#someone in my tags reminded me of her I'm glad she's broken free from her past situation

[transfemmes]

I hope Nikki Carreon is doing okay

[ofmermaidstories]

Spoilers for the latest chapter of Something!

I'm gonna go ahead and apologize now because this is long; please feel free to ignore my wordy ass, I just have a lot of feelings about a certain someone that showed up in the new chapter lol.

I am still trying to get my shit together enough to write a proper review, but I did want to come yell at you for making the grape boy somewhat likeable, like...

Firstly, how??? Secondly, why?????!?!

Lmao, in all seriousness tho, it's nice to see him have a personality that isn't just "Mmmm, tits" *drools* I like to think that everyone in the series grows up and (mostly) out of the worst of their habits, and while Mineta is still a bit of a lecher here he isn't nearly as offensive/creepy as he comes off in show. In fact he's actually sympathetic in a lot way. The bit about seeing his first dead body before "getting laid" hit different like... He tries to play it off like a joke, but dude has to have just as much PTSD as the rest of them, maybe even more given that he wasn't able to fight back in the same way as someone like Bkg or Deku would be able to with their super powerful offensive quirks. They were all just kids, but they had to face hell full on from jump, and let me stop before I get too in my feelings lol.

In a lot of ways, he reminds of you the boys from school — crude. Taking for granted the safety from being in a pack, unchallenged. Leering at posters, saying off-colour things because no one corrects them.

That's exactly the way I view him, just a crude little thing that refuses to be put in his place for long lol. Still, with his being a hero I would hope that he keeps a cap on it while he's on the job--in fact I'm sure he does; if he didn't I'm sure that Aizawa would've yanked his licence by now, the likes of Deku and Kiri wouldn't continue to associate with him, and that's saying nothing of the shit that would get posted to social mead and such. I feel like the only reason he says what he says to the Reader is b/c she's a little gremlin herself and he knows he's got a bit more leeway, yanno?

The little hangout session that they had at the end of the chapter was weirdly heartwarming?? I want a friend(???) that I can be a surly little shit with and draw on and that will call my bf that's not really my bf but should be my bf because he's (that is Mineta) got more emotional intelligence than me lmao. Never thought I'd see the day when the grape would make for such an excellent wingman--tho I gotta wonder what that text he sent to Deku said. Probably something along the lines of "come get yo girl, she must be bored/lonely af because she asked to hang out with me" followed by "are you ever gonna close the deal or not? or have you already hit it??? >:)" just to give the guy an extra push (or maybe he's got a better sense of self-preservation than what I give him credit for, idk lmfaooo...)

Okay, this is WAY too long, I just had to get it out of my system lol. I loved the new chapter lots and I cannot wait to see how things play out in the next one!!

LOL, oh Puck, i adore you sdlkfjsdlkfjsdlkfj

me being a shit-stirrer/asking myself questions i don’t have answers for under the cut

Cat asked me this question earlier today, actually — why Mineta. And honestly? Part of it is the challenge he represents — like, how do you write him into a fic and mature him up so that he’s at the very least, tolerable, but also keep the backbone of his character (which is being a little degenerate). Like, is it possible? One of the most popular tags on ao3 for mineta minoru is something along the lines of “mineta minoru is replaced with shinsou hitoshi” LOL so…….. why didn’t I just use Shinsou? Or Aoyama or Iida, as Cat suggested? And beyond the part of me that delights in giving myself perceived challenges, there were two stark reasons that stuck out to me, when i was first mulling over his inclusion.

1) the fact that he can draw. it’s literally as simple as that. ever since the BNHA exhibition opened up in Japan and it was revealed that there was a scene in there with a class blackboard and the kids having their little drawing competition — and that Mineta was objectively the most skilled — i was like, “i have to include that”. LOL. it’s like you say, Puck, our Reader is a little gremlin herself — i thought if I was going to write a Reader that could handle interacting with him (ie, be in a position to pay him out) it was going to be this one. I think being in the manga industry and starting out on this journey of creating and drawing a Shonen manga sort of put Reader in this unique position of… being in what seems like a boys’ club? So she’d be used to the male gaze within her field. I follow Horikoshi’s assistant (former assistant?) on twitter and let me tell you, that man is not shy about the things that he likes to draw LOL.

the 2) thing was the philosophy i’ve sort of accidentally given myself LOL and that’s the fact that — as a Bakugou stan, if i’m giving grace to a character who was a literal violent bully then………. i can use my magic powers and hand it around to the other characters, too, LOL. and like, i would argue that with Bakugou it’s different, like we’re currently seeing in the manga how he has grown and learnt and is actively changing, which is the key to any kind of redemption. do i think Mineta will ever undergo that in cannon? absolutely not lmao, i see him as being being Hori’s idea of comedic relief, he’s always going to be a horrible little degen. but i want it for him…… if only to justify why the boys of Class-A collectively ignore his bullshit, for the most part? Like, none of them actively call him out on it?? i think of the time he tried to climb the wall to spy on the girls in the onsen — and how it was literally only Iida scolding him and how it took a child to stop him. Or the one when he found the stupid hole into the girl’s changing room and while the boys all looked grossed out….. Jirou’s the one that point an end to that?????? I saw a TikTok (derogatory) suggesting how like, none of the girls of Class-A would trust Aizawa, as adults, because he didn’t do anything to put an end to Mineta’s bullshit, and it was a devastating suggesting. None of us want to believe that our favourites would be passively okay with this kind of behaviour, right?? Which means……. Mineta’s gotta change LMAO. And if Hori isn’t going to do it then imma borrow him and do it myself. Does it work? I have no idea LMAO i can’t judge anymore, my meter is broken. but i’m gonna work with what i’ve given myself and it either will, or it won’t LMAOOOO kldsfjlksdjflkdj fic is about having fun at the end of the day. :’)

But it’s like you point out, Puck — Mineta is also a child, when these kids get trotted out to their first War. And he’s also not as offensively built as the hard-hitters like Deku and Bakugou and Shouto are. Even if it’s not explored in the manga, that War is going to change them all somehow.

So, my gameplan for Mineta was to grab ahold of the tiny things about him — the talent for drawing, the like one [1] observation he has about the wreckage of the war/pro heroes during the war arc, his tears for Bakugou when B wakes up afterwards and how he tells Deku how cool he was and how much he admires him, in the current Bring Deku Home chapters — and try to envision a sleaze bag who learns that the bullshit he pulls won’t be tolerated, even if he’s still ultimately a skeeze LOL. i mean, he’s never going to drop that er…. appreciation for the female form. and i mean, hey, live your best life King, i’ve distinctly noticed a hand-fetish floating around on this site lately so i’m not gonna be like “NO men can’t like ANYTHING”. But the thing with him being a sleaze and open with his leering is like, he’s actively made the girls of his class uncomfortable with that in the past — how do you write it so that he’s not doing that in a position of power with the women he works with (and saves!), as an adult?? Maturity only goes so far. How much can I bank on the war and the subsequent bullshit they’re gonna face from it on…. transforming him??? It shouldn’t be up to the girls he’s learning with to police him, they’re just children. I have a vague gameplan for it — whether or not it works will be one thing; whether i can naturally shove it into the fic is another, LOL. Guess we’ll see. 🧐

SAYING ALL THAT,,,,, i’m actually really glad you liked (???) the ending scene with him because it’s my favourite LMAO lkdjflkdsjflkdjfkldsjf. 😭😭 Reader is by no means perfect, and she and Mineta both need to start treating each other with more respect, but her bullying of him was fun to write and I like imagining a Mineta who considers himself to be close with Deku (whether or not Deku thinks the same is up for debate) going along with it. i could see this version of Mineta being enough of a shit-stirrer to say something like, “gotta lock that shit down” to Deku LMAO kdfjlkdsjflkdsfjdklsfj and then getting left on a skyscraper somewhere…. RIP short King.

[lilly-and-alice]

OC Interview

As with Alice's, I was tagged by the lovely @lusus--naturae & @r0xy-w0lf.

I'm not tagging anybody for this one - but please feel free to join in if you want to.

Date of Interview: 1914

Name: "Elizabeth Mae James, but I go by Lilly"

Are you single: *Smiling as she looks over at Charles who's sitting across from her "No, I'm very happily married thank you"

Are you happy: *Hands resting on her baby bump while still grinning at Charles and their four children sitting around him* "I'd say this is the happiest I've ever been"

Are your parents still married: "No, Mama died when I was 4. As for my father? I last saw him when I was 14 "

Are you angry: "Not so much nowadays, but I'll admit, in the past I was a bit of a hothead"

Facts

Birthplace: "I was born out in the midwest somewhere. We moved around a lot so I don't actually know where exactly"

Hair color: "Red"

Eye color: ''Green''

Birth date: ''6th Dec 1873"

Current Mood: "Well as happy as I am to be carrying my 5th child, I'm so uncomfortable right now. I can't wait to be not pregnant again"

*Charles laughing* "I'll remind you of that when you tell me you're desperate to start trying for number 6.

Gender: ''Female''

Summer or winter: "Summer. The winters here in Canada can be too cold for my liking"

Morning or afternoon: "I've never been a morning person, but nothing better than a lazy afternoon"

Eight things about your love life

Are you in love: "With all my heart"

Do you believe in love at first sight: “No” *leans in and whispers while Charles is distracted by one of the kids* "I remember Dutch introducing Charles to the camp, but I didn't really pay much attention to him at first. I do remember him being around, but he never really spoke with anybody. It wasn't the gang started falling apart that I took the time to get to know him and honestly? It wasn't until he left the gang to help Rains Falls & the Wapiti that I realised I was falling in love with him"

Who ended your last relationship: “I did, it had gotten complicated and as much as me and John wanted it to work between us, I knew I had to remove myself from the equation so he could make his own decision about whether he wanted to try make it work with Abigail & Jack”

Have you ever broken someone's heart?: "You know, John later admitted to me that it almost killed him when I told him it was over, but he also told me thank you for making him see sense when it came to his family"

Are you afraid of commitment: "Not at all" 

Have you hugged someone in the last week: “Each of the kids and my handsome husband of course”

Have you ever had a secret admirer: *Charles butts in before Lilly even has chance to speak* "I was so nervous to speak to Lilly in those early days, I'd just find a quiet spot and watch her get on with her day. I do wish I'd had the courage to tell her sooner though"

"Me too...though just imagine how many more kids we'd have then"

Have you ever broken your own heart: “Making the decision to leave John was tough, but even tougher was the mistake I made, which caused the only real argument me & Charles ever really had and actually made us split up for a while..."

*Charles reaches her hand* "That's all in the past now Flower. We eventually got past it and we don't need to dwell on it"

Six Choices

Love or Lust: “Love - I mean the sex is incredible, but I'm happy just being in Charles' company”

Lemonade or Iced Tea: “Iced Tea? I'd rather have a hot tea to warm me up thank you ”

Cats or Dogs: “Dogs” 

A few Best friends or Regular Friends: “I still write to the likes of Tilly, Mary-Beth & Abigail. But honestly - I'd be lost without my best friend Allie constantly by myside"

Wild night out or romantic night in: “Oh my nights of getting drunk with Allie & starting a bar fight or two are well and truly behind me. Much prefer to be snuggled up in front if the fire "

Day or night: ’'Night, I like the quietness of the world”

Have You Evers

Been caught sneaking out: “Grimshaw used to have a habit of catching me in the act, trying to escape doing chores”

Fallen Down/Up the Stairs: “All the time, I'm quite possibly the clumsy person alive”

Wanted someone/something so badly it hurt: “I got everything I need right here”

Wanted to disappear: “You know, during my time in camp and everything that was going on between John & Abigail, I managed to persuade Hosea to let me travel around on my own for a while, to help clear my head and work out what I wanted from life. I'm glad I did or otherwise I'd never have met Allie”

Four preferences

Smile or eyes: “A good smile draws me in, but I feel you can see the real person by looking into their eyes”

Shorter or taller: “Preferably taller, but it doesn't matter either way”

Intelligence or Attraction: “I'm lucky I guess - I have a handsome husband who also happens to be incredibly intelligent.”

Hook up or Relationship: “I never was one for hooking up with random people, I'd much rather be in a relationship ”

Family

Do you and your family get along: “Me, Charles & the kids are quite content together. 

As for my other family members? Well, I have no idea where my father is these days, if he's still alive. And Alice? For the longest time I wanted nothing to do with this random girl turning up, claiming she's my sister. But fate had a strange way of pulling us closer together and now we keep in regular contact"

Would you say you have a messed up life: "Let me give you a list:

Was it messed up to lose my mother & brother when I was only 4 and then find myself travelling around the country with my father, sleeping in the back of a wagon most nights as he prepared for his next con?

Or what about being sold to my own grandmother when daddy felt he was unable to look after me?

Or when Grandmama passed away, her husband was considering carting me off to the nearest brothel because the cheap bastard didn't want the added expense of caring for me?

There's also the man who I thought I loved, leaving me to get attacked while he went off to spend the night with a whore..."

*sighs before a huge smile appears on her face as she casts an eye over at Charles, who's now reading a story to the kids*

"But you know? Each of those moments brought me one step closer to this wonderful life with Charles and our children"

Have you ever ran away from home: “It never felt like home, but leaving my step grandfathers house & running away with Van der Linde gang was best thing I ever did"

Have you ever got kicked out: “Like I said, back in the day, it was a mutual decision between me & Hosea to leave camp before I did something stupid."

Friends

Do you secretly hate one of your friends: “Why would I? Though Mary-Beth is a bit full of herself nowadays with her being a famous author and all”

Do you consider all of your friends good friends: “Of course I do. We might have done some questionable things in the past, but we had our reasons”

Who is your best friend: "I swear if you don't say my name right now" *Allie laughing from across the room*

"I guess there's your answer - my best friend is Allie Foster. Always been right by myside through thick & thin and most probably always will be”

Who knows everything about you: “Allie knows most things. But I don't hide anything from Charles either"

[oumakokichi]

Hello! I just wanted to say that i'm a big fan of your metas! But anyways, i wanted to ask if you could maybe tell me more about what's known of Maki? Like, how big her character development is and how you interpret her personality. And i'm really curious about her ingame backstory! Sorry if it's a bit much, i'm just really curious^^'

Thank you! And don’t worry at all, it’s not too much. Ireally enjoy getting to answer these kinds of questions!

As far as Maki goes, she’s a really excellent character inmy opinion! She’s certainly flawed—her lack of impulse control, her coldness,and her legitimately ruthless behavior winds up getting the whole group intotrouble on more than one occasion. I have perhaps a few problems with how her growthand development is handled at times, and I wish that so much of it wasn’tcontingent on Momota, but I’d still say that by Chapter 6 especially, Maki hascome a long way.

I’ll try discussing what’s known about her and the ways inwhich she grows and develops under the read more! This will involve spoilersfor pretty much the whole game so be careful if you want to avoid gettingthoroughly spoiled!

I’ve mentioned before in a few meta posts but I’m honestlyreally pleased with the fact that Maki wound up being a survivor, even thoughher survival has been a point of contention for many fans. I’ve always beeninterested in seeing a character who was used to taking orders or not thinkingfor themselves making it through to the end, and Maki is the closest we’vegotten to that.

Like Mukuro and Peko before her, Maki is someone who’s beentrained since childhood to be a human weapon, someone who does what she’s toldwithout thinking about it and has never been allowed to think or want thingsfor herself. Like both of them, she views herself in very inhuman terms: sheflat-out tells Saihara after getting to know him and Momota a little betterthat she honestly considers Kiibo more human than herself. Her in-gamebackstory is, of course, entirely responsible for this, which is an interestinglook at how the remember lights and assigned in-game backstories can still haveheavy consequences on the characters’ self-perception and tendency to behave acertain way.

Maki was scouted to become an assassin from a young age inher in-game backstory. She grew up in an orphanage and doesn’t remember much ofanything about her life before going there, not even her own parents’ faces. Afew scouts came to the orphanage one day under the guise of “playing�� with thechildren; the truth however was that children with no families or loved onesto miss them would make the best potential recruits to mold into trainedkillers, and they were all young enough that it’d be easy to teach them not totalk back or question orders.

Maki was the only one who met their requirements and wastaken away from the orphanage in order to start her assassin training, allwithout any personal say in the matter. This lack of personal say-so anddecision-making is the primary recurring theme among her backstory. It’s thislack of choice in her own life that jumpstarts her entire character arc ofdevelopment, because right from the beginning, she’s someone who feels that she’snot allowed any choices in her ownlife. Most of her role in ndrv3 revolves around gradually getting a taste ofchoice and freedom and making both good and bad decisions accordingly, as shebecomes rather intoxicated with the idea of falling in love with Momota out ofher own free will.

At first, it’s clear that she’s rather uncomfortable withMomota’s attempts to befriend her (and to a lesser degree, Saihara’s, since he’sless insistent about it). Similar to Togami, she’s very much the character whotries distancing herself from the group completely in the first few chapters.Because she thinks of herself as a “tool” only good for killing, there’sundeniably a large degree of self-loathing and resentment. Her refusal to getclose to people isn’t only because she’s not a trusting individual by nature,but also quite simply because she doesn’t think she deserves to get close tothem in the first place, as Momota points out after the Chapter 5 trial.

But given time, she does warm up to the idea of makingfriends and (most importantly) falling in love. After acknowledging the factthat the one remaining question about her old life at the orphanage is “howwould things be now if I’d never left,” she definitely seems to come to termswith the fact that the killing game might well be a situation in which she can “startanew,” so to speak. She’s the SHSL Assassin and her talent makes her aterrifying force, to be sure, but since she’s no longer working for anyone ortaking orders from anyone, the idea arises that she can actually, legitimatelychoose her own path in this scenario, despite how bizarre and messed upeverything around them is.

This unprecedented level of choice in her life leads to asurprising amount of reckless impulsiveness from her. Many people in the fandomstill, I think, regard Maki as someone meant to parallel Kirigiri because they’reboth essentially the main female leads of their respective stories, but I don’tthink this comparison quite works. Where Kirigiri unarguably has a very coolcomposure that can’t often be broken, Maki’s seemingly cool façade is brokenquite easily. Her coldness is very surface-level, and under that surface shehas a dangerous temper which can provoke very dangerous, real consequences.

Ouma tries to out her talent to the rest of the group withvery good reason: she has killed before and she is prone to killing again. Herinstinct, because of the ruthless training she went through and because it’sall she’s ever known, is to resort to violence and murder whenever things startgoing astray. And that makes her a very real risk in something as dangerous asthe killing game. But the danger she poses to the rest of the group often getsdownplayed because no one wants to believe it; they instead choose to believein the whole “blind optimism trust your friends without ever doubting them”routine which is ultimately what leads to such horrible consequences in Chapter5 in particular.

I personally really, honestly like the fact that Maki is soreckless, impulsive, and flawed. Her flaws, including her coldness andimpoliteness to others, as well as the very real threat she presents to therest of the group, are often highly praised qualities in male characters, and I’mglad to see them in a female character for once, even though it is sad to seeher receive so much hate in the tag.

Maki can be frustrating sometimes but that’s exactly whatmakes her a good character. There arethings that could perhaps have been handled better in her arc though, and oneof the things I wish had been more addressed was the fact that she was cold andruthless enough to intentionally attempt to get everyone killed in the Chapter5 trial—sadly her treatment of them in the trial gets almost completely brushedunder the rug after the fact, again because most of her actions are attributedto revolving around Momota.

But I would have honestly really enjoyed seeing a few pointsof contention in Chapter 6 at first between Maki and the rest of the groupsince she did, very knowingly, try to kill all of them, and that would haveadded another layer of impact to her decision to try and sacrifice herself forthe sake of the “hope” choice in the Chapter 6 trial. It would have made for aninteresting sort of atonement arc, rather than the narrative trying to act asif she had nothing to really atone for because her intentions were “in theright place.”

Still, the fact that she’s one of the first “tool/weapon”characters who actually makes it all the way to the end as a survivor, and thefact that she’s so unconventional to the usual “main female  DR lead” trope is highly enjoyable. Maki’sbrusqueness and even her impulsiveness is one of the things that keeps the plotprogressing the way it does, and she’s definitely a good character in her ownright. She messes up, she makes big mistakes—and she pays for it, as the consequencesin Chapter 5 show.

The “reveal” in Chapter 6 about how all of the characters’memories, thoughts, and even romantic feelings were “all Tsumugi’s doing” andpart of her “scenarios” hits particularly hard with regards to Maki. As someonewho was only just beginning to find her own sense of self and come to termswith her past and the ways in which it left her feeling permanently scarred andmessed up, the idea that all of this too was just her following someone else’swhims is too much to bear. Even when she thought she was acting on her own forthe first time, even those feelings were just “part of someone else’s scenario”(they weren’t, but that’s what Tsumugi wants her to think anyway).

She’s motivated to stand strong and put an end to thekilling game not by either hope or despair in the end, but by Saihara’s firmreminder of Momota’s last words, and of his promise that the experiences theylived through really did have meaning. Even if they’re all fictionalexistences, even if their memories or backstories were implanted by someoneelse, Maki is done with having others decide her life for her; her feelingshave real meaning to her and that’s all that really matters in the end. And it’ssuch a satisfying conclusion to her character arc to witness, considering I don’tthink it’s something she would have been capable of coming to terms with priorto Chapter 6.

Anyway, there’s a lot to talk about with Maki—she’sextremely interesting, flawed, and developed, and I probably haven’t eventouched on everything there is. I hope I was able to get some of my thoughtsacross though. Thank you so much for stopping by, and again, it’s always reallyfun to be able to answer these sorts of questions!