#like the animation is bad the writing is bad the attention to detail is bad

[wooshofficial]

I’m genuinely so mad about the Minecraft movie that I might write a letter to Mojang and the production company about just fucking scrapping it or redoing it entirely because it’s SO bad

[kooberryfields4ever]

lucky

hello !!!!!!! was not expecting this to get as long as it did nor did i expect the turn but what can i say i am a creature driven by self satisfaction……… :( anyways originally this was gonna be like a 1k max drabble bc i rewatched jks sleepy eepy sweetie live and he was twitching and looked so pretty that i HAD to write something domestic !!!! but i am an ANIMAL and thinking about jungkook sleepy in the morning made me feral😇 hope u enjoy!!!!!!!!

wc: 2500+

content warnings : fluff & smut below the cut, light nipple play, fingering, jungkook has a cute panty kink(?), jungkook is an unstoppable force, unprotected piv sex, gendered terms (the word “girl” is used & detailed desc of female anatomy), messy orgasm

MDNI !

You’ve been awake for ten minutes now, just watching Jungkook twitch in his slumber. It’s early morning – a little after 8:00AM – and he looks so unbelievably beautiful under the gentle sunlight flittering through the blinds. With a soft smile on your lips, your eyes trail over his eyebrows, paying attention to how they raise and drop in his unconsciousness, moving down to his relaxed jaw and the divots of his shoulder blades when your gaze lowers. The gentle rise and fall of his back as he breathes and the fist that keeps clenching and unclenching while you lay beside him makes your smile widen. Jungkook is a breath-taking sight, looking so at peace while you observe him. His muscles are softer in their unflexed state and you can’t help it when your finger finds his right triceps and paints shapes over it. His tattoos are next on your list of targets, and soon your wandering finger is tracing the inked motifs like you’re re-carving them into his skin, following the lines and curves of the patterns as if they were new to you.  

They are very much not new to you, though. You think you’ve studied them over a hundred times, committed them to memory, made them so indelible in your mind that you’re sure you could redraw them perfectly if he ever asked. You chance at moving your touch to his fingers, watching his face amusedly when you lift his hand to inspect them and he furrows his brow. The soft letters adorning the bones of his joints are met with the pad of your thumb as you stroke them adoringly, fighting the desperate urge to kiss his calloused palm when the tips of your fingers press against the rough skin. Your fingers don’t get to explore for long before he opens a single eye suspiciously, curling his fingers around your hand to stop you. 

“Good morning,” his voice is deeper, sluggish, yet gentle still through the rasp. “You having fun?” 

“I was,” you smirk, intertwining your fingers with his instinctually, “until you so rudely interrupted me.” His thumb rubs your knuckles sleepily, bringing them to his lips for a chaste kiss, turning onto his back, pulling you closer to his chest and tucking his other hand behind his head. 

“Mm, my bad.” Comes his short reply, blinking his eyes open once again to find yours. His fingers card through your hair when you sit up on your elbows, leaning against his solid frame. His tongue darts out to lick his bottom lip while you allow yourself to continue observing him from above now that he’s awake.  

“Do you know you twitch a lot in your sleep?” You ask, reaching over to rub some sleep from the corner of his eye. Your thumb runs over his cheek, then down to his lower lip, dragging it down playfully and watching it bounce back when you let go abruptly. He shakes his head slightly to answer your question but sits quietly, content to just let you fiddle, fondly mirroring the smile you offer him when you lean forward to press your foreheads together. “I should’ve filmed it. You almost knocked me out.” 

“Instead of leaving me in peace?” He quirks a brow, tilting his head back to press a kiss to your lips quickly before lowering it again. “I don’t think I’m capable of hurting you, even if I’m unconscious. It’s written out of my biological code.”  

You giggle, shaking your head. “As if I would’ve let you anyway, we both know I'd win in a fight.” 

Your lips chase his naturally, and he hums sweetly when you connect them again, smirking. “Is that a challenge?” He mumbles into your mouth, you feel his hands snake around your waist, pulling you closer still before flipping you onto your back effortlessly. He continues kissing you like that. 

“Because I really beg to differ,” he ruses, trailing a hand down to the back of your thigh to hold your leg up against his hip. “Think I’d win in a heartbeat.” Another kiss. “How easy was it for me to get you like this?” His hips move against yours in a slow motion, making you very aware of a growing presence between his legs as it presses against you through all your layers of clothing. 

“You play dirty, that’s why,” you joke back, pushing your palm against his forehead. He moves away from your lips to attach his mouth to your neck, kissing down to your collarbone delicately, the same way your fingers did to him minutes ago. “Caught me off guard, that’s- that’s not fair,” the small moan that leaves you after your stutter is unintentional. Curse Jungkook and how easily your body gives in to his ministrations. You loathe the way he seems to revel in it too, snickering when he moves his hips again. 

You lean your head back against the pillows when he pushes your tank top up over your tits and you can feel his lips enclose around your nipple. It’s not a fair fight, Jungkook knows that. Knows that when his teeth brush against the darker flesh it’ll pebble against his tongue. Knows that when his hands slip down past your waist and hips, your legs will spread instinctually for him. Knows that when your fingers tangle in his hair, he’s got you.  

“Could die between your tits,” His muffled voice knocks you out of your pleasured trance, and you hum in acknowledgement. He’s resting his face between your breasts rather lovingly now, kissing the skin between them with a hand on your waist. The hand tangled in his hair falls to his nape, scratching at the baby hairs grown out from his last haircut.  

“I wouldn’t encourage you to.” 

“Couldn’t be the worst fate.” 

His response has you rolling your eyes, “No, a worse fate would be me beating you to a pulp because you thought you’d win in a wrestling match against me.” He chuckles, looking up at you and resting his chin on your chest with a soft pout. 

“Seemed to like my approach a second ago,” he murmurs, crawling back up your body to kiss you again. There’s no underlying motive behind it, he just really likes your lips on his. You give in because, despite your argumentative nature, you like his lips too. He kisses you lazily, knee slotted between your legs, half-heartedly holding his body up to stop himself from leaning all of his weight on you. Your arms drape naturally over his shoulders and around his neck to keep him there, and you can feel his smile against your lips. 

“You still hard?” His only response is the subtle grind of his hips against yours in affirmation and a slight lowering of his hand on your waist, on a slow but steady mission. 

“Should I be offended that you don’t seem to be doing anything about it?” 

“Gettin’ to it, jus’ let me kiss you.” He licks into your mouth sweetly, chasing the taste of you. Tries to pull you impossibly closer when you chuckle, spurring him on even more. He bites your lower lip, his wandering hand finally slipping past the waistband of your pyjama pants and brushing over your underwear. You can feel him smirk when he finds the small bow on the front, parting from your lips to slip your pants down to get a good look at them. They’re childish, pink and polka dotted and old; you’ve had them since before you and Jungkook even started dating but hardly wear them anymore. 

“Cute.” Is all he says, and you roll your eyes before reaching down to pull them off. He grabs your wrists, meeting your eyes sternly. “Keep ‘em on.” 

You slip your hands from his grasp, nodding hesitantly but obediently. You watch him curiously when he focuses his entire attention on your clothed pussy, entranced by it, pressing his fingers against the damp fabric to watch it cling to the shape of you, darkening with your arousal. 

“Fuck, they’re so cute, baby,” he babbles, not really even speaking directly to you, just thinking out loud, “can I fuck you with them on?” He asks sweetly, kissing your chest and keeping an eye on you as he waits for your answer. You nod, combing your fingers through his hair when he peppers more kisses across your tits as a thank you. He pushes the fabric aside slightly to gain access to your pussy with no restrictions, not hesitating to sink his middle and index fingers past your opening. He knows you’re wet enough, preening when he hears your breaths turn to soft moans. He’s so familiar with your body now that curling his fingers up against your g-spot is second nature to him. You encourage him wordlessly, watching him work while his head still rests on your chest.  

He knows you, so when you start to tighten around him and your moans turn into held breaths, he withdraws from you. You go to protest, furrowing your brow annoyedly, but he shushes you.  

“Gonna have you come on my dick, baby.” There’s a brief pause while he separates from you to push his boxers down and take your pyjamas bottoms fully off too, grunting when he strokes himself languidly above you before rubbing his tip between your dripping folds, still fascinated by the panties he made you keep on. 

“So pretty,” he coos, and for lack of better judgement, you nod. “So fuckin’ wet, love when you get like this for me. All for me.” He’s egging you on, coating himself in your arousal and pressing his forehead to yours when he sinks the mushroom tip of his cock past your opening. It’s calculated and slow, you think it’s to tease you, to prolong your frustration even longer; truthfully, it’s because Jungkook is embarrassingly close and wants to make himself last as long as he can. 

“You wore these the first time I fucked you,” he admits, sinking deeper into your walls and breathing against your lips, “all I could think about for the rest of that week was getting to fuck you again, you were so perfect.” He pulls out slowly, before pushing back in, deeper this time. You let out a half-moan, half-breath, and he repeats until he’s fully seated inside of you. 

“Wanted to fuck you with them on then, too, thought they were so cute.” 

“Why didn’t you?” 

“Thought it was pervy, thinking your panties were cute and wanting to keep them on,” he chuckles, kissing you gently and quickening the pace of his hips to fuck you faster, “think you would’ve thought I was a creep, wouldn’t have let me. Was easier to make you think I just wanted to take my time undressing you.” 

“You’re right, I wouldn’t have.” 

“Mm, you’re well trained now.” 

His words get him a slap at the back of his head, and he laughs with you. The amusement doesn’t last long however, and soon he’s hiding his face in your shoulder to piston his cock in and out of you. You curse under your breath, letting him grip your thigh to guide your knee to your chest, wanting to fuck you deeper. He tuts, frustrated at the fact that he can’t get as deep as he wants, and soon your knees are over his shoulders with his hands holding your hips while he fucks you vigorously. He’s grunting animalistically, his tip prodding your cervix over and over, the corona of his cock rubbing deliciously against your g-spot every time he pulls back.  

“Touch yourself.” He instructs from your shoulder. It’s gentle, you know he doesn’t mean to come across as commanding but you like it anyway. You’re quick to obey, of course, and soon you’re trailing a hand down to your own pussy to start rubbing at your clit. He wants you to finish, that much is apparent, and you assume it’s because he’s trying to hold off his own orgasm for you. It’s wordless between you when you feel the familiar band in your stomach begin to tighten, and your free hand wanders across his broad back, digging your fingernails into his shoulder blades in such a contrasting way to how you were so gentle only ten minutes ago. He grunts, knows you’re close because you’re clenching around him and he can feel you holding your breath. He kisses your collarbone as silent encouragement, and a few more strokes has you coming undone around him, finally releasing your breath and pulsing around him in a way that has you nearly pushing him out. 

“Gonna come, where you want it?” He asks quietly, knows your answer but wants to hear it. You always want it inside, and Jungkook is always more than happy to oblige. 

“On my panties.” Comes your surprising reply, and Jungkook’s pupils dilate to proportions you didn’t think were physically possible. He stops moving, dropping his grip on your hips to brace his hands against the sides of your head and hold himself up above you.  

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” he jokes, dipping down to kiss you fervently, picking up the pace of his hips again, “you’re so fucking perfect, you want me to come all over your panties, baby? Want me to make a mess?” 

You’re not stupid, you know as much as the next girl that if there’s anything a man likes more than coming inside, it’s staking his claim. Of course, semen washes off - but the thought of Jungkook painting your panties white even makes your stomach flip. You nod, and he doesn’t need any more persuasion before he pulls out of you and sits up in order to stroke himself, a singular goal in mind. Your panties are still tucked to the side so he can see all of you as his fist pumps his cock quickly. You observe him, his cock is still wet from your arousal and his tip is so swollen and red that you’re unsure how he lasted even this long. As expected, he doesn’t last very long, and soon thick white ropes of come are shooting from his tip and coating your pussy and the fabric of your panties. He’s shuddering, curling over on himself before collapsing beside you on the bed. 

“C’mere,” he pants out, slipping his arms around your middle and pulling you toward him, “this was your plan all along, wasn’t it?” 

“Really wasn’t, I was doting on you.” 

“Feeling me up is ‘doting’ now?” 

You push him away playfully, but he keeps his grip on you, laughing when you turn around to get away from him. He pulls you back towards him and spoons you.  

“I was being cute and you made it pervy, like always.” He can hear the pout in your voice, so he mumbles something in agreement. Knows there’s no winning here when he just came all over your panties like some kind of neanderthal. He rubs his hand over your belly, kissing your shoulder blade affectionately to keep you close. Your own hands cover his, intertwining your fingers once again and snuggling sweetly into him. 

a/n 🗒️ as always tysm for reading !!! if u have anything to say pls do i love to hear from ppl and reflecting on criticism is my driving force 💆‍♀️ reqs/asks are open !!!!

[fallingforyouforeverr]

𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤:

summary: what the one and only arthurtv would be like as your boyfriend

authors note: tysm for the request anon, i loved writing these! this man is literally a walking green flag like how is he even real. sorry for the slow uploads btw i've been super busy lately

please consider checking out my masterlist

-> the gentleman above all gentlemen istg

-> he's such a caring boyfriend. whenever you are sick or had a bad day, he seems to know exactly what you need and won't leave you alone until you feel better

-> literally gives the best hugs ever. i can't rlly explain it but I feel like his body just runs warm so he's really cozy and you always feel so secure when he's got his arms around you, cradling you into his chest

-> arthur makes getting out of bed in the morning so much more difficult simply because his cuddles are so comfy that you never want to leave

-> not super into pda, the most he will do in public is quick pecks but in private he is SUPER clingy, to the point where he's basically an extra limb

-> whether he's holding your hand/got an arm slung around your waist or has his head laid in your lap while watching tv, he's not happy unless he's touching you in some way

-> we all know arthur is a massive nerd, and you probably are too, so you often go on dates to museums or art galleries

-> also, zoo/aquarium dates are a must in your relationship. he loves to infodump random animal facts and you love to stare at him adoringly while he infodumps random animal facts

-> arthur is always so attentive to you, and notices every difference in your appearance and can tell when your mood changes even if you are trying to hide it from him

-> he also remembers all the little details about you, even the minor stuff you don't remember telling him, and you often joke that he knows you better than you do

-> shows his love for you through small acts of service like always having your favourite food stocked in his kitchen and learning your skincare routine so he can do it for you when you are too tired

-> would also give you his shoes without hesitation if your feet started hurting on a night out. he doesn't care how uncomfortable it is for him or that he looks like an idiot. he just wants you to feel as comfortable as possible

-> arthur absolutely adores the soft domestic moments together. very much a quality time person, and he loves that you can make even mundane chores seem more interesting

-> george and arthur hill like to tease him about being a simp, but they genuinely think its so sweet how happy being around you makes him

-> george once told you, when you were over at the boys' house and your boyfriend was in the bathroom, that in all the time they've known each other, he has never seen arthur smile as much as he did when he was with you

-> similar to george, he has a very busy work schedule so he tries to treasure the time you do have together. unfortunately, he does sometimes miss your dates due to filming overrunning but he always feels terrible and tries to make it up to you the best he can

-> your relationship is so sweet and supportive. you're the kind of couple that you can tell, just by looking at them, how inlove they are with each other

[aphroditelovesu]

Yandere!Stefan Salvatore Romantic Headcanons, please, I love everything you wrote ❤️🔥

❝ 🧛 — lady l: of course! I hope you like these headcanons, I made them in a hurry, but with love! And thank you, I'm very happy to hear that! ❤️❤️

❝tw: obsessive and overprotective behavior, mention of murder and toxic relationships.

❝🧛pairing: yandere!stefan salvatore x gender neutral!reader.

Stefan is very passionate and shows it in the best way possible. He's the traditional romantic, opening doors for you, holding your hand, and giving you gifts he thinks you might want. He puts you above everything and everyone, always prioritizing his desires above his own. You are very important to him and he will always show you how much he loves and cherishes you.

Stefan always makes a point of sending flowers unexpectedly, just to see your smile light up the room. He also loves writing old-fashioned letters, expressing his deepest feelings and making it clear how much you mean to him.

Besides, he loves surprising you with small gestures of affection, like preparing a romantic candlelit dinner or arranging special outings for the two of you. His dedication and attention to detail show how passionate he is about you. He may not necessarily eat food, but if you are human, he will be happy to prepare it for you.

But if you are a vampire, Stefan will make sure to give you his blood whenever you want. Although vampire blood isn't the most nutritious, he doesn't like the idea of ​​you feeding on other people, of touching them in such an intimate way. He prefers that you feed on animal blood, but he is aware that not all vampires are used to it, so he prefers to give his blood to you.

In addition to the fact that vampires sharing blood is something intimate, much more than any other thing, so it is another way for him to have you.

He strives to create memorable moments and share unique experiences with you, like watching the sunset together in special places or dancing under the stars on quiet nights. He loves taking you out, whether it's to Mystic Grill or somewhere fancier, it's always perfect by your side.

Stefan is an extremely attentive partner and concerned about your well-being, adapting his demonstrations of love according to your needs and preferences. His willingness to make you feel special and prioritized shows how committed he is to the relationship. And you better believe that he's very committed to you.

But he is suffocating. Stefan tries not to be possessive and not hover over you, but... He can't help it, it's his protective instincts screaming at him to never leave you alone. Not with so many threats lurking. What if you were hurt? Kidnapped or murdered? Stefan goes into a frenzy just thinking about it. No, you shouldn't be alone.

He knows it can be suffocating and stressful for you to have him hovering, but that's his nature. Even more so if you're human. Stefan will always be close to you, either by your side or on the lookout, but he will be there and at the sign of any danger you will be taken to a safe place quickly.

Stefan is jealous but he tries not to be too possessive because he knows it's not a healthy thing and if he loses control he could end up hurting you and that's something he would never forgive himself if he did. He usually scares away his potential threats to you but if they are too insistent, Stefan will gut them alive. There is no other option.

He's not a bad romantic partner, he's far from it. But if Stefan succumbs to his protectiveness, his obsession and his vampiric instincts... Nothing good will come of it. You are everything to him and he can't lose you. Stefan can't lose the one person who loves him deeply, the one person he loves more than anything. He can't lose you.

Even if you try to leave him, he will still lurk, like a ghost watching you. Stefan just wants to make sure you're okay and there's nothing wrong with that, right? Just keep your mind straight and give him all the love in the world and Stefan will make up you for it.

He would hate to force you to love him, but that's not off limits.

[deadmeat666]

COURT FUCK hoshiumi korai x top amab reader

warnings. public sex, creampie, extremely shameless kourai, exhibitionism, someone took a picture of them going at it in the end. and the biggest one is extremely bad and rushed writing.

A/N. guys i love him so much you don't even know. this is based off adlers hoshiumi because he's so cute. NOT proofread cuz im lazy like that.

minors, fujoshis and blank blogs DNI.

Loud cheering were heard in the background, but it felt like the only sounds you were hearing are skin on skin contact and Kourai's shameless moaning. You tried to remember what even got you here in the first place, but you'd immediately be snapped out of your though when his hole would squeeze, sucking in your cock hungrily, incaging it inside his tight hole.

At this point, you were basically multitasking. Holding his hips in place as you continue to shape his inside into the shape of your cock, as you continue to search in your mind for at least, at least some kind of a lead.

God, of course he had to have such an intoxicating body. Was this on purpose? His milky skin flushed as sweats trickled down, the way you were holding his hips so hard to leave a bruise on his soft flesh. His moans. God, his moans. They echoed through your ears, encouraging you to go harder, faster, leave the Hoshiumi Kourai all knocked up.

Ah. You remembered now. It was after a match against Schweiden Adlers. Ultimately, your team had lost. But Kourai was greedy. He felt like a nice, clean victory over your team wasn't enough for him, no. He wanted more. Something that'd leave him all satisfied—not really. He'd still come crawling back at you, begging on his knees, wanting more, more and more, every hour of the day, 24/7. In different position every time. Oh, you both are in public? Well, they all can watch! He loves the thrill of someone or even multiple people recording him. Waking up next morning in your bed, all sore and nicely bred. He'd check his phone specifically Twitter (now branded to X but I can't bring myself to write it) to see him all over the frontpage, with you absolutely fucking him like a wild animal. But let's put all of that aside for now.

You couldn't tell if people noticed. Both of you were engaging it in a semi-secluded corner of the court. The next round had already kicked off. Maybe Hoshiumi was hoping for the people on the stands to take notice and tear their attention away from the game, onto the both of you. Maybe not and he'd like to keep all this moment all to himself, he thought that nobody deserved to see the lewd moment between the both of you. Selfish.

You relished in the way his ass would jiggle the second your pelvis would make contact with it, the way your cock would disappear in and out of him, releasing lewd wet noises and leaving your cock coated with a brand new glossy wet shine everytime.

You also appreciated the little details, too. You loved seeing his white hair bouncing with every thrusts, the way his eyes would slightly cross when your tip would force to his prostate. The light blush coating his cheeks, the drool that would escape through his lips that was currently biting his lip, dripping down to his chin.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This all felt too fucking good. It was bound to happen. You shot your seed into him, maybe a little too much but was Kourai even complaining? Hell no! It would be unreasonable for him to do so. Your cum felt so warm inside of him, his hole tightening around your shaft like he was trying to milk all cum left in your balls dry-

Click

It sounded like the sound of a camera shutter going on. Whoever that was, they probably acquired a new getting off material.

[lunatic-pudge]

Scout, Pyro, Demo, Medic, Sniper, and Spy Relationship Headcanons

Can you tell which ones are my absolute favorite:')

Scout

• Unsurprisingly, it takes him a long time to get over his infatuation of Ms. Pauling (I'm 110% convinced she's a lesbian), so you must be basically a deity to be catching his attention (though he'd the type to flirt with EVERYONE)

• Golden retriever energy, also youngest child energy. Constantly wants to do everything for you but also needs constant attention. He's also used to be getting picked on by the other mercs and his older brothers so he'll be going to you for validation. But he also doesn't want to appear weak so it'll take some time to break through his (fragile) shell.

• Love language: physical touch and acts of services. Will be constantly trying to act like a macho man for you but will also beg to hold your hand. Cuddles are constant. He may not be good at being a handyman, but my gods he's gonna try his darndest. Plz tell him that he did a good job, he's trying his best.

• He's the best person to go to if you wanna go on randon and unexpected adventures. One minute you're both in Teufort, the next your across country at the beach up east coast. Poor thing gets yelled at a lot for just uping and leaving without notice.

• Local snack dealer. Ma is always making sure that he's got sweets on hand. His room has care packages from her with some of the most wholesome letters from her and the box if FILLED to the brim with sweets, treats, and soda

Pyro

• My little baby boo, a wholesome partner who would kill for you. Can get jealous very easily so you might have to hold them back from committing manslaughter.

• Love language: quality time and gift giving. Time with Pyro is time well spent. Constantly just wants to be in the same room with you. They don't do well when you're not around. Also loves to give gifts. Most of their gifts consit of stuffed animals and handmade drawings. Your room will be filled with gifts from this goofball.

• In my opinion, they're a lot more there than people realize. Some days are better than others though. They were literally CEO of an engeneering company! And I believe they made all their weapons to but I could be wrong on that. Homie is definitely reliable when they're having a good day, but on the bad days, just sit and spend time with them. You don't gotta say anything, just knowing your right there beside them is enough conformation to know you'll always be there no matter what.

• You two are little troublemakers. You'll constantly be up to no good with them. It seems like harmless fun, but you've both almost burnt down the base five times just this month!

Demoman

• Probably one of the best lovers you could have out of all the mercs (aside from Engie, they're competing for the number one spot). I'm deducting points cause of the nonstop alcohol consumpution. :(

• But he is a happy goofy dunk so thank gods for that. Always happy to be here. Very attentive, caring, cuddly, overall a good person to date or even just be friends with.

• Cause the constant alcohol ruined a good portion of his memory (and Medic as well), he writes down every little detail of you that he can in a little journal he secretly keeps on his person. Important dates, likes, dislikes, ect. The man has it on file in case of emergencies.

• Love language: gift giving and act of services. He works three jobs and makes over 5 mil a year, he's LOADED. He's gonna buy you the world if you ask. Definitely good at money managing so he never worried at how much gifts cost. He's also gonna try his darndest to help you out with any problems, though it can be a bit hard when you're constantly drunk. Hims trying his best, okay?

• Wants his mom to approve of you but knows how critical she is of him. Poor baby has some self-esteem issuses cause of her so please give him lots of love and support. It's hard when your mom never has anything nice to say about you and compares you to everyone else. It's a neverending struggle. :(

Medic

• You're definitley into weird and questionable people if you like this man, and that means we're best friends now. :D

• He will ask you to help him out with surgeries and organizing his lab. You're hims little nurse. He'd probably (absolutley) be getting you a nurse outfit with his symbol on it.

• He's very much the possessive type. What's his is HIS, no if, ands, buts, or questions about it. Would put a tracker in you so he knows where you are at all times, but someone would have to talk him out of doing it... for now...

• Constantly talks about you to his birds, if any on them ever have babies, he's naming one after you. Would get you a stuffed dove plushie to cuddle with at night when he can't be there with you

• Love language: physical touch and quality time, you're ALWAYS welcomed in his lab, in fact, he expects you to be there with him. Is the type to ask you to grab something and will graze his hands against yours when grabbing it from you. (then give a shit eating smirk afterwards) He'd also be the type to stand VERY close to you, and stand behind you in an intimidating way to keep others from talking to you.

Sniper

• This man is my all time baby boy so I have LOTS to say about him and how much I love him :')

• Is someone who takes a while to get close to, especially in a romantic way. He's just a shy little boy who's used to being alone. But isn't introverted, just has introverted tendencies (you literally see him hanging out with some of the other mercs in Expiration Date)

• Love language: words of affirmations and physical touch, he sucks at verbally saying how he feels about you but will leave cute little love notes around for you to find. He's also VERY touched-starved so he will just flat out lay on top of you if you let him. Loves hearing you say how much you love him, plz just hold his hands and say how much he means to you, he might just cry from it.

• Is also someone who goes on random adventures, but they're usually just out and away from everyone. But I could see him taking you to a zoo or aquarium to look at the animals. But you're not allowed to go to a Humane Society cause you'll be walking out with all the animals they have and raising them like they're your babies,

Spy

• Another gremlin who takes a long time to warm up to you. He's a grumpy old man who's never really been with someone in such a serious light (aside from Scout's Ma)

• Love language: gift giving and words of affirmation, another merc who would buy you the world if you asked. Will only buy you the best of the best and will throw hands with someone if it's not up to his standards. He could go on about his love for you. His words sound like poetry. You'd wake up with a bouquet of roses and one of the most beautiful love letters anyone has ever read.

• Is 50/50 on PDA, he'll wrap an arm around your waist, call you beautiful, and give you a peck on the cheek in front of others but that's about it. Any extreme PDA is to be in private or you're getting a scolding.

• Would definitely help you learn French. He's way more patient with you than anyone else. You've seen him yell and insult every merc a couple times (Scout getting the brunt of it), but he refuses to ever say anything negative about you

• Definitely the bragging type. He'll put you on a pedestal and go on about how gorgeous you are. How you were crafted by gods, and so on. He thinks he's better than everyone else so if you're with him, than you're right up there with him.

[physalian]

Humanizing Your Characters (And Why You Should)

To humanize a character is not to contort an irredeemable villain into the warped funhouse mirror reflection of a hero in the last 30 seconds to gain “narrative subversion” points. To humanize is not to give said villain a tragic backstory that validates every bad choice they make in attempt to provide nuance where it does not deserve to be.

To humanize a character, villain or otherwise, is to make them flawed. Scuff them up, give them narrative birthmarks and scars and imperfections. Whether it’s your hero, their love interest, the comic relief, the mentor, the villain, the rival, these little narrative details serve to make all your literary babies better.

Why should you humanize your characters?

To do this means to write in details beyond those that service the plot, or the themes, or the motifs, morals, foreshadowing, or story. These might be (and usually are) entirely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. So, if I wrote lengthy diatribes on pacing and why every detail must matter, and character descriptions and thematic importance, why am I now suggesting go free-for-all on the fluff?

Just like real people have quirks and tics and beliefs and pet peeves that serve our no greater purpose, so should fictional people. Your average reader doesn’t have the foggiest idea what literary devices are beyond metaphor, simile foreshadowing, and anecdote, but they can tell when the author is using motif and theme and all the syntactical marvels because it reads that much richer, even if they can’t pinpoint why.

And, for shipping fodder, these tiny little details are what help your audience fall in love with the character. It doesn’t even have to be in a book – Taylor Swift (whether you like her or not) never fills her music with sexual innuendo or going clubbing. She tells stories filled with human details like dancing in the refrigerator light. People can simultaneously relate to these very specific and vivid experiences, and say “not that exactly, but man this reminds me of…” and that’s (part of) the reason her music is so popular.

What kinds of narratives need these details?

All of them. Visual media, audio, written, stage play. Now, to what degree and excess you apply these details depends on your tone, intended audience, and writing style. If your style of writing is introspection heavy, noir character drama, you might go pretty heavy on the character design.

But even if you’re writing a kids book with a scant few paragraphs of setting descriptors and internal narration, or you’re drawing a comic book – if you have characters you want people to care about, do this.

Animators, particularly, are very adept at humanizing non-human characters, because, unlike live acting, every single stroke of the pen is there with intent. They use their own reflections for facial references, record their own movements to draw a dance, and insert little bits of themselves into signature character poses so you know that *that* animator did this one.

How to humanize your characters.

I’m going to break this down into a couple sections: Costume/wardrobe, personality, beliefs/behavior/superstitions, haptics/proxemics/kinesics, and voice. They will all overlap and the sheer variety and possibilities are way too broad for me to capture every facet.

Costumes and Wardrobe

In the film Fellowship of the Ring, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where, after Boromir is slain by the Uruk-Hai, Aragorn takes Boromir’s Gondorian vambraces to wear in his honor, and in honor of their shared country. He wears them the rest of the trilogy. The editing pays no extra attention to them beyond a split second of Aragorn tightening the straps, it never lingers on them, never reminds you that they’re there, but they kept it in nonetheless. His actor also included a hunting bow that didn't exist in the book because he's a roamer, a ranger, and needs to be able to feed himself, along with a couple other survival tools.

Aragorn wears plenty of other symbolic bits of costume – the light of the Evenstar we see constantly from Arwen, the Lothlorien green cloaks shared by the entire Fellowship, his re-forged sword and eventual full Gondorian regalia, but all those are Epic Movie Moments that serve a thematic purpose.

Taking the vambraces is just a small, otherwise insignificant character moment, a choice made for no other reason than that’s what this character would do. That’s what makes him human, not an archetype.

When you’re writing these details and can’t rely on sneaking them into films, you have to work a little harder to remind your audience that they exist, but not too often. A detail shifts from “human” to “plot point” when it starts to serve a purpose to the themes and story.

Inconsequentiality might be how a character ties, or doesn’t tie their shoelaces, because they just can’t be bothered so they remain permanent knots and tripping hazards. It might be a throw-away line about how they refuse to wear shorts and strictly stick to long pants because they don’t like showing off their legs. It might be perpetually greasy hair from constantly running their fingers through it with stress, or self-soothing. A necklace they fidget with, or a ring, a belt they never bother to replace even though they should, a pair of lucky socks.

Resist the urge to make it more meaningful than “this is just how they are”. If I’m using the untied shoelaces example – in Spiderverse, this became a part of the story’s themes, motifs, and foreshadowing, and doesn’t count. Which isn’t bad! It’s just not what I’m talking about.

Personality

In How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless does not speak. All his personality comes from how he moves, the noises he makes, and the expressions on his face. There’s moments, like in the finale, when his prosthetic has burned off and Hiccup tells him to hold on for a little bit longer, and you can clearly see on his face that he’s deeply uncertain about his ability to do so. It’s almost off the screen, another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. Or the beat of hesitation before he lets Hiccup touch him in the Forbidden Friendship scene. Or the irritated noise he makes when he’s impatiently waiting for Hiccup to stop chatting with his dad because they have a giant dragon to murder. Or when he slaps Hiccup with his ear fin for flying them into a rock spire.

None of those details *needed* to exist to endear you to his character or to serve the scenes they’re in. The scenes would carry on just fine without them. He’s a fictional dragon, yes, but these details make him real.

Other personality tics you could include might be a character who gets frustrated with tedious things very quickly and starts making little inteligible curses under their breath. Or how they giggle when they’re excited and start bouncing on their toes. Maybe they have a tic where they snap their fingers when they’re concentrating, trying to will an idea into existence. Or they stick their tongue out while they work and get embarrassed when another character calls them on it. They roll around in their sleep, steal blankets, drool, leave dishes in the sink or are neurotic with how things must be organized. They have one CD in their car, and actually use that CD player instead of the phone jack or Bluetooth. They sing in the shower, while they cook, or while they do homework, no matter how grating their voice.

They like the smell of new shoes or Sharpies. They hate the texture of suede or velvet or sticky residues. They never pick their socks up. They hate the overhead light in their room and use 50 lamps instead. They hate turning into oncoming traffic or don’t trust their backup camera. They collect Funko Pops and insist there’s always room for more.

And about a million others.

Beliefs, Behaviors, and Superstitions

*If you happen to be writing a story where superstitions have merit, maybe skip this one.* Usually, inevitably, these evolve into character centerpieces and I can’t actually think of one off the top of my head that doesn’t become this beyond the ones we all know. A few comedic examples do come to mind:

The Magic Conch in “Club Spongebob” and the sea-bear-proof dirt circle in “The Camping Episode”

Dean Winchester’s fear and panic-driven actions in “Yellow Fever” and “Sam, Interrupted”

The references to the trolls that steal left-foot socks in How to Train Your Dragon

I’m not a fan of wasting time writing a religious character doing their religious thing when Plot Is Happening, but smaller things are what I’m talking about. Like them wearing a cross/rosary and touching it when they’re nervous. Having a specific off-beat prayer, saying, or expression because they don’t believe in cursing.

The classic ones like black cats, ladders, broken mirrors, salt, sidewalk cracks can all be funny. Athletes have plenty, too, and some of them, particularly in baseball culture, are a bit ridiculous. Not washing socks or uniforms, having a team idol they donate Double Bubble to and also rub their toes. A specific workout routine, diet, team morale dance.

Other things, too. A character who’s afraid to go back downstairs once the lights are off, or fear the basement or the backyard shed. Or they’re really put-off by this old family photo for no reason other than how glassy their eyes look and it’s creepy. They like crystals, dreamcatchers, star signs, tarot, or they absolutely do not under any circumstances.

They believe in all the tried and true ways of predicting the weather like a grizzled old sailor. They believe in ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, skinwalkers, doppelgangers, fairies. They talk to the cat statue in their kitchen and named it Fudge Pop. They whisper to the spirit that possessed the fridge so it stops making all that racket, and half the time, it works every time. They wear yellow for good luck or carry a rabbit’s foot. They’re not religious at all but still throw prayers out to whoever’s listening because, you know, just in case. They sit by their window sill and talk to the moon and the stars and pretend like they’re in a music video when they’re driving through the city in the rain.

Haptics, Proxemics, and Kinesics

These are, for all you non-communication and psych majors out there, touch and physical contact, how they move, and how they move around other people.

Behold, your shipping fodder.

Two shining examples of proxemics in action are the famous “close talker” episode of Seinfeld (of which every communication major has been subjected to) and Castiel’s not understanding of personal space (and human chronemic habits) in Supernatural.

These are how a character walks, if they’re flat-footed, clumsy, or tip-toers. If they make a racket or constantly spook the other characters. If they fidget or can’t sit still in a seat for five seconds, if they like to sit backwards or upside down. How they touch themselves, if they do a lot of self-soothing maneuvers (hugging themselves, rubbing their arms, touching their face, drawing their knees up, holding their neck, etc) or if they don’t do any self-soothing at all.

This is how they shake hands, if they dance while they cook or work. It’s how much space they let themselves take up, if they man-spread or keep their limbs in closer. How close they stand to others or how far. If they let themselves be touched at all, or if they always have their skin covered. If they always have their back to a wall,  or are always making sure they know where the nearest exit is. If they make grand gestures when they talk and give directions. If they flinch from pats on the back or raised hands. If they lean away from loud voices or project their own. If they use their height to their advantage when arguing, puff their chest, square their shoulders, put their hands on their hips, or point fingers in accusation.

If they touch other characters as they pass by. If they’re huggers or victims of falling asleep on or near their comrades. If they must sleep facing the door, or with something solid behind them. If they can sleep in the middle of a party wholly uncaring. If they sleepwalk, sleeptalk, migrate across the bed to cuddle whoever’s nearest with no idea they’re doing it.

If they like to be held or like to hold others. If they hate being picked up and slung around or are touch-starved for it. If they like their space and stick to it or are more than happy to share.

Do they walk with grace, head held high and back straight? Or are they hunched over, head hung, watching their feet? Are they meanderers or speed-walkers? Do they cross their arms in front or lace their hands behind them? Do they bow to authority or meet that gaze head on?

I have heard that Prince Zuko, in Last Airbender, is usually drawn sleeping with his bad ear down when he doesn’t feel safe, like on his warship or anywhere in the Fire Nation, or on the road. He’s drawn on his other side once he joins the Gaang. In Dead Man’s Chest, just before Davy Jones drives the Flying Dutchman under the waves, two tentacles curl up and around the brim of his hat to keep it from blowing off in the water.

When they fight, do they attack first, or defend first? Do they touch other characters’ hair? Share makeup, share clothes? Touch their faces with boops or bonks or nuzzles and eskimo kisses? Do they crack their knuckles and necks and knees?

Do they stare in baffled curiosity at all the other characters wholly comfortable in each other's spaces because they can’t, won’t, or don’t see the point in all this nonsense? Do they say they’re happy on the outside, but are betrayed by their body language?

Voice

Whether or not to write an accent is entirely up to you. Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God writes dialogue in a vernacular specific to its characters. Westerners and southerners tend to be written with the southern drawl or dialect, ripe with stereotypical contractions. Be advised, however, that in attempt to write an accent to give your character depth, you could be instead turning off your audience who doesn’t have energy to decipher what they’re saying, or you went and wrote a racist stereotype.

Voice isn’t just accent and dialect, nor is it how it sounds, which falls more solidly under useful character descriptions. Voice for the sake of humanizing your characters concerns how they talk, how they convey their thoughts, and how they become distinct from other characters in dialogue and narration.

If you’re writing a narrative that hops heads and don’t want to include a big banner to indicate who’s talking at any given time, this is where voice matters. It is, I think, the least appreciated of all the possible traits to pay attention to.

First person narrators have the most flexibility here because the audience is zero degrees removed from their first-hand experiences. Their personality comes through sharply in how they describe things and what they pay attention to.

But it’s also in what similes and metaphors they use. I read a book that had an average (allegedly straight) male narrator going off and describing colors with types of flowers, some I had to look up because I just don’t know those off the top of my head. My immediate thought was either this character is a poorly written gay, or he’s a florist. Neither (allegedly), the writer was just being too specific.

Do they have crutch words they use? like, um, actually, so…, uh

Or repeat exclamations specific to them? yikes, yowzers, jeepers, jinkies, zoinks, balls, beans, d’oh!

Or idioms they’re fond of? Like a bat out of hell. Snowball’s chance.

Do they stutter when they’re nervous? Do they lose their train of thought and bounce around, losing other characters in the process? Do they have a non-Christian god they pray to and say something other than “thank God”? Are they from another country, culture, time period, realm, or planet with their own gods, beliefs, and idioms?

When they describe settings, how flowery is the language? Would this grizzled war hero use flowery language? How would he or she describe the color pink, versus a PTA mom? Do they use only a generic “blue, green, red” or do they really pay attention with “aquamarine, teal, emerald, viridian, vermillion, rose, ruby”?

How do this character’s hobbies affect how well they can describe dance moves, painting styles, car models, music genres?

This mostly matters when you’re head-hopping and the voice of the narrator serves to be more distinct, otherwise, what’s the point of head-hopping? Just use third-person omniscient.

If you really want to go wild, give a specific narrator unique syntax. Maybe one character is the ghost of Oscar Wild with never-ending run-on sentences. Just be sure to not go too overboard and compromise the integrity of your story.

In the book A Lesson Before Dying, a somewhat illiterate, underprivileged and undereducated minor has been given a mentor, a teacher, before they face the death penalty. At the end of the book, you read all of the letters they wrote to their teacher. There’s misspellings everywhere, almost no punctuation, and long, rambling sentences.

It’s heartbreaking. The subject matter is heavy and horrible, yes, but it’s the choice to write with such poor English that has a much bigger impact than perfect MLA format.

How to implement these details

Most of these, in the written medium, need only show up once or twice before your audience notices and wonders why they’re there. Most fall squarely under character design, which falls under exposition, and should follow all the exposition guidelines.

These details exist to be random and fluffy, but they can’t exist randomly within the narrative. If you want to have your character be superstitious, pick a relevant time to include that superstition.

Others, like ongoing speech habits or movements, still don’t overuse, especially if they’re unique. A character might like to sit backwards in a chair, but if you mention that they’re doing it every single time they sit down, your audience will wonder what’s so important and if the character is unwell.

And, of course, you can let these traits become thematically important, like a superstition being central to their personality or backstory or motivation. These all serve the same purpose of making your character feel like a real person instead of just a “character”.

Just think about tossing in a few random details every now and then and see what happens. One tiny sentence can take a background character and make them candidates for the eventual fandom’s fan favorite. Details like these turn your work from “This a story, and these are the characters who tell it” into “these are my characters, and this is their story.”

[stellayuta]

Rin doing Yoga in the anime had me bawlinggg idk why It also put the image of Yoga Sex with Rin in my mind and now I can't stop thinking about ittt

How about writing something about that?

thanks for putting the image in my head too

mdni, 18+ only

★Rin Itoshi - Yoga S*x☆

The 'R' in Rin stood for routine. He was awake by 5 AM and done with his early morning strength training and jog by 7 AM. To ease the pain of exhausting his stamina and muscles at dawn, he chose Yoga as a means to stretch his body out and soothe the soreness. The upkeep of being a pro footballer was not a regular man's deal after all.

You had never seen his routine ever before because you loved your sleep more than Rin did. In fact, you only knew about his routine in detail because his sports manager scolded him because he refused to take a break from working out even during his off time from the football season. You on the other hand, if there wasn't a reason to wake up before 8:00 AM, you won't. That was the law. Usually, you'd just join a freshly rejuvenated Rin for a hearty breakfast with a yawn and kickstart your day.

One fine morning though, you were forced awake by the sheer heat of the house. It was the middle of the harshest summer Japan had to offer as of late, and you were hoping that for whatever reason the AC was off, it'd better be a good one. You got out of the bed, kicking the musty sheets away from you and swiped at the sweat forming on your forehead. You were melting away even when you were only in a pair of skimpy shorts and a paper-thin tank top. You checked the time before you made your way out of your bedroom - 7:00 AM. The rest of the house was a degree cooler than your oven-like bedroom, but it was enough for you to forget where the thermostat was. That's when you remember that it was Rin who usually handled the thermostat. Maybe it was him who switched the AC off? But... why?

You make your way to the living room to locate the thermostat and are greeted by the most astonishing and unexpected sight right in front of you.

Rin Itoshi's bare back is facing you as he stretches himself out into complicated poses on his yoga mat while soaking in the radiant sun seeping in from the open windows. There is not a single item of clothing on his body. He sighs as he skillfully changes positions and focuses on the left side of his body, balancing himself on the mat. You gawk at his marvelous form as Rin's body shines lusciously under the sunlight, as if lathered by coconut oil and Epsom salts and his own sweat - which it probably is.

"Rin?" you call out without meaning to, making the Itoshi jerk his head up in confusion and smiling when he sees you.

"You up early?" he asks as if he isn't laid out in front of you like a whole meal ready to be ravished.

"Well, the AC woke me up." you say honestly, approaching him as he seats himself on his mat in a lotus pose. You stare at how his limp member and ball sack hang, tucked inside his folded thighs. That's all you can stare at or pay attention to now as you feel a shiver creep up your core and you press your legs together.

"That was my bad. I'm sorry, I usually do this out on the balcony but the neighbors are doing garden-work and obviously, I don't want them to see." he says. Foolish Rin...

"Have you been out on the balcony doing yoga butt naked everyday?" you exclaim. "Rin! People other than the neighbors can see you too you idiot!"

"Are you worried someone might click pictures?" he asks coyly, holding out his hand to entrap yours. It is all slick and sticky with oil and heats up your body even more.

"Have you seen yourself? Anyone would." You say, playing with the hem of your shorts with your other hand. Things are getting sticky inside your body too now.

"Want to try it?" Rin asks, already sliding your shorts down your bare thighs. You don't sleep with underwear on when wearing those pair of shorts. "Oh, look at that." Rin says, cocking his head at the bare delta of your womanhood.

"Come here." he says, kissing your mound generously making you whimper. You grab at his green hair and try to stop yourself from crumbling.

"Y/N. Position your knee like this." he says, folding you knee and pressing your foot to the thigh of your other leg.

"Hands up and palms together." he demands and you follow, keenly trying to balance on one leg. "That's the tree pose." he tells you and you nod. "Great position for what I'm about to do." he says with a smirk, inching closer, his lower lashes hitting your thighs.

The way Rin ravages you over the next few minutes has you praying you don't fall over. The position gives Rin enough freedom to hit some of the most stubborn and well-hidden bundles of nerve inside you with relative ease. His tongue is as flexible as his body was a while ago. You are left croaking as Rin digs his nails into the sides of thighs, shamelessly making slurping noises as he eats you out. Soon enough, you let your hands free from the pose and start rolling your hips onto his face, eyeing him from the top - his reactions, the way his brows tense up, the way he looks up at you occasionally. You force him to hit your most sensitive innards as you finally come undone on his tongue and face without asking. Unbeknownst to you, the lewdness of the whole situation and Rin's skill made you come a LOT. As your eyes are shut and you are unable to process anything around you, Rin is collecting your plentiful essence in his palms. When you finally come to and regain your usual breathing rhythm you find Rin playing with the sticky substance in his hands.

"R-rin?" you ask, eyelids half closed. "What are you doing with that, wipe it off!"

"Nah." Rin says, keeping his eyes on your cum in his hands. "I was in a dilemma since I ran out of oil for you, but you solved my problem." he says and it takes a second for you to understand what he's about to do.

He takes his palms and rubs them all over your body. Your chest, your hips, your navel and your thighs.

"Feel good?" he asks, pressing your back to make you lay on the ground on all fours. "Feels good to be covered in your own slick?"

"Anything for you, Rinnie." you say, wondering why he is pulling one of your legs horizontally. "You're so weird you know."

"I know." he admits. "Balancing Table Pose."

"Wha-?" Before you can finish your question though, Rin rams full force into you from behind. "Keep you other hand up, pretty please. I don't like it when the form is incorrect."

you sniff as your muscles hurt from maintaining the pose. Yet still, after a few seconds your body gets used to it and the pleasure doubles as one each of your arms and legs is up in the air while Rin's pace increases. He presses his chest against your back and keeps the rhythm going, pounding in and out savagely. His angle is so unpredictable, his length is going left and right and top and bottom inside of you, making you scream his name in pleasure. You feel the head of his member in full intensity with one leg up and you feel it's bulbous shape ebb at your cervix with how long Rin is. You so want to see how red his tip is, how angrily it must be leaking out pre-cum right now.

"Ah, just a bit more." he says next to your ear, huffing and puffing as he increases the power of his thrust as you feel your eyes roll back into your head.

"Ah, There. Yes!" Rin scrunches up his face. "Yes!" his tongue lolls out - an occurrence when he is at peak pleasure.

He empties himself inside of you as you feel your abdomen fill up with his sticky liquid.

"There we go." he says, gasping and pulling himself out of you as you drip all over onto his mat, sinking to your knees.

"Session Complete." he says, bringing his towel to your hole.

[moonstruckme]

Also would love more of the art student x stem student peter writing,, again totally just self indulgent here but I adore their dynamic I could go on forever, like study dates but she’s working and Peter hangs around revising notes in her studio and they both just accompany each other AGHHH I could think about them for ages

-🍁🤭

Thanks lovely!

tasm!Peter Parker x artist!reader ♡ 727 words

Your hand comes into view, taking Peter’s attention from his notes for the first time in hours as you slide a paper plate stacked with pizza slices towards him. 

“They were out of stir fry,” you say, “but they let me take extra pizza since they felt bad.” 

Peter blinks, realizing his eyes are dry and achy. “When did you get this?”

“Just now,” you say, though it sounds like a question. Your brows twitch towards each other, somewhere between bemused and concerned. “Pete, I’ve been gone for like a half hour. You didn’t notice?”

Peter blinks again, hard. He gives his head a little shake. “No, I, uh…I guess I was too distracted. Thanks for the pizza.” 

“Course.” You kiss the top of his head as you round the table, sitting down across from him with a couple slices of your own. Peter watches as you zone back into your work, a pensive frown coming to your face. You’re in the beginning stages of a new project, and the last few hours have been a frustrating cycle of erasing, sketching, and erasing again. Peter doesn’t get how you can even see through all the faded, half-removed lines on your page. 

“How’s it going?” he asks, tentative.

Your frown worsens. “Not bad,” you say, in a tone that says not great, either. “I’ve landed on an idea, but it just…it doesn’t feel perfect. I don’t want to start and then have to change my mind again.” 

“Didn’t you say that’s how it usually goes?” he prompts. 

“Yeah,” you sigh, and you sound so upset about it that Peter has to—just has to—reach across the table and take your hand. You offer him a small smile and return the squeeze he gives your fingers.

“Want a break?” he asks you, and you raise your eyebrows.

“I just took my break,” you remind him. 

It’s difficult to love someone and see them treat themselves how you treat yourself. Peter would count a run to the dining hall as a break, too, but he doesn’t like it when you do it. Still, that doesn’t give him a lot of ground for argument.

“Then can I see?” he tries, hoping talking it through will make you feel better.

You chew your lip for a second before nodding, going to slide your paper towards him. 

“Nope, hold on.” Peter stands up on his seat, stepping one gangly leg and then the other over the table before lowering himself into the chair beside you. He wraps his arm around your shoulder, hugging you so that your face is squished against his bicep. “Better,” he says. “Go on.” 

You laugh at his over-the-top affection, but don’t move away, going into the details of your original idea versus what you’ve come up with on paper. The abstract always falls short of the concrete, Peter knows that, and yet he feels your disappointment in your inability to fulfill the full scope of your vision acutely. You grow more animated as you talk, eventually bringing the paper closer and sketching while he watches. Peter suggests his own solutions as you work. They’re useless of course, but he knows that having a sounding board helps you think, so he’ll keep the conversation going any way he can. To your credit, you don’t tell him all the ways he’s wrong. You only hmm and huh and then do your idea anyway. 

After a while, you come up with something you’re happier with. It’s still not perfect, but Peter reminds you again of your own tenets; that it never will be, and your only job is to do the best you can with what you have. You’re smiling by now, so it’s a win in his book. 

“You gonna talk me through your biochem notes now?” you ask him cheerily. 

“Aw, sweetheart.” He kisses the side of your head. “You’re a gem for offering, but we both know you’ll get a headache.” 

“I’ll eat my pizza while you talk,” you propose, picking up a now cold slice of your dinner. “C’mon, it’s only fair.” 

Peter grins at you, your face lined with tiredness and hand stained with silver pencil lead but eyes alight with that fizzy energy you get from creation. “Okay,” he concedes. “But when we go home, we’re watching the most mindless show we can find on TV.”

[sugarpasteltmnt]

You write unhinged Leo so well, and I really like how you write him. I was wondering if you had tips on unhinged characters 😂, or do you just get inspro from existing characters 👀

aksdakjsdh thank you so much ;w;

And honestly???? I’m not totally sure how to give tips— but I love, love, love unhinged characters in media, so I’ll use them as examples

(long rant below lol)

I’ve always been a big fan of silly, ‘crazy’ characters in animated movies and cartoons. I grew up on Batman the Animated Series and the original Teen Titans, which were full of silly, fun tragic characters.

Don’t get me wrong, i love a good edge-lord— but as a tot i thought the colorful, theatrical, insane bad guys were more fun to watch than the big scary serious ones (ESPECIALLY if they had a good villain song. A+ good shit)

(From left to right: Ratigan from Great Mouse Detective, Joker from Batman the Animated Series, Mumbo Jumbo from Teen Titans, Martin from Secret of Nimh 2, Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls, and Spinel from the Steven Universe movie)

And not just bad guys!! There are a ton of unhinged good/neutral characters that i absolutely adore.

(From left to right: King Bumi from ATLA, Clara from Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, and, of course, our silly 2018 turtle boys)

((There are many more characters in both categories, but I’ll slide these examples in here for now))

My personal brand of “Unhinged” or “Crazy” characters definitely leans on comedy. That’s what i enjoy seeing and reading! I personally like it because it can help keep a story fresh and interesting. There’s an element of surprise and unpredictability with what a character might do, and i love that!!

I also really enjoy a touch of feral behavior in my unhinged characters. The lack of clarity and the danger that imposes can be a very fun tool to use, no matter the character’s moral compass. (I’m feral for feral behavior lol)

And impulses. Whether a character has a few screws loose or is generally a goober, they like to act on impulses. This often goes hand-in-hand with comedy, and that’s something I enjoy!! We get a lot of moments like that in Rise, and that was one of my favorite parts of that TMNT iteration.

But as far as writing goes, it’s been tricky for me. All of the characters I grew up or love have been visual— trying to find a good balance for reading has been a puzzle I’ve been figuring out as I go.

I read a lot manga (lol nerd) and comics, and I love how thoughts/dialog are depicted. Especially the really dramatic or impactful moments. (I’d add examples but I’m already at the Tumblr image limit LAME)

As strange as it sounds, I try to capture that “impactful visual” style in my writing. If I had ANY advice on writing unhinged characters, pay attention to pacing—

Short. Fast. A calculating thought. Perhaps a run on sentence that lacks punctuation to represent the rushing and disorganized thought process. A question? An answer with little thought. Is this moment amusing; describe how. Is it upsetting; describe how. Are the thoughts starting to scatter? M aybe s o…

Big moment statement.

Action or plan of next big move. Flow should never seem too uniform. Even in normal writing. Don’t be afraid of accentuating— but don’t overdo it. Remember, unhinged characters are impulsive. Have fun with that.

Just as a quick and dirty summary— when it comes to unhinged characters, I like to use comedy, feral behavior, and acting on impulses. I also like to keep it as visually appealing as possible for characters to give the eyes a little treat after reading walls of text. I like to use fun text formatting to help with the fun too (But don’t overdo it! Don’t make it feel like a chore to read) (<- says the girl who goes into way too much details sometimes lmao whoops)

But ultimately— have FUN!!! Unhinged characters are fun, so make sure you have fun writing/drawing/creating them!!

[jishyucks]

Gleam and Glitter — hhj

‣ pairing: hwang hyunjin x reader

‣ genre: fluff, implied friends-to-lovers, rich-kid!au

‣ wc: 3.4k

‣ summary: You’ve quickly established that no one at this damn charity gala cares about the event’s purpose. They were just there to party. And you wanted nothing else but to leave; alternatively, in which Hyunjin saves you from your misery to see the city’s Christmas lights.

‣ warnings: lots of being annoyed at the rich (even though reader and hyunjin are rich), 1st world problems, reader’s wearing a dress and heels but no specific pronouns are used (I’m pretty sure), the pair eat some desserts

‣ an: 2nd part for my True Love Gave to Me Series! It's a little slow at first but the parts near the end are cute! Just like the Mark one, I wish I could write more for these two, I srsly think I could've done more but still,,, ENJOY!

Series Masterlist

The venue was beautiful. 

The ballroom was transformed into the party’s theme, Winter Wonderland, adorned with white, silver, and royal blue decorations. From the ceiling hung giant snowflakes, lit up with twinkling lights that glowed softly within the dim room. 

The dance floor, placed in the middle of the room, was surrounded by tables draped in pearly white table cloths, giving it all a sleek, clean look. You can tell how much planning had gone into the centrepieces—delicate ice-looking glass sculptures of various animals. Within each of them were more lights, drawing out the details of the sculptures.

At the other corner of the room, the live band had already begun their setlist. They were dressed in blue or white, or both, as it was the theme of the party. You couldn’t quite tell what song they were playing, but it sounded nice and classy. 

And guests were trickling in, entering the room hand in hand with their plus ones. You can tell that they were all in awe from the scene. I mean you don’t blame them—the scene looked like something straight from a movie. Whoever had planned and decorated the venue knew what they were doing. 

The venue was beautiful… Too bad most of the people attending were snobby rich bitches who really don’t deserve anything good (respectfully).

The main purpose of the event was to raise money for charities involving children for god’s sake—sure it was okay to go all out and grab the attention of the wealthy, but it was so painfully obvious that two-thirds of the guests didn’t give a single fuck about the charities. They were just there for the publicity, hoping to look good in front of the press and it pained you. 

It pained you because, although you barely had the capacity to have passions for anything, you did know that you wanted to use your money for good. And heavy on the good for children.

The party was now in full swing, guests mingling in practically every corner of the room. The live band had just been replaced with a DJ, party songs blasting through the speakers. A small part of you does want to join in, but you wouldn’t say that you associated yourself with any of the people here. 

There was one person who you did love being around—your best friend, Hyunjin—but you simply weren’t sure where he had disappeared off to since you had greeted him at the start of the party. 

“Shit.”

You’re not sure how you hear Hyunjin groan as he slumps in the seat next to you. He stretches his back over the chair before falling limp. 

You can’t help but laugh, “What’s up with you?” You shift in your own chair to look at him, your blue evening gown getting twisted underneath your ass.

“My parents introduced me to like—I don’t know—six old business owners?” Hyunjin mutters, “I don’t even remember a single one of them.” 

“Well, you gotta start working on that future CEO,” you joke, slapping his back, “Don’t wanna be the boss who calls his employees by the wrong name, do you?” You know Hyunjin hates when you call him future CEO, because, well, he doesn’t actually want to take over his father’s company once he retires. But being the only child in his family, it’s a responsibility that he couldn’t really get out of.

“No,” he pouts, lips jutting out. 

You let out another laugh, this time rubbing his back to provide some kind of comfort. From a nearby group of people, you hear people laughing, though it didn’t seem genuine. You echo them. 

“Y/N, they’re gonna hear you!” Hyunjin nudges your arm. “No they won’t. They’re all just caught up in their own world,” You roll your eyes. Then you dramatically say, “Oh how I wish to leave this place.”

There’s a few beats of silence between the two of you. Just by watching Hyunjin, you can tell he’s thinking, eyes darting back and forth as if he were reading a page of a newspaper. 

“Would it be crazy if I asked you to run away with me?”

Your heart misses a beat, “What?”

“Run away with me,” Hyunjin repeats. He’s almost expressionless, staring back at you as he waits for a reply. 

You blink at your best friend, utterly confused by the nonsense coming out of his mouth, “Hyunjin, you really need to be more specific with your words.”

Hyunjin brings a corner of his mouth up towards one side of his face, trying to word what he was asking of you. It wasn’t that difficult to explain, yet Hyunjin’s short on words right now because of all the introductions he’s just had. 

“Do you know what an Irish goodbye is?” 

You shake your head, “No? Is that even a thing?” 

“It’s when you just leave without telling anyone,” Hyunjin explains, “So… let’s leave without telling anyone.” There’s a youthful glint in his eye and you just know that Hyunjin’s ready to take off. He’s excited, even, just thinking about leaving and getting away from this place. You like the idea, too. 

“And do what?” Hyunjin shrugs and your face contorts, laughing, “You’re the one who’s suggesting to leave and you don’t have a plan?” 

The smile Hyunjin flashes is one that shows off his bottom teeth, brows raised and eyes widened, “Sorry, I didn’t actually think you’d consider it.” 

“Do you even know me?” you scoff, “Of course I wanna leave. Anything to get away from these people.” You scoot forward in anticipation to go, but you still really want to hear what Hyunjin’s plan is. 

Hyunjin searches the room as if it were going to hand him the answer. Then he hums and looks back at you, “Do you want to go downtown?” 

Without any hesitation you nod, “Yes.” 

Hyunijn watches as you scan the room, eyes trying to weed out your parents and his. You could guess they were speaking with people you’ve grown familiar with, so you try to pick them out, too. When you couldn’t spot any of your parents, your eyes darted in Hyunjin’s direction, eyes wide and round. “It’s clear.”

You don’t warn Hyunjin before you shoot up onto your feet, trying your best to keep discrete from any wandering eyes. The heels under your feet almost fail to support your pace, but you pay no mind, eyes dead set on the doorway furthest away from anyone’s attention. Hyunjin’s close at your tail, turning back every few steps to make sure that there was absolutely no one watching you both leave. 

The adrenaline’s causing your heart to pump above the average, and you can’t help but let out a laugh the moment you reach the door, soon finding yourself in an empty corridor of the venue (save for the doorman at the front and the woman attending coat check).

Hyunjin stumbles out after you, breathing heavily, “You didn’t even tell me you were going to take off like that!” 

Ignoring Hyunjin’s exclamations, you start making your way toward coat check, heels clicking against the marble floor. Hyunjin is unsure how you’re moving so quickly in heels, but he chooses not to question you.

“Y/N~” Hyunjin whines, “Slow down!”

“If we’re not quick we’re going to get caught,” you shoot a reply over your shoulder. You kindly ask for your coats, retrieving them within seconds before you toss Hyunjin his jacket. “Yeah, but we need to wait for Mr. Jang to come pick us up!” 

By the time Hyunjin finishes his sentence, you both find yourselves outside of the venue, cold air instantly nipping at your exposed skin. There were cars whizzing past, all probably on their way to your desired destination. Right at the bottom of the steps was a sleek black car, similar to what your family owned, and a man who you recognized as Mr. Jang, the Hwang’s driver. 

“So you did plan this!” you look over at Hyunjin. 

Hyunjin shakes his head, “No, but Mr. Jang will jump at any chance to actually do something.” The boy leads you down the steps and reaches the vehicle before you do. He greets Mr. Jang with a bow and then tugs on the door’s handle, opening it for you to hop in. You can’t help but giggle at the gesture, giving Hyunjin a look before sliding in. He shuffles in after you, smiling out of excitement.

“Where to, son?”

“Downtown, please.”

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

It’s when you both get to downtown that you realize that neither of you knew where to go. 

Sure, the plan was downtown but the city was a big place. Hyunjin should have been more specific, because right now, you were both standing in the middle of a busy street trying to decide which direction to go.

“Close your eyes, spin, and then stop when I tell you,” you suggest to Hyunjin, who’s trying to search his phone for any places you both could visit. 

“How about you do it!” Hyunjin’s brows furrow and he pouts, “It sounds like you’re going to ditch me.” 

“Now why the hell would I ditch you,” you sigh, “Just do it. I would do it, but I’m in heels.” 

You gesture for him to go on with the action, but not before he mutters a ‘the heels didn’t seem like a problem earlier’, earning him a thwack on his shoulder. 

Squeezing his eyes shut, Hyunjin sticks an arm out, using his index finger to point. Then, he begins to spin clockwise. From an outsider’s glance, this man probably looked ridiculous—he was dressed in formal attire and spinning like a top, almost taking out a few passerbyers in the process. 

You were finding this so amusing that you almost forgot that you had to tell him to stop. 

And when you tell Hyunjin to stop, he somehow ends up with his finger just inches away from your nose. You burst out laughing, your hands coming up to clutch your stomach because, for one, Hyunjin took the challenge seriously, and two, he looked absolutely ridiculous just standing there eyes closed and pointing. 

You don’t notice how Hyunjin’s eyes finally flutter open to see what was going on and how his taut expression relaxes the second they land on your bright figure just laughing, even if it is at his expense. His arm drops to his side, making a muted whap against his jacket. This catches your attention.

“I’m sorry,” you say, wiping a tear that has managed to slip out of the corner of your eye. And when Hyunjin doesn’t answer immediately, you take a step closer to him, “Hello?” 

“O-okay, so, that way!” Hyunjin’s brought back from space, head shaking. He side steps and walks around you, leading the way down the street while making sure you were following him. 

Hyunjin has no idea what just happened. It wasn’t like it was the first time he's seen you happy. In fact, you’ve always been happy around him. So, why did he suddenly freeze seeing you happy this time? 

Hyunjin shakes the thought out of his head, dismissing it as the remnants of wine from the party still in his system, and continues walking down the street, just a few paces in front of you.

You and Hyunjin weave through the people walking down the street against you, hands full with shopping bags or stuffed deep into their pockets. The pace Hyunjin had taken began to speed up, as if he had spotted something over the crowd that you couldn’t quite see even with heels. 

Glancing back, Hyunjin gently latches onto your wrist, afraid that you’d get lost in the sea of people, pulling you closer before he continues to step through the occasional gaps between bodies. 

“Where are we going?” you say out of curiosity. Hyunjin’s too occupied to answer you, still keeping his grasp firm around your wrist. He tugs you along for one more block, and by then you can tell that he did have an idea of where you were. Hyunjin knew where to go.

You feel like you’re able to breathe again when Hyunjin leads you into a plaza, and you let out a breath that you didn’t even know you were holding in. There was more space for people to walk around, buskers at each corner of the opening, and restaurants decked out in Christmas lights and decorations. Some places were blasting Christmas tunes out of outdoor speakers and, from afar, you can see Santa Claus taking pictures with children. You feel your heart fill with warmth in the atmosphere, excited to wander around and kill time with Hyunjin. 

“Do you want to eat something?” Hyunjin questions. The boy halts in front of a food truck, head falling back to scan the menu. The food truck was a dessert truck—candied fruit, ice cream, cake pops, and more. You can see that they also sold drinks. 

You nod, “What are you getting?” 

“I’m thinking a cake pop… you?” The line shifts forward and you both take a step forward to follow. 

You hum and try to decide on your own treat, “Can you get me candied strawberries, please?” 

It takes a little bit to reach the front of the line and finally receive your food. When the man on the truck hands Hyunjin the food, you go to grab it but Hyunjin refuses to let you take it, pulling the treats back to his own body. “Huh?” you frown, “Do you want me to pay you back or something?” Your mouth was practically watering at the sight of the tanghulu. It was almost unrealistically red, like strawberries you’d find in cartoons. 

“It’s cold,” Hyunjin shakes his head, “You can keep your hands in your pockets… I’ll hold it for you.” Then he holds the stick up to your lips, “Here.” 

Your brows furrow and you groan, “Hyunjin, I’m capable of holding it myself, you know.” You’re quick to grab the stick from Hyunjin and give him a look, “But thanks anyway.” 

Hyunjin grins, "Alright, suit yourself." He takes a bite of his cake pop as you enjoy the sweetness of the candied strawberries. The plaza is filled with a festive atmosphere, and you decide to stroll the rest of the area while munching on the treats. 

By the time you were halfway finished with your food, you had been able to properly take in the scene of the plaza. It was actually much larger than it was at first sight, the area stretching down another block or two of buildings. It extended into a wide pedestrian mall, with shops busy on either side of the broad walkway. 

Everyone there looked happy, like characters in the background of a movie. They minded their own business, stopping to watch the street performers entertain the passerbyers, or taking impromptu stops at the local shops lined up along the mall.

And though it did seem like such a first world problem for you to want to experience this without the stress that your parents constantly impose onto you to run a company, you like to think that your feelings still count. Even just a little.

“Look over there,” Hyunjin speaks up. He’s pointing further down the road and into a smaller plaza. There were people skating on a small, man-made, ice rink. 

A gasp leaves your mouth as you when you take notice of the gigantic Christmas tree sitting off to the side of the rink. It had been strung from top to bottom in lights that occasionally changed colours. Ornaments decorated the tree with large ornaments, accented with ribbons and garland. 

It was beautiful. 

It was beautiful and you wanted to go get a better look at it. 

Leaving Hyunjin’s side, you begin walking ahead of him, long forgetting the tanghulu in your hand. And just like earlier, Hyunjin calls for you to slow down, mainly because you were charging through the crowd with a pointy skewer, but also because he cannot catch up. You paid no mind to his attempts to slow you down. You were already dead set on catching a closer glimpse of that tree.

Hyunjin reaches you when you finally choose to stop. Your head falls back to look at the tree from its topper to its base, mouth falling open in awe, “Tell me why I’ve never seen this before.” Then you turn to look at Hyunjin, who’s looking at the tree himself, “How do you think they decorated it?”

Hyunjin lets out a laugh in the form of air shooting out his nose, “Cause all we know is work and school and business. I guess we never really have the time to enjoy these things, do we?” Then he thinks up a clever answer for your second question, but fails, “And honestly, I don’t know. Maybe one of those man lifts?” 

“You’re right,” you laugh, “We need to Irish Goodbye more often if it means we get to see more things like this.” You glance around the area and find a bench nearby. Wordlessly, you grab onto Hyunjin’s sleeve and tug him along to sit. 

You can feel how cool the metal bench is through your dress, but you lean back anyways, continuing to admire the Christmas tree. It was weird because you were feeling this sort of delight growing in your chest just at the sight of the decorated tree, though if you were asked what you were feeling you wouldn’t be able to put words to it. It was like the cherry on top of the sundae, perfectly fitting the ambience of everything that you and Hyunjin have seen tonight. 

And for Hyunjin, sure the tree and the lights strung up all over the plaza were beautiful, but he was having a hard time keeping his attention on them, and instead kept taking glances your way. It was probably the fact that this happiness was different than the ones he’s seen before. It was like your inner child had jumped out, eyes filled with all the galaxies the universe held. 

The corners of his lips had stretched at the slightest, eyes following in pursuit. 

Hyunjin realizes now that if you were happy, he was happy. And he’d do anything to make it happen. 

But he wouldn’t admit that to you just yet. 

Or anyone. 

It was enough for now that he had admitted it to himself.

Feeling eyes on you, you catch Hyunjin looking at you, expression soft. "What's up with that look?" you tease, your eyes narrowing. You lean over and nudge his arm with your shoulder. 

Hyunjin feels heat rush to the apples of his cheeks and the tips of ears. He hopes that you don’t notice, “It’s nothing… just thinking about how we should actually do this more often.” Hyunjin pries his eyes away from you and forces himself to look at the tree which, frankly, wasn’t as pretty as you. 

“We should…” you nod, “This is way better than the gala.” 

Hyunjin agrees silently. 

The two of you sit there in a comfortable silence, just taking in the environment. It wasn’t everyday that you both got freedom like this and it was nice. And you can tell that Hyunjin felt the same. 

Before you finally go to speak up after a while, your phone rings. Glancing at the caller ID, your heart rate shoots up when you see it's your parents at the other end of the line. You quickly answer it to not cause suspicion, already sensing the concern in their voices.

“Hello?”

"Y/N, sweetheart, where are you?" your mom asks. You could hear your father’s voice saying something in the background, followed by another man’s voice. 

"I’m still at the venue," you lie, "I just needed to get air. Why?"

“We found the owner of—” You roll your eyes. Of course. 

“I’ll be right there, mom,” you say flatly, “Bye.” And you hang up. 

“So?” Hyunjin questions. You notice that he had shifted in his seat to look at you, “What did she say?” He didn’t want to get you in trouble. 

“She was talking about the owner of some company,” you shrug, “But that means we have to go.” 

You stand up and take one last look at the tree before you have to drag yourself back into your own reality. It was good while it lasted. 

Hyunjin frowns at your expression and gently takes your hand in his, “I’ll take you back here soon.”

You smile, eyes lighting up at the thought of coming back here again (and in much more comfortable clothes, too). “Promise?”

Hyunjin’s glad to see the joy instantly return to your previously deflating figure and nods.

“Promise.”

an: Thank you soso much for reading! Pls stay tuned for the upcoming members!

[vaguely-concerned]

Stray Gods Character Design Thoughts

In order we're going Pan, Apollo, Persephone, Eros, Aphrodite and a little bit of Venus! Disclaimer that I have no professional experience in character design at all, so these are only my vibes-based ramblings and observations purely for fun and because my brain simply won't shut up about this game haha. Also I will freely admit Pan probably gets the most attention in this because of who I am as a person and where my heart truly lies at the end of the day lol

PAN

Ok, first of all I have so many questions and they all delight me. This guy is the god of the wild places ("Where else would I be, but among the trees and the wild things?"), he lives in a magical garden on top of an office building... and he’s walking around everywhere in an expensive three piece tailored suit (when Freddie accuses him of being a sleaze in a cheap suit he protests mildly that his suit is anything but cheap haha). The cut of it is really carefully thought out and planned, but the bold colours under the grey coat and (studied I am sure) careless details like the tie also make it fun and playful. Which is pleasingly coherent with the general theme of his character in the writing too and I adore it.  

This is not the point, I know, but I’m wondering how he makes that work just like. Practically now. Has Athena fixed up Olympus with in-house laundry service? And other sentences I did not expect to type out today lol. Ah well he’s wily I’m sure he has his ways. 

I can't heap enough praise on it, this design is SUCH an interesting and elegant marriage of the immediately recognizable satyr features and thus animal symbolism with all its added pagan weight in a post-Christianity setting, and the sort of ‘man of wealth and taste’ imagery of the devil at the crossroads they clearly want to evoke, especially in his first scene. And partially through his mannerism there’s also an added element of like… eccentric but surprisingly competent college professor — just look at the way he carries himself whenever he isn’t putting on the charm or when he’s being guarded and self-contained. That little hands resting on his back pose exudes ‘nerd’ so deeply to me haha. (Incredibly fuckable nerd, to be sure, but still!)

you don't fool me buddy I know what you are. I know all the trouble you went to to get a book.

His body language shifts very quickly between wild playful expressiveness and a sort of nonchalant urbane detachment that borders on coldness sometimes, and it fascinates me. Especially since that more refined unavailable side seems to be something he’s deliberately cultivated, to some extent. When Grace calls him out on how boring it sounds to just let yourself go numb and distant to survive, he doesn’t deny that at all, only saying that at least it’s been quite effective. 

Putting the rest under a cut to save people's dashes! I may, as they say, have gotten a tiny bit carried away.

Physically he’s not very imposing — he’s only a little taller than Grace, and the shortest of all of the love interests, which I find somehow very charming and also plays into him being more of a guile-based character. “Seeing as I am neither big nor truly bad, it behooves me to be wary of those who are both” indeed!

I’m fairly sure he’s the character wearing the most layers. Even his hands are mostly covered by gloves. He partially covers up his eyes with the tinted glasses — interesting, as one of the features that most give his real nature away with their sidewise pupils, and the lenses are tinted purple as the complimentary colour to yellow, so it downplays just how bright they are. All together it’s very much a ‘well, he’s certainly got to be in there somewhere’ sort of vibe at times. (Since he also seems to care about his clothes quite a bit — he complains about scuffing his pants during the climb in the Medusa mission if you go the lockpick route — I have drawn the conclusion that getting him out of all of that must take quite a bit of time, no matter how much practice he’s probably put in over the years of meeting 'delicious people' lol) 

It’s a design that manages to give, at the same time: animal-featured ancient god, deal with the devil, teacher, overtones of con man if you’re inclined to be Freddie-levels of uncharitable lol, eccentric rich weird uncle… there’s a lot going on here and somehow it all works haha. He isn’t wearing any jewelry at all unless you count the glasses, which now that I’m looking at the rest of the character designs in this game is actually fairly rare among them!

His eyes really are incredibly bright when uh naked as it were, though. I like the implication that he is aware of this and actually goes out of his way to downplay it, even when he’d normally be wearing glamour anywhere it would strictly matter for it to show. Between that, the meaningful zoom in on him at the Underworld when Apollo says that all the Idols can be themselves there even if they don’t look human, Pan claiming he’s been distrusted and side-eyed by the others basically since the beginning and seeming kind of frustrated and hurt about it, in his deflecting way, and the implication of a hierarchy among the Idols at least under Athena’s leadership in this stained glass painting (notably all the visibly non-human Idols/hangers on are at the bottom, and Hecate, Asterion and especially Medusa are the characters most affected and confined by the oppressive status quo Athena upholds)...

this one! sing it with me now EVERYBODY LEAVES THIS PLACE ALIVEEE ok we can move on

you know, some possible Subtext and Implications going on here, I’d say. (It is only potential subtext and implication, though, so, you know, take my extrapolations here with a grain of salt!) He certainly doesn’t do himself many favors with the persona he’s built up in regards to being trusted and included either, but his status as a little bit of an outsider does seem to precede that so I feel like it’s more of a response than the main cause. Along the same lines he gets much more testy about the Green route of ‘I Can Teach You’ than he does about you just not choosing him in the Red one, he takes that pretty gracefully. So it is the being deliberately kept on the outside and openly distrusted and dismissed that gets to him. (To be clear I don't think openly distrusting a strange guy showing up in your living room like that is at all unreasonable either haha I just think the nuances of his response are enlightening as to where he's really coming from)

this one isn't even to illustrate anything it's just because I love him so much and think he's pretty I'll be real with you all

Anyway I just keep thinking about how incredibly tender it would be if sometimes, when they’re in private, Grace takes his glasses off to see his eyes better and he lets her. That shakes something deep in my soul apparently. That fucks me up but like in a good way.

APOLLO

- Apollo’s style of dress leaves his navel helpfully exposed for the copious amounts of depressed gazing he habitually subjects it to. (I say this not entirely without affection.) 

a crumpled tissue of a man

In keeping with his incredibly emo mode, there’s very little colour involved and he doesn’t take much care to present anything with care (look at the state of that shirt and tell me if Apollo has picked up an iron in the last forty years), BUT interestingly he’s not entirely open and unadorned, he does wear that network of jewelry across his chest and neck. Which I think is to show that the old Apollo is not entirely gone (“There he is, god of the sun”), even if he has been a sack stuffed with sad for a long time now. I wonder how many of these things are leftover preferences from being only Lucas — presumably the tattoos at least are from before he fished Apollo up from the sea? If I’m reading the vibes right on that, the blue of the tattoos and the gold of the sun… thingy he wears with the jewelry are the main splashes of colour in his design aside from his hair, and they’re both ‘leftovers’ from both his previous lives, surfer bro and solar deity recently fallen on hard times. Physically he would be tall and imposing, parodically built, except that he carries himself with all the confidence and panache of a damp depressed dishrag. 

Also I can’t believe this guy is walking around everywhere in sandals. Apollo makes sad flip-flop sounds wherever he goes, including when he steps up during ‘The Trial’. That’s so amazingly pathetic (affectionate). 

We can see from the photo with him and Calliope that he wasn’t always quite this much of a mess. Once, he did his shirt up a whole maybe four buttons and wore something that wasn’t beige!

Intellectually I acknowledge that it's a design meant to provide fanservice, even though I personally could not consider this guy in a sexual or romantic light if you gave me a thousand years to build up to it. (I've said it before but if he's anything to me, he is the incredibly fail father figure continually letting me down in tiny ways I never had.) Godspeed to the Apollo-enjoyers out there, though, Summerfall gave him those abs and that poor little meow meow energy just for you and it's your right to enjoy that

- Pan and Apollo also bring out some really interesting contrasts both as characters and designs when you hold them up against each other:  

Once you scratch the surface a tiny bit Pan clearly has just as much self-loathing as Apollo (“If Athena had taken me up on my offer, the Idols would have been better off” uh. Okay buddy we’re gonna have to process that one together later what do you say), but where Apollo is completely helplessly open in his misery at all times, you need to unbutton Pan at least three layers until you get a honest or straightforward emotion out of him and I think that’s amazingly carried through into their visual designs. It's Good Visual Storytelling Brent   

PERSEPHONE

- I’m fairly sure the colour of Persephone’s suit is supposed to evoke pomegranate seeds. See and judge for yourself I suppose: 

She also has details on her coat that depict foliage and growing plants, but colour-wise they and the rest of the detailing is in the blue-green that symbolizes the Underworld and so death. Her jewelry is gold, which — and I’m about to do some reaching here, I’ll be big enough to own — could play in with Hades being the god of riches as well as of the dead/the underworld. Probably it’s because it works well with the colour scheme, but I’m going to pretend that it’s because even if she didn’t get the throne she did get that motherfucker’s hoard when she killed him <3 Love that for her. Her jewelry is more rose gold than Apollo’s yellow gold, too. Watch me go for even more of a reach: between the necklace and the watch, those round discs of gold remind me of the coins put on the eyes of the dead but like you know repurposed since she doesn't need them to pay the Ferryman. I never promised I'd be reasonable in this did I.  

The short hair works real well for the butch vibe and looks amazing no notes, but I think it’s also a deliberate way to differentiate herself from her younger self — when speaking of Demeter’s death, she says that moment was also the final death of that young her, ‘that girl with the long hair who loved her gardens’. Clearly the Idols do a lot of reinventing themselves over the ages in more and less conscious ways.

She has a tattoo of what looks to be foliage and a skull across her left chest and arm. I really like that idea of her having the testament to both sides of her — goddess of spring, queen of the underworld — directly on her skin, under two layers of clothes that each represent those aspects. The one on her arm looks like stalks of grain tied together to resemble the bones of the hand/forearm, maybe? which is metal as fuck, needless to say. 

She is TALL and scary and the staging always plays that up, Grace tends to look up at her like O.O. I love how sharp she is too. 

Also she is incredibly hot but you don’t need me to tell you that you all have eyes I assume. 

EROS, APHRODITE and VENUS:

- I love literally everything about Eros’ design except his hair. Not even the concept of the haircut and colours or anything, just the way it’s rendered. It looks like one strange flat cap I can’t quite make understandable in three dimensional space as hair in my head lol. Other than that it’s a banging design though, the delicate see-through material over the leather BDSM harness is genius. Choosing this form of sensuality and attractiveness for him to embody -- one that is so deeply queercoded -- also works super well. The warmth and vulnerability of his body language on top of it is *chef's kiss*. just. please define his hair a bit more and it's perfect haha.

- I'm not sure I have that much to say about Aphrodite’s design except that of course she is beauty she is grace etc., it takes a lot of thought to make such a simple design shine and by god did they do it she’s so stunning. Also interesting how her dark blues and greens with cool/silvery details contrast with Venus’ warm reds and pinks and… brass? Idk I don’t really understand jewelry haha. All warmth and soft romanticism, anyway, it looks nice. (Side note but I love Venus’ rose tattoo.) Eros and Venus have much more matching colour schemes and they both bring those islands of warmth standing around Aphrodite in her shimmering ocean coolness. (Which of course is something she has to deliberately put on before going into public these days, and is unselfconsciously glamorous in the way of an old timey Hollywood starlet, as the blue route of 'The Ritual' lampshades)

:') *whisper* everybody...

Venus is wearing pearls, which is pleasing considering her connection to Aphrodite (and the backgrounds of the 'Lost in a Moment' variant of 'The Ritual')! and both of her and Aphrodite's outfits go for a shoulderless look to great effect.

ETA: When the camera is close on Aphrodite you can actually see that she has dark circles under her eyes, only partially covered by the makeup :'( I didn't notice that before I played through 'The Ritual' on a bigger screen today

All in all I just want to acknowledge what a fantastic job the character designers at Summerfall Studios have done! There are some really fresh new takes on these mythological figures here, and it makes so much sense within the world the game presents without resorting to well-worn and tired iconography, I really do admire it greatly.

[blackdungeon357]

bad batch X artist Reader

Authors note: this is just for fun I randomly thought of this I tried I hope you like it

You have been with the bad batch for a while. You usually just draw when the boys are on missions or when things are calm in hyperspace although it is usual for you to draw you never really show them to the boys or Omega and most of the time they never question it. Until one day you were out at the store and left your sketchbook open on accident Omega found it on your bed and it was open to a page you have drawn of your little family. Omega grabbed it to show to the others at first they were a little weary because your privacy but when they looked at it their face is dropped as they flipped through the pages there were pictures of all of them just doing regular things

Hunter:

As Hunter looked through the sketchbook at all the pictures of his brothers his eyes are gleaming with happiness as this shows how much you see them as a family when he gets to a picture of him it says a few things that you like about him and its nothing but sweet as he looks at the well drawn picture of him holding his knife he is very happy and proud of how it looks as he keeps looking he finds a picture of him and Omega with the words #galaxies best father he smiles he never knew that you would say that about him and it brings joy to his day when you came back he smiles and handed you back your sketchbook "mesh’la you are a beautiful artist keep going I would love to see more" Hunter is extremely supportive of your skills and would love to see more as it helps him calm down seeing the pictures you drew and the time and dedication you made for each of them he also loves the notes you write in them.

Wrecker:

This big boy absolutely love your art especially the ones about him he finds this as a way you show you love and care for him and that makes him so happy he especially lost a little notes that you wrote about him he can't help but feel joyful inside. wrecker makes it known that he saw it he walks up to you and embraces you in a bear hug like Hunter he is very appreciative of the time you spent to draw each picture of him he especially puts the picture of him holding his stuffed animal. "Y/N you are amazing at drawing! We should totally draw together one day" Wrecker is definitely the type to do art as well and he happily gives advice to you as you give advice to him Wrecker does love you to death and would do anything to see your art.

Echo:

This precious baby actually feels more secure about himself as he looks at the pictures you've drawn of him and everything you wrote that you like about him it makes me feel jittery inside he also blushes a bit overall he's very happy that you see him in a good way as he is very insecure about how he looks but his favorite is the old picture you drew of him and Fives. It reminds him of the good times before everything happened it gives him a sense of nostalgic and he loves it Echo is very thrilled that you took the time to draw him and he loves the details of the pictures. When you get back Echo looks at you with a very happy smile and a better feeling about himself because your opinion is the only thing that matters to him now "ca’tra you are so talented when I saw how you drew me and the sweet notes about me it made me feel so good about myself you are truly amazing" Echo now sees himself in a better light and its all thanks to you.

Tech:

Tech was quite busy looking at his data pad until Omega decided to show him the sketch by shoving it in his face to get attention after his attention was grabbed he takes a look at it and at first he doesn't really care until he realize it's yours he's impressed by your proportions and ability to capture their figures very well he decides to look through it he finds many pictures of crosshair, wrecker ,Hunter, and Echo then he comes across one of him looking at his dad in the middle of the night and he loves how it looks the shading is spot on the proportion is correct he is very impressed we all know Tech is very intelligent and probably good at human anatomy and like things to be perfect when you come home he hands you back the sketchbook "you're proportions are pretty good you know a lot about human anatomy I'm impressed" he is very happy and may start to questions about if you know of each piece of the body and will correct you if you get it wrong.

Crosshair:

He doesn't understand art at all like he's impressed that you can draw that well but he doesn't ever draw so he doesn't understand but he smirks at the notes about him he notes to tease you about it when you get back but other than that crosshair is ok with your drawings PS: he loves the drawings of him the most. Honestly Crosshair is very prideful what did you expect? So when you return home he is quick to tease you "so I'm charming eh?" He says this with a smirk on his face as he looks at you with that smirk and as you try to grab your sketchbook he keeps it out of your reach and laughs at you attempts to grab it Hunter has to tell hem to return the sketchbook but for the next week hes teasing you about it always steeling your sketchbook just to see the new things you wrote about him and more badass pictures of himself it annoys you but you can't do much but you will play his little game and it will continue until you can hide your sketchbook.

[my-great-big-book-of-fan-fiction]

The Taming of Man: chapter Five - Dragon Shifting!Katsuki Bakugou x F!reader

Once again, I expected this to be wayyyyy longer, and once again, I realized just how much writing that entailed. I hope this was enough plot progress for you, I really am liking the relationship between Katsuki and reader so far <3

Words: 2,743

This is incredibly based on the song The Willow Maid by Erutan, I highly recommend giving it a listen for the best experience.

Warnings: Cursing, reader is She/Her and will be AFAB in later chapters, Katsuki is painfully bad at lying

The grass...well, was is really grass? It was fiery red, it crunched beneath your feet, it wasn't like the soft and gentle sea green grass you were used to. The air was dry and lightly scented of smoke, causing your nose to crinkle, and the sky was a perpetual shade of pepper orange with not a cloud in sight, only undistinguishable animals circling above, maybe vultures or falcons. The few trees and bushes around were barren and tinted a warm shade of desert red, their big thorns branching outwards and daring anyone to touch them.

Before you, maybe a football field's distance out, was the palace, Katsuki's home. It was tall, so tall you nearly fell over looking at it, the many towers shooting upwards making it looking like a red stalagmite formation. Closer than the palace was the large wall surrounding the structure, scraggly like the side of a mountain, no doubt holding a massive courtyard inside. It reminded you of your own palace, the aesthetics different but the size and awe it induced from others the same.

"This is..." you started, looking around and drinking in every detail, unable to put together your words.

"Forrmidūl," Katsuki finished bluntly, grabbing your hand in his calloused fingers and pulling you away from the regal structure. you wanted to go and see shit? fine, but there was no way in hell you were going anywhere near the castle. The crap he would get over having a girl by, especially a girl so pretty, wouldn't be worth it, his mother would already be planning a spring wedding.

"W-wait, Katsuki," you whined, not taking your eyes off the building. The more you looked at it, the more you realized that those circling birds were way higher up than you thought before...meaning they were way bigger...

"Are those...?" You squinted, unable to get a good look with the sun blaring in the corner of your eye, but thankfully Katsuki turned around to see what you were looking at.

He just rolled his eyes, it was so obvious to him, how couldn't you tell? "Dragons, dumbass," he scoffed, dragging you towards nothing in particular, he didn't care where you were going as long as it wasn't there.

"Dragons," you whispered, a big smile playing on your face as you watched their silhouettes dance in the sunlight.

You and your stupid face, always so easily impressed, always so smiley. He'd never met anyone who smiled so often, it made his heart beat faster and his hands get all sweaty. He was pissed off, that had to be it. All the symptoms were there, it couldn't be anything else...it shouldn't be anything else. You weren't even from the same realm. End of story. That should be enough for him to not like you, to not want to keep his hand in yours just a little longer, to not want to breath in your scent and hold you close and make you smile and-

"Where are we even going," you finally asked, putting your attention on his inexplicably red face and strong grip on your hand. "How'm I supposed to know? It was your idea, wasn't it," he snaps, turning around to face you with a deep frown and furrowed brows.

You just giggled a little and shook your head, it was almost impressive how irritable he was. "Well it's your country, I don't know what's here...I thought you'd have something planned." Your reasoning was annoyingly sound, and while yes, he'd been thinking about this all night, it was less for planning and more stupid worry about keeping you safe.

He seemed to be thinking for a moment, looking down and away while his face stayed angry. "We'll go to the market," he decided begrudgingly, sounding unhappy with the idea. You, however, seemed perfectly happy, smiling widely and saying, "Fun, like a shopping date," absentmindedly. You didn't realize how much those words would effect him.

"N-No, not like a shopping date," he said quickly, turning tomato red and seeming to fumble his words a little. It was just then that he realized he was still holding your hand, and it was then that he immediately let go.

"Ok, ok, not like a shopping date," you laughed with a smile, finding his floundering cute. He sighed and grabbed you again, this time by your arm, and began pulling you to the palace. If you were going to the market, he'd have to fix some things...and that meant having to do a little sneaking around. "Where are we going now," you asked, making him grumble with annoyance. You asked too many damn questions. "I need to get you a jacket or something, you can't be walking around looking like...that."

"Like what," you asked, clearly offended, you hand on your hip as he dragged you along. "Like a foreigner," he scoffed, stopping at the wall surrounding the courtyard. "People'll try to take advantage of you, especially when you look like a blue-blooded b-" he stopped himself, mulling over how exactly you would feel being called a rude name for perhaps the first time in his life, before continuing with- "person."

You caught that, and you had to admit you appreciated his attempt to be at least a little nice. "But aren't you a royal too," you pointed out, watching as he began to scale the short wall, using the rocky terrain to his advantage. "Yeah," he said, his voice slightly strained from his efforts, however able to reach the top before he continued with, "But not a foreign one."

He reached his hand out for you to take, he wouldn't expect you to climb after him in shoes like that, and although you were already scaling the wall, you gladly took his hand and allowed him to hoist you up with ease. "What's the difference," you asked, to which he grumbled at how annoying he found your questions. "The difference is they respect me because I've earned it, now jump down and wait for me at the bottom."

You understood now, being royal wasn't enough for people to respect you here, not like how it was where you were from. You hopped down, the distance not any farther than the wall surrounding your home, and looked up at him from the base of it. His golden hair seemed to shine in the sunlight, his ruby red eyes practically piercing you with the way they bore into yours, and his muscled body concealed by his clothes.

He followed after you, jumping down and bending his knees on the impact. Without another word, he took your arm again and began walking forward, a grove of fruit trees surrounding the two of you. They weren't from here, imported in from other countries as Forrmidūl was a land that had little to offer agriculturally. Even the soil was imported in, the sandy and dry dirt of this place completely inhabitable by these plants.

You weren't walking nearly as long as you were going through the Farbenreich forest, but it took a hot minute before you reached your destination, an extremely large barn, practically its own mini palace. Katsuki pushed the giant metal hatch open, moving the heavy door with ease. The barn wasn't wooden like the ones you were used to seeing for the alicorns and pegasai, but instead made of all kinds of metals.

You'd realize why when, as he swung the door open, you saw giant dragons in their own stalls, curled up in nests and sleeping. There were Wyverns, Wyrms, Western dragons, Lung dragons, Amphitheres, nearly every land dragon namable was there. Katsuki walked in like nothing, clearly used to this, while you followed with a look of awe and astonishment.

He walked all the way to the very back of the barn, making sure you were following, and opened up the gate to a stall that went all the way to the vaulted ceiling. "You're staying in here until I bring you something to cover all that," he said gruffly, holding the gate open for you. Inside was a giant red dragon, sleeping in a curled up ball atop a nest of treasures. It's nostrils were as big as your head, flaring as it slowly breathed in and out, its wings tucked against it's body. It's scales had an iridescent sheen to them, shimmering orange in some lights, reflecting gold in some of the many coins and jewels it lie upon.

"woah..." you whispered, you're own eyes reflecting the glittering beauty. Katsuki watched your awe for a moment, drinking in the way your face held an astonishment that, for reasons unknown to him, made his chest swell. "What's their name," you asked softly, hesitantly turning your attention to Katsuki.

He cleared his throat and quickly looked away from you, his eyes now on his dragon. "His name is Versengen...now get in there already, I don't wanna get caught."

You obliged him, however with some sass in your body language, and took a seat on the giant pile of treasures. The great beast behind you formed a semi-circle around your body, it's curled position leaving it's head about 6 feet from your right, and the very tip of it's spiny tail a yard from your left.

"Uh...what if he wakes up," you ask hesitantly, the breath of him pushing your hair to the side with every exhale and pulling it back in with every inhale.

"Just don't look 'im in the eyes and you'll be fine," he scoffed, already leaving.

"What do you mean 'don't look him in the eyes,'" you called after him nervously. He was already out the door. "Katsuki," you whisper-shouted. No response. "What happens if I look him in the eyes?!"

As Katsuki left the front of the barn, all he could think about was how much this inconvenienced him, you and your constant asking for shit. Oh katsuki, teach me about your world. Oh Katsuki, take me on an adventure. Oh Katsuki, look how perfect and pretty I am...ok, maybe he made that last one up, but the rest of it was true! He was so wrapped up in his own head, he bumped right into Kirishima walking towards the barn as Katsuki walked away.

"Oh, hey dude," Kiri said nonchalantly, his hands full with a giant bucket of raw animal meat. "Watch where you're goin," Katsuki grumbled, to which Kirishima laughed but didn't argue. At this point, he knew it would be an uphill battle.

"What's that for," Katsuki asked, gesturing towards the bucket. Please don't let it be what he thinks it is. "This? I'm gonna go feed Versengen," Eijiro answered innocently.

"No," Katsuki shouted, successfully confusing Eijiro. "No...I already fed him," Katsuki lied, about as convincing as someone blunt as himself could be. "Really," Kirishima asked, a little suspicious but also seeing no reason as to why he would lie. "Alright then...I'll just go put this back..."

Katsuki would owe Versengen a feast later. He just kept walking towards the palace, now beside Eijiro, who was doing nothing but staring at Katsuki. "What," Katsuki huffed, scowling at his servant. "Nothin...Hey, how's it going with that girl?"

"There's no girl, I already told you," Katsuki barked, immediately turning red. "Right, of course not," Kirishima said sarcastically, grinning at Katsuki widely. Bakugou was silent for just a second, trying his best not to inadvertently give himself away. "Hasn't anyone ever told you to mind your damn business," He finally huffed, looking askance.

Eijiro laughed and shook his head, amazed at how strictly Katsuki stuck to his lie despite the truth being so obvious. "Whatever makes you happy dude," Kiri sighed, making Katsuki even angrier. How dare he not believe him!

"I'm serious! there's no girl," Katsuki yelled, nearly foaming at the mouth. "Yeahhhh, for sure," Kirishima sighed with a laugh, turning to go through the back kitchen door. If Katsuki didn't have something to do, he'd be following him, but lucky for Kiri, he was busy.

"Damn shitty hair...not believing my lies..." Katsuki grumbled, hands in his pockets as he made his way around the palace. He entered through a side door, now inside the base of one of the many towers. It took a while, but after trekking through the vast and dark, barely candle-lit castle, he finally made it to his chambers. He grabbed the first thing he saw that might work, a simple red cloak that would surely cover your body. Shoving it into his bag, he began to retrace his steps back through the castle. You owed him for all this crap.

Katsuki had just about reached the barn, sliding up the hatch, when he heard a practically ear-splitting shriek. Oh. Fuck. No, you couldn't be hurt. holy shit, what was he going to do if you got hurt? He burst through, dashing to the back of the dragonhouse and practically kicking the door open.

There you were...perfectly...fine?

Versengen craned over you, his long tongue running over your face in broad and happy strokes, you squealing with laughter. Katsuki let out the biggest sigh of relief, before stomping over and scowling at you. "You scared the shit out of me, don't scream like that," Katsuki shouted.

Versengen practically whacked him on the side of his head with his tail, moving a little to be in between the two of you in a protective way. "You can't side with her," Katsuki huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at him. Versengen wobbled his head from side to side, his breath becoming so loud it practically shook the stall and filled it with steam as the scales around his neck extended in and out, like the gills of a fish. "Don't give me that," Katsuki scolded, as if he were talking to a small child and not a ferocious dragon.

"Ok, as cute as this is," you started, standing up, "I kinda really wanna go to the market now." Katsuki's attention returned to you, and he grabbed the cloak from his bag. "It's not cute, he's being an asshole," Katsuki said pointedly, eyes still on Vergensen as he passed you the item of clothing. The beast just made a sound similar to a chuckle, a throaty, breathy sound being released in short bursts.

You put the cloak on, holding it together by the ruby clasp and pulling the hood up over your head. The fabric went all the way down to your feet, nearly touching the ground, and the hood partially covered your eyes. It was almost too big for you, enough to be annoying but not enough to greatly inconvenience you.

"Awww, but he is cute," you cooed, stepping out of the circle the dragon made around you and rubbing his snout in circles, the texture smooth but the scales threatening to cut you where they layered atop one another. Versengen let out a deep rumbling sound, not a growl but a continuous purr, his head lowering down as you relaxed him just enough to put him back to sleep.

Katsuki watched you handle his Dragon so effortlessly, you truly had a way with nature. Flora and Fauna alike bent their will to you, doing as you wished not because you forced them, but because you were so good-hearted. "C-come on, let's go already," he grumbled, grabbing you by your elbow and yanking you away. "Hey, you can turn into a dragon, right," you asked, eyes thankfully still on Versengen, if you saw how touched Katsuki was that you two got along he might just die of embarrassment.

"Yeah, so what," he said sharply, taking you to the front of the barn and peaking out to make sure no one was watching. "Do you purr too," you asked teasingly, grinning at him cheekily. He twitched, clearly not expecting that, before responding with, "Why the hell do you care?!"

"Take that as a yes, then," you said with laughter, giggling as you both ran out of the barn. You clambered up the wall, Katsuki once again hoisting you up while saying, "Don't just assume shit!"

Hopping down and waiting for him to follow, you said, "Oh, so you're saying if I were to pet you the way I pet Versengen, you wouldn't purr?"

"..."

You reached your hand out, a wide and playful grin on your face.

"Don't fucking touch me."

Katsuki was already sick of your bullshit, and you hadn't even been together longer than a few hours.

Ahhhhhhh I love Versengen and the dynamic he has with Kat <3 As always, let me know what you thought of this chapter and please like if you enjoyed! I'd also like to say that if you have any questions about this series, drop it in my ask box and I'll do my best to answer without spilling some of that juicy plot 😏

Taglist<3: @sky-angel101 @the-galaxy-fiend @chixkadee @ssplague

[itsmoonpeaches]

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender: A show with its heart in the right place but questionable execution

[An objective spoiler review from a fan of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series who watched the live-action adaptation pretending to not know a thing about the original show.]

Episode scores

Episode 1: 7/10

Episode 2: 7.5/10

Episode 3: 6/10

Episode 4: 1.5/10

Episode 5: 7/10

Episode 6: 8/10

Episode 7: 5/10

Episode 8: 2.5/10

Overview

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with some heart. When there are highs, they are very high, but when there are lows they take away from the rest of the story. The visuals are overall stunning with an attention to detail. The set design in particular is done with love including incredible pieces, CGI design, and beautiful cultural references. The fighting is creative and fun to watch, though waterbending fights seem too slow. Surprisingly, the CGI animals work very well. A highlight is Momo who works in the same way Grogu from The Mandalorian works. However, the close-ups of calligraphy pieces should have warranted more research.

The costuming is detailed, but there are some instances when it would have been better to interpret certain characters more realistically rather than try to copy the original animated design.

The cast is not bad, especially considering the focus on younger, less experienced actors. Of the younger cast, Ian Ousley (Sokka), Dallas Liu (Zuko), and Maria Zhang (Suki) are the standouts. Gordon Cormier (Aang) also has good scenes but is not always consistent. The kid is cute and embodies Aang well. The most disappointing was Kiawentiio Tarbell (Katara) who I so desperately wanted to be good, but was either not given the direction needed, or was told to keep the same flat face.

The writing in the show could have been a lot stronger, and many actors suffered from poor writing choices including clunky lines. They acted their hearts out with these but suffered for them at the same time. The show overall felt like a first draft of something that could have been great but fell flat because of either outside sources or a lack of trust in the audience.

For my short and sweet tweets on each episode click here. For a long, detailed review on each episode and my final thoughts keep reading.

Episode 1: Aang - 7/10

This episode started out incredibly strong. Immediately, I was immersed in the world and intrigue. We had an earthbender running through the streets of the Fire Nation Capital City with an intercepted missive that Fire Lord Sozin would attack the Earth Kingdom. The action was very cool to watch and the earthbending stood out. When Sozin captured him and warned that this information was just a diversion and that he had his sights set higher, the tone was exciting and interesting.

Seeing the Air Nomads and what their life was like, then being introduced to the main character, Aang, was fun. I enjoyed seeing the interactions between Monk Gyatso and Aang. They felt like they had an incredible bond.

The violence starts soon after when Aang runs away during the Comet Festival and Sozin's plans are revealed when he uses its power to attack the temples and boy is it brutal to watch. This scene was tough, but in a way that made the audience really hope that the Fire Nation loses because what they did was so incredibly cruel that it can't be put into words.

Where this episode begins to fall off is when we hit the Water Tribe. The writing here becomes a bit clunky and stilted. Gran Gran in particular was a choice. By a choice, I mean that out of all the actors she was unfortunately the worst. Every line that came out of her mouth was grating and poorly delivered, which was sad because her scenes weren't written particularly badly.

Sokka is a stand-out as well as Zuko, though they gave Iroh a scene and lines with Aang that felt so out of place. It felt like a disservice to Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Iroh) who is an incredible actor to give him these awkward sentences to act around. Katara acts like (maybe?) she cares. It's hard to tell when she has no emotion and keeps telling me things that she supposedly cares about and I'm not seeing it.

Episode 2: Warriors - 7.5/10

It is here where things begin to pick up. I had a good time with this episode because to me it was so much fun, and it wasn't necessarily because of the main story going around. It was because the chemistry between Sokka and Suki was so unexpectedly good that I could not peel my eyes off the screen.

No seriously, it was fun. In just one episode, they made me believe that this was the couple for the show. Suki is portrayed as a silent, yet awkward warrior whom the village admires. She's blindsided by Sokka who is definitely not as good a warrior as she is, but is interesting for her to watch.

What's so refreshing about this take is that it's Suki who makes the first move and Sokka awkwardly flirts back with clearly no experience in talking to girls he's interested in. Suki starts peacocking for him! That's hilarious and endearing. We never see that in most media. It's usually the guy who does it, so him being the bumbling fool while Suki also flirts with absolutely no understanding of how to do it was a joy to watch.

Katara exists I guess? Aang's story with Kyoshi honestly was good enough for me to give it a pass, but they also gave Kyoshi so many long lines with nearly nothing to say. They could've cut her lines into a more condensed, stronger thing but instead left them long-winded. However, watching Kyoshi make a tornado of bodies is an experience I'll never forget. Continue what you're doing, fight choreography department.

Episode 3: Omashu - 6/10

This episode is fine. I enjoyed the beginning with Jet being revealed as the guy on the cart who lets the main characters into Omashu. However, the writing really starts falling off here. It starts to feel like they're cramming storylines into one episode.

The set design in Omashu in particular is incredible. I cannot emphasize how beautiful the markets were from the food stalls to the costuming. South and Southeast Asian foods, dried herbs and chilis, gold!!! Just watching the background was fun.

Katara's acting, however? Not fun. She's given so many good emotional beats here and does nothing with them. They keep showing me her flashbacks and I think seeing less of it would've made it more impactful. This is the episode when I realized that she is the most useless character in the trio. Does she need to be there? Does she do anything for the story? No. Sokka feels like the glue of the group while Katara merely causes problems. It doesn't help that everyone acts in circles around her. I wouldn't feel anything if they wrote her out.

Episode 4: Into the Dark - 1.5/10

I don't want to talk about this episode, but if I must, know this: It was awful. It was some of the worst written TV I've ever seen. They took the feeling of cramming too much in the previous episode and multiplied it by 100.

There were too many plot threads and not enough time to let any of them breathe. It felt like watching a show that didn't know what it was doing with itself and in the end, I still don't know what this episode accomplished other than making me frustrated as a viewer.

Sokka and Katara being in the Cave of Two Lovers was an...interesting choice. It looks very strange and borderline incestual considering the out-of-place story right beforehand about two lovers meeting up in the same cave Sokka and Katara had to venture through. The fact that Oma and Shu are both women was something I didn't even notice because of how terribly presented it was. It did not need to be there and was a disservice to the representation they wanted to include.

Sokka and Katara are siblings, so that was something. In fact, using that storyline at all felt so weird. They used it as an excuse to build their relationship when all I felt was confused about it.

Aang and Bumi could have been interesting if they executed it better. Instead, they TOLD me they were best friends and that Bumi went through a lot during the war and that Aang knew Bumi well. I needed to SEE it. (Show don't tell is a very real thing, and this episode is rife with crimes against the rule.) Instead they showed us a brief flashback that wasn't nearly enough. They had one strong plot point with Bumi making Aang the same bison whistle he had from the first episode to call Appa, but it didn't work because the rest of it was executed so badly.

This episode felt unnecessarily preachy and in a bad way. They kept telling us the war was bad, that Iroh hurt people, that Aang hurt people by leaving, yet they showed us none of it. This would've been a really impactful message otherwise, but all it gave me was a load of nothing dipped in nothing sauce.

I loved the orchestral rendition of Leaves From the Vine, but the lines were so long and awkwardly written during Lu Ten's funeral that if it weren't for the music, I would've felt nothing. From the perspective of a viewer who doesn't know anything about Avatar: The Last Airbender, I would still feel confused because it didn't fit with the convoluted tone of the episode in the first place. Why was this here? Why was any of this here?

From a fan and story perspective, we could've had a strong episode just combining The King of Omashu and Jet. Using Jet to try and assassinate King Bumi was such a good intrigue plot, but again the writing was terrible. We didn't also need The Northern Air Temple plot lines here. Danny Pudi deserves better than that.

Episode 5: Spirited Away - 7/10

I don't know if this episode was elevated because the previous episode was vomit level, but I really, genuinely enjoyed this one. After stepping back for a while, I've deduced that yes I liked this episode. This was also the one that I actually felt something emotionally.

I can tell why this one would be controversial from a fan perspective, but looking at it as a story that works within this universe and this version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this really works. It finally felt like an adventure with stakes and characters I could feel for.

From a fan perspective, I enjoyed what this did with the Spirit World here, combining lore from different books in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. It felt fun and creative and worked for me.

From a new viewer perspective, it was the first episode that ended that I actually said, "Wait no, it can't end there!" The visuals of the spirits were so fun, the flashbacks emotional. Katara acted finally! Plus, her younger child actress was phenomenal. Gran Gran was...hm. Sokka stood out immensely. He melted down and I really felt for him. Aang's meeting with Gyatso was gut-wrenching. I teared up.

It was here I discovered the show really shines when they're not trying to copy the original show, and when they try to do their own thing with lore that exists as long as it fits with what they're trying to tell. It works, and it's enjoyable, and gives characters more depth. The kicker? This episode was so strong in comparison because they did a lot of showing us things, not telling us. But it's not without its flaws. There was some weird dialogue here and there. Really, I enjoyed Sokka's and Aang's scenes the most.

June of course, was such a perfect casting choice, and her scenes with Zuko and Iroh were fun. Though once again, they wrote Iroh's lines in a way I don't understand. Why make him this one-note wise man? Sometimes less is more.

Episode 6: Masks - 8/10

This is hands down the best episode of this show. I hardly have any complaints about it. Even Iroh's wisdom lines were doable. Zhao was such a fun ride. They made him this whiny officer with too much to prove and a cocky attitude, and I enjoyed every minute of it. He's like a grown man who is a child, but it works. Oh goodness it works. Give me more of him nitpicking the heck out of the way his speech is written. It was such a refreshing take on a villain.

The rest of the episode? BRILLIANT. Absolutely. Zuko as the Blue Spirit will never get old, but the live action presentation was so good I have no complaints about it at all. The fighting and choreography really worked, and boy was it a fun thing to watch come to life. I don't normally love when things are copied one-to-one from animated shows to live action because it doesn't always work, but this was one of those instances that I'm glad it did work. It was iconic of them to bring back the bamboo pole fight and what's crazy is that it ended up being some of the coolest fight choreography I've seen. They must've had a blast with it!

Zuko and Aang were so good in this. They have a lot of chemistry as actors, and I could believe they want to be friends but circumstances don't allow them. It makes their extended interaction trapped together and hiding from the Fire Nation in a shack that much more impactful. Adding in the fact that Aang stole Zuko's Avatar journal paid off from episode 1 because now they talked about it, bonded over calligraphy and brushes, and I wanted them to be friends with all my heart. Their inevitable separation hurt me.

But oh no, you thought that was all? They made Zuko's backstory better. They showed us more of the scene where Zuko speaks against his father, and it's actually worse than the original show. Worse, as in better story-wise but worse for Zuko. Ozai asks for Zuko's opinion in the war room, Zuko gives it, Ozai disapproves. Then, when the plan is made to sacrifice the 41st Division, Zuko speaks out and says it's a terrible plan.

I could unpack that scene forever. This makes Ozai seem more manipulative, and I love it. He tests Zuko, disapproves, yet punishes him for saying his opinion later when Ozai had asked him before.

They show us the Agni Kai. I enjoyed the choreography. It helps that Daniel Dae Kim (Ozai) is a sight to behold. His cloak was a good choice, and I'll leave it at that. He is also a perfect Ozai. He has the aura of a man who doesn't play around, and he is menacing. It's also his line delivery and voice.

But the thing that I could also obsess about forever? The fact that Ozai punished Zuko not just by banishing him, but by making his crew the same 41st Division he saved. Zuko and Iroh never told them either, not until Iroh decided he should by the end.

So when Zuko comes back injured from freeing the Avatar, it is a great earned scene when his crew bows to him and calls him their prince.

Episode 7: The North - 5/10

After the previous episode, this was such a let down. Not much stood out here, but the Northern Water Tribe was a great set design. I loved looking it at. Unexpectedly, Kuruk was in this, but it worked so well. So unbelievably well.

From a fan perspective, I've always loved Kuruk and when his backstory was revealed in the Kyoshi novels I felt validated. He has a tragic and interesting back story, and they delivered here. Meegwun Fairbrother (Kuruk) has such a commanding presence. I cannot state this enough. He is the Avatar. He is Kuruk. I genuinely want more of him and I want to know more about him. I wouldn't mind if there was a whole live action show about Kuruk with him as the star.

The rest of this episode though? I mean. It was fine I guess? It wasn't episode 4 level of terrible, and definitely had more that elevated it, but the writing started downgrading immensely from here. Also, Yue, girl, what was that wig? And it's so obviously a wig that it was distracting. Why?

Katara felt like she should've had a presence here but she barely did. She had a fight with Master Pakku that felt unearned. It was also the first fight I've seen in this show that I didn't enjoy watching. The choreography wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It was also slow-paced for some reason. It was like I watched two people decide they need to make a move with each move. Everything Katara did felt unearned this episode.

Episode 8: Legends - 2.5/10

Why. What was this finale and why was this the finale? Ignoring the fact the Yue is apparently a spirit trekking lady which could've been cool if they executed it better, this was a whole mess. I'm going to ignore this plot because apparently she was the three-tailed fox in episode 5, and I like episode 5 and don't want to bring that one down so I'll pretend this doesn't exist.

I wouldn't mind if this was the route they went with Yue, but it was so rushed. Her being a waterbender was new, but I also didn't mind it. It was just...shallow. Seeing Yue's romance with Sokka after Suki left a sour taste in my mouth because it was badly done. The actors had no chemistry, and Sokka seemed like a playboy.

The writing was so terrible. Everything was mashed together last minute, Kuruk was there for a cool second, and then my expectations fell past the floor of an outhouse.

Momo, the cute CGI animal, died for some reason saving a person from a falling ice block. Then Yue had to go revive him for some reason. My first reaction was "NO!! MOMO!" Then it was confusion, and then I started laughing because none of it felt right and none of it felt earned, and I was laughing so hard I started crying.

I forgot Aang never started waterbending.

Oh yeah, Katara called herself a master I guess? I don't know how that happened because she's been crap the whole season and never got Pakku to teach her, so I guess she's self-taught now and proved herself by fighting Pakku and convincing him to let the women fight even though they showed no indication of wanting to...so yay feminism? Katara has only been looking at a scroll and failing badly the whole season and learned from no master so I don't know where she got this "master" idea from.

What saved this episode from being episode 4 was that the fight choreography was the coolest I've seen. As a fan, I was scared about how they were going to interpret the black-and-white lunar eclipse scenes but they delivered well! The blasts, the bursts of fire and color, holy heck it worked so incredibly well. I was impressed. Genuinely. I loved watching all those scenes. The Fire Nation blasting through the walls was so cool.

Oh yeah I guess Aang not learning waterbending explains why him being a giant Ocean Spirit fish didn't allow him to waterbend the waves to beat the Fire Nation, but instead he crashed into them.

Katara, Sokka, and Aang were finally together most of the time. I still hardly know anything about them though. Are they friends?

The ending scene with Zuko and Iroh was heartfelt, but could've been stronger. Azula took over Omashu I guess? Sozin's Comet is coming "soon" I guess? None of it felt earned.

Final thoughts

Honestly, if this show ended on episode 6 maybe I'd want a season 2, but after that I don't feel any interest in seeing this iteration of the show. Half of it doesn't work and the writing is questionable. If I were a new fan, I don't think I'd like it just from the weird writing alone. I'd stop after episode 4.

I genuinely wish the cast and crew well, and I love many of them from previous works, but they do not need to be in more of this. They deserve better projects.

It was telling that once I finished the series and saw who wrote what, the original creators were the ones who had a hand in writing episodes 1 and 6, which are episodes on the stronger side. Especially 6, which is the best one. If anyone tells me that I am crazy to be skeptical over an adaptation of any kind without the original creator(s) involved, I'll point to this fact.

My advice? Watch Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's original Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender which you can also stream on Netflix.

[thepumpkincorsair]

So, I watched the first episode of “Those About To Die” on Peacock.

I enjoyed it, and Im willing to do write ups if folks would be interested…

Since I wana talk about details, and I dont wana spread spoilers, everything is below the readmore.

What I liked: 🔵 And what I disliked: 🟠

Total Ranking: 8/10 - very good, worth the watch 👍

🟠 It dove into the Intrigue right away, which made it hard to watch while doing other things, but I can appreciate a show that grabs you by the shoulders and shoves you down into the couch to pay attention.

🔵 It wasn’t boring, quite the contrary, I felt fully engaged throughout the episode. Theres a lot of small moving parts to the story, and it orchestrates together incredibly well so far, even for Episode One. The writing is very well done, which is a lynchpin for me on a show like this. You cant pretend to be an intrigue type series without a proper plot. And, in my opinion, they’ve set their plots well right away. Tenax getting those shares in Blue was a great con, which had clearly been going a while, but we only saw the tail end of it. I see this little setup as a great look at how the writers DO their work. Connections matter, money does more than talk, and if you play the game wrong, you die. Don’t trust anyone.

🔵 I REALLY enjoyed the historical aspects of the first episode. Like, yes, this plot happened, its a historical fiction and a number of these characters exist in history, but its not just that. Its the small details, the different knives in different cultures, the veterinary care of race horses, the deities from more than just the main roman pantheon, the drinkware, the VARIOUS clothes from various cultures and climates…. And yes, women often went topless when they were a sxwrkr. Gotta advert.

🔵 ON THAT SUBJECT: can we talk about “3 sesterce… and Im tighter than both of them.” MY BOY, YOU ARE RIZZIN TOO HARD AND I LOST IT. Please, please let him be in future episodes. Omfg….

🟠 I am forced to concede the accuracy isnt PERFECT, the horses wore modern driving bridles to go with their ancient styled chariots. However, Im realistic about how many horses are trained today to pull anything without blinders, and how much safer modern bridles are. I’ll also note: I absolutely saw the animal handler grab the horse differently (calmly) before the riot surrounded it, then direct the horse to dance in the crowd. Great training with the horse! Bad camera angle. Lol

🔵 I also really like this cast so far. Everyone fills their roles incredibly well.

Hopkins doesnt even need an introduction, the mans a legend and brings all his experience to the stage with him every time. -chefs kiss-

Rheon was great in GOT, he plays calculatingly unhinged exceptionally well. But I wont lie, seeing him in a more commanding, level headedly calculating person?

Hashim….. HASHIM!!! Im SO excited to see where his character goes. We haven’t seen much of him in Ep 1 just yet, but he’s clearly going to be one of the main players. Im not familiar with him as an actor, but I’ve enjoyed his performance so far, and I REALLY appreciate the story being told.

Martins is also incredible. She does a fantastic job of knowing the danger her characters children are facing, but also knowing she HAS to play her cards right to save them. She personifies the strength and determination of a mother perfectly.

🔵 Quite honestly, I have to give points to that whole plot-line in general. That point of view is something we’ve had hidden from us (in America) for so long, that I think a LOT of people have… become calloused. I hope seeing it will potentially help others come to an empathetic understanding. This isn’t glossing over what happened, or whats likely to happen to any of the three children.

🔵 I also want to gush over actually SHOWING the wider Roman Empire, we get to see the direct effect of their influence in both Africa and Spain so far. Egypt was their bread basket, and without that grain, youve got problems. The Berber Coast has animals, and people they want, and we see money exchanging hands for the purpose of those ends. We see how the locals were told they’d be treated fairly, paid properly, and even eventually become citizens, like the Spaniards, only to have those promises thrown aside as soon as the Romans have better money to make. These people gave the Empire everything it wanted, but the Empire is never satisfied.

We also get to appreciate how far west the empire went when the Spaniards are trying to sell their horses. (Plot-bunny: Andies are dancing horses, exceptionally athletic, and a prime choice for chariots, though, a standardbred is the usual choice for modern cart racers)

🟠 I will say the CGI isnt the best. You can tell exactly when they change from live action to CGI. But this is a minor issue for me tbh. Its passable CGI, and they use it to avoid putting animals or people in danger which, obviously, I appreciate. A chariot wreck was shown, annnnnd it was pretty darn accurate to how messy those would have been. Not good times y’all. Not good times. Also, the ramifications of a major concussion. Oof. At least the guy would have barely knew what was happening? Still.

🔵 The sound effects were enough without being over the top. Often times when theres gore to show, theres all these extra squelching noises and gratuitous blood… not this time. It’s actually… pretty durn accurate. Don’t ask how I know. I don’t wana tell you, and you dont wana know.

Overall, it was a really solid first episode, and I plan on watching the rest.