#the ideas are always “this guy is obsessed with leon and wants to keep him as a pet/trophy” but

[citrine-elephant]

evenings are always so fun bcuz there's a 70% chance that i'm desperately tired, about a 20% from that tiredness that it's delusionaly sleepy

10% chance that i have a massive boost of energy

and 10% chance that i end up sparking a whole smut/whump/angsty thing in my exhausted mind

[erxxi3]

om g omg the push-up fanfic!! i love it so much!!! <3 but also imagine being underneath him while he is doing push-ups and giving you kisses everytime he gets closer to your face and just admiring your beauty AAAAAAAAAAAA

OMG OMG RAAAHHHHHHHH 🤭

This is probably the best thing someone has even said today. 😔

Anyways I hope you don’t mind that I made a little story for you <3

— Well Rested Workout

You were underneath Leon, as he was doing push-ups everytime he went down he would give you a quick kiss that you ’d return with a cheeky grin on your face, and he always would be smiling when you did so. It was all so natural. And you’d smile back at him whenever he had given you the chance to do so. He didn’t seem to have any complaints about it either way.

You loved this routine of yours where he kept giving you kisses every time he went down, so this was his motivation to keep working out. You knew that he had been training for over a year and a half now, but you still found yourself amazed by his stamina.

Every day, he would get you and himself up from bed before noon, to shower and head straight downstairs going to the gym before he left the apartment for work. He said it made him feel less stressed out knowing that he could take care of you, and that you could just relax in his office, while he was doing his paperwork.

That sounded nice to you. Besides, there weren’t too many people who knew about your relationship with Leon, other than Leon and a select few that you trusted, so it wasn’t like it mattered much what the rest of the public thought. As long as you guys could work things out, nobody needed to know anything. Plus, it was fun. You liked to watch him exercise everyday, whether it was because he worked out daily or because you liked watching him.

But you also really liked the fact that he did it with you, even though he never tried to make it anything else than what it was. He seemed to enjoy watching you workout, and since he had become obsessed with the idea of being in a relationship with you, he never stopped trying to persuade you to join him in exercising. You loved seeing him so worked up over something that he enjoyed, but at the same time you also enjoyed seeing him in sweat pants. He looked so good wearing nothing but sweatpants. When you watched him, it was kind of hard to tear your eyes away from him.

There were times when you were just looking at him and felt the heat rising to your cheeks, and then you’d remember that he had been saying things like this to you before. Your heart skipped a beat and you couldn’t help the smile that graced your features.

Having felt so lucky to have met him and gotten involved with him. The two of you were perfect together. He helped you feel more confident about who you were, and you helped him improve his self worth by showing him how much you admired him for who he is. You couldn’t imagine your life without him anymore, which was exactly why the both of you got married after a couple years.

You couldn’t possibly imagine your life without him. You never wanted to. You were so happy with him, it sometimes felt like an unrealized dream. The first day that the two of you were officially engaged he made plans to take you on one of the best honeymoons and he did.

[linskywords]

Ok but hear me out: the boys go swimming at the lake and mitch is about to take off his shirt to get in when he sees auston use the dock to push himself up and out of the water and mitch cant stop staring at his bulging muscles and the water trickling down his chest and wait why did the world slow down and who is playing careless whisper

Okay I think it's becoming clear that what we need is a sprawling summer camp AU where Connor is pining after Leon but Leon thinks Connor and Dylan are dating but Dylan is super into this guy who he mistakenly thinks is a middle-schooler when he first meets him (it's Alex, it's fine, he's just short) and no one understands what Nate and Sid get up to all day but also no one wants to get close enough to find out. Mitch is in the middle trying to keep all his friends sane, and it's so nice that he has Auston to help him, and wow did Auston always look like that with his shirt off? Surely that isn't playing into his plans to organize a camp-wide game of spin the bottle.

Spin the bottle seems like a great idea until Leon and Sid are supposed to kiss, and they're both good sports about it, laughing, NBD, but Mitch catches sight of Connor's face and also Nate's and realizes that maybe what he actually arranged was a torture session. So then he makes sure the bottle lands on Leon next time Connor spins it, and Connor leans up to kiss Leon but freaks out before he can and runs off into the woods. Then Mitch has to run after him and spend half an hour talking him down from how Leon is obviously going for the previous next one and Connor should have known he didn't have a chance, even though Sid is so obsessed with Nate that even the mudfish who live in the bottom of the lake can probably see it.

Mitch finally trails back, emotionally exhausted from all this support-animaling he's doing, to find that Auston's upset because he thinks Mitch and Connor were in the woods making out. Which doesn't make any sense to Mitch! Auston's not into Connor, is he? He'd better not be; he and Connor would be terrible together. Auston needs someone way more fun, to bring him out of his shell. But Mitch kind of hopes he doesn't find anyone. It would be so much better if Auston just keeps hanging out with him.

Anyway they finally get back to their cabin to find Dylan and Alex making out in an upper bunk and Dylan bangs his head on the ceiling when they come in and then he has to go to the hospital to get checked for a concussion. And also to have the splinters taken out of his forehead. Mitch goes with him, because Alex shouldn't have to wait for him alone, and Auston comes with him so that Mitch doesn't have to wait with Alex alone, and then Alex does end up waiting alone because Auston disappears and Mitch goes and looks for him and finds him having an emotional breakdown by the vending machines and Mitch has to kiss him to make it better. They end up kissing for so long that Dylan and Alex go back to camp without them and Mitch and Auston have to walk, but they don't mind. It's a nice night for holding hands under the stars.

"I'm pretty sure Connor and Leon had sex in your bunk," Dylan tells Mitch when they finally make it back the next morning.

That's okay. Mitch will just share with Auston.

[panelshowsource]

random thoughts dump of the week bc none of this deserves its own post

coming down from a smol john kearns kick and really enjoyed it, guy has a ridiculously sweet presence and i really like his voice. it also brings me great joy his previous career was working in museums and as a tour guide. i would like that life, i think (i worked at universal orlando for a little bit in 2013 and was always super jealous of the vip tour guides lol). he mentioned on one of his rhlstps that despite winning arguably the biggest (british) comedy awards there are, he never released a standup special or dvd, and he kinda wants to keep it that way so he has something special between him and his live audience — and that really made me sad face. like, my guy, what about those of us who can't see you bc won't leave that damn island. (also ed gamble's new tour having no nyc date felt personal...) in another episode, he talked a little about, in great part due to social media, people want comedians they can know everything about, get the whole look of; comedians who are the same people onstage as off. he's not like that and doesn't really like the idea of that. i think there's a lot to say about that subject but i'll just leave it for now...

speaking of touring ed byrne next week!!! and jimmy and alan carr coming up!! what a fun time :')

speaking of rhlstp and ed, one thing that occurred to me and i thought was quite funny upon listening to his recent episode is that both richard and ed have that self-aware side of them that admits to bitterness, professional jealousy, annoyance with critics/haters, believing they're not as successful as they deserve to be, etc. while it can come off whiney here and there, it's not too obnoxious or anything, i just found it amusing they had this (often concealed or private) quality in common. i might even put jenny eclair in that camp (others too but that's a discourse i don't really wanna start lmao)

if another youtuber, following amelia dimoldenberg (and munya? does he count?), had to go on taskmaster i would probably vote for ollie kendal off of jolly. in my mind he and alex would be genuinely good friends outside of the show

man i miss the horne section podcast so bad

honestly, i'm a little surprised david mitchell doesn't have a podcast. he loves radio, it's not too demanding of a gig, and he's got tons of interests that could make engaging premises for podcasts... i'm sure someone has floated this to him before, so i need the reason why he said no. maybe he was busy with his book. would love a history pod fr

does anyone else ever remember when david mitchell was in rick and morty and just sit back and go O_O also when he was on graham norton with hillary clinton like lmaooo i just love the idea of the booking agents for that show being like "we're having fucking hillary clinton on who can we bring for comic relief who is a household name but not problematic but intelligent but actually funny" i mean they hit the jackpot of course but it cracks me up that that's his brand

did david ever watch succession? rob def did but i need more about it from both of them

sometimes i think about when david accepted his bafta for peep show and the music that was playing while he walked to the stage was "sex on fire" by kings of leon hahahahaha like what who was djing that night fr

where did charlie brooker go

speaking of back in the day — and i do mean back, like 15+ years ago — and my main panel show obsession was buzzcocks, there were a few non-comedians who would come on panel shows who were properly fucking funny, like martin freeman and josh groban, and i'd always pray they'd eventually come on again. and i think at the time the person at the top of my list was professor green. how random is that TT he was just always up for laugh and just so likable. i also LOVED the song "just good to be green" with lily allen in like 2010 lmaooo this really ages me :)

been really enjoying some old angus deayton-hosted stuff, like old hignfy and wilty. i got into panel shows after he'd stepped out of the spotlight, but i remember being crushed when i found out about his scandal. i also remember stephen fry standing up for him and chastising paul & ian publicly after That Episode of hignfy — which absolutely blew my mind, even though stephen has always said what he thinks — and i agreed with him and am not sure even today if i fully forgave paul & ian for how they treated angus. ik he's still here and there, but i wonder if we'll ever see him in any properly notable capacity again

just watched the latest hignfy actually and jack dee pheww he's ageing very nicely let me just say it and pheww emmanuel sonubi please and thank you. also, paul's outfit was quite nice. an enjoyment of the eyes indeed

i've been making a lot of typos in my gifs lately for literally no reason other than not proofreading my rushing and it's embarrazzing i'm gonna do better

speaking of gifs i have NOTHING!!! in my drafts folder. nothing. no content. nothing is made. nothing in the queue. [sigh] sounds like tonight we be bustin it out huh. idk about other gifmakers (i actually don't follow any other panel show blogs, but this isn't necessarily a panel show blog thing, just a regular original content thing) but i don't usually make gifs throughout the week — instead, like, marathon gif like two times a week and build up 10–20 drafts to post throughout the week. if you gif every single day or to keep up with all of the new content, it starts to become a chore, which is never fun :(

speaking of which i probably won't gif outsiders too much because people don't seem to care too much about it + the webrips are just...so ugly in gif form, even at 1080p! it's a dave thing fr, taskmaster used to be the same way -_-

okay here we go into gif mode btw i got some of your requests and will def make them!!

[lipglossanon]

heyo hiooo 💅 back again with the bullshit. I hope you're feelin better soon, friendo.

i had an idea and thought the leon hivemind might appreciate it:

serial killer (or slasher. whatever. crazy guy) and trophy husband leon. to everyone else, he's a homebody and your house husband, keeping the place clean and cooking some good fuckin dinner because he's good with knives n shit. dark sense of humor but is capable of getting along with *some* ppl in the neighborhood. jogs around and gets oogled. maybe he decorates the house for halloween and sum other shit bc he's bored.

you bring in the big bucks doing something morally grey, like scamming rich ppl out of their money idfk. doesn't matter, you're the breadwinner, gaslight gatekeep girlboss.

when you're alone, though, he's this lingering, hungry presence that begs for your attention. he's still obsessed with you, and his appetite is close to insatiable - only handled by an agreement where he wears a chastity cage for most of the year, only to be let out once or twice as a treat.

so, most of the time he's keeping you happy, acts of service and sweet words. looking for attention and good boy points. he's too brain broken in this state to kill anyone, so you feel like you're doing the world a service by keeping him busy.

he's gorgeous, the neighbors are jealous, he wears nice clothes you dress him up in, but he always seems to get them messy when he's pinning you to the wall and trying to get off just by rubbing against you. shaking and trying not to make you mad by being too rough, but let's be real - it's nice to feel him squeeze you so hard it leaves bruises while he sobs and begs.

the longer he goes without letting The Beast out (I'm sure there's a less still way to put it but. fuck it we ball) the more he acts up. blatantly trying to take what he wants from you in front of others, more willing to threaten guests, I'm sure he's a sadomasochist so he'll be happy to get tied up and punished.

as much fun as it is to toy with him, it's really nice when you decide to let him free for the night. it's dangerous because he *might* forget the reasons why he behaves most of the time, why he should go back into the cage after. but you're on the receiving end of some rough handling, some mean words. might be fun to, at least once a year, let him chase you though the forest and hold you down. let it allllllllll out, so when he's tired and vulnerable, you can cage him and start it all again.

❤️ yeeeeah....... yeah. that's nice. hope you liked it too.

Yello!!! 👋 👋

Color me.. intrigued 👀

This is 🥵

I love it 👏 👏

He’s so unhinged around you it’s not even funny but it’s exactly how you like him 🤭

He’s always so desperate to be around you, constantly begging you to stay home that he’ll take care of you. But you firmly put your foot down (in more ways that one 😜) and he’s just a whiny mess

But then when it’s that time where he gets free reign he’s so rough

He pins you down constantly and fucks you stupid; ignoring anything you say (unless safe wording but that goes without saying), he’s just insanely horny 🥴

[leatherbookmark]

ah but THAT ASIDE re: the rkg story itself, yayyyy koga backstory etc --

man, I Am Not Convinced.

(also hehehehehe it's called back door hhehehehehe okay anyway)

of course i do appreciate the blatant, in-your-face bold red font Homosexuality of my dear little boy going

about another man, A+ CONTENT I HAVE 零 COMPLAINTS, but the backstory part is hhhhho boy. mr akira hihihi belatedly realized he forgot to make koga a character outside of his super normal teenage infatuation with rei And It Shows.

like first of all as a lower middle class both parents working super mundane jobs koga truther i Scoff at the idea of salaryman+housewife adoring parents spoiled kid koga. and i mean, it's been a loooong while since i've read enst stories, so it might be just me, but even going by what i vaguely remember it just Doesn't Look Right.

because it kind of feels like koga really didn't have anything going on about him aside from rei. i was kinda eeeeeh back in. 2017? 2018? help me, when it was revealed that it was rei who kickstarted koga's rock life and before rei koga wasn't interested in it at all, because on one hand yyyyeah i guess it's more flashy if one (1) guy literally Changes His Life basically overnight, but no one's said you can't have koga already being an established guitar boy AND feeling strongly about rei anyway! perhaps precisely because he feels a connection between their Rock Souls. and this way he'd have a Past. we could also find out more about how he came by his passion for rock, and the answer to this question wouldn't be rei. INSTANT DEPTH

but instead i feel Potential in the contents of the text but a puzzling lack of effort from the text itself. koga says it himself that he's been spoiled, loved and given things before he even knew he needed anything -- okay, but why is he such a loner on top of being very survival of the fittest, if you can't keep up then either git gud or quit, being tossed off a building bungee jumping builds character tsundere, then? he's got strict standards, both for everyone else and for himself, and i just can't see that coming from someone who's always had everything. sure, you can still undergo a change in personality due to some unspecified Things Going On as a teen (duh!) but, yknow.

second, again with the "i didn't know what i really wanted because i was handed everything before i even realized i needed something" thing. also makes no sense to me! again, koga seems like a very passionate and driven guy, it makes no sense for him to just have no idea about what he wants. card battler tells us he has a card game past, so he Could get passionate and Gud at something even as a kid. also, someone with loving, normal parents would have at least a handful of friends, and those friends would broaden their horizons naturally, so even if you're indecisive as a person you're at least exposed to Things and Stuff. again, i don't buy it.

finally the, uh, the leon thing.

akira. my guy. my dude. my bro. what was that.

peak 'uh oh, it's too late to retcon now' moment, is2g. yknow, "i was happy basking in my parents' love until X happened, whereupon i found myself unloved and confused" would make sense if that X was the birth of a new baby, but koga is an only child, so... let... his parents' new obsession be... a dog... the same dog who's been living with koga ever since the game story started... and they got a dog because he uhhh let's say he was grown up enough not to need babying! we're talking about a teenager. the world has never heard of teens groaning that their parents treat them like babies and dote on them despite them being Too Old For That, nay, it is a nonexistent phenomenon. ?????

again it just doesn't add UP akira do you read the stuff you write. you don't get to the point where you're desperately looking for someone who'd love you AND something to do with his life because your parents got a dog. source trust me dude!! i know something about being (barely) Provided For but not Raised!!

imo it would've made more sense if koga's parents were, as per my obviously correct personal headcanon, incredibly busy working people who also don't know much about raising children. because like -- he's fed, clothed, he goes to school and presumably does kid things there, it's all good, right? well, not quite, because his parents had no time to take him to the playground, so he's badly socialized and doesn't get along with other kids well. ah well! many such cases, let's move on.

it would ALSO explain why he's so ride or die for His People -- he doesn't make friends easily, so when he finds someone, they're Important and Special. also, leon! leon is obviously koga's, he's his Brother, Comrade and Companion, this is NOT how you get about a dog your parents bought, who's nice and loving but like, you need something more! i personally like the idea that they got koga a dog when he knew he'd be going to yumenosaki and living alone, so that he'd be responsible but also simply have a friend.

like, again -- everything can be explained or spun in a fun way, even koga's passion for life beginning and ending with rei sakuma, but you gotta want to do something with it! enst is such a nonsensical story sometimes, we have multiple cult children, many tragic backstories, and then you give me koga who's Like That because it, eh, just happened, middle class, parents got a dog, yknow how it is? ( ˘︹˘ )

BUT ALSO IN GENERAL RE: REIKOGA AAAAAA GOD

the event song was mid and the outfits were mid as well and only that one new album song and adonis's solo were kinda good but but B U T

my stupid lads are so cute :')

ok back to my *checks hand* stupid lads who are pirates and trying to have a Conversation

[monomonomagines]

could you write something for any of the guys from dr 1 or 2 (any who you think would work best with the scenario are fine!) with an s/o who gets really blushy at anything even a bit romantic? i love your work, keep it up! ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you, anon. I'm so honored that you enjoy my work and I hope you continue to! This was such an adorable ask that's it'd be impossible not to do it but I was a bit unsure who to choose so I just used a randomizer. I hope that you don't mind but if you do feel free to tell me and I'll fix it up.

Leon

Before even dating you, this player would love to embarrass you.

He'd often use cheesy pickup lines or inuendos to fluster you just to get a peek at the look on your face.

After dating though it'd just be significantly worse. He'd touch you non stop to see your reaction while constantly telling you all the dirty things he'd want to do to you just to make you squirm.

He's not sadistic per se but he loves watching your reactions to everything he does.

Plus, the fact that he can just kiss your hands and make you feel all weak totally adds to his ego.

Your reactions basically make him just 100x more annoying to everyone but he won't complain about that.

He just wants to do more to you.

Fuyuhiko

Fuyuhiko is used to getting embarrassed fairly easy himself so when it comes to the two of you being slightly romantic he blushes as well.

However, unlike you that will dissipate over time.

Then he'll start to be bolder and bolder and come to enjoy your embarrassed reactions.

It shows him that he's able to be the man in the relation he thinks and takes pride in it.

He might end up acting a little similar to Leon once you two are actually dating but he won't be anywhere near as lewd.

He's not a dick that will keep messing with you unless he has some need to like he's jealous.

Then he'll use your embarrassment to teach you a lesson for making him feel that way.

Nekomaru

Maybe one of the most affectionate out of the bunch.

If you thought Leon's sexual remarks were all that's embarrassing then you won't last with Nekomaru either.

He's a big fan of bear hugs and lots of sloppy kisses like a big ole' puppy dog.

He won't mean to embarrass you though. He just would honestly keep forgetting it's an issue and keeps on smothering you.

He would stop if you asked him but he would probably forget by the next day and start all over again.

Kazuichi

If this boy fell for you he'd already be pretty embarrassing with the way he'd obsess over you.

He'd always be complimenting you and asking for your opinion on things as well as trying to touch you.

And when he can touch you, when he'd dating you he'd go overboard.

He'd be non stop fawning and gushing over you and would only continue to when he sees how cute you are.

"Ah, S/o you're so cute when you get embarrassed!"

Yasuhiro

Yasuhiro has always been pretty bad with flirting and all himself but at times he wouldn't even have to try to embarrass you.

He'd just simply compliment you or give you a friendly hug and you'd be red as a cherry.

Even if you didn't like him he immediately would get the idea that you like him and let it get to his ego.

After he'd ask you out though he'd just keep getting bolder, similar to Fuyuhiko.

In the end, he'll basically be like some weird combination of Kazuichi and Leon with his perversions but he'll make sure to stop if you ever don't like something.

Chihiro

Chihiro is normally very timid and shy himself so be prepared for one of you getting embarrassed to embarrass the other.

It's just non stop between the two of you even before dating and after you two do start to date it's somehow worse.

You hold hands and both of you are flustered to no end.

It's not where neither party acts but it's super embarrassing when either of you does.

Regardless though, Chihiro does want to be more confident in himself and will probably try to be more confident by forcing himself to act first more often than not so that he might be able to impress you.

So, in the end, he'd end up embarrassing you all while embarrassing himself.

At least you'd be like the cutest couple to exist though.

Nagito

Nagito normally obsesses over someone like Kazuichi once he likes someone and will constantly compliment you like Kazuichi.

However, he'll do all that while insulting himself.

"You're adorable, S/o. I can't believe you'd give disgusting trash like me the time of day."

Once you start dating him though it'll only intensify.

He'll always need to be close by or be touching you in some way even if it's just your legs touching as you sit next to each other.

He just needs to always. Be. Close.

He wouldn't even care if it'd embarrass you either. Like Leon, he'd find it adorable and want to keep embarrassing you just to keep seeing your reaction.

He wants that blushing face of yours to be his and his only.

Mondo

Mondo has said it himself that he sucks with girls.

He tends to get nervous and embarrassed himself and when he does he gets loud.

Because of easily you get embarrassed like him you might just set him over the edge.

How the hell is it possible to be so cute!?

He wouldn't admit it but he'd want to see more of that cute blushing face of yours but he just wouldn't know how to get you to at first.

Once you two start dating though he'd end up trying to like Nagito.

He wouldn't be as bold despite normally being so. Instead, he'd just try different things that his heart can handle and slowly amp it all up.

Once he's more comfortable though, you can bet your ass he is going to keep embarrassing you just because he finds it adorable.

[tracle0]

happy sts!! (?) or maybe just a happy saturday? nonetheless, question time! since I got to read recently about the inspirations behind the wip4 main characters' names, I was wondering what the motivations were behind the names of the main characters of your other works! maybe both from your perspective as a writer and from an in-story perspective? and how do they feel about their names?

Happy?? STS?!?! Saturday is good and happy and it is STS, whoop! I like this question but it’s gonna be a very underwhelming answer and I apologize for that. 

Sonder was. Very dull, not gonna lie, it’d just be looking for mostly generic names that seemed to fit the brand haha. The most notable backstory names are probably Andy and Atlas. 

Andy came from an inside joke with a friend that no villains can be named Andy. I wanted to prove her wrong, so Andy was named Andy and now I do not trust Any Andy’s. Full name Andrew Peep, which he does not like and prefers Andy. Probably a family name, which is sad because he does not see his family. 

Atlas came from me being like ‘wait shit I haven’t named this character yet’ and asking a friend for a name. She spat out Atlas Barnabus like it wasn’t the best name in the world, and I was in awe. Definitely named after the Greek Titan, was not aware of that at all, very much likes their name. 

Collateral - hhhh okay listen. Listen Collateral and names give way to one of my dumbest Collateral stories, you’re gonna have to hear this out. 

So when I was first writing Collateral, I’d already found both Cain and Theo their names that fit - Theo cause it sounded nice, Cain named after the Caine in the Gone series. But they didn’t have last names, which was an issue, so I was looking for a last name for them. I knew I wanted Cain to have a last name starting with either C or K, cause alliteration, and pulled Kavon out of thin air. I liked it, so it stayed. 

A few weeks later, in film studies, we were learning about Kim Novak, and I liked the name Novak, so stole it and gave it to Theo. 

I did not notice their names were the same forward and backwards for a year and a half, until a friend pointed it out to me. This was not deliberate at all. It Just Happened and I plead ignorance to that tomfuckery. 

Anyway, they both are alright about their names. Theo prefers Theo to Theodore cause no-one got any time for all those syllables. Cain once found out about Biblical Cain and spent about three hours going down that rabbit hole before going ‘alright whatever’ and moving on.

Speaking of moving on - DIAS. I can talk a bit more about that cause that was recent. 

Ant comes from the word ‘antagonist’ actually - I wanted to write about someone who saw themselves as The Bad Guy, which Ant definitely does a lot of the time. It’s a nickname, and I have no idea what their real name is, nor where the nickname comes from, but they like Ant. Their last name - Carnell - is a family name. Not my surname, but someone in my family somewhere had that, and I liked it so yoinked it and gave it to Ant. 

Leon! Leon went through a lot of changes in his name - originally he was Tag, which also comes from ‘antagonist’ but I hated that, so changed it to Tad, which I also hated. So he was without a name and it was getting closer and closer to Nano and the time I’d write his story and I was like ????? what do. 

What I did was drew him a bit. A friend in film class (man, film class really helped to name my characters huh) saw the doodle and was like ‘ooo who’s that’. I told her it was a character in my book, and no, he doesn’t have a name, you should give him one, and she spat out Leon. And hey it actually really works, he can keep that, except wait, he’s Jewish, needs a Hebrew name and I’d like to give him a specifically Jewish surname. Some looking on Jewish name websites gave me Tzalka, and some more looking gave me Cohen, cool, done. 

In-universe, Leon’s name came from his grandfather - it was DIAS Leon’s middle name, and when he left home, he wanted to leave That Part Of His Life behind as well, so swapped from Tzalka to Leon, which he definitely prefers. 

Uhhh other characters - Vincent came from a fandom (which I’m about 90% sure is FNAF ngl) and I went ‘okay well I like the name so shall associate it elsewhere’ and gave it to Vinnie. Last name had the same deal - Scullary came from... 

Phew, okay, side tangent. One of my first characters I made was named Skullary, which came from the play ‘The Road’ which I watched when I was younger. The person playing that character had a really bad cold, so had to use a microphone to make her voice heard, and she fucking killed it, and the voice was so interesting I wanted a character who used it, so stole the name, except I misspelt it as Skullary instead of Scullary oops. Anyway, I wanted to re-use that name, so gave it to Vincent. He likes his name well enough but Definitely Does Not Like Going By Vinnie, so definitely don’t call him that. 

Simon came from the game Simon Says, because it is The Most Silvertongue Game and it made me laugh that his name is such an obvious pun. 

Bonus: wip4 obviously mostly came from filmmakers, because the obsession of that book is filmmaking, as you know. Buster Keaton and... Just Mika the musician, he’s the odd one out. Lynne Ramsay and George Lucas gave a lot of characters a portion of their names. 

I am, however, gonna go on a tiny tangent about Keaton’s last name because it delights me, and then also probably Percival’s name because that amuses me. 

So! Keaton is Spanish - his family comes from Spain and he speaks Spanish as well as English. I’m sure his deadname is probably something very Spanish, but it’s a deadname so we don’t talk about it. I wanted to find a Spanish surname for him, cause like... obviously it doesn’t have to be Spanish, but I wanted it to be, so I was scrolling through Spanish surnames for a while. 

Palomo is a legit Spanish surname in use, and it means pigeon. Keaton likes pigeons. So I was delighted and I always forget it but that’s his last name.

Percival! Percival’s name is actually a fill-in. In a Discord chat I’m in with my friends, I sometimes join the voice chats but cannot talk cause Anti Microphone. So I type instead, and sometimes get bored and just spam words. And the name Percival was very funny to me so I spammed that. 

So, when I needed to name the Bad Guy of wip4, I gave him the name Percival as a joke, and it. Seemed to work. I no longer spam Percival in the chat. 

Anyway there you go, the entire history of where names in my WIPs come from. Spoilers; not the most interesting, but it is long and I hope you found some bits funny or enjoyable. 

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #276

“all the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you better run, better run, outrun my gun.”

Favorite dried fruit? Dried fruit is fucking disgusting. Would you rather wear a dress or a suit on your wedding day? A dress. If you chose dress, will it be long or short? I prefer longer wedding dresses. If you chose suit, will you wear a bow or a tie? Hypothetically I’d wear a tie, probably. Have you ever wanted to be a police officer? No. Do you have a nut allergy? No. Do you accessories with chains? Put chains on fucking EVERYTHING and it is an improvement. How often do you cook dinner? If you’re excluding the microwave, like… never. What have you given up on recently? Nothing important; the only thing I can think of applies to a game. I was after the way-too-fucking-expensive dinosaur mount that is very soon going away in World of Warcraft, but the stress it was causing me wasn’t worth it. The time investment and how it was only a “maybe” of getting it in time Favorite condiment for fries? Ketchup. Ever had bangs? I did as a little kid. Do you know any Italian people? Well yeah, people of Italian descent are common in the U.S. I don’t know like, someone straight from Italy though. Have you ever dated someone LGBTQ+? Yeah, a demisexual. What color would you like your future bathroom to be? Uh… I don’t really care. It would depend on the house. Do you add sugar to plain cornflakes? No. Are skeletons cool? Skellyboiz are dope. Favorite Selena Gomez song? I don’t know any. Do you like coffee flavored cake? I don’t like coffee, so guess. Is that even a thing, though? Do you still watch your favorite kid shows/cartoons? I don’t watch TV. I would though, sure. Do you like going on walks? What's your favorite thing about them? How far do you normally walk? Ugh this question is gonna be embarrassing considering I went through muscle atrophy in my legs from being so sedentary. When we move (HOPEFULLY the start of October, a wrench was kinda thrown in our plans), I intend to absolutely start walking in small intervals now that we’ll be in a nice little neighborhood with a sidewalk. And a PokeStop nearby to bait me lmfao. Plus the weather will be cooler, so I intend to make a lot of progress. BUT ANYWAY I like just listening to either music or the sounds of what’s going on around me. Last time you had a hot drink? That’s a good question. Idk. Have you ever lived in a city? Was it crowded? Never like… a “real” city. Just small towns or in the middle of nowhere. Would you prefer to live in a big city or the woods? THE WOODS!!!!!!1 THE WOODS!!!!!1!!!!1111!! GIMME THAT SHIT!!!!!!11!11!!!! Have you ever climbed a mountain? No. Do you hear owls or crickets at night where you live? LOADS of crickets and toads during the summer. Ever run away from home? When I was a stupid pre-teen. I was mad at my mom and she wasn’t home, so I took Teddy and left. I had my phone though and Mom – when she got home – threatened to call the cops, so yeah, I came back. Are you scared to ride public transport alone? Why? No. Is marriage on your mind? No time soon. Did you own a dollhouse when you were younger? I didn’t, per se, but my younger sister did, and we would play together. Does the room you're in have a tiled floor? No, it’s carpet. How many pairs of earrings do you own? Not that many, not too few. Are you looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend? I’ve never thought *looking* was a good idea, so no. I think bonds of any kind need to come naturally to avoid lack of genuineness, force, or rush. I don’t think me having an s/o is a smart idea right now anyway. Do you prefer a call or a text? Don’t call me unless you’re dying or something. Do your parents drink coffee every morning? Mom almost always does. I don’t live with Dad, so idk. Have you ever donated blood? Yes. One song that's meaningful to you? UM a LOT. Most meaningful, probably “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin. I physically can’t listen to it. Like I refuse to. Are you addicted to anything? Technology, big oof energy. What were you last listening to in the car? Something on my iPod, idk. When was the last time you sang out loud? I don’t recall. I rarely sing. What did you have for breakfast? A microwaveable sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. Mom is currently out of state with her mother because she’s literally on her deathbed, so she STOCKED ME THE FUCK UP on groceries. The freezer is literally jam-packed, so I’m focusing on eating food from there. Did you have a nap today? Yes. I almost never, ever make it through the day without one, especially now with having nightmares every fucking time I sleep. Are you named after anyone? No. Well, not my first name, anyway. “Marie” is a middle name theme in my family, though. What kind of music do you like? Metal, rock, alternative, indie… stuff like that. What’s one hobby that you’d like to take up? Ugh, I miss a LOT of my old hobbies. I’ve lost interest in so much. I wish I drew way more than I do, which is almost never. What did you think you wanted to be when you grew up? The first job I ever wanted was a paleontologist. I was obsessed with dinosaurs. Still love ‘em. What’s the biggest project on your to-do list right now? It’d be great if I could finish designing Ashley’s cancer tattoo, but again, yeah, drawing motivation. ;_; If you weren’t in your current job, what would you want to be doing? I’m unemployed. Is the last person you kissed older than you? No. Are you happy right now? No. Haven’t been “happy” for a while now. Who makes you happiest right now? Probably my cat tbh lol. Especially being home alone for so long, he’s keeping me company. In school did/do people put a label on you? If so, what is/was it? I was considered one of the “emo” kids. Do you laugh every day? lol wow no. What is the last thing you laughed at? This Spongebob meme I saw on Facebook got me fuckin good. Have you cried today? If so, why? Nah. When was the last time someone saw you naked? Been a long time; even when I’m going in or coming out of the shower I do all I can for Mom to not see me because I hate my body a fucking lot. What is the greatest loss you've endured? My first boyfriend. When was the last time you did something you were embarrassed by? WOW I do this like every fuckin day, fam. What was the last thing you lied about? I’m not sure. What type of a drunk are you? Never gotten to the point of drunk, but I was more talkative the closest I got. What is your philosophy on life/how do you generally choose to live or conduct yourself? What a big question. I personally think you should do all you can to make a positive impact on the world – make it better than when you entered. Don’t contribute to the bad, treat people how you want to be treated… all that jazz. When was the last time you were up all night and why? I can’t remember quite why, but I remember doing that with WoW some time ago. Idr what I was doing that had my attention that long, though. That’s rare now. What is the worst thing you've done to yourself? What is the worst thing someone else has done to you? Part one: hand over all of my worth to someone else. Part two: show me exactly why I shouldn’t have in a very unhealthy way. What is the most personal thing you're willing to reveal? I dunno??? Can ya give me a topic?? Is there a situation or person you haven't been able to get over/forgive/what have you? I honestly doubt I’ll ever be entirely over Jason. Who was the last person to yell at you? Did you yell back? Probably Mom, and idr. Doubt it. Just probably raised my voice. Where did your last injury come from? My cat, rip. What is the worst thing you have said to another person? Something along the lines of “thanks for sending me to the ER (or mental hospital?) again.” Fucking disgusting. Do you wear your seatbelt in the car? Without fail, always. Please wear your seatbelt. Are you scared of flying? Not really. What do you sleep in? Men’s pj pants and tank tops. Who was the last person you kissed? Sara. What are you listening to? I am fucking HOOKED on 3TEETH's cover of "Pumped Up Kicks." Do you prefer soupy noodles or noodles without the broth? Without. Have you ever missed someone but felt like they had other friends and didn't miss you as much as you did? This. Is the story of my motherfuckin life. I feel this all the time to a very deep level. Who, out of all your friends, do you hang with the most and could never get tired of him/her? Sara. Do you like the taste of white chocolate or does it taste kind of fake? Nooot a white chocolate fan. Too sweet. How would you react if you just found out your mom had an abortion before? I would be VERY surprised just given who she is and her adoration for children. Are your pets spayed/neutered? Yes. Hottest guy you know and actually talk to? I don’t regularly talk to any guy I consider “hot,” but the closest to that would be my friend Leon, whom I’ve always seen as very attractive. It is fucking UNCANNY, his resemblance to Leon Kennedy from the Resident Evil series. Like he’s dressed as him before and it is astonishing. Name sharing is a coincidence, too. What time of day do you like to shower? I don’t have a favored time anymore. I just do it when I feel like it at some point during the day, but pretty much never night anymore. I do think starting the morning with one though is great, though. When you go out to eat, what sides do your order with your food? Fries are almost guaranteed, but of course it depends on the type of food, too. What do you spend more money than necessary on? I don’t and never have had a stable source of income to answer this, really. What video game or computer game are you best at? Uhhh I’d probably be rusty with the Shadow of the Colossus controls by now, I’ve don’t have the maps or every puzzles memorized from the Silent Hill games, so I guess my answer’s World of Warcraft if I’m on my hunter. Not to flex but I’m a bomb-ass beast mastery hunter. Been my main in the game since I started in MoP. What do you keep your keys on? They’re in my purse on a keychain. Is your favorite color different than your favorite color to wear? Oh yeah. Do you buy books or get them from the library? Buy them. What section of the food pyramid do you neglect the most? Veggies for sure. What do you use your stovetop for most? Well, I don’t ever. Can you focus on studying if there's music on? No, I need silence. In what types of situations do you demand absolute silence? Well, see the above answer, for one. Also going to sleep. Well, maybe not, as I have a fan as kinda like white noise, but I can sleep without it. Did you do well at fitness testing in grade school? I didn’t score bad, but I wasn’t exceptional either. Do you own more shoes or less shoes than the average person? Less, I’m sure. Do you still have anything from when you were a baby? Yeah, up in the attic. I think my mom has some stuff that’s super important to her in a case somewhere. Do you use hairspray much? I never do. Are art museums interesting or boring to you? I enjoy them. What subject in school do you feel is the least necessary? Well, this is a difficult question to answer when you consider I think depending on your career focus as well as personal values and interests, this answer changes from person to person. Like for me, I could say I don’t give a shit about complex math, but advanced math courses would be valued by certain people down specific paths. But anyway, I’ll bite and say least necessary for *the most* people, in my opinion anyway. Gym. It’s very discriminatory towards people with more limited physical capabilities (and I don’t just mean literally disabled), and it’s also just very uncomfortable and/or embarrassing to some people. Like I’d fuckin cry if in my current state, I was forced to “run” a mile, because I physically couldn’t come even close. A person, a younger one especially, should never be subjected to humiliation at the hands of a class schools deem “necessary” when it absolutely is not. Okay I’m in a talkative mood and this is turning into an essay so I’mma move along now. When you were a kid, what games did you always play on the playground? I think for as long as I had recess, my go-to was ALWAYS the swings. I fucking loved swingsets. I loved playing 4 Square or whatever it was called. And then of course there was me digging tunnels in the sandboxes because I wanted to feel like a meerkat lmfao. Do you enjoy power outages or do you get annoyed? For some reason, I still have this childlike excitement *early* into a power outage. Especially when it’s dark and we have to get out the candles, and I might play my old GameBoy or Nintendo DS, or I’ll probably just chill talking with Mom. However, that phase is pretty short nowadays, being a snake mama. My mind very quickly goes back to “Venus needs her lamp,” so as time passes, I get more anxious than annoyed. Basically, I’d rather not have one. Do you know how to use an ATM? … no lmao How about write a check? No. Are you pretty politically correct? To a degree I consider reasonable. Personally I find political correctness as having gone too far by now, but it’s certainly appropriate in some instances. What is one fashion trend you'll never understand? I… don’t really care to think much on this. Wear what makes you feel confident in yourself. There are things I think don’t look good, but they may look great to you, and it’s on your body, so guess whose opinion matters. What do you wear when you exercise? Oh yeesh. Just sweatpants and a tank top, normally. What is usually the last thing you do before you go to bed? I turn the brightness on my phone waaay down. I’m always going to wake up throughout the night and check the time, but I don’t want to be blinded.

[karenxmenfan]

(above: Jack Kirby, John Verpoorten, Glynis Oliver; John Paul Leon; Al Milgrom, Joe Sinnott, Julianna Ferriter; Daniel Acuña)

READING THE ETERNALS

Jack Kirby’s Gods return to the Marvel Universe

PART 1 — INTRODUCTION

“When two aggressive species share the same environment, evolution demands acceptance or dominance.” When Jonathan Hickman’s return to Marvel was first teased in 2019, I thought they might do something unexpected and announce a new Eternals series. Kevin Feige had revealed an Eternals movie not too long before, so it seems possible. I knew practically nothing about the characters, aside from Sersi being an Avenger, that it was Jack Kirby’s baby, and they were tied to the Celestials. I met these massive Space Gods in the beloved 1999 miniseries Earth X. That series includes a basic recap of the Eternals and Deviants in service of an epic plot surrounding the Celestials and their relationship to Earth.

The Hickman rumors sparked an interest in the characters, so I decided to read the original run from the beginning. What I found out is that there’s a lot of silly fun to these characters and I’m genuinely excited for the movie. The concept is weird and doesn’t quite have the same generative power as, say, the Fantastic Four, but it’s still enjoyable and Jack Kirby’s art is always a treat for the eyeballs. It’s easy to get caught up on all the essentials, since these characters are used so infrequently, but their presence is heavily seeded throughout the Marvel Universe. I’ve put together this reading guide to offer a roadmap for anyone wanting to take a deep-dive into THE ETERNALS!

WHO?

The Eternals are secretly one of three branches of the human race that were ENGINEERED BY ALIENS (a fact that gets reiterated nearly every time they appear in a comic). Yes, it’s that old urban legend that human evolution was kickstarted by extraterrestrial influence. In this case, massive space beings called the Celestials came to Earth and did experiments on apes, resulting in homo sapiens, but also the Eternals, powerful god-like beings, and Deviants, “monsters” who have unstable genes so no two are alike. Make of that what you will, it’s kind of messed up. Anyway, many thousands of years after their first visit, the Celestials return to Earth again to check up on their creations, and to see if the planet is worthy to survive.

PART 2 — KIRBY

The main draw of this series is Kirby’s art, weird ideas, and how funny all the characters are as they strut around exclaiming everything. What’s interesting here is that it’s not actually a part of the Marvel Universe - there’s an issue halfway through where they fight a robot Hulk, which is pretty explicitly based on a fictional character. The best characters in the whole book are Sersi, who is a hip, with-it party girl, Thena, and of course the Deviant leader Kro (the romance between the latter two is very good).

Entries in blue are favorites

The Eternals (1976) #1–6 — Where it all begins!! WHO ARE THE SPACE GODS? Some human archaeologists discover, with the help of a disguised Eternal, the big secret of the human race, and their relationship to Eternals, Deviants, and the Celestials who created them. This kicks off the series and the first arc where all the various Eternals are brought out of hiding as the Deviants, led by Kro, launch an effort to keep the Celestials from returning to judge their creations - this includes an attack on New York where the Deviants pose as demons from space hell. Meanwhile, the Fourth Celestial Host arrives on Earth…

The Eternals (1976) #7–13 — Picking up after the attack on New York, the human race is now formally introduced to its ancient siblings. This arc starts to get more into the relationships of the characters, with Sersi getting thirsty for a flummoxed, stuffed-shirt anthropologist, while Kro and Thena drop hints of a previous romance. Through their story, we see more of Deviant society, which introduces future BFFs The Reject and Karkas. Meanwhile, the Celestials are floating around the planet making observations like colossal roombas and freaking out humanity who start to get very worried. We also see the introduction of the Uni-Mind, where all the Eternals fly into a blue flame and emerge as one giant brain-thing. In this form, they leave Earth for a while.

The Eternals Annual (1977) #1 — A fun little adventure with Thena, The Reject, and Karkas (who has a human disguise in this) dealing with some Deviant menace who brings Jack the Ripper and Atilla the Hun to the present day to cause mayhem. The Eternals (1976) #14-17 - The momentum of the series comes to a halt - the Uni-Mind returns to Earth and the Eternals get swept up in a battle with a robotic Hulk who goes on the loose, and then a secret, all-powerful monster that Zuras was hiding in the basement.

The Eternals (1976) #18–19 — Probably with the knowledge that cancellation is nigh, the story picks up again. Druig becomes obsessed with uncovering the whereabouts of a secret weapon that is able to kill the Celestials (planting the seeds for the Dreaming Celestial). Ikaris tries his hardest to stop his cousin’s folly and avert the wrath of the Space Gods and I think it eventually comes to an end when the Celestials make Druig disappear? I guess this is when Jack Kirby peaced out of Marvel…

CREDITS* full series (Writing/Pencils - Jack Kirby; Inks - John Verpoorten, Mike Royer; Colors - Glynis Oliver; Lettering - Gaspar Saladino, John Costanza, Irving Watanabe, Mike Royer)

PART 3 — JOINING THE 616

Since the original series kind of was cut short with Kirby’s departure, the Eternals’ story gets picked up in other Marvel comics, where the heroes slowly learn about their existence.

Thor Annual (1976) #7 — Since the original series kind of was cut short with Kirby’s departure, the Eternals’ story gets picked up in other Marvel comics. This issue starts off a storyline where Thor recovers memories of the Celestials and some secret that Odin has been keeping from him.

(Writing - Roy Thomas; Pencils - Walter Simonson; Inks - Ernie Chan; Colors - Glynis Oliver; Lettering - Tom Orzechowski)

Thor (1966) #283-289, 291, 300-301 — Spurred on by his meeting of the Eternals, Thor takes the question to Odin. Odin won’t tell him anything, so this sets Thor off on a journey that takes him to the Eternals, the Deviants, and eventually the lead Celestial, The One Above All, who shows him hints of a deal between Celestials, Odin, Zeus, Zuras, and the other deities of Earth. Joining forces with the Eternals, Thor tries to stop the Fourth Hosts’ judgement of Earth which puts them at odds with the Norse and Greek gods. Thor finally learns the whole truth just in time to stand against the Celestials on the Day of Judgement. This is the big culmination of everything that started in The Eternals #1!

(Writing - Roy Thomas, Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio; Pencils - John Buscema, Keith Pollard; Inks - Chic Stone, Gene Day; Colors - George Roussos, Glynis Oliver, Marie Severin, Bob Sharen, Carl Gafford; Lettering - Joe Rosen, Tom Orzechowski)

Iron Man Annual (1970) #6 — Rhodey is flying around and accidentally happens upon the Eternals’ city, but it’s overrun by Deviants! They’ve incapacitated all the Eternals and are trying to steal their power source or something.

(Writing - Peter Gillis; Pencils - Luke McDonnell; Inks - Roy Richardson; Colors - Carl Gafford; Lettering - Diana Albers)

Eternals: Secrets from the Marvel Universe (2019) #1 — This one-shot collects a series of backup stories that ran in What If? through the early 1980s. This covers the established origin of the Eternals and Deviants, but also goes into more detail about the branch of Eternals who left Earth to populate the solar system. It also ties in the Inhumans and creates a relationship between these two very similar groups of characters.

(Writing - Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Peter Gillis; Pencils - Ron Wilson, Rich Buckler, Bruce Patterson; Inks - Chic Stone, Alan Kupperberg, Bruce Patterson, Joe Sinnott; Colors - Carl Gafford, Ed Hannigan, Nel Yomtov, Glynis Oliver; Lettering - Michael Higgins, John Morelli, Tom Orzechowski)

Avengers (1963) #246-248 — The Avengers crash one of Sersi’s parties and get dragged with her back to Olympia for some Eternals business. There we find out about the Eternals who went to Titan, and everyone finds out Starfox is an Eternal. The main plot involves a supervillain infiltrating Olympia to steal the power of the Uni-Mind. At the end of this story, the majority of lesser-known Eternals decide to leave Earth in a Uni-Mind for good, greatly narrowing their cast to just the essentials.

(Writing - Roger Stern; Pencils - Al Milgrom; Inks - Joe Sinnott; Colors - Christie Scheele, Julianna Ferriter; Lettering - Jim Novak, Diana Albers)

The Eternals (1985) #1-12 — This is actually a solid series, and does a huge amount to introduce new concepts and characters into the Eternals. It’s more of a standard Marvel superhero comic than Kirby’s weirdness, which perhaps allows it to fit more neatly into the greater shared universe. The best thing is that it features a lot of Kro and Thena as the latter becomes leader of the Eternals despite them not taking her seriously, and the former becoming embroiled in a sectarian power struggle with Ghuar (that guy from “Atlantis Attacks”) to lead the Deviants. The two find their love rekindled, putting them at odds with the other Eternals (Ikaris is a big asshole in this). Meanwhile, Sersi collects more human pets, including a guy she saves from suicide and tries to show that life is worth living. Central to everyone’s machinations is a plot to harness the power of the Celestials, playing off of the hints left by Kirby about the Celestial who was killed during the Second Host (this is the continuing foundation for the Dreaming Celestial idea).

(Writing - Peter Gillis, Walter Simonson; Pencils - Sal Buscema, Keith Pollard, Paul Ryan; Inks - Al Gordon, Keith Williams, Danny Bulanadi, Sam de la Rosa, Al Williamson, Tom Morgan, Geof Isherwood; Colors - George Roussos, Bob Sharen; Lettering - Joe Rosen, John Morelli, Rick Parker)

The Eternals: Herod Factor (1991) #1 — A little one-shot that is fun largely because it ultimately is about Thena and Kro. It’s written by Roy Thomas so doesn’t stray too far from established canon.

(Writing - Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas; Pencils - Mark Texiera; Inks - Bob McLeod, Christopher Ivy, Mark McKenna, Ian Akin, Sam de la Rosa; Colors - Mike Thomas, Dana Moreshead; Lettering - Jean Simek)

PART 4 — SERSI & THE AVENGERS

Despite the Forgotten One (aka Gilgamesh) joining the Avengers in issue #300, he doesn’t seem to have ever made much of an impression. His tenure does little more than to lead the team to another, more famous Eternal - the cosmopolitan Sersi! She definitely makes her mark on the team in the early 90’s. For better or worse!

Avengers (1963) #307-310, 325 — Gilgamesh is injured in battle, leading the Avengers to seek out the aid of his fellow Eternals - except Sprite has transported all of Olympia to the Negative Zone. After helping fend off Blastaar, Sersi joins the team in Gilgamesh’s stead. At this point she becomes a series regular and fans can start reading Avengers from here for more. Issue #325 is a great fill-in by Mark Gruenwald that features Sersi at her best – throwing a party and hitting on stymied squares.

(Writing - John Byrne; Pencils - Paul Ryan; Inks - Tom Palmer; Colors - Christie Scheele, Tom Fine; Lettering - Bill Oakley, Rick Parker)

Avengers (1963) #325 — A great fill-in by Mark Gruenwald that features Sersi at her best — throwing a party and hitting on stymied squares.

(Writing - Mark Gruenwald; Pencils - Rick Levins; Inks - Fred Fredericks [et al]; Colors - Ed Lazellari; Lettering - Brad K. Joyce)

Avengers (1963) #370-371 — Kro works at the Pentagon and has an outreach database for Deviants, which he uses to form Delta-Force! This team includes his kids with Thena who have the ability to merge into a grotesque fusion, and they need to save the Avengers from Ghaur.

(Writing - Glenn Herdling; Pencils - Geof Irsherwood, Mike Gustovich; Inks - Al Milgrom, Kevin Yates, Tom Palmer; Colors - Chris Matthys; Lettering - Bill Oakley)

Avengers (1963) #339, 344-347, 355-366, 372-375 — This is Bob Harras’ grand epic to ruin Sersi. After Sersi forms a version of the Uni-Mind with a bacteria-based group of Eternals (it’s… a thing), her behavior becomes erratic, presumably some Eternals mind-sickness. She begins to fawn all over Black Knight, linking to him in a soulmate ritual against his consent (he’s falling in love with Crystal). It’s all because of an alternate-reality Black Knight who wants to get revenge on Sersi because his version broke his heart. When everything is finally resolved, Sersi and Black Knight enter a wormhole and leave the dimension. At least Sersi has a cool costume.

(Writing - Bob Harras; Pencils - Steve Epting, Gordon Purcell; Inks - Tom Palmer, Steve Alexandrov, Fred Fredericks; Colors - Kevin Tinsley, Sarra Mossoff, Scott Marshall, Evan Skolnick, Tom Palmer, Gina Going, John Kalisz; Lettering - Bill Oakley, Michael Higgins, Rick Parker)

Heroes for Hire (1997) #5-7 — Sersi returns to a post-Onslaught 616 universe to warn about another plot by Ghaur to form an “Anti-Mind.” He’s been resurrected as a giant gold statue and is controlling all the Deviants. Once the day is saved, Sersi goes off on her separate way, with her bond to Black Knight severed at last.

(Writing - John Ostrander; Pencils - Pasqual Ferry; Inks - Jaime Mendoza; Colors - Joe Rosas; Lettering - Jonathan Babcock)

PART 5 — REBIRTH & DEATH / THE MODERN ERA

Having exhausted the story potential of the Eternals throughout the 80s and 90s, Marvel decided to pull in a ringer to give the franchise a reboot.

The Eternals (2006) #1-7 — the Eternals have all forgotten who they are thanks to Sprite, and the return of the Dreaming Celestial forces them to wake up… I am not a big fan of this run, and hold a bit of a grudge against it. John Romita Jr’s art is good though, especially when he’s drawing big bulky things. The biggest shame is that the Deviants are pretty generic here, and Kro is nowhere to be found. I mostly recommend reading this because it reintroduces the Eternals in the modern era and sets up the scenario for the next volume, with Makkari taking center stage and arranging Druig and Tiamet, the Dreaming Celestial on the board.

(Writing - Neil Gaiman; Pencils - John Romita Jr; Inks - Danny Miki, Tim Townsend, Tom Palmer, Jesse Delperdang, Klaus Janson; Colors - Matt Hollingsworth, Dean White, Paul Mounts; Lettering - Todd Klein)

The Eternals (2008) #1-6 — Druig is brainwashing as many Eternals as possible to his cause as Thena and Ikaris race against him. The heart of the story, though, is how Makkari is being used as a megaphone/alarm system by the Dreaming Celestial to warn about an intergalactic menace called the Horde that is coming to consumer Earth - a role that is overtaking his personality like an addiction. Sersi gets some good scenes in this but her character is kind of diminished in favor of Makkari. The story is actually pretty interesting, and salvages a lot of the ideas that Gaiman brought to the table. There’s a three issue X-Men crossover after this but I don’t have much to recommend it - Acuña’s not even drawing it.

(Writing - Charles Knauf, Daniel Knauf; Art - Daniel Acuña; Lettering - Todd Klein)

Thor: The Deviants Saga (2011) #1-5 — A little romp with Thor that takes the newer elements established by Gaiman and the Knaufs and brings them more in line with the previous depictions of the mythos. It does include a lot of details and references that Eternals fans should get a kick out of – Karkas and Ransak play a large role, Deviant Ereshkigal makes a return as does Ikaris’ dad Virako, there’s a lot of Kro – but it’s kind of meandering and doesn’t amount to that much. It ends with the entire cast essentially writing themselves out of future appearances.

(Writing - Robert Rodi; Pencils - Stephen Segovia; Inks - Jason Paz, Jeff Huet; Colors - Andy Troy, Will Quintana; Lettering - Jeff Eckleberry, John Rauch)

The Ultimates 2 (2017) #4, 6, 100 — Overall this is an amazing series, but as it pertains to this reading list, these issues shed light on the origins of the Marvel Universe, and thus, the Celestials. Created in the very first iteration of the cosmos, they not only have survived the many subsequent deaths and rebirths of the Multiverse, but they stand in opposition to a host of opposite, evil Celestials, known as the Aspirants. The Aspirants lay waste to the Celestials, who manage to live on through the surviving One Above All (this is even after the Celestials were seemingly all killed by the Beyonders in New Avengers [2013] #30).

(Writing - Al Ewing; Art - Travel Foreman, Filipe Andrade, Marco Lorenzana, Scott Hanna [Inks]; Colors - Dan Brown, Matt Yackey; Lettering - Joe Sabino)

Avengers (2018) #1-6, 8 — This series combines with Aspirants with the Horde of the last Eternals series to introduce the Dark Celestials, retconning the Celestial’s origin even further. The evil Dark Celestials have killed off their more colorful brethren and are coming to destroy Earth. Meanwhile, the Eternals are found to have all killed each other for some related reason. Ikaris holds out long enough to give Iron Man the power to make a Uni-Mind, which saves the day. The Celestials return and are cured of their Horde sickness – in return, they give the Avengers an ancient Celestial corpse to live in. Not my favorite, but as of this writing, it is the last time any of these concepts have appeared in the comics.

(Writing - Jason Aaron; Pencils - Ed McGuiness, Paco Medina, David Marquez; Inks - Mark Morales, Jay Leisten, Juan Vlasco, Karl Story; Colors - David Curiel, Justin Ponsor; Lettering - Cory Petit)

The History of the Marvel Universe (2019) #1 — As the name implies, this is a straightforward and beautiful explanation of the MU’s origins and the role the Celestials play, told from today’s vantage point with all the retcons and retrofitting that have happened over the years. Includes the obligatory origin of the Eternals and Deviants and the first three Hosts of the Celestials.

(Writing - Mark Waid; Pencils/Inks - Javier Rodriguez; Colors - Álvaro López; Lettering - Joe Caramagna)

PART 6 — XTRA-CREDIT

Being an X-Men fan, it's worth noting the times when the Eternals, Deviants, and Celestials have run into the mutants.

X-Factor (1986) #43-50 — Judgement War! X-Factor ends up on another planet which is visited by its own Celestial Host. The team gets involved between a set of Eternals and Deviant-type sects, trying to stop the Celestials from judging them unworthy.

(Writing - Louise Simonson; Pencils - Paul Smith, Rich Buckler; Inks - Al Milgrom; Colors - Tom Vincent; Lettering - Joe Rosen)

X-Force (1991) #77, 79, 82-90, 96-97 — X-Force starts running into people associated with the Damocles Foundation - a group of Deviants, Eternals, and Humans.

(Writing - Joseph Harris, John Francis Moore; Pencils - Adam Pollina, Jim Cheung, Angel Unzueta, Terry Shoemaker, Anthony Williams; Inks - Mark Morales, Rob Stull, Ray McCarthy, Bud LaRosa, Harry Candelario, Scott Koblish, Derek Mei, Scott Elmer; Colors - Marie Javins, Steve Buccellato, Mike Thomas; Lettering - Comicraft, Chris Eliopoulos)

Earth X (1999) #0-X — Issue 0 is basically Uatu explaining the history of the Marvel Universe to X-51, with a heavy emphasis on the role of the Celestials. This includes a very brief discussion of the Eternals and Deviants, but mostly focuses on the creation of humanity and the birth of super heroes, as the various Celestial Hosts visit Earth. By issue 9, the Celestials return for their Fifth and final Host, and more of their relationship to earth and Uatu is revealed as the remaining heroes defend their planet. Really really good and a must-read in general, even if the Eternals themselves are just footnotes. John Paul Leon makes the Celestials look like the coolest things the Marvel Universe has ever produced. The Reject does get to play a role in the sequel Universe X, though.

(Writing - Jim Krueger, Alex Ross; Pencils - John Paul Leon; Inks - Bill Reinhold; Colors - Matt Hollingsworth, James Sinclair, Melissa Edwards; Lettering - Todd Klein)

New Eternals: Apocalypse Now (2000) #1 — Apocalypse is behind some ill-defined plot that involves destroying Lemuria and turning Karkas into a kaiju. Ikaris’ father Virako is brought back, and they have some quarrels over leadership. This is another good one for Eternals fans but it’s kind of incomprehensible. At the end, the Eternals adopt new superhero identities as “the New Breed,” but this is never mentioned again.

(Writing - Karl Bollers, Mike Higgins; Pencils - Joe Bennett; Inks - Scott Hanna; Colors - John Kalisz; Lettering - Benchmark)

Uncanny X-Men (2012) #1-3 — Mr. Sinister messes with the Dreaming Celestial and it’s bad news for the planet. Magneto comes in handy.

(Writing - Kieron Gillen; Pencils - Carlos Pacheco, Jorge Molina, Rodney Buchemi, Paco Diaz; Inks - Cam Smith, Roger Bonet, Walden Wong; Colors - Frank D'armata, Rachelle Rosenberg, Jim Charalampidis, Dono Sánchez-Almara, Rex Lokus; Lettering - Joe Caramagna)

There’s more stuff with Eternals in it throughout the Marvel Universe, and even more with the Celestials, but this is pretty foundational and focused on the Eternals of Earth. Most of this stuff is on Marvel Unlimited, and the stuff that isn’t is looking like it will be included in a new Omnibus - ”The Complete Saga” - (currently scheduled for December, 2020), like the 1985 series and the “Herod Factor” one-shot. With the MCU movie scheduled for February 2021, it’s highly likely we may be seeing a new series before too long. I recently came across this fascinating bit of research on the behind-the-scenes of Jack Kirby’s work on the The Eternals -- check it out! Four Color Primer: Sersi & The Eternals Part 1

*issue credits gathered from marvel.fandom.com

[chameleonwritess]

His Only Exception

Pairing: Kiyotaka Ishimaru/Mondo Oowada

Fandom: Danganronpa

Words: 4108

In a world before Despair invaded their everyday lives, Kiyotaka Ishimaru was very strict about who was and wasn’t allowed out in the corridor.

In a world where Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s memories have been wiped clean and he believes he’s a new attendee of Hopes Peak Academy, he’s still a strong believer that students should not be out in the corridors when they’re not supposed to be.

Even though he may not share his own memories, one constant remains in both worlds. Mondo Oowada is his only exception

Read on AO3

In a world before Despair invaded their everyday lives, Kiyotaka Ishimaru was very strict about who was and wasn’t allowed out in the corridor. He supposed the reason he insisted on the rule so intently was more to do with his Ultimate Talent as the Super High School Level Moral Compass rather than to do with his duties of Hall Monitor, but either way, he expected to be obeyed.

He did not expect to catch three loiterers on the same day, all from his class.

“Kuwata-kun,” Kiyotaka’s loud voice cut through the hallway as he addressed his classmate who, from the looks of it, was walking in the opposite direction from where he was supposed to be heading and laughing at something on his phone.

However, the Baseball star looked rather unconcerned about being caught and instead gave a cheery wave, pocketing his phone.

“Hey, Ishimaru, what’s up, dude?” he asked, heading towards him. Kiyotaka scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. Had he been wrong? He was almost certain his free period was not due to be over for another quarter of an hour and he was even more certain that Leon had psychology class this period.

And yet, Leon did not at all seem to be acting like he usually did when Kiyotaka caught him disobeying the rules.

“You-“ Kiyotaka started almost hesitantly, “you do realise that there are still fifteen minutes left of your psychology class, yes?”

“Oh, that,” Leon shrugged, throwing a casual arm around Kiyotaka’s shoulder that he attempted to shrug off as politely as possible, “yeah, I needed a loo break real bad but there’s not much lesson left so I’m just sauntering back now. What are you doing outside of class?”

Kiyotaka frowned at Leon’s response before realising Leon had asked a question that it would be rude not to respond to.

“This is one of my free periods, therefore I feel no guilt in stewarding the Halls before returning to my locker at the end of the day,” Kiyotaka responded, “However, Kuwata-kun, even though your lesson may be nearing its end, I am certain there are still valuable topics being taught and you should-“

“Dude,” Leon interrupted, much to Kiyotaka’s irritation, “I didn’t know you had frees. I thought you’d, like, take an extra class or something.”

The look of amusement on Leon’s face did not sit well with Kiyotaka.

“Of course not. Taking time each day to study for upcoming tests and ensure everyone is obeying the rules is a vital part of being a student,” Kiyotaka huffed.

“I thought Oowada would have been enough of a bad influence on you by now,” Leon laughed, “I guess if he can’t change you, no one can.”

“I- well- you see-“ Kiyotaka spluttered, a certain someone’s name catching him off guard for a very understandable reason, “he hasn’t not changed my view on the world. For instance, whilst I would usually feel compelled to give you a detention and send you straight back to class, Kuwata-kun, I now know the importance of creating social connections and being viewed in higher esteem among my peers. That is why we are still talking, of course.”

Leon raised an eyebrow and nodded his head in agreement.

“Yeah, you did sort of mellow after the two of you started banging,” he considered to which Kiyotaka turned bright red.

“Do not speak of such matters within school, Kuwata-kun! My ‘mellowing’ as you call it has nothing to do with whatever extracurricular activities M- Oowada-kun and myself may wish to participate in,” he spluttered indignantly. Leon didn’t even try to conceal his snorts of laughter.

“Man, you crack me up, Ishi. ‘Extracurricular activities’,” Leon chuckled. Kiyotaka blushed even redder. He really did not want to discuss his relationship with Mondo in the middle of a corridor with Leon Kuwata who was renowned for not keeping secrets and had been the one to unintentionally reveal his relationship status to the rest of the class in the first place.

“I’m going to continue my search of the corridor now. Goodbye, Kuwata-kun,” Kiyotaka said assertively. When Kiyotaka glanced back at him, though, he noticed he had fervently gone back to messaging on his phone. Kiyotaka would have reprimanded him again had he not been so eager to end their interaction for the day.

It was ten minutes until the bell when Kiyotaka caught his second culprit. To his great surprise, it was Chihiro, one of the few guys in their class that consistently seemed to obey the school rules that had been set out.

“Fujisaki-kun, what are you doing out of your classroom?” Kiyotaka asked upon approaching him. The programmer turned around suddenly and quickly put his phone behind his back. Kiyotaka had still noticed it, though and absentmindedly wondered why everyone was so obsessed with their phone today. It may have been the first day back to school but surely they could catch up with everyone in person rather than through texts.

“Ah, Ishimaru-kun,” he said shyly, “sorry, I was just fetching my computer from my locker before the end of the day. I don’t like to be within the crowd when we all leave.”

Kiyotaka could appreciate that. Chihiro was a naturally reserved person and being so short, it was likely he would get knocked around easily whilst trying to collect his belongings.

“I see, that is a rather good idea, Fujisaki-kun. I do hope you asked your teacher for permission to leave, though,” Kiyotaka felt as if he had to mention.

“Oh, of course,” Chihiro agreed, nodding his head before offering Kiyotaka a big smile, “how was your summer holiday, Ishimaru-kun? Did you have a nice birthday?”

“Oh,” Kiyotaka paused. Chihiro was the first person to have mentioned his birthday so far. It wasn’t as if he was particularly expecting any mentions, though. With his birthday always falling in the summer holidays, it meant he never really managed to even allude to the event around anyone.

“I, uh, had a rather pleasant birthday spent with my family, thank you. I spent most of my holiday studying, though, so I feel very excited for the future academic year,” Kiyotaka finally replied, “how about you, Fujisaki-kun?”

“It was nice,” Chihiro replied with a nod, “I got to work on my AI program quite a lot.”

“I hope you had a lovely time working on it! I would love to see it one day when it is finished,” Kiyotaka pointed out, hoping Chihiro would understand that he was asking for an invitation.

“I’d be happy to show you but,” he paused for a second of thought, “I’m still not ready to show it to anyone yet. It’s not… ready.”

“I understand. I look forward to seeing it when it is finished” Kiyotaka nodded, “I should let you get back to class now, Fujisaki-kun. I would hate for you to be late because of me!”

Chihiro shuffled awkwardly on his feet for a few seconds before nodding and bidding Kiyotaka goodbye. Kiyotaka kept his eyes trained on the smaller boy for a few seconds after their departure and was surprised to once again see Chihiro turn his head back into the phone he had not-so-discretely been hiding.

Kiyotaka was just pondering whether it would be beneficial to their studies if he proposed a ban on cellphones during school time when he was almost scared to death by his final culprit of the day.

“Hey, Taka,” a deep voice muttered next to his hear, causing Kiyotaka to let out an embarrassingly loud squeak.

“Mondo, you scared me,” he breathed out in relief as a warm arm wrapped around his waist, “what are you even do-“

Kiyotaka didn’t get to finish his sentence as he turned around to look at his boyfriend and caught sight of the scene behind him. Across the side wall of their class’s locker room, a long ‘Happy Birthday’ banner was hung and on a small table in the centre of the room, there sat a single, clearly homemade cupcake with a candle slightly precariously balanced and stuck through the top.

“Mondo, did you- did you do this for-“ Kiyotaka started to say, trying his best not to burst into tears already.

“Yeah, it’s for you. We always miss your birthday ‘cause of when the holiday falls but I wanted to do something for ya. Y’know, now that we’re a thing,” Mondo shrugged as if this wasn’t the kindest thing anyone had ever done for Kiyotaka.

“You didn’t have to,” he said, unable to stop the tears that began trickling down the sides of his face, “I didn’t even expect you to remember.”

“Why the fu-rick wouldn’t I remember my own boyfriend’s birthday ya idiot?” Mondo asked, remembering Kiyotaka’s rule about swearing and ruffling his previously neatly styled hair with a grin on his face.

“I just- I didn’t think i was worth it. You must have put so much effort in and I-“ Kiyotaka tried to say but he was interrupted.

“Taka,” Mondo said, resting his forehead against Kiyotaka’s own, “I didn’t put one second of effort into this that you didn’t deserve and I’d do a whole lot more for ya if I could. Honestly, I probably would have done more if Kuwata and Fujisaki weren’t sh- bad at their jobs.”

“Wait,” Kiyotaka realised, brushing away the tears that had settled on his cheeks, “did you send Kuwata-kun and Fujisaki-kun out into the corridor during lesson time?”

“I-uh- they wanted to help so I texted ‘em and asked ‘em to slow you down. I found out from Naegi that you were in your free last,” Mondo admitted, a look of guilt crossing his face. Kiyotaka could just feel a lecture welling up inside him but he decided to give it a rest due to how thoughtful Mondo had been.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Kiyotaka pointed out, “but thank you. It’s really- it’s really nice. I feel quite lucky to have you, Mondo.”

“Ah, c’mon, don’t go getting all sappy on me now. Ya need to blow out your candle before I manage to set fire to the whole school,” Mondo chuckled, bringing his hand to grasp Kiyotaka’s own and tugging him to sit on the bench in front of the table.

“Don’t forget to make a wish,” Mondo told him as he brought the cupcake closer. Kiyotaka smiled at him. He knew what his wish would be.

As he blew out the candle, Kiyotaka thought very carefully, I wish to always have Mondo here to make me this happy.

Mondo complained about it frequently, but he was right- Kiyotaka really was a sap.

“Happy Birthday, babe,” Mondo whispered, kissing his cheek. Kiyotaka blushed at the action.

“I told you not to call me that in school!” he hissed, “especially not when we’re in the corridor where you shouldn’t even be. There are still five minutes left of the school day to be learning.”

“Aw, c’mon, I just wanted to set all this up for ya,” Mondo complained, “besides, technically the locker room isn’t in the corridor so you can’t tell me off,” he added with a wink.

Kiyotaka began spluttering in response. He hated it when Mondo was actually right. Besides, the birthday set up had been rather sweet and Kiyotaka supposed he could make an exception, just this once, because it was Mondo.

“I suppose,” Kiyotaka conceded with a sigh, immediately sending a bright grin across Mondo’s face.

“Thanks, Taka,” Mondo said quietly, bringing his face closer to Kiyotaka’s own in the same way he always did before he kissed him. It took all of Kiyotaka’s willpower to pull away.

“Mondo, we are in public and PDA is banned in school-“

“It’s fine, there’s no one around yet. No one will see, ‘kay?” Mondo promised. Kiyotaka knew somewhere in the back of his mind that the bell was to go very shortly and anyone else from his free period could walk in at any second but when Mondo’s lips touched his own, he couldn’t help but push all those thoughts far out of his head and sigh against his boyfriend’s mouth instead.

He hadn’t kissed Mondo since before Summer, even though they’d reunited briefly that morning and Kiyotaka hadn’t realised how much he’d missed the sensation.

Mondo’s lips were slightly rough and chapped compared to Kiyotaka’s own smooth ones, but that was something he loved about Mondo. The entire way in which he was a little rough around the edges was so different in comparison to everything else in Kiyotaka’s life, so pristine and neat, that Kiyotaka couldn’t help but love the way they surprisingly fit together perfectly.

Mondo wrapped a warm, sturdy arm around Kiyotaka’s waist and drew him closer, leaning his own back against the locker to pull Kiyotaka down onto him. He felt Mondo’s mouth open and felt the familiar glide of Mondo’s tongue along his own lips.

Kiyotaka opened his mouth as if by reflex and deepened the kiss, sliding his own hands up Mondo’s sturdy sides and almost forgetting where they were for a second before-

“Hey, Ishimaru-kun, is that you-wAH I’M SO SORRY!”

Mondo and Kiyotaka jumped back from each other as though electrocuted to find Makoto stood with his particularly red face buried in his hands and Kyoko by his side, smiling teasingly.

“Naegi-kun, Kirigiri-kun, I apologise for acting so disgracefully when I myself should be setting an example. I got a little- uh- carried away,” Kiyotaka apologised immediately, his cheeks burning from embarrassment whilst Mondo let out a snort of laughter behind him. Curse Mondo for being so… enticing.

“No, no, it’s okay I was just going to ask if you’d understood the final part of the biology reading for tomorrow but I can text you about it tonight, it’s fine,” Makoto spluttered, his face still an impressive shade of crimson.

Kiyotaka was about to respond that he would be happy to discuss it now when a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and a chin rested on his shoulder.

“What are you looking so pleased about?” Kiyotaka hissed under his breath, “I was just caught breaking the rules thanks to you.”

Kiyotaka could feel Mondo’s shrug through his body.

“Nothin’. I didn’t force you to break ‘em,” he pointed out with a smirk. Kiyotaka furrowed his eyebrows as he opened his locker and began to pack his bag away.

“You were heavily persuasive,” he muttered in complaint. Mondo chuckled and buried his nose in the side of Kiyotaka’s neck. Kiyotaka was fairly certain his heart had skipped an entire beat at the action.

“Told you to make your presence known first,” Kiyotaka overheard the quiet whispering of Kyoko to Makoto from next to them.

“Yes, I realise that now, Kyoko,” Makoto whined under his breath. Kyoko let out a small laugh and glanced over to Kiyotaka and Mondo, making eye contact with Kiyotaka and giving him a small smile.

Before Kiyotaka could question what the meaning was behind such an unusual action, Kyoko had planted a kiss on Makoto’s cheek and laced her hand with his.

“Kirigiri-kun, you-“ Kiyotaka began to reprimand before realising how incredibly hypocritical it would be of him, “I- never mind.”

Kyoko raised a thin eyebrow at him and tugged Makoto’s hand.

“Come on Makoto. I don’t suspect those two want us hanging around here for too long,” she commented quietly as the two walked off.

“Were you about to yell at Kirigiri for kissing Naegi’s cheek?” Mondo realised.

“I- well- yes. PDA should not be permitted within a school, after all,” Kiyotaka reasoned.

“Oh, so it’s one rule for one, another for another, huh?” Mondo smirked.

“No! I wasn’t trying to break the rules,” Kiyotaka complained, turning around to face the still grinning Mondo, “it’s just, well-“

“Yeah?” Mondo prompted as Kiyotaka turned even redder, joining their hands together.

“You were sort of my only exception.”

“You are a sap,” Mondo complained.

“I’m not,” Kiyotaka insisted, shouldering his school bag as Mondo stuck his now free hands into his pockets and nudged Kiyotaka’s shoulder.

“Want to come back to mine for a bit so you can open your present?” Mondo invited, “and, y’know, finish what we started.”

Kiyotaka hit his arm gently.

“Don’t phrase it like that!” he complained, “but yes, I suppose I’d very much like that.”

Mondo grinned and slipped his hand back into Kiyotaka’s to pull him along the corridor and out of the door when the school bell finally rang and Kiyotaka sighed to himself. He really did wonder how he’d allowed himself to get so caught up in Mondo that he’d break his own rules, yet here he was.

Still, the old saying was that there was an exception to every rule. So help him Mondo Oowada was the exception to every single one of his.

In a world where Kiyotaka Ishimaru doesn’t even know that chunks of his memory are missing and despair is the crux of their everyday life, he is still strict about who is and isn’t allowed out in the corridor. Unfortunately, there are no particularly good rules set by their supposed headmaster that he can even enforce, but to his relief, Celeste has insisted that they apply their own rule for during nighttime.

Therefore, every night when the ten o’clock announcement sounds, Kiyotaka sees it as his duty to check everyone’s doors to ensure they are locked and that their inhabitants are safe inside. He considers his commitment even more important after the terrible incident that occurred only a few nights ago. After all, if anyone else were to swap rooms, he would notice immediately, now.

However, with the memory of Leon’s execution and Sayaka’s murder still fresh in their minds, Kiyotaka doubts anyone would even attempt it.

That’s why Kiyotaka is especially shocked to discover two offenders on the same night.

For the past couple of nights, Byakuya has been the last to return to his room from the Library. Kiyotaka had assumed originally that it would have been the same this night, so when his nightly,

“Sleep well, Togami-kun,” was routinely met with silence and a chilling glare, Kiyotaka sees it as a sign that his room checks should begin.

As per usual, Kiyotaka starts his checks at Kyoko’s room so that his circuit can bring him back to his own room last. He checks the lock on Kyoko and Makoto’s rooms, glad to see they are both safe and secure, and skips over Sayaka’s room tactfully, checking Toko’s door instead.

It is when he reaches Chihiro’s room that he finds her doorknob turning fully instead of stopping as it usually would when locked at night.

“Fujisaki-kun?” Kiyotaka calls out in concern, “are you in there?”

His question is met with further silence, which Kiyotaka sees as enough reason to gently edge the door open and check for signs of life inside. The room seems deserted at first glance and Kiyotaka sincerely hopes that means nothing disastrous has happened and that Chihiro simply decided to take a nighttime walk.

The memory of the previous crime still fresh in his mind, Kiyotaka hesitantly peeks into the bathroom and is overwhelmed with relief when that, too, is deserted. He edges slowly out of the room and decides the only thing he can do about the situation is to continue his check and hope desperately that everything is okay with Chihiro.

He checks the rooms of Aoi, Sakura, skips Leon’s, checks Yasuhiro, Hifumi and Celeste’s before once again skipping a room that belonged to Junko and nearing the end of his search by missing Byakuya’s room (he already saw the other enter for the night).

Finally, he arrives at the final door and reaches out to turn the handle of his kyoudai’s room.

That’s when a voice interrupts his search.

“K-kyoudai is that you?” it says and Kiyotaka jumps in surprise, accidentally pushing the unlocked door wide open. His initial panic is filled with relief when he realises that it was Mondo who called out to him.

“It is me. What are you doing out of your room at this hour? The nighttime announcement played quite a while ago, now,” Kiyotaka questions, mainly concerned that his Kyoudai is getting worried and restless in this school. He knows possibly better than anyone how much Mondo misses being around his gang. They’re like family to him.

“I just, uh, went to get a drink. I was thirsty. Promise I’m back for the night now, ‘kay? No need to worry about me,” Mondo chuckles. Kiyotaka still doesn’t feel relieved from all his worries but he forces himself to smile for Mondo’s sake more than anything.

“I am glad to hear that and even more glad to know that you are safe, kyoudai,” Kiyotaka chooses to say, instead, “I shall see you bright and early in the morning, in that case. I hope you sleep well.”

“Surprised you’re not giving me a lecture for being out of my room,” Mondo smiles with a nod of his head. Kiyotaka blushes a bit and laughs sheepishly. He had been hoping Mondo would not mention his lack of reprimands. It isn’t that Kiyotaka doesn’t think it was wrong, it’s just that he really doesn’t want to yell at Mondo. Especially when he’s been so kind and considerate towards him these last few days.

“Well, let’s just say I made an exception for you,” Kiyotaka decides to say, “because we’re kyoudais, of course,” he adds, just in case his sentence is taken in, well, more the way that he actually means it. Kiyotaka’s never been one for hiding secrets but he’s not sure he even could put into words the peculiar way he feels about Mondo.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, yeah?” Mondo agrees, a smile coating his features. Kiyotaka nods in agreement and before he knows it, his face is pressed against Mondo’s hard chest and his kyoudai’s arms are wrapped around his torso.

Kiyotaka doesn’t even have time to respond to the sudden hug before Mondo pulls away and dashes back into his room. He stands there for a few seconds, his face bright red from the sudden physical contact and how warm and toned Mondo’s body had felt against his own before finally returning to his own room and falling asleep almost instantly.

Kiyotaka didn’t even realise that he’d forgotten to check up on where Chihiro was until they find her corpse in the girls’ changing room the following morning.

If Mondo Oowada were to die the following day, Kiyotaka Ishimaru would find himself too distraught to obey even his own rules. He would spend so long crying that his eyes would be red, dry and almost as painful as the stabbing pain he would feel in his chest.

Kiyotaka would never be able to hate anyone as much as he would find himself hating Monokuma and whoever it was that trapped them in the school in the first place, forcing the hands of innocent teenagers to slaughter their own classmates and laughing at the horrifying outcome.

If his kyoudai died before he could ever tell him about the feelings he had bottled up inside him for the other boy, Kiyotaka would find his own feet silently carrying him to the sauna even after the nighttime announcement had called loud and clear.

He would sit in the sauna, where everything between them had started, and cry even more. Cry about how unfair it was, how it didn’t matter if Mondo had killed Chihiro or not, how Mondo should have put up more of a fight and tried to escape that place, even if that meant Kiyotaka had to lay down his own life.

He would cry about how little he would hesitate to volunteer to do such a thing for the other boy, how if Mondo had just talked to him about his secret, he never would have panicked and had his own physical strength backfire again him.

Kiyotaka would cry and he wouldn’t care about any rules and he wouldn’t care about his own life or even escaping anymore because why would he if his reason to live had died?

If Mondo Oowada were to die the following day, Kiyotaka would realise that if the old saying that there is an exception to every rule really was true, now that his exception was dead, there was only one thing he could do to maintain the order.

Kiyotaka would break every rule in his own book and become the exception. No one else could ever fill Mondo’s place.

After all, he was his only exception.

[noelclover]

Off The Cuff 04/08/2020

I found this article and wanted to talk about the weird turn it takes along with some misrepresentation I find in it. Quotations are in italics and it’s about RE3. Article from Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

The article starts out pretty well, talking about the game as reviews should. But about midway we see it turning rather weird, starting from about here:

The star of the show though, without a doubt, is Nemesis. Nemesis is the very archetype of the Relentless Brute, and looks like what would happen if Davy Jones from Pirates of the Carribean spent all his money on protein shakes, and then only had a fiver left to make an outfit for a night out at a BDSM club. But alas, Nemesis is neither safe, sane nor consensual: he would almost certainly be thrown out of said club, after being found endgame shitfaced, strangling a teenager outside the loos in his bin bag trenchcoat.

Given that there isn’t really anything sexual about the bio-weapon unless you have rather strange fetishes best kept to yourself, it’s really strange to see this comparison. For one thing, sure, Nemesis has always had this weird look to him. Clothing wise he’s got some belts on, but it always gave the impression of a straitjacket rather than a BDSM suit. Again, unless you’ve got a fetish which you should most likely keep private given that it’s Nemesis.

I guess Nemesis wants to kill you, but it seems incidental, almost, when it happens – a regrettable side effect of his true passion, which is to choke you, hurl you through walls, and just generally physically overwhelm you. All this mauling makes his presence incredibly oppressive, where it wouldn’t necessarily be were he just a super-efficient killing machine.

It’s... rather bizarre to put the aggression Nemesis has in this game like this. We know that Nemesis is a Tyrant (as in the bio-weapon class), experimented on to a higher degree. Like all Tyrants, they’re rather brutal. Not necessarily the most efficient, but most certainly brutal and Nemesis has that dialed up. The reason why he punches Jill is because (a) we assume that Jill is putting up a fight and (b) she has HP and if the game decided to ignore the fact that Jill has HP for all his attacks, which would be the case were he a “super-efficient killing machine”, we would get players complaining that he simply isn’t fair.

I mean, let’s be honest here, most of us don’t like the idea of instant-kill attacks, and while we’re probably alright with super bosses having an instant-kill or two, imagine a boss who’s every move is an instant-kill to demonstrate that they’re “super-efficient”. My rambling aside, at this point we can see the article going the way of “violence against women in vidya”.

I do kind of want to flag the whole “violence against women” aspect of Nemesis, and of the game in general, as it’s hard to deny it’s a theme, or that it’s presented with at least a little relish.

And here we have it. It’s very strange to call it a theme of the game, or something presented with relish given that zombies and bio-weapons simply don’t care for your sex, gender, religion or whatever box you want to place yourself into, they’re, in universe, there to kill you. Nemesis happens to be beating up Jill because she’s the protagonist who happens to be a part of the unfortunate S.T.A.R.S (which is super bad ass by the way. S.T.A.R.S, not the beating.).

Given that it’s an action game with a female protagonist, I really think stating that “violence against women” as a theme is presented in the game as really, really weird and feels like it’s missing the point.

But… yeah. There were moments while playing when I just felt uncomfortable. Jill isn’t too obviously a vessel for anyone’s fetishes, but realistic as she is, she’s clearly designed to be sexy. And she spends an awful lot of time being hurled into things, slapped about, grunting in pain, being asphyxiated, and either struggling to force assailants off her, or being graphically murdered by them. There was one particularly rough bit where one of the previously mentioned spider monsters strangled her with tentacles, then rammed a bigger tentacle down her neck to pump her full of parasites. Watching back through my capture footage for screenshots, I could hear myself mutter “not cool, man” into my headset. And it doesn’t happen to Carlos.

A fit woman who some may consider sexy is... found to be sexy. Surprising.

Again Nemesis is trying to beat you up because you have a HP bar and instant-kill attacks would lead to complaints, zombies gather on everyone, Leon, Claire, Jill and Carlos. Also, bio-weapon monsters out to kill everything kill everything.

What a surprise.

I would like to note that the segments where you get to play Carlos do not have any spiders so it’s kind of hard for said spiders to ram themselves down his throat and put eggs in him. Can’t exactly do that when they don’t exist. Also, for the record, if you consider the facehugger-impregnates-person moment to be sexual, that’s really on you.

I wasn’t even kidding on Nemesis having sleazy dom energy, by the way. Jill’s ex-supercop colleague Brad mentions Nemesis having a “hard-on” for her, and when Carlos is introduced – while saving Jill from a mangling at the hands of ol’ bagfists himself – he quips that Nemesis “knows what it wants, and won’t stop till it gets it – don’t you like that in a man?” “No thanks,” replies Jill, “he’s all yours”.

Except that it’s not completely true. Brad specifically says that Nemesis has a “hard-on for the only two S.T.A.R.S. left in town: you and me”. This, coupled with the context, changes things quite a bit. Nemesis does not have a “hard-on” for Jill, it has an obsession for S.T.A.R.S., which is why it keeps going, you know, “S.T.A.R.S.” and not “JILL”.

Also Carlos has been saving people and seems to want to keep himself seeming more warm and casual. You understand this as you play the game and get to know him better, he’s not really that big on protocol and he’s more than willing to joke around and be playful, presumably because this is an epidemic, a crisis and one of the easier ways of breaking tension is to use humour, however lacking in success that may be.

I actually liked the interactions between Carlos and Jill, and they worked well to dispel some of the general miasma of yikes mentioned above. Carlos (who is also sexy, though I can’t work out whether that’s because of or despite his ridiculous hair) is a prick. He wants to play the white knight, and Jill’s just not having any of it. Her dialogue never really strays into cringey Strong Female Protagonist territory while fending it off – she’s just a total professional, who’s too busy trying to deal with her situation to pay any heed to that sort of guff. She never feels like half the victim her death animations make her seem.

Except there’s no “miasma of yikes”, it’s the reviewer looking at this with a social justice lens instead of his actual eyes and using his head, thinking of the context and such like he should.  I don’t agree that Carlos is a prick, though I do agree that he does look really fine, because he doesn’t present himself as such. He’s a capable guy who wants to help and has a more easy going personality. He does not force himself on her at any time.

He “plays white knight” in the sense that he’s a damned professional in a crisis trying to help civilians, who, surprise surprise, aren’t as strong as Jill is. Also, he doesn’t even know who she is when they first meet. When she has “none of it”, he backs off, doesn’t try to calm her down as he would a civilian and acts appropriately. So again, this bit of the article seems to ignore any context and what really happens in the scenes in favour of viewing it in a very, very specific lens.

Also, I’d like to note that Jill probably looks and feels like a victim in her death scenes because she’s, you know, a victim. Of being killed.

Who’d have thunk. Next thing I know, we’ll have to remind game journalists that people die when they are killed.

The article later goes back to a more regular review, so there’s not really anything to be said about it.

In all honesty, the only “miasma of yikes” I found was the article itself with the parts I mentioned and put up here. Seriously, please, context matters.

Now, I know that I do this once in a while where I post up an article that I want to talk about because I find it ridiculously flawed and lacking in context. But I really hope that whoever reads this, for whatever reason, to remember that often times you should really check something out for yourself, preferably the source, when you read articles. Check out more sites, independent reviewers, newscasters, whatever it is.

Despite what some jackasses have stated, context really matters and without it you can spin a story that feels rather different than what is originally presented.

[cyancaddy]

Cleon hints in the novels

Before I read the novels by S. D. Perry, I was aware that Aeon was as canon as it gonna get for Capcom. In my opinion, the original RE2 offered nothing that could be interpreted as attraction between Claire and Leon...I still liked them together nonetheless. The obsession I have with Claire and Leon first started when I read the novels. 13 year old me was beyond ecstatic when there were actual hints towards a possible romantic relationship between Claire and Leon (which I thought was a 1000 % canon back then, it was Capcom approved after all). Since I now know the novels can be considered as very well written fanfiction, I came to the realization that Ms Perry probably shipped them too. So without further ado, I tried to collect all the Cleon hints from the novels... which are mostly from "Underworld" and "Code Veronica".

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Underworld - Chapter One

David's thoughts

Rebecca was unloading clips and repacking the weapons, Leon and Claire sitting close together across from her, not talking. Those two were usually joined at the hip, and were still as tight as they'd been since David, John, and Rebecca had picked them up just outside of Raccoon less than a month earlier, dirty and damaged and reeling from their run-in with Umbrella. David didn't think there was a romantic connection there, at least not yet; it was more likely their shared nightmare. Nearly dying together could be quite a bonding experience. As far as David knew, Leon and Claire were the only survivors of the Raccoon disaster who knew about Umbrella's T-Virus spill.

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Underworld - Chapter Two

Leon's thoughts

And what about Leon Kennedy? He'd stumbled into the fight without a clue, a cop fresh out of the academy on his way to his first day at work - which just happened to be with the Raccoon PD. There was Ada, true - but he'd known her less than half a day, and she had been killed just after admitting to him that she was some kind of an agent, sent to steal a sample of an Umbrella virus.

So I lost a job, and a possible relationship with a woman I barely knew and couldn't trust. Of course Umbrella should be stopped... but do I belong here?

He'd decided to become a cop because he wanted to help people, but he'd always figured that meant keeping the peace - busting drunk drivers, breaking up bar fights, catching crooks. Never in his wildest dreams would he have figured on being caught up in an international conspiracy, cloak-and-dagger infiltration-type stuff against a giant company that made war monsters. It was crime on a much bigger scale than he felt he was ready for...... and is that the real reason, Officer Kennedy? At exactly that moment, Claire mumbled something from her light doze, nuzzling her head against his arm before falling silent and still again - and making Leon uncomfortably aware of another facet to his involvement with the ex-S.T.A.R.S. Claire.

Claire was... she was an incredible woman. In the days after their escape from Raccoon City, they'd talked a lot about what had happened, the experiences they'd had both separately and together. At the time, it had felt like an exchange of information, filling in blanks - she'd told him about her run-in with Chief Irons and the creature she'd called Mr. X, and he'd told her all about Ada and the terrible thing that had once been William Birkin. Between them, they'd been able to come up with a continuous story, with information that was important to the fugitive team. In retrospect, though, he could see that those long, rambling conversations had been essential for another reason entirely - they'd been a way to leach out the poison of what had happened to them, like talking out a bad dream. If he'd had to keep it all inside, he thought, he might have gone crazy. In any case, the feelings he had for her now were convoluted ones - warmth, connection, dependence, respect, others that he had no name for. And that scared him, because he'd never felt so strongly about anyone before and because he wasn't sure how much of it was real and how much was just some kind of a post-traumatic stress thing.

Face it, stop bullshitting yourself. What you're really afraid of is that you're only here because she is, and you don't like what that says about you.

Leon nodded inwardly, realizing that it was the truth, the real reason behind his uncertainty. He'd always believed that want was okay, but need? He didn't like the idea of being led around by some neurotic compulsion to be close to Claire Redfield.

And what if it isn't need? Maybe it's want, and you just don't know it yet...

He scowled at his own pathetic attempts at self-analysis, deciding that maybe it would be best just to stop worrying about it so much. Whatever the reason for becoming involved, he was involved - he could kick ass with the best of them and Umbrella deserved to have their ass kicked, big time. For now, he had to pee, and then he was going to eat something and do his best to catch some sleep. Leon gently moved out from beneath Claire's warm, heavy head, doing his best not to wake her up. He slid out into the aisle, glancing around at the others.

______

Underworld - Chapter Five

Claire's and Leon's conversation

"Cold?" Leon asked. Claire turned away from the window, looking at him. He'd finished with the packs, and was holding one out to her. She took it, nodding in response to his question. "Aren't you?" He shook his head, grinning. "Thermal underwear. Could have used these in Raccoon..."Claire smiled. "How could I have used them? I was running around in a pair of shorts, you at least had your uniform. "Which was covered with lizard guts before I was halfway through the sewers," he said, and she was glad to hear him at least try to joke about it.

______

Underworld - Chapter 5

Claire's thougts

Leon put his hand on Claire's shoulder. "You up for this?" he asked softly, and Claire smiled inwardly, thinking of how sweet he was; she'd been thinking of asking him the same thing. In the days since Raccoon, they'd gotten pretty close- and although she wasn't positive, she'd picked up on a few signals that suggested he wouldn't mind getting closer. She still wasn't sure if that was a good idea

and now's not the time to be deciding. The sooner we get this code book, the sooner we get to Europe. To Chris.

"As up as I'm gonna be," she said, and Leon nodded, and they climbed out into the freezing night to join the others.

______

Underworld - Epilogue

With David and John supporting young Rebecca, and Leon and Claire smiling at one another like lovers, the five weary soldiers trudged off the screen and out into the gently blossoming Utah morning.

---------------

Code Veronica- Chapter Four

Leon receives Claire's message from the island and tells Chris and Barry about it

Leon had turned out to be a half decent hacker, he was in the next room on the computer; he'd hardly slept since Claire's capture, most of his time spent trying to track Umbrella's recent movements.

With both their parents dead, he and Claire had developed a close relationship, and he thought he knew her pretty well; she was smart and tough and resourceful, always had been... but she was also a college student, for Christ's sake. Unlike the rest of them, she didn't have any formal combat training. He couldn't help thinking that she'd been lucky so far, and when it came to Umbrella, luck just wasn't enough.

"Chris, get in here!"

Leon, and it sounded urgent. Chris and Barry looked at each other, Chris seeing his own worry mirrored in Barry's face, and they both stood up. His heart in his throat, Chris hurriedly led the way down the hall to where Leon was working, feeling eager and afraid at once. The young cop was standing next to the computer, his expression unreadable. "She's alive," Leon said simply. Chris hadn't even been aware of how bad things had been for him until those two words. It was like his heart had suddenly been released after being gripped hi a vise for ten days, the sense of relief as physical as it was emotional, his skin flushing with it.

Alive, she's alive...Barry clapped him on the shoulder, laughing. "Of course she is, she's a Redfield."

Chris grinned, turned his attention back to Leon and felt his smile slipping at the cop's carefully neutral expression. There was something else. Before he could ask, Leon motioned at the screen, taking a deep breath. "They've got her on an island, Chris... and there's been an accident."

Chris was leaning over the computer in a single stride. He read the brief message twice, the reality of it slow to sink in.

Infection trouble approximately 37S, 12W following attack, perps unknown. No bad guys left, I think, but stuck at the moment. Watch your back, bro, they know the city if not the street. Will try to be home soon.

Chris stood up, silently locking gazes with Leon as Barry read the message. Leon smiled, but it looked forced. "You didn't see her in Raccoon," he said. "She knows how to handle herself, Chris. And she managed to get to a computer, right?" Barry straightened up, took his cue from Leon. "That means she's not locked down," he said seriously. "And if Umbrella's got its hands full with another viral spill, they're not going to be paying attention to anything else. The important thing is that she's alive."

Chris nodded absently, mind already working on what he would need for the trip. The coordinates she'd listed put her in an incredibly isolated spot, deep in the South Atlantic, but he had an old Air Force buddy who owed him, could jet him down to Buenos Aires, maybe Capetown; he could rent a boat from there, survival gear, rope, medkit, an assload of firepower... "I'm going with you," Barry said, accurately reading his expression. They'd been friends a long time. "Me, too," Leon said. Chris shook his head. "No, absolutely not." Both men started to protest, and Chris raised his voice, talking over them.

"You saw what she said, about Umbrella homing in on me, on us," he said firmly. "That means we have to relocate, maybe one of the estates outside the city - some-one has to stay here, wait for Rebecca's team to get back, and someone else needs to scout out a new base of operations. And don't forget, Jill will be here any day now."

Barry frowned, scratched at his beard, his mouth set in a thin, tight line. "I don't like it. Going in alone is a bad idea..." "We're at a crucial phase right now, and you know it," Chris said. "Somebody's got to mind the shop, Barry, and you're the man. You've got the experience, you know all the contacts." "Fine, but at least take the kid," Barry said, gesturing toward Leon. For once, Leon didn't protest the label, only nodded, drawing himself up, shoulders back and head high.

"If you won't do it for yourself, think about Claire,"Barry continued. "What happens to her if you get your - self killed? You need a backup, somebody to pick up the ball if you fumble."Chris shook his head, immovable. "You know better, Barry, this has to be as quiet as possible. Umbrella may have already sent in a cleanup crew. One person, in and out before anyone even realizes I'm there."

Barry was still frowning, but he didn't push it. Neither did Leon, although Chris could see that he was working up to it; the cop and Claire had obviously gotten pretty close.

"I'll bring her back," Chris said, softening his tone, looking at Leon. Leon hesitated, then nodded, high color burning in his cheeks, making Chris wonder exactly how close Leon and his sister had become.

Later. I can worry about his intentions if we make it back alive... when we make it back alive, he quickly amended. If was not an option. "It's settled, then,"

Chris said. "Leon, find me a good map of the area, geographical, political, everything, you never know what might help. Also post back to Claire, just in case she gets another chance to check for mes - sages - tell her I'm on my way. Barry, I want to be pack - ing major influence, but lightweight, something I can hike in without too much trouble, maybe a Glock... you're the expert, you decide."

Both men nodded, turned away to get started, and Chris closed his eyes for just a second, quickly offering up a silent prayer.

Please, please stay safe until I get there, Claire.

It wasn't much - but then, Chris had the feeling he would be praying a lot more in the long hours to come.

______

Code Veronica - Chapter nine

Steve and Claire on the plane to Antarctica, Steve’s thoughts

He looked down at her, at her tousled hair and long lashes, his heart pounding even though he was trying to relax. She moved again, shifting in her sleep, her head tilting back a little and her slightly parted lips were suddenly close enough for him to kiss, all he had to do was tip his face down a few inches, and he wanted to so bad that he actually started to do it, lowering his mouth toward hers... "Mmmm," she murmured, still totally asleep, and he stopped, pulling back, his heart beating even faster. He totally wanted to but not like that, not if she didn't want him to. He thought she did, but she'd also told him a little about her friend Leon, too, and he wasn't so sure that they were just friends. Feeling tortured, having her so close but not his, he was relieved when she rolled away from him a few seconds later.

[thrandilf]

Obvious and Oblivious

The forests of Valentina were bright in the daytime, dappled patches of shade and sunshine through the leafy canopy made for a comfortable trek Celica’s party would hold as a time of their best memories together. Birds sang, a gentle breeze blew, and it was a perfect day to let one’s mind wander.

Valbar wasn’t sure when he started to notice Leon more. Sure, they’d been best friends for years. They were always by each other’s sides, arrows and lance flying together in tandem, each the other’s guardian angel.

Now he was drawn to Leon in an odder way, puzzling over him with the feeling there was just something Valbar was missing. All of Leon’s vivid details popped out to him, as though Leon was a painting and he couldn’t help following the artist’s strokes over and over. His bright lavender hair, his laugh, everything- created someone too kind and affectionate for war. Or perhaps, such purity of heart was what drove Leon to fight. Valbar could accept that.

But the biggest most confounding mystery to Valbar was how Leon was still single.

“You’re tall, you know that?”

Leon looked at Valbar with surprise. Had Leon always looked that dashing in armor? Probably. “Uh, yes? The horse helps.”

Ah yes, Leon was a bow knight now. He was as striking as ever on a gilded steed, lithe and deadly. “Hmm, you’re right. You’re still tall anyway.”

Leon laughed, playfully nudging Valbar’s shoulder as they followed behind the main party. “Oh please, you’re jealous I think. We’d have to find a Clydesdale to support all that dreamy brawn.”

Valbar grinned. “Dreamy? Who’s dreamy? Listen- I’ve said it before, although you brushed me off, but any lass would swoon for you.”

Leon tossed his hair over his shoulder and snorted. “Oh excuuuuuse me?! Valbar PLEASE- I have no interest but my deep love for-“ Leon hesitated-, “someone who doesn’t love me back.”

“I find it hard to believe anyone in this world couldn’t love you, Leon.”

Leon, usually composed and aloof, blushed brightly. “Well- it’s how it is.”

“Who is it?”

“Nope!” Leon forced a playful huff. “Classified information!”

Valbar hummed, folding his arms as they followed a well trodden path. He assumed they’d be coming to a village or possible hunter’s campsite soon. “How about this- I find out who it is, because I bet I can, and I’ll be your wingman. Deal?”

Leon sighed and gave Valbar a wistful look. It hurt his heart to be doubted like this by Leon, but he’d show him. “Valbar, my dearest friend, you’ll literally never guess who.”

“Challenge accepted. I’ll have an answer in ten minutes.”

“Oh really?”

Valbar didn’t have the faintest idea, but the game was on. He scanned the group ahead and Leon huffed, as though Valbar was wrong already. Who would be so unattainable that Leon would pine so agonizingly? He tried to think of who simply couldn’t marry Leon for whatever reason. “Hmmm. I got it.”

Leon blanched, bracing himself. “And?”

“Princess Celica. She’s royalty, so you can never have her, it must- hey! Why’re you laughing?!”

Leon was almost out of his saddle, wheezing with mirth. “No! Oh my god!” Kamui, silent as a shadow in front of them, was also stifling laughter. “Not a damn word Kamui!”

Valbar chuckled himself. “Oh Kamui knows? I must be bad at this. I’ll keep guessing.” He’d never lost a mission in his life, and he wouldn’t start now. Who could possibly resist Leon’s charm? Valbar contemplated in silence, occasionally giving Leon and Kamui hard stares when they chuckled at how stumped he was.

Valbar waited until dinner, purposefully dining away from the group with Leon and Kamui. Leon had an obviously false sense of security, drinking his soup with an air of unconcerned irreverence. Valbar looked Leon in the eyes. “Alright, I got it. Sonya.”

“WHAT?!” Soup sprayed out of Leon’s nose and he coughed, laughing so hard he cried.

Kamui thumped Leon on the back with a smirk of his own. “Valbar, you gotta give the poor guy a warning, you trying to kill him?”

Valbar rolled his eyes. “What! You’re both gorgeous, powerful people. Your hair matches! You’re both just too stuck up to work out!”

Leon gagged and coughed again, finally able to breathe. “/No/, oh wow!” He held up his hands and exchanged a glance with Kamui. “Alright, alright. First of all, my hair is better, but I forgive you. I’ll give you a hint, so I can survive this quest without dying on anything else.” Leon gave Valbar a wink. “Your guessing pool is completely the wrong gender.”

Valbar blinked. “Oh.” He looked back at the party a little ways away, a self satisfied grin on his face. “Well now you’ve really given yourself away!”

Leon hurriedly glanced back and forth between Valbar and the rest of the band. “Valbar I- please don’t let it change anything, I-“

“It’s Jesse.”

Leon groaned as Jesse, at the mention of his name, leaned towards them with a cheery wave and wink. “Please keep talking about me!” he shouted.

Leon gave Valbar a withering look. “While he might be objectively handsome- no.”

That night in their tent the three friends laid in their own sleeping rolls, the only sounds being each other’s’ breathing and the chirps and whispers of the forest. Valbar had never been much of a person for riddles, but he couldn’t stop thinking about who had such a hold on Leon’s heart. He stared at the back of Leon’s lavender head as he slept, thinking about his graceful lethal movements on the battlefield, how he was like a mystical creature whose beauty was stunning but his lightning reflexes were quick to kill his foes. Leon was one of the most brilliant archers Valbar had ever met, and yet he respected him for his radiant outlook on life as much as he did his valor in combat.

Valbar shifted in his sleeping bag, taken with an odd wave of protectiveness. Leon didn’t need to be protected- half the time his nimble fingers struck enemies with arrows before Valbar even spotted them, and yet he fully realized in that moment that he’d be devastated if he ever lost Leon.

“There a spider in my hair? You’re staring.”

Valbar jolted, so lost in thought he hadn’t noticed Leon roll over. He scanned for spiders just in case. “Nope. No. No spiders. You’re good.”

Leon smiled and closed his eyes again. “Good. Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about who I might like, that’s practically obsessive at this point.”

“No. Uh. I was just thinking about you.” Valbar tried to find the right words to breach the depth of his feelings. “You fight good.”

Kamui groaned and threw a pillow at both of them, making Valbar and Leon muffle their mirth like children trying to not be caught staying up too late. It was the purest form of being in cahoots with someone, of playful eye contact and lightheaded joy at having a bond beyond words.

Valbar’s last thought before closing his eyes was that whoever had Leon’s love was the luckiest man alive.

-~-

“I have another guess.”

Leon rolled his eyes, overly exaggerated and fighting a fond look as they traveled side by side again. “Ready to be wrong again, Valbar?”

“Saber. Listen- LISTEN- he’s got great hair, roguish charm, incredible skill in battle, an eyepatch- what’s not to like?”

“Sorry- are you trying to convince yourself, perhaps? Still not the man for me.”

Saber, who happened to be a few yards away, shot Leon a teasing look. “I know you’re nothing like my type, but it kinda stings.”

“Likewise.” Leon dramatically clutched his chest, almost falling off his horse. “Oh- I’m wounded by your lack of desire for such perfection I embody!”

Valbar gave the matter some serious thought. Was it someone outside of their party? That would make sense as to why Leon thought he’d never guess. He tried to imagine if he himself had Leon’s preferences. Valbar hadn’t considered men to be an option for romantic or intimate partners. Would Leon want someone like himself, androgynous and slender? Perhaps opposites attracting still applied to the same gender. Valbar recalled all the times Leon complimented his muscle and brawn, how comfortable and affectionate Leon was in general, and wondered if Leon did happen to prefer guys who looked like Valbar himself.

He knew the answer. It shouldn’t have been so difficult.

They camped in a clearing again, but this time Valbar caught Leon before dinner. “Leon.”

Leon turned to him, blinking as he took in the serious but soft tone of Valbar’s voice. His face fell. “You know, don’t you?”

“Can we talk privately about this?”

Leon nodded and they slipped away, silent except for the cracking of twigs under their boots. Once they were sufficiently out of earshot Valbar carefully sat down on a fallen log, patting next to him where Leon nervously perched, eyes averted. Valbar took his rare silence as a cue to speak. “When we first met, you were stricken with grief over a boy. From what I gather, he was a fine lad- strong, capable, dear to you, and unfortunately, unlucky. While most in our barracks lose friends on a battlefield, I believe you lost something different. You loved him, didn’t you?”

Leon sighed, turning to face Valbar with a bittersweet smile. “Yes, I did love him. A boyhood friend taken from this world too soon.” He sighed and kicked his legs. “Valbar, was that your only guess?”

“Uh, yeah. I figured you didn’t want to discuss that in front of everyone.”

“Then you’re only half right.” Leon stood and gazed at the moon, letting the silver light hit his hair and glowing bow like an ethereal hunter, taking Valbar’s breath away for a moment. “I don’t know when it happened, to be honest. I’d been grieving for what felt like an eternity to my youthful heart, when someone showed me life was still worth living. Someone who’d lost so much more than me was always there to cheer me up, to be everything to me when I thought I’d never smile again. I grew up with him as a mentor, really truly learned what’s important in life, and that even a broken heart can love as deeply as ever. To love, to care- that’s what it means to actually live.

“Valbar, I learned all that from you.” Leon’s voice was clear but soft as a whisper. If Valbar wasn’t mistaken, Leon’s eyes were moist as he spoke, words tumbling out of him with a sniff. “I love you in every definition of the word. My best friend, my brother in arms- I want the best for you, and- and I want a life with you. I want to be at your side no matter the context. I- I couldn’t say it so directly knowing what you’ve been through, knowing I’m so Different from most people, knowing I might jeopardize what we have. Your company is all I could ever want. Please- please-“ Leon choked and dragged his sleeve across his face. Only Valbar saw him vulnerable like this. Only Valbar was trusted to not break Leon when his defenses were down. “Please don’t think anything different of me.”

Touch wasn’t foreign to the pair. Camaraderie and affectionate arms slung around shoulders, pats on the back, and embraces were commonplace. Valbar gently laid a hand on Leon’s arm and brought him close, standing up to let Leon lean on him. His large palm fit against Leon’s tearstained cheek, warm and reassuring as he tucked Leon’s gossamer hair behind his ear. Leon’s eyes grew wide as Valbar’s fingers lightly brushed his cheek, a gesture almost too tender from such a bulk of a man.

“When I look at you, I think of our years together. I yearn to see you smile and laugh, enjoying life with a contagious smirk. I want to know you’re cherished and loved every day, that you will never have to weep alone.” Valbar allowed himself a grin at Leon’s shocked face. “And I believe that if you want something done right, you do it yourself.”

“Val- I- what?!” Leon spluttered, face turning warm. “You aren’t, you know, uh-“

Valbar chuckled. “I kept racking my brain for who you’re so smitten for and I started to get a bit jealous of him. It’s not something I ever thought about before. We’ve both suffered what no one should have to, Leon. We aren’t able to fill holes in each other’s hearts. You aren’t like my wife and family- you’re something different. Completely new. And if these feelings for you had to be put into only a few words, well-

“I love you too.”

Leon beamed at Valbar, euphoria radiating from his face. “I- uh. God. I don’t know what to do! I’m speechless! Can you believe that?” It was an odd rush of emotions, that everything had changed and yet nothing at all. He glowed with happiness and basked in it, finally not having to barely manage to hide the depth of his feelings from Valbar.

Valbar stroked Leon’s hair, taking in his soft features with new wonder. “Now, I may have proven myself rather daft or oblivious from time to time-“ Leon laughed, “-but I know a thing or two about romance.” Valbar swept Leon off his feet and spun in a circle hard enough to steal their breaths away.

Leon hung onto Valbar’s broad shoulders for dear life, yelping and giggling before they came to an abrupt stop. His eyes widened in surprise as Valbar dipped him back, the strong arms around Leon’s waist supporting him easily as his booted foot barely touched the ground.

“Wow,” breathed Leon, windswept and still giddy.

“Dramatic enough for a first kiss?”

Leon brought his hand to Valbar’s cheek, dragging his fingertips along Valbar’s jaw. His eyes were soft and lovestruck as he angled his head closer to Valbar’s. “What’re you waiting for?”

Their first kiss was soft and curious, as delicate as a new sprout emerging from a seed. With every slow unspoken declaration of love passing between their lips, they pressed closer and closer to becoming one. Lips melded together with soft sighs and adoring gazes, the ebb and flow of their kisses as natural as a lazy tide.

They parted only enough to talk, foreheads pressed together in a sacred moment only for the two of them. Leon trembled slightly despite his best efforts, nerves high and overwhelmed with emotion, yet anchored and calmed by Valbar’s sturdy embrace. “I love you. I shall never tire of saying it.”

“I love you too.”

They meandered back to camp, slipping into their tent after sneaking leftovers from dinner. They knew the war would go on, their perilous march on Rigel would demand they risk their lives with every dawn until the empire fell. And yet, no matter how bleak their future seemed, there was a thread of hope for a new life of bliss they’d already had a morsel of.

Leon crawled onto his sleeping bag, giving Valbar a pout at the small distance between them. Valbar glanced at the sleeping Kamui, decided he didn’t care what Kamui might think, and pulled Leon close to him with one arm. They curled up close on their sleeping rolls, nestled perfectly together.

“Thank Mila,” muttered Kamui across the tent, startling them both. He splayed his limbs out and took up Leon’s vacant sleeping spot with a self satisfied grin. “Free real estate.”

[seawolvesanddragons]

Merlin Short - The Youtuber AU

Alright, to start with, Gwaine [Username: AngrIrishman] mostly does prank videos; his is primarily a comedy channel. It starts off as in the moment pranks (probably while he is uni). As he gains more followers and grows more confident he starts doing a few sketches, usually the same characters in different scenarios (the series “drunk Irishman confused by British things is the number one favourite.) After a semester or two he drops out of uni, deciding it isn’t for him and he was only following family pressure, and he wants to do follow this youtube idea. He mostly pranks friends and family, all harmless stuff. After he meets Merlin he does a good deal of his pranks on him, but Elyan and Percival show up the mst as his victims (or partners in crime) since he’s lived with them both. He’s always willing to help out his friends with their videos, and often appears in Percival’s gaming competitions. Occasionally, for when Gwaine wants to address something serious or do a straight video of something bothering him, he has a series of “what’s aleing me today” where he talks about the serious stuff under the guise of drinking. His is one of the bigger youtube stars and his fame only skyrockets after he meets the others.  Percival [AllTankedUp] started in youtube as just responding to some of the more ridiculous challenges (planking, cinnamon challenge, parkour, etc) but ended up accidentally setting a ton of records. He started getting a lot of followers suggesting more challenges for him to do. After a year or two he began  

uploading video game run throughs after he purchased a video game and streamed playing it, not expecting anything big to come of it. The first video ending up trending for a few hours and requests came pouring in. However his biggest project, and the one he is most proud of and best known for, comes along in year three, after he met Elyan. They began recreating live action versions of video games, giant board games, etc. The internet fucking loses it over these videos. Most of them are endearingly low budget - the first is a live action super mario, where they had set up mushrooms and platforms in the park and a plushie princess peach is the prize. Elyan did MATH for this, guys.  Percival has to do exactly what Elyan tells him to do when Elyan holds the “controller” and vice versa. The video is ten minutes long and mostly consists of them falling over. Percy barely wins in the end, but he holds the plushie up all proud, looking adorable. By the next day they have over a hundred subscribers asking for more. Some of the live actions are HUGE events, brining in all of Percy’s friends and acquaintances and even family members but that’s usually only once a year. Typically, it’s no more than Percy, Elyan, and Gwaine or Leon or Merlin. Elyan helps out a lot with most of the recreations, but Percival came up with the idea and is the driving force behind it. He also has a side channel for workout videos after 2 1/2 years of requests, where he posts irregular updates. Elyan [Elyuminati] gets pulled into youtube by Gwen, and starts out as the occasional guest star in her vlogs, before submitting the odd vlog video himself, usually just him ranting about whatever in his life is annoying him at the time. It was meant to just be a way to let off steam, he didn’t expect anyone to watch them, but Elyan has a certain kind of odd charm and humor that attracts a humble but loyal following. During his gap year he travels around Europe and posts a lot of video diaries as a way of keeping in touch with Gwen, and it steadily improves over time. He starts doing “day in the life of” or “creepy ghost tour” or just sharing crazy stories about his travels. Elyan’s not a bad artist, so he’ll sometimes recreate brief sketches of the crazy stuff that happened to him while narrating what is going on. After his gap year (which almost turned into two) he returned to the UK and ended up rooming with Percy, who he knew from youtube, and started getting a degree in maths. His channel with Percy to do live action games took off, and he ended up being offered a job at a radio station after a year or so. The radio felt he had a personality that worked over radio just as well as camera. His radio show has a little bit of everything in it: acting as a voice of the millennial people, sharing whatever crazy thing happened to him that week, traveling and reviewing places and (his latest obsessions) weird news stories and conspiracies. (Leon and Gwaine could be blamed for the last one.) He doesn’t post as much except for the game videos or guest starring in others, since’s he’s busy with his radio show, but he will occasionally do a vlog session now and again, usually on his theories on conspiracies, game of thrones, and why the cosmos hates him enough to stick him with Gwaine. Leon [GiantRedGnomes], unlike Percy and Elyan, actually means to start a youtube channel. He starts off with gaming videos, including a dramatic series of the SIMS that everyone gets a little too invested in. However Leon is very conscious of the good that youtube can do, and so he also starts doing more educational style videos with fun animation. His main topics are history (but the fun kind, he focuses a lot on the weird parts of European history that no one ever talks about) space and alien life, etc. He also reviews a lot of popular tv shows and movies and shares his thoughts, opinions, and predictions for them as well as how the nerdier stuff checks out. Being the gentleman that he is, he typically tries to post both spoiler and non spoiler versions. He and Merlin start a Dnd series where they do short campaigns with different members of their friend group and other willing youtube stars. Lancelot [Lancephew], like Leon, does youtube “for the greater good.” He started youtube in high school as a project to bring “truly great people” into the spotlight by interviewing the people in his town about amazing things they had done in their lives, and he still tries to post videos like that whenever he can. Half of his videos are him taking news stories, politics, economic theories, etc and explaining it in layman’s terms for the average viewer. He shares his own opinions in the video as well. During college Lancelot started adding a musical element to his interview stories, writing his own songs to bring into the background. This branched out into him writing instrumental music, which he often shares on youtube and itunes. Lancelot is currently doing a YouTube Red project in aide of a charity that is about small town civilians having to deal with a zombie dystopia in a realistic manner - asking questions such as “do we still have to pay for data?” “Can someone take my braces off.”) Also, he’s dating Gwen and they do really cute “ask us questions” and dating game videos that the internet loves. There are also several videos of his dog doing crazy things he manages to catch on film. Gwen [GwenSmash] is mostly a youtube vlogger, and she shares a little bit of everything. Her day to day life, sped up streams of the cosplay outfits she makes the group, sims and gaming videos, ask/advice videos, review videos, and stories in a series called “Growing up Gwen” where she shares moments of her childhood/teenage years having to deal with being the only girl in a household of guys, such as buying a bra, trying to find a video game character that is a female without exposed breasts, etc. After she gets to know all the guys better, she will share moments of being one of the few girls among many guys, and has no shame in calling them out. Half of her twitter is photos of the guys holding up a sign saying “I said/made *insert sexist remark here*.” She doesn’t really try to limit herself to one brand and just does all kinds of videos. She and Morgana are often work together/guest star in each other’s videos as flatmates and best friends.   Morgana [ExplodingSparkles] got into youtube during college at Gwen’s encouragement. She liked to create her own music mashups and Gwen starting encouraging her to share them on youtube. Nowadays, she and Lance will team up occasionally to do music together, and she has written a few of her own songs, all released on youtube/itunes. A LOT of her video vlogs are feminist, LGBTQA, and wealth inequality rants, typically following her having to talk to Uther. She as a popular series called “Ask Morgana” where she answers questions her subscribers ask her. The beginning/middle of her channel (when it was getting big) has a lot of anger and rant videos about everything wrong with the world. Morgana eventually grew out of her angry stage, and began discussing the issues from a healthier pov, such as how you can be an ally, etc. She also started doing a lot more comedy sketches, all written and directed by herself. Some of them just have her in it as multiple people, others have her and Gwen or other guest stars. Some of them are just sketches about funny moments in her life, but most are original content, such as “Smart Shakespeare in Five Minutes” where she acts out a sketch of Shakespeare’s plays where everything goes very differently, usually based on one character making a smarter decision. Arthur [KingCamelot] started doing youtube in his final year of boarding school, and for the first year or so he and Morgana both tried to hide the fact that they were doing youtube from each other, until one day Morgana stumbled across his channel after it was recommended after one of Gwen’s videos. This was over summer break and the result was her barging in during one of his vlogs, and the entire (loud and hilarious) conversation was caught on film. Arthur later uploaded it to youtube, and neither will admit it is one of their favourite videos. Arthur kept it in a vlog style during uni, sharing his thoughts on current events, challenge videos, his favourite books and tv shows, his daily life and his struggle with uni/the business degree his father wanted him to get. He ended up switching to film editing sophomore year after Morgana, Leon and other youtuber friends supported his ideas. While it made things rockier with his father, Arthur was much happier. Videos became much more frequently after that, and Arthur began to guest star in his friends videos as well. Arthur became a big name on youtube almost instantly, largely because of his good lucks and his notoriety as the son of a famous parliament member, but remained a big name through his own merit. About midway through his time at uni Arthur began to post videos about insightful topics about things that suggested he was starting to see the world a bit differently. After he graduated about 4 years ago, it started to turn into full blown advocacy and outreach videos raising awareness for social change. Of course, Arthur didn’t get to that point by himself. Enter Merlin, stage right. Merlin [MerlinTrixx] started youtube HIS final year of public schooling, about two years after Arthur. He started with just short simple vlogs and magic tricks that even professional magicians couldn’t figure out. He followed Gwen and Morgana and saw Arthur a few times in their videos or recommended suggestions. After picking up on Arthur’s rather one sided view of how wealth and poverty work he called him out on it in a private message. Arthur did NOT take it well. There began a video war where both boys passive aggressively mentioned the other. Before it got to far, however, they accidentally ended up meeting at a youtube convention. (Arthur was there to speak on a panel, Merlin went to learn editing tips). The recognized each other and ended up talking for the remaining two days of the convention and became fast friends. Gwen, who had known Merlin through uni for about a year now, had had no idea that Arthur and Merlin had been complaining to her for the past few months about each other and was ready to knock sense into both of them when she found out. After becoming friends, Arthur and Merlin began showing up in each other’s videos more. Merlin, who hated his roommates, began hanging around more at Arthur and Leon’s flat (they went to a different uni in the same city, but had moved off campus) instead of Gwen’s as much. By the end of sophomore year, Merlin had gained a decent number of followers and his channel consisted of vlogs, his magic tricks, him and Arthur hanging out and being weird, and sharing his vast and unparalled knowledge of all things fantasy and nerdy. He, Leon and Gwen get into the longest discussions when they do reviews together. Merlin takes some time off of school, still unsure what he wants to do beside youtube, and moves in with Arthur to split the rent. The videos continue in earnest, and views/followers for both boys continue to grow as they feed off of one another, make more compilation videos, and add more content. After a couple of years, more than half their followers are wondering if they are more than just flatmates, but they are keeping quiet on the matter. The both still have their own channel, which they update frequently, but they also have a shared channel where they do reviews of shows they both like, ask/challenge requests, gaming videos, a few prank videos - they got into a prank way with Percy, Elyan and Gwaine once. Morgana and Gwen somehow won. They also do a deep discussion on Arthurian legend and other mythos, in comedic style. They are known as the “Avalon Nine” - a nickname given to them by the internet after they learned they all knew each other and they frequently appear in each others videos now that they all live in the same city. Morgana and Gwen had met in boarding school, and are currently living together after Morgana moved back after Uni until Lancelot finally asks Gwen to marry him, which Morgana suspects will happen soon. Gwen met Merlin at their uni, the same city that Arthur and Leon were going to uni in. Arthur already knew Gwen through Morgana and they had hung out fairly often, which only increased after they both befriended Merlin. Merlin and Gwen both met Lancelot separately at youtube conventions, and thought it hilarious the day they found out they both knew him. Lancelot moved to the city after graduating uni. Elyan met everyone through Gwen and Morgana met everyone through Gwen and Arthur. Gwaine met Merlin at a convention and later Merlin recognized him auditing his film class for “free editing tips/ideas.” They became fast friends and Gwaine spent a few nights in Merlin’s dorm when his water or heat wouldn’t work. He moves in with Elyan when he comes back from his gap years. Lancelot and Percival, who knew each other prior to the rest of the group, lived with each other for a while before the landlord sold the building. Lance moved to a single while Percival moved in with Elyan and Gwaine. There have been a series of “who knows you better” challanges and games throughout the group, including ones based off of dating games, best friend games, and family games. Merlin and Arthur have won them ALL. Even against Lancelot and Gwen that one time. Leon shared in one of his videos that Arthur and Merlin are also banned from teaming up in charades, pictonary and catch phrase in the gaming videos because they are undefeatable and possible psychic.  Bonus:  Mordred is obviously much younger than the others (just now starting Uni while the others are in their mid to late twenties). So he grew up watching a lot of their earlier stuff and he just idolizes them. He somehow managed to befriend them through social media/convenstions and is a bit surprised he is actually on first name basis with these amazing, talented (giant dorks). He appears in their videos sometimes but is hesitant  to upload anything on his own channel for a long time, since it is harder to get started on youtube now than it was for his older friends. After some encouragement he uploads a few, and the whole  group advertises him since they all kind of adore him, he’s like a little brother. Unlike the others though, Mordred doesn’t vlog or do video games or reviews or anything. Oh no. His videos are all freestyle rapping/spoken word poetry. About whatever catches his fancy. The weirdest thing is they’re GOOD. Its at such odds with his personality but it is what it is. Gwaine has started a betting pool on when Mordred reaches 1,000 subscribers.  Cenred is a little asshole who does mean/staged prank videos and blogs full of sexist and racist remarks on youtube. The group hates him, half of youtube boy cots him and he has had several scandals.  Elena is a youtube they all know and are friendly with, but because she lives in Scotland they aren’t as close. She does a lot of gaming videos, embarrassing stories from her life, and videos about her horse.  Morgause is a powerful admin/part owner of youtube and constantly makes decisions that hurt most independent and creative youtubers. At one point she tried to flag coming out videos or videos with content/opinions she didn’t agree with. She also pressures them to do advertising and tampers with the recommended and trending list. The group pushes back against these regulations, and it turns into an all out war, where Gwaine, Merlin and Arthur are all nearly banned from youtube before Morguase is fired. 

[thatgoblin]

Honestly I was talking with a friend who has an OnlyFans and told me about one of her fans who buys everything she puts out and I got the idea. XD.

I can imagine Piers being the one that is all 'You shouldn't be showing off for money, just me. I care for you, but the others don't!' Type of deal.

Chris would buy all the content he could and have this secret folder/computer partition for everything so no one can accidentally find it or find it on purpose. He would record himself getting off to your videos whether it was a stream or an OnlyFans video and would blur out his face then send them to you. No matter how many times you block an account, he always makes another to send them. Even if you stop taking DMS or emails, he gets them to you.

Leon would buy everything he could, whether it was merch or videos or even special OnlyFans items, he would have everything he wouldn't even bother hiding it. He's that cute and eager fan that posts selfies with your merch or clothing items. Everyone in the community thinks he's adorable and sweet and he's eager to talk to people about you. While he's never had the chance to meet you, yet, he just knows that when you do sparks will fly and you'll fall in love with him as much as he is with you. But, he never talks about your OnlyFans, making sure to keep that username different from the others so he can creep as much as he wants and more.

Carlos is Grade A Perv. He's the one that gets a custom sex doll that looks just like you. He figures out your size of clothing, your favorite body spray scent, etc to dress the doll. Carlos wants to possess you like that toy. He's a lurker in the community, making small chit chat and being generally nice, even posting a faceless selfie here and there with his merch that he bought. Then he starts making videos of him and the doll fucking, using your videos for the audio of you moaning, passing them off as you and him making porn. He never shows his face, but people like the videos and ask for more.

It gets to the point where he needs the real thing that he goes to great lengths to make this profile and start a community of his own on OnlyFans so that he can reach out to you and suggest a collab. You get to know him and agree, but you never find out about his plans or other videos.

Ethan is kind of a mixture of Leon and Chris. He's very obsessed with you, but hides it from everyone in his life. While he's shy, Ethan does talk to you a lot in your chat along with others, not wanting to upset you or others. He goes out of his way a lot for you, sending you large donations as well as gifted subs on your Twitch channel and purchases everything with big tips on your OnlyFans. Generally Ethan is known to be a sweet guy by everyone, but no one knows how much he 'loves' you and would do anything for you. Anything.

Karl is a fucking Criminal Minds episode. He's not in the community at all, barely posts in chat, and when he finds out you have an OnlyFans, welp. . . Time to kidnap! It's not eloquently planned out like Carlos' plan was, it was a creepy van that was driving behind you when you got a flat tire. He stopped and offered to help, as he had poke a hole in your tire, only to chloroform you and drag you to his van. From there, he takes you to his factory where he works/lives and does extreme device bondage and shit to get off. You're never found and eventually you become his pet that he drags around on a leash. Also, he picks up others to join the 'pack'. (maybe a non-yandere RE boy like Leon or Piers)

..... Kind of really want to write that for Karl as he's the dirty, old man of the bunch. XD

@hex-touchstarved

*clears throat*

Yandere!RE Boys obsessed with OnlyFans reader.

That is all.