#so i guess you could say it's really just the basic premise of it that's real:

[emblemxeno]

About the Engage Reddit sales clowning, I want to bring up that you see from those people acting like Fates being the second-best selling game in the entire franchise was because it was "cheating" for having the route split chicanery, but my brothers in Christ, the official sales figure only accounts for physical copies. The routes were DLC. The DLC likely made even more money than that, and yet you see these people trying to downplay that success!

It's so weird, because the reason why Fates and 3H did so well and Engage didn't IMHO is due to two factors; a.) the lack of any clear dating sim-like mechanic (at least one that wasn't botched to hell and back by the localization, because much as Reddit FE wants to deny it, waifuism hard carries games like FE), and b.) the fact the visual designs fucking slapped in both games. Visual designs are like the factor whether your game about romanceable waifus and husbandos sells well, and Engage, much as I like it, didn't really have a design that basically anyone in the fandom truly liked (Mika Pikazo is a great artist, but they're a very ill-conceived fit for an FE game IMHO). There were memes for months up to the lead-up of Engage's release that Alear was "Toothpaste-chan," that the characters "looked like Vtubers," that there was even a lot of skepticism it was an FE game due to the leaks looking nothing like FE... well, it led to a lot of the group that bought the games for the waifuism not going out to buy the game. People on Reddit FE like to act like marketing is the reason why games like Awakening saved the franchise and Fates sold well, but if that were true, Concord would've been the billion dollar hit Sony wanted it to be given how intensely they marketed it. Engage just didn't have a visual style people liked, while 3H and Fates were what people liked.

I guess it just annoys me because people have this weird double standard that 3H's success was "deserved" unlike Fates's, but both games succeeded for the same reason: because they were waifuist games. Regardless of whether Reddit FE wanted to admit it or not. You'd believe that Echoes was everything fans wanted it to be unlike Fates, but it sold even less than Engage! (This is at least partially due to the fact Echoes released after the Switch released, but given how good Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon did and the fact the 3DS was profitable enough to continue making games for it until 2019, I don't think this excuse exactly holds water).

People in the FE fandom are extremely averse to the idea that social sim/dating and romance mechanics could have anything to do with games being popular or doing well, and it makes me laugh.

Like, 3H, the game in this series with an utterly disproportional amount of ship fanfic and art? Yeah, it's not because the game is actually remarkable in a way wholly unique to it. Most FE plots are better than it has, be it in execution, subject matter or premise. And the gameplay is also really sloggish and time consuming.

It's because of its quantifiable amount of dialogue and characters yapping about their personal lives. It is the most relationship based FE in the series, ripe for ship content, even if it's not possible in the game itself (hence the copious amount of crack ships). The game has longevity because people keep talking and writing about it, rather than actually playing it.

And the devs know it, it's basically FE-Persona rip-off that people wanted from TMS. Including sunk-cost fallacy and time consumption.

Fates also had a bit of this too, though I'd argue that the game has designs that are more attractive (I really can't stand school-to-adulthood character designs and premises, it kind of gives me the ick lol). And also has a surface level design, aesthetic and premise that is tantalizing and appealing to people, across multiple mediums.

So... what I mean to say is, I get it. Engage stripped away the hardcore social mechanics and had more eclectic character designs. People will deflect and deny and say "well it's because the story and writing is BAD!!!" but this is the same fandom that can't even fucking agree that the series has well written stories in ANY of its entries in the first place. What 3H did was appeal to normies who had nothing better to do during covid except play a bloated game and argue.

Suffice to say, I don't think the next original FE game that will have a "~Well Written Story~" by FE Fandom standards will actually do well (or as well at least as the 3DS games and 3H) because normies won't fucking care this time since the lightning in a bottle, parasocial sim stuff won't happen twice. That'll be a shocker for the fandom to take, but it should be a good indicator that no one should actually equivocate sales to quality when the quality itself is dependent on public opinion, which has no consistency.

Also thank you for bringing up the physical vs DLC sales for Fates, because people often do forget that and it tickles me lol. Like, were you to actually total that up, the fact that 3H has passed Fates sales most likely has been more recent than anyone thinks simply because of the DLC aspect. Fates itself also has a more rich DLC spread to take part in (whereas 3H just has costumes, Cindered Shadows and the worst playable character in the game in Anna)

[mageknight14]

I latch on to every word of twewy and especially neo twewy analysis you write. neo is one of my favorite games of all time and it's so compelling seeing someone write about it the way you do

Aw thanks! I guess with NEO, I was so tired of people just dunking it for not being the exact same as OG TWEWY when I was like "what the fuck, this is the best possible sequel you can make to something as insane as TWEWY" when I played the game. I think what really got me while I was on reddit was someone talking about NEO was, and I quote, "too experimental of a sequel for something like TWEWY" and I had to let the irony of that statement sink in for a full minute.

At that point, I was like "nah, screw this, Imma give the game the analysis it deserves."

I think the most impressive thing about NEO is that it inverts (get it? Like Inversion?) a lot of things within the original but not with the intent to foil it just because. There are certainly a lot of deliberate callbacks to the original in NEO (An0ther basically being Rindo’s CAT, Shoka sharing traits with both Neku and Joshua and even having Sakura in her last name, having the three weeks again, a full-on team structure as opposed to just duos, the ideals of Shinjuku vs Shibuya, etc), but the game puts forth its own unique twists on these concepts to have them fit within NEO’s themes and make them feel natural. Fret shares a very similar backstory to Neku when it comes to having dead best friends that shaped their personalities but Fret chose to cope with his grief in a different way and as a result, he has his own problems to deal with in contrast to Neku. NEO uses the skeleton of the original but aims to tell a story to add on to its lessons of human communication and reflect on the struggles of teens and adults alike in the modern era, and as a sequel to something like TWEWY, I think that’s the best possible call they could’ve gone with.

Maybe one day NEO will get its full due. It’s easy to forget (and it still happens in some circles) but back in the day, people just could not vibe with the original TWEWY, whether it’s for its controls, Neku’s confrontational personality, the surplus load of mechanics the game throws at you at a time, etc…

There were people who would dismiss the game on its face just based off of the premise/style alone and I remember folks on 4chan and other forums comparing Neku to Squall amongst other things. While TWEWY was critically acclaimed, it was also quite subject to criticism. And yet, as years go by, people would look more and more fondly on the game, try it out for themselves, and go "holy shit, this game is fucking rad." The way the game uses its mechanics to tell its story, the way the themes were detailed, the messages it expressed, etc…

I think NEO is in a similar position to the original in this regard not just by some people who are just experiencing the TWEWY IP for the first time but also fans of the original, funnily enough. Not that I necessarily blame them, given how NEO is a different game from the original in a lot of ways. Still, it’s both funny and frustrating to see people’s dismiss NEO’s strengths (combat, characterization, themes, etc) just for not being like the original when a lot of folks back in the day would dismiss TWEWY just for not playing like other games at the time.

Not that I don’t think that NEO is exactly free from criticism. I certainly have a lot to say about how it handles aspects of a New Day (namely Tsugumi) as well as some of its pacing but frankly, I don’t think the original is perfect either. And I’m okay with that.

Why? Because I love both games to the point that their strengths are enough for me to brush over the flaws they do have in spite of it all as well as the ways they approach storytelling and combat design.

I don’t think there’s ever gonna be another game like OG TWEWY. That’s just impossible due to how the game was made. But for what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s gonna be another game like NEO for a long time either. And in a way, that makes it the perfect sequel to TWEWY.

[notsocheezy]

Brain Curd #50

Brain Curds are lightly edited flash fiction - practically first drafts - posted daily and sometimes written with the express intention of being terrible… but, you know, in an endearing way. Please enjoy.

The sound of Pomp & Circumstance filled the entire hall, weaving through the ears of proud parents and extended relatives. Backstage, the graduates stood in line, waiting for their turn on stage, but none was more excited than the one and only salutatorian, Patty Ward. Unlike most other people, Patty relished public speaking.

While the five valedictorians discussed their division of labor in the corner, Patty stood confident in the knowledge that she’d already practiced and memorized her speech over the previous week. She was going to kill - absolutely kill.

The valedictorians went up first, nearly tripping over each others’ gowns on the way to the podium. The tall one took out a stack of index cards and tapped them on the podium before flipping through them and handing them out to the other four.

“Wait, wait, wait,” the short one whispered. “Why do I have three cards? The rest of you only have two.”

“Weren’t you paying attention?” The blonde one asked. “We agreed that since you go last, you have to take the extra card.”

“Where was I when you made that decision?”

“You know what, actually,” the bearded one rubbed his hairy chin. “I think you might have been in the bathroom. But it’s just the closing remarks.”

“Guys!”

“Look, it’s not a big deal, I’ll take the extra card.” The brunette swiped the card from the short one and added it to her stack. “Can we please all get along? This is the last time we’ll all be in the same room together. It’s important.”

Patty agreed. In fact, she was counting on that fact for her speech.

The tall one approached the microphone first, and awkwardly read from his cards. His part of the speech was something about unity in the face of challenges, but it was brief since each of the valedictorians only got about twelve seconds for their portion of the speech.

The rest of them gave similarly stilted reads of their lines, which for valedictorians seemed poorly written and low effort. They just didn’t seem to have anything to say.

Single file, the five of them left the stage, and Patty knew it was her turn. She got a whole minute all to herself. She confidently approached the podium, staring out into the massive crowd of faceless silhouettes. There was no need to ‘imagine them in their underwear’, or whatever people always said to do. Each person ceased to be human, ceased to be an individual with complex thoughts and motives. They were all part of the hive mind known as the audience. If one laughed, all laughed. A clap could begin anywhere and radiate out at the speed of sound.

Patty adjusted the microphone to her preference and slid her finger along the remote in her pocket. It was smooth to the touch.

“Greetings, all! It is my honor to speak to you all today and to congratulate the Class of 2017 for their great achievement. We did it!”

She held her arms in the air and the cheers quaked the room, localized in the teacher region of the audience.

She continued. “But it wasn’t easy. We struggled, we persevered. We studied, we procrastinated. We tried, and sometimes, we failed. Except the valedictorians, of course.”

She gestured to stage left, where the five had gone and now stood in the shadows. The crowd erupted into laughter. It didn’t take much.

“Me, personally? I stand before you as salutatorian - that is, the second-best - because I worked hard. Because I never gave up. Because of that one B in AP History.”

Everyone laughed at that one, as expected, and no one laughed harder than Mr. Idolt, the teacher who gave her the grade that sealed her fate. The one semester in which she didn’t get an A in every class. She took this moment of pause to pull the remote from her pocket and hold it up in the air.

“The funniest part is I’m not fucking joking.”

No one in the crowd could tell what she was holding, but the quiet that immediately took the room told her that she had them worried.

“This remote is attached to a series of explosives I have placed around the building. I don’t want to have to use it, but I did not come THIS FAR to leave with a goddamn three-point-nine-seven GPA! I get a four-point-oh or every one of us turns into a crater!”

Patty pointed at Mr. Idolt. “Come on up here!”

He stumbled, clearly scared out of his mind, across the row of seats to the aisle and walked toward the stage. He climbed up awkwardly and brushed himself off before hesitantly approaching the podium.

“Why don’t you tell them all why I ended up with a B, teach?” She pushed the microphone toward him.

“Uh…” the microphone popped and he pulled back from it by an inch. “I didn’t think your essay was quite up to par with AP grading guidelines. For a nine. I gave you an eight instead. That is still very good.”

“Were there better essays?”

“I have seen many -”

“Were there better essays in this graduating class?”

He adjusted his glasses, which slipped down his nose from all the nervous sweat. “Uh… no. No, I don’t suppose there were.”

Patty pointed back off stage. “So why did you give blondie over there a nine?”

The crowd gasped. Idolt began shaking and looked toward his wife, who shook her head in disapproval. He gulped.

Patty rubbed her thumb along the contours of the button on the remote while refusing to break eye contact with the man.

“I… I must have made a mistake. She… didn’t deserve it. It… wasn’t as good as yours. I’ll - I’ll fix it, okay! I will!”

“You’ll give me an A for that semester?”

“Yes! Yes! You were my best student, you always were!” He started crying and fell to his knees.

Patty looked at the crowd, satisfied by her revenge, and clicked the button. Contrary to what she had claimed would happen, however, no one exploded into a million pieces. The projector screen descended behind her on stage and the lights dimmed. She moved the microphone back into place for her to speak into it.

“And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I leave you as the sixth valedictorian of the Class of 2017. Please enjoy the rest of the ceremony.”

[euphoricimagination]

𝓗𝓪𝓲𝓴𝔂𝓾𝓾 𝓫𝓸𝔂𝓼 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪 𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓴-𝓶𝓮 𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵

Feat. Nekoma & Inarizaki -> Part 2 [Aoba Johsai & Fukurodani]

Premise: You had to do something else for a week and a half, leaving the boys alone for that period. Although they told the coaches that they could survive without you, the coaches ask a girl to help them out instead. They weren’t particularly excited, which got worse the more they spent time with her

Nekoma

You arrived later than you expected, just on time for the club, So you didn’t get to see your dear team until much later

When you enter the gym, you see a…strange view

No one in the team was happy

Yaku and Kai didn’t have any expressions on them, Lev was pouting aggressively, Fukunaga had a frown, Yamamoto was mumbling words and Kenma was nowhere to be seen.

The girl that was supposed to replace you for the week was walking besides a very annoyed Kuroo, who was pushing the cart with the balls

Weird, considering that doing that was the basics for being a manager

They were so out of it that none notice the sound of your shoes, weird considering how attentive they are

“Ah Kuroo senpai, thank God you helped me! I’m so small and weak that I wasn’t able to push it over” you heard her say, making you cringe at the sentence

“Yeah, whatever” said a disinteresting Kuroo

And that’s when you confirm that something was really wrong, Kuroo was never this dismissive

“What’s happening? Everything ok?” you asked making Kuroo turn around with a relief smile on

“Oh hi, Kuroo senpai was just helping me since you know, I’m so small and weak” says fluttering her eyes at him

“It’s just pushing the cart. It has wheels on it…” You gave a disbelief look to Kuroo, who just rolls his eyes “it’s not that hard”

“Maybe for someone as big as you it wouldn’t be so difficult!”

That was it for Kuroo, who quickly move to your side giving you a hug

“Well, guess you can leave now that our manager is back. Bye”

"Kuroo-senpai!! Stooop! I can stay here too!” says stomping her feet

The whole commotion cause everyone to look at you, and you swear you heard a collective sigh full of relief

Quickly enough you felt a bunch of arms around you, a bunch of head pats and a ton of screams of your name

Which quickly was interrupted by a loud scream by the girl “KYANMA!!”

You look at the stairs where Kenma was standing shaking slightly with big eyes. The girl tried to get close to him, yelling “They are being mean, Kyanma!” but he just runs away towards you

Yes. Run. He hated her, she was so loud and desperate, Kenma literally couldn’t stand her.

“You’re back” says Kenma hiding behind you, showing more happiness that you ever have seen from him

So happy that he went to hug you tightly, he really missed you

“Anyways, now that our team is finally complete you can leave. Please go out” says Kuroo

“Agh! Fine! I’m way too good for you anyways!”

She sends you a look full of venom, but you didn’t really notice it

After all, you had a clingy Kenma hugging you tightly and the rest of the team waiting for one

Inarizaki

After your small break reached an end you finally were ready to go back to your boys

They were having a small hangout in the Miya household

They tried to be sneaky about it, not wanting to invite the girl that was replacing you

But sadly for them, she somehow knew and crash into them before you could arrive

She’s the first person you see when you enter their house with the spare key they gave you

“Who are you?” she asks with her eyebrow raising

“Ehh…I’m Yn, their manager. You helped them while i was out?” You ask back, confused at her sudden presence

“Yes…I actually think I should be the new manager! After all I play like 17 sports and definitely know more than you about sports. What do you think this is? Cheer? Not like it’s a sport, but whatever” she says with a overconfident smirk

In the meantime the guys that were already in the house starting to appear into the hall, confused at how loud her voice was being

“Anyways! Why don’t you leave? A girl like you probably doesn’t even know a thing about sports! We’re gonna play videogames while you probably just want to paint your nails or whatever!”

“Who says you’re staying?” Atsumu says, frowning

“Ha Ha, you’re so funny Atsumu! Of course I’m staying” she says nervous

“No, you’re not” Osamu adds

“I’m sure we can all hang out tog-” you try to say

“You shut it! I bet you don’t know anything about the sport!” She says to you despite you trying to help her

“Really? You barely even know what we play, you just join because you wanted to see hot guys” a voice behind you says, Suna entering the house as he passes his arm through your shoulders

The girl immediately went pale, stammering the next sentence “well…well, I mean, of course I know!”

“Sure, that's why you asked 'if we knew' the rules of basketball yesterday. Just leave, nobody wants you here anyway”

She scoffs annoyed, looking at the rest of the team as if asking for help, which she doesn’t receive. She scoffs one more time, walking towards the door and leaving as she shoots a glare towards you

“You guys are so mean” you say, receiving a chuckle

“She deserved it, if anything she just hinder our practice” Osamu adds

“Besides, nobody talks about our beautiful manager like that” Atsumu hugs you along side Suna

The rest of the team also comes to hug you, and while they were a bit rude, you knew that they only had good intentions

You love this foxes too much

----

Note: a little something about my boys, also, I cringed way too much while writing this

[reiderwriter]

So obviously Spencer is iconic for his wide range of haircuts over the show, and I have this vision of a Spencer x hairdresser fic where he goes to the same hairdresser all the time because he likes the routine and it’s what he’s used to. So like they’re low-key friends bc he’s been her client so long, but then she notices he can’t come as usual and he tells her it’s because he’s always away or working late. So because they’re close she gives him private late appointments after she closes bc they’re more accessible for him, and then they’re always together late at night, and eventually they fall for each other!! And like she loves his curls and cringed when he wanted it cut short but loves it regardless AHH I JUST LOVE IT. Bonus points if Spencer gets to recommend his hairdresser girlfriend to his teammates just to brag about the fact he has a hot girlfriend lmao. I get it’s kinda long lol, if it’s too long a premise then no worries, just sharing it is nice :)

A/N: Hi! I love the idea of hair stylist reader, so I had a lot of fun writing this~♡ Thank you for your request, I hope you enjoy it!

W/C: 2.1k

Warnings: implied Autistic Reid, brief mentions of sensory issues, writer does not care for the shows Canon hair continuity and does basically whatever she wants.

Masterlist

The first time you'd met Spencer Reid, you hadn't been able to cut his hair. Which was a damn shame because it really did need cutting. 

Sweeping up the floors of the hair salon you worked at, you had noticed the man lingering outside, wringing his hands together and pushing them awkwardly through his hair, approaching and retreating every few seconds. 

You watched him through the mirrors, and let him dance around like that for five minutes before deciding that the evening breeze would be a boon during the hot summer night that was about to set in on you. 

Opening the salon door, you stepped outside and soaked in the fresh air before turning to the now frozen, slightly awkward man. 

“Can I help you?” You tried to put a welcoming smile on your face, but the salon was past closing and empty beside you. You should've been heading home by now, but something in the man's posture had you dawdling.

“The barber shop down the road closed down,” he said quickly, as if the words were practised on his to guess moments before. 

“Yes, that's true. It's been six months now.”

“Six months?” he squeaked out, running a hand through his hair as he turned inwards. 

“Do you… need a haircut?” 

“Yes. Yes, are there any other barber shops in the area?” 

You rolled your eyes and walked back into the salon, picking up a robe and a shoulder cover and spinning around the closest chair to welcome him. 

“Well, are you coming in?” 

“But you're closed. Your sign says you're closed.” 

“And I'm still here, aren't I?” 

He didn't argue any further and hesitantly stepped into the salon. 

You helped him out of his bag and put it away before helping him into the robe and shoulder pad. 

He awkwardly stood around as you prepared your scissors and station again, switching on the mirror light so you could fully see his face and hair. 

And damn was he attractive. As you smoothed his hair out of his face, you were met with warm brown eyes, open and anxious, like a deer caught in headlights. Or, more accurately, a dear caught in a hair salon. 

You had to blink and look away as you remembered what you were about, standing up and leading him over to the sink. 

“I'm… I'm a little bit sensitive about my hair,” he admitted quite meekly as you tested the temperature of the water. 

“Okay. Is there anything specific?” 

He sat himself in the chair but didn't lower his head to the bowl, so you waited. 

After a minute or two, he gently lowered his head to the bowl, and you helped his progress, making sure he was comfortably settled. He didn't speak, just let his shoulders relax and closed his eyes as you turned the water on his locks. 

You enjoyed the simple repetitions of your job. Everyone's hair was different, that was true, but there were really only so many ways to wash hair. 

You rinsed his hair thoroughly, keeping the water away from his face and ears with a face guard before beginning to lather it up. 

For a man who hadn't seen the inside of a salon in six months and likely a hairbrush in the same length of time, his hair was healthy. 

De-tangling as you went, you ran your hands through the lengths of his hair, taking note of how it fell, which parts were healthy, and which had developed split ends. Then you began massaging his head, working the shampoo into his roots, making sure his scalp was free from any possible dirt or dry skin. 

This was the best part of the haircut for you, and you knew your regular clients enjoyed it greatly as well. Which is why you probably shouldn't have been too surprised when the man fell asleep. 

It took you a few minutes to realize that was what happened, the face guard obscuring his face from your vision. When you squeezed the water from his hair, patted it dry, and twisted it into a towel so the water wouldn't run down his back, you had no clue that he was away with the fairies. 

It wasn't until you asked him to stand, and he didn't even move that you moved around the sink and lifted the face guard. 

If he seemed anxious awake, it had melted away now. He looked younger asleep, more calm and confident somehow. His eyelashes were long, a fact you only noticed when you leaned in to get a better look at him. 

It was your hand unconsciously tracing a hand along his jaw that woke him back up, and for a second, you just stared at each other, faces inches apart. 

“I'm.. I'm so sorry, I should go. Thank you for… I should go,” he said hurriedly, pulling the robes and towels off and snatching his bag up, running out the door. 

“Wait, your hair,” you called after him, but he was gone. 

And he hadn't paid. 

It took a week for you to collect the payment, though you couldn't care less about the money anyway. 

But a week thinking about the man's delicate features, his shy smile and stutter, and you were very distracted. 

Thinking about him had become your full-time job, as much as cutting hair had, and you'd had a few close encounters with the scissors when you were lost in thought. 

You'd been thinking up back stories for the man ranging from the romantic to the obscure to the downright realistic. So, a week later, you found yourself behind on work and needing to stay late, just as he stepped into the shop a second time. 

“Hello?” You shouted from the backroom, hearing the doorbell jingle as it opened. “We're actually closed right now, so- oh.” 

He stood awkwardly in the door, his face already flushed slightly. 

“Hi.” 

“Hi,” you said, trying to stop the grin spreading across your face. You didn't want to scare him off a second time. 

“Last time, I… kinda ran away. I was… I'm not the best with-” 

“With haircuts?” 

“With change.” You both nodded at that, awkwardly staring at each other. 

“So…?” You lead, trying to encourage him to introduce himself, hoping he would reveal something you didn't already know. 

“You're closed again, but could you cut my hair?” He asked, pushing the long locks back on his head as he stood a little taller. 

“It would be my pleasure…” you trailed off as a question, needing to know his name. 

“Spencer. Spencer Reid. Doctor… just Spencer is fine if you'd prefer.” 

“I'm Y/N. Come and take a seat.” 

You slid him into the robes once again and got through a hair wash without any accidental naps this time. Though you did notice that he seemed to be enjoying it just as much. 

His sighs left you feeling hot, your heart beating as you focused on his hair to draw your gaze from his lips. 

When he was back I'm front of the mirror, he again looked like a scared cat that had been backed into the corner. 

“So, what'll it be, Spencer?” You asked cheerily, combing your hand through his locks to detangle them. 

“Hmm? Oh, a water would be nice.” 

“For your hair, Spencer. What haircut do you want?” 

“Oh! Oh, um, just a…just a haircut.” 

Your face scrunched up in confusion as he doubled down. 

“But what kind of haircut?” 

“What kind?” 

You pulled away from his chair for a minute and went to grab a cut reference book. 

“Okay, so we've got undercuts, or trims, I can do pompadour or bowl cut or-” 

You looked at Spencer's face again and saw that he looked more than confused. 

“How about I just cut your hair and after you tell me if you like it or not?” 

He nodded and gave you a weak smile as you grabbed your scissors. 

Twenty minutes of silence later, and you felt Spencer exhale in relief as you dusted off the back of his neck and pulled the robes off of his clothes. 

You'd gone for a shorter cut, but his curly hair had such a nice natural texture that you left it a bit longer on top. Without his hair in his face, his jawline was sharper, his eyes brighter, and you were somehow more infatuated. 

He stood up shyly and you smiled at how good he looked. 

“Okay, perfect! Let me just-” You lifted your hand and smoothed out some of his hair, picking up some strands and pushing them back and forth until it was just right. 

He caught your hand just as you were about to pull away, and you suddenly realized how close he was. Or more accurately how close you had gotten. It was like you were breathing the same air. 

“D-Do you like it?” You asked, voice small and high as it battled your heartbeat to be heard. 

“Yeah. I like it. It looks… it looks like a haircut.” 

You giggled as his grip became gentler, and your hand fell down to your side, brushing his chest gently as it descended. 

“How much do I owe you?” He asked, and you led him over to the register to complete the payment. 

“Thank you,” he said as he grabbed his bags to head out the door. 

“Just doing my job. I'll see you in six weeks,” you said, waving him off. 

“What for?” He asked, voice confused but bright. He sounded almost hopeful. 

“For your next haircut, Spencer.” 

He smiled and waved back as he walked back into the dark and disappeared down the street. 

No one could ever accuse Spencer Reid of being forgetful, and six weeks later, he was back in your chair. 

Except he didn't arrive at 11pm this time, but instead 11am. 

The other customers and stylists gawked at the man as he walked in, and you thanked the gods that your seat was free as he met your eyes. 

“Hi.” 

“Spencer! You're back.” 

He nodded shyly, head hanging a little as he ignored the many looks from the women in the room and the eruption of whispers and loud glances in his direction. 

“It's been six weeks. You said that's when I'd need another haircut.” 

You laughed a little as you pulled the robe around him. 

“You know, I say that every time, but most people ignore me. I love a man who can follow directions.” 

The eruption of red on his cheeks left you feeling suddenly tongue tied, and you carefully redirected the conversation back to the task at hand. 

“Same again, Doc?” You asked, readying your spray bottle and supplies. 

“Actually, could we, ah, go shorter this time?” Hesmiled sheepishly and watched as you ran your fingers through his tangled hair. 

“My boss, last time, said I looked like I joined a boyband, so…” 

“Your boss at the hospital?” You asked, clinging to every detail you could get from him. 

“The hospital?” 

“You said you were a Doctor, do you work in a lab instead or-”

“Oh. No, I work at the FBI. I'm not a medical doctor, I have a PhD. I have three, Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics.” 

You whistled. “Impressive. You can't be older than 30.” 

“I'm 29.” He said, smiling at you in the mirror, and you smiled back, hands still running through his hair. 

“So, no boy band haircuts, okay. For what it's worth, though, you look totally hot.” 

The words cut the conversation short, and you tried your best to take the words back as you went off to the sides to grab your sheers. 

Half an hour later, and you could swear that half the salon had given up pretending to be doing their jobs and were just awkwardly ogling the man. If the shorter “boyband” hair was good, the undercut you'd done for him was even better. 

You turned him around to get a closer look, using the excuse of making sure his hair was symmetrical enough to stare at him some more as you got closer to finishing. 

“Okay,” you said with a sad sigh. “You're all finished, Spencer. Let's get you rung up.” 

He nodded and followed you quickly, pulling out his wallet as he paid quietly. 

“Okay. And I'll see you tomorrow,” you said, as he picked up his bags to leave. 

“Tomorrow? I thought you said it was six weeks between haircuts.” 

“It is. But it's also my day off tomorrow, so I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner. With me.” 

He blinked at you once. Then twice, and another time before smiling and looking away. 

“Okay. See you tomorrow, Y/N.” 

He ran a hand through his hair and nearly walked into the door he was trying to walk through, but your heart still fluttered as you waved him out. 

[itsnothingofinterest]

This is probably a weird note to end my time with MHA's run on; but I find it so strange how I still see people calling Tomura out on just being a destruction-hungry villain with supposedly no plan or follow up...as though he is unique for that simplicity. Especially after the ending we got. Like, Deku and All Might never really had a plan when they were reshaping society by beating up the enemy and everything worked out fine for them, but does anyone call them out for just using violence to mindlessly solve everything with no further plan? (Well, yes. Me. Right now.)

Because like, really thinking about it; how different was All Might's plan from the start of his career to take down AFO and become a symbol, and Deku's plan to end the villains and bring everything back, from Shigaraki's plan to end hero society and bring about a world accommodating to the League? It all seemed to boil down to the same basic premise of Step 1) Beat everyone & everything making things worse, Step 2) ...it all just kind of works out from there. (I guess All Might planned on being inspiring and uplifting, but then we could also count Tomura's plan to be imposing and...uplifting but for different people. Deku was winging it every step of the way though.) Everyone's getting on Tomura's case for doing nothing but destroying; but all evidence from when the heroes do it suggests violence & destruction works. And it just never fails to bug me when people call Tomura out for stuff that's fine when heroes do it.

Which, yeah, let's touch on how it did just work out for Deku that way for no logical reason, least of all anything he planned. He punched out the big bad just like All Might and now things are like a hundred times better than they were under All Might with no more Tenkos abandoned in the street. If stuff like that just happens if you punch out your enemies hard enough, then why couldn't that happen for Tomura? Maybe if he had destroyed the government & hero society it would've, idk, been so fear/awe-inspiring that all the villains would've been nice and cooperative under the PLF and everything would've been fine. Or something. No more contrived than what we saw with the old lady plot line, MHA is just a series where that stuff works out. Heck, one time it actually did just work out that way for Tomura:

Again, violence and destruction works in MHA. I mean; duh, it's a shonen manga.

Plus all this is ignoring the fact that, unlike those two, Tomura did have a follow up to the violence. He did have a step two, or at least one & a half, after "beat down all the bad guys in the country." Rather than just going "and everything will work out from there," he had his guys plan for the future so he could say "and Spinner, Toga, and RD et. all will make sure everything works out from there." (Admittedly, not much; but also, not hopes and dreams.) He did have a plan, it was just the plan from the Overahul arc, where he was last asked to have a plan: leave it to his allies.

And hey, that means it's actually better than what we saw from genius All Might and brainiac Deku. So why are we still, even after everything was over, acting like there's some expectation as a villain he didn't meet? I guess it's just in the nature of a 'tantrum-having man-child who wants nothing but destruction' to put more forethought into the future he wants to build than the society-uplifting greatest heroes.

That or maybe everyone had really detailed follow-ups for when they won that Hori never went much into, but that'd render this post a bit pointless so shhh.

[youhideastar]

Hello! I just needed to say that your tags on that ABO post (#maybe someday I will write that essay on how I think a/b/o starts from a fundamentally ace perspective#ie that it starts from a premise of no desire#into which desire arrives as a rare unexpected unwelcome and often traumatic deviation from the baseline) shook my brain like a magic 8 ball and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

I mean I guess I kind of already have since I follow your blog but like. That is genius and also I think that approach helps explain part of why I loved your ABO bingo series so much!

Anyway just wanted to say that, hope you're having an awesome day!

Aaahhhhh thank you so much! All credit to the initial poster for kicking my brain into gear on this. (For the curious, here's the series the ask mentions!)

But yes, to expand on those tags, there's so *much* about a/b/o as a genre that, to me at least, starts from an ace perspective.

For example, in most a/b/o universes where there are, in fact, betas (as opposed to another common take on omegaverse worldbuilding where there are just alphas and omegas), then the inherent starting premise of the world is that there are two kinds of people--people whose lives in large part revolve around intense, consuming, and uncontrollable sexual desire and people whose lives don't--which is to say, the inherent starting premise is that some people are (at least symbolically) ace. Indeed, in most of these fics, that's considered unremarkable in-universe... which is, from that point of view, a fantasy of a world where asexuality is commonplace and accepted. (Then again, it's rare for the main characters of such stories to be betas - it looks like a fantasy of ace acceptance, but the symbolically ace characters are relegated to the sidelines, as if a life that doesn't revolve around that kind of desire isn't worth telling stories about.)

In another example, a/b/o fics often posit a worldbuilding where the norm is that a person will only go into heat or rut (i.e., experience sexual desire) in reaction to a particular person--maybe a "fated mate"--and indeed, that the presence of sexual desire is proof of some kind of intense emotional connection between two people... which is basically just a sci-fi-ification of the experience of being demisexual. It's really that straightforward.

And that's without even getting into the ways that heat and rut often appear in fics as funhouse mirrors of what garden-variety allosexual desire looks like to people who don't experience it themselves. The original post says that "magical pheromones made them do it" sounds just as plausible to an ace person as "looking at someone in their underwear made them do it," but you don't even need the word "magical" - the idea that hormones could make you lose your head with desire and behave in ways that would embarrass you (or worse) once their influence wanes is both a sci-fi conceit for fanfic porn and actually how many, many people on this planet go through their lives on a regular basis.

What's ironic is how, despite all this, most a/b/o fic makes no room for real ace people (as opposed to symbolic aces, i.e., betas), especially sex-repulsed ace people. What are those folks supposed to do when heat strikes? Or other people who, for various reasons, might not want sex or be in a position to consent to it? I think a/b/o often teeters on the edge of body horror; in those situations, it tips right over. Most a/b/o worldbuilding does nothing to address this--and I think that's one of the great blank spaces in the genre that is ripe for exploring with all kinds of interesting fic!

[holidaygirl1224]

💬New Post from holidaygirl1224

So, I like horror movies a lot... I thiinkkk I've said this a few times here, at this point XP. I just think being scared is fun, and sometimes they can have really great stories! There's one particular series of horror movies however that I've avoided for basically my entire life... it's the one where like... everyone just dies. That's it. That's the whole thing. Every movie, it's just these terrible, elaborate disasters happening to everyone because one person "cheated death"... no one EVER lives!!! XD I don't mind characters dying, that's just how horror works... but from the start you basically know everyone's going to die... and then they die!!! And that's it!!! The thrill of it, of course, isn't about the destination... it's about seeing just how each character ends up FINALLY dying. The main reason I avoid these films isn't because of that, though... it's that almost every death is with completely mundane, real life things! Someone will drop a fork, and that'll cause the most RIDICULOUS chain of events, and by the end everyone in the room has had their heads chopped off. My problem is that I am ALWAYS thinking these things. Like, ALWAYS. When walking down the street, I'm thinking about all the things that could go wrong, and kill me... even when I'm alone in my room at night I'm waiting for the roof to suddenly cave in and crush me XD All the thoughts are of course not going to happen, they're ridiculous... but these movies? They're all ABOUT those sort of thoughts coming true... so watching one I've always feared would just make my thoughts ten times worse. Over the years I've seen some scenes from these movies, but I've never sat down to watch a full one...... until earlier today. I went to the movies with, umm.... well, someone, it doesn't matter who! But I let her pick out the movie... and guess what certain series just HAPPENED to have a new movie out in theaters. DXXXX It wasn't... bad. It was absolutely not a bad movie, in fact it had a lot more good plot and twists throughout than I expected... overall, I'd say it was a good movie. But GOODNESS. GOODNESS. GOODNESS. It was ROUUGHHHHH to watch XDD I'm always happy to be in a cold room with popcorn, so there was that... and I wasn't alone... but goodness it was a hard movie to sit through. Since getting out of the theater, I've felt like EVERYTHING is going to kill me LOL Once we got out of the theater I was walking so slowly, trying to be as careful as I could... and hey, it paid off, cause your girl's not dead!!! XD Ya'know, the whole movie's premise is based around the idea of if you cheat death, it'll come back to get you... Which just makes me think of a time me and my dad were driving during a storm, and we stopped at a traffic light..... and while we were sat there, within mere FEET of our car, a huge bolt of lightning struck DIRECTLY NEXT TO US!!! My dad turned to me, expecting me to be super worried and crying... but I was just silent... I think the shock (XD) of the situation really just stunned (XDDD) me. If it just hit a little more to the side, well... it would've been smoked venison for dinner XD Thankfully we lived to drive another day... but I wonder if that counts as cheating death.......... hope I never find out!!!!!!!!! XP

[noodlecarrot50states]

I’m afraid it’s time I confess something: in case you haven’t realized, not only do I ship HammerHunter… but I’m not that fond of Jlaire. AT ALL.

GUYS DONT THROW THE TOMATOES AT ME YET PLEASE !!!

So I guess I should explain WHY.

Look, I loved them in Trollhunters. I found them really cute in season 1 and 2. Season 3 they did basically nothing and I have zero problems with that. You wanna know why? Because they had bigger issues in season 3 to worry about, so Jlaire was not of importance. I’m glad they didn’t make it a focus, because it really wasn’t necessary.

But Wizards. Oh WIZARDS.

Wizards made me want to bash my head in for many reasons. The writing inconsistencies for one. But also the erasure of like a lot of characters. While the movie really threw them into dog water, Wizards was already setting up the character assassination of Steve, Claire, literally anyone else who didn’t go back in time. I mean I get that the series was supposed to be two seasons and then for some reason got cut down to one, but…

… if they had to cut SOMETHING…

WHY DIDNT THEY CUT THE 15 MILLION JLAIRE MOMENTS BRO 😭😭😭

I DONT CARE IF ITS CUTE OR WHATEVER IT WAS NOT NECESSARY. This series is supposed to be setting up the movie and its new conflicts. They should be focusing on developing the Arcane Order, the OTHER CHARACTERS, not the relationship that we already saw develop in the FIRST SHOW.

Claire for example. My pookie wookie bae. She lost her shadow staff but her powers are returning to her and she’s going through the mental conflict of not wanting to end up like Morgana. THAT could have been a great premise to complete Claire’s development and to help her become stronger. PLUS we could have had Morgana (since she became good again) showing Claire some spells.

BUT NO. That entire plot line gets shoved into ONE EPISODE (episode 4) and every other second is just her going “Jim!” SHUT UP!!

It’s not doing anything for her character, it’s not doing anything for his (because he had his own shit going on) SO IT MEANS NOTHING!

And then I saw some people on Reddit like “oh they’re in love though so of course they are gonna be worried about each other”

First of all, weak argument. Secondly, how have they reached THE LOVE STAGE?! Toby had said in the beginning that Claire “barely knew Jim existed” and even if she did have a crush on him that implies they barely interacted with each other. And if we follow my stupid ass timeline for the show then like they only became real friends around the spring fling which is like March or April. Trollhunters ended on the last day of school which would be in like June, and Steve said in the beginning of Wizards that “the rest of the summer will eat farts” so that implies it’s like late July now. So that’s only 5 months or something. 💀💀💀 only 1 month or a month and a half of Claire and Jim in New Jersey that we didn’t see, but Jim got attacked by the green knight at some point so that subtracts time 💀💀💀 my point is it takes normal people like a year to say “I love you.” And don’t even bother saying “well it’s a cartoon”

THEN DONT WORSHIP THE RELATIONSHIP AS IF ITS THE BEST WRITTEN SHIP TO EVER EXIST.

NOT LIKE IT MATTERED ANYWAY BECAUSE JIM LEFT MY LATINA BAE BEHIND JUST TO SAVE STUPID TOBY 🫠

Anyway uh GOT A LITTLE HEATED THERE SORRY 🥰 yall can ship what you want I just wanted to share why I personally don’t like the relationship.

[slexenskee]

Okay so on May Death Never Stop You there was this forewarning that you don't recommend anyone read JJK and that you'll probably rant about it on Tumblr later. As someone who recently consumed all of JJK in a fever dream this is me politely requesting that rant because I deeply resonated with that, lmao.

OOF hi finally got back on tumblr and let me just roll up my sleeves here for a second 😂

ok at some point I had a whole rant about this with references to interviews and everything, but at this point the open wound that is JJK doesn't hurt as much so I'm not as passionate about it and don't have the spoons to come up with a thesis-worthy response here.

Basically, I think Gege just kind of gave up on this story about halfway through with it. Take your pick of reasons - first of all, he's on record saying his editor forced him into the premise. he didn't want to do the usual shounen trope of 3 protagonists, 2 boys and a girl, and he didn't want them to be in school either. (I think this is why JJK always reads better to me if I pretend they're in college, but I'm also a GoYuu shipper so I'm probably biased lol) we can infer there were probably a lot of things about the usual shounen troupe that got shoe horned into his story that he didn't like, so straight from the get go it wasn't the story he wanted to write. He was also told it was 'too dark' - which, if it was too dark in the beginning boy oh boy did that editor not know how things would go! He's also on record saying he wants to write an idol manga, which is just... sure?

Also towards the middle of it I kind of realized all at once that the character development I was hoping for was just never going to come. This was an action manga with more emphasis on convoluted power systems and video game mechanic buffs and debuffs and fight scenes than it was on backstories or authentic developing relationships between characters. He's also on record saying he finds that aspect very difficult, so yeah that checks out. And that part I totally get. If it's not something you want to write or are good at writing, of course you struggle with it and all that. So I guess I just wish he had a stronger editor to push him or just remind him that that kind of stuff is really important in a story where we need to be motivated by being invested in characters? Or maybe I'm just an outlier viewer and most of his audience is more interested in the fights.

Which brings me to another ??? I didn't understand. Purely from a marketing perspective, why would you kill off all your most popular characters? I guess in the end Nobara wasn't actually dead ,just noped off screen for most of the storyline, but Nanami and Gojo? I guess maybe Nanami wasn't that popular outside of internet fangirls haha, but Gojo? He and Nobara were main characters- they're in all the collabs and all the merch, it felt very odd to just kill them off. But now I recall that Minato merch is pretty successful in Japan, considering I could get my hands on it years after the show ended, and homeboy was literally dead for the whole series lol. So maybe it just doesn't affect the bottom line as much as I assume.

Anyway, I guess part of the reason I like the shounen genre so much is that it follows a script that I find comforting. It's like a romcom, you know? Yeah they can be novel and original but at the end of the day there are some universal truths, like the main couple gets together in the end, and even if the premise seems dark it's always funny somehow. Shounen is the same. The hero comes out at the end, and it can be a long and difficult journey, and there will be deaths that hit hard, but every since Dragon Ball there have always been characters that have plot armor against that, you know? Like if the main character dies, he gets resurrected again. Most of the main cast has close calls but never actually dies. Sure, there are some heavy deaths, like Ace in One Piece, or Jiraiya in Naruto, but there's a reason Bakugou didn't actually die in MHA. That's just not Shounen to kill him off, and I think fans appreciate that. So Nanami dying in JJK felt like that - like it was meant to be the heavy hitting death. So did Mai for Maki. Nobara's 'death' always annoyed me because it was completely glossed over and didn't serve any purpose. And then there's obviously Gojo. It didn't feel like it had a purpose to me, other than the fact he was too powerful to make sense in the story to leave alive.

Like why did you just drag us through this sad and exhausting slog through a very high-stakes chase to unseal him, only for him to just die after all that? It just felt hollow and exhausting to read it. Like I was done with despair. Despair is good when it's paced well, but it felt like there was nothing in this story but doom and gloom ever since the 'heroes' failed in the Shibuya Arc. There was nothing to break it up, it was just more doom and gloom over and over again. Not to mention I just found everything about the Culling Games to be deeply confusing. There were way too many convoluted rules involved. I can't fathom trying to read that arc one chapter at a time, once a week. I would never be able to remember what was supposed to be going on.

I honestly stopped caring after the Maki arc. It was my absolute favorite arc besides the hidden inventory one, and I think the story peaked there tbh. JJK was his first long-form project and I think it shows. The pacing is off, the story beats are misaligned, and it feels very rushed. JJK 0, Hidden Inventory, the Maki arc, those are some incredible and tight storylines that hit every beat and are just incredible. And I don't say this to point a finger at him - it's his first long-form story and his debut to boot, of course he'll find it hard. I blame his editors for it honestly.

Okay now my fingers hurt lol sorry for the rant I hope it was as cathartic for you to read as it was for me to write!!

[anmechokola]

(SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1152)

Alternate chapter title: Loki and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Like Saul, Gaban also says 不死身 (fujimi) in relation to the indestructible bodies (not immortality as in long life, more like invulnerability to damage, like Marco) of the God's Knights and yes, sadly, the counter to it seems to be Conqueror's Haki. So the fights against them are going to be limited to Luffy, Zoro and probably Loki and Sanji

So what does Loki mean when he says he wasn't able to put his power into words? Because Gaban was still pretty vague, he only said to keep in mind how to use Conqueror's. Does Loki know whatever Advanced Conqueror's is needed but has never been told about it before? I guess he could've unlocked it during that very bad day and hasn't had anyone to ask about it since. I'm assuming this is when he had the prior experiences fighting the God's Knights. When they show up in Elbaf now he's already chained up and basically just gets the shit kicked out of him

(chapters 678 and 1152)

How badly do you guys think Zoro is gonna take being scolded like that? I've seen people comment about how he's been spiraling a bit since almost dying in Wano, so I don't think getting told by the former left hand of the Pirate King that he isn't taking his job seriously is gonna go down well

About Sanji and the damn Conqueror's Haki. He's gonna have it too, it just wouldn't make sense for him not to have it. I personally do not like the idea, and I think it doesn't match his personality at all. However, the way Oda has been using haki in the story (basically as powerscaling) means that Sanji has to have it too. He's supposed to be on equal footing with Zoro, they're the wings of the future Pirate King after all

[The reason I really don't like how Conqueror's Haki is being used, aside from the fact that not every single strong person in the world needs to have "the qualities of a king", is that you have to be born with it, and to me that just goes against the whole premise in One Piece about not being defined by other people. I thought lineage wasn't supposed to be important, which is why the Celestial Dragons thinking they have an inate superiority that is granted to them from birth is framed as a bad thing. What does it say about training and dedication and will that the only way to defeat these villains is with something that is outside of your control?]

Regardless of my feelings about Conqueror's, though, the fact that Gaban doesn't specify how many have it (just that it's more than one) and that we don't actually see what he says to Sanji (that panel to the left with just his face is very specifically placed, it suggests to me that Gaban does say something, but Loki's shouting is getting in the way), plus how the only way to fight these guys seems to involve Conqueror's means that it's more a matter of when Sanji will unlock it, not if

When Hajrudin says Loki already did "that", does he just mean betraying Elbaf, or does he think Loki also sided with the government? Loki already seemed aware in the flashback that Harald was making deals with the WG, but what about the other giants? I'm wondering how this is all going to play out, because if everyone was aware that Harald was working with the WG, then why didn't they just try to keep it up after he died? Supposedly everyone thinks it's Loki's fault, so the WG could have just tried to keep doing what they were doing with Jarul. Maybe the giants couldn't decide on a representative, and Jarul really does seem more aware than the others about what actually happened that day, so maybe he wasn't all that willing

I wonder when was the last time anyone ever actively wanted Loki around. Everyone in Elbaf has hated him since before he was born, he was rejected both by his idol and the girl he fell in love with, and everyone blames him for the death of his own father, the only giant so far who has been shown actually liking him. Aside from Shaggy, Luffy's gotta be the first in more than a decade, right? Speaking of which

(chapters 1134 and 1152)

Seems like a similar reaction to me. I'm guessing he was some kind of embarrassed at being so openly regarded with positive feelings, like when Shaggy called him kind

This translation is different from the TCB ones, but I do think the official makes more sense. He's speaking directly to Loki in that first bubble

エルバフはお前の事いらなそうだし

It sounds like Elbaf doesn't want you

The し (shi) particle indicates he's listing off reasons, and he uses it in the other sentences too

おれにとっちゃ面白ェし

I think (you're) interesting/funny

何かあったらブッ飛ばすし

If anything happens, I'll send (someone) flying/kick ass

Since no other person or pronoun is used in the other two sentences, it's simpler to assume that he keeps talking to Loki, especially because this is a list of reasons, it's the same panel and he's looking in the same direction. If he was saying "If he (Loki) does anything, I'll beat him up", like in the TCB scans, then it would make more sense for it to happen in a different panel, or having him call out someone else's name

That's probably the same abnormal haki that Gaban was recognizing last chapter, then. Which would also explain why Jarul seemed more angry than surprised when he felt Imu's haki, since he was also in the castle that day. It's weird that Loki doesn't seem to recognize it, though, since he was also there that day. Last chapter he just says "whose preposterous haki is that" like he's never felt it before

Depending on how long this flashback takes, it's gonna be really funny that only three minutes will have passed in the present, and considering that it's the first chapter and there's already a flashback inception going on...

[Also, it's funny to tell a guy who calls himself the Sun God to swear by the name of god to speak the truth]

Ok but... where did Loki come from? Jarul is on the ship to the left, and Loki is falling from an arc coming from the right, so did he really just... fall out of the sky?

(chapters 1143 and 1152)

Did Oda change the design or does Loki not have Ragnir yet?

He's also going out of his way to show people disrespecting Loki to his face. Whether by nature or nurture, that boy never really stood a chance, yeah? His father was apparently an asshole in his own youth too, and people have treated him like trash his whole life. Also, by that 45 giant years = 15 human years logic, he's just 16 human years old in the flashback and 21 in the present, same age as Zoro and Sanji

(chapters 1151 and 1139)

I don't really subscribe to the idea that Harald was Domi Reversi'd here, since he doesn't seem to have horns or wings, nor is he that much taller than someone with Ancient Giant blood would already be, I think. For that same reason, none of the guards seem to be transformed either, not tall enough, no wings etc, but we don't know enough about that move yet to say definitively

The pentagram that the Romance Dawn trio and Road find in the throne room does seem to be in the exact same place as shadowy Harald is, though, so something involving Imu did happen there. It still begs the question of why this one specifically doesn't fade

Gaban thinking it's been only 3 or 4 years when it's actually been 10 seems to align with the theory that time passes slower in Elbaf, which would be the reason why there was that warning from Louis Arnot about not staying in Elbaf for too long. The theory would also be a nice reference to when we first met the giants in Little Garden, a prehistoric island, almost like time moved slower there and never caught up to the rest of the world. It would also explain why Imu showed up telling the God's Knights that they were taking too long when it hadn't even been a full day since they arrived. At least the Straw Hats don't have a habit of staying too long in any given island (I think Wano was the longest they've ever spent in one place, aside from the timeskip?), so if the theory is true then not much time will have passed before they leave

The arm retcon! "Help I made this character way too unreasonably powerful but I already wrote him getting his arm chewed off by a seaking that a fresh-faced Luffy could already defeat in a single punch, how do I fix this?" lol

The mark doesn't look anything like Sommers' one, and only slightly like the symbol on their armbands. I already wondered last chapter if there are different "tiers", of sorts, for the contracts that people make with Imu. So like the giants were involuntarilly signed on, so they get raw power and the indestructible body, but no common sense. The God's Knights have more... autonomy? Probably voluntarilly made the pact, get the indestructibility but keep their wits. Then the Elders get all of that, plus immortality. If I'm right, then maybe there's another tier just for the mark that lets people travel through the Abyss. We don't actually know if it has anything to do with Imu, but it would make more sense if it did, since it would explain why he let his arm be taken by the seaking after Luffy ate the Nika fruit, so Shanks could keep him (and the fruit) hidden and safe. It would either have to be a mark that doesn't grant a person the indestructible body (otherwise why didn't his arm just grow back) or there's something special about seakings

Shanks says that his life changed completely, and that his original plan was just to be a carefree pirate, and Gaban's response is to call him 運命の子 (unmei no ko), or child of fate, so like "fate" was never really gonna let him live the life he wanted

To me this also reads like being Pirate King isn't something he actually wants. And he suddenly decided to go after the One Piece as soon as he saw Gear5 Luffy, like he was just waiting for Luffy to get strong enough, like he's accepted being the halfway point between Roger and Luffy. I'm just saying, it would be a nice rounded ending to the story if Shanks got the metaphorical crown from Roger and then Luffy got it from him, like their straw hat

Then Shanks can finally peace off into the sunset with Buggy like he originally wanted

(chapters 1152 and 1130)

So the question here is: whose fruit is that? Is it Loki's, or Luffy's? If it's Loki's, then he probably steals it from whoever is silhouetted, which probably isn't Loki himself because no horns and also why would he be shouting it like that. We don't know yet if Loki had already eaten the fruit at this point in the timeline, but I'm guessing not, because the story the giants tell is that Loki killed Harald because he wanted the fruit

Granted, Elbaf as a whole has been very big on "not everything is what it seems at first glance" and the giants have been shown to be prone to their own lies and fearful gossip, so we should take that claim with a grain of salt. But if he had already eaten the fruit, wouldn't the others know about it? It's not like Loki is very discrete

(chapter 1054)

If it's Luffy's fruit, then how did it end up on a Cipher Pol ship where even the agents had no idea how important it was? If the God's Knights and/or Imu were that close to the Nika fruit, I can't see how they'd lose it. Though if it is, it would explain how Shanks knew to go looking for it, assuming he targeted the ship deliberately to get it. This flashback happened 14 years ago, and 13 years ago Shanks started using Foosha Village as his base (1 year from when they arrived + 10 years before Luffy sets out + 2 years from time skip). I can see it taking about a year to track down the fruit, get it, and travel all the way from the New World to the East Blue. If he did have that fruit for a year, though, what was he waiting for? Was he trying to keep it hidden from the WG? Did he think about eating it? (as a child of fate, or against his fate?) I don't think he would at the time, since he had the mark on his arm and would essentially be giving the WG the fruit they so badly wanted

"Before it's too late" is such a classic sentence said riiiight before we cross the threshold into "too late", so I'm assuming what Shanks had to say involves whatever is happening to Harald right now, especially because that line was immediately followed by the haki surge from the castle. This just brings up so many questions, though

If Shanks and Harald were there at the same time, then there's a 10 year window during which Shanks spent time in Marijoa (from 24 years ago after Roger's execution to this flashback from 14 years ago), and also for some reason got into a fight with Teach and got those scars. I wonder if those two things are related somehow

During the time he spent there, Shanks apparently managed not only to get a tattoo (possible transportation through the abyss and consequently possibly meeting Imu) and gather enough information to pass along in warning. I don't suppose either of those things is something easily obtained, so how did he even get them to trust him that much? Did he actually want to be a part of the Figarland family? Were they blinded by the fact that he has Celestial Dragon blood?

If he did in fact meet Imu in Marijoa, wouldn't he recognize their haki in Elbaf? Wouldn't he warn Gaban about it?

Why does every fact we learn about Shanks just raise more questions, the sneaky bastard

<- chapter 1151 analysis

[3416]

I wonder why Mitch choose the knights

all we can do is guess tbh 😭. i do think from an organizational standpoint they're smarter than the leafs and willing to be super aggressive when it comes to improving and trying to win, which really means they are more vicious and on the edge and not overly loyal to the players when they aren't performing up to their standards, but clearly mitch wants that and is fine with that? like if it's such a bad place to play, i'm sure players are aware of the organizational pitfalls. maybe he wants to be challenged (also i haven't seen whether or not his deal has a nmc but). so much narrative about him in toronto is how he just ~forces~ coaches and higher ups to give him whatever he wants or walk back criticism or what not, but i've always said i think people have the wrong read on that and that am34 is more sensitive to that stuff than mitch is, lol. the reaction after willy yelling at them on the bench and mitch was so chill about it saying they all just want each other to be better... i honestly don't think internal criticism or accountability has been an issue with him. anyway, i think vegas does care about their players in some respects, like they let eichel get the surgery he chose instead of going through whatever buffalo was trying to do. idk. i'm sure he weighed his options.

as a team, they've got solid depth and better d than toronto's basically ever had so i'm curious if that was part of the reason/believing in a winning formula that he just couldn't see with mo/willy/auston tied up in too much money to ever create that for the leafs. but also..... tax free state, smaller market and less media, preferential weather, and even down to just needing something different. who can say if stuff happened in his personal life that made it hard to want to be where he's always lived in toronto, but sometimes things get stagnant. i don't buy into the whole The Core Needed To Change Now to give them a better shot of winning bc i think they're now worse off and it's not the time to kick the can down the road, but i also think pro athletes feel that stagnation more than any fan ever could. like i said when everyone was ranting about how the leafs didn't want it bad enough during the playoffs, they want it more than anyone ever could, and i'm sure there was a culmination of things that felt like there was no real way out except to go somewhere new. i don't know if he could've gone somewhere better or somewhere more competitive and still been paid like he should be, but it's in an entirely different conference in a competitive market, idk how people could have beef with that premise.

also personally, before mitch and steph had a baby they seemed like the life of the party kind of people, so i'm not shocked vegas is a draw, lol. there's always stuff to do on the strip, it's glitzy and kitschy and fun when you have some days off but mitch is also there to work so it's not like an overload 24/7, and the suburbs seem fine... boring even, lol. i assume they'll be back to toronto area in the offseason with family living there and his lakehouse and whatnot but if you enjoy getting out and partying or seeing live events or any sort of gambling (we know mitch is a big poker guy) or anything like that, i mean vegas is a fun place, lol.

[showtoonzfan]

Now I want to talk about Charlie cause good GOD. I never cared much for her in the pilot, I’ll admit that. I always called her boring compared to the other characters because of how developed they were compared to her. However the show takes everything that the pilot build up for her and just made her 10x worse to the point where she’s INSUFFERABLE to watch.

When I got to the very end of the season, I realized that she barley did anything progressive or had an impact on any character, at least what we’ve seen on screen. I understand this was the first season, but what exactly was her arc and what exactly did she do? Nothing. Throughout the season she wasn’t a leader, the most she did was help Sir pen with lessons and have that fight at the heaven trial. In the end they try to act like she overcame some arc about learning to lead and take charge but…she didn’t really. She was helped constantly by people around her, mainly Vaggie/Alastor/Rosie and she never really did anything on her own that was enough to signify her independence as the MAIN character or even the princess of hell. I love how she needed to be TOLD that her girlfriend cared for her…like wow. Vaggie also states that she’s “done so much and touched so many souls”- and all I could think about is how I actually wish we saw that on screen. Husk said she “wants to fix everyone’s problems but her own” and I never got that vibe out of her??? If she was more like Luz from the Owl house where we constantly saw her avoid her own emotions and problems and focus more on helping other people, then it would make sense but guess what, we don’t see any of that because the show is so disinterested in ACTUALLY focusing on Charlie shining at the front and helping people. They scrapped the main premise of her wanting to help sinners and instead used up all the time they had to introduce new characters. It’s all tell and no show as expected.

She’s painted as someone who’s desperate to save her people but when she’s not the focus and actually helping someone, she’s a whiny frustrating crybaby who needs to be coddled or steered in the right direction, and it’s SO hard to watch how her character is treated like a child who can’t do anything. This character has existed for 200+ years canonically but she isn’t written like that. She’s dumb. The fact that she’s such a doormat that she can’t even realize Angel is being abused by Val or even DO ANYTHING about it is fucking baffling, she’s THAT useless. There were so many moments in the show where she could have used her authority or powers to save trouble, but she just doesn’t do it because she’s useless, and I’m tired of people trying to say she’s a pacifist to excuse the shitty writing. She’s also basically Viv’s self insert in a way, an unfunny woman child who’s a hypocrite. Like Charlie is the equivalent of dry white chicken. There’s no seasoning or flavor to her character, she’s SO bland and boring that Lucifer and Alastor end up being more important than her and having more screen time, she’s ATTACHED to them and it really shows, rather than her being at the front. And I know we’re on season 1, but you’d think that Charlie’s childishness would actually be a character flaw and something she needs to overcome and grow up about. But this isn’t really seen as an issue and more of a quirky thing cause Viv thinks being a woman child is funny, the “fuck you you old bitch” scene made me cringe so god damn hard. Everyone has already said it, but Charlie cursing so so forced and unnatural for her character. I don’t like how she’s supposed to be a cinnamon roll but then at the same time swears and acts feral at times. It doesn’t fit.

During the fight scene in the end, she also does absolutely nothing. She made a whole deal about how she wants to defend her people and get back at the angel’s, but aside from throwing Adam and hitting him once, she needed to be protected or saved, Lucifer ended up actually doing the work and it was so hilarious. Speaking of that, Charlie’s daddy issues arc was also rushed, her and Lucifer reuniting and then making up within the same episode was a mistake. Then you realize that her daddy issues was mainly all Charlie had to her in terms of depth and what was explored in the show. I’m so tired of Viv giving her characters daddy issues, it’s getting old lol. But regardless of what Charlie has to her, in general the show just doesn’t focus on her. She’s not the main focal point of the show when she should be. SHE’S the one who wants to redeem sinners, the hotel was her idea. Even tho the pilot was a mess I still felt like she was determined to take the lead due to her beliefs. And yet she still feels like a side/background character who only occasionally gets focus here and there but certainly not compared to the others. The potential is there but due to the favoritism of the writing she’s such an empty and boring character and stayed like that till the very end.

[halowishes]

april favs!

what i recommend this month

ships: a skts month (again)

last one to midnight loses!

t. 14.9k. new year’s skts.

in a time of challenging myself and doing scary things, this fic arrived on a silver platter. atsumu has to complete 10 of his never completed new year resolutions so his brother can ask out suna! SOOOO hilarious, sweet, and full of bravery and love. life becomes a little more possible when you find your people and hold onto them.

homebody and dry skin

t. 66.3k. canon post-skip.

atsumu has a shitty night and kiyoomi helps out because he’s nice. this fic was wonderful. atsumu being a not perfect person, kiyoomi being a horror geek, kiyoomi’s family being perfectly odd. this fic just felt so human. i’ve been catching myself being a bit like this atsumu (complaining endlessly and unreasonable and weird) and it’s so empowering to remember i’m not alone, even when i’m like this.

relax, it’s all ten fingers

e. 6.0k. canon universe pwp.

i’m sooooo glad someone got a massage and thought “sakuatsu” because i’ve literally had that image in my head for weeks. basically, athletic trainer iwa (27) suggests kiyoomi get a massage to loosen his shoulder. then guess who the masseuse is!!

two’s company, three’s no crowd

e. 7.9k. skts fwb + ushijima watching???

ushijima asks to watch skts have sex as a study of passion in relationships😭 the premise was so funny that i couldn’t not read it and it didn’t disappoint! the dry and objective ushijima’s pov made it so fun. but don’t fret! there was lots of skts!! also it took place during the olympics era which was a cherry on top.

rotten work & other things worth doing

t. 3.0k. domestic skts.

atsumu’s bathroom is a bit of a mess. they clean it together. as someone who took weeks to organize the shit in their room: i did not know i needed this. cleaning can be so mentally taxing and it’s so lovely to have someone who wants to do it for you, to help you. love love love the message.

unless you call tonight

e. 7.3k. fwb skts.

stubborn fwb skts to lovers will always be one of my favorite tropes. it just fits them so well (they’re idiots❤️). this fic was not only very hot but it had such amazing characterization of kiyoomi and atsumu. it really felt like i was just sitting in on their lives. and bonus for the background osasunakomo mention!!

loyal to you

e. 8.2k. prince kiyoomi x knight atsumu.

*slow clap into standing ovation*. this was quite literally everything i needed it to be. prince/ knight, childhood friends to exes (?) to lovers, body worship, saying i hate you immediately followed by making love. how could you not love this?? i’ve actually read this before but it somehow slipped through my previous recs. this made me blush.

so this is love: the reprise

m. 12.9k. yakuza atsumu x doctor omi.

this was sooo rom-com mixed with action movie. i really enjoyed it. atsumu is hilarious and a walking flirt as always. kiyoomi is an exhausted doctor with a sweet tooth. what more could you need. also! there’s soulmates/ soulmarks in this fic! lovely addition as always.

switch

e. 5.5k. pwp (again!)

sorry i read so many pwps this month😭😭 but this was a classic body swap situation so they have sex to see what happens! super hot, established skts, and silly! there’s really not much else to say. it’s just a great time.

—

sorry if this months recs are badly written😭 i honestly was so close to not even posting a list because life has been so painfully Real lately. that’s partly why i haven’t been reading as much as usual.

but it’s also because i’ve been writing a lot more!! using up my feelings and putting them into something more digestible for myself (giving them to skts lmaooo). so i may or may not be sharing those. some are very personal so im hesitant but we’ll see!

thank you for sticking around <3 seeing y’all interact with my recs gives me all the motivation to keep these up.

lots of love,

halo💛

[martianbugsbunny]

That's How He Knows He's Yours (A Lokius Fic)

Okayyyy I would have sworn up and down that I had already posted this fic ??? but I did a bunch of different search attempts and I couldn't find it so I guess I didn't

The premise is basically Loki and Mobius are going to a party and Mobius is helping him with his hair, but Mobius has been studying up on the meanings of different Jotun hairstyles and accidentally-on-purpose picks the one that means "I'm taken." Ofc there's a bit of cultural headcanon involved. It's super fluffy w a little bit of flirtatiousness, so read on and enjoy!

The TVA was having a party.

That wasn’t really the important thing, but it was interesting. Mobius couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a party—but they needed to keep their spirits up after finding out that their entire lives were, in fact, lies, so a party it was. Every sector was having its own, because the TVA was too immense for all of the employees to have fit in a single room if they’d been threatened with death to do it.

Well, anyway, the important thing was that Mobius wasn’t going alone. He’d convinced Loki that it would be more fun to go together than to go separately, or not to go at all.

The other important thing was that Mobius had offered to braid Loki’s hair, which had grown considerably longer than it had been the first time they’d met, and that Loki had taken him up on it.

He’d spent hours studying both Jotun and Aesir braiding styles—not just the actual construction, but also the meaning behind them. In the end he’d picked the Jotun style that signaled “I’m taken” because it was beautiful, and because he was pretty sure Loki didn’t know enough about his own culture to know what it meant himself, so Mobius could convince himself it wasn’t that much of a presumption.

“I’m not so sure about this suit,” Loki said, sitting patiently as Mobius brushed his hair before plaiting it. “The gold stripes are a bit much, don’t you think?”

“What happened to the guy who used to strut around wearing gold armor and a cape?” Mobius teased, beginning the first braid. Left under the middle, right under the middle, he muttered under his breath.

“I’ve been wearing your boring TVA clothes for months,” Loki said, holding out one arm to watch the threads glitter. “The drab must’ve rubbed off on me.”

Mobius rolled his eyes. The truth was, he was outside his own comfort zone in a fancy suit. His didn’t have metallic pin-striping on it like Loki’s did (because it was a bit much) but it was a much sharper cut and a much more dashing style than he was used to wearing. He’d been just an analyst in a plain brown suit for centuries, and now here he was all dressed up like he thought he was Prince Charming or something.

He tried to focus more on the different strands of dark hair in his hands than on the way his fingertips brushed against Loki’s temples as he gathered new locks to add to the braids.

He failed.

As he began to pin the braids up using glittering golden hair pins, he tried to focus more on not stabbing Loki’s  scalp than on the brush of his hands against the nape of Loki’s neck.

He failed.

Loki was built like a prince, Mobius sometimes caught himself thinking. It didn’t matter if it was princedom of Asgard or of Jotunheim. There was an elegance in the set of his shoulders, in the movements of his hands as he wielded his magic, and a determination in the curve of his back and the way he stepped, that was utterly regal. Gold, like the simple rings he was wearing that night and the hair pins Mobius had found for him and the single slim chain around his neck, seemed to have been built into the cosmos for no reason other than to decorate Loki's trim form.

That was waxing poetic. Mobius didn’t do that often—only for Loki and Jet Skis. What could he say, they were both remarkable singularities in the universe.

He finished setting the last braid into place, nestled among several others like a crown across the top of Loki’s head. “All done, puss,” he said, patting Loki on the shoulder.

Loki’s head turned slightly to the side at the use of the nickname, and Mobius could just see a smile tugging at the corner of his mauve-tinted lips. “Do I dare look?” he asked.

“I didn’t mess it up that bad,” Mobius said. Loki chuckled and got up from the floor in front of Mobius’s couch to go check his reflection in the mirror on the other side of the room.

Mobius could see the reflected green eyes widening as Loki caught sight of himself. For some reason Mobius’s heart was in his throat.

“I didn’t know you knew how to do this,” Loki said.

“What, braids?” Mobius managed to speak past his racing pulse. “It’s not that hard.” It was, actually, quite difficult to his untrained hands, but learning it for Loki had made it seem easier.

“No. The Jotun style.”

That quick pulse stopped altogether. Mobius sat there, stock still, feeling very much like he was going to throw up if Loki didn’t break the sudden silence.

He turned from the mirror to look Mobius in the eyes properly. He was smiling, his eyes glittering beneath the faint liner he’d applied earlier that evening and a light dusting of shimmery grey eyeshadow. “Seems the pussycat has caught himself a guilty little mouse,” he said, his voice sultry and honey-smooth, dripping into Mobius’s soul. “You didn’t realize I knew what these braids meant.” It was a statement, not a question. There wasn’t a hint of doubt on his face.

“You caught me,” Mobius said. He was impressed with himself for being able to get any words out at all with Loki’s gaze focused on him like that.

“I’m taken, am I?”

Now Mobius found himself entirely unable to speak. What could he say, after all, other than we’ve been spending a lot of time together and you don’t mind when I call you ‘puss’ and I catch you staring at me sometimes in a way nobody ever has? It seemed stupid even in his brain. None of it meant he and Loki were…whatever he’d been subconsciously thinking they could be when he’d picked the style.

Loki walked back across the room, a new sway in his hips that Mobius was positive hadn’t been there before, and sat down on the couch to lean directly into Mobius’s personal space. For a long moment, far too long, far too breathless, he simply studied Mobius’s face, as though he could see everything single thought that had ever crossed his mind.

“We’ll see about that when we get back from the party,” he said finally, gaze flicking briefly down to Mobius’s lips. “Maybe you’re the one who’s going to be…taken.”

He crossed into that last bit of personal space and pressed their lips together, his touch surprisingly light, stunningly tender, as one arm came up to drape across Mobius’s shoulders and draw him even closer.

“Don’t be so sure of yourself, puss.” Mobius finally found his tongue again and flirted back, laying a hand on Loki’s thigh. “You’re the one with the fancy hairstyle to prove it.”

As Loki laughed, Mobius captured his lips in another kiss, just as soft as before but oh-so-many leagues more passionate, and he thanked his lucky stars he’d been fool enough to pick a Jotun way to call Loki his.

[foone]

Not to think too deeply about writing Tumblr fiction, but I've noticed I've repeatedly been interested in the idea of "imagine a world like ours but with a difference: now post like someone from that world". I've done several posts like this, and I've seen similar premises reblogged around the place. Why not? It can be a fun idea to play with!

But the odd thing for me, is that this is basically the same idea as "THING dashboard simulator", you know? It's just a diffent format with the same basic idea, isn't it? Instead of one long post, you have multiple short posts (inside the real post) from different (fictional) authors, with the theme announced up front instead of in the story text itself.

And you might think why is that odd? Most basic story premises come in a few variations in how it works. So this one comes in two similar instances/memes. Seems normal enough.

Yeah but I personally like the former (a fictional post from a hypothetical different world), I dislike the latter (a "THING dashboard simulator").

And that's odd to me because I'm not really able to figure out why? They seem so similar!

Is it the premise announced upfront? Maybe I like the mini-puzzle of figuring out what the difference is in the story?

Is it that it's about a fictional difference rather than a real one? Like, the former is basically "how would people post in a world where we could all fly?" and the latter is "how would people post in ancient Rome?" and I just like the science-fictional element more?

No, it can't completely be that, because sometimes people do make posts in that style with science fictional premises rather than specific existing setting ones. I guess I could say that maybe it's more likely that? And it lowers the my enjoyment of it below some threshold?

The only other thing I can think of that really divides the two formats/premises is that one has a single fictional author and the other has multiple. I don't know if that really makes it less enjoyable for me, though. Maybe?

And possibly it's just all these options to some degree, and it just adds up to too much in my brain.