but that has little to do with the purity of your soul, miko."

She sighed heavily, taking a sip of the alcohol and wincing. "It was wrong of me- n-not the sex part. I don't believe sex before marriage 'taints' someone or anything like that. It's just...I did it with someone I shouldn't have. My boyfriend..."

He arched a brow. "Is that not the term of a human male in a relationship?"

"Y-yeah, I'm not making sense, I know. Asahi was a rebound, we only dated a short time. That's the problem. I totally used him- and I feel terrible for it."

Violent shame twined with regret, tears pricking her eyes. She gripped the porcelain cup so hard it trembled in her hold. "Inuyasha moved on so quickly from our relationship. I-I thought there was something wrong with me, so I forced myself to date someone else. I'm lonely, sure, but that's no excuse. I wish I'd never done it- I should've just stayed far away from any relationship until I knew for sure I wasn't going to use the guy-"

Sesshoumaru's fingers wrapped around her hand, cutting her off mid-tirade. Her breath stalled, quelled by his calm gaze.

He huffed softly, claws lightly skimming sensitive skin. "First of all, foolish woman; did this Asahi boy seem dissatisfied or upset about being 'used?'"

"N-no...but he didn't get the full story."

"You do not owe him an explanation," Sesshoumaru rumbled, something tinging his voice. "He could not tell you were miserable, and knows nothing of your life here- furthermore would not understand. I see no reason to punish yourself thus for experiencing a moment of pleasure after months of distress."

She'd never heard him be so chatty before. Nonetheless, Kagome remained unconvinced, staring at her shoes miserably and attempting to lift the alcohol towards her lips- Sesshoumaru's grip preventing her.

Ever so slowly, in a way that turned her stomach inside out and sent a rush of heat shooting straight down to her core- Sesshoumaru lifted her occupied hand, brushing soft lips over the inside of her wrist.

"In light of this new information," he said quietly. "I feel something should be done to drastically alter your mindset on indulgence."

"W-what-" Kagome squeaked, swallowing and closing her eyes. When they slid open, the miko raised her chin, intrigue blooming like a fresh flower bud in her forget-me-not eyes. "What did you have in mind?" she breathed.

"I have a proposition for you."

[max1461]

Just read Scott Alexander’s post on “conflict theorists” vs. “mistake theorists” and, hmm. I have several thoughts. First, to summarize the concept for anyone who hasn’t seen it before: Alexander links to a reddit post by user u/no_bear_so_low, who originated the idea, saying

There is a way of carving up politics in which there are two basic political meta-theories, that is to say theories about why different political ideologies and political conflict exist. The first theory is that political disagreements exist because politics is complex and people make mistakes, if we all understood the evidence better, we’d agree on a great deal more. We’ll call this the mistake theory of politics. For the mistake theorist, politics is not a zero-sum game, but a matter of growing the pie so there is more for everyone. The second theory is that political disagreements reflect differences in interests which are largely irreconcilable. We’ll call this the conflict theory of politics. According to the conflict theory of politics, politics is full of zero-sum games.

u/no_bear_so_low claims that both the far left and far right are more amenable to conflict theory than liberals are, who lean more towards mistake theory. Alexander seems to agree, though in his own post he’s speaking mainly about Marxists in particular. He summarizes the concept as follows:

To massively oversimplify:

Mistake theorists treat politics as science, engineering, or medicine. The State is diseased. We’re all doctors, standing around arguing over the best diagnosis and cure. Some of us have good ideas, others have bad ideas that wouldn’t help, or that would cause too many side effects.

Conflict theorists treat politics as war. Different blocs with different interests are forever fighting to determine whether the State exists to enrich the Elites or to help the People.

In addition, Alexander subdivides the categories further into “hard” and “soft” versions:

Consider a further distinction between easy and hard mistake theorists. Easy mistake theorists think that all our problems come from very stupid people making very simple mistakes; dumb people deny the evidence about global warming; smart people don’t. Hard mistake theorists think that the questions involved are really complicated and require more evidence than we’ve been able to collect so far [...]

Maybe there’s a further distinction between easy and hard conflict theorists. Easy conflict theorists think that all our problems come from cartoon-villain caricatures wanting very evil things; bad people want to kill brown people and steal their oil, good people want world peace and tolerance. Hard conflict theorists think that our problems come from clashes between differing but comprehensible worldviews.

So what do I think about all this?

Well, it seems to me that this framework is (a) a fairly reasonable descriptive dichotomy, in the sense that, yes, a lot of people do genuinely seem to fall into one of these two camps, and (b) a horrible dichotomy on which to base any prescriptions about political meta-theory, in that these are both awful (and obviously wrong) ways to think about the world. Now, Alexander doesn’t explicitly give any such prescriptions, but he does describe SCC as “hard mistake theorist central”, and generally speaks of mistake theory in approving terms, while speaking of conflict theory in disapproving ones. I think this is bad.

At a base level, my problem with both these “theories” is that they’re, in some sense, just too optimistic.

I agree, for example, with the hard mistake theorist sentiment that the world is full of extremely challenging technical problems, that these problems can be the source of real human suffering, and that the only way to address these problems is through data collection and empirical analysis and hard technical work. And I agree that this will often produce unintuitive conclusions, that run against people’s gut sense of what the right policy might look like. I agree that the state is diseased. I do not agree that “[w]e’re all doctors, standing around arguing over the best diagnosis and cure.” People, it turns out, often do have genuinely different and irreconcilable values, and genuinely do envision different ideal worlds. In addition to that fairly mundane observation, there genuinely are a lot of bad actors, who are just in the game for their own benefit. The world is full of grifters, schemers, and petty (or not so petty) tyrants; on an empirical level that’s just not something you can deny.

On the other hand, I agree with the easy conflict theorist sentiment that, e.g., “bad people want to kill brown people and steal their oil.” There’s plenty of pretty immediate proof of that to be found if you look into the history of colonialism¹, or the slave trade, or US foreign election interference in the twentieth century. Actually, just so I’m not pissing anybody off by only mentioning “western” examples, I’ll include the Khmer Rouge and the Holodomor and comfort women and uh, you get the picture. For god’s sake, the Nazis really existed, and yeah, they really believed all that Nazi shit. In retrospect they may seem like implausibly evil cartoon villains, but in fact they were real flesh and blood humans, just like the rest of us. You think that was just a one-off?

And on a much more mundane note, sometimes (actually, very very often), ordinary people just have incompatible ethical axioms. Sometimes people have genuinely different values, and there are no rational means to sort out which value-set to choose. I suspect this is at least part of the reason for the rationalist community’s skew towards mistake theorizers, in that their favored intellectual tool has more-or-less nothing to offer when it comes to selecting your values (=ethical axioms, =terminal goals, etc). I mean, of course rationality is good for diagnosing contradictions in your value set, but it can’t tell you how to resolve those contradictions. That’s the domain of intuition, empathy, and aesthetics, were data cannot light your way.

However, I do not agree with the conflict theorists’ underlying sentiment that if “the good people” were just in charge, everything would be better. After all, there are all those pesky technical problems with unintuitive solutions getting in the way, requiring all kinds of expertise and thorough empirical study and uh, plenty of them might not even be solvable.² This is a huge deal. It’s incredibly easy to have the best of intentions and still make horrible mistakes by virtue of just... happening to have the facts wrong. Not through malice, or self-interest, or even some nicely-explainable sociological bias like white fragility or whatever. Just because problems are hard, and sometime you will fail to solve them. Even when people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake.

Here’s a handy latex-formatted table for your comprehending pleasure:

lol, we live there.

So this all sounds a bit pessimistic and, well, I suppose it is. I think we have a responsibility to acknowledge the gravity of our situation. We could, conceivably, live in a world that was structured according to either the conflict theorist’s vision or the mistake theorist’s vision, but we don’t. We live in a much scarier world, and if we don’t face that terrifying reality head-on, we’re not going to be able to overcome it.

Now, in general, I’d say I spend a lot of my internet-argument-energy-allowance trying to persuade [what I perceive to be] overly conflict-theorizing leftists in the direction of a greater recognition of the genuine technical difficulty of the problems we face. It's probably worth making a separate post about why I think a “denial of unintuitive solutions” is so common on the left, but I’ll just mention here that I think it relates to what I once jokingly called the “Humanistic gaze”. That is, the bias to view everything quite narrowly through the lens of the humanities, and to view all problems as fundamentally sociological in nature. When the world is constructed entirely by humans and human social relations, there’s a level at which nothing can be unintuitive. After all, an intersubjective world must ultimately be grounded in subjective experience, and subjective experience is literally made of intuition.

I usually don’t spend much time pursuing the dual activity (trying to argue liberals out of [what I perceive to be] an overly mistake-theorizing perspective). This is largely because, well, I think the optimistic assumption that mistake theorists make —that most people have basically compatible goals, and that relatively few people are working out of abject self-interest or hatred or whatever— is so obviously false that it doesn’t warrant as much genuine critique as it warrants responding with memes about US war crimes. The principal of charity is best extended to ideas, not people or institutions. You can take the neocons’ arguments seriously without extending charity to the neocons as agents.

The post concludes with Alexander writing

But overall I’m less sure of myself than before and think this deserves more treatment as a hard case that needs to be argued in more specific situations. Certainly “everyone in government is already a good person, and just has to be convinced of the right facts” is looking less plausible these days.

And uh, yeah. Indeed.

So, in conclusion: is politics medicine, or is it war? No, it’s politics.

There are disagreements, and conflicts of interest, and coalition building, and policy-wonkery, and logistics. There is, as with anything involving the state, the implicit threat of violence. (That’s where the state’s power comes from, remember? Whether it’s their power to tax, or their power to enforce individual property rights to begin with. Their power to regulate or build infrastructure or legally construct corporate personhood or whatever. There’s more than a bit of game theory involved, sure, but the rules of the game are set through the armory.) Every scholarly technocrat with double-blind peer reviewed policy suggestions still ultimately just decides who the guns get pointed at, if at several layers of abstraction. Every righteous people’s vanguard is still bound by the mathematics of production and the dynamics of a chaotic world. There are no easy solution, not conceptually easy nor practically easy. And unless we recognize that on a very deep level, we have no chance of fixing anything.

[1] I’d quote my go-to example here, of the truly ghastly stories relayed to linguist R. M. Dixon by the Dyirbal people of Australia about their subjugation at the hands of white settlers, but unfortunately I don’t have his book with me at the moment. Also this post would require several additional trigger warnings.

[2] I mean, after all, there are only countably many Turing machines, and the set of all languages with finitely many symbols has cardinality 2^(aleph_0)!

[danwhobrowses]

Why Tashigi Deserves More Respect

I really gotta remember these other things I plan on writing XD Often I get reminded though by people around me criticizing something I realise ‘that’s a little misunderstood’ and then get compelled to write about it. For today we’re looking at the female Marine of One Piece, Tashigi. Now before we start, I want to make a point that Tashigi is still an underused character brimming with potential that Oda seems to shy a lot from. Oda can still sincerely do a lot more with her and I for one have been disappointed by her lack of use in Stampede and lack of appearance in Wano. However, I get a lot of people who feel that Tashigi is ‘useless’, and I’m going to say that this isn’t really the case.

Argument 1: Her Battles

Of course, a lot of strength regarding a character comes with their ability to come out victorious. It can harm any character in a show to constantly be on the losing side of a fight and it does hurt Tashigi (and Smoker) a lot that they do end up that way. While I would love Tashigi to have her first clean win since those guys in Loguetown I’d like to remind you that Tashigi’s fights do have a bit of defense to them, let’s look at all of Tashigi’s named opponents

Zoro (Loguetown) - We always knew that Zoro was winning this, while she was bested by Zoro the purpose of the story wasn’t ever going to be Tashigi being stronger, instead this was Zoro having to confront her similarities with Kuina in personality rather than skill.

Nico Robin/Miss All Sunday (Alabasta) - While Tashigi was unable to even strike Robin back in Alabasta, Robin’s devil fruit allowed her to be perfect for such a situation. A trained and deadly assassin, Tashigi’s physical confrontation was never going to succeed, but what was key to this battle was Tashigi’s realization in regards to the failure of Justice. In the end she had to rely on Luffy to defeat the Pirates the WG had assigned to maintain the balance.

Luffy (Marineford/Punk Hazard) - Luffy and Tashigi briefly crossed paths in Marineford, Luffy swiftly dodged her but again, Tashigi was never going to defeat Luffy and was merely a doorway to put Smoker and Luffy into a fight. It’s also worth reminding that Tashigi must’ve been capable enough to hold her own against Whitebeard’s lesser forces, since she was uninjured from Marineford. They also crossed at Punk Hazard, but then they were both weakened by being in unfamiliar bodies, something which Luffy even acknowledges.

Trafalgar Law (Punk Hazard) - as pictured above, Tashigi’s defeat to Law was another gateway for Smoker to enter the fight, but this one had more purpose in showing Tashigi’s willpower, which we will get to. As you can tell, there’s a theme: Tashigi would never have beaten Law in terms of the narrative, why do we hold it against Tashigi that she lost to the guy who later did this?

Ceasar Clown (Punk Hazard) - while listed as a fight, she fell the same way as Robin and Franky due to his DF being unrevealed, again this being a gateway to sell that Ceasar had a danger to him, I wouldn’t actually count it as a fight.

Vergo (Punk Hazard) - the Donquixote spy is one of Doflamingo’s deadliest subordinates. The original Corazon, Tashigi’s conflict with Vergo brought Sanji into the fight and once again highlighted to Tashigi the corruption within the Marines themselves. Like Law (and the next), we can’t be too harsh on Tashigi losing to Vergo, the guy easily fended off Sanji to the point of almost breaking Sanji’s leg, he also was able to beat Smoker

Monet (Punk Hazard) - Monet is a mixed one, because Zoro quickly defeats her she was quickly overshadowed by the fact that she struggled to even get on the offensive, broadening the gap between them. But, I’d like to remind everyone that Monet was able to force Luffy into fleeing their battle and was handling Robin, Nami and Chopper at once. Tashigi hadn’t completely lost either, I would bet that she’d fight without an arm, maybe not successfully but she would, and she got the finishing blow on Monet - her second offensive attack against Monet put her away and while technically this doesn’t count as a W for Tashigi she did not technically lose in this fight either

As you can see, while it’s easy to say that ‘Tashigi never wins her fights, so she’s weak’ it really undermines the opposition she willingly puts herself against. Narratively there’d be no reason for Tashigi to win these fights, doing so would lead to confusion and disbelief (for instance, would you have seen Luffy beating Kaido solo back in Bakura Town? No, obviously). Tashigi is still strong, she’s able to survive the Grand Line, easily deflect cannon fire with her sword and use Haki, the latter cannot be said for Main Characters like Nami, Chopper, Franky, Carrot and somehow Robin (like girl you spent 2 years with the Revolutionaries, where’s your Haki?). While we would love a win to validate this, Oda always puts her against an opponent that would be difficult for her to win against, and we thus mistake her inability to win as weakness. So that leads to another argument. Argument 2: Tashigi always punches above her weight While this is very much true, One Piece has often told us that being the strongest doesn’t always mean that you will win. Consider 90% of Nami and Usopp’s wins, Luffy’s wins over Crocodile, Enel, Lucci, Magellan, Cracker and Katakuri, the weak may not be able to choose how they die but that doesn’t mean that the strong can either.  I’d also like to argue that Tashigi’s motive on fighting strong opponents is not because she feels that she is stronger, she fights them because they are the enemy that needs to be stopped, her motives are pure in her pursuit of justice just as the Straw Hats fight stronger opponents because it fulfills a just cause such as saving Alabasta, their crewmates, people who had their shadows stolen, Camie, Fishman Island, the Punk Hazard children, Dressrosa, Zou or Wano. Tashigi really gets criticized for it because it doesn’t yield the results it does for major characters, often needing help to get the victory. In that I wanna point out a harsh truth as well; Goku - the people many anime fans will compare power scales against - almost never beats the main villain on his own in DBZ or DBS. Freeza - required damage from Krillin, Gohan, Vegeta and Piccolo before the win, and he didn’t finish him off, Cell - tags out to Gohan, who also needs Vegeta’s help to win, Buu - needs Vegeta’s help via fusion and a full power recharge by the Dragon Balls, Beerus - he lost, Golden Freeza - he got jumped by Sorbet and needed Whis’ rewind, Hit - he gave up, Fused Zamasu - lost, and needed Zeno to wipe him out, Jiren - needed Freeza and 17′s help and Vegeta’s energy and finally Broly - needed fusion. So maybe, if even Son Goku cannot win on his own, we can cut Tashigi a little bit of slack given that she’s not even a main character.

Argument 3: ‘She does nothing’ I don’t really like this insinuation. Often Smoker and Tashigi are the ones that pick up the mess after all the enemies are defeated, but for some reason that equates to ‘doing nothing’. I think because people see Tashigi as interchangeable with any other character she is thus useless because she is not mandatory. However, Tashigi’s role is much more complex than that.

Even if she’s not strong enough to fight the biggest fishes in the pond, she still manages to grow and prove her worth. If Tashigi was replaced with any generic marine captain a lot of what happened would be different. It was Tashigi who identified Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu for Zoro, Tashigi who (albeit reluctantly) directed Luffy to Crocodile, Tashigi who kept the Straw Hats safe from arrest in Alabasta, Tashigi who convinced Smoker that he needed to swallow his pride and side with Law and Luffy to stop Ceasar and it was Tashigi who convinced Nami to entrust the Punk Hazard children to them. Through her experiences she also cultivates her own unique sense of Justice. While she follows Smoker’s doctrine of ‘A Pirate will always be a Pirate’ and that the Shichibukai system and the World Government as a whole is flawed, she has also learned for herself that there are times that pride must be set aside, in a way Tashigi’s sense of Justice has become a combination of Smoker’s and Fujitora’s: in order to rebuild justice, the navy itself must become strong enough to not depend on pirates, but pride cannot supersede the greater good. In addition, implying she does nothing also implies that she doesn’t practice her own sense of justice either. She stepped in on Zoro twice to protect her men from harm, before even arriving at Punk Hazard we learned that she had a good relationship with the parents who had their children kidnapped as they asked specifically for her which in turn led her to personally strive to reunite the children with their parents and she even protected the truth of Vergo from G-5 so that they didn’t feel betrayed and demoralized. Of the things Tashigi does, nothing is not one of them, she displays compassion, fairness and determination in definitive moments. Argument 3: She’s too hung up on her Feminism

So, one of the major dynamics of Tashigi and Zoro is her misconception that Zoro wouldn’t cut her because she was a woman, a belief that women have to prove themselves more to be seen as strong against men being one of the beliefs she shares with Zoro’s childhood rival Kuina. While it can be a tad irksome that she’d hang onto this with Zoro, until Monet Zoro never actually demonstrated the contrary to her. This is mainly a complaint by hindsight, we only dislike the opinion because we’ve seen Zoro more than Tashigi has, and she’s not 100% wrong, Zoro himself has been a bit of a traditionalist, in Skypeia he angrily chastised Enel for attacking Robin since she was a woman, and he only does step in on Monet to save Tashigi - not even finishing her off despite being very capable of doing so. Outside of Zoro, Tashigi’s feelings that she gets treated differently due to her gender is proven and reflected in how G-5 treat her with little authority, only really listening to her because she’s pretty. You can’t be too hard on Tashigi given that she is constantly faced with this truth on a daily basis, and her desire to be seen for her strength and skills are still an amicable one, it’s worth noting that even Law recognized that her mentality and warrior’s spirit was far greater than he swordsmanship, but he only thought this internally. In Tashigi’s case it would help her confidence to be given validation, and not in the condescending way Zoro usually talks to people.  While it can be annoying that she immediately thinks that she’s being treated differently because she’s a woman, this also shows that she wants to be treated as an equal; if she is defeated in combat she wants to be cut to preserve her honour, it is the mentality all Great Samurai have, including Zoro. Oda does something with Tashigi he rarely does with any woman in One Piece in making her less sexualised and body-confident to reflect her goal of being recognized by her spirit and actions rather than her appearance, but he also makes that complex for the character which in a way this is most important for.

Argument 4: She’s not a good Rival for Zoro

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Tashigi’s character is that she is meant to be Zoro’s rival, in a similar manner to how Smoker and Luffy are embroiled in a Garp/Roger-esque cat and mouse chase. Because of this, people expect Tashigi to advance at a similar scale to Zoro to keep him on his toes, to make sure that he doesn’t end up complacent in his strive to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman. Her former likeness to Kuina also adds to this misconception, since because Kuina was Zoro’s rival with the same goal and always stronger than Zoro himself, Tashigi must be similar.

But this is not why Tashigi and Zoro are always put together. Tashigi is not Zoro’s rival, no other character we’ve met has the same goal as Zoro, and this keeps his story free to develop with different challenges. Tashigi’s pursuit of strength is not for the same reasons as Zoro, she doesn’t want to be the World’s Greatest Swordsperson, she only wants to protect the sanctity of the Meito and keep them out of unworthy hands. Her pursuit of Zoro was both because he dishonoured her in their fight and so she could claim Wado Ichimonji. In the New World however we don’t see that as much from Tashigi, even when she sees Shusui she doesn’t make a point to declare taking it from him because he’s unworthy (like Kin’emon would later do), this is because she does acknowledge his strength and worthiness of using these Meito, her personal conflict now though is to be seen as worthy to him as a swordsperson rather than a pirate to a marine.  In reality, Tashigi is instead Zoro’s and Kuina’s foil. She is similar in looks and perspective to Kuina but different in everything else from clumsiness, skill and ambition, the fact that Zoro struggles to handle this leads to the two becoming entwined in their respective journeys. No person gets under Zoro’s skin like Tashigi does, even to a point where he was reluctant to even be in eyeshot of her - how many people have you seen Roronoa Zoro hide from? They are each other’s foil because they are both stubborn people out to prove something but put on two different sides that conflict. That is the true purpose of their dynamic, their confrontations expose one another and show places where they can still grow and I still feel that we haven’t scratched the surface of this relationship.

Argument 5: She’s not Important

A combination of the earlier arguments, Tashigi gets a lot of flack because people think she’s not important enough as a character to have the screentime she gets. While it’s not hard to see why people feel that, it usually comes with people giving up on the idea that there’s a greater plan for her. It may just be me, but I am reluctant to believe that Tashigi appears in several forms of merchandise including calendars, games (as NPCs, Bosses, Supports or playable characters) and even figurines and not have a purpose in the greater scope of the story, do we really expect that from Oda? I doubt that very much! Granted, Wano would’ve been a perfect placement for her to push herself given the views on women in the country and it being the homeland of famous Meito. And yes, she could’ve had a much greater role in Stampede given how well they managed Smoker in it. We are allowed to be disappointed by this, but the fact that Tashigi has remained as consistent in presence as she has been in the show does hint at a bigger role, even if it’s being that wave of revolutionizing the Marines with Coby and Fujitora, her own origins or finally proving herself to the audience and to Zoro, Tashigi is not done and thus she is still important. “Just because they say a bird cannot fly, doesn’t mean that it never will” - Oda SBS 17 on Tashigi and Kuina’s names being named after flightless birds So, Why does Tashigi deserve more Respect? Tashigi as a character is one of Oda’s more subtle progressions. In contrast to Zoro who we see grow, we don’t see how Tashigi gets from A to B, we can also contrast to Coby whose rise becomes as magnificent as his puberty that Tashigi’s growth is much less abrupt and more steady, we see her struggles more than we do Coby where his successes are only heard in passing. Tashigi can also act as the ‘normal person’ in the marines, we compare her to Zoro in strength because she uses a sword but we never give her the benefit of the doubt that Roronoa Zoro is a bloody superhuman, plus not everyone has the great luxury of being trained by Dracule Mihawk for 2 years...furthermore, her challenges against Devil Fruit users are always filled with good intentions and strong willpower, but still self-doubt and shame, if anything Tashigi is one of the most human characters of One Piece for this reason; she learns, she suffers, she grows and she does it all without the luxury of Shonen perks such as superhuman power or endurance. Also she is a good person, she has a strong sense of morality and will, an altruistic desire and even in the situation she gets put in she makes a step that leads to the plot going in a positive direction. And for a character that has been in as many arcs as she has, there is still so much potential left to be untapped that fans are still after 2 decades eager to see from her.

Tashigi is a strong, valiant and just person, who is still really powerful if people stop trying to compare her to the likes of Luffy, Law and Zoro. Even when she fails she picks herself up and can still come out with a small victory from protecting innocents, arresting criminals and escorting children to get help. She is a lot stronger than people give her credit for and it’s for that she deserves respect.