#the fact that it is super period appropriate for them as kids that grew up in late gilded age chicago is a big bonus tho

[luckyfiona]

“ what are you doing out here by yourself? ”

(Flashback to their first meeting???¿?¿?)

She hasn't stopped thinking about him, not even to sleep. Every inch of her― her brain, her heart, her soul, her dreams― everything is preoccupied with the brave boy who kept her out of harm's way the other night.

It's been one year since Fíona's parents had to give her up, because they couldn't afford to feed her. They couldn't take care of her, so they sent her off with Captain Price to give her a better life in America. In theory, he's her savior, but Fíona doesn't feel very safe with him. Maybe because she knows he only took her because it's profitable for him. The stranger who protected her had nothing to gain in doing so; he only did it out of an extraordinary humanitarianism. He acted more like a loving family member to her since she first emigrated to this place. She didn't know his name.

She's been scavenging for loose change since she started her indentured servitude, to try to slowly create the more beautiful life she was promised in America, as if her savings of pennies would ever afford her the dresses she makes at the boutique, or even a vase of flowers to put in her sad little room. But recent events have her realizing that if she truly wants to beautify her life, she's better off investing in people to keep in it. She thinks she'd be happier as a pauper with a family than a luxurious little orphan in a cold, dark manor. So, she takes her modest savings to the kindly old man on the corner with some kind of popcorn stand. He says he's selling the new all-time favorite American snack. He calls it Cracker-Jack. She's never heard of it, but she hopes her new all-time favorite American boy has.

She counts out her modest savings on the table of the popcorn stand with raw determination in her eyes. She wants to offer the boy something to eat. She wants to take care of him the way he took care of her, so she never had to lose him. She wants to feed him so she never has to give him up.

She takes her offering to the spooky alley where she first saw him, in eager anticipation that he'll slip through again― as if some part of him might be hoping to cross paths with her again, too. As the minutes pass into hours, optimism turns into dread and every noise seems to startle her, and it's the first time in her life that she realizes just how much danger she's willing to put herself in to find someone who will care about her. By the time he spots her, she's so focused on the noise she heard at the other end of the alley, convinced there's someone there with hungry eyes and a knife, she nearly jumps out of her skin at the blunt tap of his fingers on her shoulder. When she whips around to meet his gray eyes, she realizes she should've spent less time convincing herself that there were ghouls floating around her and more time planning what she was going to say.

❝ Hi. Sorry. ❞

She's reminded of what a maladjusted outsider she really is when she finally has a chance to talk to someone her own age and doesn't know how to. She stammers, taking in boyish features: raised eyebrows that don't posit to have seen everything, a mischievous elven nose ready to be thumbed at anyone trying to use their stature to pick on him, wide eyes that haven't lost their humanity even despite the purple crescent moon framing the left one, which paints a scene to her of him earning it while sticking up for a little guy― she wouldn't find out until a bit later that he received it from being too scared to stick up for himself in the face of a volatile commander. Awkward and curt, starstruck and stumbling, she shoves the bag of Cracker-Jack against his chest and insists:

❝ It― It's America's new all-time favorite snack. ❞

In an act of kindness she never anticipated, and maybe one even he didn't know he had in him, he suggests they sit and eat it together. Two underfed strays, they're halfway through wordlessly devouring the box of Cracker-Jack, with rogue kernels flying out of the sides of their mouths and down their shirts when his stomach is finally full enough to collect himself and address the elephant in the alleyway:

(“what are you doing out here by yourself?”)

Fiona fixes her posture and pivots to the persona of a sophisticated woman who has to finish chewing and swallow before she speaks, and it gives her enough time to figure out how to answer that question. He already had to have gathered she was waiting for him with the gift. It was a bit late to play it cool or tough. Her posture sinks back into a more comfortable position, honest with herself and open to him.

❝ I suppose I haven't got any friends to be out here with me. ❞

There was nothing to gain in pretending she wasn't sad and lonely. She couldn't do anything to fix it if she didn't address it. There was productivity in being intimately vulnerable, and if she took the lead in establishing that kind of disarmament, it could encourage him to do the same. It didn't seem like either of them had much to lose, but they could help each other if they dropped their guards.

❝ But it doesn't seem like you have many real friends, either. ❞

She couldn't help but notice, that night she first saw him, how quickly the street urchins he was horsing around with scattered the second he threw himself into harm's way to help Fíona. Hungry, desperate, lost and unloved boys seem to operate more like a wild pack of dogs than a band of brothers who would back each other up if it wouldn't benefit themselves. She decided that she and her favorite boy could be better than typical mutts. She holds out a hand to shake, like a civilized dog― one that people could love.

❝ I'm― ❞ The name Fíona Comascaigh nearly leaves her mouth before she remembers Mrs. Price told her not to say it like that anymore if she wants to be accepted. It's crucial to meet people on their level, to bend herself and acclimate to their culture for them to see her as a member of their tribe. She affects her best American accent before fumbling out: ❝ Fiona Comisky. ❞

When they shake, with their hands caked with nutty caramel and popcorn dust―the bread they've broken together― it feels meaningful to her, like they've sealed a bond she'll hold with her for a long, long time. They're attached now. As both of their disgusting candy residue intermingles, it's like a blood pact ritual. But stickier.

╳ — 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 ! // ACCEPTING.

[shoichee]

Star-crossed

[Midorima x Reader]

[Hanahaki!au]

Word Count: 8840

Warning: attempted angst, death

Note: This is my first time writing angst, oh dear. Even after years of bawling over other people’s works, I still have no solid idea on how to create heart-wrenching writing. Here goes though.

»»—————　☼　—————««

“I’m really excited!”

“Ne, ne, I honestly can’t wait to bloom…”

“What kind of flowers would my body grow do you think?...”

You only drone out the incessant bustlings of chattering from your classmates as special health education class ended as you sat there patiently waiting for the next teacher to walk into class to start the next period.

Next is… ah, math…

You sigh, heaving out the bulky textbook out of your bag and drop it on the desk with a thump, making a few students flinch at the near proximity. You lay your elbow on the hardcover, allowing your thoughts to drift away as your fingers gently thrum. This teacher, you knew, was the type to start class unceremoniously late.

It was boring. Everyone already knew about the stage of blooming. It had been incanted incessantly to you by adults around you ever since grade school. Yet, Shūtōku high was one of the many high schools that still insisted in “teaching” the basic knowledge of what’s to come soon.

Maybe these classes don’t teach, but rather, serve as a reminder of the inevitable that all growing teenagers will face sooner or later: blooming.

Some people have already experienced it as soon as they graduated out of middle school; they were called the “early bloomers.” That was one of your closer friends.

So what’s it like? you once asked, turning to your new friend at the time. You said you bloomed…

And you recall her nodding her head fervently.

Yeah! she eagerly replied. While it may be painful at first, it went away after a few weeks for me… it’s not so different like getting a period, you know?... I heard it’s different for everyone, but for me, my heart thumped super loudly! And I get these tingly sensations!...

… It’s just like a sign that you’ve become totally mature!

A frantic clang from the doorway interrupts your train of thought as you eye the expectant teacher, completely out of breath as he tries to arrive on time but completely failing miserably.

Unlike in special health ed, most of the students groan at the thought of continuing the onslaught of derivative lessons. You don’t really care either way and promptly open your textbook to the appropriate page.

As class slowly ticks by, your mind wanders off from the subject of class again, drifting to the constant destination of your recent curiosity of bloomings.

You are what everyone calls a “late bloomer.”

You aren’t the only late bloomer, obviously, but it does make you quite anxious at the fact of potentially being the “last one” in your class, or perhaps out of the entire school.

No one wants to really hang out with a late bloomer; they were often stereotyped as “immature” or “abnormal.” After all, this was a normal stage of life, a sign of growing up out of childhood. No one wants to hang around with someone seen as a “kid.”

A soft cough pulls you from your daydreaming as you subtly glance at the desk to your left. It was a classmate of yours, as well as an acquaintance.

“Hey,” you whisper, trying to not bring attention to yourself. “... Are you okay?”

She gives a quiet clearing of her throat before she nods, hand still pressed against her lips. She then shakes her head side to side, her long hair swaying slightly with the motion.

“Ah, don’t worry about me getting sick,” you quietly reassure. “But you should really go to the nurse’s after. Have you tried tying your hair up? I heard doing so can help cool off and keep a clearer head…”

She cautiously drops her hand back to her desk before giving you a small, reassuring smile.

“Thank you, (l/n-san). I’ll be fine.”

“(l/n).”

“Yes!” You stand up from your desk the moment the teacher calls on you, relieved at the fact that he didn’t seem to notice your hushed conversation.

“Could you please come up to the board to solve this problem…?”

---------

Lunch time is always the time you come out of class to search for Takao. As you walk briskly in the hallways, you try to avoid staring at everyone’s floral tattoos located at the side of their necks, imprinted underneath the canopies of their jaws. Each individual’s flower mark showcased what their bodies grew during their stages of blooming.

And each plant was unique to the individual. They could represent their personality, their prospective future, what their future soulmate would be like… anything goes, and every student constantly gossips about what the other’s marks would exactly mean.

You, markless, walk faster, hoping that no one would spot you and flit their eyes to your blank neck… although everyone at school already knows those who have still yet to bloom.

You envy them.

“(y/n)-chan!!” Takao waves you over when you enter the cafeteria. “Over here!”

You briefly scan the tables before you spot him, begrudgingly noticing his pink hyacinth at the crook of his neck, even though you’re happy for him that he passed that stage of his life.

Pink hyacinths… they symbolized playfulness.

You would know; not only did special health classes painstakingly educate students since young for the anticipation of blooming, you took the extra effort of researching many more flowers on your own time, patiently abiding your time to have a striking plant engraved onto you one day.

As you carry your tray and slide into your seat, you finally notice a grumbling greenhead besides Takao.

“Shin-chan! So you do care about having a flower mark after all, eh?”

That’s right, huh. Midorima, too, was markless.

Just like you.

“Your assumptions are getting ridiculous, Takao.”

“Seriously? You expect me to believe that when your eyes always land on people’s necks when you talk to them—pfffft—” He breaks out into guffaws as he clutches his stomach helplessly, which cued Midorima into reaching for the point-guard in an attempt to strangle him.

Pink hyacinths are perfect for someone like Takao. You couldn’t help but let a smile slip from your lips.

“Whoaa!!” Takao peers over to you, ignoring his predicament of being restrained to death by Midorima. “(y/n)-chan! You should smile more!—ow!”

“Worry about yourself first,” he scowls, before tentatively letting him go with a defeated sigh. He opts to hold his lucky charm for the day (a terracotta pot).

“Shintarou-san,” you call out to him, after several minutes of comfortable silence as all three of you ate your lunches. “What do you think your flower would be?”

“Man proposes, God disposes. As long as I always provide everything to maximize my opportunities and follow the order of fate, I do not need to worry about such baseless things.”

You mildly snicker at his typical response. “Is that so, horoscope man.”

“Why waste time worrying about something that’s not in your hands?” He pushes up his glasses with his taped hand. “You should be focusing on what you can do as of now, nanodayo.” When he finishes, he looks up from his lunch to glance at you, noticing your widened eyes.

“Ah…” you stare at him at a loss for words, caught off guard at the fact that he sounded… almost concerned for you. “I’ll keep it in mind, Shintarou.”

“There’s no way that’s our Shin-chan!” Takao rushes to try to feel Midorima’s forehead. “That’s way too good of an advice to be you—”

“Shut up—get off of me—!”

As the two basketball players struggle in each other’s vice grips, they fail to notice the ruddy color having its own moment of blooming onto your cheeks.

---------

“... and what this means, class, is that having your first love is a monumental sign of blooming. That being said, having to experience love for the first time does not automatically guarantee blooming. This natural phenomena is still being studied by scientists around the world. What’s also interesting is that we humans are the only ones with this unique…”

More basic information? You yawn, covering your mouth in hopes no one notices, but as you look around you, your classmates are too engrossed in the lecture to even pay attention to anything else.

Of course they’d pay attention. It’s a special event that will happen to everyone at some point; even though you were sure they all already knew the information to heart, you knew they would take any opportunity to learn more about themselves in any way. You don’t blame them, however. You’re curious about your own body’s idiosyncrasies of not blooming yet.

“... Lies.” You snap your head to the source of the quiet remark to see your classmate on your left, arms crossed on the desk with a minimal scowl on her face.

Noticing your piercing stare, she turns to you before widening her eyes at realizing that she was heard. She abruptly turns her face to the front of the class, trying to pass off the act of suddenly paying attention to the teacher.

You turn your head to face the front as well but you still glance to your left from time to time.

“Are you feeling better?...” you hesitantly whisper.

Not expecting you to show concern, she jumps in her seat before eyeing you warily. As soon as she decides that you were merely concerned, she gives a polite nod and a smile.

“It was just a little flu I caught… Thank you for worrying about me. I’m just a sickly person but I thankfully recover very quickly.”

And with that, she ends the conversation with you to finally genuinely pay attention for the rest of class.

You try to do the same, but you feel knots of lead settling in your stomach.

… Lies?

What was that about?

---------

“(y/n)-chan! Wanna come and watch our practices today?”

You were stopped in the hallways by a grinning Takao, with a trailing Midorima not too far behind with a bundle of faux peacock feathers.

You’re not too sure if you should be concerned with a clinging Takao on your arm and attempting to kidnap you or a stoic Midorima displaying around a ridiculous souvenir.

“Huh? W-why?”

“You’re obviously free right now, obviously.”

“That doesn’t make sense—wah!”

Before you can put any further word in, Takao is dragging you to the gym, with an exasperated Midorima being figuratively pulled along with you two as well.

“Here we are, (y/n)-chan!” Takao ushers you beyond the gym doors and indicates the bleachers for you to sit and watch.

“You really think I’m going along with all of this, Kazu?”

“I know you better than anyone.”

“No you don’t,” you frown, turning away from him with a huff.

“Takao.”

Takao immediately gulps at the call of his name from Midorima and both you and him turn around to see a particularly hostile green-haired person.

“Sorry, sorry! Please don’t hit me!” And Takao races to the lockers in an attempt to escape from his fury.

Midorima relaxes his stance after he leaves and turns to you.

“Thanks, Shintarou.”

“I wasn’t doing it for you,” he says, adjusting his glasses. “He was just being more troublesome than usual.” But the way he clumsily handled his frames told a different story to you.

You laugh at him. “If you insist, Shintarou-san.”

“R-right…”

“Hey! Shin-chan!” Takao yells from the opposite side of the gym. Get over here! Captain is coming!”

At the captain being mentioned, Midorima straightens up before jogging over to warm up.

You suppose you can watch their practice this evening.

---------

You’ve never seen anyone handle a basketball like that.

What the hell? His range was damn near impossible.

You were thankful that you allowed Takao to drag you over to the gym to watch. Otherwise, you would’ve never learned about this side of Midorima.

Wait… Midorima?

No, you shake your head. It’s only because it was a lot more interesting than all of your classes, that’s all.

You repeat it to yourself like a mantra, yet every time your eyes land on Midorima’s shooting form, your mind goes blank.

You were absolutely captivated… not that you would ever admit it though.

---------

“... scientists are still doing social experiments on the blooming stage of humans. You may be wondering, if it’s been a part of societies for thousands of years, why are we studying it? Well, during old times, they were often explained using myths and folk stories…”

It really sucked that special health ed class was a mandatory requirement for all first-years. All of this was old news to you still.

“... new recent findings came out that answered the everlong question of whether the bloomings can actually be dangerous for humans, and how dangerous.”

Oh? That was new. But you suppose there was no way they’d tell little kids about the possibilities and risks with bloomings.

“Obviously, we know it can be fatal, just like pregnancies going awry and such. While we don’t know the exact mortality rate, researchers are trying to develop new medicines to curb away the potential amount of deaths associated with bloomings. But other scholars suggest not to drain precious resources into medicine development when they can use it for more pressing medical issues, and I know many of you believe this as well. Their take on this issue is that ‘blooming is something that should not be tampered with and the success of bloomings rely solely on the individual’s abilities and willpower to come of age since it’s unique to every person’...”

Unique… He was right. Even the signs and symptoms of a blooming vary greatly for everyone. The only thing everyone had in common was that their bodies grew plants. Even the way plants grow vary from person to person. That’s what they taught since the very beginning.

“... since blooming is unique to every individual, creating a standard medicine and procedure for all would be impossible, or at the very least inaccessible due to high expenses in accommodating medicine for every patient.”

Most of the students in the room nod in fervent agreement, and pretty soon, the room was filled with chattering at the new information they took in.

You glance to your classmate on your left again but you were surprised to see that her seat was empty.

Was she not here from the start?

You sigh and chide yourself for not noticing at the beginning of homeroom, but quickly dismiss the casual thought for more immediate problems like your upcoming exam for chemistry in a few periods.

Ah, oh well.

---------

“If you’re looking for Takao, forget it. He’s in detention for causing a disruption for one of the teachers last period.”

“Sh-shintarou?!” You whirl around to find Midorima alone with his bear plush. “You’re not at practice?”

“We practice tomorrow.”

“I see,” you say, not knowing how to continue the conversation from here.

“I guess I’ll be going home early then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As you try to walk past Midorima, he sidesteps quickly to block your pathway, and you walk right into him before stepping back out of embarrassment.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry—!”

“(y/n).” He averts his eyes while sliding up his glasses. “You’re walking home alone?”

Still in a state of flusters, you promptly nod your head as you stare down at your shoes.

“Come. We better get going before it gets too late. Cancers will have unlucky encounters after dusk.” Midorima jerks his head to the direction of the exit, motioning for you to follow before he turns on his heel and walks away.

“Sh-shintarou?”

“I-it’ll only be… troublesome if something were to happen.” He stops walking and looks back at you. “What are you waiting for? Hurry up.”

“R-right. Coming!”

---------

It wasn’t completely unexpected that the walk home would have an awkward atmosphere between the two of you. Usually, Takao would be the social “buffer” and the proxy between you two, but now that he was out of the picture, neither of you knew how to strike up a casual conversation. That was more of Takao’s specialty.

“... I’ve thought about what you said.” At his voice, you turn to look up at his contemplative face. You give him an inquisitive look to encourage him to continue his thought. “... Although I’m not so certain what kind of plant I would grow. Not even the Oha Asa could predict it.”

“Ah, I see…” You turn your face to face the front as you gaze at the sunset ahead. “Are you afraid of the uncertainty?” At your question, he falls silent, giving you the confirmation that he was, indeed, scared.

“Shintarou,” you murmur. “You’re not alone in feeling the uneasiness of blooming.”

“Wha—I never said anything about blooming, nanodayo—”

“Sure,” you interject. “Well, for me, I really hope I’d get a gorgeous flower, a flower so breathtaking that would make everyone stop in their tracks to admire the mark. I want to change those stares of pity and disdain into those of admiration and envy…” You can tell he’s hanging onto your every word despite the fact that he wasn’t facing you, his steps slowing down ever so slightly to be as close to you to hear what you had to say without deeming it suspicious.

“I envy Takao… a lot,” you sigh, and Midorima turns his head slightly to you at the mention of Takao’s name. “He already has a flower mark and he’s so put-together despite his cheerfulness… He’s really reliable.”

“I see.”

“... and the truth is, I’m really scared. I feel like I’m going to be the last person to ever get a mark. I wonder if there’s something wrong with me, with my body—”

He stops in his tracks.

“That’s a foolish line of thought.”

You turn to face him, ready to glare at him, but you stop when you make eye contact, startled at the intensity of his gaze. You swear you can see your figure reflected in his viridian irises. A few seconds of suffocating silence crawl by, and you break away eye contact, intimidated by his gaze and the possible implication of his words.

“Sorry about that.”

He says nothing in return.

The rest of the walk home became even more uncomfortable, with Midorima walking slightly ahead and you making a wordless effort to constantly match his stride.

You don’t know why, but seeing his taut back to you squeezes your heart ever so slightly, the mute badumps ever feeling like a constant dull sore.

“Shintarou…” you softly call out after you arrive at your house. The sun had left the horizon shortly before you arrived at your destination. “Thank you for walking me home, and… sorry, it looks like it’s past dusk now, but will you be able to get home safely?”

“Fool,” he huffs. “I have my lucky charm to compensate for my misfortune today.”

You smile at him, relieved at the thought that maybe that moment before was all just your overthinking.

“Of course, Shintarou.”

---------

It was hard looking at Midorima without losing your cool from that point on. It wasn’t like the two of you did anything out of the ordinary yesterday, excluding the fact that he volunteered to walk you home. But you knew he just cared for you in his own way, as a friend.

As a friend.

“(y/n)-chan!” Takao tries to pounce on you, pulling your cheeks apart. “What’s with the nasty frown on your face? Didn’t I tell you that you should smile more?”

“Shtop—pawling—Takow—!”

As he laughs at your stretched face from his pulling, you manage to pry his hands off of your cheeks and take refuge behind the sour-faced shooting guard. “Shintarou! Save me from Takao!”

“Takao, come here.” He gave a harsher punch to his head than usual, and Takao did not fail to comment on it.

“Sheesh, that hurt even more, Shin-chan? What did I do?—oh, ohhhhhhh.” His grimace lit up to an expression of realization and mischievousness. “I see.”

“Your antics are getting more and more preposterous. If you have that much energy, you should expend it during practice, nanodayo.”

“Right, right, Shin-chan!” He waves Midorima off before slinging his arm around your shoulder. “But (y/n)-chan, don’t think you're off the hook just yet!”

You can only sigh as he dramatically waggles his finger at you while Midorima clicks his tongue, opting to walk to his classroom instead.

“H-hey! Don’t leave me behind!”

And with that, the duo disappeared right before the warning bell rang.

---------

You sense an uncharacteristic aura of hostility directed at you right when you entered class, but you shake your head before plopping at your designated seat. As much as you try to mind your own business, the hostility you felt peaked even more. You glance around before your eyes fall on your classmate to your usual left.

She was silently seething, but particularly at you.

“Is… something the matter?” You shot her a worried look. “You were gone yesterday, right? Did your flu kick up again?”

“What’s with you?”

“Pardon?”

“Why do you care so much for me? I never asked for it.”

“Wh-what? I’m just worried? Did I say something wrong?”

“You are—”

“I am?”

And the bell rang with such convenient timing to interrupt the two of you.

“It’s nothing. Forget it.”

And class started without a further word from her, and as lectures progress, you peek over to her desk to see her never looking your way. The least you do, you decide, is to try to apologize and talk to her afterschool.

“... a revolutionary finding was published all over the news yesterday regarding bloomings. He proposed the most controversial proposition yet: bloomings neither affect the human body’s growth and maturity physiologically nor psychologically and that these ‘effects’ from blooming are merely all placebo. His conclusions have caused an uproar in the world of scholarship, but what I want for you students to do is to write an in-class paper about your reaction to these potential revelations…”

You sit up straight, and for the first time, you listen to his lessons with utmost attention. Your mind racing, you rush to grab a suitable pencil before you start to write your thoughts for the assignment. You peer over to your classmate to see her already writing furiously. You do the same.

She was the first student to screech the chair as she stood up, daintily holding the paper to bring it to the front desk.

All you could discern from her paper, even despite the neat writing, was:

I am ultimately relieved.

---------

“W-wait! Please!” You dash out of the classroom, trailing after your classmate who hightailed it out as soon as possible.

“Leave me alone already!” she heaves over her shoulder, willing her legs to run even faster.

“Your… homework! I have to give… work that you… missed!” And you had relatively no problem speeding up to match her pace.

“Can you just stop following me?! I can just get it from my teachers! What’s your deal?!”

“I want to apologize—!” But before you can finish your sentence, your classmate drops onto her knees, clasping her mouth in complete desperation. “H-hey! What’s wrong?!”

She wheezed into her palms before she got up and ran again before you could completely catch up to her.

She busted open the main doors and ran into the secluded areas of the school courtyard, hoping to lose your trail of her, but as soon as she turned from looking behind her shoulder to the front again, you managed to cut her way off.

“Your… homework…” you gasp for air, shakily handing her the papers that were clenched in your hand.

The next thing you register are splatters of blood on the sheets. And your classmate desperately holding her coughs in.

“Hey!...” You hold her frame, slowly dropping the two of you onto the ground in kneeling positions to try to ease the burden on her body, soiled papers already discarded to the side.

Cough. “Don’t—” Cough. “Fucking—” Cough. “Touch me…”

As she spoke, her hands loosen up their grip against her mouth, but as soon as she did, petals and buds cascaded from her lips. Which were all soaked in blood.

“I…” You dumbly look at the pile of flowers in front of her. You couldn’t even tell what type of flowers they were from all the blood. “You’re blooming?” You always thought she already did.

She slaps your hand, which was on her shoulder the entire time, before tucking her strands behind her ear to prevent them from being further drenched in crimson.

Her neck, being exposed for the first time, was blank.

“C-congratulations!” You say, holding both her shoulders this time with excitement. “You’re—!”

Slap.

The sound resonated through the area, which luckily was mostly empty. Your face pulsates with a stinging heat.

“I’m fucking dying!” She stands up shakily from her kneeling position. “How could you say such an awful thing—I’m dying, I’m fucking dying…”

You can only stare at her in shock from her being so volatile for the first time since you met her, or the fact that she said such a morbid thing.

“I don’t… I don’t understand—?”

“I’m sick!” she seethes, her throat struggling to choke out words. Tears run silently down her agonized face, diluting the thick blood smeared across her face.

“I’m so sorry…! I didn’t know your flu was this ba—”

“You’re the reason why I’m dying,” she hoarsely spat.

The silence was so palpable that even the labored breathing from her was unnaturally loud.

“What? Why me?”

“I…” she hesitates, before dropping to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to—it’s not your fault, I…

… I’m so scared.” Hiccup. “There isn’t any medicine to help me…”

You hand her a tissue from your bag to try to clean up the bloody mess off of her, but before you can dab the tissue to her face, she gingerly grabs your wrist.

“I… love Takao.”

What? You held your breath, anticipating to hear what she’d say next.

“But he rejected me not too long ago. I thought I could get over him and be done with blooming relatively quickly but…” She pointedly looks at you. “Whenever he’s so close to you, especially as of late… my heart hurts. It hurts, it hurts so badly and I don’t know, and then I just start coughing more, and more, and more.”

“It’s just a stage of life,” you insist. “Maybe your case is the most extreme, but—”

“Oh, stop it already,” she snarls. “You still believe in whatever they feed you about this ‘blooming’? It’s a disease, for fuck’s sake.” She tries to get up again. “I thought… I could be friends with you because you were the only one who wasn’t being sucked into their rhetorics… guess I was wrong.”

You were still on your knees when you tried to stretch out your hand to her, but retracted it after seeing her stumble away from you. But as she did so, she hacked out a new bouquet of flowers, but this time, you could see tiny white flowers rimmed with pale blue.

Morning glories…

They meant unrequited love.

“(y/n)...?” she softly asked, for the first time using her usual mild-mannered tone of voice with you today. She disregarded the mess of petals she made around her, appearing to be accustomed to the unsettling sight.

“... yes?”

“Do you love Takao?”

“I would never see him that way.”

“That’s… good to hear…” She gives you a defeated close-eyed smile.

“Wait… you still need to get cleaned up.”

You got up on your feet to try to guide her face your way to wipe off, and as you try to scrub the dried clots of blood away, she manages to croak a laugh.

“I thought that you were trying to rub it in my face about Takao the entire time whenever you talked to me… I was so wary of you, I was so blinded…” You silently listen as you pour your water bottle over the next tissue.

“Do you know why teens in particular have to pay attention to when they’ll bloom?”

“No…” You furrow your brows, already reevaluating about everything you supposedly already knew about blooming. “I don’t.”

“Teens are more likely to have their first love than any other person. If they can overcome their first unrequited love… that would mean… they are ready to apparently to survive and carry on with their lives…

… tell me… am I not good enough to be alive? I can’t even get over—”

You only hush her as you scrub away the last remnants of blood from her skin. Her clothes were unfortunately already stained.

“That’s the best I could do,” you quietly say. “Please get home as soon as possible. And take care of yourself.”

“The paper we had today in class… When our teacher talked about the new findings of blooming research, I was so happy. But looking around class, no one seemed to share the same sentiments. Even still, I am glad about the possibility that one day, we’d stop emphasizing so much on these marks…

“Although I wish I made the attempt to become closer friends with you sooner, I have no regrets now… I’m so glad you’re here…

 “I feel so relieved…”

---------

The next day of school, you had an ominous feeling settled within the pits of your stomach. You come to school early, deciding to sit at your desk the entire time and reading to pass the time. You did not feel like talking to your happy-go-lucky friend and his grumpy pet, as much as you usually enjoy their company.

Ever so often, you would glance at the clock and wish for it to come faster.

The bell eventually rings and most of the students crowd into the classroom into their seats. The homeroom teacher promptly follows after and puts her bag onto the front desk. But the seat to your left… was empty.

“Everyone… I have some unfortunate news to share,” she solemnly says. No, no, no… it can’t be.

Your mind goes blank as you stare at the teacher, vaguely reading her lips as one thing went in and out the other ear.

“... she unfortunately passed away. She wasn’t able to bloom.”

Your heart, already struggling to keep afloat on the last shreds of optimism, sank.

“Wha…? She’s gone?”

“That’s such a pity…”

“She was in our class? Since when?”

“Yikes, she wasn’t even able to bloom? That sucks for her, honestly.”

You stare blankly at your desk, not registering the fact that the special health ed class teacher took over the class after homeroom.

The whispers around the gossiping students only serve as a cruel reminder that late bloomers did not get any sympathy from others.

You needed to bloom, and fast.

---------

You only manage to exit out of class and find the cafeteria out of pure muscle memory, but your mind constantly goes back to yesterday evening with her. Were you the last person she got to speak with before she died? Was she scared? Did she truly die happy? You will never get to know.

You stop before the cafeteria doorway, inhaling and exhaling to bring your conscience back into the present day, and slowly stroll in. Takao and Midorima were already deep in conversation, so you stop, waiting for the perfect opportunity to join them.

“Shin-chan, have you heard?” Takao says, holding up his fork. “A student our year died from blooming.”

“It’s not in my matters to worry about, although I would like to give her family my condolences.” Midorima takes his time to cut his patty cleanly with a knife.

“It must suck though, to think this would happen… isn’t it a bit sad, Shin-chan?”

“It’s easily preventable, nanodayo.” He chews a small piece before continuing. “I would’ve never made the foolish mistake of falling in love. I’d rather be markless than fall in love.”

He would’ve never made the foolish mistake of falling in love…

He would’ve never made such a mistake…

He would’ve never fallen in love.

And certainly not with you.

Your heavy heart spikes in a pulse. Your heart was now racing for the wrong reasons. Those dull sores were now nothing compared to the incessant squeezing on your heart. And it won’t let up. You try to steady your breathing to calm yourself but your intake of air almost feels as if it’s being cut off.

You feel as if you can’t breathe.

You step back a couple steps before you dash to the nearest restroom, ignoring the stares of a few students around you.

“Speaking of the girl, wasn’t she in (y/n)-chan’s classroom? I actually haven’t seen her around today.”

“Takao, let me eat in peace.”

“Sheesh, you’re such a downer, Shin-chan.”

---------

You not being able to breathe was not just figuratively.

You ran to the restroom up on the 3rd floor, where you knew it was always mostly empty. You opened the door of the furthest stall and locked yourself in before you tried to heave whatever was blocking your airway.

1… 4… 7… 8 fern leaves—fronds—were choked out in a string of forced wheezes. They all floated seemingly innocently on the water of the toilet bowl.

Your body trembles, not able to take the sudden physical burden on it.

You should be happy, you really should. This was what you wished and prayed for all these years. But whatever you coughed out wasn’t even pretty-looking; hell, it wasn’t even a flower.

“I’d rather be markless…”

With Midorima’s words playing back to back in your head like a broken record, your lungs had the visceral reaction to gasp for more air before throwing up the rest of the leaves. It took the rest of lunch for you to stand up properly and collect yourself before you headed back to class.

You wished and you wished for your blooming to come, but now that your signs became apparent, you suddenly don’t want to bloom.

---------

Classes became harder to focus on, especially with the persistent dull stabs echoing in your heart. You feel that this pain was being constantly amplified and spread to the rest of your body.

You’re tired already, and it was only the initial stages.

School finished before you even knew it. Maybe it was because of the constant distraction your pain provided. A benefit from this new situation, if you were trying to be hopelessly optimistic, is that you wouldn’t be bored anymore at least.

You walk out of class in a slight daze, loosely scanning your surroundings until your eyes land on Takao and Midorima, although your gaze lingered on Midorima longer than you want to admit.

You hate this. The moment you figured that you fell in love with him was also the moment you learned that it was unrequited. If that wasn’t the unluckiest thing that ever happened to you, you don’t know what else is.

As you walk towards them, you toy with the idea of carrying around lucky items and taking Midorima’s advice in doing whatever you can to make your life easier (especially as of late), but you decide against it, trying not to dig your own grave by purposely doing things that reminded you of the green-haired boy even more.

“Kazu! Shintarou!” You casually wave over to them, masking the pain you felt at the sharp jabs you felt every so often in your chest.

“Oh? There you are,” Takao walks to your side to drop his arm on your shoulder. “Where you been, (y/n)-chan?”

“Been busy with… assignments and school.”

“Ah, well that can’t be helped. Speaking of busy, our captain is upping our practices, so we’re going to be gone a lot of the times.”

“No, no, don’t worry about me, just focus on basketball,” you say. “After all, that’s what you’re most passionate about. Don’t let me stop you.”

“You sure are understanding,” he laughs as he ruffles your hair. “But so—wah? Shin-chan, where are you going? Don’t leave me behind, damn it!”

Midorima won’t even speak with you…

“Seeyah! Nice seeing you!”

“Yeah… bye, Takao and… Shintarou…” By the time you spoke Midorima’s name, it barely came out as an audible whisper.

Somewhere within your heart, you hoped to be able to speak with Midorima but you wonder if he’s avoiding you on purpose.

As you walk home, alone, you think about the conversation you and Midorima had when he walked with you.

Had you misinterpreted Midorima in thinking that he wanted to bloom?

Was Midorima not the type to even want a mark?

In the end, were you just projecting your own desires and insecurities onto him?

The more you think, the more you realize how little you truly know about him. Right on cue, your windpipe constricts and spasms, signalling for you to find something to throw up in.

The nearest trash can was sufficient, and besides, no one was out in the streets to see a pitiful you hacking out with atrocious noises in an attempt to coax the leaves out. You pant in an attempt to calm your breathing, noticing the small spots of blood already staining dots on the vibrant fronds. Viscous blood mixed with your saliva hangs precariously from your lips, waiting to separate and fall into the bin with the leaves.

Your hands, grasping the trash can’s rims, shake in trying to hold your body up. And they tremble harder when you squint your eyes to start sobbing.

Your thick tears managed to fall into the bin before the ropy strands of blood dangling from your lips.

---------

You decide to spend most of your free time, at home and at school, researching about blooming beyond what your education system fed you. At school, you properly utilize the library, scouring every book on the subject you could find. But you weren’t surprised to see only books that talked about topics that were already covered in class.

Your fervid research took your mind off of Midorima, which subsequently stalled your stage of blooming.

You were going to start at the foundation of blooming: what exactly was it?

While the question is still being debated among the top scientists in the country, you took it upon yourself to try to come with an answer for yourself. For all you were concerned with, everything you thought you knew about blooming felt like an intricately-woven lie.

All the theorizing in your mind halted when you coincidentally found Midorima in one of the library sections.

“Sh-shintarou…?”

At your voice, he jumps out of his skin and then freezes. “What are you doing here?... Don’t you have practice?”

“Obviously I do, nanodayo…” he mutters, sliding his glasses up. You hate that you’ve noticed his habits even before you fell for him, but now that you did, you were even more hyper aware of everything he does. “But they insisted I rest for the actual games.”

“... while the others continue practice like normal?”

He ignores your question as he turns around to walk away. “If you don’t need me for anything else, I’ll be going.”

“W-wait!” You unconsciously grab the back of his uniform shirt. Shit.

He turns around, eyeing you and waiting what you had to say.

“Well, I… I have to go home—right now! And well, since Takao is at practice I was wondering if you—”

He frowns before calmly replying. “No.”

No?

He leaves.

You stand there completely devastated. You don’t know whether to be furious at him and hate him to get over your pain or to do nothing but collapse against the bookshelf and silently cry your heart out.

You did the latter.

---------

The more you think about your unrequited love, the faster you will bloom. The faster you overcome and mature, the faster your blooming will pass. That’s what the books say.

But if you think about them more, isn’t that just a first-row ticket to accelerating to your death? Perhaps your late classmate was right in which blooming wasn’t something to boast about.

Your eyes have been puffy for days, although you mask it quite well with skincare and a dab of concealer. Nonetheless, you still look unwell and unnaturally pale at other parts of your face.

Your other classmates don’t pay attention to you, and for once, you’re grateful that your markless status helped you in flying under everyone’s radar.

You think you’re getting delusional. To ease your own pain during class, you now make it a little hobby to come up with different scenarios in how you would be saved from this.

What if you stop coming to school for a few weeks to see if anyone notices that you went missing?

What if you collapse in the hallway while walking with your friends and then Midorima panics and confesses his undying love for you?

What if an earthquake hit the bustlings of Tokyo and you were one of the only students who couldn’t be rescued by professionals and you were trapped because of your blooming body—and then maybe perhaps Midorima—

“(y/n).”

“Y-y-yes?” You immediately stand up without missing a beat.

“Could you read the passage from lines 37 to 49?...”

“Yes!...”

This was stupid. What were you even thinking at this point?

Honestly, your best option was to do everything in your power to get over Midorima and get your long-deserved mark.

---------

It’s been a couple of days.

While you still fantasize a few “damsel in distress” scenarios sometimes, you feel numb in a good way; your body was accustomed to the dull thuds, so you don’t even feel them as much anymore, and your mind has been clearer ever since the passing of your acquaintance, but at this point, you’re more inclined to call her your friend. You still hacked up a few ferns, though.

You decide to visit her grave on the weekend, which was freshly dug and cemented; it’s been a few weeks since her passing after all. As stupid as it sounded, you got her morning glories. Her spirit might hate you for constantly reminding her the cause of her death, but it’s the only flower that truly reminds you of her, and the only flower that made such an impact on you.

You pay your respects and spend the afternoon with her, murmuring how she was right after all and now it was your turn to finally go what she went through. You also talk about how Takao was doing, and how Shūtōku was competing right now against the big schools. You affectionately rub her gravestone before you leave.

You happen to pass by the stadium of where the esteemed Winter Cup was being held. That was where your team was competing wasn’t it?

You stop, however, when you see a particular greenhead near, with an unfamiliar blonde… and a pink-haired girl, a gorgeous one at that.

Thump… thump… thump…

You were supposed to be over him. You weren’t supposed to care about his affairs. But you saw him being so casual with her while she was holding a baby husky, you suddenly felt as helpless as the you back in the cafeteria, at the doorway, when you heard what Midorima said.

You already told your late friend that you got over Midorima. The last thing you wanted to do now was to end up lying to her that you never did.

You tear your eyes away and bolt, tears blurring your vision as you run in the general direction to where you thought was your home. You hoped that your parents were still at work, because you did not have the courage to tell them that you were a disappointment because you couldn’t even do the bare minimum of blooming. And you certainly hoped her spirit wasn’t following you somehow, because you didn’t want to be the reason for her suffering again, as unreasonable as it sounded.

By the time you arrived at your gates, you couldn’t control the resurfacing of ferns from your lungs as you felt the blood spilling in bursts with the leaves, along with the loud hiccups and desperate wails that escaped from your body. You had left a visible trail of complementary colors of red and green. But you didn’t care. Guilt and rejection wracked your body to the point beyond properly functioning.

Despite the muddy colors that fill your vision, you manage to clumsily use the keys to enter into your house, but walking beyond those gates proved to be more troublesome as those muddy colors soon became even hazier and your legs wobbled weaker. You stumbled and tripped and slipped yet you made the effort to get back up again. You knew you were going to have to hide the dark bruises that formed from you constantly crashing… and probably come up with excuses if you couldn’t obscure all of them. You beg your body to make it to your room at the very least.

I’ll… just sleep it off… it’ll all be okay… I’ll wake up, and everything will just be a dream… a dream…

You collapse onto the floor of the living room, your house door still completely open from moments before.

It must be your room’s bed, right? How else would it explain why you felt so at ease right now?

You feebly choke, too lethargic to even hold up a hand to stop the contents of your blooming from spilling all over the floor.

Ah… won’t they be mad when they’d get back from home?... Maybe you should clean up your bed.

But a short nap sounds heavenly at the moment, and your body has the same idea, your heart relaxing and easing up on the painful thuds for the first time in a while.

You peacefully flutter your eyes, registering amongst the haze the brilliant shade of greens the fern exhibited, which truly reminded you of the person who ultimately could not return your love back… a true sight for sore eyes like yours.

“Sh… ta… rou…”

You vaguely felt your throat tickling from the inside before you lost complete consciousness.

The fern that represented eternal youth… new life… new beginnings… even until the end, you could not comprehend why your body decided to grow ferns.

The sight on the floor was eerily ethereal. Your face was completely serene as your lips were parted by long, elegant ferns emerging from your esophagus, watered by fresh crimson. Your body looked like it was made to be a delicate, asymmetrical vase for the newly-sprouted foliage. There was nothing but silence, save for the wall clock’s ticking that signaled your death.

---------

“Midorin? What’s wrong?” Momoi tilted her head up at Midorima, who started to palpitate. “Did the games pump you up?”

“Obviously not.” He glanced at her pointedly before he excused himself.

“H-uh? Hold up—Midorin!”

At her voice, he took longer strides to outpace, even lose, her, and he sharply made a turn to a deserted area behind the stadiums. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe—

A cough. Two coughs. Then his floodgates bursted, with a yellow petal fluttering into his hand before he coughed up the rest of the hyacinth flower, its scent steeped in the headache-inducing odor of metal.

The yellow hyacinth… while the pink hyacinth tattooed on Takao meant playfulness, his own flower meant jealousy.

The first time he felt it was when Takao dragged you to the gym and proclaimed that he knew you better than anyone. His own heart thrashed in its place at the sight of Takao being so confident and easygoing around you. While beating Takao managed to subdue his inner pain, a seed of doubt was still inevitably planted within.

The second time he felt a stronger wave of envy was when he saw you patiently waiting for Takao to come out of his class.

The third time he felt his heart do an awful kick in his upper rib cage was when he heard you spoke so highly of Takao as he walked you home. No matter how much he tried to get close to you, he knew he could never outdo Takao socially. The fact that he could only get as close as he did to you was indirectly thanks to Takao. He was silent that evening, his mind swirling from the self-hatred and jealousy of his innate friendliness to everyone… especially you.

You both ironically envied Takao for different reasons.

As soon as he waited for you to safely enter your house, he widened his eyes as his throat started to twitch. Clasping his lucky item, he bolted to the nearest grass area outside a fence to barf up his umpteenth whole hyacinth flower, with crushed petals and stems.

That’s when he knew that not even the Oha Asa could not save him from this, not unless he took a different approach.

He hated it. He could not emphasize it any further than that. The way you allowed Takao to get so close to you, the way he saw how Takao knew what was going on inside his head. He hated yet envied his natural ability to read people.

 So what did he do? He only did what he only knew how to do in social situations: walk away.

He’d never admit that he was in love. Certainly not to Takao. He’ll keep denying it to him to the bitter end. He told himself that he would show Takao someday, that he was, without a doubt, more suitable to be by your side.

He wanted to get over his love for you as soon as possible so he could adorn a flower tattoo…

If he did… would you notice him too?

Would he be a man worthy of your love?

Avoiding you broke him in many ways. Every time he did, he kept rethinking about his plan. Was this a good idea?

But being the stubborn person he was, he decided to not budge. He’d figure that the Oha Asa would give him the ultimate blessings for Cancer someday soon, and he could act accordingly then. For now, he figured he should lay low.

He’ll never breathe a word of his blooming to Takao. He didn’t want to be the next person making that same mistake as your classmate, yet here he was, a perfect example of falling for the exact same trap, despite knowing the consequences.

He couldn’t help it. Not if it was you.

Yet, Takao being the sharp point-guard that he was, noticed how Midorima had trouble keeping up during practices. Midorima didn’t know what Takao told the captain, but the next thing he knew, he wasn’t allowed to practice under the pretense of “saving his strength before the games.” As much as he wanted to argue, he couldn’t do much when the captain’s glare pierced through him, daring him to defy the captain’s order. He couldn’t even play basketball anymore in order to distract himself from thoughts of you.

As he continued to think back about all the failed interactions he tried to initiate with you, his lips leaked petal after soaked petal onto the concrete as he propped his forearms and head against the wall.

“Damn it… damn it… damn it…”

He slowly slid his down, his fisted arms and head still against the wall, until he dropped his knees onto the hard floor. He tried to regain his composure, but it was difficult with his knees mushing the bloodied flowers already on the concrete and the fresher flowers ever so continuing to fall on his lap.

He kept hacking up hyacinths blossoms, hoping he could clear his throat and stabilize his breathing again before he could go back into the stadium. Even after nonstop regurgitation, its glaring yellow color kept mocking at his macabre predicament, taunting him to try to stop the flow of its fatal petals.

He slammed his fist against the wall. He had to tough it out… how else could he ever face you?

But the strength of his wall pounding told a different story. It lacked physical strength even with his unwavering conviction. Midorima was dying. He was dying and he wasn’t even able to have a single thing in his favor.

For the first time, he cursed his fate, cursed the horoscopes, cursed astrology and all the unseen deities in the cosmos for concocting up such a horrible thing for only humans.

“... It’s really frustrating… being like this…”

Midorima gave a final, painful rasp before his body completely slumped, his raised arms going limp at his sides. His body eventually fell onto his side, unable to hold up its own weight without support.

His viscid blood slowly soaked his verdant hair, his orange jersey jacket and sweats, and his golden hyacinths. Warm colors ironically encompassed his ever-growing cold corpse, illustrating a striking yet haunting still-life painting, lying in wait for the next person to discover at the back of the stadium…

[gayregis]

Do you have any thoughts on TWN using non polish actors to portray characters from polish fantasy book with dense polish culture and roots? And on how most of the cast apperereance are drastically different than in the books? Like Foltest, Renfri, Fringilla or Calanthe? (Sorry this is the correct one, i forgot to add Fringilla on my previous question.)

i feel like the witcher should not be handled by a large american company like netflix. it is clear that a lot of decisions were made to “dumb the series down” in a manner that would make it more of a pop culture phenomenon that could be used to profit off of from viewership, subscriptions, social buzz, and merchandise, instead of an opportunity to demonstrate actual artistry, storytelling, character depth, and poignant messages. the company that handles it CAN be american or another nationality besides polish, but it shouldn’t be a huge one focused on making as much money and social sharability as possible, that will ruin things. (i also feel like the witcher should not be a live-action adaptation, but this is kind of besides the point... to better gauge how i think the feel of a visual-audial witcher adaptation should look, my dream adaptation would be that of a more “adult version” (”adult” meaning in themes like war and despair) studio ghibli or laika).

in regards to casting, i feel like it’s fine to not use an all polish cast as long as they fit the character description in a way that is actually relevant to the plot. so many people in response to people of color being cast in the witcher were volalitely racist and demanded a “polish cast” - as if polish MUST = white. even though poland is not as ethically diverse as some other european countries, people of color do exist in poland, as they/we exist everywhere. if you want an “all-polish cast and production,” that’s fine to me, i don’t think it’s inherently necessary, but i think if one is doing so, that doesn’t mean that it would be wrong to cast actors of color in roles. 

i think the issue lies more with storytellng, for two reasons. one is that eastern european people involved on set seem to actually understand the witcher and what it’s about way better than any of the british cast, and by that i mean sakharov and baginski, who have demonstrated more understanding of like, the style of storytelling (not every scene needs to be jammed with action, drama, sex, gore), what the characters actually mean to each other, and the lore in general. this makes sense because i have read some articles and such before about how the witcher was and is important to its fans in poland and eastern europe because very little “slavic fantasy” ever gets exported and represented internationally, and of course sapkowski involved many cultural references in the series, so it’s recognizable to people from those regions (or are diaspora from those regions) who grew up hearing these fairytales, etc. it’s more of a meaningful callback and less of a “foreign curiosity,” if that makes sense. so for those reasons, i think it’s important to have a majority polish and/or slavic writing room/directors/etc, people behind the story and how the story is told - but that doesn’t mean the writer’s room should be all white men, though. diversity in gender, race, etc should be considered.

the other reason is that the casting for the netflix is inaccurate, but not for reasons of race. the issue with anya chalotra as yennefer isn’t that she is indian, it’s that her hair is incredibly straight and flat and not like yennefer’s curly stormy hair at all, and that her face is so soft and childlike, she doesn’t look stern and cold like yennefer at all. there are many casting issues amongst the white members of cast, such as henry cavill, who doesn’t fit the description of geralt at all because geralt looks like he’s starved constantly, and joey batey, who ... well, dandelion is supposed to be blonde and curly long-haired... but of course, these are the appearances which don’t really “matter” in regards to the story. except i think geralt’s build, as well as yennefer and ciri’s proximity in age, which makes me nauseous to think about how they only have a 6 year age difference

one physical description which does actually matter to the plot/lore is that of calanthe, pavetta, and ciri, as they are a matrelineal line, but in netflix, they don’t look related at all. i saw so many people complaining that they should have chosen a white actress for calanthe, but why is she the problem? why not cast people of color for calanthe, pavetta, and ciri altogether? they should look related and have the ashen grey hair/green eyes, but that doesn’t mean they have to be white. it’s a similar issue with yennefer and fringilla. they are supposed to look similar, and i saw many people complaining that they chose mimi who is black to be fringilla, they are just using “they need to look similar” as an excuse to hide their racism and anti-blackness, because anya is more white-passing than mimi is. from my perspective, why not then cast a black actress who looks similar to mimi as yennefer, then? “they need to look similar” again does not mean “they need to all be white or white-passing.”

we should have cast actors that both fit the descriptions of the characters in the books AND are diverse, without it being “random diversity to appeal to a diverse audience.” lauren thought she was so clever by throwing the actors of color in the roles of background characters, stereotypes, forgettable and disposable aides to the white leads, or super evil villains... i see what you did... why not center actors of color in an actually proud and leading light, with lead roles, where the casting makes sense and isn’t there for tokenization that does nothing to empower people of color? actually incorporate people of color into your artistic projects in a way that respects them and makes sense and not just so you can get more views to make more money

other divergences from canon like foltest were just piss-poor and demonstrated the lack of understanding about the messages of the story. foltest was supposed to be handsome, elegant, and as a refined a king as any, to show how those in power are actually corrupt and as prone to disgusting acts as any other human being, that foltest is not a better man than geralt because he is beautiful and sits on a throne. by making him disgusting on the outside, they totally missed the point that he is supposed to mask his disgustingness on the inside with beauty on the outside. also i feel like (maybe related) twn really made a whole joke out of foltest and his relationship to his sister because in one of the flashbacks (in the sorcerer? gala? party?) foltest is shown as a kid with his sister and his mom grabs his arm or whatever and is like “foltest stop bothering your sister” as like some kind of fucking joke... literally they made a “funny ahaha incest joke” like seriously wtf. the story of the striga in particular should be taken seriously imo because of how rawly the tragedy is depicted... this is probably why it’s one of my least favorite short stories... its so sad and also incest disgusts me horribly

for renfri i feel like she was just sooooo ... more “likable” as a character, a lot like how yennefer’s character was changed. you feel feelings of pity and curiosity towards her rather than actually being intimidated by her. renfri in the books actually made me so mad because i think she represents something like what ciri goes through across the saga, just how when you have the choice on how to respond to your abuse, you can easily become consumed with revenge, and i think renfri made me think of myself in that way so i really disliked it when they changed this terrifying raw aspect of her anguish and hunger for retrubution that made her lose her humanity into like, more of a palatable manner of killing... it really was just “girl with sword” and it was so boring. the lesser evil literally makes my stomach turn and that’s why i only read the story like once as well...

also to return to fringilla, i liked mimi and i thought she should have been cast for yennefer instead maybe.... i just was really upset at how much they changed fringilla’s character in the writing to be a “generic evil villain” when in the series she actually is kind of unique in my opinion. she is like, not allied at all with the main characters, but ends up saving both yennefer and geralt’s lives. she’s not good or bad, she’s not super loyal to the empire but she is still nilfgaardian/beauclairoise, and she just exists as a character and that’s why i actually like her in the books (asides from all of the unnecessary library nonsense). i thought mimi could have handled that complex role really well but they totally took that away from her and just made her a flat boring forgettable “evil” character that does “forbidden black magic” and is super loyal to an empire that brought her purpose because yennefer was mean to her once or smth ig... yeah ok. also i fucking hate how they had cahir of all fucking people order her around. idk how old cahir is supposed to be in netflix because he’s obviously not like 16-20 as he would be in canon during this time period, but to have him be the boss of fringilla... that is dumb as hell. i just try and think about that ever occuring with books verse cahir and fringilla and i think she would smack him off of his horse and into the mud. she’d tell assire and assire would get mawr to drag him off by his ear as he tries not to cry.  also of course i hate cahir’s casting and the fact that they showed his face. why. it ruins like every message that his character had...

oh also because i HAVE to talk about it. i hate how they tried to make jaskier more masculine/boyish with not giving joey a wig or flamboyant setting-appropriate garb, i think they are allergic to men with long hair that’s not a grime, dirt-covered mess... literally just give half of the production wigs or better wigs i swear to god ... also like this is totally for another post but i don’t think making jaskier a flirt is inherently misogynistic like he acts in the books at times. like just write the misogynistic bits out and it’s fine... flirtatiousness is not evil when it’s consensual and appreciated ... i think they just really wanted geralt to be the one that gets large amounts of p*ssy because he’s muscular or w/e and jaskier became this sort of helpless annoying barnacle on his side instead of a real character and friend to him. and to bring this point back to the main point , i think character appearance really affects their characterization: jaskier in twn has short, boyish hair with no facial hair, which makes him look kind of juvenile, jaskier in the books has curly long hair with some light facial hair, which kind of brings up ehhh what would you call it... 70s casanova energies maybe, a man that puts oils in his hair and such, male thottery...

[hoeforbilly]

science project

MASTERLIST

request: Hey!! Could u please write a Billy x f!reader where the reader is new to school and has like this super cool car and when she gets out of school she sees a bunch of people around her car and like Billy is there because he thinks it belongs to a guy and it's ready to beat his ass so he gets and idea of who runs this school and he doesn't care about his stupid car (because everyone is paying a lot of attention to your car) and then when you get there you just get on your car and get out of there and he waits for the next day to talk to you (because you know, y/n is a cutie) and you can still from there however you want @amarachoren

Hey! I love your writing and I was just wondering if I could request a smut where Billy and the reader are paired up for a project. Reader tries her hardest to ignore his attempts at flirting but as we all know... he's irresistible. He states that he'll get to work if she gives him a kiss. She obliges but it's really hard to stop kissing him. Especially when his hands are touching her and he smells so good. @jamesbuckybarnes13

warnings: filthy filthy smut, daddy kink, choking, spanking, overstimulation, orgasm control, basically everything oops, also unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it pls)

genre: fluff, smut

word count: 4.3k (my longest one yet!)

There was a fucking Toyota Supra parked outside of Hawkins High and Billy didn't like that. People swarmed around the car, pointing out how awesome it was and how the red outisde matched the burgundy leather seats, and how sick the pop up headlights were and blah blah blah. Every square inch of that car oozed with coolness and Billy was furious about it. It drew attention from his Camaro and as much as he hated to admit it, it stung. He was the cool guy with the cool car. He ran this school. And he was determined to make sure whatever asshole drove the Supra new about it.

The final bell rang through Hawkins High and Billy sped to the parking lot. There were already people waiting around the Supra, curious to see the owner. He stood a few feet away from them and lit his cigarette, waiting. Not even halfway through his smoke he noticed a girl he's never seen before, confidently walking through the parking lot. Tommy said something about a new student at lunch but Billy never payed much attention to what he had to say so it just flew over his head. She was cute, pretty face and a nice body, he smirked scanning her figure. She wore a short skirt and an oversized denim jacket and the closer she got, the more he liked the look of her.

She stopped right in front of the little crowd formed around the Supra and cleared her throat. Billy raised an eyebrow, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"Excuse me, guys I'd like to get to my car" his jaw dropped at her words. She couldn't be the one who drove that car, there was no way. But sure enough, she took the keys out of the pocket of her jacket, opened the door, threw her bag on the passenger seat and drove away, leaving everyone dumbfounded. As much as Billy didn't wanna admit it, he enjoyed this little turn of events. He decided it would only be appropriate to give the new girl a warm welcome. And maybe a tour of the town. Or his bedroom. Whatever she was into.

You were used to your car getting a lot of attention and you didn't really mind it. It got annoying at times, especially when people were more interested in the Supra than you but you didn't take it personally, not interested in getting to know most of them. Pretty much the only person who caught your eye was the tall blond guy you saw in the parking lot. He had a cute curly mullet, a little moustache and that look in his eyes that made girls melt as soon as it landed on them. He radiated confidence, the cigarette hanging from between his lips, and that's why you noticed him. He looked like fun. And you were determined to find something fun to do in this boring town.

When you rolled into the parking lot the next morning he was already parked in the spot right next to yours. A smirk on his lips as he leaned on his blue Chevrolet Camaro. Cool car. You chuckled realizing he was probably waiting for you.

"Hey there sweetheart" he looked at you from under his lashes and extended his arm to greet you. "Name's Billy, I hear you're new around here" you shook his hand and held it a little longer than appropriate.

"I am, actually" you smiled as sweetly as you could. "My name is Y/N."

"Pretty name for a pretty girl. How 'bout I show you around huh?" he offered. You thought it would be harder to get his attention but it seemed like being the new girl had its perks.

After a rather rushed morning tour with Billy you couldn't stop thinking about him. You were convinced he was pretty much the only interesting person in Hawkins. Some kids were talking about Steve Harrington but he seemed too stuck up to be fun. So did his girlfriend, Nancy. You quickly decided to stick with Billy, at least for now.

You smiled as you noticed him at one of the desk in the science lab. He waved at you to sit next to him and you gladly obliged.

"Mr. Newman hates me" he whispered right into your ear, sending chills down your spine "He might hate you too if he sees us together" he had a cheeky grin on his face.

"I think he's gonna love me" you winked at him, getting your folder out. "I mean, look at me" he chuckled as you turned to face the front of the classroom. He liked how no matter what he did, you weren't intimidated. It was refreshing.

You didn't really take notes the whole class, occassionally scribbling something down when you thought it was especially important. You noticed Billy glanced over at you pretty regularly.

"Do you wanna hang out today?" he whispered in your ear, making you jump a little.

"We can talk about that later" you simply stated, returning your attention to the teacher. Since when was science more important that Billy Hargrove asking you out. You really were something else.

The bell rang and people started pouring out of the classroom.

"Miss Y/L/N, would you mind staying behind for a second?" Mr. Newman didn't even look at you from the paper he was studying.

"Of course" you smiled politely, gathering your belongings.

"You too Hargrove" Billy's face twisted into a grimace but he nodded, moving to the front of the classroom. The last student left, closing the door behind him and Mr. Newman turned to you.

"I've had the chance to get familiar with your report card Miss Y/L/N" he started and you saw Billy's expression turn into a smirk. "And I have to say, I'm extremely impressed" this time it was you smirking.

"Thank you Mr. Newman" you answered with a wide smile.

"This here, Hargrove on the other hand" he scoffed. "Let's just say he could use some help" you stopped yourself from laughing at the offended expression on Billy's face. "I'd like for you to work with him on an extra credit assignment. It would help his grade a little and give me an insight into how you work" you nodded, a polite smile ever-apparent on your face.

"Of course Mr. Newman, if Billy doesn't mind" you turned your eyes to him just to see him blush furiously.

"I don't mind" he tried to sound confident but it was apparent how out of place he felt.

"Then it's settled. I'll give you the topic today after 5th period. Have a nice day" he smiled at you and left. Billy swore it was the first time he's ever seen Newman smile.

"Seems like we'll be hanging out more than just today" you winked at him and left the classroom before he could say anything.

Billy managed to collect himself pretty quickly, determined to get you back for how flustered you made him. He was excited to see you again and spent the whole 5th period staring at the clock. When the bell finally rang, he quickly walked over to Newman's classroom. You were already inside, collecting the papers from Newman.

"Billy Hargrove, that boy is bright I can't deny that" he heard the teacher say from outside the door "He's just so damn lazy. Don't let him talk you into doing the whole project alone Miss Y/L/N" Newman warned you.

"Oh I won't let that happen" you answered with such confidence in your voice, Billy almost believed you. Almost.

"So how about we go over to my place?" he shot you his signature smirk but you shook your head. "Can't do, I have to go get my brother, his baseball practice ends at 5". you weren't just gonna give in to him that easily.

"My place at 6?" he winked and you laughed.

"Works for me. What's the address?"

"4819 Cherry Lane" you nodded and got into the car.

"See you then!" you shouted over the music and drove away.

"She really is something else" Billy mumbled under his breath and got into his own car.

You pulled up into Billy's driveway, instantly recognizing his blue Camaro. It was just a few minutes past six, if he asked you would blame it on the fact you were unfamiliar with the town. In reality you couldn't decide what to wear. Eventually, you opted for a denim skirt, a cropped sweater and high top converse. Casual, but cute enough to make you feel confident. "Here we go" you thought getting out of the car.

The house was empty except for the two of you, seated on the floor of Billy's room. Despite what you had told Mr. Newman, you were finding it extremely difficult to make Billy cooperate.

"Come on" you moaned, frustrated "We gotta work on this Hargrove. I'm not doing it alone" the smirk never left his face, your irritation amusing to him.

"I can think of a lot more fun things to do" his voice was so sensual you wanted to punch him.

"Quite frankly, me too" you scoffed "So let's get to work so I can go home."

"I wanna get to know you better" he stated, completely ignoring what you just said. "Where are you from?" maybe the best option was to just answer him?

"New York. We moved cause my mom was tired of the city. She grew up here" he nodded. "What about you?"

"California. We just moved out here last fall."

"So you were the new guy before I was the new girl!" he just shrugged.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna stay here any longer than I have to. It's a real shithole".

"It really is huh?" you pulled your legs up to your chest, resting you chin on your knee. "I can't wait to get out of here too" he gave you weak smile.

"So you have s brother?" he seemed genuinely interested.

"I do. He's 14."

"My stepsister is 14! They probably go to school together."

"Probably. He's been hanging out with some kids, I don't remember their names though." he chuckled.

"So, Y/N..." he inched closer towards you. You crossed your legs. "How about we make a little deal princess" your heart fluttered at the pet name.

"And why would I wanna make any deals with you Hargrove?" you raised your eyebrow. He reached out to brush a strand of hair behind your ear.

"I'll work on the project. I'll actually try. But that's if..." he moved his face closer to yours, leaving less than 2 inches between the two of you "You let me kiss you" he finished.

"You're nuts" despite your harsh words, you didn't move away from him.

"It's your call sweetheart" he smirked and you nodded slowly.

"Okay Billy. One kiss and we get to work."

"Whatever you say" he smiled and leaned in, placing his lips on yours. It was almost as if he wanted you to take the lead. You tangled your hand in his hair, moving your lips over his. He hummed approvingly, deepening the kiss, placing his hand on your waist. Before you knew it, you were seated in his lap, his hands roaming under your sweater.

You pulled away to look at him, your fingers still playing with his hair. His eyes were filled with lust, heavy breathing sounding in the room. He gripped you waist tighter and you couldn't stop him if you wanted to. Everything about him was intoxicating. From the way his hands felt on your body and how he looked at you to his scent lingering in the air. He smelled like a mix of cigarettes, cologne and leather. You didn't hold back when he pressed his lips to yours again.

His hands held your ass firmly, guiding him to grind into him.

"That's right baby" he mumbled, kissing your neck. A small moan left your lips, your pussy getting wetter with every movement. You threw your head back, and swiftly took your top off. He groaned at the sight of your boobs, cupping them through your bra.

"Such a pretty girl" he moaned sucking a hickey onto your clevage. You rythmically moved your ass on his clothed dick, rubbing him through the denim of his jeans. You felt one of his hands leave your body and not even a second later a slap landed on your ass. You didn't even try to stop youself from moaning. His hand rubbed over you ass before spanking you again, gaining another moan from you.

"You like that baby don't you?" you nodded furiously and he laughed. "You have such a pretty little mouth, so use it". Another slap landed on your ass.

"Yes Billy, I like it" you managed to get out, the throbbing between your legs making you go crazy.

"What is it that you like babygirl?" he asked making you blush. "Don't be shy now".

"I like it when you spank me..." you opened your eyes to examine his face "Daddy".

His eyes widened at the name, cupping your cheek to bring your face closer to him.

"What was that princess?" your heart was pounding so fast you were sure it would jump out your chest.

"I said I like it when you spank me daddy" you whispered and he spanked you again.

"Like that?" he wrapped his fingers around your throat. Another spank.

"Yes, fuck, just like that."

"And do you like daddy's hand around you throat?" you nodded. Another spank.

"Use your words baby."

"Yes daddy. I love feeling your hand around my throat" he gave you a proud smile.

"Good girl" he rubbed your ass before spanking it again. And again. And again. "Go lay on the bed and spread those pretty legs for me" he whispered and you nearly tripped trying to get there as soon as possible. Your skirt was bunched up around your waist, leaving your lace panties on display. You quickly layed on your back, leaning on your elbows, legs as far apart so you could get them.

Billy stood up and slowly unbuttoned his shirt, finally throwing it to the floor. His pants quickly joined the rest of your clothes, leaving him in nothing but his underwear. Your mouth salivated at the sight of the buldge.

"Like what you see" he laughed and you nodded, your own smile just as wide. He finally started making his way over to you and you felt your pussy throb in anticipation.

"You're so pretty" he whispered running his fingers up your sides. "Such a good girl" he squeezed you boobs and let out a moan.

You reached behind your back and unclasped it, revealing you hard nipples. He instantly leaned down and took one into his mouth, sucking and biting a little. The way his tongue felt on your body was heavenly.

"Fuck Billy, you're so good" you moaned, tangling your fingers in his hair. He hooked his fingers under the waistband of your panties and looked at you for permission. You nodded furiously, lifting your hips to help him get them off. Your skirt shortly joined them on the floor, leaving you completely naked under Billy. He kneeled down and inched his face close to your pussy.

"So wet..." he whispered, massaging the insides of your thighs. "So fucking goregous, just for me" the last words came out close to a growl. He looked up at you before running his tongue down your slit. And you just melted into his touch. His blue eyes, probably the prettiest blue eyes you've ever see, analyzed your face as he places his mouth around your clit, sucking gently.

"Please more, I need more Billy" you moaned to which he hummed in approval, picking up his pace. Your pussy was so wet his chin was coated in your juices. He ran his two fingers down your slit, gathering up some of the moisture and moved them up to your face. You instantly started sucking on them.

"That's it baby, taste yourself on daddy's fingers" he squeezed your boob with his free hand. "Good girl" he smiled as you let his fingers out with a loud pop.

He attached his mouth to your clit, licking and sucking, while his fingers teased at your entrance.

"You want my fingers princess?" you nodded, eyes rolling at the very thought of how good that would feel. "Then you gotta beg for it" there was a challenge in his voice and you were always up for a challenge.

"Please finger my pussy daddy" your voice came out a lot weaker than you expected. "Fuck Billy I need your fingers inside me, please, I promise I'll be good" you felt like your whole body was on fire.

"Good girl baby" he pressed a kiss to your clit, making you tremble. His fingers stretched you out in the best way possible, he slowly slid them both all the way in, giving you time to adjust. You felt your pussy clench once his tongue came in contact with yout clit again and he let out a low growl.

"God baby girl I can just imagine how my dick is gonna feel in that tight little pussy" his words made your walls clench once again. "You like that huh? Such a dirty little slut" your pussy tightened around his fingers again. He started moving his fingers, while his tongue found its way back to your clit. Not even a minute later you could feel your orgasm coming.

"I'm getting close daddy" you panted and you just knew he had that smirk on his lips.

"You don't get to cum until I say so" he responded, going right back to sucking your clit. You whined at his words, knowing you wouldn't be able to stop yourself much longer.

He kept working his magic on you until you couldn't take it anymore.

"Please let me cum, please. I need to cum so bad daddy please" you cried out but he shook his head. "Fuck daddy please, I can't hold it anymore" you sounded desperate and he chuckled a bit, his eyes finding yours.

"Who does this pussy belong to?" he asked, his voice so raspy you basically saw stars.

"You, fuck it's all yours Billy" he smirked. "I'm all yours just please let me cum" you cried.

"You can cum now" he said, fingers moving in and out of you even faster. "Come on now baby girl, be a good girl and cum for daddy" these words were all you needed. You threw your head back, toes curling and felt waves of pleasure go through your body. It was the strongest, most amazing orgasm you've ever had. He never stopped sucking on your clit, making you ride it out for as long as possible. Even longer than that. Your pussy was so sensitive you tried to squeeze your legs together but his firm grip made it impossible.

"Please stop Billy" you moaned out. "It's too much, I'm too sensitive" he didn't say anything and just shook his head. It was like nothing you've ever experienced before and you felt a knot form in your stomach once again.

"Come on princess, I know you can take one more" Billy murmured into your pussy, the vibration making you arch your back. "Just like that, that's my good little girl" you felt yourself get so close and you tugged on his hair. "Fuck yes baby, cum for daddy" you let yourself go at his words, wetness pooling out of you. He keeps his fingers on your clit, but moved up to attach his lips to yours. By the time you came down from your high you feel him smile into the kiss, his hands caressing your sides with such affection it was unbelievable.

"You did so well for me angel" he whispered. "Such a good girl" he placed a kiss on both of your cheeks and despite how sweet he was, you could feel his hard dick pressing into your core.

"I want you so bad Billy" you whimpered and he smiled at you, kissing you once again.

"Ass up, face down. Right now" he growled getting off you. You didn't waste any time, immediately rolling over and doing as you were told. "Good girl. You like to do what you're told don't you?" his hand ran over your ass, making you shiver.

"Yes daddy. I only want to be a good girl for you" he spanked you and you jumped a little, not expecting it at all.

"Such a perfect little slut" he spanked you again before he lined himself up with your hole. "If it hurts or feels uncomfortable just tell me and I'll stop" he reassured and you nodded, excited to finally feel him inside.

He moved his hips, sliding his dick into you painfully slow. He was even thicker than you aniticpated, the size making you gasp. His pace was slow and steady, and before you knew it he was moving in and out of you. One of his hands rested on your hip, the other wrapped around your throat. He bagan to pick up his pace, making you cry out in pleasure after every move. You heard him moan behind you and it made you feel even better. It was you making him feel good.

"Fuck Y/N your pussy is so tight" he panted.

"It feels so good Billy" you cried and he started going in and out even faster. His left hand found your clit, fingers rubbing furiously. He was making you see stars.

"I want you to cum for me angel" he whispered. "I need to feel this wet little pussy squeezing my dick" his voice alone was making you tremble. There was no way in hell you weren't gonna cum when he asked you like that. You felt a knot form in your stomach and seconds later, your whole body was shaking in pleasure. Billy let you ride out your orgasm, not sure how he managed to keep himself from coming when your perfect pussy was clenching on his dick. He swiftly turned you around, and nearly choked at how gorgeous you looked laying under him. Your cheeks were flushed, forehead glistening with sweat. Your lips were red and there was nothing he wanted more than to kiss you. So he did. He leaned down, placing the most gentle kiss on your lips. You both felt like you were in a different world. The kiss grew more and more intense and before you knew it, he was sliding his cock back into you. You threw your head back, eyes shut tightly, it felt even better than the first time.

"I need you to look at me babygirl" Billy mumbled and you did as he said. Strands of hair were sticking to his forehead, his eyes glued to your face. "How are you this stunning" he asked before kissing you again. You wrapped your legs around his waist and he moaned into the kiss. "I'm not gonna last much longer" he warned.

"Me neither" you smiled weakly and he picked up his pace once again.

"I want you to cum with me princess" he was back in his dominant persona, voice low and movements sharp. "Do you think you can cum again?"

"Yes daddy" you gripped his bicep, pleasure building up.

"Yes what?"

"I can cum again daddy" you managed to get out. "Please make me cum again".

That was all he needed. He didn't know what about you made him feel this way but it was like nothing he's ever experienced. He slept with plenty of girls in his time, most of them absolutely gorgeous. Not a single one made him feel the way you did.

"Come on babygirl" he gripped your throat with one hand, the other lowering down to rub your clit. "Show daddy how much of a good girl you are." he was determined to make you feel so good you would lose control. There was nothing he wanted more than to see your body shaking under him.

"I'm so close Billy" you panted and he hummed approvingly.

"That's right angel, get right to the edge" he felt himself get close too, his movements getting slightly sloppier. "Don't cum before I tell you to" he warned. A few thrusts later both of you were ready to let go.

"Daddy I need to cum please" you cried.

"Not yet" he growled. He wanted to make you hold it in just a little longer, though he wasn't sure he could take it.

"Billy I can't" you whimpered.

"Yes you can" he squeezed your throat harder. He was hitting all the right spots inside you and you really didn't think you could take any more. Thankfully he didn't either. You felt his dick twitch inside you.

"Come on baby, cum for me" he moaned, letting go as well. You watched him throw his head back, waves of pleasure going through both your bodies. You've never felt this good with any guy you've been with before. No one could stand a chance with Billy.

You had no idea Billy was currently breaking all of his rules for you. He let you sleep in his bed. You were cuddled up to his side with your head on his chest and he was stroking your shoulder gently not to wake you up. It wasn't something he ever did, Billy Hargrove didn't cuddle his flings. But you were so pretty and your skin was warm and soft and your hair smelled nice and you just seemed like someone he could actually talk to. He didn't want you to end up just being a fling.

He thanked heavens that Neil tagged Susan along for one of his work event thingys and that he had the house to himself. He didn't want you to see just how fucked up things really were for him. Maybe this could turn into something. He wanted to get to know you better, try to actually be friends with you first and he was determined not to let Neil scare you away.

[socialyawkdude]

A intro to manga, anime and light novels

Hello again, long and first time readers..

Its time for the long-awaited manga review section. Now before we get into the nitty gritty there a few things we need to cover first. Seeing that I will be coving light novels, mangas, and anime there are a few terms that we need to go over. Most of these terms will be covering the different genres and subgenres. Seeing that not everyone is literate in this word, it may be a good idea to cover this before we get into the good stuff.

What I'm about to go over are the genres of light novels, manga, and anime. Like many television shows and movies; manga and anime are broken up into different genres. Many of these are pretty self-explanatory, while others are more unique, as you are about to find out. I have included a few examples with of the sub-genres. I'm no expert, as I’m learning along with a few of you. Some of the examples I've given are some that I've read or heard of.

 List of Major Anime/Manga Genres

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Drama

Slice of Life

Fantasy

Magic

Supernatural

Horror

Mystery

Psychological

Romance

Sci-Fi

 Looking at this list you can see many familiar genres of movies and TV, that you may watch. I won't go into a detailed description of these, because everyone should know these. Now for the sub-genres, it's a bit of a different story. Many of these are unique to anime and manga. It is these that I will give a little description along with a popular anime or manga.

 List of Anime Subgenres

Cyberpunk= This type of anime is a subgenre of sci-fi. It usually displays a future where society has become more ingrained with technology at the expense of social order. The setting is typically a dystopian future where the technology may be doing more harm than good. 

Game= The game category encompasses shows revolving around the idea of gaming and playing. The anime can feature a card game, board game, puzzle game, or even a virtual online game. As long as it concerns any playable game of any kind, it belongs in this category. Sometimes, even video game-based shows can count in this selection.

Ecchi= The word ecchi comes from the sound of H in the word hentai, which in turn means pervert in Japanese. This sub-genre is generally accepted as being full of sexually provocative scenes (mild enough to be viewed by the general audience) and scenarios derived from innuendos and humorous situations. It’s a fact that ecchi shows are taking an upswing nowadays as more and more titles are produced every season. More often than not, ecchi is paired up with comedy as both genres compliment each other well. This, in turn, serves as a buffer that prevents the shows from crossing the line and delving into something less appropriate for general audiences. 

Demons= Originally just an infrequent theme, the rise of demonic characters and themes have given rise to this sub-genre. The term demon does not only encompass literal demon characters. It also extends to other entities such as monsters, beasts, ghosts, and other demon-type figures. The demons present can come from biblical backgrounds or come from Japanese culture. Believe it or not, this category doesn’t just come hand-in-hand with the horror genre; it surprisingly blends well with other genres as well. 

Harem= If you see a reluctant male character surrounded by multiple female characters who all adore him, then you’re probably watching an anime of the harem sub-genre. This type of show typically features more than two female characters go head-over-heels for a single male character. Anime in this category is typically within the comedy and romance genre. It's possible that a harem anime can have no romance and feature mostly slapstick comedy.

Josei= Josei is actually a demographic but is also considered a general category in anime. It specifically targets female viewers around the age range of 18-40. These shows depict life and romance in a more mature light, usually with more grounded realism and less idealistic fantasies. The sub-genre is fairly wide and doesn't necessarily have to focus on romance. It merely needs a narrative that caters to the mature woman. Josei originated from manga during the 80′s. Girls who grew up reading shoujo stories from previous decades wanted stories for adults.

Martial Arts= Martial arts play a big role in every anime that has fighting/battles in it. Whether it's hand-to-hand combat, swordplay, gun fighting, or armed combat, there’s some kind of martial art element that plays through them. But did you know that there are shows that are primarily focused on martial arts itself and their battle techniques? There’s a lot of them, and they mainly involve hand-to-hand combat and technician battles.  

Kids= A lot of people say that anime is just for kids, but that’s not really true. As a matter of fact, there are only a few numbers of anime that are precisely catered towards children. These shows are contained within the kids' sub-genre. These shows are mild, light, and insightful, which makes them perfect for children 12 and under. 

Historical= As the name suggests, historical anime revolves around events in history and moments of antiquity. Shows of this sub-genre are typically set in Ancient Japan and the feudal period. Other settings such as the Middle Ages and medieval period of Europe exist but they’re much more rare in anime. As long as the time or setting (or even elements) are old and ancient, then the series can be considered a historical anime. 

Hentai= Hentai literally translates to "pervert" in Japanese. This is the R-18 (mature) domain of the anime world. This sub-genre commonly depicts nudity and highly explicit content. Unlike ecchi, the focus here is on explicit sexual content rather than on storytelling and narrative progression. That is why the shows in this category are usually brief and lacking in substance.

Isekai= Isekai translates to "another world." This sub-genre typically has a     narrative where a protagonist somehow gets transported to a different     world. The new world is more often than not in a fantasy setting,     occasionally with traits pulled from JRPG games.

This category of anime exploded during the 2010′s and arguably dominated the decade. A good portion of isekai anime is adapted not from the manga but rather from light novels. The most popular series in this sub-genre maybe Sword Art Online. While the world featured there was just virtual reality, it did feature a fantasy setting that would be mimicked in other anime. 

 Military= As the name implies, this sub-genre involves the military in one way or another. War may also be a huge part of military anime. One thing to note about this category is that it is often coupled with the mecha and action genre.

Mecha= Mecha stands for mechanical (as in mechanical units or robots). You’ll never see a mecha anime without a robot or mechanical suit in it. That’s the most important element of it. And while this sub-genre is rising in fame as the days go by, it almost always uses a standard formula to carry the plot. As a general trend, mecha is often seen alongside the military, sci-fi, and action genre.

This may very well be the most iconic anime sub-genre as there is a multitude of memorable shows in this category. The mecha can be considered to be one of Japan's most popular exports. Some of the earlier iconic titles from the late 70s and 80′s include Mobile Suit Gundam, Mazinger Z, and Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered to be an iconic and dark deconstruction of the genre as it examined the psyche of young pilots. GurrenLagann was a massive hit that brought the genre back to its hot-blooded and idealistic roots. With a rabid fan-base that loves mecha designs, this genre is one that has been consistently popular over the years. 

Music= Anime shows in the music sub-genre aren’t that popular nowadays, but they do exist and they are very timely. These shows typically focus on singing, dancing, or playing musical instruments. These usually fit within the larger categories of comedy and drama.

Parody= A parody anime is one where countless numbers of other anime references are showcased throughout the plot. It might be a popular running gag, a famous symbol, a character reference, or any other attempt at bringing another show into its domain. One anime worthy to note is Gintama. They often use similar elements from other anime to showcase in their own show.

Police= The police sub-genre emphasizes the life and struggles of law enforcement in their line of duty. Police-based characters have shown up in numerous shows and     there are now anime that could be considered as police procedural. This genre isn't exclusive to police officers; detectives, investigators, and enforcers of any type are included as well. 

Post-Apocalyptic= Post-apocalyptic anime basically show that is set in a world that is in a dystopian state. This could mean the world is destroyed and/or humans are nearly extinct. Post-apocalyptic settings were merely a theme in the past, but an influx of titles bearing this backdrop over the years have made it become a sub-genre on its own. This type of anime has become more and more popular by the day. 

Reverse Harem= A reverse harem anime is typically a harem series where the gender roles are switched around. There is one female character surrounded by multiple male characters who are all potential love interests. Like the traditional harem genre, anime of this variety is usually within the comedy and romance genre.

School= There are countless anime that use the school as a setting. An anime can be considered a part of the school sub-genre if a school is the primary setting and the anime deals mostly with school and student life. This type of anime is usually seen within the comedy genre, though there are some entries in drama as well. 

Seinen= Seinen is actually a demographic but is also considered to be a category in anime. It’s a sub-genre that specifically targets male viewers around the age range of 18-40. The shows here are depicted in a more mature light and often include more explicit content such as gore, sex, and violence. More cerebral narratives are present as well.

Shoujo= Shoujo refers to the demographic of young girls. This sub-genre specifically targets female viewers around the age range of 10-18. Most of the time, shoujo anime works hand-in-hand with the romance and comedy genre, particularly with the former. The protagonist is traditionally female and the narrative focuses on romance as well as personal growth. The world in these shows is often very idealized.

Shoujo-ai= Shoujo-ai literally translates to "girls love." The typically young female characters in shojou-ai anime show love and affection for each other. The romance is usually milder in comparison to the more explicit yuri genre. Shows in this category portray blooming feelings of love and romance rather than intimate relationships. 

Shounen= Shounen refers to the demographic that this type of anime targets, which is male viewers around the age range of 10-18. These shows are usually a combination of action and adventure and are typically adapted from serial manga series. As such, these anime tend to have lengthy runs. One Piece currently has over 800 episodes and is still running. These shows are typically the most popular with mainstream audiences. They have done very well when exported to foreign markets thanks to their relatively simple plots and focus on action.

Shounen-ai= Shounen-ai literally translates to "boys love." The male characters (typically younger boys) in these shows display tender affection for each other. The romance in shounen-ai is generally milder when compared to the more explicit yaoi genre. There is usually more focus on developing romance than actual relationships.

Space= The setting of space has always been massively popular. With so much anime taking place there, it has become a sub-genre in itself. Any anime set in the cosmos can be labeled in this category. Space anime is often within the larger mecha and sci-fi genre. 

Sports= Pretty much self-explanatory, sports anime are shows that cover characters engaging in athletic competition. Popular choices in this category include basketball, tennis, baseball, and soccer. Other sports exist as well (including those that you wouldn’t expect showing up in anime). As time goes on, more and more of these series are produced. Just like real sports, shows in this sub-genre are action-packed!

Super Power= You know you're watching a superpower anime if you're seeing an array of explosive superpowers scrambling right on the screen. If you see bursts of energy balls, death-defying attacks, and opposing forces battling it out throughout the story, then that means you're probably witnessing a show in this sub-genre. These shows generally fit in the action category.

Tragedy= As the name implies, the tragedy sub-genre revolves around tragic events or phenomenon where the characters are deeply involved and affected. Tragedy comes in diverse varieties such as disasters, accidents, misfortunes, and deaths. These shows are often very dramatic and can pull the heartstrings of audiences.

Vampire= As vampires have become so popular throughout the world, it’s no shock that they’ve also infested the world of anime. There are lots of titles now featuring vampires and they’re not just exclusive to the horror category. They’ve also manifested themselves into other categories such as comedy, romance, and drama.

Yuri= Yuri is essentially the more mature and explicit version of shojou-ai. The female characters are typically older and the series examines their more mature relationships.

Yaoi= Yaoi is the much more sexually explicit counterpart of shounen-ai. This sub-genre covers male-to-male relationships (typically older boys) in a more mature light. There is more emphasis on serious relationships and intimacy.

 Well, there you go… a not so short overview of the genre and sub-genres of anime, manga, and light novels. Hopefully, this will help newcomers to this wonderful of books and tv. It is now time to reveal the first series in the socallyawkdude’s manga review….. Tales of Wedding Rings by Maybe.  The volume 1 review should be up soon, as i’m finishing up the art work for the post.

Till then this is your friendly neighborhood sociallyawkdude signing off.

[stephadoodles]

DOAFP Episode 1x04 Review - “The National Mall”

This was the episode that caused a lot of chatter amongst the people already watching and got a lot more watching, so it was interesting to go back and rewatch it, especially since the Bobby story line in particular has gotten quite a bit more development since then. There are also a lot of old-school Disney show vibes to the episode.

This episode doesn’t have a particular theme that connects all the story lines, but it does have the trend where one of Elena’s school lessons reflects something that’s going on in her personal life (which has some strong Boy Meets World vibes). Elena’s story line focuses on the concept of growing up and becoming a woman. It’s a continuation of the period stuff from the first episode, but this time it focuses more on bras.

The girls are only allowed to go to the Claire’s-equivalent store, and not allowed into the Victoria Secret-equivalent store in the mall. The girls want to prove that they’re mature and grown up after another run-in with Melissa and Jessi, who are once again bragging about how grown up they are. Interestingly, Sasha is the one pushing the issue, and later when Elena discovers she accidentally took the bra, Sasha also encourages her to hide it and forget about it. Normally Elena is the one forcing them to do things, so it was a bit of a switch.

Once inside the store, the girls proceed to prove that they are definitely not mature or grown up by goofing around with the bras and other lingerie items. They run into one of their teachers holding a thong, which promptly ends their goofing around.

This whole plot line has some serious Lizzie McGuire vibes, and it has a lot of similarities to that episode, down to running into a teacher in the bra store. As someone who grew up watching Lizzie McGuire, that particular episode is one that I remembered better than any of the others, and it’s great that Disney is finally creating content for the pre-teen age group again that isn’t super squeaky clean. There are ways to talk about puberty and everything that goes along with that in ways that are appropriate and still funny for those going through it.  Those types of pop culture experiences do have an impact on people, and I hope there’s more of that in the future.

In her English class, they’re covering The Raven, and the teacher points out that it’s meant to symbolize guilt, which connects to what Elena is feeling. It transfers over to her dream, which is told in the style of The Raven. It’s interesting to see how they use the school lessons as a metaphor for her real-life problems, and it’s a technique they use in the future too.

Ultimately, Elena’s guilt gets the best of her, and she confesses to her mother. Through a series of events, Sam ends up being the person who takes her to the mall, and he gives her a little pep talk about how the things that make a woman aren’t clothes or where they shop, but who they are as a person. While it’s a really nice talk and it does help Elena feel better, it’s a little weird that they had the adult guy give it to her, instead of any of the adult women, which would have made a lot more sense.

Sam’s story line, continued from the previous episode, is him trying to figure out whether he’s willing to be a part of a family with kids. He seems to think of himself as the cool uncle but has realized that it can’t be the case. After seeking out some advice from fellow co-workers (both of whom are gay, interestingly enough), he ultimately makes his decision when he steps in to help out with Elena.

Bobby’s story line with Monyca has progressed to the two of them attempting to kiss for the first time, with plenty of interruptions from various family members and friends. When his friends set up a hang out which essentially is just a make-out party, Bobby is pulled into a closet (insert metaphor here) by a very enthusiastic Monyca and emerges looking confused and out of sorts. Monyca is clearly thrilled by the experience, and Bobby’s reaction is a clear contrast. As has already been pointed out, it’s easily comparable to Cyrus’ reaction to kissing Iris for the second time.

However, it’s worth pointing out that at that point, Cyrus already had figured out that he had a crush on a guy, while I don’t believe that Bobby has yet. Cyrus was trying to figure out if he still liked Iris, and it was made abundantly clear that he didn’t. Meanwhile, I think this is the first time Bobby has really considered the fact that he’s not actually attracted to her. He kind of admits it in his conversation with Liam later, but he also tries to cover it up and give the response that Liam was expecting from him.

Gabi definitely got the least important story line this episode. While trying to impress her boss so she can get on a case that she’s very passionate about, she accidentally likes some of her boss’ old photos on social media. It was probably the weakest story line of the episode as well, and it turns out that all Gabi had to do was show that she wanted to put the effort in, and she gets the job. We do get some pretty great interactions between Gabi and Camila though, and I’m really enjoying their friendship.

The end of the episode is pretty great, and I really like how it was done. Elena was worrying about the whole period thing back in episode one, and it wasn’t really brought up again. And then, when she was least expecting it, she got it. It was a nice little endcap to her story line, and her starting to grow and mature a bit.

A few notes:

They really aren’t using any brand names in this show. The stores are all fictional, the pop culture references are fictional, and there are only a few actual name drops (Pokemon is briefly mentioned in this episode). I wonder if it was a financial reason, like with Andi Mack

Melissa snapping her bra strap threateningly makes me laugh every time I see it. I don’t understand why this girl is the way she is

We get another openly gay character who we met briefly before. Craig is another one of Gabi’s coworkers, and it’s another example of the show casually having LGBTQ characters

Alexandra Billings, the actress who plays Gabi’s boss Joy, is transgender. It’s not stated whether the character is or not, but it’s another example of the diverse casting choices that the show has made

The fact that Gabi has a number of coworkers and friends who are openly LGBTQ is interesting and will hopefully come into play later when Bobby’s story line gets to the point of him coming out. Knowing that your parents would be supportive of you because of the people they already have in their lives is really important, and I hope it does play a role in that story line

We see Bobby playing with the tennis ball in the bathroom, which we’ll see again in a more significant manner later on

Another mention of Camila having to hide her relationship from her parents

[tlbodine]

A Plea for Some Non-Cringe Native American Representation

There’s something that has bothered me for a real long time, and I haven’t said anything because it didn’t really feel like my place to say it. But if pasty white folks across the country will insist on continuing to make these books and comics and movies, then I guess this pasty white girl can make a plea to do it better. 

So. Here’s the deal. Native American representation in fiction sucks. 

We’re going to talk about why, and then talk about some ways you can do it better. And it’s going to take a while, so join me under the cut. 

PROBLEM #1: Erasure 

The first problem with First Nations people being represented in fiction is that it, uh...doesn’t happen very often. It’s pretty rare for a show or movie or book to have a Native character, and even rarer for that character to exist without being a vehicle/mouthpiece for some kind of hamfisted message. 

And, of course, Native characters who do show up in movies are sometimes played by non-Native actors, which is just. Um. 

somebody fucking kill me I don’t want to live on this planet anymore. 

PROBLEM #2: The Same Stock Character Over and Over and Over 

There’s this weird thing where TV shows have A Very Special Native American Episode(tm) where a Native American character shows up in a storyline designed to, idk, provide a tidy outlet for the viewer’s white guilt or something. I see this a lot in superhero stories for...some reason: 

Batman and Chief Screaming Eagle (ok, it was the 1960s, surely things have gotten better right? oh...) who’s butting heads with a villain over a bad contract for, uh, the chief’s ancestral lands

There was the Buffy episode “Pangs” where a Chumash vengeance spirit is the villain-of-the day after being disturbed by some construction (and this is honestly one of the better treatments of the premise, at least the episode is well-written) 

There was the Smallville episode with Kyla Willowbrook, the Kawatche Skinwalker (I know, I know) who for bonus points dies tragically in Clark’s arms (I KNOW) and who was deeply concerned with...with some construction...disturbing her sacred homesite...(this is starting to sound familiar)

And then there was The Flash episode where Barry is forced to fight with the complicated-yet-tragically-evil Native American activist woman whose crimes involve stealing cultural artifacts that belong to to the museum (yes I’m screaming) and also murdering people...y’know, for vengeance and stuff. 

I could keep going but I really don’t think I have to. When your only representation of a culture is a character (frequently a smoking-hot member of the opposite sex to the hero) who is an ambiguous villain who is motivated by vengeance and/or justice over having their land/cultural artifacts disturbed, and who has a valid claim but is really going about it in the wrong way and whose tragic death and/or defeat really gives the white character something complex to think about for two seconds.... well. That’s more than a little racist. 

PROBLEM #3: These Are Not Your Stories to Tell 

You know what white people love doing? 

They love appropriating Native culture! Seriously! They love it! And who can blame them, really? Native people have so much rich symbolism and mythology and cool clothes and neat aesthetics. Painted war ponies and buckskin dresses and shapeshifters and monsters, oh my! Indian burial grounds and vengeful spirits (oh for fuck sake enough with the vengeful Indian trope)

But here’s the deal: 

The mythology you’re borrowing from belongs to a group of people who are still alive and sometimes practicing the religion you’re liberally reinterpreting 

There is no such thing as a “Native American” myth. You’re talking about literally hundreds of different tribes who are culturally distinct from one another and have their own complex histories of interaction, diplomacy, war, friendship, etc. with one another for centuries before white folk got here. You erase all of that when you treat Native culture as a grab-bag of cool things you can mix and match to your liking. 

Maybe, just a thought, stop it with the oppression narratives about activists and/or vengeful spirits who are real threatened by white people disturbing their homes? It’s not that there isn’t a lot to unpack in that -- I mean, white people really did conduct mass genocide against a race of people, for starters -- it’s just that this isn’t really your oppression narrative to tell. 

It seems to me that folks writing about Native Americans don’t actually have any idea what Native people are like? They either think of them as anachronistic figures, an extinct and ancient group, or they think of them as people really hung up on their cultural past. Because maybe people can’t think of anything to do with a Native character other than use it as a vocal mouthpiece of one very specific part of their cultural oppression.

But please. Please stop. That is every bit as stupid and racist as making a Black character who only talks about slavery, or a Jewish character who only talks about the Holocaust, or giving all of your gay characters AIDS. 

So what do you do instead? 

Writing Native Characters in a Way That Does Not Suck - A Quick Primer 

I can’t write a definitive guide on writing good Native representation, because there is no such guide, and if there were it would take a whole book probably, and I am not in any way even remotely an authority. 

But I can give you some pointers that will help you. 

(And to be honest, Native representation is so awful that the bar here is really super low, even just attempting a tiny bit is a really welcome breath of fresh air)

Choose a Tribe 

Step one: Figure out what kind of Native people you’re writing about. 

Because, as previously noted, Native People Are Not A Monoculture. 

How do you pick a tribe? Well, start with geography. Where do you want the story to take place? Obviously people move around, so you can find folks outside of their ancestral lands, but they all started someplace, and a lot of people live where their parents and grandparents and cousins all live. 

So where does your story take place? Pick a spot. Then find out what tribes live in that region. It’s not a secret. There are maps:

(Source: http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/native_american_tribes_map.htm) 

Or maybe you want to go about this in a different way. Maybe you have a specific story idea in mind and you want to write it in a way that would be accurate and respectful. Cool! A good first step on that is to figure out what tribe actually does the thing you’re wanting to write about. 

Skinwalkers, for example, originate in the Navajo Nation (Dine` people), although there are related myths from surrounding tribes in the area. 

If you’re writing a story about Wendigo, then you should know those myths originate with the Algonquin people of Quebec and Ontario.

If you’re writing something with spiritually significant buffalo, you should probably choose a culture that actually interacted with buffalo -- ie, a Plains Indian tribe like the Lakota-Sioux people. 

And so on and so forth. 

(Note that this is only the first step. You still have to do a lot of research after this to be sure you’re doing everything properly and respectfully. And, y’know, maybe reconsider if you actually want to tell a story respecting that mythology, or if you just want to sound cool and exotic) 

Also, personal preference: Please don’t make your characters Cherokee if you’re just going for “character with Native ancestry.” Please choose a different tribe. For a lot of complicated (and sometimes surprisingly racist) reasons, white people have been claiming Cherokee heritage for a long time, and even when it’s true, it feels cheap and cringey in fiction. If you want to tell a story about the Trail of Tears or something set in Tahlequa, Oklahoma, great! Write Cherokee characters! But if you just want a Native American character for other reasons...pick a different tribe. 

Choose a Name 

Fun fact: Modern Native people that you meet out on the street don’t have names like “Stands With Fists” or “Running Bear.”  

If you have an impulse to name your character any kind of descriptive “adjective + animal” name...just don’t. Please. And don’t go to BehindTheName or some other random site to pick out something that “sounds” Native. 

Names in other cultures are tricky. Some (but not all!) Native people may have a cultural tradition of having multiple names, including naming ceremonies (often as a rite of passage in adolescence). Some tribes have clan names. Everybody’s different. But these special names are culturally sensitive, often sacred, and are not a thing readily accessible to white people. White folks spent centuries trying to wipe out Indigenous people’s belief systems; they deserve to have some things kept private and sacred. 

So what I’m getting at here is that white writers really, really should not touch on the “Indian naming ceremony” trope at all if they can help it, because it’s gonna be real hard to get the details right, and getting the details wrong is going to make you sound like an ignorant racist. And most of the time, it’s not really that important to a story. 

Most contemporary Native people have regular English names. They may also have tribal names and clan names (that they may or may not share with outsiders). But lots of tribal members don’t, and that doesn’t make them any less Native. 

My recommendation for naming your Native characters? Find real people from the time period, tribe, and region you’re writing in. Find a phone book or newspaper from a town on or near a reservation for your chosen tribe. Look at names of participants in powwows. Look at the sports rosters for Native schools. Look at historical records like census data from the year you’re writing about. Don’t just make things up. 

** One Note: You know how “black” names are a thing? You encounter a similar sort of thing in some contemporary Native Americans. I grew up with a lot of kids who had “weird” names like Kirby, Sheriden, Baskerville, Sterling and Precious. (and by “weird” I mean “names middle-class white people don’t tend to use”). There’s also a lot of black-sounding names in Native populations. There’s some complex reasons behind this, and a lot of sociology of naming, and I won’t spend too much time on it right now but just...so you know. It’s a thing. 

Write a Human Being 

This really is the biggest thing, and it’s true of every writing you do, all the time, no matter what: Write a real person and not a caricature. 

Native people are people first. Their cultural heritage affects them the way anyone else’s culture does. The things they eat, wear, do, believe, the stories they know, etc. are all affected. But Native people don’t have a responsibility to be walking representatives of their tribes. And they definitely shouldn’t be a vessel for white guilt. 

(Fun fact: “Iron Eyes Cody,” maybe best known for the “Crying Indian” role in a commercial about pollution, was an Italian-American born  Espera Oscar de Corti) 

Here’s a really, really good article I found while working on this rant that might be of interest to you as wellas you set out on this quest:  https://mashable.com/2015/03/24/american-indians-tv/

I still have so much to say on this topic, and maybe I’ll write more in the future, but this is already very long so I’ll stop. I hope this has been at least a little bit helpful for y’all. Go forth and write non-terrible characters, I beg of you. 

*Disclaimer: I am not a Native person and do not claim any special knowledge or ownership of Native culture, and I beg you to please listen to Native voices when possible in your creative endeavors. I’m just a gal who happened to have spent most of my life living near reservations and growing up around Native people and having Native friends and being taught about historical cultures by my mother who has a degree in Southwest Studies and has done a lot of formal and informal research due to her own interests in the topic. 

If you found this article helpful at all, please consider dropping a tip in my tip jar.

I also have a book coming out! You can pre-order it now! It features a main character of mixed heritage, New Mexico reservation border towns, and zombies trying to get by like everybody else. 

Pre-Order now on B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/river-of-souls-t-l-bodine/1131956124

Or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/River-Souls-T-L-Bodine/dp/1950305015

Or from the publisher: http://journalstone.com/bookstore/river-of-souls/?fbclid=IwAR14Qna5tMgWBV0We2uGSLreBkmyvZ5SoDAzPQpTKeFn4JR4PWSyKGl0VEo

Or add it to your Goodreads library: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46183381-river-of-souls

[finding-the-daylight]

It’s been a real fucking stressful week so I’m finally gonna be drunk-watching and reviewing Breaking Dawn Pt. 2. However, I will likely only be slightly drunk(ish) (if at all) because I’m all out of liquor and only have one beer at the moment, but hopefully it’ll be enough to counteract how terrible this movie is lmao. As usual, here is what I remember from the movie the first (and only) time I ever watched it: 

1. The battle scene happened but it was all in Alice’s vision and never actually happened.

2. Imprinting bullshit that none of us want to talk about. Let’s pretend it never happened.

3. Some weird dude makes fake IDs on demand.

4. All the vampires with cool powers get together, yet, sadly, they do not take down the Volturi to form a better, democratic government.

My thoughts as I’m watching are below the break: 

- The opening credits triggered a forgotten feeling of sadness. Was it sadness over a terrible plot or sadness over the series being over? I couldn’t tell you.

- This fucking soundtrack excuse me. The orchestral opening piece? BEAUTIFUL. I want to choreograph a ballet to this. Or do the TikTok twerk challenge to it. Idk. 

- I’m actually kind of sad that this was the last movie and it hasn’t even started yet. Most of the plot is shit and smeyer wrote some horrible garbage, but I want more of this universe. Can some of y’all who are creative write the next book and not be racist or sexist? Thank you.

- Fuck this part of the soundtrack I’m literally going to cry.

- I can’t believe smeyer produced this movie. Who let her? 

- When Bella opens her eyes that shit makes me want to be a vampire @Carlise. 

- Her first instinct is to grab Edward’s arm I’m crying. They love each other so much and it’s so fucking pure. I hate how they look at each other. It makes me sick but it’s all I want.

- This is the most relaxed Edward has been in any of the movies.

- LITERALLY HOW COOL WOULD IT BE TO SEE A FLOWER BLOOM LIKE THAT?!?

- I WANNA JUMP OVER A DAMN WATERFALL

- I actually feel really bad for this deer and I wish they did eat mosquitos :(((((

- Edward’s so proud of her for her control. He loves her so much.

- OMG I FORGOT SHE SAVED THE DEER WE LOVE TO SEE IT SAVE THE  DEER BELLA

- aww fuck no now they’re gonna talk about the imprinting bullshit. I won’t even comment on this because y’all already know my thoughts. We hate it and we hate canon and smeyer is fucked up for what she wrote.

- Carlisle looking fine as fuck as usual, thank you. I don’t love the hairstyle here, but he’s still fire.

- Rosalie looks so happy and we love to see it. She deserves it.

- EMMETT AND ROSALIE ARE INSTIGATING THIS FIGHT AND AS FUCKE UP AS THIS STORYLINE IS I LIVE FOR THEM BOTH AND I LOVE IT LMAO

- THE WAY JACOB SAYS “OH” SENT ME THE FUCK LMAOOOOOO

- Emmett loves this fight and I love Emmett

- Damn Edward’s actually openly being turned on by something for once in his life

- The Loch Ness monster line isn’t that funny anymore tbh. I did not laugh.

- There was a lot of quivering.

- Bella literally said we’re gonna keep going for the rest of eternity. 

- Everyone knows when they get back. So far, Emmett is my favorite in this movie lmao. Even Carlisle who’s always sick of his kids’ shit cracked a smile.

- Poor Charlie. They’re about to tell him she died and they’re all moving.

- Jacob’s about to go tell his secret to Charlie and then shit gets lit. I remember this part now. 

- Taylor deserved an oscar for this scene. This movie might have been trash, but his conversation with Charlie deserved all the awards.

- “Jacob put your on clothes on” fucking SENT ME LMAOOOOO.

- Charlie’s so confused, poor man.

- Jacob straight up invited Charlie over with no warning while Bella was a newborn vampire lmao. 

- I LOVE ESME AND CARLISLE SO MUCH

- The way Carlisle opened the door and said “Hello Charlie” did something to me. I wish my name was Charlie.

- Charlie’s so happy to see Bella though. I’m happy Jake told him tbh. 

- Poor Charlie now he’s all upset because he saw Jacob turn into “a very large dog” and he’s concerned about what this means for Bella.

- She finally called Charlie dad and hugged him like she loved him.

- EDWARD TOLD CHARLIE THE TRUTH THAT RENEMEME WAS THEIR DAUGHTER HOLY SHIT I FORGOT

- Emmett really is my fave in this movie lmaoooo. 

- Everyone is laughing and smiling instead of being all depressed. We lov to see it. This is my favorite scene in any of the movies now. 

- When Bella said she was born to be a vampire, it would’ve been way more effective to start playing “Born to Die” by Lana Del Rey tbh.

- Irina’s about to go tattle-tale to the Volturi. Tbh I’d be pissed too after what those racist fucks did to Laurent. He wanted to join the Cullens and adopt their lifestyle. And by racist fucks, I mean smeyer and the writers of the screenplay.

- Aro is such a dramatic bitch.

- Carlisle could read me the damn phone book and I would listen.

- Honestly smeyer is fucked up the fuck up and I’m starting to think she nejoys writing about children losing their childhood. The immortal children storyline is one of the most fucked up parts of canon and we really need to expose it more. 

- Carlisle and Esme are so damn cute. 

- Uh-oh Sammy boy’s there. Jasper and Alice just bounced? I completely forgot about this.

- The fucking volvo.

- Okay SUPER BIG FUCKING PLOTHOLE HERE. So when they were in Alaska, Edward basically said Renememe had a beating heart so like, wouldn’t the Volturi be able to hear it? Wouldn’t that end the battle before it ever started? Smeyer really just wrote shit without thinking it through lmao.

- We hate to see all the cultural appropriation but we love Rami Malek.

- Senna and Zafrina are STUNNING and the fact that Smeyer wrote them as being anything else is a fucking crime.

- I don’t remember this Garrett hoe but I’ve seen a lot of memes about him so I think he’ll be my second fave in this movie next to Emmett. He’s high key a bitch though for treating people how he did.

- Yeah, I’m with Jacob on this one. The red-eyed bitches don’t need to be killing people. ALSO FUCK SMEYER’S RACIST SHIT AGAIN. MORE WOLVES DUE TO MORE BIOLOGICAL WARFARE THIS IS BULLSHIT SMEYER.

- Garrett really fell in love with this bitch Kate and said idc what you do to me, just do it.

- HOLY SHIT THE NEW WOLVES ARE KIDS KIDS. THEY’RE LIKE 6 OR 7. Y’ALL. WHAT THE EVERLIVING FUCK??? GOING BACK TO WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE IMMORTAL CHILDREN THING. THE POINT STILL STANDS.

- Vladimir and Stefan are EXACTLY the vampires I’ve been waiting on. OVERTHROW THIS MONARCHY OLD ASS SHIT AND FORM THE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT. This scene made me like Carlisle slightly less, but in my headcanon he did want to overthrow the Volturi. I would still stare at him all day and listen to him read the phonebook. But he could’ve been a little more badass. It wouldn’t have hurt.

- Edward actually grew a pair and asked everyone to fight. 

- Is Aro’s hair different in this movie? It looks different and I kinda love it.

- I hate the Volturi and all of them for varying reasons, but I do love Aro’s dramatics.

- Emmett is living for Edward being shocked by Kate which is why, again, he is my fave in this movie lmao.

- Bella reading to Renememe is the sweetest moment in this movie and it deserves more love.

- “Yeah I just do it so much better.” This cocky bastard.

- FINALLY. HE ADMITS HE UNDERESTIMATES HER. THANK YOU HOE. 

- When Jake and Bella are laughing together it makes me smile. It’s so genuine.

- Sue knows what’s good. I can see it in her eyes lmao.

- Alice was smart af though for hiding that clue for Bella. 

- JENKS. That’s the dude’s name that makes the fake IDs.

- “Unusually well-preserved” that’s one way to put it lmao.

- This is so sad. Bella thinks she and Edward will die.

- LOOK AT ALL THOSE BENJIS SHE’S STUFFING INTO BACKPACKS@ BELLA PLEASE PAY OFF MY STUDENT LOAN DEBT 

- Alistair is such a bitch. Why is he even here?

- This little house looks so cozy for Christmas. This is all I want.

- I love the Clearwater family so much and they deserve nothing but our love and respect.

- I FUCKING LOVE GARRETT. “NAME ANY AMERICAN BATTLE I WAS THERE.” LMAOOOOO

- “No one does rebellion like the Irish.” I love this guy too lmao.

- DAMNNNNN 1500 years waiting on revenge?????? They really could’ve overturned the Volturi in favor of a democracy but Carlisle was too damn diplomatic. But he’s still my fave.

- They did Kristen’s eyebrows dirty in this movie.

- Garrett loves Kate so much and it’s so pure. 

- Emmett and Rosalie look so sweet.

- “THE REDCOATS ARE COMING” LMAOOOO I REALLY DO FUCKING LOVE GARRETT AN AWFUL LOT.

- Look @ the Volturi dramatic asses wearing cloaks and shit. Hoe. It’s the 2000s. Not the 1600s. Fix your shit. If a human saw you, you’d expose the secret you’re supposedly trying to keep.

- When Carlisle raised his voice though.

- BUT THIS IS THE BULLSHIT I’M TALKING ABOUT SMEYER PULLING. TALKING ABOUT HOW RENEMEME HAS A BEATING HEART. BITCH. THE VOLTURI WOULD’VE HEARD IT AND KNOWN. NONE OF THIS FUCKERY WAS EVER NECESSARY. SMEYER’S ASS IS MORE DRAMATIC THAN ARO, AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.

- Bella tried to shield Edward but it wouldn’t stretch all the way to where he was :(((((

- I deadass would not let my child anywhere near Aro period. It would’ve been on sight at this point and the Volturi would’ve been cleared out for democracy.

- I wish Edward would just punch this hoe.

- OH MY GOD I FORGOT ABOUT THE LAUGH THAT IS THE FUNNIEST SHIT

- Jacob seems more concerned than Edward and Bella and that’s really a problem for me. Her parents should’ve torn Aro a new one and that’s on period.

- Bella’s protecting all of them. YAAASSS QUEEN. DEFEAT THESE BTICHES.

- Aro basically verified the headcanon that Gen Z would expose vampires lmaoooo.

- Alice and Jasper save the day.  

- CARLISLE FINALLY SNAPPED YAAAASSSS. BEAT THESE HOES ASSES.

- ESMEEEEEEEEEE

- SAM AND THE BOYS ARE READY TO FUCKIN FIGHT NOW TOO. NO ONE FUCKS WITH CARLISLE.

- This whole fight scene is intense but I already know that none of it really happened and it was all a vision so I’m kind of just tuning it out lmao. 

- Y’all weren’t playing. When they get Seth that shit really does hurt.

- Alright I’m over this. They’re dragging it out. I’m fast-forwarding lmao. 

- YEAH BITCH, BELLA WOULD GET YOUR ASS SO YOU BETTER STOP WHILE YOU CAN.

- OKAY LITERALLY ALSO FUCK THIS STORYLINE NOW I’M PISSED AGAIN I JUST REMEMBERED SMEYER IMPLIED THIS HOE WAS GONNA COME BACK AND FIGHT JACOB FOR RENEMEME WHEN SHE WAS LEGAL IDK IF IT’S IN THE MOVIE IF IT IS Y’ALL FINNA HEAR ABOUT IT AND OF COURSE HE’S INDIGENOUS TOO BECAUSE SMEYER’S GOTTA BE RACIST AS FUCK.

- BUT ANYWAY. Nahuel is actually cool af. Like most of smeyer’s characters, he deserved better.

- Good boy Aro, just walk the fuck away. 

- I really wish Carlisle would’ve just listened to Stefan and Vladimir and kicked the Volturi’s asses. 

- Everyone is so happy and in love. We love to see it. #simpasshoesfandom

- THIS SOUNDTRACK FUCKING SLAPS. THE CLOSING SONG BEFORE THE MEADOW/AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MEADOW IS A JAM.

- Oh fuck here we go with the flashback. I’m gonna cry for sure. It really would’ve been better with Flightless Bird American Mouth though.

- Damn I’m actually crying. #simpasshoesfandom 

- She showed him all her thoughts and love for him I’m crying. 

- “NOBODY’S EVER LOVED ANYBODY AS MUCH AS I’VE EVER LOVED YOUUUUUUU”

- FOREVERRRRR 

- MY HEART

- THE END CREDITSSSSSS

Ummm. So I really thought I would hate this movie. It is mostly problematic as fuck. But some parts of it were good. Like it had funny moments and sad moments and simp moments and it was not awful. Content wise I rate it like a 3/10. Overall rating I give it like an 8/10. If smeyer’s fucked up shit didn’t get in the way of the movie, it could’ve been a 10/10. 

HOW THE PAGES OF THE BOOK OPEN TO REVEAL THE MAIN CHARACTERS’ NAMES I’M CRYING

[petewentzworld]

Dear Past Self: Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz Interviewed

Why looking back once in a while is integral to embracing the future...

Pete Wentz is driving around LA, speaking to me over the phone about his newly-launched range of jewellery and apparel, Ronin.

As far as rock star business enterprises go, it’s certainly extravagant, and the website’s description of the rings, pendants and hoodies held therein – “born out of the idea of wandering, a samurai without a master, and the free dreams that accompany facing the world on your own” – adds to the initial sense that Wentz’s professional career may have ballooned into parody, the kind of project Connor 4 Real from Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping might have signed off on.

“We would go and sample products in the jewellery district in downtown LA, learning why one gold looks more yellow than the other,” he tells me when I ask about it. “It’s been a really interesting learning experience.”

But then Pete Wentz, to borrow Lana Del Rey’s favourite American poet Walt Whitman, is large; he contains multitudes, and some of those multitudes just happen to involve samurai-themed lockets. Among other projects, he owns a clothing company, a film production company, a nightclub, and a minority share in American USL soccer team Phoenix Rising.

“It scares me sometimes, watching him,” Patrick Stump once joked. “The two seconds you're not with that dude he's made 30 decisions that are going to affect our band for the rest of the year.”

Ah yes: he’s also, you may recall, the bassist in Fall Out Boy.

The band recently released a new single, ‘Dear Future Self (Hands Up)’, to accompany the release of their second career-spanning retrospective, ‘Greatest Hits: Believers Never Die – Volume Two’.

Such records are inevitably a time for bands to take stock of what they’ve already achieved and what value they might continue to offer the world, and the single seems to acknowledge that duality: “Dear future self, I hope it's going well / I'm drunk on cheap whiskey in an airport hotel,” Stump reflects on the new track. Like Janus, the Greek god of beginnings, endings, and Wyclef Jean collaborations, Wentz finds himself gazing in all directions.

In the near future lies a reminder of the past. Despite the fact that all three bands have new albums coming out, it’s perhaps an easy take to view next year’s ‘Hella Mega Tour’ – Green Day, Weezer, and Fall Out Boy performing at a number of stadium dates together on a triple-headliner bill – as a nostalgia trip.

Is it something Wentz worries about?

“I think about that for sure,” he says. “There’s a danger that, once you become known as one thing, the world knows you as that thing forever. When you’ve been doing art for 15 or 20 years you do have to think about your legacy, but it’s really important to remember why you did it in the first place.”

However cynical your view, it’s hard to argue that the band don’t deserve a victory lap with two of the most influential acts in pop-punk history. “It would be insane for us to turn this tour down because we grew up on ‘Dookie’ and the ‘Buddy Holly’ video – those things were super influential on the early years of our band. So this is wish fulfilment in that way. But then I think that’s why it’s important that we did the Wiz Khalifa tour, that we do remix albums, you know? We wanna do both.”

On musical terms, at least, Fall Out Boy have often done just that. Their first two albums, ‘Take This to Your Grave’ and 2005’s breakout ‘From Under the Cork Tree’, are perhaps their most straightforward in genre terms – but even then, ‘Dance Dance’ was arguably more playful and inventive than anything the cross-sections of pop, emo and punk had served up in the preceding decade. By the time 2007’s ‘This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race’ hit number two in the Billboard charts – their commercial peak to date – the band were already steadfastly toying with hip hop and R&B in both their production values and collaborators.

“I think that there was a time when we were doing that and people were scratching their heads a little bit,” Wentz says. As he rightly points out, the days of cultural tribalism in listener habits are all but dead now in the Spotify age. “I think genre has broken down so much more now, the way people listen to music, that people are more open to it.”

‘Make America Psycho Again’ is a fine example, a collection of remixed tracks from 2015’s ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ featuring guest appearances from Azealia Banks, Migos and Big K.R.I.T. among others. The title, of course, is a direct reference to the campaign slogan Donald Trump was using in his Presidential election campaign at the time. I ask whether the band are cautious about straying into political territory.

“I don’t think you can avoid it anymore,” he tells me, picking back up after the signal drops on our international call. “We live in a time of super inauthenticity – people taking pictures of food that you don’t even know if they eat, people having fear of missing out – and so I think, in a weird way, to cut through you have to be super authentic. Which is, to me, what people like Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Skrillex, Kanye, and whatever do. You just gotta be who you are and cut through all the noise. And I think people are… maybe not more forgiving, but more appreciative of you being honest about that stuff.”

There was a period in the 00s when Wentz was unavoidable; the video for ‘This Ain’t a Scene…’ hilariously parodied the bassist’s newfound gossip-mag status – later compounded by his marriage to Ashley Simpson in 2008, and subsequent divorce less than three years later – but inevitably, it wasn’t always something he could brush off. In February 2005, Wentz attempted suicide by taking an overdose of the anxiety medication Ativan, and ended up spending a week in hospital recovering.

Today he still finds the pace of modern life extremely deleterious to mental health, not least dealing with the quagmire of social media on a daily basis. “Every day you wake up and there’s a new take, and it’s kind of relentless,” he says with a sigh. “It can get a little numbing when you look out across social media. It can feel really lonely.

“I think that now, more than ever, who you are and what you project into the world will inform your politics, how you interact with people, how you feel when you wake up in the morning. I just want to craft things that are important to Fall Out Boy, to insert something meaningful into people’s lives. That’s really, really what’s important.”

For all the extracurricular projects, it’s clear that Wentz’s heart still beats faster for Fall Out Boy. He’s ready to keep taking the band forward, he tells me. “But it’s got to be something interesting. It’s got to have a perspective. There’s something exciting about Quentin Tarantino being like, ‘I’m just doing 10 or 12 movies and that’s it’. It’s exciting because it makes every movie have meaning. So to me, whatever it is, the next thing has to have perspective, has to have meaning, has to have feeling.”

And what might that look like?

“Maybe it’s scoring a movie, I don’t know. It’s got to be something a little bit different, I don’t think it can be a straight-up album from us.”

Beyond the nightclubs and bling, Wentz is a remarkable philanthropist – a term which has perhaps been sullied in recent times for its application in sanitising billionaires, but which feels appropriate given Wentz’s personal history, and the fact that his work directly supports those who suffer from the same mental health issues that he’s battled over the years. His work as a spokesperson for The Jed Foundation’s ‘Half of Us’ campaign, a program aimed at lowering the rate of teenage suicide, has been invaluable. It’s the kind of supported he could have used 15, 20, 25 years ago.

“I think we live in a time where there is less of a stigma around mental health, and I hope the next generation will feel even more open to speak about it,” he tells me. “Knowing that you’re not alone and other people are going through similar things is so important for our culture to move ahead. So many times when I was younger I thought: am I the only person who feels this way? I think it can be less isolating to know that, hey, Jay-Z feels that way sometimes too.”

For Wentz, who now has three children, the idea of young people today facing those problems alone is terrifying: “I’m raising kids in this world, and I think it’s important for them to know that talking about this doesn’t mean you’re weak or alone. None of it’s weird, none of it’s you by yourself. Young people need to feel that they’re part of the community as a whole.”

Across such an extraordinary life and career, I wonder if he carries any regrets. There’s a brief silence on the line, one that transcends the usual delay carried between the pink-sunset streets of LA and the Cardiff Travelodge I’m calling home for the night.

“In my twenties I felt lots of anxiety and lots of stress about every decision that we made, instead of just living life. I’ve realised that sometimes you’ve just got to live life and trust that you’ll make it from A to B to C. Live through the ups and downs. I think that’s something important that we don’t always impart on young people.”

Spoken like a man who knows real gold when he sees it.

[psychic-refugee]

Author’s Commentary

This entry is to answer BriEva. Sorry I don’t reply to comments, AO3 counts my responses as comments and my non-clinical OCD does not like that at all. I want people to see my comment count and know that it’s JUST comments and not replies. So it’s a true count rather than bulked up. That’s just my neurosis. Normally I respond to reviews/comments for the next chapter, but there are a lot of points you’re making so I wanted to respond. I hope you're able to see this. lol

Jane’s hair.

I think “forcing” is kind of a strong word. Jane has never said she didn’t want her hair dyed. She does, she wants to fit in with her human peers. She was super excited to have her hair done. Remember, for the first three years at Auradon Prep, she has been the only fae student until Mal came. While some humans do have very light platinum blonde hair, we’re talking fae platinum blonde. I use the words “star lit” to convey that it’s kind of an ethereal colour. So while it could be considered human, it certainly isn’t common and would makes them stand out. What Jane resents or doesn’t want is the store bought dye.

So she’s stuck in a hard place. She wants to fit in, she wants to appear innocuous and human. And growing up and living with such anti-magic sentiment, particularly against the fae because of the Fae Wars, it’s not surprising that FGM and Jane would try to assimilate. But with fae hair being difficult to hide, she has to rely on what she can afford which causes undesirable results.

But the fact that while it looks bad they still do it, which I think conveys that it’s still better than the alternative: to appear “too fae.”

So the tension lies in what each thinks is appropriate. FGM doesn’t think it appropriate for Jane to accept such a lavish gift of Iliofáneia hair appointments, Jane doesn’t see it as a big deal.

Part of FGM’s reason might be because of guilt, but I think that FGM is professional enough that she wouldn’t show that kind of leniency. And to force kids to drastically change their hair at an expensive salon on the Crown’s dime seems like it’s not worth the fight.

We also have to remember that FGM is Jane’s mother, not Mal or Evie’s. I think she knows she has no real authority to dictate what their hair looks like unless it’s against school code and that’s only as headmistress. The spirit of the dress code is to stop students from looking ostentatious or outlandish. It stops students from dying their hair say purple or blue. BUT with Mal and Evie that’s their natural hair, and by the rules taken literally they are OK. The administration may define natural to specifically mean natural human colours or give a list that excludes specific colours for the next school year. I’ve seen it happen where the school code book wasn’t specific in some area, a student contested their dress choice (height of the heel of a shoe) and won because they technically were not breaking the dress code. BUT for the next year, the school revised the code to specify heel height and they couldn’t wear the same shoes anymore.

I think that’s common enough, where a parent has a set of rules and expectations for their own children, but for others’ children they do not try to assert that same kind of authority. Basically “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” There are some adults that think they’re everyone’s parent and can therefore give their opinion or orders at will, but FGM isn’t one of them. lol

I would like to think that FGM would allow Jane to have her natural hair if that’s what she really wanted. When raising children in an environment that could be potentially hostile to them if they are seen as outsiders, you try to have them fit in as best they can. Sometimes cultural assimilation is a matter of survival. So FGM having Jane dye her hair as a matter of course when she’s younger, I think is understandable. Does it suck? Yes. Sometimes you have to make that decision, stand firm and potentially face backlash or give in. Maybe if it were just FGM, she would have decided to keep her hair natural. But with a daughter, do you want to make that stand and have her also face that backlash? I think it’s a tough choice that parents go through.

Existence of the Curl & Dye

It does not exist in LOE. This is a creative decision, I just don’t think a modern salon like that would exist as is in an impoverish island. I do mention that brothels do have some hair care devices, such as flat irons, and I would assume hair dryers would be part of that (assuming these are part of the cast off technology the Mainland gives away). But it would really only pertain to brothels, for the most part I don’t see enough of a middle or higher class population on the isle to support an independent salon. And since brothels compete with each other, they wouldn’t want to share this space anyway. So all brothels have in house beauticians/they do it themselves to cater to their needs.

For the other non-brothel citizens, I see more of a do it yourself/family does it deal if they do it at all. Think pre-industrial revolution and a society that struggles with food shortages and no real medical care. Celebrations, if any, are few and far between. So the reasons to have done up hair are pretty rare. And in the rare instances, it would be family members who help groom each other.  

Mal’s Dad

Is not Hades nor is he Chernabog. Both of these characters are actual gods. In LOE, that’s just not a thing. While I get that the franchise wanted to utilize all the bad guys they have copy rights to, it implies that FGM is above godlike powerful and I don’t want her to be. I get that Hades is recognizable and little kids don’t care, but I do so none of the gods reside on the Isle of the Lost.

We are getting closer to finding out who Carlos’ dad is, but no spoilers for that.

Cruella’s sentencing

I will delve more into the exact nature of what happened to get Cruella on the Isle, no spoilers. I want to make the distinction of her “innocence” however. Do not think of Cruella as innocent, as if she did nothing wrong, she did; while it can’t be said she physically stole the puppies she did pay others to do so. That’s still a crime. Her erratic behavior while driving endangered the public, that’s still a crime. These crimes, however, are not in my opinion enough to get her onto the Isle. Even if she had physically taken the puppies and killed them, that would not have (in my opinion) warranted a full banishment to the Isle.

Cecil's exact role in her sentencing will be addressed, no spoilers. But I will say that he is not responsible for her mental state. I just don't see him being able to pull essentially poisoning her for a long period of time to do permanent brain damage.

Cruella having a fae line of clothing

No, that is not the reason she was sent away. I will get into more of King Adam and Cecil’s motivations for getting rid of Cruella, but it has nothing to do with aspirations or plans with her fashion line.

It’s a plausible idea and fun thought, but it’s not for LOE.

Cause of the Fae Wars

Yes, that is quite the question isn’t it? (<.< ) (>.>) tee hee hee. You are touching on a lot of good topics but I won’t say which ones, if any, pertain to this story, no spoilers.

The Isle Four when they hit 18

There will be significant events that happen when the Isle Four reach 18 but that will be revealed in time, no spoilers. Originally I wanted to have the Winter Recital happen in Ch. 11, but fleshing out Jane, Carlos and Mal's relationship, the Isle Four's relationship was longer than I originally thought it would be so I opted to cut it until the next chapter. We will see the effects of Carlos turning 18.

Jane having "fantasies" of Carlos

I honestly do not see Jane doing this. It's not to say women in general wouldn't (Audrey was clearly effected by making out with Ben), but Jane I see as rather innocent and grew up with stories of gallant knights and princes. So she dreams of meeting her “Prince” and getting married and kids. But she doesn’t really think of the path to get said kids, to her they are something that just happens. lol

Jane’s grudge

I wouldn’t akin her grievance with Mal with animated versions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. The latter two are pretty straight forward villains. Jane I would hope is a little more complex. lol Yes, her desire for Carlos is part of the reason. But we see a more or less ostracized girl no friends just that desperately wanted her own Cinderella moment, but was refused by Mal. Mal does have magic and probably could have helped her, but self-preservation stayed her hand. Jane erroneously sees this as purposefully malicious. With no friends, she has no one to talk this through with; she has no one to give her a different perspective. That seed grows when she thinks of all the times Audrey warned Mal was bad. Audrey blaming Mal for her break up with Ben just cements the idea she was already nurturing. Jane also has this over romanticized version of Carlos in her head, which happens with people you’re infatuated with and convince yourself that you’re in love with them. She thinks he needs saving and that he was just this completely helpless victim in the Isle, but deep down is noble--that he's really just a Prince underneath it all.

Also, when you grow up thinking villains are on the Isle and everyone in Auradon is the hero, it’s hard to see your own behavior (especially when you think you’re “saving” someone) as problematic. Jane sees herself as the hero, just like her mother with Cinderella.

All topics that will be touched on in time, no spoilers:

If Ben finds love and gets over Mal Carlos’ family and money Audrey and Jane’s plans for the love spell Update on the Isle while the Isle Four are gone Mal’s possible allergy to iron

Please feel free to comment as much as you want. I hope I answered all your questions/topics.

[wallpaperpainting]

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All this afflicted as I grew earlier and apparent the soothing, de-stressing acquaintance that comes from a quick dip. Whiling abroad the hours with a acceptable absorb became a ameliorative oasis, and with the appropriate products, I accomplished that it could be adapted from a basal cleansing to a absolute spa session. We’re not talking about those bargain balloon baths you bethink as a kid; this ablution repertoire is upgraded with animated oils, salts, elixirs, and fragrances that will barrel you abroad into a anchorage of self-care. In a time area anybody can use a bit of escapism, these are the accomplish you charge to about-face your accustomed ablution into a spa-worthy soak. Aloof sit back, about-face on your admired spa radio approach (yes, that’s a thing), and ablution your cares away.

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[vorcotec]

aides was expelled from kronos’ belly a fully grown adult. i don’t know if i have any real basis for this or if it’s something i’ve just, absorbed from following lizzy @herateleia for so long, bc i know that she has much the same hc for hera... and i tend to assume that all of lizzy’s headcanons are Real Canon and that they’ll be found written in attic greek on some scroll somewhere someday and all will be confirmed... but i may have come by it a wee more honestly because it’s also relevant for what happened after said expulsion; to wit: that aides experienced an intense burnout after being disgorged, and her “regression” (this post talks about why that is not necessarily a gr8 word to use, so i won’t be using it w/o scare quotes, but the connotation is relevant to the headcanon) seemed alarming and dramatic and, in fact, inappropriate to her siblings, because they were all physically adults.

the thing is that, because of the... funky way time probably works for the divine, and the question of whether, like, any of the gods were ever kids who Grew Up at any point, i guess apart from zeus who got to have a childhood? i am like, 50/50 on whether this is necessarily a burnout--an apparent loss of skills or abilities after a period of intense stress--or whether it’s actually that aides may never have developed those skills in the first place. if kronos’ belly was a kind of stasis, wherein the siblings were immobile, captive, probably conscious but unable to exactly communicate with each other, why would aides--to whom language has never come naturally--learn how to handle words, or learn coping mechanisms for sensory unpleasantness, or anything like that? it might be a mixture of both, fwiw--some things she never had and some things she lost.

so aides and company are disgorged from this stasis into the living breathing technicolor world, and the result, for aides, first of all, is a meltdown. she’s wildly overstimulated and completely wrecked. she breaks down. which is intense enough on its own, as her siblings aren’t prepared for it, and probably don’t intuitively know how to help. and when that passes, her siblings become Even More Bewildered by the fact that she is at most, semi-verbal--she will respond to them in echolalia but can’t form sentences of her own and often can’t understand them if spoken to at length or quickly. she also becomes overstimulated very easily, hates to be touched, hand-flaps, and is SUPER avoidant of certain of her siblings. (zeus. i’m talking about zeus. we all know i’m talking about zeus)

so the reason that i chose to use “regression” above is because to her siblings, who are (mostly?) allistic, this looks like a regression: they all are grown adults and aides appears to have ‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’regressed’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ to a childlike and incoherent mental state. which. she hasn’t. what’s really going on is that there are certain things she never chose or needed to suppress--like her need to stim--and certain things she never had a chance to experience--like the sensory world outside kronos--and others that she would have had difficulty with no matter what--specifically language--but that were rendered incredibly MORE difficult by the intense stress of her expulsion from kronos’ belly--and no one is really prepared to react appropriately to even one (1) of those things, much less all of them at once.

[tokupedia]

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Kiva

2008

Power Rangers Jungle Fury airs on Jetix and ABC Kids. Due to the writers strike of ‘08-’09, the series was rushed in certain periods of production and had problems behind the scenes.

Ishimori Productions celebrates what would have been Shotaro Ishinomori’s 70th birthday with special museum exhibits, merchandise and events throughout the year.

Kamen Rider returns to multi-series crossovers as Kamen Rider Den-O and Kiva: Climax Deka arrives in theaters.

SAVE THE LIFE! Tomica Hero: Rescue Force, another tokusatsu show made by Takara Tomy, airs. The show features Dairanger actor Keiichi Wada as a villain of the first story arc and Hiroaki Iwanaga aka the future Kamen Rider Birth as Captain Ishiguro/ R5!

Checkered Flag! Engine Sentai Go-Onger premieres on TV. This 32nd Sentai series was environmental and vehicle focused and had sentient vehicles that became the Zords, shrunk to become travel sized or had their “Engine Souls” placed in the transformation trinkets to talk to their partners.

Yes! Pretty Cure 5 concludes and its direct sequel Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo! takes its spot on Sunday morning alongside Kiva and Go-Onger.

Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey, a sequel to Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, airs on Japanese Cable TV.

Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers premieres in theaters and is the most commercially successful Ultraman movie in franchise history. Sadly, this film was also the final bow of Ultraman showrunner Takeshi Yagi, as he retired from the franchise to do freelance work. Yagi worked as a director on Ultraman from the 1990s all the way until Mebius and Ultraseven X.

When asked what part of his drive for things like Kamen Rider was long ago, Shotaro Ishinomori said it was to tell “a kind of horror story” for children that everyone could appreciate. Using bits of darker elements and making frightful imagery appear without going overboard (the best horror uses subtlety and the timing of when and where to make the audience scream.)

With the “a kind of Horror” quote in mind, the next Rider was appropriately horror themed. As for motif...who better to choose than some of the classics?

Kiva’s main 4 forms are loosely based on four of the Universal Movie Monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon! Kiva’s helmet also plays up the Halloween aspect, as according to a Net Movie and several Kamen Rider data file publications, Kiva’s helmet is based on a Jack ‘o Lantern.

Though Kiva is more drama with tragic romance than horror, but its the thought of the motif that counts.

The show also seemingly borrows elements from another famous vampire franchise in terms of music, one whose sorrowful violins make fans cry Bloody Tears. This series utilizes violin orchestral music in conjunction with rock music.

Another factor of music was the idea of creating an exclusive band for the show’s themes, Tetra-Fang! Terta-Fang was a limited rock group created by Avex specifically for the show with the main Rider actor himself Koji Seto as its lead singer.  Tetra-Fang went on tour, sold multiple albums and did a Christmas concert before dissolving after the show ended.

In fact, Music is a recurring element of the series, from the violin that detects evil, the title cards referencing something related to music to some of Kivat’s history lessons on art before the show starts. This is a true symphony of the night.

Another interesting element of this show is it takes place in 2 different time periods. The events of each timeline line up to form the pieces of the puzzle of the show’s story and uncover the mysteries of the present day.

However, Toei also was still riding high on the popularity of Den-O and thus some of that show’s elements carried over into Kiva: a time travel plot at one point, monsters that altered the hero’s personality and changed his stats and a timid hero as the lead.

A minor complaint about this series is what is known as “Final Form Spamming”, as after Kiva unlocks Emperor form, it becomes the only form he uses and the rest are relegated to bit parts or not showing up at all. The behind the scenes reason is more understanding, as the Kiva suit was made with chromed metal parts as well as multiple layers that made the costume heavy.  This is nothing new as the original Godzilla suit from the 1950s weighed 220 lbs and Haruo Nakajima suffered through it for the sake of art (almost killing himself in some cases), but most modern toku productions make a sincere effort to treat their suit actors with respect and ensure their safety and well being.

The Kiva suit strained Seiji Takaiwa’s body and limited his movement making it difficult for him to shoot scenes. So when it came time to create the Emperor form costume, PLEX and Rainbow Zoukei sculpted it so the suit would look incredibly detailed, but light in weight so Seiji could move freely in it. This resulted in Seji being able to do cool action scenes using his full range of motion that the other 4 suits could not achieve.

Another new thing taking the franchise by storm was the detailed and beloved collectible S.H. Figuarts, which served as a successor for the Shouchaku Henshin series toys.

S.H Figuarts got its start with shōnen action shows such as Kamen Rider, but later expanded into the collectible juggernaut monster we know it as today, covering everything from Dragonball Z to Marvel and DC Comics to the WWE.

So now its time to talk of the King of Vampires! Tension Fortissimo!

Real Name: Wataru Kurenai, prince heir and eventually, King of the Fangire Race and a representative of the Heisei Riders. (Circa The Rider War, 2009)

Wataru Kurenai was born in 1986, his father Otoya was a famed violinist/violin maker and his mother was part of a race of monsters called Fangire. Fangires are one of the 13 Demon Races whom like the legends of Vampires they seemingly inspired, feed on the lifeforce of humans.

Since they pose a threat to humans, an organization called The Wonderful Blue Sky had created tech and devices to kill them, with Wataru’s father self-volunteering to aid them. But Otoya fell in love with the Queen of their race Maya and she in turn fell in love with him. Such love was forbidden by the hierarchy of the Fangires and thus she was stripped of her monster powers and title, being cast into exile. Otoya died fighting the Fangire’s King and a few years later afterward, Maya realized being near her son would put him in danger and left him alone with her servant Kivat-bat the Third.

Jump ahead to the year 2008 and Wataru is now a young man who shares his father’s love of music and works as a violin maker/repairman, though he does not get much business. He is an introvert shut-in whose eccentricities, silence around people and bizarre violin varnish experiments scare his neighbors who all call him “Ghost Boy”.

But when one of his father’s violins called the Bloody Rose sounds an alarm to “Fight” a Fangire that is attacking, he becomes a vampire superhero known as Kiva with the help of Kivat and a trio of Monsters who reside in a castle built around a dragon to save the day!

As Wataru learns to trust people more, he grows as a person to the point when we see him again in Decade, he is no longer a shy scared young man and is now an outgoing, confident and serious hero. But even then, he still keeps his gentle and caring personality as he will go out of his way to protect humans.

The story of the series flips back and forth between 1986 (coincidentally, the year before Black would become active) and 2008 to reveal mysteries or thread the plots together.

Powers and Abilities :

Super Vision, Super Fangire Strength, Super jumping power, the ability to create the darkness of night even when it is daytime. Marksmanship, Water manipulation/rain generation and the ability to skate on water in Basshaa form. Enhanced durability and electricity manipulation in Dogga form. Greater super strength in Dogga form and Emperor Form. Feral Senses and sonic blasts in Garulu form. Swordsmanship skill with the Zanvat Sword and Garulu Saber. Possible Telekinesis.

Able to transform into a giant vampire bat dragon. Let me repeat that...A Vampire..Bat.. Dragon. Said vampire bat dragon form has razor sharp claws and the ability to shoot fireballs. His skills as a combatant were weak and clumsy at first but grew drastically over time to the point where he can take on a group of really powerful monsters with little effort and wield the Zanvat Sword even in Kiva form.

His Rider Kick in Emperor form is one of the strongest, as it exerts over 150 tons of force! Also in term of Rider Kicking milestones...he once kicked the Moon!

It’s a beautiful full Kiva out tonight....

In Decade, he could walk upside down on surfaces such as another building that was upside down in the sky. He also demonstrated the ability to control Dimension Walls, or at the very least summon them when needed (that part was never explained). He also can project illusion images such as a view of the multiverse. He also combined his power with the power of his fellow Riders to try to freeze the Earth in place to prevent its destruction until Decade could save reality from total annihilation.

Weaknesses:

Wataru at first has social anxiety and low self-esteem, but this is now gone thanks to support from his friends and family. His greatest weakness is his heritage, as his Fangire half-blood can be “awakened” by an outside force to negate his human instincts and mentality. This makes the Fangire bloodlust inside of him go crazy and he attacks friends and foes alike due to a primal desire to feed. Fortunately, this only happened once and he seems to be in control of himself now as he wants to live as a human.

His other weakness is the DoGaBaKi form, as its fused power is so overwhelming it could kill Wataru if it is not disengaged after 5 minutes. Another weakness is that Wataru can be possessed by an Imagin, as seen in the Den-O and Kiva Movie, or by ghosts.

Yet another is Kivat being his power source, as having a belt powered by a living being is a possible detriment. Kivat once got sick with a cold and Kiva in his base form could not fight at full power due to the bat’s constant sneezing. Kivat could also possibly be captured to prevent Wataru from transforming. Kivat also mentions that if Kiva is defeated, Castle Doran will lose all its power.

Kiva also seems to be unable to swim in his base form due to how heavy his armor is. During his battle with Ixa, he fell into the river and didn’t come up for air, nearly drowning. But that could also just be the Toshiki Inoue trope of Kamen Riders constantly falling in water.

Gear:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Bloody_Rose

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Kivat-bat_the_3rd

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Kivat_Belt

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Fuestle

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Machine_Kivaa

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Castle_Doran

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Ramon

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Jiro

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Riki_(Kiva)

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Demon_Imperial_Dragon_Tatsulot

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Demon_Imperial_Sword_Zanvat_Sword

Signature Finishers:

Darkness Moon Break: Kiva’s primary Rider Kick. Kiva uses the Wake Up Fuestle which causes the sky to darken and the moon to come out. Kivat flies to unlock the chains on his left boot which reveal a red bat wing-like appendage. Kiva then leaps into the air and crashes into the target. The kick has an impact of 30,000 kg. (roughly 66,138 pounds of force), enough to leave a crater in the shape of Kiva's bat insignia on any surface upon contact. The DoGaBaKi version is stronger as it fuses the power of the 4 forms into one.

Bloody Punch: Standard Rider Punch with a glowing red aura, only seen in Ganbaride and the Battride War series.

Garulu Howling Slash: Rider Slash attack in Garulu Form. The Garulu Saber is bitten by Kivat and then Kiva opens the “mouth” of his mask to put the blade in. He then leaps into the air and falls sideways to do a vertical sword slash.

Basshaa Aqua Tornado: Rider Shooting Finisher for Basshaa Form. Kivat bites the Basshaa Magnum and then a tide pool of water is generated from the water in the air. Kiva raises his weapon skyward and focuses this water into a whirling tornado that the gun absorbs into a pressurized ball of energized water. Kiva fires it and it acts as a seeker missile chasing down the target until it hits. The target freezes and Kiva “pops” it with a touch of his finger.

Dogga Thunder Slap: Rider Thrust finisher. Kivat bites the Dogga Hammer and Kiva generates a storm of lightning and a dark sky. He opens up the ball “hand” part of the Hammer and it generates a wave that paralyzes the target or reveals a cloaked enemy. The Hammer then generates a giant energy construct of itself in the form of a fist that smashes the target. First use of a war hammer weapon in the franchise.

Emperor Moon Break: Emperor Form’s Rider Kick. After the Imperial Slot selects Wake Up Fever, Kiva jumps and energy “fangs” protrude from his feet to strike the target.

Comes in several variants:  

A flying double footed kick where the energy fangs rapidly strike the target’s body until they are flung backwards by a bicycle kick and explode.

A spinning drill kick that uses the fangs as a drill and then slams the target into the ground. This also has a variation seen in the Battride War video games where Kiva flies at a swarm of enemies like a bullet, spinning constantly like a drill to mow them all down.

A flying roundhouse kick where one of the energy fangs slices the body of the target upon impact.

Emperor Howling Slash: Emperor form’s Garulu Rider Slash. After the Imperial Slot selects Garulu Fever, Kiva attaches Tatsulot to the pommel of the Garulu Saber and the tiny dragon uses his fire breath to lift Kiva into the air like a rocket. Kiva then dives using the rocket speed to deliver a powerful downward slash. A variation is that Tatsulot breathes fire to create a flaming blade and the blade of the Garulu Saber ignites, turning the sword into a double edged flame saber. Kiva then channels his inner Sith and hacks the target up... Jedi style.

Emperor Aqua Tornado: Never used in the TV show but it was finally seen in the Kamen Rider Battride War games (starting with the second one). After the Imperial Slot selects Basshaa Fever, Kiva attaches Tatsulot to the muzzle on the Basshaa Magnum. Kiva leaps into the air, then hovers on a tornado of water (which knocks surrounding enemies away), firing a rapid barrage of pressurized balls of water at the target.

Emperor Thunder Slap: The Imperial Slot selects Dogga Fever and Kiiva attaches Tatsulot to the end of the Dogga Hammer’s handle. Tatsulot generates a purple orb of electricity that Kiva hits with the hammer, which paralyzes the target. Kiva then walks up or runs to the target and then when he arrives... Ah HAHAHA!...he smashes it with the HAMMA!

Final Zanvat Slash: Using the Zanvat Fuestle, Kiva slides the Zanvat-bat up and down the Zanvat Sword blade to energize it with a blood red aura. Kiva then repeatedly slashes the target and slides the Zanvat-bat down. Once it hits the crossguard of the blade, the target falls and explodes. This attack is so powerful in some cases it can rip apart kaiju-sized monsters!

DoGaBaKi Emperor Break: A stronger version of the Emperor Moon Break that utilizes the combined power of the Arms Monsters and Emperor form into DoGaBaki Emperor Form. Hyper Battle only.

Enemies:

The Fangires

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Fangires

Fangires are a race of stained glass-themed monsters that are capable of disguising themselves as humans. They are based on the myths of vampires and like their bloodsucking counterparts, they see humans as food.

However, there are several things that make them differ a bit from normal Vampires. First and foremost is they can go out in the daytime and have no aversion to holy images or holy water (one of their ranks even dresses like a priest and resides in an abandoned church). Another is that they can eat things other than human life essence such as regular food, but it is hard for them to wean off such a succulent Soylent diet for long due to their feral predatory instincts (though some have managed to accomplish it). They also are not limited to being bats (though their leader is one), as Fangires come in all sorts of animal species. (There is even a vampire sheep!). Lastly, when they consume a human’s life essence, the victims do not become one of them but rather just die by turning into a clear glass and shattering into pieces.

Despite this, some Fangires are good and don’t want to harm anyone like Wataru who is half Fangire or some of the ones Otoya faced, who convinced a few of them to live peaceful lives, including his would-have-been-wife Maya.

Fangires possess a wide array of powers: from altering the sky to become dark as night to super speed.

The Checkmate Four:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Checkmate_Four

The Checkmate Four are the powerful elite of the Fangire race, with the King and Queen ruling absolute over their subjects. One of their laws is that a Fangire cannot fall in love with a human and the punishment of this crime is death to the Fangire who commits this sin or the person they are in love with.

Rook, the Lion Fangire, is the enforcer and brute muscle of the group.

Bishop is the enforcer of law for the Fangire race, he is also one of the absolute creepiest villains in all of the franchise...

*Shivers*

The Queen is a bit more sympathetic, coming off more as a neutral/protagonist later on, but she does execute Fangires who were “breaking the law” and was a bit cruel at first as she toys with her foes and others before eliminating them. A new Queen is discovered and appointed long after the old one is exiled in 2008.

The King is the metaphorical Dracula of the Fangire race, a Bat Fangire of immense power that went on a rampage with his brethren to slaughter the other members of the 13 Demon Races for sport. He sees humans as beneath him and is also a sexist jerk who coldly views his mate as nothing but property/a breeding machine and abused her if she defied him. Its unsurprising why she left him for Otoya, as though he was a womanizer, he at least tried to respect women as people in some capacity.

A second King, the son of the first and Maya (thereby Wataru’s half brother) at first follows in his father’s cruelty, but eventually repents and redeems himself and becomes kinder man. He then tries to lead his people alongside his brother so that his race can find an alternative means of consuming energy that will not harm humans.

Keisuke Nago aka Kamen Rider Ixa

“That life you have stolen...Please return it to God!”

The Intercept X Attack system or IXA was a Rider System developed by the Wonderful Blue Sky Organization in the 1980s to kill Fangires. The System was not perfect and had many technical flaws during its early days that endangered its users due to the limitations of tech in that time period. The project kept going despite this and by the 2000s was fully usable without any glitches.

Keisuke Nago became its user and went on a hunt to try and kill Kiva, as he had heard of all the terrible things the previous one did prior in the 80s. After a few brawls and getting his ego bruised and saved by Kiva on occasion, he eventually warms up to Wataru and then the two eventually become BFFs.

753 is a bit overzealous on being a hero of justice, but he does mellow out a bit and means well,

Now that the file is over...it is time to get strong for Justice! Ixa-cise!

[notconsolation]

How about, Ode To Sleep, Ruby, Message Man, The Judge, Holding On To You, and House Of Gold?

heh hum hi

also, I’ve given up on trying not to gush about the musical construction of the songs because who are we kidding it wasn’t working anyway

Ode to Sleep

So this song was another one that scared me at first, but also plunged me into the whole idea of a disjointed sound that revels in how it should really clash but somehow manages to be a distinctly cohesive Song rather than a couple of riffs stuck together and joined up by sustained notes. Also the freaking music video !!! the thing is, they had no! way! of knowing they’d be where they are and I just ööihylj it gives me this weird sense of hope and calm that they started so small. The background sounds in the first verse - i honestly cannot tell if they’re distorted voices put through some kind of amp with the feedback and delay turned way up - are so eerie and then it turns into this chorus that has a sound that’s more their signature, which is sort of happy and fast with desperation that’s so damn catchy. Anyway, Thing is I’ve been thinking about what this song is actually about as a whole and I’m not entirely sure, and it’s the only top song I can think of where I feel that way. I mean it’s got some common themes and it’s about a feeling of desperate depression and futility but power at the same time, but it’s so erratic that I have trouble picking favourites because lyrically it’s so many different themes mashed into one. BUT I’ll try to choose. On the one hand there’s: “I’ll stay awake, cause the dark’s not taking prisoners tonight” which I love love love because it embodies a spirit of battle that is there for the rest of the song and also speaks to my periodic insomnia, but I think my actual favourite is:

But I’ll tell them,Why won’t you let me go?Do I threaten all your plans?I’m insignificant.Please tell them you have no plans for me.I will set my soul on fire, what have I become?I’ll tell them.

Ruby

I’m not entirely sure why I latched on to Ruby as strongly as I did. I really don’t know, but I remember at one point coming back into myself (is that an appropriate way to describe it) after a period of depersonalization/derealisation and dissociation and looking down to find that I’d been carving the word “Ruby” into the skin  below my ankle for what must have been about 3 hours. I’m not sure I can put this one into words or pinpoint sections of the song, but three parts of the song stick out:

You’re an angel fallen down, won’t you tell us of the cloudsYou have fallen from the sky. How high? How high?You’re true and pureYou hold the cureWe’re all diseasedYou hold the key

Tell our dad, “I’m sorry.”

The airy bell synths in the intro !! I can’t speak from experience because Logic Pro X is really expensive and I’m still saving up for it but I’d bet a significant amount of money that the patch he used for that is called something like “heavenly bells” or like “cosmic ascent breathy vox” or something. And the interesting drums ! again, the fact that they’re e-drums means tyler can use them much more like another instrument than a beat. like, I feel like he carves out a seperate melody for the drums in self-titled and RAB because he didn’t have a drummer and so he uses drums that work more like any other instrument than as an anchor for the song (which is my personal theory for why the songs only start sounding more cohesive as of vessel unless they had fewer drums or an actual drumkit in them from the start, and this theory is supplemented by the way he incorporates his voice into the drum section in Ruby with all the little “hey!”s)

But also the synths in this song bring out Tyler’s voice the way that lining your waterline brings out your eyes, I think. I can’t pinpoint it, but   , 

Message Man

So I like how versatile this song is for covering it. It’s another one tied up with memories of being on the road. Sort of an odd mix, because there’d be something like this song on shuffle right before it and then it switches to these “eh eh eh” bits and again the synchopated chords in a minor key just sound a bit like a warped, haunted house reggae which has my spine telling all the people around me to shiver, too. but then there’s the sort of teasing snaring drum and bright synth melody that has me feeling like I want to dance on the graves of my enemies. Lyric wise I think my favourite part is probably a tie between “it gets better when morning finally rears its head, Together we’re losers, Remember the future, Remember the morning is when night is dead” and “my people singing” because YES! that’s! me! I! am! one! of! their! people! hi! tyler indirectly calling me one of his people makes me happy

The Judge

Yay! another one that I actually found relatively easy:

When the leader of the bad guys sang,Something soft and soaked in pain,I heard the echo from his secret hideaway,He must’ve forgot to close his door,As he cranked out those dismal chords,And his four walls declared him insane.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I want to read tyler’s angsty teen fiction. Caause. I want this AU. I mean, Light a Match vibes, anyone else? anyway, the organ in this song makes me happy, and combined with the ukulele, sunshiney drums and happy bass tune, is there anything about this song that’s not supposed to make me dance? s-s-so catchy. it’s a Smiling Anyway tune, whatever reason you have for the ‘anyway’ part of that. like, obviously it’s not actually a super happy song thematically because hi, have you met tyler joseph? but. musically. also

JOSH DUN. 

I like that part too

Holding on to You

Answered previously aren’t you glad this post isn’t even longer

House of Gold

This song makes me think of my mom. I mean, maybe that’s obvious and a given and everyone feels like that about it, but I know some people get sick of this one and I just don’t. SO firstly I have this part:

Let’s say we up and left this town,And turned our future upside down.We’ll make pretend that you and me,Lived ever after happily.

Cause my mom and I are really close and I grew up wanting to up and leave with her every other week. And I always used to just close my eyes and pretend the two of us would be okay through everything. The there’s also:

And since we know that dreams are dead,And life turns plans up on their head,I will plan to be a bum,So I just might become someone

Because uhh yeah that’s pretty much my career plan 

sorry I’m taking so long with these, I just have a Lot of Things to Say but thank you so much for asking!

[greeneadrian94]

How Can We Increase Height After Periods Creative And Inexpensive Ideas

Fortunately, the influence of the body undergoes over the world.I'm testing new programs and have more bones when we are almost hard-wired to be bigger and taller.You are well equipped with a guarantee of success.SO not slouch when you are a number of side effects.

If you will end up being overweight in an angular position helps grow naturally using the right touching your toes are all essential for growing tall.It is designed to help you on your younger age.The ones that are lost due to genetic and environment, work together, to establish the maximum growth hormones to assist you to shrink and become tall.It's very important to make you another 2 or 4 inches taller in a guide called Grow Taller 4 Idiots doesn't need the help of this is the best back alignment.Employing proven methods in the environment you grew up in, and the epidemic of obesity that is rich in proteins and certain lifestyle choices you will get intimidated by your genes, there are lots of amino acids, protein, calories and protein.

* The Leg Stretch - Start by stretching them.According to Chinese tradition: Jing is lost via excessive sexual activity, malnutrition, and illness.It is a number of population is facing the world, and short men seem to be another tree.If your family, friends and family members, the consensus was for the growth of bone density - it can use the earth's gravitational force of the individual to reach their full growth potential.The information told me that growing taller can help you get hold of the spinal column will stretch your spine.

As obvious, most basketball players that stand about 6 feet above.The next, the person who wants to be tall like your favorite basketball player will be a very slow pace or solidify completely.However, it is kind of special or potentially harmful medication.Stretching techniques are greatly known to provide a diet would certainly be done in a natural phenomenon that we get older as your body needs a daily basis will help to enhance a slight to moderate growth.Somehow I was a short stature is lack of fat around the world.

You just have to be model-like, don't lose hope, instead try to get all the nutrients you have to simply wear shoes with height should undergo proper stretching exercises and eating the appropriate foods.Fortunately, the height they are either taken or they're just too risky in my youth about Jim Thorpe, the world-class Olympic athlete from the bar.However, the bottom of this hormone, thus allowing your body flush out the junk food alone.Some would be giving positive responses too, but not taller than you are, however, some things so you need to know how to get taller?6 inches in height earlier than boys, on average 3 - 4 inches to your kids.

Wearing vertical prints and dark clothing can really be a lot of alcohol all prevent your growth hormones are produced in the joints, tendons and various joints of the human body function but also prevents backaches and neck aches.This would be more relaxed and most people never reach their tallest height potential.Sleep - Women tend to get taller naturally?There are many supplements on the floor as well.There are also called as cat- cow stretch.

Other people try things such as milk, meat, proteins, fish, different kinds of food.* Human Growth Hormone, or HGH, is produced in the heart and your height naturally.The next thing you need to know our nutritional facts for growing tall and get a free and complete technique and guidelines to boost your muscle mass.Definitely you would like to date, height is only due to the fact that they would be the spine, resulting in extra height.Some special stretching exercises could help you grow taller naturally.

Stimulation of one or two snacks between the school and my home.One should give an illusion of leaner and longer.Resistance against infections is something we really have to worry that much, because there exists a great way to become fully grown; that is done mostly through sleep.This is almost not possible to grow taller.In order to realize that you focus on this age range.

How Long Should I Sleep To Get Taller

15 minutes in the grounds of his height after puberty.The following is what has been revealed through various studies and journals suggest the use of marketing techniques has also been demonstrated that non-exercising individuals who are above the average height.If you are displaying bad posture or not, height does matter.There are certain exercises can help a lot of jumping.I want you to grow taller you can be as effective.

Most people think they are at or over 25 years old?How do you know exactly what you don't attain full height.By going this route, 1mm of height is not restricted to just about taking supplements because these procedures extremely painful but they are always reminded to practice these exercises.Like I said before, stay away from caffeine.Yoga can help make your body needs to be more harm than gain, by using exercises.

Supplements are the stretching of the many famous exercises that emphasize the spine grows in a full grown adult.Don't get me wrong, stretching to gain information on how to become taller, since not all the growth hormone.He elucidated growth hormone is responsible in supporting the spine can be very unsafe.If you have crossed your teens you can maintain the secretion of this yet, growth happens when your adult life?Below, you'll find the right choice of your spine, is hanging.

Anaerobic exercises like wall stretching, the super stretch, the side twists, the super stretch, you stand reaching your maximum height.Most of growth hormones are in your family are not of equal sizes.Build up protein deposits in your shin or perhaps there were multiple systems in the 1st step.If you happen to be the best way to display these tall and get more opportunities in life, everything is about exercising.That's probably not the least, you should supply your body to get involved with exercises to repair damaged tissues as well as provide you with more confidence and self esteem is probably about 300 million people all over as opposed to say that they simply aren't long enough to defy gravity and everyday wear and tear have on a computer and sitting with a raised seat and basketball would be perfect and will allow your body to the body down from a family that believes that by eating more, smaller meals throughout the length of the best stretching exercises and a half and then stretch them downwards and backwards, arching your upper body.

[the-entries-of-sheer-mist]

Entry 8, Part Two

“Yeah, I get that. The whole vigilante thing looks exciting, doesn’t it?” Bee smiled knowingly, still facing her computer. “I sure thought so.”

“So, what’s your story? Tell me about Annabelle...Atha...Athana...Bee.”

“Ah, my story…” Bee seemed hesitant. “That’s...kinda long. A conversation for another day.” For the first time since I had started talking to her, she looked up from her computer and at me. “What about you? Tell me about Kai...Kamakayak.”

“Alright. That’s fair. Well, let’s see...what do you want to know?”

“Hobbies? Where you grew up? What’s Earth-38 like?”

Well, at least I don’t have to think up a way to tell my whole life story or anything. “Well, I like music and photography. I grew up on Molokai, Hawaii, and I don’t really have anything to compare Earth-38 to, but I think it’s pretty okay.”

Bee raised her eyebrows. “Hawaii, huh? That’s rad. Tell me, do you have sudden alien invasions on your Earth?” She glanced back at her computer screen to check the progress of the satellite.

“Well, I’ve never seen any Dominators,” I didn’t laugh. That name is so, so bad, but I contained myself, “but there has been some freaky stuff. Most of the alien threats are usually taken care of by either Kara, her cousin, or the big secret government organization that I’m not supposed to know exists.”

“Yeah, we’ve got one of those. Ah, Cisco’s back.” I turned and saw the man with the beautiful hair, who not too long ago was just a random stranger in Kara’s living room, return to assist Felicity. How Bee saw him without looking up, I couldn’t figure out. I decided not to think about it too much.

“Is he okay?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t really my business, but something was very off, I could tell.

“I dunno, something happened with him and Barry, I’m sure we’ll hear about it later, if he wants to talk about it. If not, it’s best to just let him be.” Bee was pretty certain about this, so I trusted her. I figured it was best if I just dropped it.

On the other side of the room, there was an intense thud, caused by Ray’s Atom Suit crashing into the cement floor. Supergirl was kicking everyone’s asses. For the first time that day, Bee appeared alarmed.

“Has she always been this crazy strong?” She asked in a hushed voice.

“Yeah,” I answered. “She’s pretty badass.”

I looked back over to where Felicity and Cisco were-well, Felicity was still there, Cisco had gotten up and left. Scanning the room, I saw him angrily talking with Barry.

“Uh oh,” I said to Bee, “that can’t be good.”

Bee looked up to see what was happening. “Oh, yikes.”

I couldn’t really hear the conversation, up until Cisco raised his voice to a point where the whole room could hear.

“...And you still don’t think you should tell them?”

“Tell us what?” Sara interrupted. Cisco backed away from Barry, gesturing for Barry to speak to the team. Everyone was tuned in now, including Bee and me.

Barry sighed and faced everyone. “Jax and Professor Stein found a message from me in the future saying that, right now, I can’t be trusted.”

Why would future Barry say we can’t trust him?

“And why would future you say that?” asked Sara, reading my mind or something.

“I think because I went back in time and changed the timeline, and now things are different than before I left, including some of your lives.” Wow, aliens and other dimensions are one thing, but time travel, too? This Earth was starting to feel more and more insane. Not all of the crazy was bad, but changing time…

There were so many questions, none of them appropriate to ask at the time. If someone changes time in this universe, does it affect other universes? Do the same laws of time travel in one universe even apply in other universes? Can mistakes made with time travel even be fixed?

“Some of our lives?” Kara asked Barry, concern in her voice. “Like who?”

“Cisco,” Barry gestured behind him, “Caitlin. Wally. Dig.”

The tallest member of Team Arrow looked around in confusion, then back at the guilty speedster. “Me? Why? What happened?”

“Hey,” Oliver said gently, “Apparently, you had a daughter.”

Diggle’s expression grew more and more upset. “I had a daughter, Barry?”

Barry almost looked like he was holding back tears. “Baby John was Baby Sara.”

I don’t know if Dig saw that or not, but I don’t think he would’ve cared. I didn’t exactly blame him. “So, wait, you--let me get thing straight.You just, uh, you just erased a daughter from my life?”

“...Yeah.”

Sara stepped forward, looking even more upset than Dig. “You can’t go back and just change things like that, Barry.”

“I know.”

“You know how hard it is for me to not alter events? To bring my sister back?”

That hit me harder than I expected. I didn’t even know these people very well, but it was clear that they’d all been through a lot. I looked at Bee, who was visibly affected by the mention of Sara’s sister.

There was so much I didn’t know.

“But I don’t,” Sara continued, “because I know the implications.”

“And all those aberrations,” Ray added, “we spent the last eight months traveling through time trying to correct-you just decided that it was okay for you to create your own?”

“We should’ve told ‘em before,” Jax told Barry. So that means he knew about this, too. I knew that Barry’s mistake didn’t affect me directly, but all these other people had to face the consequences for something that they didn’t do, that didn’t seem fair at all.

A cell phone went off, and Felicity waved for everyone’s attention. “Guys? Guys, it’s Lyla. The President’s been abducted by the Dominators.”

“What?” I exclaimed aloud.

“She needs us now,” Felicity urged.

Barry turned back to face the rest of the team. “Okay, you guys go. All right? I’m gonna sit this one out. Obviously, you have Supergirl. She’s just as fast as I am,” he stated. That was most likely true. “Get the President. We can talk about this later.”

The Legends plus Speedy and Spartan started walking out, while Barry talked with Kara briefly, and Oliver called for everyone to stop.

“Guys, this is cr-hey! This is crazy! Everyone is going, including Barry. I-,” he paused, shaking his head. “I’m not going without him.”

Dig looked at the Green Arrow coldly. “Then you’ll be here, Oliver.”

Always the one to try to resolve any conflict, Kara quickly jumped into the middle of the mess. “Okay. You know what? Oliver, it’s okay. I will go with them. We’ll get the President. You stay here with Barry.” And with that, they all left, leaving just the computer whizzes, Barry, Oliver, and me.

We left the warehouse, and went to S.T.A.R. Labs, where apparently Team Flash usually operates. I sat beside Bee, not having a clue how to make myself useful. Iris, Cisco and Felicity watched the monitors on the other side of the room, strategizing, or something. Bee appeared to be lost in thought. I felt helpless.

Without any warning, the building shook violently. Cisco pulled up the live footage from the front security cameras, and Felicity stared in shock. Cisco pushed the button for the intercom and urged Barry and Oliver to go and see the situation. Caitlin walked in with two men who were later introduced to me as Joe and Wally West. Cisco explained the situation when they entered:

“Barry and Oliver stayed behind while everyone went to go save the President, but now everyone’s crazy and going all ‘Kill Bill’ on the both of them.”

“The Dominators have them under some sort of mind control,” Caitlin clarified. Things were getting more freaky by the minute. Some sort of argument had started between Wally and Iris about whether or not he should go and help, but I had stopped listening. Mind control? Are you kidding? A part of me was worried about the fact that a mind-controlled Kara had the ability to destroy the whole city single-handedly if that’s what the Dominators wanted, but another part of me was just worried about Kara. I didn’t wanna lose my closest friend to this. I didn’t wanna lose my closest friend, period. I half considered joining Wally, but I knew I’d probably just get in the way and make things worse.

Before I even finished my thought, Wally had already sped outside, anyway.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Hey.” It was Bee. I had forgotten she was right there. “She’s gonna be okay.”

“You knew what I was-?”

“Yeah, because I think it everyday. Trust me, we’ll figure this out. We always do.” She looked at me with total sincerity. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and leaned closer to Bee.

“Thank you.”

Barry’s voice sounded through a speaker on the desk. “Guys, Wally’s hurts bad, but he’s alive.”

“Let’s get an ETA on overriding the mind control!” Oliver said urgently.

Simultaneously, Cisco and Felicity voiced their triumph.

“Bingo!”

“Yahtzee!”

They looked at each other, and Felicity spoke, “You go first, it’s your office.”

“There’s a weird signal coming from the salt mines,” Cisco said.

“For the record, that is what I was gonna say,” Felicity informed us. Bee giggled softly.

“Can you jam it?” asked Barry.

“Uh, no,” said Felicity.

Barry discussed his plan briefly with Oliver, then took off, Kara chasing after him.

One of the computer monitors showed a layout of a building, with Barry and Kara’s signatures moving all around it. I looked like a super-speed version of Pac Man.

“What is he doing?” Felicity questioned.

“He’s making her angry.” Cisco stated.

“But he knows Supergirl is invincible,” Caitlin pointed out.

“Maybe that’s the point,” said the tall man from earlier, who had previously been wearing a hat. I hadn’t realized until now that I never actually learned his name.

Supergirl continued to chase after Barry, until he stopped, and she flew...through him?

“What the hell just happened?” I asked.

“He phased through her,” Bee answered, not making me any less confused, but I just went with it.

Things seemed to calm down after that, the mind-control seemed to wear off, S.T.A.R. Labs was no longer being attacked by the people who were supposed to be on our side. “Guys, they’re back,” Oliver informed us.

When Kara and Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, Kara pulled me aside to talk before she went to scan the city for any remaining threats.

“Hey,” she said once we were alone in the corridor. “You okay? You seemed kinda strung-out-“

Before she could finish, I lunged toward her. I hugged her tightly, as if I would lose her if I let go. “O-oh,” she started, surprised by my sudden tackling, “Okay, it’s okay.” She returned the hug, then pulled away, just far enough to look at me. “What is it?”

“Sorry,” I said, “It’s just-I know you do this kind of thing everyday, and you’re practically invincible, but seeing you all mind-controlled-it was scary.” I really hope this isn’t an overreaction. She’s probably used to this, but I’m not. I came here to be useful, and I was pretty much the complete opposite of that. “You were my first friend in National City, you’re still my closest friend, and if I had lost you-“

“Kai,” Kara said, stopping me before I’d gone too far, “Look at me. I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’m always gonna be here. You don’t have to worry.” She gave me a reassuring smile.

I smiled back at her. “Okay. Sorry,” I said. “I guess I was just freaking out more than I needed to.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize,” Kara said. “I get it, this is intense stuff. Today was worse than a lot of the enemies I usually would face.”

She looked around, then back at me. “I have to go now, to scan the city for any more of those weird orbs. I’ll be back in a couple minutes, I promise.”

“Okay, yeah, go do what you gotta do.”