#the gif cracks me up because it totally applies

[muiitoloko]

Hi, first of anything I love and ate up every single thing you wrote. That said I NEED a story where Sev is about to be a dad, they are both in the last week of pregnancy just waiting for the moment the little girl (why do we all see him as a baby girl dad tho?) and he's just reflexive on how his life is right now after suffering so much and thinking he would die alone. If you want to add the birth and baby birth that's even better 💔 thanks.

Title: The Twin Stars in Snape's World

Summary: Severus's world shifts entirely with the birth of his daughters, filling the shadows of his past with light and love that he never thought he’d experience.

Pairing: Severus Snape × Fem! Reader

Warnings: None

Author's Notes: It’s not exactly what you asked for, but I was already working on a third chapter for my fanfic Daddy Snape's Dilemma, and your request totally nudged me to finish it up and post it! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it!

First, Second and Third part here.

Also read on Ao3

The final week of your pregnancy arrived, and Severus Snape was, without a doubt, more nervous than you had ever seen him. Over the past months, his protectiveness had gradually intensified, but now, as you neared the end, it had reached an almost comical extreme. He refused to let you out of his sight, shadowing your every move with the intensity of a hawk, his tall, lean figure looming close no matter where you went.

At Hogwarts, his vigilance took on a new form. Snape had all but bullied Dumbledore into hiring a temporary teacher to cover your Ancient Runes classes. You could tell Dumbledore found the whole thing rather amusing, indulging Snape’s demands with a patient, almost fatherly tolerance. As for Snape, there was no humor in it—his determination was fueled by what seemed to be genuine, bone-deep fear.

Instead of teaching, you were relegated to a bedroom at the back of the Potions classroom, with Snape popping in between his own lessons to check on you. You had never seen him so anxious, his usual stoic facade cracking more with each passing day. He would pace outside your quarters, shoulders tense, the dark circles under his eyes deepening. Despite his best efforts to hide it, he was deeply stressed, behaving as if he were the one about to give birth.

You noticed that this worry manifested in another unexpected way: the matter of naming your daughters. Every day he would bring you lists, scrolls of parchment filled with options he had painstakingly compiled, poring over the names with the same scrutiny he’d apply to brewing a delicate, dangerous potion. Each name had to be perfect, meaningful, and worthy.

He had presented you with everything from mythological names to obscure, poetic words he’d found in ancient texts. You, however, had a different approach. “Severus,” you said one evening as he handed you yet another list, his expression serious, “I know you want to have everything planned, but… we’ll know their names when we see them. Don’t you think?”

Snape’s gaze turned sharp, his dark eyes narrowing slightly as if the suggestion was almost sacrilegious. “And what if we don’t?” he retorted, his voice low and pointed. “What if we look at them and realize we’ve failed to give them names that reflect who they are meant to be?”

You bit back a smile, reaching out to touch his hand, feeling the tension radiate from his slender, calloused fingers. “Severus, we won’t fail them just because we haven’t decided on names yet. They’re our daughters—they’ll be extraordinary no matter what we call them.”

He sighed, his shoulders relaxing a fraction as he looked down at you, the intensity in his gaze softening. “I’m merely trying to… prepare. It is my responsibility as their father to see to it that they have everything they need—even a name that will protect them from the start.”

His protectiveness tugged at your heart, and you squeezed his hand. “You’re already giving them everything they need, Severus. They’ll have you.”

Snape’s expression shifted, a rare vulnerability flickering across his angular face, though he quickly hid it. “Yes, well…” he muttered, glancing away. “I still believe we should at least shortlist a few options.”

Over the next few days, you managed to narrow down the lists together, though every time you thought you’d settled on something, he’d return with yet another alternative he deemed equally worthy. It became almost endearing, watching him struggle with his need for control over something as uncontrollable as birth.

You chuckled one evening, teasing him, “You do realize, Severus, that the girls might decide their names for us? They could arrive and look nothing like any of these.”

His frown deepened, though a hint of amusement flickered in his dark eyes. “They will look like you,” he replied, his voice almost possessive, as though that was an immutable fact. “And if they resemble you, then any name I choose will be worthy.”

In the quiet moments, you could see past his impatience, his need for everything to be just so. He was terrified. The great, imposing Severus Snape, who had faced dangers most wizards could scarcely imagine, was terrified of this unknown journey. And though he hid it behind his meticulous planning, his anxiety was evident in every line he wrote, every name he researched.

One night, as he sat beside you, poring over yet another scroll, you couldn’t help but place your hand over his, stilling his movements. “Severus,” you said softly, your voice gentle, “it’s all right to be scared.”

He didn’t pull his hand away, but he didn’t meet your eyes, his jaw tight. “I am not afraid,” he replied, though his tone lacked conviction. His voice was softer, almost strained. “I simply… cannot afford any mistakes. Not with them. Not with you.”

You placed a hand on your belly, feeling a gentle kick as if one of the babies could sense his unease. You guided his hand to the spot, letting him feel the movement.

“They’re already telling us they’re fine,” you whispered, smiling as his eyes softened, a faint blush creeping up his pale cheeks. “And you’re going to be an incredible father.”

For a brief moment, the tension melted from his face, replaced by a rare, unguarded expression. He watched you, his hand lingering on your belly, his thumb tracing small, soothing circles over the spot where he’d felt the kick.

“Two girls,” he murmured, almost to himself, his voice filled with a strange mixture of awe and dread. “I don’t know if I’m prepared for this.”

You leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek, your heart swelling with love for this man who had, against all odds, become so much more than you’d ever dreamed possible. “You’ll be ready, Severus,” you assured him, your voice full of conviction. “They’re already lucky to have you.”

In that moment, as he held you close, his face buried in your shoulder, you knew that no matter what names were chosen, no matter how unprepared he felt, your daughters would be loved beyond measure. And for Severus, that was the truest magic of all.

Snape sat at his desk, his gaze flickering over the rows of students carefully attempting the day’s potion. A faint curl of distaste tugged at his lips as he caught sight of Potter, who, as usual, seemed perilously close to ruining his cauldron’s contents. Snape had already reprimanded him once that morning, his words slicing through the dungeon air with the sharpness he reserved for the boy. Yet now, as he sat in silence, the other students barely daring to breathe, his attention drifted elsewhere, pulled toward thoughts far removed from the dungeons of Hogwarts.

Just behind him, a faint rustle and creak filtered through the door to your shared quarters. The faint sounds of movement as you stirred from sleep. A warmth crept into his chest, breaking through the stoic shell he maintained with such precision.

As his gaze returned to the students before him, he felt the familiar, bittersweet pang of Lily’s memory—his first love, and his greatest regret. For so long, her shadow had been his constant companion, filling him with a cold, unrelenting ache. Protecting her son had become his purpose, his penance. And after her death, he had accepted that this mission would likely be the only meaning his life would ever have. There had been a time when he thought he might die carrying it out—perhaps even hoped for it.

But then you had entered his life.

A sigh escaped his lips, almost inaudible beneath the simmering of potions and the scratch of quills. The world had shifted when you came into it, and now, with the prospect of your daughters’ arrival in only three days, he felt that shift more acutely than ever. A sense of purpose, something wholly separate from his debt to Lily, had taken root within him.

You had given him a reason to live that went beyond atonement. The life growing within you, two delicate lives entwined with his own, felt like a redemption he had never believed possible. For the first time, he could imagine a future not defined by sacrifice and solitude, but by something richer, something gentler.

Snape’s hand tightened briefly around the edge of his desk, and he watched his students, their heads bent over their cauldrons, oblivious to his thoughts. He had spent years mastering his emotions, transforming them into weapons, shields, armor against the outside world. But now, he realized that he could no longer afford to wield that armor so thoughtlessly.

These children, his daughters—they would be born into a world fractured by war, a world where he had a role to play in the coming darkness. Yet for them, he could not allow himself the luxury of despair or surrender. For the first time, he couldn’t imagine simply fading away into the shadows after Voldemort’s defeat. It was no longer an option to leave this life without knowing that his daughters would grow up strong, safe, and surrounded by the kind of love he had never known.

As the thought took root, Snape’s jaw tightened, a new resolve settling over him like a cloak. He would survive this war. He would survive, not because of some duty to the past, but because of a responsibility to the future—to his family. He would see his daughters grow up; he would teach them, protect them, stand by their side as they learned about the world and perhaps even found their own places in it.

For once, the prospect of living beyond the war held something other than pain. A faint vision of two young girls, with bright eyes and curious minds, drifted through his mind. His daughters, growing up, asking questions about the stars, about potions, perhaps even about love. And you—by his side, guiding them with the warmth he could only hope to echo.

The shrill sound of a student’s cauldron hissing sharply brought him back to the present. He narrowed his eyes at the offending student, who paled under his glare and quickly adjusted the heat, stammering an apology. Snape stood up abruptly, his dark eyes narrowing as he prepared to address the room. But before he could say a word, a loud crash echoed through the dungeons as the door to his quarters burst open.

He whipped around, dark eyes narrowing, but whatever sharp retort had been on his lips vanished as he took in the sight before him.

There you stood, gripping the doorway, your face flushed, one hand braced against your lower back and the other cradling your rounded belly. The look on your face was equal parts determination and alarm, but it was the words that followed that sent his heart racing.

“It’s happening,” you gasped, your voice shaky but clear.

For a moment, Snape stood frozen, your words echoing in his mind, the meaning of them almost surreal. Happening? He glanced down, his mind racing. Surely not—

His thoughts halted abruptly as Ron Weasley’s voice, loud and tactless, filled the silence. “Why’s she peeing herself in front of everyone?”

Hermione’s horrified gasp quickly followed, and she smacked him on the arm, whispering furiously, “She’s not peeing herself, Ron! Her water’s broken! She’s giving birth!”

That was all it took to snap Snape out of his stunned stupor. The babies were coming—now. Much earlier than planned. His eyes widened, and he lunged from behind his desk, moving to your side in an instant, his usual composure nowhere in sight.

“Merlin,” he muttered under his breath, one hand hovering awkwardly near you, unsure whether to support you or hold back in case he only made things worse. “You… you’re sure?” he stammered, though he immediately realized how absurd that question was.

You managed a small, pained laugh. “Quite sure, Severus.”

His mind raced as he attempted to regain his bearings. The portkey to St. Mungo’s—they’d had it prepared weeks ago, but it had seemed more like an overcautious precaution at the time. Now, with the urgency of the situation hitting him, he felt his calm shatter.

He shot a look around the classroom, and his gaze landed on the nearest student—Hermione Granger, who was watching with wide eyes, clearly understanding the seriousness of the situation. “Miss Granger,” he barked, his voice laced with barely concealed panic, “fetch Professor McGonagall. Tell her to cover this class immediately.”

Hermione jumped to her feet, nodding fervently as she dashed from the room, her own nervous energy amplifying the urgency. Meanwhile, Snape turned back to you, his heart racing as he tried to mask his worry.

“Severus,” you breathed, clutching his arm. “The portkey—”

He nodded quickly, releasing a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Yes, of course.” His hand moved to his robes, fingers fumbling as he retrieved the small, inconspicuous glass vial enchanted to transport you both directly to St. Mungo’s.

He held the vial up to you, and you grabbed it, your other hand gripping his arm tightly as the room around you vanished in a whirl of colors. The bustling noise of Hogwarts faded, replaced by the sterile quiet of the St. Mungo’s ward as you both landed in the reception area, nearly stumbling from the sudden shift in location.

A Healer rushed toward you both, her eyes widening as she took in the scene. “Mrs. Snape—oh my, it’s early!” she exclaimed, gesturing to an available stretcher as she signaled to her colleagues. “Let’s get you to a delivery room.”

Snape’s hands hovered near you, his face a mixture of worry and focus as he helped you onto the stretcher. As the Healers moved you down the hallway, he kept pace beside you, his long strides easily matching their quick pace. He reached out to take your hand, gripping it tightly as you squeezed back, the intensity of the contractions beginning to set in.

“You’re doing fine,” he murmured, his deep voice steadier than he felt. “Just breathe.”

A faint smile crossed your face despite the pain. “Severus Snape, giving breathing advice. Now I’ve seen everything.”

He quirked an eyebrow, though his expression softened. “Mock me all you like, but keep breathing.”

The Healers moved efficiently, ushering you into the delivery room and setting you up as Snape hovered close, his dark gaze flicking anxiously between you and the medical staff. He could feel the old fear surfacing—the fear of the unknown, the helplessness of standing by while others took over. But your hand in his grounded him, your presence reminding him that he was exactly where he needed to be.

A Healer turned to him, her expression calm and reassuring. “It may take a few hours, Professor. These things are rarely quick, and with twins…”

Snape’s jaw tightened, but he nodded, settling into a chair beside you, his hand never leaving yours.

Hours passed, though they felt like mere minutes to him. He was acutely aware of every moment—the sound of your breathing, the tightening of your grip during contractions, the reassuring words from the Healers. He remained silent, his face a mask of concentration, his own discomfort forgotten in his focus on you.

The hours stretched, each contraction increasing the tension in the room. Severus remained by your side, his hand firmly gripping yours, his dark eyes watching every move the Healers made with suspicion. But the moment the lead Healer suggested you get up and walk to help progress the labor, his calm snapped.

“Walk?” His voice, usually controlled and low, rose sharply, filled with uncharacteristic alarm. “You expect her to walk in this state? Are you out of your minds?”

The Healer, a kindly-looking witch with graying hair, gave Severus a reassuring smile, accustomed to nervous fathers. “Professor Snape,” she began gently, “encouraging movement can help speed things along. It’s quite common, especially with twins.”

Severus’s mouth opened and closed a few times, his face paling even more. “Common?” he echoed incredulously, his gaze darting from you to the Healer. “My wife is in labor, Madam, with twins, and you want her to walk about like she’s merely out for a stroll?”

Despite the contractions, you couldn’t help but chuckle at his outburst. “Severus,” you managed between breaths, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “It’s fine. I can walk a little.”

He looked at you, his dark eyes wide with concern, clearly torn. The thought of you enduring even the smallest discomfort was driving him nearly mad. “If—if you’re certain…” he muttered, though his grip on your arm was firm as he helped you out of bed, as if preparing to catch you at the slightest misstep.

The Healer guided you both down the hall for a short, careful walk, Severus muttering under his breath with every step, shooting fierce looks at any Healer who dared suggest you keep moving. When you paused, wincing as another contraction hit, he practically growled at the Healer. “If there’s any risk to my wife or our daughters…” He let the threat linger, his face a mask of furious protectiveness.

Finally, you were able to return to the bed, and though the labor continued slowly, Severus remained at your side, holding your hand and murmuring soft reassurances. His fingers trembled slightly as he brushed back your hair, the love and worry in his gaze evident even as he tried to keep his composure.

It was nearly dawn when the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall, followed by a cheerful voice that could only belong to Albus Dumbledore. The headmaster entered, his arms laden with trinkets, including tiny stuffed owls, a miniature cauldron, and a set of rattles that jingled softly. He looked as though he had raided the entire children’s section of Diagon Alley.

“Severus, my boy!” he called warmly, his blue eyes twinkling as he approached. “I heard there was a new arrival or two on the way. Ah, and Minerva!” He turned, gesturing as Professor McGonagall entered, a faintly amused smile on her face as she took in Severus’s tense form by your bedside.

Dumbledore began to hand out trinkets, placing the little toys on the table near your bed, each accompanied by a soft hum and a lemon drop he popped into his mouth with relish. “The finest wares from Diagon Alley,” he declared, his tone bright. “Only the best for the future Misses Snape!”

Minerva moved closer to you, her expression softening as she reached for your hand. “How are you holding up, dear?” she asked, her Scottish accent laced with warmth. “Severus here has kept us all quite informed on your progress. I daresay I’ve never seen him in such a state.”

“Nor has anyone else, I assure you,” you replied, managing a tired smile. Severus shot Minerva a look that could have melted cauldrons, though his hand never left yours.

Dumbledore continued to rummage through his collection, holding up a small toy wand that emitted a shower of harmless sparks. “I thought this might suit,” he said with a wink. “We must start their magical education early.”

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Healers gave the signal. Severus held your hand tightly, his face a mix of awe and terror as the final stage of labor began. You saw a single tear slip down his usually composed face, his grip tightening as he whispered, “You’re incredible. I— I am so proud of you.”

The Healers wheeled you down a quiet, dimly lit corridor, Severus’s tall, shadowy form looming beside you, never letting you out of his sight. His dark eyes, usually hardened and calculating, were softened with a mixture of awe and profound vulnerability as he took in every detail of the room being prepared for the birth of your daughters.

The faint echoes of magical murmurs from the Healers filled the room as they adjusted the equipment and spells needed. Severus moved to your side, his long, slender fingers brushing against your hand with a tentative gentleness. You could feel his nervous energy, the intense worry that he tried so desperately to mask beneath his stoic exterior.

As the contractions intensified, he bent down, his pale, angular face close to yours, his hair falling forward to shield his expression. His deep voice, usually sharp and guarded, softened as he whispered, “I’m here. You’re not alone, amore.”

The Healers instructed him to step back slightly, readying themselves for the delivery. Though he complied, his piercing gaze never left you, as if he were willing every ounce of his strength to help you through this moment.

Moments later, the room filled with a powerful, almost sacred silence as the first cry rang out—a thin, wailing sound that sent a tremor through Severus. One of the Healers approached, cradling a tiny, wriggling form swaddled in soft white fabric, and extended her towards Severus. His expression froze, and for a split second, he seemed almost paralyzed by fear.

The Healer’s voice was gentle. “Would you like to hold your daughter, Professor Snape?”

He nodded, though his hands trembled as he reached out. Carefully, she placed the baby in his arms, her tiny face peeking out from the blanket, her features so delicate and small they seemed otherworldly. Severus looked down at her, his dark eyes filled with a mixture of wonder and disbelief. His usually cold demeanor melted away, replaced by an intense, overwhelming tenderness that softened every line of his face.

“She’s…” His voice faltered, thick with emotion. His eyes glistened, and he swallowed hard, blinking back tears as he took in every detail—the soft curve of her cheeks, her tiny fingers curling into fists, her miniature nose. She was perfect, and in that moment, he realized he would do anything to protect her. He bent his head, his deep voice a reverent whisper. “You’re perfect.”

Just as Severus seemed to settle into the awe of holding his daughter, your voice cut through, strained yet filled with strength as the next contraction began. He looked up, his dark gaze flickering between you and the tiny life cradled in his arms, torn between staying with his newborn daughter and being by your side.

“Severus,” you managed, breathless, a smile breaking through the exhaustion, “go on… be there for her.”

He nodded, his gaze lingering on you for a beat, his expression raw with admiration, before he gently passed the baby to a nearby Healer, ensuring she would be safe. He crossed the room quickly, his dark robes sweeping behind him as he returned to your side, his long fingers slipping back into yours. You felt his grip, firm and unyielding, grounding you, as he whispered encouragements, his voice unsteady yet filled with pride.

Minutes later, a second cry filled the room, high and clear, and you saw Severus’s shoulders tremble with relief and elation. One of the Healers brought over the second newborn, a twin as delicate and perfect as her sister, and Severus stared at her, his heart swelling in his chest.

“She’s beautiful,” he murmured, almost to himself, his voice choked with a depth of feeling he rarely revealed. He took her into his arms, his slender fingers cradling her small head, his thumb gently tracing her cheek. His usually cold, intimidating face softened into something unrecognizable, a fierce love that lit his dark eyes with an intensity that left you breathless.

As he held her, the first Healer approached, bringing the other twin over to you, her tiny face nestled in the blanket. Your heart filled as you looked down at her, at the small, precious life you had brought into the world. In that moment, the room felt full of magic, not the kind that could be taught or brewed, but the kind that was born out of love, pure and unconditional.

Severus looked over at you, his expression softened beyond recognition, his piercing gaze filled with an almost painful tenderness as he watched you holding your daughter. For once, his stoic mask was gone, replaced by the vulnerability of a man who had finally found something worth living—and dying—for.

“They have your eyes,” you whispered, noting the dark lashes and tiny features, a hint of his unmistakable presence in them already.

He nodded, speechless, his voice catching as he tried to speak. When he finally found his words, they were barely above a whisper, his voice thick with emotion. “They’ll have your spirit… your kindness. And they’ll know they are loved.” His gaze met yours, a profound, unspoken promise shimmering in his eyes.

He reached out, his long fingers gently touching your cheek, and for the first time, you saw the walls he had so carefully built around his heart crumble, replaced by the love he had tried so hard to hide. Here, in this room, with his daughters in his arms and you by his side, Severus Snape had found his redemption. And it was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined.

[writingoddess1125]

Unless Skills

Useless skills that they have that doesn't apply to their dreams.

Aka me on my crack shit- Please Enjoy!

If you like my work please support me on Ko-Fi

Luffy

Giving Massages

This is very odd and no one knows were the hell this skill came from, But Luffy has great hands for massages. It's discovered by accident when his S/O says their back hurts and he reaches over and gives them a skilled massage.

He has damn near perfect hand strength and technique- while he will chatter your ear off while doing it he's hella amazing at it. Missed a secret calling as a masseurs.

Zoro

Fixing and Making Clothes

Zoro has always had to be a bit self reliant- so time using swords had made him learn how to fix up his own clothes or make them. Especially with how often he ripped or cut the seams of his shirts he could stitch them back no problem or if spare fabric was on hand create a new belt, trousers or headbands.

For his S/O he would sew whatever they pleased. If it ment making a teddy bear to a new shirt he could do it with total ease.

Sanji

He is an amazing poet

Maybe it's because he thinks so much about his wording for women, but Sanji is a fantastic poet. He has a unnatural smoothness for word play and styles.

Will write poems for his S/O and hide them in places he knows only they would look at or kinda sings the poems to them in private.

Buggy

He is an absolutely beautiful singer

Buggy has a naturally deeper singing voice then what his natural one would give away- as well as lacking the comical tone that follows his speaking voice. Sultry and smooth.

He only sings when showering or if he's mindlessly humming to himself. Will sing if his S/O ask for it however-

Shanks

Talented at doing hair

Maybe it's hid skills with a sword or just natural talent but Shanks is good at doing people's hair. Even though he doesn't so his own hair due to laziness he will maintain others.

One armed or not he is great with scissors or just a razor to give clean edges, a nice trim or more. Can even do braids with one hand or twist- Aka he's the hairstylist for his S/O as well

Mihawk

Skilled Ballroom Dancer

Being good on one's feet was important for swordfighting- so it isn't shocking that Mihawk is an amazing ballroom dancer. Mainly the Vienna Waltz-

Never uses the skill unless he is flirting or with his S/O. Teaching them how to dance in the empty ballroom back in his home.

Bonus!-

Crocodile

Great with Kids

This is a shock for everyone since the famed Pirate and former Warlord doesn't seem like the type to be good with loud children, However that is wrong. A zen with patients comes from Crocodile when dealing with children- That and the fact they utterly adore him as well.

His S/O will be surpsied to see him interacting so well with the kids on the street. Giving them pocket change to go get food or other things they may like- Opens up the idea of maybe adopting or having kids with Crocodile is a strong possibility.

[what-eats-owls]

Show vs Tell, Or: Please Stop Making Things Difficult for Yourself

I said a while ago that I'd write a brief essay about the most misused craft advice in writing once I wrote 10k words, and for once I actually held myself to that! So now, I'm here to tell you about Show vs Tell, or why people make it more complicated than it needs to be.

First, a basic primer for anyone who hasn't heard this term before: "Show vs Tell"/"Showing vs Telling" refers to "showing" the audience information instead of "telling" it to them. You may be thinking, gosh, that sounds unspecific to the point of being readily misapplied, and you would certainly be right! Lots of folks throw it around without fully grasping what it means, how to use it, or when it doesn't actually apply. And I'd really like everyone to stop making it harder on themselves when there's a very straightforward way to conceptualize it.

So for starters, Chuck Palahniuk has an old but good essay about eliminating "thought" verbs from prose that holds the hell up. But I'm going to tell you an even simpler way to conceptualize the difference between showing and telling:

Eliminate the inner thoughts entirely.

Ask yourself, if my narrator's interior monologue was inaccessible to the audience, how would I convey the same information—literally showing it?

Forget for a moment that your medium is the word, and imagine you only have dialogue and visuals. If this was taking place on the screen or in a graphic novel, how would you convey that this character has a crush on someone in their class? That they're hotheaded? That they're struggling with a decision?

Here's a perfect example of this from the opening scene of Howl's Moving Castle.

Devoid of context, we have a girl trying on a hat in a mirror, and also trying on a fake smile. Then her expression sours and she pulls the hat down over her face until we can only see her frown. She's wearing a plain dress and the hat is simple, despite the elaborate hats and ornaments on display around her.

You don't have to know anything about this character to understand what's being conveyed in this moment: This girl is deeply uncomfortable with trying to be pretty and flirty, but in the safety of privacy she wants that, even though she feels inept and self-conscious about it. She's in this world, but she's not part of it. Even brushing up against it for a moment makes her shut down and reject it with hostility.

More importantly, it's all communicated with a simple gesture and design choices. Not by Sophie thinking to herself, I wish someone would take me dancing—no I don't! I work too hard to have time for dancing!

That's showing. And it's more resonant, because we've all felt silly trying something on in a mirror! Or, say, if you want to show a character has a crush, having them get flustered and laughing too loud. Or showing that they're a hothead by having them snap at a simple disagreement, etc. etc.

This also extends to worldbuilding, dialogue, and stakes.

Worldbuilding: If your story is set in a town run by a crooked sheriff, you could have the narrator say "everyone knows Sheriff Smith is squeezing the shops for bribes." Or the sheriff can stop the narrator for "smelling like weed" while the sheriff's drunken son speeds by, about to total his third BMW.

Dialogue: If your character is angry, they can say "I'm furious." Or they can slam dishes in the sink and insist "I'm not angry" while openly crying. They can snap "I'm not discussing this again." They can demand "What is he doing here?"

Stakes: You can have an all-seeing oracle say "If you do not return the Mystic Orb to the Sunlight Altar by the solstice, the world will plunge forever into darkness." (And as we'll get into it below, sometimes you actually need that.) You can also have intermittent but increasing periods of total darkness occurring as the party travels to the Sunlight Altar. You can have the Mystic Orb start cracking the longer it takes, and the sun getting a little dimmer with every fracture. You can have people's shadows growing bigger and bigger and acting autonomously.

But showing isn't the end-all-be-all; telling absolutely has a place. Sometimes it's better to quickly and plainly state information and move on, such as a little earlier in the scene, when the other hat shop girls have spotted Howl's castle:

"Look, it's Howl's castle!"

"I've never seen it so close!"

“Do you think Howl will go into town?”

“He’s gone!”

“No, he’s just hiding in the fog from those planes.”

“Did you hear what happened to that girl, Martha, in South Haven? They say Howl has torn her heart out.”

“Now I’m too scared to go out!”

“Don’t worry. He only preys on pretty girls.”

This tells us some stuff directly: Who owns the castle we see in the first few seconds, that he's hiding from soldiers, that he has a reputation for preying on beautiful girls. We can infer also that he's a bit of a coward, he stays away from civilization, and that his reputation for cruelty has spread over multiple regions.

This happens so quickly, and it's couched in enough character between the teasing and the gossip, that it doesn't stand out as capital-t-Telling. That's exactly what expository dialogue should do. "Showing" us all that information would take a lot of screen time that can be saved in ten seconds of dialogue.

It's also not just about saving time; it's setting up an image that Howl initially fulfills when he helps Sophie escape the soldiers... only to be punctured when she actually goes to his castle and sees the real Howl. Telling is good for setting expectations that you know will be subverted later.

So yeah, tl;dr: If you're tied up in knots about "am I showing?? am I telling??" just ask yourself how you'd convey the same information in a movie or graphic novel, without access to interior monologue, and evaluate if that'd be better. Most of the time the answer is yes, but not always!

[fictarian]

Hobie x goth reader 👹

𝐇𝐢𝐦 <𝟑 . ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 𝐏𝐭. 𝟕

ღ I’m actually so in love with goth aesthetic, so I will GLADLY do this request. A goth love interest for Hobie just sounds so fitting, since all the times that i’ve met a person with a love for goth, they were either really laid back and chill or absolutely HILARIOUS

ღ ALSO WE REACHED 100 FOLLOWERS IN A WEEK HELLO??? THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH YOU GUYS RAHHHH

ღ Expect a double upload today, since I have to make up for yesterday ‼️‼️

ღ I’ll either cook up something for the 100 follower special, or i’ll get requests from you guys so don’t you worry xo

ღ Anyways, here are some Hobie x GN Goth! Reader headcannons 😈

ღ I used this website to get a better grasp on the aesthetic, and it was actually a very interesting read so I highly recommend you check it out. Shout out to my goth pookies, you’re the coolest people on the planet, and often times, the funniest 🫶🏻

ღ Previous part can be found here !

• If your love language is receiving/giving gifts and words of affirmation, I could totally see the reader writing very heartfelt poems about his personality traits, physical appearance, or literally just anything about him and putting into words just how much those parts about him mean to you.

• You try and limit how much you write, but it’s literally Hobie you’re writing about. So it can’t be helped that you write a good 2-3 pages worth of validating and loving words.

• And EVERY single time Hobie reads a poem you gift him, it makes him fall head over heels for you all over again. And for the next couple of days, he stared at you with SUCH a intense stare , no matter if you guys were in public or in private. And if you really got Hobie in his feels, he would start writing an original song for you.

• And you would be the only one to hear it. You two would be cuddling your bed at around midnight, staring into each others eyes lovingly while Hobie quietly strummed his guitar and sang you your song. His voice would be so quiet and gentle, but it would also be laced with roughness like how he usually sings. You’d just be laying there, nearly brought to tears with how soft he was being around you. The moment would be so sweet and intimate and it just makes me BAWL.

• Something that the two of you share and bond over is each other’s sense of humor. Dark humor, to be exact. If one of you cracks a joke around the other and a group of people, they’d stare in horror from what they just heard while you two would be giggling and cracking up.

• If you were a spider person, you guys would make it a challenge to make jokes during a meeting between the spider people and Miguel WITHOUT laughing.

• These are the times when the jokes are the funniest and hit you guys harder, since you guys are both equally competitive and like to poke fun at one another. One time, you were brought to tears from how funny the jokes Hobie had whispered to you were but you just COULDN’t laugh, and that caused Hobie to nearly break and cackle as well.

• It had gotten so bad to the point that Miguel had to SEPARATE you both just so he could have your focus and so that you two didn’t distract anyone else.

• Of course, that didn’t stop you guys. You guys side eyed each other from across the room when Miguel’s back was turned, and that was the day you broke.

• Miguel sent you both out of the room when you couldn’t cease your giggling, and neither of you could breath for the next couple of minutes due to laughter. You couldn’t even get a word out, because that would only make you laugh harder and cause Hobie to do the same 😭✋

• Let’s be fr here, you would be a GOD at doing makeup. Eyeshadow and eyeliner to be specific. So much so that Hobie would request for you to do his, since he thinks his makeup job looks like SHIT compared to yours.

• He’d let you sit on his lap when you applied it, which was a huge mistake on his end.

• Hobie could NOT stop staring at you, even when you told him to close his eyes so that it would be easier for you to apply eyeshadow, eyeliner, WHATEVER you needed to do.

• He just couldn’t help himself. You were literally so close to him, and Hobie felt like he was looking at a god whenever he looked up at you. Sitting still and not grabbing you took all his willpower alone, but not being able to look at you in all your glory? You were asking for too much at that point.

• Not even when you were halfway done, Hobie just couldn’t take it any more. It’s not his fault you’re so damn gorgeous 🤦‍♀️

• After a couple of minutes, Hobie ended up with lipstick smudged on his lips and on parts of his face and could NOT be any happier. Vice versa with you, but it was also the day that you decided that you’d just teach him how you did your make up instead of doing it for him.

• Hobie was not having that though, and somehow convinced you to ‘do’ his make up the next time. And the time after that.

tag list ! @zalayni @luvstarrstruck @jrrantss @pixqlsin @kairiscorner @k4tsu3 @asmobeuses

[destinygoldenstar]

☀️This Gabby Stan Supports Everything She Does☀️ - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 1 Episode 6 “The Most Tranquilous Game”

I'm aware of Season 3 airing. I put the poll on whether or not I should watch this while it was. By the time this comes out, this may or may not be before or after the finale of that season is released.

Quite obviously I'm not caught up so I'm not watching that right now. The only thing I know is that the finale is around the corner, and I heard a lot of people online saying they hate the Finalists for some reason.

I also saw awhile back a little meme image (that I won't show cause it's not mine) that "Jake is a garbage human being and he should die" or something.

(Became a Jake stan) ...huh, well ain't that a bit extreme.

That totally gives me hope that things will be civilized.

I didn't plan to get caught up by then, as I'd rather watch at my own pace and actually sink in what's happening so I understand it. I did the same thing with Total Drama. Because whatever show, you have to actually take any and all moments and dialogue into account, otherwise stuff gets misinterpreted.

I know half the time with these reactions I'm cracking jokes, but that's only my way of showing my investment. If I was bored and/or frustrated I wouldn't be doing that.

I hope that's understandable. I'd much rather enjoy this show and form my own opinions and takes from my own viewing experience. Obviously if I have major gripes with a plot element going forward, I'll say it, but for the most part I actually want to hear it out.

Indie Animation such as this get a lot of creative freedom to make whatever story and narrative they want. So instead of whining about corporate interference that isn't there, I'd rather say "I'll hear you out, and here's how I feel personally. Whether I think it was handled well or not with what you were trying to do."

So... I apologize if I show an opinion on something that isn't majority. Like if I like someone you hate or if I don't care for something you love. But also, I'm not gonna apologize for having them.

I'm an analyzer. My username is AnalyzGolden. I analyze stuff in the way I see it. It's in the name!

I'm like this with Digital Circus as well. I don't interact with much internet discourse surrounding it and I just want to do my own thing and see things through my lens and not others. Cause most indie animation fanbases have a reputation for being… shall we say, extreme.

So... I hope this is understandable.

I'm also thinking about doing a post on the tier list on the characters in this season once I'm done with this season. I think that'll be a fun way to properly explain my takes on all of them.

So with this out of the way, let's begin:

"It had some cool stuff that we can apply to the game!"

"It mentioned this 'Heather' person, who betrayed her alliances, abused her alliance members, and sabotaged a relationship!"

"Then there's 'Alejandro', who flirted with everybody and betrayed everybody, and also sabotaged relationships!"

"...I'm seeing a pattern."

"...but only if we ignore the section on teamwork."

XD

You guys are slaves to the demon child. I hope you're proud.

Btw I'm only hating on Fiore because she's the villain character and therefore she's supposed to be hated. I don't actually hate her as a character. She's quite interesting.

"Do you recall what I told you about my wife?"

Are we FINALLY getting info on this?

He's broke or something, right?

"That you don't get along?"

"We do get along. It's common for marriages to get testy, I'll have you know. I'm just hoping things will get better."

Aaaahhhh... okay.

I thought for a second it would be that, but I leaned more towards my theory of them being broke.

"If I win, I'll take my family somewhere to start a new life."

Add that to the list,

'Alec: Fix Family Bond'

Okay, who do we not have for a motive that's still here?

I don't think Miriam or Gabby mentioned theirs. Or Dan. Or... I think that's it.

"Wow, look at Romeo over here, I'm sure money will solve your marital problems."

That is sarcasm caught in 4k

Not the six year old roasting the life of a grown married man!

Ooh, Grett actually looks really good in pink. I'm just noticing her wearing that.

"Jake, how are you? Do you feel better?"

He might still be mourning. Idk what his mental state is after that.

AWWWWWWWWW💗

Now I'm actually giddy. What is wrong with me?! Why are they so great?

Going in, I was expecting Toxic Yaoi just cause of Tom's spy shit, but they're actually so sweet and wholesome and good for each other.

"I'm here if you need anything."

I can't imagine how it's like for Tom. I don't think he was imagining getting close with someone just cause of the spy profession.

"I like this boy, I want to be around him and help him out."

"Now don't worry about getting us breakfast today, I will get us the usual."

Idk how I like the sound of that tbh. XD

I just imagine Tom coming back and calling everyone to the meal. "BREAKFAST IS READY!!!"

...and it's just char XD

That also implies they work together to prepare meals for the group EVERY DAY. I love that.

No not Grett changing her facial expression from that!

"I smell gay! I didn't ask for that in my coffee this morning!"

"Jake and I really bonded in the last challenge, it sort of opened my eyes. It's gotten me to open up more to these kids."

Yeah, I actually like Miriam now. Before I was just kinda forgetting she was there, but I like her now.

"Do you like him?"

*Covers mouth to hold back the giddy noise from my mouth*

*Failing*

Oh my god she's actually going there! I did not expect that.

"Uh... maybe. He's just really good as a person towards me and I feel like we're really opening up to each other, you know? It's not that deep... maybe we'd go out for Chinese sometime. Maybe we'd catch a movie together."

"Tom, do you like him?"

"Uh, no?"

Huh?

You're lying. You gotta be lying.

"You always smile when you're talking to him."

"It's just... I like him, but not in that way."

Liar. Your scenes together say otherwise.

"I'm not ready to be in a relationship."

Oh...

Oh is that what it's about... yeah I would understand that.

"Recently... I was in a somewhat toxic relationship and things didn't end well."

OH.

Oh now that makes a lot of sense.

Was it SOMEWHAT toxic, or...?

I'm probably thinking too angsty about it.

"He cheated on me. And... I couldn't get over it."

OH MY GOD HONEY.

Well no shit you wouldn't get over that. That's awful!

Why did he do that?! Why would he want to hurt you like that?!

"Well you're young, unlike me, you still have a lot of time ahead of you."

Yeah... you can find someone better.

Oh shit, Grett...

OH WAIT CAUSE SHE KNOWS TOM IS A SPY, SHE SAW THE NOTES. OH MY GOD I KNOW WHAT SHE'S GONNA DO.

And because of Jake's past experience, he is NOT gonna take it well!

OH NO...

"Hey um... how's everything?"

"All good... I'm still here."

That sounds so sad.

"Yeah I'm still alive. A tornado hasn't slammed into us yet, you know?"

"Everyone tries to vote me out! Only Grett stayed by my side even though you said I shouldn't listen to her!"

EXACTLY.

This Gabby Stan supports everything she does.

"I'm sorry, I thought I could trust the guys, but I was wrong."

YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD TRUST THEM TO VOTE HER OUT AND YOU'RE SAYING THAT TO HER FACE?!

Dan. You're being a dick.

"I hope our team wins todays challenge because I'm not too confident about my position."

And I hope they don't so you get voted out!

...actually is that worth that risk? They could vote the others.

Dan, really, you're the only one on that team I wouldn't mind losing.

THIS IS SO UNEVEN, THEY'VE GOTTA MOVE SOMEONE

Like this is not fair!

"Today the challenge will be for individual immunities."

"Why?"

"Tonight, BOTH teams will go to elimination and vote a person off each of their teams."

WHAT?!

WE JUST HAD A DOUBLE ELIMINATION.

WHAT?!

"Double elimination AGAIN?!"

THANK YOU. THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING.

"Well guess what? Life isn't fair."

...he do be spitting facts though.

OH GEEZ AND FLIP

Yeah uh, that doesn't look like a tranquilizer gun! THAT LOOKS LIKE A MACHINE GUN

HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S ABOUT TO KILL EM

"It'll only put you asleep for a few minutes... hopefully."

Cut to everyone waking up from a ten year coma.

"If there's no way to avoid elimination tonight, I have to start preparing..."

*Gets a fashion ad*

I guess she's going to slay with her fashion sense 💅

"Gabby what were you doing talking to Dan this morning?"

"I was reading him for filth."

"You shouldn't talk to him!"

On the one hand, Dan is on your team. You kinda want to be on good terms.

On the other hand, it's Dan, so it's fine by me.

"But it's only a matter of time before her little cry-baby bonding session turns into an alliance."

"Oh boo hoo, my loves ones died! Who gives a shit?! UGH, people who mourn the dead are SO ANNOYING!!"

THIS MAN IS FIRING A SHOWER OF DARTS

He's also a bad aim apparently cause HOW DO NOT HIT ANYONE?!

He really is not subtle, is he?

"I don't want to be in a relationship or push it further, but I didn't say I can't crush!"

Tom's like "Why you pressing your hands like that?"

"I'm a wittle scawed of the bullets..."

"I think I saw Jensen."

"This way, come over here."

I thought you were trying to AVOID him. Why'd you want go towards him?

Oh shit here we go...

"Golden told be awhile back to tell you something very important!"

"Hey Grett. Maybe you should tell Jake something. Just a thought.

...

WAIT I SAID THAT AS A JOKE, HOLD ON-

"For some reason I have the urge to tell Jake something. Huh, wonder who this Golden Voice is.""

DAMMIT ME, I TOLD HER TO SLAY. I DIDN'T SPECIFY WHO TO SLAY.

SLAY PASS MISFIRE

"Tom was lying to you. It was Tom who voted for Drew."

Ooooooohhhh god...

I'm like preparing myself for the blowout.

"Because Drew found out his little secret."

"What secret?"

"The whole sun sensitivity story is fake. He lied to you because he's a spy."

*DREAD*

"What are you talking about? Is this a joke?"

*DREAD*

"He's here for work. You mean nothing to him other than a way to blend in more."

*DREAD*

"Come on Jake, Grett has clearly lost it."

IT HURTS BECAUSE SHE'S TELLING THE TRUTH

I'm CONFLICTED. Not my best girls HURTING my best boy!!

What do I do? Do I support her...? I don't know...

OH NO HE'S BACK.... UGH...

At least it's earlier in the season so they have a chance to bounce back... I don't... I don't know...

This is gonna be so ugly. Jake is gonna be HURT.

"I get hurt and traumatized by my ex! I lose my grandma! AND NOW THIS SHIT. I CAN'T CATCH A BREAK!"

"Tom! You're not gonna believe this!"

"Believe what?"

"Grett was saying the strangest things about you!"

"Wh-what did she say?"

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHH *mouth covered*

"She said you were the one who voted Drew because, get this, he found out you were a spy?!"

NO TOM YOU CAN'T ACT?!?!

I mean I don't think he should lie any further, but...

"I can explain!! It's not what you think!!!"

"Wait what? It's true?!"

"It's not that simple!"

Just hear him out! I can explain EVERYTHING! I know you're upset, but please hear me out!

"Oh my god... it really is! So you're just here for your job!"

"And our friendship, was that just to blend in too?! Did you ever care about me at all?! Was any of it real, HUH?!"

JAKE, HONEY, I'M SO SORRY.

I know you being upset is understandable! It still hurts!

I can imagine what's going through his head though. His loved ones have a habit of either dying or lying to him and hurting him, and now turns out his new crush is a spy?

"Jake, calm down-"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!"

OH GOD

"I don't owe you anything! It's my life! Step off, Jake!"

DON'T BE LIKE THAT, YOU'RE ALREADY OUTTED!

"Oh EXCUSE ME if I don't want to be part of your 'super cool' spy plan!"

"Can you stop telling the whole goddamn neighborhood?!"

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH GOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!

And they got shot...

Oh my god, I need a minute to CALM DOWN.

Was that... I mean I know that was a Tom liar reveal, but was that a Jake true personality reveal?!

Is he an asshole?!

Goddammit, he IS an asshole, isn't he? I WAS ROUTING FOR YOU.

I'm calming down, I'm calming down...

Tom and Jake are gonna drive me FUCKING. CRAZY.

I don't think that's how those pans work, I think the darts would stick to the pan, not bounce off of it.

GO FIORE!!!

She pulled a Rapunzel.

And this man shot a child.

Why are you wasting time digging a hole?!

There's a man with a machine gun!

"What revenge?"

"Against Dan."

Go ahead Gabby. I support whatever you do.

"Why don't we just focus on getting to the lake?"

EXACTLY.

"No! We eliminate the competition first, and search for the lake after."

So anyway, I feel like someone's getting immunity right now...

*thinks about it*

OH WAIT NO CAUSE THEY GOT THE TRIO SHOT.

Okay NOW I get it.

"How come you're helping me? You know only one of us can win, right?"

No I think he's gonna betray you.

Should've kept Lilly and Ashley around Ellie. This is your karma.

"You would do the same for me."

"Uh... yeah. Sure..."

*cuts to confessional*

"I definitely wouldn't."

XD

I can't blame her though.

"And then Jake said 'I need you to tell me what's going on' and Tom said 'I don't owe you anything' and then Jensen popped out and BAM!"

XD

NOT GABBY SLANDERING THE BOYS, I'M DEAD

She do be right though...

BYE HAVE A GOOD TIME!!

"You can play guilty while putting together a raft. I don't want to get wet."

"We're on National TV! I'll get my hair wet!" - SAME ENERGY

"Sometimes I just like to do what I want and not be bossed around."

STAND UP FOR YOURSELF.

As a Grett Stan, GET HER ASS GIRLIE

Like, I'm defending ZERO of Grett's actions. She's a bad person. But it's just because how she goes about being a bad person that interests me so much.

Oh so NOW they stick!

SLAAAAAYYYY GABBBYYYYYYYY!!!!!

OH NO ELLIE.

WHOOPS. SLAY PASS MISFIRE

(Twice in a row, Gabby...)

"It's my plan. I did all the hard work. I deserve it."

...I mean she DID do shit, but also...

"I know you weren't helpful today! We all know that without me, you couldn't have made it this far."

"All day I've been doing what you say, AND YOU NEVER EVER SAY THANK YOU!!!"

GET HER GIRL!!!

"YOU WERE SITTING ON YOUR FAT ASS THIS WHOLE TIME!!! I'M DONE WITH YOU GRETT!! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PROJECTING YOUR ISSUES WITH YOUR BROTHER AND PARENTS DOESN'T MEAN I SHOULD FEEL BAD FOR YOU!!! WE ALL HAVE PROBLEMS, BUT YOU CAN'T TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THIS!!"

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSS

QUEEN

QUEEN

QUEEN

QUEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNN!!!!!!

I mean, I love Grett too... BUT.

LET'S BE HONEST. GABBY DESERVES THIS.

🎉YEEEAAAHHH!!! GABBY FOR THE WIN!! LET'S GOOOO!!!!🎉

WE STAN GABBY IN THIS HOUSEHOLD

I SUPPORT HER

And Alec gets it too.

Cool. I guess.

I mean he's fine, I just like others more.

"Yeah... just one of the rafts broke my bamboo."

"And also hit me in the face. I was lucky not to drown."

"Do I need you to give me my totem?"

OH YEAH I FORGOT SHE HAD AN IDOL

Sorry, TOTEM, I keep saying idol.

Honestly, yeah, you gotta play it. Cause I guarantee you you're gone if you don't.

"No I'm fine. I think tonight's decision will be an easy one."

ELLIE YOU'RE GONE.

"Golden put me in the heading! That MUST mean I'm safe!"

NO. SWEETIE NO. IT'S A BAD LUCK CHARM. DON'T TRUST ME!

God I think I jinxed Ellie...

They're STILL pissed.

Miriam is gonna come to me like, "Golden, you're having Toxic Yaoi for dinner tonight."

"Grett, I'm sorry, I don't regret taking the immunity."

As you shouldn't.

"If you don't vote for Dan tonight, you're out next."

...okay.

Is Miriam gonna convince them to vote Grett out?!

"I don't know if I can trust Tom after betraying the guys alliance..."

FUCK YOUR GUYS ALLIANCE.

THAT'S ALL YOU TALK ABOUT.

And besides, it's screwed.

Tom and Jake divorced.

"I'M STILL ANGRY AT YOU! WHY DO I KEEP LIKING PEOPLE WHO HURT ME?!"

"There's no way you can win the next challenge with her here."

Especially since she's a kid who has limitations. It is the smarter move.

"I would've preferred the three of us to make it to the merge, but there's no other option."

Honestly I would've preferred that too and that's what I thought would happen. Guess not.

"I like Fiore, but Ellie is more useful in challenges..."

It's up to Alec.

Alright... let's see what we've got this time. This should be interesting.

XD

DEAR GOD JAKE.

"THIS IS MY DIVORCE PAPER!"

Dammit, why'd he have to be an asshole, huh?

Of course Miriam writes in cursive.

"You can fool these Gen Z'ers..."

XD

Miriam's climbing up my tier list.

YES, SLANDER GEN Z

Alright, Teal's up first.

'DAN'

I mean, I prefer it be Dan just cause I like Grett, but also...

I don't think I'm gonna be mad.

'GRETT'

I like how Trevor says her name.

'JAKE'

XD

NO SHOT THEY BOTH THREW JUST CAUSE THEY WERE SO PISSED WITH EACH OTHER

XD

"AND NOW YOU VOTE FOR ME?! WHAT'D YOU SAY TO ME?!"

'TOM'

'GRETT'

And then the last vote is Grett.

Damn.

A fav is gone.

RIP.

"Sorry. We won't tolerate you any longer."

YES GABBY

"You think I care?! Because I don't!"

I think she does care though.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH

I DID NOT EXPECT THAT.

HOLY GOD, THEY ARE A THING.

'ELLIE'

'FIORE'

Ellie's gone, isn't she?

I KNEW IT.

I SHOULDN'T HAVE PUT HER IN THE HEADING.

I thought she was gonna make it further, tbh.

"Good luck winning challenges with a six year old."

Wah wah waaaahhh...

AWWWWWWWWW NOT GRETT CRYING

I WAS READY FOR YOU TO GO, BUT NOW YOU'RE MAKING IT HARD

"I've already won a lot in my life..."

The shakiness of her voice. OUCH.

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH

THEY'RE NOT GOING, ARE THEY?!

*I got a safelife repair ad*

XD

"SAFELIFE REPAIR, SAVE YOUR BUTTS WITH THIS SECOND CHANCE!"

OH NO HE POSTED IT?!?!?!

OH THAT'S BAD...

Oh god, that's gonna be bad for Tom's mission, isn't it? Whatever it is he's doing.

I mean lets be honest though... that post isn't Jake's fault. How's he supposed to know that would happen?

NOT ME DEFENDING JAKE AFTER THAT-

Ugh... I had a gut feeling though, cause I saw people HATING Jake's character and calling him the worst.

HE'S AN ASSHOLE, NOOOOOOO...

Okay, BUT, I don't hate him. Surprisingly enough.

I'm actually intrigued by his character a lot more now.

I thought he was gonna be the precious bean. The sweetest character. But no, he's petty and impulsive.

I HAVE to give credit though, this is NOT something that came out of nowhere for me. He did snap at Nick in Episode 4 for stubbing his toe, and they established this episode more of Jake's past to add more context to his POV.

So he was in a toxic relationship before and got betrayed by it. That makes perfect sense to me. I understand why he'd be pissed. Tom lied to him.

But he DEFINATELY overreacted towards it. It's one thing to yell at the heat of the moment, it's another to vote for him just because you're pissed.

So, yeah, I'm not excusing his behavior, I'm just understanding WHY.

"OH NO! A character is revealed to have FLAWS. And said flaws made things worse for other people! Well clearly I hate them now!!"

I'm not doing that.

I'm just not that kinda person in how I view media. I don't hate characters just because they have flaws. When you're watching Total Drama, you gotta have that mindset too. Cause in that show, there's A LOT of characters that do screwed up things and it's wrong. So I'm used to it.

If anything, I guess Jake being revealed to have negative traits makes him a lot more interesting now. Cause yeah, I've been there. It sucks. Well, I wasn't in a toxic romantic relationship, but a toxic friendship when I was younger. It lasted for years so it left me pretty distasteful to the people around me and everyone hated me for... acting like Jake did here, honestly. How bout that?

Him and Tom are gonna BREAK ME, I can tell.

At least the lie is outed earlier in the season, so it's not as bad as it could've been...?

Like, it would've been a lot uglier later and it resulted in one of them getting voted off.

But at least they can work this out, right? Cool off, come clean, and repair the damage. Then go out for Chinese Food and hang out by the lake. Everything will be fine. They'll get their Chinese date. IT'LL ALL BE FINE.

...god, looks like I'm having Toxic Yaoi for dinner tonight.

I love Gabby's development SO MUCH HERE. SHE'S TAKING CHARGE. WE LOVE HER. WE SUPPORT EVERYTHING SHE DOES.

Really, of my favs, Gabby is the ONLY one who ACTUALLY did nothing wrong. It looks to be that way.

I didn't expect her to kiss Ellie though. That was cute.

I was expecting that to be just a friendship, but I definitely don't hate this.

Too bad Ellie's 'gone'.

Should've used that idol.

And I shouldn't have put her in the heading. I jinxed an elimination yet again.

I'm a Grett stan. I definitely want to analyze her in the character tier list I'm gonna do after this. That way I can properly explain WHY I like her so much. As a villain, obviously. I think she has a lot more depth to her than shallow "I'm a mean girl".

But I'm also not mad that she got voted off. It is deserved. And let's face it, Grett was never winning anyway.

Anyway, idk if this will get any attention because of the Season 3 finale, but hey, I can continue these if you guys seem interested and entertained by them.

[scorpiussage]

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

Part 1/?

Pairing: Johnathan Crane x Reader

Summary: Injured and on the lam, Johnathan takes refuge in the first place he finds. Unfortunately for you, that’s your apartment. 

It’s been a ridiculously long day. First you missed your morning bus, then someone ate your lunch out of the fridge. And when it was finally time to go home, all the roads were blocked off because of some business with that Batman character. By the time you do actually get home, it’s the middle of the night and you can barely stand. Only barely remembering to remove your shoes, you collapse into bed still wearing your work clothes. 

It takes you far longer than you would like to admit to realize someone is in your bed next to you. 

…

Johnathan Crane is injured and terrified and that leads him to make rather unfortunate decisions. Mainly being that he decides to break into the first apartment he finds to quickly patch himself up. That then turns into him sitting down for just a moment to catch his breath which then leads to him falling asleep. It’s basic math honestly, he doesn’t know why you’re freaking out about all of this. 

“You can’t just break into someone’s place and sleep in their bed!” you screech at him, your hands flailing wildly and drawing his attention to your wrinkled pantsuit. 

“Ugh, please tell me you weren’t actually going to go to sleep in your suit?” Jonathan sneers, “What a slob of a woman. Get it together.” 

You gape at him stupidly for a moment, trying to process the insult he’s just delivered to you. If this stranger wasn’t clearly injured and trying to hide it, you would bitch slap the fuck out of this asshole. However, even the king of douche’s can’t stem your empathetic side. 

“You’re hurt,” you say softly, gesturing to the makeshift bandage job he’s applied to his face and hands. You suspect there’s more but it’s hidden by his clothes. 

He scowls at your words and adverts his gaze, “Nothing life threatening, I assure you.” 

Ugh, you can’t just throw this guy out onto the street no matter how much you want to. 

You were just telling your mom you wanted a dog, but you definitely didn’t mean this. 

“Who are you anyways?” You ask while rummaging in your dresser for your pajamas. You totally were going to sleep in your suit but now that this jerk is judging you, you decide to change. 

The man sniffs derisively and arranges himself more comfortably in your bed, “None of your concern. You may call me Johnathan or Dr. Crane.” 

The name sounds sort of familiar but you’re way too tired to care. 

“It’s customary to introduce yourself once someone has given you their name,” Johnathan snaps, his mean scowl made less intimidating by his cracked glasses. 

You give your name with a roll of your eyes, “Let me be clear, you’re only here until you heal. Then you go back to whatever hole you crawled out of.” 

With that you flop back down onto your bed and pass out. 

…

The next morning goes about as normally as it could considering there’s a complete stranger suddenly living in your apartment. I mean, you weren’t murdered or raped in your sleep so honestly not as bad as it could’ve been. 

You drag yourself from bed, noting that Johnathan has already gotten up and has made quick work of using all the hot water. You grumble to yourself as you quickly wash yourself off in ice cold water. This is only temporary, you tell yourself. When you get out of the shower, you’re far too exhausted to sort through your laundry, so you just do a sniff test to see what’s clean. That’s when Johnathan sticks his head into your room to tell you something, only to see you doing this. The disgusted look he gives you would normally cause you to feel monumental embarrassment, but again, you’re way too tired to care. 

Jonathan has elected to make breakfast for the two of you, though he complains quite loudly about how little food you have in your fridge and pantry. You just eat the food, keeping your biting retorts to yourself, and hurry out the door when it’s time to leave for work. You pray to whatever gods there may be that he’s gone by the time you get back. 

Unfortunately, you’ve never been lucky. 

…

“Don’t you have your own place to live in?” You demand after a week of playing hostess to Dr. Prissypants. 

Johnathan sniffs primly and says like it isn’t a big deal, “Not at the moment, no. Certain events have led to me needing to lay low for a bit. Besides I-,” 

You already stopped listening when he said ‘no’. The guy really loves to hear himself talk, you think, as you tug on your suit jacket, getting ready to leave for another grueling day in hell at work. If you give him even an inch, he takes a whole fucking mile. Maybe you should get him a hobby or something, that way he’ll be too preoccupied to bitch at you about the state of  your apartment. 

…

Johnathan Crane quickly makes himself comfortable at your expense. He’s by far the worst house guest you’ve ever seen. Never have you met someone so obnoxious and vain and egotistical as Johnathan Crane. He eats all of your food, steals all your hot water, and then has the gall to fucking complain about how awful your apartment is. Well excuse you for not becoming some rich asshole like him! The fact that he’s so hot is almost completely ruined by his terrible personality.  

Months pass like this, three to be exact, and you swear every day that goes by is more and more of your sanity lost. You’d have tossed his psychotic ass to the curb long ago if it weren’t for the fact that he was threatening your life. 

“Honestly, you’d think we live in a garbage dump with how messy you let this place get,” Johnathan lectures from his place on the couch, “You’re a terrible host.” 

Gritting your teeth you smile through the barbs, “Terribly sorry about that.” 

Someday you’ll snap and you swear you will take great pleasure in stabbing his face repeatedly. 

He’s also up to something. You’ve never caught him, but you’re certain he leaves the apartment while you’re at work and does whatever slimy jerks like him do. 

“Honestly, you call that a meal? I’ve seen pigs eat better,” and just like that, whatever you were thinking is gone from your head and replaced with incandescent rage. 

You’ll get him one of these days, you swear it.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s6 ep17: Spirit Folk

More holodeck shenanigans in Fair Haven- now with even more Irish stereotypes.

It always bothers me whenever people think that everyone in the past was stupid, and this episode certainly does. But I guess since they're holodeck versions of 19th century villagers, it's not as bad as if they were supposed to be real, but still. You have to get past the condescending view of silly supertitious Irish villagers to really enjoy this one. I can't say that I did, but it's not a huge deal, since everything here is light and silly, and totally inconsequential. It's an hour of fluff with no more substance than cotton candy, so I can't really get too upset over it. We get to see our Voyager characters in 19th century outfits again, so that's good enough for me!

This ep features a classic holodeck malfunction plot- the Fair Haven program has been running continuously for months, which is causing the program to degrade. Specifially, the character settings that keep them from noticing holodeck command functions has stopped working. So now every time a crew member resets something in the program, the holo characters are aware of it. They think that objects appearing and disappearing at their command is magic, and that the Voyager crew must be faeries. (How is this a real plot of a real Star Trek episode?!) Hijinks ensue as the crew tries to repair the damage before the villagers try to capture them.

It's so ridiculous that there's kind of no point trying to critique it- it was meant to be a silly crack episode, so we'll just appreciate it for what it is. And Captain Janeway looks fabulous in her 1890s dresses- Kate Mulgrew was born to be in period dramas, she looks perfect in 19th century clothing. Ironic that she ended up being famous for playing a character from the future, but at least they kept finding excuses to put her in Victorian dresses on Voyager all the time. Whatever this shows flaws may be, at least they got that part right!

There's an attempt at being somewhat serious here as Captain Janeway is forced to tell her holographic boyfriend who she really is when he finds out about Voyager. (He even takes a stroll through the ship with the Doctor's mobile emitter, and it's the second time we see a hallway with windows on Voyager- the first time was in the episode 'Bliss', and I honestly think these are the only times in all of Star Trek that we see a hallway with outside windows on a Starfleet ship.) Of course, being a good hologram, he accepts her for who she really is, and convinces the rest of Fair Haven not to burn Tom, Harry, and the Doctor at the stake, or whatever they were going to do to them after they shot the control panel and accidentally turned off holodeck safety. (But if the safeties were on before, the holographic gun couldn't have damaged the control panel in the first place... but like I said, I'm going to ignore it, and try not to apply logic to a holodeck crack episode.)

B'Elanna is kinda my hero in this one, rolling her eyes at everyone's obsession with Fair Haven, and refusing to have anything to do with it after all the patches she's already had to make to keep it going. I feel you, girl. (But she would've looked fab in historical dresses too- I'm constantly fighting between the half of me that thinks B'Elanna is cool and badass for not being into Fair Haven, and the other half of me that's like 'but she would've been so pretty in Victorian dresses!')

And of course this one gives us the absolutely bonkers exchange between B'Elanna and the Captain, where they need to find a way to rescue Tom and Harry from the holodeck, because of course, the transporters suddenly don't work, because of 'too many stray photons' (lolwut!?). B'Elanna rightfully thinks they should just shut the program down, despite the risk of damage to Fair Haven, but everyone else is just as worried about their beloved program as their actual crewmates, leading to an appropriately horrified B'Elanna reminding Janeway that her boyfriend can be reprogrammed, while Tom and Harry can't, leading to Janeway's absolutely unhinged, perfectly calm reply: 'one problem at a time, B'Elanna'. CAPTAIN. MA'AM. THAT IS INSANE. Holocharacters are not as important as real people. (Even if one of them is your holo boytoy.) WTF.

Live B'Elanna reaction:

(Okay, this gif isn't from this episode- but the general sentiment is the same.)

But naturally, everything works out fine in the end. Though they have to stop running it 24/7, they save the Fair Haven program. The holocharacters now know and accept that the Voyager crew are from the future, and still want to be friends with them. Awww. We end the ep knowing more Fair Haven adventures are in store for our crew- though thankfully we never have an episode about Fair Haven again. (So basically it's happily ever after until the crew gets bored and moves on to a new holodeck program du jour, but don't tell the Fair Haven characters that lol)

Tl;dr: An extremely silly fluff episode with nothing terribly consequential to worry about. Empty calories, so to speak, but a nice palate clease between heavier Borg stories.

[kaiowut99]

ARC-V "Dub-Uncut" Ep. 1 (WIP): Taking the Bus

idk didn't have much for a bus pun here support mass transit pls

Another thing I thought to do for the "dub-uncut" project I'm working on with ARC-V episode 1's dub, in taking a crack at translating the destination sign on the bus here at the start of the episode. Did one for Maiami City per the original name (just in case it might be useful sometime), and "Paradise City" for use with the dub here.

Not the smoothest edit I've worked on--I used AfterEffects to track the motion as the bus scales down while moving away as closely as possible but eventually gave up and used the best tracking it gave me, then used that tracked motion to scale down the blanked edit I did before I got creative about recreating the moving cloud reflection on it by taking clouds in the sky from halfway into the shot and masking that moving footage into place over the blanked sign (with the opacity down to about 15-20%), then applied the tracking to transparent layers with the translated text so it also scaled down accordingly, but there are a few frames here/there where the scaling was slightly off so the highlight on the sign in my edit juts out a smidge further than it should--but I wanted to do something with this, lol. Altogether might've taken me a total of 4-5 hours across the past couple days (alongside work/etc and also getting started on my finalized GX 120-121 subs), and in motion per the above gifs [which you might need to let load for a sec], that little blemish I mentioned aside, I think it looks good!

(The dub, for their part, made this just a "13:42" time readout--given 4K/KCM usually dubs the shows with American audiences in mind, I'm surprised they used 24-hour time--and it looks like they applied some motion tracking on an edit of just the sign, as there are some spots here/there where they also didn't get it down perfectly. They also didn't try replicating the cloud reflection moving on it 💁🏽‍♂️ And they used their edit of Ishijima's LDS ad from later with a new background to get rid of the cards in it.)

I did think about trying to translate the ad there for Lily's Duel School, but I couldn't really make out the two kanji used (I think it's supposed to go on to say "...no jikan desu"/"it's time for..."), and since I'm saving myself some insanity by opting not to try and translate the billboard ads that show up along the subsequent panning shot of the city (partly because there aren't good references for some of the further away ones), I figure I'd be consistent, lol. But this was a nice little exercise all told; now, just want to tackle the "Maiami Duel Tournament" banner behind Yuya as he cries in his flashback a bit later, and that should be the last finishing touch I want to do for this episode, haha; stay tuned!

[seriousfic]

Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

Spoilers

The good: I liked the way this story was executed. Diana's characterization initially was very good: she's merciful, compassionate, loving. Art's good, plot is well-paced, they go pretty deep into Amazon lore instead of a more general DCU stuff--there's no other superheroes aside from Superman and Batman. I liked the new origin DWJ came up for Diana, which adds a Prometheus twist to Diana's existence which for me played well better than "she's Zeus's daughter" and dare I say improves on Perez's girlpower origin.

The bad: I'm so conflicted on how the story develops, because it gets very Zach Snyder. Diana turns out to be eminently corrupt, guilt-ridden, and brooding. The Amazons themselves are massively villainous. Wondy herself is largely responsible for destroying the world. Yeah, there are extenuating circumstances and sympathetic reasons--Diana going bee-zerk with her bracelets removed makes a reappearance from pre-Crisis continuity and really confuses the issue by making her not totally aware of her actions (so was she essentially brainwashed for all that? Should she not feel guilty? Why remove her agency, or put that agency on Hippolyta for telling her to do something she didn't/couldn't know the consequences of?). But the endgame of all of it seems to be to make Diana as broody as Batman, if not more so, and even in an AU... why? Maybe it's me, but I'm a bit sick of these tropes being overused: the Waynes being evil, Krypton being evil, evil Superman... seeing them applied to Wonder Woman doesn't do much to freshen them up.

The weird: Bulletpoints suddenly go!

*The usual role of Phillipus (Diana's trainer, Hippolyta's hard-edged general) goes to Nubia for some reason. I guess because DC was pushing her, but it just makes me feel like she has no real identity of her own if she's getting slotted into Phillipus's role just for the sake of it. And the Wonder Woman movie didn't include Phil either! What, is the bald black lady just too Black Panthery now?

*For a post-apocalyptic world where people have to walk everywhere, everyone sure is able to get from Gotham City to the Fortress of Solitude to Paradise Island in a hurry.

*It's implied/stated that the reason for the conflict is the Amazons worrying that global warming will flood Paradise Island like in Waterworld. I suppose I shouldn't complain about pseudoscience in a comic book, but melting icecaps would only rise the sea level two hundred feet. Inconvenient, certainly, but that's just about the height of one of those cliffs Amazons are always dramatically diving off of. Even if it screwed the rest of the world, well, since when have they been shown to care over much about that?

*On the media literacy website, TV Tropes, someone thinks that Superman redirected a nuke from Smallville to Paradise Island. It seems to me pretty obvious that Supes would just disable a nuke or throw it into space rather than ever throwing it at another populated area, and Diana was raging at him for 'abandoning' the defense of Themyscira to save Smallville, but I am cracking up at the mental image of Superman kicking a nuke away from Smallville and watching it fly towards one tiny island in the Atlantic like

[alucarddear]

what are you headcanons on Alucard realising he has a crush on someone? i can't help but think he'd go through a mini crisis over it

Note: You’re absolutely right. Alucard realising he has a crush on someone is hilarioussss! [She/her]

Agony. Agony. AGONY.

When he realised it, he definitely gasped in sheer horror. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

He wants to deny it, yet his heart rate picks up when she’s close. 

Silent, desperate pining(!!!) until he no longer can deny his feelings.

Boring days are a big no-no because his thoughts are preoccupied by her. He finds himself randomly day-dreaming. He needs activities, distractions.

When she’s around, he’s lowkey flustered, but he would never show it, never admit it.

Yet, he watches her from the corner of his eyes—her every movement, the sway of her hips, the way she smiles and laughs and frowns. He knows her scent and picks up on it from a mile away. It’s as if his senses are heightened around her. Hell, he knows the difference between someone else’s footsteps vs hers and it drives him mad.

He observes her and knows her favourite food, the kind of books she likes to read...

He yearns to touch her, hold her. A part of him wants to create excuses to brush his hand across hers, wants to smell her hair, wants to lock the door and taste her lips, wants to flee.

If Sypha and Trevor were around, they’d know. “As if you know about romance, Belmont,” he’d quip, but Trevor would smirk and say that “Actually, a whole lot. Ask Sy—” but Adrian would have already walked away, muttering “Ugh, never mind...” with a grimace on his face. He didn’t need to know their bedroom proclivities.

He’s fallen hard. So, naturally, in true Adrian fashion, he starts avoiding her. 

It’s better that she doesn’t involve herself with me. I’m dangerous. Death follows me. All I do is bring pain upon those I care about until they’re no more. 

He wants her to have a happy, long life, even if it is without him.

So he starts avoiding direct contact with her and sometimes even leaves when she’s in the same room that she eventually notices and questions him about it.

He—of course euphoric from being close to her after avoiding her for so long—fails to give her proper, justified reasons. It backfires on him. He stammers, flushes and scoffs at himself so much that she starts picking up on it.

They both end up blushing at each other. And then he hears her heartbeat pick up until it thunders and stutters so loud it matches his own blasted heart. He finds her cheeks flushed at having realised his feelings, biting her bottom lip. That does it. 

To hell with it, he thinks. He pulls her close by her arms and—as if only just now remembering his manners—asks, “May I?” staring at her lips all the while. She gasps, barely managing a nod.

He silences her gasp with his lips.

[melancholysway]

Rating all Raph's because I can

can we do it?

YES WE CAN.

Going off personality, character development, design etc

80s Raphael

No because this Raph took the cake for being the sass king- straight away from Donnie

It may be because Rob Paulsen voiced this mf, but holy shit is he fun to listen to.

No complaints, this Raph was funny and I love it. Made mfs SCARED of his sarcasm- he’s great. He’s not a personality type we’re used to for Raph though, he may fit Donnie’s- but either way, I love it.

This Raph was more sarcastic than anything, he wasn’t really mad.

Not much on the character development, and there’s nothing really memorable about his design since him and his brothers look similar!

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

2003 Raphael

Okay, THIS ONE.

This is it.

This the one yall, still sarcastic as FUCK, and his comedic timing is everything. He probably doesn't even mean to be funny and just says whatever mean shit he's thinking up in his head

He’s by far the most witty cunt in this whole 2003 series. I also love him x Casey Jones broship I’m here for it guys.

I loved his development and evolution up until the last ep, it wasn’t like Leo’s character development, but I still enjoyed Raph’s all the same.

Nothing strikingly different on his design, but his accent is the most notable!

4.5/5! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

2007 Raphael

TOTALLY NOT BIASED AT ALL GUYS 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

THIS RAPH. I love this Raph

It may be bc he’s the best looking in this one but idc He is so FINE.

Ahem this is about personality not looks so

As for his personality in the 2007 movie, he has his lil corny sarcastic jokes here and there

Knows how to “show a lady a good time” according to Casey mf Jones

He went viral in NYC. HE WENT VIRAL IN NYC. AS A VIGILANTE. HE MADE HEADLINES. HES THE GOAT.

I also have mad respect for 2007 Raph bc Leo straight up said he was better than Raph and the only thing Raph did was laugh at him he has more restraint than me fr fr

Bc me personally

I wouldn’t take that level of disrespect

Idk what restraint Raph had not to BITCH SLAP his brother, but I would’ve in a heartbeat for sayin that LMAO

His design is great, he’s the only brother with the amber eyes, while Leo & Donnie have light/dark brown, and Mikey has baby blue! He has his alt persona as the Nightwatcher, and his character development is rushed given its a movie, but you clearly see his transition from resenting Leo into accepting the fact that Leonardo took that absence to work on himself for his brothers.

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2012 Raphael

Hear me out rq

I enjoyed this Raph-

I really loved 2012 Raph because they always showed him caring for his brothers and pets! This was kind of the first time we got softie Raph and I’m so happy they added moments of him being soft- I would’ve rated him lower if he was strictly just mean and showed no vulnerability.

he’s getting a higher rank than intended because when he’s mean, it’s literally justified, ESPECIALLY with Spider Bitez omfg that man pissed me AWFF. He’s a good balance of sarcastic and mean honestly!

He had great development and evolution as a character, he took what Splinter said and applied it everytime, & he also didn’t just have unjustifiable anger bursts.

His design is the most unique Raph we’ve seen by FAR. He’s the only brother with bright electric green eyes, and a crack in his shell in the shape of a lightning bolt.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bayverse Raphael

He calls Leo on his b.s. I love it. He called him out on keeping shit from him and I loved it. Mikey was begging this man not to, and he didn’t give a fuck. He did it anyway. Raph doesn’t take shit from anyone, INCLUDING LEO.

I also loved this version of him, in the second movie, he really comes to terms with being a mutant and having to hide from the world. That being said, I enjoyed his development in the second movie, though it isn’t as evident. It’s a movie, and unlike the 2007 movie where it’s mainly focused on Raph (it was supposed to be a trilogy, where the movies focused on one of the turtles! Luckily they picked Raph & his relationship w/ Leo for the first movie before they went bankrupt LMAO) it’s focused on the bigger picture. This was definitely a fan movie for those who already know why each character acts the way they do.

His design is…interesting? I couldn’t actually see them, but I’ve read somewhere he has tattoos? Leonardo has the most, but I couldn’t even see them? I only saw the symbols on his shell & bandana- I’m not sure if they were talking about that as being tattoos. Bayverse Raph brings back those amber eyes from 2007 Raph! I love me some golden eyed Raphael guys

Anyway, his personality was nice! They showed that he has fears despite his size. He has morals, and recognized the benefit of being human all the while realizing normal will change nothing internally but everything externally.

3.5/5! ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Rise! Raphael

This is the first ever Raph as the unofficial leader! He’s taken Leo’s role and made it his own in this series!

That being said, I see why they had to change his personality up. He’s more upbeat, way less mean. He’s more soft. Not that I’m complaining, but I see why lowkey sometimes Leo don’t be listening to him / the other turtles don’t really take him serious? He LIGHTLY puts his foot down, he’s like the cool substitute who’ll let you use the bathroom the whole period, or the old rich auntie that gives you a wad of cash every time you and the family get together at the BBQ.

I also see a slight trend now, Raph’s becoming the largest character. I don’t know, it makes him distinctively different, but I enjoyed when he was the shortest in the 2012 version, he’s a small dog with a big bite.

Anyway, he’s a cutie in this series! His design is very unique, & his lil tooth makes him look less intimidating. I wish we could get some more on the development side for Rise!Raph, but the series isn’t done! So there’ll probably be more!

3.5/5!⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Masterlist

[naneun-no]

7 Things

🌸🕺🏻🥊💟🩲🫦👖

(My thoughts are scattered lately so here are seven strays, if anyone actually reads this lmk your thoughts!)

🌸 1. Was listening to Wild Flower and was reminded once again how much I wish Jimin could have sung the chorus 🤣 I totally get why he didn’t, I get that it was RM’s thing, and it’s really cool how many different artists he was able to collab with for Indigo. I just can totally hear Jimin belting in his indie-girl voice when I hear youjeen and it makes me wistful. I know I’m not the only one.

🕺🏻2. Speaking of indie-girl voice, I’m trying to manage expectations for JM’s album but I love his voice and vibe so much I’m having a hard time tempering my excitement. I’m sorta hoping for some sort of fusion of Prince, FINNEAS, the song Promise and Jimin’s verse in Vibe 😅 but also, I’m looking forward to being surprised. What about y’all?

🥊 3. I’m cracking up, Jimin is still shameless. Out there for everyone to see talking that flirty shit all “Keep growing and protect hyung 🥺”, bitch —

💟 This might piss people off, but 4. I had kind of written off Dreamers after listening to it a few good times when it first came out. It was okay to me, but just that. Okay. After watching the Bangtan Bomb for Dreamers I’m way more into the song, and can I just say — that is Big Hit’s entire marketing scheme in a nutshell and I can’t stress that enough. I’m even aware of it, and it still works like a charm on me. Cause like, that second verse of Dreamers is almost objectively bad. The weird rap-sing combo with meaningless lyrics that does absolutely nothing to support the lofty beauty of the chorus. And that’s not Jung Kook’s fault, he didn’t write it, but imo, it’s still a pretty mediocre submission to the world history of recorded music. But seeing JK in the studio stressing and poring over the sheets and doing his best and learning the choreo and working his ass off makes me listen to it with rose-colored… eardrums (bad metaphor sorry) and next thing I know I’m jamming to it while I clean the kitchen, singing along to that second verse like it’s poetry. So it’s as a good a time as any to remember that while BTS does in fact make good music, sometimes very good music, not all of it is equally good* — and some of it is very close to being not good at all — but we are conditioned to like it anyways because we love the seven men who are making it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Just… you know. We should probably recognize it, at least occasionally. *I realize Dreamers isn’t a BTS song, but the same applies to certain ones they’ve made/collaborated on. Thoughts?

🩲5. Are we all ready to accept that JK is not going to be the next face of CK? Lol. I guess it could still happen, but I sort of began to doubt it when my boy was downing beer and scarfing chicken two nights in a row. We know that ain’t the way he eats when he has a photoshoot coming up, lol. Even if it wasn’t Jung Kook, CK still got themselves an itty bitty waist big eyed beauty though, so I’ll be respectfully enjoying myself some Jennie in her underwear for the time being 😘

The last two are song recs:

🫦 6. Trigger, Seori. From 2020.

Or do you wanna bite my lips and taste my blood? Come be dirty with me.

*shivers in bisexual*

👖7. Hurt, New Jeans.

Not as depressing as the title makes it sound!

If you made it this far, I need song/musician recs too. Send me some?

Until next time ✌️

[milkiane]

FOR THE HOPE OF IT ALL; jj maybank

summary: after drifting apart during summer, you and jj hang out one last time before you drift apart for good.

warnings: profanities, angst :’) // gif credits to @television

word count: 2362

jj maybank

|| hey, this is jj. do u wanna hang out tmrw?

you swore that your screen was going to crack with the intensity of your stare. what did jj maybank want to do with you now?

you were best friends a few months ago, just before kiara came back from her kook year. he literally went bon voyage and left you in the dark after that.

you turned your phone off and stared at your ceiling, the glow-in-the-dark stars that jj gave you were staring right back at you.

you could always ignore his messages as he did with yours, but you knew that it wasn’t in your nature to be that petty. you knew that you’d feel bad about it sooner or later, so you hesitantly grabbed your phone and read his message over and over again.

you typed and deleted a reply too many times until a knock on your door distracted you from your chagrin.

“hey, have you packed yet?” your brother poked his head through the door. “principal smith sent me the flight details already, ferry to the mainland airport in two days.”

“no, can you help me?” you asked, sitting up from your bed.

“yeah, ‘course,” he nodded, walking deeper into your room. “where’s your suitcase?”

you and your brother prepared everything you needed that night, leaving the text message for you to fend for later.

except you didn’t. you totally forgot about it after finishing and were left to deal with it the next day.

you had one last table to serve before you were allowed to leave, and it seems that the universe had fun picking on you and chose jj to be your last customer.

you were about to turn on your heels and leave when he caught sight of you. he managed to grab ahold of your arm before you could get away from him. “hey,”

you shook off his hold on you and ignored him, walking away to collect your things.

“oh, come on, y/n,” jj sighed, grabbing the bouquet of wildflowers he picked along the way. “look, i got you some wildflowers, i know how much you loved them.”

“what, is kie too busy to hang out with you?” you snapped, stopping abruptly in front of him. “is that why you wanted to hang out, jj? i mean, after all, i’m just your rebound.”

“don’t be mean, y/n,” jj furrowed his eyebrows. “you were-”

“no,” you interrupted him, poking your finger on his chest. “you know what’s mean? pushing your friend aside the second your old girl friend returned. that’s mean.”

jj stuttered out strings of words as he watched you walk away. he was about to give up when he remembered something. “teletubby.”

you stopped in your tracks, and jj knew he’d be able to get you to agree now.

“what?” you asked, slowly turning around to face him.

“you heard me,” jj’s lips curved into a smirk. “teletubby.”

“you can’t do that anymore, not after what you did.” you clenched your jaw, folding your arms in front of you.

he squeezed his eyes shut as he let out a breath. “i know what i did, y/n, that’s why i’m here to make it up to you.” he opened his eyes and let his gaze fall into your own. “plus, you already used the word. remember when-”

“alright, alright,” you stopped him, applying pressure to your eyes with the palm of your hands. “just… wait for me outside.”

jj cheered in victory and made the move to kiss your cheek but stopped himself before he could. it was harmless, at least, it used to be. instead, he awkwardly rocked on his heels before patting your shoulder.

you sighed as you entered the staff room, opening your locker to get your extra clothes.

you tried to convince yourself that you didn’t know why you agreed. you could easily refuse his offer, you didn’t owe him anything, but you agreed anyway because you know that despite the pain and anger that you’re feeling, your friendship with jj still meant a lot to you.

jj pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and grinned at you when you walked out of the restaurant. he handed you the bouquet of wildflowers which you reluctantly took from him.

neither of you spoke for a good few minutes, and you didn’t know whether you preferred that or talking. you basked in the warm sun of the outer banks, breathing in the salty air that the breeze carried.

“so… how are you?” jj asked, looking over at you with a small smile.

“get me drunk and then ask me again,” you replied dryly, observing as the two of you walked in sync.

“right.” he nodded curtly, before looking up from the ground. “well, we’re here.”

you let out a soft sigh as the view of the beach from the small cliffside came into view. “i haven’t been here in a while.” you could feel jj’s curious look but you kept your gaze straight. “i always came here after you ran off back to the pogues, i was kinda hoping you’d show up every single time… but you never did, so...”

jj swallowed the lump in his throat. “well, i’m here now,”

“but where were you when i needed you?” you snapped, feeling your throat close up. “you promised me that you’ll always be by my side, especially when things get rough, but you just got up and left me in the past, jj.”

“i-”

“this is a bad idea, i never should have agreed.” you shook your head, sniffing as you turned around.

“no,” he grabbed your upper arm and pulled you against his chest, letting you cry all your suppressed pain. he wrapped his arms around you, rubbing your back as he whispered words of consolation.

“no! that was before you fell down the boat,” you laughed, trying hard not to snort as you tipped back the bottle of wine in your hands. “and- and then, you got so mad at me because your beer fell with you.”

the both of you laughed at the memory, feeling yourself slowly slip away into insobriety. you convinced yourself that if you tried hard enough, you can see the both of you getting lost in the moment. moments that are slowly fading into memories.

your laughter died down gradually, slipping into the comfortable silence you missed so dearly. it made you think about all the times where you thought that you had him. you didn’t exactly know in what way, but all that mattered before is that you had him there with you.

you remembered all of the days where you were still changing for the better. the same days where you were trying to convince yourself that you weren’t falling for your best friend.

“i missed hanging out with you, jj,” you sobered up almost immediately at the sudden sentimentality you felt. “it has always been you and i before summer started, y’know? we used to do it all together, and then this whole thing happened, and suddenly i feel like we’re strangers.”

jj pursed his lip, taking a sip of wine as he listened to you. he was ashamed of his actions, and if he could go back in time and undo the damage that he’s done, he would do it within a snap of his fingers.

“jj, the only way i've been knowing how you’ve been doing is through gossip. how do you think that made me feel?” you asked him, momentarily looking over at him before returning your gaze back at the setting sun. “but i guess i’ve made a mistake by being so dependent on you i’ve never made the move to make any friends. i just... kinda assumed we’d always be together, that’s why i didn't know what to do when we weren’t.”

there weren’t any more tears for jj to wipe off your face, but he could feel the raw pain that was radiating off of you. even though you were right next to him, he felt as if you could not be more far apart.

“and i just— i liked you, jj. i love you,” you confessed, fiddling with the matching bracelet you made with jj. he never took his own off either. “i loved you before you were even the life of the party, or john b’s best friend, or even kiara’s possible boyfriend.” you sighed, looking at the dumbfounded look on his face. “i loved jj maybank. the ridiculously pretty boy who sucks at mario kart.”

when he didn’t reply, you continued. “do you know how difficult it was to be the best friend who watched from the sidelines?” you chuckled humorlessly, “if i’m even allowed to still call myself that.”

“y/n…” jj quavered, reaching out to grab your hand, but you pulled back before he could even touch it.

“no, i know. i know you don’t like me back, and i’m sorry that i said it at a time like this but i just… i had to get it out there if i want to move on from you.” you sniffled. “but i want you to know that you deserve to be loved wholeheartedly, jj. you deserve the whole world, the whole fucking stars, and the moon.”

you lived for the days where you were longing for jj to be yours because for you, wanting him was more than enough. you lived for the hope of it all, but right now, you knew that you needed another hope to live for.

“and… you don’t have to say anything, okay? i just… can you just… just be my best friend and hug me right now? please?”

because jj will always be your best friend if nothing else.

jj let out a shaky breath and opened his arms out for you. “yeah…”

“ferry to the mainland boarding now!” the man in uniform hollered, opening the gates towards the ferry.

“well, this is it.” you smiled softly, grabbing your bags as your brother stood up.

“believe it or not, i think i’ll really miss your annoying ass.” your brother grinned, wrapping his hands around you. “god, mom and dad would have been so proud of you.”

“stop,” you whined. “you’re gonna make me cry before i could even get on board.”

“ferry to the mainland boarding now!”

“you should get going if you want to have a good seat,” he advised, squeezing you one last time.

“yeah, right,” you took a deep breath, pulling away from him. you looked at the large ship before turning back to him. “you’ll visit me, right?”

“of course i will,” he mused. “agh, come here.” he pulled you back and planted a soft kiss on your forehead. “stay safe for me, alright? call me at least once a week.”

“got it.” you nodded. “you’ll do the same for me?”

“i promise.” he affirmed, before giving you a light push. “go on, now. don’t want our dear scholar running late now.”

you laughed, waving at him one last time before joining in the people boarding the ferry.

jj was walking along the main streets of the town, fiddling with his phone as he thought of you. he didn’t know how to feel after your confession. jj has always loved you, but he wasn’t quite sure if it would go to the same extent as your love for him.

but he wanted to see where your relationship stands in his life. so he pressed on your contact to send you a message, but before he could even type up a response, his ears perked up at the sound of your name.

“have you heard? y/n l/n got into that international scholarship in new york?” one of the students from kildare, jj recognized, said to her friend.

“for real? shit, she’s lucky she gets to leave this shithole,” she replied, sipping on her slurpee.

“true, my mom said she saw her and her brother at the dock a while ago.”

jj cursed at the sudden realization, he didn’t care if the dock was far from where he currently was, but he started running towards it anyway. he didn’t know what he would do or what he would say to you, but all he knew now is that he needed to get to you before you could leave.

but as soon as he got there, he realized that he was too late as he watched your ferry leave.

you fiddled with your bracelet, noting every color and bead that jj put together for you. it had his initials on it, as it did with his. you wonder if you did the right thing and didn’t say goodbye to him.

you knew that if you did, one look at his ocean eyes and you were done for. you wanted to move on from him, have a fresh start away from the outer banks, but the nagging voice in your head stepped on your conscience. you knew that it was unfair to him, even though he did the same thing to you just months prior.

“y/n!”

you snapped your head towards the source of the sound, wondering who could be calling you. no one on the ferry seems to have been paying any attention to their surroundings.

“y/n!” jj tried once more, wanting you to turn around and look at him. you were wearing his hoodie, he noticed. he wondered if you knew that it was his.

you turned around to look back at the dock and saw jj standing on the edge, unable to do anything as the ferry moved farther and farther away.

he hoped that you’d call out for anyone on the ferry to turn back around just to come back to him, though he knew it would be impossible, but right now, he’s just living for the hope of it all.

but instead, the last thing that you gave him was a sad smile with teary eyes that matched his own as you left him standing at the dock, heartbroken and alone; just like you had been.

[justasparkwritings]

August {III} Are You Sure?

Previous: August II

Pairing: Kim Taehyung x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Smut

Rating: NC17

Warnings: Kissing, Making Out, Oral Sex, Consensual Safe Sex between 2, 18 Year Olds (it’s very clear), Talking About Sex, Birth Control, Swearing, Losing Virginities (antiquated I know)

Word Count: 6.7K

Summary: Two summers pass and each one gets steamier and steamier.

Notes: ARE WE FINALLY DONE WITH TEENAGE THEM? ALMOST.

Listen: August, Taylor Swift; The Last Great American Dynasty, Taylor Swift; I Think He Knows, Taylor Swift; Cinema, Harry Styles; Crush, Gavin Degraw 

Tag List: @4ksj, @jagiya, @ot7nem, @knjkitten, @teamtardis-notdead​

Tag List

Master List

7 Summers Ago

           You waited in the Adirondack chairs as the sun went down and the stars began to show. Your moms were at some dinner with both Kim’s at Bar Harbor, leaving you, EJ, Taehyung and both his siblings and yours to roam the beach. The younger Kim’s had been tucked in bed at 10PM, but left to play quietly on their ipads until their parents came home. EJ was too busy hooking up with Yoongi, who her parents somehow allowed to stay with them, and unsupervised, because EJ was most definitely not having sex. Which, wasn’t a total lie. She most definitely was having sex with Yoongi, oral sex, digit sex… all the sex that comes as foreplay before penetration. And she most definitely knew what it felt like to climax, a fleeting sensation you hadn’t yet explored.

           It wasn’t for lack of trying, but lack of time. Too many activities, too much homework, too much to prepare for senior year. Your preliminary SAT and ACT scores were good, strong but could be better. They needed to be better if you wanted a shot at an Ivy. Extracurriculars and letters of rec would do a lot for you, plus the whole two-moms and being biracial was definitely going to help as well… but that was no guarantee an Ivy would care. You spent the first part of summer organizing the lists of schools to apply to, some state schools and public institutions, then listed the six Ivy’s you wanted to try and get into: Columbia, Brown, Yale, Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth. And Stanford, the almost Ivy. In total you had twelve schools to apply to, twelve schools to impress, twelve schools to prove your worth.

           “Hey,” a voice said behind you, and you knew without looking that Taehyung had finally cleaned up the kitchen from dinner and was coming to join you. “I stole this from my parents stash back home.”

           You took the can of beer and stared at it.

           “Underage drinking? Taehyung Kim who are you?” You asked.

           “I thought it might be fun, drink it together then bury it in the recycling bin before my parents come home.”

           “Okay,” you said and cracked the top. The first sip made you wince, why was beer so gross?

           “Do you hate it?” He asked as he sipped. In his letters to you, he’d alluded to the fact that he’d gone to a party or two or five where drinking was happening. He made it clear that it was a means to an end, a way to prove he was cool and worthy of being at the party, but he usually filled a solo cup with water and pretended he’d snuck a pour of vodka from the freezer or liquor cabinet or wherever the parents of his peers hid their hard booze.

           “Yeah, it’s nasty.” You looked at the label, not recognizing it and handed him the can again. He sipped and winced, too.

           “So beer isn’t our drink.”

           “It most certainly is not.”

           “Good to know now so that next year we’re ready.”

           “God, can we not talk about next year for like, ten minutes?” You begged.

           “Of course. What are you taking this year?”

           “AP Physics, AP Lit, APUSH, AP Studio Art. You?”

           “AP Lit, APUSH, AP Chem and AP Calc.”

           “Are we going to survive?”

           “I doubt it.”

           “Hey – you never wrote to me about Junior Prom. Did you ask that girl?”

           “Girl?”

           “Yeah, in your letters you made comments about having a crush with wide dark eyes and a smile that when it expands, reminds you of wings. You were totally crushing. Did you go to prom with them?”

           “I uh – no. I didn’t go to prom with him.”

           “Him?”

           “Yeah, I think I’m bi, or pansexual… I’m not sure yet.”

           “Oh, cool,” you shrugged. This was in fact not totally new information. “That’s why when I talked about how hot Seokjin’s become you agreed, isn’t it?”

           “Yeah, it is.”

           “He’s gotten hotter. I don’t know how that happened but it’s really fucking getting to me.”

           “Whoa – swearing too? Has one sip let you loose?”

           “Shut up!” You said swatting his arm.

           “He is looking hot, so is Namjoon.”

           “Yeah, they’re coming up for a week and bringing Hoseok and Yoongi which, seems unfair.”

           “That they have a lot of hot friends?”

           “Yeah, but I have you, and you’re like…. Hotter than all of them combined so it’s fine.”

           “Shut up,” Taehyung said blushing.

           “You’re a model, Kim.”

           “So are you, Y/N.”

           “Don’t,”

           “What?”

           “Lie. I’m no you,”

           “You don’t have to be,” He said and leaned over the arm of his chair. “You’re perfectly you.”

           You turned your head and leaned across to meet his lips. They were soft and patient, reminding you what it was like to kiss him like you had summers before.

           “Did your prom date ask you to be his girlfriend?” Taehyung asked as he pulled away.

           “No, we’re not a couple. I don’t really want to date him.”

           “Why not? I thought he was interesting and considerate?”

           “Yeah, he is, but you know,” you shrugged, allowing your sentence to hang. “I did get asked out by the captain of the varsity basketball team.”

           “Oh? Did you say yes?”

           “No.”

           “Why not?”

           “He’s an idiot and his parents are republicans. You really think my moms would allow that?”

           “That’s true. What if you fall in love at college?”

           “That wasn’t even ten minutes!”

           “Sorry, sorry!”

“It’s a moot point anyway, I’m kind of pining over someone. I guess I like the feeling of unrequited love a little too much to date.”

           “You’re wise beyond your years, but don’t let that unrequited love dictate your future.”

           “It’s not totally unrequited,” You said, knowing full well he understood you meant him.

           “No, it’s not,” he leaned in again, this time kissing you with fervor and heat. “Can we go to yours?”

           “Yeah,” you stood and took his hand, walking side by side into your cabin and to your bedroom. You shut the door, grateful that Max was crashing at Taehyung’s house with his siblings.

           Taehyung kissed you as you turned around, lips moving in tandem with yours as his hands cupped your cheek. You’d both had practice since last summer, kissing other people. Taehyung had gone out with some girl his parents had set him up with, and you had gone on a few dates with a guy named Mark who was totally fine and it more fizzled than burned out.

           “Can I,” Taehyung started, then sat back and looked at you.

           “Take my shirt off?” You filled in his unasked question, because you had the same one.    

           “Yeah?”

           “Yes.”

           It seemed like a natural progression, moving from kissing occasionally the summer before, okay and completely making out on more than one occasion, to this… to topless kissing and hands exploring. It was safe and it was comfortable, he was looking out for you and you were looking out for him. And, of course, it was Taehyung. Taehyung who you’d crushed on since you were fifteen… Your best friend, and you his.

           It was all going, rather well, until you heard the front door open and footsteps getting louder and louder as they approached your door.

           “Shit,” you muttered as you reached for your shirt and tossed it on. Taehyung did the same and sat on the floor, hoping his swollen lips and mussed hair wouldn’t give anything away.

           “Y/N?” Your mama asked as she opened the door, her eyes widening as she saw Taehyung on your rug, legs crossed, and you sitting on your bed. “You know the rules.”

           “I’m sorry,” you said quickly.

           “I should go,” he said standing quickly. “Have a good night.”

           “You too, and you, living room.”

           Your mama didn’t need anytime going from cool and collected to angered parent. She did it so quickly it could give someone who was unfamiliar with her reactions whiplash.        

           “Jackie!” she called.

           “Yes? Y/N, why are you up?”

           “It’s 10pm, it’s not that late.” You countered.

           “Don’t you have work in the morning?” she asked.

           “Yes.”

           “Taehyung was here,” mama said. “In her room, with the door closed.”

           “Y/N!” Mom said.

           Your hands shot up, defending yourself. “I’m sorry!”

           “I thought we had an understanding, no closed doors, no boys in the house when we’re not here,” your mom said.

           “I know,” you said.

           “Do we need to buy condoms?” She asked.

           “Oh my god!” You exclaimed, blushing furiously.

           “Well, you’re not on birth control, and you’re having a boy in your room with the door closed. Do we need to buy protection for you?” Mama asked, clearly and with a hint of fear that you, her precious daughter was becoming sexually active.

           “I don’t think so.”

           “But you might need them this summer?”

           “I – I don’t know,” you answered sheepishly.

           “We wanted to get you on birth control before college,” Mom said.

           “You do?”

           “Yes, you never know what could happen. The world isn’t a safe place and it’s better to be protected than to be vulnerable. But we didn’t expect, I guess we should’ve,” mama sat down, exhaling loudly.

           “You know the risks, of sex before you’re on the pill or have an IUD?”

           You nodded.

“Verbal confirmation please,” Mama requested.

“Yes,” you said clearly.

           “Even with condoms, they are not –

           “I know.”

           “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” Mom muttered.

           “Yeah, I had health. Remember I got an A?” You replied, regretting the snark you’d chosen for that question. You watched as your mom rolled her eyes and your mama shook her head.

           “Of course, you did, but taking a class and having it be your reality are very different things.” Mom said.

           “I’m sorry I broke the rules.” You apologized.

           “Is EJ having sex?” Mama asked.

           “Mama!”

           “It’s a valid question, dating that older boy,” Mom said.

           “No, she’s really scared that because he’s older, if something happens her parents will like totally wig out.”

           “Makes sense.”

           “I would be worried.”

           “Well luckily Taehyung turns eighteen a few months after I do,” you said. They knew, how could they not? You scrambled from the day your birthday was over all the way until his trying to find the perfect gift and mail it on time. They’d been watching you, and taking you to the post office, for years now.  

           “Right, but now you’re seventeen, so can you please promise us, you won’t do anything drastic until you’re eighteen?”

           You thought about it, what was a few months? But in a few weeks Taehyung would be back in his home and you would be in yours, and you couldn’t… you didn’t want to take that next step with some guy from school. Ew. No, if you were going to do it before college it would have to wait until next summer. Then you’d be protected, right?

           “Okay,” You grumbled.

           “I would like that in writing,” Mama said.

           “Oh Teresa, stop,” mom chuckled. “I’ll draft it in the morning.”

           “You know this is how teens end up pregnant, celibacy pacts,” you reminded them.

           “We could take her to the urgent care and get it,” Mama offered.

           “She could have side effects, what if she starts the wrong one and has a bad reaction? I’d rather take her to her pediatrician and go over options and make an educated decision instead of just shoving the pill on her.”

           “Hello?” You asked. “Can I be a part of this conversation?”

           “Of course, honey,” mom said.

           “I want an IUD. I’ve done the research, and yes they hurt and are more expensive, but they offer the best protection from unwanted pregnancy for the longest time. I want, I want that.”

           “She is our daughter after all,” mama commented.

           “Okay, when we get back we’ll take you to your doctor,” mom decided. “And you’re grounded for the week, no seeing Taehyung except at work.”

           You arrived to the mall and sat at the empty picnic table that awaited weary workers before and after their shifts. But you weren’t alone for long, because EJ, having the day off, came to support you on your first day back.

           “Yo,” she said sitting down. “You will not believe what I heard.”

           “So, I think I’m going to start birth control,” you whispered, pulling EJ closer to you.

           “What?” she yelled, directly into your ear.

           “Yeah, my parents walked in on me and Taehyung last night and they wanted me to start before college but they’re gonna start it now.”

           “Is that what you want?”

           “Yeah, I think so? I mean, I only want to have sex with Tae, but we can’t this summer because my moms will ground me every day if I do.”

           “Oh my god did they make you sign a virgin pact?”

           “Yeah, and they asked if you’re having sex with Yoongi.”

           “I’m assuming you lied.”

           “Of course.”

           “Good, my mom doesn’t need to know anything. So you’re grounded this week?”

           “Yeah, because he was in my room with the door shut.”

           “Oh my god, ladies!” Clara exclaimed as she came up to the table, smile on her face, new summer clipboard in her hand.

           “Hi Clara,” EJ and you grumbled.

           “EJ, aren’t you supposed to be at Pirate’s Treasure Chest?”

           “I have today off.”

           “Oh, well you’ll both be excited to hear that you, Y/N, are officially moved to the candy section and out of ice cream!”

           You stared at her, unsure why that was exciting news. Ice cream was difficult, sure, but to deal with all those customers? No thank you.

           “Why?”

           “It’s because she got hot, isn’t it?” EJ asked Clara.

           “Oh my god,” you slapped her arm. The sound echoed in the near empty strip behind the stores. “This isn’t a YA summer romance, I didn’t just get hot over the school year and no one noticed.”

           “You sure?” EJ asked. “I know someone who has been thinking about you.”

           “Who?” Clara asked, then realized she wasn’t part of the conversation. “Anyway, your shift starts in five. Have you seen your boyfriend?”

           “Boyfriend?” You asked in confusion.

           “Taehyung, duh,” she said.

           “Oh, he’s probably out front, waiting for you to let him in.”

           “He wasn’t when I walked in but I’ll go double check. I’m sure he’ll be happy to have you as his work wife again.”

           Clara turned and used her key to get into the back room of the candy store, ponytail swaying and bopping as she walked. She clearly hadn’t changed in the year since you saw her.

           “She’s gonna be prom queen, isn’t she?”

           “Then marry a republican senator and eventually stand by him when his sex scandal breaks.”

           “Yikes,” you sighed. “So who has been talking about me?”

           “I’m sworn to secrecy,” EJ teased.

           “You’re the worst.”

           “Hey, EJ!” Taehyung appeared from the door Clara just entered, big smile on his lips.

           “Hi,” she said – they had been spending plenty of time together this summer before you arrived. A fact that made you insanely jealous. But you got EJ all school year, and you got Taehyung… well in ways EJ never would.

           “Y/N we gotta wash up and then I’m training you on candy,” he informed you.

           “Great, you gonna be a drill sergeant?” You asked.

           “That’s are you going to be a drill sergeant, sir, to you,” Taehyung winked, waved to EJ and disappeared back into the shop.

           “He likes you,” EJ said.

           “Considering we were topless making out on my couch, I’d say yes, he does like me.”

           “And you like him,”

           “He’s fine.”

           “Oh come on, don’t act like you don’t pine after him all school year, hoping he’ll make some long distance move and you’ll be together.”

           “I like the hope of him, never quite turning into anything real. It’s, fun. It’s breezy.”

           “It stops you from going out with other people,” EJ reminded you.

           “Who wants to date me back home anyway? No one.”

           “That’s not true.”

           “Whatever. When do Seokjin and Namjoon get here?”

           “Tomorrow night. They said they wanted to give us one night together until they steal you away and ruin your summer.”

           “I hate that they enjoy college but not enough to stay there all summer,” you said as you stood and collected your items.

           “Same. I don’t miss them at all,” EJ lied. “I’ll come by at one and we’ll bike home?”

           “I’m grounded remember?”

           “Yeah, from Taehyung, not me.”

           She was right, your moms had no problem when you rode up to the house with EJ next to you, or when she came in, gave them a hug and collapsed on the couch, ready to watch TV or play games.

           “Go swimming,” Mama said as she came out of the kitchen to stare at you and EJ. “Please, not in the house.”

           “Fine,” you groaned and changed quickly into your swimsuit.

           EJ was already outside, at the end of the dock, applying sunscreen to her arms and legs. You walked out and let her slather your back in the white concoction before doing the same to hers.

           “Are your moms really that mad?”

           “I don’t know, but I know they’re going to regret grounding me.”

           “Why?”

           “I’m so much more annoying when I can’t see Taehyung than when I can.”

           “That’s true, I can confirm that,” EJ laughed. She took the first jump, spinning and plummeting into the water. You followed suit, jumping in after her and laughing as you came up for air.

           “I think he dates other people during the school year,” you confided, your suspicion more an idea and a thought than an actual reality.

           “You do? Wouldn’t he mention it in your letters?”

           “I don’t know that he would. It took him until I asked yesterday to find out about prom. He’s allusive.”

           “In like, a hot way.”

           “Yeah, I mean he’s the hottest man I’ve ever se –

           Something wrapped around your ankle and in a swift motion pulled you under. As water filled your nose you began to fling your arms wildly, trying to hit whatever it was that had gotten to you. It’s a lake, there isn’t anything more than fish, ducks and microscopic living organisms. Nothing with a grip that could take you down. You kicked your legs, almost making contact with whatever it was as the grip released you, sending you up to the top of the water gasping for air.

           “What the fuck?” You yelled, eyes wild as you tried to land on whoever or whatever it was that had gotten you.

           You heard the laughter before you saw the face, popping out a few yards away from you, broad shoulders and symmetrical face, his windshield wiper laugh was like no ones you’d heard, besides coming from him. He was in hysterics, laughing heartily as he watched your panic turn into blind rage. EJ laughed too, because of course she had been in on it.

           “She hates you,” another voice came from the dock across from yours, and you glared at Namjoon.

           “She’s in shock, leave her alone,” Yoongi, decked out in full sun shirt and leggings, said as he sat down and dipped his pale feet into the cool water.

           “I fucking hate you, Seokjin Kim.” You yelled before climbing up the ladder on your dock. “None of you fucking talk to me.”  

           As you stomped back into your house, you could hear Seokjin calling your name.

           “It was a joke! I’m sorry!” Seokjin called.

           “I told you it was a dick move,” Namjoon said before he jumped into the water, splashing Yoongi.

           “I thought Hoseok was coming with you?” EJ asked them.

           “He’s changing still,” Yoongi answered.

           “He didn’t want to be a part of this,” Namjoon told his sister.

           “Of course not, you guys are assholes.”

           “You helped!”

           “All I did was get her in the water, I thought you were just going to be floating, not try and drown her.”

           “Whatever, it was a great prank,” Seokjin said.

           “You are going to really have to apologize to her,” Namjoon told his twin.

           “I know,” Seokjin regretted the prank almost immediately after he saw your face. He had expected you to be surprised, but he thought maybe you’d be happy he was there, happy he’d come up a day early to hang out with you and his sister. That he took some time in his busy summer, he’s working as an undergrad researcher at Northwestern all summer, to come up to the lake and be with his family. But no, you’re pissed at him, and he knows you, it’s going to last a while if he doesn’t apologize correctly.

           Seokjin hops out of the lake, having used his large wingspan and strength to pull himself up and out of the water. He stalks down your dock before turning on the sand and going to the one person’s house who will know what to do: Taehyung.

           “Why did you think that was a good idea?” Taehyung asked, sitting in his living room with a can of sugar free root beer in his hand.

           “I thought she’d be more excited to see me than she would be mad.”

           “Why would she be excited to see you?”

           “I don’t know! I haven’t seen her since Christmas. I didn’t come home for spring break, I thought maybe she’d be –

           “Excited,”

           “Yeah, to see me.”

           “And not Namjoon?”

           “Who is excited to see Namjoon except his professors?” Jin asked.

           “I’d guess you, I mean he’s in Boston and you’re in Chicago for the year, don’t you miss him?”

           “That’s not the point of this. How do I apologize?”

           “Write her a letter.”

           Seokjin wasn’t convinced. “A letter?”

           “A letter. And get her favorite chocolates and candies. Be sincere, but not patronizing.”

           “I can do those things.”

           “Write it in your best handwriting, she cares about penmanship even though hers looks like she’s nine years old.”

           “Okay, anything else?”

           “Don’t like to her, or make up something about why you did it. Be honest,” Taehyung said.

           “Did EJ say something to you?” He asked.

           “Uh, no? Should she have?” It was Taehyung’s turn to be confused about the conversation transpiring between them.

           "No, no, she just talks a lot for someone who knows so little. Anyway,” Jin said standing. “Thanks.”

           “Why do you care so much?” Yoongi asked that evening over dinner, where Mr. & Mrs. Kim were less than impressed with their eldest son’s prank.

           “She’s like my second sister, I shouldn’t have done it.”

           “Told you,” Namjoon muttered.

           “You shouldn’t have, what if she hurt you? Or you hurt her?”

           “She was only under for maybe ten seconds,” Jin said. “I had a loose grip on her and let her go quickly.”

           “Ten seconds is still enough to do damage to an unsuspecting person,” Mrs. Kim scolded. “Honestly Jin, you know better.”

           “I’m working on my apology!” He said defensively.

           “We ought to ground you for your foolery but you’re an adult, and that would be embarrassing for both of us.” Mr. Kim said.

           “Sorry for being a disappointment.”

           “You are not a disappointment,” Mrs. Kim told him. “You just behaved like you’re fifteen, which frankly is an age we are glad to be past.”

           “Nothing was as bad as Namjoon at thirteen,” EJ piped in. “Do you remember?”

           “The time he kicked the hole in the wall? How could we forget,” Mr. Kim laughed.

           “You did what?” Hoseok asked, turning to stare at his friend.

           “It was an accident.”

           “An accident was EJ putting stickers on her bedroom door. No, you knew what you were doing,” Mrs. Kim said.

           “I hate this family,” Namjoon groaned.

           “Honestly, same,” Seokjin said, meeting his twin’s gaze.

           He didn’t tell Taehyung that he had missed his brother during their time apart for college. He always missed him when they were apart. They’re twins, it’s part of their dna and make up to be completely locked into the other. It was terrible, freshman year, being separated for the first time, and for a long time. Neither came home for Thanksgiving, but thankfully Namjoon went to Chicago to stay with Jin. They both went home for Christmas and at Spring Break the entire family, even EJ who wasn’t on break yet, went to France. But there were still long and lonely hours. Seokjin didn’t take to making friends quite as easily as his brother, and he missed having a guaranteed companion. Not to mention Yoongi was still in state, and Hoseok was in New York and could see Joon more frequently. Phone calls and texting did little to fill the void, and Jin really regretted, at least the first few months, that he’d turned down the option of going to Northeastern with his brother.

           “I think we’re great,” EJ said as she finished the last of her grilled asparagus, and smiled at Yoongi who happily grinned back.

           “You have to talk to him,” Mama said the next day as you avoided spending time with EJ or listening to Seokjin.

           “I do not. He made a dick move and I don’t have to forgive him yet.”

           “Doesn’t she have consequences for swearing?” Max asked as he ate his cereal. Finally old enough to work, he’d scored a job at Gunner’s Golf Pros caddying and working the snack shack.

           “She’s already grounded,” mom reminded him.

           “Yeah, but she still gets to hang out with EJ and Taehyung at work. How is that even a punishment?”

           “Because she really wants to spend time with Taehyung, who she only sees for a month out of the year. Imagine you had a friend like that and mom and I said you couldn’t see them? How would you feel?”

           “Max doesn’t have friends,” you commented.

           “Why are you so mean to me?”

           “I love you, that’s why.”

           “Okay, love and being mean do not equal each other,” Mama said.

           “We know,” Max and you said in unison.

           “Please, Seokjin has been texting for weeks asking when we’re having a family bbq and now you won’t speak to him. Maybe he’s trying to say he’s sorry the only way he knows how.”

           “By being obnoxious?” You asked.

           “By being genuine and authentic.” Mom said.

           You shrugged, staring at the last remaining pieces of your cereal, floating helplessly in the oat milk of your bowl. “I don’t know why he’s being either.”

           “He’s a sweet boy, well, young man.” Mama said.

           “He’s fine.”

           “Have you noticed how handsome he’s gotten?” Mom asked.

           “Can we please not discuss Seokjin has attractive?” Max requested.

           “Yeah, that’s gross,” you agreed.

           A knock hit your front door and Max ran off to get it. You could hear him a little, and recognized the deeper voice speaking to him as Seokjin’s. You rolled your eyes because of course that asshole would show up at your door, unannounced and want to speak with you. Wasn’t he supposed to be sleeping in?

           “Here,” Max said, handing you an envelope with your name written in pretty hand lettering, most likely done by EJ.

           “What?”

           “It’s from Jin. He wants you to read it.”

           “Why?” You asked him.

           “I don’t know, he just said to give it to you, and this,” Max passed you a large bag of candy, which made no sense, how had he gotten into The Confectioners Corner before it was open? Let alone known to buy your favorites?

           “He’s doing this on purpose,” you declared.

           “What is he doing, honey?” Mama asked.

           “He’s trying to get me to think about him all day. Either I read this letter now and think about it all day, or I don’t read it and think about what it could say until my double shift is over and I can come home and read it.”

           “Which one is worse?”

           “Not knowing,” you answered quickly.

           “So go read it and then get on that bike and go to work,” mom said.

           You raced to your bedroom and carefuly opened the letter. Inside was a piece of stationary that was clearly EJ’s.

           Dear Y/N,

           I’m so sorry I scared you yesterday in the water. I wanted to have a bit of fun with you, remind you of the fun we had before I went to college. I think I was feeling insecure about how you’d feel, seeing Namjoon and me after we’d been away for so long. You’re like another sister to me, and I missed you. God that sounds pathetic, but you’re a family member so it’s true. I’m sorry I scared you… I was feeling nostalgic for the times we used to – well I guess the times Joonie and I would tease you or chase you around probably were hell for you… sorry for those too.

           Forgive me? Please?

                                                                                   XX,

                                                           Jin

          You laughed as you read the letter again and again. What a little dork. You took your cellphone out of your pocket and texted Seokjin.

You: you loser

Jin: did you read it?

You: yeah, I did. Thanks for the candy.

Jin: do you forgive me?

You: I’ll think about it while I’m at work

Jin: that works for me

You: for what it’s worth, I missed you too. but if you tell anyone I said that I will deny it and say Max got to my phone and texted you

Jin: glad to know you only admit you care about me under threat

You: Well you only said you missed me because you embarrassed your parents

Jin: how’d you know?

You: You’re sister has been my best friend since birth, idiot

Jin: why are you so mean to me?

You: I am not

Jin: you’d never call Joon an idiot

You: he’s smarter

Jin: I did better on my SATs

You: whatever

Jin: don’t you have a job to get to?

You: Yeah – I’ll see you later

Jin: and you’ll forgive me, too?

You: we’ll see

6 Summers Ago

           “Are you sure?” Taehyung asked the following year on July 31st, as he lay next to you on your bed.

           “Yeah, are you?”

           “I am if you are…. I wanted it to be with you.”

           “Yeah? Me too,” you whispered, then kissed him quickly as your shaking hands moved down to unbutton his shorts. You could feel him against your hand, hardening as your body somehow moved with his.

           “Do you have –

           “Yeah and I got an IUD so we’re like, super safe.”

           The idea of losing your virginities to each other had come from well…. Both of you. In letters traded over the school year, you’d discussed how far you’d gone in your hook ups with each other. The wandering hands, the temptation to go farther, the burning want that took over both your bodies whenever you were together. Taehyung wanted you, all of you, and you wanted him too. But you’d promised you wouldn’t do anything, not just with Taehyung, but with any boy until you were 18. A weird pact your moms wanted you to agree to in case you somehow slipped up last summer. You hadn’t, and during the year your want to explore sex with someone you trusted grew and grew and finally, you mentioned sex to Taehyung. He too was growing in curiosity, but had more access to porn and dirty magazines than you did. He was curious, but only if he could be curious with you.

           Your theory of him dating people during the school year was squashed, he wasn’t dating anyone, just quietly pining over someone he couldn’t ever really have… and of course you knew that to be you.

           “Can I, can I touch you?” You whispered.

Your moms had let you come up a day early to get ready before starting work, with a double shift, tomorrow, August 1st. Taehyung had been up at Lake Augusta for a while, like always, and waited for you outside your cabin when you drove up.

           What started as a hug hello soon became a heavy make out on your bed, which led to shirts (and a bra) being tugged off as his hands, consensually, worked to explore you.

           “Yeah,” he said, nodding. You watched him carefully as you slid your hand down his exposed torso, unintentionally teasing him as you caught the bearings of his body. How soft his skin was, how toned his stomach felt and yet still remained soft. You’d seen him shirtless before, but this was totally different. Your hand continued down, dipping into the hem of his shorts and finding purchase on his hardening cock, a sensation you had never experienced before. Slowly, like EJ had taught you, you began to stroke him up and down, eyes not leaving his face as he fluttered his shut. His little moans were encouraging, as was the precum dripping from his tip. You wanted him. Your body was telling you how deeply you wanted him, and his was pleading with you for more. You picked up your speed, and Taehyung thought he could see stars.

           “Wait,” He said, taking your hand from him and holding it to his chest.

           “What? Did I do something wrong?” You asked.

           “No, I just… I think I’m going to come if you keep doing that and I’d really like to you know, come inside you,” he muttered the end of his sentence, embarrassed by his own desire.

           “Oh! Okay, I don’t know, I think I’m ready?” You asked, assessing how your body was feeling.

           “Lay back,” he said. “Can I take these off?”

           Taehyung trailed his fingers across the hem of your underwear, waiting for you to give him permission.

           “Yeah,” you said and held your breath. He was the first boy to see you…. naked. And exposed.

           His hands were delicate as they pulled the cotton down and tossed them into a pile with your sun dress. He parted your legs with his hands and knelt in front of your cunt. Fingers lithe and gentle, he stroked between your lips, feeling the soft warmness of them, and admiring the liquid wetness that coated his fingers.

           “Yeah, but like, I can maybe put a finger in, or two before?” He asked. You nodded, having read about fingering and heard about it from EJ. She was so excited for you to finally have sex, as she and Yoongi had started immediately after she turned 18. Taehyung nodded and using his other hand, held your legs open. He gently eased a finger into you, listening as you gasped and adjusted to it. Slowly pumping in and out, your body adjusted quickly to the sensation.

           “More,” you muttered, a moan leaving behind it.

           “Okay,” he nodded, eyes fascinated by how your body was moving. He inserted his middle finger too.

           “Gentle,” you said, feeling more of a stretch with his two fingers than you had before.

           “Do you want me to stop?”

           “No,” the firmness of your voice surprised you both, but your eyes told him the truth, you were really enjoying this.

           He continued to pump in and out of you until he felt like he might explode from the sounds you were making and the sight of you before him. He carefully pulled his fingers out and did, what you thought could possibly be the most insane act, he licked them.

           “Oh my god, why did you do that? We’re on a towel!” You scolded.

           “I was curious. You know a lot of people like to eat –

           “Don’t say the p- word.”

           “Fine, a lot of people do oral sex before they have penetrative sex. We haven’t done that, so I was curious what you tasted like.”

           He was so matter of fact about everything.

           “What do I taste like?” You asked, dreading the answer.

           “I don’t know how to describe it, but you taste like you.”

           “Not like pineapple, or sweet or gross?”

           “No, just like you. I don’t know how else to describe it. Do you want to –

           “No thank you.”

           “Condom?” He asked, and watched as you reached into your bag, which had been lugged up because it contained contraband, and pulled out a fresh pack.

           “Moms said I’d probably need it this summer so,” you shrugged nervously and watched as Taehyung opened the box, pulled out a foil and tore it open. He stood to take off his pants and while he stood, fully naked and unashamed, slipped the condom over himself.

           “How’d you?”

           “Health class, lots of cucumbers and bananas, lots of practice.”

           “Oh,” you said, shocked a school was that comprehensive. He crawled back over you, and separated your legs to slate between them.

           “Are you sure?” He asked again.

           “I am. Yes. Are you?”

           “Yeah, fuck yeah I am,” he said, blushing at his use of profanity.

           “Go slow,” you instructed, and watched as he lined himself up with your entrance. You figured it was probably good he had fingered you, that way he knew where he was meant to be.

           It burned, gently, as he slowly inched himself further and further into you. You winced, eyes closed, face screwed up into a pained expression as he fully sheathed himself in you. He didn’t move, he barely breathed, as Taehyung waited for you to say something, anything.

           “Move, slowly please,” You said, and he did so, gently pumping himself in and out of you.

           “Oh my god,” Taehyung said into your ear. He finally got it, why every guy viewed sex as this godly experience he was just waiting to have. He imagined they felt that way because it was sex, and from the thirty seconds of it he’d had, he was feeling that way too. But maybe all his friends, or people in magazines, had had their first time with someone they deeply loved and cared about, like he was.

           “Oh my god,” you muttered as the pain eased and pleasure took over. He felt, good? That’s what sex is supposed to feel, good?

           “Yeah?” He asked, unsure what your oh my god meant.

           “Yeah, it feels good.”

           “I’m not - I’m not going to last much,” he said as his breath became more panicked and sputtered.

           “That’s okay,” you said, having done your homework on the male experience.

           “Okay, because I’m going to –

           Taehyung didn’t have much time to finish his sentence as he gave one final thrust and came. You laid, with him on top of you, for a moment while he collected himself.

           “Shit,” he said, and as he pulled out of you, he took off the condom and tied it before dropping it in your garbage can. “Keep your legs open.”

           “Why?” You wondered, staring up at his glorious form.

           “I’m going to go down on you. Why should I be the only one that comes?”

           “Do you feel like, changed?” Taehyung asked as you sat on the Adirondack chairs, sipping a homemade vanilla milkshake.

           “Uh, ask me tomorrow when I’ve had time to process,” you said.

           “That’s fair.”

           “Are you nervous?” You asked, glancing sideways at him.

           “For college?”

           “Yeah, for USC, big shot.”

           “Completely. Are you?” He asked.

           “For Columbia? Yeah, New York is scary and big and so far away. Why am I doing this? I ask myself that every day.” You shared.

           “You’re going to be incredible,” Taehyung assured.

           “I don’t know about that, but I’ll figure it out.”

           “You will, I guess I will too?”

           “You have to, we both have to. We’re the oldest, we can’t fuck up.” You remind him.

           “That’s true.”

           “At least we have one thing checked off our lists.”

           “Are there more?” He asked.

           “Yeah, I think we’ve got a few more to complete before summer ends.”

           “More repeats of tonight though, right?” He smirked.

           “Oh definitely, we definitely need more practice.” You blushed as you finished your milkshake. “I’m glad it was with you.”

           “You’re the only one,” Taehyung said, like above all else, no matter what happened the next year at college, you were bound by bodily fluid and something like love, to this moment, and to each other.

Next: August IV

[jar-of-ectoplasm]

Beach Trip Headcanons: La Squadra

a/n: it's getting warmer where i live which is horrible and i hate it but it gave me some inspo here's some bullshit

Genre/Warnings: Crack, fluff, just some cute shit, polyamory (sorlato), a LOT of simping omfg

~Risotto Nero~

-he already had his tits out on the regular so his bare chest isn't anything new but he lost that stupid hat so it wouldn't get wet and now you can stare at hat-less riz

-doesn't get in the water too often but he definitely goes underwater to grab your legs and scare you (he does it to ghiaccio and melone too; melone screams at the top of his lungs and ghiaccio fails around like he's drowning)

-spends most of his time under the parasols with illuso and prosciutto, just chatting and watching you mess around with your teammates (and maybe checking you out while he's at it)

-lowkey starts to get jealous if he thinks melone or formaggio are gettin' too friendly with you (god help any random person that flirts with you)

-Riz makes damn sure both you and him are very well saturated (?? does that sound weird) with sunscreen. there's no way in hell either of you will be suffering through that

~Prosciutto~

-you thought you were going to the beach with your boyfriend? lmfao nah you're at the beach with mom and your rowdy ass siblings now

-came in clutch with the sunscreen, aloe vera ointment, snacks, water and spending money. has a very nice set up under a parasol with illuso (and you, if you'd like to join him in his relaxation/parenting session)

-pros with his hair down, shirtless and wearing a pair of pineapple swim trunks to match with pesci? out in public? a lot more likely than you'd think

-formaggio would be a prick and dump water on his hair and now you get to see prosciutto with his hair wet fUCK (pros would be FUMING but he'd look so GOOD)

-would read to you but he doesn't want to risk getting any of his fav books wet so he'd just tell you wonderful stories of the team before you joined (most of them are embarrassing for everyone but him)

~Pesci~

-literally he's having the time of his LIFE right now. he's completely protected from the sun (thanks mamma pros), he's goin' fishing, he's got his s/o with him, what more could a boy ask for?

-maybe he should've asked formaggio to not throw sand at him every 10 minutes because that is happening for sure, no matter how much prosciutto yells at him to stop pesci will not be left alone

-is in the water like, 70% of the time. he'll make bets with ghiaccio to see who can swim out the farthest and ghia is surprisingly not mad when he loses

-he'll walk off the beach with just you to get ice cream and it's honestly really fucking cute (he gets strawberry, btw)

-pesci really likes picking you up and tossing you into the water. he's secretly a little bastard and will laugh at you while helping you up

~Illuso~

-jesus the entire day with him is just 🙄. he's such a little bitch about EVERYTHING

-won't go in the water at all and carries a compact mirror with him so he has an escape plan in case formaggio decides to fuck with him. salt water damages your hair and there's no possible fucking way he's risking his scalp just for a little fun

-still insisted on wearing swim trunks and going shirtless though, mostly just to have your undivided attention (as if he didn't already force you to pay attention to him enough)

-sitting under parasols with prosciutto because he's pale and has sensitive skin but he still ends up getting sunburned and won't stop complaining

-you guys did have a cute little moment when the sun was starting to set and he dragged you away from everyone so he could look for sea glass with you (totally wasn't an excuse to hold your hand while he was dragging you around)

~Formaggio~

-spends the entire day being a little rat bastard and making almost everyone wish he was dead (he respects risotto too much and sorbet and gelato scare him so he leaves them alone)

-throwing sand at pesci and melone, pouring water on prosciutto, stealing melone's goggles, chasing illuso into the mirror world, straight up throwing ghiaccio's car keys across the beach

-and of course he's gonna drag you into this. even if you just wanted to have a nice beach day with your asshole boyfriend, he's gonna hold you captive during his shenanigans

-can and will wipe his sweat on you. he thinks it's the funniest thing in the world. please throw seaweed at him in retaliation, he thinks it's nasty as fuck

-leaves the beach early so he can treat you to dinner, both as a thank you for dealing with his bullshit all day and as an apology for wiping sweat on you every 30 minutes

~Ghiaccio~

-the most unrecognizable when he's as the beach with everybody. his hair isn't styled, so his curls are a lot looser and not plastered to his head, he's not wearing his glasses so they don't get lost in the water, HIS FUCKING LEGS AND BARE CHEST ARE JUST OUT

-literally just,,,SURFER GHIACCIO??? come ON dude. he knows what he's doing and will wink at you every single time he catches you staring

-loves wading out far into the water with you on his surf board so he can be all soft and cute with you without anybody hearing or seeing him

-he'll also be pretty light-hearted when he's out there too. he and pesci will see who can swim out the farthest and he'll let pesci win (let's be honest, with his legs he could swim to a different continent if he wanted too)

-ghia might look hot as hell out there, but he'll also end up burnt as hell. literally he just didn't put sunscreen on and he was out in the sun for hours. hottie got sun poisoning, please take him home early he will die

~Melone~

-he brought along goggles, a snorkel and flippers so he can do some shallow reef diving

-he'll pop up occasionally and yell for you to come over and show you a tiny little crab or a cool looking fish he found (it's honestly really, really cute)

-mel will take routine breaks to reapply sunscreen, drink water, check up on you, and get his goggles stolen (which he did not plan on). he'll also take this time to use shitty beach-related pick up lines to get you to laugh

-honestly as pervy as you'd think he would be. maybe it's because he's distracted by all the fun little creatures he keeps finding in tide pools and such

-has his own little set up a few feet away from prosciutto and illuso's. he'll be there while he's taking his breaks and yes he will try to cuddle with you even though it's pushing 90 degrees at noon

~Sorbet and Gelato~

-not to get sad in what is supposed to be a fun headcanon set but neither of them will take their shirts off or get in the water. both of them have a lot of body image issues and they'd really appreciate it if you didn't try to convince them to be half naked in public

-with that being said, both Sorbet and Gelato get loads of enjoyment out of just watching you swim around and have fun before returning to them

-Sorbet will help apply sunscreen but he really just wants an excuse to grope you and Gelato in public

-Gelato will want to have a sandcastle building contest with you (Sorbet is the judge and both of you receive the grand prize of a kiss)

-long walks on the beach together at night after everyone's gone home? of fucking course it's gonna happen

[kaiowut99]

GX Finalized-Subs!114 (WIP): Screaming into Place

Getting some work going to prep everything for finalizing my subs for GX 113 and 114, and as part of that, I thought I'd try to take a crack at an error that happens here which first turns up in 113's preview for 114, and then wasn't addressed in-episode, subsequently being kept by the dub too.

So, as Judai orders Neos to attack Professor Satou's Attack-Mode Scab Scarknight, Satou activates his Scab Scream Trap Card, which reduces the Battle Damage there to zero before letting Satou send Scarknight to his Cemetery/GY to destroy Neos and summon Crying Scarknight through it. The way it plays out, Satou declares the activation, tells Judai that he won't lose to him, and the card here glows as we fade into Scab Scarknight before it starts to glow and chip away, its pieces flying towards Neos and making him go boom.

But given that, I thought it an error because it doesn't really make sense for Scarknight to be the card glowing, since the effect Satou described isn't coming from it--and throughout the series, shots like this are used as a card's effect comes into play, typically as a Magic or Trap Card gets activated on the field. (And since it's in Attack Mode, Scarknight's card wouldn't be on the field with it [it'd be horizontally under it if it was in Defense Mode].)

So, I thought I'd apply some AfterEffects skills (and a Light Rays tutorial) to try and fix it, giving me what I have here after messing around for a few days (albeit very briefly each day bc work). First, I made a proxy for Scab Scream in Photoshop, then CC-Power-Pinned it into place in AE with some color correction and light blurring. After that, I tried to see if any YouTube creators made AE tutorials on lighting up a card like the original shot, to no avail; most of them were around setting and then flipping cards up in 3D, which while useful wasn't quite the goal, lol. So, I found one on the CC Light Rays effect and was able to play around with it enough to get something that I liked in replicating the original glow here decently.

To account for the fade into Scarknight, I took this into Sony Vegas, where I faded it into about 12-14 frames of Scarknight post-fade that I reused (the original shot actually loops it some too--the dub, meanwhile, hilariously faded into a still shot of Scarknight because of how they dubified the card, and you can tell because his aura suddenly jumpstarts). I then played it a few times (or 20) with the audio from the episode to make sure I felt it natural with the SFX and all, lol.

But overall, hopefully that looks good! Not as 1:1 as I'd like, and if anyone has dabbled in AE for things like this, it would be nice to make it a bit more similar (I would've liked a way to make a few points on the art light up rather than just the total center, for example [and it did make sense to center it on Scarknight's body in the Scream art], or try to recreate the glowing lines around the card more [which I couldn't really keep due to the fade to Scarknight]). I did toy with the idea of masking out the original light-up spots for use with a new solid-color layer to redo them some, or masking Scarknight out from Scab Scream's art and making a light-up glowing effect from that, but wasn't really feeling how those were coming out. But that said, I think this'll work nicely enough--though yeah, open to improvements on the off-chance anyone else has dabbled with making cards glow like this in AE, lol.