#not gonna tag everyone bc hoo boy

[muddyorbsblr]

Thanks for the tags @joyful-enchantress & @loopsisloops! Love you besties 💖💛

What's your name? Allison (well okay it's actually Stevania/Stephanie. Allison's my 2nd name. it's a whole thing let's not get into it)

Your sun sign? - Leo 🦁

The last song you listened to? - Hymn for Her by Ames (i finished the summoned pt2 smut so this was expected lol)

What are you wearing right now? - a green tee from American Eagle and pajama bottoms with a print of hot chocolate and candy cane hearts (chortles in 'all wrapped up')

Piercings? - just the earlobes

Tattoos? - none but hoping to get one when my skin finally surrenders its years long battle with me and clears up 🙃🫡

Glasses? Contacts? - Glasses yes, but they're just for blue light and UV because looking at screens too long without them make my head hurt 🥲✌️

Last drink? - Black coffee

Last thing you ate? - KFC chicken and mashed potatoes

Any pets? - None bc building doesn't allow it 🥲 (i have a stupid amount of stuffed toys though and sometimes i bring them to work with me)

Do you have a crush on anyone? - IRL no because my personal life has a pitiful shortage of attractive people 🥲 celeb crushes…Tom Hiddleston (i know, shocker), Robert Pattinson, Mark Fischbach (wow that's a name i haven't mentioned in a hot minute), Taylor Swift, Suki Waterhouse

Favorite fictional characters? - hoo boi we're gonna be here a while… Loki (specifically Sacred Timeline Loki), Wanda Maximoff, Natasha Romanoff, Sara Sidle, Arya Stark, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Katherine Pierce, Rose Tyler, Clara Oswald, Jessica Jones, Temperance Brennan, Ichabod Crane…i'm definitely forgetting a lot but that's everyone off the top of my head

A movie you think everyone should watch? - Crimson Peak (dad if you're reading this imagine me shaking my fist at you), Beauty and the Beast (the animation not the live action)

A book you think everyone should read? - for the lovers of Marvel and smut…the Shattered Isles series by Jade Presley; for everyone else…The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The last place you traveled? - Pangasinan, Philippines

Something you are looking forward to? - in the immediate future…finishing up summoned pt2 and starting on some more request stories, starting on RTC Season 1B (and also 'crimson threads'), chipping away at my miles long Books TBR and Tumblr TBR because lemme just tell you it's ridiculous right now in the more distant future…hopefully finally finishing my poetry book and having it out in the world but that's a long way from happening, moving to a better place, and still writing stories…always still writing stories. as long as i'm making stories i'm happy lol

🔖 @sarahscribbles @fictive-sl0th @mochie85 @cake-writes @cheekyscamp @tripleyeeet @ladyofthestayingpower @lunarnights95 @maple-seed @tallseaweed @liminalpebble @the-lady-amphitrite @littlespaceyelf @currish-rosewolfe @lokisgoodgirl @thedistractedagglomeration @holymultiplefandomsbatman @peachyjinx @simplyholl

[snowblossomreads]

me reading the tags : oh yeah they are gonna get back together and love each other and he's gonna be like put the decor up darling and kisses and all that -does a little dance-🥰🥰🥰

me reading your notes: ayo what do u mean it's not the end yet and it's gonna get darker else is about to happen???? 😶😶😶

I just love how yn goes thru this whole thing in about how he probably doesn't care for her as much as she has begun to and she just goes on about it but ms Lowel is like well actually. And then starts to go off about all the things that has changed in him 🤣🤣 yn is like thanks for the contradiction i guess. Also her glaring at the tree hoping it catches fire love.

and of course turpin would be lurking around just watching to see if she takes the decor down he's a very sneaky man who we love but who also needs to get his emotions sorted for the sake of everyone (even him!!) we love him tho.. 🥰 I'm pretty sure i have more thoughts that will come later LOL

Also cough that description of him and is desire for yn had my soul acting up during work hours...glad i'm not in a office rn bc hoo boi 😀😀 is that why he is also so mad...because he hasn't uhm consummated the marriage yet..LOLOl i'm sorry i'm sorry but oh goodness oh gosh i'm like what is going to happen i'm waiting friend and ready to see what prompts u end up using to shake us to our core

Onward to the question of the day though! I think the only one i have is to listen to a christmas song each day ! other than that each year varies on what i do or if i put decor up LOL.

Prompt: 6. Out Of Care [C2]

Pairing: Turpin x fem!Reader

POV: Second, Reader & Third, Turpin

Setting: Turpin’s house

Continuation of: Prompt 4. Sharing

A/N: And we're back to our dear Judge Turpin this Wednesday! 😍👏 I'm honestly super excited about this story and feel my creativity brewing and bubbling like crazy this December - all the stories have me aching to write more 😂👏

Anyway, I'm hoping you're all in good spirits, that December is treating you nicely (kicking it in the tush if not) and that you're feeling ready for more Rickman content! 🥰❤ (Reminder, the Turpin serial for Rickmas2023 will get darker before we get the HEA)

Tags/TW’s: Regrett, Worry, Wanting Forgiveness, Reunion, Returning Home, Half-Admitting Feelings [Love, Fear, Hurt, Want], Changing For Another, Admitting To Wrongfulness/Selfishness, Pillow Hugging, Slightly Smutty Thoughts

Abbr.: Y/N - Your Name

Word Count: 3.1k+

LINKTREE // AO3 // MASTERLIST

⩤• You •⩥

The echo of the door slamming shut, the memory of stumbling down the stairs, it was all so fresh in your mind. It nearly felt as if it had just happened, a mere second ago, yet it had been two days. Your husband had been gone for two days, after a fight you had never imagined ever having. His words, those cold accusatory truths, made you shiver. The remnants of the revelation of how selfish you had been, how single-mindedly you had been viewing Christmas, and the whole thought process behind decorating your home for the holiday.

You shivered and glared at the overly decorated tree, it ought to have caught fire with the intensity of your eyes — it did not, of course, burst into flames. “I did warn you, me Lady,” said Miss Lowel as she sat a tray of tea down on the table in the drawing room. “His Lordship does not take the holidays lightly, me Lady.” “You don’t say…” you murmured with a snark in your voice. “Could have been worse, me Lady. Could have put you out.” “Instead he abandoned our home. Me.” “Me Lady?” You looked toward her. “Does the lady… Do me Lady fancy his Lordship?” she asked timidly, her hands held tightly before her while a look of trepidation and something close to disgust flitted across her sweet features.

You sighed, averting your gaze to the hearth and the glowing embers within it. Is there a point in denying it any longer? If I didn’t, I wouldn’t feel so… sad… “Yes, Miss Lowel. I-, I do,” you said quietly. “I think… I think perhaps I may have come to like the man, a bit.” A lot… Miss Lowel smiled, but it was a forced sort of thing. “I see, me Lady.” “Not that it matters, the man could never feel a thing for me, I’m not sure he’s capable of feelings of a positive nature.” “Oh, I don’t know about that, me Lady. His Lordship is quite… different with you.” “Ha, funny, Miss Lowel, very funny,” you said dryly, reaching for the teacup. “He barely speaks a word to me, at dinner he does not so much as hold half a conversation with me, he always storms off to his study, to the court, away from me.” “His Lordship eats dinner at home, he quietly watches you speak, he offers space and no forced proximity, apart from insisting on sharing a bed but, if I may be so bold, I dare say there’s been no coercion inside the bedroom, me Lady?”

Your eyes bulged at her brazen words and forward manner. She spoke the truth though. So you nodded. “I dare say that is quite the change from the man I have served these past four years, me Lady.” “How so?” you asked while sipping your tea, endeavouring to not appear too hungry for information about the man who grasped your heart tighter with each passing day.

“Neither of the things I just mentioned would have been connected to His Lordship before your arrival miss. I do not think I’ve once served him dinner at home before ten in the evening before your arrival, me Lady, and even those times were rarities. This was not a place he remained for more time than necessary. And conversation within this house, no, that was not a possibility, yet you are given time to speak, not simply to reply to commands. Me Lord even listens, that is quite something, me Lady.”

You looked at her, wondering if she’d lost her mind — had too much eggnog perhaps? “That’s silly, Miss Lowel.” “Silly? His Lordship has changed with your arrival.” “I highly doubt it has anything to do with me, the man is brutal and cold. Unfeeling. I will not even attempt to pretend to possess any value for him beyond being his wife as the daughter of an upstanding and wealthy family. He seems to be a man completely out of care for anyone and anything, I am no different to him than any other person.” Miss Lowel bowed her head with a straight face. “If you say so, me Lady. I do not possess the frankness to contradict your words.” The maid left the room while your thoughts whispered, you just did.

***

The last piece of Christmas decore landed in the sack by your feet. The house was restored to its less festive state after a couple of hours of your hard work. It had taken longer to put it all up than take it down, down was easy, especially with a simmer of anger and hurt in your muscles which had forced you to move faster.

You wouldn’t admit to it, but you hoped he’d return and you’d be forgiven for what you’d unwittingly done. Your intentions had been good, but Richard’s view of it all had changed your perspective of your actions. He hadn’t been wrong, you hadn’t talked with him, asked him, or even thought of taking his input on decorating the house. But, how could you have known the man didn’t like Christmas?

He may hold no care for me, or anyone else in the world, but I can still care for him. Can I not? I can still change and do things out of care for him even if it’s not reciprocated. But you knew it would be a difficult task, loving and caring for someone who housed none of that love or care in return, but you were a stubborn person. Once you set your mind to something you refuse to back down or give up until you have enough evidence to show something was an impossibility. Perhaps that was why you had been used by people you believed to be your friends, even family, before?

You had dragged the sack back to the attic, locking the door again before heading toward the drawing room where you plopped down in a graceless heap on the sofa. Miss Lowel had stoked the fire recently it seemed so you soaked up the warmth by pointing your feet toward the hearth, watching the flames dance while your heart turned heavier.

You had no idea where Richard had gone, he had said he would not return until after Christmas to give you your holiday cheer but you had never felt as dreary or sad in December before. Especially now, with no holiday cheer to be found in your home. It felt utterly wrong, but the way Richard had reacted and how he had felt when seeing all the decorations you’d spent the entire day putting up had been worse. That you’d hurt him made you feel beyond heavy, no matter if it was on purpose or not. He’d been hurt, and you had for the first time gotten to hear of his emotions — how he saw it all.

“Sharing, as in taking the liberty to completely alter my one sanctuary without so much as a word with me beforehand? Sharing seems to be all, about, you,” he had seethed two days ago, for the first time truly sharing how he felt and it had hurt you deeply. Admittedly, in the moment, you had felt hurt yourself by his words but now, with some time to think of it all and look at it from his viewpoint, you felt horrible at having caused him harm.

What did he mean by his sanctuary? You didn’t quite understand that, he didn’t act as if his home was a sanctuary. Did he mean from the holiday? I mean, all of London is filled with Christmas cheer — carols, decorations, happier people, all the markets and — Your mind turned quiet as you understood what he’d meant.

Christmas was inescapable. One foot out the door and there was a carol floating on the wind, the smell of roasted chestnuts, someone ringing a bell for donations to the poor during the time a year of giving and gifting. The holiday was tangible everywhere, oppressively so if one disliked it… To give up the holiday wasn’t a possibility for you, though. You’d celebrate, but perhaps you didn’t need to do so in a way that reached or imposed itself on your husband — after all, Christmas wasn’t actually about the decorations, the songs, the food, or even the gifts. No, it was about a feeling, a sense of hope and joy, a warmth on the inside rather than sparkling surroundings.

You stood up, patting down your dress. “I can do that. But, how do I tell him I took it all down?” You nibbled your bottom lip, wondering if your husband was at court perhaps — it was Wednesday after all. “Should I even bother him? Can I go to him?” His angry features, his cold eyes, the harsh tone of his voice — it all told you you couldn’t. Richard was a man who made his own choices, took his own decisions, and as far as you knew he never went back on his word.

He had declared he’d be back after Christmas, perhaps all you had to do was wait for time to pass, respecting his choice? You’d already overstepped so greatly it felt as if seeking him out would only enrage him, perhaps forever close off the slightest possibility he’d ever grow close to you as you had grown to truly like him. You dared not think the feelings you had for the man were even deeper than that; if you admitted to it things would become far too hard to endure. You had had hope the feelings were mutual, the difference between the man you had heard of before wedding him and the man he was around you were far different from each other. 

You sighed and looked at the clock, it struck eleven and it was time to sleep. You moved through the silent house, halting by the guest room, a sense of lacking enveloped you as your fingers lingered on the knob. You glanced down the hall, toward the door leading into your shared bedroom. You missed him. Missed sleeping next to him, and as Miss Lowel had pointed out there had never been anything more than sleep happening in there since you moved in. He’d never forced you, never asked you, never even so much as changed in the same room. He’d respected you, and your privacy, only sharing a bed through sleep. Why it was like that you didn’t quite know, your husband had been known to take whores before your wedding but not once had you noticed such a thing happening after you became his wife.

Your face mushed against his pillow a few minutes later. You inhaled his distinct scent, a shiver slid down your back before you squeezed the feather-filled thing. You curled up in a ball for a moment under his cover, thinner than yours but comforting despite not fully keeping you warm. “I miss you,” you whispered and inhaled deeply, feeling yourself go heavy by the comfort of his scent.

⩤• Turpin •⩥

The wind tugged at the ends of his hair peeking out beneath his top hat. The house lay nearly dark, save for one single candle in the window of his bedroom. The bedroom he shared with you. There were differences to when he had stormed out of the house though. The curtains were changed back to their ordinary ones, there were no longer any decorations in the windows from what he could tell, empty as usual.

The cold had begun to slip inside his clothes, yet he remained on the sidewalk across the road — watching his house in a tense silence. For two days he had stewed over his reaction, his behaviour towards you when you had so obnoxiously obviously been exuberantly happy about decorating the house for Christmas. Everywhere his eyes had gone there had been reminders. Old decorations, from his time as a boy when joy was as far from Christmas as one could get despite the house being abysmally drenched in beautiful decorations looking to spark a sense of awe. All it ever meant for him were dread, loneliness, and pretending.

His family, rich and well-off as it was, had no real riches beyond money and status. His mother was a shell of a human, his father a devil of cruelty, his brother a demon of wickedness, and his sister… dead. The one who had been a joy, had died far too young, and what little love there had been in the mansion of a house went with her.

He shrugged, flexing his fingers within the leather gloves to bring some blood and warmth back to the tips. His eyes remained fixed on the dreary-looking house, darker than others along the street with not so much as a glimmer of a sparkle or flicker of an ornate lantern anywhere to be found. It had his jaw clenching as he thought of the sparkle that had been in your eyes before he’d snuffed it out with words of cruelty. Honest words, yet cruel in their harsh nature.

His spine stiffened as the curtain flickered in the bedroom. Mrs Lowel appeared, blowing out the candle, and given her timid motions he guessed you lay fast asleep in the bed he usually shared with you. Our bed, our home, my wife… My sweet wife… He drew a deep breath and marched towards the door on stiff legs while his mind ran rampant — wondering if you could forgive his outburst and rage, his words and behaviour. You were a joy in his dark life, and as he opened the door that very darkness seemed to glare at him.

All your work, all your thoughts, all your sparkling wonder; all of it was gone. He found not a single shred of tinsel, not even a lonesome garland remained as he removed his cloak and snow-covered boots, stepping into a pair of slippers while looking all around him at the utter lack of Christmas. That you listened and possibly respected him enough to remove it all made a warmth bloom in the pit of his stomach where a knot had formed over the whole situation. I usually do not care. I am not a caring man. I am not a man who cares for others’ emotions, yet, I find myself caring for yours most deeply. Disturbing business.

He moved up the stairs, his steps heavy yet quiet. His heart beat harder for each stride while his hand glided along the railing — partly for support as he felt himself waver at the possibility you may not be able to forgive him. Or, worse, you would possibly only do so with an explanation, a tale of his past he never wished to divulge.

He quietly opened the door, his body tense and his face set in a stoic mask as he struggled for the control he nearly always held a firm grasp of. When his eyes landed on your sleeping form, curled up on his side of the bed with his pillow held in a vice grip against your chest half buried under his cover, his heart stuttered and his body stiffened.

You were beautiful, angelic in your sleep, and he had to resist the urge exploding within his body as it had done every day since you became his wife. He yearned to touch each part of you, kiss each sliver of skin, caress each dip and mound, and explore every aspect of your body in its entirety. Months upon months had passed since he last took pleasure from another body. Ever since he vowed before God and congregation, before you, to be your faithful husband he had not touched or even looked at another woman. You were the only one for him, yet your innocence had proven a difficult thing to conquer. His own sins were like long shadows keeping him away, forcing him to wait for you to come to him willingly. He had tried, by God and Heaven, he had tried to be kind and caring, thoughtful and patient, yet you had not come to him still.

He stepped up to the bed, his eyes roaming your outline, and reached out his still-cold hand. His fingers graced your cheek, stroking away a tendril of hair so utterly soft to the touch he twirled it once between his fingers before letting go. “Sweet wife,” he whispered and just barely stopped himself from leaning in to kiss you. You stirred at his deep voice. “Richard?” you asked, your eyes blinking away the haze of sleep while he stood over you with nothing but his willpower to respect and be kind towards you keeping him in place while he watched your eyes clear — sleepy, to happy, to sad. It tore at his heart that your eyes no longer sparkled like last time he had come home.

“I took it down,” you whispered, your voice a meek sound. “I saw.” “Will you stay now?” He blinked at that, his brain addled with worry and an uncomfortable amount of desperation to hold you close. He was far too enchanted, in far too deep when it came to you. Not that he could verbally admit that. “I will,” he said, his voice a quiet drone while he attempted to keep himself in control. “Will you—” “I’ll move,” you said before he could ask for your forgiveness, and you shimmied out from his cover while laying his pillow in its proper place before situating yourself on your side of the bed. Not once did you expose any part of your nightdress-clad body — to his utter dismay and relief at the same time.

“I won’t look,” you whispered while turning around to face the window, giving him your back. He wished to turn you over again, make you watch him undress, make you see what you always did to his anatomy. But he did not. He watched the back of your head with growing agony and want, with a wish for forgiveness he could not quite bring himself to ask for now that his body burned with lust despite the cold sadness you emitted. I am a lesser man, thinking of ravaging you at a time like this. I will not yield to it, love. I vowed to myself you would be the one to come to me. If I so perish without ever having felt your warmth, it shall be so.

He slipped on his nightshirt and slunk in under the cover, keeping space between you both. The warmth you left behind, the wonderful scent now embedded on his side of the bed, made his entire body turn rigid. You were perfection, and now he may have ruined whatever chance he had so painstakingly long worked to gain. He drew a deep breath, your warmth and closeness offering relief of the acutest kind, and fell asleep in a matter of seconds. Too drained to remain in the moment, too comforted by your closeness to resist the relaxation. The knot in his stomach was ignored for the moment as dreams slipped in with nothing but you in them.

…To Be Continued…

LINKTREE // AO3 // MASTERLIST

A/N: Uffh, these two have me in such a grip - and their story isn't quite at the HEA yet 👀 I'm kinda itching to make Y/n a bit more fierce, after all, her emotions are running rampant and Richard isn't really in control of his emotional state either - they have a lot to figure out between themselves and perhaps we ought to throw in another curveball or two to really make them argue (or perhaps bang) it out? 🤔🤭❤

Q: Do you have any tradition of your own around this time of year that you always keep? A: I have a few, one of my longest-running ones is being the one to put up and decorate the Christmas tree (the first weekend of December since I moved out of my childhood home). I've been in charge of doing the tree since I was a teenager and I've always loved it 🥰🎄✨

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Want to be tagged? 💚 You can tag yourself HERE! Or tell me and I’ll gladly tag you! 😍

[Dec:2023]

[thefigureinthecorner]

it’s november 11th which means it’s helen’s birthday and also safehouse day so Here’s Some Art

[athela-3]

mankai company: cyberpunk

I never asked for this. But that’s just how ideas work, ain't it? One minute you’re mindlessly going through the daily grind, and the next moment it hits ya like a sucker punch to the gut. Then your mind’s racing, and you think: Why not? Whaddaya have to lose? You’ve rambled your way through semi-coherent flashes of inspiration before. Why should this one be different?

Note: everyone is aged up, oh, let’s say at least five years. Also, long post is long. I’m not joking. The page break is there for a reason.

Mankai Company is a modest-sized corporation specialising in biotechnology and cybernetics. But operating beneath its public face is a semi-covert band of mercs, private eyes, and fixers called Kaga Solutions, fully-equipped to navigate the mean city streets on command. Their founder and CEO, Yukio Tachibana, has recently disappeared; as per his express wishes, the company leadership is transferred to his estranged daughter, Izumi. 

Izumi Tachibana: the new CEO, more experienced in programming than in biotech, she wants to lead Mankai in a new direction focused on augmented reality and fluid human-machine interfacing, while also investigating her father's disappearance with its covert Kaga operatives.

Isuke Matsukawa: Yukio's—and now Izumi's—personal assistant who also handles most of the day-to-day finances, a seemingly bumbling man with hidden talents. He has more connections than you'd expect, and his loyalty is bone-deep.

Yuzo Kashima: a major shareholder in the company whose investments helped Yukio jump-start his dream into reality. Initially skeptical of Izumi's direction, he slowly grows to believe in her vision, even if he's still brutally honest about many things. He's aware of Kaga and the hidden side of Mankai, and is implied to have once partaken in it more personally.

Tetsuro Iwai: the local hardware genius. If you need something built, he'll figure out how to do it in record time. He's happy to work with the old boss' daughter, even if her ideas can stretch him to his limits sometimes.

Ken Sakoda: nobody's really sure what his official job is. He's just always there, usually appearing out of nowhere to do whatever Sakyo asks him to (there's rumours of a personalised cloaking device). This ranges from coffee runs to, ah, semi-legal inventory procurement.

Kamekichi: a robot parrot Yukio personally built as a pet project. Originally a prototype for robotic therapy animals, his code gave birth to his own emergent sassy personality.

Sakuya Sakuma: head of Engineering, what he lacks in experience he makes up in talent and dedication. Has politely declined playing a more active role in Kaga's assignments, declaring his current job to already be his dream job anyhow.

Masumi Usui: a tech prodigy, a quick learner who's always keen to impress Izumi for reasons which may not be strictly professional. Built his own memory implants from scratch, and is always willing to help with Kaga if ever asked.

Tsuzuru Minagi: the top dog when it comes to programming and software. Tends to overwork himself, especially at crunch time, but he writes top-notch code that leave Mankai's competitors scratching their heads. Also helps oversee and plan Kaga's missions, especially when it comes to concocting cover stories and identities.

Itaru Chigasaki: yet another punch-clock worker whose only skills lie in testing and bugfixing… or so he'd have you believe. In reality, he's one of Kaga's most reliable operatives, using his salaryman persona to relieve suspicion and gain people's trust. By the time his targets notice the "GG EZ" hacked onto every screen, it's too late.

Citron: another Kaga operative, people see him and think he's the expat office worker who struggles to string a coherent sentence together, so they don't always pay attention to what they say around him. Big mistake. If he can't evade you in conversation, then he'll evade you the traditional way and vanish seemingly into thin air.

Chikage Utsuki: formerly Itaru's senior at their old job, who followed him to Mankai for reasons of his own. He does minor coding for them now, but his primary focus is on being a field agent for Kaga, where his charm and covert investigative skills really come into play.

Tenma Sumeragi: a former child actor, now the company's face, appearing in advertisements and endorsements. He's great at both presenting Mankai's personable, human-interest agenda and selling Kaga's sharp professionalism to potential clients.

Yuki Rurikawa: hired fresh out of university, his sharp sense of aesthetics led Izumi to trust him with practically all of their product design. Every concept has to have his seal of approval before moving to the production stage. He also handles disguises for Kaga's operations.

Muku Sakisaka: formerly slated to compete in the Olympics before an accident, he now provides another public face for Mankai alongside Tenma. He writes a good deal of the company's promotional material, and has a strong sense of what would affect their clients.

Misumi Ikaruga: officially, he tests the more physical cybernetics, such as Sakuya's impact-dampeners or Tasuku's mountain-climbing legs; his videos performing literally superhuman parkour feats often end up as promotional material. Under the table, he's Kaga's go-to operative for situations requiring speed and agility.

Kazunari Miyoshi: head of the PR department, in charge of keeping their public image in the positive while also keeping Kaga’s activities mostly out of attention. He keeps everyone in the loop with current affairs, often feeding intel to his old friend Tsuzuru for planning.

Kumon Hyodo: baseball's new rising star, he started doing sponsorship and endorsement deals after Muku and Juza introduced him to Izumi. He's enthusiastic about working with them and often helps coming up with ideas for reaching into the sports demographic.

Banri Settsu: a bio-augmentation enthusiast and grey hat hacker, he once breached Mankai's firewalls basically out of boredom; when Izumi tracked him down, she decided to offer him a job in her cybersecurity division, and he agreed. Of course, as soon as he hears about Kaga, he all but jumps into it headlong.

Juza Hyodo: wanted to be a cop as a kid; that was before the city's corrupt police force disenchanted him of the idea. His cousin Muku convinced him to work for Mankai, so he thought he'd give the corporate samurai gig a chance. His earnest dedication quickly wins him a spot on Kaga, as do his excellent combat skills.

Taichi Nanao: initially a mole from Godza, sent to tear Kaga apart from within, he went turncoat within months and is now their primary source on Godza's methods and internal affairs. He balances quick and dirty combat tactics with his boyish charm and knack at appearing harmless.

Omi Fushimi: former military, honourably discharged after a terrorist attack took out his best friend and left him heavily injured. Now he works for Mankai as head of security, with a bit of unofficial HR thrown in there. Unlike the rest of Akigumi, he isn't part of Kaga, as he believes his focus should be on keeping the company safe and secure.

Sakyo Furuichi: head of Kaga, and its oldest member still on active duty. These days he mostly sticks to mission control, but occasionally lends support on the field if he deems it necessary. His sharp mind and eye for patterns makes him particularly good at planning missions, exit strategies, and backup plans.

Azami Izumida: the son of a yakuza boss who decided to leave the family business behind to strike out on his own, he still keeps a number of his old underworld contacts. Officially an intern, he's also eager to get into fieldwork with Kaga, putting his years of swordsmanship lessons to use.

Tsumugi Tsukioka: head of biotech, his research on how cranial implants can be used to treat sleep disorders turned him—and Mankai—into a household name. He infrequently lends a hand to Kaga by developing and fine-tuning their cybernetics.

Tasuku Takato: a former member of Godza, he quit his job to work for Mankai instead, and is now a valued member of their biotech team. He specialises in developing prosthetics for their more athletic clients, and like Tsumugi, focuses on his R&D most of the time.

Hisoka Mikage: formerly working for a similar fixer/PMC group, a near-fatal neuro-implant malfunction caused him to forget everything that happened since its installation. As Mankai found him, removed the bad implant, and nursed him back to health, he thought it's just apt to repay the debt by working for them. One of Kaga's most well-rounded operatives, he is strongest in stealth and wetwork.

Homare Arisugawa: an eccentric professor to his core; his studies range from urban to agrarian, sprawling across fields and topics, but his passion project lies in developing ocular implants that can read micro-expressions on the fly, allowing its owner to identify and record people's emotional reactions easily.

Azuma Yukishiro: the face of the biotech divison, he works closely with Mankai's clients to help them find the perfect cybernetics for their personal needs. He also often gleans information and gossip from his endless well of unsuspecting acquaintances and old contacts, passing them on to Kaga for their missions.

Guy: a friend of Citron's from his homeland; extensively cybernetically augmented after a major accident years ago, he claims to be more machine than human by this point. Ostensibly Homare's research assistant, he is a field agent for Kaga, equally skilled in hacking as he is in hand-to-hand combat.

[brokentoys]

THANK  YOU  EVERYONE  OMG...

[corvidexoskeleton]

@rockshortage there's a post on here written by someone much smarter than I who explained why people turn to raiding historically, what kinds of things drive them to it, and the sustainability of the lifestyle. I'm sure I've also said some of my thoughts on the matter, but not in any coherent way

The gist of it being that people don't turn to the raider lifestyle just because they're bad people or wanna be bad. It's a lot more complicated that

I mean, it's a post apocalyptic setting where people are impoverished and don't have the kinds of security and comfort they did before the war. Scarcity creates desperation, and desperation makes people do things they maybe wouldn't have otherwise

Think of the way that I described how Butch's gang started out and how it changed over time: they started out as a group of people who stuck together to try and survive, which is how I think most raider gangs start out as. Raiders would be, for the most part, a bunch of people who don't have the best lot in life and turn to less acceptable ways to get by, be it stealing from farmers, attacking caravans to steal their shit, or setting up checkpoints on the road to extort money and goods out of travelers

Think of the way crime works in our modern day. A lot of people just have some shit luck in life and will turn to less legal paths when nothing else seems to work. And then if they get too entrenched in it, it can be hard to get back out, especially if your society doesn't allow for any kind of rehabilitation and just throws you in jail, or if you've had to live that way for so long that you don't have the skills to work outside of what you do

But like modern crime, it's not always about desperation or bad luck, some people do genuinely turn to crime because they can, only difference is not all crime is the same, and not everyone post-war has to resort to raiding in order to make a not-so-honest living, like illicit trade, or drug and weapons dealing. I think that sort of crime is most evident in new vegas, where you have all these gangs in and around the strip who fight with each other and do all kind of shady things. These guys and their kind of crime would be more like organized crime, like the mafia or yakuza, in modern day

But once a gang gets large or powerful enough, then they're gonna have to either make adjustments to how they do things, or grit their teeth and accept the path they've chosen

I think it's fair to say that a lot of raiders aren't gonna be part of the big organized groups. A lot of them really are just people who made some bad decisions or had shitty luck in life, but like criminals in jail today, it can be hard to break out of it once you've been in it long enough. If a gang gets by by attacking farms and caravans, it's not gonna matter to the people they attacked if they just did it because they were hungry, they'll be hated and shunned all the same, especially if any of them get caught. As time goes on, it'll be harder and harder to stop because they've dug themselves into that hole, and as the gang grows bigger and they need to attack more people, they just keep digging deeper and deeper

And this is where Butch's gang starts to differ, as I've mentioned before. Because they didn't start out attacking all the nearby people to steal their supplies, they were able to slowly evolve as the gang got bigger. Once they had the means to, they were able to start growing their own food, raising their own cattle, and do some trading, which meant that eventually they became more of a town than a gang

Alternatively, you have groups like the raiders over at Libertalia, who iirc started raiding out of desperation, but because they kept doing it, they developed a reputation as bad people. People you should avoid. People you don't want to associate with. People you can't trust. So even if they were eventually able to find a way to be self sufficient, they'd still be shunned

I think the nuka world raiders are the best example ingame for how far they can go in that extreme, because the main gangs have reached the point where they're so big and have such a reputation that they start to become more like an organized crime group. I genuinely don't believe that the pack or disciples started out like that, although I feel that the disciples had a more cult-like, "ingroup" beginning than the others. The operators, on the other hand, are led by a pair of spoiled rich kids who ran away from home and turned to crime to get what they wanted, so even if some of the people who joined them did so out of necessity, it still strikes me as very much a group that cares more about making money and getting what they want than they care about survival. I mean, they do also care about survival, but I don't think that was the goal that Mags and Will had in mind

Anyways. This is all just a lead up so I can say that I think a lot of the "real raider" attitude present ingame is, ultimately, bullshit. Granted, that's not to say that I think it's not present entirely, but that that kind of attitude is something you'd only see in larger, more powerful gangs who've past the point of no return. Mostly

Why do I think this? Becuase ingame, the way they present this "real raider" shit makes it feel like they tried to make the raiders as a whole their own seperate class in the hierarchy. Especially when you dig through notes and terminal entries and holotapes in nuka world that talk about Mags and Will, even Nisha a little bit. There's talk about how they weren't "born into" the raider life but still know how to act like "real raiders" as if one would have to be born to raider parents in order to resort to petty theft and murder

And also? Being a raider doesn't exactly seem like the healthiest lifestyle. If not for the violence, or the drug addiction, then because of their perceived lack of ability to take care of themselves outside of stealing food and supplies. If anything, I think having children would be a motivator to stop raiding, not keep doing it, because, well, even if they turned to a life of crime, they're still people. A lot of them are still gonna want to do good by their kids, or at least recognize tbat they're not in a good position to be rasing any

Of course there are gonna be exceptions. There's always going to be exceptions, because it's a complicated situation, not a cut-and-dry lifestyle that shitty and unintelligent people are born into and never leave, because that's not true

[kuiinncedes]

.

[transmechanicus]

Hello, Get Out is a wonderful movie and i highly recommend it, 10/10 with the sole exception to this recommendation being to people who have a phobia of surgery like my dumb ass.

[sslasherss]

Sinclair Twins, Jason, the Leatherfaces as dads (all separate), but someone they're about to kill somehow gets away, gets into their home, but takes their little baby and is like "let me live and I'll give you the baby back" or someone thinks the baby has been kidnapped so they try to 'rescue' the baby. I read something similar to this years ago with a different fandom, and its low-key became my favorite thing lately.

Readmore bc it’s a long boi 😂😂

Bo

★ Hoo boy, Bo is gonna go fucking feral. He’s never been so terrified in his life and he hates the vulnerability, so he hides it with excess hostility and rage.

★ But they have his kid, and he can’t just kill them, not without risking his kid. So he panics, anger and fear rising until he can’t take it any more.

★ People rarely escape Bo, so when this particular man slips from his grasp, he’s furious. He charges after him, bellowing threats - until the guy somehow loses him.

★ He wanders the house searching, growing increasingly uncomfortable. He’s alerted to something wrong when he hears his kid crying, their bedroom door open. Fear strikes him as he charges in, ready to murder the man for daring to go near his child -

★ There’s a knife to his child’s neck. Instantly he freezes, the man’s threats falling on deaf ears. How dare they.

★ He lets this one go, for the sake of his child. No one’s ever gotten away from  Bo Sinclair, but he’s too relieved to care, rushing to hug his kid.

★ Downstairs, Vincent lurking in wait. No one hurts his niece/nephew. The man doesn’t make it out alive after all.

Vincent 

★ He thought he tied them up properly, thought it was fine to leave one person while he worked on another. But somehow she broke through her restraints and slinked off without his notice.

★ Of course he panics. What if she finds a way out? What if she alerts the authorities? Possibilities run through his mind, each one worst than the last.

★ He never expects to see his victim, a young woman, tugging his kid to her chest, ignoring their squeals of protest. What he hell is she doing, touching his kid?

★ Yet when he storms over, the woman isn’t afraid for herself. She clings to his kid, as if fearful they might disappear. “Leave this child alone,” she screams, “why would you hurt a baby?”

★ He’s stunned. Then it clicks; she doesn’t know the child is his. His anger dissipates, but only briefly. Suddenly the woman is running again, still clutching his child. Vincent pursues.

★ Eventually his child squirms from her grasp, desperately fighting her, and the two tumble to the ground. Then the kid runs to him, shouting for their daddy, and Vincent scoops them up.

★ The woman doesn’t get it, of course. But she never has time to think about the weird family - Vincent doesn’t let her live long enough.

Jason

★ People avoid the lake now, so maybe having a kid let Jason get soft. His patrols become shorter, and he stops worrying about people on his turf.

★ Until his son goes missing one day. Jason searches for an hour, further and further from the safety of his cabin. Then he hears it; crying. Relief floods him as he rushes to his son - only to see him being tugged along by a man. 

★ Oh, he’s angry all right. Who’s trying to kidnap his kid? He storms over, knife clenched in a white knuckle grip. The man turns, fear and recognition sparking in his eyes. Everyone knows what lurks in Camp Crystal Lake.

★ But Jason only sees his son. He’s so gentle as he gathers his son in his arms, careful hands brushing through his hair. But the expression he shoots the man through his mask is terrible.

★ Yet he still has enough bravery to ask, “so you kidnap children now too?”

★ Kidnap…? Oh. Of course, no one would imagine the Crystal Lake killer could have a child, let alone know how to care for one. Jason draws up to his full height, gently pushing his son behind him, and raises the machete.

★ No one messes with his family.

Bubba

★ In the chaos, Bubba loses a victim. It’s happened before, no big deal, and Drayton often deals with it. He doesn’t even care about the insults shot his way - he just wants to get this over with.

★ He finds the victim cowering in a barn, bleeding and crying. Bubba reaches for his chainsaw, hands poised to kill - until he sees his daughter emerge from the hay loft. 

★ She loves to play there, he should have considered it!

★ The victim’s eyes dance from Bubba to the girl - and in a flash they have her in their arms, blood smearing across his daughter’s pretty summer dress. She cries out, hands reaching for him, and he snaps.

★“Let me go, and I’ll give her back to you.

★Bubba freezes. They’d really do that? Hurt his child for the chance at freedom? Panic blooms in his chest, the chainsaw falling to his side with a great thud. He’s shaking. His daughter is pleading to be let go. It’s awful.

★ Finally the victim lets her go, and she runs to him. The two embrace, both sobbing and babbling incoherently. The victim takes their chance to run.

★ But they can’t let someone go. So Bubba regretfully lets go, whispering nonsense words of reassurance, and goes after them. 

★ The victim doesn’t last five minutes after that.  

Thomas

★ His son isn’t old enough to be involved in the ‘family business’, but bless him he wants to help. So for once, Thomas lets him tag along. As long as he promises not to get too close.

★ They hunt down a victim together; a scrawny teenager with a busted leg. It doesn’t take long to catch him, and Thomas is so proud of his son for all the help.

★ But Thomas misjudges. He isn’t unconscious, only pretending, and as Thomas lugs him over one shoulder the boy breaks free. In a flash the boy is on his feet, grabbing blindly for anything to use as a weapon. When he comes up with nothing, he grabs Thomas’ son.

★“Help me,” the boy mutters, but his son only shrugs. This pisses him off, and before Thomas can react his son is being dragged backward by the hair. Thomas panics, immediately blaming himself for letting his son tag along.

★ But his son breaks free, snapping the man’s already injured leg with one well placed kick. Then Thomas storms forward, weapon raised as he unleashes all of his fear and rage.

★ They drag the body back together, and this time they make sure he’s dead.

[wetalkinboutbooks]

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Summary: Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems. (Taken from Goodreads)

Our Ratings:  

 → Geena:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: This is one of the first suggestions we got and HOO BOY IT WAS A GOOD ONE. The perfect mix of action, comedy, murder, and beating up racists.... exactly what we need in a book. 

~Spoiler-full discussion below~ 

The Good:

→ Jane

Geena: I don’t think I’ve read a book where the protagonist just has so much raw power like… at the risk of sounding like I’m from 2012.. But like… my mind was totally blown. We meet Jane during a training exercise at Miss Preston’s zombie slaughtering school where we learn about all the nasty details that lead to the school’s creation. SO ESSENTIALLY, following the civil war (which ended prematurely bc u kno…. zombies) slavery is “abolished” and instead the whites decided it’d be better to set up schools to train black and native people to kill zombies for them 🙄 AND that’s where we meet Jane, in the middle of a training exercise. We also learn that she’s the daughter of one of the more wealthy white women in the area which was very scandalous given the u kno.. R a c i s m… and that even her mother’s status couldn’t keep her from being sent to the school. Jane also recounts moments from her childhood such as almost being killed when she was born… and she does it so nonchalantly that I fucking died dude. 

Kae: Nobody: …..

Jane: Yeah my momma tried to drown me. She doesn’t think I remember but I do… ANYWAY. 

Geena: LMAOOOOOOO YEA I FUCKING LOST IT LIKE DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN LIKE SHE IS SO RAW… BUT YEA, also Justina Ireland does this cool thing where she has excerpts from the letters Jane sends her mother which outline events that are VERY different from what actually happens in the chapter, and fuck I loved that sm. Jane is I think one of the girls that can read at the school and she’s got a liking for the science behind the biology of zombies but she gets in trouble cONSTANTLY because she’s too cool for Miss Preston’s school… ok jk no she gets into trouble because she always manages to piss off that one racist ass bitch, Miss Anderson. In the first few chapters we learn that Jane is smart, strong, and a total babe even though she doesn’t think so :(. 

I loved how Jane was written to be slightly hot-headed but not like bullheaded, like she would get angry real quick but she’d know when to act on her urges to beat the shit out of people. And I guess this stems from her childhood like…. SHE MURDERS HER DAD IN COLD BLOOD BC HE TRIED TO CHOKE THE LIFE OUTTA HER and also to preserve her mom’s secret which was that she was a white-passing black woman. And bc her dad was a racist white man Jane knew that wouldn’t bode well for anyone…. She did all this when she was like eight so like…. WILD (It’s what he deserved tho) but yea ever since then Jane’s been playing the game like a pro. She’s a pro zombie slayer that doesn’t take shit from ANYONE even when it lands her in trouble, and she cares a lot for the people around her even though she might pretend that she’s only out to get back to her mom. AND I LOVE HER for everything she does, but FUCK SHE WENT THROUGH SO MUCH SHIT IN THIS BOOK THAT IT HURT TO READ. ALSO WE FIND OUT THAT SHE’S BI…. WE STAN A BISEXUAL BADASS

→ Katherine

Kae:  Geena summed up, Jane very well! Jane is smart (and could read so her teachers were pissed), strong, and just an all around badass. I really love her. She deserves the world. 

Well, moving on to Katherine. Katherine is another student at Miss. Prestons school and she and Jane don’t get along well. Kate, as Jane calls her, which Katherine HATES, because she likes to be called by her full name. She is white passing with very light skin and blue eyes. She has blonde, loose curly hair and is described as absolutely gorgeous. Jane is a little jealous of her and hates admitting it. But she’s like “She’s gorgeous, it is what it is… But she’s from Virgina so ugh.” Katherine is right up to par with Jane’s zombie slaying skills and is the top of her class. Katherine is dainty, bougie, and a total rule follower. She’s into fashion and trying to find a good job protecting white folks from zombies when she graduates Miss. Prestons. She thinks of Jane as a little unruly and wild. But she tries her damndest to be respectful to Jane, even if they can’t stand each other.  

So, moving forward a bit. Kate is kind of nosey so she’s always catching Jane doing some shit she isn’t supposed to be doing… like having books smuggled to her by a boy named Red Jack. She also overhears Jane and Jack discussing how his sister went missing and he needs help to find her. So, she self invites and tags along later that night. In the mean time,  Jane and Kate have a lecture they need to attend to. When they get there, they realize that there is going to be a demonstration of proof that a “Shambler Cure” actually works. Shamblers are zombies. So this professor has a cage of three zombies and has some poor, black man risk himself and get bit. He has supposedly already been injected with the cure. Jane was like “this shit fake… He boutta die.” And Jane tries to interrupt, but she is quickly hushed. The antidote or cure or whatever DOESN’T work and the dude turns into a zombie. Jane shoots him down, then the other zombies get loose and now everyone is in a panic. Jane and Katherine take them down and save the day. A few weeks later, that are invited to the mayors house to “protect” it. (They really were only asked just so they could show up and be seen…) Someone turns into a Shambler, Jane takes them down, then that’s settled. So now they’ve saved the day TWICE. 

Red Jack has somehow SNUCK IN to the damn mayors house, so him and Jane do some snooping. They get caught. Then by default, Katherine gets in trouble. Well, Katherine gets in trouble because she is too pretty and none of the white women want her around because they think their husbands or whoever will start to be like👀  and the women get jealous. Katherine was out of a job before it even started because she’s just too damn gorgeous. So Kate, Jane, and Red Jack get sent off to the WILD WILD WEST BAYBEEE. But it actually sucks.  Let’s talk about Red Jack before we get into that though.

Geena: NGL KATE’S THE TYPE OF GIRL I WOULD’VE ABSOLUTELY HATED TOO IF I WAS JANE BUT!!!!! I love how we get to see the friendship develop between the two as they both learn about each other’s past and that maybe they CAN be friends. Also, Kate is ace and wants to travel the world which I RESPECT… but oh yea I was gonna say Jane and Kate are the true enemies to best friends trope. ALSO HER BACKSTORY IS SAD BRUH LIKE everyone looking down on her bc she’s from virginia smh……… okay but seriously the fact that Kate was constantly trying so hard to compensate for the fact that she came from a brothel that she became Miss Perfect (OR AT LEAST that’s what we learn from Jane’s perspective and as @zemenipearls pointed out Jane isn’t a reliable narrator so Kate’s backstory is kinda shady at this point but that’s what we think it is) 

→ Red Jack 

Kae: Let’s talk about Red Jack! Jackson Keats, aka Red Jack is Jane's ex boyfriend. He got the name “Red Jack” because he’s a redbone. He’s described with light brown skin and blue eyes. He also has a gold tooth and short curly hair with hints of auburn. He’s smart and can scheme his ass off and is known for taking big risks.  He also smuggles Jane books when she ask and send letters out to her mother for her. It’s also noted that he cannot read. He deals in dirty business, mostly scamming people out of money. But the kid has to make a living! I like him. Jack has a little sister named Lilly who is white passing. So he sent her with a nice white family who would let her blend in with them so she could avoid being sent off to a school like Miss. Prestons. Jack and Jane, despite them being exes, are decent friends I think. Jane hates to admit it, but she still likes Jack (even though he gets on her nerves). 

At a certain point, Jack’s little sister, along with the family she is staying with, completely disappear. Their house in still in tact, but they aren’t there. He’s worried because his sister would’ve sent word if she knew they were leaving. But he hadn’t heard a thing from her, and went to Jane. So Jane, Jack, and Kate end up at the Spencers’ house to look for clues. They can’t find anything, but they DO overhear Miss. Anderson and two other men say that they needed to clean the house out and remove all of their belongings. 

Later, when we get to the mayor’s dinner party that was previously mentioned, Jack and Jane run into each other and go snooping around the governor's office. There, Miss. Anderson is waiting for them and they are CAUGHT. She drags them to the Mayor’s basement where he is ready to send them off to a town called, Summerland, that is way out west. It’s a town where he is trying to uphold white supremecy and slavery.There, he will make sure that anyone who is black, is treated as if they are still slaves.  A man named Mr. Redfern, a Native man, escorts them out West. They are given dulled down weapons to protect the town from Shamblers, and well, this is just no good. When Jack and the crew arrive in Summerland, he punches the shit out of Redfern and tries to make a run for it. He is then tackled, jailed, and that’s the last we see of him… for a while. 

Geena: holy shit Kae litcherally outlined everything about Red Jack PERFECTLY. He’s how you would say a rascal… a cute rascal (Jane would agree). 

Kae: Lmao Jane’s got taste. I gotta give her that. BAD BOYZ are my thing lowkey

Geena: oKAY but SEE RED JACK IS A BAD BOI WITH A GOOD HEART. I mean yeh he and Jane had a “messy breakup” but they were still friends and he smuggled out letters for her mom and brought her books, and she helped him around with his ~business~ however shady it was. But I also liked how he was an idiot, I mean in the sense that UNLIKE JANE who knows how to control her anger and use it in the future, Jack just pops off like how Kae mentioned him decking Mr. Redfern. Jane thought about it but also thought ahead and realized she wouldn’t get far doing that. Red Jack tho… Boy thought he could outrun like 3 grown men 😭 AND WHEN THE READER AND JANE WERE LED TO BELIEVE THAT HE’D DIED?? BRO??? I WAS LIKE…. HOW U GONNA MAKE THIS CHARACTER A CHARMING LIL SHIT AND THEN KILL HIM ALMOST RIGHT AWAY…. BUT then when he came back I WAS THROWN.

Time to project BUT I love characters like Red Jack you know they’re shady and like to play everything off as a joke but when they get serious… they get serious. And I wonder what role he’s going to play in the second book, because all he cares about in his life is his family aka Lily right… Would he accompany Kate and Jane to save her momma when it would mean leaving Lily with people he probably can’t fully trust? Also, how did Jane and Red Jack even meet? I think it’d be cool to see where he came from, and what happened to the rest of his family and that’s another reason why I can’t wait till book 2!  

The Bad:

→ Miss. Preston and Miss Anderson

Geena: Man, we don’t even meet Miss Preston that long in the book like she has a few scenes here and there but god she is the fucking worst! Who runs a school and houses young black women and gives them a refined education with training with specialized weapons.. Only to ship them to a town where slavery is making a comeback??  And pretending like you care about them?? Disgusting… We all assume that Miss Preston is innocent and is busy running her school until the dinner that Kae has mentioned above where we find out that she’s in cahoots with the Mayor and has been supplying him girls from her school for as long as he has needed them… how “white allies” be sometimes… I really hope… from the bottom of my heart that she was devoured by a shambler bc it’s the only fate that she deserves you know… And then we have the hoe ass Miss Anderson who didn’t even try to hide her contempt of Jane and doted on Katherine → This we realize later into the book is solely because of how white-passing Katherine was and because Miss Anderson is a big ol’ racist who uses slurs like it’s nobody's business. 

Now, I realize that Ireland was trying to outline the different types of racists you come across in life. There’s those that pretend to be your friend and support you up front but behind your back they won’t hesitate to fuck you over (aka Miss Preston), like Miss Preston does help out Jane initially when she’s unfairly tested by Miss Anderson, but Preston also is the one to support sending Jane to Summerland so like….. and also we have your standard brand of racist aka Miss Anderson that doesn’t even try to hide how antiblack and dehumanizing she is because she straight up doesn’t care and knows that Jane or anybody else can do shit about it. 

→ Mr. Redfern

Kae: Okay, so now we’ve got Mr. Redfern. Mr. Redfern is a tall,  handsome, Native American man who is always scowling at Jane. He doesn’t like her and she isn’t sure why… That is, until our girl asks him. He thinks she is wasting her talents when she sneaks out and kills shamblers in the night. 

Geena: OKAY WAIT WAIT WAIT THIS BRINGS UP THE QUESTION.. HOW LONG HAS HE BEEN SPYING ON HER

Kae: OHHHH SHIT YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHAT THE FUCK. YOOO. HE HAD TO HAVE BEEN WATCHING HER FOR MONTHS. 

Geena: I FEEL LIKE…. THERE’S SOMETHING WE’RE MISSING BUT IDK WHAT

Kae: THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR BEING A SPEED READER. I BE MISSIN’ SHIT. Whew. Okay, so as you can see, we’ve just come to a sudden realization! Mr. Redfern is a sneaky son of a gun. 

But uhh, he mentions that he was taken from his tribe and sent off to one of the “Indian Shambler Schools” where he was given a new identity, etc. This is also basically what happened to Native Children back in those days, in order to erase their heritage and their entire selves. This was how they forced people to assimilate. They were sent to Indian Industrial Schools. 

Mr. Redfern is in cahoots with the Mayor (by force) and is the one to basically help kidnap Jackson, Jane, and Katherine. He stuffs them on a train for a week and at the end of their trip, they are out west. We don’t see him again after this. But later, we find out that he made Jackson a deal and sent him to a town not too far from Summerland to do “business”. Thus, when Jack returns to Summerland to steal ammunition for said town, he runs into Jane and Katherine and tells them Red Jack helped him out. 

ALTHOUGHHHH, REDFERN HELPED JACKSON, I DON’T LIKE HIM. HE WAS UNNECESSARILY MEAN TO JANE AND KIDNAPPED THE CREW AND THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. 

Geena: Yess Mr. Redfern, the man we thought would be an ally but turned out to be the opposite. Once again this mimics history I suppose because there were instances of indigenous people aiding the whites when it came to slavery and I suppose Ireland was trying to write that but she also makes it writes that while he is helping them he doesn’t seem too proud of it. But the matter of the fact is, he’s still helping enforce the white man’s rules. Though I do hope with the turn of the second book Mr. Redfern leaves that shit behind and decides to fully switch sides, aka let the whites to their own dirty work and help the people with a real cause.

ALSO, I keep talking about the second book but I really hope we meet more indigenous characters that aren’t Mr. Redfern you know, but those that aren’t under the thumb of a white person :( ALTHOUGH, I love how Ireland has the excerpt at the end where it mentions the residential schools in-depth and she encourages readers to research more of it which leads me to believe that we’ll be hearing more of them coming the next book as well. 

Kae: Just one more small part. I was like, completely convinced that those looks Redfern were shooting at Jane was because he thought she was cute. That is until Jane was like “alright, he CLEARLY doesn’t like me” and I was like oh… I totally misread those signals and I’m an idiot. BUT WHATEVER IT’s FINE. I do, however, think he will turn around. I don’t think he’s like, inherently bad. He’s just forced to do bad shit. Everyone is trying to survive in this world and I’m NOT giving him an excuse, but like, I get it. Ya feel me?

Geena: oKAY BUT KAE I TOO THOUGHT HE WAS INTO HER SO THAT MAKES US BOTH BOOBOO THE FOOL. AND YEA, it comes down to survival in a world where you’re not even considered human BUT that doesn’t excuse any actions. 

Kae: .jpg “we irritating” meme 

Geena: Is it even our review if we don’t have at least one (1) meme reference

The Ugly:  

→ Every single white person (minus Mr. Gideon) 

Geena: So I really enjoyed this book but Justina Ireland didn’t pull any punches when it came down to the true and dark details of the time period she was writing. She captures the essence of white folks, even during an apocalypse they find the time to push their white supremacy and tread on the backs of the black and indigenous people. I was grinding my teeth for a majority of the book, the way people would talk down to all the black characters and simply refer to them as though they weren’t human.

Mayor Carr, the Sheriff, and the Priest are the faces of white supremacy that think it’s in their destiny to put down bipoc and use them as slaves (though they won’t call it that) and fuck dude… Mayor Carr is like Miss Preston, pretends to be an ally and is using the people he pretends to support as fodder for his white supremacist wasteland. Even Jane mentions that he’s no better than other white men but people pretend he’s the best politician they have.

The Sheriff doesn’t even disguise his racism, he’s your typical ‘slavery wasn’t that bad’ assfuck and the way he treats Katherine bc he has an ugly crush on her thinking she’s white is disgusting bc you know if he knew that she’s simply white-passing he’d probably murder her in cold blood… and when he finds out, the exact thing Jane was afraid would happen to her mother almost happens to Katherine (she almost dies at the hand of the Sheriff’s fugly ass)....and fuck Katherine handled it so well even though she was very much uncomfortable the whole time. And the way Jane murdered him?? With no remorse… I fucking loved that, IDK if Justina Ireland was trying to go for a Jane is unhinged vibe (bc that’s how Katherine reacted to it) but I was like fuck yea girl shoot him a few times more for good measure.

The Priest is the biggest shit of them all like I cannot even begin to…… Every time I think of his wrinkly ass my blood pressure rises three levels because holy fuck. He preaches that he’s a holy man and that he’s only carrying out the orders of God and so on, and it’s DIGOSTENG the way he uses the bible as a weapon to put down the black and indigenous folk around Summerland. He blames them for how they look and says it’s their duty to “serve their white superiors” as redemption so that they may get a place in heaven 🙄🙄🙄🙄 This reminds me of what Kae had mentioned before about the story of Nate Turner who knew how to read so the plantation owners would make him read a fucked-up version of the bible to the others and like….. White people really took a faith founded by a brown man and turned it into a weapon for their white supremacy it’s disgusting. But what was really sad was that there are still people to this day like the Priest that have pretty hefty roles in churches and so on… spewing their racist rhetoric and god I can’t even fucking deal, every time he and Jane interacted I just wanted her to snap his neck in half and call it a day…. Like what was his old ass gonna do? Fart? 

Kae: Sweet! So Geena pretty much covered everything. The Sheriff is a whole ass bitch and he has a bunch of lackeys doing his dirty work while he parades around Summerland and berates anyone who is of colour. Basically, he has black people shipped out to the West so they can sacrifice themselves to defend Summerlands inhabitants with faulty weaponry and experiments. When Jane brings up that she needs better weapons so she can do her job, she’s slapped for it and told to deal with it. The black people and everyone else who is considered of low status, are treated horribly. They’re all shoved in a hot attic with thin, dirty blankets to sleep on the floor. They are locked in their rooms at night and forbidden to leave until it is time for them to work again. They all also barely have enough to eat, so essentially, they are starving. Jane and her new companions are overworked, underfed, and are only able to bathe once a week. It’s truly barbaric. The Sheriff wants to make sure they know they are “below” white people and were only created to serve them. It’s disgusting and I wanted to kill the man myself. It was infuriating reading how horrible they were treated and all of the slurs they were called. Slurs I forgot even existed. 

The Sheriff catches Jane one night after she had snuck out, and beats her in front of the whole town. He ties her to a pole, strips her shirt off, and whips her. I actually had to skip that part because I couldn’t bare to read it. It was too much and I just couldn’t do it. I’ve seen enough of it. Jane, even though she is inches away from death, is saved by Katherine speaking out against it. Since the Sheriff has a crush on her, he stops, and allows Jane to join her in the safe part of Summerland to be her servant. I usually don’t like reading books about my people being so poorly treated, but Jane shot his ass point blank when she had the opportunity and I reveled in that. I love to see us fight back! 

As for the Priest, he is the Sheriff’s father so he helps influence the bullshit that goes on in town. It is also heavily implied that underestimating the Priest is not the best decision. He apparently beat someone to death so that’s fuckin wild, considering how much of an old racist fuck he is. ANYWAY, he gives sermons every night on how “the Negro” was meant to serve and how they are to “stay in their place” and I cringed through the whole thing. It was horrible. Almost no one in the town likes the Sheriff or the Priest. The whore’s, the “slaves”, and Mr. Gideon (the Mayor's son), were all forced to be in Summerland and they hate it and the two bastards in charge. This drives them to conduct a plan to kill them both so they can escape. The plan was to have Katherine pretend to be white, have the Sherif fall in love with her, then Jane takes him out of the picture. But things didn’t go as planned so it took a few extra steps of danger BUT they made it and scarcely avoided a big zombie horde, and made it out. 

Geena: OH YEA MR. GIDEON….. He’s supposed to be this scientist guy with a limp which we find out he does on purpose, and he KNOWS that Katherine is white-passing but he doesn’t say shit bc unlike the rest of the white men there he isn’t racist and he’s trying to figure out a way out of the town… Also, this man-made an electricity grid run off of zombies and that was so fucking funny to me for no reason other than it reminded me of a scene from a sitcom when Jane walked in on the contraption. ALSO, JANE MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A THING FOR MR. GIDEON AND IT MAY OR MAY NOT BE RECIPROCATED? LIKE It’s funny reading Jane’s attraction to him like “he’s nerdy lookin… but in a cute way” but am I here for it?? Undecided...

Conclusion

Kae: So in conclusion, this book was really good. I enjoyed reading this AU of a zombfied civil war. It was interesting to see how things played out. I thought the world-building was pretty cool and I like how the South was called “The lost states” because they’d been lost to zombies. They also LOST THE WAR LMAOOO BITCHASSES. Anywaaaaay, I think Jane is such a strong, beautifully written character. She’s hotheaded, but she isn’t impulsive. She’s brave and she knows when to strike. She is smart, cunning, and a joy to be around. If she were real, I’d absolutely be her friend. She’s my kind of person. She keeps it real and I like that. Katherine is kind of complex and I can’t wait to find out more about her. She hides behind this proper, boujie demeanor, but I think a lot of it is a facade. I like how though Katherine is white-passing, she NEVER forgets or dismisses that she is black. She knows who she is and she hated pretending to be white. As for Jackson! He's impulsive, suave motherfucker and I hope we see more of him too! I think he’s going to have a bigger role to play in the next book and I’m ready to see what it’ll be. I can’t wait to find out what is in store for these characters because they are all beautifully written and their friendships are puuuure baybeeee.

Geena: GIRL YOU SUMMED UP ALL THE CHARACTERS REALLY WELL!!! You got everything that I loved about Jane, she’d be my idol irl… and Katherine is a really complex character and I’m excited to see how her story unfolds in the next book. SPEAKING OF WHICH…. THE COVER FOR THAT DROPPED AND O MY GOD…….. KATE AND JANE LOOK LIKE ABSOLUTE BABES and I cAN’T WAIT TO SEE THEM FUCK SHIT UP!

[takaraphoenix]

You've said that female characters mostly reduced to the love interests, or that all they're thinking are their bf or love interests. But imo, this case access to the male characters as well. Percy doesn't think about Grover for example, I've always expected it to be there in his mind because of he's his bff. Instead, Grover just is... not that much of important anymore I guess? He doesn't think or concern that much about the demigods in CHB, whether they're okay or not. 1/9

They meet with the f-ing Hercules and Percy never once gets upset or brings the Zoe’s name in the ship. Instead, we see Percy’s making the dam joke in the MoA and saying it’s an inside joke. Which shows that Zoe is still in his mind. But dude, RR, please. If you’re gonna make Percy to come across with Hercules, and never once make him salty or angry with trying to acting on it while the other characters in the ship saying ‘’Percy dont1!!’ Then I’m sorry but what’s the meaning of those cases? 2/9            

7 team dynamic and friendship are basically dead. Riordan puts 7 supposedly all different characters in a ship and all dynamic that exists is mostly the love triangles. I don’t know if you talked about this issue but I’d like to see you point on this. Bc it was an important part in the series and Rick’s not playing with the potential actually is disappointing. He just mostly focuses on fricking romance instead and it’s annoying. 3/9            

Similar cases also existed in first series too. For example worst offender was whole Calypso case. I first thought that it wasn’t Percy’s fault that Gods didn’t keep their promises. But it was actually his fault, and also Annabeth and the others were at fault as well because of they legit thought Gods would keep their promises. I mean, dude. They even broke their biggest oaths and you all know it, and now you tell me that you never once checked out the gods’s jobs? 4/9            

In order to see if they kept their promises or not? Honestly it’s so… dumb? There must be a character development on this, basing on this situation, it does suck too. Percy should’ve learned that gods don’t keep their promises. And he should’ve checked it out himself after the war ends. Let’s say Percy was dumb, but Annabeth? She is a child of the Athena, who supposedly is smart, but never comes up with the idea of checking things out instead of just trusting gods to do their jobs. 5/9            

Or any other character, no one points the issue out. I’m not sure if this case was intentional or not, or RR himself just forgot about this but man, it comes across as such a bad writing. Also another biggest offender was May goddamn Castellan. So RR, you’re saying to me that no one, no Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, didn’t go to her house in order to see if she’s okay or not after war and events?In order to help her case, even if she’s still crazy or is cured? Or, was underw-kiss more important? 6/9            

After learning about her case, none of them didn’t ever wonder? What the actuality? Bob is another big offender. Not because of Percy left him; he didn’t. Bc you see, Bob was never his friends unlike Calypso. He was just a Titan, there was no actual friendship or anything. And it’s kinda dumb that Rick tries to portray Percy as a terrible friend in this case rather than pointing out other issues in his writing. 7/9            

But then in the Tartarus, they built a relationship, this time it’s actual. But when they go to the Doors, Percy never once actually try to save Bob or Damasen and it’s just…. I’d expected Percy to pull a thing in the end and sending them to the doors with risking his own life bc it’s Percy’s supposed characteristic element; he would do anything for his friends. But it just… doesn’t exist? Why it was never a big characteristic issue right there when you had to chance to write it? 8/9            

Also, at the end of the boO, Percy just generally is okay with sending his friends to fight with Gaia. They have a talk with Frank 1 minute, and after that, it’s all okay. No big issue. I guess it was so much challenging to pull that, RR. I believe that there are so much other problematic events but those came to mind at this time. Sorry if this was so much long and salty rant. *looks at the rant and cries in salt* 9/9            

Uhm, so, I love getting asks, I really do. But at a certain length, I think you should consider maybe… writing your own post and just tagging me in it if you want me to see it, because daaamn this is very… very… long. xD”

But yeah no, the boys are just as bad as the girls, that was never up for discussion. The question was just very explicitely about female characters, so I’m definitely not gonna drag guys into that. *chuckles*

Everything in Heroes of Olympus is about the romance. I mean seriously absolutely everything because even the villains shipped it - Gaia wanting specifically the blood of Annabeth and Percy because they totally are her OTP, Arachne having a tapestry of the underwater kiss how the ever-loving did she even know that happened how is that not the creepiest, most inappropriate and weird thing to happen in that entire gods damned series. They shoulda named that ship Ark II not Argo II, because it’s all about pairing up. It’s just that, in that ask, we were specifically talking about the bad writing of the female characters! ;)

Honestly. The Grover thing. I think that’s more on Riordan not thinking about Grover than on Percy. Like. I feel as though Riordan temporarily forgot Grover exists because he was so busy shipping. Because Coach Hedge should not have been on that ship. The satyr to go with them should have been Grover. Grover and Percy should have gotten a proper reunion. Instead, one throw-away dream-spy sequence where we got to see him and Rachel. So cheap.

The lack of friendship dynamics was most disappointing, yeah. Everything was about love. Even the one damn quest where all the girls could have bonded - lol nope it’s not a quest it’s actually a tea party with Aphrodite to talk about your love life!!! Because girls!!! Doing girl stuff!!! Seriously, old straight man writing teenage girls? Cringe.

Okay no I find it really asking too much that Percy shoulda pushed the gods about Calypso. Bear in mind the time. The war ended on August 18th. Percy gets abducted on December 15th. That’s four months. Four months of PTSD, of rebuilding the camp, of having a lot of other shit on his mind. If like… an actual big amount of time had passed and Percy had never checked? Okay. Yeah. That’s on him. But within four months? And… it’s not just Percy who had a lot of shit on his mind, let’s be honest, so did the gods. Tartarus was broken into, Olympus was demolished, very shortly thereafter they started having that identity crisis and souls started escaping from Hades. Four months pass in no time at all, especially when you do have a lot on your to-do list.

Same goes for May. Seriously. It’s only been a total of four months. I… genuinely would not have half a mind to care about a total stranger like May Castellan in the middle of my whole entire world kinda coming apart in a war and me having to deal with my own personal aftermath of that?? I mean, those are literal children who just saw their friends and family murdered in a war and who fought in that war themselves. I really, really do think that they had enough on their mind without caring to check in and see if this total stranger had been taken care of… And Percy, Thalia and Annabeth, were like the only ones with any kind of investment or even knowledge there, I mean it’s not like May was public knowledge and everybody cared. And who knows, maybe Thalia did go there off screen, check on her with the Hunt.

I’m generally not okay with Riordan’s attempt at portraying Percy as a bad friend in HoO. It’s wildly OoC. He established Percy’s fatal flaw to be that he would let the world burn for his friends, but suddenly he can’t be bothered with said friends? Both, Calypso and Bob, as used by Riordan, then the lack of Grover, the lack of… of any big reunion aside from Annabeth. He took this character that he specifically created as a very loving and devoted friend and suddenly made him not really care and also not really making friends. Yeah, Frank and Hazel. But… Percy Jackson? The Percy Jackson from the first series? He’d have been friends with everyone on the ship in five hours flat.

I STILL DON’T GET THE BOB AND DAMASEN PART. FUCK YEAH. Seriously, it’s been years and this still bugs me. That Percy and Annabeth were just like “Well. The doors closed. They dead now. Such a shame”. What the actual fuck was that. Try to save them! You could have still saved them!!! That was, too, so very OoC. Like Percy Jackson would just turn his back and let two of his comrades die.

[llazyneiph]

get 2 know ya boi tag

I was tagged by @cosmoryder! ty! also what u said was cute!

Rules: Tag 20 followers you’d like to know better (this isnt gonna happen, i never do this)

Nickname: Sebby/Seberoni/Sebby from the block

Gender: boysauce

Astrological Sign: im a virgoooo babeeeey

Height: oooof, touchy subject. im around 5″4. smol boy

Sexuality: straight but tbh open to anything if the mood is sexy n rite

Hogwarts House: SLYTHERIN HOO-RAH

Favorite Animal: im solid 10/10 good dog boy, i love almost every dog, i almost walked into a pole not even a week ago because I was looking at a very fluffy best boy

Number of Blankets: 2, sometimes 3. i like to be warm ok

Where I’m From: ye olde english countryside born and raised, till i was 14. god i used to have the most disgusting backwater ass accent, now the english left in it is my mums’ bristolian accent... which is slightly better i guess. thank fuck for aussie bein so overpowering lmao

Dream Trip: wanna go back to Japan, and I also wanna go to Montana bc 1/ i obv have a deathwish and 2. farcry, duh

When I Created This Account: August 2014 i think

Why I Created This Account: god. u ready for some cringe? way back when in 2014 i used to participate in sims modelling on the sims forums, cus it was the p much the only creative outlet I had. anyway, i don’t remember the exact reason for making a tumblr, but I noticed everyone elese had one, thus, hooklinesimmer was born. oof havent used that name in a hot while.

I tag: @galaxysuede @eatasslikegrass and literally anyone else bc its early and i can remember usernames lmao

[moonsnail]

@jingertonic tagged me so hello everyone im here to play tag games again i hope ur READY

name bree

nickname bree is my nickname whoops

star sign aquarius 😔

gender she/her/they

sexuality human beings

fave color green!!! and blues and yellows

time right now 10:08 am

average hours of sleep um i try to get 5-10? i usually end up with 7 or 8

lucky number(s) 2, 22

last google search translate bc i cant be bothered to look/wait for someone else to translate bts tweets 👀

number of blankets i have three light ones on my bed rn but i only use 2 usually?

fave fictional character(s) marvel’s valkyrie and winter soldier, tohru and momiji from fruits basket, makoto kino and kaiou michiru and tenoh haruka and tomoe hotaru from sailor moon, and so many others 🙃

what are you wearing a green shirt with little bears printed on and highlighter orange shorts lol

fave book probably my textbooks RIP but realistically, the last book i read and finished was the kite runner lmao

fave musician(s) the killers, bts, oneus, nct, got7, taemin, exid, kard, monsta x, sunmi, bleachers, childish gambino, etc

dream job living in the amazon rainforest and looking at birds

number of followers does it matter tho

when did you create your account HOO boy uh lets see i was forced into tumblr in fall 2010 and i remade in feb 2017? i think

what do you post about everything basically, like... mostly kpop and fandom stuff

what made you get an account it was a requirement for a photography class i took in high school lmao

do you get asks daily uh no lmao

explain your url mmm i saw a moon snail shell on vacation the summer before i claimed this url for eternity so... here we are. and now its lowkey Me so i dont want to change it for more than like a day or two

im gonna tag @okonomiyoongi @worldwidechaotic @seesawmv @hobitoit @yve

[alo-piss-trancy]

Hello, you have been identified as An Awesome Writer™! Congrats, you rock! So that all of your readers can shower you with some extra love today, please tell us your favorite five (or as many as you want) stories of yours and why you like them and then send this to another five fic authors you think deserve this title! ❤

Gee, I wonder who this could be from? c; (Thank you so much I love you!)

Okay so I’m doing seven because as you all know from my zillion ships and characters I’ve written for/screamed about, I’m incapable of picking a specific favourite lmao. But it’s still less than half my fics so it’s fine. Also none of these are ranked, I enjoyed them all equally tbh. (Forgive my lack of heart emojis RIP, I’m on desktop for this one)The Troubles Rain Can Bring (Pers/ona 5) : Of course I have to bring this one up, since it’s the one I consider my first legit omo fic (Jade was my first foray, but since it’s unfinished and I picked a dead fandom specifically so I had less chances of getting mean comments, I consider it more of a practice run). This was my first time writing for a very active and current fandom, so it was really intimidating, but I was also really excited to participate in creating for a game I was so passionate about! Also that fic was just a total labour of self-indulgence and love (excuse for fluff with my otp? combining all my fav tropes? Gratuitous Akira Suffering? Including the others for fun towards the end? I was in hog heaven!) While I definitely can find parts where I could improve the writing now, I still love it for all of the effort I put into it, and I got such a lovely response that made me feel really welcome on ao3, the omo tag on tumblr, and in the p/5 fandom! It’s kind of nostalgic for me, even if it was only written like a year and a half ago, haha.All Bottled Up (Dang/anRonpa: THH) : I’m just really proud of this fic, and I had so much fun writing it! I think it’s probably one of the few fics I’ve written that was a completely smooth ride of inspiration and fun from start to finish, without any hitches in the writing process or me getting bogged down with other projects. Seriously I think I hammered the entire thing out in like a week or two lmao. I love Naegiri so much, and the idea was a treat to work with even if it’s some of the most cliché omo scenarios, it was just a nice relaxing bit of indulgence! Also I got to dig into Kirigiri’s character, which I didn’t get to do in my other fic of her (since that one was so short and oddly styled). My favourite bit was probably getting to mess with the drawbacks of her gloves/hand injuries, and of course those fluffy bits with Naegi! Getting Your Feet Wet (Pers/ona 5) : This one, hoo boy. Definitely one of my longest fics, and while at the time when I posted it I kind of hated half the stuff in it (just because I had been nitpicking it for so long lmao), now that time has gone by I can genuinely say I love it and it’s probably one I’m proudest of. Not only was it my first full dive into snut (and I’d like to think it isn’t too shabby), but I got to work with a rarepair that I’ve been intrigued by, with two of my fav npcs from the game! So fun times all around! It was great to imagine how Sae might have changed and opened up since the game’s ending, and what Tae could do to help draw her out of that strict shell while still making her feel secure and comfortable. Also I got to include pet/p.lay which is something I’d been dying to write since I started that account, so bonus points for that! And I got a way better response than I was expecting, so that was nice!A Sinking Ship (Pers/ona 5) : ((Okay I swear I still plan to update the other half of this one someday soon, I literally have the draft halfway done I just haven’t been able to get it finished to the level I want.)) Anyways, I have a soft spot for this one because 1. It’s Makoto, and you all know how much I adore her, 2. I finally got to write some legit palace battling and shenanigans, which I really enjoyed and want to include more of in future projects, 3. I literally put so much detail into this one, from the setting descriptions to the dialogue and going out of my way to include the entire team interacting with her instead of just one or two chars, and I’m giving myself a fat pat on the back for that. And then throwing in actual anxiety and plot issues instead of just making her desperate for the sake of it, which may have been ambitious (hence why it’s kind of on a cliffhanger right now while I finish the comfort half), but I really just wanted her to have one of my best fics possible because Makoto deserves the best (of the worst suffering oops sorry bby). Also did I mention The Shumako Bridal Carry scene? That was absolutely necessary to include okay? Also there’s gonna be quality Shumako bonding in the second chapter so I’m biased to love this in advance. Basically I love this one specifically because it’s my own self-indulgent bullshit, which is kind of every fic I write but this is definitely one of The Most Indulgent. I also consider this one my very best omo fic in terms of the actual omo writing/content, even if it’s long AF, because at least you’re getting desperation and wetting for pretty much the entire thing, even when other stuff’s going on around it. So yeah I guess if you don’t mind a cliffhanger ending (for now) and have a decent knowledge of p/5, this is the one I recommend reading!Conundrums Lead to Collapse (Doc/tor Who - 13th Doc/tor) : I really liked writing this one because of the whump, actually. I rarely have excuses to injure characters for Even Worse Omo Suffering/Comfort, so the fact that I could write based on a canon injury was the perfect excuse! Also I’m just weak for the 13th Doctor so I’m always down for omo of her, but it was also a fun excuse to explore her character. We hadn’t gotten to see her angry or broken down at the time it aired, so I enjoyed getting to play around with how things affect her when she does finally lose the positive attitude and confidence, and bringing a character as powerful (and semi immortal I guess) as The Doctor to the floor was just a fun exercise. Also it’s kind of hard to find whump fics focused on female characters that don’t involve a certain kind of violence (or just female whump in general actually), so I just really enjoyed using all of the fandom tropes I’ve read over the years in those fics to create something for those of us who wanted it the other way around! I would also like to say this one gave me the excuse for Found Family Coddling, everyone comforts and helps her towards the end which is perfect for my fluff-craving heart after all of the angst.Holding More than Cards (Ka/kegurui Compulsive Gambler) : Oh boy, I’ll be honest the reason I love this is purely because it’s pretty much the only fic for this pairing that I’ve found for my tastes and I had to make it myself dang it (They basically had a whole two episodes where Midari creamed herself for Yumeko and they had that scene where they held each other’s faces staring into their eyes, HOW is no one jumping on this ship??? There’s literally 5 fics total on ao3 I’m not joking). I really enjoyed getting to dig into Midari’s characterization for this one, especially since I had such a tiny bit of canon to go off of and had to set it after the anime’s s1 developments. I got to write Yumeko being a dom and dropping her cheerful attitude too, which was really satisfying. Also while this doesn’t have full on snut in it, it was the closest I’d come at the time, so that was an interesting challenge. This was a rare chance to indulge in unhealthy ships too (bc literally every ship in that show is unhealthy on some level lmao) so that was entertaining to try and navigate.Capture the Fly with Nectar Sweet (The Ch/illing Adventures of Sabrin/a) : I just posted this one recently but I’m adding it anyways, because I had an absolute blast working on it. It’s so starkly different from anything I usually write, because you all know I love close friendships and found family and all that quality fluff and caring. But instead this one was me staring at my laptop thinking of how I want to tell this character to go to hell, except that would be pointless because that’s literally where she came from. I really got to stretch my wings outside my comfort zone and dig around in the dark, manipulative side for a while, and it was so much fun to study one of my favourite villains (anti-hero? she’s such a mysterious mess idk how to classify her) and her relationship with Sabrina. I also got to attempt writing desperation from the outsider’s perspective instead of the victim’s, and while I feel like I definitely still have room to improve with that, it was a nice break from the way I usually write my omo fics. I also got to shift around my writing style for this one, using words like ‘betwixt’ (which I love but never get to use lol) and using a bunch of metaphors and similes to showcase how Madam views Sabrina. This is probably the fic that makes it obvious that Language Arts was my favourite subject in school and that I’m Extra when it comes to predator/prey comparisons lmao. (Note: Please read the tags on this one, the Dead Dove: Do Not Eat warning applies here.)

I actually don’t know who else to send this to that I haven’t already, since like half the omo tag has vanished and I’m blanking on usernames, so if any of y'all are reading this post and you write fics: consider this me asking you to do it so I can hear about your fics! :D

[kenisle]

ALRIGHT FUCKS LISTEN UP

for those of you desperate for new dirk gently’s holistic detective agency content but can’t find any because the fandom consists of roughly 30 people and someone’s hamster, then hoo boy have i got a show for you!

there are 3 fics on ao3 with the relationship “dirk/lieutenant assistent” (what was going to be a canon pairing in the third season, which has been cancelled) in them, none of which are completed, so i’ve taken it upon myself to fill that tag as much as i can in the next 6 months or so.

i’m gonna write so goddamn much. ive separated the types of fics im gonna write into 5 different phases bc i’m a nerd. the phases are as follows:

as you can see, this is a fuckton of work. i also may lose my adrenaline-powered drive to write all this shit at any given moment, so prepare for sporradic updates and nonsensical time frames in which the phases will occur.

wanna contribute? great! do that. you don’t have to be a writer; artists, gifmakers, shitposters, and everyone else is welcome to join in! just don’t expect me to have any idea what the fuck i’m doing.

if you’ve never fucking heard of dirk gently’s holistic detective agency, go watch it on hulu or maybe netflix. maybe even youtube. the show is a gorgeous mess, much like my blog, so all of my followers should check it out.

spread the word and who knows? maybe people will wanna have a good time and help me on this quest.

tag posts as “tently torrent” if u do it. if not then just sit back and enjoy

at some point i’ll use the blog @tentlytorrent. follow it for updates.

@singersalvageshop

[bellaloona]

Kpop Tag!

Tagged by @shineekeylover 💕

1. Ultimate bias? - EXO’s Lay/Zheng Yixing 💜💜💜

2. Ultimate bias wrecker? - I’m gonna interpret this not as “who’s the biggest contender for being a new UB” and more like “who keeps trying to be your bias in their group and is causing you the most stress” in which case it is easily:

Ong Seongwoo, who I complain about every time I reblog something about him but I reblog it anyway bc he’s that powerful

3. Favorite kpop song? - I’m just gonna name a bunch of the most played songs in my iTunes: Forever - EXO, Vibrato - Stellar, Hurt Locker - 9Muses, Blue Moon - Hyolyn ft. Changmo, Plz Don’t Be Sad - Highlight, Egoist - Olivia Hye ft. Jinsoul, Movie - BTOB, Like This - Pentagon, A Girl Like Me - Gugudan, Genie, SNSD

4. First kpop song? - the international k-pop anthem I Got A Boy by SNSD (ok technically I listened to 2NE1 and Taeyang before that in middle school but I didn’t know it was k-pop then, I heard IGAB for the first time knowing what I was getting into)

5. Favorite kpop single/album? - ugh this question hurts but it’s probably the Sunrise/Moonrise albums by DAY6. I can’t pick one

6. Favorite kpop ship? - everyone being best friends and supporting each other

7. Hard stan or soft? - I’d say about 95% soft

8. Favorite kpop company? - I like SM’s artists the most. And my favorite company WAS Fantagio but like...idk what’s happening over there rn

9. Story of how I got into kpop? - Hoo boy here we go... Like I said earlier I lowkey listened to 2NE1 and Taeyang in middle school but not very often. I thought they were good songs. In high school when we had to make groups for my PE final, which was to choreograph and dance to a song, and I was placed into a group with @dancingqueen707 (I’m tagging you bc this is your fault lol). She wanted us to dance to IGAB but the guys in our group weren’t having it but I thought the song was a bop anyway so I listened to it and became a fan of Girls’ Generation secretly and I didn’t want to stan anyone else because I had this cringy and immature idea of what it meant to be a k-pop fan. But I stopped resisting when my friend showed me Call Me Baby and Love Me Right during lunchtime on the days they came out. I thought I should give k-pop a chance because everything I heard sounded good. And here I am and everything still sounds good so I made the right decision!

ahh i wrote too much again but whatever I hope you guys liked it

I’ll tag @taenhoona, @fatheartnut, @yuniixoxo, @chunghart and @innocentlynik if you guys feel like it <3