#main characters please invest in last names this is ridiculous

[squidsploitation]

twenty years late. with textposts 1/?

[bisexualbuckleyy]

the 911 fandom and female love interests: a controversial hot take

here is my hot take of the day that will probably piss off a lot of people but it’s just my opinion on how the fandom has reacted to female love interests for buck and eddie, specifically ana, and how members of the fandom have been reacting to those reactions.

i’ve seen a lot of posts saying stuff like “you only dislike ana because she’s coming in between buddie” and i’m here to say: so what?

now, i would like to preface this by saying i don’t dislike ana as a character and have a massive crush on gabrielle walsh, but to be completely honest i don’t have much of an opinion on ana except for that i think she’s pretty and i don’t like her and eddie together.

do you want to know why? because she does not have a personality outside of her relationship with eddie and her connection to christopher. there is literally not enough information about her as a character to even develop a strong opinion on her. the only substance we have that we can develop a strong opinion on is how she impacts the main characters.

here is a list of the things we know about ana:

she was christopher’s english teacher

she’s latina

she has a family member named edmundo

she told eddie that christopher has limitations and that there are things he won’t be able to do

she got her doctorate and is now a vice principal

she’s a good cook

she’s dating eddie

that is the extent of what we know about ana flores. is any of that worthy of hating her? no. but is any of it worthy of being really emotionally invested in her? also no.

now here is a list of things that have happened with other characters as a result of ana flores:

christopher fell off the skateboard (not directly her fault but it was made very clear that eddie blamed her and yelled at her about it)

christopher got mad at eddie (on two separate occasions)

eddie didn’t notice his own son sneaking out of the house

eddie acted like a completely different character for an entire episode

don’t get me wrong, i think she’s had some good impacts too, but those are the things that the story has highlighted. not to mention the fact that eddie now has a canon significant other and it is less likely that buddie will become canon any time soon.

now, are any of those things worthy of hating her? no, mostly because the majority of those things were not her fault, but the way that the storylines were written, they were directly connected to her influence and presence in the story as either christopher’s teacher or eddie’s girlfriend.

the fact of the matter is that ana has gotten zero development as a character and currently has very little substance outside of being eddie’s girlfriend. and this is not a new thing that the writers have done. see: ali.

ali is introduced not as a love interest but as an emergency victim. we see her interact with buck and eddie for two episodes, don’t see her for six episodes, then see her in the last episode of the season only for her and buck to break up. her sole purpose as a character was to be buck’s girlfriend for half a season and then break up with him.

here are the things we know about ali:

she designs hotels (i think? something like that)

her boss sexually harassed her

she was trapped in a high rise during an earthquake with buck and eddie

she dated buck for an unknown amount of time

she travels a lot for work

she helped buck find an apartment

she broke up with buck after his leg got crushed by the ladder truck

none of those things really merit any kind of a strong opinion on her. i don’t even think she was mentioned for the majority of season 2B unless it was plot relevant that buck had a girlfriend.

love interests that are not main characters are not well developed characters because they don’t need to be. they’re not people, they’re plot devices for main characters to develop or for storylines to progress in a certain way.

look at the actual well developed romances on the show: bathena, madney, henren, even buck and abby although it was just one season. all of these relationships are between two main characters or a main character and a prominent supporting character. henren slightly less so, but they’re established as a couple at the beginning of the show and get their fair share of storylines, so they still have development.

it’s very difficult to be invested in a relationship between a complex well developed character and a fairly one dimensional undeveloped or under developed character, and it’s also difficult to be invested in a character that has a very one dimensional personality.

ana has basically no flaws outside of the skateboarding incident, so what else would people be disliking her for if not for that she’s coming in between buddie? and if people are disliking her for coming in between buddie, then that’s completely valid. i’m very emotionally invested in buddie and really want them to become a couple, so i’m kind of annoyed that they’re bringing in a female character who has no personality except ‘love interest’ and making her be eddie’s girlfriend.

now, i’m not saying that means it’s totally okay to say “ana is a horrible person and i hate her because she’s coming in between my ship” because all evidence points to her not being a horrible person and it’s definitely not okay to say that. but it is completely valid to say “i really don’t like this character being on the show because they’re not developed and are coming between a ship that i’m very passionate about” and that doesn’t make you sexist or racist or whatever else people are saying, as long as that’s genuinely why you don’t like her.

these are fictional characters, not real people, and it’s valid to not like a fictional character because they’re preventing a storyline from happening that you really want to happen.

most importantly: THIS DOES NOT GIVE YOU ANY RIGHT TO ATTACK GABRIELLE WALSH. she is not a writer on the show, she did not write ana this way, she did not choose to have ana be eddie’s girlfriend, she is not the reason why buddie is not together. she is an actress who was hired to play a role and she is doing an amazing job with what she has been given. if you’re going to dislike any real people, dislike the writers because they’re the ones who are writing the story this way.

to sum up a ridiculously long post: if you love ana flores, great! if you hope her and eddie are endgame and have a very long and happy relationship, then you do you. if you’re kinda eh on ana and don’t feel strongly either way, that’s totally fine! if you really don’t like ana, that’s also totally fine! if you like ana as a character and think she has potential but you don’t like her and eddie together, awesome! if you’re secretly praying for lena to come back and for her and ana to be girlfriends (like me), then please come talk to me because i would be so here for that.

you are entitled to your own opinion, but that does not give you the right to insult other people or call them names for their opinions or to harass the actress who is just doing her job. respect other people’s feelings and decisions and remember that these are fictional characters whose sole purpose is to create an interesting and entertaining story, and if you dislike a character because you feel like they’re getting in the way of an interesting and entertaining story, you’re 100% entitled to that.

so please, stop attacking other people for their opinions and for the love of god, do not attack the actors. thank you for coming to my ted talk feel free to send me pictures of gabrielle walsh or scream at me about 911 whenever you want!

[takaraphoenix]

Three Crows and a Goat

Fandom: Shadow and Bone / Grishaverse

Tags: m/m, character introspect, kind of fluff, jealousy, Asexual Kaz

Main Pairing: Kaz/Jesper

Summary: Kaz Brekker wasn't an emotional man, at least not when it came to expressing his emotions. He rather showed it. Like by getting his partner an Emotional Support Goat.

Links: On AO3 / On FFNet

--

Kaz Brekker wouldn't consider himself a emotional man. That wasn't to say he didn't have emotions; he simply preferred not to broadcast them, or to say them out loud. He was a controlled man, a man who always had control – over himself, his emotions, any situation at hand.

He had been informed that while that made him brilliant at his job, it made him questionable at best as a romantic partner. He wasn't one for physical signs of affection either. Human touch came... hard to him. Very rarely and only with those he truly trusted and loved. So any touch at all was already a huge sign of his affections. Still, when his eyes would wander and he saw other couples, hanging all over each other, constantly touching. It made his skin crawl. And it on occasion woke a strange sense of guilt – not an emotion Kaz experienced too often.

His partner didn't mind. He knew Kaz, knew who Kaz was – and that was who Jesper loved. The whole package, all of it, all of him. Baggage, quirks, issues and all. They had found their own ways of handling some things; Kaz' dislike of touch extended to a sexual level. It wasn't something he desired, even though he was close to Jesper, close enough to touch him on occasions, in reassurance, gently. Not sexually. For long, he had thought those two were linked, the same; he disliked touch, so of course did the thought of touching someone intimately not sit right with him. It was only after he had... fallen in love, that he had come to realize that these two things were not entirely the same, because even when he felt the urge to touch Jesper, it was never in such a manner.

And even that, Jesper was okay with. He'd had such a soft look on his face when he had assured Kaz of that. Yet Kaz knew Jesper was a sexual creature, he was a physical person. And so they had come to an agreement, regarding that. As long as it was purely sex – no emotion, no repeats, no personal details exchanged – Jesper was free to lay with whoever he liked.

On occasion, very rare occasions, Kaz found himself doubtful. Doubtful whether this was enough for Jesper. Because Jesper was not like Kaz – he was an emotional person. He was expressive in his emotions. Affectionate. Perhaps not in the traditional sense either, but still.

All of these factors culminated in Kaz Brekker, feared and respected throughout all of Ketterdam, carrying a fluffy baby goat through the streets. If any of his enemies could see him now-

He tried to carry the fluffy baby goat with as much dignity as he could, but there was very little dignity in carrying a fluffy baby goat. The only thing that kept him going was knowing what the goat was for. He knew both Jesper and Inej had thrown him suspicious and surprised looks when he had volunteered to get the goat; that was a job far beneath Kaz Brekker. There was a reason.

Because Kaz was not too good at showing his emotions. And because Jesper was very expressive in showing what he was feeling at all times. And because Kaz knew what the goat was for.

/break\

On the train, seeing Jesper just completely lose it and have a meltdown, Kaz knew most other partners would have gone over there to comfort him personally, hold him close in a tight, soothing embrace. Kiss him, hold him, make him feel safe. Kaz knew how to do the last of those and on occasions the first two, but this was different. This was on a different level.

"I need you to calm down. Hug the goat, shut the hell up!"

At first, Jesper looked startled. Him and Inej had both suspected the goat to be bait, to be a sacrifice if push came to shove. With furrowed brows did Jesper pick up the goat and gently caress it before hugging it tightly. Kaz could hear him whisper a startled so soft before he wrapped himself around the small furred creature. Fully and completely wrapped around the goat.

Kaz sat stiff, watching with wary eyes. Watching the gentle touch as Jesper caressed the fur, buried his face in the goat's neck, hugging it with both arms. The longer he hugged the goat, the more he calmed down. Physical contact soothed him. This comforted him. And Kaz knew that. He also knew he wouldn't be comfortable trading places with the goat, being hugged with so much intensity, two arms wound tightly, face buried in a neck, full body contact. The thought was overwhelming.

And so Kaz Brekker had gone and organized a goat. A small, soft goat. The one the woman he had gotten it from had assured him was the cutest of the goats. So Jesper would have something, something soft and warm and reassuring. Something to hug.

Perhaps Kaz was not the typical kind of partner, perhaps he couldn't offer Jesper the same things others could. But he was Kaz Brekker and he knew how to make the things he could do count.

The smirk spreading over his lips was pleased and satisfied as he watched his partner calm down enough to get up and get his gun out and shoot with pure, raw precision at any danger threatening them from the outside.

/break\

Kaz ran his hands over his cane. Over the mended parts. It was a love-language in itself, the way Jesper had fixed the cane. Theirs was a subtle way of showing each other their affection, but that did not make it any less strong. Like his hands, his eyes wandered. They were on a ship, about to leave for Ketterdam again. Return home. This mission had been a huge failure all around. Perhaps not a full failure, considering they had seen the 'saint' with their own eyes. Had seen the Sun Summoner, the light, the power, the... miracle. Kaz was not a believer, yet did religion not stop being religion when it was physical and graspable? The girl sitting opposite him was not some fabled saint in some religious tomb to be prayed at. She was no Sun Summoner or Sankta Alina, she was a lost girl. She was a lost girl, a scared girl, as he had seen so many before in his life.

The supposed saint sat between her friend and Inej. Inej, who had barely been able to tear her eyes off Alina since they had met her. There was awe and wonder in Inej's eyes, in a way Kaz had never seen before. Even as she was speaking with Jesper, she could hardly look away from Alina.

"The friends we made along the way."

Kaz quirked an eyebrow at that, looking more intensely at Mal and Alina. They truly expected to keep those two, didn't they? No. Lost girl or not, Kaz wasn't in the habit of keep every stray they met. Though, admittedly, he did invest in one of a kind and there was probably nothing more unique than the Sun Summoner herself. It would make Inej happy, that was for sure.

"I'm talking about Milo," clarified Jesper indignantly when Alina looked to be getting a big head.

"Who's Milo?" wanted Mal to know, confusion all over his face.

It was Inej who rolled her eyes, albeit affectionately. "No one you need to concern yourselves with."

That only made Jesper look even more offended. The goat was supposed to serve one purpose; get Jesper through the train ride safely. Instead, he had... grown attached to the animal. Named it. Bonded with it. Kept bringing it up. Kaz Brekker was not a jealous person in nature – he knew what was his and he made sure they were always clear in what that meant. Yet, inexplicably so, he felt jealous of a goat. A ridiculous motion that he most definitely could not allow anyone to know about. What was, perhaps, even more ridiculous was what followed.

"Mister Brekker. Your... special delivery, sir."

Kaz arched an eyebrow and turned toward the voice. "About time. The ship is about to leave."

He put as much displeasure into his words as possible, though he still took the bag of coins from his belt and handed it over to the young woman, in exchange for... a rope. Jesper next to him gasped m a high-pitched manner as he turned and saw what was on the other end of the rope.

"Milo!" Jesper's voice was loud, drawing unwanted attention and earning a pointed glare from Kaz, causing him to immediately drop his voice. "But how—Where-Why? I thought our funds were dwindled, why would you-?"

As he spoke, or rather rambled in broken half-sentences, he picked up the goat, hugging it close and kissing its head. Kaz made a face at that, though subtly so. Though he may not understand why Jesper felt that way about this creature, he knew the goat was making him happy. Otherwise, Jesper would not have kept bringing it up all the time.

"It seemed like a worthy investment," dismissed Kaz shortly.

Inej was hiding a smile and... Mal made a loud sound. "The goat! The goat that helped me escape!"

He lunged forward and started petting the goat too, much to everyone's surprise. "You too? How?"

"There, in that necklace around its neck, was a bullet. I used it to break my chains. To escape. A good boy, aren't you? Such a good boy!" Mal laughed, ruffling the goat's fur.

"His name is Milo and he is the best boy," agreed Jesper eagerly, petting Milo's flank.

"Milo, is it? Pretty boy," Mal was nearly cooing at that. "How do you know him?"

As Jesper launched into a retelling of how they had first crossed the fold, the other three were left simply staring at them. At least Kaz wasn't the only one watching them in mild disturbance. When Kaz turned a little, Alina had taken a seat next to him.

"You two are a very... different couple," whispered Alina curiously.

"I doubt that is any of your business," stated Kaz just a little coldly.

He wasn't one for chitchat either. Though he had to admit, he was mildly impressed that she had picked up on it. Most people who met Kaz and Jesper didn't realize what they were, that they were partners beyond their work. Perhaps there was a potential to Alina, even beyond being a Sun Summoner. She could be useful. Not that he was making any definite decisions, though he had to admit that it would bring Inej joy. And, looking at Jesper and Mal bonding over a goat, all Kaz saw was yet another argument Jesper and Inej would use to try and convince him to keep Mal and Alina.

"This is very thoughtful of you," continued Alina, not minding him, the smallest smile on her lips.

Kaz opted to ignore her. Perhaps then she would go away. Or stop irritating him. She surely seemed to fit in with them, he mused as he looked back toward Jesper, Mal and the goat.

"Oh. Oh, I'll go and find him something to eat," suggested Mal eagerly. "He deserves it."

Jesper handed the rope over to Mal and let the other lead Milo away. Instead, he turned toward Kaz, basically beaming at him. That expression surely was worth the money spent. Kaz swallowed down the smile fighting its way up onto his own lips. No such things, certainly not in public. Instead, he slowly reached out and rested his hand on Jesper's, holding it gently. If possible, the smile on Jesper's lips brightened even more.

~*~ The End ~*~

[other-cullen-ficrecs]

MLM!Cullen Fic Rec List

Inspired by this post. Here is my fic rec list of some of my favorite fics with queer Cullen. Happy Pride :)  🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍🌈

Cullen/Dorian

Only True in Fairy Tales by Dragonflies_and_Katydids

Summary:  In which Dorian is a special forces operative, Bull is his partner, and Cullen is the guy they're sent to rescue. Hijinks ensue. // Words: 110150

Modern AU. Dragonflies_and_Katydids makes me read the weirdest stuff. But their work is always captivating. The more ridiculous set up the better outcome, I promise. This one is both ridiculous and absolutely perfect. And somehow one of the very few modern au fics in which Cullen's lyrium addiction is well transfered without making it literal.

Fashionably Late by tsurai

For the tumblr prompt: Cullen/Dorian Soulmates AU? <3 "Maker’s breath, this is absolutely the worst timing, he thinks distantly." // Words: 1038

This is but a tiny thing but I'm a sucker for a soulmate AU. Would I love it more if it was 150,000 words? Yes. But I'm just greedy.

COLD HANDS, WARM HEART by spicyshimmy, stonelions

Summary: Cullen and Dorian's friendship deepens. Cullen is a romantic. Dorian is literally cold. Cullen is no longer certain what he would consider surprising. Mages and Templars working in perfect cooperation, perhaps. Evil and corruption disappearing into the ground along with the blight, blood magic falling so far out of favor it ceased to be. A united Thedas: that would be a surprise. // Words: 25369

I think this is most recced Cullrian fic and for a good reason. Slow burn, drama, all the delights. 

Light In This Darken'd Time Breaks by RamonaDecember

Summary: Cullen wouldn't say he hates mages, not anymore, but he can't see himself ever trusting one again. Dorian is no exception. The mage is off-color, self-important, and all together too much for Cullen to deal with. So why is it that every time Cullen is at his lowest, Dorian seems to be the only person by his side? // Words: 121289

Slow burn with 121289 words, what more do you want?

Cullen/Bull

Jump In by Dragonflies_and_Katydids

Summary: In which Cullen is almost terminally awkward, Bull and Dorian are literally brothers (because why not?), and Bull tries really hard to be good. Or: In which Dorian tries to set up his brother and his roommate, if he can avoid killing them for being so clueless. (You might get cavities from reading it. Don't say I didn't warn you.) // Words: 33700

What did I say about Dragonflies_and_Katydids and ridiculous premises? But if you're as delighted with awkward Cullen as am I - enjoy.

Dragons from Stars in an Empty Sky by Midna_Ronoa

Summary: The one in which Bull takes Cullen dragon-hunting. // Words: 10423

Fluff and smut and dragons!

Stuck on the Puzzle by thespectaclesofthor

Summary: Once, back in Kirkwall, Cullen had an arrangement with a member of the city guard that satisfied his needs. But time changed all things, and he despaired of ever finding a similar arrangement again - that was, until he met The Iron Bull. Problem being that Bull seemed to care far more about sorting out the nitty-gritty of such an arrangement than Cullen ever has. // Words: 235586

No fic rec lists that can involve Bullen canot do without Stuck on the Puzzle. If you haven't read it - please give it a try. As far as I'm concerned - the best fic in the fandom. And definately one of the best fics in general. <3

Cullen/Dorian/Bull

Exit Light by Dragonflies_and_Katydids

Summary: In which Cullen is suicidally depressed, Dorian is a high-functioning alcoholic, and Bull just wants them both to be happy, except when he wants to crack their heads together for being emotionally stunted idiots. // Words: 77427

This premise is actually very close to canon, compared to some other stories by the same author recced here. The angst? Delightful. The smut? Delicious. The exploration of issues? Delectable! Cheff kisses all around.

to burn cool and collected by toomanyhometowns

Summary: Dorian hums. "Here is the function of the spell: Upon invocationne, ye caster's spyryt shal sterte to ye form of whomsoever mofte recently achieved releafe by hys hande." He taps the page in punctuation and looks back up. "And then there's a lot of text about the vast joys we may experience together, et cetera, et cetera." // Words: 16121

Ok, this list shows more than anything that my main delight is issues and angst wrapped in with porn. Anyway - cracky premise (body swap!), and angsty, sexy outcome.

Hold by queeniegalore

Summary: Everyone knows Cullen doesn't trust magic. But he trusts Dorian and Bull, so maybe they can make this work. // Words: 6654

Issues? Trauma? Kink? I'm a one trick pony when it comes to recs.

Cullen/Cole

Okay now that we’ve gotten the obvious out, let’s enjoy the trully unexpected enjoyment.

Into The Light (Cole/Cullen Ficlets) by Sinister_Kid

Summary: A series of what I hope are tasteful Cole/Cullen fics that don't exploit or overly sexualize Cole's developing character. Based on a prompt I filled out of boredom in which I imagined the spirit actually hearing someone's pain like a physical noise in his ears that caused discomfort. Explores the option of making Cole more human, with my own original take on how that affects him as a character, and depicts Cole developing romantic feelings for the Commander as he discovers what it means to be human. // Words: 20454

I admit I don't often read Cole shippy fics but this one stays true to the info in the summary and it is careful and tasteful. Also Cullen learning to speak with Cole properly - <333

Cullen/Varric

Verse & Volley Triptych by boycoffin

Summary: POSSIBLE TITLES: This Shit Was Even Weirder: A Surprisingly Not-Doomed Romance In The Shadow of the Apocalypse The Commander and the Rogue already taken, Antivan maritime smut with an elf girl in it How The Hell I Ended Up With That Guy: A Tale for The People Who Keep Asking Me About It In Bars The Short and Curlies that's just terrible Love Among the tropey garbage A Tale of Two Names pretentious and unclear The Penman's Paramour Memoirs of a Moron (That He's Going to Regret Publishing and Will Never Hear The End Of for As Long As He Lives) // Words: 133354

One of the very few fics in which I can not only accept but love 1st person POV. Crack. Slow-burn. Pennames. Lovable OCs. DELICIOUS. Also a fic that made me start this blog, so love all around.

Cullen/Krem

Last but not least, my delightful fave (maybe, possibly, probably) and involving a shameless self-plug because it’s the month of pride.

Swordplay by orphan_account

Summary: The Bull's Chargers are undisciplined, untested, and unprofessional; but Cullen can't stop thinking about their lieutenant. // Words: 3910

I have a soft spot for whoever Krem being shipped with not knowing he's trans at first. But also oblivious, pining Cullen <3

If you have been starving, a creature of bone by missivesfromghosts

Summary: Cullen is content with where he is. He has a life and a purpose. He’s doing the Maker’s work and he’s cut the Chantry’s leash on him. He barely thinks about the fact that he’s trans anymore. The last person who knew he was born anything different, barring his sister Mia, died during the Blight. This works for him. That is, until he starts falling for Krem. // Words: 769

A tiny thing but I have a soft spot for the idea. Also what's better than a ship with trans character? A ship with two trans characters. Keep that in mind for further recs actually.

Sweet, Merciful Andraste by Tainaron

Summary: PWP. Honestly, Cullen should invest in walls and a ceiling that don't have holes if he's going to keep having such loud sex. Pure, unapologetic smut between trans men who love each other. // Words: 4187

¯\_(ツ)_/¯  What more do you want from me? Sometimes porn is just porn. Enjoy.

Champions of the Just by Tainaron

Summary: En route to Griffin Wing Keep before the battle of Adamant, Cullen falls prey to an injury that reveals a shameful secret about his trauma with magic. As Cullen struggles with his past, his duty to the Inquisition, and his love life, he becomes increasingly uncertain if he’s the target of an assassination attempt or just his own personal demons. // Words: 67885

Well, I also have some plottier and angstier fics in my rec disposal. This one actually explores the problems Krem and Cullen could encounter in their relationship and all within the canon plot line. Plus bonus points of Cullen actually interacting with other Chargers.

cabbage: a love story by psikeval

Summary: Krem’s grin fades into a quiet smirk, his eyes warm and amused, and Cullen does not forget how to move his legs because he is a grown man, a leader of soldiers, commander of the Inquisition’s army. He breaks the silence by coughing loudly, because he is also an imbecile. // Words: 18932

Creme de la creme of Krem/Cullen fics <3 Fluff, crack, porn <3 This delightful series has it all! 

[iliveiloveiwrite]

Notice Me

Request: Hey Millie :D As I said before, I am subtly crawling my way into your inbox for the first time. After carefully combing through everyone's masterlist, I realised none of you lot had my baby Oliver Wood. So, here I go. Can I please request an Oliver x Reader fic, a bit maybe angsty, but happy ending where the reader is hot tempered and likes Oliver, but he is too invested in quidditch to realise her feelings? Thank you, hun ^^ - @heloisedaphnebrightmore

A/N: My first Oliver fic and it’s for the Queen of his fics! I’m only a tad nervous!!! Thank you so much for trusting me with this request, I have loved writing it even if I am uncertain about his characterisation. ALSO I have shamelessly stolen a nickname from Outlander as a way to fuel my crush on this particular scot. As always, I hope you enjoy!

Pairing: Oliver Wood x Fem!Reader

Warnings: swearing, angst, panic BUT FLUFF AND OLIVER BEING A CUTIE

Word count: 2.3k

The ticking of the clock insisted on taunting you by getting slower and slower as the lesson progressed. Your knee began to bounce as you counted down the minutes until the bell rang and you could leave the classroom.

You throw your things into your bag as you rush out of the classroom; all the time hoping he would be waiting.

“Sassenach,” A thick Scottish accent calls out, “Where do you think you’re going?”

You grin at the familiar sight of Oliver Wood waiting for you outside the classroom; leaning up against the wall, hands in his pockets with the sleeves of his uniform rolled up. You approach him; his hand outstretched for your bag which he shoulders when you hand it to him.

“You know,” You start, “You’re going to get in trouble for calling me that.”

He smirks at you, “I don’t think I will, I’m too loved for that to happen.”

You nudge his side with your elbow, “I don’t believe that for a minute, Wood.”

Oliver throws an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his side, “Hush you, let’s go get some lunch, I’m starving.”

You laugh, “When aren’t you?”

“I’ll have you know; I’ve got to be big and strong as Captain of the Quidditch team.”

You snort, reaching to his other side and squeezing his bicep, “Sure you are, Ol. You’re big and strong.”

“You wound me, woman.”

“Take me to lunch, Wood,” You giggle.

Oliver pulls away from you, bowing down to you, “As you wish, my lady.”

You shove him to the side, but he comes back to you, his arm landing back on your shoulder, “You’re a shit, Oliver.”

“But you love me.”

-------------------

Falling for Oliver Wood happened fast. It happened fast and it left a mark.

It happened between one blink and the next, you’re sure of it.

Thinking back to it, it had to happened when he smiled at you one morning in the Great Hall through Sixth Year. His smile lit up his entire face; bringing out the innate kindness that radiates from within his very core. His brown eyes sparkled and between one drink of orange juice and the next, you had realised you’d fallen in love with your best friend.

Simultaneously, everything made sense and your heart stuttered with the fact, but your stomach dropped, and your mind went into overdrive.

Did he already know?

Was he just pitying you?

How would he react if he found out?

Does he feel the same?

You worked through each question internally; barely finding enough to answer one of the questions suitably.

So you let yourself sit with your feelings, wondering whether they were just a temporary crush.

A year later, they hadn’t disappeared, and it was no longer a crush.

--------------

You loved Oliver Wood for a lot of reasons; he was kind, he was charming, he was attractive, and he was passionate.

Especially about Quidditch.

But it seemed that he only had eyes for Quidditch, and whilst you love his passion for the sport – making sure you attend every match and helping him plan strategies, you just wish he would notice you a bit more.

For the last month, conversation only seemed to revolve around Quidditch and its strategy and its history.

And as much as you love the brunette, there was only so many times you could be brushed over before deciding enough was enough.

----------

It came to ahead on a Saturday evening. For the fourth evening in a row, Oliver was ranting about Quidditch strategy and whilst you appreciated the passion he has for the sport – it being one of the things you love about him – you wish you could have a conversation about something else.

“Oliver?”

He hums in answer; still extremely focused on the piece of paper in front of him.

“I need to talk to you.”

He hums again, eyes still on the paper.

You clench your hands into fists, willing yourself not to ball up the paper and throw it into his face. You clench your teeth, “Yeah, I was thinking about asking out Marcus Flint from the Slytherin team.”

It was a petty attempt at jealousy. It was a petty attempt at getting a rise out of him.

It was a desperate attempt to get his attention.

“Oh?” is all he replies, crossing something out on the page, writing a name above it.

It’s then that you realise, Oliver probably isn’t going to ever see you as something more. He’d only ever see you as someone to discuss Quidditch strategy with.

The realisation feels like a blow to the face, and you rock back in your chair from the force of it. You look at Oliver, but he hasn’t noticed a thing. Why would he? He’s bent over the strategy for next week’s match; figuring out the team’s weak points and thinking of solutions.

You blink fast; the sadness coursing through your body and bringing tears to your eyes. It felt as if your heart had been ripped out and smashed to pieces on the very floor of the common room for the entire house to lay witness to.

Yet for them, nothing has changed – they continue to talk, to study, to laugh.

For you, everything’s changed.

And the room is becoming too warm and the walls are becoming too close. It’s all too much, and you need to leave.

You need to get out now.

Clearing your throat, you whisper, “I’m going to bed, I’ll see you at some point tomorrow.”

Oliver waves still bent over the plan for next week. He didn’t notice the way your voice breaks, or how vague you were when saying goodnight.

Rising from your seat, you fight back the gathering tears until you’re in your room.

There, you let them fall in heart-wrenching, chest crushing sobs. Mechanically, you take off your robes and replace them with your pyjamas. Your blind to it all; the tears falling too thick and too fast for you to see clearly.

With your wand in your hand, you brokenly whisper a charm to close the curtains surrounding your four-poster bed, desperate for the privacy in which you could let yourself fall into your pit of despair and hopelessness.

You feel ridiculous for having fallen for someone who’s first love would always be a sport. You hide your face in your pillow; letting the cotton of your pillow case muffle the sobs that will not stop falling from your mouth.

--------

The morning brings sore eyes and sad looks from your dorm mates who had heard your muffled sobs and put two and two together pretty quicky. You smile at them, softly apologising, before taking your things to the bathroom to clean yourself up.

There you get a look at the damage. Your eyes already seem duller; the colour dimmed from the agony of your realisation.

Enough, you berate yourself. You have shed your tears, and now it was time to figure out the next move. As you’re brushing your teeth, you think over your options.

You could talk to Oliver but the idea of potentially ruining your friendship has you backtracking.

Running a brush through you hair, you have another idea. You could simply work to get over Oliver whilst maintaining the friendship. You had been friends for over a year before you started having feelings for the Scot; surely you could return to friendship, right?

---------------

Breakfast feels stilted and awkward on your end; you pick at your food; your appetite having disappeared overnight.

Oliver watches you with a funny expression on his face. His eyes flicker between your face and the full plate of food in front of you, “Sassenach, are you alright?”

You want to cry at the use of your nickname, “I’m okay, Oliver. Just not feeling very well.”

He reaches across the table and presses the back of his hand to your forehead; feeling for a fever or anything to explain this change, “You feel fine…” he trails off, eyebrows furrowed.

You bat his hand away with a short laugh; your temper attached to a short fuse with how little sleep you got on account of crying late into the night, “Oh hush Oliver, you are a worrywart! I’ll be fine when I get to class.”

Oliver frowns at your outburst and at the way you bat his hand away from your forehead. He doesn’t get to air his concerns though; you grab your bag, taking a sip of the orange juice, “I’ll see you later on.”

For a long time after you leave, Oliver stares at the doors of the Great Hall wondering when exactly he had started to lose you.

-------

The week passes slowly; like trudging through the deepest mud.

Every time your mind slipped into a daydream with him featuring at the main character, you brought your focus back to the lesson and your work. If this carries on, I’ll have the highest grades in the year, you thought to yourself sarcastically.

You pull away gradually; protecting your heart from the inevitable heart break should Oliver ever find out about your feelings.

He makes it hard though; he continues to meet you outside classrooms and will always carry your bag whether the load was light or heavy – he always insisted. He carries on with the little touches and grabbing your hand at random parts of the day to pull your attention to something he’s noticed, and he always, always talks to you about Quidditch.

And all you want to do is scream at the teenager for making it so damn hard to fall out of love with him. For making it so hard to stop the racing of your heart or the daydreams from your mind. For making it so hard to stop the butterflies that erupted with each lopsided smile and his pronunciation of your nickname.

But you don’t; you remain silent, wondering if he’ll ever notice the shattered remains of your heart caged in your chest.

-----------

The day felt like it was going to be uneventful; if this what getting over Oliver felt like then you were tempted to ask for a refund.

Your lessons pass slowly; the Professor’s making it their aim to drag out the teaching material until the very last moment before NEWTs.

When the ball finally rings signalling lunch, you place your things in your bag mechanically, swinging it onto your shoulder as you leave the classroom.

You sigh as you notice there’s no sign of Oliver waiting for you. You blink back the sudden onset of tears; this was your call, you berate yourself.

You don’t see who grabs you until your pulled into an empty classroom.

You glare at the familiar brown eyes of Oliver Wood, “Oliver!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” You state, head held high, eyes never leaving his.

“Bullshit,” He shouts, “You’re pulling away from me and I don’t know why.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious. I miss you. What’s happened for you to pull away like this?” He asks, his voice breaking a little.

Hearing that break in his voice, you want to take him into your arms and apologise for letting him think the worst.

But your head overrules your heart.

“For Merlin’s sake, Oliver! How could you be so blind?” You cry out.

“Blind? To what?”

You take a deep breath, steeling yourself for your next few words, “Oliver, I like you. As in more than a friend.”

His eyes widen as he takes you in with entirely new eyes.

The silence is deafening; it’s pressing down on you like a heavy stone. The weight of it making it somewhat hard to breathe. The longer he’s silent; the worse it gets for you.

“If you’re going to reject me, you better get on with it,” You snap; dread settling in your gut like a lead balloon making your short temper, shorter.

Oliver seems to shake himself out of his trance at your words, “Why would I ever do that?”

You throw your arms wide, your bag falling to the floor, “I don’t know… because you don’t feel the same?”

“But I don’t… I feel the same.”

Your arms drop to your sides, “What?”

Oliver nods, “I feel the same.” At your bewildered expression, he continues, “I thought you knew.”

“Oliver, you don’t notice anything unless it starts with the letter Q and ends in H.”

He frowns, “That’s not true!”

“Oh? Prove me wrong then, Wood.”

He grins at the challenge, “I noticed you. I haven’t noticed anything but you since we became friends. Merlin, (Y/N), I’ve been in love with you since Sixth Year when you told me to get myself together after we lost a match against Hufflepuff.”

His accent gets thicker the more he talks; he’s getting worked up and the brogue becomes something else.

“Since Sixth Year?” You interject, a small smile breaking out across your face.

Oliver nods, blush painting his cheeks.

You sigh out a breath of relief, “Thank Merlin, I’ve liked you since then too.”

“Then why were you pulling away?” He asks in a hurt tone.

You drop your eyes, “It was my way of trying to get over you.”

“Get over me?”

“It didn’t work!” You rush out at his hurt look, “I don’t think there’s any getting over you.”

Something resembling relief falls over his face, and your heart flutters at the sight of it.

Oliver takes your hand in his, tangling the fingers together. A simple action but one that held so much promise.

He takes a step closer to you; his other arm circling your waist.

You decide he’s taking too much time.

You drop his hand to wrap both arms around his neck pulling him down for the kiss you’ve both hungered for, for so long. He laughs in surprise, but his arms quickly circle around you, his lips responding to your hungrily.

“So you’ve always noticed me huh?” You ask when you finally pull away, a teasing lilt to your voice.

“Sassenach, how could I not?” is all he replies before kissing you once more.

*******

General (HP) taglist: @chaotic-fae-queen @obsessedwithrandomthings @harrypotter289 @dreamer821 @kalimagik @heloisedaphnebrightmore @nebulablakemurphy @the-hufflefluffwriter @figlia--della--luna @bforbroadway @idont-knowrn @summer-writes @big-galaxy-chaos @black-lake-confessions​ @annasofiaearlobe​ @imboredandneedalife​ @levylovegood​ @mytreec​

[charmspoint]

THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT ABT THE BSD MANGA ILY THANK YOU I FEEL LIKE MY OPINION IS FINALLY VALIDATED WHICH IS: BSD has turned meh. I have become indifferent towards the plot due to the fact there are no real stakes - I feel like the OP characters like Dazai will always have a solution with a deus ex machina feel to it, making it impossible for me to care. With the recent chaos happening in the manga (I too gave up on the manga a year or so ago!), I was baffled to find out I could no longer enjoy it. My memory is poor, and I can't really pinpoint it at the moment, but BSD just... doesn't engage me as it used to. Keep in mind I was an obsessive fan of it and analyzed it to the tiniest details, but all of my great love for the series has long died, sadly. But! I am glad to hear you feel similarly about it because, yes, the potential was there, but it got terribly wasted.

Bruh don't I feel it, me and @autumn-foxfire have like monthly bitch sessions about the state of bsd at this point. I was also super invested in it in initial arcs (Up until the guild arc ended) and then slowly started petering off only to drop it the first time around the hunting dogs introduction. Then after some time i was like okay ill go give it a second shot, came to the vampire arc went 'wow this is really fuckin stupid' and dropped it again. Idk will I pick it up again, maybe I'll just stick to being an anime only, even tho I also have problems with some adaptation things but that's BESIDES THE POINT.

Please click under for The Point

The thing about Kafka is: He's really good at coming up with interesting concepts and ideas and REALLY BAD at executing them in any sort of satisfying way. Like, when I say I only like bsd until the end of the guild arc, I don't mean it was perfect. It could have handled it's female cast better, it would have been fun to see more mafia and agency team ups besides soukoku and shin soukoku, I still don't get why shin soukoku is supposed to be a replacement in training since Dazai and Chuuya still work together perfectly and even if they hate each other they hate each other less than Akutagawa and Atsushi AND have way more experience fighting together but that once again is besides the point. The point being those arcs of bsd were SATISFYING. We got introduced to two organizations, seen them butt heads and then have them forced to work together against a common enemy. It's very simple but it's effective and it's satisfying.

And then the rats struck.

While up until then bsd wasn't perfect it was fun and had lovable characters and an interesting plot and engaging dynamics. Rats arc wasn't horrible per say, the idea of the cannibalization was really fun (Though I think Kafka should have used it to get rid of Mori, nobody fuckin likes Mori) but this is where we slowly get introduced to what I think are two main failings of Kafka's writing: That he's unable to handle characters properly and that he likes writing smart things but doesn't know how to write smart things.

Kafka has a very, very bad habit of INTRODUCING TOO MANY FUCKING CHARCTERS. Every arc is a new massive group with like a bunch of members, one of who may actually end up being fleshed out before they are inventiblely replaced by another large group or maybe two why the fuck not. The mafia and the guild left lasting impressions on me and I can still name all the main members but fuck me if i know a single rat aside from Fyodor (AND ILL GET TO FYODOR). Kafka feels like someone who's idea of rising conflict is 'introduce a bigger enemy each time' and it's just so annoying. Chapters and arcs end up centering around these groups of new characters while old characters, who we loved the manga for, just fall into obscurity. He almost had me in the hunting dogs arc by giving Yosano a backstory. I was so excited! I was like!!! finally development for the agency!!! But that barely went anywhere did it. I've talked about this with Foxy but it really feels like Kafka is just BORED of the og characters and is trying to silently sideline them for his new shiny characters. When's the last time we saw Chuuya again, you know, the ex partner of one of the series protagonists? The next predicted mafia head? Is he important? Foxy tells me Dazai's been sidelined too, fUCKIN DAZAI, for a good while I was sure Kafka liked Dazai a lot better than Atsuhi for protagonist and now he's getting sidelined. I know bsd is still really popular in japan but at this point i think it would have been more merciful for Kafka to just end bsd and start a new manga with new characters instead of doing whatever weird metamorphosis this is turning out to be.

Introducing new characters isn't a bad thing of course, but bsd has become mcdonalds of new characters. They are cheap and disposable. I can't feel anything for them because I know nine times out of ten they'll barely make any impact and they'll disappear as soon as the new group slides in. When adding new characters you should do so while knowing what role those characters will play in your plot, what will they bring. If a character is just there to waffle around until they get shoved away they should probably be cut because they are wasting time and space. AND YOU SHOULDN'T SIDE LINE YOUR CORE CAST FOR UR SHINY NEW CHARACTERS YOU'LL GET BORED OF IN COUPLE OF ARCS ANYWAY, ARE YOU A TODDLER???

I still think that bsd could have been SO much better if instead of focusing on the next big evil group they just focused on shifting tension between the agency and the mafia. I mean they've had to team up for the guild and then they immediately got thrown into the cannibalization. It would have been interesting to see them pull against and pull towards those ties made during the guild arc when they are forcefully pitted against each other again (and decide that killing mori would be in everyone's best interest). Instead we got, idk I already forgot what the rats arc ended up being about, atsushi and aku team up again yadda yadda yadda, Chuuya gets done dirty and never recovers, Fyodor ruins Dazai

SO ABOUT FYODOR. As I said, Kafka strikes me as someone who REALLY likes to write geniuses and who wants people to think he's super smart but also has no idea how to show his work. At first this was okay. We had Dazai and Ranpo who were very good at pushing the plot along and sometimes you'd get explained how they got to that conclusion and sometimes you didn't but it usually wasn't a big deal. But then the writing became more and more and more of 'well he's smart so he figured it out so just trust me' without actually explaining anything and as you said, it ended up feeling boring, unengaging and very deus ex machina. You know what Kafka's writing reminds me off? That video about how Sherlock is so happy to stroke itself to how smart they look while never showing their work, you know the one. Kafka likes writing smart characters but doesn't actually know how to write smart characters so instead of giving us reasons and clues and explanations to how they come to some conclusion, how they predicted or planned or whatever, he just goes 'oh well they are super smart so they figured it out'. I don't think I need to explained why this is bad, annoying and unengaging writing. This is why i say Fyodor ruined Dazai for me, Dazai was fine as a genius but then they had to pit him against Fyodor who's another genius and things just got ridiculous. You know how in that sherlock video the guy points out the one scene that encapsulates every irritating thing about sherlocks writing. This had been it for me and BSD (thank you Foxy for helping me find the panels)

THATS NOT HOW CODES WORK, THATS NOT HOW ANYTHING WORKS, THEY WOULD JUST BE COMING UP WITH TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF CODES HERE. Even if they were both smart enough to remember every conversation in detail, how on earth are they supposed to 'guess out' what the other means. How are they supposed to confirm or deny that's what a certain word means in a way that can be understood, how can they even guess what the word the other guessed is IF THEY ARE BOTH TALKING IN CODE. KAFKA'S ANSWER: THEY'RE MONSTERS, THEY ARE JUST THAT SMART, NO NEED TO EXPLAIN IT BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST THAT SMART AND THAT'S YOUR SOLUTION AND THAT'S BULLSHIT. This scene broke bsd in half for me and honestly made me dislike Dazai for a long time (I got better), but it honestly shows so well how Kafka wanted to make his characters so smart he actually made his manga really fuckin stupid, ruining very good and interesting concept he had started with.

In the end, Kafka writes how I wrote when I was 15. With no idea where the plot is headed, adding new characters and situations whenever it strikes his fancy whether they work for the story or not, ending up just flopping around plot holes and fizzled out character arcs and boring ass writing. And that's fine for a 15yr old writing fanfiction. It's not fine for a presumably grown ass published author of a relatively popular manga.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[katiecomma]

Tell me the fandom deets on Macgyver, pretty please?

the first character i ever fell in love with: Jack Dalton - 100% - From the moment I first met him I was like: sassy ex Delta Force who loves everyone too much? MINE!

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not: Unpopular answer: Mac honestly. I love Mac. I love him a lot. I understand that he’s been through some shit. But some of his motivations in the last few seasons (fair warning: I’m not totally caught up on the show - this is one of the main reasons why I stopped watching) haven’t made a lot of sense to me. And the stuff with Nasha really made me mad... And I think if they would have given us the voice overs in S3 we would have been able to see more of his motivation and gotten into his head why he was doing/saying some of the things he was doing it would have helped. And from what I’ve seen... I don’t like who he is in a relationship with Desi (I don’t hate MacDesi, but I hate what they’ve done with it in the show from what I’ve seen)... so I just... I don’t know I feel like he’s not the same character from S1-2... and that’s my Mac honestly.

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not: I actually think I still love all of my ships from this show... there’s no ship that I don’t like anymore... Huh. But I don’t tend to give up on ships... I don’t know if I’ve ever changed my opinion drastically on a ship in a fandom like that ever.

my ultimate favourite character™: Jack Dalton again... I love him too much. He’s got the greatest lines... he’s charming and witty and loves all of his little found family so much it hurts.

prettiest character: I honestly have to say I think this is a tie between Riley and Mac. I have a bigger crush on Riley... but GAH they’re both so pretty. Like... ridiculously pretty.

my most hated character: James. He’s the worst. I even wrote an entire fic on the premise of Jack getting to punch him in the face. There was some other plot... but I honestly engineered the whole plot and everything around Jack getting to punch James in the face at the end. Worth it.

my OTP: MacDalton - I’m on this ship until it hits an iceberg and sinks. I love them so much. You go kaboom, I go kaboom?! Epic ship material. Coming back for another FUCKING TOUR IN AFGHANISTAN FOR MAC?! Epic ship material.

my NOTP: MacDesi (SORRY! This is not invalidating this ship for ANYONE ELSE - this is a personal opinion and I support you shipping them 100%) - again, fair warning that I’m not caught up on the series... but from everything I’ve seen... Desi is a very abusive SO. I think they had potential, but I really don’t like what they’ve done with it on the show. As for shipping outside of canon... I personally never saw the romantic connection based on their interactions before they got together. Very-Desi centric... the pink dress scene drove me crazy because I didn’t like the idea of Desi trying to win Mac over by doing something like that. Up to that point Desi struck me as the kind of woman to be herself and just wait for a man to make a move on her, or to just be bold and make a move on him. But strutting around in a revealing little dress and playing mating games - I was sad they took her character to that place... so I never really shipped them.

favourite episode: Mac + Jack (S2E12) - as a MacDalton shipped I love this for obvious reasons... but there’s just so much in this episode... I loved seeing Jack and Mac in the army... the way they first met and totally hated each other at first... fantastic. This episode also has my favourite line of all time... when Mac’s trying to defuse the bomb under the hummer... and Jack’s bothering him... Mac: Well, you know what, there is a quicker way to do this. Jack: Really? Mac: Yeah, it involves a loud boom and a bunch of shrapnel in your body. Close second place: Skull + Electromagnet (S2E5) - Harper Hayes is so awesome and badass. I love her a lot.

saddest death: Jill Morgan. I loved her so much. I remember sitting down to watch the S3 premiere and saying: As long as they don’t kill Jill, they really can’t let me down...

favourite season: 2 - I loved Cage. I loved all the dynamics. My favourite episodes are in this season. It’s solid from start to finish. I love this whole season.

least favourite season: I will say 3... because I didn’t watch enough of S4 to name it. But S3 really let me down. I hated the way things just faded away with Nasha. I wish they’d had a better end to that. I hated that we lost the voice overs, especially because some of the stuff Mac was doing and saying was obviously because he was messed up over what happened with Jill and Murdoc and all that, and if we’d had voice overs we could have understood what he was feeling. The same way we did in S1 when all the stuff with Nikki was going on. Jack left. Gross. And he left Mac behind with just that handshake. Before Jack left I hated the way he was treated - they made him into the comedic relief buffoon... and there were several episodes where Mac was making Jack the butt of jokes. Desi showed up and it was pretty obvious when she came on the scene that they were introducing her as a new love interest for Mac. I have 0 tolerance for female characters being introduced solely as a love interest - cause: gross. I hated the Riley/Billy breakup. I hated that they killed Jill.  I hated that Charlie died the way he did, and then that night when they got together for beers Mac was smiling and hitting on Desi And let’s not forget that DESI got a phone call from Jack when Charlie died... but Mac didn’t. WHY?! You really think Jack would find out that Charlie died the way he did and not immediately call his boy!? Bullshit Sorry for the rant... but there were a lot of things in this season I didn’t care for.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate: I guess Desi... though I wouldn’t say everyone else loves her. I just... there was so much potential with Desi as a character. Strong asian-American woman who’s the badass strong arm of their team... and they made her a love interest and made her kind of an abusive SO... and I just didn’t care for that. I think her and Mac as characters were both treated badly as a result. In conclusion: I really wanted to like her... I even have a huge crush on her... but I still just... don’t.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave: I guess Murdoc?... Cause I love Murdoc a lot. And I was sad that they ruined the dynamic between him and Mac when he killed Jill. Killing Jill made it so their dynamic can never be the same. Mac didn’t like Murdoc before, but now he hates him on a personal level and will never forgive him.

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave: Riley - she deserved for Ellwood to stick around. She deserved for Jack to stick around. She deserved for Billy to STICK AROUND. And she deserves to have Mac treat her his found sister and not try to get into her pants the way he seems to every other woman he’s EVER around. (AGAIN: I am not in any way saying MacRiley isn’t a valid ship. I can see the potential - ship to your heart’s content). All this talk of love triangles upsets me... I think they’ve waited too long to pull the trigger on MacRiley... because they’ve always very much had sibling vibes to me.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship: I had originally written that I didn’t have one, but I TOTALLY DO!!! Jack/Harper Hayes!!! I have this series of fics where she’s basically his Murdoc and is totally stalking him and stuff... and I just... everything I’ve written around their sexual tension is very non-con... but I love them a lot and I DON’T KNOW WHY.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship: Mac/Jill - I kinda love them. I love the idea of them being nerds together. I think they would be adorable. Jill is into the spy life but not a field agent so there wouldn’t be as much stress for Mac about losing his girl to the life... etc... So I love them. I think they could have been happy together. And seeing Mac have a happy little home with someone he can still talk about spy stuff with I think would have been great. And yet as much as I love them I just still sit back and dream about it, but I haven’t written much for them. Thank you for the ASK!!! I love doing these!

[prettylittlebrownskingyal]

Anime recs (some of my personal faves, not the public opinion, obviously):

About sports:

-Haikyuu (I am caught all the way up to season 4 and I have never been more passionate about volleyball in my life, not even when I played it)

-Run the Wind (it's about running but also...friendship? and motivation to follow your dreams?? I mostly just recall relating to some of the lazier characters and sensing the brotherhood vibes. It feels slow at first, but if you get invested you realize that you've binged the whole thing.)

-Free! & Free! Eternal Summer (you wanna get emotional attached to a bunch of teenage swimmers? I don't know why all these sports animes are about guy groups, but here's one about some divas -I mean swimmers. Quite the lil quaint group of nuggets, I gotta tell ya.)

About magic/supernatural

-Sailor Moon (need I say more? She's our queen and we are never too old to watch her steadily turn from crybaby to warrior of the people. If you know, you know. FIGHTING EVEIL BY MOONLIGHT-!!)

-Avatar: the Last Airbender (technically counts as an anime. Holds my entire childhood, every personality trait I have...for sure came from characters in this show. Iconic. Never loses its charms. Lots of magical realism that is centered on the natural elements of the planet, some spiritualism too. Appa is reason enough to watch this show.)

-Legend of Korra (technically a sequel storyline to Avatar: the Last Airbender, but...it's SO DIFFE R E NT. I was at first put off by my lack of OG characters, but there are so many references embedded in there, and you get to meet everybody's kids and grandkids. Also Korra? The embodiment of female pride and power, nothing will forsake her for long. Kinda STRESSFUL how many obstacles the writers create in a single season...let alone 4.)

-Inuyasha (on oldie but a goodie. Technically the first anime I ever saw...*sigh* ah youth...Anyway, it'sset in feudal Japan, but there's time travel so you won't feel too out of place. There are of course demons and magical priestesses and demon hunters and cranky, frankly exhausted, old women. Has a quality plot line and great characters. There is a new sequel show airing about the future of the characters and their bloodlines, I've only seen an episode or two but the nostalgia alone made me want to weep.)

-Fairy Tail (a CLASSIC. It has magic and dragons and FAERIES and found family and is so loveably chaotic, also: hype af fight scenes)

-Soul Eater (another chaotic group of teens that fight impossible battles, the intro music always hits hard for nO rEASON, a little more blood and angst but not like not enough to cancel out the immense joy/annoyance that is Excalibur)

-Noragami (a new take on the concept of how gods are created, sad boi hours have started, wholesome main characters, the graphics are beautiful, some of the monsters can be a tad creepy - but I'm a wimp so it could just be me)

-Bungou Stray Dogs (I HAVE ADOPTED ATSUSHI. HE IS MY SON NOW, THANK YOU FOR COMING. The art style is one I enjoy, very crisp lines and a good variation in character designs. The protagonist is named Atsushi and he is a golden child who must be protected yet allowed to flourish at all times. There is detective work, some great fights, lots of random character flaws, OH and honey the story line is TWISTY!!)

-My Hero Academia/Boko no Hero Academia (this is the show where my broccoli son goes THROUGH IT literally the WHOLE TIME. A great story of the underdog, and the variety of characters and powers are...*chef's kiss*, makes me want to lowkey live in this universe but the amount of villians... gurl it'stoo much for my weak heart smh)

- Cannon Busters (okay, so I know people have mixed opinions on this one. Lemme say this: the intro and outro SLAP, point blank periodtt. The characters are diverse in color and abilities, it's like wild west meets technofuture meets medieval magic war times. The plotline is very all over the place, but hey it's the journey right. If you don't love SAM and Casey by the end of episode 1 you're doing it wrong.)

-BNA: Brand New Animal (the art style is so freaking cool yet cute we luv to see it. The world building is pretty good, basically it'slike Zootopia, but there are way more issues with this island o animals that have a human form half the time. Our main character is determined and just a tad naive, there is a wolf man with a pet crow and we're all okay with that)

-Sirius the Jaegar (straight up, I have no idea how my sister and I binged the whole show in like 2 days, but we did. Great fight scenes, the is blood but... that's because there are vampire-esque creatures also. The main character's childhood got done dirty, but go off on your origin story I guess.)

About slice of life:

- My Little Monster/Tonari no Kaibustu-kun (a wholesome high school romance with oddballs left and right, but you just wanna root for 'em y'know? A good wind down show. There's a chicken in it.)

- (Kaichou wa) Maid-Sama (an unconventional and lowkey erratic main heroine, the love interest seems weird but you'll adore him by the end, just simple high school shenanigans with ridiculously dramatic conflicts)

Phew, that was kinda long 😓 but those are just some animes that I have watched thoroughly off the top off my head to give you a good variety of options. Let me know if you already have seem any of these. Hope this helps you fight off boredom and repetition. Please tell me your faves, I love hearing about new shows!! 🤩 (And btw, my sleep patterns wrecked, I've been going to sleep at like 3AM 😅 Hahaha, send help.)

love love LOVE THIS!! Thank you for sharing babe ❤️❤️❤️ i actually haven’t watched that much anime so i’m glad to get a rundown on some good recs!

also!! i feel u!! team no sleep ftw

[stardustexplorer102]

Okay real talk. I've just watched the latest Legacies episode and I am incredibly salty about Legacies 2*16. So this is going to be long!

Maybe it's because I'm an adult watching a teen show (lol yes) or maybe there really are ... Issues with quality.

First off: Josie + the mindscape

I'll start with the Penelope name drop because I legit groaned at my laptop hearing it. 1) never that invested in her anyway, found her the true cliche TV high school mean girl- at least Alyssa actually has some depth to her instabilities lol. 2) she's gone, and was never a key player to begin with 3) they constantly bait 'hosie' and it's tiring enough with that drama- don't name drop a random ex people don't care about (sorry if you do lol)

Now for the main bit:

Josie yet again being the VICTIM! Ughh even when the girl uses dark magic, kills a frenemy, kills her own TWIN, blows up half the school it was still focused on poor Josie not being treated right..... Seriously??????

I will admit her putting her siphoning ability away was somewhat... Kind of in a way taking responsibility- but I'm still leaning towards the whole still not taking responsibility and running from it, instead of actually owning her crap.

Also WHAT the hell was with the whole 'mom and dad never paid attention you'... Is Julie Pec just completely destroying characterisation?? No way EVER would Caroline Forbes EVER let any child let alone her own be forgotten. No way. Nada. Not happening. Not from the girl who was forgotten, the girl who was always the last choice and last to be noticed compared to Elena. It just wouldn't happen even with them helping Lizzie! And I don't think Ric, the guy who KNOWS what disfunctional sibling relationships and disfunctional parenting could lead to, would do the same

Perfect parents- no. But I refuse to believe they ever intentionally or unintentionally neglected Josie over Lizzie.

Parenting aside, I was very annoyed how they characterised her as being afraid of being like Kai.. how? They had zero similarities anyway! If anything LIZZIE is more like Kai and not just in disfunctional mental health way. I could completely understand Lizzie being the one to have that fear but again ... Characterisation just didn't fit.

The cringe 'non-consensual kiss' line. First of. Consent is ultimate. Obviously. But the way it was shoved in there was incredibly awkward. It could have worked a lot better if Hope said something sarcastic like 'I'm clearly little red, not prince charming- no thanks'.

The pig as Josie... Meh gets a pass for an evil fairytale mindscape

The Evil Queen Vs Princess... Yeah teen show still so I give that a pass.

Hope turned to stone. I get it's 'Legacies' and I do like that it isn't ALL revolving around Hope but again- characterisation just doesn't feel right and this plot just feels weak.

So, moving on: Salvatore School

I'm loving Ric actually being there for Rafael. That boy needs the support of a responsible adult so... Yay for that.

Although he does lose points for making that ridiculous deal with the necromancer. But again, teen show, had to drive the plot somehow so fair enough let's see where that heads. Personally I want Ted + Chad back.

At least Raf and Alyssa are fully back.

Also- Jed has feelings, pass it on.

Landon is an interesting one and depending on how they do this, will depend on how invested I will be in his character

Now the Ultimate:

Lizzie and MG

I have made no secret of my unconditional love for Lizzie! Just yes. Even in season one I was rooting for this girl. The funeral stuff was sad and cringy (teen show remember) but I did have a giggle at the students apathy based on the fact that Lizzie will probably be brought back from the dead. Just another average school day.

MG killed that speech. I love their friendship. I know Hope is now a friend but MG was truly the first to reach out to Lizzie and I want them to keep it as a friendship because I think both MG and Lizzie need a ride or die friendship... Although maybe not the 'die' in MGs case lol.

Lastly but not least (if you read this long ramble thank you and please discuss with me!)

Lizzies Eulogy for MG. It was beautiful and just nice but also so Lizzie. It really brought everything together nice.

So because of Covid-19 we don't actually know when new eps will be filmed or aired.

[i3utterflyeffect]

do RGB! I'm curious! (also, I like Hero too-)

(from this post)

favorite thing about them: he might be a snarky bastard but he makes terrible great puns any chance he gets and also Definitely Didn’t Adopt Hero™, or in other words, just that he’s in all reality a huge dork beneath that eloquent facade

least favorite thing about them: as much as i love him dear he is also the stupidest man alive and needs to stop pushing people away like the big dummy he is–

favorite line: i would pick a line from the main comic. but honestly?

this line DESTROYED ME. LIKE??? i don’t have the words to DESCRIBE how hard this line hit me when i first read this comic. there’s just SO MUCH EMOTION packed into that ONE LINE. i don’t know HOW mod did it but MAN that line hits me like a truck every time i think abt it

brOTP: aside from hero (please just for the love of god admit they’re your kid already)– madras! just two cynical buddies hanging out during the end of the world….

OTP: light entertainment! i’m usually not a big shipper (and i wasn’t really invested when i first saw the ship) but if you can emotionally destroy me with it, you’ve got me on board!

nOTP: Film shoot (RGB x Click). Yeah, the ship name is funny– you’ve got me there– but… I just can’t stand enemy-shipping. I feel like ships aren’t good if one (or both) of the characters would kill the other on sight.

random headcanon: since one is mostly just me projecting, i’ll give you two! RGB is adhd and he also liked jelly beans! (when he could still eat them, anyway)

unpopular opinion: Eyetenna (RGB x Madras) is a popular ship if I remember correctly, but…. tbh? I feel like they’re better as friends. sure, I guess Eyetenna is kinda cute (and the ship name is great and punny and all) but idk? i just don’t feel like it’d work out

song i associate with them: i do have a playlist for him (like with Hero) but i most associate him with Accidental Light by Sleeping At Last, Everything Moves by Bronze Radio Return, Lemon Boy by Cavetown, and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen!

favorite picture of them: are we talking serious or simply just ridiculous because this poor man is not only a living gag, he also is a walking invitation to simply be Vibe Checked at any moment in time– for example, some of my personal favorites;

In all seriousness though?

i do like this panel of him a lot. idk what it is, it’s just. well drawn i guess?

in summary: this is one of the few characters who i find sadistic joy in seeing him get thrown around like the universe’s personal chew toy, but i love the bastard himself even more

[janiedean]

Well congratulations. Your fandom has successfully erased the woman of color main character and love interest and replaced her with a white dude. So much for Yen mattering. You won.

… listen, I don’t know what lann/incest shipper are you out of the usual bunch of extremely sad people who are trying to make sure I end up arguing with either yen fans or yen/geralt shippers when I have absolutely no bone to pick with any of them, I make sure I don’t tag anything but the ship in my witcher posts, I have written 10k of threesome with all three of them on top of that and I absolutely don’t want drama for this fandom ffs but honestly, you’re ridiculous.

one: idk what this is about but if it’s that post I reblogged this morning about joey b/atey being billed like a main in articles about characters returning to the show in S2 when he’s the first billed of the not-mains you honestly need to fucking chill because wow, a fan favorite character is mentioned in an article written to inform fans of who’s coming back next season? AFTER, in order, henry anya and freya? like. fucking chill.

two: as much as you presume I don’t know that, do you realize that saying ‘my fandom’ erased successfully a female character who is second-billed in the show, definitely co-main in the books from what I’ve read so far, the canonical love interest of the MAIN CHARACTER that she’s obviously BOUND to CANONICALLY (I’ve read the last wish, did you?) and who is most likely fucking going nowhere in the show? like pal until netflix comes out with a statement saying ‘according to fan reception we decided to fire anya and make geralt and jaskier stick their tongues in each others’s throat in the first five minutes of 2x01 you’re welcome’, which is obviously never going to happen because that’s not the plot and we all know that, no one has fucking erased anyone from the narration or from the show, like wow what power would I have if just by being in a fandom with a lot of people in it I could wish things out of existence! then 8x05 of GOT wouldn’t have happened and I’d have been spared dnd’s boner for c/ersei lannister ruining the entire damned series, but that didn’t happen now, did it? *shrug* and guess what I’m here writing fic and waiting for grrm, not up in your fucking blogs trying to make me stir drama with a fandom I’m not even in 100% of the time and where I just want to have fun with my ONE goddamned ship I like and without getting into shipwars idc for. so like, you have eight books of canon material plus you’ll have the show canon material, and we ‘erase’ her?

newsflash, my genius anon, indulging you even if I know it’ll be useless: it’s the way of most major fandoms that the largest ship is usually m/m and if it’s people who are friends in canon that’s usually also a thing, and I’ve been in very few fandoms where the majority of shippers were m/f, which is another discourse we could get in but I absolutely have no patience for it and we all know how it is. most of the fandom content being m/m is about typical for 95% of the fandoms in existence and that does not negate canon nor does it mean that most people into m/m actually are batting for it to be canon or want the female characters to bite the dust for the m/m ship and the fact that a few idiots do in these tiring times where your shipping preferences apparently = your morality doesn’t mean that the majority agrees or expects the female character to drop dead. good fucking grief. people will ship geralt and jaskier in fandom until their fingers fall off while geralt and yen have their canon romance that no one is gonna protest because it’s canon and if you can’t handle even that basic thing then it’s 100% obvious you’re from jc fandom and never shipped a popular m/m pairing in your damned life, because most of us who do know they’re never going to be canon.

also, fyi, yen is nonwhite in the show but she’s white in both books and game so you can take that ridiculous racism nonsense out of the window because it’s not a case of ‘we’d ship it if they both were white but the moment she’s poc we don’t anymore’. also ‘not mattering’ pal some of us like yen and have absolutely nothing against her but also, consider it, a tiny bit, just like, as an option, some of us like jaskier as a character more than yen or find him more relatable than yen regardless of whether he’s white or a dude or not, which happens because we all relate to/like characters for our own goddamned reasons and if I, a woman, have more fun writing jaskier pov than I’d have writing yen’s pov and I find geralt/jaskier a dynamic I’m way more interested exploring/writing than yen/geralt because of reasons I don’t owe you (and also because geralt and jaskier is the first fucking time my ideal m/m dynamic almost to a T is to be found in a popular ship differently from the other ship I have with that dynamic that’s stuck at nineteen fics on ao3 so excuse me if I’m a bit starved for content), then it’s my fucking business because the only people who could successfully erase yen from anything witcher-related are a) andrzej sapkwoski, b) the netflix showrunners, c) the videogame devs and guess fucking what, neither me nor anyone in this fandom is, WOW, either sapkowski or the netflix team nor works for the videogame company, so excuse me if no one is erasing fucking shit.

if you really are this invested into the character - which again I doubt because I know y’all are jc people and I have plenty of proof of that so you can go tell that story to someone else - you can do an interesting thing named write your fucking own fanfic, which btw you didn’t do even in jc fandom and it shows because you wouldn’t bother other people if you were busy creating your own content, and fyi I think yen would really fucking hate the guts of your favorite leading lady considering how she treats her goddamned children but I guess that’s beyond the point.

tldr: stop trying to make me argue with people in a fandom you’re not in, stop with this nonsense and stop being this pathetic because honestly it’s been a year and a half by now and you’re here stirring drama over a show that’s not even your main fandom? please get some help already.

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Gaim Episodes 01-20

Also known as Kame Rider Fruits Salad edition.

It's time for more past rider action as I start my fifth season in this series. I honestly don't know how I'm still doing this, but I'm glad that despite my schedule problems I'm sticking with this journey because this season is a good one.

I was very excited to see this, not just because my experience with Wizard was very positive, but also because I've seen images and gifs being retweeted in my timeline and everything seemed so ridiculous I couldn't wait to experience all of that by myself, and I gotta say, they delivered! (different from that other season I saw people being so passionate about but that I disliked with passion)

And this is something funny because I have quite a lot of things about Gaim that bug me and that should make me dislike it, but even still I can't help but like this season a lot. Gaim has a certain magnetic charm to it that I don't know how to explain, putting in terms of the show I'm like the Inves and Gaim is the evil fruit of the forest taking control of my brain. This show is so entertaining that if I was able to sit down for 72 hours without being interrupted and not needing to do my physical necessities I'd definitely spend those hours watching Gaim, I'm not joking, I had to force myself to stop watching it a couple of times because if it was up to me I would sit down in front of my laptop and leave after the show ended.

And I feel like a huge part of what makes me so interested on Gaim is this mystery feel it has to it, I wanna know where all of this is gonna go so it makes me more interested on watching more and more to see the secrets being revealed and all of that. Add a whole lot of great cliffhangers and the fact this series doesn't seem to follow the "2 episodes, 1 story" format and you make for a show that has a very good pace and that makes it feel like no episode here is filler or unnecessary.

But this is a double-edged sword because while the mystery vibe is great I feel like the show held a whole lot of information at the beginning which made it hard for me to understand this world, and understand these characters. Why is dance so important here? Why do these dance teams exist and why are they fighting each other? When did those lock seeds start appearing? And why are they in the kids' hands? What's Kouta's relation to this dance crew? Why is there a ranking for dancing crews? Why is all of that so important for these characters I'm gonna follow? I watched 20 episodes, still, I feel like I don't know any of the characters very well because neither of them had a very good base for me to have a feel of who these characters are. Which makes it harder for me to connect because I don't feel what the characters are feeling, my experience with Gaim is a very "external" one, I'm watching it and I'm enjoying it a lot but I'm not emotionally invested, I think that's the best way to put it.

Speaking of characters, another thing that I feel like it makes it harder to know all characters is the fact that THERE ARE A LOT OF THEM. No joke, I don't know any of their names and the only Rider name I have memorized is Gaim because of obvious reasons, the way I have to connect the characters to their faces is by their main fruit, which solves things for the characters that are Riders but the side characters that don't they literally have no name for me, any given name you see in this post is because I opened the wikia and went to look for the names. This is a very crowded season.

Kouta as a protagonist gives me a lot of mixed feelings. I overall like him, but that are times where the show makes me want to hate him, but I guess that's just how teenagers so the show has perfectly hit the nail on him. I like how he starts as a good kid trying to get a job to help support his family, but then he becomes a rider and that gets up to his head and he becomes an overconfident prick just to have his ass kicked down and throw him on a downward spiral where he "refuses the call" to then have a moment where he slowly rises again, and even in this escalation he gets doubtful in quite a lot of times showing that he's a very interesting character. I only wish we knew more basic stuff about him, or at least have glimpses of his past, to know where did he came from and be able to have an estimative of where he's going to.

Sadly the other characters aren't anywhere near being this interesting. Kaito is just the hot-blooded rival, they decided to give him a backstory about he being anger at Yggdrasil for taking over the city but I think it only made him look more like just a teen with anger management issues rather than a compelling character. Mitchy had potential with the whole thing of being a kid from a rich family that has no freedom in regards to his future, but he more or less always followed the things I expected him to do as a character in his position so it was just a little boring. Near the end of this batch, Zack became a rider too but he's such a background character I have nothing to say about him. Junouchi and Hase lacked in personality because they were sold as a duo and they barely did anything on their own, Hase at least got more interesting things going for him since he eventually ate a fruit and died as an Inves what made him interesting where Junouchi just ended up being the keychain of another rider... and oh boy, Oren... it's kinda hard to talk about him. I'm not sure if "gay coded" is the correct term for him, probably not, but the thing is he's very problematic. First, because the show kinda sits in with Kouta's point of view and since the first meeting Kouta already showed signs that he didn't like him and that it was weird for him to see a flamboyant man with feminine trajects and he was always negative towards him. Then the show makes him be a Team Rocket villain where his character gets downed to a single goal and objective and every time he gets up on the screen is for him to be made fun of and it just makes me wanna hit my head on the wall. I know I shouldn't be surprised since last season they had the manager of Hungry Donuts that was also an LGBTQ+ character being used for comedic purposes, but at least in there, there was no portrayal of any character of the cast being uncomfortable or hostile against her so she was never seen with bad eyes or had any negative association to her (they also had a trans actor play her role which is an added bonus even though she wasn't out yet during the time of filming).

The show also has a "second set" of riders that are the adults on Yggdrasil's side. I feel like I don't have a lot to say about them because they were in the backseat a lot during the season and only started to have a more active role on screen now so I still don't have an opinion on them. Takatora seems bland, Sid was the one of this team that had more screen time but I also don't have an opinion on him, he's just like a drug dealer there's nothing special about him other than he uses one of my favorite fruits in his rider form. Ryoma and Yoko are probably the more interesting characters from this team and I'm really excited to see more of them.

There are more characters of this cast but I don't like any of them all that much so I won't spend more time talking about them, I'll talk briefly about the Riders' designs because this post is already long enough.

To begin with, I think it's a genius idea of mixing fruits with samurais for the main motifs of the riders, it's such a ridiculous, wild, and creative idea I wish I could be friends with whoever imagined this concept. I pretty much like all of the suits, I think the only form I don't like it's the Jimba Lemon one because it's not very aesthetically pleasing, it doesn't match very well with Gaim's basic design so it doesn't look as good to me, but I also don't like the giant watermelon suit, probably because the CGI looks weird, but I still don't like it. I love how the belts are very simple, it's a good contrast with the overly designed suits, I wish they had kept that simplicity for the genesis drivers as well. If I had to choose my favorite designs they are Gaim's strawberry, Baron's mango, Zangetsu's melon, Duke's lemon, and Marika's peach forms.

Before I wrap up this post I have two final complaints about this whole thing. The first one is the fact I don't know what's the message the show is trying to convey. Right at the beginning, I thought it was about growing up, but that was never touched again so I'm not sure if it's that, you know? The show feels a little lost in this aspect. It is a nice story, don't get me wrong, but all stories so far had a theme and I couldn't really find the theme on this one yet. I hope that after the reveal that the forest is like a parasite they'll bring up discussions that'll highlight what this is story is about.

My other problem is how against adults the show is. Maybe if I had watched this in my teenage years I'd be more in synchrony with the point of view of adults are liars and they're a problem, but now as an adult, I know that things aren't so simple. While I agree that using kids to gather data for their experiments wasn't the right course of action, I don't like how the protagonists are always so keen on being against adults and everything. Maybe they're like this because of how Japanese society is and to them becoming adults is like losing the sense of their own identities so to them adults are really like villains, but I still think that they hit too much on this key and it's kinda hard to watch without rolling my eyes at certain points.

With that being said, I still enjoyed the hell out of this show and I'm very excited to continue. So, what are your thoughts about Gaim, let me know down in the comments. I'll catch up with you folks later.

[pinkyhaert]

So you watched rollbots too... please tell me your thoughts 👀👀👀... i always felt like i was the only person ever who watched it lol.

{ *INAHLES*}

{ IT DESERVED BETTER-}

{ ( I might be a Little Biased because I Absolutely adore pretty much any Show with Sentient Robot mains from "Cubix" to "Bots Master" Oof- ) }

{ But I still believe it deserved better then a Cliffhanger. The characters were interesting and the designs were pretty Cool As well. It always had a Unique Story and You got invested with the Characters.

As far as characters go:

Spin was already pretty cool especially since the minute I heard his voice I Immediately knew it Was The same Voice actor for Krypto the Superdog (The Show) and he was a part of my childhood when me and my brother would wake up early and watch old cartoons on TV.

Penny Was adorable and A Former Medic which was a Pretty Interesting take on her now being a Police Lady and stopping crime. (Well. What the division let her do in the force anyways.)

Lance was Ridiculous and Overdramatic and Honestly relatable because that's me half the time lol 😂 ( hopefully I'm a Little bit better then him thou-)

I can't remember the last guys name so I'mma just call him Cheif.

Cheif.. was complicated. I couldn't tell if he was evil or not because I was getting some evil vibes when he was mentoring Spin tbh. Then he turned out to be good. ( At least I think I never finished the last episode smh-)

Cheifs relationship with Spin was Hilarious thou- }

Spin: *insert villan name* Is Evil!!

Cheif: Nah Mate he's Chill.

Spin: HE TRIED TO STAB ME AND A CHILD-

Cheif: STOP SAYING MEAN THINGS ABOUT *insert villan name* OR YOUR GROUNDED!

Spin: YOUR NOT MY DAD-

Cheif, Emotionally hurt: GO TO YOUR ROOM!!

Spin: FINE! *Slams Door*

Cheif: Alright he's Gone So Back to my Plotting to Take out the obviously evil *Insert villan Name* behind My son's Back-

And my take on the villan is...

"Former power ranger zoid gets mad and Curls up yelling at Local red bouncey ball with Crew."

{Thanks for Coming to my Ted talk lol-}

[behind-the-screen-of-bangtan]

The love story

This post is part of the TSU. It belongs to the second part: Towards adulthood.

BTS wrote a lot of love songs and they follow the same global reflection as the other themes discussed by the boys. As the songs are pretty self-explanatory, this post will rather focus on studying them globally, to see if they form a coherent story.

Before starting, we need to consider BTS’ songs structure for a little second. Most of the time, each rapper has a verse and then the vocal line sings together during the chorus. So if you want to tell a story, considering the chorus is always the same thing, it will happen in the verses and thus will be told by the rappers. Which means we can have up to three points of view.

This leads us to the biggest problem with the love story from BTS songs: we don’t know how many boys and girls are involved. So I’ve arbitrarily decided to apply the rule of the simplest version: if it makes sense with one boy, then there’s only one boy. Also, when I say “the Boy”, it’s just the main character of the song.

The macho

This story starts rather sadly. Bangtan’s first two love songs are post-break-up songs. “좋아요” (I like it) is about the Boy stalking his ex’s Facebook and “Coffee” about the Boy remembering his ex, comparing their relationship to a sweet caramel macchiato and their break up to a bitter Americano.

As the Boy has other things to consider during 2 Cool 4 Skool and O!RUL8,2?, he doesn’t look for love and it’s only in the last song from O!RUL8,2?, namely “Outro: Luv In Skool”, that a new love is brought up:

“Even though I drink coffee and open my eyes I still feel like I’m going to fall asleep oh no no I often drew it up, if I ruled the world I feel like I would put you by my side again Tell me that it’s not too late If this is a nightmare, please save me quickly Take a good look, I’m still waiting for only you”

As they’ll often do in future releases, they reference their own songs in another song. “Coffee” and “If I ruled the world” are both from O!RUL8,2?, which theme is finding happiness before it’s too late. It thus appears that the Boy has come to the conclusion that to escape the sadness of his previous break up and to find happiness, he needs the love of the Girl. The song ends with Jungkook asking “Girl do you wanna go out with me?”

Suga explained in his review that “Intro: Skool Luv Affair” follows the outro and shows how each rapper would propose. The song concludes with hip-hop being the solution because it’s “Bangtan’s style”. It’s so much Bangtan’s style that in the video there are actually more “hip-hop” elements - radio, sneakers, “wassup”, caps, skateboards - than ones relating to love - a couple, hearts, roses. The continuity with O!RUL8,2? is also shown through symbols appearing in the intro videos of both albums - round, triangle, square, five-branch star.

In the lyrics of “Boy In Luv”, the Boy wonders how he could ask the girl out and prove he’s a “real man” (“상남자” which is actually the name of the song in Korean; it’s not as sexist as it sounds in English though, it’s more “real man” as in someone strong enough that you can trust them, someone responsible). It’s also implied the girl is playing hard to get:

“Even if you act like you don’t know me or act cold I cannot push you away I want to be your oppa I’ll become your man, just watch”

In ”Where Did You Come From” it’s Suga’s and J-Hope’s turn to flirt with a girl while speaking in satoori (Suga explains it in his review).

“Boy In Luv” MV seems to summarize those three songs:

the intro of the MV fits with “Outro: Luv in Skool” (it’s “Just One Day”’s instrumental that’s playing though): we see the Boy - played by our international playboy falling in love at first sight with the Girl - he possibly asks her out a first time: “Girl do you wanna go out with me?” and is rejected because she’s playing hard to get. (Note that based on the photo concept and on later content, it’s also implied Jungkook has feelings for Yoongi but it’s an element belonging strongly to the BU so I won’t consider it further here.)

Then the Boy’s friends help him, each rapper explains how he would confess (”Intro: Skool Luv Affair” and “Where Did You Come From?)

And in the end, Jin goes to fetch the girl and brings her to Jungkook so he can confess himself - it was decided while filming to add Jin’s and Jimin’s scenes with the girl. As she accepts the flower, we can conclude the Boy and the Girl start going out.

However, it’s explained in “Just One Day” that they have difficulties meeting:

“Just one day, if I had time I want to get drunk in your sweet scent And fall asleep soundly In the midst of my tightly-packed schedules If I had an opportunity I want to soak myself in your warm deep eyes”

I didn’t mention it until now, but as there are always biographical elements in Bangtan’s songs, the Boy sometimes has an idol life - here the tightly-packed schedule; in “Coffee”, there’s also the line “Girl, I’ve debuted, this one phrase should do it, right?”. It’s rarely talked about though and most of the time the Boy is just an average guy.

Another thing to note, about the MV this time, is how the boys are in the light but also surrounded closely by shadows. As if the end is already near when they’re still dazzled by their bright love.

It doesn’t stop the Boy, however, and so in “Outro: propose”, he’s fully in love:

“(Good to you) You’re the only one for me (Good to you) Even with this distance between us Always stay by my side (Good to you) You’re my everything Even if tomorrow brings us trouble Hold my hand”

You can fit “Miss Right” here too if you want.

The disillusion

Dark & Wild has two parts: the first half is “dark” and the second, starting from the interlude is “wild”. It’s a plot twist to the fairy tale we had until now: while the Boy is still deeply in love, the Girl isn’t invested in the relationship.

At first the Boy wonders, in “Intro: What Am I To You?” and then he directly warns the Girl, in “Danger”, as he gets angrier. We have similar ideas in the sentences written next to the boys in the photo book from the album:

RM: “I wanna be loved so bad”

S: “Luv turns to anger”

J: “My luv ain’t going nowhere”

JH: “My heart is full of you”

V: “U R the only one I need”

JM: “I luv U however painful it would be”

JK: “Why don’t U luv me like I do?”

Sadly, as we can see in the Japanese version of the MV, the girl doesn’t answer. And the boy ends up going to a club.

The next song on the album is ”War of Hormone”. The song where the Boy hits on a girl. A song that actually belongs to the “dark” half of the album and not the “wild” one. A song that happens when the Boy is arguing with the Girl. So yeah, if you interpret “War of Hormone” in the globality of BTS’ discography, you can see it as a possible cheating attempt made out of anger (it’s obviously a heavy over-interpretation):

“Hello hello (what!) Hello hello (what!) Tell me what you want right now Hello hello (what!) Hello hello (what!) Imma give it to you girl right now Even though you say that you’re not mine, you’re the best”

So the war would not only be the surge of sexual hormones but also the war between the love for the Girl and the anger against Her.

For love songs, this half of the album is concluded by “Let Me Know”. The Boy knows his relationship with the Girl has ended, but he still begs for her confirmation, possibly in hope that she’ll kill the last bits of love he still feels towards her:

“I just wanna know know know I just wanna know know know My regret is still standing in front of the ending sign So please say something to me Girl, let me know”

Fortunately, the “wild” side of the album is a bit more hopeful. Hard to tell if the girl for this part is the one the Boy met in “War of Hormone” or if it’s a new one, all we know is that he met someone and he’s trying to woo her. “Interlude: what are you doing” is a phone call and the only lyrics are “what are you doing”. It’s a deduction based on the next songs but it seems this “what are you doing” actually means “are you busy? Are you free to hang out with me?”.

“Blanket Kick” happens after the meeting. The Boy is kicking his blanket out of frustration because he failed at seducing Her and ridiculed himself:

“Once again I only do weird things in front of you You’re so pretty pretty pretty Oh Why did I do that I’ll launch a kick at my blankets in my sleep”

His frustration is all the more understandable when you consider the next song, namely “24/7=Heaven”. He has it really bad for Her:

“24/7 I thought only of you all day”

“24/7=Heaven” also gives details about their first date:

“The first date with you I keep getting excited like a child These days I’m Sunday Where the sun named you has risen, Sunday”

Their love is confirmed in “Look here”:

“At first it was mere curiosity As I started to show interest in you Holy Shhh Yeah, even if you ignore me The time when you fall for me, for a minute We look rather good together, without you I'm like a Seoul City without lights I wait for an opportunity to fill your empty spot, a rabbit hole graffiti The play called A day without you is a tragedy”

“At first, You answered once when I texted ten times But later, You call me first and look for me all day”

It also appears this time the Girl loves the Boy back.

“Outro: does that make sense?” is a bit hard to interpret because we can’t really know if the lyrics are about the current Girl or the previous one. The main idea here is that they fell out of love:

“Does that make sense? You, do you think that makes sense? That our love changes so easily So that nobody notices, so that I look fine, I’m with you but now I’m crying at the mere sight of your facial expression Explain it, explain it, explain it girl My baby explain it, explain it I hate you to death but I still think of you even now”

The School trilogy ends like this. It’s the only series with albums where love (for someone else) will be the main theme. The conclusion is rather dark for the Boy: no matter his efforts to be loved, his love always ends badly. If we refer to the coming-of-age story structure, this moment would be the hardship that counters the Boy’s vision of the world. It’s thus in a rather depressed state that he enters his youth.

The beggar

An important shift happens here. We have more reflections about inner feelings and a bit less about the outside world. There’s another difference, with the title song. RM said in the #hashtag interview:

“‘I NEED U’ is the title song. As you can feel from the title, ‘Ah~ I do need you’ trying to hold the love which is about to end. Singing the anxiety and wandering of the youth.”

More than the approximative subs provided by 1theK, what we can note is that the title song is one aspect of the theme of the album: “I NEED U” is a sad love song and 화양연화 Pt.1 is the pains of youth in general.

With the notable exception of “Converse High”, all the love songs in 화양연화 Pt.1 have the same basis, namely the Boy can’t stand the idea of the girl leaving him alone:

“Girl I would rather rather we break up Girl say that it wasn’t love love I don’t have that kind of courage Give me one last present So that I won’t go back anymore” - “I NEED U”

“Without you, I can’t breathe Without you, I’m nothing Open your closed heart, dampen my heart Give me an embrace so I can feel you” - “Hold Me Tight”

“Tell me why you’re trying to go so far away In your eyes Do you not see me anymore Uh Love, it’s a hurtful and hurtful thing yeah It feels like goodbyes are hurtful And more hurtful” - “Outro: Love is not over”

“Converse High” is closer to something like another “Intro: Skool Luv Affair” or “Where Do You Come From?”. It’s each rapper giving a point of view on the matter, which is not necessarily theirs (Suga said he had nothing against Converse and that his verse was just to oppose RM’s):

“You know what I want A white t-shirt, denim shorts and Red Converse Highs That’s it”

“Rather than those stars in the sky I’d rather see them stars on your shoes Haha all without Namjoon knowing”

“Converse converse I really hate a converse”

Maybe we can see this song as the Boy’s friends talking, reminding us that love can be at a different stage for everyone. Let’s be very clear, this last sentence was highly over-interpretative.

“FOR YOU” was released around this time too, so if you want, you can interpret the girl leaving as something literal. After all, we have no explicit lyric about a break-up, so she possibly just left for Japan and the Boy can’t stand the long-distance relationship.

In 화양연화 Pt.2, the love story and the Boy’s life blur together. It’s the stage where he flies away to an alternative dreamlike world to escape adulthood. It’s the butterfly dream story. In “RUN” and in “Butterfly”, the Boy runs after the butterfly leading him to the dream world. He’s aware of the fragility of this world, however, since he’s extremely scared to touch the butterfly and to see it shatter to pieces:

“Like a flower whose memories are dry All broken into pieces From the tips of my fingers, from underneath my feet Behind my running back As if chasing a butterfly, like wandering through a dream Following your traces Please tell me the road, please stop me Please let me breathe”

“Will you stay by my side Will you promise me If I touch (you), you’ll fly away and break  I’m scared scared scared of that

Will you stop time If this moment passes As though it hadn’t happened I’m scared scared scared I’ll lose you”

In “Dead Leaves” and “Outro: House of Cards”, he realizes it will fail. The butterfly is alive and flies, it goes up. The leaf is dead and falls, it goes down, it leaves the dream:

“Don’t go far far away Baby you girl I can’t hold onto you Baby you girl I can’t give up on you Like the dead leaves that fell This love, like the dead leaves Never never fall It’s withering”

“A house made of cards, and us, inside Even though the end is visible, even if it’s going to collapse soon A house made of cards, we’re like idiots Even if it’s a vain dream, stay like this a little more”

The photo concept for Young Forever is similar. In the Day version, the boys rise in a hot-air balloon and in the Night version, they’re camping - so it’s just a temporary stay.

Coming back to reality and seeing how frail and short life is, the Boy begs in “Save Me”:

Don’t wanna be lonely Just wanna be yours

And by placing himself at the mercy of the Girl, he becomes her prisoner.

The prisoner

Only two songs can be considered here: “Boy Meets Evil” and “Blood, Sweat & Tears”. The Boy thinks the Girl is the key to happiness, so no matter how she hurt him, he’s still tempted to go back to Her. The Girl probably represents different aspects like the protective mother, the sexual partner, the best friend, the sister… in which the boy could find some relief - affection, sex, support…

The whole “Boy Meets Evil” is about this relief: the Boy knows that “Too bad it’s too sweet”. It’s similar and different in “Blood, Sweat & Tears”. The Girl still is a devilish temptation but we can probably take it in the context of Demian - it’s also confirmed in the WINGS Concept Book that “Blood, Sweat & Tears” shows the act of rebelling against God. By deduction, the Girl can be associated with Beatrice, that makes Sinclair stop drinking and go back to a healthy lifestyle:

“Kiss me even if it hurts Come, tighten me (up) Until it can’t even hurt anymore Baby, even if I get drunk it’s alright, I’ll now drink you up Deep into (my) throat, (with) you as the whiskey”

The Boy admitted his love for the Girl was toxic but he still hasn’t found an alternative to save himself until now. She’s his only way to reach happiness.

 The boy and himself

And so it’s finally time for Love Yourself. The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm is essential here. If we summarize the 148 pages in a few words: love is an art and is thus something that you work on, that you perfect with discipline and faith, that’s both collective and individual, that needs to be acted on rather than thought about, and that’s killed by capitalism and vainly replaced by consumerism.

Bad news though, the Boy hasn’t understood yet. The same way Beatrice triggered Sinclair into a creative strike (that eventually led him to himself), the Girl from “Blood, Sweat & Tears” pushed the Boy into a love blackhole.

This time, he’s so despaired he calls their love destiny and he puts all his hopes into it:

“You are my penicillium The one who saved me My angel My world I am your calico cat One who came to meet you Love me now Touch me now”  - “Serendipity” (”Flower”, the poem referenced in the lyrics also emphasises how the lovers need each other to exist)

“From the days when the universe was created To go on for infinite centuries Probably from a previous life, and in the next lives to come Since we’ll be together forever

Since all this isn’t coincidence Since the both of us are the ones who have found destiny” - “DNA”

“Don’t lie, you are indeed an angel” - “보조개” (Dimples)

“There’s no me without you”

“You got the best of me So please just don’t leave me” - “Best of Me”

“The answer To all my wonder(s) I call you her, her Cuz you’re my tear, tear” - “Outro: Her”

“Outro: Her” announces the next part, namely Tear, where the Boy finally understands putting all the responsibility for his own happiness on his partner and altering his own personality to please said partner isn’t good.

Tear is the development of this outro. The Boy knows but he refuses to let go of his toxic relationship, not after putting so much of himself into it:

“Even in the dream that I briefly enter The torturous phantom pain is the same as ever

Did I lose myself Or did I gain you”  - “Singularity”

“I wanna be a good man just for you I gave the world just for you I changed it all just for you Now I dunno me, who are you? In the forest just for us you weren’t there I forgot the route that I came by Even I became unsure who I was before Talk nonsense at the mirror, who are you really” - “FAKE LOVE”

“We need to believe in only us Don’t let go of our two hands We need to be together forever

Others say If you’re like this, you’re the only one that becomes a fool But I don’t wanna use my head” - “Love Maze”

In the outro of this album, each rapper consider the meaning of the words “tear” and “fear” (see RM’s behind at 45:00). No matter how hard he tried, the Boy can’t save himself like that

“We walked towards the same place But this place becomes our last Although we used to talk about forever Now we break each other without mercy Although we thought that we dreamed the same dream That dream has finally become a dream My heart is torn, please burn it instead So that pain and regret, none of that would be left 

You’re my tear”

The word dream is quite present. The Boy left the dream world but he still longs for it - the forest from “FAKE LOVE” can probably be linked with the forest in Kafka on the Shore, a sort of ideal world.

“The truth untold” could be included but considering how it’s a reference to Smeraldo, I’ll rather leave it with the BU content.

And finally, in Love Yourself 結 Answer, the Boy realizes the solution is simply that he should love himself:

“I’m the one I should love in this world My shining self, my precious soul I finally realise it So I love me Even if it’s a little lacking, it’s so beautiful I’m the one I should love” - “Epiphany”

“You’ve shown me I have reasons I should love myself” - “Answer: love myself”

The epilogue of the relationship between the Boy and the Girl can probably be found in the trivia and in “I’m Fine”.

The innocent Boy from 起 Wonder just wanted to have fun:

“I like the feeling of being together, with you I like the dances that we dance together, with you I just wanna, wanna, wanna I really wanna, wanna, wanna Just dance” - “Trivia 起: Just Dance“

The one from 承 Her put a lot of importance in the other person:

“You are the person Who’ll change my recollections into memories A person who’ll change a person into love Before I knew you My heart was, in its entirety, just a straight line” - “Trivia 承: Love”

The one from 轉 Tear understood it was vain to continue:

“The start was, well, fun With the up and down in itself Before I knew it, we became tired of each other In the meaningless waste of emotionsThe repeated seesaw, seesaw game By this point, I’ve become tired, tired of it” - “Trivia 轉: Seesaw“

The one from 結 Answer answers to the sad Boy from Young Forever and can finally say he’s alright, on his own:

“It’s okay, because I’m my only savior With ugly steps, I live without ever dying How you doin? I’m fine” - “I’m Fine”

Forget the Girl, ARMY is better

With Map of the Soul: Persona, BTS acknowledges the precious friend that has always been there for them, ARMY. They don’t need to find love in a stranger to be happy, they just need to love and care for themselves and the ones close to them.

[lostinthewinterwood]

RBC Exchange 2020

Hey friend!

Thanks for writing for me for this exchange :D

I’ve got a bunch of prompts below the cut, as well as a general DNW list and general likes list, but feel free to go wherever your muse leads you as long as you don’t hit the DNWs—optional details are optional, after all.

I only asked for fic; I wouldn’t know how to set up an art request at all, to be honest, but if you’re inspired by my ramblings to do visual art I’d be happy to get any sort of art treats!

My last prompt contains spoilers for Vanguard chapter 16; tumblr doesn’t allow me to put in multiple cuts or I’d hide it under one of them, so if you don’t want to see it don’t scroll past where I’ve said “Recent Vanguard Spoilers Past This Point”.

None of my other exchange letters have RBC stuff, but there’s other ramblings about my general likes and I talk about Tortall as well as canon HP a little, if you want to check out my tag for them here.

The prompts vary in length, but don’t worry if you matched on a shorter one—I’m interested in all of them, there’s a reason I asked for what I’ve asked for!

Thank you for writing for me for this exchange!  I’m super excited to see what you come up with for me in it.

General DNW

Rape/non/dub-con; non-canonical major character death; smut/graphic sex scenes; heavy angst; hurt no comfort; graphic depictions of deliberate and methodical self-harm*; graphic depictions of suicide; gore; grimdark; complete downer endings; character bashing; incest; cringe comedy; a/b/o; mpreg; mundane AUs; graphic eye trauma; graphic and/or permanent hand trauma; issuefic; a focus on romance; trans or nonbinary Harry; anything at all to do with blink or counterpoint.

*I don’t include things like, say, punching a wall in a fit of emotion under this, even if it does result in an injury. however, something like cutting would not be appreciated.

 General Likes

-- I really like plotty fics

-- I’m a total sucker for ruse reveals, whether on the small or grand scale (I say, eyeing my own series, which I started writing because I couldn’t stand the waiting lmao)

-- Ridiculous amping up of the secret identity drama, and possibly adding in more layers of secrets and irony, is always good

-- I’d be super down for crossovers with Tortall and/or HP canon, whether just in characters or plot beats or in full

-- Time travel and time loops, especially as a fix-it—especially if we let the characters learn a little more than they currently know, and then toss them back in time.  I have a general preference for Peggy Sue style (aka, an older character getting put back in their younger body at an earlier point in the timeline) over the character’s physical body stepping back in time, but either one is good.

-- A focus on family and/or friendship, especially characters realizing they’re not nearly as alone as they think they are, and just generally characters who like each other and enjoy spending time together

-- Character studies

 In general feel free to include unrequested characters, if that’s what your story wants—my requested characters are ones I want to be the focus of the story, not necessarily the Only Characters.

 Prompts that could be either main RBC or Rev Arc, or the two blended together:

Harriet Potter | Rigel Black

There’s a lot of stuff you could go with here, of course.  If you’re just interested in RBC, and aren’t interested in any kind of AU, I’d like maybe something with her family, including Sirius and Remus and Archie in the category of “family” of course, or with her friends, or maybe something about learning to do her animagus transformation herself.

If you’re feeling more like an AU, though, I’ve got some other ideas hah.

-- Some flavor of Mother of Learning au, probably feat. Harry as Controller, with Tortall’s gods taking the place of the angels maybe, smashing together as many rbc, Tortall, and MoL elements/characters as you want, feel free to go absolutely wild here.

-- What’s she doing, during rev arc, having run off to go gallivanting across the world? Alternately—her parents track her down, and we get to see that reunion and dealing with the fallout from her ruse.

-- Convent au, aka she and Archie never switch and she goes off to AIM; this can be the AIM of rev arc or an AIM of your own creation based on RBC canon!

-- Genderbent AU, aka Harry’s a boy and Archie’s a girl but they still go for the switch.

-- If you know Fialleril’s Tatooine Slave Culture stuff you’re probably familiar with the motif of Ekkreth becoming a bird and flying away when his trickstering is over for the time being; if you worked that into a fic with Harry I’d love you forever for it lol.

 Arcturus “Archie” Black

We don’t get a whole lot of Archie in canon, so I’m down for more exploration of him, either through the canon lens or through the lens of rev arc.

If you want to go down the path of rendering Archie into a more Thom-like figure, either by power level or by his relation to the rest of the world, I’d be down for that, but please don’t take him in the direction blink did (aka, please do not give me depressed suicidal Archie).

Things I think would be cool:

-- Slice-of-life with Archie at AIM, especially if it’s not the AIM of rev arc, but either way works.

-- Palace au, aka he and Harry never switch and he’s got to go to Hogwarts, and what happens from there.

-- Genderbent AU, aka Archie’s a girl and Harry’s a boy and they still switch places.

-- For whatever reason, he needs to go to Hogwarts and pretend to be Rigel for an extended period of time; dramedy ensues.

-- Leaning hard into the Mother of Learning AU idea, and making him the Zorian to Harry’s Zach, less powerful but learning to work with what he’s got.

 Adriana “Addy” Potter

For this one I’d really like a future fic with a family focus; Addy and her family, once Addy’s old enough to participate properly in things.  What’s the world like for a noble half-blood girl more than a decade younger than Harry?  Do they live in Wizarding Britain, or have they moved elsewhere?  How has the fallout of the ruse’s inevitable revelation impacted her—if, indeed, it noticeably has?  Rev Arc and canon basis are both fine!

 Severus Snape

He’s such a great character I love him, also, like, I’d adore something that brought him closer to Myles’ role as the spymaster/character who goes “girl what girl all I see is a smallish boy who’s just what he appears to be, why do you ask”

Other explorations of The Life And Times Of Severus Snape, Halfblood Potions Master And SOW Party Member would be great too.

Rev Arc and canon are both fine!

 Ginny Weasley, Bill “Will” Weasley

Would love some youngest sib-oldest sib bonding!!  Also would love exploring Bill in the Lower Alleys, and Ginny learning about that part of his world.

IIRC we first see Bill in the Alleys in FF?  So if you go with rev arc I’d appreciate that being kept in, but assuming that much, rev arc and canon are both fine.

  Rev Arc prompts:

Neal Queenscove, Graeme Queenscove, Jessa Queenscove, Will Queenscove

Hey, the Queenscove siblings get to be not 50% dead in this story!  I’d love to see something lighthearted with them all together.

Also feel free to bring in their parents, but it’s definitely not required lol.

 Harriet Potter | Rigel Black, Aldon Rosier, Justice (Revolutionary Arc)

Obviously there’s more than one way to get to this character combo, but I was thinking something like this:

Aldon Blake is raised by his birth mother and schooled in America.  Harriett Potter can’t break through Dumbledore’s wards alone.  And so a law is challenged.

 Lily Evans Potter

Anything through her life would be great!  Key moments I’d be especially interested in include her discovering her magic and having to go abroad to school, her time at AIM (maybe being Exceptional for stupidly powerful wild magic?), her time in the Triwizard Tournament (which I’m big into, not that that should discourage you from writing something else), returning to Britain, her relationship to the British International Association (assuming I got that name right), her reaction to Harry’s reveal and her hunt for her elder daughter.  Some of these wouldn’t have to have a heavy rev arc influence, but I’m currently more interested in the universe/story set up in rev arc.

 Keladry Mindelan

Look at this point I’m this close to just straight-up asking for a crossover, I love Kel and I’d love to have more of her in the world of rev arc.  I’d love her getting involved in Britain’s issues, whether through Neal or otherwise; she’s got no reason to be personally invested but she is the protector of the small, after all, and I can’t imagine she likes the way they run their country even before the end of Vanguard, which I’d imagine would only make it worse.

 Recent Vanguard Spoilers Past This Point

    Aldon Rosier, Sirius Black

I would adore something with the Lords Rosier and Black, and awkward formality, and Comedy™ which I suspect there may be little of in CC (it is a war after all), so I’ll take what I can get lmao.  Obviously there’s no way around what happened to give Aldon the title, but I’d rather neither that nor the war be a focal point; I’m more interested in dumbass shenanigans for this.

[moonwolfhowl]

Yuletide 2k19 edition

Hiyo, first off I’m moonwolfhowl on tumblr and nightmoonz on AO3. I’m really excited that you got me and I just want to thank you so much in advance and I really hope you have fun with this!!

Secondly, here are a couple things that I like and dislike, (and some prompts but you can take ‘em or leave ‘em). If you’re not 100% sure on if something is or isn’t my deal my ask box is open and the anon option is turned on.  

Ratings: I prefer through T-M, but tbh I’m pretty easy so if you wanna go up to E feel free ^__^“’

Likes, Loves and DNWs:

Likes and Loves!

AUs! No, seriously, every kind of AU

Humor! Especially: sarcasm, witty banter, etc…

Angst and hurt/comfort are awesome!

Slow Burns

MUTUAL PINING and/or SEEMINGLY unrequited feels

idiots to lovers, this can either be enemies to lovers or friends to lovers. sort of related to the point straight above XD

found families

Fake relationship/dating/marriage you know for a cover/mission/(fill in the blank)

Bed Sharing

Sex Pollen

“In Vino Veritas” 

Happy Endings!!

Squicks/DNWs (do not wants):

Character Bashing

Abuse of any kind

Cheating

Actual unrequited feelings

Harm to animals

Non-Con

Incest

Mpreg

Major Character Death

Scat and/or Watersports

2nd and 1st person perspective

Spiders especially Tarantulas, this is a huge trigger for me

Okay! I’m gonna put a break here because this is a long post and all prompts/ideas are below.

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Alrighty, so these are just some silly prompts or ideas that you can take from or totally ignore altogether! It’s really just some ideas that you can look to if you’re stuck or need a jumping off point.  And man, like if you already had an idea? Please feel free to go with that instead, I just want you to have fun  = ^__^ =  

Also again, if you have any questions the anon option is turned on for my ask box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OOctopath Traveler - Therion, Tressa Colzione, Cordelia Ravus, and Leon Bastralle

Oh boy this game. I have no words that can even describe how much I LOVE this game. The storytelling was fantastic and I got really invested in not just the main 8 but in all of the minor/side characters too. I know I have Therion, Cordelia, Tressa and Leon specifically but if you want to throw in any of the other characters in the tagset you totally can, same with any side ships (here’s looking **You don't have to include ALL the characters I selected here in your fic, you can mix them up or follow a prompt I have. I only request that you include at least one of the ones picked here <3

I’m kind of open to anything but if you do need a jumping off point (and/or want to see me gush over my favs) check out the prompts below

Therion - I love him and would die for him he is my perfect little trash bandit. It kills me how he longs to belong somewhere but is equally afraid of it for very good reasons. Because of this he’s so heavily guarded and *sobs* his reactions to people (the 8 and Cordelia) genuinely caring about his wellbeing? It just hrrk! I’m so happy I started with him, that I got to see his growth throughout the story and how his emotional wounds finally seem like they’re on their way to healing. Tressa - My adorable little gremlin, she’s such a little badass! While money may be on her mind a lot she’d never cheat anyone! She’s genuinely kind and her travel adventure is so interesting because it’s about exploring the world, experiencing new places—and while she has a certain understanding of this—she learns the true meaning of sentimental value in things. I love her so much. Leon - I love how much of his character is wrapped up in some mystery and that he seems like a tortured but mature soul (as you can see I have a type.) Cordelia - I love Cordelia and she is entirely underrated. She’s been through quite a lot and her faith in my best boy helped him come back into the world able to to trust and love people again. She’s very soft and caring and now that her stolen heirlooms have been restored to her she can come back into the world herself.

Gen ideas:

Tressa and Therion teasing TF out of each other doesn’t matter what about or who about. I just love them and they have such a brosis vibe

Tressa spear fishing and shocking Therion or everyone by it, you can add any and/or all of the characters in the tag. (Inaccurate Tressa, "What? I live in a Port Town my dudes.”)

I know this is cheesy but Therion having his first Apple Pie would destroy me ; __ ; it can be when he’s little or an adult, AU, Canonverse or Canon divergent it can be a Birthday treat to himself, it can be the first thing he pays for with money he earned on his own. If you want to include any character my sign up sheet or want to include any other octo character(s) that’s fine too!

Shippy ideas (which I’m a little more into but whatever you are comfortable with is a-okay by me):

Cordelia Ravus/Therion (Thordelia)

THEM *SWOONS* I just love them, Cordelia helps my baby boy trust in people again and brings happiness back to his world… and he has so much respect for her I’m just— ; __ ; I just love them

Actor & Author relationship: AU, Canonverse or Canon divergent you name it!

Again Tressa teasing TF out of Therion but specifically about Cordelia (esp after his chapter good god. *swoon*)

Cordelia’s POV on her Noble Thief

Anything post game like I wouldn’t mind seeing her rebuilding Bolderfall, visiting each layer of the city and helping it thrive

Fake Dating. Any Setting XD

The “I’m supposed to take out the target but I fell for them instead” is also very good

Tressa Colzione/Leon Bastralle

; w ; their relationship and care for each other—like Thordelia’s—makes my heart melt

Any kind of them traveling together and developing feels on the open seas post game

Her being his apprentice and learning from him while teaching him some new things

Does Leon have a thing for the arts? Is that why he’s particularly enamored endeared to Tressa spotting the painting?

yeah ngl anything, my thirst is real

A Very Shippy and utterly ridiculous prompt. Tressa x Leon (Treon? Lessa?) and/or Thordelia (however if you wanna include other side ships like Olberhardt or H’aanit x Ophilia for example you can go for it!)

Masquerade! Can be Canonverse, Canon Divergent or AU!

A Masquerade ball in which: 

They can either know each other beforehand or not

Halloween Party, Adults, College AU

idk this is just something to have fun with and hey lol if you wanna make it more mature feel free

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Promare - Lio, Galo, Gueira, Meis

Man this movie messed me up and all the right ways. Honestly one of the most chilling things was to see all of the Burnish being used as engine fuel… I like—ngl I cried, and then when Lio gets used as the core? ; __ ;

Honestly I will be happy with anything you come up with, there are so many possibilities just know that a heavy angst fic is A-okay by me, but if you want to do a flufflier or humor fic those are also so Very VERY good. I have some ideas below but again like if you have an idea in mind or started something by viewing my likes list go for it!

**You don't have to include ALL the characters I selected here in your fic, you can mix them up or follow a prompt I have. I only request that you include at least one of the ones picked here <3

Lio - Um yes I love him. He’s just such a tortured soul and true cares about people. I like—honestly he is my favorite character. The way he used his flame to protect Galo? How hard he fights for the Burnish? How hard Gueira and Meis fight for him and stop at nothing to save him speaks volumes about the kind of person he is. I just love him and want him to have nice things

Galo - This wonderful brilliant dumbass. I also love him and despite me calling him a dumbass he’s actually pretty with it when it comes to adapting to his environment. He also takes in new information and rather than reject it out right he examines it critically. Like the way he approached Kray about the Burnish experiments was not the smartest… However, he still went to find the truth no matter how much it could have hurt him and that really defines what kind of guy he is.

Gueira & Meis - So unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of these two but what we did get to see was GOLD. I love them, I love how they fight so hard to protect their fellow burnish and how loyal they are to Lio. Like omg when the Burnish were being rounded up but they used the last of their strength to save Lio, believing—knowing that he would come back for them? *hrrk* My heart.

So okay!!! Ideas and/or prompts! Again you don’t have to use these if you don’t want to <3

Anything Shippy with Lio and Galo + hurt/comfort?? 10/10

An AU where the Promare gift the Burnish with their “fire bending” abilities permanently

Anything found family esp if it's adopting Lio's litter fam with Galo's ; w ;

I'd love to see what was going on with Gueira/Meis while they were locked up side by side. What did they talk about? Their faith in Lio? Them possibly growing up with Lio? Their feels for each other? And honestly you can go as angsty as you want to with this.

Gueira & Meis being over protective (big bros) of their boss and bestie Lio. (Poor Galo lmao)

Feel free to include any other characters you want from the tag set or canon in general ^___^ 

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Crescent Moon - Any

Ah… my poor beautiful tiny manga fandom… I love this 6 volume series so much. The storytelling can be fast paced at times but it doesn't even phase me considering how detailed and intricate the themes, lore, relationships and monsters & magic are. For this fandom anything goes, like any AUs, tropes, canon compliant or divergent is all welcome here.

Bonus points if you have your own take of the song/legend: “Princess Princess why do you cry?”

If you want to make a fic about the Princess and the Demon boy when they were kids, or have any fic at all featuring them (kid or adult) I'm all for it.

I love Mahiru Shiraishi/Mitsuru Suou they are such little disasters anything with them would be amazing but I’m a multishipper so if you have a ship that isn't them and you've been dying to write your ship? Write your ship! I'd love to read it!!! 

And anything including Akira is god tier - he is the bestest boy. 

I’m sorry I know this prompt is very open ended and very vague but like I’d just be happy with anything