#nobody saw this on twitter now I'm embarrassed

[merethessc]

Without your love I am a broken mess

[vivwritesfics]

Keep on Rolling - MV1

Chapter Three

Summary: Lando's best friend having feelings for anyone on the grid? Impossible, right? She worked with them, sharing her friendship with the grid with the world via the FormulaY/N youtube channel.

After film a video including... spicy water (alcohol), everything changes between her and a certain world champion. Good thing she hasn't had a crush on him since his F1 debut, right?

Right?

1.3K words

Shorter one because I'm moving tomorrow (and I've only just started packing and sorting my living space). Maybe no update for a few days, but I've got things planned, don't you worry.

Series Masterlist

The drunken quiz video was a success. The fans were loving it, almost as much as they loved Paddock Pals. But Y/N still hadn't seen the video. She didn't watch it after James had edited it, couldn't bring herself to. She just had to trust him and his editing skills.

If Y/N had any embarrassing moments in the video, she didn't care. It was the drivers she was looking out for. She couldn't be seen to be sullying their image, an accusation Christian Horner liked to throw around from time to time.

If she really did have any embarrassing moments, they'd be turned into a meme and posted throughout her twitter timeline. They were laughing with her, not at her, she justified.

When the video came out, Y/N had her phone turned off. She was at dinner with Lando, a regular occurrence during grand prix weekends. She couldn't see the immediate reactions of her fans. When she turned her phone on she was flooded with positive messages and screenshots of her best moments.

Nobody saw her interactions with Max as anything but innocent. That's because it wasn't anything but innocent. She'd half hoped that James had taken that part out, had worried about the consequences of them being left in, but nothing happened.

There had always been Y/NStappen shippers and they took what they could get. But the video had no consequences for her. Just the way Y/N liked it.

***

"JUST FRIENDS? WE DON'T THINK SO!"

Y/N stared at the news article in horror. No, no, no, this could not be happening. She clicked on the headline, giving in.

"Formula One driver Charles Leclerc seen out on a coffee date with a mystery woman in Miami."

Below that was a picture of Y/N and Charles. They were innocently having coffee, nothing more, nothing less.

She kept reading.

"This mystery date of his was later revealed to Y/N L/N, the popular Formula One youtube. The two have claimed to just be friends for years, but we don't think so."

Before the Miami grand prix, Charles had taken Y/N to a cafe. It was completely innocent. She was hungover and he was looking after her. As a friend. Nothing more.

In the cafe Y/N had told Charles about her slight crush on Max. Now, she was in the tabloids and rumoured to be dating Charles. What the hell was she going to do.

The YouTube channel was a two man operation - she didn't have PR team behind her to help.

Her phone buzzed several times. Texts, Instagram DMs, emails and twitter notifications. They all went off at the same time. But Y/N ignored them. She scrolled through her messages until she got to the all important person.

That made her smile. Lando always did. It was why they were best friends. But suddenly Y/N felt bad. She hadn't told Lando about the Max situation and he was her best friend. Why does Charles have more of a right to know than he does? Because he was in the right place at the right time?

There were more pressing things she had to take care of. Opening her twitter , Y/N began to type.

She had to turn her phone off after that. The notifications were too much. Instead, she turned her attention to her notebook. Monaco was the next grand prix and she wanted to do something unexpected for her YouTube video. Something she hadn't done before.

A serious interview with the drivers.

She made plans, wrote down questions she was going to ask everyone. They'd have to be pre-race interviews. There was no way she was getting a moment with anybody once the real press swarmed in.

Her phone lit up, but she ignored it. She was working, didn't need any distractions.

When she had one page of questions finished, she checked her phone. With so many notifications, Y/N went straight to the important ones. Messages from Lando, James and Charles, emails about potential sponsorships and Formula One news.

"What the hell," she whispered to herself as she looked at the Formula One news. She skipped the articles about herself and Charles (glad to seen none about herself and Max) and scrolled down to the news articles about the one, the only, Fernando Alonso.

She skipped the headlines, just reading the article.

'Secret romance? Rumours have been swirling around the internet about a potential romance between two time Formula One world champion, Fernando Alonso, and world famous popstar, Taylor Swift.'

"No way. No fucking way."

She had to say something, right? She had to put out a tweet or something, surely. This was maybe the best rumour to come out of Formula One social media.

***

Ever since the drunken quiz video, Y/N had been trying to avoid Max. She hadn't messaged him or sent him anything on social media. After he disappeared from her room without another word, Y/N hadn't tried. She didn't want to.

If Max say it as a drunken mistake, Y/N wouldn't blame him. Even if nothing happened. But that was the problem. She didn't want it to be a drunken mistake where nothing happened. She didn't even want it to be a drunken mistake.

With the Monaco grand prix coming up, Y/N knew she couldn't avoid him. It was the biggest, most spectacular grand prix. It was such a small place and it was where Max lived. It was the one grand prix Y/N was arriving late for, plane tickets booked for Friday instead of for the Monday.

Lando wasn't happy with her for that one. Who could blame him? He wanted his best friend there for the entire week. He'd even offered her somewhere to stay for the week.

On the Wednesday before the race, Lando was sick of it. He picked up his phone and called Y/N non-stop until she picked up the phone.

"No, I can't get an earlier flight," she said as soon as she picked up the phone.

Lando let out an almost childish groan. "But why not? You can come and stay at mine for the entire week."

"Lando, no. I can't. I'm working."

"Shut up, no you're not. Beside everybody wants you here. Me, Charles, Daniel, Alex and Max."

"Max want's me there?"

"Yeah, as well as Charles, Deniel and Alex. And, most importantly, me."

“Look, Lando, I’ll see what I can do. No promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“Brilliant, let me know when you land and I’ll come and pick you up.”

Not giving Y/N any time to respond, Lando hung up the phone. Y/N shook her head as she went into her messages.

Ouch.

Well that told her everything she needed to know. But Max was right. What was there to tell? From his end, certainly nothing. For her, everything.

Y/N felt like crying. Why? Because some guy she spent a drunken evening with didn’t want to do it again. His focus was racing, not Y/N.

That was when she decided. She would go to Monaco early not let whatever was going on with Max ruin that for her. Well, according to him, nothing was going on. so that was it. She was going to go, she was going to have a nice time and she was going to watch some racing.

Opening her laptop she worked on changing her flight ticket for that evening, paid the fee and began packing her things.

As she packed she had Netflix open, downloading episodes of Drive to Survive. Y/N hadn't yet watched the Netflix series; she didn't need to when she was living it. Sure she'd seen things online, quotes and screenshots. When Y/N had Max in her videos, laughing and joking around, people commented about how badly the show demonized him.

As soon as her bags were packed, Y/N drove to the airport. She parked herself up, got her bags checked in and waited for her flight.

Taglist (Open): @sticksdoesart @eviethetheatrefreak @eugene-emt-roe @glai1023-blog @mqcherie @itsjustkhaos @chonkybonky @arian-directioner

[jeneseoquoi]

saw this thing on twitter saying 127 are all the type to get in a fight for u but who do u think actually would fight??? like i cant see alllllll of them fighting lol

LMAO i'm laughing bc i saw this exact same thing on twitter too. it was hilarious seeing everyone's opinions. here's mine:

nct 127 | reacting to you in a fight

taeil: he is absolutely not jumping in at any point in time. will make sure nobody tries to sneak you though. snatches anybody's phone who tries to record it. tells you you won even if you both know they two pieced you up. laughs every time when it randomly pops into his head weeks/months/years later.

johnny: his big ass. he will definitely laugh while recording if you're really tossing that ho like a salad. if you start losing or the other person's friends try to jump you, he's immediately intervening to stop the fight. lines everyone who witnessed it up and makes them delete any incriminating evidence off their phones.

taeyong: is BEGGING you to stop fighting. once he realizes it's dead serious and you're not going down without a fight, he just steps back to watch and make sure nobody around is being sneaky. (saw someone on twitter say he would post the other person's weave that he snatched up the next day and i absolutely stand by the person who said this lmaooooo.)

yuta: MY DAWG IS 100% IN THE MIDDLE WRECKING HOS FOR YOU. like the minute he senses you're about to get in a fight, he's already there throwing bows left and right. let a trifling bitch pull your hair, he's immediately got them in a chokehold talking about some "i'll let go when you let go." lays out anybody who ever tries to step to you again. this is my rider frfr.

doyoung: is so embarrassed omg. yelling at you to remember his image in hopes of getting you to come to your senses and stop fighting. actively running around the crowd taking peoples' phones so they can't record. soooo mad at you after the fight is over, but still makes sure to take care of you and any wounds you suffered.

jaehyun: anyone who decides to be with this man has to have hands like. he is genuinely confused as to what's happening, but trusts that you can handle your own so he just watches in amusement. lies and tells you it's just a little scratch & that you still look pretty afterwards, even though your shit is BUSTED. at least you won though.

jungwoo: is screaming, crying, and throwing up. like normally you're his soft, sweet baby, so who the fuck is this?!?!? in tears the entire time it's happening, like he can't even comprehend what led up to the fight in the first place. on his knees, BEGS you to never ever get into another fight ever again. he is genuinely traumatized, like he never sees you the same way again lmao.

mark: cursing everybody in that mf out. "the fuck is your problem bro"-ing everyone involved. only hops in when he sees you starting to lose. in turn starts getting his ass beat, which gives you the advantage to start molly whopping hos so you can save your man. will forever remind you of the time he got his shit rocked just so you wouldn't lose a fight. don't ever let him go hahaha.

haechan: honestly, probably the reason you're in a fight in the first place. like he was the one talking mad shit in the first place, but you know he don't got hands at all, so now here you are fighting his battle. keeps taunting the other person & the people on their side like "yeah that's right, mess with me and my girl will smack you up." you promise yourself that when you're done whooping their ass, that he's next.

[gok1bvri72]

♠️♥️《《°•~ WARNINGS ~•°》》♥️♠️

The following work will include name calling, wishing harm onto others, wishing others to inflict harm upon themselves, mass spamming, targeted harassment, social media spamming, eluding to struggles with stress vomiting, Lyney sharing similar experiences, trauma (mostly on Lyney's part) bonding, and sorta vague mentions of past attempts at su!c!de. If any of these things may trigger you, please do not proceed.

♠️-Lyney with a reader who is being spammed on social media by old friends of theirs wishing harm upon them-♠️

♥️《《STORY IS SET IN......MODERN AU_》》♥️

♠️》》STORY IS......NOT PROOF READ_《《♠️

♥️《《STORY IS......ANGST TO COMFORT/FLUFF》》♥️

I myself have been getting spammed in my dms by an old friend of mine who just will not leave me alone and keeps coming in with alts T-T This is a way for me to cope.... I tried to keep reader as gn as possible! Please tell me if I made a mistake T-T

Your hands were shaking as you read the previews of the messages on the screen of your phone. You didn't even want to click on them.

'You dumb ass fucking wh... '

'Go suck a cock you whine...'

'Quit being such an attent... '

The little number icons on the apps kept getting bigger as the notification sound on your phone kept going off.

'Bling! Bling! Bling! BlingBlingBlingBlingBling!'

You wanted to chuck your phone outside. The noise was terrible. You never thought you it would make you feel so sick to your stomach.

(('Why are they dog piling me??? What did I do???'))

You thought to yourself,

(('A-Attention seeker? Whore?? Faker?'))

More and more foul words piled up on the screen, one after another. Tears welled up in your eyes as your hands shook. The keychain you so lovingly clipped to your phone clicked up against it's case.

The halls of your school were empty at the moment, but it felt more stressful than it ever had when it was full right now. The only sounds you could hear were the sounds of your twitter getting spammed, you snap getting spammed, your youtube, your tumblr, your instagram, your discord-

'Bling! BlingBling! Bling! BlingBlingBlingBling!'

'LISTEN HEAR YOU CUN...'

'With all due respect you ...'

'GO DIE IN A FUCKING H...'

'Nobody wants to talk to ...'

'Just take a swan dive off...'

(("Hey is everything alright?"))

One of the exchange students... you could tell by his heavy accent. His name was Lyney, right? He came from France with his siblings a few months back. You guys talked from time to time, you were never really close enough to be considered friends though. You must've not noticed him approaching because of your tunnel visioning.

(("Y-Yeah. I'll be fine, thanks."))

You lied. He wasn't your friend so you shouldn't bother him with your issues. He saw right through you though.

(("If it were nothing would you be crying?"))

Your phone went off again, this time your pinterest. The sounds began to flood your ears again.

(("I'm just fine really! It's no big deal."))

You reasoned, you didn't need to drag someone who hardly knew you into your personal problems. It was none of his responsibility.

(("Someone is spamming your social media accounts, correct? Perhaps... a group of people you used to associate with?"))

You gulped, were you really that easy to read??

(("It's only an educated guess though! I promise I'm not stalking your accounts or anything-"))

Lyney fumbled, his face grew a light pink out of embarrassment.

(("Don't worry it's fine. And yeah, you're right. But it's fine! I can just block them and move on."))

The blonde frowned, his lavender eyes filled with almost a sort of sympathy or empathy. You weren't sure.

(("That doesn't mean the damage hasn't been done. I'm sure no matter what you may had done it shouldn't warrant... well... that."))

He referred to the constant pinging of your phone, gesturing to the device in your hand. Nervously you hid it behind you back, sweat forming on your brow.

(("It's fine really Lyney! I'm fine."))

You smiled nervously and shifted, that feeling of anxiety in your stomach only bubbling worse and worse. It felt like you were going to throw up again.

(("I suppose I shouldn't press it out of you, but if you ever need someone to talk to I'll always be here, okay? Even if it takes some time, I'll still wait."))

Silence settled in, even the sounds from your phone began to cease for a moment. The two of you simply stood there for a while in an awkward quietness. You began to process what he said.

Was this a joke? Was this a cruel prank sent to you by one of your old friends? Was this supposed to be more punishment for a crime you weren't even aware that you committed?

Tears began to bubble up at the rims of your eyes again and pour over, like a child's toy tea cup being filled beyond capacity. Sobs began to softly shake your chest, you were so done with all of this.

These people surrounding you calling you toxic, saying you were over stepping boundaries they never even set, yelling at you no matter how many times you apologise, saying they will stay with you no matter what then running away when your true self becomes too much for them to bare. You wanted to know what was so wrong with you so you could stop pushing people to this point unknowingly. You wanted them to tell you want you did wrong. You were sick of not knowing how to stop any of this.

A pair of warm arms embraced you, pulling you into a soft hug. Surprise filled your eyes as Lyney began to stroke the back of your head gently. You felt a lack of malice behind his intentions, only a genuine want to help. But you were still scared. Scared that maybe you would become close then push him away somehow too.

(("There's nothing wrong with you. You're just yourself and not what they wanted you to be. That's a feeling I know all too well."))

He began,

(("But if they aren't willing to accept you for who you really are, then they were never friends with you in the first place."

You furrowed your brows, something didn't make sense.

(("H-How did you know who was spamming me and why?"))

Lyney sweat dropped, breaking the hug to awkwardly scratch the back of his head.

(("I overheard them planning to spam you at cheer practice... that blonde guy with glasses isn't very good at keeping his voice quiet."))

You tilted your head in confusion,

(("Why come find me to comfort me though?"))

Lyney opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Shutting it again, he furrowed his own brows in thought, piecing together a sentence in his head.

(("Whenever something bad like this happens to me, it sucks to only be surrounded by negative thoughts and it easy to spiral. Only hearing bad things about yourself, you began to believe them. When you hear someone tell you to do something over and over, you feel inclined to do it and sometimes... you actually... do... do it."))

(("You mean you-?"))

(("Yeah. I'm glad it failed though."))

You and Lyney sat in the hallway infront of your locker for a long while, not speaking very much. You two went from practically strangers to knowing some very personal stuff about one another in the span of about 10 minutes so it was a lot to process. The blonde spoke up again though.

(("If you ever have thoughts like that... maybe call me instead? I'd hate if I lost a classmate to that."))

You nodded as Lyney opened his phone to show you his number. You began to type it to your contacts as more notifications flooded you screen again. Lyney's eyebrows furrowed as he read the previews of them in disgust.

(("Such primitive language."))

He said, clicking his tongue in distaste. You simply swiped them off your screen as quickly as you could each time.

(("Do you like cats?"))

You asked,

(("Hm? Yes my sister and I love them! We actually own a few! Mine is named Rosseland."))

He replied enthusiastically. With a smirk you set his contact photo to a picture of a cat that just tasted broccoli much to his dismay.

(("Why such an atrocious image?? Is that what you think of me? Is my fashion that outlandish??"))

You shook your head,

(("That's the face you made when you saw the messages they sent me."))

Lyney sighed dramatically,

(("At least save me with a decent name!"))

Much to his horror though, when he looked down he saw you had saved him as "flagrant cat man" as you snickered obnoxiously.

(("Oh come on! Fine I shall name you something JUST as distasteful!"))

Looking at your phone number he furiously typed it in. A few moments had passed and he then asked you a question.

(("Do you also like cats?"))

You gave an "mhm" in response as he snickered evily. Flipping his phone around proudly, you were saved as "Impolite Feline of Dookishburg" with an image of a bawling cat.

(("Uhhh why that image?"))

You asked, perplexed.

(("Why that was the face you were making earlier of course!"))

He teased,

(("Is my crying face really that ugly!!))

He nodded dramatically with a sigh,

(("I daresay it is comparable to that of a banshee's tear stained face!"))

You playfully smacked his arm as you two began to laugh merrily. Perhaps things were going to get better. Maybe you shouldn't worry about those jerks anymore, after all, you found a real friend in the young man sitting next to you. Things aren't going to get better immediately, but that doesn't mean they won't ever get better. In times these, you can only press forward, but now you feel comfort in knowing you won't be alone.

(("Hey, do you wanna meet my sister and brother?"))

(("Sure!"))

[novaawayne]

Impress you pt 2 || Nanami Kento

pairing: Kento Nanami x fem!reader

summary: part 2 of this

warnings: not sure. a little angst, unprotected sex, nipple play, male oral, spitting, female reader, fluff, happy end. a little bit of dom reader (just for a moment). tell me if i forgot something.

wc: +4.4k

a/n. Twitter is a magical place, I swear.

english is not my first language and i think this is not so good.

masterlist

After that night, you didn't return to Nanami's apartment or answer her calls or thousands of messages he left you.

You were embarrassed and even though he had reciprocated your feelings, you just couldn't help but feel…bad. Like you did something wrong.

That night, when Nanami fell asleep, you took all your things and ran out of his apartment. You didn't even care about the rain or that it was five in the morning. You were just embarrassed and you had the need to run away as far as possible.

It's not that it was bad either. Actually you are sure that both of you had a great time and enjoyed it a lot. But in your mind... it was wrong.

However, you could not hide forever and as the days passed, more people began to notice your absence and the last thing you wanted was to worry your friends and colleagues. But you didn't want to look Nanami in the eye either.

You had chosen a good hiding place or so you thought... until someone knocked on your door and...

"Yuuta?" you looked at the boy in surprise "what are you doing here?"

He let out a nervous laugh.

"Well… I should ask you that. You hadn't answered any calls or texts and we were all worried about you. Mainly Nanami" Yuuta looked away, his cheeks turning red "he put aside his mission to look for you and…actually he was… He was the one who found you but he asked me to come over. He mentioned that maybe you didn't want to see him right now.”

Then Yuuta looked at your face again and noticed your eyes full of tears. At first he hesitated but then he hugged you and you clung to him. You thought you wanted to be alone but when you saw Yuuta…you only thought of hugging him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry" you cried on his shoulder, he patted you gently on the back “I was so afraid. Not know what to do"

"I don't know if this is a good time... but Nanami is outside waiting for you next to his car"

You pulled away from Yutta to look at him with teary eyes. You weren't sure if you wanted to see him at the time.

But nobody knew you for being a coward. And sooner or later you would have to face him.

You finally parted ways with Yuuta and entered the room to grab all your things. When leaving, Yuuta was no longer there but he had left you a message on your phone.

"Cheer up ❤️‍🩹" was what he said.

You locked the room and shouldered your bag. You walked slowly towards the exit, thinking of whatever bullshit lie your brain could create in two minutes.

But your mind went blank seeing Nanami standing next to her pretty car. Arms crossed over her chest making that blue shirt tense from her large muscles.

He wasn't wearing his glasses, so you quickly noticed that he looked at you. You walked in his direction like a scolded puppy but he simply opened the passenger door, taking the bag from your shoulder before helping you inside.

Your bag ended up in the back seat and Nanami got into the driver's seat right away. He started and silence filled them.

He was staring at the road in front of you and you were staring at your hands not daring to look up.

Your heart ached. Nanami was mad at you? You wouldn't blame him if he did.

It was a long way home, though you weren't sure if he would take you home.

"Did I do something wrong?" Nanami asked suddenly “Did I upset you in any way? I really believed that that night we were both in agreement with… what happened”

Your heart ached intensely.

“Kento is not that” you rushed to say “I… what happened was great. It's just…”

You stayed silent. Nanami placed a hand on your leg. Which was really comforting.

"You can tell me anything"

You looked at him with sad eyes.

"I panic. And I don't even know if that makes sense” you started to lose your mind.

A huge amount of emotions flooded you from head to toe.

“My intention was never to make you feel uncomfortable and if you felt that I forced you into something you didn't want…”

"No!" You yelled “I wanted it…I…I love you Nanami. I always do" you looked down, your cheeks were a deep red and Nanami was looking at you in surprise "but it was too much for me. I just… I felt scared and I thought… I thought maybe you would wake up and you wouldn't like to see me next to you”

The car stopped suddenly. Nanami hit the turn signal button and looked at you.

“I love you” he said suddenly “I love you so much I thought…I thought you hated me. When I didn't see you in the morning, I thought I had done something wrong and for a while I wanted to give you your space. But you didn't answer calls or messages. And the others didn't know anything about you. So I really worry."

"I'm sorry" you spoke softly, looking down at your hands.

But Nanami gently cupped your chin to make you look at him.

“I don't know how to read minds, honey. And I'd really like you to tell me what's going on in that head of yours. I'm willing to give you the whole world... but I want you to trust me."

You felt like there wasn't enough air to fill your lungs. Your eyes filled with tears again.

“Ken…”

"Tell me darling. What do you want?"

You thought about it for a second. You couldn't take your gaze away from Nanami's beautiful eyes that looked into your soul.

"I want to be yours and I want you to be mine"

He smiled satisfied with the answer.

"I like that"

He leaned in a little to join his lips with yours. It was short and quick but enough for now.

The car started up again and before you knew it, they were at Nanami's apartment.

It was like being there for the first time and you felt like an intruder. Nanami took off her jacket and tie to get comfortable. He immediately walked to the kitchen and you stood in the middle of his room not knowing what to do now.

It all felt strange but in a good way.

Nanami came back and gave you a glass of water which you drank completely. The man smiled a little.

"Make yourself comfortable, we still haven't finished with our case" his words relaxed you immediately and without thinking much more, you left your bag on the sofa and sat at the table to continue reviewing the documents.

As you read the latest information that Nanami had collected, he looked at you with a smile. He was truly in love with you.

That afternoon they ordered food at home and later, at some point, they both ended up sitting on the sofa. They were still reading files but both were very relaxed.

But one thing led to another and at some point, you were once again straddling Nanami's lap.

His hands under your blouse, very gently running over the skin of your hips. Your hands around his neck leaving little kisses on his jaw and neck.

Nanami gasped every time your lips touched that sweet spot on his neck and his hands squeezed your hips hard.

Your hands traveled to his chest, running down the fabric of his shirt. You slowly unbuttoned it, taking your time watching each of her reactions and feeling his skin under your hands.

Nanami was looking at you adoringly, loving the feel of your hands on him and was very patient waiting for you to remove his shirt so it would be his turn to remove yours.

However, as soon as the man's shirt ended up on the floor, you looked at him with big shining eyes. His chest was huge and firm.

You didn't think twice as you brought both hands to his breasts and squeezed gently. Nanami seemed confused by the action but he didn't stop looking at your face and the strange expression you had. You really seemed impressed and fascinated with him.

He liked it.

What Nanami didn't expect was that you suddenly took her nipples between your fingers. The action took him completely by surprise and he couldn't stifle a loud groan. You discovered that he was also very sensitive in that area.

"No…don't do that," he muttered. But his hands remained firm on your hips. His fingers pressed hard against the skin and there would probably be a mark.

Your fingers pressed a little harder, a sigh escaped from the blond's lips and he was about to say something else when you leaned over to lick from his neck to one of his nipples until you put it inside your mouth.

Nanami gasped and this time he brought one of his hands to your head to try to push you away but he didn't as he enjoyed it more than he would like to admit.

His pretty nipple was completely hard and erect just like his cock. Now you could feel it. You licked and sucked hard on the small nub of him, gently biting and pulling a bit.

You raised your head a bit to see him and the sight was just wonderful. His cheeks were red and his breathing was rough.

"You'll make me cum if you do that again," he managed to say after a moment. But you just ignored him and attacked his other tit.

You were probably enjoying it more than he was. His chest was so big and firm that just thinking about having your face in there was perfect.

“I want to make you feel good, Nanami. Please” you said just inches from his chest.

But Nanami didn't say anything, so disconcerted, you looked up afraid of having done something wrong, however, you found Nanami biting his hand hard and closing his eyes while he tried to catch his breath.

You felt moisture between your legs, when you looked you realized that the moisture came from Nanami.

"I told you," he murmured.

You could swear you've never seen anything as hot as that. But the night was just beginning and you could already feel Nanami's cock getting hard again.

Suddenly it was as if I felt you were really needed, needed by Nanami. From every part of him.

You climbed out of his lap to sit on the floor on your calves and between Nanami's thick legs. The sight of you between his legs was magnificent for the man. But he felt bad, this time you were the one making him feel good and he didn't want it to be that way. He wanted to be the one to make you gasp and moan his name loudly. He wanted to see you melt in his hands begging for more.

But at that moment he was enjoying it too much.

You looked at him with doe eyes and red cheeks. His hand went to your face to caress your cheek gently. Immediately you took and slid your hands down the man's legs, from his knees, running down the inside of his thighs to the edge of his pants.

A thin sheen of sweat covered the man's torso.

You finally opened his pants and you lower them a bit along with his underpants, revealing that pretty cock you've already had the pleasure of meeting. He was a complete mess from the first time he'd come.

Nanami felt embarrassed that you were staring at him but he couldn't deny that he really liked the attention he was receiving.

You very carefully licked each white spot in an attempt to clean it off. Nanami noticed that and it was even more embarrassing but he felt too good.

Once Nanami's cock was clean, you licked your lips and prepared to take the tip of it into your mouth. The man grabbed your hair tightly. Now he wanted to be inside your throat and fuck you so hard to punish you for making him come in his pants.

And that did. He grabbed your hair hard to get all of his cock down your throat. You felt the gagging nearby but you quickly relaxed all your muscles and accommodated your tongue to let it go even deeper until your nose touched the man's skin.

Why did he feel so good?

You felt like you were drowning but that feeling felt very nice, adding to the beautiful sounds that came out of Nanami's mouth.

Your hands went to his balls to caress them and Nanami felt his whole body tense up. There was too much pleasure running through him from head to toe.

More. More. More. He wanted more. He wanted everything.

You felt a thick vein that ran all over his cock on your tongue, you also felt that nice salty taste of his precum. Hearing him moan like that made your own arousal trickle down your thighs.

You pressed your legs hard to feel a little friction that would calm the pain that was accumulating. You wanted to touch yourself but you didn't want to divert your attention from Nanami.

Now he was the only one that mattered.

He jerked your head out of the way as he tried to catch his breath. He didn't want to come again so soon. Except when you hadn't done it even once.

"Did I do something wrong?" You asked with teary eyes from almost drowning a second ago. Your breathing was irregular but you had not noticed it.

"Nothing like that, honey" Nanami spoke with a soft and deep voice "but it's my turn to make you feel good" he stared at you with dark eyes full of desire "take off all your clothes right now and I want you to look me in the eye while you you do it" he ordered.

You obeyed his instructions as much as you could. The clothes slid off your leather and ended up on the floor. You were about to take off your panties when Nanami stopped you.

He leaned forward and placed his hands on your ass to give it a little squeeze. Then his lips touched your stomach, where he left a delicate kiss on your skin. As if you were made of glass and could break at any second. His hands were another matter though, he was squeezing your ass hard as if it were made of moldable rubber.

He loved how well his hands fit.

His lips began to rise, leaving a trail of kisses until he found your tits and nipples. He wanted to get even for earlier and find out if he could make you come just like you did him.

He stuffed as much of your tit as he got into his mouth, swirling his tongue over your nipple and sucking every once in a while. His other hand was not far behind, stimulating the other nipple, pulling and pressing between his fingers.

"Ken...Ken is too much" you tried to speak as you pushed him by the shoulders.

He pressed your nipple harder between his fingers and sucked more and more time on the other. He pulled away a bit to look at you. You were a complete mess and this was just beginning.

Your hands went to his hair, pulling the strands that fell over his face back.

He leaned in again, shoving your other tit into his mouth and using his fingers for the other. He wanted to feel all of you. Absolutely everything.

He wanted to adore you and make you feel like you were touching the clouds and the sky.

He with a quick movement he made you sit on his thick leg. Nanami felt the moisture collecting in your panties.

"I want you to rub my leg" was all he said before going back to work.

And that you did. You began to move your hips from front to back, feeling the sensation of friction against your clitoris pleasurable.

Your body burned but in a lovely way. Soon you felt a knot in the lower part of your stomach, you were about to arrive but you didn't want this to end so soon.

But Ken wouldn't stop and even started bouncing his leg for added stimulation.

"Ken... Ken... I'm..."

"Do it honey" he spoke without leaving your chest "cum for me"

You moved your hips to rub harder on the man's leg until you felt your release. However, Nanami didn't take her mouth away from him and put her hand inside your panties to rub your clit hard.

It was too much stimulation but you still endured it as best you could and when Nanami took his hands and mouth away from him, you dropped your forehead onto his shoulder. You wanted to come off your high but Nanami had more plans.

He still wanted to feel your sweet pussy around his cock. He still had the memory of last time but right now it seemed like something really far away.

He hugged you around the waist tightly and stood up with you in his arms. Your legs wrapped around the man's hips so you wouldn't fall and he carried you to his room to drop you on his bed.

He looked at you with a big sparkle in his eyes.

"You are beautiful" he said "you are perfect"

You stared at him, almost not believing his words. You had done so many things to impress him for so long and now you had him on top of you and completely naked. You never expected this but it was perfect.

You raised your hands to take him by the neck and bring him closer to your lips. At first he was taken by surprise by the sudden kiss but he didn't refuse.

You opened your mouth a little and allowed his tongue to enter your mouth. He separated so that they both caught their breath after a second but an idea came to your head, however, you were embarrassed to say it out loud but Nanami noticed it.

He gently cupped your cheek and made you look into his eyes.

"Tell me what's in that head of yours" he asked with a soft and calm voice. It wasn't an order and you could refuse to tell him.

"I'm embarrassed to say it out loud" you muttered.

He smiled tenderly.

“You know you can tell me anything. The most important thing in a relationship is communication and if there is something you want, I will make it come true"

You looked at him impressed. Had he said “a relationship”? Was that what they had now? Your chest felt warm and nice. But there would be another time to get excited about such cheesy things.

You stared into his eyes, your cheeks burning even more.

"Can you spit in my mouth?"

Nanami probably didn't imagine that you would say that and his expression showed it but he quickly smiled.

His thumb caressed your bottom lip, that hunter look coming back to him.

"Open your mouth, honey"

You obeyed immediately but Nanami stuck his thumb into him to which you quickly surrounded him with your lips. Twirling your tongue around his finger.

It was a nice feeling. He pulled his finger out and his hand went to your wet pussy and with his thumb he began to rub your clit. You shuddered, you were already so sensitive but it still wasn't enough.

He started kissing your neck, leaving some marks. Your hands went to his chest to try to feel the most of him. His firm yet soft chest was perfect.

His thumb never stopped, which made you wince. You needed it inside of you at that moment.

“Ken…Ken…I need you” you gasped “please. I need you"

"Tell me honey, what do you need?"

“Inside of me, Ken. Please. I want you to put that huge cock in me”

He smirked.

"What a dirty mouth, honey"

He moved away a bit to sit on his calves and look at you from that position. You looked so pretty being such a mess.

He took a deep breath and then very gently took your leg to bring it over his shoulder. He left a few kisses on your skin and continued to leave marks on the inside of your leg.

He looked at you with a predatory grin and then took his cock in one hand and stroked the tip of his cock into your slit. You gasped at the feel of his cock against your pussy collecting your fluids to use as lube, you needed it inside right now.

He accommodated his cock and slowly began to push it in as he pushed your leg against your chest.

It was painful at first and he held still for a second to let you get used to the size of him.

"Move" you gasped "please"

Kento also had to concentrate for a moment, he was about to cum as soon as your walls squeezed him. Then he began to move slowly, one of his hands went to your clit to start stimulating it and the other went to your chin to make you look at him.

His thrusts grew deeper and harder. It was a very nice feeling.

"Open up" he commanded.

You couldn't think clearly, it was too much for you but in the cloudiness of your mind you understood the order and you obeyed it.

He spat into your mouth and Nanami felt you tighten around him.

"My pretty girl is so dirty" he murmured while moving his hip "next time I'll punish you"

He quickly leaned in and they both gave each other a really messy kiss.

"Ken, I'm close again" you murmured against his lips. Nanami's fingers did not stop caressing your little ball of nerves.

He felt you were close by the way you squeezed him. He was also very close so his movements began to be disordered and his fingers pressed harder on your clit.

“Come on honey, cum for me. Make a mess on my dick"

He pressed your cheeks with one hand causing you to open your mouth a little and spit again. It was your end. You cum like never before in your life.

Nanami felt your walls squeezing him very tightly, as if you were sucking him in and then he let his release out as well. Huge and thick ropes of semen painted your interior.

He dropped onto your body leaning on his arms so as not to hurt you while you both caught your breath. He kissed your neck and your shoulder. And you caressed his head, running your fingers through the fibers of his hair.

He came out of you but you were hardly aware of what was happening. You had never come more than once in such a short time and although it was only twice, it had been the most intense you had felt in your entire life.

Nanami stood up and left the room, but it didn't take long for his to return with a glass of water, a damp towel, and a sweatshirt. He was still naked but he seemed more concerned about seeing you.

"How are you feeling, honey?" You looked at it or at least you tried to. Your vision was slightly blurry.

“I feel like in the clouds”

The man smiled proudly.

“Drink some water and take this pill. It's so your body doesn't hurt too much tomorrow."

Before you had not seen the pill but you did as indicated. Grateful for all his actions. Last time he had been just as kind, cleaning you up and bringing you anything you might need. But this time it felt a little different. Different in a good way. Before it had been a hair but right now everything was even more personal.

Honestly, you wouldn't mind if that man ripped your ass in two. In fact, you would appreciate it.

You dropped after drinking the entire glass of water along with the pill. Nanami was careful as he wiped the sweat from you and then spread your legs a little. He saw his cum coming out of that pretty pussy and for a second he imagined how pretty you would look carrying his children. He almost caught on to the idea but he tried to relax his mind and continue the job of cleaning.

There would be many more moments to make all his fantasies come true with you. Besides, you were still quite young and he could wait a little longer before getting you pregnant.

Once you were clean and not sticky, he lifted you up a bit to pull the sweatshirt over your head. He also removed the quilt that was now full of fluids and put on a clean one.

He left again and this time it took a little longer but when he returned he had damp hair and new pajama pants. He had taken a quick bath.

"Do you need anything else?" He asked you as he left a bottle of water on the nightstand.

You denied without being able to utter a word.

"Okay, then I'll go to bed too"

He turned off the lights and got under the covers next to you. You approached him and he gladly received you in his arms.

Now you could close your eyes and sleep peacefully. Nanami called your name in a low voice but in the silence and darkness it was as if he had dreamed very hard.

"What's going on?" You asked half consciously.

"Do you promise you'll still be here when I wake up?"

You felt bad for the last time. You had left in the middle of the night without explanation.

"I promise"

Nanami smirked and also closed her eyes.

"Ken?" It was your turn to mutter.

"Mhm?"

"I love you"

“I love you too, honey,” he chuckled, “and if that's not already clear, we're a couple now. You are mine and I am yours"

He smiled even more and without opening his eyes he kissed your head.

You nodded and finally fell into a deep sleep. Nanami was the only thing you wanted now and always.

↬ written by Novaawayne

[namingofcatszine]

Not sure how to say this, but this whole thing seems really sketchy. No one knows who you are or anything and now you're appointing yourself as some kind of leader? Think there are tons of contributors and older blogs that could be involved but you probably scared them away already. Yikes. Then to be pick and choosy? For what? Seems like a slap into the face to those that are not seen as important enough to you and the 'mods'.

Hi! Thanks for your concern!

To give a proper introduction to who I am and what I do, please refer to my instagram , my twitter, and my upcoming small business account . Here is my Tumblr, too. I made a recent post about my current fear of somehow "scaring people away". My name is Peach. I am 20 years old. I have been a fan of CATS since 2021, but I haven't exactly expressed my love for this musical to any social media due to personal embarrassment and fear. Ever since I saw it live for the first time in the Oasis of the Seas production last summer, I've grown back into this phase and this time, it's bigger than ever! I'm going to see the US Tour production in March of this year and I'm super excited!

The reason why I wanted to make this zine is because I haven't really seen a CATS zine being made! (I know there was one, but that was years ago). There's so many wonderful artists and fic writers that I have seen and I wanted to create a special zine dedicated to this musical that I have grown to love! I have experience in sourcing products, manufacturing my own stickers, I have even run a successful Kickstarter Campaign that raised over $25k to fund plushies that I have designed for another fandom I'm in! I am and have been the owner of several Discord servers in the past, moderating them and running them. I have also been in several Zine projects for different fandoms so far as well. (Matsuhana Calendar 2023, To Have You As a Partner Iwaoi Wedding Zine, and currently the Haikyuu Tarot Project Zine).

I have prepped all Mod forms, Contributor forms, schedule, Zine page layout, Zine Discord server, pitch sheets, and more ever since I came up with this idea literally three days ago.

I know I'm not known in this fandom, but if nobody else was going to do the hard work, who is? I'm not establishing myself as a leader, I'm just very experienced in organizing events and I know where to source my products. I, myself, am an artist, a merch designer, and a little bit of a fic writer. I'm a go-getter. Sorry if this seems leader-ish, but organizing projects such as these requires a leader and I'm stepping up to do so.

If you're concerned about me "scaring away" older accounts, I never had any intention of doing so. When the Interest Check forms were released, I had comments and concerns regarding "proshippers" which is why I addressed it in the first place. I don't like to leave people in the dark about topics but I regret addressing the problem because it led to so many other problems. I am also currently addressing the problem of having other creators "fear" this project because of what people spoke up about first.

If older blogs would love to be involved, then you're free to do so! I'm not stopping anybody. The Zine is for all artists and writers in the CATS fandom! I never said that anyone wasn't allowed in. I, Peach, am a very accepting person. I'm approachable too.

I have been a victim of being wrongly accused in past fandoms because I speak up against meaningless harassment and hate towards creators who have been wrongly accused of something they're not. I love to see fanart and I love to read fics. I would never want to exclude anybody who don't think they can join because of useless fandom discourse. This is a musical about singing and dancing cats haha.

By me being "picky and choosy", I'm not. This zine has room for 25 artists, 5 writers, 7 merch artists, 3 print artists, and 5 guest contributors (who have been recommended by the audience who have answered the form) because it is what I deem fitting for a fandom of this size, cost-wise, and also location-wise. This is the usual amount of contributors that most Zines have.

If there are anymore comments or concerns about me, Peach, then please DM me! Please don't forget to check my other socials too!

Also, if you'd like to read my Mod page on the Zine carrd, then please do so!

Lovely to meet you! And whoever wants to join the zine can join! It's not up to me, it's up to you!

[dongzhou3kingdoms]

Good news

A comment in recent tumblr is worth having a look at

I'm sure nobody would suggest this is corrupter's tumblr. Edit: Follow up would suggest it would be swordmaster. Also doing the read more

In fairness I did say on twitter "I think kindnest thing I can do is let Corrupter read Archlich response to Cao Cao article being the most accurate and let them decide how they wish to handle it."

Well... this is one way for somebody, even as a spectator, to respond to events. Humour, perhaps even mocking themselves so everyone can have a laugh. At least I think that is what their going for? Because this would just be embarrassing for them otherwise Let us look at their stunning comment. I'll provide a "serious analysis" to go with their joke one

"(DZ tumblr name) says something stupid and false "It was just a joke!""

Now let us look at the thread. I'll go to the latest post

So an anon asked a somewhat joking question with a serious point. Daolun, Gongjin, Daolun all went with humour...

So I didn't post. Somehow I managed to say something stupid and false without posting. New level of DZ genius. HungryHydra is a genius in making a joke about a post that never actually happened. Brilliant.

Now HungryHydra made an comment after Gongjin's post " Actually, it was because he was reportedly of good moral character and had skills in politics." which is fair attempt to engage with subject (I suggest quote reblogging in future Hydra). The only thing I said was "It's a joke". You know, the usual thing when people miss humour. Which is completely understandable when people talk across cultures and languages

So the "joke" bit of the joke is fair. Because I said that. The humour is where they claimed I said something stupid and false when I didn't actually say anything. Which would be clearly bizarre. Ergo it must be humour becuase nobody would claim proof via a post that didn't exist for that would just make them look stupid

"This is why those two blocked you and XiahouMao. I even saw that reddit post. Nothing but slander."

Ah yes, the "two" who blocked people who pointed out everybody who pointed out Archlich article was wrong. An article that Archlich also said was wrong. Or that others employed via talent (the post that got XM blocked).

The blocks for me? One of my cases was when engaged in pointing out a 15 year child puppet Emperor (Cao Mao) did not raise armies against Sima Zhao nor should be accused of corruption. The other i.e Corrupter was when I responded to their "proof" that I was lying about what archlich said by sourcing the quotes

My reddit post about the pre-Corrupter figure. Oh such slander. Pointing out they cited Archlich, the mass blocking they were doing, about novel backlash. Everyone can of course see the entire thread

I do appreciate the use of humour to allow me to highlight what had gone on. If I might be permitted to be critical: I think HungryHyrdra might make the jokes better in future by providing links for people themselves.

I mean if this was remotely serious, I suppose if one keeps throwing accusations maybe someday it will be right? Like a broken clock. But is the constant publicly embarrassing themselves, across the 3k community and in front of the person they insisted I was lying about, really worth it to someday get there?

Great parody HungryHydra, hats off.

[limneticvillains]

Part 2 of 4 of: The Kiffie Bullyshit Saga Continues

In part one I introduced you to Kiffie, the man, the legend, the most prolific musician that has ever been (Self proclaimed of course). Now, here's the thing, before we get into the nutty nitty gritty of what happened to me after he started telling people that I'm a massive evil bully, I wish to state for the record that I don't hate Kiffie, in fact I encourage everyone to listen to his music. I think there's nothing more embarrassing for the guy than giving him what he craves, attention and an audience for his terrible shoddy works. Listen to his trite lyrics, experience the bad production and the woeful lyrics for yourself. Make your own mind up. I have never once told anybody not to listen to or play his music. I've never tried to have radio hosts not play him.

Let's get into it...

Here is Kiffie sending an out of the blue message to the manager of a band I was friendly with at the time. Nice guy, I've been meaning to reconnect with him. This message was sent after the first time I was suspended from Twitter. Nobody had pointed a finger at Kiffie at this point, but seemingly he pointed one at himself. This wasn't helped much because not long before the second suspension (both on Bandcamp Fridays) I received this from one of Kiffie's then pals...

Hmmm... Now combine this with the fact that after both suspensions I saw posts from himself and a few of his buddies in threads that I deserved these suspensions, and hang on a minute... Well, I don't think it takes a detective to work out what was going on here.

While slightly annoying, it's only social media right, who cares, but the thing that annoyed me was, at the time I was raising money for cancer research with my music, usually 70-100 euro a month, not very much but it was for a good cause and it adds up. Well, I was suspended the second time for 3 months. Oddly, both times were Bandcamp Fridays, and even more weird, the second time, in April of 2022, Kiffie brought out his own charity Bandcamp project, what a coincidence!

I decided to make in the space of about half an hour, a SoundCloud page and 4 shit songs in Kiffie's own style, I called it Piffy and it was my response to the utter stupidity of having this sad bloke go around and tell people to report me for nothing at all, I added some of the same people that followed Kiffie and within less than a day he was raging about it, telling his followers not to follow the page, that it was all the work of a massive troll bully.

I honestly thought it might make the guy stop his antics and consider sodding off, but instead it inflamed him, I started work on a side project, Vampire Tree and had a new Twitter account, he found that new Twitter account within the space of a day too. Impressive stuff. It was around the same time he started getting angry with random people and began accusing them of being me. This became a theme going forward. At first these accounts he called out were seemingly random and he just called them weird or creepy if he was blocked but then he just openly started saying I was these people.

Hmmm... Normal stuff.

I decided to send him an email via Bandcamp. At this point Kiffie was going about spewing angry at the parody songs, saying he had a 12 page PDF of all the abuse I had apparently sent him and that he was going to the police. I had done nothing but say the guy had a massive ego and blocked him, and put out some parody songs in his style that were so on point that he was going nuts. Not exactly me bullying him, I mean, I was the one with a twice suspended Twitter account and evidence he had told people to report me, even though I'd done nothing...

He responded denying any wrongdoing and asked me if I wanted to collab! I was floored. The egotistical balls on him. He blamed middle men, meddlers, others. I told him to shove it, I said his music was piss, I said I thought he should be reported to his school and shouldn't be incharge of teaching children, that he was obviously unbalanced. Again I thought, hey this will be the end of it, I gave him a chance to say sorry and maybe some strong words might get him to f off, no. Didn't work. Made it worse. Now he added to his rants that he had been sent threats and abuse. This guy...

Enter Mike1inFive, a small record label owner that decided Kiffie was correct to rant about me and that I was obviously in the wrong, the parody music on soundcloud (which I deleted after like 4 days) was too on the nose, I was an evil bully boy.

Mike decided he would aid Kiffie by making up lies about me stealing money from charity. He retracted this lie, as soon as I showed him proof and did a little weasel like sorry, before eventually pissing off and calling me autistic for no reason, and joining in on random threads accusing me of random shit he decided had to be me. He also said he had my personal details, including my address.

He said I was paranoid about Kiffie going after me and then said that he was emailed with my full name and address so I asked him what my address was and my full name... What the actual fuck was happening here...? Apparently it was all my drama, I was the problem. Now I will admit that while Mike was backing up Kiffie's insane rants I did criticise Mikes shitty music awards, that was my response, Mike ran some sort of music community of rather shoddy musicians on Twitter and they all gave one another pats on the back and called each other award winning artists in their profiles, lovely stuff. I don't regret criticising his shit award thing, honestly these people are filth after all they spewed about me, and I was right, shoddy awards, shoddy record label minus a couple of artists and really totally stupid idiots in the Kiffie circles.

Eventually... Would you believe it, we actually came to an agreement, common ground. Even Mike admitted Kiffie has a massive ego, he said sorry for baiting me into a conversation with him and going around telling people lies about my charity work, which I was still annoyed about, because it's a fucking criminal accusation he just casually spewed out to his 16k followers... I reluctantly said sorry for criticising his shitty award thing, which is total piss by the way, I retract the sorry, load of wank those awards. Mike and Kiffie had also been telling radio show hosts not to play my music, weirdly Mike refused to apologise on that matter, but I thought fuck it, let it go... Maybe we can sort this all out and move on... Then he tried to pin everything on the Art Block guy who sent me the first screenshot telling me Kiffie was asking people to report my account for nothing...

I'm going to have to turn this into a 4 part thing...

But anyway, so far, we are still on the first year of the Bullyshit Kiffie drama, I'm going to have to fly through the next year, there's so much of this stuff...

Right so, Kiffie and Mike apparently had my address, that was pretty wild. I decided to find their info out, I mean I'm going to do everything I can to protect myself from these weird bastards, it wasn't very hard. All their info was in the public domain, Kiffies family home address and phone numbers were just out there on the internet connected to a folk band his parents had, which I thought was really stupid, I'm nice enough that without revealing any of this information I informed him to fix that. Instead he went about saying I was threatening his elderly parents, why on Earth would I do that, haven't they suffered enough with the Almighty Kiffie as their son? Give them a break, I've no interest in threatening anyone. You tell a guy you've got all his personal details, what do you want, I did some basic digging. 192.com lists Kiffies info, it's not illegal to do research online, especially when you're considering reporting people to the authorities for harassment, stalking and other madness, like making up criminal accusations, such as threats to the welfare of elderly people and charity fraud... Pretty serious things to be throwing around Kiffie gang...

In part 3 I'll show you how I talked this out with Kiffie himself, how I reached out to the guy and tried to stop it all, and how he ignored me and went back to randomly ranting about me, until I had to report him to the police.

Stay tuned!

-Limnetic Villains

[demonsfate]

anonymous sent . . . holy cow they're not liking your post on the tek subreddit. i find it ironic when they complain about the lore/story and then say "too looooonnng omg who cares!!!!" like bruh... buncha braindeads. maybe they DO deserve all the story mess/harada's useless "facts"

oh my gosshhhh did you find it?? you probs did 'cos it's a recent one & i have the same username as my personal LOL. like... i feel a lil embarrassed 'cos i was probs did "overreact" to the comments. but like... they were just so needlessly rude or straight up vicious. (especially that one calling me autistic, when y'know... i am straight up) i just wanted to fire back. but rly, i feared i did make myself sound too hurt when i shouldn't have.

i just don't get WHY tf i got so much backlash for it? like even in op itself, i stated i don't even hate how jun is portrayed in tek8, i simply think she is different, and therefore i just don't like her as much as i did in previous games. like... it's literally just a character analysis yet everyone acted so frickin mean about it???

and ppl mocking me for pointing out her "smiles" and stuff. but like... how a character expresses themselves tells you a lot about them. my point was that the way jun expressed herself in t8 was totally different than how she expressed herself in previous games. what best way to demonstrate that point than to show how she smiles far more frequently in t8, and how she expresses more emotions?

like character design and how they present themselves IS indeed an important factor of a character portrayal. like if jin started smiling far more, i would say he was different! if we suddenly saw josie being angry and never crying or smiling, i'd say she feels different!

LIKE i said to the kind ppl who disagreed, but POLITELY, i told 'em - i don't mind if they disagree! that's what discussions are for! but why the fuck do ppl gotta be animals about it? why do they gotta act like they were raised in a barn about it? they could've just said "i don't think this" and that's it instead of just insulting me and acting all hurt over a literal frickin opinion on a character...

i'm glad you're supportive of me, though. like these are literally the same ppl who act straight up ableist to me, or just say rude stuff, but then say "WHY IS JIN THE HERO WHEN HE STARTED WAR?! JIN SHOULD NOT BE HERO?!" it's just... i don't get it man, i don't get it at all. especially when, i'm sorry, but i betcha these ppl are def the type would watch youtube analysis. dudes can make hours long youtube vids, but when i'm talking thru text, suddenly i'm autistic or fucked in the head (as far as i know, nobody said i'm "fucked in the head" but i've been called it before for expressing my opinions on the subreddit) and yes I AM, but they're saying it like it's a bad thing and like wtf are wrong with these ppl???

i should be able to express "this character just doesn't feel the same to me and this is why-" without getting harped on?? i understand the internet is full of nasty ppl but GOSH DARN, the amount of hate i got... the fact the post had zero upvotes... just wild, man...

the funny thing is, i'm not even the only one to notice. other people on twitter has pointed this out-

why do these love the way jun looks in this game? because she gives off different VIBES than the jun in t8!

and not to repeat myself but i feel the need now 'cos hoo boy reddit users just ignored everything i said. but i wasn't even HATIN' on t8 jun, i stated she is fine - she just doesn't feel like the old jun to me is all! like my goshhhh.

anyway, i just completely left the tek subreddit after that. and like, i hadn't used reddit in a looong time and i think this is def the final straw. like my first time using it in forever and this is what happens... yeah, that's it lol. and honestly... see what i'm doing right now! i wrote a long reply to you... but that's because i'm passionate. making fun of ppl for writing long posts... it's just, ughh... it's one reason why a lotta ppl are scared to speak up about their passions, it's why a lotta ppl don't wanna infodump!

but you're right. if ppl are gonna act like this, then they do deserve terrible storytelling. "we hate these inconsistencies but also every character is inconsistent so don't complain about it" like what???

[witchesofferngrove]

Saw the ask about if C ever checks MC's social media before they meet again and now I'm thinking about C giving in and checking only to find out MC has them blocked on everything lmao

Uhhhh so I started thinking about this and it spun out into a drabble because it caused me to feel Many Things. I did both Cora and Colton's version.

___

Cora knew she shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't even be thinking about doing this. It was stupid, reckless, and most of all, incredibly, stupidly self-destructive. You weren't even thinking about her anymore, she wasn't even a blip on your radar. Cora knew that--she had prepared to know that the night everything changed.

The night she lost you for good.

And she made her peace with that. Truly, really did. Now, she had to move on with her life, other people needed her, other people depended on her. You were gone. And you weren't ever coming back. She couldn't let that happen.

So why was it so damn hard to let you go?

Cora rakes a ragged hand through her blonde curls, cursing into the air for nobody to hear. This is stupid, she thinks to herself as she glances at the polished computer on her desk, right where a photograph of the two of you should be but where she would never let it stay, this is unbelievably stupid.

But before she's even aware she's doing it, she's at the computer, typing your name into the search engine. A name she thought was out of her life for good, a name she never thought she'd say aloud again. But she does, quietly, softly, letting the syllables linger on her tongue, letting the sound of your name fill in the empty air. You were her person once. Hers.

Now, would you even look her in the eye again?

Cora sighs, gnawing on one fingernail as she stares at your typed name in the search bar, while the other hand taps anxiously against the polished surface of the desk.

"Fuck it," she mutters, and clicks enter before she can think of the consequences.

What's the worst that could happen? she thinks briefly, as the search bar fills with pages of your name. Pages upon pages of news articles written by you, uncovering some of the worst criminal syndicates in the country, unveiling political scandals, working with whistle blowers, posing for pictures with the mayor of some city she's never heard of.

Cora's heart swells with pride as she scrolls, wishing she could have been there to witness the excitement in your eyes, to be there for coffee orders in the middle of the night, to bounce ideas with you. To make you laugh when all you wanted to do was give up on the story you were chasing. She wishes she could have been there for it all. The smile you wear is not for her, she knows that. But she likes to think that maybe, just maybe, that you're on the other end, searching her name through the internet for any glimpse of what she's like now.

Then, after pages of news articles, she comes across a Facebook profile, and right underneath that, it's your professional Twitter. Cora smiles to herself, thinking about all the embarrassing photos you must have up on there. Or perhaps, she just wants to see more of you. A little more, she convinces herself, catching her bottom lip between her teeth, just a little more.

She moves the cursor over the Facebook link and clicks on it. There's a moment of agony as the internet slows, buffering. One second, two. Cora taps her fingernails against the glass desktop, chewing her lip.

Finally, the page loads.

'This user has blocked your account.'

Oh.

Oh.

Cora nods to herself. Once, twice. Right, of course, why did she expect anything else? Why did she think she could take a peak into your life without consequences? Of course, you don't want anything to do with her. Of course.

Slowly, Cora closes down the browser and shuts her laptop. She sits there for a moment, quiet and still, feeling like someone's just punched her in the stomach. You don't want anything to do with her, why would you? Why did she think she could have any shred of your life? Why did she think any of this would go her way?

Hope will always kill you in the end.

Tears roll down her cheeks unopposed as she continues to stare blankly at the wall facing her. She doesn't have any right. Why did she think this would go any other way?

Why did she try?

Why does she ever try?

It always ends like this.

*

Colton knew he shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't even be thinking about doing this. It was stupid, reckless, and most of all, incredibly, stupidly self-destructive. You weren't even thinking about him anymore, he wasn't even a blip on your radar. Colton knew that--he had prepared to know that the night everything changed.

The night he lost you for good.

And he made his peace with that. Truly, really did. Now, he had to move on with his life, other people needed him, other people depended on him. You were gone. And you weren't ever coming back. He couldn't let that happen.

So why was it so damn hard to let you go?

Colton rakes a ragged hand through his blonde curls, cursing into the air for nobody to hear. This is stupid, he thinks to himself as he glances at the polished computer on his desk, right where a photograph of the two of you should be but where he would never let it stay, this is unbelievably stupid.

But before he's even aware he's doing it, he's at the computer, typing your name into the search engine. A name he thought was out of his life for good, a name he never thought he'd say aloud again. But he does, quietly, softly, letting the syllables linger on his tongue, letting the sound of your name fill in the empty air. You were his person once. His.

Now, would you even look him in the eye again?

Colton sighs, gnawing on one fingernail as he stares at your typed name in the search bar, while the other hand taps anxiously against the polished surface of the desk.

"Fuck it," he mutters, and clicks enter before he can think of the consequences.

What's the worst that could happen? he thinks briefly, as the search bar fills with pages of your name. Pages upon pages of news articles written by you, uncovering some of the worst criminal syndicates in the country, unveiling political scandals, working with whistle blowers, posing for pictures with the mayor of some city he's never heard of.

Colton's heart swells with pride as he scrolls, wishing he could have been there to witness the excitement in your eyes, to be there for coffee orders in the middle of the night, to bounce ideas with you. To make you laugh when all you wanted to do was give up on the story you were chasing. He wishes he could have been there for it all. The smile you wear is not for him, he knows that. But he likes to think that maybe, just maybe, that you're on the other end, searching his name through the internet for any glimpse of what he's like now.

Then, after pages of news articles, he comes across a Facebook profile, and right underneath that, it's your professional Twitter. Colton smiles to himself, thinking about all the embarrassing photos you must have up on there. Or perhaps, he just wants to see more of you. A little more, he convinces himself, catching his bottom lip between his teeth, just a little more.

He moves the cursor over the Facebook link and clicks on it. There's a moment of agony as the internet slows, buffering. One second, two. Colton taps his fingers against the glass desktop, chewing his lip.

Finally, the page loads.

'This user has blocked your account.'

Oh.

Oh.

Colton nods to himself. Once, twice. Right, of course, why did he expect anything else? Why did he think he could take a peak into your life without consequences? Of course, you don't want anything to do with him. Of course.

Slowly, Colton closes down the browser and shuts his laptop. He sits there for a moment, quiet and still, feeling like someone's just punched him in the stomach. You don't want anything to do with him, why would you? Why did he think he could have any shred of your life? Why did he think any of this would go his way?

Hope will always kill you in the end.

Tears roll down his cheeks unopposed as he continues to stare blankly at the wall facing him. He doesn't have any right. Why did he think this would go any other way?

Why did he try?

Why does he ever try?

It always ends like this.

[floverful]

THE FEELS － TWO﹒WHO IS THAT.

、→﹐synopsis - the winter season has always brought you joy. ice skating with your friends has always been your favorite part. but one day on your weekly visit, an unfamiliar face showed up. omg love at first sight !!!!! this was someone you definitely wanted to get to know. the more you saw him, the more your feelings for him grew. but those feelings shatter when one day you see him dragging a girl along the ice with a smile on his face. →﹐pairing - park sunghoon x fem!reader →﹐genre - smau, high school au, angst, fluff, strangers to lovers →﹐warnings - cursing →﹐taglist - @abdiitcryy @softforqiankun @ncityy04 @tomorrowbymoa-together @babygay-stay @nycol-ie ﹒﹒ send an ask to be put in the taglist !

"i can't believe that just happened" you whined, rubbing your face into your hands. you recalled the previous episodes of 10 minutes ago, everyone still laughing and giggling about it. you were all sitting in the cafe when you spotted your favorite employee soobin, walking the opposite direction from the window. you went after him, seeming to forget your shoes were untied. all was going well until your shoelace got stuck underneath your other shoe and you face face forward right behind him. you thought you would go unnoticed, get up and act like nothing happened - but that all went to shit because you heard someone suppressing a laugh from above you. "are you ok..?" he asked, offering a hand. there is no way i just fell in front of HIM. you thought, in despair. "yeah i'm fine" you replied, getting up on your own. you exchanged a few words and you turned around to leave. nobody was around you, at least that you knew of. so nobody saw that besides him? you thought nobody saw you fall, but you heard someone wheeze from behind you. "i can't believe you just fell in front of soobin!" a familiar voice shrieks from behind you. you slowly turn around and meet eyes with chaeyoung. at this point she's on the floor, slapping her knees, practically not breathing. you're unsure of what's so funny, you only tripped and fell. but still, you felt embarrassed. you glared at her while walking towards her, and she got up to give you a hug. "that was the best thing ever." she cried. "shut up." you mumbled, looking away. "anyways, everyones waiting for you in the cafe let's go" you say, grabbing her arm to begin leading her to where the rest were sitting. once the two of you walked in, chaeyoung greeted them all and sat down, still giggling. "what are you laughing at?" nayeon asked, confused. "haven't you seen twitter? yn tripped in front of soobin!" yeji explained, also giggling. "yeji shut up!" you yelled, even more embarrassed now that everyone knew. "whatever let's just go" you said, getting up to leave. the group followed you on your path to the desk where you all would check out your skates. just as you left, an unfamiliar group of boys walked into the cafe. yoon, the last one to come out, met eyes with one of them and immediately looked away. she ran to the rest of the group, aggressively tapping you on the shoulder. "I JUST SAW THE HOTTEST GROUP OF BOYS" she yelled, out of breath. you all turned around to look at where she was pointing, only to be met with nothing - just the door of the cafe you had just walked out of. "where ??" you said looking around. "they're gone let's go" yoon said, slightly dissappointed. everyone shrugged and walked behind you. you saw soobin working the counter and sighed, but continued on. you checked out your skates and sat on the bench to tie them. "i bet you guys are going to suck" you laughed. "i'm actually good !!" yoon said in defense. "yeah me too !" yeji said, offended you thought so. "yeji we all know you suck." chaeyoung said, giggling. "i guess we'll see, now hurry up lets goo" you said walking to the rink. you stepped on and skated towards the middle to watch each of your friends try to get on. yoon stepped on and skated to you, better than you expected her to. "see i told you i'm good" she said when she arrived next to you. yeji stepped on and immediately clung the the rail. chaeyoung stepped in after and slowly skated towards you and yoon. yoon skated closer to chaeyoung to close the gap, and grabbed onto her arm so she wouldn't fall over. nayeon and yeji stayed at the rail until you, yoon, and chaeyoung pulled them off. they protested, but they really didn't have a choice. after skating around with all of your arms linked, you broke off to go skate on your own a little bit. you were skating around until you noticed someone unfamiliar. you stopped at the rail to watch him. he was so graceful with his movements - you were honestly in awe. the way he spun seemed unreal and impossible. your eyes trailed up to his face, shocked to see he

was attractive as well. you immediately went and found your friends, who were still slowly skating in circles with their arms linked together. you practically ran on the ice, signaling with your facial expressions that you have something important to say. "what happened?" nayeon questioned. you pointed you finger in the direction of the boy, who was now standing with his friend group. "who is that." ✿﹒previous﹒#﹒next﹒✦﹒masterlist authors note : i had to completely rewrite this whole chapter, so i'm really sorry if some things aren't the same !!

[niennandil-me-writes]

walk beneath the stars

CN: anxiety, spiralling

[a little birthday writing for Noel (papp_n_paper on twitter). Tony belongs to them, November belongs to @constantlytiredghost. this takes place at the end of our Stormchaser run.]

Found my friends, I'm not dead, here we go again What's the time? How long has it been? Help me come alive, sail across the sky, take me further Can we last all night again?

Hayley Kiyoko - Found My Friends

„Well, who won?“ Tony’s voice was a whisper, but they made up for that by increasing the volume, so it carried down from the crow’s nest to the deck where Wilhelmina was standing.

“Uh…” Wilhelmina adjusted her glasses. “I couldn’t really tell,” she mumbled. “You were both pretty fast, so I think…” She trailed off.

“So it’s a tie,” Tony said. Wilhelmina could tell November was nodding even from the distance, because her big hat was bobbing along with it.

Wilhelmina exhaled in relief. She had almost expected them to be disappointed by the lack of a result, even angry at her for not paying closer attention. Which, at this point, was a stupid thing to think. If they wanted to find a fault in Wilhelmina, they had had so many chances, so why still wait? Wilhelmina had been forced to accept that Tony and November (and Kobalt, and maybe even the rest of the hired group and the crew but she did not want to think about that, she did not want to consider that) actually liked her. And still, she couldn’t shake that feeling, that dread of waiting for the other shoe to drop, like it so often did. In the end, she always expected to be excluded, and usually she made it easy for herself and everyone else by shutting them out, pushing them away, making herself hated before anyone else could hate her of their own volition. She couldn’t do that here, though. Not with these people. Not with people who made it so hard for her to hate them. Not with Tony, and not with November either.

“Hey, Wilhelmina!”

Tony’s call ripped her out of her thoughts and sent that little shock through her body that oh so often preceded an unconsciously called bubble of Darkness forming around her. But she could keep it together this time, though the shadows must be covering her entire face now. She realized she’d been spiralling again.

At least Tony and November didn’t seem to have noticed.

“Do you want to come up here as well?” November asked.

Or maybe they had simply ignored it.

Wilhelmina shook her head.

“Oh, are you scared of heights?” November asked, but Tony already shook her head. They had asked her the same question.

High places didn’t scare Wilhelmina, especially not after what had happened during the storm – what scared her was being up there in a close space with two people, and no polite way to leave if she didn’t know what to say or how to behave and what if she stepped on one of them while scrambling over the edge of the crow’s nest, what if she poked them with her horns accidentally, what if she was a general nuisance? No, she preferred to stay down here, at a safe distance, where nobody could take any issues with her.

She heard quiet whispering exchanged between Tony and November. Good. Let them have fun together without her. That was much more probable anyway.

Then Tony called again: “Wait a moment, Wilhelmina.”

She looked up and saw Tony had stood up. They stepped up to the rim, their wide dark cloak billowing in the wind. Their eyes gleamed a bit lighter, and then they put one foot forward into the air, where it found purchase. They stepped forward, and one foot in front of the other walked downwards like on an invisible staircase. The sight was mesmerizing in itself.

Finally, Tony came to a halt directly in front of Wilhelmina, levitating one foot off the planks of the ship. They smiled at her and held out a hand.

Wilhelmina instinctively took a small step back and then felt her face darken in embarrassment.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Tony’s smile didn’t waver, and they didn’t pull away their hand.

Wilhelmina bit her lip and then took Tony’s hand.

It felt like moonlight touching her skin. A feeling of lightness came over her as Tony pulled her up to them, like she wasn’t flying but rather submerged in a weightless space where she could float, like ink dripped in water. It felt like time had slowed and she was falling, but in slow motion. And then she wondered how many of those sensations came from Tony’s magic and how many from Tony grasping her hand and wrapping their other arm around her shoulder to pull her up into the air. Wilhelmina felt heat rise to her cheeks and for once she was happy for the involuntary magical shadows clouding her face.

“Everything alright?” Tony asked.

Wilhelmina nodded mechanically.

Tony took a step forward and upward. As she was pulled along, Wilhelmina reflexively moved her legs as well, even though logically she knew that there was no place to put her feet. She could feel her heart beating faster and hoped Tony didn’t notice. She wished she didn’t have to be so close, but –

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

Wilhelmina looked up at Tony in surprise and only now noticed that she was holding their hand in a tight grasp. She felt the cold of the shadows join the heat on her cheeks.

“Sorry, I…” She trailed off. What was she supposed to say? That she was still kind of expecting them to let go at just the right moment for her to crash on the deck and break and never get up again? That that was what she was always secretly waiting for?

“You don’t have to apologize, Wilhelmina.” Tony’s voice sounded a bit hesitant now as well. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have talked you into this. Do you want to go back down?”

Her first instinct was to nod, but this time she shut that down. She considered it for a moment. Looked up to the crow’s nest that was already so close. November was leaning over the rim, waving her hands at them, smiling. Wilhelmina swallowed down her fear and shook her head, directed her gaze at to the side for distraction. From here, she could see over the railing of the ship, at the clouds below it, and beyond those the starry sky stretching to infinity.

Four more steps and they arrived at the crow’s nest. Tony set her down inside. As soon as they let go of her, Wilhelmina felt the weight return to her body and stumbled. November held out her arms to support her. When she had regained her balance, she sat down, back against the wooden planks, knees drawn up to her chest.

Tony floated down as well now, sitting closer to November. “That was a lot nicer than last time we both got up here, don’t you think?” they said to Wilhelmina.

She nodded her head. Last time had been the storm. She had felt just as weightless then, but in a frightening way. She had also held on to Tony just as tightly.

“It’s beautiful up here, isn’t it?” November said, her hand holding her hat as she raised her face up to the stars.

Wilhelmina nodded again and noticed that she was shaking.

November looked over to her “Are you cold?”

“I guess I am,” she lied. “I’m sorry, I left my coat in my room. Maybe I should head down again – “

Before she could even get up, Tony had undone the clasp of their cloak and thrown the wide fabric over everyone in the crow’s nest like a blanket.

“Better?” they asked.

Wilhelmina nodded, a bit perplexed.

“Oh, this is so comfortable,” November said. She edged closer to Wilhelmina, so the cloak was easier to share, and Tony did the same. An internal scream was building up inside her mind, and it was begging to be let out, directed at Tony and November, demanding to leave her alone, to keep their distance, to let her leave and go to her room and lock herself in, so she could… do what? Sit there, all alone, in a sleepless night, paging through the books that barely interested her? Would that really be that much better? Or would she just imagine what it could have been like if she had stayed? Worse, would she imagine November and Tony being happy without her? Would she imagine them doing what she didn’t dare to do?

She held the scream in. And tried to relax a bit. And only now noticed that neither of them were touching her, keeping a bit of distance, like they knew it could become overwhelming for her. Searching for a distraction, Wilhelmina looked up at the stars.

“You know the constellations, don’t you, Tony?” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Tony’s eyes gleamed in the darkness, like they were two stars themselves. “Yes, do you know about them as well?” There was that sound again in their voice, that genuine admiration, that was so strange to Wilhelmina. The thought of disappointing them scared her, but still, she shook her head.

“Barely. Astronomy was one of the few subjects my parents weren’t interested in. They said it’s better to keep your eyes on the things in front of you. But,” she said, a bit panicked now. “You could show them to us. If you want. I’d be interested.” And then she shut herself up.

“I’d like to know as well,” November said.

Now Tony seemed a bit flustered, but excited as well. “Well, if you’re interested, let me see, where to start… You see those two star clusters, kind of round?” they called out then excitedly and pointed up into the sky. “We call those Where Selûne Looks Back, though I think they have a different name that’s more commonly known.”

Wilhelmina followed their finger with her eyes and looked up at the oval constellations. “I think I’ve heard them called Eyes of the Watching Woman,” she said.

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Wait, where?” November asked.

Wilhelmina pointed up as well. “To the west, right next to that big star.”

November leaned in closer to better follow Wilhelmina’s pointing. Her shoulder bumped against her arm. She shivered, and not just because November’s skin was colder than hers, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh, I see!”

Tony continued talking about the constellation, it’s meaning and significance in culture and navigation. Then they went on to the next star cluster, showing them Auroth the Ice Snake, the Centaur, the Sleepless Knights, and many more.

As they pointed out one after the other, the three people in the crow’s nest moved closer and closer under the cloak. November put her hand in Wilhelmina’s, and Tony wrapped their tail around hers, seemingly without noticing. And for once, Wilhelmina didn’t feel uncomfortable. She listened closely to their words and held on to both of them.

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 18

First time reader click here

TWs/Summary: We stan ✨women in science✨. Bruce uwu. Twitter social media AU nobody asked for. Stephen and Tony are dicks and I'm not talking about their anatomy. Setting up mood for Bruce smut, ngl. PTSD makes things spicy. I'm depressed so please be kind ✌🏻💀🙃

"I really do wonder how can you two fit those egos of yours in your pants," I kept my tone forcefully casual, cheerful even. "Why don't you just fuck already?"

I was met with stunned silence. Suddenly, the room seemed far too large and the people in much too quiet, staring at me with various expressions of horror obvious in their faces. As the strange friendship began developing between me and the team, my "outbursts" - how Steve liked to call them - lessened considerably. I had no need to provoke them into giving me attention, just striking up a casual chat was enough. The Avengers were great conversationalists, to my surprise.

Tony and Stephen, when paired, were the exception. I could count on one hand the amount of times they successfully came to a conclusion without fighting like cats and dogs. It was like each man had made it a personal mission to verbally top the other, more often than not resulting in a thirty-minute shitshow ending with one storming off in a dramatic flourish. It was mind-boggling how two supremely intelligent men could not find a way to communicate efficiently without infuriating the rest of the team.

Plus me. One way or another, I was almost always around. In the beginning, it was hilarious to see the free circus but it got old really quickly when they couldn't decide on dinner or a movie, leaving the rest of us starving and bored. Or the great Cloak debate - that one lasted days and the fussy thing was so upset, it point blank refused to part from Peter for a substantial amount of time. It's pretty fucking creepy that a semi-sentient, ancient piece of outerwear watches you when you sleep - just sayin'. I personally interjected with my own snark and sass whenever Tony and Stephen got too heated, successfully drawing the attention to myself. The fight broke up and I had amazing sex with Tony later, it was a win-win scenario.

Yet, Tony and Stephen didn't stop. To me, their way of "talking" (and I use that term loosely) looked a lot like unresolved sexual tension. Stephen frequently used his greater height to tower over Tony in a childish attempt to establish dominance; the engineer was no rookie and responded with extravagant peacocking such as "subtly" tapping the bracelet that hosted his nanotech suit or parading at dinner in a $30,000 custom made designer outfit. Because Tony could.

I was pleasantly surprised when Natasha started laughing at my remark. Full-blown, belly laugh. Those were rare, coming from the Widow, her usual mirth was quiet, sophisticated, just like her. Deadly (adorable). Bucky followed suit, snorting together with Clint and Loki.

Steve looked none too pleased with me. But then again, was he ever? "Doll, don't be rude."

"Brat," Bruce said at the same time, palming his face.

"People always call me a brat. And guess what, Steve?" I popped my hip, twirling a cotton candy pink coloured Dum-Dum between my fingers. "What can you do about it? Nothing," I shrugged, leaning my head against Bruce's shoulder affectionately.

Steve just shook his head in disappointment. "Can we get back on topic? Please?"

"Captain, I think that Stark..." Strange began talking with Tony dramatically groaning in the background and I instantly tuned out the useless babble. Steve should've been smarter and revoked speaking rights from Tony and Stephen. Or asked Loki to magically render them both mute for ten minutes.

"You're not wrong," Bruce quietly whispered next to my ear. "Ten bucks says Wanda meddles and those two finally work out their frustrations," The scientist hid a grin against my head. I felt the amused, giddy energy radiating off him like a plasma beam.

"I don't even have to bet," I rolled my eyes. "If she doesn't do it, I will."

Both Tony and Stephen were throwing me equally infuriated glances. One promised me a good, hard fucking and the other saw me a short, poisonous lecture on appropriate behaviour in the nearest future - you can guess which is which. If I had it my way, I'd skip the lecture and go straight to a hot, filthy threesome with two men twice my age. I wasn't blind, Strange was hot as hell and could be decent and even nice once in a blue moon.

He could, but he wouldn't be. I wanted that raw, unadulterated lust, tension so concentrated it walked the razor's edge between violent craving and repulsion. Ever since the incident with Clint, I had this ugly mess inside of me, like a live wire about to snap. My brain was constantly racing, darting between how utterly useless I am in a group of supers and embracing my normal-ness, amplifying it by hosting game nights and spending time trying to convince people to start a dungeons and dragons campaign. Or something.

My sleep was like Swiss cheese, riddled with holes where I stayed awake for one or two hours at a time in the middle of the night after waking up sweaty, with my heart hammering out of my chest. Sometimes I dreamt of Clint's lifeless, sickly white body, sometimes the whole room flooded with blood and I couldn't stop it no matter what, there was so much of it, I drowned in it, I startled up with the taste of it in my mouth. Rarely, the worst of it came - the one where Clint was alive as millions of millions of little fluorescent, poisonous jellyfish burst out of him and he screamed and screamed and screamed...

I had PTSD. Yay, me. As if my uselessness wasn't enough of a burden, my brain decided for me that it wasn't good enough that I saved Clint and now it was punishing me for being close to a group of people who routinely saved the WORLD.

I contemplated my usual habits - going to a party, getting trashed and dancing until my legs were numb. I just wanted to shut my brain off for a moment, give it a hard reset so-to-say, but with Tony on my back like a jet-pack, I didn't doubt he'd show up to the place and drag me out of there even if I was kicking and screaming. And he was a Stark, a billionaire, so visiting my dad in Cali wouldn't be possible on my own. Tony would gas up the jet and the rest of the team would find and excuse to tag along, too. As much as I loved being the baby menace who could get away with anything, I hated the way they all herded me, like I was an actual child. I couldn't get away from myself, not even for a moment.

I had the backup-backup plan and I was going to have to execute it. Desperate times, desperate measures. "I don't doubt y'all enjoy listening to Tony and Steph flirt," The nickname escaped unmoderated from my lips before I could catch myself. "But what are we doing for Halloween? I need to know if I gotta get a costume," Bruce chuckled next to me and wrapped an arm around me, happy for the distraction. Unlike me, the scientist was obligated to listen and participate in the avengers-themed discussion. Which was difficult because the engineer and the sorcerer constantly bickered, inadvertently taking over the talk.

"Halloween?" Steve groaned.

"We should do something," Bucky side-eyed his boyfriend. "For the children." Something told me he wasn't thinking of the children, at all. The man was positively leering, probably thinking about what kind of a tight suit he could convince Steve to squeeze into.

"A party!" Tony immediately exclaimed, interrupting Stephen mid-setence.

"Tony, no," Steve stated firmly.

"Tony, YES!" Clint perked up. "A snack bar. A bar-bar."

"I will not be helping you all if you get alcohol poisoning," Stephen crossed his arms.

"So it's a party," I stated firmly, throwing a contemplating look at Wanda and Pietro. The twins looked unsure but excited. I knew I could count on fellow young people to support my decision to have fun, dance a little, drink a little. Let loose. To nail my point, I turned to Bruce with a mischievous smirk. "Fifty bucks says Stephen is too stuck up to show up in costume."

"Beg pardon?!" The sorcerer exclaimed. His eyebrows threatened to meet his hairline.

"I think you give him too little credit, Princess," Bruce winked at me and we solemnly shook hands. It was great having a fellow partner in mischief. Loki's approving smirk just sealed the deal for me.

"It's not my fault you sometimes act like you have a stick up your butt," I gave in the way of explanation, shrugging my shoulders innocently in Stephen's direction. "I'm just pointing out the obvious."

"I don't dare to imagine what's been up yours," The sorcerer retorted dryly, in an uncharacteristically childish fashion, arms still crossed. It almost looked like he was pouting.

"Tony," I simply said, leering salaciously at the man.

"Ooh, kinky," Clint reached over and we promptly high-fived each other in the wake of multiple embarrassed groans emanating around the room. "Strange, you're a boring old man, get over it."

"And you regularly end up in dumpsters, Barton," Strange retorted quickly. "Not my idea of fun."

"You wouldn't know fun if it hit you in the face!" Tony grinned triumphantly, confident in his superiority over Strange. Look at that, the team was doing the work for me and I didn't even have to try.

"I'll show you fun," Stephen retorted darkly. It was obvious the man was planning something.

"Ok, boomer," I raised my eyebrows in muted satisfaction before turning around and grabbing Bruce to drag along with me. "I'm confiscating your best scientist to amuse myself. I am bored. We will go and do actual science whilst y'all argue. Bye."

My patience had run out. We were examining the parasites we found in the murder-anthropods-from-space, codename MAFS, courtesy of yours truly, and their amazing properties to penetrate cell membranes and feed on metals in organic life forms. Without Bruce's help I understood maybe half of it but he had the patience of a saint and dutifully and understandably explained to me the finer points of studying aliens. Signing half a dozen NDAs was never more worth it.

Steve's sigh consisted of 99% suffering and 2% disappointment. Natasha face-palmed silently in the corner, clutching a mug of coffee, a poster child for existential dread.

"Wait for me," Tony whined, going for the door and promptly being stopped by Steve pointing out the team needing his input on one mission or another. The engineer sighed. "Baby girl, don't let the green mean to start any experiments without me." Tony instructed, pointing an accusatory finger in our direction.

I clutched at Bruce dramatically, feigning hurt feelings and was rewarded with a swift motion of his arms. I shrieked delightfully at being thrown over the scientist's shoulder as he hastened his pace towards the elevator, hightailing it out of there. "I'd never snitch on science daddy," I wiggled my eyebrows in Tony's direction, sticking a hand down the back pocket of Bruce's pants, dangling over his shoulder like a happy sack of potatoes.

The lab smelled strongly of alcohol and bitter chemicals, the solution that Bruce developed to ensure the optimal state of the alien pathogens. The man's genius never ceased to amaze me: Bruce came up with the needed formula in the span of a few hours while running low on sleep, post a Hulk-out session.

We put on our protective gear - "science onesies" I called them - along with a respirator and goggles and set to the segregated part of the lab where the specimens were kept under a blue light. The glass wall between Bruce's and Tony's lab was dimmed; I reflected in it, looking positively futuristic in my double-stacked white platformed boots and white hazmat suit.

"Wait," I motioned to Bruce to come over.

"Oh, right, our music," He was already half-way to being in total Science Mode. "Friday, please put on the "Get Schwifty" playlist, 60% volume."

The playlist that me and Bruce came up with for our lab sessions. The man was such an adorable dork. Thirty percent my music, thirty percent of his indie rock shit and forty percent 00's bops. In other words, utter perfection.

I finally managed to fish out my phone from my pants. "No, let's take a selfie," I struck an impressive pose and pointed the camera as Avril Lavigne sung the first verse to Sk8r Boi.

Bruce laughed but abided by the request, giving me bunny ears in the photo, tapping the fingers of his other hand on my waist to the rhythm of the song.

"He was a skater boy, she said see ya later boy!" I sang along, switching my Instagram to stories and posting the short clip of us just vibing with the caption #sciencetime, Bruce laughing openly behind his respirator. I looked cute and silly in my outfit.

"Send the video to me, I'll post it on my Twitter," Bruce requested. I indulged him then put my phone away, ready to conquer the world of microbiology. Or die trying. Science was calling...

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie

[swiftieloversdaylight]

Hey, everyone. I know this is long, but I would really appreciate you reading this, even for like a second, and reblogging. I've had a real roller coaster of a semester and I think it's gotten to the point where I really just need to vent to my fellow swifties. And, to be honest, I just wanna tell you guys more about myself.

So, my parents were immigrants. They came to England to study their PhD and my sister came with them (she was 6). I was actually born here though, in Sheffield. I live in Manchester now because I study pharmacy at uni. Living as immigrants was really hard for my parents because they would often be made to feel like outsiders and it was harder for them to engage properly with people. They went from a bustling, busy, social life to a place where they felt completely alone. Other than that, we had a lot of financial issues, and still do. People who have money often don't appreciate just how demoralising and difficult it is to live without it. At school, I would often be bullied about it. 'You're poor', 'your mum is weird', 'why does your mum wear a headscarf?', 'why don't you have a car? Why don't you have a nintendo? Why are you brown? Where are you from? Why are you poor?'

It was really, really hard. It was hard for me to blend in because of the fact I was Iranian and I had different food and a different culture. I would sometimes feel ashamed of my background and my parents. But I also knew how hard it was for them and hated myself for feeling that way. It was a lot for an 8-year old to deal with. At the same time I was trying really hard to do what all the posh kids were doing. I got reimbursed for music and swimming lessons. I learnt to play the flute and piano and music quickly became my passion. It was a way for me to escape all the torment. I was entitled to free school meals at school and some of the other kids would not let me forget it. I felt embarrassed and really alone. I could trust nobody other than my very close friends. They were the only ones whose approval I didn't have to fight for by acting more 'white'.

When I was 9, my dad moved back to Iran for work reasons. My mum and dad are still together, but they had to live apart. This put pressure on all of us. It was also a tough loss for me because my dad and I were so close.

It was around this time I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and OCD. I exhibited a lot of different symptoms and the played around with what it might be. They later realised that I have something called BPD. Getting through the years was rough.

But there were also some really great things that happened. I got really into my music and started to compose pieces. I got into acting and singing in plays and stuff. I joined an orchestra on a bursary and played for them. I was part of an engineering team in sixth form and we worked with engineers to create some awesome tech. And then I got into uni! Pharmacy is a really hard degree and can be so hard to enjoy sometimes.

Then over summer, something bad happened. It has taken a lot of courage to speak out about this.

I was abused my lab supervisor on a placement. This was crushing and triggered one of the worst mental breakdowns of my lifetime. Over the past 6 months, I experienced extreme depression, panic attacks, OCD and agaraphobia. I was withdrawn. I didn't know what to do. At one point I even tried to kill myself. It was awful.

But I will say this: during this really dark time, I joined tumblr. I knew there was a swiftie community, but I'm a bit of a grandma so I came late to the game. But then I saw a lot of people with similar stories, all supporting each other, and Taylor supporting them. Maybe by stanning Taylor I am trying to fill a hole in my life. But, honestly, I have met so many incredible people online. I don't have instagram or twitter, so this is mainly where I come for swiftie stuff. And, actually, it's lovely.

Taylor's music has really been a comfort to me since I was a child and I love her so much for it. 'Mean' was a song I often listened to after a bad day. 'Ours' made me feel so warm because I felt like Taylor was one of the only people in the world who wouldn't put me down for my ethnicity or economic background. I love her so much.

And thank you to all my online friends! You are amazing. Special thank you to @emilyandelissaswift for being so kind and thoughtful. You have lifted me up in the worst of times and I am so so happy we met. Thank you @miellekingsleigh for sharing my story. Thank you thank you thank you. I really do think things are looking up.

I really do believe that I am on the road to healing. ❤

Thank you @taylorswift

You really are a gem x

Please please reblog! Thank you xx

[emma-what-son]

I think even Dan himself said he expects HP to remade in about 10 years there is too mcuh money in it for WB not to. - I read another ask about Bonnie which made me compare the HP cast attitudes mentally. The thing is not just Bonnie, but Grint has also mentioned in the past that he wouldn't be too thrilled with a reboot. Back when Cursed Child came out, Grint had talked about being supportive of the new actor but feeling weird bcs someone else was playing what he considered to be a part of his own self (boundary between Ron and Rupert quote). So it's pretty obvious that apart from the fact that most of the old cast know part of their commercial value that derives from Potter fame would take a hit, they are also understandably and genuinely attached to these roles they played and got lucky with. But with Dan, I've seen that he's never expressed any possessiveness for Harry if he feels it. He has talked about this possible reboot bcs he's aware of the cash grab it would be for WB. Also, when Harry was played by actor Jamie, he only discretely had a bouquet of good luck sent to him, which they both mentioned in interviews so the story added up. He didn't try to steal the new guy's thunder and maintained that he had no scoop to give bcs he wasn't involved. Compare this to the huge publicity stunt Watson pulled. It was so ridiculous, looking back. The huge media coverage and the fan euphoria that night at the theatre. She also had a photoshoot done. Back then I viewed this as her just being supportive of the new Hermione. But thinking about it now, she made the whole damn thing about herself in a huge,huge way! I wonder how the new cast felt about it, although they had to show up for the photo op. Heck, even Rupert and some others went to watch but nobody made such a procession about it like EW. She even went and wrote that big essay on her ig and twitter apart from the media coverage to ensure nobody missed it. Way to milk the cow! It makes me laugh now, how it was treated like some sort of blessing ceremony by her and her team lol. Old Hermione came, saw, clicked affectionate photos and delivered her stamp of approval to the new, PoC Hermione. She talked about it in her essay/post about how she approves of the new choice when in fact the new actress was miles ahead of Watson in her acting range irrespective of whether or not she suited Hermione, and the media articles were also made to highlight the 'Watson the saviour of marginalized people coming to the rescue of the black actress against trolls who were hating on having a black Hermione'. Looks tone deaf on her part like the black boss comment, bcs why did she think the new actress needed her approval for doing a job is strange to me. The term approval implies permission, and only the creators or fans can be associated in that role. I'm not surprised anymore to discover her shamelessly fame-generating tactics but still sometimes wonder if she never feels embarrassed or self conscious about this when she goes in with all her confidence and performs for this media circus that she orchestrated to the T in advance.

I'm not surprised that most of them feel that way. They've played the characters since they were pre-teens. Dan played the lead, but maybe he also has some negative memories attached to it what with his drinking and all. But he must also be a rational thinker and knows that he doesn't own the character and knew that someone else would play it again in the future.

Where Emma is concerned, she really did make a big deal of it. On the one hand I think it's nice to let people know she liked Noma Dumezweni, because there was a lot of backlash about a poc taking over the role. But we know that she also saw it as a great opportunity for herself.

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Unleashes Sakura With Episodes 29-35

Welcome to THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! I'm Daniel Dockery aka That Dude That Won't Shut Up About One Piece, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto. Last week, we covered episodes 22-28, and we continue this week with episodes 29-35.

  This week, the theme is Naruto Minus Naruto, as we lose our title character pretty early on. But despite missing someone shouting about how they're gonna be Hokage one day, this actually seemed to work out pretty well, as it gave our favorite boy Rock Lee and the consistently underrated Sakura a time to shine. Sasuke did some stuff, too, I guess. We also got some bad guy reveals and Gaara being as Gaara as possible. So let's dive right in and let the Crunchyroll Features team give you their thoughts on a batch of episodes that didn't have an ounce of quit in them. 

  So, not a lot of Naruto in this set of episodes, huh? I mean, we've already gotten to know Sasuke, Sakura, Rock Lee, etc. pretty well so far, so it's not like they can't carry the story, but how do you like the show when the title character spends most of it unconscious?

Paul: I'm fine with it as long as the supporting characters have plenty of interesting things to do. Naruto's personal blend of lunk-headed enthusiasm hasn't really clicked with me yet, so I'm happy to see other characters take center stage now and then, and I like that Sakura finally got a moment to prove her mettle in these episodes.

  Peter: This was probably Sakura's biggest moment in Naruto... possibly including Shippuden. I forgot they combined her special haircut scene with the Ino flashback. The whole situation with the sound ninja was kind of a cluster but I felt like that sequence was particularly well-done. Episode 30 is easily the best in the series so far, I forgot how well directed the moment where Sakura realizes she's alone is.

  Danni: I've joked in my livetweets that I can't tell whether the main character of this show is Naruto or Sasuke yet, but that kind of became not a joke at all this time around, didn't it? That was kind of a shame, given that his material at the very beginning of this batch where he's chiding Sasuke is great. Luckily, the rest of the cast was great all around in this batch.

  Noelle: It is pretty funny to have the protagonist absent, but it's clearly not just wasting time. A lot of stuff happens while Naruto is out cold, especially the big fight where Sakura shines, and she needed to shine! A protagonist doesn't have to be there all the time, even if they are carrying the story, and these segments are proof of that.

  Jared: Having Naruto out for most of the episodes really made some other characters step up and gave them a time to shine like Sakura (finally) and Ino's group. You couldn't get away with having him be gone or KO'd all the time, but especially when the show just brought forth all these new characters, it worked.

  Kevin: It actually helped to up the stakes a bit and create space for more character development. Sakura hasn't needed to do much until now, since Sasuke and Naruto could fight instead. In this set of episodes, the boys were unconscious the majority of the time, so not only did she need to push herself to look after them, but she also needed to fight opponents that even seasoned Genin like Lee couldn't stand up against. Running or hiding weren't options.

  Carolyn: THIS is the Sakura I remembered and have been missing this whole time. I am fine with Naruto sitting out a spell so Sakura can rise.

    David: While I like that the other characters are getting the spotlight, I'm also not a huge fan of how they're getting it. Lee? He's allowed to be cool for a little bit, but still has to be undermined by his limitations that also define his character. Sakura? We have to square getting her development with her entire character revolving around Sasuke. Oh, and Sasuke? Got cool powers from the new bad guy, so the whole thing feels a little artificial by the end.

  Joseph: It kind of makes it seem like they just didn't know what to do with Naruto while other people have the spotlight, because knowing his character he would have to butt in no matter what, dattebayo! If it paves the way for more episodes like 30, which features out of this world choreography and animation, I'm all for it, dattebayo.

  Kara: I'm a Doctor Who fan - having the lead unconscious or straight-up missing for major portions of story is familiar territory. That said, I'm glad it was used to good effect here. I was hesitant coming into the Chunin Exam arc because there are Just So Many Characters, and a lot of them are completely new but clearly important. Giving Nart some down time while we get to know how they work (and how characters we've seen before are growing) was a good idea.

  These episodes are sort of bookended by two horrific reveals:

1) IT WAS ME, OROCHIMARU, THE WHOLE TIME

2)WTF, GAARA

How do you feel about these two? I've been playing a lot of Gaara in Jump Force, but I forgot that he pretty much opens his character arc in the show through intense murder.

Paul: I mentioned this on Twitter before, but although Orochimaru is clearly coded to be this big, scary, impressive villain, he strikes me as the ninja equivalent of that bad friend whom everybody kinda knows but nobody particularly likes. Orochimaru's the kind of guy who would get a little too drunk at the holiday ninja party, and then he'd awkwardly hit on your ninja girlfriend, and then he'd puke on your ninja couch cushion and then flip it over to hide the ninja vomit rather than tell you about it. Damn it, Orochimaru!

Gaara is just a comical murder-baby so far. Again, I know he's supposed to be frightening, but I just think he's a precious little sandy cinnamon roll.

  Peter: Given what Orochimaru's done so far, I'm actually curious if Kishimoto had a plan for him at this point. One of this lines in particular speaking with Anko is hilarious in retrospect. I have a new appreciation for Temari and Kankuro. The scene where they were trying to get Gaara to calm down was particularly good. You got a sense of how desperate and afraid they are of Gaara. Also I don't remember Orochimaru using so many... wind ki blasts? I think Kishimoto wasn't sure what powers he had yet.

  Danni: I'm a little disappointed that my perfect snake wife was just a creepy old snake man in disguise. I'm honestly more terrified of Gaara right now. Orochimaru seems like he actually has a plan. Gaara just seems a bit...unhinged...

    Noelle: I definitely agree with Peter, where Orochimaru in his introduction definitely wasn't as cohesive power-wise, as opposed to the snakes and more snakes that he becomes later. He is set up to be extremely threatening, but at this point, it's definitely more potential than it is factual. As for Gaara, Gaara is one of my faves, even if he starts out as a murder machine. The murder does not stop my appreciation for him. You go, Gaara.

  Jared: Now I want a redub of those scenes with Orochimaru except with the Higher Power reveal audio. They certainly make him seem to be a big deal, although it's still relatively shrouded in mystery. Gaara's showing fell incredibly flat for me. Unlike when we first saw him where he had this mysterious aura about him, this just felt like he was made to be the ultimate edgelord. Which if the folks above me are indicating, he gets better, so hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.

  Kevin: For both of them, I feel like their introductions worked well to establish them as serious threats. Orochimaru as a somewhat unknown quantity that even the adults are scared of, while Gaara is a coldblooded Genin that doesn't bat an eye at killing people, to the point that even his teammates fear for their lives when around him. For Orochimaru though, I can't remember any actual reason why he's actually in the Chunin Exam. We'll get to future events in later installments, but why bother actually joining the Genin?

  Carolyn: I remember loving Orochimaru the first time I watched the show and thinking he was a major villain. They certainly set him to seem that way. I'm interested to see if my thoughts on that change as we progress. I also remember thinking Gaara was quite impressive and mysterious, though he was never a favorite character of mine. Rewatching the show, they definitely hype up his skills.

  David: Gaara having a team that is scared of him is significantly more scary than Orochimaru's clear long-term threat foundation going on here. It's kind of cheating but I think this matters a lot for how impactful this ends up being very soon, whereas Orochimaru's threat is much more broad and lore-spanning in the grand scheme of things.

  Joseph: Between Orochimaru, cursed Sasuke, and Gaara, there's so much DANGER in these eps. I love it!

    Kara: Holy crow, things got dark. I'm not saying that as a negative, either. I'll be curious to see what happens with Orochimaru, because that's some high-stakes stuff that got thrown into the mix. I had a feeling Gaara was gonna make Sasuke look like a ray of sunshine by comparison, but I'm with Akamaru on that whole situation.

  If you had to get into intense anime battles in your actual, half-anime life, and you had to copy a Naruto character's techniques, whose style would you use?

Paul: I will continue to stan for my main man, Choji Akimichi, and his ability to transform into the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Also, they never kill the chubby comic relief characters, so my plot armor would keep me safe from harm but not from embarrassment.

Peter: I feel like the correct answer is Gaara since you can just stand in place writing poems while sand kills people. Practically I think it's hard to argue that Sasuke doesn't have the most "ninja-like" style incorporating the three "jutsus" and leaning heavily on misdirection and outmaneuvering. Each requires having a pretty particular thing though, so it's kind of a lottery by birth.

Danni: Probably Orochimaru. Less for his actual fighting techniques and more because his Mr. Fantastic powers could come in handy when lounging around the house.

Noelle: Gaara's, having sand do my bidding would be pretty neat, and it's not like I sleep much anyway.

Jared: Rock Lee's techniques are what basically what I imagined myself when I was younger when thinking of having anime type fights.

Kevin: I would probably go for the Sharingan, largely due to how versatile it is. It gives amazing kinetic vision, allowing the user to dodge more and land more hits, lets them copy any ninjutsu the enemy uses, can make [REDACTED], or [REDACTED] or even summon [REDACTED], and that's without even getting into the unique abilities from [REDACTED]! Basically, it allows for a lot of flexible techniques, and just with the slight drawback of [REDACTED].

  Carolyn: Ooh, can I redact stuff, too? My favorite hasn't happened yet. Have I mentioned how much I love Shikamaru?

  David: Is it wrong to want to be Sasuke just because he gets the most well-animated fight scenes? I want to be as cool as he is in those.

  Joseph: I've always been a fan of the Shadow Imitation Technique of the Nara clan. I think this is the first time we've seen it in the anime, but throughout the manga I always found it awesome whenever, BAM, someone found themselves ensared out of nowhere.

  Kara: Gonna have to say Ino and the body-hopping. I'm so clumsy, the only way I'll ever effectively beat someone up is if I project into them and beat myself up.

So, Sakura gets a few cool minutes in Episode 32. I especially like the reveal that it wasn't a substitution and that she was actually dropping on Zaku and gutting through those Kunai. However, it's kind of mired in a lot of flashback and a weird "How does my face look?" backstory. How did you feel about it? I will say, for a little bit, I got hyped. Bleeding Sakura descending like Batman on this goon is a dope visual.

Paul: I'm glad Sakura finally got a chance to shine, and I didn't feel that the drama of the scene was terribly undercut by her childhood anxieties about having such an enormous forehead. It contextualizes some of her earlier, snappish behavior, and I was impressed with her growth as a character when she expressed a genuine desire to protect Naruto and when she offered Rock Lee her heartfelt thanks.

Peter: I'm kind of two minds on this watching it for the second time. If anything I feel like her dramatic move was undercut by the fact that there were two more Leaf squads that could have stepped in acting as a sort of safety net rather than anything actually relying on her. That said, I think the balance between her efforts in the moment and Ino remembering the extremely dumb stupid kid reason they stopped being friends was great.

Danni: I adored it. A woman's body in media is often portrayed as a priceless work of art. It's an object whose fragile beauty is meant to be fawned over and protected. The slightest mark of imperfection is detrimental to the whole piece. This either leads to strong women whose bodies remain unscathed or weak women whose bodies exist to be tragically violated. Seeing Sakura use her own body as both a weapon and a shield in this fight was nothing less than refreshing. She cast aside the beauty of her long hair, took three kunai to the body in order to get closer than her target, straight up sunk her teeth into him like a wild animal, and took a beating without flinching or letting go. It was so incredibly refreshing to see a woman actually fight with her whole body rather than an objectified version of one.

  Noelle: This is Sakura's big awesome moment, and she nailed it. She doesn't have signature jutsu like Naruto's clones or Sasuke's fire - all she really has are perfected versions of the basics. That she's able to use her intellect to her advantage; setting traps, tricking her opponents, it works for her character. The fact that she is unyielding is fantastic, considering that in a lot of anime fight scenes featuring women it it's rarely conveyed just how brutal they can get. Sakura's desperately fighting, and she will take kunai and even bite her opponents if it means she can help her friends. It's rough, messy, and great. Let girls have brawls too!

Jared: I'm a huge fan of the "cutting your hair to signify a big change" trope, so I was incredibly excited to see it here. This moment for Sakura was essentially what I'd been waiting for this entire time with her and it delivered. I was kind of surprised how much backstory we got here, but I think it fit well with everything that was happening around them with Sakura and Ino. Everything about how she attacks Zaku felt like she was desperately doing anything she could to survive, which included things like biting and not letting go. Plus, I'm surprised they showed her bloodied up.

Kevin: To put it this way, Sakura faking out Zaku is both my highest and lowest point of the week. I love that we finally got to see her fight and even out think her opponent, and I was even okay with seeing Ino struggle with their history when deciding how to act, seeing her friend-turned-rival in trouble. They probably could have cut one or two of the flashbacks and lost nothing from the storytelling though.

  Carolyn: I actually loved the flashbacks explaining her desire for long hair to impress Sasuke and her rivalry for his heart mixed in with Sakura being an awesome fighter. We saw where she came from and we see where she's headed. Her cutting off her hair (epic) was not just a clever tactic, it was her moving past her fickle, shallow priorities and stepping up. (And incidentally, finally winning Sasuke's respect.) I liked that contrast and I thought it made her powerful moments more meaningful.

  David: I don't like how being feminine was presented so constantly as a negative thing in the lead up to her 'level up', especially because it got immediately followed up by a line from Shikamaru to Choji about how they need to be the 'men' of the situation. I also don't like how it didn't end up even really helping the situation, but Sasuke's unintentional powerup did. I do like how the story clearly realized how drastically it was underutilizing its main female characters and tried to rectify that as well as it could within the characterization it had already established for them. So, basically, I like that it ended up where it was, but I wish it didn't have to do that in the first place.

  Joseph: Sakura's moment makes up for a lot of her inaction in previous episodes. It made it feel like a much more significant turn, and I think it's another great argument for the power of anime adaptations in taking certain aspects of the source material to the next level. I would also be remiss not to mention how major of a role she played in stopping Sasuke after he awakened to some straight-up Final Fantasy IV midi cover music.

  Kara: Sakura's characterization grew three sizes this week! Normally I have nothing against romance or a crush being a motivator (people in the real world act that way sometimes), but I was getting second-hand embarrassment whenever everyone and their mother used her emotions against her because she was that much of an open book. She was seriously dope in episode 32, and I do like that she didn't drop her feelings so much as compartmentalize them. Was it perfect? No. Was it better than what we've seen for the last few weeks? Very much. Plus we've spent so much time being told she knows her stuff, it was nice to see it in action.

  If you've read the manga, how do you feel about the pacing of the anime at this point?

Peter: I appreciate they're not trying to draw things out, past a few recap episodes. The only real filler we've gotten was a few more social scenes that ultimately helped build up the individual Team 7 members more so I'm good with them. Visually the series uses the manga as a direct roadmap the majority of the time but the departures, like in Naruto's fight against Haku, were extremely good.

Noelle: It's definitely a little slower, especially since you can read the same amount content much faster than you can watch it. Different mediums lend to different speeds. At the same time, it's not significantly slower - not like One Piece - so it's pretty tolerable. I can't say I have much complaints with the pacing.

David: It's gotten slower recently, but it's still MUCH better than I expect from long-running shonen adaptations even today. I never feel like a half hour isn't used effectively, which is impressive.

Joseph: They've chopped a few minutes off the absurdly long flashbacks at the start of each episode, so it's much punchier now than when it was covering the Zabuza fight. The adaptation nails some of the big moments, so I think they do a fantastic job of making the most out of Kishimoto's story and characters.

Last but not least, what was everyone's high and low points for this week, along with anything else you want to shout out?

  Paul: My high point was the fight between Sasuke and Orochimaru in Episode 30. Pierrot's animation team really pulled out all the stops for that one, and I was frankly blown away by how well-staged it was, especially since the previous episode was so janky, to the point where it gave us the "Naruto, you look kind of cool" silly face meme. My low point was the reveal that Rock Lee's ultimate technique is just a glorified Izuna Drop. I was disappointed by that, because I was expecting something really far out there.

    Peter: I'd have to say everyone involved had a low moment against the sound ninja. Rock Lee could have actually just kicked the guys head off so I'm not sure why he pulled out his ultimate technique. The master strategist Shikamaru really handled the InoShikaCho combo poorly (why not just have Ino knock the paralyzed guy out then 3v1 the last guy?). Feels like there were too many cooks in the kitchen while Kishimoto was trying to let Sakura stand on her own. High point was Sasuke's epic fight against Orichimaru... or maybe Gaara being Goth Prime?

  Danni: If you can't guess already, the high point of this batch for me is Sakura's battle. Naruto snapping Sasuke out of his daze and the whole fight between Sasuke and Orochimaru are close runner-ups. I can't say there were any real low, low points for me in this batch, but I could have done without the whole prolonged tension of them debating whether or not to open the scroll simply for them to move on without opening it. I really feel like that could have been a lot more condensed.

  Noelle: It has to be Sakura's battle. She's the last member of the team who hasn't really had a moment of growth, as she's mostly been stuck fawning over Sasuke. Now she has a moment of her own, to show that she really can be one of their peers in combat, not just because she's assigned to be alongside them. Sasuke vs Orochimaru was also fantastic to watch. Low points would probably be the Sound Ninja fight when Sakura wasn't the highlight, it felt a little too long.

  Jared: The true answer here is Sakura finally getting her moment as the high point. The flow of these episodes just kept moving until the end where things really slowed down, but that makes sense. Sasuke pulling out a Canadian Destroyer (front flip piledriver) was something I absolutely wasn't expecting. Maybe my low points would be Gaara's fight and then Naruto wanting to open up the scroll since it felt way too obvious that he'd do that.

  Kevin: Sakura's fight somehow managed to be both the best and worst moments. The best moment was when she uses Substitution multiple times to trick her opponent into giving her an opening, even though she needed to take multiple kunai wounds in the process. It was awesome to see her thinking, and there might've even been a bit of Naruto rubbing off on her, given how brazen the plan was. Unfortunately, it led to the end of her plan... biting Zaku's arm and just holding on as he kept punching her head. Great plan, Sakura.

Carolyn: The squirrel and the hair cut were high points for me. Also, just seeing everyone have respect for each other. Sakura thanks Rock Lee, Rock Lee acknowledges Sasuke's ability. Good stuff.

  David: It might not sound like it so far, but Sakura's fight is my high point for not just this bit, but the entirety of the show - it's one of the defining moments of the series to me, something that has stuck with me for decades at this point. So, criticisms aside, that matters a lot to me. Low point is how even when the show is trying to make Lee cool is still undermines him just as quickly, making it hard to believe it really appreciates his struggle.

Joseph: Episode 30 is an all-timer, so that's gotta be my high point. The low point was probably the Sound Ninja. Their powers are cool, and I understand jutsu is a term encompassing techniques in a wide swath, but to me they just had prosthetics and weapons. Hey, check out my jutsu *pulls out a gun*.

Kara: Can't decide between Sasuka vs. Orochimaru or Sakura finally Doing Things as my high point. Really liked both. Low point was probably every time I had to see Naruto squiggling around in snake guts.

  COUNTERS:

"I'm gonna be Hokage!" count: 14

Bowls of ramen consumed: 2 bowls, 3 cups

Shadow Clones: 115

And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto!

Here's our upcoming schedule!

-Next week, on FEBRUARY 22ND, we’re looking at EPISODES 36-42 as I, DANIEL DOCKERY, IN MY TRUE BEAST FORM, hosts as the Forest of Death continues to torment! THIS IS THE ONLY INSTALLMENT WE'RE ACCEPTING QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FOR THIS WEEK!

-Then on MARCH 1ST, we’ll talk about EPISODES 43-49 as NATE MING returns as we enter into one-on-one competition including a showdown between Rock Lee and Gaara!

  -On MARCH 8th, we move on to the final stage of the Chunin Exam with EPISODES 50-56, hosted by CAROLYN BURKE!

  Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

Have any comments or questions about episodes 22-28? What about our upcoming installment, featuring episodes 29-35?

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Daniel Dockery is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll. He has a Twitter that he uses. 

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