#like who ELSE is going to write about these men that i haven't even drawn yet???

[sunnywalnut]

These boytoys in my head keep running around my head, which would be fine in itself, if they didn't fucking multiply by the second. What do you MEAN there's new aus now??? WHO THE FUCK LEFT THE PORTAL OPEN???

[dianadragonfly]

So, I was thinking about different fandoms and the fics that I love. What makes a good, satisfying fan fic? I realize it has 100% to do with the canon.

Take BBC Sherlock. I struggle so much with AUs where their beginnings are different. Sherlock is an astronaut, assigned to work with scientist John. (This is an example, not a dig at any specific fic). I can't. I can't. I realize BBC Sherlock is also an AU from Doyle, but BBC Sherlock and John are so fucking tied to "A Study In Pink" and John handing his phone to Sherlock that everything else seems false. Fun premise, but not the Sherlock and John I know.

A satisfying Johnlock fan fic needs to change the ending of the BBC canon. To think of these two men, who love each other so much, just continuing their parallel existences, never becoming anything more than crime-fighting buds, is just. . . it doesn't fit. It doesn't fit the show. It doesn't fit the characters Moffit and Gatiss created, even if they decided to not make it happen (as a special 'fuck you' to their fans). It's heartbreaking.

My favorite fics are fixits -- many of them deal with the aftermath of Euros and Mary, or some do "canon intercepts" and deal with Seasons 3 and 4 differently. Still, anything but John and Sherlock raising Rosie together as partners/lovers/husbands in 221B with Mrs. Hudson downstairs feels like a lie. (Some canon intercepts write out Rosie completely.)

If I had to write sequels to BBC canon, I'd pick "Drawn to Stars" by @totallysilvergirl or "Never Turn Your Back on the Sea” by @discordantwords . There's a thousand other ones, but those ring the most true to me.

"Heartstopper" fics don't have a lot of room to mess with the ending. Anything other than Charlie and Nick happily growing old together is so far out of canon and out of character that it doesn't even seem like it's worth exploring. There are a handful of ones that have one character or the other dying, but mostly, we understand right away that Charlie and Nick are endgame. We are 100% aligned with canon and creator on this.

Anything that isn't true to this ending rings as false as anything that isn't true to Sherlock's beginning. Fun to read, but not our characters.

With Nick and Charlie being so young in canon, their beginnings are so much malleable. Sherlock and John are tied to that lab. Nick and Charlie? not so much. They meet in grammar school. They meet in University. They meet after a hot hookup at a club in their 20s. They meet after broken marriages to Imogen and Ben. They meet during Nick's rugby career or as fellow teachers. They meet at gyms, at animal rescues, at psychiatric hospitals. They are single parents, University professors, rock star drummers, hot shot authors and academics. Their beginning isn't fixed. But the end always is.

I have so many favorites but I just re-read "Lavender Fields" and I think it's a perfect Nick and Charlie meeting up in their 30s fics. There's a ton of University fics too.

I haven't read nearly as many fics from other fandoms, so I don't know their quirks. I'm finding that fandoms that don't have a m/m pairing are hard to find a lot of fics for. (That's a whole 'nother post). But other m/m fandoms seem to have canon-compliant extra scenes. (Wanna see Achilles and Patroclus get freaky in a tent somewhere? Here ya go. That being said, there's one about Achilles waiting for Patroclus in the Underworld that breaks. my. damn. heart.)

Anyways, I need to do a serious look-through of other fandoms to see how this plays out.

I should add the links here to the fics I mention, just because.

[franollie]

do you personally think that fandom brings up misogyny unnecessarily and even when it has nothing to do with the issue at hand?

like some people get up and arms if you don’t ship batcat or brutalia (you’re not obligated to like anything for any reason) or if you ship bruce with someone else this topic will come up for whatever reason even though when there are actual instances of blatant misogyny in fandom and it’ll go fully ignored by these same people.

a point of bruce’s romance is to establish that he can’t really be endgame with any one person so i personally ship him freely. i don’t know why fandom is so obsessed with tokenizing certain shippers as certain prejudices when i’m sure that they genuinely have never interacted with said shipper one on one in their entire life

sorry for taking so long on this i have a LOT of thoughts on the topic

ok so in short: yes, i do think fandom loves to cry misogyny.

that being said, fandom operates in a blatantly misogynistic way (see how in large fandom favors men over women regardless of whether or not that man had more or less screen time than the woman). misogyny in fandom is a very real thing, but it is more a fandom as a whole problem than an individual problem. the only way the problem of misogyny in fandom can be solved is by actually engaging with the women in whatever franchise you're enjoying (writing for them, making art, reblogging art, writing metas, etc). show them the same amount of love that you show other characters

with that in mind, it is also important to note that sometimes you just don't gel with a ship or a character. i agree that people are drawn to certain dynamics and relationships, and you are allowed to ship what you ship. let's take the brutalia/batcat v bruharvey/batjokes because they are similar in dynamic (batman and one of his rogues). it wouldn't be fair to call a bruharvey or batjokes shipper a misogynist just because they don't ship brutalia or batcat. now, if they ship batjokes but hate talia for killing, then you could play the misogyny card. really it's just a matter of how you specific people interact with characters. i think a better example of this is superbat v clois.

i'm gonna try and stay as unbiased and objective as possible because superbat fans scare me lmao but a lot of the criticisms for superbat are about how it ships these characters at the expense of their relationships specifically with the women in their lives. to be even more specific, clark's relationship with lois. it isn't fair to say that "all superbat shippers are misogynist because they ignore lois" because i don't know why every superbat shipper ships superbat. maybe superbat is nostalgic to someone because they grew up reading justice league comics or the world's finest comics, maybe they haven't read or watched that much stuff with lois/clois in it, maybe they just think the idea of superbat is fun, who knows what the reasoning is. the problems really arise when they begin to change lois's personality and character to fit their ship whether it's by writing her as some bitchy ex of clarks or as a "girlboss who doesn't need a man and is superbat's biggest shipper uwu".

i do think when it comes to comic book fandoms in particualr there is another added layer of fandom superiority when it comes to shipping where there are the "correct" ships and the "incorrect" ships. but that's a whole other topic for another day

just to reiterate: fandom misogyny is a very real problem (look at the top 10 ships on ao3 for the past 5 years and that becomes abundantly clear) but the only way to combat it is by actually creating and sharing works positively featuring the women you like.

[arenabreadandbiscuits]

God damnit I can't. Another desperate attempt to hopefully reel in loads of commissions. With the situation I'm in IDC if it's writing or art just choose me..

I ONLY do Venmo, Cash app, and Chime. Please don't ask me anything else.

If you can't commission hopefully a reblog, share or comment can reel in people who can. I've been looking for commissions for months now and haven't had much luck with anything even with everything I offer. All I can really do is keep trying or give up and toss myself over because let's be serious if I've been asking this many times for so long maybe it's just a lost case.

Anyway. I doubt this will do much for me but since I'm desperate here to offer examples of writing again. (For art I'll draw OCS, Hazbin Hotel, etc it depends so ask)

3 Blurbs:

HAZBIN HOTEL - Alastor x GN reader

He's everything that you've heard him to be.. or is he? While Alastor is quite a character you had to admit after all this time nothing... Necessarily seemed to be an issue. Sure he was rather chaotic at times, psychotic during others but there were also those times where you could pass him and Alastor could genuinely be seen as calm and collected. Against your better judgement it manages to be a trait that you become fond over; watching and spectating him from a distance when you could just go analyze him further. Thing was that you seemed to have forgotten that with just as well as you can see Alastor... He can see you as well, even if he may act like he doesn't. He can feel those eyes, the way you look at him and what once was general annoyance seems to eventually brew into... Unbridled curiosity for you and even though you watch him so often somehow you manage to miss the equal admiration.

GENSHIN IMPACT - Kaeya x GN reader

((imma have to play the game again both for my sanity but also just because why not.. not like I have anything going for me right now. Plus the men were so fine I wanna write more about em.))

This big city was one many had always told you about, the creatures from the lands mentioned staying away unless you came with a group and yet.. as foolish at it seems you couldn't help but be drawn closer. It's one things to watch the people, the guards.. the citizens live their lives from afar but now standing here at the gates with a cloak and garbs on you draw near. You seem to get in with no issue, sure some people are taking closer looks but none that necessarily tells you that your cover is blown. Get in, get out you tell yourself, a thief that's ventured here before. Your footsteps are naturally lighter here, calculated, paced in the sea of other foot steps. For the most part you seem to be having an amazing journey as you glance around seeing where your next hit would be. It's just... In the midst of the footsteps your ears don't immediately catch the ones following you. Keeping up, not until you feel your hood get pulled. It's sudden even if it's light and you spin around, nearly tripping to face whoever dared to touch you only... To freeze when a recognizable face fills your view. Kaeya of Mondstat as many creatures through the land called him and the only reason you could tell was... The eye patch, the fitted clothes, the sword... The long, beautifully crafted hair. You freeze when your eyes meet his one though he gives you a charming smile even if there's a possibility something a bit darker hides behind it. After all, who would he be to immediately set off the alarms because of your arrival? After he's been waiting for you to come back and dare to show your face again. "Oh, look what we have here~" he'll coo while standing over you, looking at you with a gaze that says now that he's discovered you he's not really going to let you get away. Not Scott free, at least not this time.

STARDEW VALLEY - Elliott x Fem Reader

The trip has been nothing short of nasty, grueling if you will. Travelling from miles within the sea just to wash up on dry land, a shore. The sun is out today, beating down on your skin and the sand below you neither helps and take away from the predicament. What had you been thinking, swimming away from home in the first place while also getting lost at sea like many, many others have before? It almost feels like a dream from the warmth your body feels right now that the ocean usually protected it from, to the sound of the rolling waves not too far from your position, to... The gentle slide of skin moving over your own. The last one surprises you, making you jump and jolt even if it seemed like you didn't have the energy at first and you scramble, fins and tail squirming as your hands move to help you separate only for you to look at the culprit who... Looks back at you in shock. His hair is long, red as it runs down his back and those eyes look at you with both worry and awe. Upon seeing how frantic you've gotten though, they soften and soon you're given a small and kind smile. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to spook you I was just.. making sure" he says softly though upon seeing you still be wary he glanced at your tail before chuckling. "I've seen many things but I must admit, you are the first in a while that I've seen something so ..majestic" he states and snorts lightly when he sees your resolve growing weaker. Still on guard but.. perhaps, willing to let this man longer around her for a bit longer.

I would write more but I'm saving the energy for commissions since I really, really need them. I offer 100 words to 10k and while bigger stories cost money I promise they are worthwhile if I'm given the opportunity.. (I've mentioned before multiple times the prices but I think I'll raise bigger writing prompts by $20 dollars to at least get paid a decent amount for such. I prefer getting paid like $220 for a 10k project.. it can and will be discussed before any payment needed just so price seems fair on both sides especially cause 10k for one person will never be the same 10k to someone else. Ex: 10k smut with one character vs 10k smut with three.. etc)

I usually put up a poll for interaction but people don't ever really commission after I do but since I need it so bad I'll do it again here. If you have no intention of commissioning me within a week please don't vote at all. (Not to say commissions won't be open later it's just a gauge because once again I'm on a time limit for a lot of things rn.) If you chose to vote DM me right after and tell what you're looking for if ready to commission. (I do cc x cc, OC x cc, and I'm open to OC x OC as long as it's in my mentioned fandoms which is at the top of my post but can be talked about in DMS as well.)

Reasons to commission me:

I have written fanfic and stories for years now with fandoms for Black Butler, Tokyo Revengers, The Arcana, the Arcane, Obey Me, etc and I've been writing for years. I do fluff, smut, and angst.

Healing from GBS personally which took me out of school and the work force for a while and even if I plan on going back (I do) there's so many things I need after everything like a new computer, school supplies, bus money/Lyft money, new shoes, etc

Saving for a car.. on the topic of having to use buses

Pet care because on own a dog but I haven't been able to have him be checked up in a minute.. I think he has a bad dandruff situation occurring, always scratching himself and he's had it before multiple times I just don't have the money right now or following resources to get him some more at the moment and watching him suffer only adds to my stress cause I know I can't do anything about it on my own right now.

My mom whose the head of the house needs it to fix her water pump in the car since the only car at the house with SIX people living in it. Four who have to work to keep any money here but only two of those four contribute to helping us really get by. One other who's elderly and then me who's having to offer commissions to try and help pick up the slack.

It could really save my mental health and maybe me altogether. Not to get too depressing but I don't know how much more of this I can take. I really need help even if it's just for myself. I can't even see my therapist all the time and there's so much trauma that comes with living here sometimes that of course doesn't need to be explained all the time I just need help and people that can help me save money. I don't care if it's back to back commissions just SOMEONE commission me PLEASE. Like IDC if you wanna get five commissions go in like a WEEK ILL DO IT.

Commissions could definitely save my life right now. I have already explained time and time again some of the things I go through simply existing, any kind of commission would be enough to keep me hopeful with everything I'm going through..

I'll take ten commissions of ANY SORT at a time. Whoever comes first is whoever comes first, everyone else will still be allowed art and/writing if you commission you'll just be part of them ten after the first ten.

If you made it this far and chose to commission me thank you. I hope both sides of your pillow are cold tonight and I really hope to hear from some people soon.

DON'T FORGET PRICES ARE DEBATABLE ON WHAT'S BEING ASKED FOR BOTH ART AND WRITING.

Fr I hope people start dmming me.. like with no hesitation too please.

[funarisjournal]

The Beginning (Comic Edition, Pt 2)

Saved the rest of this revisit for today's slow periods at work. I liveblogged on Twitter, but this is where I really get to write my thoughts out. No tiny character limits!

Anyway, if you haven't seen the first part, I suggest you check it out first because I'm going in all "Now, where was I?" Style.

[Again, my essays are more for those that have already read the story over once or twice and are looking for some deeper analyzations. Spoilers may be mentioned, so you are warned!]

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Kasuga just opened the door and there was her neighbor, the one she had awkwardly talked to the previous evening.

Repeat photos, yay!

Anyway, there are two things going on here.

Kasuga opening the door to see who it is. She sees it's her neighbor and they had that convo, so she's steeling herself. She knows she can just close the door if it gets uncomfortable, but she is willing to listen because food, you say? She's (warily) listening...

Nomoto, meanwhile, is a nervous wreck because, well, how do you word this?? She is more nervous about the food proposal than Kasuga! Even on the next page, the nervousness stems from the weird-to-Nomoto request for someone to help finish off the meal she made tonight. Like, this is how she's truly introducing herself to her neighbor with little to no prior interaction. "Hi, how you doing? Wanna eat my food?"

She is well aware it sounds weird and maybe even creepy but...but what else is she gonna do with all that food when she's got no social circles or community knowledge under her belt?

We know how she acts when others (especially men) frame her passion as great wife material, but when she has to talk about it? Anxiety through the roof. She's judging herself and being self-conscious. In a way, I like how this isn't "Kasuga is a big, cold, scary woman" and more "Nomoto is super self-conscious and doesn't know how to be social in-person anymore (because she hasn't had friends since her school days and that's almost 15-ish years now, based on what I've inferred from other pages re: her current age and knowing the comic is basically Present Day)

Poor Nomoto has a lot of baggage herself. It's not as obvious in these first chapters, but she was clearly molded by folks who definitely harped on the traditional values and other expectations of adulthood around her too much....NOMOTO'S MOM.

But...I digress. So, there's something interesting to note here. I don't think I've seen people point out this specific panel. Namely, that last one, Kasuga's eye.

Kasuga loves to eat. We know this, even new readers get that impression pretty quick (and the cover, of course). She wants to enjoy all the food in the world, probably even the mediocre stuff (to which she can make future purchasing/eating-out options when she can afford it)

As you get to know her, and you come back to these early pages, you realize this food stunned her.

While we know Nomoto's food is delicious and others have voiced their satisfaction with it, Kasuga was able to taste an extra special ingredient that night. Yes, I'm being a little cheesy here. This special, "invisible" ingredient that has been missing in her life resonated within, and she responded with the most emphatic eating that, in turn, stunned Nomoto in feelings she hasn't felt before.

Fun thing to note with Nomoto in the center of the page here: based on the way it's drawn, this woman is having multiple things firing up inside her at full blast; not just the sight of someone enjoying her massive portion of food, but seeing HOW MUCH they're enjoying it and just never experiencing this before. It's new, it's stunning (multiple definitions)...she is just this side of BSOD-ing.

They have been cooking and eating with something missing all this time. Put them together and it's like something opens up within both. They had what the other was missing and they were LITERALLY NEIGHBORS...but it took a chance encounter in an elevator to start the connection

The next parts are basically Nomoto's raisom d'etre waking up from its slumber. She remembers why she took up cooking in the first place...

And while we can attribute these panels as a little lighthearted, comedic moment as the chapter comes to a close, consider this: the birds, bunnies, and deer never came...and neither did any people as she grew up and began her cooking journey. She found a "workaround" via sharing online, but it's not like her old dream. She said at the beginning how her food is missing an audience that will fully enjoy it (not just as posts). She has never had anyone around to enjoy her food until Kasuga agreed to finish off this plate.

And this is where I realized something.

....Did Nomoto even cook when she lived with her folks? Did she cook back then and they didn't enjoy it? Did she only cook for herself and that's how she learned? Or maybe her mom was like "leave all the cooking to me" so she never had a chance to show off?

Like this raises a lot of questions that I wasn't expecting to have as I reread this chapter. The future nightmare scene in Vol 2 doesn't help matters, though it gives us further insight about her friendships and her being pushed into heteronormative adulthood even at a young age. Sure, it's a nightmare, with some fantastical, nightmareish transitions, but a lot of those scenes appear to be based on past experiences she had, including the orientation quiz BUT I digress. Again! That can be for another essay!

Anyway! Whoo! What a ride, eh? And I still plan to do an essay over how Episode 1 of the drama covered their beginnings, so look forward to that!

[pensbridgrton]

Thoughts of the S3 Polin? I love them and I'm so excited

i'm clearing out this inbox of mine... and i haven't properly ranted about this in a while, so... yeah. So if you're excited about S3 and don't want to hear anything negative, this may not be the post for you. (I'd classify it as bittersweet, maybe.)

I still HATE the idea of Polin being S3. I hated it when it was rumored, I hated it when it was announced, and even if I've now accepted that it's happening, I still think it was a TERRIBLE decision and actively ruins some of the elements of Polin I love the most (Namely: two characters growing up individually until they're in the right time and space to fall in love and grow together; the spinster and the bachelor; Penelope being successful for a DECADE at LW before being ready to move on; Colin enjoying his travels but being ready to settle down.)

But here we are.

Ignoring the past two weeks, I've been pretty pessimistic about S3. For me, in order to LOVE a romance I need to LOVE both individual characters. I can still like and enjoy a romance if that isn't the case, but with Polin - a book ship that is one of my all time favorites - I had high expectations in S1. My expectations post-S2 were pretty much on the floor because Show!Pen and Show!Colin - while not terrible characters in any way - are not MY characters, or at least not the ones I would die on a hill defending. In addition, while I do not care about plot in the slightest (and therefore do not care about the - frankly, sparse - RMB plot being done away with) I DO care about vibes and keeping characters in character. I love fic, obviously, but I love IN CHARACTER fic... and the show is wildly OOC fic right now. Not my cup of tea. So... really, in the end, I'm just here to support Nicola and Newts. I have always believed that S3 would be wildly popular, eaten up by the casual audience, and generally well-loved... I just felt that S3 wouldn't be my all time favorite season with my all time favorite couple as Show!Polin had the potential to be (especially if it had been S4 and had gone through with the actual slowburn, individual character development route).

Now, ever since TUDUM and some of the interviews that have come out... I wouldn't say I'm cautiously optimistic, but I am choosing to have more of an open mind and be open to the possibility that I might enjoy the main romance without having to turn my brain off. I know there are probably going to be things I dislike/despise (jealous/possessive Colin, Pen not apologizing to Marina, Marina dying, an overemphasis on the sex and not enough on the friendship, Colin's costuming, etc. who knows what else) but I know I will enjoy watching Nicola and Newts play these characters on my screen (the stills had me giddy!)

More importantly, while I try not to read TOO much into interviews, everything Nicola and Newts have said about the season so far does give me hope about Penelope and Colin as individuals. Again, I don't care about the plot. The quotes? Are fun! I'm definitely really happy about "you're my mess" and any other book quotes/scenes were get. But hearing Nicola talk about how Penelope needs to grow up, how she's terrible with men, how she's made mistakes.... hearing Newts talk about how S3 is basically a different Colin... THAT is what gives me hope. Because for me, I am always drawn to character-driven romances but it's hard to be invested in that romance if you're not invested in the characters. And again while Show!Pen and Show!Colin are fine, I really miss their book characters and hearing that they both might be GROWING into their book selves (especially Colin, imo, bc Show!Pen just needs to grow in general and I'll be happy whereas I really didn't like the writing for S2 Colin) does, actually, get me a little excited.

But yeah, I'm still here. I'll watch. I'll keep an open mind because Nicola and Newts clearly care about these characters and the romance and I do appreciate that and at the end of the day, it's an adaptation of the show and if I hate it (wouldn't be the first time!), I'll always have the book.

[iviarellereads]

Wheel of Time full series spoiler thoughts on TGH 33-42

A probably semi-regular weekly bonus to my reread blog, since sometimes you realize things on reread that just make you need to yell in a full spoiler space.

I don't at all like the timeline Verin gives for the use of the Ways. Ogier were still growing them six hundred years ago? I'm not sure that really makes sense given what else I remember of the Ways and how decayed they are and why.

"they had laughed in the wrong places, at the wrong things" I know this is social commentary but I can't help but think of Rand's later problems with trying to deal with Aiel senses of humour.

It still amazes me how many people, even long-time fans who have reread the series, missed Tuon's namedrop by Turak here in chapter 34. I haven't caught up to the Wheel Takes podcast at all yet, as I write this I've got about halfway through their book 5 coverage, but where I am Ali is totally hung up on Tuon, despite this SINGULAR MENTION before her first appearance, as Mat's fated wife. I bet she was SO smug when Tuon finally showed up. Actually I think they're now near the wedding response, as well. Ha.

I haven't had a ton to comment on during the going to the stedding sequence, but Verin suggesting they leave Mat out of the "luck" part of the trip to Toman Head after Rand calls him the gambler… She recognizes Mat's part in the story from a part of the Dark Prophecy or something, doesn't she? The same way she asks Perrin about the axe and the hammer in book 4.

Ack! I know this will be resolved this-book, probably next week for me, but damned if it's not still stressful to see the Wondergirls getting drawn into what's about to be SO MUCH PAIN.

"I dress the way I like, and I won't change for a lord, even if he is your brother." Possibly one of the most tragic lines in the series. I'm all for a Min who gets to be Rand's support system instead of pursuing her own goals, and she IS the one who finds the answer in the professor's books, but the way she goes from this to wearing dresses to get his attention and sexually harassing him in meetings (what else do you call squirming on his lap with intent unless it's something more severe) still frustrates me so bad.

I wonder how many novice and accepted rooms have holes between them to chat through.

There's so much in chapter 40 with consequences I don't want to think about yet, but it amuses me slightly that Renna says Egg would be such a prize if she could make a ter'angreal like the collar, and El not only reverse engineers the collar and bracelet but manages to make them cordless.

Also, I maintain to this day that the men who die screaming wearing the bracelet are the men who could learn to channel. I don't think it's ever confirmed in any interview or supplement, because it's a discussion I've seen happen a few times over the years in the fandom, but that's my position.

The first Lini mention. The hero, the menace.

Still impressed with how many little details I'm finding now, the first time I'm rereading since before the first season of the show came out. Like Atuan's Mill, it's the name they recycled for the village where we first see Suroth and company. Used a little differently from how we see it here, but they had a lot of changes to make, and I think making that kind of nod toward the books is saying "yes, we did have to change a lot here, but we're still keeping the books foremost in mind as we do that".

Ingtar's so familiar with the motivations of Darkfriends, he's so quick to find justification for why Fain would have taken the Horn, and yet somehow he can't find a single reason Fain would've waited here for Rand? Or is he deliberately trying to cover Fain's ass so he can't give away that Ingtar's the one who let him out of jail, or because he (Ingtar) was ordered to try to obfuscate the trail?

[ceescedasticity]

Unforsaken, 4d

(All sections on tumblr)

(AO3, lagging behind but more polished)

I may actually be wrapping up this chapter here? hmmm.

Previously: Turgon: So are Lómion's siblings in Dunland, then?

That. Was not the direction anyone was expecting Turgon to go from 'orc-Eöl's children', but Elladan and Elrohir certainly aren't going to complain.

(For most of two Ages, Bellow's love for and protection of Squint was the part of himself he liked the most. His avuncular instincts are very well honed — and twitchy from lack of action. Khitwê and Risyind are happy to know him, happy to hear the handful of nice stories he has about their parents, but for the most part anything he can offer them they've gotten from someone else. They don't need his help.)

No, Ithilien, along with the part-orcs part-humans born in Isengard who fled with them. Arwen and Estel can provide more protection to them there, and they've been working on… sloughing off some of the bad vibes Shadow. They're called the Hirnedhrim now — the Foundling People.

Turgon: And, if they're peredhil…?

Give it another ten or fifteen years and they'll be fit to sail if they want to. Some have said they'll take the Gift of Men, for a fresh start, but most haven't chosen.

(The Hirnedhrim of Dunland, particularly, find it hard to accept the idea of being human even for a fresh start. Many of them have spent centuries knowing they were inhuman. They don't feel like elves, either, but they haven't been contrasting themselves to elves for centuries.)

Anyway, specifically: Zuste is the one who led the desertion from Isengard, she's sharp and practical and swore allegiance to Arwen directly. Dyn is young — not for a Man, but one of the youngest of the Hirnedhrim of Dunland — but she was one of those tasked with making the oil and clay. Zena thought Saruman was suspicious and refused to follow him to begin with. If she were human she'd be called a wise-woman.

Of course, their combat experience is… let's call it mostly informal. And usually with inferior weapons. So they're not likely to be a lot of help with dragons, not that Arwen knows about that possible issue yet.

All right then. They'll break open the Crucible with Fool's Oil-infused clay, assisted by three of orc-Eöl's hundreds of half-human children.

…

Arwen doesn't have a concrete plan for getting the Wizard's Clay to the Crucible, only partially because she doesn't know exactly where the Crucible is. She thinks ox-drawn wagons will probably be best — the clay is heavy and the protective crates are heavier — but if they're bound east of the Misty Mountains would it be a good idea to send a barge upriver to rendezvous east of the High Pass? She's not sure. Do they know where they're going? Keep her posted. And about that��

Arwen also writes that she's sending a courier with the palantír of Anor — the one stuck on Denethor's hands. She's not sure if… any of their current guests… could do anything to fix it, but they should have enough focus to at least be able to contact her through the Orthanc-stone.

(…Yeah, no, the palantíri given to Númenor were based on a design originally by Fëanor, but they were crafted long after his death — there aren't any backdoors for Maglor to find. If Galadriel and Glorfindel couldn't fix it, Maglor can't either, still less anyone currently an orc. They're going to have to get used to Denethor-hands.)

[abeautifulblog]

Would you ever write about a lesbian relationship?

Absolutely, if one super-grabbed me.

But the hurdle to that is the same hurdle to me writing het fanfic -- that I'm a man who is sexually & romantically attracted to other men, so I'm neither identifying with the female characters onscreen, nor drawn to them sexually/romantically.

So what that means is that the canon has to do the heavy lifting when it comes to making me care about that relationship -- the people involved have to already be fully-fleshed characters with a compelling dynamic. I'm not going to be projecting my own fantasies onto them, or building castles in the air of what they could have been, as I will fully cop to doing for certain M/M ships. 😅

And let's be real -- contemporary media has an abysmal batting average when it comes to writing female characters, much less two of them, in the same show, having compelling interactions with each other. So much ink has been spilled pontificating over why M/M slash is such a phenomenon, when to my mind it's obvious: television's best-written roles are overwhelmingly given to men, and then their most meaningful relationships are with each other.

Like, guys, this is not some unknowable mystery for the ages.

So yeah, there are F/F ships that have grabbed me with both hands, that I'm like yes that is my OTP, but they are unfortunately quite rare, just by virtue of the media landscape we live in. =/

(I'm several drinks into this Friday evening, so the only example I can think of right now, even though I know there have been others, is Peggy/Angie from the Agent Carter series. Because GODDAMN that was such a good show (the first season anyway), on so many levels, and I was ride-or-fuckin-die for Peggy and Angie.

I love Angie. I love her so much that talking about her makes me vibrate at a frequency to shatter glass. She has the kind of quick-thinking-quick-talking cleverness that female characters haven't gotten to show off since Katherine goddamn Hepburn. I love the rapport that she has with Peggy, I want 100k words of that on my desk by Monday.

...And it turns out that other people felt the same way, and when I went to AO3 I found exactly what I was craving. But if I hadn't, I might have wound up writing it myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It really is about whether someone else's fic already scratched that itch, or whether I have to scratch it myself.)

[drarryruinedme7]

Last year I made a post with all my fave Drarry fics from my first year of fandom. Have my second year wrap up! Listed by Rating and then length. 

RATING: TEEN AND UP AUDIENCES

Beautiful by @xx-thedarklord-xx​​ (2017; 8.9k)

Summary: With the second task looming closer, Harry escapes to the Black Lake to open the egg, in the hopes of avoiding Myrtle. The Mersong isn't just helpful in figuring out that Mermaids are real, it attracts his very own handsome Merman.

*I didn’t know I love merpeople AUs until I read this one. It was cute and sweet and I’m really glad I read it. 

Hermione Granger's Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run by @waspabi​​ (2017; 93.3k)

Summary: 'You're a wizard, Harry' is easier to hear from a half-giant when you're eleven, rather than from some kids on a tube platform when you're seventeen and late for work.

*What can I say. This is a masterpiece, it absolutely entered my heart to never leave it again. Best AU ever!!!

Away Childish Things by @letteredlettered​​ (2018; 153.8k)

Summary: Harry gets de-aged. Malfoy has to help him.

* This has been the turning point of my Drarry passion this year. First, I discovered Lettered (good Lord why hadn’t I before?!) and then, well. This fic brought out so many feelings in me and I’ve already re-read it something like 5 or 6 times in the span of a few months. Amazing.

RATING: MATURE

you’ve got the antidote for me by Kandakicksass (2018; 20.7k)

Summary: When Harry Potter unintentionally severs their soulbond before it can fully form, Draco Malfoy resigns himself to a slow death and decides not to burden Harry with a soulmate he's made it very clear he doesn't want.He's never been selfless before, but for Harry, he can try.

* The angst!! It’s usually not my cuppa, but this was bittersweet and just so well written, I couldn’t stop reading. Find the rec for this one at this post.

RATING: EXPLICIT

Give Me Sweet Oblivion by @tryslora​​ (2012; 4k)

Summary: Italy seems like a long way to go to keep a fetish secret. But the club is exclusive, and the far away location, and Muggle nature, promises anonymity from Wizarding Britain. The only problem is that sometimes, great minds think alike.

*Super hot, I love finding old gems like this one. Plus, Italy. Go, folks!

Shiny Things, Slightly Damaged by @lqtraintracks​​ (2020; 5.3k)

Summary: Harry may not ever have had to see it if McGonagall hadn’t decided it was a good idea to hold a ceremony on the grounds outside before the Sorting in the Hall. And by ‘it’ he’s referring to Draco Malfoy on a motorbike.

*jsklajdksajfa This one! THIS ONE! Slayed me. I read it feverishly and then like, fainted at Draco on a motorbike.... this fic surprised me and I 100% loved it.

A Ghost of Blissful Feelings by @alpha-exodus​​ (2020; 6k)

Summary: Harry hadn't expected to spend his eighth year fucking Draco Malfoy, but it's the only thing that helps him let go.

*Dunno guys, I’m amazed by how much this one hit me. You should read the tags before diving in, but it was darkish in the right way, Harry and Draco suffers and find peace in a ‘’special’’ way, but I stand by it. Hot and intense.

Tell Me (What you Need) by @keyflight790​​ (2019; 6k)

Summary: Even though Harry was paying for his Dom, there were limits; breaking points in which someone would refuse, no matter how many Galleons were pushed in their direction.

*Okay, I may be biased because this is a gift for me, but Chris never lets down with her amazing writing and this has everything I need and more: Dom!Rentboy!Draco and a perfectly sweet Harry with a Daddy!kink. I mean.

Dangerous by Faith Wood (2014; 6.3k)

Summary: Being trapped in a dungeon with Malfoy — who's a werewolf, a former Death Eater, and a giant git — is definitely dangerous. Harry has no reason to be excited. None at all.

*Y’all know Faith Wood is like my n.1 fave Drarry author. I have no idea why I had never read this one though!!! It’s actually phenomenal, scorching hot and just dsjkafjaks love this werewolf!Draco. OMG.

Scent and Sensibility by aidaninkling (2018; 7.5k)

Summary: [...] Draco's always known he'd be married off as a trophy omega, but suddenly his mother's trying to make him king by promising him to some stupidly good-looking alpha and she just won't stop smiling at him. Does fate's cruelty know no end?!

*This blew my mind. A/B/O AU so hot I melted while reading it and I loved it so much that I re-read it three times IN A ROW. No kidding. Read it. 

The Eighth Tale by @letteredlettered​​ (2012; 12k)

Summary: Draco Malfoy tries to fix the past, but instead mucks it up some more. For Harry, it all becomes quite clear.

*Back to Lettered. I love Time Travel fics, and this just delivered perfectly. The ending was also enigmatic enough to keep me wandering, which I always appreciate in these kind of stories. 

Sex, Lies and Veritaserum by @letteredlettered​​ (2011; 17.9k)

Summary: This entire fic is one long conversation about sex.

*LOL alright, I’ve developed a new obsession this year (clearly). This was ...gosh! Hot but it also gives away a certain level of intimacy and trust between Draco and Harry to be so open about their kinks... it was perfect.

On One’s Knees by pir8fancier (2008; 33.8k)

Summary: The war is over and to the victors go the spoils.

* The fic which made me fall in love with DownAndOut!Draco. 

The Pirate and the Prince by @nerdherderette​ (2019; 49.2k)

Summary: Draco can't believe that fate and circumstance have made him a stowaway on the Master of Death's ship. He doesn't know what's worse: the dread pirate's legendary vendetta against the aristocracy, or the fact that his captor is the most infuriating yet irrefutably fascinating man Draco has ever met.

*Okay y’all. Nerd is a great person and author. She is phenomenal. And this fic shows it so well. The pirate!AU the Drarry fandom both needed and deserved. Sublime.

Unhook the Stars by jad (2016; 70.5k)

Summary: [...] Seventy-thousand words of pornographic discourse between two boys-turned-men that still haven't learned how to communicate like normal people – with words. Guest appearances by Pansy Parkinson, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini, Teddy Lupin, Gregory Goyle, the Weird Sisters, ex-wives, several Weasleys, a Boggart, and a Honey Badger.

*Again, Dom!Draco and such a beautiful sub!Harry. They stole my heart. In this fic they grow up together through the aftermath of the war and they just... they have this intense Dom/sub relationship, I can’t... explain how much I loved this. Scorpius also makes his appearance and it’s so real and cute!

Such Great Heights by aideomai (2015; 93.3k)

Summary: Draco Malfoy, wide-eyed and pale and in a decidedly ragged shirt, was crouched next to the pile of whatever the dragon had been eating. Harry threw himself to a halt and yelled, “Merlin, how many times do I have to save your life?”

*This is one of the last ones I’ve read. Find my rec for it here. Such a cool fic, with a shunned Draco who gets to be so happy in the end, it made me happy too.

Burn The Witch by @lettersbyelise​​ (2019; 95.8)

Summary: When Harry Potter is sent in to investigate Draco Malfoy’s successful potions company, posing as Draco’s bodyguard, he doesn’t know the case will launch a series of events that will change his life — and Draco’s. A story about choices, scars, Chopin piano pieces, and finding all kinds of love in the most unexpected places.

*I do not have the words to express what this fic means to me. First of all, it’s how I met Elise who’s an amazing person and who I’m glad to call friend. She’s the sweetest. And also incredibly talented. This fic will take your breath away from the first word to the last one. Smol!Scorpius is perfectly characterised and my absolute favourite bit of the fic. 

Who we are in the shadows by @quicksilvermaid​​ (2019; 99.7k)

Summary: What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise? Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life. When he comes across Draco Malfoy in the criminal underbelly of Wizarding London and in need of protection, Harry figures bringing him in to face the Ministry's justice is his ticket back to everything he's lost. But nothing is exactly as it seems. Not even Harry himself. And as he gets drawn further and further into Malfoy's world of honour and deception he finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew—about his childhood nemesis, the Ministry job he misses so much, and most of all, about himself. What happens when you’re forced to see that you were wrong?

*Another incredible person who I got to know better thanks to her breathtaking storytelling and her sweetness for sharing it with me. Quick made something amazing with this fic and I urge you to read it. It was my first creature fic ever, first time I read about werewolves and I totally fell in love with it. Sheer perfection. 

Freedom to be by @quicksilvermaid​​  (2019; 169.5k)

Summary: Harry Potter is the Boy Who Lived. 12 years after the war, he's become the Boy Who Lived For Everyone Else. He has the perfect wife. The perfect house. The perfect job. The perfect friends. Only nothing feels perfect. Until one day he stumbles across a club called Release and begins a journey of self-discovery that takes him to a very different place.

*Well, could I just miss out on another one of Quick’s great works? With, again, Dom!Draco!??? No, I couldn’t! This is such a great exploration of BDSM and what it means and Harry’s path into it. 

19 Years and 5 Minutes Later by TheMightyFlynn (2015; 202.8k)

Summary: Five minutes after his happily-ever-after, Harry finds himself locked in the public loos with an angry Draco Malfoy and a need that he has denied for 19 years.

*Find my rec for this fic here. It’s really long and has Ginny bashing, but it’s totally worth it!! 

[qqueenofhades]

The photo set you reblogged of Yusuf and Niccolo helping throughout time just filled me with so many happy feels and it made me realize that it seems so common in media with immortal couples that they take breaks from each other and reconnect after a few decades. Which is a great trope but seeing these two that seems to have been attached at the hip since the day they met just fills me with all the heart eyes.

(I haven't read your fanfics for them yet. I know I'm a bad fan but if it helps I havent been able to read anything since all this started but while writing this ask I got the feeling that all this rambling I spewed out is a big theme)

Hush. Bad fan nothing. We all are coping with this stupid, awful year in different ways, some of us by escaping into fandom and some of us being unable to engage with it and some of us doing both or anything else. You certainly don’t owe me or anyone any obligation to interact with our content, fic or otherwise. So just to have that there on the top. You’re good, hun. :)

ANYWAY, thank you for giving me a chance to meta a bit on the boys and their relationship and to have a window into what my brain looks like pretty much 24/7 these days. (I blame them.) I keep thinking about all the ways this couple is depicted in the TOG film and how lovely it was and how unusual it is for me to have an OTP where I actually love them in canon and don’t need to violently disavow it in order to create AU fan content with just the characters. (See: Timeless, Game of Thrones, pretty much any show I’ve hyperfixated on at some point.) I love AUs anyway, because that’s the way my brain works, but the fact that I can also enjoy canon just as much is rare for me and for a lot of us. I saw a post somewhere remarking on how the fanfic for Joe/Nicky isn’t fixing anything, which is usually the point of transformative fanworks: we take something that canon atrociously fucked up and fix it. But in this case, all our interpretations are based on actually appreciating the way they’re presented in canon and wanting to enjoy that and uphold it, and that -- especially with a couple like this one -- is shocking??

Like. Despite my historian gripes about the occasionally incongruous details for their graphic-novel backstories (which are the only things I HAVE fixed in my fics), I’m just... deeply appreciative of the care which everyone, writers and actors and all else, put into depicting Joe and Nicky and their relationship. And god YES, one of the things I love the absolute MOST is that they’re a loving, faithful, committed, happy married queer couple over centuries, and that seems to be the case for as long as they’ve known each other/ever since they got together. (See Booker’s “you and Nicky always had each other.”) These fools can’t sleep apart from each other even when they’re stuck on a freight train in the middle of nowhere, they flirt like teenagers at dinnertime and even when they’re strapped to gurneys in a mad-scientist laboratory, they make out to enrage bad guys and also because they’re just still that goddamn into each other after all this time.

I think it was Marwan Kenzari who pointed out that there’s simply no way to truly state the depth of their knowledge and devotion and commitment to each other. They’re 950 years old. They have known each other since they were in their thirties; they’ve been husbands for literal centuries. There is no way anyone else in the world could possibly come close to replicating the kind of bond they have with each other, and neither of them have ever had any inclination to look, because why would they? Especially with the fact that queer couples in media, even otherwise sympathetically portrayed ones, often have Drama and Third Parties and Promiscuity and whatever else (because of the tiresome old canard that Gays Equal Hypersexualized!), and Joe and Nicky don’t need or want ANY of that. There’s no urge to make their relationship a cheap source of soap-opera conflict. It’s the rock and the center and the core of both of their lives, and everything they do stems from that.

There have been some great metas/comments on how neither Joe and Nicky are sexualized, they dress like stay-at-home dads during quarantine (Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli are both objectively gorgeous men, and they’re out there looking like that, god bless), and the viewer is never invited to goggle at or fetishize their relationship. There are no leering or exploitative camera angles on anyone, and their expressions of love aren’t posed or intended to titillate the audience, they’re just solidly embodied and natural and lived in. It’s never bothered to be stated clunkily in dialogue that they’re a couple; we just see them exchanging looks and smiles in the early part of the film, and then we see them spooning on the train after the mission in Sudan, which confirms it.

At every turn, the narrative celebrates the kindness and love shared by the Immortal Family, the individual characters, and Joe and Nicky, especially and explicitly in queer form. The villains of the film are also defined by how they react negatively to that love. @viridianpanther​ had a great meta on how Keane as a villain is especially set up to menace Joe and Nicky as the narrative representation of toxic masculinity, aggressive heterosexuality, and the usual “Kill Your Gays” trope that we’ve all come to wearily expect. But instead, after that scene where Joe and Nicky fight Keane, Nicky is shot and comes back to life in Joe’s arms rather than dying permanently like we probably all momentarily expected, and then Joe gets to FUCKIN’ BREAK THE NECK of the guy who enacted that violence.... good GOD. The first time I watched it, I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. (This goes for the whole film, but especially that scene.) Like... when do we get that?? When do we EVER get that???

Obviously, there are so many stereotypes, whether visually or in behavior or character traits, that could have been assigned to a gay Italian character (excessively dramatic, effeminate, fashionable, etc) or a gay Arabic/Muslim character (explicitly announcing He’s Not Like Those Muslims, having to actively reject his heritage to make him more palatable to westerners, being tormented over being gay, etc) and Joe and Nicky subscribe to none of those. I get very emotional about Joe referring to Nicky as the moon when he is lost during the truck scene partly because it’s SUCH a common motif in Arabic love poetry. To call someone your “moon” is a beautiful way to say they’re the light of your life, and since the Islamic calendar is obviously lunar and the holidays, months, and observances, are set by the phases of the moon, this also has a deeper religious significance.

I don’t know for sure if they did that on purpose, but it it’s a lovely and subtle way of showing us how Joe clearly doesn’t have an issue with being both queer AND Muslim, and is able to draw on both facets of that identity in a way that a lesser narrative would have denied him. And that is just really wonderful. Yes, we’re seeing these characters when they’ve had centuries to settle into themselves, but there are plenty of writers who would have forced those conflicts artificially to the surface, rather than letting them be long in the past. It’s the same way when you watch a film set in the medieval era, it wants you to know that it Is Set In The Medieval Era. Cue the filth, misogyny, racism, violence, etc! Rather than it being a lived-in reality, it has to be jarringly drawn attention to, and I’m just so glad they didn’t do that with Joe and Nicky. And for them to have met in the crusades and fallen in love??! Come on. That’s just rude. Rude to me, personally.

Anyway, this was a rather long-winded and feelsy way of saying that these characters are constructed, acted, and written organically in such a way that you hate to even THINK of them being separated, and it’s not because they can’t function without each other, but because they are two halves of a whole. We also see that the characters themselves can’t stand being forced apart: Joe’s freakout in the truck scene when Nicky briefly won’t wake up, Nicky making sure to tell Joe that he’s glad he’s awake in the lab, the whole post-Keane fight scene that I talked about above, the way Nicky fights ferociously to get to Joe when Merrick’s stabbing him, etc. For that to be given to the queer couple, where the strength of their love and devotion is reinforced as one of the emotional goals of the story, and for that queer couple to be written in the way that Joe and Nicky are, both individually and as a unit, is just so very rare.

Because yes, there’s plenty of drama and angst and pain in their lives, but there’s none at all in their relationship, and that’s what fans keep telling TV writers the whole time: they WANT to see the couple confront things as a unit, rather than being kept on tenterhooks the whole time and forced to go through manufactured or artificial drama. It would feel especially wrong for Joe and Nicky, who have known and loved each other for 900 years. The fact that their respective actors also put so much care and love into them is very obvious, and makes me feel even luckier that they’re played by people who clearly get them and honor them and know what they’re doing.

Basically: of course Joe and Nicky have been with each other the whole time, and of course we’re all drowning in feelings over it, and I feel very blessed that this ship exists, and I very much need the sequel ASAP. Thanks.

[everyhowlmarksthedead]

❛ TWO ROADS ❜

with Canche and Obispo ‘Bishop’ Losa.

Warnings: none.

Word count: 2k.

Aurora says: this writing hasn't been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry about that!

Gif credits: to my wonderful @sonsofeorl ✨

Masterlist. You can subscribe to my broadcast list, to be notified whenever I post a writing!

“Please, don't do that. Let me go”. With both hands raised to the man, you tried to push him away.

“No”. He just said with a naughty smile drawn on his lips, before grabbing your wrists to lift you up over his shoulder like a heavy bag, walking to the main room of the house.

“Let me go!” You shouted stirring over him, until you felt your body falling down over the mattress.

Sitting up on your forearms, you blow into a rebellious tuft of hair in the middle of your face, frowning. You couldn't barely breathe because of the efforts, watching the man crawling above the bed.

“I swear I'm gonna kill you”.

“Will you?” He asked, twisting his neck slightly, pouncing on you to tickle you on both sides.

“Canche, stop!” You screamed between laughs, trying to catch his hands while he made himself some space between your legs.

“C'mon, five minutes more, princesa de los Mayas”. The mexican surrounded you with his strong arms, resting his face on your stomach.

“My father is gonna kill us, if he finds out”.

“Just five minutes more”. He begged almost in a whisper, closing his eyes.

“I hate you”. You growled rolling your eyes, pretending that you didn't want to spend some time more together.

“I'm glad to know that it's something reciprocated”. The Mayan muttered, moving some inches until reaching your lips.

Tangling your legs with his and placing your hands on his head, you deepened the kiss, keeping the slow pace but welcoming his tongue inside your mouth. Every time you were this close, he had the same effect on you like the first time, bristling your skin and needing for more. You could assure that he was so in love with you, as you were with him. And you would like to shout it to the rooftops. But that wasn't an option. Not for the moment, at least.

“I know that… you can't call me”. You said caressing his neck with one of your hands, using your nails to made him some sweet tickles. “But… two weeks is too much. Maybe… I don't know… a text, to know that you're okay”.

“I will try, mi amor. I swear it”. He replied with a low tone of voice, accommodating his head on the pillow. “And when I come back, we will disappear for some days. We can go to the beach, if you want”.

“Sounds good, yeah”. You nodded assorted on the way of his lips moving, totally spellbound hearing his voice.

The man took back his hands to undone the clasp of the fine gold chain, with a small medal of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Silent, and very focused on his new task, he placed it around your neck. You knew how much he loved that necklace, being a gift from his mother who passed away some years ago. Giving it to you meant more than anyone could imagine, and you would swear you were about to cry if he hasn't kissed you again.

You have never been a believer, but you started to pray every night for him, to keep him safe and alive. It has been two long weeks, with a trip that started in Southern Cali to Stockton and Oakland, continuing to Portland. And after that, back to Santo Padre. One of the trips more dangerous of Mayans history, with a shipment of AK-47, even if they were accompanied by some SOA charters. But the day of their return has come and, with it, all your men. At least, you know it when you see through the front window of your car all the bikes parked there. The first you find is your father's. Next to it, Canche's.

Almost jumping out from your seat, you run like never before to the inside of the clubhouse. But the situation that welcomes you is chaotic. You open the door on time to watch Bishop tackling your boyfriend. A storm of hits and kicks is around everywhere, while the other Mayans stare at you almost frowning. You don't need to be a genius to know what is happening. Grabbing Ibarra's gun, being aware that no one is going to stop the fight, you point at the roof to fire it. The bullet impacting on it, calls everyone's attention. The two men on the floor are breathing violently, blood on their faces and angry gestures. Then, you point at them.

“The next one throwing a punch, juro por la Virgen that I'm gonna shot his brain off”.

The men separate from each other, standing up over their feet and shaking their clothes.

“How much time have you been together?” Your father asks, cleaning a brief red thread flowing from his bottom lip. His eyes are filled with rage.

“Why does it matter, dad?”

“Because I asked you for one last thing, and you shitted on it”.

“Do you think I made it on purpose? That I chose it?”

“You betrayed me. And you lied to me”.

“For God's sake… Ain't gonna talk about it in front of all these men”.

“We don't have anything else to talk about. You already took a decision”.

You just nod, one time. Stretching your arm to Ibarra, you give him back his gun.

“Doing the same shit that your mother did”.

His whisper doesn't go unnoticed to your ears, taking a step ahead when he's about to unlock himself inside the Templo.

“You pushed mom away, just like you are doing with me. If you are alone, if you are losing the only people who really love you, it's because of you, padre. Because of your jealousy, because of your inflexibility, because of your egocentrism complex”.

Bishop doesn't turn, but suddenly stops his heavy feet.

“(Y/N), don't talk to your father like that”. Canche says, frowning at you.

“Truth fucks you up, right?” You say raising your chin. “Love doesn't mean to hurt, dad. And sometimes I feel that you stab my chest. That you suffocate me. I feel alone the whole time, and you don't really know what it feels like, because I'm always by your side. But you weren't for me when I needed you the most. So don't blame me for choosing a man who cares about me, without asking anything back, over you”.

It has been the worst weeks of your life. You were sure that you were suddenly and inevitably falling into a dark depression, when you realized that you haven't gone out of Canche's house since you came. Mostly, you are tucked in his bed, grabbing the pillow as strongly as you can, wetting it with your tormented tears. A prospect was accompanying you all the time that your boyfriend was away from your side.

“How is the kid?”

Taza gets up from his chair, before Canche can leave the Templo. He turns around crossing his arms over his chest.

“Who asks?”

No one replies.

“She isn't happy, if you wanna know it”. His eyes are on Bishop's. “She cries most of the day. Hardly eats anything. And I can't remember how her laugh sounds”.

Your boyfriend is about to continue his steps, but he stops again.

“And I had to take her to the hospital some days ago, because she has a panic attack”.

“Maybe if you di—”.

“Don't you dare to add me in your equation, Bishop. This is your fault, not mine. I care about her. I love her. And I want to spend my life with her. I'm not trying to steal your daughter from you. I'm not asking her to leave you. I was even about to delegate my position as Presidente, and ask for a change of charter to be close to her. To come to Santo Padre, so she wouldn't have to leave her family”. His voice sounds firmly, blunt. “You are losing your daughter because of you, not because of me”.

Canche doesn't want to waste more time, having a road of one hour and a half to his house. The only thing he wants right now is come back, be with you, and try to comfort your pain somehow. So he doesn't notice that the crew follows him to the outside, in the meantime that he reaches his motorcycle.

His way back home feels like an eternity, parking in front of the porch, and almost jumping out from the top of it. The prospect is waiting close to the door, shrugging his shoulders to let him know that nothing has changed. You heard the door getting opened, turning your head over the pillow, watching him coming into the room. You would like to smile, as every time you see him, but it's like if your brain doesn't send the order to your lips. Lying down and embracing you over the mattress, filling your face with a bunch of kisses.

“I've missed you, mi vida”. He whispers onto your lips, before caressing them. “I took a day off, so I will be here with you the whole time”.

You can't help but sink your face under his chin, letting him hold you tightly. That's the only moment you feel somewhat better, knowing that he's not going to kick out your ass. Knowing that he loves you unconditionally.

“How was him?” You whisper.

“Fucked like you”. He just replies, kissing your head. “But I know that he's going to come today, you will see. I know it”.

He wasn't wrong. Actually, Canche is never wrong. You suddenly wake up because of the loud roar of an engine. It's coming closer, accentuating over others behind it. The bed is empty, and the room is almost in darkness. Rubbing your eyes with your knuckles, you get up from the mattress, guiding your steps to the living room as soon as you hear your boyfriend greeting your father. Sticking your head out the corner of the hallway, your eyes find him before anyone else there. He looks like shit. His beard is longer, scruffy. The two black marks under his eyes tell you that he hasn't slept much more than you.

Canche moves his head in silence, indicating the crew to leave the house, so you would have some intimacy and time alone. Bishop takes a step ahead, trying to reach you, trying to say something. But he can't. Doubting, he walks a little closer. Slowly. Hoping that you don't turn him down. Raising a hand towards your left, he holds it to push you into his arms. Surrounding your body, he hugs you with that kind of love and warmth that only your father can transmit you. All the sadness and the pain has gone. The fear of losing him, inside your chest, isn't oppressing it anymore.

“I'm sorry”. He says in a whisper, tightening his grip around you.

“Me too…”

“You don't have to, because you were right. This is my fault, mi princesa”.

He pulls himself away from you, enough to find your reddened eyes, about to cry again.

“I know you have to leave the nest, but I'm not ready. And I will never be. But if you have to do it, I'm good knowing that Canche is by your side”.

Leaning, your father kisses your forehead, pressing his lips on it for some long seconds.

“Just let me take care of you tonight, please”.

You just nod in silence. You couldn't say ‘no’. You need him, you didn't know it could be this hard to live without him. It's not the same when he's on a trip, than when he's just away from you. Closing your arms around him, you hide your face on his chest, like you used to do when you were a child waking up from a nightmare.

“I will always love you, pa'. No matter who else is in my life. I will always love you more than anyone”.

“I know, princesa. I do. And I will always do it”.

[juminhandfs]

Hantober Day 10

Choir Practice: Favorite song that reminds you of Jumin.

I made a playlist actually 👀

I went overboard and tried to include songs fitting of every significant moment of his life in chronological order, including the bad endings and even when he crashed Seven's car... ending with the Good Ending.

If you are going to listen to this I have to warn you, it has 2 songs that touch on the bad ending 2 and can be triggering for some people: Lullaby from The Cure which is more metaphorical and Prison Sex by Tool whose lyrics are very graphic. Listen at your own risk and take care.

But here I want to talk about the first song on the playlist that sorts of encapsulates Jumin's life and what meeting MC means to him.

The song I'm talking about is Lateralus, also from Tool, which has the particularity of relying heavily on the Fibonacci sequence both in the metric of the syllables and in the meaning of the song. This is a song about grow.

If you have never heard about the Fibonacci sequence, also known as The Golden Ratio, I recommend to you to watch all these videos on YouTube talking about it because is something super interesting!

Basically The Fibonacci sequence is the mathematic that you can find in the nature, which goes like this:

0+1 =

1+1= 2

2+1= 3

3+2= 5

5+3= 8

8+5= 13 and so on...

Theses numbers when put on a graphic look like this: a spiral

A grad student made a video about the Fibonacci in Lateralus for a project and there it's infinitely better explained of what can I do here, but sadly the video was taken down, what I could find is this same video from someone who reposted it.

I want to encourage you to watch it so you can understand better how the lyrics match with Jumin's life:

Black/ 0+ 1 =

then /+1 =

white are/ 2 + 1 =

all I see/ 3 +  2 =

in my infancy/ 5 + 3 = 8

This is like a perfect description of Jumin's life growing up and raised like a businessman, with no place to emotions and creativity

Red and yellow then came to be/ 8 - 3=

reaching out to me/ 5  - 2 =

Lets me see/ 3

Red and yellow could stand for V and Rika. They showed him another way for things to be: these are the colors more vibrant in the rainbow. Trough them Jumin got to experience friendship and love. And they "came came to him, reaching out to him" he didn't went looking out for them.

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine/ 13 - 5 =

Drawn beyond the lines of reason/ 8 - 3=

Push the envelope/ 5 -2 = 

Watch it bend 3

Below, above, beyond: the lyrics are describing the dimensions of a box, that's the envelope to push made by "the lines of reason". Also note how the number of syllables were in crescendo, but now they are descending, why? What is stopping the spiral from growing? What is stopping Jumin? The answer is in the following chorus: 

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind

Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must

Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines

Then we have the repetition of the same verses and the chorus + the following verses

There is (2)

so (1)

much (1)

more and (2)

beckons me (3)

to look through to these (5)

infinite possibilities (8)

The next verse marks the moment the song changes, it stops counting syllables and with it both the song and the lyrics go in an endless crescendo...

Feed my will to feel this moment 

Urging me to cross the line

Reaching out to embrace the random

Reaching out to embrace whatever may come

A thing I haven't noticed, but I do now as I'm writing this is that the voice and the style of the singing also changes here. Up to this point was kinda robotic but here is really soft, in awe, you can feel the sincerity of the singer in his voice. If I had to parallel this moment in the song to one in Jumin's route it definitely would be when he tells you about his threads at 2 am. It's my favourite moment in the whole song, as I imagine Jumin saying those words:

I embrace my desire to

I embrace my desire to

Feel the rhythm, to feel connected

Enough to step aside and weep like a widow

To feel inspired

To fathom the power

To witness the beauty

To bathe in the fountain

To swing on the spiral

Swing on the spiral

Of our divinity 

And still be a human

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself

Between the sounds and open wide to suck it in

(He complained about the noise, remember the standing alone in an empty field? The noise is no longer noise, is "sounds" , "words have a meaning once they reach you"

I feel it move across my skin

(He didn't liked to be touched)

I'm reaching up and reaching out

(He is out of the box, or the cage?)

I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me

What ever will bewilder me

And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been

We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been

Spiral out, keep going

Translation of all of this? Why I put it at the beginning of the playlist?

Well...

Because of the heavy trauma he received in his early years, Jumin had to rely on rationality and logic to conduct his life (V called him "scientist" and Rika said she wanted for him to find the perfect balance between emotions and logic). Thus ignoring emotions but also his inner intuition, his gut feeling. (Update after the dlc: Now we know the big part his mother also played in this)

Because Jumin's trauma is in direct relation to his body, Jumin tried to distance as far as he could from it and treating it as a machine ("separating the body from the mind"). He mentions how loose clothes make him uncomfortable "because he needs a constant restraint all the time" (if corsets for men were an item you can bet Jumin would wear one)   which leads to his body speaking to him in the way of symptoms: this symptoms are the headaches, the numbness he says he feels in the dlc, the feeling of drowning, etc...

Basically, his body (wether by his emotions, gut feelings or directly through his headaches and mild-amnesia) is desperately trying to talk to him and Jumin is doing everything he can to not listen to it, because he isn't ready for it yet, because these are years and years of unspoken trauma trying to hit him  at once (this is why therapy is important! Guys!) .

So Jumin rationalizes things: he must be having headaches because he ate something bad, or the temperature in the room is below 2 grades, and V must be distant because he is still grieving, not because he is hiding something, not for what Yoosung is telling everyone. And Yoosung is also grieving, so that's why he's acting like this.

And Rika was V's fiance, so he couldn't have feelings for her

All of this changes when he meets MC: first she doesn't treat him as a robot like everybody else, but as person with feelings and with a right to feel and express those feelings, and second and (maybe) more importantly: she doesn't allow him to project his own emotions onto her (as he did with Elizabeth) thus Jumin doesn't have any other option that confront his own emotions, to recognize those feelings as his own… and this scares him to death, but he has to do it if he wants to be with her.

And this, that this battle is for her and for a future with her, is what gives him strength.

Now, onto the song again, Jumin has to listen to his body to do this, he has to decipher what is trying to tell him "Why im feeling like this?" "Why I acted this way". There's another song, also from Tool ("Forty Six & 2") that goes deeper in this process Jumin has to do "I want to know what I've been hiding in my shadow (...) Listen to my muscle memory"

It can't be only raw emotion because that's the bad ending 2 (or he stealing Seven's car), both mind and body had to work together (or to say it in the words of the song, the body can't be keep separated from the mind) for the well being of the person. And if it's in the natural design of things to tend to expansion and growth, why we'll be different? This is to live riding the spiral: self awareness.

"Swing on the spiral

Of our divinity 

And still be a human"

And the best part of all of these? Once this big rock is out the way? 

Now he can allow himself to feel everything! Both the good and the bad, his love for MC, his friendship for the RFA, and by him now being better, he can also be a better, more honest friend to those he loves. And by being more honest, he can now help them to get on their feet again just as MC helped him, and accept help from them . Without fear.

"We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been"

And that's why I love this song and Jumin Han.

.

.

.

.

Note: So this didn't came out as I wanted :/ (that's why I couldn't post it like 1 month ago), but that's kinda of the point of the song I guess? 😅 Certain things can not be explained, only experienced and when you try to dissect them (overanalyzing) they lost something very important in the process. Even the same phenomenon doesn't guarantee the same experience for different individuals... But that's the good thing in the end 😅

How boring life would be if we all experienced the world in the same way...

[bbq-hawks-wings]

I want to express an unpopular opinion. I hope for your understanding, because such things don't like to listen. Why does everyone think that Hawks is a bird? I couldn' fit my logical arguments into the askbox :( (about how he sits on a pole "like a bird", supposedly likes jewelry and so on). Even his quirk is called Fierce Wings, not a Hawk, not a Red Bird. Do you remember the names of the quirks of Hound Dog and Tsuyu-chan? We haven't evidence to believe that Hawks is behaves like a bird.

I do believe very much he’s a bird, and if you would let me friend, I would love to try and prove it to you because I think the evidence is overwhelming. I’ll make a TL;DR at the end but I’d really like to take the opportunity to perhaps teach others at least one method for literary analysis since it can be a really dry and boring subject to learn in school but is SO useful not only for getting good grades but getting into colleges as well as interpreting both entertainment and genuinely important information like the news, history, laws, and scientific papers. Using fiction - especially such a rich, engaging one like HeroAca - is a great way to try it out without the pressure of a grade. I don’t have the qualifications to teach in any formal capacity, but as a “peer” tutor I hope I can be helpful.

I’m going to put everything under the cut from here because this is going to get LONG, but I promise the TL;DR at the end will be very easy to read. If you liked this sort of unofficial tutorial please let me know. I’d love to help make “academic” skills like this more accessible for those who might benefit from it and enjoy it, but it doesn’t make sense to put in all that effort moving forward if I’m garbage at it.

Before we get too into things, I want to lay out a few notes to keep in mind as we go.

I will only be using the official translations from Viz’s Shonen Jump website when available. Fan translations are more than close enough to casually enjoy and follow the story, but professional translators are paid to know and get various nuances correct and some of the trickier cultural background behind certain phrases (for example, the phrase “where the rubber meets the road” might make zero sense in a foreign language if translated literally, so an equal cultural phrase should be used instead) that give more exact information. Rarely is this too important, but sometimes it helps, plus it supports the source material.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you might know I’m very fond of doing this kind of thing in my spare time and that I’m a huge fan of YouTube channels like Game/Film Theory, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Extra Credits, and Wisecrack that do this kind of thing with popular media as well. If you like this sort of content, may I encourage you to check them out after this to see how else you can apply these kinds of analytical skills to things that aren’t homework.

My writing style tends to meander, but I do my best to cut out the fat and only include relevant information so even though there’s a lot of information here, please know that I’m trying to be thorough and explain things to the best of my ability. If I seem to go off on a tangent, I’m trying to set up or contextualize information to explain why it’s relevant and then come back to the point. In other words, please be patient and bear with me as I go.

Now, to start, I want to explain at least my method for analyzing a text/piece of media. There is a set order and number of steps to take, and it’s as follows:

Read the material all the way through.

Come up with a hypothesis about something you’ve noticed when reading it. (In this case, it’s “Is Hawks actually supposed to be a bird?”)

Collect as much relevant information as possible and test the evidence to see if it supports the hypothesis we’ve made.

Step back and look at everything again with those points in mind.

Determine if we were right or wrong with the evidence we have.

If we were wrong, go back to step 3 to figure out what fell apart and see if we need to go back to step 2.

If that sequence sounds familiar it’s because it’s the scientific method! Aha, didn’t think we’d be pulling science into all this, did you? Don’t worry, we won’t be putting numbers or formulas anywhere near this discussion - the scientific method is just a way we can observe something and test if what we thought about it is actually true; and it applies to almost everything we as humans can observe - from the laws of the universe, to arts and crafts, to philosophy and religion, and so on! When you think about it that way, whole new possibilities can open up for you when it comes to understanding how the world works.

So with that set let’s (finally) begin!

Steps 1 and 2 are already done. We’ve read the manga and want to prove that Hawks is a bird. (We’re going to try and prove he IS a bird because in the context of the series there’s a lot that *isn’t* a bird and less stuff that *is* which will make our job easier.) So now, we’re onto: 

Step 3 - collect data and see what conclusions we can get just from our evidence.

Now, to pause again (I know, bear with me!) there’s a few different kinds of information and considerations we have to keep in mind as we collect. There are four kinds of information that are important to know about in order to determine if it’s good data that will help us with the testing phase in Step 4. The kinds of information to keep in mind are:

Explicit information - this is information that is directly spelled out for us. For example, Hawks says, “I like my coffee sweet.” and his character sheet says “Hawk’s favorite food is chicken.” That’s all there is to it, and it’s pretty hard to argue with. This is the easiest type of info to find.

Implicit information - this is info that isn’t directly spelled out but is noticeable either in the background or as actions, patterns, or behaviors that can be observed. For example, Hawks has mentioned in at least three very different places his concerns over people getting hurt while he tries to get in with the League:

Chapter 191 when confronting Dabi about the Nomu he says, “You said you’d release it in the factory on the coast, not in the middle of the damn city!”

Chapter 191 again in a flashback with the Hero Commission he asks, “What about the people who might be hurt while I’m infiltrating the League?”

Chapter 240 when discovering how much influence and power the League has gained, “If someone had taken down the League sooner, all those good citizens wouldn’t have had to die!”

Hawks never says in so many words, “I never want innocent people to get hurt under any circumstances!” but the pattern of behavior and concern is consistent enough to form a pattern and clue us in that this is a key part of his character to keep in mind.

Peripheral information - this is information that isn’t directly to do with Hawks or maybe even the series as a whole but is still relevant to keep in mind for his character and the questions we’re asking. This may include extra content that isn’t the “series” proper, but is still an official source like interviews with Horikoshi, etc. but it can go even further. For example, while we try to prove that he’s a bird, we should have some knowledge about what makes a bird a bird, some specific and notable birdlike habits/behaviors/features, etc. This is just to show how wide-ranging we need to cast our informational net.

Contextual information - this will be important when we get to Step 4, but it’s good to keep in mind now. This is when we compare evidence against the broader scope of the series and consider the circumstances under which we find the information. For example, if I told you, “Harry kicked a dog.” you might think “What a jerk! What decent person kicks a dog?”; but if I said, “Harry kicked a dog while trying to keep it from biting his kid.” suddenly it re-frames the story. “Is the kid ok? Why was that dog attacking? Harry put himself in danger to keep his kid safe - what a great dad!”

I’ll go chronologically to make it easier to follow my evidence as I gather and give references as to where I found that information. I’ll go through the manga first, and then any peripheral sources that are either direct informational companions to the series (like character books or bonus character information sheets) and interviews with Horikoshi. Please note the categories these details fall into may vary based on opinion/interpretation, but I did my best to list them out for reference.

Chapter 185 - Explicit Type: Feathered wings - regardless of the specifics of his quirk it’s undeniable his wings are made up of feathers which is a distinctly birdlike quality. There are many mythical creatures and even dinosaurs that also have feathered wings, but this is our first big piece of evidence.

Chapter 186 - Peripheral Type: Large appetite - birds have an incredibly fast metabolism because flying takes so much energy. They’re constantly eating. Plenty of young men are big eaters, but it was specifically pointed out and works towards our hypothesis so we’ll keep it in our back pocket for now.

Chapter 186 - Implicit/Peripheral Type: Fantastic vision - Hawks senses the Nomu coming before the audience even is able to make out what’s headed their way. It could be implied his wings caught it first, which might be the case, but he looks directly at the Nomu and brings Endeavor’s attention to it. Birds have fantastic long-range vision, especially birds of prey that mainly swoop in from high in the air to ambush highly perceptive prey. Also good to add to the pile.

Chapter 192 + Volume 20 Cover - Implicit/Peripheral type: Wears jewelry and bright colors - birds are well documented to be drawn to bright colors and are known for decorating their nests with trinkets. Scientists actually have to be careful when tagging birds with tracking bracelets because they can accidentally make him VASTLY more popular with the ladies by giving him a brightly colored band to the point they can’t resist him! Male birds are also known for having bright, colorful displays for attracting and wooing mates. While Hawks isn’t the only male character to wear jewelry in the series, he’s the only one (to my recollection) that wears as MUCH jewelry so often both during and outside of work. It may not be obvious, but the illustration on Volume 20 is actually an advertisement for his line of (presumably) luxury jewelry. In other words, Hawks on some level is synonymous with style and flair to the point he can make money by selling jewelry with his name on it.

Chapter 20 Volume Cover - Explicit Type: Hawk emblem on the watch face - If the name “Hawks” didn’t give it away, he’s very clearly trying to align himself with more avian qualities if his merch has bird motifs. In other words Hawk = “Hero Hawks” and “Hero Hawks” = bird.

Chapter 192, 244, clear file illustration - Peripheral Type: birdlike posture. Chapter 244 isn’t quite released yet on the official site as of writing this, but when Hawks swoops in and beats the kids to the punch apprehending the criminals trying to subdue Endeavor, his hands are clenched in a very talon-like manner similar to a swooping eagle. When walking with Endeavor in 192, he holds his resting hand in a similar fashion. On the clear file illustration he’s not only perched on his tippy toes in a pose that has been famously called “owling” (remember that trend/meme, y’all?) but his wings are slightly outstretched to catch the breeze to keep from falling over which a lot of birds can be seen doing when they don’t have great purchase on a surface in a place that’s a little windy. The fact that he seems to gravitate to high places like birds are often seen doing might also be a noteworthy indication.

Extra sources:

Hawks Shifuku: Horikoshi describes Hawks as a “bird person” and says that his initial design was based off of Takahiro from his old manga. 

Takahiro’s design:

Current character design: The banner image on my blog was commissioned from a friend of mine who doesn’t follow the series. When I showed her reference images of Hawks, you know what she said? “Oh! His hair is feathers!” Even his eyebrows have that fluffy/scruffy texture to them that his hair has. The markings on his eyes can also be seen on him as a young child in Chapter 191 which means it isn’t makeup meant to tie in a theme or look. He has those dark, pointed eye markings like many birds do. So on some genetic level he resembles a bird.

Step 4: Testing our hypothesis with the gathered evidence.

There’s already a lot of compelling evidence that already closely aligns him to birds which is promising. However, to really prove our point we should try to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt he is a bird. To do that this time around I’m going to see how the series treats people with animal-based quirks and see if it’s consistent with the way Hawks is portrayed.

You bring up Hound Dog and Tsuyu, and they’re fantastic examples. Let’s start with Hound.

He’s pretty straight forward - he’s like a dog. He has a dog face, has dog-like tendencies, and dog-like abilities. Superpower: dog.

And in Tsuyu’s case - quirk: frog, just frog. She’s stated explicitly to have frog-like features, frog-like tendencies, have frog-like abilities, and even comes from a “froggy family.”

So with these two very explicitly animal-like characters the common theme seems to be “If they’re considered to be like a specific animal, they have to physically resemble that animal, act like that animal at times, and have abilities like that animal.” Let’s see if another animal-quirk character matches up and then put Hawks to the test.

Spinner’s quirk is Gecko. Based on our criteria, is he a gecko?

Does he look like a gecko, even vaguely? 

Yes, he’s covered head to toe in scales, and his face is very lizard-like.

Does he occasionally act like a gecko? 

Unclear. We haven’t really seen any evidence of this, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t. For the sake of our argument, we’ll just say no and move on.

Does he have gecko-like abilities?

 Yes! Though most of his abilities are limited to things like being able to stick to walls, it’s still gecko-like in origin and qualifies.

Spinner hits clearly hits ⅔ criteria and our standards seem pretty consistent, so let’s see how Hawks stands up.

Does he look like a bird? 

Not all of his features may explicitly scream “avian” at first, but upon closer observation and with his clear previous inspiration this is a resounding yes.

Does he act like a bird? 

Many of the mannerisms and behaviors he displays can just be chalked up to him being a little eccentric, but with the sheer number of them that also parallel birds in some way this is also a pretty convincing yes.

Does he have bird-like abilities? 

While most of the emphasis is on his wings and what they can do, it does seem that he not only possesses things like heightened senses which could be attributed to avian abilities but he also very much possess high intelligence and incredibly fast reaction times which birds are also known for.

Even if we only gave Hawks a “maybe/half a point” for those last two, he still meets the 2⁄3 that Spinner did. So we have another question to ask: Does a character have to have an explicitly named “animal” quirk to be considered to be/resemble a specific animal? Let’s look at Ojirou and Tokoyami for reference.

Ojirou’s quirk is just “tail,” but he’s been described by his peers and classmates as a monkey and does seem to share some more monkey-like features. It isn’t lumped in with his quirk because the only notable monkey-like quality he possesses is a tail. He doesn’t have fangs or an opposable toe - he just has a tail. For quirk classification as far as hero work goes, that’s the only important thing to note.

Tokoyami, on the other hand has an entire literal bird head, but nothing else. He has a beak, feathers, and even in illustrations of him as a baby he had fluffier feathers on his head. Even with only those details, he just screams “bird!” However, his quirk is classified as “Dark Shadow” because that’s what sets him apart for hero work.

Back at Hawks we see his quirk classified as “fierce wings” but like Ojirou and especially like Tokoyami, the emphasis on his wings is what sets his abilities as a hero apart. Otherwise, he’s just a guy who looks and acts a LOT like a bird.

But astute observers may have noticed I’ve left out a detail that’s more or less a nail in the coffin on the whole matter, so let me ask a question: Tsuyu in particular has something else of note that solidifies in our minds that she is, indeed, a frog - she explicitly calls herself a frog. Could we say the same about Hawks?

Chapter 199 - Explicit Type

Bingo. Hawks has known himself for as long as he’s been alive. He knows his habits, his impulses, his family/genes, and so on. If he calls himself a bird, are we going to call him a liar? In fact, he calls himself a bird not once, but twice!

That’s pretty much it. With the evidence stacked to that degree, I’d be hard pressed to NOT believe he’s a bird.

That was a long amount of text to get through, so if you’re here at the end thank you for sticking out with me to this point. I really appreciate it. This is more or less the process I use when analyzing anything and everything whether it be HeroAca related or not. Maybe it’ll help you if you’ve struggled with literary analysis, or at the very least I hope you got some enjoyment out of it.

TL;DR If Hawks looks like a bird, walks (acts) like a bird, is based on a bird (character), and calls himself a bird, he’s probably a bird.

[faythelyse]

Joji x Reader {female reader} Apocalyptic setting. Part two.

It had been about a week since I had invited the two new men to our community. Tending to George became a regular part of my day. Cleaning the wound and dressing it atleast 2 times a day. He has slept through all of it, I wonder when he will come to. Ben and Ashlee have been going out every day for a supply run. We haven't been this stocked since everything shut down.

Ashlee had grown close to Ben already, they go out frequently on supply runs, and spend most of their waking time fixing up the truck that is now currently running. To top it all off we haven't seen any infected near the community in 3 days. On my way to now to what is basically George and Bens room. I think they might end up living here for a long time. The thought of that made me smile.

I walk in medical bag in hand ready to dress up his wound. He was actually sitting up with his legs crossed. He appeared groggy, but smiled as I entered. "Did you sleep well?" I asked in a happy tone. Sitting next to him I open up my bag and start getting stuff ready. George starts to try and rip at the medical tape around his bandages.

I reach out and stop him with my hand. "Here let me help" I take a cotton ball and soak it in baby oil and wipe it all around the edges of the tape. He watches quietly.

"Let that sit a bit." I got up to throw the cotton ball away and his eyes followed me around the room.

"Thank you" he says as I sit back in front of him. "Where is Ben? "How long have I been out?"

"Ben is out in the garage with Ashlee, unless they have left already. They are heading out to get stuff to build up our walls a bit more, and you have been out for about 5 days. Did you dream?"

He rubbed his eyes "Um. Yeah, I did." He watched as I pulled out new clean bandages and tape. I start to softly pull off the tape around his ribs and chest. "You've been taking care of me all this time." I nod and continue to remove everything.

He winces as I clean his injury. Its healing. "You are lucky. It seems to be healing up great."

"Thanks to you.. We were lucky to stumble across you. I don't even recall what your name is."

"It's Y/N, if there's anything else you need just let me know" Right as I was close to the door he speaks up again.

"Can you just stay a moment with me. Ben and I haven't seen any others in months. It's nice to just be around someone who isn't infected."

"I understand. The girls and I who make up this community were getting restless not having anyone else to communicate with besides the raiders who come by to give us a hard time and steal our food."

"Raiders come and steal your food?" George looked genuinely worried knowing we really weren't in a good position to fight back.

"They killed Elenas fiance awhile back. We have tolerated them ever since." You look away not knowing what else to say on the subject. You couldn't yet explain to him that one of the raiders was especially infatuated with you and you had no choice but to go on tolerating it with no real way to fight back.

You change the subject "SO what did you do before the world shut down?"

"I made music. I still make music really. Just no ones around to hear it.. " He scratches the back of his neck nervously. "I heard you singing the other day when you came in to clean up the room."

You immediately blush. You don't sing in front of anyone.

"Don't be embarrassed" he laughed so casually "Y/N you sounded beautiful."

You smile nervously still not able to say anything. You could feel your face get hot as he just sat and stared at you for a moment.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to secretly listen in, I just didn't want you to stop.."

Ashlee opens the door "Y/N! We kind of have a small emergency." She motions for you to follow her. Before you leave you grab a pen and some paper from the desk in the corner of the room and lay it on Georges lap. "To write music." You say and smile before leaving the room.

George feeling great about finally having someone else to bond with besides Ben is immediately struck with inspiration and starts writing. George glances over at the green coat he had been injured in and has a flash of memories about the night he had met you. The tone of your sweet voice bounces around his head. Your messy hair, soft eyes and pouty lips had immediately drawn him to you. He wanted to know you.

Ben bursts in and plops down whilst shoving an immense amount of potatoe chips into his mouth. "They have ramen" he says with a mouthful. George rolls his eyes and smiles at his friend. "Yeah Im doing fine, thanks for asking dickhead."

"Aw come on, I knew you'd be fine, you've literally eaten a hair cake and survived." Ben laughs and shoves more chips in his mouth.

"You keep bringing that up like it's some life achievement." George manages to stand up and leans up against the wall next to the window. Ben walks over and gazes out the window with him. Ashlee and Y/N are outside trying their best to catch a mean goose that had laid her eggs in Elenas garden. They had plans to catch and breed her for food. George and Ben laugh quietly while watching this go down. "So what do you think of the girls? They seem great right?" Ben watches Ashlee, he is clearly into her.

"I actually completely agree with you on this one. They are great.." He says while thinking of you. "What if the people who gave me this" he points out his woind" find us here. Then we are putting them in danger."

Bens expression turns serious. "How are they going to find us? Besides if I see those fuckers again I'll be prepared this time."

"They found us last time, and we barely escaped.."

"That was last time, this is different. Have trust." Ben slaps George on the shoulder and starts to leave " Besides, we owe these girls. It wont hurt to stay awhile."

"And your dick has no alternative motivation for this?"

Ben smirks "Of course not, I have no idea what you are implying. " he shuts the door behind him.

George still by the window looks over the area for a moment. A garden was out in the right corner of the yard where a young woman was planting seeds while talking to

Y/N, who was sitting on a nearby stone bench. She appeared to be writing. George thought for a long time on if staying here was the right choice but something about Y/N made him want to linger a bit longer.

He walked outside, and stood behind y/n for a moment before making her aware of his presence. She was so immersed in her writing she didn't hear him walk up.

"You have nice handwriting." George spoke softly but his gentle voice made y/n jump even higher. "Jesus, you scared me. Also its rude to spy on someone who is so obviously journaling." You slam your book shut hoping he hadn't read to much into what you were writing. His big dark brown eyes lightened slightly in the sun. "Could I get a tour of the place? We can talk about how to pay off my debt to you. I really owe you my life." He was serious. You stand up and glance over at Elena. Elena looks up and waves her hand at you giving you the okay to leave her to her garden. "Sounds good, I'll show you around." You lead him out the gate into the front yard. You turn around and show him the full outside view of the house. "This is where we lived before we combined the house behind us, we decided it would be better to have a larger space, and fenced in both backyards, even cleared the second house. Now we have plenty of room in and out without having to worry about infected." You both walk back in, you lead him around the kichen and show him to all the rooms. "Where is your room?" You are starting to get the sense he could be flirting with you. You open the last room revealing your space. It was filled with old cds, books and papers, a bed with maybe too many blankets, and couple game systems hooked up to a tv that was plugged into a generator. "Homey" he says as he walks in making himself comfortable and plopping on your bed.

"You seem comfortable." You smile taking in his small gestures and goofy smiles as he gives your room a good look over. "Okay we can move on to the -" he interrupts you "Whats this?" He picks up a wrinkly piece of paper. It was a suicide note you had written a month or so ago after the raiders had killed elenas fiance and deemed you their new play thing. You didn't want to live in a world where you were trying so hard to survive only to get used whenever they decided to come back. Which was about twice a month. Sucked it up though. You care to deeply for all of your friends. You couldn't leave them to a worse fate. "I don't plan on doing that anymore. It's not a big deal." You whisper while looking down out of embarrassment. He walks up to you and pulls your chin up to meet his gaze. "Y/N I'm here to help if you need me." He pulls you into an unexpected hug. You relax in his arms. That was the moment he decided he didn't want to leave. He wanted to hold onto you and this peaceful place as long as possible. This felt like a dream to him. Ben and George had been wandering with no real home for atleast a couple years now. This felt like it could be home. "I'll pay my debt by helping you get rid of those assholes who think they can come by and take whatever they want." You push away from him. You knew this was dangerous, thinking about standing up to them at all made you sick to your stomach. We couldn't continue living in fear though. You nod your head in agreement. And you both walk back outside where everyone was circled up talking.

[yvesdot]

August 11-20. Chugging right along!

AUGUST 11

I LOVE this bit! I love everything about it. Mina homoerotically caring for Lucy (some great parallels could be drawn between this and Mina caring for Harker-- but I'm getting ahead of myself), the attention to the neck, etc. etc. Lovely scene.

AUGUST 12

At this point they just need to get some light-sleeping peasant to sit in the room and jump up whenever they hear Lucy moving. And hello again, Harker!

AUGUST 13

Honestly no better commentary than the editor's: Giant bat? Probably no big deal.

AUGUST 14

How Long Can We Drag Out The Realization That Lucy Has Been Bit By A Vampire

AUGUST 15

[Lucy's mother] confided to me that she has got her death-warrant. She has not told Lucy, and made me promise secrecy; her doctor told her that within a few months, at most, she must die, for her heart is weakening. At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be almost sure to kill her.

Wow this would be a really bad time for her daughter to get vampirized. I guess I'll just keep that in mind.

AUGUST 17

It is cute that we see the letter re:Jonathan as it is written but Mina has to wait. Things were different back then...

AUGUST 18

AUGUST 19

It is cute to see Mina so cutesy over Harker... Kind of giving that trope where one half of the couple is always rescuing the other. It's only happened once so far, but you know this guy is going to get trampled by something on their honeymoon. Assuming he doesn't die when he sees a boob.

EDIT: In case I haven't made this clear already, I do want to note that in my opinion Stoker is clearly presenting his deepest fear of men being limp and unmasculine. Obviously, quite unfortunate for him, and I am reading around it.

How these madmen give themselves away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow. Oh, if men only knew!

Here's a good example of how bigotry makes for bad writing. Stoker wants (in my opinion) to send the message that everybody matters, down to the smallest and least obviously significant person... but he's blinded by ableism and racism that forces him to paint all Rromani people with the same terrible brush, act as though "insane" people ought to have zero rights, and so on and so forth. He is shooting himself in the foot by being racist. It objectively weakens his message and makes his book worse. Oh, well. He'll always have fans on Tumblr who can't see it.

"The bride-maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride; but when the bride draweth nigh, then the maidens shine not to the eyes that are filled."

This confused me, so a direct translation: "Everyone likes to see the bridesmaids until the bride appears, and then they only care for her (and are no longer satisfied by anyone else, including the bridesmaids that previously so delighted them)." And this stackexchange answer which I thought explained things very well!

I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and how different things might have been. If I don't sleep at once, chloral, the modern Morpheus—C2HCl3O H2O! I must be careful not to let it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, to-night shall be sleepless…

I can't help but make little gagging noises when I read stuff like this. I just can't get out of my modern reader head which says this has been done before, dude, we've all heard how sad it is when a girl doesn't marry you after knowing you for a month and gets hitched to your friend and you just have to think of her lily white face to avoid getting addicted to your insomnia meds. Been there read that!!

Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat that keeps him restrained...

Oh I get this joke now! The famed thief Jack Sheppard... blorbo from my book Confessions of the Fox. You want to read about (transgender) men talk about their failed female conquests, that is the book to read, I say, making hopelessly false equivalencies because I am just that desperate to get people to start talking about Confessions of the Fox.

AUGUST 20

[H]is eyes had something of their old pleading—I might almost say, "cringing"—softness.

Fellas is it cringe. I mean is it gay. I mean is it submissive impotent weak limp masculine vibes. I mean Fellas

We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they are required….

Sanatoriums in the Victorian era would just pull a Saw, according to Stoker. Like they would just play fun little games to SEE if letting violent patients loose was a good idea. I can't read this book guys it's like my brother's Dog-Man imitation comics in terms of sense.

General Commentary

yves.'s Diary.

6 November.—Thought I might look into the Dracula Daily tag and enjoy myself, seeing no posts that bought into the racist narratives of the original text. Don't know why I thought this. I was very wrong. Spent rest of day inconsolably thinking of beautiful women who rejected my hand; took nap unaided by use of medicine. 'Til next time

Alright fine after FOUR PEOPLE asked me about Dracula Daily I will in fact be participating if only to satisfy the masses. Instead of memes I am going to be talking about what’s going on subtextually and my varied vampire-as-metaphor thoughts. Also, I really do not like Dracula. Alright? Alright. See reblogs for later additions.

NAVIGATION:

May 7 (here) | May 8 | May 9 | May 11 | May 12 | May 15

May 16 | May 18 | May 19 | May 24 | May 25, 26 | May 28 | May 31

June 5 | June 18, 24, 25 | June 29, 30

July 1, 8, 18, 19, 20 | July 22, 24, 26-30

August 1-10

May 7: In which Jonathan Harker is racist about books, and the Count declares his intent to fondle England.

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