#negator basket

[tokiro07]

I’ve said a few times in the past that Undead Unluck was basically if Fruits Basket was a action shonen instead of a slice of life shoujo. Whether if that comparison still holds weight or not, do you think you could give some of the Fruits Basket cast some negation abilities if it’s possible please?

Not all of them of course, just the ones that you feel you can have the easiest time figuring out with. Thank you for taking the time to read this regardless.

Only a small portion of characters actually have something that resembles a power aside from the transformation abilities, so where there isn't a power, I'm going to take inspiration from their personalities, actions or character arcs

Tohru, Unaffected- negates the effects of other Negator abilities that target her

Kyo, Unhuman- negates his own humanity, turning him into a monster; because of his own interpretation of the monster as his true self, he is able to seal it away with his prayer beads, believing them to work as a sort of glamour; though he won't turn into his monster form with the seal, he can still turn into a cat when not in control of his emotions

Yuki, Unaffiliated - negates emotional connections with others; while others may want to form a connection with him, the act of trying to do so will be met with a feeling of emotional distance, as if there is some kind of mental wall preventing the connection from being made; turns into a rat with Artifact Ratatouille

Hatsuharu, Unrestrained - negates his own self-restraint, causing him to act without inhibition; because of his interpretation, this manifests as a split personality rather than a constant state of wonton violence and debauchery; turns into a cow with Artifact Raging Bull [Note: I considered Cowboy Bebop]

Kisa, Untell - negates her ability to communicate with others, resulting in her inability to speak; turns into a tiger with Artifact Life of Pi

Momiji, Unfamiliar- negates Momiji's "family;" the closer a family member is to Momiji, the more distant they will feel, manifesting in his own parents being completely unaware of his existence; the Sohma family is widespread enough that Momiji identifies them more as his community than his family, allowing them to be aware of him; turns into a rabbit with Artifact Watership Down

Hatori, Unremember - negates a target's memories; turns into a sea dragon with Artifact How to Train Your Dragon

Ayame, Unashamed - negates any sense of shame within Ayame, allowing him to act in any way that he pleases without guilt or fear of repercussions; similar to Hatsuharu's Unrestrained, but where Unrestrained forces one to act on impulse and without thought, Unashamed allows one to commit to their actions with absolute conviction; turns into a snake with Artifact Snake Eyes

Rin, Untrusting - negates her ability to trust others; this manifests as immediate disbelief in what others say or claim they will do; can be viewed as an internal-targeting version of Yuki's Unafilliated; turns into a horse with Artifact Secretariat

Hiro, Unkind - negates his own ability to be kind, causing him to be rude or mean to people; because of his youth and lack of understanding of what it means to be truly unkind, Hiro manages not to act explicitly cruel, though maturity runs the risk of corrupting his personality through his interpretation; turns into a sheep with Artifact Shaun the Sheep

Ritsu, Uncalm - negates feelings of calm in Ritsu, causing him to feel constant anxiety, fear and panic; turns into a monkey with Artifact Planet of the Apes

Kureno, Unbound - negates Kureno's bonds; because of his circumstances, this refers specifically to his loyalty to Akito, making him capable of disobeying Akito; turns into a bird with Artifact Chicken Run

Shigure, Undoubt - negates feelings of doubt towards Shigure in others, making them easier to manipulate; Rin's Untrusting makes her immune to this ability; turns into a dog with Artifact Shaggy Dog

Kagura, Unmatched - negates her ability to be matched in combat by increasing her physical strength beyond normal levels; turns into a boar with Artifact Pig in the Big City

Akito, Unquestion - negates any feelings of defiance or disloyalty that a target may have toward Akito under the condition that they are viewed as beneath Akito; in this case, as Akito is the head of the Sohma Family, this applies to all members of the Sohma Family

Hana, Unhidden - negates the ability of others to hide things from Hana, which by her interpretation manifests as the ability to read the waves emanating from a target

[teyums]

neteyam with a pregnant mate ; headcanons

a/n: he’s so husband agahshdjfj

NETEYAM is the kind of mate to immediately notice when you’re beginning to grow tired of standing on sore feet while he’s having a conversation with the other warriors. It’s so easy for him to tell, just from a change in the weight of the breaths you draw into your lungs and the few experimental shifts you make from one hip to the other, trying to see which position brings you the most relief. Out of the corner of his eye, he’ll watch as you go to cradle the underside of your rounded belly with a supportive forearm and sigh as quietly as possible, and without hesitation he’ll lower himself to one knee, and use a gentle hand on your lower back to guide you to sit sideways on his thigh, a makeshift way for you to rest your tired joints while you wait. You’re much too weary to protest, and more than grateful as a relieved sigh immediately pulls from your lips from the ability to relax. There’s never a break in the conversation he’s having whilst he does this, as it’s such an instinctive thing for him to do as a soon to be father and an attentive mate. Tending to you is never a disruption for him.

NETEYAM is the kind of mate who returns from a hunt after hours of strenuous labor, and instead of focusing on the plate of food that sits hot and steaming right in front of him, he’s more worried about whether you’ve eaten instead. His fatigue manifests itself in the way his shoulders slouch, and he hasn’t even removed his gear before he’s asking you how your day has gone, perhaps to distract you from how obvious it is that he’s babying his left arm which could only mean that he skipped his visit to Tsahik’s tent in order to come straight home to you. You’ll fix his plate the way you know he likes, only for him to coax you into his lap and inquire if you and the baby, or his ‘little girl’ (who, mind you, he has yet to find out the gender of, he just has a feeling) have eaten yet as he rubs a gentle caress over your swollen abdomen. And when you tell him no, you haven’t eaten today, that you were busy tidying things up and so focused on making sure his dinner was ready on time that you must have forgotten, his pretty features churn into a display of such discontentment you’re not even sure of what he’ll say next. He clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, that simply won’t do, he’s decided as he picks up a seared piece of the tapirus you just prepared, and prompts you to open your mouth for it with a pointed stare. He’s not interested in hearing any negation from you, and just as your lips part to give him one, he pops it into your mouth and sits back, pleased at how your reaction to the taste of your own cooking compliments just how good at it you are.

NETEYAM is the kind of mate who refuses to let you carry anything the moment he receives the news you’re with child. Willingly disregarding his duties for just a moment whenever he witnesses you pacing by, he sees you with a basket of freshly folded towels on your hip, and he just can’t help himself as he swiftly plucks it from your grasp. You ensure him that it’s light as feathers, that you’re more than capable of continuing to enact your duties throughout the clan regardless of the life beginning to grow inside you. And he knows you are, it’s just that you shouldn’t have to, and while sometimes you may feel a bit smothered by his overbearing need to care for you, it’s all the more endearing how even with all the weight set on his shoulders, he’s beyond dedicated to balance just a little bit more for you.

NETEYAM is the kind of mate who insists on spending quality time with you before bed, constantly finding different ways to bond with you aside from the usual. From pressing his ear to your belly as he sings lullabies to get the little feet in your belly to stop kicking, or having conversations with your unborn child who he swears can actually hear him (she could, and definitely recognized his voice the moment he’d gotten her to stop crying after you gave birth a few months later), to massaging whatever part of you aches or twinges even if his joints are screaming for the same attention. Eventually, you’ll manage to convince him to switch spots with you, having him lay flat on his stomach as you straddle his back just for him knock out and produce one of the loudest snores you’ve ever heard from him the moment you’d dug the heels of your hands into the tense muscles of his shoulder blades.

likes, comments, and reblogs are very appreciated 💗

[lilyginnyblackv2]

My Queer Fruits Basket Headcanons

Image: An image of the bisexual flag with images of Haru, Ayame, and Mine in the middle of the flag. On the top part of the flag there is white text that states their names (Haru, Ayame, Mine) and on the bottom half of the flag is large white text that states: Bisexual.

Thoughts: I feel it's very common to view Haru as bisexual in the fandom for very obvious reasons. For Ayame and Mine they give me chaotic bisexual vibes, but I can totally understand if some people view Ayame as Pansexual. That's an another queer interpretation of Ayame that I can totally understand. I also know that some people view a few other characters in Furuba as bisexual, and I can see and understand some of those as well. But these three are the main ones for me (and there is only so many characters I can fit onto one flag, lmao).

Image: The image of the AroAce flag with Kazuma Sohma in the center of it. White text with Kazuma Sohma is across the top part of the flag and white text with Aromantic Asexual is across the bottom part of the flag.

Thoughts: In one of the little messages that Takaya-sensei wrote on the side of one of the chapters (which was translated and included in the old TokyoPop manga volumes), she mentioned how Kazuma tried dating a woman once. It didn't work out and he is dedicated to Kyo and his family. Plus, maybe its just projection (since I am aroace), but Kazuma just gives off big aroace vibes to me. He doesn't seem to care about romance in the slightest, and just seems to be very happy and content with being a parent and caring for his Kyo (his son) and the other Sohma children (also, eventually, his grandchildren and Tohru).

Image: The pansexual flag with an image of Momiji (post glow-up) in the center of the flag. "Pansexual" is written across the bottom of the flag in large, white text, and "Momiji Sohma" is written across the top of the flag in large, black text.

Thoughts: There are no really thoughts here. There's nothing that really hints or even vaguely implies a pansexual reading of Momiji, it's just more how I feel like this is a sexual orientation that works for Momiji as a character. I can just easily see this for him, is what I am saying, lol.

Image: The image of Kyo and Tohru from the Kyoto Trip, where Kyo takes Tohru's hand is overlayed the demisexual flag. Kyo x Tohru is written in large, black text at the top of the flag, and Demisexual is written in large, black text at the bottom of the flag.

Thoughts: Honestly, I can see both Kyo and Tohru being demiromantic as well. This may be a hot take, but I feel pretty much all Shonen Jump Battle Shonen protags are on the aspec spectrum in some way. A lot of the time, people are just like "they're dense protagonists" but an aspec reading of them really explains so much, imo. Kyo is basically a Battle Shonen protag stuck in a shoujo, so that's why I feel this way about Kyo. Tohru is very similar in a way though too. Kyo does show to be a bit more aware of sexual things in general, more so than Tohru anyway, but both are very "dense" in regards to things like this, and both of them really require a bond to form before we see them thinking about romantic and sexual things in regards to their relationship. Of course, there is a trauma element involved with all of this as well, but I don't think that negates an aspec reading of the Kyoru relationship.

Image: The gay flag with an image of Hajime and Mutsuki from Fruits Basket Another sharing Valentine's Day sweets with each other. Next to their image is the term "Gay" written in large, black text. At the top of the flag is white text that reads: "Hajime x Mutsuki" and at the bottom of the page is white text that reads: "Fruits Basket Another."

Thoughts: Among fans who have read all of Fruits Basket Another, this pairing is actually fairly common and "popular." I've written posts before about the queer and romantic undertones to their interactions and the above image that I used, from the textless omake at the end of Vol. 4 of Fruits Basket Another, is basically a soft confirmation (in my eyes) that the two are a canon romantic pairing.

Image: Images of Mutsuki, Ayame, Momiji, and Ritsu are all overlaid on the genderqueer flag. There is large, black text in the middle of the flag that reads: "Genderqueer" and the character names for Mutsuki and Ayame are at the top of the flag, while the character names for Momiji and Ritsu are at the bottom of the flag. They are all written in large white text.

Thoughts: There are definitely more specific queer headcanons that you can have for all of these characters and their gender presentation, but I'm choosing genderqueer for my own headcanon because I feel it is a more simplified, umbrella-like term that can fit all of them. If you are a fan of Fruits Basket, then I feel the inclusion of Momiji, Ritsu, and Ayame are all very self-explanatory. But, I know not as many people are as familiar with Fruits Basket Another and Mutsuki, so the main reason Mutsuki is here is because of these moments from Another:

Basically, Mutsuki absolutely loves Ayame and is similar to Ayame in the sense that he is comfortable (and likes/enjoys) wearing dresses and engaging in more outwardly feminine appearances. He's nothing like Yuki in this regard and very happily states that Ayame went out of his way to make the dress (costume) that he wore for Sports Day.

These are all just my personal queer headcanons for some Fruits Basket characters and pairings. This was sort of spurred on by the recent artwork that Takaya-sensei did of Ayame for this new year (2025 - The Year of the Snake). In this new artwork, Ayame is extremely feminine looking and his queerness as a character really shines through, so it caused me to think about this headcanons again and just write this up.

Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions on those and have a great night, everyone! :D

[donkeys-waffles]

Also, also...

This has been a recent brainworm of mine and I'm tired of it so I'm passing the baton onto you, you're so welcome.

Every time AFO dies, it's the same reaction. If you hate DFO you use it as an excuse to negate the theory, if you love DFO you have mixed opinions (mostly disappointment,) but what's consistent is that everyone always thinks it's the end, there's a majority of people that I've seen not question it.

I'm so envious of these people because it's like AFO never gave them trust issues.

This man is a cockroach, not a wolf, or even a dragon like you'd think. That bitch is cockroach. And here's a list of his deaths to prove it.

First fight with All Might, he legally died but was resurrected. This man's entire skull was crushed and still came back.

Fight with Bakugou where he blinked out of existence with rewind.

And now his vestige dies with Tomura in his fight with Izuku.

THREE DEATHS... Three times has he died, and two of those times he was revived in some way. This is also a man who fears death, who has PTSD from his fight with All Might, who made himself immortal to escape death. This man doesn't normally appear places himself, he doesn't do his own dirty work, when it comes to fights, often. He always does it at a distance. He's terrified of death, despite his strength. That alone makes him having clones, (not even just one,) very logical. It's almost out of character of him to NOT have clones. When he makes multiple plans, as seen in Kamino, he always has multiple avenues to his goals. He's known for his backup plans, like with Tomura, he also had Dabi and other kids from the orphanage. He's determined and calculating, he'd not likely to use such a risky avenue to achieve what he wants, not without a solid backup plan. And his vestige in Tomura isn't a solid enough backup plan to fall back on. A lot can go wrong there, as we've seen. He died before he even got close to him, and Tomura's hatred was too strong to take control over.

Who in their right mind, who's supposed to be extremely intelligent put all your eggs in one basket considering his fears, considering his 200-year-old goals.

I think it's very plausible for him to have a clone, and this bitch has died and came back WAY too many times for me to host a funeral.

[intogenshin]

The Roles of Atheist and Priest: Balance of Faith between Alhaitham and Cyno

The profoundest eternal questions are met only with a boundless and eternal silence

This line in Alhaitham’s teaser is a reference to a poem by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore in the collection titled Stray Birds.

Tagore’s work is deeply religious in nature (heh) as it is largely influenced by the creation myths of the Rig Veda.

The recurring theme of nature, present throughout the entirety of Stray Birds, expresses and explores the relationship between man and spirituality in the tradition of Indian literature:

(...) when Tagore writes of nature —of birds, trees, a singular blade of grass, a sunset, sunrise, a boat ride, a fading view of water— while all of these external objects belonging to the natural world may make Tagore appear much like western Romantic poets, such as Wordsworth or Yeats, Tagore’s mission is actually quite different. In Tagore, what is expressed is a thoughtful relationship of poet to sacred text, of poet to the mythical or cosmological origins of the world. In Tagore, love of nature equates at one level to love of God; for, in recognizing the worth of the natural world, one is giving assent to the fact that there is a God who created it. (...) in Stray Birds Tagore writes: “To-night there is a stir among the palm leaves, as well as in the sea Full Moon, like the heart throb of the world From what unknown sky hast thou carried in thy silence the aching secret of love?” The lines echo the concept from the creation hymns wherein the sacred text posits that no one knows how creation came to be because no one witnessed it except for the creator God itself, and who can truly know this God but to seek him? As if this were not enough, also in Stray Birds, we read Tagore’s development of this concept as he writes: ”God comes to me in the dusk of my evening with the flowers from my past kept fresh in his basket” This is the mind of a religious poet at work, not a Romantic poet.

—Love of Creation and Mysticism in Tagore’s Gitanjali and Stray Birds, by Paula Hayes

Silence is another major element of Tagore’s exploration of nature as the connection with god, which represents divine wisdom through introspection:

This power of silence is attributed to its heavenly origins. Silence is the voice of God, as well as the place where everyone finds and worships his god: ”God’s silence ripens man’s thoughts into speech” In another poem, this eternal silence of Heaven is juxtaposed with the eternal quest of earthly creatures, a process that affirms the superiority of the former as the ultimate province of trust, beyond the doctrines and divisions created by the mind with their ensuing doubt and uncertainty: ”What language is thine, O sea?” ”The language of eternal question” ”What language is thy answer, O sky?” ”The language of eternal silence” (...) Silence, therefore, is not merely a recurrent theme in the poems of Tagore, nor is it a distinct element that can be extracted from the rest of the poem. It is organically interwoven with other elements, establishing the unity of the poem, its coherence and its uniqueness as well.

—Language of eternal silence, by Muhhammad Hesham

In the poem referenced in Alhaitham’s teaser, the “eternal question” represents man’s quest to find meaning through spirituality, while the “eternal silence” represents introspection and a connection with the wisdom of God.

The role of eternal question fits a character like Alhaitham perfectly: one who seeks wisdom for personal fulfillment, but it is also one that questions this eternal silence —the word of god. One who raises questions against belief, not for the sake of negation, but understanding. An ethical atheist, if you will.

Alhaitham’s ideological worldview of individualism is inspired by the work of Max Stirner, originator of egoist anarchy. Stirner is highly critical of religion, but he also looks down on atheists of his time for replacing the god of western religion with morality and humanism. For him, true freedom can only be achieved through individualism.

Whether then the one God or the three in one. whether the Lutheran God or the être suprême or not God at all, but “Man,” may represent the highest essence, that makes no difference at all for him who denies the highest essence itself, for in his eyes those servants of a highest essence are one and all — pious people, the most raging atheist not less than the most faith-filled Christian.

—The Ego and Its Own, by Max Stirner

Stirner doesn’t seem concerned with denying the existence of god, but rather with the origin and care of his own desires, centering himself instead of “man” as a collective or an idea. He does not act for the good of anyone but himself (or that’s his ideal, at least).

Here’s where Haitham deviates from Stirner’s egoism. He’s not concerned with archons and he does favor individual comfort over Kaveh’s altruism, and he’s not afraid nor ashamed of trespassing conventional rules or institutional laws to get what he wants, but he does recognize the importance of order in society.

Sumeru is the nation ruled by the god of wisdom, so wisdom and knowledge can be understood as the fruit of worship for the archon. Akademiya rules are, much like in religion, a moral code that shapes the ideal believer and punishes those who break the order upheld under these rules. Funny enough, the Akademiya’s original Chinese name is (according to the wiki) Sumeru Institute of Religious Decree —the religious context is lost on the English translation.

Understanding the Akademiya as an allegorical religious institution, Cyno serves as a guardian of the principles and moral code of this church. His historical predecessor is none other than priest Kasala, after all, who was a faithful follower of the Scarlet King (that he calls his “eternal lord”) and later aided Rukkhadevata.

Cyno’s priest-like figure is a fair counterpart to Alhaitham’s atheist: when the ethical atheist raises questions, it is the duty of the priest to answer on behalf of the divine.

The eternal question, an introspective search for answers and meaning; the eternal silence, the wisdom of divine scripture.

Alhaitham and Cyno are the only characters in Sumeru having an association with the theme of silence, especially Cyno. Alhaitham through Tagore’s poem and the description in his default outfit in which a member of the Temple of Silence warns the listener not to bother him if he’s wearing his headphones; and Cyno through direct references in his lore as well as his official affiliation to the Temple.

Much like in Tagore’s poem, the exchange of question and silence is not a hostile one, but rather a conversation, a means for growth for both sides. In dialectics, an argument is held for the same reasons: when offering a thesis, it must be reasonably defended against an equally reasonable contradiction.

Putting these two characters who fulfill these specific roles with religious undertones in a storyline where they work together to overthrow a government, then I simply am reminded of Enjolras and Grantaire from Les Miserables.

YOU SEE they’re part of the revolutionary group that fights in the barricades.

Enjolras is completely driven by ideology, every aspect of his life revolves around his ideals of revolution and freedom to the point that he just isn’t approachable by his colleagues. He’s more a walking ideal than human. While Grantaire is a skeptic who refuses to believe in anything (that is, except Enjolras) (they’re canonically super gay, the author went out of his way to compare them to a bunch of gay Greek historical and mythical couples so go figure).

Grantaire is rather a self indulgent nihilist, but Stirner’s vibes of cynical egoism are there (just described through the eyes of someone who does favor altruism instead lmao):

All those words: rights of the people, rights of man, the social contract, the French Revolution, the Republic, democracy, humanity, civilization, religion, progress, came very near to signifying nothing whatsoever to Grantaire. He smiled at them. Scepticisn, that caries of the intelligence, had not left him a whole single idea. He lived with irony. This was his axiom: “There is but one certainty, my full glass.” He sneered at all devotion in all parties, the father as well as the brother.

Grantaire believes in nothing, which is why he’s in love with the personification of ideal and belief.

A skeptic who adheres to a believer is as simple as the law of complementary colors. That which we lack attracts us. No one loves the light like the blind man. (...) Grantaire, in whom writhed doubt, loved to watch faith soar in Enjolras. He had need of Enjolras. That chaste, healthy, firm, upright, hard candid nature charmed him, without his being clearly aware of it, and without the idea of explaining it to himself having occurred to him. He admired his opposite by instinct.

Their contrast is mainly ideological, with Grantaire barely participating in the revolutionary acts of the group, but (although lesmis seems to be heavily shaped by religious narratives, especially Valjean’s main storyline) the way Enjolras is described very much fits Cyno’s own commitment to his duty as the General Mahamatra:

Enjolras was a charming young man, who was capable of being terrible. He was angelically handsome. He was a savage Antinous. One would have said, to see the pensive thoughtfulness of his glance, that he had already, in some previous state of existence, traversed the revolutionary apocalypse. He possessed the tradition of it as though he had been a witness. He was acquainted with all the minute details of the great affair. A pontifical and warlike nature, a singular thing in a youth. He was an officiating priest and a man of war; from the immediate point of view, a soldier of the democracy; above the contemporary movement, the priest of the ideal

Enjolras role as a revolutionary is heavily colored by religious and military undertones.

For most of the story Grantaire is rejected by Enjolras, often scorned by his lack of commitment and his lifestyle. It is at the last moment when Enjolras is cornered by a fire squad after the barricade fails that Grantaire declares himself a Republican and volunteers to die with him. Enjolras ideals have not succeeded in his quest for liberation, but Grantaire offers him a last hope in leaving his skepticism to believe in those ideals. If a skeptic was capable of believing, then surely it was not in vain and many others would carry Enjolras beliefs beyond his tragical death. And in taking his hand Enjolras basically accepts his feelings because les mis is of course a yaoi

Grantaire had risen. The immense gleam of the whole combat which he had missed, and in which he had had no part, appeared in the brilliant glance of the transfigured drunken man. He repeated: "Long live the Republic!" crossed the room with a firm stride and placed himself in front of the guns beside Enjolras. "Finish both of us at one blow," said he. And turning gently to Enjolras, he said to him: "Do you permit it?" Enjolras pressed his hand with a smile. This smile was not ended when the report resounded. Enjolras, pierced by eight bullets, remained leaning against the wall, as though the balls had nailed him there. Only, his head was bowed. Grantaire fell at his feet, as though struck by a thunderbolt.

Either way, haino in sumeru aq did succeed in overthrowing Azar and lived to tell the tale. But, well, they didn’t need this exchange. Alhaitham understands the value of rules, of Cyno’s duty, as they cooperate with each other.

so anyway yea enjoltaire haino, atheist and priest, gay ideological opposites of faith working together to overthrow the government u get it

further readings:

On the Couple of Silence by hibarifish

Alhaitham and Egoist Anarchism by lotusparadisaea

Love of Creation and Mysticism in Tagore’s Gitanjali and Stray Birds by Paula Hayes

Language of eternal silence by Muhhammad Hesham

[emilygrayce91]

From Bucharest

Chapter 4 - Longing

Trigger Warning: 18+ Language, Violence, Trauma, Death, Sexual Themes, Torture.

If you’re new to this story, start at the beginning: Masterlist From Bucharest

"What the hell just happened?" Bec asked, taking in deep gulps of air as she tried to keep herself from tipping over. "Who was that? A better question, who the hell are you?" 

"We need to get out here," he said, stashing the knife. Bec took several steps back, tripping over a loose cobblestone. His metal hand shot out, wrapping around her arm and righting her. "Do you live nearby?" 

Bec looked down at his hand, tracking the length of his arm. It was a strange type of metal that ended at the shoulder under his now torn hoodie. He let go, angling away from her as if to try to hide the massive weapon that was seamlessly attached to his body. She had seen his strength, inhuman for sure, but the arm had been capable of more. 

"Bec, look at me. We need to clear the streets. There will be more." 

She cleared her throat glancing back toward the empty courtyard. "Right, right. I live just up the street." She tossed a thumb over her shoulder. "Um, you still haven't told me your name." 

"James." 

"Ok, James. I live just this way." 

************************************************************************

Bec struggled to unlock her apartment door. The adrenaline was subsiding and she couldn't get the shaking in her hands under control. James took her keys and unlocked the door, letting her enter first. She smiled weakly at him, muttering a thanks, but he ignored her, looking once more from the way they had come before shutting the door behind them. 

Bec walked into the living room, collapsing on the small sofa she had acquired from a colleague who had been looking to sell it for cheap. James moved around the apartment quickly, shutting blinds, checking rooms, and ensuring again that the front door was in fact locked. 

"I think I deserve an explanation," Bec said when James finally stopped moving and braced his hands against the kitchen counter. 

"Do you?" he asked. 

"Of course! What the hell just happened, James? Why did that man attack you? You said something to him, I heard you. Do you know him?" 

"I don't know." 

"And I'm sorry, but can we talk about the elephant in the room?" Bec said, looking down at the metal arm and hand that was gripping the counter so hard, she could make out cracks along the granite top. 

James looked down at his arm, letting go of the counter. 

"I don't know. I don't...exactly remember," he said, clenching and unclenching his fist. Bec stayed quiet, watching him try to reconcile something so prominent with little context. 

"Are you hungry?" she finally spoke after several seconds of awkward silence and got up from the couch. James tensed, backing even further against the counter, but she tried to ignore his movements and the intensity in his gaze that followed her. She opened the fridge and pulled out a block of cheese and grabbed a baguette from the bread basket. Stopping in front of James, who eyed her apprehensively, Bec gestured around him. "Sorry, I need to grab a knife." 

James slowly stepped aside, keeping his back against the counter. 

Bec sliced several pieces of cheese and pulled a hunk from the baguette, sliding a full plate toward James. She took a few slices of cheese and a piece of bread, negating a plate and returned to the couch. 

Waving at the small love seat on the opposite side of the couch, she said, "You can sit down and eat. I won't bite." She bit into the bread, following with a piece of cheese. She hadn't realized how hungry she was, but evading what had looked like a tactile ninja had worked up an appetite. 

James picked up the plate and sat down, his eyes never leaving her. 

"So, what now?" Bec asked between bites. James ate the contents from his plate and set it down on the side table before replying. 

"I don't know." 

"Great plan," she quipped, wiping the crumbs off her fingers and onto her pants. "If that's the case, then I really need you to leave. I have to get to campus. My class starts in..." She checked her watch, realizing that her class had already come and gone. Shit! 

"Where are you going?" James asked. Bec was already on her feet, looking for the bag she remembered was still sitting in her office. Grabbing her keys from the counter where James had left them, she made for the door. 

Before Bec could even turn the knob, James' enormous left arm shot out over her shoulder, slamming into the door. The wood groaned and several cracks spidered down the frame. 

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, at least not anywhere alone." 

************************************************************************

Bec laughed, more a nervous giggle really. 

James dropped his arm, scanning the room once more. He dragged his metal hand down his face before turning back to her. "You can't go anywhere," he said, backing away slightly when he realized how nervous she had become. "I'm not going to hurt you, Bec. If anything, I'm going to keep you safe, but you can't be alone right now. That man, in the courtyard, I'm pretty sure he knew who you were. I don't think they were necessarily there for me." 

"Excuse me?" she replied, trying her best to disappear into the door. "I'm pretty sure I recall them shooting at you, not me." 

"He was aiming for you. If they had known I was going to be there, they would've sent, um, quite a few more agents." 

Bec laughed again, this time from deep within. This couldn't be real; she was a lowly professor. The most exciting part of her day was usually deciding which pair of duck socks she was going to wear with her favorite pair of loafers.  

"That man was an agent, a HYDRA agent by the looks of it. They aren't your average alleyway hoodlums," he continued. 

"Hoodlums. I haven't heard anyone use that word in, well, ever." Bec moved from the door, making her way toward the bathroom. 

"Where are you going?" 

"I need to pee. Is that ok, or do you need to follow me into the bathroom as well?" 

James shook his head, a light red blushing across his cheeks. 

"So after I pee, are we just going to stand in silence waiting for whoever it was, Hydro, to come get me?" 

"HYDRA." 

"Yeah, Hydra, whatever. What's your plan, James, because if you're right, we're gonna need one." 

************************************************************************

After Bec had peed and changed her clothes, she stood in front of James, her hands on her hips. She didn't entirely believe him, that the agent in the courtyard had been after her, but she could admit that James had easily taken him out. So it was somewhat logical to assume he most likely wasn't sent along to face James alone. 

"Say you're right. That that HYDRO agent was after me, why? Why would they want to attack me. I'm a poorly paid professor who just moved to this country. Unless they want to debate me in Romanian and American politics, I pose no threat. I'm a nobody." 

"HYRDA." 

"James." 

"I don't know." 

"Well that's not gonna work. You're good looking and all, and the angsty memory thing is really working for you, but I can't stay here in this apartment with you forever." 

"Well, I don't think that will even be an option. If  I'm right and they do know who you are, it won't be long before someone else will be at that front door. I gather we only have an hour or two at the most. Now that they know I'm here, they will need to reinforce and reassess their tactics, but it won't take long." 

He moved from couch and marched into her bedroom before coming back out with the backpack she had traveled on the plane with. He tossed it at her and made his way to the kitchen, grabbing nearly everything out of the fridge and stuffing it into the bag. 

"Get some clothes, but pack light, we can't have too much weighing us down." 

"James, you can't be serious." 

"Like the grave. Hurry up." 

Bec stared down at the now half filled backpack and shook her head. "I just needed some air." 

"Bec, we need to move, now." 

Once Bec had collected herself and grabbed a few items of clothing, she stood before her front door. James reached around her for the doorknob, brushing his arm against her shoulder. She sensed him tense and angle away from her. The movement was almost too quick to recognize, but before he could open the door, a loud knock came from the other side.

************************************************************************

Bec froze, eyeing James who had slowly lowered his hand away from the door. He stared at her, relaying an expression that told her not to move and not to make a sound. Her rational brain couldn't help but reason that the visitor could easily be the landlady or even Emil, come to see why she hadn't shown up for her class.

She made to whisper, but James wrapped his hand around her mouth, the cold metal of his palm biting into her lips and cheeks. She tried to pull away, but he wrapped his other arm around her back, pulling her away from the door and into the bedroom.

He moved with a level of stealth and agility she hadn't ever realized was possible, save for several of the Avengers. She had already gathered that James had to be an enhanced human, but his strength and speed was still almost incomprehensible. Seeing it up close and personal was entirely different than seeing it on tv.

When they were in her bedroom, far enough away from the door, he let go of her, glancing frantically around the room for an escape. The knock came again, this time louder, more urgent. And with a rush of power, Bec saw a wisp of something brown shoot across the apartment...the front door.

James pushed Bec to the floor before pulling the small knife from his boot. He ran across the room, slamming the door shut with his boot and sliding her small armoire in front of it as if it weighed nothing more than a bag of flour.

She stayed crouched on the floor. The sounds of several voices and quick footsteps from the living room setting her guts into a knot. It certainly hadn't been Emil, and she was entirely sure that small armoire would do very little to prevent them from entering, but James was already moving again, sliding his knife under the window frame, popping it open.

"Get up," he said, reaching his metal hand out to her. She took it without hesitation and he wrapped his arm around her back, lifting her against him as if she too weighed less than a bag of flour.

"We can't jump. We're up too high," she whimpered, but he had already hoisted her over the windowsill, his arm tight around her waist. And with a gentle shove, they were falling. He pulled her against his chest, and landed without difficulty. His other arm had dropped under her legs to keep her from hitting the ground, and they were already moving again.

"You can put..."

"I'm faster," he interrupted, anticipating her rebuttal.

Several gunshots range out from her window. James slid to a halt, masterfully throwing Bec to her feet and sliding her behind him. He lifted his metal arm, the bullets ricocheting off.

The agents, three from what Bec could make out from her bedroom window, lifted a large canon through the window frame.

"What the fuck?" she yelled, but James was already moving again.

"Get behind that fence, and wait for me."

"What?! Where are you going?"

"Just do it."

Several more gunshots range out, but Bec obeyed, racing and nearly sliding behind the brick fence that bordered the front gardens of a small house on the corner. She crouched down, waiting for the shots to cease, but a fierce clap followed by an intense ringing echoed through the street. A shower of dirt, debris, and several pieces of crumbled brick rained over her. She threw her arms up over her head, but a larger piece made it between her folded hands, sending a shooting pain along the back of her head and neck.

Her vision blurred and the ringing intensified, but before she could pass out, she felt the strange metal hand grab her arm again and pull her up over a cool leather seat, a motorcycle.

She leaned her throbbing head back against a strong chest, his voice clear in her ear.

"I have her. Your men can stand down now."

But his words hadn't been directed to her, she knew that for certain before darkness took her. 

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 264 (spoilers)

You know sometimes you just want to strangle Gege for hype endings of the last chapter that are going to be nullified in the next. It gets frustrating so close to a (possible) end of the fight but this time you can excuse it somewhat because the explanation and character feats make sense 😬

Angel's current JL even though it is maximum output is weaker than before because with one arm less her CE can't be channeled 100% from her body to her cursed tool. In other words, Sukuna can brace himself against it scale up to kill Angel

Remarkably, Sukuna calls Angel by her name and we haven't even seen what she looked like. Heian flashback??

Just like against Mahito, Todo simply gets back up after his CT dies. What a champ. Sukuna gets a BF though that isn't immediately negated by Yuji's soul punch

Angel and Todo are seemingly out, Yuta is still lying on the ground somewhere until his CT burnout ends but we still have the weaker good guys standing around and Maki is also there

Sukuna is not beating the Cute™ allegations

It's interesting that JL is active for this long and Yuji, who's drenched in Sukuna's CE is also affected by it but that doesn't hinder him at all

Yuji does get a punch in but it doesn't disrupt Sukuna's recovery of his CE output. This could be because Yuji just left Angel's attack which hindered him in using dismantle.

Yuji isn't beating the Cute™ allegations either with the lines and scissors of his technique. I can already hear the sound effect the anime will add to it. Snip snip

So Sukuna gets his arms back and looks like he's about to overpower Yuji once more. But you know what I thought while reading the chapter? That Sukuna had an awful lot of inner thoughts.

Sukuna never get this much thought bubbles and he's confident of his success to boot? Something is going to go sideways for him, definitely.

And look, we get a flashback about the first time we saw a DE with blindfold Gojo. But it's not like Sukuna needs that flashback, he knows more than anyone how they're made. So... why did this particular image appear in his mind?

Because Yuji

I've seen explanations of Yuji's handsign. I'll link or reblog them later.

The biggest problem for Sukuna is now the Sure hit but he knows Hollow Wicker Basket and has all his arms back so the fight should continue as it started but....

It's so nostalgic seeing Itadori Sukuna 😤

This probably answers the question we had when Sukuna took over Megumi's body. How does his soul look like now? Like Megumi? Or still like Yuji?

Yuji it is.

The setup here is also reminiscent of Gojo's airport scene with Sukuna now in Gojo's place

But is this Yuji's domain or is it one of those fake memories like Todo and Choso had??

As a reminder, not only does Yuji induce strange dream sequences into others but so does Sukuna. We've seen it with Jogo and Kashimo. What we haven't seen is if Sukuna is actually aware of them happening. He might very well be like Yuji with no idea that sth happened.

The difference with Yuji's and Sukuna's induced dreams are that with Yuji they're uninvolved sequences that still speak to the receivers' (Todo/Choso) hearts. For Sukuna they're a last talk with the receiver being fully conscious and able to speak their minds however they wish.

This looks like Sukuna will be fully conscious... But Yuji won't?

It's not like Yuji isn't affected by these dreams though. After Todo's he said that he was in strange place during the Hanami fight where he also called Todo his brazaa. Those fake memories probably affected Yuji subconsciously as well.

So, my guess is that this last scene where Sukuna and Yuji are probably going to have some heavy talking happen to them, is a dream. The real fight might actually be happening simultaneously while they... don't really resolve their character conflict that has been build up since the beginning of the manga. But they might build on top of it.

My second guess for the end of the this arc with how this is set up now, is that Sukuna will get backstabbed by Kenjaku. He will most likely involuntarily become part of the merger which will mean that this fight (and the talk) won't have a proper winner. That part will become Megumi's arc then.

[creamiesstoryconer]

Yandere Harpy x Reader Taster

Yander Harpy x Reader Taster 

Word count: 666

Length of time to read: 5-8 minutes

This is a taster for a OC x Reader story I am working on, it currently has about 4 chapters planned and I am hoping to release every other day :) This is a taster I am posting for the first chapter enjoy 

TW:Mention of blood

Nature's natural lace, web, clinging onto the remains of the early morning dew. The clear pearls that drape themselves over finely pulled strings that are nestled in the sea of blue and green. Catching glimmers of sun as it breaks through the dense canopy, its golden light a welcoming glow to the undergrowth.

Fine petals of muted blues, reaching for its limited life line of light. Moments of silence such as now, rare within the small thicket. The gentle pushing of the wind picking up stray leaves, dancing with the yellowing trinkets in the air to be carried into the distance. 

Under your foot, grass that once stood tall crunches, its brothers in arms gently grazing your ankle. Early morning air crisp as always, nips at one's shoulders and nose, beckoning the solemnly sweet wind to join it in its conquest of stealing the heat from any warm body.

Knuckles tightly grasped around brown wicker, a basket neatly woven by hand. Packed sunngly with vibrant colours, forged from the long negated trail. 

Damp penetrates your nose, the untones of pine. Forcing the almost suffocating scent to almost have a refreshing taste upon your tongue. 

Onward,deeper into nature's land of peace, the hum of the village morning grows mute. Replaced with the rustling of leaves calling for you. Singing of birds just from sight, soothing and lulling.

Just a little deeper down the overgrown path you know so well, a routine experience every spring. To bring an offering, to wish for peace to the Earth, to keep a titration you grew bored of. The ways of the old and their tales are nothing but fables for children to be afraid of. 

Feet grew stiff at the edge of the opening, the woods breaking its dense canopy of greens to allow for the flooding of gold. Warm upon the skin, stark contrast to the morning wind, the honey coloured light swallows the clearing in its entirety. 

═══════════════════════════════════════════

A blur and a impact, 

The coarse texture of dried bark entangled in once soft locks of hair. Throbbing, building a deafening silence is what over stimulates the nerves. Soothing warmth trickling down your neck, tracing itself past your crook. Allowing for a bud of red to flow and root itself onto once pristine white clothing. Now defiled with browns and quickly darkening crimsons. 

The rising of your chest like hard labour, air having been stolen from your lungs. Hoarse gasps replace a steady rhythm that was once there. Drying your mouth as a once cared for body folds in upon itself. 

Ringing in your ears causes one's head to spin. To not focus is to not be able to see. 

Blurs of greens, a blue perhaps the sky. Golden shines for a moment. Then the sight of flesh. 

Flesh unclothed, blotches of maroon identifiable upon the sun kissed skin. 

══════════════════════════════════════════

A guttural scream escapes your lips, ripping through your vocal cords, straining already fatigued muscle. 

Cheeks, red as puffed eyes strained to stay open, salty water - your own tears-  sullying your face. Teeth bared as saliva bubbles and leaks from the corner of your mouth. 

Fingers tangled within a sickenly soft plumage of feathers. Almost comforting to touch under dirt stuffed nails.

Air that was once almost refreshing to the lungs now reeks of desperation and fear. Tawng of metallic lingering, your own blood that was long dried and flaking. A dried river of rusty colour liquid fashioned from your own wound, wrapping around your neck like a macabre necklace. 

It’s animalistic eyes boaring into you, pupils blown to unnatural size. Tilting its head, forcing itself to envelope your sight. It’s chest rumbling, trilling… studying.

══════════════════════════════════════════

I am in desperate need for a proofreader (￣ ￣|||)

sorry this is another super short post but chapter one will be up tomorrow with about 2,000 words none of which are here this is just some extra content that i reworded and shortened so all new content tomorrow ;)

all feedback is welcome!

[shinycozytwistedglam]

Onyx Storm RECAP ch19-ch21

Alright, activate Quest Mode...

Who is on the journey to retrieve the citrine? Violet, Xaden, Mira, Aura Beinhaven, Grady, others we don't care about.

WTF is the citrine? It’s a non-precious gem, yellow-brown, the kind of crystal you find in a hippie shop alongside tarot cards. They are mined in Poromiel & each griffin flier receives one at graduation. The one they’re retrieving belonged to the first griffin flier. Violet is going to give it to the king of Deverelli, who collects rarities, in exchange for a meeting.

WTF is happening in ch19?

Quest squad is flying over the border and outside the wards. Violet feels the wild magic outside the wards and has the urge to pull threads of magic from the sky around her. (Hmm)

Andarna stayed behind the wards. We learn that dragons & riders can't be far apart for extended periods of time. After 12 hours there will be pain for the rider; after 3 or 4 days there will be death.

They arrive in Anca, which has been drained & desiccated by venin. As long as nobody channels magic, they should be invisible to the enemy. The mission goes to shit when Aura freaks out at the sound of a door opening. She wields fire (uh-oh) and toasts Grady to death (um, fine?). Then the venin attack. Aura gets killed by a wyvern trying to evacuate.

Thanks to Mira they got the citrine, but the mission was a clusterfuck. Theophanie left a note for Violet with the citrine, which means she's a step ahead of them already.

WTF is happening in ch20?

Violet is in research mode. She's reading tons of books and connecting the dots on her dad's work, but she's not telling us (the readers) much yet.

Ridoc confronts Violet about wanting to join the next iteration of Quest Squad. He tells her when Violet is separated from her squad, that's when bad things happen to her. He also does a creepy cool thing of freezing all the water in an orange he's holding, which feels like foreshadowing of JfB's doom.

Violet meets with the Senarium and other assorted assholes (Halden, Aetos, Markham). The Senarium has new, annoying demands like putting Anna in control of the mission and allowing Markham & Melgren to search Aretia for "clues." (Creeps!)

Violet shuts it all down and demands control of the mission on the authority of her dragons & the Empyrean. Halden grants her permission to choose her squad for the next mission but threatens to negate the Aretia Accord (that gave Xaden his title) if she fails.

The assembled group hates Violet's choices, especially Xaden but also the Cordella fliers. Duchess of Morraine is trying to marry her daughter to Xaden. (Bitch)

Xaden tells Halden he's not the boss of him, that he only asks permission of "one person on the Continent" and looks to Violet. Tremendous Wife Guy energy and also direct rebellion against Haldon LOL. Violet & Xaden are gonna do whatever they want and it's obvious no one can stop them.

Mira meets Drake Cordella and immediately knees him in the balls. I can't wait for these two idiots to hook up.

While Violet has been reading her dad's journal, Mira has been reading Lilith's journals (interesting).

Who is going on the mission to Deverelli? Violet, Xaden, Mira, Ridoc, Cat, Drake, Halden, Anna (his guard), Trager (another griffin flier), and Dain Aetos.

WTF is happening in ch21?

Quest squad arrives in Cordyn. The griffins are carrying Halden & Anna in baskets??!!! There is no way this isn't absolutely fucking ridiculous looking. Violet is carrying something in a special pack that she leaves with Tairn.

Rooms are in short supply at Tecarus's mansion, and Xaden baits Halden into denying that he has any authority as a professor here, so Xaden can take an exhausted Violet into his room to sleep. There are several moments here where Xaden is reading Violet's mind (???), but she thinks she's talking down the wrong bond or talking out loud because she's exhausted. Methinks he's no longer simply reading "intentions" (and Violet agrees) but who knows!

Tecarus takes Halden & Anna by boat to Deverelli, so the riot can follow after some rest.

As Violet & Tairn fly over the ocean, the loss of magic begins to weaken the dragons and prevent them from "talking" to each other. Violet can no longer speak to Xaden through their bond, but she can still speak to Tairn & Andarna.

[bafflingbeing]

I saw a Jess Mariano slander post and simply could not resist the urge to make my own 5 paragraph essay disputing the slander. If you’re a Jess hater, please scroll on

The post in question, is a list of reasons why op doesn't like Jess, which is completely fair, you don't have to like every character. I'm a Jess Truther for life, so again I just couldn’t resist.

Their points are that they dislike Jess for the following reasons: 1) he pursued Rory while she was in a relationship, 2) kept Rory's bracelet, 3) was rude to Lorelai when they first met, 4) used Shane to make Rory jealous, 5) had mid character development, and of course 6) his behavior at the Keg! Max! party

We simply don't have time to unpack all of that, so I will only be focusing on the bracelet point. This is the specific passage I will be discussing:

As you can see it alleges that his intentions in keeping Rory’s bracelet are unpure. Which, along with being a hilarious statement, is simply not true.

The definition of ‘intend’ is to: have a course of action, purpose, objective, or plan.

The way in which Jess comes to posses the bracelet negate the possibility of him having any intentions of any kind. Rory dropped the bracelet on the bridge accidentally, so he couldn’t have had any premeditated intentions because he didn’t know that would happen. Additionally the post insinuates that keeping the bracelet was indirectly sabotaging Rory and Dean’s relationship. Which it wasn’t, because the only way for that to be true was if Jess knew that Dean gave Rory the bracelet. Which I don’t think he did, at least they didn’t show any scenes of Rory telling Jess that, and I don’t know why she would’ve.

The viewer also has very little information about what Jess’ intentions are once he did pick up the bracelet. I don’t think he knew Dean gave it to Rory but he did know it was Rory’s. Did he intend to keep it, thinking she would never notice it was gone? Did he intend to give it back to her once she did realize it was gone? Did he intend to return it to Rory in a sneaky way without telling her? Did he simply like having it because it belonged to Rory and not have a specific reason for keeping it or a plan? Did he keep it with the intent to make her upset? (I think the last one is doubtful)

Rory loses the bracelet in S2 E13 and realizes it’s gone in S2 E 15. In E15 when Jess hears that Rory realized the bracelet was gone, that Dean gave it to her, and that it’s causing a big fuss, he returns it to her room the same day. I think this is further evidence that he didn’t have bad intentions, he immediately returned it when he realized it was causing trouble. In that episode Lorelai also accuses Jess of having bad intentions and taking the bracelet, even though she has no idea if he actually possessed the bracelet at all, or if he did, how he acquired it. And as we discussed, neither the viewer nor Lorelai know why he kept the bracelet or what his intentions were.

In conclusion, is picking up someone else’s possession and keeping it a bad thing? I think it does rely a lot on what the intentions are; if the intention is to eventually give the possession back I don’t think this action is inherently bad. And as stated, in this instance, Jess’ intentions are almost entirely unknown so I think it’s hard to say he was doing something bad.

If you want to talk about intentions, talk about him bidding on Rory’s basket in S2 E13. I think you could definitely make a case that was intentional sabotage but that also opens a can of worms about Rory’s involvement.

Anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk, maybe my next 5 paragraph essay will be the intentions behind the bid-a-basket fiasco.

[literaticat]

A while ago I was in a social setting with an editor who said that they "had to" acquire a romantasy to "fill a gap in my list" even though they felt meh about the genre, because their imprint was pressuring them to take on books with more commercial potential. Is this a common thing? It seems contradictory with what editors and agents are always saying about having to fall in love with a book to work on it. I feel bad for that author, ngl.

Editors do have to work on books that are successful if they want to continue to be gainfully employed. It is fairly common that an editor would have certain kinds of "quotas" they might be looking to fill, based on what they have acquired in the past and the makeup of their list and the imprint's list as a whole.

Like let's say that an editor has mostly acquired Picture Books, but their imprint doesn't have any Big Fantasy MG scheduled for 2027 -- that's a hole in the list, and sure, their boss might say something like "you should look for a Big Fantasy MG!"

Just as, if an agent has A LOT of one kind of book on their list, it stands to reason that they would want to diversify and be actively trying to get DIFFERENT kinds of books signed up! You can't have all your eggs in one basket, right?

(It's a little less likely that an agent would feel OUTSIDE pressure to do that -- most agents kind of can create whatever list they want -- but I'm sure it would have crossed their OWN mind even without a boss saying so, it just feels like common sense).

So if this editor's own taste is more "literary" or "esoteric", and they have acquired lots of those books already, it could well be that their boss encouraged them to look for a more highly commercial book. That doesn't mean they hate that book, or they ONLY acquired it because they were told they had to, or anything like that -- just that it kinda goes against the grain of what they ordinarily might look for.

(That's actually GOOD for them -- hey, I used to say I ONLY wanted to work on YA books, and now I do all kinds of books -- growth is a good thing! We find things we love in unexpected places!)

It sounds like that wasn't great phrasing on the editor's part, and I'm guessing they'd be mortified if they realized that what they probably intended to be just a nothingy kind of small talk or a lightly sardonic kind of comment about the market generally came across as publicly complaining about a specific book or author on their list.

Like, I have definitely said something like: "Too bad I don't like ROMANTASY instead of all these weird little-kid books, I guess I'll never be RICH!" -- which I intend to be a semi-self-deprecating and also semi-market-deprecating joke, not an insult to any romantasy author OR to my "weird" authors! But I could see, if the person I was talking to didn't know that, that it could sound mean-spirited or something.

I dunno, basically, TL;DR, sure, editors sometimes are encouraged to pursue projects that are not their "normal" things in order to fulfill the broader goals of their imprint, but that isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't negate the "falling in love" part. They still do have to feel like they will be able to read this book over and over, and believe that it will be successful, and all that good stuff!

[captmickey]

Even More Confessionals, a Three Adventurers fanfic

Yes I did make a sequel fic to this. Yes I am aware it was a vent fic. You think that'll stop me?

---

His ribs hurt.

Graham sat on the bed at the inn and constantly touched the sore spots. It wasn’t like Guybrush to lash out the way he did, and he knew that there had to have been some reason (not necessarily a good one) for the way he behaved, but that didn’t negate just how much of a pain it was to try and take a deep breath.

Then again, he thought, maybe he shouldn’t be constantly poking at the various bat shaped bruises.

After he had sent Link to go after Guybrush, the Hylian came back looking properly wiped. It wasn’t entirely fair of Graham to send the one particular hero that barely speaks to do the talking, but seeing how his shoulders were somewhat sagged had him sigh in (painful) relief that he did the right choice. So when he asked where Guybrush was, Link looked behind him and explained that he’ll catch up back at the inn.

And back at the inn he was short two companions.

Graham looked at the window, trying to catch a glimpse of either of them when he heard faint voices from the door, quickly turning his attention there.

“And I’m telling you, it’s fine.” Link sighed. “Just stop thinking.”

“You’re asking a lot out of me with that one.” Guybrush’s voice muttered.

“As was ‘please stop beating up Graham, he’s not your enemy’ when you proceeded to beat him up.”

“You’re not gonna let that one go, are you.”

“You have the pit, I have this.” Link opened the door, his expression shifting from deadpanned to warm when he looked at Graham. “We’re back.”

“Welcome back.” Graham greeted, trying to sit up but winced slightly as he moved himself from the bed to them. “Need a hand?”’

“Nah, you don’t need to worry about that. You sit.” Link reassured him. “Guybrush has it handled.”

“He does?” Graham asked and looked, seeing Guybrush standing just behind Link, his eyes looking literally everywhere but at himself. 

Link closed the door, locking it even to make sure no ‘fans’ or ‘spectators’ barged in on the off chance that one of them was going to raise their voice. Guybrush, still adamant to look away, placed the basket of ingredients and potions to the side, fidgeting slightly with the ring on his finger.

He was nervous.

Noting the suffocating tension in the room, Link clapped his hands. 

“So I did my fair share of talking that I’m going to now properly shut up while you two hash things out. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get this medicine thing going… shouldn’t be too complicated.” Link picked up the basket. “Have fun.”

Graham and Guybrush made a slight face before Link disappeared into the next room and left the two alone with the pirate still fiddling with his ring and Graham absentmindedly rubbing his ribs. Neither of them knew who would or should speak first, constantly opening and closing their mouths as though maybe, hopefully, the right words would slip right out. But when that didn’t happen and that unbearable silence continued, it was Guybrush who let out a tired sigh and lowered his head briefly before looking up at Graham, his wedding ring still being used to fidget with.

“I’m sorry.”

Graham stared stunned, it was definitely not like Guybrush to get straight to the point. But even more shocking, it wasn’t like himself to stay quiet while someone apologized.

“I… shouldn’t have done what I did, and I know I’ve acted like… like…”

“A total jerk?” Graham blurted out, managing to just barely catch himself from properly cursing the pirate out.

Guybrush paused, scoffed, and nodded, still fidgeting with his ring.

“Yeah… though I’d probably use more, uh, colorful words.” 

“I already did that for you!” Link shouted from the otherside.

He nodded once more. “Yeah, yeah he did…”

“Great, then I don’t need to.” Graham shifted his weight. “Because I have a few words that would make even Amaya blush.”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t fault you for using them at me.” Guybrush said, his voice sounding slightly choked.

“I could, but I won’t.” Graham pressed.

But oh how he wanted to say it, he thought.

“Because it’ll honestly be counter-productive and more to that…” Graham briefly looked away, putting the right words together, “more to that… what would be the point?”

“Because I hurt you?” Guybrush sounded confused.

“So the proper thing to do instead of talking is to double down what made you mad? Guybrush, did you seriously think I didn’t hear what everyone else was saying?” Graham’s brows furrowed. “I obviously did, and the only reason I didn’t do anything was because if I didn’t block, you’d probably would’ve swung that bat at my head.”

Guybrush opened his mouth to counter but Graham shook his head and cut him off.

“Actually, probably not. You still had pretty good precision when blinded. So the head hitting is definitely not true.” Graham took a breath and winced slightly. “Kind of… kind of impressive, actually.”

“Um… was that a compliment?”

A pause and Graham shrug.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Oh. Thanks?” Guybrush hesitantly took the compliment before he took another breath, clearly trying to keep his cool. “Look, I know there’s no justifying what I did. There isn’t. And I already blew up at Link–”

“He sure did!”

Guybrush scoffed. “But what I’m trying to say– what I WANT to say, is that I unabashedly stepped out of line, and I completely lost it and it wasn’t right or fair that you took the brunt of it. And I can say that the only reason I did was… was because you were the favored one, and I got tired of being… not. And it stemmed even before you but that whole thing just– ugh, it tipped and boiled over and it’s stupidly childish now that I say it outloud.”

He paused and his fidgeting slowed down as he gripped the ring tightly, focusing his stare at the golden band instead of the archer’s sharp stare. “I wouldn’t fault you if you, y’know, wanted me at a distance. Probably the least I can do.”

“No way.”

Guybrush looked up, startled.

“Huh?”

“You heard me. No way.” Graham reiterated, emphasizing each word. “If I did that, I’m just pressing that whole image, and then what good would that do for either of us?”

“I mean, you don’t… have to be nice– ow!” Guybrush rubbed his forehead, not realizing Graham took a step closer to properly flick him on his forehead.

“I care, but I’m entitled to be angry, Guybrush. As are you. And yeah, you know what, I was and am actually extremely mad, but I’d be more upset if we stopped being friends because I let a fleeting emotion get in the way. And I might be mad for a while, but I promise I’ll be fine later. Like I know you will.” Graham paused and took a breath, pushing down that bubble in his chest. 

“The point I’m trying to make is that I’m hurt because you think I didn’t care. That you swung at me the way you did and then proceeded to storm off without so much as letting me in. I care because you’re my friend, and even if you weren’t, I’d still care. I’ll let you be mad just as I ask that you let me. Alright?”

Guybrush stared, taking in his words and nodded. 

“Alright.” He conceded. “Um… is there a way I can make it up to you? Not… sure how, though.”

“One hit.”

“Huh?”

Graham leaned back and had one finger pointed. “I get to have one hit on you, you can’t block.”

“The flick to the forehead didn’t count?”

“Hardly!” Graham scoffed.

Guybrush looked around the room once more and sighed. “Okay. Sure. When?”

“Now.”

“Now?!” 

When Graham nodded his head, Guybrush stopped, took a breath and pursed his lips. 

“Fine. Alright.” He closed his eyes and braced himself. “So… on a count or–”

C R A C K

“MOTHER F–��!”

“ZARDS!”

“What in Hylia–?!” Link rushed out with a bottle in hand, catching sight of two men groaning in absolute pain.

Guybrush, who had his hands covering his face, was keeled over and lashing out a string of profanities that made the Hylian blush a little and Graham, on the opposite side, curled up cradling both his wounded ribs and officially bruised hand. Neither of them looked to have broken anything, but the bruises was going to be deep and painful.

Link slouched, staring at the two in a deadpanned disbelief.

“Graham, did you punch Guybrush?” He asked.

“Retribution… zards that hurt…” Graham groaned.

“Mm-hmm, ribs be damned. Guybrush, did you consent to that?”

“Least I can do… ow…”

“Annnnd you forgot Graham has a mean right hook being an archer. Wonderful. Good job, the both of you. Feeling better?”

They both groaned, but even Link knew that it was their own, very twisted, way of saying yes. He eyed the bottle and then the two of them and sighed.

“I’ll make more salve.”

[kosije]

Can I request a Hirugami Sachiro fluff wherein the reader accidentally/unintentionally confesses her feelings >^<

I rlly love your writing!! I dont see much hirugami posts so id rlly appreciate it if you wrote this!

a/n: so so so sorry for my absence ^^; thank you for your support and im happy you enjoy my writing! Lightly edited, feel free to lmk any mistakes :)

Spring just might be your favorite season. The cool wind, flower blossoms, and calm days at the park with your best friend, Sachirou, and his pup make it hard for other seasons to compete.

“I’m gonna take her for another lap around, wanna come?” he asks, beckoning the playful Maltese puppy, who’s the same shade as his hair with two taps on his thighs. The only word you can think of to describe him is perfect. The bright blue cloudless sky and green flower-dotted grass seem like they’re only as radiant as the man standing in them in front of you. His smile is dazzling and his white tee tight and khakis show off his physique.

You say you're still short of breath, hoping he couldn’t tell that you were gawking at him.

he nods, turning his focus to the Maltese and grabbing her leash.

Only once he’s out of sight do you smoothen out your floral dress and take a swig of the ice-cold lemonade he had packed in the basket holding the rest of your snacks. It’s one thing to find your best friend attractive. It was a fact that he was gorgeous. Whether it was you two walking through the halls, attending his volleyball games, or going to the park for a picnic, Sachirou always seemed to draw the attention of everyone around him. And just a light brush to his curly hair would have any girl falling for him. But in love?

You can tell you’re pushing it. Even if your diary has his name written on every page with hearts around it, you know he’s not yours. You’re his friend, and friends are only meant to be friendly.

So how come when you see the two run back a few minutes later, your heart skips a beat and you let yourself pretend the two- or three of you are on a date? After hours pass of talking, running, drawing, singing, dancing, and eating, you both decide to wine down at his apartment.

“I just feel that she’d be much better with the side character. I mean, they have way more chemistry.” You say in between snacking on a random bag of chips you grabbed from the basket.

“You’re better than me. If she ends up with the bad boy as a cliche, I might shit myself,” He says, laughing when you scrunch your nose to him and let out an airy laugh. You think you see his cheeks go pink, but before you can ask about it, his dog jumps between you two.

“Hey! Down girl!” He says leaning back to avoid being hit by her tail while you hide your chip bag and move to cuddle her, giggling over how Sachirou shouldn’t be so mean to her.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d believe she’ll to steal you away from me. Am I not cute enough?” He coos with a fake pout. Even if he is teasing, you can still feel your heartbeat spike.

“How could anything be cuter than you, Sachi?” You say subconsciously, still playing with his dog. It’s only after a couple beats of silence that you realize that was definitely not said in your head, and you feel a wave of embarrassment.

“I don’t know why I said that...” You mumble, not daring to look up and see his reaction. No matter how many excuses you tried to think of, none of them negated how obviously unfriendly you meant that.

“Listen I’m so-“

“Do you mean that?” His voice is soft, and against all of your reservations, your head turns up to face him. His lips are slightly parted, and his cheeks are flush.

You can’t find it in yourself to lie to him when he looks at you like that. So against the butterflies threatening to escape along with the chips, you breathlessly say yes.

His dog jumps from your lap, running off to somewhere you can’t bring yourself to focus on because his body is getting impossibly too yours. To the point where your fingertips are ghosting each other.

“How do you feel about me, really?” He asks his face now close enough that you can feel the shakey breath he lets out after the question. His eyes are steady on yours, but only for a beat does it flicker to your lips and you try your best to swallow the lump down your throat.

“I......What I feel for you is stronger than friendship. It has been stronger than that for a while now,” you confess, leaning into him with a rush of courage. “Is that... okay?”

“Is that okay?!” He squeaks, his voice cracking before tackling you down on his couch in a hug that almost knocks the wind out of you.

“Can’t... breathe,” you gasp, making him spring up and apologize profusely.

“A simple ‘yes’ would’ve been good,” you say, not being able to hide the elated grin pulling at your lips.

“It’s more than ‘okay’, stupid. Oh my gosh, do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this? Being in love with your best friend is a bigger cliche than that movie we were watching.”

If the hug didn’t make your heart skip a beat, his confessing he’s felt the same way as you make your heart feel like it’ll stop right here.

“Tell me about it.” You say, watching his breath hitch before moving his hand to your cheek, pulling you closer to him by his feather-light touch moving to your chin.

Wordlessly, his lips catch yours, and you feel your head spin. His kiss is soft and intoxicating, but so passionate you’re left gripping on his shirt. You both pull back for hair, and his eyes glint like he’s looking at the stars.

“I love you.” The words are easy and flow effortlessly from your lips like they’ve been said countless times before.

“I love you too.” He says, with that same smile that’s always lit everything around him up.

Softly, he pulls you into his chest, reviling in the realization that all of his feelings have led up to (what was) his wildest dreams coming true.

And when you hear his heart hammering against his chest as he presses his lips softly on your forehead, only then is it obvious that there is no better season than spring.

[canonedhours]

Re #80 & #90. Truly in awe by that anon's deduction skills. Let's keep using that logic. I mean, do we even have any proof anyone is anything other than white? Perhaps Zheng, since she's called the queen of China by name (although even that is flimsy, since historically she hadn't even been born, maybe she's an impostor). But Spanish Jackie is obviously of white Spanish descent, as her name indicates (she says she isn't, but maybe she's lying, can we take that as evidence?), and Frenchie is obviously a frenchman, also white (I mean, he did say he was "in service", rather than slavery). Oh, maybe Roach could be considered poc, since he gets called a racial slur by one of the navy men in 1x09. Is that the kind of evidence you need?

Ed is played by a Māori actor, both as an adult and as a child, and so is his mother. Using the "historical accuracy" argument is ludicrous for ofmd, which uses the Historical Record as toilet paper. The fact that he isn't white is in fact a pretty relevant factor to even understanding a big chunk of his narrative ("we're not those kinds of people", and being pigeonholed into the scary, performatively aggressive Blackbeard role, because he felt like it was his only choice for so long. Or even when it comes to fandom takes, like the people refusing to see that his violence is directed towards his long-time abuser, after being pushed to his breaking point, and how incredibly racist it really is to perpetuate the trend of painting poc as the aggressors when they finally break and lash out against the white people who have been consistently abusing them).

Two of Taika's ta moko pieces did in fact get covered up for the show, as is understandable because they have deep personal significance for him, and this in no way negates the fact that Ed is maori. You could also look at a few of his tattoos that didn't get covered up, like his marae or the te reo names of his daughters, or the birds on his clavicle and his shoulder, which are autoctonous to aotearoa. So many of the details in his gravy basket are references to his aotearoa heritage as well.

Anon, you really could use that energy you're putting into defending your racist headcanons into doing some self-reflection about your biases and educating yourself, because saying "there's no evidence Ed isn't white" is truly the most Racist take I've heard in my two years in this fandom.

92

89 (which I assume they meant)

90

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 232 Trivia (Part 2)

(Previous part)

Spot the difference!

Chelsea can apparently rival the villager ladies in terms of strength, hauling a basket larger than she is full of rocks!

I wonder if Soyuz also polishes his head like that…

Chrome saying he wants to marry Ruri after they finish some mystery project: fair enough, means he wants to be able to focus on his wife. Chrome saying he wants to marry Ruri after they finish a time machine, which Gen says "could take millennia"...

I found Tsukasa's words here odd, since to an extent it implies that no one will be greedy or seek out power over others ever again. Given the importance of the revived scientists now, you have to wonder if the new world is a technocracy, which was exactly what Xeno wanted.

So I don't think SAL 9000's house has suddenly grown twentyfold since this looks like it's on one of the other sides of Roppongi Hills, but that doesn't make it any less incredibly huge. Why is it so big!?

With the small heels, this Senku-twin seems to also be of a similar height to actual Senku since she's slightly shorter than Gen.

Extremely simplified, what the scientists are saying is that the Medusas float by negating their mass, and petrification is the reverse effect where extra mass is given instead.

The problem? It would be against everything we currently know about physics, potentially destroying everything since atoms wouldn't act as atoms anymore. I can't speculate on whether or not this would work if it happened, because fundamentally things aren't acting as expected.

You'll also notice that the changing mass/Higgs field explanation won't answer anything about the petrification's healing properties, but I suppose this is a science-fiction story, emphasis on the fiction!

There's a biohazard symbol on the door where Senku is working, which means there's something causing a risk to human/environmental health. Since Senku isn't wearing any special PPE and the time machine doesn't work, I can only assume the risk is from the Medusa being in there!

I also think it's neat that the biohazard symbol and the Medusa are both trefoils.

This is obviously a reference to chapter 1, specifically the first two pages. The dialog is almost the same and Senku's working on a similar device.

How far they've come!

Despite being in modern clothes (and shoes!) again, Senku's is still wearing Suika's cloak 🥺

Not sure about the safety of wearing a cloak like that in a lab environment though…

I wonder if Yuzuriha made the cake toppers! They look similar to the dolls she made of herself, Taiju, and Senku.

We don't have confirmation either way, but I wonder if this project was what Senku proposed in the previous chapter to the rest of Whyman. It makes sense because time travel follows on from being able to float as the devices do, as well as from the Medusa's comment this chapter.

(If you're confused about how time travel and floating are related, it's because of E=mc². Extremely simplified again, if the Medusas can float by reducing their mass to 0, then the E=mc² equation applies differently—

—allowing objects with 0 mass to behave like light, and travel at that speed. (E=mc² is not the full equation, notice how there's no velocity component!) Once you're traveling at the speed of light… Who knows what'll happen. No one's done it before! Maybe it'll be time travel!)

Can't have a time machine without referencing the time machine from "The Time Machine" (1960) based on the book "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells.

Since the beginning, Senku's goal has been about saving all 7 billion people. Given the number of broken statues, Senku was unlikely to be able to save everyone from the start. But with time travel, he may be able to do it, and save countless petrification devices in the process.

You're probably wondering how that's even possible when there's thousands of people who were born in stone world who would be erased from existence if the last 3,700 years didn't happen, and my answer to that is: Senku will find a way to save everyone.

(I'm also of the opinion that the time machine is meant to represent intent rather than be literal: it shows the KoS is still trying to push the boundaries of science, that Senku's desire to save everyone isn't over yet, and also time travel is usually the ultimate sci-fi goal.)

This picture of Rei doesn't make the events of the Reboot canon, Rei is only here to represent Xeno's idea of transmitting advanced technological data into the past rather than a whole person.

A quick summary of the things listed in this roadmap:

Higgs field controller: this is what the Medusas use to float/petrify, thus it's hypertech.

Helium: used for superconductors/particle accelerators since liquid helium is very good at cooling.

Superconductor & magnet: as labelled, has 0 electrical resistance. A current through a SC wire can persist indefinitely without a power source. Therefore you can have a super powerful magnet without needing to add more electricity.

Cyclotron: particle accelerator, think CERN.

Particle beam: in this case, think of the cathode ray tubes (CRT screens) on steroids.

Ion getter pump: a type of vacuum pump, for making ultra-high vacuums.

Semiconductor: used to make computer chips, much better than parametrons.

CW generator: converts low-voltage AC to high DC voltage.

Maraging steel: strong, tough steel that stretches rather than snaps.

Light-speed cyclotron motor: gives you 0 mass and allows you to reach light-speed, I assume.

(There's a few bits I skipped but I think they're fairly self-explanatory.)

A fun fact: both the first and last issues of Dr. STONE happened to be issue #14 in WSJ, which you may remember is a recurring number in the series since it can be read as "i-shi" meaning "stone".

In a similar vein, the Higgs boson (a particle related to the petrification devices' explanation) was discovered at CERN on July 4th 2012. Exactly five years later, the first volume of Dr. STONE was released in Japan.

There's a few questions left unanswered by the series, like "what did Gen tell Francois to say to Whyman in chapter 201?" and whether or not Senku's new friend took a name: Whyman? Medusa? Tamagotchi-kun? Senku Jr.? Byakuya?

End of trivia!

Don't forget that the series ending doesn't mean the fandom has to die! If you enjoyed the series, I recommend joining community servers, taking on projects like cosplays or building things, or writing your own ending!

If you're really cool, you'll help complete the wiki...

[archiveofidentityconstellations]

dick shows up for dinner or something idk and then Bruce leaves so now he’s stuck babysitting Steph and Tim who are adamant they don’t need a babysitter, shenanigans ensue

very short but may return to this fun idea 👀

-

“So how am I involved with this?” Dick asked, reconfiguring the bread basket so Alfred wouldn’t know that he had eaten a slice before dinner. 

“Alfred is still going to find out,” Tim began, but Stephanie interrupted.

“You can drive. Obviously.” 

“Obviously,” Dick agreed. He waited for further explanation. 

Which came, after much brow beating.

“We don’t need to explain our plans to you,” Stephanie said. “You just need to come when you need to come, leave when you need to leave, drive when you need to drive.”

“I’m going to need more than that,” Dick said.

“No, you can’t, because you respect Bruce as a man and won’t lie to him,” Stephanie replied. She gestured to herself and Tim. “We’re willing to lie.”

“I respect Bruce,” Tim negated.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “No, you don’t. You respect him as a hero, not as a man.”

Tim opened his mouth, then closed it after thinking about it.