#not gonna get my expectations up too high but im excited for more in depth reviews (17th is when the new set of ones come out) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gillianthecat · 2 years ago

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@petrichoraline's tags:

#now im questioning my judgement cause i found haru's actor better 🙊 #im confused as to what sex scene youre reffering to cause all i remember from the ep was some carressing? but im gonna check #idk why im such a sucker for all these drama shower shows i just love jbls too much #does this show annoy me each week? duh #do i squeal with excitement each time a new ep is out? you bet i do #i wouldnt count on them delving into anything really #theyve got 5 eps left and theyre gonna probably dedicate them to these two figuring out what exactly it is between them #after senpai danjite i have low expectations and i enjoy stuff more so whatever they do works for me

oh, yeah, i was referring to the caresses in the car. it was more than kisses, and i was too lazy to find a way to refer to it other than "sex scene" lol. And also the arousal they had to portray seemed to require vulnerability in the same way doing a sex scene would.

I feel like there is such an element of subjectivity to evaluating actors' performances. A lot of times I wonder if maybe it's just that I like someone's face, so that's why I think their acting is good. Not even necessarily find it attractive or beautiful, although that's sometimes it, but just find it interesting to look at. Although I don't know how you would disentangle face and acting, when the face is (one of) the instrument, and it's not like actor's can switch it out the way a violinist can with their violin. Just like in dance. @airenyah I'm tempted to tag you in on this question, though feel free to ignore it.

Interestingly, I went to youtube to watch last weeks My School President, and they recommended me this video on acting "In Praise of Subtle Performance", which I'm now watching instead. Is youtube reading my tumblr posts? It doesn't get very technical, but I think it does describe many of the things I find compelling in a performance.

All of which is to say, I make no claim that Onoe's actor is objectively the better of the two, it could well be Kaburagi's. I just like Onoe's face.

I'm glad you're having fun with this show! Even with the annoying parts. I think I'm enjoying it more now that I'm allowing myself to get really analytical about it. You're probably right that they're not going to get very in depth into journalistic ethics, but I curious about what they will accidentally end up saying about it all. Just as I found the moral mess of War of Y fascinating (though not enough to finish the last two sections).

My problem with Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! (Senpai, This Can't Be Love!) was that I thought the actors were good, especially the senpai character, and so my expectations were too high for the story. Here at least I don't have that problem, lol.

I appreciate everyone's good advice to just drop the damn thing, but for some reason I feel compelled to keep watching Candy Color Paradox, and then complain about it. It's feeling like my experience watching War of Y, although they are very different shows, in that I'm fascinated by it's successes and failures. And I now want to find out what the show ends up saying (either intentionally or not) about the morality of paparazzi journalism. I did notice that two minutes after I paused to write my last post Kaburagi was questioning the ethics of what they did and how it impacted their subject, so I have some hope that the show is at least trying to say something.

However to avoid polluting the tags with my negativity for people who are enjoying the show, I'll keep my criticism below readmores.

Before I get into that, are the editors at the magazine trying to match-make Kaburagi and Onoe? 🤔Because they keep singing the praises of each of them to the other one. 👀

I think the biggest problem for me is that I just don't think the actors are very good. According to MDL they're both idols and don't have much previous acting experience, and I can tell. They're both trying their best, but there is this awkward amateurism to their acting that is distracting me and makes the characters feel less real. I'm just now watching the scene with Congressman's secretary, and it's clear just how much more comfortable this older actor is on screen (at least before he sexually assaults Onoe). He moves and talks and inhabits his body in this unselfconscious way that is engaging to watch. And in the scene when Onoe is talking to his bartender friend, Masayan, my eyes kept being drawn to the bartender, even though all he was doing was listening and nodding. But he just seemed so much present and real.

I bring these two other (much more experienced) actors up because it affirmed for me that it wasn't just my imagination. Both young actors have this tentativeness to their physicality, which really doesn't work for the supposedly cool and dominating Kaburagi, but neither does it feel like it matches the awkwardness that Onoe has. It feels like the actor's own awkwardness, rather than the character's, somehow. It doesn't help matters that they both seem made-up and styled like idols rather than journalists. They just both look so young.

They're not terrible, they both have some nice moments, and Onoe's face especially is growing on me. I think he's the stronger actor, actually, he has this wonderful wide-eyed way of looking at Kaburagi that temporarly creates the illusion that these two have chemistry. The roles I suspect are actually deceptively hard to do well, balancing complex emotions with slapstick comedy. I'm not an actor, but I imagine that's something that requires a lot of experience to pull off well. But it does mean that the chemistry isn't really there, that Kaburagi's philosophical musings feel shallow instead of like insights into a moral crisis, and that Onoe's panic about falling in love doesn't ring true for me.

And oh my god that final sex scene in the car, there was no connection there, it felt like they were each in their own world, not like they were reacting to each other. Which I get, it probably feels much safer for the actors to approach it that way. But it's so obvious on screen. At least a JBL is willing to portray sexuality on screen, I guess? Next step is helping inexperienced actors get comfortable with it. (Eternal Yesterday and Utsukushii Kare were on a different level all together, production and direction wise, and the actors in Old Fashion Cupcake are such pros that they probably could have managed it on their own, though I imagine they had support. And thus concludes the list of JBL I've seen that have attempted more than dead fish kisses.)

The other problem is a mismatch of my expectations and what the show actually is. I keep wanting it to be more serious; it touches upon these complex issues—the sexual assault, ethics in journalism, Kaburagi's feelings about trading sexual favors for information—and then glancing right off of them. Whereas I keep hoping for them to dig in. But it seems very devoted to it's yaoi roots, particularly with a sexually aggressive seme and a blushing maiden uke, and not interested in going much deeper.

And since this is my space to vent, I just watched another show where a completely untrained person was miles better at tailing people and taking covert photos than than these two are. The shows are completely different in tone and budget, so perhaps it's not fair to compare, but it did make me laugh. (I don't want to spoil that show, though it's barely a spoiler, but it's this one for anyone curious.)

#candy color paradox #ameiro ep 3 #ameiro paradox #senpai this can't be love #conversations with petrichoraline #bl actors #intimacy coordinator is an important job actually #oof that's an old tag but i can also see how it applies here #thoughts on acting #japanese bl

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baddiedaddy7 · 3 years ago

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5th house✨🌻

the 5th house is not what you attract, it’s how you are in the dating world/casual dating, what dates you may like, how you are in the beginning stages of a relationship and flirting. it’s also about your passion, and what you may like to do in your spare time. then lastly, children. feminine signs-more likely to have a female or child with feminine energy. masculine signs-more likely to have a male or child with masculine energy. do not plagiarize🙃.

Aries/Mars🔥

likes the chase(being chased or vice versa). gets bored fast, so needs somebody that keeps them guessing. bold/upfront, will probably tell you if they like you, or how they feel in general. may do things too fast(say “i love you” early, get over excited easily, etc). daring in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style may be physical(confident/not rlly awkward, and makes flirting obvious), or playful(play fight, tickles lmao, laughs more, etc). might prefer dates full of thrills(amusement park, hiking, skydiving, rock climbing, sports, party, etc). hobbies may be sports, karate, working out, violent or sporty video games, etc. indicates a liking for vigorous/explicit music lmao. children may also be into sports, karate, exercising, etc. most likely one of your children will have mars/aries in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be rude, full of energy, bratty/spoiled, passionate, bossy, etc, since these are traits of aries. a LOT of ppl with these placements get a c-section, atleast once, and most likely w/the first child. unexpected pregnancy is also seen here. oldest is most likely going to be a boy. since aries is fast, your kids may try to be born early, or are born earlier than due date.

Taurus/Venus🌸

“slow and steady wins the race” types. sensual. conventional. very romantic. stable. likes to touch/skin to skin. not complicated, some may find you “boring”. warm in the dating world/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is most likely polite(not perverted, well mannered, may come off as reserved even though they’re interested, etc). dates shall be lavish or romantic lol. candles, dinners, beautiful park, etc. hobbies may be baking/cooking, napping, binge watching tv, beauty(makeup, hair), shopping, tending to a garden, etc. you may like love songs, pop, rnb, jazz, slowed + reverb, etc. most likely makes sure their kids are dressed up/styled😎. kids are most likely beautiful, and in great condition. kids may like to watch you cook/bake, or do it with you. most likely one of your children will have taurus/venus in their chart, probably the oldest. children will most likely be patient, stubborn, well mannered, cold, practical, lazy, etc, since these are traits of taurus. pregnancy is usually smooth. oldest is most likely going to be a girl. i’ve known quite a few ppl w/this that actually like being pregnant. it makes so much sense that kylie jenner has this, literally all this applies😭.

Gemini/Mercury🌼

another placement that gets bored quickly, so keep them guessing. probably has a new crush every week or multiple at once. intelligent, and talkative. daydreams/thinks abt crush a lot. most likely tells their friends abt their crush too. happy-go-lucky in the dating world/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is most likely playful(calling eachother names, play fighting, etc). dates may be at a fair, library, etc. hobbies usually are social media, reading, trivia, writing, socializing, etc. honestly most likely likes all genres of music, but esp hyper music(edm, rap, pop, etc). most likely one of your children will have gemini/mercury in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be sneaky, curious, smart mouthed, witty, moody, etc, since these are the traits of gemini. adoption is indicated here. twins, or many kids in one pregnancy are also indicated here, and if that’s the cause then they’re most likely going to be male(s). pregnancy may seem quick.

Cancer/Moon🦀

loving, and affectionate. try to avoid being obsessive, and easily jealous. you may get attached too early in a relationship. they might be shy at first, gotta get them out their shell. tender in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style may be traditional(man asks first/initiate, gazing/eye contact, etc) or sincere(blushing/makes it obvious, laughing a lot, etc). may prefer dates at home, museum, or park. hobbies may be mainly at home(cooking/baking, knitting, listening to music, watching tv, sleeping, watching little kids/younger relatives, etc). listens to certain music genres based off of mood, likes music that’s relatable, and in depth. most likely one of your children will have cancer/moon in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be caring, moody, emotional, clingy, kind, jealous, etc, since these are the traits of cancer. usually very fertile, and may have many kids. oldest is most likely gonna be a girl. try not to be obsessive w/your kids or too protective. i recommend using more than one source of protection😂.

Leo/Sun☀️

confident, and friendly. usually social butterflies. selfish with their partners lol, wants all their attention. jolly in the dating world/at the beginning of the relationship. flirting style is physical(confident) or playful(joking around/calling eachother names playfully, etc). shows their partner off. for dates, they seem like they’re down for anything. hobbies may be acting, singing, socializing, partying, painting, taking selfies, social media, etc. probably one of those assholes that play music so loudly/on speakers lmaoo. their music taste is in ✨good taste✨. most likely one of your children will have leo/sun in their chart, probably the oldest. confident, overdramatic, energetic, bossy, friendly, etc, since these are the traits of leo. you will shove your kids good traits in other parents faces💀, or just show them off in general. oldest is most likely going to be a boy. kids will most likely have great health.

Virgo/Mercury🐛

(im gonna say “we”, since this is my placement lol)

if we really like you, you can do no wrong in our eyes. we should try not to put our interest on a high pedestal, as we get disappointed easily sometimes😭. we have to learn that nobody is perfect, and make sacrifices. intelligent and chatty also. selfless in love/server love. another placement that most likely daydreams/thinks abt crush a lot. also talks abt crush a lot to friends. cautious in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is traditional(smiley, if a women/someone attracted to men expects the man to initiate lol or atleast wants him to, shy) or polite(pleasant, good manners, non sexual, etc). i admit, some of us send mixed signals😭. likes dates where you can talk/get to know eachother, so a library, coffee shop, etc. hobbies may be social media, hanging out, cleaning, shopping, making plans, debating, etc. another placement that likes all/most music genres. most likely one of your children will have virgo/mercury in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be clever, critical, fast learners, complainer, pragmatic, etc since these are the traits of virgo. we will worry/stress out abt our kids a lot. may also adopt or foster. twins/multiple births at once is indicated, and they’re most likely gonna be female(s). another placement that makes pregnancy seem like it goes quick.

Libra/Venus🌷

loves compliments. probably shallow tbh. easy going with partners. charming in the dating scene/beginning of a relationship. flirting style is sincere(makes eye contact, plays w/hair, etc). likes “beautiful” dates(beach, park, garden, etc) or dinners, it just needs to be romantic lol. hobbies are socializing, social media, taking pics, beauty(makeup, hair, skincare, etc), shopping, etc. may like love songs, rnb, jazz, pop, or multiple genres in general. most likely one of yours children will have libra/venus in their chart, probably the oldest. oldest is most likely going to be a girl. children may be social/popular, shallow, easygoing, etc since these are the traits of libra. makes sure their kids dress nicely.

Scorpio/Pluto🥀

likes to keep details of relationships private, but that doesn’t mean they’re gonna keep YOU private/hidden as a whole. probably falls hard. tries to hide vulnerability in love. don’t be neurotic in love lol. intense in the dating scene/beginning of a relationship. flirting style is sincere(mysterious, good eye contact, genuine interest, etc). might like “dark” dates (abandoned places, cemeteries, horror movies, etc.) hobbies are astrology, conspiracy theories, anything taboo, witch craft, watching videos abt crime, being alone, etc. likes “dark” music, maybe even like satanic shit. music abt scorpio themes(death, sex, etc). explicit songs. rap, rock, things like that. most likely one of your children will have scorpio/pluto in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be secretive, clever, possessive, intense, emotional, etc since these are the traits of scorpio. try not to be over controlling or possessive of children, and be open to change. usually fertile.

Sagittarius/Jupiter🍀

generous in relationships, gives, and gives. might not take things seriously when they should. spirited, and optimistic in the dating scene/the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is playful (inside jokes, more giggly around “them”, etc). carnivals, short traveling, anything wild(skydiving, bungee jumping, etc), are ideal dates for these ppl. hobbies consist of hanging out, learning(esp of other cultures, and religions), sports, reading, etc. probably likes religious music lmao, or music in languages they don’t even understand, if not then pop or rap. most likely one of your children will have sagittarius/jupiter in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be loud, rude, honest, selfish, curious, etc since these are the traits of sagittarius. ppl with this placement have/want a whole gang(like a lot of kids lmao), “the more the merrier”. probably gets pregnant without trying/the first try lmao.

Capricorn/Saturn🪐

doesn’t have time for games. a reliable, and loyal partner. serious in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is traditional(man speaks up first, clever, etc). dinner, museums, wine tasting, etc are good date ideas for you. hobbies may range from reading, working, shopping, learning abt history, collecting, etc. might like classical music, chill music/slowed + reverb, music from back in the day, etc. most likely one of your children will have capricorn/saturn in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be responsible, “boring”, caring, standoffish, reliable, etc since these are the traits of capricorn. you’re might not even want kids, or might have them in your 30s or even 40s, and if you do have kids it’s likely not that many(1 or 2 lol).

Aquarius/Uranus👾

some will be turned off by your distantness, some won’t mind. open minded in the dating scene/in a beginning of a relationship. flirting style is polite(aloof, might be awkward, honest, etc). painting, video games, go donating blood together, etc are probably ideal dates for you lol(also anything eccentric). hobbies are technology, social media, helping others, astrology, unusual sports, theories, etc. music taste may not be mainstream. might like unusual music genres like vapor wave, nintendocore, etc lmao. may also like alt, edm, etc. most likely one of your children will have aquarius/uranus in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be unique, cold, thinks outside the box, arrogant, etc since these are the traits of aquarius. you might adopt, or get unexpectedly pregnant. if you want kids of your own, you’re gonna need to know when you’re ovulating, since your fertility is likely all over the place.

Pisces/Neptune🍄

selfless, and dreamy partner. another placement that may ignore red flags, when feelings are involved. wholesome in the dating scene/beginning of a relationship. flirting style is sincere(blushes easily, stares, more smiley, makes it obvious, etc). painting, cuddling, listening to music with each other, etc are ideal dates for these ppl, but honestly i feel like they’d be down for anything. hobbies may be painting, singing, listening to music, sleeping, having friends over, drugs, and alcohol, etc. probably has many playlists, and listens to everything. “stoner” music lmao. most likely one of your children will have pisces/neptune in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be bashful, over sensitive, imaginative, lazy, sweet, etc since these are the traits of pisces. children’s birth may have hidden details(ancestry, hereditary, etc).

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 4 years ago

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The Voyage So Far: Alabasta (Part One)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

(this is a repost, i deleted the first version of it by accident cause im Idiot)

the entry into the grand line is such a great sequence. it feels like such an ending- a triumph after they’ve spent pretty much all of east blue struggling to make it here, and at the same time the beginning of a new adventure, the biggest yet, one that has yet to end a solid two decades later. they all look so happy to have made it here- it makes me smile.

whiskey peak is one of my very favorite short arcs, and i think of the whole first half of the baroque works saga its the one that hits and maintains a tone best (almost certainly because its so short, admittedly, but still). i love the repeated shots of the moon, the reveal that the cactuses are actually covered in graves, the way everything seems far too good to be true at the start and the sense of suspense that creates.

zoro’s extended fight scene in whiskey peak is so great- it’s so creative and so dynamic and the odds are stacked so high against him and yet he’s clearly having so much fun. i do miss this sort of scrappy, improvised fight, cause its largely absent from later one piece but its SO much fun to read- zoro cutting holes in rooftops for people to fall through or shoving ladders to the ground as bounty hunters try to climb them.

i’m a huge fan of fight scenes that use the environment to their fullest, and this is such a perfect example of it. it makes the fight feel a lot more real and exciting, in my opinion.

i’ve never liked zoro and luffy fighting at whiskey peak, its always struck me as frustrating and contrived and kind of out of character for both of them, but i will say that i do like how on the same page they are even when they’re trying to kill each other.

the entire first half of the baroque works saga basically serves to introduce and endear us to vivi so we’ll be invested in the alabasta conflict, and that starts here in whiskey peak, when we get our first glimpse of her actual personality rather than the act she was putting on as miss wednesday, when she bites her lip hard enough to bleed in order not to break down at igaram’s apparent death.

watching robin’s actions with the added context of later one piece is one of the great joys of rereading alabasta. she does a fantastic job of appearing to be crocodile’s most dedicated and capable and dangerous employee while quietly but consistently sabotaging his efforts; saving luffy, sparing pell, sparing igaram, not telling crocodile anything about the strawhats despite meeting them here at the very start of the saga.

little garden has some really cool and striking panels that really put the scale of things on the island, the dinosaurs and giants alike, into perspective, and i love it.

i’m a huge fan of the depth of in-universe lore one piece has. just having little details like this, quotes from books written in-universe, go so far towards making the world feel like a real and wondrous place with mysteries to be solved and details to be uncovered.

i still think sanji is firmly at his best when he’s being a sneaky bastard, and i will never cease to be delighted by how thoroughly he manages to fuck crocodile over with nothing but a phone and some quick thinking not once but twice.

i really like dorry and brogy! for minor characters who’ve only appeared in one relatively minor and inconsequential arc so far, they’re not only very fun and memorable but also leave a hell of an impact on the story, not only in usopp’s new dream of eventually visiting elbaf but also in how they and their crew just keep coming up, first in enies lobby and then even further down the line in dressrosa and whole cake island.

i’m really excited for when we eventually get to reach elbaf, because this plot thread has been so thoroughly and subtly built up over such a long time that i can’t wait to see how it ends.

this is one of my favorite little moments to really drive home how much the strawhats care about each other. they all fell asleep on the floor rather than leave nami alone.

the whole introductory scene to drum is a really good summary of who vivi is as a person and how she contrasts with luffy, and it’s something i’ve written extensively about in a past meta. here ill just settle for saying, vivi is chronically selfless, and always the sort of person to sacrifice herself for others, and these traits which save the strawhats here are the exact same ones that bring her and luffy to blows later on in alabasta.

a good thing to remember when writing characters is that traits aren’t really inherently good or bad, they’re just traits and can have positive or negative consequences depending on the situation, and i think oda is really good at this. vivi’s selflessness, usually a positive thing, becomes reckless self-sacrifice when she’s pushed to her breaking point.

‘kindness begets kindness’ is a pretty consistent theme throughout one piece, though luffy is most often on the other side of it. someone (rebecca, law, tama, etc.) does something for him without really expecting anything in return, and gets paid back a hundred times over. this is a case of the opposite- luffy helps someone offhandedly, and is later saved by their gratitude.

i think luffy wearing his fingers bloody as he climbs the drum rockies is the only time one piece has ever made me cringe back from the page. this sequence is absolutely brutal, and it’s so well-done.

the way luffy decides chopper should be his crewmate is precious, and also reminds me a little of his recruitment of sanji (ironically, given he’s talking to sanji about chopper here). in both cases he sees someone do something good without even really knowing the full extent of their abilities and makes a snap decision that they are awesome and are gonna be part of his crew, no matter what they have to say about it.

i really, really enjoy the way the drum island flashback is set up, with the cutaway right as luffy is about to punch wapol’s lights out. the cut back to that punch finally hitting when the flashback ends is by that point infinitely more satisfying, since you’ve just read chopper’s backstory and therefore have a deep and abiding desire to see wapol eat shit.

hiriluk’s final speech is definitely one of the best and most memorable quotes from one piece, and effectively the crux of one of its biggest themes. one piece is all about inherited will. all of our main cast and a solid percentage of the supporting cast bear the legacy of at least one forebear on their shoulders, from kuina to corazon to otohime. the entire setting of the story is defined by roger’s legacy.

all those people are dead, but they’re sure as hell not forgotten- how can they be, when their legacies are actively shaping the world as a direct result of their lives and influences?

i really, really like the use of flags in one piece. flags are how you declare loyalty or war in equal measure, and flying a pirate flag is a declaration that you’re choosing freedom, come what may, over the laws of the world government. it’s just a really excellent running motif, and a great symbol of what one piece’s definition of piracy means.

this scene is also one of the ones that gets even more extra weight behind it when you know luffy’s full backstory with sabo, which i love.

chopper’s recruitment scene sums up one of the reasons luffy is really great. he just doesn’t care about a lot of things other people would normally take notice of. occasionally that gets him in trouble, but other times it leads to him responding to a situation exactly right, like here. chopper is listing off all his insecurities and reasons he can’t go with the strawhats, and luffy just flat doesn’t care. he wants chopper on his crew and he knows chopper wants to be on his crew, so as far as he’s concerned, there’s no issue at all.

it really is wild that the will of D is named this far back in the story, and has consistently been referenced and built up ever since in very slight ways, through comments by characters like robin and corazon, and yet we still know basically nothing about it.

and a toast to a new crewmate!!

continued in the next post, which covers alabasta arc proper.

#the voyage so far #arc: reverse mountain #arc: whiskey peak #arc: little garden #arc: drum island #one piece #opmeta #not japanese #long post

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oikawaplssteponme · 4 years ago

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• MASTERLIST

pairing: (prince) Oikawa Toru x (princess) fem! reader

warnings: none

word count: > 2k words

synopsis: A childhood lover, a perfect picture, a thoughtful risk, a dashing spark, a resurfaced fling, a beautiful mystery, and an unlikely charmer. With so many flowers in the garden, which do you pick?

a/n: hello hello! ahh im very excited to share this first part with you all! this one is a bit longer [ most parts won’t be this long ] but that’s because there is important background info since it is the first part :)) i’d love to hear your thoughts and reblogs are also greatly appreciated! enjoy xx

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ⋆*･ﾟ: ☾

Confidence is Key

The castle was bustling with people, entering in and out at a fast pace. The chatter bounced off of the walls and high ceilings as orders were being shouted of where to take things and what to do. You stood in the middle of it all, unsure what to do with yourself. The room was spinning, your head was spinning. In just a few hours, music would be playing as people danced the night away. In just a few hours, you would meet a potential husband.

“Your Grace! You should be getting ready! We have things under control down here don’t worry. Go, go!” Sophia, head of castle affairs, shooed you away. She was clearly under an uncomfortable amount of stress.

“Is there anything you’d like me to help with? I don’t have to get ready quite yet,” you explained. Sophia shook her head violently.

“No no not at all Your Highness. You really must go get ready, Anita is awaiting your arrival,” she insisted. You sighed and did as you were told. You walked up the grand staircase and up to your quarters.

You didn’t mind helping, you often did when you could. Nonetheless, your role as princess called you other such duties. Those included getting ready for the ball in a different way.

“Oh there you are! I’ve been searching the whole castle for you!” exclaimed Anita. Anita was your lady-in-waiting. She was also your best friend.

“My apologies, I got caught up in the excitement of everything that was happening downstairs,” you explained. You laid down onto your bed, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“I don’t want to go tonight,” you admitted. Anita sat down next to you.

“The ball is for you after all. It would be quite silly if you didn’t show up to your own event,” she chuckled.

“No more complaints Y/N, you will go to the ball and you will enjoy it,” interrupted your mother. She bursted through the doors of your room, followed by other attendants to help you get ready.

“The ball isn’t even for me. It’s for him.”

“It’s for the both of you my darling. After all, we’re here to find you a husband, not play dress up,” replied your mother. You sat up and crossed your arms.

“Well you didn’t meet father until the fifth ball. Are you expecting me to sort through all of these princes or pick the first one I find?” You groaned. Your mother chuckled.

“I just so happened to meet him at the fifth ball. He could’ve been the first suitor and I still would have fallen in love with him.”

Whenever there was a princess of age, all eligible princes from neighboring kingdoms would come and present themselves in an attempt to win her hand. In this case, your hand was what they wished to win. A ball would take place for each prince, as to welcome them and for the two of you to get to know each other. There would be seven balls taking place.

“What if I go through all seven and don’t like any of them?”

“Then pick the one you dislike the least,” joked your mother, though you knew she was serious.

“Which prince is coming today?” You asked. Your mother smiled.

“He is known as ‘The Great Prince’ soon to be Great King. His kingdom of Aoba Johsai is farthest from ours, hence why his welcome will be first,” she explained. You nodded. You had met the prince once before, but when you were children. He was more of a sweet memory now.

“What is his name again?”

“His name, my dear, is Prince Toru Oikawa.”

After your mother had left you, you began to get ready. It was tradition for the welcoming kingdom’s prince or princess to wear the other sides colors, as a sign of respect. You had a beautiful dress made for the event. With silver crystals and white satin, you certainly would be the belle of the ball. You would wear a simple aquamarine diamond necklace to tie your look together.

You sat at your vanity as you applied the finishing touches to your makeup. It was almost time for you to head down to the ball. You could hear people arriving. Royalty, knights, dukes and duchesses, everyone would be here.

Anita cinched you up into your dress, making it a little difficult to breathe.

“I’m gonna be out of breath by the first dance if you go any tighter,” you laughed.

“I’m sorry Your Grace.”

Anita tied up the corset, followed by the actual dress. You went to look at yourself in the mirror. You looked beautiful no doubt.

“The prince would be silly not to fall for you,” smiled Anita. You sighed.

“Him falling isn’t what I’m worried about.”

You could hear the sound of violins from the ballroom as you stood outside of it, greeting everyone who entered. There had to be at least one hundred people inside, if not more.

“Oh Y/N I see him!” whispered your mother. She quickly organized your skirt and made sure your necklace was facing the correct way.

“Big smiles everyone.”

Standing before you were two men. You honestly had no idea which one was the prince.

“Your Majesties, I’m pleased to introduce you to Prince Toru Oikawa of Aoba Johsai,” said the shorter of the two. The prince greeted the king and queen before making his way to you.

“Your Highness...”

He took your hand, kissing the top of it. He certainly had grown up a bit since you had seen him last. His hair brown and fluffy, his eyes dark and hypnotic, his smile bright and flirtatious. He wore a perfectly tailored suit with his royal metals and a teal sash.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace,” you smiled.

“The pleasure is all mine Princess. Perhaps I may treat you to a dance later in the evening?” he smirked. You nodded.

“Until then.”

The two men parted into the depths of the ball.

“Oh he is so handsome Y/N!” your mother gushed.

“Not terrible...”

“Go mingle my dear! Get to know him!” she insisted. You sighed and went out to the floor.

You weren’t big on dancing. In all honesty, you weren’t big on fancy balls. They got old after a while.

“You don’t actually plan to just stand there all night, now do you Princess?”

You looked over your shoulder and standing next to you was Prince Toru.

“Of course not...”

“Did I mention that you look truly gorgeous tonight? My kingdom’s colors seem to suit you,” he smiled.

“Thank you Your Highness.”

“Just Oikawa please. Or Toru if you feel so inclined.”

“Fair enough Oikawa. Then please, it’s just Y/N,” you said.

“Well, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t know what’s going on. Your family planned this ball as for us to fall in love, am I right?”

Your eyes widened a bit and you looked up at Oikawa.

“You aren’t wrong. However I have a feeling it won’t be that simple,” you smirked. Oikawa chuckled.

“Oh Y/N, don’t hold yourself back from fawning over me. It’s okay, every girl where I come from does so.”

“I’m not every other girl Toru.”

Oikawa moved to stand in front of you. His tall figure bowed in front of you.

“Then may I have this dance. Let’s see if you dance better than every other girl.”

You stared at Oikawa’s hand in front of you. You took his hand carefully as he led you to the dance floor.

Oikawa had one hand on your waist as the other hand held yours. The two of you spun around in time with the orchestra’s strings that played.

“Not too bad,” he laughed.

“Well I’d hope not, this isn’t my first ball.”

“It is your first of the seven though, am I correct?”

“Right again Toru.”

“I suppose then that it is my job to make sure I’m your favorite out of the seven. I hope that when you think of me, you think that I’m the best you’ve ever had.”

Oikawa’s words were smooth and sultry. The way he spoke so clearly yet loud enough for only you to hear.

“You’ve got yourself convinced that I’ll be yours. That’s a dangerous game to be playing.”

“Oh Y/N, my dearest, I promise that I don’t feel threatened by those other six. I didn’t even bother to check who I was against, since it won’t be much of a competition.”

“So I’m the game?”

Oikawa’s eyes widened.

“Oh god no, not at all. You’re a crowned jewel, my love. The moment I saw you I knew that you could certainly cause the death of a bachelor.”

Your heart fluttered a bit at the sound of his voice. He was completely wrapped around your finger. Subconsciously, you knew that you were wrapped around his as well.

“You’re confident Toru. That’s an admirable trait.”

“I have to be if I’m going to run my kingdom one day. No one would follow after a weak king.”

“I suppose that’s why they call you the Great Prince, soon to be Great King.”

“You could even call yourself the Great Queen. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

You chuckled.

“It certainly does. Well Toru, answer me this question: why should I pick you?”

Oikawa’s blank expression turned to a cheeky smile. He pulled you closer to him.

“Because, we have history Y/N.”

You had first met the prince when you were just 8 years old. Your family was invited to his kingdom for a banquet. Since you two were close in age, you spent all your time together. You enjoyed the small friendship you had with him. You were young and clueless after all. Oikawa had even said that the two of you should get married, since you were already friends. Your childish mind agreed, not knowing what the future had in store for you. So now here you were, dancing with your childhood love, in a ball made for just you and him.

“I didn’t think you remembered that,” you admitted.

“How could I forget the princess who blessed me with my first kiss?”

The young Oikawa had led you to the gardens. He insisted that if you two were to get married one day, you might as well get used to kissing each other. You agreed and so you kissed him. Your little lips maybe touched for a maximum of a second but still, his pink flushed cheeks were unforgettable.

“Well I’m happy to hear that I made some form of impact on you, Toru.”

“I hope I did the same. I plan to be the best you’ve ever had, remember?”

Before you could reply, the song had stopped and people began to shuffle off of the ballroom floor. Oikawa presented his arm for you to take, which you did happily.

“Excuse me Your Highness, I need to borrow the prince,” said the man who entered with Oikawa earlier. You nodded.

“That’s alright. Well, it was a pleasure Toru,” you said. Oikawa kissed your hand once more.

“Oh the pleasure was all mine Y/N.”

As the night came to an end, the ballroom soon became empty. You stood in the middle of it, alone. For some reason, you thought of Oikawa. How his charm seemed to have melted your coldness towards the situation. He had a certain glow to him, bringing out this warmer side to you.

“Even with the night finished you still look just as beautiful as when it started,” said Oikawa behind you. He stood at the top of the stairs as you stood below on the dance floor. Oikawa joined you, standing in front of you.

“I could say the same about you Toru.”

“I’m about to depart but I wanted to make sure to give you a proper goodbye,” he explained.

“Go ahead,” you said. Oikawa smirked, and slowly leaned in to kiss your cheek.

“I’ll be counting the days until I get to see you again, just as I did when we were kids. Goodnight Y/N.”

“Goodnight Toru.”

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ⋆*･ﾟ: ☾

[ taglist OPEN: @lealofsblog @iwaisa @bakugousmymassa @evivn1 @tetsoleil @bokutory @vangoghmusings @moonlightaangel @misszenin @marajillana @asahisimpnation @sopesmin @alaina-rose13 @shotoful @koutarousangel @shoutamajiki @definitelynottrin @sullen-angel24 ]

#willow.🌸#decisions.🌸#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #hq #haikyuu x y/n #oikawa x y/n #oikawa toru fluff #oikawa toru scenarios #oikawa #tooru oikawa x you #tooru oikawa x reader #oikawa x reader #oikawa x you #toru oikawa #oikawa tooru x reader #oikawa tōru

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gayhokage · 4 years ago

Text

spoiler free thoughts on mugen train movie: it was great!! stunning animation, great new soundtrack, great voice performances (i watched subbed) paced the story really well. i went in with high expectations and wasn't let down! 10/10 can't wait for everyone to get the chance to watch it :D

spoilers (and more in depth) under the cut:

wanna say that i am being Incredibly nit-picky in some of this. the movie was truly amazing and i enjoyed every second of it. i'm just gonna graze through the manga chapters the movie covered to help myself remember / point out what i liked / disliked

the second demon rengoku killed on the train i didn’t really think was necessary? i think maybe they were just trying to fill up more time, have it make more sense why tanjiro & crew liked / thought rengoku was so cool (it did give rengoku a better chance to show off his power and skill to them for the first time)

the animation used to rengoku’s flames was GORGEOUS (of course) it looked so beautiful

the dream sequences were done so well!! honestly zenitsu’s dream was super cute and boss inosuke’s and his minions.. inosuke you are so important to me i hope he knows that. THANK GOD for shiny acorns!!! genuinely one of my fav parts in the manga it’s so cute and silly i love seeing inosuke being friends with nezuko

senjurou sounded Nothing like how i’ve been imagining his voice up to this point. i’ve always read his voice as very soft like a younger child since he’s so young and has a kinder nature, so i’m not gonna lie i was a little thrown off by that lol

tanjiro pulling himself into the water in his dream was so beautifully done honestly that was one of my fav scenes just bc it was so pretty

i was pretty upset that the detail about rengoku's spiritual core being brittle was left out, i feel like that's such a Huge detail about his character (since we only get to know him for such a short amount of time) maybe it was mentioned in the film and im just forgetting

nezuko's flames burning around tanjiro during his dream looked So Beautiful i was truly just awed throughout the whole film by how beautiful the animation was

tanjiro’s youngest brother crying when he was trying to leave the dream crushed me honestly that got the water works going lol i know the big moment of that scene was nezuko but; someone in the theater gasped Really loud when nezuko showed up in tanjiro's dream and it added so much drama lol so thank u to that person for upping the emotion

this whole part was the Real tear jerker of the movie^

i wish this scene had more been More? idk i was really looking forward to how this scene would end up in the movie and it was really just tanjiro screaming and then showed blood on the snow. i know it was shown multiple times later during the fight with enmu but. was hoping for something more i guess! esp i think the first time showing it should've been a Big Deal idk

during this scene tho i Loved that there was like a piano version of kamado tanjiro no uta and also a piano / softer version of gurenge; idk which played during these scene but i heard and picked up on both and really loved that

on another soundtrack note: the clarinet (or maybe bass clarinet) that played for what im guessing was enmu's theme was sooo good congrats to any composer that can get me to enjoy the clarinet lol

tanjiro's dream subconsciousness was sooo beautiful and so were the little fire spirits that lived there i think it continued to perfectly capture tanjiro's kindheartedness

tanjiro's nightmare was also so well done. i thought that was one of the best part of the movie tbh

actually my biggest complaint about the movie was how awkward and out of place the 3D / CGI looked compared to season 1 of the anime. the "guts" inside the train just looked really gross and poorly done

[anime vs manga comparison] (also my friend said that enmu made him think of orochimaru LOL)

another thing was the train being covered with enmu's flesh or guts after their head was cut off just looked so gross and weird, i wish that hadn't been changed / added in the movie

and with the weird / gross looking 3D it made tanjiro and inosuke's fight together to find enmu's neck just a little rough to watch. i think it would've been better if there wasn't so much of enmu's flesh all over the train

i wish this had been shown in the movie since it didn't make it into the story of the manga. the movie just showed nezuko burning inosuke and zenitsu with her fire (which is how she woke tanjiro up, so i guess it makes sense that it would work for those two as well)

after enmu was defeated i thought it was insane how clear of an image of kokushibo we got!!! we've only (barely) seen silhouettes of him up to this point in the anime, and since we also got such a clear picture of daki (with season 2 on the way) it makes me excited to think that we will see him in season 2 as well (along with the other upper moons; and hopefully get the whole series animated lol)

the fight against akaza was outstanding and amazing. truly have no words lol. unfortunately i missed a small part of the fight bc i had to go use the bathroom (my friend said i missed the coolest part of their fight) but akaza looked SO GOOD and the fight was so well animated and i Loved akaza's voice - not how i had been imaging his voice but it still fit him so well (wasn't such a major difference like with senjurou lol) and the music that played during their fight was great. the purposeful silence in some parts of their fight was perfectly placed to make it more tense and emotional (also rengoku blocking akaza's punches with his sword. king shit)

i really liked this detail, both with enmu and akaza, that their screams are apparently So Loud, i guess that's something you dont really pick up when you're reading

when rengoku's mother showed up and inosuke started crying that's what really did it in for me lol i tried to keep myself from crying too hard / loud in the theater but i know once i watch it alone im gonna be bawling

where the movie chose to end was really interesting to me. i thought for sure the movie was going to include tanjiro's visit to senjurou so im a little surprised that that's being held off until season 2. it really will make it mandatory for anime viewers to watch the movie before starting season 2

anyways if you read all of this ily and i am kissing you <3

#kny #kny spoilers #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #mugen train #long post

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stovetuna · 5 years ago

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Imagine Steve/Avengers walking in to Tony entertaining two soldiers in the common room and being really confused because Tony??? Despises the military??? But then find out that those two soldiers are actually from the “fun-vee” way back in IM 1 and Tony’s fitting them with prosthetics.

ahhh this has been stuck in my head for DAYS anon! I don’t necessarily agree with the assessment that Tony hates the military, per se (doing business with the military and the military industrial complex, however, and all that that toxic shit entails, definitely yes), BUT it’s such a heartbreaking/warming concept I had to run with it! I think I got it right with Air Force vs Army, but the movie was kinda vague—I’m going off of the fact that the driver said “I’m an airman,” which you would not say if you were in the Army.

and since the airmen (and woman) Tony was traveling with in the Fun-Vee are canonically deceased, I thought I’d have Tony do something…well, Extremely Tony™ to compensate…

(::whispers:: also we’re just gonna pretend that the Bucky-killed-Tony’s-parents-revelations of Cap 2/3 aren’t a thing in this vaguely alternate MCU universe. la-di-da, la-di-da…)

***

It’s not surprising to walk into the Avengers common area and see Tony Stark working on something no one can quite comprehend. That’s par for the course, really, as commonplace as days that end in Y. Machines, phones, tablets, watches, the toaster after Hulk pressed the cancel button a little too hard—they’ve seen Tony futzing with just about everything that exists in the Tower (and some things that don’t—couldn’t—exist anywhere else except where Tony is).

What the team isn’t expecting when the elevator doors open onto the communal floor that sunny Tuesday afternoon is a living room scattered with men and women in various states of modest undress, all of whom immediately pivot in place to take stock of the new arrivals. Three men, one woman, and in the middle of their protective circle is Tony, eyes blazing with the same thrill of invention he often gets in the lab, a pair of needle-nose pliers clenched in his teeth.

Steve in particular notices the way Tony looks, because he’s developed a bad habit of doing that over the past year and change, and he’s kind of helpless at this point. Tony’s backlit by the afternoon sun, preoccupied with whatever he’s doing with the strange woman’s arm to distraction, and Steve can’t be judged too harshly—anyone with eyes would drag theirs over the exposed muscles of Tony’s arms, the shift and flex of his shoulders, the firm taper of his waist, the pronounced curve of his a—

“Are we, uh, interrupting something?” Clint has to shout to be heard above the music blasting from all corners of the room.

Tony looks up from his work and waves his free hand, the one that isn’t wrist-deep in what looks remarkably like a prosthetic arm. He makes a ‘cut it off’ motion to his neck before taking the pliers out of his mouth while FRIDAY lowers the rock music to a dull background hum.

“Hey! Sorry, I tried to keep it to the lab, but these guys wanted to see where the Avengers hang out, and I couldn’t say no.”

Steve tears his eyes away from Tony (who should really work the sweaty-and-disheveled-mechanic look more often) to take in the others in the room with him. It’s a panorama of people, and the first thing Steve notices, besides their more obvious differences, is how comfortable they all are with each other, to the point that walking in on this moment feels invasive, almost rude.

The four are all of remarkably different builds and backgrounds, not a similarity between them: an African American man, no taller than Steve was before the serum, sits on the couch; a white man, thin as a rake and twice as tall, is reaching for a glass of water on the coffee table; an Asian American man, whose shoulders are somehow even broader than Steve’s, stands rigidly next to Tony, arms folded across his chest; and the lone woman, whose glossy black hair is wound tightly in a bun at the back of her head. Steve notes the beautifully elaborate Native American tattoo covering the expanse of her shoulders and upper back.

Then Steve notices the high-and-tights, the form-fitting, drab beige shirts they’re all wearing, the combat boots lined up behind the loveseat, and he realizes, much like he did with Sam that morning in DC, oh—these are my people.

“Ah, well, welcome to the octagon!” Clint says with an easy smile, stepping forward to shake hands and say hello like a normal human being. Natasha gives Steve one of her looks before she and Sam follow him into the living room—I don’t know any more than you do.

Bruce, Wanda, and Vision stay behind with Steve to let the first wave through. Steve watches his teammates greet the airmen without fanfare, welcoming strangers into their private midst like it’s routine.

“Didn’t know y’all would be around, else we would’ve stayed outta sight.”

Sam laughs, clapping the sitting man on the shoulder. “Dude, if Tony told us you were here, I would have come downstairs and bugged you, myself.”

“Sure, PJ—you just wanted to see what real Air Force muscle looks like,” the man grins, flexing his barrel chest hard enough to strain his shirt. Sam guffaws and gives him a friendly punch to the shoulder, which the man returns in kind with a fist to the kidney.

Clint is already deep in conversation with the redheaded beanpole, who talks so fast it’s dizzying; Natasha is standing next to the third man, keeping her eyes forward, and together they watch Tony disappear back into his work, muttering things back and forth to each other, so quiet even Steve can’t hear.

“I think all is clear,” Vision says smoothly, drifting forward with Wanda, who is visibly fascinated by the woman’s tattoo until she steps into the throng and sees something that makes her face fall.

Steve moves forward, curious and worried in equal measure. Bruce is hot on his heels.

“—I mean it’s crazy right? It’s crazy, Tony Stark, Tony Stark calls us up out of the blue one day and says ‘You’ll be waiting six months to a year for a decent repair job, let alone a complete replacement, and I owe you guys, come on by Avengers Tower—”

Redhead is gabbing excitedly, gesticulating like Tony does when he’s in the mad depths of an invention binge. Steve sees the glint of metal and hears the whir of mechanisms working smoothly together in tandem and realizes both of the man’s hands are prosthetic.

“Oh man! Oh, man! Captain, sir, wow, it’s—fuck, shit, my mama would kill me for swearing in front of you, fucking—shit, sorry, fuck—ah, damn it!”

Steve smiles and introduces himself—Corporal Bill Levee, apparently, is just as talkative up close. For all that his hand is made of metal, his grip feels remarkably, tangibly real.

While Bill goes back to talking compound bows with Hawkeye, Steve looks at the man on the couch. Sam and Vision are now sitting on either side of him: both of his legs end at mid-thigh, and in their place are what look like brand-new metal limbs, designed to match his proportions exactly. The metal is dark, shiny, beautiful. He looks thrilled. He looks even more excited when Steve approaches, leaps to his feet and doesn’t even balk at the fact that Steve is a head and change taller than him and a superhero—he just steps right up to Steve and jabs him once in the shoulder with a grin.

“Captain Rogers,” he says, and sticks out his hand. Steve shakes it. The man points a thumb at himself: “Captain Freddy Harrison. A little after your time, sir, but an honor to meet you regardless.”

Bill is still talking a mile a minute behind him; Freddy sits back down on the couch and lets Steve continue his “Captain America Meet-and-Greet” but makes him promise to come back and swap stories, which Steve does, happily, even as his mind whirls. How does Tony know these people? Why are they here? Where did these prosthetics come from?

Bruce has joined Natasha, standing apart from the rest to talk to her and her new friend. Steve stops to say hello, as is only right, waiting until he’s entered the man’s line of sight to do so. Only then does he realize that the man has no line of sight, because both of his eyes are prosthetic.

“I’m not completely blind, Captain,” he says, voice low but good-humored. Next to him, Natasha smothers a smile behind her hand.

“Steve, this is Sergeant Daniel Kwon,” Bruce offers. The sergeant smirks and extends a hand—the eyes in his sockets look incredibly lifelike, but don’t move even a fraction of a millimeter. They gleam, still, with an uncanny sense of knowing. Steve has a sneaking suspicion they see more than enough and match his original eyes perfectly.

“I’ll still make an exception in your case, Sergeant Kwon,” Steve replies, shaking his hand, “for not saluting a ranking officer.”

Dan chuckles under his breath.

“Let’s see your battlefield commission and then we’ll talk rank, sir,” he says.

“Ugh, men.”

Steve turns around, and there’s Tony, flipping shut a panel high on the woman’s left arm with a smile. He pockets the pliers and drags the back of his forearm across his glistening forehead. Somewhere in the back of Steve’s mind, a saxophone is blaring.

Honestly, the intrusive thoughts he could deal with, but the fact that Tony looks this good after hours of hard labor really isn’t fair.

“Seriously, barely two minutes in and you military guys are at it like frat bros at a kegger.” Tony looks sidelong at the woman, who rolls her shoulders with a pop and a groan. “How do you manage?”

“Easy,” she says, “I let them drink until they pass out and then I run back to the women’s barracks with all their clothes so they have to walk across the TOC butt-naked.”

“I think we need to compare our respective strategies,” Natasha says, taking Wanda’s arm on her way to greet the other woman. “This is Wanda; I’m Natasha.”

The woman turns to face them. Her features are striking in a way that makes Steve think of old friends from the war, men he met on those rare occasions he had leave. He’d listen to Native American Code Talkers tell stories of land and legacy and home, stories older than anything Steve had ever known. He’d never been so humbled.

“Delores,” she replies, shaking their hands. “But please, call me Del, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Steve looks at Tony, who giggles—giggles—and mouths ‘Umbridge.’ Del must have ears like a bat, because she smacks him smartly with her prosthetic arm and Tony yelps before devolving into outright laughter. Steve could watch and listen to Tony laugh—that big, gut-wrenching cackle Tony thinks is unattractive but Steve thinks makes Tony look like happiness personified—all day.

The conversation devolves quickly from there, and within a couple of excitable minutes, the airmen are eager to get a look at the Avengers’ game room. They pile into the elevator, talking animatedly over each others’ heads, placing bets and picking teams as the doors close.

In their wake, Steve’s ears are buzzing, and he realizes with a jolt that he’s now alone. With Tony.

It happens often enough that the fact itself isn’t jarring, but something about being alone with disheveled-frazzled-happy-sweaty Tony sets Steve’s nerves on high alert. Tony is loose-limbed and relaxed, moving in and out of Steve’s space as he picks his way around the living room barefoot, looking for discarded tools.

“There you are,” he coos at a tiny device that looks remarkably like a laser pointer. Knowing Tony, it’s probably a real laser. He pockets it, assumably to put away later (or fish out of the laundry at the last minute).

“Who are those people, Tony?”

“Friends of friends,” Tony replies. Steve also knows Tony well enough to recognize his I am being deliberately vague voice when he hears it.

“Uh-huh.” Steve sits on the arm of the sofa, legs stretched out in front of him. “And who are they really?”

“Who wants to know?”

“Me,” Steve says gently, scratching his palms with dulled fingernails. “They’re strangers, and they’re in our home. I think if you were in my shoes you’d want to know.”

Tony stoops to pick up and pocket what looks like a dissected nine-volt battery. Steve kind of wants to ask, but he’s too distracted by Tony’s ass in those black Levis to ask any cogent questions. Seriously, he wonders, are those painted on?

Only when Tony sighs, and quite heavily, that Steve realizes this was more than just a friendly house call (of sorts) on Tony’s part. He watches Tony stand up, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows bright with the glow of sunset, and admires the way Tony suits the view so perfectly. He looks good all the time, but like this—skin burnished gold, brown eyes honeyed by the light—he’s something else. Someone Steve wants, desperately, but like most things in his life, knows he’s not allowed to have. Tony Stark is beyond him in so many ways. Reaching for him seems futile, so Steve stays on the ground, and looks.

Tony fidgets nervously with a mini Phillips Head screwdriver, twiddling it in his long, clever fingers as he stares out the windows at the city sprawled out beneath them.

“They’re from the same company as the guys in the convoy I was with when I—when they—” his voice sputters out before he can say the words. Steve doesn’t push. He doesn’t say anything. He just waits for Tony to gather himself. It’s one of the hardest lessons he’s had to learn about Tony Stark—sometimes it’s better to let him get a handle on himself, rather than jump in and try to handle Tony for him. It doesn’t change the fact that Steve wants nothing more than to hold his hand, now that it’s hanging at his side like its string was just cut. “A while back I dug into Air Force records, talked to Rhodey, got some names. Five people died in the hit that was meant for me. I figured, the least I could do was find five of their closest buddies who needed help.”

Tony glances back at Steve—the little smile on his lips could break Steve’s heart if he let it.

“And I’ve heard you talk about how convoluted the VA is when it comes to services and benefits and whatnot. I figured, my tech probably took their limbs, I should cut out the middle man and give them new ones, myself.”

Something in Steve’s heart shifts irrevocably before kicking into a whole new gear. By the end of the sentence, Steve knows he’s going to do something incredibly rash, the only question is when.

Funny—ten minutes ago he was coming back from a team exercise, prepared to give Tony a friendly but firm talking-to about missing it, and instead here he is, breathless, heart racing, sitting and listening to Tony talk humbly about fixing people because he knows it’s the right thing to do. Because it’s the least he can do. And isn’t that the wildest understatement Steve’s ever heard?

As if anything about Tony Stark could ever possibly be least.

“You built them all those prosthetics?”

“Top of the line!” Tony smirks, saluting Steve with his Phillips Head. “Nothing more high tech in any of them than a heart rate monitor and some other odds and ends—no rocket launcher eyes, don’t worry. I kept my baser urges in check with these.”

“It’s good,” Steve blurts out, too loud and too fast. Tony inhales sharply, fingers clenching around the screwdriver hard enough his knuckles go white. Steve feels his face go hot and groans. “I mean, what you did—what you’re doing—is good, Tony. It’s really generous of you to do that for those guys.”

Steve crosses his arms across his chest to make himself feel safer, more contained. If he doesn’t, who knows where these ridiculous feelings might go. He feels silly enough as it is, blushing and stammering while dressed in his uniform, sans helmet. Even Tony’s probably wondering why he’s wasting his time talking to a red-white-and-blue fossil when he could be downstairs destroying Clint and the others at pool or showing the airmen around the tower, giving them the bells-and-whistles tour.

Tony looks at the floor, away from Steve. Steve feels it like a physical thing, Tony pulling away, retreating, wanting to hide. Amazing, how a man who almost literally wears his heart on his sleeve still thinks he doesn’t have one.

“Yeah, well,” Tony mutters, “it’s good practice, anyways.”

Steve’s thoughts grind to a halt.

“Practice for what?”

Tony starts moving around, shuffling back and forth across the living room floor, looking for something that probably isn’t there. Steve knows when Tony is avoiding eye contact with him—it happens often enough.

“Just a pet project, nothing major. Hey, have you seen my cable knife anywhere?”

“Did you leave it on the floor? Tony…”

“I know, I know, the only thing worse is Legos, but I was busy! You can’t blame me for—OW FUCK!”

Like a shot, Steve is up and holding on to Tony so he doesn’t hop backwards into the glass coffee table. One arm wrapped around his back and the other hand on his bicep, Steve steadies Tony as Tony searches underfoot for whatever hurt him.

He comes up with a magnet the size of a dime.

“Ha,” Tony wheezes. “Speaking of Legos.” He drops it into his pocket along with the laser pointer and whatever else is in there and hangs his head. Rubbing his brow, Tony says: “God. I could sleep for a week after today.”

Steve keeps holding Tony. He should let go, but opportunities like this so rarely present themselves. Plus, Tony feels so good under his hands, strong and warm and just small enough to envelope in a hug if Steve let himself, if Tony wanted him to, and Tony does look dead on his (adorable, bare) feet…

“What else have you been working on today? This pet project?”

“Hah?” Tony breathes, still wincing slightly from stepping on the magnet. “Oh yeah. For Bucky, when you find him. Ow, motherfucker, that hurt…”

The thing about being in Tony Stark’s presence is, it’s so easy to lose the plot. Tony’s mind moves faster than Steve could ever hope to match, mentally or physically; he’s always one pace behind, catching up. It’s fine, though; he actually kind of likes it, being challenged the way Tony challenges him, delighting in the push-pull of their banter and debates, the way Tony teaches him about science and tech and the 21st century without being condescending. Steve gets to a point where he thinks he knows Tony, how he operates, how his brain works—then moments like this happen, and it’s like he’s sprinted smack into a brick wall.

“What?”

“Bucky, you said—are you designing a new arm? For Bucky?”

Tony seems to notice their position at that exact moment. Steve feels him blaze with heat where his hands are touching Tony’s bare skin.

“Uh. Maybe?” At Steve’s look, Tony bites his lip and sighs. “Fine. Yeah, I am. Can you blame me? The thought of Sputnik wandering around the tower with that Cold War-era paperweight hanging off him when I’ve got brand-spanking-new, finely-tuned StarkTech all but ready to go? Perish, Steve, perish the thought.”

Tony is smiling up at him from his place in Steve’s arms, relaxed now, almost leaning into him, and all Steve can think is, he belongs here.

“What’s that face?” Tony asks, curious but still smiling. He pokes Steve in the middle of the forehead with a cheeky grin. “Keep frowning like that, your face’ll stick.”

When, apparently, is right now.

When Steve reaches up and takes Tony’s hand, he gets to watch Tony’s thoughts run into the wall, for once.

When he weaves their fingers together, he gets to watch Tony’s mouth click shut and his eyes go wide. Super-hearing means he can count the beats of Tony’s racing heart without having to feel them. Steve’s telegraphing every movement, every feeling, as much as he possibly can now that words seem to have escaped him.

He must manage okay, because the look that passes over Tony’s face is the same one Steve’s seen in the mirror a thousand times since the day he realized he was halfway in love with Tony Stark: wonder, one part lost, one part found.

When he leans down, slowly, Steve gets to watch Tony’s beautiful eyes flicker and shut. He counts the dark lashes where they rest on Tony’s high cheekbones, breathes in his smell and listens to the shudder in his exhale before drawing him in for a kiss that draws everything else to a quiet, blissful blank.

When Tony pushes his fingers up into Steve’s hair, scratching lightly at the nape of his neck, Steve drops his arms around Tony’s waist and pulls him in close with a soft groan. He’s warm and messy and still holding that damn screwdriver, but he kisses Steve soft and eager like it’s the only thing he wants to do for the rest of his life, folds himself into Steve’s embrace like he wants to build a home right there in his arms.

One day Steve will tell him he already did, a long time ago, and it wasn’t the least of anything.

***

more fics on AO3!

#rachel writes fic #I really should slow it down but this one would NOT leave me alone!#tony stark #steve rogers #stevetony #superhusbands #stony #stony fic #stovetuna #prompt fill #this is EXTREMELY SOFT #hopefully it makes up for the angst of the last one ;____;#also lol @ myself thinking ‘this one will be shorter’!!#UGH I FORGOT AIR FORCE RANKS ARE DIFFERENT DAMN IT!#blame my late night brain

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autisticstarseed · 5 years ago

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if u could, perhaps, bless us with all the applicable symbols from that fic ask for hvh 👀

ooOoOOOoOO Rub s gay hands togehter omg ty friend 😍;;;;;;

💡 - What was the motivation behind the story?

hHH i hadnt written in 10+ years so when i latched onto this plot idea i just thought itd be a good time to jump the shark and try it again !! i just wanted smth really edgy and depthful bc im emo and the rest kind of snowballed

💎- What was your favorite part?

osdlfksd;lf it’s hard to pick a fav but the drunk scene was definitely the most fun to write at least

⛰️- What was the hardest part?

THE SCENE WHERE THE GANG IS KIDNAPPED BY ENKI,,,, i debated toning down the violence but in the end i knew where the story was going (and where its still going) and that its gonNA be kinda dark so why hold back now ig

🎭- What was the feeling or mood you were going for?

BITTERSWEET AF,,, sort of just treading the line of ‘hopeful’ and ‘hopeless’ at all times to fully portray the feeling of being at your lowest, but with that classic tss ‘silver linings just around the corner’ kind of undertone

🏟️- Who was your intended audience?

mostly all the adults that watched tss as a kid and felt like spirituaLLY MOVED BY IT cuz i really tried to tap into that Emotion Tee Em we all felt when we found out that zak was [redacted]

🔬- Was there one scene you were building up to/knew you had to get just right?

hHH theres actually a LOT of scenes like that and i think a lot of my general motivation to keep going comes from that ‘WAIT FOR IT WAIT FOR IT’ vibe slkdf:SDF but the Plot Twist tm in the latest chapter was definitely a big’n, and theres a few more of those still to come :^)

🗝️ - What were you thinking when you wrote it?

kjdjFSDs:DF tbh whenever i start really writing, [’im shifting into soup mode’ seinfeld meme voice] im shifting into maladaptive daydreaming mode

🎥- Were there any tv shows, books, or movies that influenced this verse, if any?

:^) devilman crybaby pls forgive me for everytHing

📈- Was there a clear character arch you wanted____ character to go on?

i actually have a short list of what i somewhat consider to be the story arcs in my notes !! mostly just for organization and obvs i wont list the future ones but so far we’ve seen the kushtaka arc, the enki arc, and now we’re in what i call ‘the annunaki’ arc.

🎢- Were there any scenes you were nervous about? For audience reception or otherwise?

ALL OF IT JSHDJSKD, but again a lot of the enki scenes i was worried would be too edgy TM, and the whole annunaki plot as well i was worried might be too ‘out there’ for ppl, but it takes the story exactly where i always wanted it and lines everything up perfectly so i went for it lol. i was also ofc worried if people would like ila or not bc oc but most ppl love her actually which is so 😭❤️

☠️- Did you consider killing off any of the characters? Did you?

8^) [mickey mouse voice] this is a surprise tool that will help us later ,

✉️- Did you title your chapters? What title do you like best?

yes! the next one actually has my favorite chapter title yet, but so far i like ‘so strikes the harpoon’ since its a throwback to the first couple chapters

☀️- Was there symbolism/motifs you worked in?

o every single paragraph is an overly thought out middle school poem im entering in the talent show actually

🎵- Did you have a playlist/piece of music that went with this story?

Yes !! i have HVH insp part 1, Part 2, and an extra one for all those songs that have the vibes but just dont fit enough to make sense in a playlist

📜-Do you want to write something like this again in the future?

probably ! ive learned i definitely like the edgy/darker and emotionally driven stories with ongoing plot, so that trend will almost definitely continue. idk if ill write a dystopia again anytime soon, but i think my future stuff will at least retain that long and heavy vibe

💁- Did readers influence/change any part of this story?

oh yEA like basically i was ready to quit after the very first chapter before it was even written and kinda just got it all out on a whim of motivation but was expecting to flake on it like i tend to do with projects, but the invested response to it was just so uplifting that its what ive been riding on all ten chapters and im so grateful for it :’)))

✏️-Would you go back and change anything if you could?

hHHHHHHH yes and ok this is terrible but i actually tend to avoid re-reading my older chapters until i hAVe to bc i suffer from that sO much ,,, , its just little things like tiny words i wanna change or bits i wanna take out/put in and once or twice ive even caught a mistake or plot hole/smth i forgot to add that i rly do have to go back and edit and i just turn to dust every tim e

⭐- What’s a scene/paragraph you’re proud of?

i really liked the northern lights scene!! it was meant to be a pivotal moment of that ‘bittersweetness’ vibe i was talking abt and it was another one of those scenes i had been planning for a while;;;

“ I think of how much the rest of the family would love this. This isn’t like the moon and the sun, where I can see it and know that even if it looks different, they’ll see the same one soon enough, wherever they are. This reminds me only that I am not with them. It stings. It seems unnatural for something so gentle and natural to appear before us as if we aren’t in complete, total fucking chaos. After all we’ve been through, and the sky still dances. “

📣-What was the best piece of encouragement you got?

AVERY ALL OF UR LIVEBL OGS AND COMMENTS GIV ME SUCH L I FE, ,, ,, CRYIGN CAT FA ce

🔦-Did you learn anything while writing it? About yourself? Writing?

isdfhSDF YEs, part of my hesitation to write came from this thing where i always just assumed there was a wildly high standard of writing in fandom spaces like in original literature spaces, where you had to have like 10+ sentences to a paragraph and you had to describe every tiny detail of a setting and you had to follow every single grammar rule or it was unreadable but like. genuinely its like sculpting with words as long as you have a shape ppl get the idea which is such a weight off my shoulders lol, its still a lot of work but so much fun to know i can to an extent do what i want and ppl actually like it like that. i also learned that like most other writers i have to cause my favs emotional and physical pain,

🎁- Any writing advice for people who want to write something like this?

hhHHHH 1. please do it its so fun just give in to the edge my guy , 2. try to get comfortable re-reading your chapters, for me its like when ppl listen to themselves sing/act but im trying to do better bc its so much more consistent when i keep it fresh in my mind and it also boosts confidence when u can pick out the things u like instead of the things u dont, 3. trying to have at least one scene in mind for each chapter that ur excited to write so u can have motivation to update faster! for me it doesnt have to be smth i think would excite the audience either like it could be the most basic thing but just having an idea of it and knowing i want to see it come to life rly helps me stay on top of it all

TY SM FRIEND THIS WAS SO FUN x x )

#lochley #long post/ //#hvh #human v humanity #secret saturdays #tss #sorry to spam the tag with a longk boi but hHBHHBH #TYYY #fanfic

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goldtips · 5 years ago

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okay so ya girl is back at it again. this was originally going to be a reply to someone but well. it got out of hand. i shat all over babylon the anime a while ago and honestly kind of feel bad. there are definitely things that the show does that makes it stand out, esp as a seasonal anime bc you dont expect dir. to spend much time on them!!!! like if we’re comparing this to shows like fanservice anime or any .. mediocre seasonal isekai then ofc this show is better lmfao. the only reason i shit on it is because i expected this anime to be Better ;;;;;;;

mind, i’m not rescinding my statement - as far as i’m concerned, babylon is still a hella frustrating anime because it tries to showcase humans as nihilistic, utilitarian robots that don’t seem to consider the topic of suicide emotionally even though thats supposedly humanity’s defining trait ??? and it deals with the topic of suicide with the care of elephants gallivanting in the fucking savanna :))) the whole show has also been pretty lacklustre in terms of characterization, trying way too hard to be intellectual and feed edgy plot points instead of giving any development - the plot feels reactionary overall and placid rather than exciting. also, the fact that the anime started as a mystery / politico-legal sort of show just makes the transition from that to abstract theory even more forced...........

HOWEVER im promised im going to stop shitting on babylon so lets talk about what the anime does right shall we. more specifically,,, the biblical imagery!!! is great !!!! : D

the show is called babylon. in the old testament (ot), babylon is humanized as a “brutal, callous and proud” woman who “believed that she would reign over the earth forever.” in the new testatment the phrase “she who is at babylon” refers to the new world culture currently at war with the covenant community. in such that rome, as a mistress or whore of the new world, is seeking to seduce and subvert people of god, enticing men to fall “drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

yes,,,, a whore who uses sex to entice innocent men into complying with new culture? who believes herself to be akin to god and also in this context, above the law and morality - im gonna say its not too far a stretch to say that magase was intended to symbolise the whore of babylon.

however, that’s not all - links can be made between the enactment of the suicide laws and the seduction of new culture. who exactly is leading the front? kaika itsuki ( 齋開化 ), who’s name literally means culture. that aint a coincidence. also, that weirdly-placed reference to roman law / norms during the suicide debate as a way to convince the masses to revert / adopt roman ideology??? also not a coincidence. :))))

in addition, there are two other major biblical events related to babylon:

the book of revelations; and

the tower of babel.

its safe to say that both narratives are being pushed atm.

revelations:

in revelation 17, the spirit of babylon decends upon earth through the whore. she arrives on the back of a beast with 7 heads, “arrayed in purple and scarlet”, “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” “seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” the revelations also prophesizes that she will be defeated by a beast, but it is unclear as to which. there are two beasts in book of revelations. the first beast comes "out of the sea" given authority and power by the dragon/serpent. the second beast comes "out of the earth" directing people to worship the first beast, a "false prophet".

in a similar vein, nomaru had secretly vouched for itsuki’s, providing itsuki with the necessary resources for him to rise up in ranks and become the new mayor. the kanji for ryuichiro nomaru ( 野丸龍一郎 ) contains both the kanji 野 and 龙 which respectively mean field (i.e. earth) and dragon. they are key references to the beasts of revelation

plus according to nomaru, it was also purely because of magase that the political struggle turned out the way that it did, meaning that she is ultimately the one controlling the entire operation. this mirrors the way she is sitting on the heads of the beast (i.e. the proverbial brains of the campaign that itsuki is heading)

we also see that when magase uses her powers her eyes and hair glow in a sort of purple/burgundy color to support the imagery as well!

the book of revelations is the final chapter of nt. it is merely an allegory of struggle between good and evil and doesnt refer to actual people or events. kinda like the show huh. nyyy way, we see that the protag john the apostle writes down what is revealed to him through visions to send it to the 7 churches :))

kinda like how zen keeps on seeing magase through visions and has to document !! his findings and report back to admin? ik this isnt exact but there’s a bit where he has to write down her confession and it really struck me as weird until this bit popped up, maybe that was included to as a way of tying in :))

tower:

according to the myth, there were plans to build a city and tower high enough to reach heaven - god who observes this confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other. why? because “now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”

while not entirely similar, we see recurring themes in babylon that deal with miscommunication and new ideology. the conflict mirrors the myth in that unity of language (or ideology in this case) and its subsequent discordance once differentiated.

the interrogation scene in ep 4 deals with reconciling differences. magase asks whether those with different values should be accepted, despite them being contrary to norm. all this time, society has been developing an ideal set of norms - the entire country shares the same values and priorities with no deviation. growth has stagnated. in similar fashion to how god commands for many languages to be created, magase sows the seeds of doubt towards long-standing assumptions and moral values in order to create discordance and push japan into a state of new development

in the new campaign, itsuki proposes to apportion shiniki city from japan and instill new values. this confounds the population and sends them into disarray - the tower that they have created is crumbling, in similar likeness to the parable of babel.

SO TL;DR this show has a really cool starting concept i cant lie????? i for one am not shitting on its supernatural elements (even though the flow was a little inorganic) in hindsight there’s no point in expecting a show called babylon not to delve into supernatural/biblical elements lol :)))

as a right hoe for imagery and philosophy/ethics, this gave me high hopes but the execution of everything else was way below average. why bring in a discussion about suicide that’s poorly researched + try to be edgy abt it and have the citizens to have support it so easily???? ruins the immersion so much

if the anime really wanted to focus on philosophy there should be some mention of ethical theory to justify his point. like, being aimlessly philosophical only ends up being flowery and pseudo-bullshit lmao. one of hte reasons why i was so frustrated with magase and zen’s discussion in the interrogation room. like woman what was your fucking point. its only wasting screentime if you don’t get anything from the conversation. the philosophy was so fucking unnecessary - babylon could have been executed as an in-depth political/psychological anime instead. WITHOUT THE SUICIDE.

this and the lack of good characters really bummed me out. i think that the show was expecting me to connect to some of the characters before they were fucking killed off but i didn’t end up giving a single shit about any of them so. :) the whole show feels more about the shock factor and gore than about interesting plot.

concept 10/10, execution 1/10

#DAMN i had more to say apparently #babylon anime #babylon meta #babylon symbolism #babylon #im honestly tempted to write more about the interrogation scene #this post is more fair at least #i am biased but at least i appreciate the biblical imagery #haha #:))#babylon anime meta

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catcherkazuya · 5 years ago

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💪💙 daiya no ace, episode 21 liveblogging 💙💪

(LETS GO FIRST YEARS LETS GO) - ASADA MY BABYYYYT

- IM SO EXCITEDDDD YALL CAN NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND - this little game montage - maezono is so happy wtf A RARE SIGHT - lmao first years got beat bad but IT DOESN'T MATTER THEY DID THEY BEST 💕 - yo that jump to April tho - YESS BE SALTY - y'all not on the first or second string (lmao jk I love everyone) - MASASHI AND KAORU MY HEARTTTT

- asou is really going hard on himself,, oh my gosh they sheer determination these boys have is beyond me

- LMAO he was so deep in inner monologue that he blocked the door 😂😂 - ugh MIYUKI YOU'RE BACK

- YES THE TOKYO INVITATIONAL - YALL ARENT EVEN READY - THIS IS MY FAVORITE ARC OF THE ENTIRE SERIES HANDS DOWN - omg when they talk baseball, they sound all captain-y and my heart swoons 💗💗 - also just some minor analysis, kuramochi is so torn in believing miyuki because he doesn't need a lot of words to express what he needs to say so now that he's talking so heavily about he invitational and the process of furuya and sawamura, he's like low key shook

- mochi's like "are u being serious or u just saying big words to fuck with me" ??

- but also it's like, miyuki is clearly excited about this opportunity because he knows he doesn't have much more time to contribute to the team before his high school career is over so he's gonna learn/do everything he can (also major foreshadowing 👀) - ughh their dynamic is EVERYTHING - lmao these dumbasses

- SHARING A BOOK lmao can they even read ?? 😂😂 - they're literally the textbook example of two ppl sharing one brain cell - WHAT THE FUCK THEY'RE RIPPING THE BOOK IN HALF I CAN'T 😱😱😂😂 - that takatsu kid is a riot - lmao kanemaru was really trying to compliment him and that shit did not work

- also kanemaru and toujou using their first names with each other I'm SOFT 💕💗 - they're the real mom and dad of seidou - omg takatsu ,, people out here trying to support you redhead ass and ur too dumb to realize - lmao everyone in the class are trying to figure out who the fuck okumura is - what's his favorite food? what books does he like? is he half japanese like WHAT

- YE S KATAOKA BELIEVE IN YOUR PLAYERS PUT THEM ON THE SECONS STRING YESS

- omg sawamura cant fall asleep bc kataoka will get mad iM CRYING thats such a mood

- "miyuki cram school" PLEASE SIGN ME UP - I WANT TO GOOOOOOO give me extra assignments - (I'll even stay after school for extra credit 😈😈)

- omg it's like a little secret boys club - OH MY GOD OKUMURAAAA ur so sad™ like what the fuck stop being so antisocial - ugh my heart miyuki is so happy I JUST WANT HIM TO BE HAPPY - lol asada contemplating laundry and a shower is me all the time #adulting - GASP IT'S THE FUCKING SCENE ITS COMING HOLY SHIT AAAAA

- KURAMOCHI 💓💖💞💗💞💕👅👅👅 - FUCK ME ALL THE WAY UPPPPP - JESUS CHRISTO whewwwww - YES please just take me 😤😤😤 no one should look that good like fucck - oh the divets right above his- OOOOO I can't - alright I'm done - asada is a skinny bean pls I love u

- aaaa kuki my son,, u deserve to be on the second string - YOU HAVE POTENTIAL 💗

- yes toujou UR GROWTH 🌱 we don't talk enough about toujou and his journey bc he definitely came up quick and built on his strengths - AAAAA "I still want to be a pitcher" - he- I- PRECIOUS 😱😱😱 - oh no pls miyuki don't look @ me like that while putting that glove on I'm WEAK - oh fuck this scene is so important wait

- YES CAPTAIN MIYUKI - TELL THEM

- omg I cannot DEAL 😤 - I feel like he's gonna die,, like saying his last goodbyes - OKAY this ↕️ is the foreshadowing I was talking about

- miyuki regretting some of his decisions which may (or may not) have impacted his effect on his teammates, specifically the pitchers

- he knows that furuya and sawamura are expected to carry the team when he's gone, but now he's realized he gotta step up, put his usual snarky demenor aside and help these idiots out before graduates - BUT ALSO MIYUKI DOESNT LIKE TO BE VULNERABLE BECAUSE HELPFULNESS IS INTERPRETED AS EMOTIONS WHICH HE STRUGGLE - aaaah I'll write a more in-depth post about this later bc asdfghjksbs - also sawamura and furuya look so shook

- they're like "miyuki has feelings?? and responsibilities??"

- EVERYTHING IS BUILDING NEW ROSTER NEW MIYUKI NEW TEAM

this week’s end card! ♦

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artificialqueens · 5 years ago

Text

Notebooks & Post-it's - Chapter 14 - (Branjie) - Thankyoumissvanjie

A/N: Soooo… Here’s my take on Amsterdam. Enjoy.

Summary:

It all went from bad to worse in Amsterdam.

LINK TO AO3

It all went from bad to worse in Amsterdam.

Or maybe if Brock was being fair, it had begun the descent into bad in Belfast, worsened in Oslo, only to come to a horrible conclusion in Amsterdam.

After the drunken conversation in the hallway, they had both seemed to agree that they would leave each other alone unless they were on stage.

Save it for the fans.

Give them the show they had paid for.

It tore at his heart, but Brock kept on dealing with the jokes and touches. He found himself standing in the wings glancing at Vanjie performing her ass off, trying to reconcile himself to the fact that he would never get to be her proud boyfriend again.

The drinking seemed to get out of hand. He needed more alcohol to get through the shows. The tequila seemingly always in an endless supply wherever they came.

He wrote and wrote in the notebook.

I wish you would look at me. Even just to get mad. Just something. But you don’t. I am invisible to you unless we are on the stage. You only care for Brooke Lynn. Too bad it’s Brock that’s in love you with you.

And wrote.

It’s funny how the thing that scared me so much the last time is the one thing I crave. I want the commitment. I want you to be mine and only mine. I want you to stake your claim. I don’t want anybody else. Fuck that. I want you.

And wrote.

I love you. I don’t think that’s ever going to go away.

The blank pages were filled up with love declarations that were never uttered. The pages a silent testament to the turmoil wrecking havoc inside of Brock.

________________________________________________________________________

The energy during the Belfast gig had been weird. The excitement of it being the last show in the UK coupled with an amazing crowd and high energy seemed to do something to all of them. They were leaving for Oslo tomorrow, but tonight they would party and have fun. There was this end of school year feel.

They all took longer to de-drag. Brock being the last one out for some reason.

And that was when he saw it.

Stuck to his foundation.

A post-it.

He slowly peeled it off, his hand shaking, excited and scared at the same time.

He wanted it to be an invitation, while he also dreading it.

209. Please - V

Brock had never packed his stuff that quickly, as he did after reading that, almost running out of the dressing room, needing to see José now. Scared what was wrong, hopeful that maybe he wanted to give them a chance.

_______________________

José didn’t know why he had said no to Brock. He was drunk, in fact, they had both been out of it, not knowing what they were saying or doing.

He didn’t want to make one more drunken mistake. Not with Brock.

But ignoring him after having been so close with him for weeks was odd. It was as if they were doing a publicity stunt.

It felt dirty.

It felt wrong.

José was in love with Brock. Had been for over a year, and having to play that up in front of the fans hurt.

Seeing Brock turn paler and thinner. Not eating, but drinking more than usual, hurt.

It all hurt.

He missed him.

He wanted to take care of him.

But José had been an idiot and closed the door that Brock seemed to have opened just an inch.

Yet, closed doors had never really seemed to be a hindrance for him.

Which was why he had left that post-it. Hoping that Brock would show up, knowing that he probably wouldn’t.

But hoping oh so much.

The rest of the queens had gone straight from the venue to the club, but José had simply shaken his head at them, knowing that he looked tired enough to not get any shit from them.

If Nina has sent him a worried look, he decided to not react.

He couldn’t.

Getting into an Uber, and arriving at the hotel all seemed to pass by in a blur. It wasn’t until he closed the door to his room behind him that he realised how tired he was. Both his body and mind. The toll of drag and being an idiot with his emotions was draining. He dropped his bags on the floor, taking two steps over to the bed and simply face planting onto it.

Maybe he should just sleep, then he wouldn’t be awake to feel the disappointment of Brock never showing up.

“You a messy hoe, Miss Vanjie!” José’s words were muffled by the duvet as he stubbornly refused to turn around. Too tired, and too emotionally stressed to do anything.

The tentative knocking at the door, however, did the trick. Making him almost jump up from the bed and run to the door.

“Be cool, be cool. Make ‘im sweat, mama,” he whispered to himself as he tried to count to ten slowly, “two, three, ten… fuck it,” opening the door he came face to face - more like face to shoulder - with Brock.

“Well, you be looking like hell fried over, Boo,” José was being kind. Brock looked like shit. The bags under his eyes were a deep purple. His skin pale and shallow. His hair was a mess, and that stupid red hoodie seemed looser than usual.

He was wasting away in front of him.

“You don’t look too good either, Papi,” The endearment made the ever-present butterflies of affection flutter in José’s stomach. Over a year after they first started this thing and he was still so very in love him.

For a moment they both just stared at each other. Their eyes trying to morse code the words their mouths were too afraid to utter.

But then José looked away, the earnestness in Brock’s eyes making him scared, as he didn’t know what it meant. His pulse seemed to quicken at the possibility of Brock seeing him as more than a good fuck, but he knew that was too much to ask for.

Walking back to the bed he sat down on it, expecting Brock to simply follow, smiling when he heard the soft click of the door closing, followed by it being locked. He felt tired in his bones. The tour, this stupid-ass thing with Brock and just… everything.

Maybe it was the fact that they only had three shows left, that made the tiredness set in. Perhaps it was because he knew only had three more shows left with him. Before Brock left for other venues and tours.

Three shows left to finally tell him how he felt.

“So…” Brock was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, looking expectantly at him.

“You wanna fuck?” José knew that he probably looked pathetic in his shorts and tank-top, hair all ruffled, face washed and make-up free. He could feel the exhaustion in his body, and all he wanted to do was sleep, but Brock was here.

José wanted him to stay, no. He needed him to. Needed his touch, his comfort and warmth. José knew that he was difficult to deal with on a day-to-day basis, knew in the depth of his soul that the reason they hadn’t worked out had nothing to do with Brock’s need for freedom, but rather everything to do with José’s brand of craziness being too draining.

Brock might have loved him, but that didn’t mean he necessarily liked him all that much.

Yet, no matter what, they had always had that sexual connection. The way that touching each other was a craving, a drug that none of them seemed to be able to quit.

If sex was involved, Brock would stay.

It was the one thing, that José always knew to be true.

Brock’s startled laugh broke through the sleepy fog of his mind, instantly making him scowl.

“What you laughin’ ‘bout, bitch?” Typical Brock, to just laugh at him when he was prepositioning him. It made him feel like an idiot. As if the idea of sleeping with him was a joke.

As if being with him was a fucking joke.

“Papi, you look like you’re gonna fall asleep any minute now. I’m not into the somnophilia scene. So no, I don’t want to fuck,” Brock had walked over to him and slowly pulled him up from the bed. José subconsciously following him. Not even realising what was happening.

His limbs were heavy and his protests about sleeping instead of fucking were lodged deep in his throat.

The way Brock was gently guiding him. His hands soft and warm as they pushed against his lower back, made him weak in the knees.

It made him feel cared for.

It made him feel loved.

“Fuck you! I be like the pizza man, boo. Always delivering” There was no conviction behind his words, as Brock got him to lie down on the bed, José’s eyes following his every move as he covered him with the duvet.

Brock was softly kneeling on the floor next to the bed, his fingers carding through his hair, almost making him purr with content.

“I’m sure. All you will be delivering tonight is some well-earned sleep, babe,” Brock’s face contorted into something slightly sad, but overwhelmingly warm. It made José think of the nights they had right before they broke up. The way that Brock had been extra attentive, while also being slightly withdrawn.

“You ain’t knowing nothing, I might be pulling an all-nighter, hoe!” José knew he was being a child. Knew that he was tired and just needed to sleep.

But he missed being held.

He just fucking missed Brock.

“Uh-uh. It’s time to sleep now, though,” Brock’s voice was soft and warm like a lullaby, the tenor of it reminded him of Sunday mornings in bed and late-night facetime calls. He leaned down and kissed his forehead, lingering for a minute.

And then he got up from the floor, knees cracking, huffing tiredly and made his way to the door.

“Stay,” José’s whisper didn’t stop Brock from walking away, which was why he added a small, “please.”

He knew that he sounded pathetic, but he didn’t care. The idea of spending the night alone with his thoughts and exhaustion was too much to bear.

He just wanted Brock.

As Brock reached the door, José felt the weight on his chest grow heavier, his eyes swimming with unshed tears. A single thought went through his mind.

He’s leaving. For good.

Then the room went dark. The small click of the light switch the purest sound José had ever heard.

The weight on his chest magically disappeared, while he felt like he was going to cry from the sheer relief of not spending the night alone.

He could vaguely hear Brock undress, the sound of a zipper and clothes hitting the floor, each sound managing to slowly repair every phantom crack in his heart.

The bed dipped under Brock’s weight, and suddenly José found himself wrapped in those strong and muscular arms. The secure harbour of them settling him instantly.

This was home.

He gave a satisfied grunt and shuffled closer, burying his nose in Brock’s neck, savouring the scent of his cologne mixed with sweat. It was so quintessential him.

“Sleep tight, Big Guy,” the words were whispered against his forehead.

“You too, Toes,”

And with that he fell into a peaceful slumber that he hadn’t even known he had needed.

_____________________

Brock hadn’t slept a wink. His body stiff from having held José the whole night, his head fussy with sleep deprivation, while his mind went in circles.

What did this mean?

It felt different. Everything about José last night had been softer, quieter and more emotional.

Brock had in the middle of the night dared to whisper a soft “I love you”, knowing that it was drowned out by José’s small snores.

He had to tell him.

Holding José in his arms had been amazing.

Had been painful.

Had been insanely confusing.

For a night it had felt like they were back together as if nothing had happened. Yet, the moment José woke up, Brock knew that the jig was up. He had tensed in his arms and seemed in a rush to get him out of the room.

Brock knew when he was unwanted, quickly making his excuses and left.

José’s standoffishness followed them to Oslo, everyone except Brock cranky over the fact that there had been a massive delay in the airport, meaning that they wouldn’t have any time to enjoy the city before having to get into drag.

Brock hadn’t complained as it had given him a chance to finally sleep. His body was aching. The alcohol, the emotional turmoil and just being on tour all taking a huge toll on him.

Maybe that was why he hadn’t taken any notice of how withdrawn José was before the show began. Brock was so in his head trying to find the energy to be Brooke Lynn for the night, that he didn’t notice anything or anyone else.

He did, however, become painfully aware of, once on the stage, how Vanjie didn’t interact with her. How she kept to herself, joking instead with Monique or Meatball. There was no hug for the fans, no mentioning of Brooke in Miss Vanjie’s long spiels of bullshit after her numbers.

Fuck.

Instead, Brooke twirled on stage with Nina, trying to swallow the disappointment of it not being Vanjie.

At the Meet & Greet after the show, she smiled at everyone, but her heart was breaking every time she glanced over at Vanjie, noticing how she never even acknowledged Brock’s presence.

Shit.

The other’s talked about going drinking, but Brock knew he couldn’t handle it. So he left them all going back to the hotel, trying not to think too hard about the absence of a post-it, nor the worried looks Nina kept sending him.

Sitting on his bed, in his darkened room, he tried not to think too much about how much he was fucking everything up.

He still remembered how José had felt in his arms. If he thought hard enough he could almost imagine it right there in his empty hotel room.

If a tear a two fell down his face it didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if anyone was there to see his fast track towards rock bottom anyway.

____________

Was that the last time? Am I too late? Have my waiting and hesitation ruined it all? I know I set myself up to fail, I mean fucking the ex you are still in love with doesn’t seem like a stellar plan in any fucking type of universe. Maybe you infected me with your love of romantic movies. Maybe I thought that this could be some shitty Nicholas Sparks book were we do end up together in the last chapter. Guess that makes me the fool.

______________

And then Amsterdam happened.

They had been up early, catching an early plane to ensure that they would have a full day in the city since it was pride.

Brock had barely slept in Oslo. His mind going over every possible wrong turn he had taken with José that had brought him to this particular point. A point where José wouldn’t even look at him.

Nina was a blessing. Giving him hugs, trying to make him smile, ensuring that he ate.

It was Nina that got them invited to some big party, bringing Meatball along for the ride. It was Nina that made sure they met Bianca.

Nina was the best of friends the whole day. Not giving him a single side-eye at all the alcohol he was drinking. Just being that steady presence that he needed, while Bianca spent the day reading him to filth.

“Well you look like a real reigning,” hiding behind big sunglasses, mouth pursed and voice drier than a good martini, Bianca was her usual bitchy self.

“Uhuh, and how’s that?” If it had been anyone else, Brock would’ve felt called out and maybe a bit anxious, but having known her for years, he took it for what it was.

Bianca being worried.

“Like you’re close to dying. Jesus, you look like shit,” Despite her rough deadpan voice, Brock could still hear the small thread of concern, which made him smile softly.

“I still look better than you,” Which was true.

But only barely.

“Debatable,” the way the Bianca looked over her sunglasses for a second, as the hard front she always put up softened made Brock feel warm.

The way his friends all tried to care for him and make him feel better was so heartwarming.

They all succeeded in making him feel better. Slowly pulling him out of his José-induced funk, though it was difficult to know if it was Nina, Pride or tequila.

Probably a mix.

All Brock knew was that he was dancing, without a single care in the world. The baking sun managing to thaw up his otherwise cold and broken heart. The alcohol in his blood made him brave and he knew what he had to do.

He had to tell him.

Now.

He was drunk enough to not care about the outcome, but not drunk enough to make it a bad idea.

He had to tell him.

It only took a few texts and some stalking of stories on Instagram to figure out where José was. Dragging Meatball and Nina with him hadn’t been difficult, all of them ready to party with all their sisters.

He had seen José’s stories, seen how good he looked with that ridiculous thigh-strap fanny-pack.

He loved him, and he wanted him… And fuck it, he was going to say it to him.

His eagerness at seeing José meant that everything else seemed to fade away. The details of how they went from one club to another hazy and blurred.

He couldn’t remember what they had talked about on the way, nor if they had met up with some of the queens before entering the club.

His mind was so focused on what he wanted - no needed - to say, that he didn’t even register the loud music or the fact that it was making the walls and floor vibrate.

Didn’t notice all the people that stumbled into him, as he tried to navigate his way to the bar, hoping that it would give him a better view of the place, so he had a higher chance of locating José.

He was so absorbed in this task that his mind didn’t fully register what he was seeing right before him, as he finally reached the bar.

It was as if everything had slowed down, his heart skipping multiple beats as his eyes and brain seemed to finally connect thoughts and visuals into a scene taken straight from Brock’s worst nightmare.

The bass and the dancing masses kept on moving and grinding, not caring that Brock’s heart had just shattered into a million pieces, a sob stuck somewhere in his throat.

There in the corner of the bar stood José. His back to Brock as he was kissing someone. Though kissing was perhaps too mild a description, as it looked like they were two seconds away from jumping each other right then and there.

He was too late.

With that one thought going on repeat, Brock backed away, leaving his broken heart on the floor as he fled the club.

He. Was. Too. Late.

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #nina west #hurt/comfort #angst #smut #post break-up #canon compliant #notebooks and post its #thankyoumissvanjie #tw alcohol abuse #tw dom/sub undertones #s11

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hvlly-blog · 6 years ago

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- ̗̀ ❛ muse 22 , kim chungha , she / her . ❜ ̖́- did you hear about the monaco trip ? it’s legendary at ucla. holland “holly” min is going, i’m so jealous. their instagram makes it seem like they’re pretty vivacious and they’re all about an empty locket around a delicate neck & strawberry flavored lip gloss. can you believe they’re only twenty-one and they’re going on a free trip to monaco for the summer ? hopefully they don’t let their quixotic side show too much on the trip.

hello… im xan ( she / her pronouns ) im 21 and its been...200 years since i’ve made an intro post or rped so JSDBJW go easy on me ! fun fact half my keyboard is broken…..so if i take 10 yrs to reply sometimes just kno….a bitch is trying her best ok... literally just winging all of this as i type if u thought i had a plan think again JSDBWB *jungkook vc* lets get it....

pause . before we get it JDBWJDJ we can plot here over ims if discord isnt ur scene !! BUT i am....way more likely to respond to discord messages bc its easier !! so u can find me on there @ A GIRL WITH LUV 💖✨🌙#8172

idk what is triggering for any of u so if mentions of AGE GAPS, DRUG ABUSE, CAR ACCIDENTS, or SEX ADDICTIONS is sensitive stuff pls proceed with caution !!!

BACKSTORY: so . this is holland but she thinks her name is UGLY so she goes by holly

she was born and raised in los angeles and her parents both own / run a luxury chain of rehab centers for ppl with $$$ ( u already know i want a plot involving this xx ) they are new money ! so holly really does not understand ... the spoiled lifestyle since her parents raised her pretty conciously on stories abt how they struggled as immigrants coming to a new country & making it & all that jazz

as a kid her parents would host / try to charm a lot of potential donors or clients so they’d make holly “entertain” them like as a kid she’d just be cute or maybe sing a song from chorus or just be impressively well-behaved but the older she got...the more her mom would demand from her /:

as all this was going on her parents started to have issues so instead of working it out.... holly’s dad just started traveling a whole lot to other states & countries where they had a business so growing up he wasn’t really in the picture . rip !

back to holly ! so her mom had a few close business partners and “friends” that where around holly’s family pretty much all the time and there was this one guy who was relatively younger than most of the men but still significantly older than 14 year old holly who had a huge crush. basically this man tried to take advantage of that bc hes UGLY .

one day holly’s mom caught this dude alone with holly and being way too friendly for comfort and instead of flipping on the dude she flipped on holly and was like we could lose our business and i think it’s all ur fault for causing drama” and holly was literally like What the Fuck !!! her mom cut off all ties with the dude but she still made holly feel like it was her own fault woo !!

more stuff her mom did ? yea ! one night when she was 17 she was out with this guy who had celebrity parents just eating at a nice place and drinking after and as he was driving her home, they get into a big car accident. turns out that the guy she had gone to dinner with had a coke addiction & was literally high the whole time & the only reason holly’s mom had set them up was so he’d check into their rehab center bc his famous parents were considering it but she never told holly any of that so holly was PISSED but relatively unharmed from the accident besides some bruising

basically by the time college came a bitch was ready she moved out, trying to have a fresh start away from her home life ! but college was also messy basically over the years holly developed a big dependency issue where she literally...craves attention and intimacy sososo bad bc she never got it from her family so ! she looks for it in other ppl like she needs to feel that validation so bad & she does that with really unhealthy sexual habits low key bordering addiction !

oh also ? since her family was never the family vacation type JSBDWJBDJ she’s never left california before so a bitch is VERY excited and if u try to make her feel bad for it . she will tell u to fuck off and let her have this !

PERSONALITY + TIDBITS: honestly one of the most sociable ppl u will ever meet she was literally raised to entertain and please so its super easy for her to make friends !! literally one of those ppl that just.....know everyone and ur like how the fuck !!! an avid social media user...are u even friends if u dont have a snap streak ? not to holly JSBDJWBDJ definitely her guilty pleasure aside from u know...sex !

speaking of sex she really.....ho(e)lly gets around ... 100% a chaotic bi but her trust for men is abt at a solid 0 ! she will still desperately seek validation from them though so thats fun ! she can be a gossip bc shes a gemini ... but she never does it on purpose she just ... tells funny stories & realizes half way through she was talking abt a friend’s tinder date horror story ... oops ... share secrets cautiously !

for someone who makes friends like its nothing shes pretty hesitant to share any real info abt herself bc she fears being rejected and abandoned ( not just romantically ) more than anything else like shes one of those ppl who ur like “oh yeah i know her!” but if someone asks u to tell them one important thing abt her ur not gonna know wtf to say

also she’s usually very amiable but if ur just .... a horrible person .. shes gonna be honest about it SDBSJWB shes got some strong opinions ! but also very unrealistic expectations in others so a lot of the time shes just ... disappointing herself for hyping u up inside her own head

she was an english major ! bc i love to self insert <3 JSDBJWBJ but she low key wishes she did something with film bc she loves editing videos & making videos abt her friends so if ur her pal ... u 100% have abt 50 videos ur a star in ! she tried to learned to speak french 100% for the aesthetic of it but only remembers like 5 words….she used to play the fucking ukulele but stopped bc her mom was like holly grow UP JSBDSJBJW shes scared of the dark /: like legit scared if she is sleeping alone a light has to stay on....and yea i dont know what else this is long enough JSDBJSWBJW IM SORRY

im out of ... juice UHHH but some basic ideas for plots are stuff to do with her family ( family friends, maybe ur muse or their family is somehow involved with her parent’s rehab center, or ur muse or their family could have been one of those business partners...whew we have possibilities !!! ), shes an only child so i would die for sibling type friendships, hmm also fwbs or just hook up connections bc those can get uhh Dramatic since she is so dependent on sex, also would die for like confidants bc thats rare for holly like sharing her deep feelings or whatever ... enemy plots are sexy but im gonna be real honest here . i suck at purely hateful connections so if u want a mean plot we gotta have depth ! JSXBDSJDB um romatic stuff too also more platonic stuff like best friends or party buddies thats literally enough i’ve been typing for HOURS . plot with me .. or Perish xx

#monaco:intro #░▓╳┊: 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒐𝒄 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕....𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 ── OOC !#this is . so long JSDBJBJ if u dont wanna read this ? i dont blame u neither do i #not to sound like the duolingo owl but if u dont plot with me i WILL eat some poison bread and die . so /:#this is late ? on brand for me haha !

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tayegi · 6 years ago

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THANKS FOR JUST MURDERING MY HEART WITH THAT UPDATE LEMME GO CURL UP IN A HOLE AND DIE jk ily but my heart man

Anonymous said:All these theories hurt my head 😭😭 lu I love and I hate and I love how invested you get us with your writing and your characters and honestly no one writes stories like you do and a lot of the plots are so different and just aaaahhhhhhh luuu my heart is bursting from the amount of love I have for you and your writing 😭😭

Anonymous said:Wow, I've never felt so many intense emotions reading just one chapter alone. Phew, that was a rollercoaster of feels 😪 Anyways, I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to write/update stories despite your busy schedule 💘 I really love your writing style and the subtle development between each character. I just came back from reading NR & was listening to "Why - Shawn Mendes" and I think it really fits for the conflicts that the OC & JK are facing. Please check it out! 😌

Anonymous said:I really love OC, Lu. It’s so heartbreaking the reality of life she goes through but that’s what I love !!! How realistic your fics can be. And god my pussy hurts!!! How OC finally opened up - finally feeling like she discovered that fairy tale romance every girl dreams of w/ some1 who understands her but is brought down to reality bc like ,, it’s not what either of them signed up for. The feeling of being unwanted was palpable it fucking hurts man. Great job, can’t wait for more ❣️❣️

Anonymous said:Oh man, that chapter hit me hard. These two have both suffered emotionally and hide behind barriers - understandably. They both have so much to offer, and yet the oc struggles to believe others could appreciate that. It was so nice to see them be vulnerable with each other, but it was bound to happen that they would step back - it was so sudden. I'm terribly curious to see what JK's story is, and where they'll end up. What does he associate "relationship" with? -Mul

bekzzz said:What the fuck..... what just happened in chapter 9 of new rules?! How can he just... what the flying feathers. Urghhhhhhhhhhhh..... stupid Jungkook. How can he just... cruel, heartless... just when Y/N has made progress with her feelings. And the skating... how is he all of a sudden a great skater. You know what... screw him. She deserves better! Okay... I'm done :) xo

bekzzz said:Also... I really love the complexity of New rules. I didn't mention it in my last ask. But it really is conveying the realities of insecurities and young love. Especially after traumatizing experiences in relationships.

Anonymous said:hi Lu!!! i just got from reading Equilibrium and WOW... ur writing rly blows me away.. i was bawling like crazy... my heart feeling the pain and frustration... like i really felt like i was the oc, it rly felt like i was living as her. I'm soooo curious as to how the next part is gonna be like, since we never truly got jimin or jungkook's actual thoughts & feelings, only limited to oc's pov. Will we be getting more insight to jungkook's pov? jimin's pov??? UGH its my fave fic ever. THANK YOU LU!

Anonymous said:The last scene of new rules chap 9 teared me up. I'm very curious about how jk's relationship was like with his girlfriend in high school. I feel like that has really impacted his views of relationships or maybe I'm just thinking too much. 😅 this story so far is really well thought out. I love how your writing has hidden messages with a deeper meaning to it. These kind of stories really help me grow & learn as a person tbh. I wish more readers would see these deeper meanings.

jiminicriket said:I'm so overwhelmed every time I read NR and this chapter was a rollercoaster for sure. The beginning had me giggling like an idiot so I was heartbroken at the end but I know it fell into character for them both. I have been reading carefully and I just love how much life and depth you have given your characters. I could write an essay about the progression of their growth and the plot. God I have about a million things to say D: Curse this limit but like thank for updating!

Anonymous said:NOOOOOO!!!! i was so excited about how mature their relationship was and how they were getting better at opening up and sharing their feelings but nOW THIS??? WERE BACK TO BEING HELD BACK BY EXES AND JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS??? THIS IS MY PERSONAL HELL (i gueSS i have to say you did a really good job for keeping it realistic with complex emotions and obsticales but real life suCKS I JUST WANT UNREALISTIC IMMATURE FLUFF IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK FOR)

Anonymous said:you’ve outdone yourself with this new installment of nr lu :”)) ik i probably should’ve expected the ending but it still broke my heart nevertheless bc rejection and unrequited love are still rejection and unrequited love at the end of the day (i forgot all about them only hooking up with each other but ig that is part of the problem with hookup culture—you forget that the relationship is what it is and get hurt as a result). i’m super excited to see how the rest of nr plays out now !!

Anonymous said:man the oc just cant catch a break can she i feel so bad for her even with how hard she tries to protect herself she still gets burnt and thats so true to life man, feelings are feelings and you cant just force yourself to head down a 1 way path and it feels like the oc is just in a constant maze and i feel so bad but at the same time wow thats so damn accurate

Anonymous said:I cried while reading last sentences of new rules and im so not ready for future updates :')

Anonymous said:“don't worry; I know my place” i felt that 😩😭

AKSLDFJLDKSF it’s still so amazing to me how ppl can related so strongly to my fic and have such empathy for the characters. you guys are the real super stars, and nothing makes me happier than reading these asks. THANK YOU MY LOVES

#new rules #anon

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butchyena · 6 years ago

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heres A Post about what ive been obsessing over lately to distract myself. a bioactive terrarium for anole lizards. sorry for mobile users if this doesnt show up under a readmore. im linking where i got all the information and the products id want to use in case anyone gives a shit enough to look. at the end ill estimate the total cost of the project. not to be That Bitch but lms if you read

this is the tank i want to use. we bought it for $10 at a garage sale and we’re 99% sure the previous owner was using it for parakeets- we found down feathers stuck around the inside when we cleaned it. you cant see it in the pic but its got a screen top, and its a lot deeper than it is wide. before i do anything i want to re-silicone and refix the glass to the wooden frame. i showed to tank to my dad when he visited and he told me the wood looked water treated, but i still plan on applying a thin layer of silicone to create a seal, since the inside of the tank is going to be misted at least once a day. 99% of this build is inspired by this series of tutorials- he said he’s coming out with new ones soon and im really excited!

for a bioactive tank, there needs to be at least 6 inches of substrate/drainage, but the tank doesn’t have anything to keep soil in. first i want to place an acrylic sheet inside to hold in the substrate. for extra protection against moisture, the bottom will be lined with pond/pool liner. at the absolute bottom of the acrylic sheet, it needs a small sealed hole so i can drain any excess water that has accumulated in the drainage layer. if i cant find a suitable 2-way flow, ll use the PVC pipe method outlined in the tutorial’s false-bottom part 3B.

ideally the soil would be separated by a fiberglass screen, but since im not making 6 of these things, reptile keepers recommend these and apparently they work fine. the mesh is just to keep the soil from falling into the drainage layer and getting all moldy in the reservoir of water. its also to help protect the clean up crew of bugaboos from drowning too.

the background is gonna be a sheet of styrofoam, with carved pieces of styrofoam sheet layered to give it more depth. covering the whole thing in coco fiber sheet will not only make it look more natural but will also provide a surface for the plants and lizards to climb. i was worried about finding plants that can tolerate the temperate climate and mid-to-high humidity the anole need, but literally heres a page titled plants for anoles. anole also need uva/uvb light to remain healthy, so a strong plant light should be perfect at emulating their florida environment. also, due to the high humidity, using a grow light- typically waterproof with the expectation of water in the air- should be much safer than using a heat lamp, which usually advise against too much exposure to moisture.

using an under tank heater (which very very few reptile keeper recommend using on the bottom anymore- its much safer to place it on the side as moisture on the heated glass can cause it to crack/shatter) on the side will hopefully provide a suitable temperature gradient, thought im not sure if ill try putting it towards the bottom or top first, but since ill be waiting 3 months after planting to put animals in (sans the cleanup crew) that gives me time to check the daily temps and find what works best. at night, a lightless ceramic bulb should do, since there will be less humidity rising at night (i may still get a mesh cover for it for a little added protection) and reptile nightlights are bad bad bad. also, anole cant climb glass, so theres little danger of them hurting themselves on the glass with the uth. ill keep the climbing decorations (driftwood, faux vines, a rock!) away from the hot spot so they dont overheat.

so all told the estimation is around $145, not including thrifting some tools, hides for lizards,a water bowl, the plants bought locally from a nursery, substrate, along with some other small things, which i’d give another generous $70 to. which honestly for a project like this aint bad, the biggest cost usually being the tank itself. anole are $10 apiece, and a 45 should home 4 comfortably (thought i may start with 3 just to see how they settle).

but there it is, the thing im thinking about all the damn time.

#im so so sorry mobile users im SORRY #the post i made got 5 notes so i had to #all 5 of my fans needed me to deliver

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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One reason to still watch each of the NFL’s worst teams

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

There’s at least one storyline worth following for the winless teams. And hope remains too ... though maybe not the Dolphins or Jets.

There has been a lot of good in the NFL to begin the 2019 season. Patrick Mahomes has continued his battle against physics by launching footballs with the kind of strength and accuracy typically limited to video games. Dalvin Cook is healthy again and barreling toward his destiny as one of the league’s best running backs. The Bills, 49ers, and Lions don’t have a loss between them through three weeks.

There’s been more than enough bad as well. Seven teams have started their 2019 Super Bowl quests with little more than heartache to show for it. The Dolphins have been just as sad as predicted, losing their three games by a combined score of 133-16. The Jets and Steelers each lost starting quarterbacks. The Bengals, Broncos, and Washington have all had to deal with defensive deficiencies that have them lost in the wilderness. The Cardinals, thanks to a Week 1 tie against the Lions, are the one-eyed king of this land of the blind.

These seven teams have sunk to the bottom of the NFL’s food chain, but there’s still plenty of time for these teams to climb back into contention (not you, Miami) or make worthwhile progress in a rebuilding year. Here’s one major reason to keep watching each of the league’s winless teams this season, listed in order of how entertaining each franchise looks for the rest of 2019.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Because there’s too much talent for this team to be this bad

On paper, the Steelers don’t look like a hopeless team — even with Ben Roethlisberger out for the season. 2018 Pro Bowlers JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner still serve starring roles on offense. The defense can throw eight different first-round picks onto the field at any given time, including game-changers like T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and the newly acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Yet despite very, very different rosters, Pittsburgh and Miami started the season with identical 0-3 records.

Of all the league’s winless teams, the Steelers have the greatest hope of digging toward daylight. Although Mason Rudolph was awful in stretches during his first NFL start, he still helped Pittsburgh take a (temporary) fourth quarter lead on the road against the 3-0 49ers. Conner has rushed for just 2.9 yards per carry, but is just 24 years old and is unlikely to have fallen off such a massive production cliff so early in his career. And Fitzpatrick’s slot coverage and ability to add another layer of defense could help replace the versatility the Steelers have searched for since losing Ryan Shazier in the middle of their lineup.

With the Bengals and Browns each struggling, and the Ravens’ legitimacy still up in the air, a resurgent Pittsburgh team could still compete in the AFC North.

Arizona Cardinals

Because this air raid thing might actually work out

The Cardinals took the biggest risk of anyone searching for a head coach this offseason, pulling Kliff Kingsbury from the USC coaching staff only weeks after he’d been fired at Texas Tech. This gave Kingsbury the chance to back up his own hype and add reigning Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray to his advanced spread offense — an opportunity the former Big 12 standby jumped on with the top pick of the draft.

The results so far have been mixed. Murray has thrown more passes than anyone else in the league through the first three weeks, but his 5.7 adjusted yards per attempt is 30th-best in the league — right above Eli Manning in the standings. The plus is that this pass-happy approach has revitalized Larry Fitzgerald, who is currently on pace for a 96-catch, 1,349-yard campaign in his 16th season as a pro.

This is no surprise to Fitzgerald:

The absolute response to this question pic.twitter.com/twOF8U9Kgs

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) September 19, 2019

The bad news is the Cardinals are still 0-2-1 on the year.

Murray still has enormous amounts of room to grow as a passer, but NFL defenses will adjust to his freewheeling style with every snap he plays. So what’s going to give: will the league catch wise to Kingsbury’s air raid and keep the Cardinals out of contention? Or can Arizona be the agent of change that sparks the next phase of the NFL’s offensive evolution?

Cincinnati Bengals

Because A.J. Green will be back soon ... right?

The Bengals can’t run the ball, so they’re willing to throw it until Andy Dalton’s arm falls off. Dalton has thrown more passes than any quarterback in the league except Kyler Murray, who got an extra 10 minutes in a Week 1 tie to league the league in dropbacks. Cincinnati has turned its veteran quarterback into late-stage Ryan Fitzpatrick for two reasons:

the Bengals have trailed in nine of their 12 quarters so far, and

the Bengals have run for 2.4 yards per carry, the worst mark in the NFL.

Fortunately for the Red Rifle, help is on the way — we just don’t quite know when. Seven-time Pro Bowler A.J. Green hasn’t practiced with the Bengals since the preseason due to an ankle injury, but he’s due to return at some point this season.

Exactly when isn’t certain, but there’s a good chance he’ll be back by November for a passing offense that’s gotten better-than-expected returns from players like John Ross and Auden Tate behind last year’s breakout star Tyler Boyd. While the Bengals aren’t bound for the playoffs in the first year of the Zac Taylor era, they’re a hell of a lot more fun to watch when 20 of Dalton’s 50 targets each game are going to an All-Pro talent like Green.

Washington

Because Terry McLaurin and Dwayne Haskins could eventually be magic

Washington’s dysfunction has kept Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams out of the lineup while he holds out, and it could soon claim Jay Gruden as the first head coach fired this fall. That threatens to throw 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins into a tumultuous situation; it could also make Washington eminently more watchable.

Haskins was electric at Ohio State, and Case Keenum’s five-turnover performance in Week 3 (it would have been six if not for a soft hands to the face penalty) could signal a changing of the guard at quarterback in the near future. Developing the rookie passer into a franchise cornerstone may be the only way for Gruden to keep his job at this point. Fortunately for him, he’s got an ace in the hole.

Third-round wideout Terry McLaurin has been one of the league’s top wide receivers this season. He’s had at least five catches and a touchdown in each of his team’s first three games — something no other rookie has ever done in NFL history.

In conclusion, we stan Terry McLaurin harder than ever. pic.twitter.com/EzJe8Cbbp8

— Carter Donnick (@CDonnick3) September 24, 2019

He has the chops to make life easier for any quarterback. He’ll be especially valuable for one with whom he’s got history/ McLaurin was Haskins’ top big-play threat with the Buckeyes in 2018; Haskins had a 153.8 passer rating when targeting him.

McLaurin totaled 35 catches and 701 yards — a blistering 20.0 yards per catch — while scoring 11 touchdowns for the Big Ten champions last season. Eventually, we’ll get the chance to see what they can do together at the next level, even if when is still up in the air.

New York Jets

Because the football gods will find new and exciting ways to ruin this team

The Jets had some hope coming into 2019. High-priced free agent C.J. Mosley and top-three draft pick Quinnen Williams joined a defense that featured promising young players like Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye. Le’Veon Bell had been freed from his Steelers-imposed purgatory to give second-year quarterback Sam Darnold a much-needed weapon out of the backfield.

And then the season began. Mosley and Williams both got hurt in Week 1. Darnold came down with mononucleosis before Week 2 and watched from his quarantined apartment as his backup Trevor Siemian suffered a season-ending ankle injury before halftime of his first start. Adams lost his mind about a bad penalty call in the midst of an innocuous start to his third season.

This league is a damn joke! I just got fined $21k for this hit, I signed up to play football not two hand touch. Bullshit! I don’t give a damn about these soft rules protecting QBs. Im gonna play MY brand of football everytime I step on the field. SMH pic.twitter.com/SKlTmBBMf0

— Jamal Adams (@TheAdamsEra) September 19, 2019

Bell is averaging 3.7 yards per touch, which includes 56 carries and 20 receptions. The offense has scored one touchdown in three games.

Darnold will return at some point. So will Mosley and Williams. And it will not matter because a sinkhole will form under MetLife Stadium, or a pink eye outbreak will rip through the locker room, or the New York secondary will tip three straight interceptions into the hands of outstretched opponents who turn them into 99-yard touchdowns.

It will not be predictable, but it will be bad.

Denver Broncos

Because John Elway’s infatuation with Joe Flacco can’t last ... can it?

The Broncos pried Flacco from the middle of the Ravens’ depth chart for a Day 3 pick, handing him the reins of a franchise that had been redeemed by a Super Bowl MVP once before. Yet Flacco has been more 2015 Peyton Manning than the 2012 version. He’s upped his accuracy and efficiency in his first season in Denver but still ranks just 25th among starting quarterbacks in adjusted yards per pass.

That’s dampened what should be a breakout season for second-year wideout Courtland Sutton and held the Broncos’ offense to just 46 total points through three weeks. Help could be on the way, though it won’t be able to take the field until Week 9 at the earliest. A thumb sprain pushed GM John Elway to place rookie quarterback Drew Lock on injured reserve, and that means he’s been unable to practice with the team since the start of the regular season.

Lock, a second-round pick, has the big arm Elway covets but looked entirely overwhelmed in the preseason. Flacco has been a low-ceiling caretaker in his stead, but has two more years remaining on his contract after 2019 — and a dead cap hit of $13.6 million next spring, per Spotrac. Will Denver give its shaky first-year quarterback a chance to stand on his own this fall? Will Flacco finish out the season and head into 2020 as the Broncos’ QB1? Does it even make sense to throw a young passer to the wolves behind an offensive line that allowed six sacks against Green Bay?

Miami Dolphins

Because Josh Rosen doesn’t want to get left in the NFL’s “take a QB, leave a QB” change tray

Poor Josh Rosen. He was thrown into a no-win situation with the Cardinals as a rookie, left to fend for himself behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines and a woefully shallow WR/TE depth chart. Then he got traded to Miami, where all those things have been somehow worse.

Rosen’s seen his sack rate rise from an awful 10.3 percent to 10.4 through three games on a roster where not a single wide receiver has a catch rate higher than 50 percent. His team has scored one touchdown in three games while giving up 18. The Dolphins are bottoming out in 2019, and they’re taking the second-year player’s pro prospects with it

Miami’s race to the bottom has been predicated on building up as many draft assets as possible, whether by losing games in laughable fashion or selling off veteran pieces to the highest bidder (Laremy Tunsil, Minkah Fitzpatrick). That sets the stage for the club to select a highly touted quarterback prospect in the 2020 draft — perhaps Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert — in a move that would kick Rosen to the curb for a second straight year.

The former No. 10 overall pick has 13 games left to prove he’s the kind of player around which a hollowed-out franchise can build. The problem is he’s already fighting off injury — he missed chunks of his Week 3 start with a battered thumb — and surrounded by the league’s least talented roster. If he can’t turn things around, he could be headed for his third NFL destination in as many years.

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