#seriously y’all get a library card

[gremlinshatephilosophers]

2023 reading list!

I read 148 books this year and managed to go to all 78 public libraries in my county network!

Hell Bent [Alex Stern: 2] - Leigh Bardugo

The Golden Enclaves [Scholomance: 3] - Naomi Novik

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi [Amina al-Sirafi: 1] - Shannon Chakraborty

The Hunger Games [The Hunger Games: 1] - Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire [The Hunger Games: 2] - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay [The Hunger Games: 3] - Suzanne Collins

Camp Zero - Michelle Min Sterling

One True Loves - Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Priory of the Orange Tree [The Roots of Chaos: 1] - Samantha Shannon

One for My Enemy - Olivie Blake

Atalanta - Jennifer Saint

The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Adventure - Rick Riordan, Mark Oshiro

Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee

Daughter of the Moon Goddess [Celestial Kingdom: 1] - Sue Lynn Tan

A Day of Fallen Night [The Roots of Chaos: 0] - Samantha Shannon

Heart of the Sun Warrior [Celestial Kingdom: 2] - Sue Lynn Tan

Yellowface - R. F. Kuang

Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson

The Sleepless - Victor Manibo

Kaikeyi - Vaishnavi Patel

Exo [Exo: 1] - Fonda Lee

She Who Became the Sun [The Radiant Emperor: 1] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Rosewater [The Wormwood Trilogy: 1] - Tade Thompson

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

Book of Night [Book of Night: 1] - Holly Black

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

The Secret Book of Flora Lea - Patti Callahan Henry

The Only Survivors - Megan Miranda

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn [The Library Trilogy: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Red Rising [Red Rising Saga: 1] - Pierce Brown

Ink Blood Sister Scribe - Emma Törzs

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Clytemnestra - Constanza Casati

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride - Roshani Choksi

Light from Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki

Salt Houses - Hala Alyan

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell

The Unbroken [Magic of the Lost: 1] - C. L. Clark

The Shadow of What Was Lost [The Licanius Trilogy: 1] - James Islington

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

The Last to Vanish - Megan Miranda

All the Dangerous Things - Stacy Willingham

All My Rage - Sabaa Tahir

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

River Sing Me Home - Eleanor Shearer

The Jasmine Throne [The Burning Kingdoms: 1] - Tasha Suri

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson

Spells for Forgetting - Adrienne Young

Velvet Was the Night - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

Trust - Hernán Díaz

Dust Child - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Our Hideous Progeny - C. E. McGill

Golden Son [Red Rising Saga: 2] - Pierce Brown

The Henna Artist [The Jaipur Trilogy: 1] - Alka Joshi

The Art of Prophecy [The War Arts Saga: 1] - Wesley Chu

The Attic Child - Lola Jaye

How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

The Whispers - Ashley Audrain

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur [The Jaipur Trilogy: 2] - Alka Joshi

The Oleander Sword [The Burning Kingdoms: 2] - Tasha Suri

Immortal Longings [Flesh & False Gods: 1] - Chloe Gong

The Sea Elephants - Shastri Akella

Morning Star [Red Rising Saga: 3] - Pierce Brown

Honor - Thrity Umrigar

The First Bright Thing - J. R. Dawson

The Genesis of Misery - Neon Yang

An Echo of Things to Come [The Licanius Trilogy: 2] - James Islington

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? - Crystal Smith Paul

Last Exit - Max Gladstone

Masters of Death - Olivie Blake

The Final Strife [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 1] - Saara El-Arifi

Peach Blossom Spring - Melissa Fu

There There - Tommy Orange

A Master of Djinn [Dead Djinn Universe: 1] - P. Djèlí Clark

The Battle Drum [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 2] - Saara El-Arifi

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England - Brandon Sanderson

The Will of the Many [Hierarchy: 1] - James Islington

Independence - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 1] - RJ Barker

Tread of Angels - Rebecca Roanhorse

City of Last Chances - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Blacktongue Thief [Blacktongue: 1] - Christopher Buehlman

The Fifth Season [The Broken Earth: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

Forged by Blood [Tainted Blood Duology: 1] - Ehigbor Okosun

Even Though I Knew the End - C. L. Polk

The Bone Shard Daughter [The Drowning Empire: 1] - Andrea Stewart

Empire of Sand [The Books of Ambha: 1] - Tasha Suri

A Memory Called Empire [Teixcalaan: 1] - Arkady Martine

The Way of Kings [The Stormlight Archive: 1] - Brandon Sanderson

He Who Drowned the World [The Radiant Emperor: 2] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Empire of Exiles [Books of the Usurper: 1] - Erin M. Evans

Call of the Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 2] - RJ Barker

Ashes of the Sun [Burningblade & Silvereye: 1] - Django Wexler

Summer Sons - Lee Mandelo

The Ninth Rain [The Winnowing Flame Trilogy: 1] - Jen Williams

Foundryside [The Founders Trilogy: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Surviving Sky [The Rages Trilogy: 1] - Kritika H. Rao

The Light of All That Falls [The Licanius Trilogy: 3] - James Islington

Threads That Bind [Threads That Bind: 1] - Kika Hatzopoulou

The Sword Defiant [Lands of the Firstborn: 1] - Gareth Hanrahan

The City We Became [The Great Cities: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

The Chalice of the Gods [Percy Jackson and the Olympians: 6] - Rick Riordan

The Tiger and the Wolf [Echoes of the Fall: 1] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Justice of Kings [Empire of the Wolf: 1] - Richard Swan

The Fragile Threads of Power [Threads of Power: 1] - V. E. Schwab

The Deep Sky - Yume Kitasei

City of Stairs [Divine Cities: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson

Words of Radiance [The Stormlight Archive: 2] - Brandon Sanderson

Foul Heart Huntsman [Foul Lady Fortune: 2] - Chloe Gong

The Water Outlaws - S. L. Huang

Under the Udala Trees - Chinelo Okparanta

A Desolation Called Peace [Teixcalaan: 2] - Arkady Martine

The Celebrants - Steven Rowley

Translation State - Ann Leckie

Godkiller [Godkiller: 1] - Hannah Kaner

The Art of Destiny [The Wat Arts Saga: 2] - Wesley Chu

The Mimicking of Known Successes [Mossa & Pleiti: 1] - Malka Older

Shorefall [The Founders Trilogy: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Catfish Rolling - Clara Kumagai

Red Sister [The Book of the Ancestor: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Empire of Silence [The Sun Eater: 1] - Christopher Ruocchio

Sisters of the Lost Nation - Nick Medina

Dead Country [The Craft Wars: 1] - Max Gladstone

The Bone Shard Emperor [The Drowning Empire: 2] - Andrea Stewart

The Bear and the Serpent [Echoes of the Fall: 2] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Ancillary Justice [Imperial Radch: 1] - Ann Leckie

Six Crimson Cranes [Six Crimson Cranes: 1] - Elizabeth Lim

A River Enchanted [Elements of Cadence: 1] - Rebecca Ross

Realm of Ash [The Books of Ambha: 2] - Tasha Suri

The Obelisk Gate [The Broken Earth: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The World We Make [The Great Cities: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The Stardust Thief [The Sandsea Trilogy: 1] - Chelsea Abdullah

All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda

The Mountains Sing - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Silver Nitrate - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

None of This Is True - Lisa Jewell

City of Blades [Divine Cities: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Bone Ship’s Wake [The Tide Child Trilogy: 3] - RJ Barker

Locklands [The Founders Trilogy: 3] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Oathbringer [The Stormlight Archive: 3] - Brandon Sanderson

The Judas Blossom [The Nightingale and the Falcon: 1] - Stephen Aryan

The Faithless [Magic of the Lost: 2] - C. L. Clark

One Word Kill [Impossible Times: 1] - Mark Lawrence

[thebibliosphere]

Tw: scrolling motion in video.

(I tried to keep the scrolling slow so it hopefully doesn’t make anyone dizzy)

ID: a video scrolling through the @queerliblib library front page displaying numerous queer titles and audiobooks.

Y’all, @queerliblib just went live and their collection is already incredible.

There are so many queer books there that I couldn’t get my local library to host. Seriously, if you’re in the US, go to their website and get yourself a library card. It integrated perfectly with my libby account and now I’m about to listen to so many books while I work.

Also, not Hunger Pangs being front and center for Disability Pride 😭. Thank you, @queerliblib 💖. And thank you for creating such a wonderful project. This is going to make such a difference for so many people.

[liu-anhuaming]

2022 Reading Recap and 2023 Reading Goals

Happy New Year y’all! I love collecting little stats about my reading through the year, so I wanted to actually take those data and make a post, since I don’t talk too much about my general reading outside of how many Chinese books I’ve read.

So let’s get started!

2022 In Review

2022 was a great year in terms of reading. Last month I shared a not-yet complete journal spread where I made charts of all my reading stats, so first here’s the finished version:

Now, to write out the important bits for those of you who don’t want to zoom in and try to parse my handwriting.

My reading goal for 2022 was 50 books. I read 75 books in total. 40 of those were in English, and 35 were in Chinese. I read the most books in May (14, mostly manga iirc), and the least in October (2). I averaged about 6 books per month.

I read a total of 21,849 pages. I read the most pages in January (3,208) and, once again, the least in October (511). That’s an average of 1,821 pages per month. The books I read averaged about 291 pages each.

My average rating was 3.75 stars. I had 14 books rated 5 stars, but my most common rating was 4 stars (I gave 45 books 4 stars last year). I had no 1 star reads, only two 2 star reads, and just nine 3 star reads. There were 5 books I didn’t rate for various reasons. The fact that I had so many 4 and 5 star reviews tells me I managed to read a lot of books I really enjoyed this year.

2023 Goals

So I’ve set a couple pretty basic, loose reading goals for this new year. Here’s what they are:

Read at least 60 books total: For the past few years, my reading goal has been a consistent 50 books, but I want to raise it this year. In 2021 I read 59 books, and last year I read 75, so I think I shouldn’t struggle too hard to reach this new goal.

Read at least 20 Chinese books: I actually read over 30 Chinese books last year, so this goal of 20 should be fairly easy to achieve. However, I do want to make this a fairly easy goal for me to reach, because I do have a rather horrific number of unread English books on my shelves, and I would like to dedicate some more time to working through those. So, I’m going to aim low on the off chance that I end up spending more time with English books in 2023.

Read more nonfiction: Pretty self-explanatory. It is only in recent years that I’ve started to read more nonfiction, and I’ve been trying to change that. I’ve got a couple excellent candidates on my shelves, so hopefully this one won’t be too hard.

Get back into audiobooks: in 2021 I spent a lot of time listening to audiobooks as I did embroidery, but I sort of fell out of that habit this past year. I want to change that. I have the Libby app on my phone, but I need to get my library card sorted out so I can access it again. 

Read the brick that is Les Miserables, and the much less substantial Moby Dick: I’ve been playing with the idea of reading these two books for a while, but I never actually did it. For Les Mis, I didn’t have any particular reason for not reading it. I just never got around to it I guess. As for Moby Dick, my brother suggested it to me, and ever since that one time he said a book I recommended to him “wasn’t real literature” (yes he’s an English major) I refuse to take book recs from him seriously (yes I know this is slightly petty). But then! I was browsing reviews of Moby Dick and saw a particularly amusing one-star review, and decided that I would, in fact, like to give it a try.

That’s all I’ve got in terms of goals, so here’s to another year of excellent books!

[krazys-ass-emporium]

8 Shows to know you

@j-ellyfish​ tagged me and my slow ass is finally filling this out.

1. Star Trek (Mostly TOS, but also TNG, DS9, and Voyager. Sorry, but the new stuff just doesn’t look like Star Trek to me.)

This was my first fandom I guess?? I didn’t actually interact with anyone since this is before I ventured onto the depths of the interwebs. I was 10 years old and everyone kept calling me a Vulcan because of how literal I was. I did not know what a Vulcan was but soon found out and got my grubby hands on every piece of media I could find at the local library. I probably watched every VHS and read every novel they had. Spock is still my favorite to this day. I wrote my freaking GED essay about him.

2. Redwall

I might have been even younger when I got into this than when I got into Star Trek. This is just so unknown no one knows what I’m talking about lolol. It was more the books than the show, but it has a short animated series so it still counts. I was obsessed with this. I made forts out of logs by the stream across the street from my house and swords out of wood and play-fought my brother with them.

3. Teen Titans

This was probably my segue into anime. Yes, this isn’t actually an anime, but since it incorporates anime aspects it got me used to them?? I was very into superheroes in general when I was like 12 to 15 or so, but these were my top fave. Controversial opinion: DC is better than Marvel. I made my very first OC based on Teen Titans I think she might have been partly Star Trek too lol. I also started drawing people because of this show. Before that I only drew horses and wolves.

4. InuYasha

My very first anime. It all started when I saw a manga at the library and then looked up the anime on YouTube. Ah, the memories of watching an episode in three parts and you’d never know if it would be the dub or the sub. This was the first fandom where I actually joined the interwebs and interacted with human type people. The internet in 2006 was a very different place lol. I got my first email address (which I still have lol) to join this website called Fanart Central so I could post my InuYasha fanart. I found my first online friends there too. I miss them...

5.  Pokémon

I’m not entirely sure how I managed to watch as much of this as I did, but I only gave up when I got to Alola. The original is my favorite, but I also liked some of the newer stuff too. I drew art for Pokémon too and let me tell you, it’s the most toxic hell hole of a fandom ever. I’ve never gotten flames before Pokémon, all for liking an unpopular ship lol. The internet in 2010 was the Wild West.

6. Yu-Gi-Oh!

Holy crap was I into Ygo. I still have my room covered in it lol. I still love it to bits, but I’ve calmed down a lot. I have a lot of cards too and I do know how to play, but not competitively and I don’t know anyone in person who wants to duel me :( I got into cosplay because of Ygo and made my first cosplay (Joey Wheeler) in 2013. I apparently like to suffer because Ygo cosplays are NOT easy. I made my still best friend in this fandom. Seriously, this is one of the best fandoms out there, most everyone is so nice.

7. Supernatural

(Don’t look at me, I know pfft). I can’t deny how much I like this show... it’s honestly the one I’ve rewatched the most times. I no not know why. I guess it’s just easy to binge lol. You can blame my group of gay guy friends back in 2013 for me getting into this. It’s also why I got Netflix, and tumblr. And here I still am...

8. Hetalia

Oh wow, a Hetalia blog having Hetalia on the list, weird. Got into this at the crusty old age of 28, so I don’t have the nostalgia for it like a lot of y’all. I fell hard pretty fast. I also have made way more friends than probably any other fandom I’ve been in? Probably because I stuck my head out of my shell for a bit lol.

I tag no one because I’m lazy, do it if you want and you can blame me pfft.

[freckleslikestars]

Now, I’ve definitely told y’all about the illegal blackjack ring I ran in sixthform that got me banned from the school library, but have I ever mentioned that that’s not where I started running underground gambling?

We’ve got to go back three or four years before I was at sixth form. I was 12-13 ish and attending the church youth group each Friday night. Now, I’d already kind of given up on religion at this point, but I still attended the church youth group (partly because my mother still insisted I go, partly because I had a kind of friendship group there, and partly because we used to sing karaoke and it was the only time I was allowed to listen to Amy Winehouse). Anyway, I would frequently get pretty bored, and so, because I always always have a pack of cards on me, started hiding out in one of the back rooms playing solitaire. Only, people started joining me, at first just sitting and watching (other than karaoke and a wonky foosball table that if you were on the broken side you had to hold up yourself whilst playing, there wasn’t much to do), and eventually, I got fed up of people watching, so I started playing blackjack with them.

Now, blackjack my parents taught me on summer holidays, but sometimes I’d branch out and we’d play Texas hold’em, a game I taught my self by watching it on YouTube every chance I got at school before they banned YouTube there, though it depended on how I was feeling and how everyone else was feeling. The stakes were always low (we were allowed to bring £3 for tuck shop, and we quickly figured that £1.50 got us enough sugar and E-numbers to keep us happy whilst leaving £1.50 to gamble with) and we were never caught - partially because I’d give people a cut of my earnings to play lookout - so I’ve never actually considered it as infamous or interesting as the story of getting banned from the school library.

That was until I was talking to my dad, because he doesn’t know how to play Texas holdem (don’t worry, I’m teaching him) and he was like ‘how are you so good at this cause I certainly never taught you’ and I just kinda looked down and was like ‘uhhh church’ and my dad was like…’what?’ And I was like ‘I learnt to play at church youth group’. Folks, my father learnt to gamble at his church youth group where a group of them would hide in the back and play poker dice and backgammon.

I swear, I am seriously just following in my fathers footsteps.

[theaufanartist]

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯?”𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦,

“𝘐 𝘥𝘰,”𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯, “𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵.”

“𝘈𝘢𝘩,”𝘔𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘪 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴, “𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘦?”

“𝘜𝘮, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰,”𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, “𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.”

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴,”𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘭𝘺𝘭𝘺, “𝘣𝘶𝘵, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵.”

Song Min Gi💖

“How was your presentation on Don Quixote?”your bestie asks you, as you make your way out of the class. You sigh, looking at the notes in your hand.

“It could have gone better I think,”you say, making her snort, “what?”

“Seriously? Better? Bitch, your presentations are the top class! What the hell!”

You simply scoff at her, flipping the pages of your notebook, her sipping on the coffee she had with her. She suddenly pinches your arm, making you squeal, looking at her.

“What?”

“135 degrees, your hottie standing next to mine,”she says, making you look around. She sighs, slapping her forehead, “your math is still bad as it was, five years ago,”she says, getting hold of your chin, and turning it in the direction she was pointing at, verbally. You stand there in awe, watching your muse talking to Yun Ho and Jong Ho, smiling like the smiley boy he was. His gaze fell on you and he waved a bit, making your eyes widen, but you managed to keep your composure and wave him back.

“Gosh, y’all are so awkward,”the girl next to you says, making you roll your eyes at her. You look ahead and see a girl going upto Min Gi with a card, all nervous and shy. You just stand there, looking at how he smiles and keeps it, but says something to her, which makes her run away, making him look at Yun Ho all guilty. You just wonder if you went to him and did the same, would he do the same?

“That’s not gonna happen to you,”you hear your best friend say, before you got lost in overthinking. You look at her and give her a weak smile, before leaving for the library. Min Gi looks at you, waiting for you to turn and give him a smile, but you don’t, making him frown, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Jong Ho, who looks at your best friend and raises his eyebrow in question. She goes to him, pecking his cheek.

“What’s up with her?”

“I don’t know,”she says, one arm wrapped around his waist, “I heard her presentation went well, but she still didn’t look happy.”

Min Gi listens to her intently, wondering what might be bugging you. Being an arts student himself, he knew the pressures of dreaming and creating, and he knew how you were. But, after listening to what your best friend said, he wondered what’s up with you.

You, on the other hand, began overthinking. It was nearly evening and you were standing by the pretty garden your campus had on the other side, but very few people came there; that made it your safe space. You were writing something, when someone cleared their voice from behind you. You jerk backward, nearly toppling the coffee he had in his hand.

“Hey, hey; it’s me,”you hear Min Gi speak, making you sigh. You see two coffee cups in his hand, then look at him. He looks at his hands, then proceeds to hand one over to you, which you accept, visibly grateful. You sip from it, then hum, making him smile at you, looking overhead. But then, something strikes you, and you look at him.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Well,”he begins, staring at the cup in his hand, “I had a hunch.”

You look at him, not buying his bs. He sighs, rolling his eyes at you, “Jong’s girl told me,”he says, making you scoff playfully at him. He takes a look at your doodles, and the lines you’ve written near them.

“I love the poems you write,”he says, trying to contain his inner crush on you, “they’re…beautiful.”

You look at the notes open, scrambling to get them together to prevent him from reading more about him, giving him a hasty smile. He sees that and smiles, drinking his coffee. The thing was, Min Gi always liked you, and always wanted to approach you, but wasn’t sure about your feelings for him.

Till today.

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯?”𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦,

“𝘐 𝘥𝘰,”𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯, “𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵.”

“𝘈𝘢𝘩,”𝘔𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘪 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴, “𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘦?”

“𝘜𝘮, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰,”𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, “𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.”

“𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴,”𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘭𝘺𝘭𝘺, “𝘣𝘶𝘵, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵.”

This makes you look at him in visible confusion.

“What do you mean by ‘a hunch’?”

“I may or may not have heard your best friend talking to her boyfriend,”he says, making you choke on your coffee. Min Gi panics, as he places his coffee on the railing and proceeds to slowly tap your back, rubbing it slowly to ease you.

“What did you hear?”

“That my feelings are reciprocated?”

“What feelings?”

He looks at you and smiles shyly. He cups your face making you close your eyes on feeling the warmth emanating from them, and strokes his thumb against your cheek, sighing.

“I like you,”he whispers, making you open your eyes in surprise. Your reaction almost makes him break his character, but nonetheless tries to maintain it to not make it seem like a joke, “I liked you ever since I first saw you with Jong’s girl. I love how you care for someone so easily, but hate it when something affects you so easily. I want to be near you, with you at all times. Will you let me be with you?”

You couldn’t believe it. Was it even real? Your crush, expressing his feelings for you in a way you always wrote in your poems about love, in your safe space? Really?

“Huh? What?”

“You zoned out there for a while,”he laughs softly, making you giggle, “I asked you out.”

“Oh,”you reply, making him frown, “I just didn’t believe this happening. But, yeah I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Um, not like that,”you try to reason out, “help a girl out, will you?”

He laughs, leaning forward to touch his forehead to yours, closing his eyes. Your eyes close as an involuntary response, sighing softly.

“I wanna take you out on a date tomorrow,”he says, “sounds good?”

“It does,”you smile shyly, “it does sound good.”

“Great,”he says, “lets stay like this for a while; it feels nice.”

You grin wide, making him giggle.

“Were those poems really about me?”he asks, as he tips your chin to look up at him. You pretend to think hard.

“I think, most of them were for Lee Dong Wook,”you say, making him scowl.

“Yah! Those lovey dovey poems for an actor, and not for me?? Hey-Wait! Come baaaack!!”he says, as he begins chasing you, coffee cups long forgotten, just laughter echoing in the safe haven for the both of you.

[h0tchner]

Worth It (college AU!aaron hotchner x fem!reader)

pairing: college AU!aaron hotchner x fem!reader

summary: aaron and reader are both students together at George Washington University. although Y/N needs to study for her upcoming exam, her boyfriend aaron has other plans for their afternoon... other, sinful, plans... ;)

word count: 3k

includes: SMUT, fluff, hotch has a silver chain (adsfhkjdhskfhkjsd), spitting!kink, oral (female receiving), unprotected sex, cigarette mention, PDA, slight bratty!reader, lots of eye contact and kissing, creampie

rating: 18+ (this is basically pure SMUT so pls dni if you are uncomfy with explicit sexual content, or if you are a minor).

a/n: tysm to my besties in the discord server who put the idea of college!hotch with a silver chain in my head. this thing practically wrote itself. i hope you all enjoy, and that it's what you imagined! PLS (!!!!!!!!!!!) interact if you liked this, rb, comment, like and/or send me a request if you have ideas for future fics! i love y’all! - rivka💞

It’s the first beautiful spring afternoon of the year. Considering you and your boyfriend Aaron have both been cooped up in the GWU library all winter long, the choice to study outside in the fresh air today was a unanimous no-brainer.

After a full morning of classes, the two of you waste no time racing over to the courtyard at noon, in serious need of some sunshine. Hand in hand, you navigate the throngs of students and teachers, pushing your way through the sea of people toward an old oak tree at the far end of the outdoor common area. You and Aaron settle underneath the sturdy branches happily, study materials in hand.

His back is up against the tree, and you’re nestled between his long legs, resting comfortably against his warm, firm chest. In your hands are a pile of colour-coded flashcards that you’re memorizing for your Shakespeare 101 test that’s later this afternoon. Well… trying to memorize, that is. Aaron is making it kind of impossible to concentrate.

Although he’s supposed to be looking over notes for his Political Science class, he is decidedly… not. It takes all of five minutes for him to put his notebook down with an exaggerated huff.

You flick your eyes up at him. Aaron’s head is tipped back against the tree trunk, his eyes screwed shut, dark eyebrows furrowed. Something has him riled up and restless; he’s angstier than usual… more impatient than usual. You can’t quite put your finger on why.

You let out a soft sigh of concern, making a mental note to talk to your boyfriend about it later tonight, and turn back to your flashcards.

About 10 minutes later, just as you’re starting to leaf through the literary symbolism of Hamlet, one of Aaron’s large hands begins to tease the hem of your yellow sundress.

You blush lightly and swat his touch away, playfully, cheeks flushing wildly at your boyfriend’s overtly public display of affection. You say nothing, and neither does he. He doesn’t exactly stop… and it’s not like you exactly stop him.

You re-read the same flashcard over again as Aaron’s hand continues to toy at your dress. His other hand comes up to rest on your hipbone.

You fidget a little on the grass under his touch, adjusting your hips to move backwards, feeling something hard pressing into your... OH. So that’s what has him so worked up.

He sucks in a breath, fingers digging into your hip a little harder, the hand on your dress inching further up your thigh -

“Aaron!” you whine, breathy and bewildered. “There are so many people out here you seriously need to control yourself.”

You let your head tip back to rest on his solid chest. Looking up at him you can see the glimmer of arrogance in his darkened, hazel eyes. There’s something else there too… something more… lustful.

Predictably, he says nothing: but lucky for you, his eyes say everything.

“You made me stop studying,” you fake a frown, placing your flashcards onto your lap.

He gives your hip another squeeze.

“Took you long enough,” he murmurs, smirking, brushing a few strands of hair off your neck before attaching his lips to your collarbone.

“Oh fuck,” you breathe out. You bring a hand up and card it through his thick, black hair. You can feel him smiling against your skin, pressing light kisses up your neck, all the way up to your ear.

“You just look so good today, Y/N, I can’t help myself,” he whispers, deep and rough yet full of youthful horniness. He takes the soft skin of your earlobe in his teeth and pulls on it gently, making your eyes flutter shut and your hand pull hard at the hair on back of his head.

Aaron groans into your ear at the feeling. You shudder at the sound. He loops his arms around you and lets his head drop onto your shoulder. You stretch up slightly to the side and softly peck his cheek, moving one of your hands to cover both of his where they rest over your midsection, the other still playing with his gorgeous, raven hair.

“Babe, what in the world is going on with you today?” you ask, knowing full well what the answer is.

He lifts his head from your shoulder and glances at you, warm, golden-brown eyes shining. The expression on his face makes your heart do backflips.

You take the flashcards from your lap and toss them into your bag, twisting around in his arms so that you’re on your knees, facing him.

“Aaron,” you say again, this time more deliberate and confident, “what is it that has you so side-tracked?” Your fingers reach out to play with the silver chain he wears around his neck. You loop it around one of your fingers and pull him closer to you. You hear his breath hitch in his throat.

“You,” he shrugs.

Aaron lunges forward and catches you in a hungry kiss. It’s wet and needy, full of tongue and teeth.

“You’re insufferable,” you jest, lips pulling apart, fingers still toying with his chain.

“Yeah, I know,” he tilts his head cockily, grinning against your mouth as he captures your lips again.

“Dorm?” you ask him softly when the kiss breaks, dropping his chain back to rest on his black shirt.

He nods, letting his thumb brush over your cheek. He steals another kiss and then stands, suddenly, pulling you up with him. Before you can even register what’s happening, Aaron has both of your bags on his shoulders, and he’s scooping you up in his arms. With haste, he starts striding across the grass towards the dorms.

You throw your arms around his neck and grin up at him wildly as he apologetically barrels through the crowd. What a sight it is; you: cheeks flushed and laughing, yellow sundress billowing, and him: sexy as hell in dark blue jeans and a simple black t-shirt, practically sprinting with you in his arms across the campus.

You giggle as he elbows open the front door of his dorm building, and bury your face in his neck. You breathe in the faint smell of his guilty-pleasure cigarettes and clean, musky cologne. When you reach the elevator, he finally lets you down, but his touches never cease.

Aaron pushes you up against the wall of it and kisses you until you’re moaning into his mouth, legs practically jelly.

He continues this until the door opens on his floor, and you’re whisked away, again. He’s pulling you behind him at record speed down the hallway, your hand in his, until you reach his room.

The moment the door closes behind you, Aaron throws down the backpacks and is all over you again.

“Oh my god Aar,” you gasp, as he spins you around and traps you between him and the door. He pushes one of his denim-clad legs in-between yours and flexes up lightly, brushing over your core.

“So,” kiss, “fucking,” kiss, “hot,” kiss, “in,” kiss, “that,” kiss, “dress,” he breathes into your mouth in between bruising kisses.

“Do you have any idea what you looked like? Sitting between my legs in my favourite sundress of yours?” Aaron tilts your chin up with his fingers, forcing you to open your eyes and look at him. He is completely undone. A self-confident smile plays on his red, puffy lips. His dimples make your heart ache. His thick eyebrows are quirked up, and his eyes are nearly black, blown out with pure lust.

You answer his question with a whimper, bringing your hands up to his chest to tug at his black tee.

Aaron steps back a little bit, letting you pull his shirt up and over his head. You toss it to the side, bringing your hands back up to run over his broad, lightly toned chest.

“I couldn’t concentrate,” he admits smugly, letting his hands roam over your body.

“Yeah, and why’s that my fault?” You pant, teasingly, egging him on. You like to get a little bratty with him during foreplay, knowing that it always comes back to bite you in the ass later on in the best way possible.

He growls at you, licks his lips and dives back in, kissing you with unparalleled passion, rocking his leg up into your underwear-covered pussy.

“You were right there in my hands, but I couldn’t touch you,” he utters.

“You can touch me now,” you say, “and I can touch you.” You move your fingers down to the waistband of his jeans, eager to feel him. Aaron’s hands stop you.

“Not yet, babe,” he breathes out, shaky, touching his forehead against yours. “Need to taste you first.”

Your mind goes blank at his audacity.

“Aaron, fuck, please,” you whimper, eyes wide. You grind down on his leg, eliciting a grunt from your boyfriend.

You move to grind down on his leg again, but he removes it, leaving you to shudder at the loss of contact. He scoops you up again and carries you into his bedroom.

Aaron throws you down onto the bed, his black and white plaid sheets still rumpled from last night’s restless sleep.

He stands at the foot of the bed, staring down at you, his silver chain resting on the tufts of dark hair on his bare chest. His cock is straining at the fabric of his jeans, and his chest is heaving. He is lean and muscular, and oh so perfect.

“Baby, you’re so hot, please touch me, I need you to touch me,” you plead, pressing your legs together for friction.

“Fucking beautiful,” Aaron whispers as he kneels, wrapping his arms around your thighs and pulling you toward him.

You yelp as he drags you down the bed to him, the skirt of your sundress now around your waist. You look down at your gorgeous boyfriend as he nips and kisses your thighs.

“Aaron,” his name falls from your mouth like a prayer as you reach one hand down to tug at his hair. He tightens his grip around your legs, inching closer and closer to where you need him the most.

He presses a soft, open-mouthed kiss to the underwear covering your clit, making your back arch off the bed, chasing more.

“Aaron please,” you grip his hair with one hand and the sheets with another.

This time he sucks lightly on it through the fabric, and you cry out.

You squirm and moan under his touch as he licks your slit through your panties.

“Oh my god Aaron if you don’t to- OH!” Your frustration is drowned out by the sound of your moans as Aaron pushes your underwear to the side, eating you out like his life depends on it.

He laps at you with vigour, alternating between flat strokes and gentle sucking. Your hand in his dark hair is unfaltering as he hums between your folds, sending shockwaves throughout your whole body. You reach down with your other hand to hold onto Aaron’s, which he unhooks from your thigh and entwines with yours effortlessly.

You are a moaning, whimpering mess underneath his lips. He adds a finger, curling it just right inside of you. You can’t help but thrash, riding his face, begging to cum.

Aaron moans into your folds as he adds a second finger, scissoring them inside you.

“Aaron, baby,” you moan, “I’m so close.”

He peeks up at you under thick eyelashes from his spot between your legs. You lock eyes and he winks. The smug bastard winks.

That wink is all it takes for the dam to break, and your orgasm to overtake you.

Aaron continues to suck, kiss, and lick you through your high, letting you guide his head and ride his tongue until your body is still. He finishes you off with a gentle kiss just above your pubic bone.

“Come here handsome,” you breathe out, finally releasing the hand from his hair, reeling from the intensity of your orgasm.

Aaron wastes no time climbing up the bed as you push yourself into a seated position, taking off your sundress and throwing it across the room. His pink lips are wet with your arousal, and it makes your toes curl. You reach out and pull him to you, sealing your mouths in a searing kiss. Aaron groans into your mouth as you palm him over his blue jeans. He swiftly undoes your bra and lets it join the growing pile of clothes on his bedroom floor.

“Open,” he commands, rising onto his knees, running a finger over your parted lips.

You open your mouth and stick out your tongue as Aaron tugs on the hair at the nape of your neck, forcing your head back. He spits into your mouth, and you swallow it, never breaking eye contact.

It’s hot and dominating. You can’t get enough.

“Need you,” you whisper, your hand finding the button of his jeans.

“Y/N,” he grunts, one hand reaching to grab your bare breast as you unzip his pants.

He shimmies out of them, and his blue boxers too.

Finally, finally, Aaron is naked in front of you. His thick cock is red, hard, and pulsing, erect on his lower stomach.

You gaze into Aaron’s eyes as you spit into your hand and wrap it around his dick. You pump your hand teasingly, and his eyes slam shut, a string of expletives leave his mouth.

“Fuck, babe,” he groans as you swipe your thumb over the tip.

You move your hand a few more times, each more purposeful than the last. You’re just beginning to find a rhythm when your boyfriend pushes you down lightly onto the bed.

“Aaron?” You gasp, questioning.

“Need to be inside you,” he rasps as he hovers over you, pressing kisses to your neck as he lines himself up.

Aaron rubs himself over your pussy a few times, coating his dick with your arousal, driving both of you insane. You both look down as he finally pushes himself inside of you, the image of his thick cock splitting you open almost too much to bear. Your eyes snap closed in bliss at the sight of it.

“Oh Aaron, oh my god,” you breathe out as he bottoms out.

“Look at me, Y/N” he orders, unmoving.

You open your eyes to find his, dark and shameless, right over yours. His hair is soft and messy on his forehead. The silver chain around his neck touches your lips lightly as it dangles from his neck. He is the most beautiful sight in the whole world.

“Fuck me, Aaron.” You sigh, wrapping your legs around his waist to pull him in even deeper.

With a low, sinful, groan, he does.

The pace is perfectly rough; with every thrust of his hips into you, you grind yours halfway to meet him. You let your hands wander over the expanse of his back and shoulders, and then up into his hair. The sound of your hips snapping against each other is delicious. With every stroke, you whimper into his lips, his neck, his chest; any piece of skin you can find. It’s all free real estate.

“You feel so good, babe, I’m so close,” Aaron whispers into your mouth. You squeeze around him in response, letting him know it’s okay to take what he needs. The movement elicits a deep moan from your boyfriend.

With that, he picks up the pace, lifting your legs up and over his shoulders, and you dissolve into a pile of whimpers. This new angle allows him to go even deeper, even harder.

His silver chain passes over your lips again and again, as his thrusts become more frantic. You take the necklace between your lips and bite down, muffling the sound of your mewls. The metal is cold and hard in your mouth, and the sensation makes you moan.

Aaron’s eyes scan yours and then your lips, finding his chain in your mouth. His eyes all but roll back into his head.

“Holy shit Y/N,” he pants. You watch as he starts to devolve, clinging to him as he throws his head back and goes over the edge.

He spills into you loudly, pressing against your body, filling you up with hot cum.

You release the chain from your teeth and pull Aaron down onto you, needing to feel the weight of him.

“Aaron, oh my god, baby, yes, oh my god,” you whisper into his ear as his thrusting slows and his hips stop, his cock deep inside you.

You pulse around him, holding him close, rubbing your hands up and down his back. He is collapsed on top of you, and both of you are breathing heavily. Your chests are pressed together, sweat is sticking to your skin.

Aaron lifts his head from your shoulder to look up at you through hooded eyes and thick lashes. He gives you a dopey grin and his signature wink, before letting his head fall back down.

You laugh into his hair, pressing a soft kiss there.

You two stay like that for a minute or so, revelling in the closeness, before you decide to speak.

“Aar?” You say, nudging his head with your nose.

“Mhhhmmm,” he mumbles, still nuzzled into your neck, his breathing still slowing.

“I still have to study for my exam.”

Aaron groans into your shoulder, and then picks his head up again so you two are eye to eye.

“Don’t worry about it, babe. I’ll just pull the fire alarm,” he grins, all dimples.

You roll your eyes at his ridiculously adorable proposition, pulling at the chain on his neck to bring him in for another kiss.

“You’re so stupid,” you mumble against his lips.

“Only for you,” he replies, nipping at your bottom lip.

Well, it’s only one test. If I fail, I fail… you tell yourself as Aaron slides his tongue into your mouth again, and you feel his cock hardening inside you, ready for round two.

For this? It’s worth it.

taglist:

@ssahotchie @laurensprentiss @arsonhotchner @heliotropehotch @agent-laufeyson @mrsh0tchner

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 18: A Series of Ecological Disasters

Booting up ye old Yugioh, booting up a new aesthetic playlist to type to. (today’s playlist is webcore, which would feel like such a damn fake aesthetic, if it weren’t that every single one of these -core aesthetics are pretty damn fake and everyone knows it.)

Anyway, it’s been so long that, I’ll be honest, I thought I booted up the wrong episode:

I usually skip the anime intro, but I try to watch it once each arc, cuz the intros change, and this arc was like “screw it, here’s all the other villains, just pretend this arc isn’t happening.” They had Pegasus, they had Marik, they have Bakura (who is kind of in this shot as well, you can see him phasing in there.) And like...I guess they’re hiding the villain of this arc or something because that was it. Alexander the Great got just nixed from this villain list and that’s a shame.

Just a real weird choice, but since apparently this arc didn’t air in Japan they probably had to outsource this anime intro and whatever studio in charge of it just cobbled together stuff from every other season and then a couple of shots of capsule stuff.

Speaking of capsule stuff: get a load of how many freakin lines the animators have to deal with every time they draw Grandpa.

Bro saw this and was like “oh yeah, this is a Shonen Jump” and yeah. The hair does give those vibes. We got a good look at what Vegeta would look like if he really let himself go.

(read more under the cut)

Sorry, my playlist started playing a song where every single line of the song is “Adrien Brody” and it took me like a few minutes to realize I was listening to “Brodyquest” completely seriously.

Damn it, webcore, don’t betray me like this.

Anyway, this arc does something super surprising: Yugi actually hugs somebody and doesn’t look like he’s going to pass out standing up.

It is pretty fitting that the good Yugi hug would go to Grandpa.

And, as night falls, Joey Wheeler has gotten hungry, and there is nothing to eat but his new best friend and spirit animal, baby dragon. Unfortunately he shares life points with the dragon, and I think if you eat it that just instakills you.

And directly underneath him--since this world is like 100 feet wide and things just conveniently happen--Tea has told everyone that they needed to stop worrying about Joey. Which is a lot coming from Tea, because her worrying about Yugi/Yami getting hurt is most of what occupies her headspace in this series.

But even Tea was like, screw Joey, I guess.

Who kinda just falls directly into them upside down, and shows us what Joey’s hair looks like when it’s sticking straight up.

For reals, admire how long Joey Wheeler’s hair is. If Tea were upside down, she would have the same length of hair.

Also speaking of Vegeta, I am low key concerned that Joey has what appears to be a significant amount of male pattern balding going on for a teenager.

Apparently getting set on fire many, many times did have an effect on Joey, and this massive pompadour he wears is a combover. Poor baby.

Holy crap, if this is what card stress and getting killed multiple times did to Joey Wheeler, can you imagine what’s going on under Seto’s bangs? That’s probably why his bangs ride so low, Seto likely wears a freakin toupee.

Guys, Joey’s gonna lose his hair at 25 at this rate. Those locks just aren’t long for this world. Poor baby.

After Joey rejoins the party, he immediately eats all of their food. Not sure why they can’t just have Baby Dragon eat like...whatever Baby Dragon naturally eats...and then transform that into shared Joey Wheeler life points, but it’s not clear exactly how much of a life-connection they have with their Yugioh monsters. Not like it matters because Joey Wheeler is default starving all the time anyway.

Tristan has decided we should start laying blame, I guess because Duke Devlin isn’t here anymore to be the local kill joy. This doesn’t seem to be important at any point, and most of the characters are just ignoring Tristan because like...once you’re in the haunted game in a haunted tomb in a random part of India--it’s kind of moot to argue about who’s fault that is, youknow?

Joey reminds us that he found this quest item in a treasure chest under a secret waterfall. No one says “that was convenient that you landed there after getting chased through a ravine by man-eating birds after you got your dragon from when you got your crotch injury from getting spliced by that tree.”

Which is when Tea says “Wait! We haven’t had a plot thing happen in like 4 seconds! Wait!”

Hey what degree of “I don’t trust nature” do you have to be to assume that all the flowers are trying to eat you?

Like what level of anxiety is Tea where she not only is like “pretty sure the flowers are going to destroy us?” but also...she’s correct? Like she’s not wrong.

They set the dog flowers on fire, but unlike the Jungle Book this doesn’t solve any problems (which apparently got taken off the Disney+ kid’s menu so...yet again, I make a Disney reference in these recaps that future generations will not understand because so much of the Disney library has been banned from the vault. It’s almost like Disney should let go of that copyright they held on for like a hundred years, because what they’re holding on to is only going to get more racist with time. But nah. Gotta hold on with their greedy mickey mouse gloves.)

So instead of using fire, Tristan used his monster to electrocute the air (?) and blind the dogs. Wisely, the animators quickly jumped to this other scene so we wouldn’t have to analyze why it’s suddenly daytime or why that plan would even work.

Joey and Tristan do a lot of buddy buddy stuff this arc. Usually we see a lot of Joey and Yugi’s bottomless friendship, but we don’t get this much Tristan/Joey love. So shippers rejoice, these two seem to have several coordinated dances and songs...and I’d say that teens don’t typically do that, but I went to summer camp, there are situational places where teens will sing the entire vacation and make coordinated dances.

Weirdly, since Joey and Tristan share so much time together, this also means Tea and Yugi actually sit next to eachother for a lot of this arc, almost as if they were a couple. Mind you, they’re chaperoned closely by Grandpa, but youknow...that’s a different energy than I’m used to seeing.

That and like, they can’t have Tea dance with them because last time she did a dance, it was like a DDR fight and she elbowed some guy like it was a fisticuffs situation. Like there was some sort of dance war going on behind the scenes of Yugioh’s card war, and it came up once and I guess Tea resolved it and the dance fights haven’t come back since.

Overall, if they did a dance with Tea, they would get kneed in the face, so that’s probably why they insist on doing cancans as a duet and not a trio.

After Joey and Tristan freak out over having no food, Tea decides to just start eating in front of them.

and like...didn’t Joey eat that food yesterday? Like last night? The short term memory loss on all these fools.

Immediately after this we realize something weird in the water. That’s right, it’s a massive head.

Yugi seems to have forgotten they lit this turtle on fire and electrocuted the entire sky the night before. Not that it mattered.

There were like...nesting birds on those trees on that island. What the hell? They just killed so MANY of those man-eating dogs that are flowers.

Seriously are land turtles allowed to just...dive underwater for long periods of time? How does that ecosystem even work? It’s like...That’s wild to think about.

Inside the temple, they have to fight a genie or something.

In case you were wondering, the only reason Tea and Grandpa got iced is because they were the closest to the door. The two who were actually standing out of harms way were the closest to harm the whole time.

Bro tells me this is also what will happen to you if you are in the front or the back of the party while playing Cthulu D&D

Anyway, Pharaoh decides to disclose that his big problem of feeling guilty all the time and taking all the blame, which he did all of last season...is still a huge problem he will probably never tackle.

Straight up, don’t be fooled by my caps, everyone else has completely forgotten about Alex, who is still running around that temple up there. They haven’t even asked Grandpa “hey is this your protege? Is this your mentee you never told us about?” Nah. They already forgot. 

How wild is it that Pharaoh thinks this is all his fault when he was the only one who was like “YUGI IT’S A TRAP DON’T GO IN THE- well...OK I guess we’re doing this, fine.” Is he upset he didn’t take control from Yugi and walk back to the plane? Because that’s the only way he could even be partially responsible, He was the only guy who was like “I see the end from the beginning on this y’all, and it’s the massive pyramid in India.”

Speaking of forgetting, they came across this language Pharaoh has decided to have nothing to do with.

This was actually a riddle and it was like...it was a riddle, sure, I guess.

And so Joey Wheeler does not hallucinate his dead wife from a previous incarnation and get on the back of his Baby Dragon to sail away into the sunset. Instead they’re just gonna walk.

Too bad Tea’s orb covered in wings only seems to hover a bit. Every single wing on that weird orb is absolutely useless.

And then Pharaoh’s pokemon is just a fire--which is hard to sit on--and Celtic Guardian...who would allow it, sure, but probably doesn’t fly (I think. He might fly)

And then Tristan’s Pokemon kinda seems like if you sit on it, you will get electrocuted. It can probably fly though. It’s very round. Seems like an anime thing that the more round your mascot character is, the more likely it can at least bounce a good distance.

So, next time, I’m just going to assume that we are going to do even more camping. And youknow, if you told me exactly HOW MUCH CAMPING was in this card game show with super future tech, I would not have believed you. But like...a lot of this series is set in the woods right? Like a lot a lot? I have grown to appreciate the woods.

Anyway, as always, if you just got here, this is a link to read these in chrono order:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

See you next time!

[sailor-brunette]

Shoujo recommendations:

@icegoddessrukia​

Suggested I make a list of anime recommendations. So I’m making two lists. One for shoujo,and one for shounen. The shoujo one is obviously first,as it will be bigger. Keep in mind,I haven’t completed all of these series. But I’m still recommending them,regardless. Now,with that said,onto the list!

Princess Tutu: Y’all saw this one comin’ a mile away,didn’t ya? Seriously,it’s one of the best shoujo/magical girls out there.

Plot: Ahiru is a duck who is in love with a prince and just wants to see him smile. So a man named Drasslemeyer tells her that to do that,she must become Princess Tutu and collect the shards of his shattered heart. So he gives her a pendant that can turn her into a human as well as transform her into Princess Tutu.

Kaitou Saint Tail: Still watching this one. But it’s amazing and I highly recommend it.

Plot: Meimi Haneoka is an ordinary 14 year old girl by day. But by night,she’s the mysterious and magical thief,Saint Tail who steals back stolen things from bad guys to help people out. She has to also evade the police and her classmate,Asuka Jr. who are trying to catch her.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Y’all saw this one comin’ too didn’t ya? Yeah,this one’s almost as high up there as Princess Tutu on my love meter. I love this series a ton.

Plot: Sakura Kinomoto is a normal ten year old girl. Until she finds a mysterious book in her dad’s library filled with strange cards. After saying the name of the “Windy” card the cards all blow and scatter away. Now it’s up to Sakura to get them back.

Akagami no Shirayukihime/Snow White with the Red Hair: I’ve only seen the first season of this one and haven’t read the manga yet. But I like what I’ve seen,so it gets a spot on the list.

Plot: Shirayuki has bright red hair,which catches the eye of her country's prince,Raj. He orders her to be his concubine because he likes her hair. So she cuts her hair and runs away. There she meets a prince named Zen. And the two form an instant connection.

Kamisama Hajimemashita/Kamisama Kiss: Almost done with the first season of this one. Again,I like what I’ve seen,so it gets a spot here.

Plot: Because of her father’s debts,Nanami Momozono is kicked out of her house. She meets a man at the park who tells her she can have his home. She goes to the address he gives her and meets a fox eared familar named Tomoe who tells her the man she met was the land god and he has made her the new land god.

My next Life as a Villaness: All Routes Lead to Doom!: Recently finished this one. Really enjoyed it. Can’t wait for the second season!

Plot: A girl dies and is reborn into an otome game. But not as the heroine. As the villainess. Determined not to die young again,she takes every precaution to avoid the doom endings.

Ouran High School Host Club: This one is obvious. My love for this series knows no bounds. Remake when damnit.

Plot: Haruhi Fujioka was just looking for a quiet place to study. When she wanders into the third music room of her school. There she meets the host club. She accidentally ends up breaking an expessive vase,so to pay off her debt,she must pretend to be a boy and attract customers.

That’s all for now. There were some I didn’t include,but the list is long enough as it is. But hope you like it! I’ll make the shounen one later.

[lvllns]

honey on my fingers

the wayhaven chronicles. mason x sparrow kingston (nb detective). ~1.8k+ words. mature for implied sex. a whole lot of praise and body worship here y’all. deep relationship mason, so soft content incoming.

read on ao3 instead.

Mason moans.

Deep, rough, from the center of his chest. It pours out of him like wine. Spilling across his chest to drip onto the sheets below. His fingers curl. Wind and card through Sparrow’s hair and they pull away to press a kiss to the inside of his thigh.

“Mêl ar fy mysedd,” they mumble against his skin.

He blinks. Tries to sort the words and gets as far as Welsh before he gives up. Everything is fire bright at the moment. Red and orange licking at the edges of his vision. His hand falls to cup their cheek and they lean into the touch with a soft hum.

“What’s that mean?” His voice is rougher than he expected.

He clears his throat.

Sparrow drops another kiss to his body, on his hip this time, before they prop their chin on his stomach. “Honey on my fingers.” They turn to nip at his wrist. “Welsh version of music to my ears.”

Heat races down his spine and Mason shivers. It’s foolish of him to hope Sparrow doesn’t notice the way his body reacts to their voice. Their touch. He can’t think of one thing over the years that they haven’t noticed. Ava calls them eagle-eyed, quick to spot the tiniest of things, and Mason enjoys the way they’re able to pick out a speck of blood or a slight shift in the paint on a wall. It’s all very impressive until that attention is focused squarely on him.

Then he feels rather like every single inch of him is on display.

Not just his skin, but the secrets he’s buried into the cracks between his ribs. Thoughts he placed carefully among the bones of his wrists. Things he expected to keep to himself until he could sort out whatever was rattling around his head, and then they’d fuck off.

Jokes on him, because once it was all laid out before him and the lights turned the fuck on, it was all he could do to not hand everything over to Sparrow immediately.

They’re still looking at him, one side of their mouth pulled up in a close-lipped smile. Their thumb is drawing sweeping circles over the skin of his thigh. He is so utterly distracted by them. By the way they sound when they’re excited, words rushing from their mouth a mile a minute. By the way they smell, soft hints of vanilla and well-worn leather. By the way their heart sounds, steady beats that lull him to sleep more easily than he ever thought possible. Noises and scents that steady him, and it’s still so strange to find comfort in sensations that usually overwhelm.

“Still with me?” Their breath is warm as it washes over his bare stomach.

He rubs a hand over his face and nods. “Yeah.” Mason curls a hand around the back of their neck and pulls gently. Guides them up his body until they’re laying on top of him, noses bumping.

Sparrow kisses him. Slow and sweet, the vague memory of the taste of sugar lingering on his lips when they pull away to kiss his cheek. “Cuore mio,” they murmur against his temple. “My heart.”

Their touch drifts over his side as they kiss his throat. They’re so gentle with him. Like even after all this time he’s going to splinter in their hands. He wants to tell them it’s different now. He’s stronger. More in tune with his emotions now that he knows what to look for. It’s a moot point though, with them draping him in affection like a warm blanket.

A thumbnail pokes against his bicep and he blinks.

“I do love your arms,” they speak into his jaw. “Strong enough to protect, gentle enough to soothe.”

A little piece of...something, wiggles loose around his heart. “Songbird—”

They quiet him with another kiss. Deeper this time. A searching kiss that has him groaning. Clutching at their waist and holding them tight.

“Are you okay with this?”

“With what? You talking nonsense about how pretty I am?”

They click their tongue. “Nonsense, please.” A tap to his nose. He scoffs. “I only speak the truth. You know I can’t lie to save my life.” Fingers lace with his. “Seriously, is this fine?”

Mason swallows and nods, not trusting himself to speak. Instead, he gently tucks a lock of hair behind their ear.

Their mouth moves back to his jaw. Slips down his neck to settle at the base. “Luce dei miei occhi.” Sparrow props themself up on an elbow and grins. His head is spinning. “Light of my eyes.” They sit up. Straddle his waist and splay their hands across his chest. “Do you know how difficult it is to pay attention when you walk around without a shirt on?”

A soft laugh escapes him, jostling Sparrow a little. He catches their hip and holds them steady. “I might have an idea, given how often I find you staring at me.”

They roll their eyes, a fond smile on their face. “Fair.” Their fingers tap across his collarbones. Dance down to his sternum. He realizes, quite suddenly, that they’re tracing his freckles again. “It’s your freckles.” Their head cocks to the side. “Don’t get me wrong, the muscles are nice.” They emphasize the words with a gentle squeeze of his pecs. Mason snorts. “But...I always want so badly to touch your freckles.”

“The feeling is mutual,” he says. He finds their shoulder. Runs the pads of his fingers over the scattered bursts of pigment that dust their skin.

Sparrow hums. “Your nose too.” Delicately, they run their touch from between his eyebrows to the tip of his nose. “It’s handsome. Suits you.” They cup his face. Smooth their thumb over his jaw. “Jawline sharp enough to cut marble.”

Mason catches the moment their eyes go bright. Delighted with whatever has occurred to them. Their hands find the side of his face, and they squish his cheeks together until his mouth is pursed.

He rolls his eyes as his head falls back, slipping from their grasp, a groan escaping him even as a grin splits his face.

They’re giggling where they sit, perched on his waist. Sparrow leans down to touch their foreheads together. “Can’t imagine why you’ve put up with me all these years.”

Mason trails a finger up and down their spine as he says, “There’s no putting up with anything.”

The admission is quiet. A secret spoken between them, poorly kept as it is. He just can’t let that go. Can’t stand to think that they believe he’s putting up with them. And for what? Sex?

No. No, he’s spent too long embracing what he feels to even consider letting their statement go unchallenged.

For their part, they blush. Red sweeping across their cheeks to their ears. Dripping down their neck to coat their chest. Paint on a canvas. Smears of color spreading out like a wildfire.

“I know,” they whisper, and those two words chase the tension from his body.

Sometimes he worries that he doesn’t do enough. Tell them enough. He’s still stumbling around this like a newborn fawn trying to cross a frozen lake. But the way they light up when he holds them or brings them a book he swiped from Nat’s library...he thinks he’s doing okay. It is nice, however, to have it confirmed.

They slither down his body, peppering kisses over his stomach as they go. Teeth scrape over his hip bones, the bite of them soothed quickly by their tongue. Sparrow curls their fingers around his thighs and exhales. Slow and even. It burns the inside of his leg and the muscles twitch. He had forgotten what they were doing before Sparrow decided this was more important, but his body reacts to them as it always does.

Immediately.

Honestly.

“You have ridiculously nice legs.” Their touch falls to his knee before moving to settle up by his hip. They quirk a brow as their fingers curl, the tips resting on the top of his ass. “I really don’t think I need to tell you what I think about your butt.”

“Need to, no. Still think you should.” He smiles, wide enough to flash his fangs.

“It’s a good butt, sunshine. Seen it plenty, mostly upside down while you’re carrying me around.” Sparrow moves to kneel between his spread legs, their hair hanging loose around their shoulders. “You’ve carried me out of some scary situations.” Their brows furrow. A little knot forms between them and he reaches up to smooth it away. Gently, he sweeps some of their hair back out of their face. “I’m terribly fond of you.”

His heart thumps painfully in his chest. Knocking against his ribs and begging to be let free. If he could give it to them, he would. On a silver fucking platter.

There are lips against the center of his chest, breaking him from his thoughts. Sparrow kisses him, the barest brush of their mouth. “Philtatos,” they whisper against his skin, “most beloved.”

Some kind of broken sound claws its way out of his throat. Mason flips them over. Hovers above them for a moment before he presses them into the bed, and slots his mouth over theirs. They’re smiling, he can feel it, but it’s a distant realization.

He feels like he’s drowning.

No, floating. He’s light, too light for the heaviness of water.

It’s a whole lot of pretty words spoken in a pretty accent by a pretty person but he knows, he knows Sparrow better than he knows himself sometimes.

They’re honest to a fault.

Especially with him.

Mason kisses them until they push on his shoulder. Breaking away to gasp for air as he moves to lick at their throat. He doesn’t know what to do with the love surrounding his heart so he gives it to them the way he knows best. By touching. He maps their body with his hands. Colors every inch of them gold in the low light of their bedroom. So long he’s seen his hands as weapons, useful things to break anyone who threatens him or those who have his loyalty. But when Sparrow is underneath him, body lifting off the bed to fit into the curve of his palms, he finds himself thinking that maybe there’s some good beneath the long dried blood on his skin.

It feels as though an age has passed when he eventually falls onto his back with a soft thump, skin slick with sweat. His eyes are shut, and he takes deep breaths through his nose. Sparrow’s heart starts to settle, to come down from the high of a moment ago, and their lithe fingers find his. Tangling together. Vines on a wall. They squeeze his hand.

They roll onto their side, wiggling close enough for their knees to push against his thighs. Light kisses pepper over his ribs until they exhale and press their nose into his side.

“Rwy'n dy garu di,” Sparrow mumbles. “I love you.”

He buries his face in their hair, eyes shut tight, and wraps his arm around their shoulders to hold them close.

“I love you too.”

[olliedollie1204]

for future reference

Virgil works at the reference desk. Logan is looking for a very specific book.

Pairings: Platonic Virgil and Logan

Word Count: 3,613

Tags: Librarian Virgil, Kid Logan, (very loosely) implied but not shown romantic Moceit

based on that one tumblr post that is maybe the cutest thing i’ve ever read? also, Logan mispronounces some words because he’s Babey, so I included a guide at the end to clarify what he was trying to say.

also i meant to make this short and simple but i tripped and came up with an entire new AU, so hopefully if y’all slam that mf like button I will find the energy to write the sequel

(Read it on AO3!)

Working at the reference desk was cool. When you walked through the main door of the library, you’d never suspect that nestled beyond the rows and rows of adult nonfiction, far away from the busyness of the community room or the chaos of the children’s section, was a neat and well-tended desk, behind which sat just one man.

That one man was currently alternating between scanning the sea of tables and chairs in front of him, and reading a cheesy romance paperback under his desk. Listen, he had an image to maintain, okay?

Virgil had always liked the solitude of a good library, almost as much as he’d liked the books themselves. Despite spending many long hours hidden away among dusty shelves when he was younger, he'd never thought about actually working in a library. He wasn’t a people person, and libraries, unfortunately, tended to attract people; so when he found out there was a position where he could get away with isolating himself behind a computer monitor all day long, where his main form of social interaction was helping patrons fix the printer approximately nine hundred times a day, where he could read or play Temple Run or just sit still and daydream for hours on end? He was sold.

He supposed he had to thank the library’s set up for his lack of work; truly, most people never made their way this far into the building, and those who did were usually just looking for a place to sleep for a few hours, so it wasn’t uncommon for him to go an entire shift without speaking to a single person.

It had looked like today was going to be the same, with Virgil halfway through his shift and having only spoken to one patron who was looking for the bathroom. He had just gotten to the part in his book where the farmhand and the farmer’s son were trapped together in the barn during an unexpected thunderstorm, shirts dripping wet and faces flushed from humidity and passion (and maybe Virgil had read this one once or twice already, don’t worry about it).

It was a perfectly normal day. Until the kid showed up.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Virgil certainly did not jump about a foot into the air at the kid’s sudden appearance, but it was a close thing. The librarian quickly sat up in his rolly chair, dog earring the already well-worn novel and shoving it back under the desk.

“Uh, hi,” he replied, gazing down at the child in front of him. He was small and scrawny, with wildly scruffy hair and a large pair of glasses on his face. As Virgil sat up taller, he was able to see that the kid was actually tiny, his chin barely reaching past the edge of the desk. Despite his small stature, he had an oddly serious look on his face.

“How can I, uh, help you?” Virgil asked haltingly.

“I need to find a book about baby names,” the child informed him plainly. His quiet, high-pitched voice felt completely at odds with the grave importance he seemed to place on his request.

“Oh?” Virgil said for lack of a better response. He quickly scanned behind the kid, looking for an adult that might’ve misplaced their incredibly somber toddler, but he quickly brought his attention back to the child in front of him as he nodded.

“My dads told me that I’m going to be a big brother soon and I need to find the names for my baby twin brothers who we are taking from a woman in the city because she is a sugar-ette and she is giving us her babies to keep,” the child replied in one long breath. Virgil blinked at the sudden influx of information.

“Ah,” he replied, absolutely nailing this conversation with this random, unaccompanied baby. “Let me… look that up for you.”

He paused for just a second before jerkily turning on his monitor, opening to the library catalogue’s search engine. Instinctively he opened the filter and clicked ‘search for keywords’ and typed ‘baby names’, until he looked down at the… really small child in front of him, like damn, were all kids that small?

“Um. How…”

How old are you? How many letters of the alphabet do you know? How stupid am I gonna look if I send you to the checkout desk with an armful of dense, high-level books about etymology?

“How high is your reading level?” he settled on. To his surprise, the child puffed out his chest in pride.

“I am five and three quarters years old and I will be going into kindergarten in Set-member and Dr. Picani says that I am reading like a kindergartener and I even can read first grade books, too.”

Okay. Virgil didn’t know who Dr. Picani was, but that wasn’t important. Kindergarten to first grade reading level. He switched the filter to adjust for that new information, but he was quickly met with the realization that the kid was looking at him for… some sort of response, because that’s how conversations work, Virgil, come on.

“That’s cool,” he replied lightly. Lucky for him, the kid didn’t seem to mind his lack of social graces. He just nodded, rocking back and forth on his heels as he watched Virgil type.

“And my Daddy gave me a bunch of chapter books for my birthday and I already read them all because that was last year and he and Papa said that for my next birthday I can get some more chapter books but I hope they are mit-sery books because I like the mit-sery books most of all. Dr. Picani told me that’s because I like to collect and organize information. I like it when Papa reads the mit-sery books to me, even though I can read all by myself, because he is always bad at solving the mit-sery and I have to explain it to him every time.”

At first, Virgil had merely been listening with a polite interest, nodding a little as his eyes scanned the page for what books they had checked in, but as the kid continued to talk (and Virgil was seriously starting to wonder if he ever ran out of breath), he realized he was now listening with a genuine interest. This kid seemed pretty smart for his age, even with his tendency to mispronounce words in his rush to get them out of his mouth, and it was honestly kinda endearing. This coming from Virgil, who was running out of excuses as to why he couldn’t help out with any of the children’s programs that the library hosted in the community room twice a month.

He pulled his eyes back to his computer. “Okay, so, um, it looks like we’ve got a couple books that you might want.” They had more than a couple books about baby names, of course, but Virgil really didn’t wanna hurt the kid’s feelings by giving him a book that was too difficult for him.

“I’m gonna write the titles down on this piece of paper,” Virgil continued, pulling out an index card and one of the weird tiny golf pencils that were at every desk in the library for some reason. “Here’s what the book is called, here’s the last name of the person who wrote it, and here is the number of the shelf where you can find the book, okay?”

He finished writing and slid the paper across the desk to the kid, who hesitated for a moment before taking it.

“... Thank you,” he said stiffly, turning on his heel and marching away. Virgil wasn’t gonna look away until the kid was out of his sight, but to his surprise he stopped just about ten feet away from the desk, looking between the paper in his tiny hands and the tall rows of shelves.

Virgil stood up suddenly, feeling like an idiot. He’d just told an infant to go look for one specific shelf in a giant room of identical shelves. Alone. Fuck.

“Hey, kid,” he called softly, moving around his desk and hurrying to the child. The little boy turned to him, eyes wide behind his glasses lens.

“How about I help you find those books, okay?” Virgil asked, trying not to tower over the tiny child. The kid looked around for a second before nodding quickly.

“Okay, I think that is a good idea, because I know where the books are in the playzone but I think this li-berry is really big and— and maybe I’d get too lost and my dads are scared of me being lost and so I don’t wanna make them scared,” he finished, looking down and scuffing the toe of his shoe against the carpet.

Virgil raised an eyebrow at the end of the kid’s sentence. “Do you know where your dads are?”

The kid nodded quickly. “They’re having storytime in the group room!”

Virgil nodded. He knew there was an adult book club happening in the community room that day, so that definitely made sense. But still, he leaned down, catching the boy’s eye with what he hoped was an appropriately stern face for the circumstances.

“Do your dads know where you are?” he asked. As he expected, the kid began to look slightly guilty, scrunching the hem of his navy polo in his hands.

“Um…” he started. It was the first time Virgil had heard him pause between his words. “Well, technically, they told me to stay with the li-berrian, and they thought I was gonna stay in the playzone with Ms. Dot, but technically, if I can stay with you then I am with a li-berrian and so I’m not in trouble.”

There was a note of self-satisfaction in the kid’s voice, like he’d just solved a riddle as opposed to trying to explain why he disobeyed his parents. Virgil got the feeling that this was a kid who knew how to use his words to his advantage.

“Okay,” Virgil replied, gently pulling the paper out of the kid’s hand and scanning what he’d written. “We’re gonna go look for some books, but then I’m taking you back to the children’s section— uh, I mean the playzone— and Ms. Dot is gonna watch you until your dads are done, deal?”

The child nodded, watching Virgil with intensity, and the librarian gently ushered him to the side and led the two of them down a row of books.

“What’s your name?”

“Logan,” the little boy replied, running ahead a little and turning to wait for Virgil to catch up. “What’s your name?”

Virgil reached Logan at the end of the row just as he answered, “Virgil.”

Without warning, Logan darted ahead again, reaching the end of the next row before turning around to face him. “Daddy says I should call the li-berrians Mr., Ms., or Mx. What are you?”

“Mr. is okay,” Virgil replied, a little bemused by his childish bluntness. “And be careful, okay? I don’t want you to trip and hurt yourself.”

Logan trotted back to Virgil, walking backwards for a minute so he could look at Virgil while he talked. “I’m sorry for running, but I really want to find a book about baby names because my dads are busy making the babies’ bedroom and buying all of the baby clothes and toys and ex-cetera and I want to be a good big brother and I want my baby brothers to have names that are good but my dads are really busy and they don’t even know what they want to name the babies yet!”

Virgil smiled at the indignation in Logan’s little voice. Of course, he knew there were far more important preparations to make when expecting a new child (let alone two new children at the same time), but to a child as young as Logan, the name was probably the most important decision to be made.

“Well, they should be on the next shelf over, so let’s—”

Logan took off before Virgil could finish his sentence, running halfway down the row and looking at Virgil expectantly.

Virgil scoffed, an amused smile on his face. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

As he entered the row, he began scanning the numbers on instinct; he knew these stacks pretty well, but he didn’t have them memorized.

“Okay, 929.4,” he muttered to himself, bypassing books about genealogies before coming to the section for baby name books. “Here they are.”

Logan came towards him, standing on his tiptoes as he reached his arms up high.

“Mr. Virgil, may I please have the biggest book, please?”

Virgil looked back at the shelf, immediately seeing which book Logan was talking about. He pulled it out, holding it in both hands as he scanned the cover.

“‘Ten Thousand and One Baby Names For You’,” he recited, passing it down to Logan. “Is that enough names to choose from?”

Logan’s eyes were wide, struggling to open the heavy book while still keeping it in his arms. “I never even knew there were ten thousand and one names!”

“Same,” Virgil replied, helping Logan open the book without damaging it. “I think this book has lots of names from all over the world, plus some super old names from the last century.”

“Like the 1990s,” Logan said, nodding seriously, and Virgil had to pretend to cough to avoid laughing outright at the kid’s earnestness. He turned back to the shelf, pulling out a thinner yet still dense book.

“And this one is called ‘The Story Behind the Name’,” Virgil explained, holding it down to show Logan. “It tells you more about what the names mean, where all of the names came from… stuff like that.”

He held the book out for Logan to take, but to his shock the child was looking at him with something akin to distress.

“Do names mean things?”

Virgil blinked. “Oh! Uh, sometimes? Not really. But some names have things that they used to mean, a long time ago, but a lot of people don’t know what they meant. Like—”

He hastily flipped the book open to the ‘L’ section, skimming the page before he found what he was looking for.

“Like, ‘Logan’, for example, is an Scottish name,” he explained slowly, “and it apparently means… uh, ‘from the hollow’? Which, I don’t even really know what that means, so. It’s not that important nowadays.”

He looked back at Logan, who was looking into the distance with a pensive look on his face.

“But what if I give them a name that means something bad,” he pondered slowly, and Virgil’s stomach swooped at the idea that he’d just given this kid something to worry over.

“Well, here,” he said hurriedly, holding the second book out to Logan. “If you take this one, you can check that the names you pick mean good things. Some people like to choose names that remind them of something good, like nature or history or— or their favorite book characters.”

That perked Logan up, causing him to eye the book with a new interest. “Really?”

His gaze flicked between the second book, and the much larger book that he still held in his arms.

“I think I should take both,” he said after a long moment to think. “Just in case.”

He smiled up at Virgil, who literally couldn’t stop himself from smiling back if you’d paid him. Logan was just too darn cute.

“Well,” he said, “how about I carry your books and take you back to the playzone, and you can get started reading these before you check them out?”

Logan nodded, somewhat reluctantly handing Virgil his large book as the two made their way out of the nonfiction section. “That is a good idea, because I am already checking out a lot of chapter books and my book basket is full and so I think my dads will help me carry these books to the checkout counter because they’re really big books.”

“They sure are,” Virgil said conversationally, holding a hand out to stop Logan as another librarian walked by with a cart. Before he could take another step, however, he felt something small and soft wrap around his free hand. Virgil looked down to see Logan holding his hand in his own tiny grasp.

“Papa says I shouldn’t hold hands with strangers,” Logan informed him, idly swinging their hands together, “but I don’t think we’re strangers because I know your name and you know my name and you’re helping me carry my books because you are a nice li-berrian.”

Virgil felt an inexplicable surge of protectiveness over this child he’d met only fifteen minutes ago.

“Sure,” he replied softly, letting Logan continue to talk as the two walked hand in hand back to the populated side of the library.

He almost didn’t want to interrupt Logan when they did finally arrive at the playzone, but he wanted to make sure this kid got back to where he was supposed to be before his dads found out he’d left. Dot looked at him from behind Logan, her eyebrows raising at the sight of Virgil a) not behind his reference desk, and b) attached to the world’s chattiest five year old.

“Hey, Lo,” he gently interjected when Logan took a breath, kneeling down to be on the young boy’s level. “I’m gonna set your books down with your book basket, okay? Where is that?”

Logan paused, eyes flitting around the colorful rug. “Um… it’s… oh! It’s right there!”

Virgil’s eyes followed where Logan was pointing. There, on the ground next to one of the large plush sofas in the reading circle, was one of the library’s book baskets. From here, Virgil could see at least a dozen junior chapter books poking out of the basket.

“Oh!” Logan exclaimed, darting forward and grabbing the handle of the basket in both hands and tugging it back over to Virgil. “Mr. Virgil, look, I raised my hand and asked Ms. Dot if I could please have the storytime book to check out for a little bit because I liked it a lot, even though it’s not a mit-sery book, but it is about cephalopods and those are octopusses and squids and ex-cetera, and she told me to turn around and the shelf behind me had tons and tons of books about cephalopods, and I picked out this book because it has pit-chers but it’s not a pit-cher book, it has chapters, too—”

Logan flopped onto his butt in the middle of the carpet, pulling out each book one by one and explaining to Virgil exactly what it was about and how many chapters it had and how he couldn’t wait for bedtime so he and his dads could read them all together. He chattered on and on and on, and Virgil didn’t even realize when he joined Logan in sitting cross legged on the floor. He didn’t have to talk much, but every now and then Logan would actually pause to breathe, and Virgil would ask another question that set the young boy off onto an entirely different spiel that lasted another ten minutes.

It was so different from working at the reference desk, quiet and hidden and isolated. Different, but not bad.

“Mr. Virgil?”

Logan’s voice was suddenly quieter, and it snapped Virgil back to reality. He looked at the kid, who was looking at his own tiny hands folded neatly in his lap.

“Yeah, Logan?” Virgil asked. “Are you okay?”

Logan nodded. “Yes, thank you, I’m okay. I think you are maybe the nicest li-berrian ever.”

The sincerity in his little voice nearly made Virgil reel back in shock.

“Really?” he asked, and normally he might be embarrassed about how insecure his voice sounded after receiving a compliment from a five year old, but Logan nodded immediately.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Ms. Dot and all of the other li-berrians are nice but I think you are the nicest because I broke the rules and you didn’t tell my dads and you gave me the name books for my twin baby brothers and you let me hold your hand and I like talking about my books and you liked hearing me talk about them. So I think you are— I think you are the best li-berrian I ever met.”

Logan fell silent, looking down at his lap and fidgeting with his shirt hem, and Virgil was honestly a little speechless.

“Oh,” he said slowly. “Um, thank you, Logan. I think you are… the best reader I’ve ever met.”

No sooner were the words out of Virgil’s mouth that Logan looked up at him with wide-eyed shock.

“Really?” he squeaked. Virgil was literally going to get a cavity from all of this sugar.

“Yep,” he replied. “You’re smart and kind and you care a lot about your baby brothers. Your dads must be very proud of you.”

Each word of praise was brightening Logan up bit by bit, and he switched to sitting on his knees and bouncing up and down.

“Will you play checkers with me?” he asked, hands flapping in excitement. “I always want to play checkers but Ms. Dot says I’m not old enough, but you’re definitely old enough, right?”

Virgil laughed outright at that. He thought about his reference desk, sitting unoccupied on the other side of the library. He looked at Logan.

“Sure, kid,” he replied, standing up with Logan’s book basket. Logan grabbed his free hand, and Virgil let him lead them both to the game table, Logan already explaining the rules in anticipation.

Yeah. Different, but not bad. Not bad at all.

~

Post notes: As promised, here's the guide to Logan's incorrect words!

Sugar-ette: Surrogate Set-member: September Mit-sery: Mystery Li-berry: Library Li-berrian: Librarian Ex-cetera: Et cetera Pit-chers: Pictures

[aforrestofstuff]

What do you think the OPM characters' guilty pleasures would be? I feel like Tatsu loves soap operas and Atomic Samurai secretly loves a really popular boy band, like SMAP

Thanks for your request, anon! Sorry this took me so long to get to, you were buried in my inbox lol. But I hope this was worth the wait because oh boy this required all 3 of my brain cells.

Tornado of Terror: As you said, soap operas. She also loves candy apples in canon. But...she also is a HUGE fan of those really cheesy Cosmopolitan magazines that have all of the personality quizzes and the “which hot male celeb would date you” scenarios. She doesn’t fall for it one bit. In fact, she hate reads those fuckers in the same way that people pay to go see bad movies. It’s fun.

Silverfang: Yoga and following along to some cheesy-ass 80s workout videos. I’ve said he likes yoga in a previous headcanon, but he also likes to exercise along to some obnoxious 80s pop while some dude in a leotard instructs him on what to do from a TV screen. He wears sweatbands and legwarmers, too. The whole shebang. He only does it when he’s alone, though. Sometimes he’ll try to teach yoga to his disciples as a way to help them decompress after a long training session, but his workout tapes are his best-kept secret.

Atomic Samurai: I don’t know what a SMAP is, but he’s definitely got some questionable music choices going on considering he’s... well, the way that he is. I’d say he likes to listen to old country, like Marty Robbins and Glen Campbell. It’s really funny because you’ve got this intimidating man from Japan (or a fictional universe basically set in Japan) with a badass katana and shit but inside that empty head of his, there’s just a faint “out in the west Texas town of El Paso....”

Child Emperor: Picking at scabs. He’s often on his knees fixing shit in his lab, and he probably gets burned all the damn time from playing around with lasers so he’s undoubtedly always has a wound healing somewhere. Whenever he’s working on something, he’ll just absentmindedly pick at his scabs. It’s a bad habit and he knows it, but nothing beats the feeling of peeling off an entire patch of that shit. So satisfying.

Metal Knight: Buying books. He doesn’t even read them. He just buys bigass novels with smart-sounding names to fill up his library because he thinks it’ll make his dick grow another three inches or some shit. One of the few things he likes in this world (besides homicide) is the smell of a new book. If he’s feeling particularly pissy, he’ll go into his library and just ssssssnnnnnnnnnniififfffffffffff. He spends an outrageous amount of money on it. If he has anyone over (which is unlikely, but hypothetically speaking) and they mention his library by asking something like “have you read all of these?” It’ll be one of the few times in his life that he’ll feel shame.

King: Reading and writing fanfiction based on his favorite video game/anime series. Nobody knows he does this except his small following online, of course. And even more so, nobody online knows he’s an ultra-popular S-Class hero who’s friends with the most powerful man on earth. He’s actually a pretty decent writer, he just doesn’t take himself too seriously so the plotline to his stories tend to get a little haywire and overly self-indulgent. Let him have his fun. He just wants to be a Sailor Scout.

Zombieman: Singing. He actually used to be a good singer (he sounded like a discount Steve Perry back in the day), but constant smoking really fucked up his voice. He might as well have lungs the size of grapes because he can’t carry a note for more than 2 seconds without wheezing like an accordion with asthma. He’s never sang in front of anyone before because he thinks it’s silly thing that isn’t worth showing off. Play anything from The Eagles though, and he’ll have a hard time resisting.

Drive Knight: He likes to open up panels in his arms and legs to play with the wires (basically a robot’s version of nerve endings, I’m assuming) just so he can feel something. It’s kind of sad because he doesn’t experience pain or the cold or being tickled... (I know what y’all are thinking and you’d better STOP). So he sometimes takes it upon himself to dick around with his insides and dip his toe into what it feels like to be human, even if it’s just for a little bit. He’s super secretive about it (he’s just secretive about everything, really) because he doesn’t want anyone to know that he desires something outside of being a weapon of mass destruction justice.

Pig God: His whole schtick is basically indulging in a guilty pleasure — pigging out on delicious food with no regard whatsoever for one’s overall health. Other than that, however, he does like to collect body pillows. There, I said it. All he fucking does is eat and he’s too much of a big boi to be going out 24/7, so he’s gotta be on the internet/watching anime/playing video games/reading manga during all of that downtime between his stints of doing hero work. His bed is fucking ginormous to handle all of that big boy-ness and on it, he has his body pillow nest. He rests on a throne made for kings. A true icon.

Superalloy Darkshine: Also working out along to some cheesy 80s exercise videos. His hero outfit was inspired from what those ravishing instructors would wear on the television. Well, it was supposed to be a full leotard but it ripped every time he flexed just a tiny bit so the speedo is the only thing that’s left. He’s gotta hella rhythm and keeps up with the music using little to no effort. Although, he can’t go too hard because he’s also a big boi and he’ll literally shake the entire building if he gets too turnt up. Dance muscle boy, dance.

Watchdog Man: Eating too many dog treats lol. Sometimes while he’s stationed on his little podium thing, visitors will leave him little offerings like dog treats and other miscellaneous food items/toys. He never takes them or eats them in front of people, but he often brings everything home with him after a long day just to gobble that shit up. He’s gained a little weight since he started doing it but you can’t even notice it because his suit is hella bulky. Some of it is due in part to stress-eating because being a dog and dude at the same time is hectic, but it’s honest work.

Flashy Flash: Racing shit. Whenever he’s on his travels during, say, assassination missions or hero work, he gets hella bored really quickly. So, to help with this, he’ll often race birds or planes flying in the sky on his way to his destination to see who’s quicker (it’s always him). Sometimes he’ll even play catch with himself by throwing a pine cone or something and running to the place he guesses it’ll land before it even touches the ground. He just does a ton of weird speedster shit whenever he’s bored and he’ll deny it if anyone asks.

Genos: Purposefully putting a little bit too much oil on his joints after each upgrade so he’ll be as slick as a salamander. It’s a really funny feeling to be able to move your limbs with little to no resistance without having to worry about popping or breaking anything. It just makes him feel so agile despite being like, a hunk of actual metal. If he wasn’t so uptight, he would loosen the screws in his fingers to he can bend them almost all the way back (he’s actually thought about it a few times), but both Dr. Kuseno and his 3 remaining braincells attested to that. He just likes to tinker around with his body and see what weird shit he can do. It’s a bad habit because it’s led to a few things being broken on multiple occasions.

Metal Bat: Zenko’s shitty pop music. Whenever he drops her off at school or piano practice, he’ll immediately go home and blast that shit on full volume (because he’s practically deaf from always jumping out of falling buildings and continuously blasting music in his earbuds) while doing chores and the like. He’s one of those people that HAVE to have something going on in the background as they’re getting shit done. He’d rather be caught dead than listening to the OPM equivalent of Taylor Swift because he knows Zenko would never let him live it down.

Tanktop Master: Wearing suits around the house when he’s not even going anywhere. He’s got to wear his tanktop 24/7 whenever he’s in public to keep up The Image (which he has no problem with, he genuinely loves the tanktop ideology) but he also needs to feel fancy every once and a while. So, if he happens to have the time while in between appearances, he’ll prance around in a suit tailored just for him. Because he’s so fucking huge that he had to pay someone a large sum to custom make an outfit that actually fits. He is 7-motherfucking-feet tall. 7.

Puri-Puri Prisoner: Making Valentine’s Day cards all times of the year. Listen, it gets boring as hell in prison. Sometimes the guards will let all of the inmates have a little glitter and glue to keep themselves busy because no harm can come of a little arts and crafts, right? He likes to make cards on the daily just to let all of his lovers know how much he appreciates them. If they express even the slightest amount of disdain for his creations, he’ll spent the next week crying in the darkest corner of his cell block. He also likes origami. Origami is huge in prison because it’s hella time-consuming and guaranteed to calm a busy mind. His favorite things to make are little unicorns.

Amai Mask: Bath bombs. There have been several mishaps in which he’s used a poorly-made bath bomb and came out of the tub looking like Shrek but he’s grown and lot since then, okay? After a long day or a particularly stressful concert, he’ll sink into some hot water and drop a ball of lavender-scented goodness in there. It’s become a bit of an addiction because he’s got multiple cabinets dedicated solely to his collection, but at least he always smells divine.

Iaian: Shakespearean dramas. Kama got him hooked on theater shit and he’s since ripped through all of the most well-known plays. He thinks in iambic pentameter. It wasn’t always noticeable since he’s a quiet, well-reserved guy but his fellow disciples and Kami have recently noticed that he’s developed a bit of a dramatic flair. Even worse, he’s started calling himself a knight whenever he puts on his armor. Everyone prays it’s just a phase but seeing as how stubborn Iaian is, that seeks highly unlikely. Kami is dying inside because he can’t handle another drama nerd.

Okamaitachi: Soap operas, like Tatsumaki. Kama is the most dramatic out of all of the disciples so it’s only natural that she’d like the most dramatic genre of any show out there. She doesn’t exactly watch them religiously though. She’s the type of viewer to drop off the face of the earth for three seasons and come back without knowing what the fuck is going on (because the disciples have limited access to cable due to Kami’s dumbassery and ignorance to anything technology-related), but still cry during the finale anyway because oh no these people are so hot and one of them is deaaaaaad and the other one is that person’s long-lost sister....

Bushidrill: Taking alcohol from Atomic Samurai’s stash every so often. Bushidrill knows what the good shit is and he could buy it himself if he wanted to, but why would he when there’s a perfectly good alcoholic to steal from living right down the hall? He only takes in small doses because, believe it or not—he’s smart, but Kami isn’t gonna notice regardless of whether or not Bushi takes 1 or 5 bottles at a time because the old shit couldn’t spot a purple raccoon if it was 3 feet in front of him. There have been times where Bushi has opened bottles of Kami’s alcohol right in front of him just to play God and he always, without missing a beat, says “Oh, we have the same taste. How neat.”

Fubuki: I’ve said this before in a previous headcanon, but she has a mild obsession with Victorian aesthetic. She’s got a small collection of semi-authentic ballgowns that cost upwards of a-fuckton-of-money each, but anything’s worth it to be able to play dress-up with Lily. Fubuki’s favorite thing is making Lily feel beautiful because everyone has been an insecure teenager at one point and she knows how it feels to not be comfortable in one’s own skin. This isn’t exactly a guilty pleasure because she’s not guilty about it, but it’s almost gotten to a point where an intervention is needed. She’s got so many damn dresses and sooooo much fine china....

Saitama: Retail therapy, lol. Saitama is only good at budgeting because he has no choice given how fucking poor he is, but give this boy even a little bit of leeway and he’ll buy the ugliest clothes (to which he thinks look poppin’) and the best meats without even batting an eye. His entire manga collection is the product of him having little to no self control the moment he realizes he’s got a bit of money to spend on himself. This is also the only time he’ll experiment with cooking because now he can actually afford to fuck up, literally.

Mumen Rider: Sweets! I’ve said this in a previous hc but he has a major sweet tooth. You can substitute salt for sugar in any given recipe and he’ll see it as a major improvement because he just goes absolutely buckwild for anything sweet. His pancreas is suffering, but he believes nothing feels better than curling up under the covers on a rainy day with a heaping helping of milk chocolate. The only thing that makes him feel better after getting beat to shit is a kiss on the cheek and box of his favorite cookies (and some bananas, lol).

Sonic: Like Flash, he also likes racing things. But, in addition to that, his guilty pleasure is doing his own hair in elaborate hairstyles (when it was longer). He’s pretty much homeless so he’s got a lot of time to himself in between murders. This is when you can find him sitting in the woods somewhere braiding flowers into his hair and tying it off with a moss ribbon. He’d never admit he does this because he’s a big macho man and he’d probably cry.

Garou: Spicy chips. I’ve said this before in a previous hc, but he absolutely inhales his food without even tasting it half the time so it’s not even like he gets to enjoy the flavor that much. He just likes the burn because he’s a shithead. He also doesn’t fear death or a torn-up asshole, so he’ll eat an entire family-sized bag of the OPM-universe equivalent to Takis without even batting an eye. He’s been beat to shit so many times that the agony that comes with downing so much spice is lost on him. He doesn’t even need water. It’s insane. Someone stop this madman at once.

[dailydianakko]

Ink Slinger- I just really need my textbook

Yes the title is a shameless rip from the song (highly reccomend y’all give it a listen) Anyway first chapter of the bookstore au! Next chapter is never. I hope you all enjoy it, it’s my longest work thus far! I wanted to challenge myself, and I think I succeded. A big thank you to all my beta readers who put up with my awful tangled words! Anyway, here is the first chapter. Also on AO3 Here.

Akko gasped as her feet hit the hard concrete of the sidewalk. The crisp air invaded her lungs with each gasping breath, making her throat feel raw and her nose run. Waking up late once again had sent her into a wild crunch for time. She had planned to stop by the bookstore Lotte had recommended she go to before class. The quiet girl had told her that it was really well stocked for a private store, and Lotte frequented enough bookstores to know what was good and what wasn’t. Her expertise was the sole reason to warrant Akko even making a trip like this. Her friend was practically a walking yelp review to most any store in the county, much less state. Lotte’s frequent searches for sold out Nightfall books had only added to her knowledge, and Akko would be forever grateful. After all, Lotte shared the spirit of hope that often accompanied the search for rare or out of stock books.

Akko was still stubbornly clinging to the hope that she might find one of the missing books in her Shiny Chariot collection. That or a replacement “Introduction to English Literature” book that had sadly bitten the dust earlier in the week. The freak coffee incident had really left its mark, both on Akko’s skin and on everyone in the shared school dorm room. Sucy still hadn’t managed to get the coffee stains out of her lab coat and Akko really hoped that she wouldn’t try to get revenge later. She really had no desire to be woken up at four in the morning with another chemical concoction being poured down her throat. Akko gave a hard swallow to try to erase that particular memory. To be honest, Sucy never really needed a reason to use Akko as a resident guinea pig; but Akko didn’t like Sucy having an excuse. Sucy was a master manipulator, and she had no qualms about using guilt to motivate Akko into being a willing participant. Maybe she should just skip town and change her name. Assume a new identity and hope Sucy wouldn’t find her. 

Akko slowed down to a jog as she started to weave around other pedestrians that were filling the streets. It was getting rather crowded now due to the impending lunch hour. Lucky her.

She began to check road signs. Lotte said it would be in this area. Keeping her quick pace, Akko began to scan the nearby buildings for the bookstore she wanted to visit before class. She needed a replacement book today or her professor was seriously going to have her head!

Akko skidded to a halt as she caught sight of the lavender building that had the sign “Quill and Crow” hanging above the entrance; with the emblem of a white crow behind the cursive lettering. The store looked like an old Victorian building, matching the rest of the old era stores on the street. Like many of the cafes and stores of the small town of Blytonbury, it had been a reconverted house with its own quirks and renovations to distinguish it from the others. 

Akko quickly crossed the street after checking and making sure it was devoid of cars. Getting hit now would definitely make her late for class. Stepping up onto the cracked sidewalk, she looked once more at the building. Particularly the porch. There were weathered wicker chairs that had small tables next to them, each with a potted plant. The flowers clearly had been tended with loving care and were blooming beautifully. The seating was scattered in various areas along the white wood of the decking. The seating was far apart enough to be comfortable, giving off the air that one could happily read while in the company of others and avoid the uncomfortable feeling of overcrowding.

It would’ve been nice to sit among the gerbera daisies and catch her breath, but Akko had things to do and a class she could not afford to be late for. She quickly hopped up the creaky steps and passed the chairs. She was proud to say that she only paused a second, glancing at the tempting chairs and the comfort and resting potential that they provided, before turning the brass handle of the door and stepping into the building.

Her first impression was that it was quite clean. The dark floor showed no sign of dust nor dirt and was free of scratches and scuff marks. If Akko didn’t know any better, she would have thought the cream walls had been freshly painted. The missing wet sheen told her that yes, it would be safe to fall into should she lose her balance. Either this store was brand new, which she doubted, or it was very well kept.

The floor plan of the building was fairly open, and had various helpful signs in flowing script directing her where to go. She walked up to a nearby chalkboard sign, stepping around a full umbrella stand, with its own little handwritten sign that said “take but return.” Akko read the board quietly to herself. The first floor was non-fiction, café/gift shop area, and educational books, whereas the second floor was fiction, a sitting area, and a book exchange shelf. Akko knew the first floor was where she should stay, but her adventurous nature made her want to explore the second floor. Perhaps she’d find the Shiny Chariot book in the exchange section. Also, the farther away from coffee she was, the better it was for her. The incident was still all too fresh in her mind.

Akko wandered through the shelves until she found the stairway to the second floor. She slid her hand along the rich dark wood of the thick banister. It was smooth and cool to the touch. She climbed up the slightly creaky steps hesitantly. The store was quiet and she had yet to encounter any workers, maybe it was closed. As she got closer to the second floor, the tantalizing smell of old books hiding among new ones greeted her. She took in a deep breath and let out a happy sigh. Akko always loved the smell of books, be it old or new. She allowed the smell to enchant her and forgot about her worries. Akko stepped lightly through the shelves, there seemed to be no concrete sitting area, save for a large table with comfortable looking chairs suited to gatherings. It seemed the owners had opted for having various spots to sit hidden among the bookcases instead, much to Akko’s approval. As her eyes traced the spines of the books, reading various new titles, her attention was grabbed by the book exchange area. Just what she was looking for! The sign indicating the exchange area was written in the same script as all the other ones that littered the first floor of the store. Underneath the words book exchange was the apparent rules to this area of the store. “Take a book, leave a book,” Akko read aloud slowly “Books that are unexchanged are 50 cents per book. Area is sponsored by Croix Merides, Dean of the Robotics Branch of Luna Nova.”

The books on this particular shelf looked to be old and heavily used. Spines of the paperbacks were bent and the paper was fraying with heavy use. Not only did these books contain tales printed in ink along the pages, but it looked as if they held stories of the lives of the countless people who had read them.  As Akko skimmed the shelf, one particular book stood out to her. She picked up the random title and glanced down at the cover. A dragon, regal and ancient, was illustrated; with the title in gilt lettering above it. “The Tales of Fafnir.” How interesting. She ran her fingers along the dog-eared pages and flipped through it. Some pages were marked with crayon scribbles, and an old library card codex was still lodged on the inner cover. It proudly displayed the names of those who had previously checked out the once library book. Akko felt her excitement bubble within her, and gently stomped her feet excitedly on the floor. She knew she was going to find a treasure here. Perhaps she’d find the missing book in her collection. “Shiny Chariot and the Tree of Life” had been quite elusive. No bookstores carried the titles after the author’s fall from grace, and whatever books that floated around ebay always exceeded the price range of a college student.

 A small beep and a bump against her shoes drew Akko out of her excited thoughts. A little Roomba buzzed against her, stubbornly trying to finish its job. A little medallion signified that it belonged to the store and that its name was Jasper. Akko lifted up her foot and watched the Roomba go along its merry way. Gripped by yet more curiosity, Akko put back the book she held in her hands and followed Jasper as it rolled along, making an occasional boop. She stopped in her tracks when Jasper rolled up to a blonde organizing the shelves. The little robot tapped gently against the blonde’s ankle and she bent down to give it a pat. It let out a contented beep and then the mystery girl gently pushed it on its merry way with a tap of her ankle. Akko swore her heart melted at the action. The girl was so cute, treating Jasper like an errant cat. Akko must have let out a small coo, because the blonde turned towards her with a start. The look of surprise quickly fled from her face as the girl adopted more of a schooled and closed off look. “May I help you?” the girl said with a touch of frost in her voice. Akko could’ve sworn that the temperature in the room went down a few degrees. Maybe this was why the bookstore was empty. As much as Akko wanted to bite back, she figured the girl was probably embarrassed and decided she should kill with kindness.

“I am Atsuko, but you can call me Akko,” Akko bounced slightly on her toes with nervousness. “I was wondering if you had any English textbooks. Mostly Introduction to English Literature? I need it for a class.” Akko looked over the blonde once more. Neat jeans, a crisp button up, and immaculate hair. She was really pretty. Meanwhile Akko was in a stained college hoodie, basketball shorts, and her hair was probably a nightmare from her mad dash to the store. She probably wasn’t going to make a good impression. Akko quickly stood to attention as she realized the blonde was talking. She tried to register whatever the blonde was saying after her sudden mental checkout.

“-Diana, the books you should be looking for are on the first floor. Would you like me to escort you?” Diana’s voice sounded less frosty and more professional. Akko gave a quick nod and stepped to the side, making space for Diana to walk by. Diana shelved the book in her hand and moved the crate that had been hiding behind her closer to the shelf so that nobody would trip over it. As she walked by Akko, the brunette picked up a flowery smell, like a meadow covered in the early morning dew. It was nice. Akko began to follow after Diana, much like a puppy. The blonde was moving quickly, and with a purpose. She was fast, but not so fast that Akko would lose sight of her or have a hard time keeping up. Diana must have been experienced in leading people. Diana led her back out of the book exchange area, past the solitary communal desk, and right back to the stairs. She let out a word of warning to Akko when they began to descend to the first floor. Akko walked down the precarious steps much slower than Diana. After all, she had a track record of falling down and she didn't want to crush Diana. Diana waited, arms crossed, as Akko walked down the last few steps. After Akko had her feet safely on the ground, she turned on her heel and resumed her fast walk. Once again guiding Akko to her much needed textbook.

 As they walked down what Akko deemed to be the textbook section, she marveled at the shelves of old college books that stretched on. Criminal Psychology, Introduction to Biology, Business Law, were all lined up. As Akko quickly read some of the spines, she quickly realized some of these textbooks were fairly old. Some of the editions even stretched back to 2007. It probably contributed to their low price. Without Akko noticing, Diana stopped abruptly having reached their destination. Akko stumbled as she tried to avoid hitting Diana. The blonde looked somewhat amused at Akko’s flailing limbs as she tried to regain balance and not fall over.

“Here is our shelf of older textbooks; I must warn you that older editions are usually outdated in information, and can conflict with current tests. Price tags are on the binding, and we do have editions that are loose and in binders that run cheaper in the back.” Diana ran a hand fondly along the shelf, and picked out a book. “This one is a 2016 edition of Introduction to English Literature, it’s the most recent one we have.” Diana quickly flipped through the book seemingly searching for something. Whatever she was looking for she must’ve not found, because she closed it with a jarring snap that made Akko jump slightly. Diana shoved the book into Akko’s direction, and despite herself Akko took the book in her hands. She figured Diana as a store employee would know which book would be the best one. Granted, Akko might regret her decision at the register, but she really needed an Intro to English Lit., lest her professor actually somehow get her expelled.

“Thank you, Diana.” Akko paused and shifted the book in her grip nervously. “Do you have any books by an author named Chariot, as in the Shiny Chariot series?” Akko probably was treading on dangerous territory now. There was a reason why it was so hard to find books written by Chariot du Nord. She had been blacklisted among the writing communities and fans. Chariot had been an innovator for an entire genre, but when it was revealed she had cheated her way to the top, she had fallen from grace very quickly. The Golden Quill, the competition that had given Chariot her  fame, was somewhat of a lottery where a participant was randomly chosen to have their work carefully reviewed by judges. If the author had been lucky enough to get selected, their book would be published and they practically had their pick of editors and publishers. Most of the lucky winners of the event had gone on to obtain prestigious writing awards. A sudden revelation among the judges years later revealed Chariot had hacked the system to delete all other participants, leaving her work as the sole entry. The media tore her reputation to shreds and her fans quickly abandoned her. Chariot had denied cheating, claiming that she had no idea such a thing occurred. However it was too late and the damage was done. Bookstores had slowly stopped carrying her books and publishers had shut their doors. The critically acclaimed series “Shiny Chariot” had been discontinued and forgotten.

Obviously Diana knew of Chariot’s supposed sin, and the shift in her mood after hearing Akko’s question was very noticeable. She had stood up to her full height while Akko spoke, and then had gone still. She was almost a head taller than the brunette. Akko cringed internally when she noticed that the fondness that had lit Diana’s eyes when she had looked at the books was gone. It had been exchanged for a more hostile look. Yup, Akko had totally made a mistake. “Unfortunately, we do not carry any of Chariot du Nord’s books here;” Diana practically spat the name out with tangible dislike and possible hatred “I am sure you are aware why, if you are looking for her books.”

Akko felt a shiver roll up her spine at Diana’s not so subtle anger. “I am allowed to like Chariot. She shouldn’t have been completely erased like that. I want to one day write as well as she did.” Akko said as she felt her hands clench. Just because Chariot might have done wrong, doesn’t mean she should have been completely blacklisted. She might have been innocent like she had claimed. Akko admired Chariot as a child. The author was genuinely good at writing, putting together stories that had filled Akko with wonder. Even if Chariot had cheated, Akko was always filled with nostalgia whenever she picked up one of the books Chariot had written. They were like magic, and Akko wanted to be a witch casting spells with her words and enchanting her readers, just like her idol. Akko inhaled sharply as she saw Diana’s eyes flash in clear anger. Akko should have stayed quiet, and not go around picking fights. Diana probably wouldn’t get physical since it might cost her a job, but she certainly looked like she would throw hands at any given moment.

The tension in the room grew thicker as Akko stared at Diana, waiting for her to speak. The silence stretched on for what seemed like hours, until a little chirp sounded off behind Akko. She gave a small scream that was also echoed by a strangled yelp of fright from Diana. Probably in response to Akko’s yelling. Akko dropped her book as she whirled around to check the source of the noise. Her legs tangled together from the quick turn and she fell to the ground with a thump. She heard Diana let out a quiet scoff, probably at her lack of grace. Akko let out a small groan and looked to see what had startled her and Diana out of their standoff. It was another Roomba. This one had a little nametag of Shark on it, as well as a little cardboard fin taped to its head. Endearing, if it hadn’t scared years off of Akko’s life. Akko watched as it turned around and rolled away. Jerk.

Akko turned her head back to Diana as she felt the blonde walk up to her. Diana crouched down and picked up the book Akko had dropped in fright. She brushed it off and looked it over for damage. The blonde seemed satisfied that the book was okay and looked at Akko. Of course the bookstore employee would care more about a book than a human. Diana offered her hand, and Akko stared at it confused for a second until she reached out and took it. Diana’s hands were warm, a sharp contrast to her cold eyes. “Thanks.” Akko said awkwardly as Diana helped pull her to her feet. Diana let out a grumpy noncommittal hum in response. Akko blinked as she realized Diana was staring at her. Then she realized that she was still holding Diana’s hand.

“You have really nice hands,” Akko’s words tumbled out of her mouth “they’re really soft. Smooth.” Oh no she was babbling. She still hadn't let go of Diana’s hands. Also she was rubbing her thumb over Diana’s hand. Akko’s gay was showing. She felt her face getting redder, and Diana also seemed to have taken on the hue of a strawberry. Akko dropped Diana’s hands like she had touched a hot stove only after the blonde cleared her throat awkwardly. Akko should really relearn her social skills. Trying  to get rid of the horrible awkward feeling that settled in her chest, Akko scrubbed her hands on her shorts. Yep. Her hands were sweaty. Diana probably thought she was a crazy person. A crazy person who started fights over children’s books and held random girl’s hands tenderly for long periods of time. She could never come here again. 

“Let’s get you get checked out, shall we?” Akko blinked as Diana practically shoved the English book into her hands. Diana was checking her out? Akko gaped at Diana until her brain connected the dots. Oh yes, she was buying a book. A book for a class. A class that she was totally going to be late for. Oh dear.

“Diana,” Akko said in a panicked tone, her voice raising a few octaves, “what time is it, exactly?” Akko felt her foot start tapping as her anxiety rose. If the time was what she thought it would be, then she was screwed.

“One-thirty.” Diana responded as she checked her phone. She was avoiding all eye contact, and had once again crossed her arms as if to avoid touching Akko. Akko honestly couldn’t blame her. She was a particular brand of crazy that most people could only take in small doses, and she had definitely overstayed her welcome. Akko began walking to what she assumed would be checkout. “Diana,” Akko liked the way Diana’s name sounded when she said it “I am about to be incredibly late for an English class that I need this book for. I gotta go. Like the ‘I should have left ten minutes ago’, gotta go.”

Diana rolled her eyes and walked by Akko, the smell of a meadow trailing after her. God Akko liked that smell. “Then I suggest you follow me, you were about to head in the wrong direction.” Though Diana was rude, Akko appreciated Diana’s quick pace as they walked through the store. Once more Diana was leading her through the winding shelves with a purpose. It turned out that the register was near the door. It was hidden from view from those walking in by a strategically placed bookshelf. Diana smoothly slid behind the counter and rattled off a number. Probably the book’s price. Akko didn’t quite hear what she said; she was too panicked, and simply threw four ten dollar bills at Diana’s face. She didn’t even bother waiting for her receipt or change. Akko threw herself forwards, sprinting to the door and fumbling with the knob. She didn’t even want to think about what Diana’s face looked like now, watching Akko flail around like an idiot. She managed to get the door open and resumed her mad dash once more, clipping an old lady with her shoulder on the way out. Both stumbled, but managed to recover. Akko ignored the irate calls after her. Gasping heavily, she began her mad sprint up the street and towards the college. If she took a shortcut through the alley and behind the old pizza parlor, Akko figured she could shave off a few minutes of time.

Covered in sweat, completely disheveled and probably wrinkling the pages of her new book, Akko was proud to say that she ended up only two minutes late. She was only scolded by Professor Finnelan for a total of ten minutes. All in all, a successful adventure.

[ikeservant]

hc: how do you think the main ikesen boys would react to mc’s time? like they’re all with her when the wormhole and get thrown back to her time?

Sorry for the long wait! I hope this is what you were asking for >__

Intro: No matter what it seemed inevitable that the wormhole was going to keep chasing mc and Sasuke to take them to the present day. Since both of these time travelers were near and dear to the Oda and Uesgi-Takeda warlords, they came to see them off. With tearful goodbyes, the wormhole would finally be at rest and stop causing destruction once it takes what it wants. Mc opened her eyes to find herself in the present day. However, she realized that there were eight too many people with her. The warlords, all confused, realized that they were sucked into the present day. Mc and Sasuke, after explaining that the warlords were 500 years in the future, devised an emergency meeting. They decided to all stay at Sasuke’s apartment and learn how to habituate to the future. So, how do the warlords fare?

Nobunaga: Intrigued and curious about everything. Is fascinated by automobiles. A lot of “this is very proficient. Let’s bring this back with us.” Likes to go on day trips with mc and the others to learn more about the area. Loves museums and will research everything. Adapts SUPER quickly.“Maybe I can conquer all of Japan AGAIN.” If he had to stay in the modern day for a long time, would most likely use his charisma and knowledge of currency and politics to either be a politician or CEO.

Hideyoshi: “So this is the country that Nobunaga will have founded.” Was a little freaked out and scared of the cars and busses whizzing by. “Be careful, Nobunaga and mc, these things could seriously kill someone.” (Boi, mc has been here longer than you. She knows how to use a crossroad. Thanks for caring though, bby). Loves going to modern cafes and trying all the teas and drinks. Wants to learn all the safety codes and rules of society to keep all of the warlords safe and get along. If he had to stay in the modern day long, he’d either be a police officer to protect others and upholding the law or be a hardworking manager that has to deal with everybody’s bullshit, drinks coffee like a madman, and kicks the copier when its spazzing out. “Back in my day we just rewrote everything.”

Ieyasu: Can use common sense for the most part to get by and stay safe, but will act like a grumpy old man dealing with change. Mc has fun with her payback from Ieyasu calling her naïve and foolish when she tried adapting to the Sengoku era, telling him now he knows what it feels like being sucked into another era. When y’all went to the drug store, he was intrigued with all of the medication and pain relief remedies. Will collect several medical textbooks and buy out all of Walgreen’s pharmacy department in hopes of being better at healing others when they return. He went to the zoo and was fascinated with all of the unique animals found worldwide. Won’t admit it but loved petting the goats and alpacas at the petting zoo (reminded him of Wasabi,who he secretly missed). Will sneak food to feed street cats and due to his medical knowledge he’d either be a veterinarian or a pharmacist if he had to be in the modern era for a long time. Likes some things about the present but is a little overwhelmed how loud and fast everything goes and sort of wishes to go back to the home that is the Sengoku.

Masamune: Put this man on a LEASH. He is running around everywhere, looking at everything. “I highly support the fashion choices of this era. Tank tops, mini skirts, and short shorts? HELL YA.” Mc is his guide to all of the foods in the area. Food trucks, dessert shops, restaurants will all be conquered by Masamune. Taking him to a grocery store for the first time was an absolute nightmare for Sasuke’s credit card. Loves how food is more readily available for people now than in the Sengoku era. Gets so much food. Also has two duffle bags stuffed with ramen packages for when he returns to the Sengoku era so his men can have a ready made meal. Went to an amusement park and LOVES roller coasters like the adrenaline junkie he is. He’s overall fascinated with all the fun experiences and exciting new things in the modern era. Would thrive as a chef at a restaurant who puts on a show with fire and knives while making the best food in town.

Mitsunari: Put this boi on a leash too. He’d be wandering around and getting lost in thought about how everything works. He’d be too busy thinking about how the mechanics of a car works that he would almost be hit BY a car. Is fascinated and wants to learn how everything works like Nobunaga. Both would love the museums. Mc gave him a laptop and boi is in LOVE with it. He spends several hours focusing on the laptop and researches everything. It’s like a mini library in his lap. Mc took him to the library and he now spends several hours looking through every book. Accidentally got hired as a librarian (the most beautiful librarian in Japan). Has to have a buddy to go out with or else he will get lost in thought and end up getting lost in general. Still love him though.

Mitsuhide: “Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.” Doesn’t take long for him to learn how to beat the system. Likes to tag along with mc and the others to go to different places just for the experience. Is glad that he doesn’t have to play spy for anybody anymore since all the warlords are in the same boat and he has more freedom to roam about (and cause trouble). Will use the excuse “well I didn’t know any better. I’m from the Sengoku.” for everything even though he’s already learned all the rules and customs just so he can get on Hideyoshi’s and mc’s nerves. Uses his cunningness and intelligence to be the best lawyer. Could also be a hella good detective. Had the best time in the magic trick and prank stores. They amuse him and finds it fun to freak out the other warlords in their apartment.

Kenshin: Almost Yeeted out of existence when he found out that swords are frowned upon to carry around in this time period. However he was brought back to stability when Sasuke and mc took him to a bar for the first time. Mc had to convince the police to not arrest Kenshin a few times when he threatened to kill some people and slashed a car tire for almost hitting him. (Kenshin violence is very frowned upon here.)Has a tough time adapting and getting along in modern society but he eventually finds a way. “Accidentally” becomes a gang leader in one night. Mc took him to a pet store and the entire pen of bunnies flocked to him. Guess who has a giant rabbit pen on the roof of the apartment? Kenshin.

Shingen: Also loves the new style. Man never thought he’d see the day that women would walk down the street with legs and arms showing. Also had to have mc bail him out from the police because of his flirting being misunderstood as him being a creep. Loves the bakery and sweets shops in the area. Yukimura is not happy having to do patdown checks to make sure Shingen isn’t sneaking sweets into the apartment. Loves the new carpentry methods and tools. Mc took him to Home Depot and he LOVED it. Would either be a sexy Home Depot worker and independent carpenter or be a hot bartender that is very popular with the female patrons.

Yukimura: Is confused by everything. Almost passed out when he realized they were 500 years in the future. “What the HELL is that thing” would be what he’d say while pointing with a scared look on his face. Mc and Sasuke thought it’d be a great idea to teach Yukimura about sports so he can have fun, release his pent up energy he would usually use for practice or battle training, and have a more positive outlook of the present day. Basketball and soccer being one of his favorites. Joins a local sports group and becomes team captain due to his previous war tactics being useful on the battlefield AND the court/soccer field and his leadership skills. Loves to go to athletic stores. Eventually becomes a coach, which he is both bashful and proud of. Could see him becoming a fireman since he’d want to save people and leap into action to save others like he did in the past as a Sengoku warlord.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 19: Yugi and the Only Neck Accessory He Didn’t Really Want to Wear

Been busy! Hopefully stuff will open up soon as I’m taking a hiatus on a different quarantine project and will be finishing painting the entire roof of my car this week? One can hope. Sanding the rust off the whole top of a car takes a long time it turns out?

Also, fun Yugioh fact, I recently painted a book cover for an author who is older so she’s never seen the show, and she looked at my tumblr, saw my Duke Devlin fanart and was like “That’s him. That’s my main character. OMG. You captured him perfectly!” and I was like “Ma’am that is Duke Devlin, hence the single dice earring on his lobes there, but we can work with this.” and now a spiritual Duke Devlin is on the cover of a Wuxia-style fantasy trilogy on the Vella. Had to give him a top knot and delete the eyeliner for Wuxia reasons but uh, that’s just Duke.

So long story short, fanart can get you work, don’t even worry about posting that stuff online because most people don’t even know it’s fanart anyway and older ladies freakin love it.

Back in Yugioh, the team was doing their best to navigate a map through the woods and they do about as well as they normally do.

And inside Tristan lifted up the floorboards and was like “I found the only way out, this is it, this is the only way.”

And they ended up in something that has a color scheme I would actually associate with a jungle. Finally. We have finally left California (in order to go to another Hell.)

Youknow, when we went to California, we visited Hell, and when we went to India, we also took a stop at the nearest death destination. There’s just so much death on this show and sometimes I forget because there’s been a ghost in our party for so freakin long it’s been normalized.

(read more death imagery under the cut)

Joey freaks out at a flock of crows and reveals in this episode something I never realized about him before.

Like I’m not always the perfect observer as I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I love that this is canon for probably only this episode, but I will never forget it for the entirety of this series.

You go on hating birds, Joey.

Bro was like “Maybe it’s a deep cut about Mai Valentine because she’s a harpy lady” but eh...pretty sure we spent like an entire season of Joey telling us that Mai was a good experience? Would be incredibly funny if immediately after all of S4, Joey was like “You know what? Screw Mai, guys.”

So my thoughts...it’s probably just a literal bird experience. Like I had a friend who hated deer because once she went to a petting zoo, got some pellets to feed the deer, but her finger was sticking up, so when the deer came over to nibble on some pellets her finger went up it’s nose by accident. She was so disgusted by this event that was entirely her fault, that she brought up how much she hated deer basically whenever we saw one.

So like...maybe Joey fed a bird wrong at a petting zoo. I can see him getting bit by a parrot because he was too Joey Wheeler.

But now that we’re in a graveyard neighborhood, Pharaoh decides to hop out because there’s a lot of ghosts here and he needs to practice socializing with his peers.

So that’s just a Yugioh monster doing the ostrich dance, right? Like this is a meme from like 2010 but on Yugioh in 2003(4?)

Good to see the Ostrich dance here in the land before Vine.

So they pull out their Pokemon to do some antics, Tea looked like she was about to do something useful, and Yami does a yump across time and space to get her as far away from playing (not)cards as quickly as possible and y’all...sure was a position these animators animated.

Holy crap.

And I was going off about that scene last season where they woke up in the same bed like...

...have these two been together this entire time? Like together together?

They’re like...way more comfortable than you’d figure they’d be considering Yugi nearly passes out every time he gets a hug. But Yami just like....How long has this been going on? As long as Joey’s fear of birds?

Like obviously this show would never cover what the hell Yugi may be thinking about this overreaching move here, because we’re gonna gloss right over that, and just run away up a flight of stairs. No one mentions this ever again. Which is mind blowing for an anime to do. I think in most anime I watch, the kids would be like “ahh ahhhh I bumped into a booooob!” like it does for I want to say every other episode of My Hero Academia. But in Yugioh, they saw that low hanging fruit and they were like “we expect a higher level of maturity out of our audience. Now here’s a fleet of ostrich dancing tree monsters with faces for crotches.”

They decided to sprint up this flight of stairs, and it enough of a slope to deter the monsters who are only unbalanced weird legs.

I want us to take a moment and admire this background painting. I can’t unsee the rocks that are all the same size, just piled on top of eachother. Did Alexander the Great just plop rocks here--or was the mountain made up of tons of similarly shaped boulders?

Like there’s a lot of nice bg’s in this arc, don’t get me wrong, but this one...I’m just trying to wrap my head around the logic of it.

At the top, they meet a pantheon, that is immediately blocked by this wall, because if this arc had a tagline, it’s “Yugi gets inconvenienced every 4 seconds.”

Bro was like “Clearly they would have pushed it over if Tea wasn’t slacking off” and like...she is actually. Look at her. Only used one hand? Slacker.

Joey was disappointed he couldn’t push over a massive wall, and the team decided not to analyze how much Joey Wheeler thinks of his own strength and instead fixate on these statues.

Usually in anthro characters they kinda look birdlike but act human. But what about an anthro that’s just a bird? Like human torso, but can turn his head 180 degrees? Yugioh made me ask this question.

And then Joey was like “wait, there may be a solution that isn’t just to use brute strength!”

Youknow it is a bummer that Kaiba couldn’t witness Joey own a dragon while he himself only has a robot jet dragon. Although, the jet is probably faster, stronger and overall...better than this baby dragon. It would have been great for Kaiba to witness Joey under-utilize this dragon and forget he has it for like huge swatches of the episode.

And then Grandpa pulled some body horror out of nowhere.

Wow.

I mean that is really gross.

I guess Grandpa can’t use Blue eyes, because Kaiba ripped it up, Grandpa can’t use Exodia because Weevil tossed it off a boat, and grandpa can’t use the card that’s just a building because...it’s a building.

So instead Grandpa has a bunch of meat and bones that look like something out of Doom. It’s probably from a more obscure Konami property, but I forget which.

I’ve seen Tristan hold back Joey in this hold, first time it’s been Tea.

So much shipping in this episode, it’s wild.

It’s also wild how low my standards are for what could possibly be shipping when it comes to Yugioh because of how freakin tepid all of these characters are, which as I’ve brought up before, I really don’t mind.

So Yugi decides that because Grandpa was folding his arms like one monster and it made a gem light up or something, to just do the video game thing and use the giant ass statues as clues.

Why was this arc not a video game? Like parts of it really feel like it was meant to be.

So Yugi falls down a hole, where the walls cave in like it’s that dumpster in Star Wars but like...it barely phases him.

Also...Yugi might be able to see in the dark. It’s never been brought up but like...the more I think about it...has Yugi ever struggled to see without the lights on?

After Joey disappoints everyone, he confronts death.

And Pharaoh and Yugi decide to solve the puzzle of “how do I get out of this trap dungeon room” which, honestly, is probably what they’re doing every time they hang out in the brain pyramid.

So they summon their mascot monster, and surprisingly the show decided its ability to fly cannot help them out here.

Kuriboh manages to become enough of a doormat to push Yami up to the stone and they end up in a set of weird cuts that ended in this?

Like seriously it was like flashes of light and then they were just...up here like this.

Hey like...

Alexander the Great, my man...

Were you planning to put that stone in the middle of a exhaust vent hoping someone would touch it? Because there’s no way anyone would rationally have done that. You would need to fly to do it. This is the world’s worst DM.

Like Yugioh pulls a lot of fantasy nonsense but this arc is a lot more like a “it’s a kid’s show, just go with it.” arc than most of them. It’s not a bad vibe, necessarily, it’s just not the vibe I’m used to.

So once I witnessed maybe the most boring conversation I’ve ever witnessed about corn (this was on a twitch stream, by the way, a guy was playing an interesting game, and then a guest came on and started talking about corn and plants for 2 hours) and they would not shut up about how all taxonomy is wrong because there are no such thing as trees and how all animals are labelled incorrectly, and then they started comparing it to like all sorts of mushrooms and phytoplankton as you would if you clearly got a little bit high before dumping your corn knowledge on a twitch stream.

Anyway, after that bizarre experience I suffered so I could learn how to play an obscure video game, I think I can safely say, that while I know everyone here thinks a bird can’t be a dog. If you’re a high biologist: a bird is absolutely a dog. Apparently you can just do that if you’re the most boring biologist alive and no one will argue with you because to do that would involve talking to you. We’ll just say a bird is a dog and no one can fight me or I will talk about the corn book that this guest on this twitch chat was thinking about renting from the library about the different types of corn mutations inherent in freakin Indiana. Therefore, Joey’s fear of birds and dogs is same.

So they use Dark Magician to save them from the statues, and Yugi busts into the pantheon again because they got to open this casket before a time limit that I kind of forgot about, tbh.

And inside the casket, is...this thing!

(enjoy this line on the bottom of the image I don’t feel like fixing it)

And you may say to yourself...it looks like it’s just floating in mid-air, that’s silly, and so I want to introduce you to the next panel where you can see that it is...quite literally...just floating in the air like a video game.

and it just slurps itself onto Yugi before he can be like “nonono.”

Wasn’t there some horror movie where you were stuck in some sort of body brace that slowly tortures you (was that Saw?) This has that vibes. Like man that looks uncomfortable to wear over a jacket and two belts and a collar that is another belt.

That and I...I gotta appreciate that Yugi popped his collar while wearing body armor and chunky necklace. What 00′s fashion appreciation right there.

Bit like...this isn’t breathable, right? Like Yugi’s gonna finally take this thing off and his jacket will just be completely soaked in sweat?

Anyway, that’s it for this post, next week we’ll see if Yugi can walk through a doorway in that thing.

Also, I can’t bring up the ostrich dance without sharing the vines of my generation

[lamiralami]

TMA Retro 4: Page Turner

I was touched to see some tag commentary on yesterday’s post! Honestly, it gave me an emotion - I am traditionally very anxious about engaging online, it speaks to my immense love of TMA that it brought me to Make A Post At Last. It’s very affirming and reassuring to get some response to my lunatic treatises. Y’all are all right. 💜

Anyway, grab some lighter fluid and a sturdy wastepaper basket, time to torch your haunted novel in MAG 4: Page Turner

It’s ironic that this statement is about the Vast when it is one dense motherfucker. so many dangling plot threads are introduced here, each ready to hook you and start reeling. we’ve been into the meta plot since episode one but this episode is the first time the audience is made aware of such.

seriously: Jurgen Leitner and his library, Gerard Keay and Mary Keay, Michael Crew. the figures introduced in this one thirty-minute installment loom large over the rest of the entire run

you could, your first time through, even file this away as a one-off scary story if not for the fact that Jon knows what’s going on (enjoy it while it lasts, my son). He’s heard of Jurgen Leitner. He alludes to an incident with his library in 1994. Deeper than that, he immediately takes the statement at face value and treats the claims within it as authentic, which is a complete 180° on the first three episodes

and this is such a smart story choice? Jon shapes our perspective into this universe and up until now he’s been utterly dismissive of the validity of the stories he’s telling. To go from practically rolling his eyes to scheduling a meeting with his boss about tracking down more haunted books - that tells us that Jon takes this seriously as a threat. And that makes us take it seriously too, makes us take note that strange books are dangerous things in this world. Any offhand mention of books in future statements will be enough to make us sweat

And! It starts winding the narrative tension on a character level. Why and what does Jon know about Jurgen Leitner and his library? Why does he say his name with such venom? And if he’s so sure about the supernatural nature of these books, why is he so loath to believe the other statements?

(and then it takes 80 + episodes to fully answer these initial questions. Jonny enjoys a slow roasted torment)

love that the statement giver presents, as proof of his iron-clad sanity, the fact that he works as a theatre technician. speaking as someone with an unfinished theatre degree: theatre people are feral my good buddy, try again. I mean, we refuse to say the name of one of the most famous plays in the English language because we think a ghost will trip us for the indiscretion. this is not the trump card you think it is.

a quick sidebar for the Red String Brigade: The Trojan Women is an ancient Greek tragedy that involves a baby being thrown off a city wall. The Seagull’s first published English translation was done by Marian Fell, and also a seagull is a bird and birds can fly. Much Ado About Nothing is very good and you should all watch the version from 2011 with David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

it’s interesting that these early episodes seem to take a cue from urban legends in some respects. Nathan Watts gets extremely drunk at a party and then is almost skinned by a monster while having a smoke. Joshua Gillespie is approached while engaging in a whirlwind of debauchery and has to take care of a cursed coffin after accepting money for what he thinks is a drug trafficking gig. Amy Patel regularly spies on her neighbour for her own entertainment and then has to watch him be replaced by a malevolent entity only she can perceive. and now Dominic Swain pushes past his guilty conscience to score a valuable book off an unknowing charity shop and...gets a bit dizzy and haunted by a phantom stink for a few days then gets ‎£5,000, well anyway, the point is he got spooked! spooked after doing something kind of iffy! that is pure urban legend procedure; modern day fairy tales imparting dire  consequences onto societal transgressions. in a horror story this structure offers a false sense of safety - if you’re a good person, the monster won’t come for you. I can’t recall which upcoming statement yanks the rug out from under us with the first completely random victim.

cannot comprehend how this guy didn’t start plugging the book into google translate the second he got home. that probably saved him from being taken by the book but I am still judging him for not even trying it. yeah you’d be sucked into some sort of sky hell but at least you’d know what’s in the book!! could never be me

(yes I am aware in this universe I would have been eaten years ago. I’ve made my peace with that)

grbookworm1818 slays me. I don’t know which is better, the idea of Gertude carefully curating the most sixty-five-year-old-on-goodreads username she could as a cover for her cursed purchase history, or her actual sixty-five-year-old brain just expressing itself naturally because Gertrude is a very busy woman who doesn’t have time to immerse herself in the ins and outs of internet culture, she just wants to buy the demonic tomes she’s selected for destruction and get on with her day thanks.

did Gertrude know what a meme was? which Archivist could convincingly pose as a millennial best, Gertrude Robinson or Jonathan Sims?

The Key of Solomon and its former keeper, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, are both real historical figures. the book is basically Renaissance-era magical au fanfic of the Bible, and the man was a 19th century British occultist (and likely drinking buddy of Jonah Magnus) who founded a Very Serious Secret Society. this is a picture of him whiiiiiich rather dispels any sense of menace he’s meant to invoke. what kind of cosplaying nonsense

Mary Keay is such a striking figure. “She was very old and painfully thin, but her head was completely clean shaven, and every square inch of skin I could see was tattooed over with closely-written words in a script I didn’t recognise.” a Look, a vision!

I’m guessing that Our Gerard was blasting heavy metal at 2 am to try to drown out his undead mother while waiting for her manifestation to dissipate. I like to imagine him frequenting Reddit advice posts about dealing with toxic family members, poor lad

oh my gosh Mary refers to Gerard as “her Gerard” is that where Jon got “our Gerard” from?? I feel betrayed??

whatever, I’m reclaiming it. Our Gerard is meant with affection now babey! 

the eye portrait is a bit puzzling. the inscription - ‘“Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call.”’ - could almost be read as an invocation against the Eye? But in general Gerry is fairly Eye-aligned, so...shrug emoji

(honestly my main takeaway from the eye portrait is that it’s finely detailed and near photorealistic so we can add “tortured artist” to our list of Gerard Keay traits and is it any wonder that he’s so Fandom Beloved?)

Mary is Not Good at negotiating sales. her main technique involves terrible tea, bringing up repressed childhood trauma, and getting her magic book to drop animal bones onto customer’s shoes. I’m guessing Pinhole Books was in bad shape even before the police investigation and murder charges.

hahaha, the Vast pushes Dominic down the stairs. classic. you gotta grab what opportunities are available

so did Gerard have to follow Dominic back to his flat and wait awkwardly on the doorstep at like 3 in the morning, hoping none of his neighbours would notice and call the cops

the revelation that Mary’s been dead the whole time! this episode may be more intent on world building and plot set-up but damn if it isn’t still a good little ghost story.

kind of rude of Gerry to just burn a book in this guy’s flat without asking and then steal his wastepaper basket.

Jon may not call the statement giver a liar for once, but never fear, he’s still our petty bastard man. accuses Gertrude of filing statements without reading them, has Sasha double-check Martin’s research, grumps about his general misfortune . he’s stressed from the Archives’ disorder and having flashbacks to a certain picture book but by Jove, that won’t stop him making snide comments on what’s supposed to be an official audio transcription!