#maybe i will finally have exorcised this scene from my head now

[skalidris]

xiyao matchmake wangxian: guanyin temple prologue

... really i think we're not giving this scene the hard, relentless, xiyao-focused scrutiny it deserves. i am here to help.

as i was talking about theatre, i'm going to use clips from the audio drama as my base. mainly lan wangji's yearning by vodoberry, and wangxian love confession 1/2 by haruka forever, since the latter includes scenes following from the former.

you'll have noticed that those video titles foreground wangxian. disclaimer that i'm aware this scene is about wangxian also, but not today.

jgy asks the buddhist monks at the temple to detain lwj; wwx, sounding light and a bit teasing, says that lwj might not come. jgy immediately refutes this, and then fishes for information about lwj's whereabouts.

wwx is slow to respond, then huffs, and ultimately praises/mocks jgy by saying 'as expected of you, lianfangzun.' the both of them are playing a double-talk game; talking in multiple meanings. we do not see wwx do this very often, but it's a common habit associated with politicking and politeness in mdzs. neither of them is willing to escalate anything at this point. jgy is pushier than wwx, i think, here, explained by what we the audience know just happened between him and lwj and by the fact that jgy has him outnumbered, at present.

then lxc speaks, and he's not double-speaking at all! we know he can do this, but he's not doing it now. he asks the question jgy implied and wwx politely avoided--pressing the point of where lwj is, and why he's not here already. he sounds worried.

wwx hesitates even longer before replying that they're 'acting separately'

lxc responds nearly immediately, and his speech is more forceful than relaxed, although not extremely pressuring, proving once more that he's truly stressed. he asks why lwj would leave wwx when he (wwx) is injured. he says 'i heard'. and so, wwx immediately asks from whom, notably not hesitating at all. again without hesitation, although not exactly hastily, jgy says 'from me.'

i think jgy's curtness and lower tone of voice on this line means that he feels this is a making-himself-vulnerable thing to say for some reason and/or that it's self-evident. since they are discussing what xiyao both agree is the self-evident fact that lwj would endeavour to be where wwx is, that's interesting. this line must be meaningful emotionally, because otherwise jgy's way of speaking wouldn't have changed. like wwx' hesitation/wry huff, this is a cue for guardedness, expressed differently since they're different people.

even more fascinatingly, wwx backs off again immediately, responding to lxc instead of to jgy, and speaking slowly, again with that affectedly light-hearted tone. he explains exactly how he came to be alone at the temple (lwj doesn't know he's gone) and then it's jgy to respond again, even though this is an answer to lxc's question! -- it comes across like they're used to treating themselves as a unit, since they're doing this even when their relationship's kind of on the outs right now.

'you got two rooms' jgy asks, and this actually surprises wwx, so he responds quicker and kind of.. bitterly, asking why on earth jgy would expect that.

no one answers! wwx takes a second and goes, again with a note of bitterness, 'you and lxc really do tell each other everything'. this entire conversation is about the evident and obvious closeness of wangxian and xiyao, while both of those relationships are a little . stressful, at present, for those involved. in the sense that they are doubting them. it's a very immediate parallel: jgy's got lxc taken semi-hostage and returned the jade token; neither of them's sure in their very old friendship in that moment. wwx is having a crisis about sleeping with lwj.

>> when these characters are commenting on and responding to each others' relationships in this entire conversation, that should be taken as a way to process their own, especially for xiyao, since they are both present. the various levels of politeness already introduced in these first moments (up to minute 1:17) make it clear that the characters are speaking in double-meanings, which makes this a credible interpretation to begin with.

(cut for length/because this is the core idea) (very serious about the length)

what happens next is that lxc asks again what happened, clearly not willing to discuss his own relationships, and wwx, sounding sulky, also unwilling, going 'can we deal with sect leader jin first'.

a long silence follows, and lxc apologizes for being hasty. i think this is interesting, and more evidence that he's not, at this point in time, actually cutting ties (emotionally) with jgy yet at all. there are many opportunities, in this very limited time-frame, for him to push jgy or distance himself from him towards wwx and he's not taking any of them. he's not particularly affirming their relationship either, but still.

jgy speaks and seems to respond only to his own thoughts, or possibly re-stating lxc' words/pushing where lxc backed off. they've done like four of those kinds of exchanges already. it's been barely two minutes. also hilariously, jgy picks up wwx's light tone, for this, like he's subtly annoyed with him for the barb earlier, or like he's trying to mask his feelings in a different way

both wwx and jgy are now not playing (as) politely anymore that they've got a sense of each other's weaknesses--wwx tells jgy off for worrying about other people, and jgy is like oh no i just felt so bad for lwj.

'hanguang-jun spent so many years in yearning, and even today he hasn't got his happy ending yet.'

...to be honest i think that's a peculiar line. jgy doesn't care about lwj, and even if he did, the emotionality of that phrase is more straightforward than anything said up to this point. although he's speaking with knowledge of the fact that lwj is in love with wwx and has been for ages, even if he's upset for lxc (whom he mentions shortly after), that's a lot of words for something he's purportedly uninvested in. i think he's projecting. he's wanted a happy ending for himself, too.

wwx doesn't notice that, and why would he. when he speaks he's clearly shaken, only responding to jgy's literal words. however, although he's been quiet, it's not like there isn't another person present to hear this. given what jgy yells at lxc later, it's possible this is a reminder to him, as well--intentional or not--about jgy's own unfulfilled yearning.

jgy's still speaking in the light, kind of teasing tone when he chastises wwx for his inability to understand lwj's feelings, which, after all, are so obvious. if he's also talking about himself in some way, that gives another layer of meaning to lxc, who jumps in to support jgy's point, although he sounds way more genuinely invested.

then, the explanation about the scars.

i think it's worth noting that there's a real difference between lxc and wwx here, which underpins how upset lxc is about to get. namely--lxc is aware that jgy's gotten hurt and sacrificed things for him (lxc), while wwx has never noticed lwj making sacrifices for his sake. the other reasons lxc is upset--whipping lwj/lwj killing the elders traumatized him and wwx hasn't noticed--lwj was miserable a lot over wwx--still apply.

the fact that what wwx remembers then, that his remembering scene opens with 'that night at nightless city' peculiarly supports reading this scene from a xiyao angle. rather, as wwx is remembering lwj-and-nightless-city, and we know jgy & lxc have strong connections to nightless city also, the framing reminds us of that. it's enough to assume that xiyao are 'remembering' nightless city, too.

more things about what wwx says sound peculiarly suggestive of xiyao's backstory, too, which of course we never see clearly--just as wwx's memory of that night is clouded. like mentions of wwx being saved from cultivators at the burial mound, by wangji.

lxc says: 'no matter how much of a prodigy you were, how could you have escaped under those circumstances'. wonder who else was a prodigy who needed rescuing, once....

my computer doesn't like the length of this post, but suffice it to say also that apart from the wwx-lxc parallel in action here, the jgy-wwx parallel also counts, seeing as that night at nightless city happened in the aftermatch of the stygian tiger seal massacre, which lxc seems to have regarded as the point of no return for wwx' reputation/morality. lxc is confronting questions like this regarding jgy right now, too, and as such, every thing in the flashback should be understood as informing lxc's later actions (for instance, the things lqr yells at lwj, which lxc evidently remembers well enough).

as lqr says: 'he has committed a heinous mistake. can you shoulder the weight with him'

lxc takes a different approach to responding to jgy than what lwj does, i think, in part because of that night. we should note this: lxc has reason to believe that love is criminal/punishable/dangerous, not just because of his parents, his sect history, what he was taught growing up, but also because of what he witnessed of that night and the aftermath.

as such i also think lxc's audible frustration when he calls wwx lwj's only mistake is in part reflective! it's not exclusively about wwx. it's also funny, if arguably a stretch, to read this as an answer to a question in jgy's observation that lwj was obvious. like they're using lwj to speak about their feelings to each other.

lxc: if you don't know, why did you have to do all of that.

he's suspecting/accusing wwx of playing with lwj's feelings, obviously, but as he's also doubting the sincerity of jgy's affection due to recent revelations, it continues to be reasonable to read this as two conversations at once.

anyway and then wwx realizes he needs to meet his man and stops being polite and starts fighting, while jgy, perfectly calm, explains that lwj is already there. and thennn they confess their love! hurray!

.. and then, and this is the final piece of evidence, and i think it confirms that jgy & lxc were having some kind of conversation while handling wwx, it starts to rain. and jgy calls lxc er-ge again (it was consistently zewu-jun, before), singling him out. and lxc doesn't protest either the term or the special attention, simply saying, 'alright.' clearly, through the course of that conversation, they've updated their understanding of their relationship, reaching a higher degree of ease again.

i would absolutely love to hear more about your course on semiotic analysis in theatre and how it had influenced your opinions on mdzs/cql, when/if you have brain space to talk about it. 🧋

First, thank you for asking--I hadn't actually thought about how that course influenced my take on mdzs and the derivative canons, but in hindsight, it really super did.

Now that I have given it some thought, I should say first that it's been a while since I studied this, and also a while since I first read mdzs (I'm using 'mdzs' as a shorthand; I actually watched s1 of the donghua first, then s1 of the audio drama, and then I read the full novel. cql wasn't a thing back in those days yet, and neither were the later donghua seasons).

Read more as I'm longwinded! Content: Theatre Studies Semiotics, Why I Use This

Semiotics, even just for theatre, has a lot going on. I'll be simplifying! Very simply, semiotics is about a thing called signs. These signs are expressions of something; rather, they are vehicles of communication. Anything that communicates is a sign. Signs communicate some abstract idea, or carry a meaning--something like that.

It's absolutely irrelevant whether someone put a meaning into the sign, or why that sign came to exist. Intent doesn't matter. Since all material expressions (also, words, or sensory experiences--they're material compared to their meanings) are signs, and the duty of a sign is to carry a meaning, that meaning is what can be derived from the sign. Itself.

This dualistic definition is basically associated with a guy called Ferdinand de Saussure. In the semiotics of equally famous guy Charles Peirce, you get a third category. It's kind of complicated, but for these purposes, I'm gonna go ahead and call that third category the system for understanding the sign--the incoporation of the 'thought' of the sign back into a framework of ideas and concepts.

The essence of semiotics in theatre in so far as I mentioned it in that post is, everything on the stage is part of the performance. Our professors had real-life anecdotes for this, but it's basically this: If in the middle of a staged fight, an actor spits blood and collapses on the stage, some audiences might be empathically upset, others might laugh, someone else might go 'woah. how did they do that?'

But no matter what, all of those responses assume that this is acted--someone, several someones, costume and blood and light and acting, came together to portray 'death' in this way. But that actor actually just died for real, in real life. That's why, intent isn't important for semiotics. Although you can certainly discuss intent, ultimately, once you've agreed to the existence of signs and signification, intent is at most secondary.

Obviously, a novel isn't a play, and neither is a tv show, or a donghua, or an audio drama. Semiotics absolutely can be applied to anything, but I'm specifically talking about theatre here. I personally don't see this as an issue, first, because cql and the audio drama are recorded performance arts (they fall within theatre studies already). two, because I'm fundamentally regarding reading/watching/listening as unique, non-repeatable events in which i, the audience, and you, the audience, are never really passive at all. <<key concept in theatre studies, in particular the work of the theatre semiotician erika fischer-lichte.

I like this approach for mdzs, and it's definitely partly because I just liked JGY so much! And I was not really in a majority with that, and back then, people also didn't like xiyao as much as they do in this post-zzj&lhk era. I wanted to understand this, and I also wanted to know whether I was wrong to like him. Not because it would've made me stop, but because 'I've decided to ignore the author' and 'the author doesn't contradict me' are really different starting positions for thinking about something, and I wanted to know which I was in!

(If I want to stubbornly contradict something, I better make sure I haven't made up a strawman from misunderstanding first. That sort of idea)

Semiotics sort of.. side-steps this? The conclusion I came to is that the text creates its own framework for interpretation. It does this structurally, by what information is presented, omitted, changed, etc, when and how. It does this in how characters talk, in what cues they take from each other (or don't!), in what the narration comments on.

In other words, the conclusion is that, just as in theater, regardless of what intention is behind any individual sign of the story, regardless how it came to exist in the story, it's there, and part of the story. So I am obligated to consider as part of the total network of signs that make up the bigger-scale meanings, such as 'all kinds of intent result in destruction if the circumstances are bad enough' and 'what happens after the terrible thing happened' and so on and so forth

If something doesn't have a meaning, because the whole story is made up of signs and system, it becomes a sign with a meaning anyway. Due to peer pressure.

Luckily, Peircean semiotics allow for system interpretation, so signs like that, the ones whose meanings we can't incorporate well, it's possible to decide not to incoporate them in analysis or whatever ^^

And of course, your own framework might be lacking. Mdzs was my first webnovel, and my first danmei, so with this philosophy in mind I set out to read several more in order to give me more confidence in understanding the story. That is, in order to decide what 'counts' when creating an interpretation and 'what doesn't count' is made easier with a more suitable framework. However, I still think that the story itself gives you the correct cues anyway--they just might get distorted by your framework.

[was gonna put an example here, since I dunno if this makes sense, but I'm too tired. Mayb later.]

[gojonanami]

"MIGHT HURT" - SUGURU GETO

✴︎ summary: suguru's popularity is truly a curse, especially when he gets hit on right in front of you. luckily, you both know how to handle those situations. aka i heard this scene from 'no hard feelings' and i had to write a fic about it. ✴︎ contents:: jealousy, crack, fluff, humor, made-up girl from suguru's middle school before he came to jjt, naoya mention ✴ wc: 788

With the two princes of Jujutsu High, it was unfortunate that you had to date the more popular one. 

And no, it wasn’t Satoru. 

Suguru Geto is the more popular one — probably because of his manners, compared to Satoru’s…bluntness. It didn’t hurt that he was polite, a prodigy, and a perfect prince. And how could you complain? 

Except at moments like this you did. 

It was supposed to be a simple mission. And it was. Two grade A curses the two of you exorcise with ease, and now you had one more night to spend at the hotel Jujutsu High had kindly booked — some of the only real alone time two of you rarely had — without Satoru bursting into either one of your dorms (whether the door was locked or not). 

“Finally a date, a real date,” you sigh, walking hand in hand with him, “should we commemorate with a picture?” 

He smiles, rolling his eyes, “I left my phone at the hotel — I didn’t want any interruptions,” and you grin, as he leans in, breath warming your lips like an invitation, “just you and me, Princess,” 

“I like the sound of that,” you murmur — how was it he still could make your heart skip a beat like that? — utterly unfair. And your lips nearly brush when a voice interrupts you. 

“Geto?” Your heads snap over, as the two of you untangle yourselves. A girl in an unfamiliar high school uniform walks over, “it’s you, how are you?” Her lips are curled too widely, her eyes too eager, and her body language completely ignoring your presence. 

Oh, what the f- 

“Fumi?” He asks, lips in that same smile he gave everyone, the painted polite grin he plastered on, “it’s been a long time,” 

“It has. I heard you are going to a school in Tokyo now,” she smiles, “I stay in Tokyo with my family sometimes, we should meet up. I can you give my number,” 

Suguru opens his mouth to reply, but you cut in, a tight lipped smile on your face, “He doesn’t have his phone, so…” you reply, and she acknowledges your existence for a moment, gaze finally sliding to you. 

“Oh, then maybe I can give you my number and you can send it to him,” she offers, and you tilt your head. 

“No need,” and you can see Suguru glance between the two of you, his hands in his pocket. 

“Can’t hurt,” she flutters her eyelashes at Suguru, pouting, and you wonder if she would count as another curse you could exorcise. Although surely a fly head was more trouble than she would be. 

“Might hurt,” and Suguru’s arm snakes around your waist, physically reigning you in. 

“Me and my girlfriend actually have to get back to school, but it was nice to see you again, Fumi,” and he’s scrawling a number down, “here’s my number,” he waves, before ushering you off. She tries to stop you two, to no avail, as Suguru uses a small curse to draw her attention away for a moment before recalling it. 

“Was that necessary?” 

“Well I think using a cursed spirit was preferable to you beating her with your cursed tool, wouldn’t you agree?” he scoffs, but he can’t keep his lips from curling into a smile, “I didn’t really give her my number,” 

“I know,” you were irritated - not stupid. You knew Suguru wouldn’t cheat on you, but you hear a noise escape his throat — and you know he’s laughing. 

And it looks could kill, he would have been as dead as those curses from earlier, “you find this funny, don’t you?” 

“You getting jealous of some girl I barely knew from middle school? Yes, I do,” he snorts, mirth in his tone, “but I could go back and give her my real number if you want,” 

“Do that, and you won’t have to worry Fumi getting hurt, because she won’t be the one getting their ass kicked,” and he laughs, pressing a kiss to your forehead, before his lips find yours — and you can feel him smile against your lips, “it’s really annoying that all these people flirt with you, but I guess it’s only because my boyfriend’s hot,” 

“Got a catch didn’t you?” he hums, pressing another kiss to your lips. 

“Lucky me,” you mumble, sarcasm heavy on your tongue, and he’s kissing you more insistently, showering your face with kisses until you smile, pushing him off, giggling, “ok, ok! I’m lucky,” you sigh, burying your face in the crook of his neck again as the two of you walk, “whose number did you give her anyway? Satoru?” 

“No, Naoya,” and you snort, pressing a kiss to your devious boyfriend’s cheek. 

“Poor girl.” 

✴︎ a/n: i watched no hard feelings last night and i couldn't get this idea out of my head. i was gonna write it with gojo, but i remembered how gege said geto was more popular so :)

[yandere-sins]

I'm not sure how thirsty our thirsts are allowed to be but I just stumbled upon your ghost oc from the halloween thingy while searching ghost from cod and WHAT?!?!?!?! Listen....all I'm going to say is 💦💦💦💦🥵🥵🥵 that is literally the best smut I've ever read in my ENTIRE life and I've been reading smut since about the 2000s. Would you be interested in continuing that piece or for writing an additional part? Maybe when they come to the apartment for the exorcism, they try 'channeling' or calling to the ghost to come, but he's fucking reader the entire time right infront of the roomate and officiate? My brain is thinking it would be so sexy if there was a glitch and he was visible for half a second but that can't be right....right? Why else would your roommates see a tall, sexy man taking you from behind at such a time? Must be a trick of the light! I love the perspective you write in and how even though this very supernatural sex scene was happening, you didn't describe it in a confusing or overly complex way. Your way of describing things, especially naughty things just hit different. It was extremely enjoyable! And so freaking hot!!!!! Seriously, there isn't a lot of content out like that so you're literally an angel for providing us with that haha. Going to give myself an anon name here, is 👻 available? Ahem, no reason why I chose that emoji hehe

Aww, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to write :D Not sure I am always as clear when describing smth, but I'm doing my best! Thansk for you sweet ask and nice request, I hope you enjoy this story as well! ♥

Disclaimer: I don't speak latin. I google translatored this. Warning: Yandere, Heavy Sexual Content, Biting

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

"Dele omne mal-- ah--!"

"Malum, Baby. If you want to erase all evil, you gotta say your words right~"

It was hard enough to read the little pamphlet in your hands with your body shaking like crazy, thanks to the thick cock plowing into you with every word you were saying. You could have really forgone the condescending nitpicking of the ghost you were trying to exorcise, but you weren't that lucky.

"Malum," Eli whispered, leaning over to you and raising an eyebrow you could see even in the sparse flickering of the candles around you. They couldn't ask, not wanting to disturb the ritual you three had initiated. Still, their gaze alone silently questioned your inability to perform your part properly, even more shame washing over you.

"M-Malum," you finally finished your sentence, giving them an apologetic glance before lowering your head to avoid any more eye contact. You wanted them to notice this bastard of a ghost as soon as possible so they'd believe you, but at the same time, you were too embarrassed to be caught by them like this.

Aside from Eli, another person had joined you in this strange rite meant to banish the evil from your apartment. A guy named Brian, who seemed to really believe in this stuff despite being unable to see the ghost haunting you either. You had held your breath when you entered the apartment together with him, wondering what his reaction would be to seeing the spirit clinging onto you almost instantly, rubbing his cock against your ass and whispering lewd nothings into your ear.

But Brian made a grand show of convincing Eli that the apartment had bad 'juju', and needed cleansing immediately, which, strangely, your roommate believed him without any doubts. It only gave the ghost another chance to taunt you as he revealed that Brian was no more sensitive to the supernatural than Eli was, there being no escape from your unwanted roommate.

Now, you three knelt around a drawn-up pentagram on the floor of your room, the epicenter of paranormal activities how Brian explained, and between the fog of incense, the dim candle lights, and your nightmarish lover slipping in and out of your wet cunt, you could barely think even one cohesive thought.

It wasn't that you actually enjoyed being exposed to other people, the tension doing nothing for your pleasure other than making you squeeze the ghost cock tighter whenever it was your turn to speak. It wasn't a comfortable environment in any way. But something had changed. The ghost had changed.

You hadn't noticed it this morning at the breakfast table, nor when he bent you over the counter, feeling too worn out and fucked loose to actually feel the difference. But he had grown. After a few hours of staying away, you finally noticed the change in girth of his ever-so-eager cock. It was thick and bulging, especially when he pressed it to your sensitive cunt. It had made you gasp and tremble the first time it entered you, painfully spreading your walls, and even now, you could barely produce enough slickness to have it rammed into you comfortably.

Despite this, juices were flowing out of you, pooling on the floor beneath your gaping pussy as the ghost kept spreading and demanding deeper and deeper access. You blamed the incense for getting to your head, making you feel all aroused as you clenched around the suddenly bumpy and pleasurable grip his cock had. "Just like this, Babe. Fuck, you're so unbearably tight," the ghost groaned, burying his face in your shoulder as you unwillingly shuddered, your walls holding on to his length as it twitched inside you, the bumps and ridges covering his cock, stimulating your soft flesh.

You were going to cum. There was no denying it. In front of Eli and Brian, no less. 

"Now, let's hold hands, so we ask the ghost to pass over to the other side and leave this apartment peacefully."

A hand on each side of you was held out, and forcing yourself to take them, you couldn't help squeezing them tightly, earning a rather displeased look from both before Brian cleared his throat, continuing.

"I'll pass over, all right," the ghost mumbled, his pace picking up, cock twitching while he picked up the speed. You prayed to any god that could hear you that the others wouldn't notice your shaking and rapidly building orgasm. Your breath was hitching, pussy tingling delightfully as you closed in on violent spasms. 

"You feel so fucking heavenly~ I might die all over again. And I'll pass all my jizz right here."

And with that, you felt his tip kiss your cervix, your pussy spread to the max as the ghost stopped his movement, arms wrapped around you as he pressed you against his body, squeezing the air out of your lungs as if he wanted to take you with him to the afterlife. Your body had no choice but to accept his cock, wrapping around him and having him brutally stimulate all the sensitive spots inside you while you could barely hold on to reality.

Brian said some incomprehensible words, the rumbling of thunder suddenly scaring all three of you to the bone, making you jump. That little movement was enough to send you over the edge, the ghost pulling you back as you slid off his cock a little, his tip ramming into your cervix. It released all the pent-up pain and pleasure inside you first before soothing the burning heat of desire inside you with cold, dead spunk shooting up into your womb.

You were shaking harder than ever as lightning lit up the room, followed by another bellowing thunder. Brian gasped, his eyes widening as he stared at something behind your shoulder, the ghost letting out a husky laugh as he let his long tongue slip from his lips, dragging it over your ear before wrapping it around your throat once completely. "Mine," he growled, the tip of his tongue caressing your cheek, searching for your lips to dig in, and Brian let go of your hand, unable to get away fast enough as he let out a scream, stumbling to his feet and out of the door, leaving everything, even the things he lent you guys for the ritual, behind.

"What's up with him?" Eli asked, totally confused as they looked after Brian, surprised by the sudden freak-out. "What the fuck is going on? Why is he-- hey? Hey, what's wrong?"

Shocked, they noticed your unnatural hunched-over body, hanging only in the arms of the ghost that they couldn't see. Eli touched your shoulder, only to get shocked by electricity you could only guess came from the ghost. "It's over," you mumbled, feeling spit drool out of your mouth, your throat too restricted by the ghost's tongue to swallow. "Finally over."

"Never, Darling. We're only beginning," the ghost chuckled. "Tell them to leave."

"You can go, Eli," you slurred, letting your body fall back against the ghost's chest. Your eyes were hazy with the brutal orgasm you still felt shaking in every bone of yours. Gaze unfocused as you tried to direct it at Eli. The cock was still buried inside you, emptied yet hard and solid as if it manifested. Juices began to drip out, and had Eli looked at where the Ghost bundled up the black robe Brian made you wear in his grip, they would have seen the pool of indecency collecting on the floor between your wide-spread legs. 

"Are you sure? You seem... weird. Are you really okay? Should I call an ambulance? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No!" the ghost screamed, followed by the loud crashing of thunder as he grew bolder with every orgasm he could steal from you. He no longer lived to tease and bother you. He was finally evolving into an even worse spirit than before. Possessive. Starving. Greedy. Only you could hear him, and you shook your head in pain, exhausted.

"It's fine! Just... Just go. Please..."

"Err... okay?" Eli definitely wasn't considering hurrying up as they collected the few things Brian allowed them to take with her into the ritual, like their phone. But eventually, they stepped out of the door, closing it while watching you warily. "Let me know if you need something, okay?"

And with that, the lock finally snapped into the frame, and you breathed a sigh of relief as the ghost lowered you gently onto the floor, laying you down on top of the pentagram. "You're not going anywhere. And you can't get rid of me, do you understand now?"

"Please..." you mumbled, covering your face with your arms. You felt weak, used, and disgusted. So many bad things had happened in the last few days, and you were exhausted. Nothing you did made it better, and you were running out of ideas. It made you feel exposed and vulnerable, you even felt...

"I'm scared..."

Tears welled up in your eyes. A reaction you never wanted to show him, knowing the ghost would take every chance to belittle you. However, to your surprise, he leaned over you, licking and kissing the tears away gently, softly, a purr escaping his throat.

"It's okay, Sweetling. No one's going to take you from me. I'll satisfy all your desires and perform all these sinful things you'll come to wish from me as you fall from your graces. You are bound to me, and I am to you, and we'll grow stronger together until we can leave this place. We'll cause havoc and chaos wherever we go until we're strong enough to even wreck hell. I need you. You need me."

Pressing his body between your legs, you could feel his hard cock rub all over your cunt, now even teasing your clit. You mewled, head falling back as he pressed it painfully close, your pussy suddenly aching to be filled by his thickness while his lips trailed down your body, licking the sensitive spot between shoulder and neck before replacing it with his teeth.

His tip prodded against your entrance, and your cunt gave him little resistance as he pushed it in slowly, fangs sinking into your flesh at the same time. The ghost pinned you down by your hands, and with his weight, your whole body trembled so hard as if you were going to explode while you gurgled from the pain and pleasure. You were so out of it, you didn't even notice the pentagram beginning to glow beneath you as your blood spilled from the bite, some lucky drops dripping to the floor while the ghost licked up everything else.

"My queen, my life," he mumbled against your body, and you could feel his lips curl into a mischievous grin. "My pretty little fucktoy."

A burning sensations spread all over your back, making you gasp. Even more tears leaked from your eyes, but at the same time, you arched your back, the ghost's cock slipping inside you completely, turning the pain into pleasure.

"We're bound now," the ghost groaned loudly, lifting himself from you, and you felt his cock twitch inside as if he was ready to spill again.

Looking up at the ghost through teary eyes, you couldn't believe what you saw, his translucent skin slowly turning black and solid. You were horrified to see the burning mark of a pentagram go up in flames on his chest as his body solidified, great satisfaction brimming from demonic eyes.

"Finally, we're bound to each other. And with this new body of mine, nothing can stop us."

His touch had always been real, but the leathery feel of his hands wrapping around your throat was different. Frightening. You gasped and gurgled as he pulled you on his lap, now the one to kneel on the ground as he impaled you on his cock, one hand falling to your ass so he could move you up and down his shaft. "You're going to make such a beautiful pet for your future king of hell. I have to thank you for giving me enough strength to recover my true form. And I know just what to do to reward you."

Hugging you to his chest, you were pressed into the burning pentagram. The flames licked at you, lapping at you like an excited dog but didn't burn your skin where they touched. They were warm and comforting, engulfing you in an unlikely sweet embrace. All while more warmth spread through you like wildfire. Your back felt like it was burning up the same as his chest was, bigger and hotter with every toe-curling, scream-enticing plunge on his thick, slick cock.

"Birth my army as well, Human. Let's rain down disaster on this planet, and I promise you will never lack anything in life ever again."

You didn't care anymore.

Your tongue was hanging out of your mouth as your brain got shredded by otherworldly pleasure. Flames had spread everywhere, playing with your clit and nipples like eager appendages, teasing and lighting you on fire, even licking at your butt, waiting for a chance to enter you alongside their master. You could hear the wailing voices straight from hell as your ghost—demon?—grunted like a boar in heat while plowing into you mindlessly, satisfying his lust and need for your life force. You felt your life drain from you just as a new life built in you, strengthening you. Against your will, he was transforming you into something you didn't want to be. Something like him. A being that could weather all his desires and wishes. That would be just as depraved and selfish as he was, with a mind too broken to refuse him.

His queen. His life source.

His pretty little fuck toy.

His.

[daisyishedwig]

I was tagged by @cryscendo, @backslashdelta, and @sperrywink on Sunday but I didn't have anything share, but now it's Wednesday and I do. But first, a bit of an explanation for this snippet. I tend to look at writing as a bit of an exorcism, there are words in my brain and they must get on a page or I'll go mad. This is why I tend to have so many WIPs at once, because I simply can't ignore scenes when they come into my head. Now this fic is not a WIP I'm actively working on, it's an idea I had probably a decade ago that I might maybe one day write, but probably not for a while. But when a scene must be exorcised, it doesn't matter what my plans are, so I wrote like 1200 words for this yesterday. It is a Starklaine D/s universe AU, if you want to hear more about it, I do have a post I made way back when that breaks down the basic concept, if you're interested. But for now, enjoy some angst!

Another harsh, cut off sob made Kurt’s heart clench and before he knew it he was knocking on the door. “Blaine,” he called, and he heard a sudden commotion as Blaine startled, scrambling to make himself presentable. “I’m coming in,” he gave the warning, knowing he should ask for permission, but Blaine still struggled with answering questions about his personal space, never knowing if they were simply asking to be polite, or if they really wanted Blaine’s opinion. 

Blaine was standing in the middle of the room when Kurt entered, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. His face was tear streaked, his hair rumpled and sleep mussed. His arms were out away from his body like he wasn’t sure what to do with them, half raised in defense or placation. 

Kurt gave him a soft smile and Blaine’s face twitched in some approximation of a smile that was so forced it looked downright painful. “You can sit, Blaine,” Kurt said, leaving the door open behind him, “do whatever makes you comfortable.”

Blaine’s brow furrowed and he finally wrapped his arms around himself and dropped to his knees on the floor. Kurt gasped quietly and took a step back. Of course, he’d seen Blaine on his knees a number of times before, it seemed to be his default position when he didn’t know what to do. But this left a strange feeling in his gut because it felt like… well it felt like Blaine was kneeling for him. 

Blaine was watching him closely and noticed Kurt’s backward glance, like he too wanted to cut and run from this situation. He shifted backwards until his butt hit the floor and instead hugged his knees to his chest. Kurt frowned but visibly relaxed before he lowered himself to the floor, sitting crosslegged a few feet from Blaine. 

Blaine fought the urge to lower himself further, conflicted about being on the same level as Kurt. When they were standing it didn’t feel so distinct, since Kurt had a few inches on him, but sitting on the floor made them the same. Blaine didn’t like it. 

“I heard you crying,” Kurt started, tilting his head to catch Blaine’s eye. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Sir,” Blaine blurted, even though he knew his tear stained cheeks showed that that was a lie. 

Kurt’s gaze darkened slightly, his breath hitching in his chest. The twinge in his gut grew stronger, and Kurt tried to push it away. He’d spent too many years believing he was a dom, that had to be what it was. “You don’t have to call me Sir, Blaine,” he said and noted the flush that started high in Blaine’s cheeks, “but I would rather that you not lie to me.”

Blaine took in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Kurt,” he said, eyes trained on his feet.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kurt asked.

Blaine shrugged. “You don’t have to, I’ll be okay.”

“And if I want you to talk about it?”

Blaine let a short breath out through his nose and it was the closest thing to a scoff that Kurt thought he was capable of. “You don’t even like me,” Blaine said, “you don’t have to comfort me.”

Kurt’s jaw dropped slightly and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before he cleared his throat. “I don’t… dislike you,” Kurt started. “I have issues… with the situation. But that’s a me problem, not a you problem, okay? I’ll get used to it… eventually.”

Blaine blinked at him with dull eyes.

“Look, I’m– I can be possessive. And jealous. And I’m not wild about the fact that my boyfriend has another sub living with him, okay? It stings. Especially when you’re like, the epitome of a perfect sub and I tend to make him fight for control.”

Blaine frowned. “Elliot loves you.”

Kurt shrugged. “Not all doms like having a brat for a sub.”

“But Elliot does.”

Kurt twisted his leather bracelet around his wrist, not sure how to express to Blaine how long he’d felt broken, unsure of himself, staring at his blank wrist like he could will it to tell him who he was. How submission didn’t come instinctively to him, it was an art he’d had to learn, and Elliot had painstakingly trained him through months of Kurt feeling so lost, but knowing one thing and one thing only: he liked kneeling for Elliot. But Blaine didn’t know he was unmarked and he could count on one had the people who did. 

“Hey,” Kurt scolded gently, “I came in here to comfort you, not the other way around.” 

The corner of Blaine’s mouth quirked up in a wry smile.

“So stop deflecting, and tell me what’s wrong.”

Blaine’s spine straightened and Kurt noted how much that sounded like and order, but Blaine was speaking before he could correct it into a question.

“It’s stupid, really. I don’t even…” Blaine took a frustrated breath, “I don’t understand why it set me off. Why it keeps setting me off.”

“It’s not stupid. If it’s hurting you, it’s important.”

Blaine’s lower lip trembled and he looked away, his eyes wet. “Elliot’s so good with you,” he said quietly, “he’s patient and kind, even when you’re fighting. Watching you two… it hurts.”

Kurt frowned. “He’s like that with you too.”

Blaine laughed wetly. “I know. I know he is. And it’s easier to… settle into it when it’s directed at me. It feels good, and right. But when I’m watching, I just get stuck in my own head and I spiral into all these thoughts–” he cut himself off with a shuddering breath. “Elliot makes it looks so easy with you. To be patient, to be kind, to care. So what about me made it so hard for him to be kind?”

I know it's late, but I'll tag @kurtsascot, @fallevs, @bitbybitwrites, @annepi-blog

@calsvoid, @lusthurts, and @wowbright

[tonydaddingham]

running commentary masterpost on scene predictions/plot points that now that ive recovered and regained my composure im finally able to write it down

idk I just need to get some stuff exorcised the braincells are getting rowdy from the friction/electrical interference:

(under a cut bc a. length and b. cant not mention The spoiler)

- crowley ends up getting evicted from his flat because he's now unemployed and doesn't get to keep the perks

- ends up living out of the bentley/moving his material possessions (read: plants) around in the bentley, doesn't tell aziraphale bc idk pride? that's a sin, right? or bc it would prompt to az to offer house room but that would be making aziraphale go Too Fast?

- during all this, aziraphale has called him "there's something urgent I need to talk to you about 😭"

- so i reckon crowley has popped by the shop, lil chit chat w/e, brought along some delicious eccles cakes, and then found out about goob etc cue jump scare

- i then think (and this is entirely my head just filling in the blanks) he's actually said to aziraphale that they need to off him and just give him back to heaven, it's nothing to do with them anymore (not knowing that the goob/az/box conversation has happened ie the something terrible) and therefore aziraphale can't just yeet goob into the ether

- let's face it, communication is NOT our boys' strong suit, so this leads to a spat, crowley feeling like aziraphale is still caught up in being a proper angel, not on their side, and all leads to crowley summoning force lightning (that coincidentally hits the coffee shop with both maggie and nina inside... 👀)

- after having flounced off, crowley zoom zooms through london at night (slaloms around buses), pulls up at the bookshop

- comes to the shop, aziraphale is ignoring him reading his lil jukebox articles, and then rings the bell, "I'm back 😠" | "yes, i can see that 😒"

- im guessing aziraphale then tells him about this little jukebox mystery, and crowley offers to help him look into it, AND help him hide gabriel bc aziraphale manages to finally convey that there's a bigger issue at hand and maybe the jukebox thing is linked? "we'll do it together 😁" | "together? 😶"

- aziraphale's LARP of poirot begins

- muriel (aka baby) comes to investigate gabriel's disappearance, and turns up in the full Met Police uniform (ie from the trailer), has/looks at a cuppa with aziraphale, and then crowley arrives

- crowley apparently comes in carrying a plant (im guessing because bentley conditions are rather sub-optimal OR he needs the backseat space, and he needs to surreptitiously offload them into the shop)

- now i need to work out where crowley would have been re: "why didn't you go by train? you love trains 🙄", but im guessing he's been off having a look at stuff surrounding the jukebox mystery, because that's based in edinburgh?

- cue the clip with muriel and then where aziraphale and crowley are trying to not let muriel know that they know she's come from heaven, and then "word with you angel? in private? 🙃"

- i think this is where they surmise that she's come for gabriel, and is possibly when aziraphale then reiterates that "he's in trouble 🥺", and they need to protect him/hide from both heaven and hell because they need to work out what the something terrible is first

- they exit, find that goob has very happily been chatting with muriel for the entire duration, but he's just dusting the bookshelves and being Helpful™ so obvs he's just aziraphale 's assistant!!!! nothing fishy here!!!!!

- so muriel reports back to hq, but maybe michael and uriel cotton on? and send muriel back down to look into it further, to get between aziraphale and crowley because obviously they are together and will be weaker divided, so muriel starts doing her reconnaissance on Human Relationships (ie decides to ask nina bc that's just diligent field research)

idk that's all ive gotten so far and yeah is pretty inconsequential on its own and will only be like a small part of the storyline but i just want my thoughts memorialised so i can look back on them four weeks from now and laugh

bonus bit:

honestly pls discuss this with me im dying here

- The Kiss™ stems from aziraphale finally noticing that crowley has essentially been homeless, and grills him on why he didn't say anything, of course he could have moved in with him, he cares about him of course he was welcome, why are you wearing your glasses yada yada yada, "i didn't want to go too fast for you, i didn't want to push you", "i think by now i can keep up, crowley" and BOOM snog

edit: oh and another bit I forgot to mention:

- i highlighted that muriel is in the full Met dress above, reason being because in the promo pic of her, she's suddenly without her jacket, and just in a shirt and tie, so this would indicate she comes to the bookshop more than once?

[wordsandrobots]

Have I obligated myself to have a ‘take’ on Witch From Mercury? I mean, I’ve posted pieces concerning every main Gundam anime thing I’ve watched except Cucuruz Doan's Island (because I have nothing to *say* about Cucuruz Doan's Island except that hearing Lucian Dodge voice Amuro is a *trip* for an Iron-Blooded Oprhans’ fan, let me tell you). In my own head at least, this creates the completionist urge to note something down now G-Witch is over. And hey, I believe in exorcising nagging thoughts so why not? Spoilers and unfavourable opinions ahead. In fact, I’m going to use a cut because this show seems popular around here and  I’m not monster enough to rain on anyone’s parade about it.

It’d be nice to say, ‘basically fine for what it is but not my thing’. The problem is, I’m not sure I can say that, having found it so unbearably messy to watch. It could be my peculiar brain wiring that makes it frustrating to have a story constantly introduce stuff that neither goes anywhere nor coheres especially well with itself if you stop and think about it for five minutes. But it does feel like this would have been vastly improved by cutting something -- anything -- to make some room for thrust of the main plot.

I have a specific beef with the lack of characterisation for A(Eri)al. We are *told* how much Suletta cares for her and how crucial that relationship is through the first season, and of course it’s vital to the struggles and resolution of season two. But it’s hard to point to an example prior to Suletta’s little vision-quest-slash-being-dumped escapade where they interact in a meaningful fashion. It seems extremely one-sided and I’m not sure how intentional that is. This loops around to a complaint about sloppy world-building (a school is the perfect setting to introduce concepts to be later expanded or subverted and the show resolutely Does Not Do That), but is a more significant matter since we’re talking about emotional beats. You know, the things that actually drive a story along.

And look, anything that gets me saying ‘show don’t tell’ has already stretched my patience thin. But it would have been so simple to have included more moments of Suletta pouring her heart out to her Gundam -- with the interface responding in some inscrutable fashion -- I find it genuinely baffling that didn’t happen in place of, I dunno, the Jeturk family drama.

Oh, speaking of which, second beef: if you are placed in the situation where you need to displace a bunch of ‘traditional Gundam story beats’ on to a pseudo-rival/protagonist character, maybe consider . . . just not hitting those beats? (I know, this is a long-running franchise, this is how it goes, executive meddling etc. That doesn’t make it less irritating to have it all culminate in an out-of-nowhere fencing match in reference to a 40-year-old fight scene when the objectively correct way of resolving a plot about arbitrary and unfair systems of rules is with rock-paper-scissors.)

It’s a shame there’s the germ of a neat idea in that concept of displacement, because Guel feels like the part that could have been most easily jettisoned to create space. The Elans have emotional heft as an explicit parallel to Suletta, Elan-5′s relationship with Norea being a vital example of the ‘love me, flaws and all’ refrain at the heart of the story. But Lauda and Guel having a barney in the middle of finale feels egregious and like it only exists to get an extra Gundam into play (an entirely arbitrary requirement). Though I suppose the fact I barely remembered to mention Shaddiq here also speaks to something else that didn’t really resonate or seem to go anywhere in particular.

Here is where you can fill in for yourself the long list of complaints about the show raising issues it doesn’t care about doing justice to. War-profiteering, the traumatising effects of violence, possibilities of future medical technology, corporate influence on geopolitics, social inequality, refugee crises, yadda yadda yadda. G-Witch doesn’t have anything to say about any of these things. It’s a family drama and that really is fine, if that’s the story it wants to tell. It’s about the doings of the privileged (those literally raised on high) and their tribulations are the focus over and above harm to anyone else. It is what it is. I could whine for days about this stuff, but it’s no worse than you’d find in many pieces of comparable media. Cherish the exceptions.

To say something nice, lest you think all I have are complaints, this show is beautifully animated throughout (I did find the action inside the data-storm hard to follow, owing to the lighting choices, but I think that’s a me thing) and very well directed. The mecha designs are solid, even if we were robbed of more touches like the rocket broomstick. For all my above grouching, Felsi coming out of nowhere with a fire-extinguisher was a fantastic, knowing way to halt Guel and Lauda’s fratricide arc. And I need to stress, the central story about Suleta, Miorine, Eri, Prospera and Delling really is fine. Not my thing and I’m way past the demographic, but on its own terms, it’s fine.

It’s just stuck in the middle of a distracting mess of half-baked concepts, meaningless call-backs and a cast suitable for an anime twice as long. It’s tempting to pin everything on that last part, to hypothesise this was going to be or should have been 50 episodes, not 24. I’m inclined to take the opposite track. I think there is a perfectly functional 24-episode story here that got stuffed with far too many moving parts for its own good.

Right, done. Where does that leave the final ‘in my opinion’ ranking? Starting from the bottom (by the way, I’m now at the ‘I flatly refuse to watch Victory Gundam’ stage so just write that one off entirely):

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011) [The one I actively hate]

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991) [Dull]

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991) [Slightly less dull]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002) [Uninteresting]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988) [Mean-spirited]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway (2021) [I intensely dislike the fight scenes]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island (2022) [I honestly forgot to add this]

Mobile Suit Gundam (compilation movies; 1979) [Deserves smarter call-backs]

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989) [Good for what it is]

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015) [Also good for what it is]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Destiny (2004) [Frustrating]

Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (2007/2010) [Bonkers, politically aggravating]

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985) [Interesting]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Unicorn (2010) [Well-made]

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986) [Fun but janky]

Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury (2022) [See above]

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994) [Delightfully committed to the bit]

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing/Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1995/1997) [big for a reason]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight AXIS (2017) [Nicely done]

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015) [Best-case scenario for fannishness]

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018) [Surprisingly enjoyable]

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996) [Bags of fun]

Gundam Reconguista in G (2014) [Pretty popcorn]

After War Gundam X (1996) [Genuinely a lot cleverer than it looks]

Turn A Gundam (1999) [Deliriously smart]

B

I

G

G

A

P

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015) [Actively excellent]

[violettelueur]

— FUSHIGURO MEGUMI || LET’S NOT LOSE EACH OTHER

↳ featuring : fushiguro megumi from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mention of blood, mention of death and grammar issues

↳ form : imagine

↳ published : 04 february

↳ pronouns : non specified in imagine

↳ word count : 1.2k

↳ synopsis : during a mission, you had unconsciously made the choice to take a hit for fushiguro leading you get injured during the process, what will fushiguro’s reaction towards your reckless actions be like?

↳ request : I love your writing 🥺 can I request a Fushiguro imagine or hc where maybe the reader takes a hit for him and gets hurt?, (Angst ending in fluff)

↳ barista’s notes : here is another imagine for you all and it is fushiguro megumi’s turn ʕ´•ᴥ•`ʔ and yes, those manga books were worth the purchase, ariana grande said retail therapy right? i hope you enjoy your cup of classic black coffee (jujutsu kaisen request!) and please don’t be shy to order again soon ʕ￫ᴥ￩　ʔ

“What the hell was that Y/N!?” Fushiguro shouted in anger as he ran up to you completely in panic, struggling somewhat from the pain he was experiencing on the side of his body after finally managing to defeat the curse he was facing.

Right now, you were leaning against a cliff wall where there was a large crack in the middle due to the impact that it had endured when your body hit the solid rock. Of course, you were in pain, probably had a few bruises in the process, but the agonising feeling was going numb at this point since you knew the boy who was in front of you right now was okay.

From what you could recall, you and Fushiguro were on a mission together that was set by your teacher Gojo Satoru. Unexpectedly, during the middle you and him were suddenly ambushed by two high-level curses, forcing you both to split up to face on at the time. Fortunately, you had managed to exorcise the curse you were facing despite the grade you predicted to be, yet the same couldn’t be said for your boyfriend who seemed to be struggling. However, after that, it became completely hazy.

All you could remember was Fushiguro laying on the ground for a split second, then the illuminating light of magenta from your curse spell to create a shield to protect him as well as you, to the act of the back of your body to hit the cliff you were against now.

‘Did I take the hit for him?’

Shifting your eyes to the side, you suddenly noticed how bloody your left arm was. Numb. Have you broken it? You wouldn’t be surprised if it was, that was the usual hand you used to support the layering shield you casted, but the curse somehow broke the last layer resulting in you taking most of the damage compared to your counterpart.

“Y/N?” Fushiguro quietly muttered, as he kneeled down next to your body leading your eyes to shift back to your partner, who now expressed a face of pure concern as well as vexation combined causing you to come to the realisation that you were going to have a lecture at this moment in time.

‘I swear, sometimes he could be my dad rather than my boyfriend’

“What the hell was that? You shouldn’t have been so reckless!” Fushiguro yelled in frustration, causing you to look at the stoic sorcerer with sharpened eyes with a warning glare pending. In his defence, you completely understood why he was irritated at you, you threw yourself out there in front of an attack that you probably knew you couldn’t completely cover since the shield wouldn’t develop fully due to the small space of time you have. However, in your defence, Fushiguro was completely vulnerable at that moment and if he took the attack head-on, you knew he wouldn’t be standing right now or probably worse.

“You were on the ground, what else could I have done?” you questioned in a whisper tone, knowing if you had shouted at the shikigami user, you would either feel the pain of your injuries again and Fushiguro will yell at you more for being ‘irresponsible’ while also feeling the pain of his injuries that he had also sustained before you protected him.

“You didn’t have to jump in front of me like that! Are you stupid?” Fushiguro angrily asked while unable to hide the crack in his voice, leading you to slowly but carefully lift up your right hand to gently wipe away the stray tear that was slowly breaking down his composure. 

Since the start of your relationship, you never once saw Fushiguro tear up in front of your very eyes. You have seen his mind swim through guilt and pain, every jujutsu sorcerer has once or maybe twice in their career. However, tears were a whole nother thing for you. There was no point in arguing with him now.

“I’m so sorry,” you apologised to him while cradling his face with the same hand you used to wipe the clear tear away. “sorcerers rarely die without regrets, and if I didn’t protect you, I will regret that with my whole being Megumi,” you explained, knowing it wouldn’t get to him but it was nice to voice out your opinion, “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

“I can’t lose you Y/N! I nearly lost my sister but she’s not waking up, I can’t lose you in the process!” Fushiguro screamed, leading to his agony to echo throughout the open area you both were currently located leading to some of the birds, who were looking down upon the scene, to fly away in fright while the stream that was near couldn’t conceal any hint of pain in his voice.

Tenderly, you moved your hand from his cheek to the back of his head before pulling him in to rest his forehead on your shoulder, knowing right now that Fushiguro didn’t want the world to see his helpless state even if there was no one but you to witness it. Leaning your head on his, you felt his erratic but soft locks brush against your cheek while his face buried further into the crook of your neck causing you to feel the sensation of damp tears seeping through your white dress shirt.

Steadily, Fushiguro's position dropped causing him to lean on your body slightly but made sure he didn’t make any contact with your left arm in any way as he began to relax in your hold. Even though Fushiguro wanted to prove himself that what you did was rash and heedless, there was a purpose to it. If you hadn’t moved yourself or put that protective spell in front of him, he would have either been in a worse condition than you were in right now or worse as you had hinted in your reasoning.

“Even though you tell me that you can’t lose me, I can’t lose you too Megumi, even if I die, I can’t make the world lose you,” you informed him as your use your hand to brush the bottom of his hair as you bit your lip to hold the tears that were threatening to pour down your face. “Besides, you look like you're not in good shape as well,” you joked with him in a humorous tone, trying to make the tense and suffocating atmosphere lighter - even that comment made Fushiguro’s lips tilt upward slightly knowing what you were trying to do.

“That’s not shocking, you’ve seen me injured many times,” Fushiguro commented back, causing you to giggle slightly before wincing as a shock of pain travelled up your spine leading you to come to the conclusion that you might have also gained some bruised ribs as well. Fushiguro quickly moved away from your body much to your disapproval, before taking your hand from the back of his head to his, as he began to interlock your fingers together as he then looked down at your connecting hands as a way to confirm that you were really here with him, savouring the warmth that was travelling through your hand to his.

“Let’s not lose each other, okay?” he asked in a whispered tone, knowing in some way it was possible for the promise to come true even when the chances were extremely slim.

“Yeah, let’s not lose each other”

[elysianslove]

jujutsu sorcerer!reader; haikyuu boys 

requested by anon(s): haikyuu boys with a crush on a jujutsu sorcerer, and being saved by them

pairings; hinata shōyō x reader, kuroo tetsurō x reader, tsukishima kei x reader, kozume kenma x reader 

genre; fluff

warnings; some mentions of death

hinata shōyō

to hinata, you probably stand out more than you’d think

idk why but i love love love the concept of hinata having like a completely opposite s/o kagehina. as in, i can see him so well with an alt!s/o or a goth!s/o. i can’t explain it it just works so well in my head

the fact that you were so mysterious and quiet really, and i mean really, peaked his interest. unlike literally any other character, he is nosy, and he wants to know why and how and when and who you are, so he does make effort to talk to you often

you always kinda just smile at him and give him one word replies. it’s not that you don’t like him, it’s more that you’re here for a reason and you don’t want him to get caught up in the middle of it all. you’d hate for something to happen to someone as pure as him

your attitude towards does not throw him off in the least. he’ll just want to get to know you even more

one of his upperclassmen, like tanaka or noya, probably notice and try telling him things about you to kinda back him off of you because they’re scared of you lowkey 

ik i used this scenario before but it fits hinata too; we all know he stays late to practice often, so it isn’t a surprise or it isn’t too odd that he stays yet another day until the sun has long since set. you’d only known he was in the volleyball club in passing, but you didn’t know him well enough to anticipate that he’d be in the gym this late

the most remote place, and the closest too, that you could think of at literally nine pm was the boys’ gymnasium, so you’d led the curse there in hopes of driving it away from other people around it. you hadn’t expected that you’d be leading the curse straight to another target 

hinata was the only one there, too, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to attack him 

one moment, he’s just tossing the ball against the wall and receiving it, the next the gymnasium is being broken into by some creature from above, followed by you and your angry yells

you were really focused on the curse, prepared to battle it and exorcise it, before you finally spot him. he’s frozen, the ball dropped from his hand and rolling away from him. the way he’s staring at you, and the way he keeps eyeing the creature in fear, it clicks something in you, you don’t know what

but you don’t give the curse a chance to even try and attack, immediately charging at it and exorcising it quickly, defeating it right away. it dies away with an agonizing yell and you’re pretty sure this’ll count as trauma for the poor kid before he rushes towards you, grasping your wrists and staring at you like you just hung the moon in the sky

“what the hell was that that was so cool oh my god can you do it again can you teach me how to do it you are so badass —“

like baby breathe omg 

even the way you laughed at him was intimidatingly hot he was a goner !!! 

now that he knows of your nature, it attaches him to your hip. you can’t get rid of him anymore but it’s okay he’s literally sunshine in human form 

as a duo, and as romantic partners, you really are complete opposites, but that’s why you fit so well together you know! 

if you can conjure up something like the divine dogs like megumi, expect him to constantly pester you for them <3

kuroo tetsurō

listen, he knew you were a little odd from the moment you joined nekoma. like there was no doubt about it there was something off about you. he had some type of feeling that you weren’t really here for the education you know? 

but the rational side of him convinced himself he wanted to live in some type of movie so he dropped it

he does try to get to know you, though, yeah, of course he had to fall for that one person that no one knows anything about 

kuroo’s just trynna be the main character lmfao

with kuroo, he actually succeeds in growing closer to you. i mean who can resist him? no one

it starts off simple, he’d invite you to games, sit with you during lunch, before it escalates more into walking you home some days, inviting you over during weekend games, inviting you over at outings with his friends

more often than not, especially when said outings happened during nighttime, you’d decline. he didn’t really think much of it though, he just let you be, you know? 

then, one time, you decide to go for it. 

he invites you out to the movies with some of the vbc boys, and you accept. you figure you being gone for a few hours won’t hurt anyone, and it wasn’t like there aren’t any other jujutsu sorcerers available in tokyo. it’s a big city, you rationalize 

halfway through the movie, something feels off, and as a sorcerer, you know to trust your gut instinct, so you excuse yourself to the bathroom to check the area out. kuroo, having felt like something wasn’t right with you, and being slightly worried himself, goes after you. 

turns out you were right. two people had already died by the time you come to the alleyway behind the theatre, and there’s a curse hovering by their bodies. you’re slower to react because of the initial shock, and when you see kuroo coming out of the same backdoor you’d just left out of, your body entirely freezes

until the curse jumps to attack him, and in a flash, you’re by his side, kicking away at the curse, watching as it smashes roughly against a wall 

kuroo’s immediately asking questions, but you can’t exactly focus on him at the moment. you prioritize eliminating and exorcising the curse first, and when that’s done and dusted, you lead kuroo away from the theatre

he’s very shaken by the whole scene, especially after having seen two corpses 

that night, you lead him to your home, and he stays there. he keeps you up all night, but it’s understandable. throughout it all, you reassure him of his safety constantly, telling him that you’d never let anyone or anything ever hurt him

it’s what brings you two closer together 

because that incident had been his introduction to that specific world, he grows very wary anytime you’re sent out on missions, but you always come back home to him, and that’s what matters <3

tsukishima kei 

please tsukki with a crush is hilarious cause he’s so bad at expressing his feelings 

you’re actually really similar to him in that you’re quiet and that you don’t really appreciate talking and conversing to others. you tend to keep to yourself, and he really respects that, like deep down 

he thought you were just a really timid person until he snaps at you once and you snap back. and then it was like everything that has ever happened to him led to this moment right here because what the fucsjdhwf

the fact that he recognized his feelings for you kinda made him even warier of you. like his scowl is deeper and his bite is harsher, but that’s really only because he does not know how to deal with these emotions. like he has a bad way of expressing them correctly 

you two build this small relationship between you. it’s like a teasing thing, where it’s literally just all bark and no bite. it’s lowkey fun, and you grow to appreciate his presence 

he doesn’t really question it when you miss days of schools, or when you return the days after that all bandaged and bruised. he figures it’s not his business to ask questions like that, and just continues to observe you from afar

anyways! one night he’s walking home, all alone, peacefully, before he sees you dash by him, being chased by??? what the fuck is that???

tsukki just pauses, but he’s not even like scared or worried he’s just confused and a little amused tbh. he stands in place while his eyes follow your movements as you allow the creature to chase at you, before you make a sharp turn and hit it, sending it flying back

except, you hadn’t realized the direction you’d hit it at

the curse goes flying at tsukki, and he’s just staring at it like, “hm,” not moving an inch. he’s trynna give you an aneurysm on god 

you scream at him to move, but you’re already rushing towards him. as soon as you can, you throw your arms around him and topple him to the ground. you land on top of him, but you don’t get to see his flustered face because you’re off of him way too soon, taking care of the issue at hand 

he’s a little surprised at the reason you’re always cut up and bruised, but he can’t say he’s not even a little amazed at just,,, how cool you seem

he’s still on the ground lol and you hit him with “i hope you’re not waiting for me to pick you up.”

“it is your fault i’m on the ground to begin with.”

you help him up 

with an eye roll of course 

when he’s standing again before you, he just sighs and lifts a finger to his face, as if to indicate to your face. then he says, “that explains all this then,” referring to the bruises painting your skin 

your relationship doesn’t change much for a while after that, except that knowing glance he gives you every time you walk into class exhausted 

likes to call it monster hunting for some reason 

clearly you’re the only one out of the two of you with any balls because you’re the one that confesses. thanks for saving him the trouble hehe

he’ll never tell you to your face, but he thinks he is incredibly lucky to have someone as badass as you as his s/o

kozume kenma 

kenma probably took note of your exceptional situation for a few, but he didn’t give it much thought initially. like so what if you were super secretive? not like anyone knew much of him himself 

it’s not until kuroo or someone points out like, “they’re quite odd, right?” that he starts to pay attention, but he’s not sure why

maybe he’s trying to convince himself and others that you’re not really odd for being the way that you are. just secretive and mysterious and introverted. like. does that make him odd? 

he starts to notice things like you staying after school for late, late hours, but not because you’re a part of any club, and things like your missing of school, or how your knuckles are always, always bandaged and wrapped, or how you seemed to be at the oddest of locations at the oddest of times

it’s not really like him to be too interested in what you do, so he doesn’t invest all his thoughts and energy into. he does though dwell over it for a lot longer than you’d think 

sometimes, kenma takes a console of his, and heads up his rooftop, because it just feels really safe where nobody and nothing can get to him

he’s proven wrong one night when, in the middle of the game, he hears thumps across the rooftop. he thinks he’s being tricked by the game he’s playing, until he feels something behind him, until the hairs on the nape of his neck stand and a shive runs down his spine because there is something breathing down his neck

and then he hears your all too familiar voice whispering out, “don’t move, please.” 

it’s honestly not like he could 

he sees you from the corner of his eye move in a flash, and suddenly, when the feeling is gone, he finds himself able to move again, and he turns around

it honestly looks like a scene from a movie, what he’s staring at. you battle the curse so well, and kenma is fully and shamelessly enamored by you and the way you moved so swiftly and efficiently, as you dodge and attack, and as you finally exorcise 

like he’s so in awe he has to pinch himself to convince himself he’s not dreaming 

when the curse is taken care of, you just slowly approach him, kneeling by his side and asking in a soft voice if he was okay. he decided then and there that no, you were not odd at all. you just saved his life, so,,,

you urge him to go back inside, to stay safe, and he just nods as you lead the way to his window. and when he slips inside, for some reason, he finds it in himself to ask you to stay too

to stay safe, of course

it takes you by surprise a little, but at the genuineness in his eyes, you accept, and stay up playing games with him

and when you greet him in school the next day with a smile and a wave, kenma returns it, just as brightly <3

[nameless-shrimp]

BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS || SATORU GOJO

Request: i was wondering if i could request a best friend to lovers with gojo? completely up to you regarding if it’s a one shot or headcanon! i don’t have anything too specific besides that! maybe some angst to comfort bc i love to make my heart ache a little.

Pairing: Gojo Satoru x GN!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of sexual content (close friends to FWB to lovers).

Type: Headcanons / small one-shots

Notes: Nonnie, you love to make my heart warm with this. Writing Gojo Satoru... well, it is truly my specialty, hehehe. I hope you like this one! This is actually pretty bad in my opinion but I hope you like it nonetheless!

Satoru would consistently ask to get into phone calls with you whenever he had the free time to do so, and that even meant when both of you were students together at Jujutsu High. It was difficult having to have him cling onto you but you liked it deep down.

Satoru purposefully left missions early or avoided meeting with Yaga-sensei in order to take most of the time to train with you. It always led to him beating you and you scolding him for going too hard on you but without a doubt, he’d loved every bit of training and bickering you’d gnaw at him.

Most of the time, there was a lot of sexual tension between the both of you. Clearly, everyone saw it; Utahime found annoyance and disgust with it though she did make a bet with Suguru about whether you and Satoru would have slept yet.

The consistent flirting that Satoru would act upon you and the physical gestures of him throwing his arm over your shoulder and the tickles he’d give on the back of your neck was an obvious sign he was into you—or really, he just loved to annoy the shit out of you.

“You’re coming home early tonight, right? Let’s hang out or maybe I should sleepover.”

“For once in your damn life, Satoru, please be quiet.”

Satoru would take you out on trips—or well, you thought they were dates, but he said that both of you were simply hanging out. Sometimes it’d be a trip to the bakery and having bubble tea while both of you talk about your day or a drive through the city, which was peaceful.

It didn’t take long for you to realize that you were falling for your best friend. He was witty but charming all at once. You hated him yet you loved him as a close friend and you were falling in love with him now. The moment he looked at you and your hands almost touched while you were both gazing up at the stars as he talked about how exhausted he was being the strongest and all that, you were falling hard.

Truth be told, you loved his annoyance. It was too much, sometimes, but as the both of you got stronger—in reality, this meant to you getting a little bit stronger but he was always superior to you—and more mature as months went on, you had grown fond of his annoyance. The days where he didn’t pester you with text messages and phone calls since he’d be out on trips overseas or start teaching as a sensei for Jujutsu Tech made it a bit unbearable and lonely sometimes.

The more time that Satoru had to take care of for himself, he became bolder yet he managed to be so quiet at the same time. Sure, he always fooled around with you, maybe teasing you in front of Principal Yaga (which was embarrassing to have your old sensei and now principal watch these scenes unfold), but it always seemed as if he was hiding secrets.

Every time you asked him what was wrong and you always encouraged him to come to you, he’d do so, but it wasn’t long until both of you actually started sleeping with one another. And, yeah, he was really good in bed, but when time progressed, he became softer and gentler with his touches.

Whenever you asked him why it always seemed like he was hiding something, he’d tell you that you were overreacting and that you needed to not overthink things. But Satoru was your best friend for so long, and after all, it was difficult to not see right through your best friend.

When you explained to Satoru that you wanted to stop all of this curse exorcising and wanted to live a ‘normal life, he didn’t argue with you. Although, this made both of you a bit distant from each other. It was hard at first, but Satoru didn’t like the idea of Nanami consistently giving you the most company, even though you were both working together now.

There was a time where Satoru ignored you for a good amount of time. He didn’t answer your texts or even your phone calls, he didn’t mean to hurt you in this sense, though he found himself falling for you harder as well too. But he couldn’t ruin the friendship you both had; the strong connection you shared with him.

Satoru had to admit to himself that he loved the sex, yeah, but he loved being able to be around you. They were the only moments when he could have the option to kiss you, hug you tightly with so much affection in his heart, and talk about how beautiful you were even if it meant that you’d smack him on the face afterward because you were just always so playful and that’s how you were.

──── ⋅♡⋅ ────

It was difficult to maintain a close friendship with Satoru.

Not because he was outrageously witty and flamboyant with his high and mighty powers, but it was more so that you were falling hard for your best friend. Whom you had grown up together with at the same school; the same one who would knock you down during every bit of training that you’d get, and you’d scold him for offering such a weird demand since you knew every time he requested to train with you, Satoru would easily win every time.

When he became a teacher and you had recently quit Jujutsu Tech, you decided to work with one of his other friends, which was Nanami Kento. However, his job was absolutely draining, but it definitely beat the consistent outings of exorcising curses and you preferred to live a life as normal as possible without having to put yourself on the line.

During work, as of at that moment, your feelings were soaring at the sight of Satoru’s name popping up on his phone. Nanami consistently lectured you with the tough personality he had, claiming you could easily find someone more suitable for your tastes, but he always let it go.

“Enough being a child,” Nanami scolded you, eyes scanning through the newspaper in his hands. How could he find the old articles to be so fascinating? “Tell Satoru how you feel.”

“Or what?” You cocked a brow before taking a sip of your coffee. “You’ll tell him yourself?”

“I’m not in elementary school. Both of you are adults here, or at least, I thought,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I am tired of him texting me of your whereabouts. It has gotten to the point where I had to block his number but I couldn’t due to the higher ups’ and their needs of exorcising curses.”

“Sounds like a real bummer for you.”

“You seriously have no idea,” he responded, avoiding eye contact before turning a page of his newspaper. “Now tell him that you have feelings for him.”

“Nanami,” you sighed, placing your cup of coffee on the table in front of you. Both of you were on your lunch breaks, which ironically, most of the time you both decide to take it together so you wouldn’t feel too lonely. “You make it sound so easy.”

“You’re the one making it difficult.” He huffed.

“Come on,” you shook your head, placing your hands out in frustration. “How do I approach it?”

“Y/N, I am not going to answer that question since you already know the answer to it.”

“Nanami.”

“Lunch break is almost over,” Nanami quipped, checking his watch.

You blinked at him. “It has only been like ten minutes.”

“It’s mentally over for me,” Nanami spoke before standing up and making his way to the door.

You furrowed your eyebrows at the tall man who was casually making his exit from the conversation you were both sharing. “Hey—Nanami, you ass! I thought we were supposed to be helping each other!”

“Language, Y/N, we are working,” he shook his head before slamming the wooden door.

“We are on break!”

──── ⋅♡⋅ ────

Satoru continued to drag on this act where it became the usual of seeing each other, having casual small talk, have sex, and then he’d be off the next day. The idea of that strong friendship slowly became a ‘friends with benefits’, and then, it hurt you more than you imagined.

At one point, Satoru got lectured by Nanami over the phone about you and him being complete children and it was about time to confess his feelings—or vice versa, or really, both in this sense—because he couldn’t stand your constant worries at work. (Really though, Nanami just cared for you, and he was tired of seeing you sulk in pain).

So, finally, Satoru decided it was time to open up about how he felt.

When Satoru asked you to see him at his place or have him go over to yours, it didn’t take long for him to flash over to where you were and have both of you meet. It was difficult, seeing him the way that he was, and he looked lost in his eyes though they were hidden beneath the blindfold that he wore.

The night was still young, streetlights were flickering, and the wind was chilly. Both of you stared at each other in silence before both of you had decided to open your mouths at the same time and speak simultaneously.

“I need to tell you something.”

Both of you spoke, and before you knew it, you both let out a loud, boisterous laugh that echoed throughout the park that you met up Satoru. It was charming, it was an enjoyable moment and you felt your knees weakened at the thought of you having that small spark of connection together.

It made your heart flutter, but the time was now or never.

“So,” Satoru grinned, almost as if he grew a large amount of confidence not too long ago. “Shall I go first or should you?”

“I mean,” you gritted your teeth, fighting back the nervous ticks. (But you gave in and then fidgeted with your hands anyways. God, this was harder than expected). “I don’t know where to start.”

“Neither do I,” Satoru’s grin faded into a soft smile before he took a few steps closer to you.

His smile began to fade which made your heart drop quickly; there must’ve been something cold or terrible he had to say. The look Satoru made was not something you enjoyed seeing, and nonetheless, you were a subject to the expression on his face. Overall, this was difficult to witness, and this didn’t help the shakiness of your hands.

“What we’re doing…” his voice trailed off as he tilted his head. And—why do the cute gestures have to be so heartwarming in a serious atmosphere like this? It was illegal for him to act this way. Definitely.

“You mean… the sex?” You questioned; you knew the answer. Of course, you did. But you wanted to clarify anyways.

“I don’t think we can keep it going, Y/N.”

And—this was it. The moment of truth. You felt your face become heavy, and not the way that you’d hoped for. “I mean, I get it. We are all gonna be with someone and fall in love and well, yeah, you get it.”

“I don’t think you get it,” Satoru responded as he untied the back of his blindfold.

Within a matter of seconds, his blindfold fell to his hands and his bright, blue eyes were charming its way to your gaze. A smile grew on his face and he cupped his hands on your cheeks, letting his thumbs flutter over your blush.

“W-What do you mean?” You asked, suddenly forgetting how to breathe at his sudden touch.

“I like you a lot,” Satoru smiled. “I always have, ever since we were young and dumb and well, I guess we are still pretty young and du—”

You couldn’t help but flick his forehead for that, completely ruining the moment.

Satoru grunted, not minding that he completely turned off his Infinity for that. “Okay, okay. But Y/N, I like you. A lot. And I seriously do. I’ve fallen for you pretty fucking hard.”

You didn’t expect yourself to fall into his arms, inhaling the scent of his cologne and before he even had the chance to say something at your immediate reaction, you placed a kiss on his lips, feeling that strong connection build-up. It wasn’t so empty anymore; it had more sense to you to act this way once the feelings had suddenly been returned, and although, you hadn’t opened up about how you felt, the action said a lot more than it needed.

You felt him smile against the kiss and then to your surprise, he tightened his grip on you and held you up in the air, allowing yourself to laugh out loud like a happy child, and the audible sound coming out of your mouth was heartwarming to him. He missed hearing that laugh; only he could make you laugh so hard to the point where you knew you’d wanna hit him for being annoying yet you loved it at the same time. And—all in all, your heart couldn’t take anymore.

“I like you too,” you chuckled as he finally set you down and both of your foreheads met. “I like you a lot. I always have to.”

“How could you not?” Satoru cheekily grinned before you raised your hand up to smack him. “I—hey, am I wrong? I did have a feeling you have always liked me.”

You ended up smacking him anyways.

And, well, no. He wasn’t wrong.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

adventure time wizard city liveblog

 well here we go

my last adventure time liveblog, i havent actually done one of these in MANY years... probably not since 2014

this takes place at the same time as obsidian?

DID-- DID CHOOSE GOOSE JUST DIE

DID BUFO JUST KILL CHOOSE GOOSE

yeah i know that’s bufo, they only made it enormously obvious, tsk tsk

@spaceacepearl​ joked about us seeing choose goose get sent to hell but i diDNT EXPECT IT TO HAPPEN

This music is i assume by one of the many musical artists Adam Muto listed on twitter, it rocks. It’s not as hardcore as Obsidian’s intro, but it’s suitably chill for the scene. 

“get offa my bus kid”

Those wizards in the left and far right groups appear to be new! 

OH MY GOD--

HELP?????? NEW PROFILE PIC TIME

HAHAHAHAH

THE MUSICAL CON DID ME GOOD, I DID REALLY LOUD AUDIBLE LAUGHTER

i bet hanna and co had fun making these signs

my favourite is the cat with “FAMILIARS HAVE RIGHTS”

cadorka..... wow

We’re not even four minutes into the ep and peppermint butler has already killed someone in front of a large group of witnesses

“this smells of DARK MAGIC” “yall kids know thats illegal right” peps watches the other kids nod before later joining in, LOL

i cant believe pep started the great gum wars and got killed by golb

SOMEONE has been playing Overwatch... 

i-- i still cant believe choose goose is fucking dead

how long was he stuck in hell for, or was that recent to together again after new death showed up 

i have to admit im not a big fan of spader, too perfect, and not in that funny way either. i hope they give him some characteristics that make him stand out. 

im getting flashbacks to OK KO and Owl House here...

Cadebra using music is a reference to Abracadaniel’s love of interpretetive dance in Play Date. 

“they only laugh because youre different” “i know” “SO STOP BEING DIFFERENT” oh my god it’s like talking to my own parents cadebra is actually... a LOT like me, less in her hyperactivity but more in her nonchalant enthusiasm and almost acceptance of the inevitable bullying because it means more time in people’s consciousness

ahhh - it’s quietly revealed here that she is responsible and a skilled magician, she is just bored of magic! i like that she parents abracadaniel instead of being downtrodden by his ramblings. 

PEP NO--- oh i see the problem, he hasn’t got his Bug Milk... sorry Martin Olsen fans, no Hunson today. At least we get one more Phil Face for the road! 

candy people in their natural habitat

Ahhh that’s Doctor Calidoneus! The voice actor was at the recent Distant Lands panel alongside Pep and Blaine’s actors. 

“pretty sure hes just trashcandy” - i like you, sassy antler lady

the mystery of how he gets clothes

and once again spader is proving to be the most irritating distant lands character of the lot, there is no subversion here. where is the subversion?  

NANI

what is going on here? are pep and peppermint the same person or not? im sure they must be, but there is something going on here with peppermint butler’s soul being trapped in the body of his child self who hasn’t got the same memories. 

OH, HYNDEN WALCH DID A NEW LINE yes this is what im here for, special over 

peppermint butler cursed himself... of course he did - Shado was correct!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE FUCK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

ROCK STUDENT, BLESSED ROCK STUDENT, WAS THAT POOR GUY WHO LOOKS LIKE A JAWBREAKER

love the reference to astral plane, of course pep cant astrally project because cursed pep is still inside of him 

wow, blaine, wow

they have a crush

LITTLE DUDE! COLE SANCHEZ!

i love the dynamic between cadebra and abracadaniel, imo so far it’s the heart of the special. im not really gripped by peppermint butler’s school troubles. i imagine someone else probably will be but i want to run past that shit as far as possible. 

TRDGFYGHJH

WE

WE MADE  A PREDICTION THAT WAS JUST LIKE THIS

PEPPERMINT BUTLER GETTING TURNED INTO THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF PEPPER MINT BUTT LURE WAS IN THE WIZARD CITY PREDICTIONS ART DRAW THAT HASNT BEEN POSTED YET

ILL SHOW YOU WHEN NICK POSTS THE VIDEO and then ill tell you who made the prediction because i... think it was nick himself, insanity 

who plagiarized finn’s signature???

turns out pep really DID take over wizard city!!!!

i love this band

i understand your pain peps

you probably have a bit too much in common with your mother, and i imagine it isn’t easy being turned into a kid and not being able to do stuff that came so easy. you’re disappointing yourself! (he’s literally disappointing himself)

I’m less than halfway through the special, what the fuck. I wasn’t wrong when I said Wizard City had a lot on its plate. It’s noit that I’ve been particularly gripped up to this point, though to be fair I didn’t pause at all during the other specials barring Obsidian. 

that... that poor kid is still a rock

and then the preview happened and bufo casually revealed to the audience that, yes, he killed choose goose

i dont know whats happening with pep but it seems he needs to be exorcised of... pep. which is a shame. i hope they learn to coexist. 

i have to say the background work in this special is really good! like, really damn good. 

WH

WHAT

DID SPADER JUST DIE

IS THIS WHY PEOPLE THINK PEPBUT KILLED HIM 

oh thats right - abracadaniel is cadebra’s uncle! this must be abracadniels sister. sorry, folks, he doesn’t fuck. 

Where are they? Is this anywhere near Wizard City? It’s an unpopulated prewar wasteland. 

THESE ARE JUST HUMANS

OF COURSE SHE WANTS TO PERFORM TO MILQUETOAST HUMANS

my child

is this an art style choice or did they get the people from that one studio to make this

HANNA FINALLY GETS TO FULFIL HER DREAM OF INSERTING KANEDA INTO ADVENTURE TIME

the red jacket he wears and his head pill shape is a big kaneda reference actually, which i suppose makes sense considering he’s a rival to our protagonist, but it’s a bit on the nose

bufo killed one of his own students? but why????

“MY UNCLE’S A COP”

“no one likes a rat”

i actually really like blaine, though im confused. did their VA change halfway through the special?

HOW NATURAL, NO WASTE, IT IS AN ENDLESS CHAIN

did doctor caledonius steal the trophy,,,? 

EVIL SNAIL EVIL SNAIL

MONMSTER HUNJTER DISCOVERY NOISE, this time it’s a tetsucabra

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I HAVE QUESTIONS

god i wish this is what this special was about, i miss adventure time

these remind me of the comics with their art style :) i wonder who designed them? the one on the right with pb and pep, in particular, very comics-y. 

fdgfhgf because he’s like 500

“pep can be kind of a jerk but he wouldn’t kill anyone”

sorry, cadebra, i have news for you

is doctor calednoius the true villain? if bufo’s out of the picture, she MUST be, 

ANTS

oh no, he might gbe stuck in wizard city :( 

HELP

the writing on the wall...

SPADER LITERALLY FUCKING DIED OH YM JESUS CHRIST

PEPPERMINT BUTLER’S OWN CULT????

THIS IS JUST OK KO NOW

okay im not surprised all the teachers at wizard city are cultists in worship of peps, maybe they killed spader and bufo because they bullied peps T_T

wait no, they thought spader had the potential, but sadly not

HE FUCKING KILLED HIMSELF

sorry, i was distracted by the pretty dope fight sequence and now the special is over????

fucking jesse, hes probably at least partly responsible for the cult nonsense

This credits art is by Maya Petersen!!!! Holy shit it’s adorable!

LRETGFDRGTFGMHGFHFG

LEAF MAN

DO YOU THINK THEY PUT HIM IN RETROSPECTIVELY

DO YOU THINK MAYA PETERSEN DREW THIS AND ADAM PUT IT IN THE EP RETROSPECTIVELY

HE LIVES

MAYBE THIS IS WHY CHOOSE GOOSE WENT TO HELL

okay, it’s over :) 

first thoughts out of the way: not a big fan of this special. it’s like watching a completely different show. it’s not got the PZSHAHH of the normal wizard city stuff and there weren’t a lot of funny jokes or even hearty moments in the thing. 

it suffers from a lack of invested character interactions, much like BMO did. there was not a single main cast member in the whole thing! and like i said before, much of peppermint butler’s character in the show is based on his very sweet relationship to his mother, princess bubblegum, so when they showed a single (hilarious) photo of them together it made me sad we didn’t get any scenes with them together. it would have STOLEN this episode. and they teased the hunson golf photo, and death!!! and jake appeared in a photo T_T last jake appearance. 

it also suffers because Peppermint Butler is clearly not himself, imo he was way more entertaining in the Together Again special, where we seem him back to his “normal” self. 

i dont think peps being a dark wizard was something to “kill off” exactly. i wonder what was going on there? was that actually peps, or was that a spirit he cursed himself with based on himself? we at least know in the future he does become a dark wizard again, and even princess :) this special didn’t answer those questions but lol. 

THE GOOD STUFF, because yes, there was a lot of good stuff! 

God, I’m with Aracle and Maya on this - I LOVE Cadebra and her relationship to Pep. I wish she was even in more of this - I would love to watch the adventures of Cadebra and Pepbut in their first year of school, like in the end credits.

That, imo, is where the heart of the special lay - Peppermint Butler’s attempts to impress himself, versus Cadebra’s self acceptance and desire to follow her dreams of being a goofy goober, no matter what other people thought of her. 

It turned out that Cadebra is a responsible student and family member. I really liked that. Her scenes with Abracadaniel were, somehow, my favourite in the entire special! 

I like that theres a lot of cool magic towards the end of this special, and a lot of HORRIFYING DEATH. It wouldn’t be adventure time if you didn’t randomly kill off child characters. Poor Spader, I hated you but damn, what a grim fate. 

I like that Bufo and Caledonius had this crush/hatred thing going on, but they were part of the same cult in the end. 

I didn’t like the giant peps scene at the end, the monster was extremely milquetoast compared to the madness we usually get in AT. Obsidian, for example, had the awesome Larvo design. Nemesis had some INSANE dark magic!!!!  I wish they drew more from that episode. 

Considering how much Steve Little appears in this special, I do feel bad for Mace (little Peps). He said he would have really benefitted from coaching, but recieved none. He had to re-record his lines 3 times! Judging from his description of events, Wizard City was a hard time for him. 

The wizard school did remind me, heavily, of both The Owl House and OK KO. Personally I was hoping AT would offer me something more insane, but I do love both of those shows, and I know Wizard City was on a really tight schedule. 

I think they should have spent less time on the school bullying plot, and skipped straight to MURDER. 

We did have a cold opening, not on par with Together Again’s at all, but damn!

I am wondering where I would put this in the watch list? I do think it should sit after Obsidian as the third special. The intro scene makes it clear this takes place at the same time as Obsidian!!!

Well, that was it, the last ep of AT for the next few years at least T_T

i think together again was the better finale, definitely. but wizard city feels pretty detached from AT for me, despite the familiar characters it tonally isn’t like the show other than the awesome brutal death scenes. I thought the last 11 minutes was easily the best in the special! Which, honestly, is how it should be, though I do wish it gripped me more. Maybe I’m just not the target audience for Wizard City? It feels like something I would find very compelling if I was a bit younger! 

[albdodaze]

blooming. y.itadori

‘i will never, never leave you’ (chapter three)

warnings: none

context: IN WHICH kami gojo, younger sister of certain powerful jujutsu sorcerer, meets an idiot who makes cold barrier around her heart melt.

"Roppongi my ass," laughed Kami, looking at the abandoned old building they were standing in front of.

"There's a curse here," stated Satoru.

"You liar!"

"This isn't even Roppongi!"

"You were toying with us country folk!"

"There's a big cemetery nearby. The double whammy of that and an abandoned building brought out a curse," Satoru said, not taking his eyes off the building.

"So they really do pop up more often around graves?" Itadori asked as Nobara shouted evil in the background.

"The issue isn't the cementery itself," Yuuji's head turned abruptly towards Kami, who finally spoke up and a blush came over his face that he didn't even notice.

But Satoru did.

"It's the fact that people associate cemeteries with fear," Kami explained, totally oblivious.

"Oh, it was the same for schools, too, wasn't it?" Yuuji replied, ignoring the heat that flooded him at the sound of the younger Gojo's soft voice.

"Hold up. He didn't even know that yet?" Nobara asked, approaching from Kami's left.

—

"He swallowed a special-grade cursed object? Gross! Unbelievable! That's so unsanitary and disgusting! No way, no way, no way, no way!"

"This is what I was telling them the whole time," deadpanned Kami, and Nobara grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.

"They thought otherwise?!" She exclaimed and leaned her head against Kami's shoulder, groaning at the thought of this. Kami patted her lightly on the head, glad that finally someone understood her.

"What?!"

"I agree with them," Fushiguro said.

"I want to know what all of you are capable of. Just think of this as a field test," Satoru finally spoke up. "Nobara, Yuuji, you two go exorcise the curse inside that building."

"Geh!"

"Huh? But I thought only curses could exorcise curses, right?" Asked a confused Yuuji. "I can't use any jujutsu yet."

"You're basically half a curse already. There's cursed energy flowing throughout your body. Though controlling that energy isn't something you can learn overnight," Satoru said and extended his hand towards Kami, who with a sigh pulled a weapon from the strap tied across her waist and handed it to him. "So use this."

"It's the cursed tool, Slaughter Demon. It's a weapon imbued with cursed energy. It'll work on curses, too," Kami explained as Itadori marveled at the weapon in his hand.

"Lame," Nobara said, and she and Itadori headed towards the building.

"Oh one more thing! Don't let Sukuna out! If you use him, you'll get rid of all the curses nearby in a flash, but you'll also drag everyone around into it."

"Got it, I won't let Sukuna out."

—

"I think I'll go, too," Megumi spoke up after a moment of silence.

"Don't push yourself. You're still recovering."

"But someone needs to keep an eye on Itadori, right?"

"True. But the one we're testing this time is Nobara."

"But don't you think leaving her with Itadori is kinda stupid? I mean, he's kinda... reckless," Kami spoke up, playing with her long hair.

"Also true. That Yuuji... He's missing a few up here," the older Gojo said, pointing to his head. "He has no hesitation when it comes to killing these tings that take form of living creatures, albeit bizzare-looking ones, to try to kill him. And it's not like he's been familiar with curses for a long time, like you two. This boy used to live a normal high school life."

'Normal.' What is normal? Did Kami ever experience or will ever experience something 'normal'?

"You've seen plenty of jujutsu sorcerers, even those with talent, give up in frustration because they couldn't conquer their fear or disgust, haven't you?"

'It will probably be me,' Kami thought, listening to what her brother was saying.

"So today I want to confirm how crazy she is."

Silence.

No one said anything, no one dared to say anything. Because what would they have?

Kami played with her fingers out of nervousness. And she didn't know if it was because of how awkward the silence was, or because she was afraid for the two inexperienced jujutsu sorcerers who were about to face the curses alone in an abandoned building. Maybe it was because of both.

'Or more by the second one,' she thought as she saw the curse fly out the window.

"I'll exorcise it,' Megumi said, looking at the curse.

"Hold on."

Not a few seconds passed, and the curse was gone. It had evaporated. There was nothing left of it but a dirty memory.

"Nice."

"She's crazy, all right," Satoru said smiling.

—

"I live over there! Thanks again!" Exclaimed the boy whom Nobara and Itadori had rescued in the building and whom they had just escorted home, making sure he got there safely.

The Gojo siblings waved the boy away, Kami letting out a breath she hadn't even noticed she was holding in. The white-haired girl felt a hand on her shoulder and lifted her gaze to look at her brother, who was grinning at her.

"Are you hungry?" He asked and started to lead them to where three of her classmates were waiting for them.

"A little, I haven't eaten anything all day," Kami said and put her arm through her brother's waist, leaning against him gently.

"Good Joseph!" Shouted Satoru suddenly, directing this to the three waiting on the stairs. "We made sure the kid got home."

Nobara and Itadori sprang to their feet and stood, prepared for the next mission.

"Now shall we go grab some food?"

"Steak!"

"Sushi!"

"Not again," Kami muttered under her breath, and Satoru laughed softly.

"Leave it all to me!" Her brother shouted. "And you, Megumi?"

Megumi didn't answer anything, being too busy playing some game on her phone.

Without waiting for anyone, Satoru put his hands on Itadori and Nobara's shoulders and started walking in the opposite direction, leaving Megumi and Kami alone behind.

'Ouch,' thought Kami as she saw Satoru laughing with Itadori and Nobara.

"Are you coming?" She heard Megumi's voice who smiled gently at her.

Kami reciprocated the gesture and ran to his left, following the rest.

"Oh, I forgot about my biggest haul of the day," Nobara began, walking in front of the rest. " Hey, you," she pointed to Itadori. "Go fetch my stuff."

"Huh? Why should I do it? I thought we were even."

"We won thanks to my cursed energy. Got a problem with that?"

"What about my raw strength?"

"Your monstrous power from eating weird shit?"

"It's not just that! Right, Fushiguro?"

Silence.

"Huh? What's the matter, Fushiguro?"

"Nothing."

"He's pouting because he didn't get to join in," Satoru spoke up.

"What a child!" Nobara said.

Itadori started laughing, definitely happy. After all, he finally had someone to get along with. And when everyone else joined in, it made his heart fill with warmth even more. But not quite. He didn't hear the laughter he most wanted to hear.

He lifted his gaze to Kami, who was staring dead at him, the corners of her mouth not even lifting for a moment. And that made something in his heart hurt.

Satoru wasn't blind either and noticed something was wrong, slowing his step to walk beside Kami.

"Are you okay?" He asked, leaning over her so only she could hear him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Kami raised an eyebrow.

Satoru watched her closely, observing her every little movement. The way her hands tangled at the back of her body, her fingers playing with themselves. The way her gaze fled everywhere but at anyone beside her. The way you could see her nervously biting her lip and cheeks from the inside. The way she was so tense.

Satoru laughed softly, knowing what's going on and wrapped his long arm around Kami, pulling her close and kissing her gently on the top of her head, a thing he always did when she was sad and a thing that always helped.

This time was no different as Kami closed her eyes, relaxing a bit.

"After all, you know that no one can replace you for me, you're my little sister, no one could do it," Satoru whispered and reached out his little toe, wrapping it around Kami's one, getting at least serious for a moment before returning to his previous state and tickling Kami on her sides where she was most ticklish.

Kami jumped back with a squeal and threw an evil but amused look at her brother, who only winked at her and started laughing, matching Megumi's step.

The little girl's loud laughter rang through the yard behind the house as her older brother tickled her on the ground, laughing along with her. When he finally stopped, the white-haired girl looked at her brother and smiled widely.

"Satoru?"

"Hm?" The white-haired boy replied, falling onto his back next to his little sister and looking at her.

"Will you promise me something?" The girl asked, sitting down on the ground, crossing her petite legs.

Satoru nodded, also sitting down on the ground. The girl giggled softly and extended her hand towards her brother, showing her tiny little finger.

"Promise me you'll never leave me."

Satoru's face fell, and his heart simultaneously hurt and flooded with warmth. Because on one hand, what had it come to that a six year old girl would think anyone would leave her, and on the other hand, this was one of the most adorable scenes he could ever experience.

After a moment of silence, Satoru smiled softly and wrapped his, large compared to his sister's, finger around hers and rested his forehead against Kami's forehead, looking her straight in the eyes.

"I will never, but never leave you. After all, you know that no one can replace you for me, you're my little sister, no one could do it," he said seriously, never letting go of her finger from his as he felt tears coming to his eyes.

He quickly closed his eyelids and pulled his younger version to him, who immediately snuggled into her warm and loving brother.

"I will never, never leave you."

At the mention, Kami's eyes welled up with tears, which she quickly wiped away and pretended everything was ok.

'Then why does it feel like you're distancing yourself from me now? Like you're not proud of me? Like you want to leave me, just like everyone else?'

[secretsappyabode]

Howdy Tiff!!! Do you have any particular scenes in that lovely head of yours where you see you and Ford gaining each other's trust? It could be little moments or big moments i am just over here knocking on your door asking for any of it please and thank u ✨🧡

Clover @tex-treasures

HELLO CLOVER PLZ DO COME IN AND HAVE A SEAT, LET ME PREPARE U A NICE DRINK

ok ok so, it kinda happens over time. it’s sort of in the little things, like random acts of kindness and just staying loyal in certain situations, but we each have our core moment. (this gets long so hang tight woops)

i think a moment where we came to trust each other was during a monster hunt. we were dealing with a category 10 phantom and things just got too risky. we got cornered and the phantom was aiming to possess ford to get its hands on fords journal. that meant all of our hard work, all of his hard work, could be destroyed in a matter of seconds. i wasnt having it so i sacrificed myself by shielding ford and letting the phantom possess me. 

i remember everything going black and i felt my insides twist and churn. my arms, my legs, my stomach, my head, i lost all control. all i could see was my vision, but even then my mind wasnt my own. all i could hear was harsh whispers, not that i could make out the words. none of the sounds i heard were familiar, everything felt loud and scary. until i heard a voice. his voice.

a face began to shape in my vision and i tried to concentrate on it. finally, i realised the voice was singing. it was something i taught him months ago when he was anxious and couldnt sleep. i taught him many songs, but this one...he remembered it was my favourite one. i manage to grasp a little bit of control of myself and i call out to him. i notice hes crying and something in me clicks. i struggle against the phantom in my mind as it shrieks and howls. with all my strength, i manage to slam my head against the wall. the shrieking stops. its ok, ford is in the room with me. he will know what to do. i trust him. 

-----------

i dont know how long i was out for, but i woke up in my bedroom. i looked around and saw ford sitting in a chair, asleep but close to my side. i poked him and called his name, he woke with a start and upon seeing me he immediately embraced me. i cant tell what he said exactly as he babbled on about “4 weeks,” “exorcising” and “a hand witch”, but i heard apologies and self reprimands about how he “should have paid attention,” “such a foolish oversight,” “i could have lost you.” i held him close and relayed to him that sacrificing myself was my choice and that im glad hes safe. "you scared me” he said, “why would you do something so insane?!” 

a little bit pot calling the kettle black, i said. “you dont get it,” he teared up again, “i do not want to lose you, tiff. you’ve....you’re extremely important to me.” it was the first time he confessed how he felt, if only a little bit. ford then told me the fear of losing me was so strong, it made him realise that im his closest relationship in gravity falls. his only close relationship. he then told me about his college roommate fiddleford. about his family. about his brother. and i realised how...big this is for him. he trusts me. i just sat and listened to him talk. i think he appreciated that.  

its about a week until we go out monster hunting again. we keep an eye on each other and we stay close. we exchange more words of “be careful” and “stay safe” and “ill look out for you.” things are still not out in the air, i can tell, and things are still very new in multiple ways. theres still so much to say, to feel, to allow ourselves to accept from the other. but ford has his wits, and so do i. and were not gonna let anything hurt us. we trust the other to do that. 

-----------

KJDHFKJDHGKJSHGFJ SO YEAH UHHHH theres obvs more that i wanna say and maybe make more posts about, but this moment is definitely a core moment of trust for us. now if i can gush for a bit-

HHHHHHH LISTEN YALL its about the faith in another person, knowing they can be good to you, knowing that they know YOU and love you for it. the “newness” of it all comes from a history of bullies, insecurities and betrayals (from fords side.) we’re both new to this level of emotional intimacy for different reasons and we want to get it right. but its scary!! but we do want to try!! and we’re just two mutually pining idiots hghgrhgfhgrhfhg. 

god ok i do have more to say on this, but my brain is mush and ill probably have more coherent thoughts later so thats is for now! stay tuned folks ✨✨✨✨

[thepetulantpen]

(Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s my annual Saimota fic. As usual, keep an eye out for saimota fanart by @fancy-kryptonite​)

The anticipation leading up to Valentine’s Day is persistent, all-consuming, and, above all, irrational. It builds and builds past the point of overthinking and well into sleepless nights.

Holidays are always like this- a sort of performance anxiety to be happy, to make a day special. In a sense, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. He knows it can’t possibly be perfect, so he ruins it for himself before he starts.

It reaches a breaking point in the form of him mentally throwing up his hands, tired of debating with himself. There have been enough grand, somewhat ridiculous gestures over the last few years. No one is expecting him to do anything elaborate, least of all Kaito- who Shuichi finds sprawled out on the grass, a pile of books abandoned at his side. Unconcerned with the holiday a few days away.

“I was thinking we could try something normal this year.”

Kaito raises his head, not confused by the non-sequitur, but mildly offended- insofar as any of Kaito’s expressions can be called mild.  “I thought our other dates were normal?”

“Simple. I meant simple.” Shuichi can’t help smiling- only Kaito would consider scavenger hunts and secret love letters normal. He sits down beside Kaito, trying not to crush any of the books, borrowed far past their return date. “Easier to plan.”

Kaito looks relieved, and ecstatic- the latter of which is not particularly comforting. “Right, right. I’ve got the perfect thing.”

That’s fast, even for Kaito. Shuichi tries not to let it get to him- he hasn’t thought of anything specific yet. “Well, I figured we could each pick something- you take the morning, and I’ll take the afternoon?” Hopefully, that’ll give him enough time. “If you don’t mind. I mean, I could go first, if you’d rather.”

“Nah, I’ve got it covered.” He pats Shuichi on the back, with his usual lack of awareness of his own strength. “I won’t disappoint you, sidekick.”

I’ve really got to talk him into a new title.

He certainly sounds confident, but Shuichi has never known Kaito to not sound confident. He’d been thinking coffee or movies, but if Kaito has something perfect, then Shuichi has to step up his game. There’s only a day or two left- what could he do in that time?

“Shuichi? Did you hear me?” Kaito leans into his line of sight, waving his hand in front of Shuichi’s face. There’s no telling how long he’s been doing that for. He must take Shuichi’s expression for an apology, as he repeats himself, “I’ll text you the details. It’s a surprise, so don’t try to detect it, alright?”

Oh, good. Another thing for me to obsessively think about it. 

“I won’t, I promise.”

Kaito doesn’t look convinced. Shuichi can’t say he is, either.

…

Despite Kaito’s insistence that Shuichi would guess before they got there, the escape room ends up being a pleasant surprise. The waiting room is charming, filled with props to take pictures with and a massive winners board, and the hallway is filled with unassuming doors labeled with puns related to their theme. Their room is, fittingly, made out to be the scene of an old-timey murder- Shuichi and Kaito, wearing the deerstalker hats hung near the door, being the detectives called in to solve it.

It only occurs to Shuichi about halfway through that he’s spending Valentine’s Day rifling through blood-stained documents about a fictional murder while Kaito yells nonsense guesses to word puzzles from across the room. He wouldn’t have it any other way.  

“What if we arranged the dominos in a star shape? Is that anything?”

Shuichi glances up from the nearly illegible pages that have been unceremoniously shifted to his responsibility and finds Kaito juggling a tin of dominos and an armful of paintings that had once been on the walls. Those, at least, were meant to come off. 

“Uh,” Shuichi hesitates, caught between about three puzzles at once- one of them being Kaito, in general, “It couldn’t hurt?”

Kaito grins, obviously happy to do something. The paintings are scattered across the table, now crowded with other clues jumbled beyond recognition. From a glance, Shuichi can see that the lines painted on might actually make a star- but he doubts someone’s been assigned to watch the camera and wait for them to artistically arrange the dominos.

Kaito is not stupid. He’s practically an astronaut and, aside from that, he can be brilliant with people, far more insightful than Shuichi. It’s just- he tends to think in the abstract, approaching problems in a way no one else would. Meaning that the people who made these puzzles would never arrive at the solutions Kaito picks out. 

It doesn’t help that he refuses to use their hints, under any circumstances. The employee running the room had only egged him on by telling him no one had ever solved it in time without using a hint- Shuichi had accepted their fate, after hearing that. 

The intercom clicks on, the false cheer of their game master giving them a five-minute warning. Kaito scoffs, confidence never dulled, but the tension in his shoulders betrays him- his hands, over the dominos, have stopped, apparently realizing it’s not getting him anywhere. 

Shuichi had told himself, while they were waiting for the room to reset, that he wouldn’t take over. It’s supposed to be a casual game between the two of them, no pressure to win. Plenty of people fail these things, and they still have fun.

He has a feeling Kaito is not one of those people. 

“We still have plenty of time,” Shuichi assures, surprised to sound so confident, “I think the dominos are color-coded. Take these,” he hands off one of the papers, still running through combinations on the others, “and give organizing them a shot.” 

Kaito gives him a mock salute, but rises to the task. As predicted, he moves through the dominos quickly- giving Shuichi time to hurriedly unlock the next two safes. He’s had those figured out for a while, having thought he would have more time to guide them to the right answer. 

The solutions themselves are not terribly difficult. Nothing like solving crime, in any practical way, but they force him to slow down and connect all the pieces, adding up how every seemingly unrelated item fits together. 

“I’ve got it!” Kaito grins, the triumphant click of dominos set in the right position- a key to another code. “What’s next?”

“It corresponds to the filing cabinet,” he’s practically on autopilot as the clock ticks down, the flash of red numbers in his periphery, “I’ll take the desk drawers.”

It puts them shoulder to shoulder, both rapidly setting combinations and trading half-shouted numbers, unnecessary given their closeness. Kaito finishes first, so he gets to watch over Shuichi’s shoulder as he guesses the last clue. 

For a second, it looks like he’s gotten it wrong, that he’s failed them both, before the lights flicker dramatically. They all go out, save for a hidden projector that lights up one wall with the image of a wailing ghost- ah, he’d forgotten they were supposed to be avenging some spirit. He’ll admit, he wasn’t listening very closely during the introduction, distracted by Kaito’s grin as he took in the room. 

Kaito jumps about a foot in the air- clearly, he hadn’t been paying much attention either. Shuichi takes his arm, hoping to keep him from stepping on any of the discarded paintings.

“The necklace,” Kaito yells over the sound effects, wide eyed, “she wants the necklace!”

On impulse, Shuichi dives for it, digging through the pile they’ve accumulated, and tosses it to Kaito. He doesn’t present it to her so much as he holds it up as if it’s a crucifix he could use to exorcise her. The projection, unlike a real ghost, thankfully doesn’t mind his rudeness.

“I may finally be at peace.”

Figures that Kaito would be the one to bring peace to the ghost. It makes Shuichi smile, even as the lights are turned on abruptly, bringing an anti-climactic end to their adventure. The clock is paused at 17 seconds- not exactly a record to brag about, but he’ll take it. 

On their way out, Kaito elbows him to get his attention. “So, how long did you know the answers?”

Shuichi smiles and says, “Not long.” Which, judging from his expression, Kaito translates to “since we got in the room.”

Kaito doesn’t seem bothered, not like Shuichi thought he might be. If anything, he looks delighted. 

“We made a fantastic team, as usual. Under my guidance, of course.” He messes up Shuichi’s hair, a habit he didn’t bother kicking once they started dating. “With our smarts combined, we could do anything. You could be the first detective on the moon, you know?”

“I don’t know, maybe my calling is in paranormal investigations,” he teases, pretending not to notice Kaito’s grimace, “we could go on ghost hunts together.”

Kaito scowls, and Shuichi presses on, baiting the hook, “Unless you’re scared?”

“No man, nor beast, has ever bested me.” Kaito’s frown is close to genuine indignation, offended that Shuichi would consider him below ghosts. “Ghosts don’t even have bodies. I’ll take on a ghost, any time, any day.”

Luckily for Kaito, Shuichi thinks it’s unlikely he’ll ever have to deliver on that promise. “We’ll save that for another weekend, then.” He picks up the pace, leading the way, for once. “I’ve got something a little more romantic than a ghost hunt, this time.”

If Kaito looks inordinately relieved, Shuichi is generous enough not to notice.

…

Most people can tell when Shuichi is overthinking something. Most people know that answer is “always”. 

Kaito can tell when Shuichi is thinking of overthinking something. The calm before the storm, the buzz of energy that has him tapping his foot incessantly while staring into space. It started well before their date, carrying into the weekend of Valentine’s Day.

It all hits in the form of an over-packed backpack and piles of printed maps, stacked in the backseat. Shuichi has a schedule, complete with an annotated map of their hiking trail and final destination.

“We should make it there just as it gets dark enough to see stars. It’ll be a perfect view.”

The emphasis is obviously placed on perfect, Shuichi’s smile just a bit forced. Kaito gives the map a once-over- credit where credit is due, it looks as close to the perfect spot as you could get- and gives Shuichi a smile. “I’m sure it’ll be great.”

He may not be a detective, but it’s not hard to figure out that anything Shuichi comes up with will be incredible. It’d be difficult to have a bad time with Shuichi; any time spent with him feels like time well spent. The beautiful hiking trail is only a bonus. 

Kaito wouldn’t be surprised if Shuichi’s plans were flawless, every second mapped out. Every funny looking tree, every set of tracks in the ground- all set up for Kaito to notice, or for them to use as landmarks. Shuichi could say he’s set the stars on a timer, and Kaito might just believe him. If anyone could do it, it’d be Shuichi.

The sky, however, seems to have other plans. 

The clouds start rolling late in the afternoon and stick around stubbornly after the sun sets, filtering reds and purples through grey film. At certain angles, Kaito can see the moon in their gaps, but there’re hardly any stars persevering through. Dark grey shadows move over what might have otherwise been a fairly bright sky, now dimmed to a heavy static. 

It's remarkable in its own right, patterns of grey standing out starkly against the abyss of the night sky. It feels like the clouds are the only thing between them and limitless space, a simple barrier to surpass. Kaito only feels more drawn to it, eager to peel back the layers to see the stars for himself.

“I checked the weather,” Shuichi mutters, miserably, “I had three backups, and I was sure this one would be clear skies. I even looked up the constellations you could see from here-“

“That’s alright.” The grass has started to cool rapidly in the darkness, no springtime warmth remaining to greet them. Kaito lays out his coat to sit on, instead, and leaves Shuichi the more generous half. “It’s a great view, like you said.”

Shuichi squints at him, suspicious. “You can’t see any stars.”

“Stars aren’t the only thing I came here to see.” Kaito puts an arm around Shuichi’s shoulders, pulling against his side. He’s never embarrassed to be close to Shuichi, but he’ll admit he likes it best when it’s just the two of them, no distractions, no threat of self-consciousness. “It’s perfect.”

Shuichi looks down, hiding a smile. “Next you’ll be dropping cheesy lines with star metaphors.”

“There’s nothing wrong with star metaphors!”

He should be offended when Shuichi laughs at that, but he can’t bring himself to pretend. Shuichi’s laugh is reward enough- even if, objectively, star metaphors are among the best romantic gestures.

He’s still got work to do, as Shuichi sits silently beside him, staring at the galaxy print of Kaito’s jacket to avoid looking at the sky. It’s obvious he’s under the impression that he’s failed somehow, which just won’t do. As the hero to his sidekick, it’s Kaito’s responsibility to let him know he’s wrong- just, perhaps, not in those exact words.

Kaito nudges Shuichi and leans forward, craning his neck to get the best view of the clouds above them. “You’re underestimating the sky. Look, there’s always something beautiful to see.”

He points at the formations of clouds, shapes made of negative space against the moonlight. Their tops are highlighted by the escaping light, scattering over the uneven, cottony surface. Shuichi’s head tilts to follow him- it reminds Kaito of the escape room, focus taking over his expression. It’d almost feel out of place here, beneath the clouds with nothing of substance to analyze, if Kaito wasn’t used to seeing it all the time, for anything from figuring out a new coffee machine to spoiling a detective show by guessing the killer early.

“That one looks like a bear,” Kaito takes Shuichi by the shoulders, directing him to the cloud in question, “See? The other clouds are like the salmon it’s chasing.”

Shuichi doesn’t manage to sound very convincing, but he tries his best when he agrees, “I think I see it.”

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you you’re a terrible liar, Shuichi?”

Shuichi elbows him in retaliation, turning away from the stars to look up at him. He’s going for disapproving, but Kaito can see through him, far easier than seeing through the cloud layer. 

Somedays, it’s hard to believe that Shuichi bothers to hang around with him. Kaito considers himself good company, but for Shuichi? He’s not sure he qualifies- and yet here they are, under the stars. Or clouds, as it is. 

“One day, I’ll bring you to see the stars up close. We’ll go high above the clouds and into the night sky.” Kaito holds him closer, no longer interested in looking at the sky. “Just the two of us.”

“I’d like that.” Shuichi leans more into him, pushing for room on Kaito’s jacket. When he smiles this time, he doesn’t hide it. “I’ll have to consider space for next Valentine’s Day.”

He doesn’t sound serious, like he doesn’t completely believe Kaito will be able to pull it off. That’s alright- he has plenty of time to prove him wrong.

Kaito’s not being completely honest, anyway. Space isn’t his ideal Valentine’s Day- and it’s not an escape room, or star-gazing, either. It’s by Shuichi’s side, wherever that might be. If it’s watching reruns of mysteries he’s memorized the solutions to, or teasing him for his choice of black coffee, or just laying on the grass, staring up at the same sky.

The promise of another Valentine’s with Shuichi makes it all worth it. Kaito doesn’t need much else- though, he’s still looking forward to sweeping the clearance section of chocolates.

[lachemisenoire]

Sam Wilson appreciation time!

OK, now that I've fully exorcised my Sharon feelings, it's time to get into my Sam feelings.

Words simply cannot describe the joy and elation I felt watching Sam become Captain America in the finale. Let me just say that I've been a fan of Anthony Mackie since The Hurt Locker, and when the news of his casting in the MCU came out, I was THRILLED. I shit you not! And you know what? I had been headcanoning him as the next Cap ever since he first appeared in the Winter Soldier (because it had just happened in the comics!) so when the shield was actually passed on to him in Endgame, I almost flipped out. The one good thing Steve Biden did, istg.

Anyway, cue years of squabbling with certain stans who tried to downplay the importance of his friendship with Steve, and fandom constantly overlooking him in favour of Bucky. And now that Mackie's Sam is finally getting the praise and acclaim he deserves... I just feel so vindicated on his behalf, lmao.

And I do like Bucky! Now that he has a personality, Sebastian Stan really shines in the role. But there's something just, idk, really special about Sam. Maybe the older I get, the more I warm to male characters who are genuinely kind-hearted, empathetic, and just all around GOOD.

And the scenes with Isaiah and his speech... everything that's been going on in real life made watching Sam being celebrated as Captain America feel really really emotional and INCREDIBLY timely and relevant. The show tackled the fact that a Black Captain America was never going to have it easy head on. They had Sam himself say it. I don't have to spell out the current news that makes this issue so relevant IRL, but the fact that they so boldly went there? I was sincerely choking up.

Finally, although you could say that from time to time the show was a little too Bucky-centric, I think FATWS was a beautiful subversion of the white hero/Black sidekick pairing. Sam wasn't there to prop Bucky up - he was the one who had the 'hero' arc. And, while he still counselled Bucky and offered him advice, he wasn't reduced to that; he had his own arc, his own emotional journey, got to express his own feelings, and, importantly, got an apology from Bucky. That's huge.

Love them or hate them, Marvel has an immense impact on pop culture with the type of stories they put out, and the characters who portray these stories. While FATWS was not perfect, it does mark a new tone for the MCU that I hope will continue.

[dinosaurtsukki]

all aboard the mystery machine | (feat. the gym 3 squad and y/n)

this was inspired by a post by @kenchiko which was the ‘being in a friend group with gym three squad’ which i like to read when i’m sad. anyway, they all dressed up as the mystery gang and i thought it was so cute i decided to headcanon it. (thank u kenchiko i love ur tsukki stuff but i’m too shy to interact with u *waves*)

it was the day of electric spookaloos aka halloween and you and kuroo were hyped af 

mostly because you could play ‘this is halloween’ on loudspeaker with less weird stares than usual

and kuroo’s all about gROuP CosTUmeS 

previously the five of you had dressed up as the power rangers (which you switched for m&m’s because the helmets were too hard to make), the breakfast club, and the teen titans and now the five of you were going to top it off with…

‘the mystery gang from scooby doo!’ kuroo mentioned in your groupchat

no one noticed it except for bokuto who haha-reacted and then it resurfaced three days before halloween

kuroo and akaashi are the only ones who went all out with their costumes

kuroo has a blonde wig for his fred costume and akaashi also got a wig and made a dress for his daphne costume

bokuto ordered a cloth scooby doo mask online and forgot to order the rest of the body so he looks like inosuke from kny except his head is scooby doo

you and tsukki went to the dollar store on the day itself and just bought shirts for your velma and shaggy costumes

kuroo: you couldn’t even bother to get an orange sweater?

tsukki: it was fifty cents more expensive also i’m the blonde one so i should be fred

kuroo: well you didn’t binge-watch scooby doo all night and got only one hour of sleep so you had to sip akaashi’s pumpkin spiced latte before getting kicked by the owner of said latte

bokuto worked on spray painting kuroo’s pick-up truck to look like the mystery machine 

but the painting didn’t work out and only half of the letters are legible so you’re all piled into a pick-up truck that says ‘THE  Y T RY    AC  NE’ on the side

but you’re off to the only halloween party you were invited to !!

and you blast ‘this is halloween’ on loudspeaker while dancing in the backseat

except on the way tsukki gets a call from his boss (he works at a museum) abt some missing artifacts

you: why did he call you, don’t you just deliver coffee?

tsukki: *kicks you*

you: *kicks back and accidentally kicks bokuto*

bokuto, behind his mask: :’( 

kuroo: missing artifacts??? museum???? 

tsukki: nO–

kuroo: SOUNDS LIKE A JOB FOR THE MYSTERY GANG *drives to museum before anyone can say anything*

akaashi: this is the only party we’ve been cool enough to be invited to this year and we’re going to spend it in mcdonalds again after this is over

bokuto: wE’RE GOING TO MCDONALDS IF WE’RE COOL ENOUGH?

akaashi: nO

anyway you, kuroo, and bokuto are excited for this ~~mystery~~

the five of you are miraculously able to sneak past the guards and enter through the back because the mystery gang gave you their blessing to break and enter almost any building on halloween night

kuroo, immediately getting into fred jones mode: alright let’s split up gang! daphne and i will check the upper floors while velma, shaggy, and scooby, you take the basement

bokuto: ruh-roh!·         

you: splitting up is a surefire way for someone to get killed but go off, i guess?

kuroo: also, if anyone curses, they owe a quarter in the swear jar

akaashi: you can only use things like jinkies, jeepers, jiminy, or zoinks

tsukishima: i’m not fucking doing that

kuroo: that’s a quarter

anyway, you’re with bokuto and tsukishima so what could go wrong?

everything

and it all starts when you guys go downstairs into a basement full of creepy artifacts and find a mysterious, glowing amulet

you: i don’t think we should touch that

bokuto, who can barely hear anything in his decapitated scooby mask: TOUCH IT!

tsukki doesn’t care enough to hold him back and bokuto touches the amulet

the basement shakes, the ground beneath you trembles, the amulet grows brighter and pale green apparition appears in front of you. its danny phantom a hooded figure with glowing eyes

ghost: YOU HAVE AWAKENED THE GHOST OF THE AMULET OF ETERNAL SUFFERING

tsukki: …a song by Fall Out Boy

you: *trying hard not to laugh but also scared shitless* …jinkies

bokuto: ruh-roh?

tsukki: huh, i guess someone rigged a hologram here as a prank. nice one

ghost: I KNOW NOT OF THIS PRANK YOU SPEAK OF. YOU HAVE BROUGHT ETERNAL SUFFERING ONTO YOURSELVES, MORTALS

you: i mean, i work at customer service so…

tsukki: nice one *high fives you*

ghost: YOU HAVE– *stops when he actually sees bokuto* WHAT ABOMINATION IS THIS?

tsukki: mean, that’s just y/n

you: *kicks him*

meanwhile kuroo and akaashi are sleuthing it up upstairs

kuroo: *having a staring contest with one of the paintings displayed*

akaashi: what are you doing?

kuroo: you know how painting’s eyes tend to follow the main character in cartoons?

akaashi:,,,kuroo that’s a painting of an apple

kuroo: i could have sworn i saw some red eyes 

akaashi: i don’t think anyone would be blazing it in a museum. come on, let’s check the next room

while walking past a row of suits of armor, one of the displays turns its head (but no one notices it yet shhhhh)

back at the basement

the ghost is wreaking havoc: chairs are thrown against the wall, vases are cracked, the faint smell of sulphur is in the air. you and bokuto are fucking terrified and look more like shaggy and scooby despite your shitty cosplays. tsukishima doesn’t believe in anything that’s going on

tsukki: man, these guys here are really putting effort into this prank

you: TSUKKI I DON’T THINK THIS IS A PRANK 

ghost: *starts chanting in some unknown, ancient language*

tsukki: ah, nice touch. you watch lord of the rings?

you: tSUKKI NO-

bokuto: don’t worry! i’ll exorcise this spirit with my bible knowledge!

you and tsukki: MANGA MESSIAH IS NOT THE BIBLE

akaashi: *shivers* i just had the strangest feeling that bokuto called manga messiah the bible again

kuroo: zoinks! sounds like him

akaashi: *trying not to cringe* anyway, they’re probably not doing anything right now

the basement, atm: just a complete fucking mess

the walls have started bleeding but somehow y’all are still a-okay

that’s because tsukki’s so salty he’s basically a salt circle with 10m radius but you didn’t hear that from me

and he STILL DOESN’T BELIEVE THAT A REAL ASS GHOST IS HAUNTING THEM 

the ghost is also tired at this point 

also bokuto is really fucking scared but decides to end things ONCE and FOR ALL

he stands up from under the desk and just tackles the ghost like a football player

he didn’t think that he’d pass through the ghost

but seeing a buff dude with a scooby doo head is enough to scare mr. blood-dripping-from-the-walls shitless, especially when he fucking passes through him

ghost: *disappears back into the amulet*

you: and you still don’t believe that’s real??? 

tsukki: ghosts aren’t real

you: *ready to throw hands*

bokuto: I DID IT! I FOUGHT A GHOST!

you pocket the amulet because you can send it to your enemies 

meanwhile: upstairs

kuroo: man, i’d give anything to be chased by a scooby-doo villain dressed in a suit of armor 

a suit of armor: *starts chasing them*

akaashi, in his best daphne voice: jeepers! we better get out of here! 

kuroo, crying out how perfectly akaashi emulated daphne: let’s split up gang!

they don’t split up tho that would be dumb

*cue classic scooby doo chase scene with the music*

and then as they round a corner they run into you, tsukki, and bokuto fresh from the basement and you all fall into a heap

tsukki: *sees the suit of armor running towards then* ah fuck, what now?

kuroo: laNGUAGE *hands him the swear jar*

akaashi: NOT THE TIME

you: GET HIM BOKUTO!” 

bokuto stands up and once again tackles the knight and this time he doesn’t pass through

it takes five (5) of you to tie up this one (1) guy 

kuroo: oh my god, i’m ready

you: ready for what?

bokuto: the final unveiling

kuroo: now let’s see who’s behind all this! *rips off the helmet which tears off like a mask don’t ask me why but apparently that happens*

and it’s…Bokuto!!

everyone: *gasps and turns to Bokuto who FINALLY removes the scooby doo mask*

tsukki: *gasp* you’re the creepy british dude who keeps trying to buying our local artifacts to display at The British Museum!

akaashi: neo-imperialism is real

bokuto in the suit of armor: guys help!! he kidnapped me!!

all of you (except tsukki because he’s so done at this point) tackle mr. british villain who you thought was bokuto

finally the right person has been tied up

kuroo: your days of stealing artifacts are over!

british villain (let’s say he looks like jude law or something): and i would have gotten away with it…

kuroo: *grabbing your arm* oh my god! he’s gonna say it! he’s gonna say it!

british villain/jude law: …if it weren’t for you fUCKERS!

*dead silence*

kuroo tries to hand him the swear jar but akaashi puts his hand down

you: can we call the police? 

akaashi: *gags* fuck the police 

you: he’s white, british, and a man. they won’t do anything to him

akaashi: exactly

tsukki: hey, you still have that amulet from earlier, right?

you: the CURSED amulet with the GHOST inside?

akaashi: the what now? 

tsukki: yeah, maybe leave it with this guy? and then he’ll get pranked

at this point you’re too tired to argue with mister ghosts-aren’t-real so you leave the amulet with jude law and the five of you get out of the museum and pile into the mystery machine

akaashi: do you think the party’s still going?

you: we could hang out in mcdonalds again like last year

but otw to mcdonalds kuroo’s phone rings and he picks up

kuroo: hello? b-bokuto?

bokuto, over the phone: guys where are you??? the party started hours ago and my headless scooby-doo onesie is hard to get out of and i need to pee !!

akaashi: but…

you all turn to look at ‘bokuto’ sitting between you and tsukki in the backseat. he removes his mask.

it’s…jude law !! 

*cue ending music*

[gra-sonas]

Day after day this summer, with covid-19 shuttering much of the world, Lily Cowles would enter a small sewing room in her family’s 18th century home in Northwest Connecticut, crawl inside some blankets, and scream. Along with her wails, she’d repeat the same phrases, over and over — all part of a daily ritual that spanned some four hours, until a collection of voices told her they were satisfied. Then she would collect herself, climb out from the blankets and greet her boyfriend who could hear her through the walls in the next room.

“Man, you died a lot of ways today,” he’d say.

“I don’t know why they killed me so bad,” Cowles would reply.

Such were the unusual conditions for Cowles and others when recording the dialogue — and other vocalizations — for the upcoming game “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War,” the newest addition to the famed and fanciful war sim series. The blanket-draped fort served as the actress’s workstation, with a host of audio producers providing directions via video conference. Occasionally those instructions included imagining a wide variety of fates for her character, requiring lengthy sessions capturing death cries. All of it was part of a months-long, pandemic-related process to produce the game, one that proved both challenging in its never-before-done nature and cathartic for its ample opportunities to exorcise the many anxieties of 2020.

“It just felt so good to scream for that long,” said Cowles, who plays MI-6 operative Helen Park and supplied the character’s voice for both the game’s story and multiplayer modes. She recalled one session in which the game’s audio producers recorded her falling from a 30-story building. “I was like, ‘can we make it 40 floors? I could really use the extra 10 [stories] of just straight screaming.’ It just felt like a real relief.”

The unorthodox routine was shared by “Cold War’s” cast of 125 actors as they pivoted to follow safety protocols related to the novel coronavirus, which temporarily shut down the game’s production in March. The latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise, releasing Nov. 13, was completed with both developers and actors working remotely and overcoming a variety of logistical challenges.

“At the time [in March, when covid cases escalated in the United States] we thought it might be like 20 people or 50 percent of the studio who would have to work from home, and maybe that would be for like two weeks,” Dan Vondrak, Senior Creative Director at Raven Software, said. “And then it was everybody. … In my head, I was thinking, if this thing lasts six to eight weeks, we can’t get it done. That’s impossible.”

For Cowles and the game’s other actors, that meant recording lines of dialogue — and their many screams — from the confines of their homes. That process normally would be captured in large part during live shoots using motion capture suits on a studio sound stage. During the pandemic, capturing those recordings provided a unique challenge for narrative producer Natalie Pohorski and her team.

“One of those areas I thought we were just dead in the water was the external talent [voice overs],” Vondrak said. “I can’t have actors go into a studio. So, how is this going to work? And what Natalie and the narrative team did to get that to work and have people recording at home was unbelievable.”

Before dispersing from the studio, Pohorski and Vondrak estimated they had between 50 and 60 percent of the voice over work finalized. Working with their partners at Activision (the game’s publisher) and Treyarch (“Cold War’s” co-developer), Pohorski and her team shipped the actors crates filled with recording equipment that included helmets wired with microphones, sound mixing boards and materials to improve the acoustics around their homes.

“They sent me this giant Pelican briefcase that looked like I’m an arms dealer,” Cowles said.

Veteran actor Bruce Thomas, who plays the role of CIA agent Russell Adler in the game, already had a 5-foot-by-5-foot sound booth he’d constructed in his apartment adjacent to his kitchen. He’d used it to previously to record voice overs, including for some commercials, but he’d never recorded himself there quite so regularly — or at quite the same volume level. To that end, he sought to get ahead of any potential problems with a kind gesture and a heads-up for his neighbors about any yells they may hear through the walls.

“I delivered cookies and a little note to their doors right next to me and below me,” Thomas said. “I just moved here in January, so I hadn’t really met them yet, and I got a text message from the person below me who was like, ‘Oh my God! You do that for a living? How cool is that? Even if I hear you, don’t worry about it.’”

The conditions also required the actors to perform another role as well: that of audio engineer, recording and tinkering with sound levels to ensure quality and consistency. The studio’s engineers would call actors and walk them through proper setups and troubleshoot issues, but when something went wrong, the actors would have to be the ones to fix it manually. Turns out CIA operatives have the same tech troubles as other remote workers.

“Because of covid, everybody’s home and sharing bandwidth,” Thomas said about the Internet connection in his apartment building. “Sometimes it would just cut right out [during an online recording session]. And sometimes when that happens, a glitch will happen on your laptop and so you have to reboot it.”

The recording process consisted of four sessions per day, every day of the week, according to Pohorski, who also noted they wrapped at a similar time compared to what they’d anticipated in their pre-pandemic production schedule, even as they navigated challenges that would have been easily addressed in their usual studio setting.

“To not be able to just walk up and touch the screen and act out what I was talking about … ‘I want the guy’s head to turn this way,’ … I was trying to do it real time in a video camera,” Vondrak said. “Just the communication of that last 20 percent [of the game] was probably the most difficult.”

The on-the-fly evolution of several standardized processes did carry some fringe benefits, according to both the developers and actors. On the development team, Vondrak noted some people seemed more willing to contribute their opinions to the creative process when they didn’t feel the pressure of speaking up in a formal meeting. For the actors, Cowles said her isolated, remote location led her to take more chances with her character.

“I think I was able to make facial expressions and noises that, in a normal setting, my body would be like, ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t. You don’t want to make that noise. Don’t make that face,’" Cowles said. “But I was alone in this thing, and you know, the context in which we’re working [as characters] is this crazy war zone where horrible things are going down. Right? And no one in that situation is thinking about the sound they’re making or the face that they’re making. … I think that led to a degree of authenticity in my work.”

Another silver lining, according to Vondrak, was the increased flexibility in scheduling follow-up sessions for VO work. Oftentimes VO recording sessions are pegged to specific times of the year when the developers can gather all the actors in one place and free them from their other projects. (For example, Thomas is also the motion capture actor for Master Chief for the upcoming game “Halo: Infinite.”) With everyone working from home, the actors’ schedules became more flexible.

“It was like, wait a minute, we can just go back to these people and have them pop out of their family room, into their closet and record some VO lines,” Vondrak said. “Normally it would have been like, ‘We need some new lines.’ And [the schedulers] would have said, ‘Well, the next pick up session where everyone’s going to be in the studio is June.' It’s [normally] a very slow, formal process."

The flexibility did carry an occasional side effect of home life encroaching on the working world, and vice versa, often providing a uniquely 2020 kind of amusement.

Cowles remembered recording a scene in which her character laments the loss of one of her companions, screaming his name repeatedly as a helicopter whisks her away.

“I came out of the sewing room, and my boyfriend is like … ‘So, who is he?’” Cowles said. “I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. He’s dead now.’”