#the latter being. my self insert from high school

[discordkittenterumi]

yep

[galactica7071]

let's diagnose the Irish guy from punch-out

disclaimer: I am but a lass with ADD, so while I do know a lot from both my own experiences and research, you should still take my ramblings with a few grains of salt. I encourage anyone reading to form their own headcanons, and would love to hear them!

So, the Punch-Out wiki (in its current state) implies that Aran Ryan has some sort of mental disorder, so I projected onto dissected him like a deep sea specimen, and may have found out what's going on in his very empty and screwed up head

🎉congrats! it's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder! (probably)🎉

ADHD has a bunch of characteristics that go with it, but I'll only be going over the ones that apply to Aran and are displayed in canon. Of course, I'll insert some speculation here and there to further support and reason through some of my points. For more reading, I suggest checking out organizations like Mayo Clinic and the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as any self-reports and blogs by people with ADHD (the latter tends to be more personal and far less clinical-sounding, but are just as helpful). Wikipedia is also a good place to go for anything, and you might even find yourself down a few rabbit holes!

Hyperactivity and restlessness

Aran exhibits this in PO Wii heavily. He has a high-stamina fighting style with lots of shuffling around, always bouncing around Little Mac. He can only be stunned through counter-punches and being faster than him (During round breaks, Doc Louis literally says "beat Aran Ryan to the punch"). It is extremely difficult to KO or TKO Aran without intercepting him due to this mechanic. During round breaks, regardless of how beaten and bruised he is, Aran will bounce his leg constantly in Contender and harass the audience in Title Defense.

Impulsivity and recklessness

This one's consistent between his two appearances, surprisingly. In Wii, Aran is portrayed as a dirty cheater who would "do anything to win", according to supplementary comics. He has the most rule infractions in the Punch-Out series, at 32 combined. He stuffs his gloves with horseshoes before his Contender fight and brings a homemade flail made from a broken boxing glove to his bout with Little Mac in Title Defense. During matches, he makes use of headbutts and elbows quite frequently. These are both illegal and very stupid moves, due to the potential of self-inflicted trauma. His flail in Title Defense could be a sign of creativity by thinking outside the box, which is often seen in people with ADHD. In supplementary material for Super Punch-Out!!, it's implied that a fight usually broke out whenever Aran was made fun of in school, showing that he was reckless during his childhood as well.

Emotional dysregulation

In Super Punch-Out!!, Aran Ryan is rather grumpy, and is one of two characters in the entire game to never smile in any of his sprites (the other being Nick Bruiser). Compared to his Wii portrayal, Aran is as clean as it gets in this game, even complimenting the player during the credits. Supplementary material attributes his lower mood to the teasing he endured during his childhood, and that he got into boxing to channel some of his pent-up anger. Depending on how you view it, him being so angry over his peers making fun of his name could be an overblown reaction. This hot-headedness is retained in PO Wii (which could be a sign of impulsivity), but he's essentially the inverse of how he was in Super. He's boisterous, reckless, dishonest, and smiles even while he's stunned. Many of Aran's reactions to being hit are him laughing, which might imply masochism on some level, but is nonetheless seen as an inappropriate response to being hit. He displays some antisocial traits, even, as seen when he throws aside the referee in Title Defense. This is likely caused by a low tolerance of authority, but is still an extreme reaction to the referee just trying to maintain order in the ring (good luck with that, ref...).

Difficulty starting tasks

This is a sign of executive dysfunction, which is closely linked to inattention in people with ADHD. It's exhibited in his Contender intro, where he spends the first three frames of the cutscene messing around. For this one, I'm going to compare Aran's behavior in his Contender intro to all the other boxers that spend their entire intro cutscene in a gym/dojo/training environment, spend the majority of their cutscene explicitly training, or are in several training environments. Here's a neat little chart, where the numbers represent how many slides they spent being "off-task":

can you tell that graphic design is my passion

I've counted any activity that builds strength and endurance (like eating, running, lifting, or practicing magic in Tiger's case), or requires a large amount of work put in to do (like chopping trees or playing hockey, for Bear Hugger). Some of you might be wondering why I didn't include certain characters, but that's because they're either in a combat setting, switch from training to non-training settings, or are doing unrelated things in what could be a training setting.

If Aran has 3 instances of being off-task, he ties with TD Kaiser, Don, and Macho in terms of how long they're off-task for. If "gearing up" is being counted as being on-task, he only ties with TD Kaiser and himself. Of course, context matters heavily. TD Kaiser, Don, and Macho aren't off-task purely for the sake of slacking off, but show developments of their story throughout Career Mode. TD Aran is off-task for storytelling as well, but it's not motivated by a grudge towards Mac like the other three and falls under the normal definition of "slacking off". Speaking of cutscenes,

Inattention and distractibility

Aran shows this several times in Title Defense. In his intro, he notices a rope in the trash can and gets the idea of making his flail, seemingly forgetting all about training for his match with Little Mac. During round intermissions, he's distracted by the audience throwing objects at him, and threatens them instead of spending the break resting or strategizing.

Anxiety

ADHD is highly comorbid with anxiety, due to executive dysfunction (mainly sensory processing), and the risk of overthinking. I admit that this one is a bit of a stretch, since general restlessness and anxiety are linked in many mood disorders, but it's shared between both of his appearances. Super's version of Aran being caught up in his own past can be a sign of social anxiety as well as falling victim to overthinking. In PO Wii, the leg bouncing can be a sign of anxiety for various reasons, whether it be physiological (ex. outside stimuli being unpleasant) or psychological (ex. overthinking the match). His stance in Exhibition's menu for his Contender match is also a little shaky, which is common in fight-or-flight reactions, though it could also be plain hyperactivity.

Pressured speech

In PO Wii. Aran usually talks very quickly, which can be caused by the classic ADHD experience of "having a lot to say, and feeling like there's no time to say it". It's very likely that it's just be a characteristic of his accent, though.

🍀🌠🌈this is a cool section break🌈🌠🍀

There's plenty more symptoms you could make arguments for, but these were some of his more prominent traits. ADHD shares symptoms with a lot of other disorders, though, so let's see some other possibilities...

Counter-Diagnosis #1: Bipolar II Disorder

Bipolar II, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, is characterized by a a pattern of depressive states and hypomanic states (notice the hypo- prefix). We can attribute Aran's demeanor in Super to a depressive state, and his demeanor in Wii to a hypomanic state. I've chosen bipolar II instead of I due to the specifications of a "manic state" not fitting his Wii portrayal as closely.

Hypomania (literally meaning "less than mania") shares many characteristics with full-blown mania, but is more toned-down. People who have experienced genuine hypomanic states usually describe it as helpful towards their productivity, while manic states are notoriously more harmful and often directly affect productivity. Symptoms of mania include restlessness, racing thoughts, pressured speech, overconfidence, increased agitation, impulsiveness, a disconnect from one's surroundings, extreme anxiousness, and many others. Already, we can observe many of these symptoms in Aran's Wii portrayal that are shared with the ADHD diagnosis. However, hypomania tends to lack the "reality disconnect", and we can see that Aran is very aware of his surroundings. Him being in the World Circuit in both Super and Wii can be interpreted as a sign of the hypomanic states being more helpful than detrimental (maybe less so in Super because of the existence of the Special Circuit, but I digress).

I think this take has a lot of ground, maybe more than the ADHD hypothesis. A lot of my earlier points in favor of him having ADHD can also apply to him being bipolar (specifically hyperactivity, recklessness, and especially emotional dysregulation) as well, which blurs the line in some places, but it's still a very strong argument.

Counter-Diagnosis #2: Oppositional Defiant Disorder

According to Mayo Clinic, ODD is "a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance towards parents and other authority figures". The characteristics of ODD can be observed in both SPO's and Wii's Aran.

I think this one's weaker, for a few reasons. First, ODD is considered clinically relevant only during childhood; from then, it can "evolve" into a number of other conditions, including but not limited to borderline personality disorder and the aforementioned bipolar disorder. Obviously, Aran isn't a child, but he could have had this disorder in the past and "grew out of it" from a clinical standpoint.

You could make an argument for the anger issues due to a few of his behaviors, as well as his voice lines in Wii having a sort of "growl" to them, but his irritability is infrequent and mild enough to where it can be attributed back to emotional dysregulation, and the "growl" could just be how the character or his voice actor naturally sounds (I haven't found any clips of Stephen Webster speaking out-of-character, but if anyone has any, I'd love to hear them).

Counter-Diagnosis #3: Antisocial Personality Disorder

The DSM-5 defines APD as consistent displays of deceitfulness, issues with authority, impulsivity, irritability, recklessness, and a diminished capacity for remorse after hurting someone. Again, a few of these symptoms are shared with ADHD, so there's a significant grey area here. Yet, I believe it's stronger than the ODD argument, since his cheating can be a sign of deceitfulness and his apparent antisocial traits in Wii. However, boxing as a combat sport doesn't leave much room for feeling remorse, since doing so can result in throwing or forfeiting a match. I'm not going to count the lack of remorse due to the nature of the sport, but you as a reader can interpret it how you like.

Counter-Diagnosis #4: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Because of how broad the autism spectrum is, you could easily go crazy in-depth with this. I'll do a miniature version of the ADHD symptom setup, which includes traits observed in canon. I won't be including every shared trait, but do keep in mind that ADHD is comorbid with a bunch of different spectrum disorders, and misdiagnoses, especially in women, are fairly common in the real world because of it. I know I'm going to fail to list certain symptoms due to just how many ASD traits there are, so if anyone reading has any more connections to make, be my guest! This "counter-diagnosis" section is for provoking further discussion, after all, and I'm happy to learn from you all.

Hyposensitivity

In PO Wii. To wind up for his right uppercut, Aran hits himself in the side of the head, and after round breaks in Contender, he hits himself repeatedly. Considering his gloves are confirmed to be loaded in his Contender fight, his relative indifference might be a sign of this. People with autism have reported tuning out various stimuli if they become overwhelmed by a bunch of them (sometimes related to meltdown or shutdown), and it's possible that that's what Aran is doing here. The bright lights of the venue combined with the crowd noise and the feeling of being sweaty could be overstimulating, and the supposed hyposensitivity towards being hit is caused by this "tuning out" to avoid a shutdown mid-bout.

Stimming (repetitive movements)

In PO Wii. The leg bounce in his Contender round break can be interpreted as a stim, as well as the wind-ups for his right uppercut (bopping himself in the head) and headbutt (choosing to wind up on the ropes). His bouncing around Mac could also be stimming.

Pathological demand avoidance

This phenomenon can also be comorbid with anxiety, which happens to be a risk factor for ADHD, so we're looping back around with this one. PDA is characterized by a person exhibiting an intense aversion to something that is asked of them, even if they wanted to do it beforehand. It can be associated with feelings of unfairness and like they don't have any control, so someone with PDA may "break the rules" to feel as though they have some control over what happens to them. Aran's high infraction count in Wii could be a sign of a more obsessive form of this. Avoiding the process of carrying out the demand can be conflated with executive dysfunction as well.

TL;DR get this man into a psychiatrist's office ASAP

[louiesselfshipramblings]

Hm...I wonder if people who do OCxCanon ships do so because they're too shy to go outright self insert? Course, they are sharing art of their own OC dating a canon character, so that takes confidence of some level, but it's another thing when it's a character who is basically YOU.

I'm just thinking of what may spur people to do OCxCC instead of self shipping. If ya do OCxCC just cause, great! If ya do it cause ya don't like selfshipping, cool! If ya do a bit of both, that's also great! We all have our own reasons for engaging with media that we like, after all, and who am I to police those who feel a certain way.

I am kinda of the latter most group, tho to a smaller percent. I have an OCxCC pair with Marina Splatoon, my OC being Randall "Randy" Monroe. I made this guy back when I was in high school way back when, so he has a special place in my heart, plus I have art of him with Marina already. Not to mention he's too different from me personally (both physically and mentally) that it wouldn't work to retcon him as a s/i. Tho, that's really the only OCxCC pair I have; if I had come to my selfship self earlier, I prolly woulda just self shipped with Marina.

I suppose there is nothing stopping me from still selfshipping with Marina while maintaining the pair with Randy. I am after all a multishipper who enjoys Pearlina and Fryerina. Certainly making my own inksona wouldn't be that bad, right? Just...idk. That'd feel messy? Like managing both an OCxCC and a self-ship with the same character. I mean, I already have PLENTY of self ships, so I ain't gonna starve if I miss out on one. But I have liked Marina for a good while...hmmm...

I dunno! This is an interesting position to have. Lemme know if you have any thoughts on this!

[aikoiya]

DP HC - Dash After High School

I like the idea that once Dash doesn't get a scholarship & his parents learn about his bullying tendencies, his parents (or at least his mother) send him to boot camp & he ends up with some talent for being a medic.

In my mind, Dash's father is a pillar of true masculine toxicity & very obviously homophobic.

Like, I feel that the terms are overly-used these days & has lost some of its meaning, but I do feel like there are certain traits of men that can be toxic if they don't learn balance, just like how I think there are certain female traits that can be toxic too.

Like, for men, there's aggressive & violent when they need to be & that's just part of being a man, it can even be a good thing in certain situations. Then, there's being overly aggressive & violent when there's no need for it or in a situation where it's not appropriate or where he's being legitimately abusive. Like, literally just because they're angry or wanna hurt someone. (I mean, if a couple guys get into a fistfight, then afterwards they laugh about it & go get a drink together, no harm done, then that's fine. Sometimes, that's just how guys interact.) Then there's overly stubborn & a refusal to be wrong & the need for others to be subservient. Those are the sorts of things that are toxic, but they aren't innately male-centric characteristics & are toxic no matter who acts that way.

Luckily, I haven't met many men around me who exemplify this sort of thing.

As for homophobia, again, there's a difference between not agreeing with someone's lifestyle, yet still supporting their right to choose how they live... & outright hating homosexuality & treating such individuals as something less than human.

Dash's dad is the latter.

I also see him as the type who'd use "quit [insert verb here] like a girl" in ways that aren't in jest.

I see Dash's mom & dad being abusive in different ways, the mom, Freida, being more negligent with the dad, Harvey, being more verbally abusive, loud, & demanding. Not necessarily physically violent, though it did happen once or twice. Once to his wife & once to Dash himself. But both times, there'd been this sort of... haunted expression on his dad's face afterwards. Like he was seeing a ghost... Interestingly, he never struck out in anger at either of them again even though there were a number of times when he seemed to raise his hand or fist high with a face like thunder. Though he never followed through, his hand or fist always shaking before he'd instead punch a wall or slam his fist down on a table the stomp out of the room. (Because, I hate 1-dimensional characters. I need almost everyone to have some sort of redeeming aspect to them.)

However, even though he never really struck Dash (after the first time, anyway), he did push Dash to be "the best" in ways that are honestly a detriment to him.

So, when Freida & Harv finally got a divorce, Dash's mom saw some of the makings of the man she married through Dash's bullying & decided that she couldn't handle it.

So, she sent him to boot camp which straightened his ass out quick & in a hurry!

He later chose to apply to the military & even later became a field medic.

He becomes a much better person because of this, his experience with teams helping him a little bit, though basic training was, like, even worse than football training could ever be, & even though he & his mom aren't on good terms, he's thankful that she put him through that even though it was for her own self-interests. Being from a town where ghosts attack at all hours also tends to help with one's reaction time.

Once he retires from the military, he goes back to school & becomes a full-fledged doctor. A surgeon specifically & he does pretty damn well.

Thing is, had his parents not gotten divorce, he would've become what he did in TUE. A fat, washed up loser.

He's also married with kids. He's bi, but he ultimately decided that he wanted a wife & kids of his own blood more than he ever could a man, so he chose to seek out women once he realized that. It's in that moment that he realized that while he was bisexual, he was also heteroromantic & felt no true romantic connection to any of the men he'd dated before.

He'd always found that odd, but now he understood.

Ultimately, he's happy &, at the 10 year reunion, he made sure to apologize to all the guys he bullied back then. Including Fenton.

They're decent friends now. Still razz & bitch at & insult & prank each other, but there's no heat to it anymore & even when they do fight, Danny fights back now &, as mentioned above, they tend to laugh about it before going off to get beers together afterwards.

Just dude shit.

DP Character HC Masterlist

[who-is-page]

In Defense of Roleplay as a Vehicle for Self-Discovery

Roleplay in the alterhuman communities isn’t a topic I often see touched on—I think that due to its controversial history in the otherkin and therian communities specifically, many people feel hesitant to talk about it. For those who were around during the days where grilling was more common, it may be an ingrained self-defense mechanism to simply avoid the topic; for those who entered closer to the “copingkin” and “kin-for-fun” era, it may just raise hackles and unfortunate reminders of the intentional misinformation individuals spread about “kinning” and specifically otherkin and fictionkin identities.

But I think roleplay is perhaps more important than we give it credit for, both in identity discovery and identity play, and especially in this pandemic-oriented time. Roleplay allows us to expose ourselves to realities, scenarios, and selves in safe, controlled environments that we can control, record, and reflect upon. It lets individuals experiment in ways that do not reflect the same moral heaviness or formality that one might attach to the public claiming of labels, both because of the more lighthearted association many typically have in regards to roleplay and because of its tendency to be more private or personal: playing a Dragonborn in a D&D game with friends is much different than announcing on your public Tumblr blog that you will be trying out the dragonhearted label to see how it fits, and someone may feel that the latter is a much ‘heavier’ choice than the former. And, of course, roleplay allows us to bypass our lived realities at least somewhat in a pandemic-wracked world, where outside stimuli of certain varieties may be much harder to come by now than it was three or four years ago.

The idea that roleplay can be connected to alterhuman identities in a serious, noteworthy way isn’t new, either. Orion Scribner’s well-loved Their Thereseries references roleplay as a way a therian or otherkin may identify with their kintype in Their There #9: In what way are you a wolf?, a comic from 2005 with extensive Dreamwidth discussion. In the comments, several individuals comment on the roleplay panel, stating things such as “There are probably a couple therianthropes out there that started the road to realizing what they were by role-playing. I think I know at least one. I’m also a ‘sort-of’ example of this,” (zuki-san.livejournal.com) and “I know of lots of ‘kin who started their journey out by RPing. I think RPing opens your mind and gives way for new findings and new identities,” (valkyriur.livejournal.com).

And for more recent anecdotes of experience, I can use my own process of questioning with Tobi-Kadachi as an example. I play a Wyvaran Skald in my weekly Pathfinder 1st Edition campaign, who is functionally just an anthropomorphic Tobi-Kadachi. Getting the chance to describe exactly how my character moves and utilizes their ability—their flight, their screech, their tail, and other notables—allows me to gain a sense of what feels “right” in a euphoric way. It’s comparable to when I played character in high school D&D that specifically used he/him pronouns to softly experiment with what “fit.”

It lets me come face-to-face with this potential part of myself in a way that doesn’t have to be anything more than what I make it. There’s no necessity to define it as “psychological” or “spiritual,” there’s no responsibility to separate “identify with” from “identify as,” and there’s no label anxiety or cycling. I take it at my own pace, however slow or fast I decide, without any real or imagined pressures surrounding it.

This idea also extends to more than just interactions with tabletop roleplay games as well—it also applies to video games, books, and self-expression through avenues such as fursonas and similar self-inserts. The alterhuman communities sometimes talk about important, invested interests potentially being useful jumping-off points for avenues of self-discovery, and I think that these ideas are perhaps closer to self-discovery through roleplay than many individuals might first consider. Another thing to consider is also the notion of what’s colloquially referred to as “kinfeels” in the otherkin community, where individuals reference something sparking particularly strong feelings relating directly to their kintype and/or their experience as their kintype. Oftentimes games get heavily recommended to induce kinfeels, especially those of first-person varieties; is this not just an example of roleplay’s already-existing place within a particularly well-known alterhuman community as a way of euphorically expressing and experiencing oneself?

Roleplay as a vehicle for self-discovery is something that we should give more credence to than we currently do, given its benefits and both historical and modern below-the-surface prevalence in the alterhuman communities. The advantages to doing so don’t just stop at an individual level; I am a firm believer in the idea that self-discovery without outside pressure or anxiety inevitably results in a healthier expectations and relations on intrapersonal community levels as well. The tendency to snap at others for their personal perceptions of their alterhumanity is not innate but is instead a learned habit. Remove it from the environment and replace it with the reinforced idea that personal understanding is something to be fearlessly engaged with, and watch community interactions drastically shift.

While it may be a kneejerk reaction to instantly deny the idea that it can help someone realize that they’re an otherkin, a copinglinker, an otherhearted, or any other number of potentialities, perhaps it’s time to give roleplay a chance.

[binniesthighs]

hellooo i have read your Han fic and it's so gooooooood you really know how to portray the one and only Han Jisung omgggg. can i ask for a seventeen smut? if it's okay with you. since I'm into Jeonghan these days i really want to know how will Jeonghan react if you two arw bffs since high school then one day things changed, both of you began being so touchy and flirty then he challenges you if you can resist him omgggg like he is so cocky and confident aaaaaah BYE-

aweee thank you so much! I love love love writing for the one and only Han Jisung!! thank you so much for your patience as well anon I’m soooo sorry that this took me an age to get out, but I hope that ya like the product hehe 💕

yjh was here | reader x jeonghan |

Pairing: self insert, gender neutral reader x yoon jeonghan

Genre: fluff n’ smut

Tags: friends to lovers, bit of a comfort fic, bestfriend!jeonghan, cockyandflirty!jeonghan as we love him, lowkey mutual pining, mingyu, wonwoo, soonyoung side characters, coworkers au, mentions of food and mild food dares, mentions of alcohol+getting drunk, mentions of divorce (past), marking, reach-around teasing (r receiving), fluffy unprotected sex, body praising, spicy truth or dare, cuddles

Word count: 4.4k

Yoon Jeonghan had a habit. It wasn’t the worst of habits, but it was the kind that would clutter up your life. Often, you would wonder why he would do it, and why he hadn’t stopped: not even after you had mentioned it so many times.

It had started in high school. High school, that eternity away now. Luckily, your past was riddled with memories of him, and all of the little things that you had shared together; lunches, late nights studying, throwing littler paper wads at eachother from across the room. He would pull at the tie around your neck that was a part of the school uniform just to get a rise out of you. Jeonghan would nap during class, and you would be the one to wake him up with the flick of your finger. On cold walks to school, he would lend you his scarf, and on hot summer nights you’d stay out searching for snacks until sleep drew your eyes down, and he’d let you lean on him the whole walk home.

yjh was here

He wrote it on the first exam you had ever failed in your whole life.

Conversely, he had gotten nearly a perfect score. He was annoyingly good at everything he did. That, or he was just really good at cheating his way through things. When you thought about it, it was likely the latter that was more accurate.

At first you thought it was a joke. It was as if he was taunting you for failing miserably at mathematics II. You were never good at math anyway.

The second time he wrote it was when you had fallen asleep in class. It wasn’t a common occurrence. He’d call you a baby for being scared to fall asleep during class for fear of being startled awake by the teacher. However, this was the week that had been the longest for you: the week that everything fell apart.

Even into your mid twenties, your mother still would never tell you why your father had left that week and you never saw it fit to prod more.

He had written it on a scrap piece of paper after getting you a strawberry milk and leaving it for you on your desk.

yjh was here

Since then, he had taken the opportunity to write it everywhere he could manage. Suddenly his little scribbles filled up the margins of your notebooks; on post-it notes--he’d even etch it onto the skin on your arm in soft blue pen ink. Later, when the two of you had gone on to college, he would sneak into your dorm to write it everywhere he could find. No matter how many times you would erase it from your little whiteboard by your desk, he’d always manage to write it over, noticing immediately that it was gone.

Today, you had noticed that he had slipped it into your legal folder, among other more boring and business-y things and you had no idea how it had gotten there. It must have been sometime the day before, as he had written it on a napkin from the catering company.

yjh was here.

In all the many years that he had followed you from place to place, you must have amassed hundreds of his little notes. You kept the ones that he would give you at work tucked away in a desk, often forgetting that they were kept there until you would stumble upon them, tugging a little smile at your face. The rest of them you kept at home in a little box in your closet, even deeper away, never really knowing why. The act of simply having them was satisfaction enough, in fact, you never really minded a little clutter.

☆彡

With eyes drooping, you scratched away on your yellow note pad, writing a string of nonsense words that sounded important from the presentation. The red setting setting sun reminded you that it was your least favorite time of day: the time where the last work hour of the day would appear to stretch into twenty. Under the table your scratchy cotton work-pants felt even more scratchy than usual. Somewhere above you, the penetrating white fluorescents buzzed like flies.

With a little tap on your shoulder, Yoon Jeonghan was sitting next to you as he always was. Compared to him, you felt as if you looked like an utter mess. Just as he was annoyingly good at everything, there was never a day that he came into work looking less than perfection. Today it was a tweed two piece with a pressed shirt underneath as well as a navy tie adorning his beautifully slender neck. Around his face befell his deeply dark strands of hair which pricked the edges of his rounded wire glasses.

“This is so boring.” He had mouthed to you, adding a pout to the end of his sentence.

You formed the sound on your lips, “Shhhhh”

“I’m just saying!”

“Pay attention.”

You turned your head back to pretend to care about what your boss had to say. Every fifteen seconds or so you would nod your head to make it appear as if you were diffusing the information he was giving out.

Another tap on your shoulder and Jeonghan displayed his pen to you to draw your attention to the margin of your quarterly report print out.

you look really beautiful today, he had written

“Stop it!” You accidentally hissed, garnering the attention of your nosy and equally bored coworker sitting across from you.

This time you mouthed out the words, “No I don’t.”

“~yessss~” Jeonghan curled out his words with his tiny creeping smile

Your knee bumped into his under the ginormous desk.

“Pay attention, ‘Han.”

“Is there something you would like to add L/n?” Your supervisor’s voice cracked in the silence of the room.

“N-no sir.” your head bowed in repentance.

He elder man tsked in a little sound with his teeth. “I know that we’re getting to the end of the day folks, but let’s just get through this all so we can get home...”

Jeonghan’s tweed pants made a little screeching sound against the fabric of yours when you bumped him again under the guise of the desk.

“Screw you.”

Your friend met your remark with a wink, biting the cap of his pen while his eyes wandered down to show you another little message:

yjh was here

and I’m excited for tonight

☆彡

Wednesdays were customary somaek nights where each of you and your coworkers would gather in your cruelly tiny apartment with their own separate dishes for all to share and forget about the troubles of the midweek. As the year was winding down, it was these nights that would get you through the week. With the bodies of the five of you in your tiny living room cramped around your low-set table, you had almost forgotten that the heating in there barely worked.

With each of your coworkers entrance, they would bring in the smell of autumn with them, and the chill of the air outside. On each of their long coats, bits of leaves would cling to the edges of the fabric. Each Wednesday there would be a royal mess to clean up after, but it was Jeonghan who would often stay after to help you. The two of you would end up in your cruelly tiny kitchen, throwing soap bubbles at each other’s faces drunkenly with socks sliding all over the wooden floors. Jeonghan would write another note to stick on your refrigerator, then he would take you by the hands to twirl you around to some unbearably cheesy sounding OST.  

Perhaps it was the way that your head would get fuzzy from the soju and beer, but you loved the way that he would twirl you; it was almost like a waking dream.

“Nobody worry! Nobody! Worry!” Soonyoung burst through your door, case of beer in hand. “I’m not late, I’m actually early! Don’t you know that it’s trendy to appear an hour into the party?” When Soonyoung spoke, he had a habit of speaking with his whole chest.

“Took you long enough,” Mingyu whined, popping in another strip of galbi.

“You don’t enjoy our presence, ‘Gyu?” Wonwoo’s mouth upturned into a teasing grin.

“N-no,” The biggest man babbled, “It’s just that...Wednesdays are somaek evenings.”

“--Then I am here to help you out my friend.” Soonyoung plopped himself right down on the floor with the poof of his blond hair popping from his beanie. “Ahhhh this all looks so delicious.”

“You better pay me back.” You griped while serving him a plate of the assortment.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I love you, Y/n?”

“Nearly every time I do something for you? You still owe me from the last time we went to karaoke.

“--And for covering for your ass last week...some hangover that was, huh?” Jeonghan scooched over his leftover rice to you.

Soonyoung scoffed while twirling his bottle of soju in the air, the admiring the little tornado swirling inside. “-Was worth it though. We always have fun don’t we?” In his affection, he threw his arms around you and Wonwoo beside him.

“-Food’s gonna get cold.” Wonwoo poked his finger in the general direction.

With his full glass raised in the air after a minute of preparation, Soonyoung lead you all in a toast, cheeks already rosy. The second that your glasses collided, liquid came downpouring to the table, but none of you seemed to mind. Before you could bring your drink to your lips, you caught yourself having a moments pause, watching all of your friends before you. If you could have, you wished you could fold up little moments like these as well to put in your drawer to see when you would feel down.

Jeonghan caught your wistful sigh, sending you a wink. In many ways, you knew he must have known your thoughts.

Under the table, his hand brushed up to your crossed knee, letting his hand linger. He let his hand rest there for a moment, as if he was soaking up your essence in the moment. He had never done it before, but his thumb gently rubbed at your knee, and it felt like a waking dream.

☆彡

The night had ticked on, and you and grown more tired than you had expected by pass of the clock hand. As the night would normally progress, drinks would be had, then each of you would take turns updating the others on what you had been doing or working on. All of you would gather advice or support if needed. There had even been times when you would even provide a shoulder for one to cry on, although that didn’t happen most times.

Others, like today, the five of you would simply sit and enjoy each other’s presence with the window slightly cracked open to let the autumnal air cool your burning bodies. Jokes would be cracked every once and a while until yawns would escape your mouths. By then, another joke would be made about how you were all getting to old to be staying up that late.

Jeonghan played with your hair as you had leaned into him, swirling your final glass of soju in your wrist. While you were hot yourself, the heat from his body was still calming, and the way that his chest would rise and fall was a bit like a lullaby.

“I’m falling asleep, we should head out,” Mingyu clapped Wonwoo by the back.

“Another one for the books.” Soonyoung sighed, then rose up with a stretch of his arms, wrinkling up his white button up and loose tie.

“Sweet dreams everyone.” You shift off of your best friend, shuddering a little at the lack of contact, to close the door after them.

“I’m looking forward to next Wednesday!” Soonyoung beams with a little salute, then bows before shuffling away.

“What time is it?” You yawn out the words, rubbing your eyes.

“Too late. We still need to go in tomorrow, remember?”

Dirty dishes clink in your hands as you bring them to your sink. “We really should start doing this on Fridays.”

“I don’t wanna start cleaning just yet, can we stay here for a while?” Jeonghan spreads his arms out, beckoning you to fall back into him. You laugh a little at the motion.

“Why so touchy? We haven’t done this in so many years...I can’t remember the last time...”

You oblige him, nuzzling right up to his chest once more. He smells a bit of the somaek, but mostly of his usual scent: that cheap cologne that you had bought him about a year ago. You had mostly gotten it as a gag gift, but he had worn it every day since.

“Must have been in high school.” His words are long and breathy.

“How come we stopped?”

Jeonghan takes a minute to answer you, and you wonder if he’s fallen asleep. Instead, he raises a hand to rub at your arm lightly, just as he had done with your knee.

“Dunno. We got older?”

“What does getting older have to do with it?”

You watch in the silence as his thumb continues to rub over the fabric of your long-sleeved button down.

“--Do you want to play a game?” Jeonghan says at last.

“A game? What do you mean?”

“For fun. I’m trying to find something to do so we don’t have to do the dishes.”

“Okay,” You perk up slightly, still not removing yourself from his encircled arms. “What kind of game?”

“Truth or dare?”

“Psh what are we, back in high school?”

“Seeing what we are doing right now, wouldn’t you say so?” The words escape Jeonghan’s mouth with a growing grin.

You ruffled to top of his head, messing up his perfectly primped hair. “...Fineeee. You going first or me?”

“I’ll go. Truth.” Jeonghan pulled you back into him, settling your back flush with his chest.

“Okay, truth: did you really mean it when you said that you liked Minji’s power suit? I know you thought it looked tacky.”

Jeonghan’s breathy laugh miffed up your hair. “I’ll say anything if it keeps me in the supervisor’s good graces.”

“HA. I knew it.”

“Which do you pick?”

“Mmmm-truth.”

“Not dare? You’re no fun.”

“I said truth!!!”

“Fine, fine.” His slender arms squeezed at your body to situate you better in between his legs. “When was the last time that you brought someone over to your place?”

“Yo-you mean like “brought someone” over?”

“You know what I mean.” In his voice you could nearly see his mischievous smile.

“I’ve told you about all of them so I don’t know why you’re asking. It’s been about a year.”

“A year? Really?”

“--Nope! You don’t get to ask any more questions. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Jeonghan said without a moment’s hesitation.

Your eyes wandered the room for his perfect punishment. “Ah! Take that soy sauce, the one with the wasabi bits in it...and drink it.”

Your friend sighed, but took the tiny cup in his fingers to down it all in one shot. He shivered a little and you could feel his face scrunch up, but he held his reactions back best he could.

“That was such a high school dare. You really haven’t changed.”

“I thought it was funny.”

“Truth or dare Y/n.”

“Truth.”

“Ughhh truth again?”

“ ‘Hannnn--”

“Just say dare! I promise that I’ll go easy on you.”

“Fine then. Dare.”

“I dare you...to take your shirt off.”

“What?!” Your head snapped back to send him your deathly glare. “Are you being serious right now?”

“What? It’s nothing that I haven’t seen? Are you forgetting that we’ve been friends for nearly our whole lives? That and college you were someone who would go to parties and take your shirt off. Remember that?”

“...yes.” You felt heat rise in your cheeks. “Fine then.” In one motion, you pulled your shirt over your head, jumping a little once you felt Jeonghan’s hands help tear it off your arms. You hesitated to lay back, but his arms made a decision before you could, and pulled you back into his chest. Now, it was the skin of his fingers on your bare arms that you were painfully aware of.

“T-truth or dare?” You squeaked out.

“Truth.”

“No fair, you made me do dare!”

“I already did a dare. Truth.”

From the other side of your room, your refrigerator clacked with the sound of ice cubes falling into their tray. On the door, dozens of multi-colored post-it-notes had been suck there with clear tape.

“...Why is it that you’re always writing me those notes? “yjh was here?”“

“Hmm.” He breathed out. “I had a feeling that you might ask me that one.”

“...And?”

“--Because I like to. And...”

Your anticipation hung tangibly in the air. You didn’t quite know it, but you had been waiting for his answer for so many years, you had lost count.

“...And I like seeing them around you. -Reminds me that I’m a part of your life. Kind of like how we exist together. They’re little reminders for you as well...to know that I’m around for you.”

“Jeonghan...” You wouldn’t have expected it, but tears singed the corners of your eyes.

“Truth or dare?” He cooed into your ear.

“D-dare.” Your voice shook, realizations flooding you like rain.

“I dare you to take off your pants. Can you do that?” His voice had dropped, low and gravely.

You nodded your answer, and took to unbuttoning your pants, shimmying them off where you sat on the floor. As soon as your bare legs were exposed, he had found a new place to rest his hands; you never would have guessed for them to be so beautiful-looking there.

“I choose dare.” He breathed onto your bare neck.

“I-I dare you take off our shirt too.” Your face felt furiously warm as you uttered the words and he did exactly as he was told. The sensation of your skin on his skin then sent your head spinning with just how close you had been in that moment, closer than ever before.

Jeonghan’s hands explored your bare legs with a touch as soft as butterfly wings. His light touches sent an aching pain to your sex as it had never felt so needy and neglected.

“Truth or dare my love?”

In an attempt to hide your frustration, you could only form the word, “T-truth?”

“Hmm...truth...” Jeonghan began to kneed into your legs, digging his nails in every so slightly. “Have you ever kept secrets from me?”

“Secrets? Why-why would I, I don’t-mmph-have any secrets to keep from you.”

“I think that’s a lie Y/n.”

Indeed it was a lie. You had kept secrets from him. Two secrets to be exact; one of them being near the precipice for the whole universe to see.

“I’ve kept secrets from you, you know.”

“What?”

“Do you dare me to show you?”

Your anxious breath caught in your lungs, full of confusion but even more excitement. Jeonghan’s hands crept slowly up to your hips.

He repeated, “Do you?”

“Ye-yes. I dare you to show me.” Your eyes had closed feeling his hands draw even farther up your body.

Your best friend surveyed your whole chest with his hands, swirling around as much skin as he could touch. He was careful not to tickle you, but rather give every ounce of your being his careful attention. For a moment, his fingers grazed over your nipples, but went to cradle your neck in his hands. He turned it to the side to expose the beating vein there, and placed the slowest and most tender kiss upon it. From the feeling of his fleeting lips, you whimpered at the sensation.

“Dare.” You managed with a dry mouth. “I dare you to touch me...anywhere you want...please...”

Jeonghan chuckled slightly into your neck. “I just had my turn, but...I’m listening.”

Your entire body keened under his fingertips, writhing messily between his legs. This time, he was careful in touching you nearly everywhere: your chest, your nipples--pinching them slightly--and down your legs, to your inner thighs where he traced up to your underwear, now wetting a little with your arousal.

“Tell me the truth.” He bit into your skin. “Am I one of your secrets?”

Your answer was given to him in the form of you forcefully tearing from his grip to push his legs together so that you could straddle them. The way that his shoulder blades flexed under your firm grip was dizzying. Your eyes fell to his lips: your secret.

“I dare you to kiss me,” You breathed onto them.

“I thought that you’d never ask.”

Jeonghan was smiling as he pulled your lips into his, and he never quite seemed to stop. Every bit of your love for him spilled into his mouth where you found the comfort from him that you had craved for years. You had felt first kisses before, but nothing was quite like this one. With Jeonghan who you had known for so long, you were thrilled to get to know him in this new and different way, and you wanted to absorb every little bit of it: the way he would caress the sides of your face so gently, or the way that he would angle your neck to meet his lips. You would never have guessed to feel so complete with him like this, but it also made all the sense in the world. It was you that he wanted, and you that he wanted to stay next to through all those years. He had never let you go, and you had never let him either.

In between kisses, you found both of yourselves giggling hysterically.

“Are we really doing this right now? Are we...?” You bit a laugh into his lip.

“Yes. I think that we are.” He engulfed you in his grasp. “I’ve wanted to do this for years, Y/n.

Jeonghan scooped you up, moving both of your bodies to the couch where he clinked with his belt buckle to remove his pants. “You really do look beautiful. Everyday. I’m not just saying that.”

You practically clawed at him to lay his body on top of yours, then wrapped your legs around his waist to align him with your own. In your unadulterated intoxication of him, you hopelessly grinded up into him, seeking some kind of stimulation from the mashing of fabric together. After a little scoff, Jeonghan’s hand cascaded down your body to rub at your throbbing sex, marveling in the way that you had soaked though your underwear just a little.

“Wow. This is how you feel about me?”

“Do you want me to say sorry?”

“No--it’s just...I wish that I had known sooner.”

Your lust brought his lips back to yours as you kissed him over and over and over, trying to make up for all of the times that you wished you had done before. His touch on your sensitive skin sent you mewling onto his tongue.

“Can I make you mine now?”

As for your response, your widened legs told him exactly what he needed to know.

In one swift motion, he had tugged off his own briefs, letting free his deliciously hard cock, sparkling at the head with his pre-cum. Looking at him like this, all for you, was like a walking dream.

Jeonghan gathered spit from his tongue to glide over his dick, then teased your impatient entrance while he watched your face contort into the most beautiful shapes he thought he had ever seen. He entered you slowly, letting each of you take in the moment as if you could forget it the next. Once you were together, his brows twitched a little as his closed eyes focused only on you. He filled you up perfectly, as if you were made for him--which you had convinced yourself that you were. Jeonghan buried his face in your neck to suck into the skin, marking you as his.  

Your orgasm built much quicker than you had intended, and soon you were begging him to make you cum--which he gladly did. Your heels dug into his back upon your release which gathered more heat between your two bodies. Jeonghan didn’t skip a beat as he chased his own orgasm, fucking you into your own overstimulation and leaving you to melt under him.

“Jeong-han.” You gasped out his name through your teeth as your body quaked from the snap of his hips.

“oh god,” He uttered, tangling his fingers deep into your hair, then smashing his lips back into yours. “you’re so good for me my love...so good...”

Jeonghan let out little grunts as he came and filled you deeply with the warmth from his cum. As he throbbed within you, you knew it really was him you were made for. He lingered inside your walls as your bodies shook together with the aroma of sex fogging the air. After a while, it didn’t take long for both of you to be laughing contentedly into each other’s mouths once more.

Your best friend reached for your hand to bind all of your fingers to his. "No more secrets.”

☆彡

“Do you want the sweatpants from the top shelf or the rack?” Jeonghan called to you through your cruelly tiny apartment. “Wait...i-is this...?”

Once he had returned, in his hand he held the aged strawberry milk carton with the little cartoon fruit on the side and the scrap piece of paper wrapped around it. In the other was your little box of notes.

yjh was here

“I can’t believe that you’ve kept it this long. Why--”

“--I’ll tell you why...it’s my second secret.”

Your best friend cocked his head. “...Second?”

“Ever since that day, I’ve known, Yoon Jeonghan. I love you.”

☆彡

if you’ve got to this point, hehe hello I’m Ro, I write for skz and svt, and I’d love to write some more svt! If you’d like, you can send me your asks

[cyberfairyblog]

Why Jillian Sucks

Hi, welcome to Odyssey Mystery Hour! I'm your host @gritsandbrits and today I'll be talking about a hot topic in the AIO fandom! Wanna know the tea? Keep on reading!

In the weeks I started getting back into the radio series, the newer episodes have started to irk me, mostly because of one of the more annoying additions: Jillian. Marshall. 😬😬😬

Even though I ship Jason with my self insert OC this not going to be about her. There's a lot of reasons why I do NOT like the idea of Jillian x Jason becoming a canon thing on the show. I hope to describe these feelings as best I can.

Who is Jillian you might ask?

Well to put it simply, Jillian is what happens when a Soccer Mom and a TikTok boyfriend mate and spawn an unholy baby and name them Rachel Berry. Out of the aspects of Nu!Odyssey I dislike, Jillian is the one thing I truly despise. Thankfully I've met fans who share the exact sentiment! 😁😒

Double-N Annoying, Double-O Nincompoop

Making her debut in 2018, Jillian is described as lively and upbeat, if a little high strung and immature; the perfect recipe for Kid Appeal! Before she moved to Odyssey she lived in different cities and worked nineteen jobs before becoming roommates with Connie and her sister Jules.

Now this is actually a fairly interesting set up: a new character struggling to find purpose only to discover it in a quaint small town. But as it turns out her going through that many jobs seems to be more than just struggling to find purpose.

When I first saw her design my thought immediately went to the smarmy classmates I went to school with.

We're introduced with this iconic line: "Hi!! I'm Jillian Marshall, double-L Jillian, double-L Marshall! It's so nice to meet you!"

With that one sentence I knew I was about to die.

The following episode has Jillian bumbling through every job interview much to Connie's duress after which she conveniently ending up working at Triple J Antiques...the same place Jason works!

A little backstory on Jason: he is the adult son of John Whittaker, one of the show's main character, and a bit of an Ensemble Darkhorse. He was introduced as a secret agent meant to bring action and intrigue into the show. He was set up as a charismatic and reckless sort of guy clashing with the calmer Jack Allen. After the Green Ring Conspiracy Saga, Jason officially retired from James Bonding and settled down to work at the Allen's antique shop.

Given his immense popularity there's understandable concern for how he is written and who he gets paired up with. So what does that have to do with Jillian.

Well, the idea of Jillian working at the same exact place as Odyssey's resident bachelor and calling him cute raises a few eyebrows.

"B-but Grits all she did was call him cute! You're reaching too far into this!"

Am I? Look I know this wouldn't be much of a big deal too but that is a subtle tactic the writers threw in to get the cogs turning for Jillison. Jason is clearly uninterested and even implied to dislike her. Jillian bemoans this but Connie reassures her that that's not the case. But hey at least she called him cute so OF COURSE she's going to end up being his love interest!

To me removing a character's core trait to justify a romance means you do NOT know how to actually write a compelling romance. It's trite, it's forced and painful to listen to.

It's also obvious she's a replacement for Bernard, given they have similar personalities and her brief stint on TV (which she also failed at lol). But whereas Bernard was actually endearing, Jillian seems more of a cliche womanchild with zero self awareness and tact. No actual depth, just a personality that is incredibly dumbed down and even insulting. Seriously they made her the dumb blond stereotype in an era where we should've moved on from that! 🤦

Did I mention she goes to church?

Yep she's gonna be one of those Christians.

Literally Loveless, Literally!

Oddly enough the narrative frames this as a rivals to lovers thing, where Jason is both the charismatic friendly guy and the super uninterested Straight Man. The constant twisting the turning makes him go OOC. See we know he's fit better as the former because that goes in line with his canon personality. But when they make him the latter he just comes off as unnecessarily mean. This is turns frames Jillian as someone we should pity: "Oh the attractive male doesn't like me because I went into his office without permission!!"

Wouldn't it make more sense for Jillian to be the one uninterested in a romance since her focus in to find a job/better purpose and romance might distract her? That would make a fun subplot...IF SHE WASN'T OBNOXIOUS!

A pattern I noticed and several fans pointed out: Jason's previous love interests were consistent in that they were strong minded women who challenged him in different ways. Their personalities bounced off creating a fun dynamic that was entertaining to see. Even though they didn't end up with him, you can still see and hear and feel their chemistry which is my goal for Jason x OC. Tasha doesn't make Jason OOC & they had a bittersweet arc, so their interactions were organic. Monica only made him OOC because she was a villain actively manipulating him. So again that worked in terms of story and led to Monica's redemption if my memory serves.

However, Jillian's dynamic is not that fun to listen to. You can feel her annoying Jason through the airwaves. She's strong but only in the sense of feeling something hard underneath your back laying on the bed and realizing that's just your earbud. She's vibrant yes but what else? She doesn't have any unique traits to contrast Jason, and any attempt at a contrast would mean making him act out of character. Adding her bumbling clumsiness and annoying voice, Jason would get tired of her very quickly. He's the type to go for people to have intelligent conversations with, not make him lose braincells. She could very well bring out the worse in him, it'll be an unhealthy relationship.

Here's a tidbit worth mentioning: the VA for Jillian actually auditioned with Jason's VA Townsend Coleman. Now that is big ass red flag right there! No hate towards the actress, just throwing that out there. There's also a facebook page dedicated to Jillison. Typical FB stupidity ramped up to eleven, or AIO fans who see something in Jillian; or at least THINk they see something worthwhile in her.

It doesn't help the writers keep insisting that these two go well together. The audience knows they do not work well as a pair but the narrative keeps insisting they are anyways. I recall an episode that had them pretend to be married while undercover and it was bad. Like REALLY humiliating to see Jason put in that position. He also told her to shut up much to my joy because she could NOT stop being irritating for five minutes. Alas the show still tries to justify Jillian being the Perfect Woman for Jason when she's anything but. And not even endearingly imperfect.

Follow Up

These tags I wrote on one of the AIO posts describes how I feel about Villain Marshall and the Jillison coupling as a whole. It just wouldn't work because Jason needs someone that can actually CHALLENGE him, have their own personality that can bounce off his (without being forced), and most importantly DOESN'T AGGRAVATE THE FANDOM!!

I have not met a single person anywhere that say they like Jillian. It's a different story apparently on the Club App - they like her for reasons I'm too cowardly to find out. But no, she sucks as a character. She makes a annoying friend, and is not a good addition to the show, much less a good love interest.

The only good thing she brought us are the nicknames we gave her 😌

That's all for now thank you for tuning into the Odyssey Mystery Hour. Next week I'll be talking a bit more about my OC Vanessa and her role in the world of Odyssey! Goodbye and make sure to lock your doors to prevent Jillian from coming in!!

[valkyrieelysia18]

RWBY Rewrite: The Jaundice Arc

Hey there everybody! Sorry it’s been awhile since you’ve heard from me, but I’ve got a job now and less of writing drive than I had when I was high school/college. Doesn’t mean it’s completely gone though and now I’m going to tackle the point that people started to really have problems with RWBY: the Jaundice Arc.

I know, big guns, but frankly I wanted to get this one. Partially because I want to do Jaune’s post eventually and I feel like I need to do this one before I can do that one, and partially because like I said before: this point where people really started to have problems with the show. And more specifically, this when people REALLY start to dislike Jaune.

Now, I’ve touched on my feelings on him before, but let me get this all out and over with. I don’t hate Jaune and I don’t think he’s an inherently bad character. Almost everyone on this show has been written badly and I think the absolutely simmering undercurrents that some parts of the RWDE community have for him is perhaps a little over the top. Personally, I think the core idea of his character is pretty good and he’s at his best in my opinion when he’s playing support to the other characters.

That being said, I completely understand why people dislike him. He has been constantly given focus away from the main team, which started in Volume 1 which was already short as it was to devote about a quarter of your episodes to a non main character in your first season. He also doesn’t suffer nearly as much for the consequences of his actions while the female characters get constant crap for theirs. I’m not even going to go into the Miles Luna Author Self Insert thing.

After having read fan fiction and seen some rewrite scenarios on Youtube, I personally think that Jaune can be written well so long as he’s not being written by Miles and Kerry. With that, I’m ready to take my crack at it.

Setup

As I said, Jaune took massive screen time away from the main characters since early on in the series. There’s an easy way to fix this. As I stated in an earlier post, I was going to spend the first volume/season focusing on Team RWBY aside from a small potential team up with Team JNPR. Jaune, and his other teammates, would mainly be relegated to comedy and background support for the main four girls after the Initiation. I’d throw in a few hints of what’s to come with them, but that’s it. Thus, I’d actually put the Jaundice Arc in the second volume/season which would be significantly larger than the first.

Because we’d be doing it then, we’d have bit more buildup for this story. Cardin’s bullying and enmity towards Jaune would be set up in the prior volume/season’s class interactions. As I noted in my School Rewrite, Jaune’s strategic abilities would also be showcased early on as well as Cardin’s tendency to go head on and brutal without realizing potential problems with that approach. Jaune’s relationship with Pyrrha and the rest of his team would also be better set up.

Now that the board is set, let’s get to it.

Student Days

The first thing I would absolutely change is making it clear that Jaune is actually trying. That was the thing that really did irk me with how Miles and Kerry wrote this arc, despite having gone through the effort of cheating his way into a huntsman academy, he then proceeds to goof off and put absolutely no effort into it. So, before and during this arc, it’ll be clearly shown he’s been studying like crazy and putting in extra time into the fighting simulations that are available for students. He’s not failing in terms of his regular studies, but he’s not top of the class either. In terms of physical combat, he’s the worst in his year, but he’s exceptional in Strategy and Tactics. This I think would be a good and reasonable place for Jaune starting out given his character and background prior to the series.

Thing is, this pisses Cardin off. He sees how much of a weakling Jaune is as a fighter and can see that he is so out of place at Beacon. Despite this, he’s paired with arguably the strongest person in their class who hangs on his every word and has (unintentionally) been showing him up as a leader during Strategy and Tactics. He knows something is off with Jaune, leading him to spy on him to figure out what’s up.

I wouldn’t change that much with him and Pyrrha’s interaction on the roof, I already briefed the reason why Pyrrha trusts him as a leader in her rewrite post. Maybe throw in a hint that his father really didn’t want Jaune to become a huntsman, but I’ll get into that when I get into his backstory proper.

I also wouldn’t change that much revolving in his talk with Cardin straight after save for one thing. After Jaune is left alone with his thoughts on this situation his lies have gotten him into, the scene shifts to being shown on a screen, making it clear that this is being watched from a camera on the roof. A finger taps on the screen a few times and we hear a familiar pensive hum.

The fall out with his team and his one on one with Ruby isn’t really changed, aside from Ren and Nora being more vocally concerned about Jaune’s actions and Pyrrha’s frosty change in behavior which the latter shoots down the concerns sharply.

Forever Falls/Aftermath

I don’t think I’ll change that much regarding the trip itself. I was thinking of mentioning the reason the teams are there is because this is their group task for the month (gathering sap for Professor Peach, who would actually be here taking originally Glynda’s place) and that’s why it’s only these three teams here. Same overall events occur: CRDL tries to get Pyrrha, Jaune stands up to Cardin, Grimm take down with Pyrrha’s unknown aid.

Jaune does apologize to Pyrrha like in the original and ask to train him. Though I was thinking that he’d get something a bit more painful than just a hard shove. I was thinking she’d take his hand and tackle him to the ground hard while pointing out his weaknesses.

This will cut to Ozpin’s office, with Cardin finishing up with telling his version of events who is obviously very agitated from the day’s events. In this Rewrite, there is no reason why he wouldn’t just tell on Jaune. Ozpin merely takes it all in with pensive expression before asking about the light that seemed to protect Jaune. Cardin answers this with confusion and some surprise, Ozpin nodding with a “Good to know” before updating a file on his tablet. Cardin is even more confused and asks what the Headmaster is going to do about Jaune. His answer: Nothing.

Cardin is shocked and furious at the Headmaster, going into him a bit before threatening to go to the board with this. Ozpin responds that even if he did so, he wouldn’t have a case. Cardin is completely confused as Ozpin explains: When students apply for Beacon, their applications go through extensive background checks before there are selections for the second round (ie the Entrance Exam). Such fake transcripts would have been discovered around that time.....had they actually gone through the admissions board. As it was, Jaune’s was accepted through an alternative.

But honestly, that’s not to say the admissions board is completely infallible, Ozpin would muse. Some are very inclined to promote those connected to them, others are interested in advancing their career elsewhere,.....and some might be inclined to take money from very influential people, such as a well meaning Uncle whose Council seat is up for reelection soon. Cardin gets noticeably stiff at that last one. Then Ozpin bring up some videos to the screen, all of them showing Cardin and his team bullying others, particularly Faunus students. The headmaster then would muse aloud that he wonder how Councilman Winchester, or moreso his Faunus opponent, would react to such un-Huntsman like behavior getting out into the news. Cardin immediately gets what the headmaster wants and goes completely quiet. Ozpin would merely say that he is a big believer in second chances and that while he understands that shenanigans in such as a school as this is to expected, Cardin would do best to remember that even if he thinks no one is watching he should act like there is. This cuts the meeting to a close with Cardin leaving quietly and Oz going back to his tablet, clicking back to a file with Jaune’s symbol on in it amongst others files with symbols on them. Only Jaune’s is a different color than the others and a scroll up would show us only one other file with that same color: Ruby’s.

Okay, it feels like I spent a lot of this post musing on the Cardin and Ozpin scene (really I could have done a oneshot on it), but this really was an important scene to establish some very important things to this Rewrite.

1. Ozpin is not an idiot. Ozpin is shown to be very aware of what’s going on at his school. While he may not get directly involved with things, he is shown to be watching his students. And while he is shown to be merciful in giving Cardin a second chance after the crap he pulled, he is also shown to not be a pushover. With such vigilance showcased, it will the Fall of Beacon even more devastating in how Ozpin missed his enemies working under his nose.

2. Ozpin’s true nature and goals are thrown into question. This rewrite is going to be more morally gray, especially in regards to Ozpin. Not only has he blackmailed a student to keep it quiet about another student, he knowingly let someone into his school he knew wasn’t qualified. In this rewrite up until this point he would have been shown as a distant but well intentioned headmaster. Now, he’s just gotten plenty shady. It would also bring into question Ruby’s enrollment into Beacon given that she got in in the same way (also strengthening those two’s parallels, but I digress).

3. Makes us question why Ozpin let Jaune in and sets up that Jaune is important in some way. As noted in my musings in a previous post, it makes no sense for Jaune to have gotten into Beacon unless Ozpin saw his transcripts and accepted him on that alone. Since we are shown in this scene Ozpin is aware of the transcripts, it makes us question what did he accept Jaune for. This also sets up that he will be important to the story moving forward, and not just as the revenge driven not ex boyfriend of the girl who tragically died.

Now, why did Ozpin accept him? Well, that will be covered in his own character post. I think this is plenty long enough and I think I will do something different before I get back to these Rewrite post. I hope like this one more than the last.

See you all! And stay save in this Covid time!

[ggukcangetit]

Dreamcatchers 4

Pairing: jungkook x oc

Synopsis: DI Jeon didn’t need a new partner. Unfortunately, his superiors felt otherwise; especially considering the extremely high-profile murder that had just taken place in the port city. Recent transfer, DI Choi Yuri finds herself confronted with a new cityscape, unfamiliar people, a hostile partner, and a homicide that is certain to bring back unpleasant memories.

Genre/AU: fluff/action/mystery | detective! au | police!jungkook, police!oc

Word Count: 4.4k

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: mentions of violence, alcohol, blood, drugs, death. Basically stuff you’d associate with a murder mystery/crime drama

Previous: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Acknowledgement: shoutout to @stutterfly​ for designing this beautiful banner which i am completely in love with and stare at for no particular reason throughout the day. also a big thank you to @kinktae​ for helping get through a really tricky bit in this chapter :*

A/N:  reminding everyone that this story features a named oc because i’m still very unfamiliar with writing second person reader inserts. i’m not aiming for strict accuracy in this story, and all criminal investigation/forensics knowledge i have has been gathered by watching crime drama/procedural dramas! my knowledge of geography is also not totally accurate so apologies for that. once again, one thing right by @hobios​ prompted me to write a police inspector! jungkook story. would highly recommend reading that because it’s probably one of my most favorite pieces of writing!

Time: 4.37 am

Yuri had spent the entire night researching Park Jimin. Right from where he went to school up to all the scandalous newspaper articles recounting every aspect of his personal life. Priding herself on being able to maintain a professional outlook in her investigations, Yuri couldn’t help but feel appalled by what she had found. Park Jimin appeared to be arrogant, sleazy, manipulative, privileged, and everything that she despised in a person. Yoongi’s words rang in her head as she contemplated dropping the idea of acquiring a blood sample from the prodigal son of Park. No, this wasn’t because of her last case in Seoul. That was not why she was backing off. This was simply because she had no patience to deal with the self-absorbed antics of a privileged 20-something man.

Closing one of the last tabs, she caught sight of a familiar face. Not familiar in the way that you recognise an old friend, but familiar like a phrase you hear and cannot for the life of you remember where it was from. Park Jimin was seen exiting a famous restaurant in downtown Busan and beside him was another young man, so extraordinarily eye-catching in his loose trousers and green cardigan in a way that only an exquisite piece of art is.

An exquisite piece of art…

That was it. That was the phrase that made it click in her head.

“He’s literally a piece of art!”

“I mean, yes, he’s definitely conventionally attractive,” conceded Ahreum, a little annoyed that her photography was almost completely being ignored. “But what do you think of the pictures?”

“‘Conventionally attractive’? Is that the best you can do with your Literature & Creative Writing degree?”

Of course! This was Ahreum’s friend and Instagram muse.

Yuri snatched her phone from it’s charging spot and quickly scrolled through her friend’s Instagram. Sure enough, Park Jimin’s friend in loose trousers and green cardigan stared back at her from various parts of Busan, his expressions varying only slightly but creating completely different moods throughout Ahreum’s profile.

Kim Taehyung…

xxx

Yuri checked her phone for the fifth time in the last 3 minutes. Ahreum was supposed to pick her up at 8 am. It was currently 8.02 am. Not that it really made much of a difference, but she was raring to go ahead with her plan. A plan she had no doubt could easily blow up in her face, but weeks of fitful sleep coupled with shots of sugary coffee had given her a weird adrenaline rush which she didn’t want to lose.

A couple of minutes later, Ahreum pulled up outside her apartment, her large bike contrasting heavily with her petite person.

“Still don’t see why I couldn’t drive to the place,” muttered Yuri, putting on the large helmet with artistic paint splatters all over.

“The plan was to corner Jimin, and you can’t do that in your car which has a fucking police sticker right at the back.”

Yuri frowned. “Your plan was to corner Jimin. I just wanted to talk to him. And -” she fixed her bag across her body and put both hands on Ahreum’s shoulders - “I kept the sticker for parking privileges. I can take it off whenever.”

“Whatever. Just hold on tight,” said Ahreum, revving up the bike.

4.5 minutes later, they had reached their destination. Yuri knew that it had been 4.5 minutes because she had been fervently counting the seconds to distract herself from falling off the vehicle

“WHO drives like that? Are you totally insane?” she managed to get out, her hands fumbling on the straps of the helmet.

Ahreum gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry, timing is essential in this case. Tae had texted me that they had reached just before I left from my place. We don’t have a lot of time. So I ugh-”

“Whatever. Let’s just get on with it.” Yuri tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ear, and mentally rehearsed everything she was going to tell Jimin.

Unfortunately, fate had other things in mind, because as soon as they opened the door to the diner, a familiar face (which most definitely should not have been there) spotted them and came over.

“Fuck.” Ahreum pulled out her phone and frantically sent Taehyung a text before the entire plan went down the drain.

“Yuri? Ahreum? What are you two doing here?” asked Seulgi, her long brown hair looked freshly washed and smelt of flowers.

A: why didnt u warn me that s was here fuck fuck fuck

T: i didnt see her… look it wont be that big a problem will it

A: pls tae the last time she saw ur boy they almost set fire to the library

T: shit ur right… umm maybe she-

Ahreum paused her frantic texting as soon as Seulgi came over to them. She gave Yuri a quick nod and decided to wing the situation as best as she could.

“Seulgi! This is incredible! I can’t believe we ran into you like this!” Ahreum hugged the taller girl. “I wanted Yuri to try the breakfast here so we decided to drop by before she had to get to the station. This is really incredible, I was planning to call you today actually. It’s almost time for me to choose my specialization and I wanted to-”

Yuri took this chance to slip off, as Ahreum steered Seulgi outside the diner. She didn’t really know why Ahreum was so intent on Seulgi and Jimin not meeting, but she trusted her best friend’s reasons.

Looking around, she saw that the large table near the window was occupied by the people she had been looking for. Kim Taehyung and his best friend Park Jimin. The latter had his back towards her, and as she approached she saw Taehyung’s eyes fall on her. She gave him a small wave, gesturing towards her phone’s lockscreen - a picture of her and Ahreum.

His face lit up in recognition as he stood up to greet her. “Hello! I’m Kim Taehyung. I thought Ahreum would be with you.”

“She’s umm…” Yuri glanced towards the doors of the diner through which Ahreum had led Seulgi out. “She’ll be here in a bit.”

“DI Choi, that’s not really true,” Jimin turned towards her, his eyes cold and alert. “Taehyung, your friend is diverting dear Dr. Ahn before she could see us and sabotage their poorly constructed ambush of me.”

Taehyung’s mouth hung open slightly, not really sure what was going on. “DI Choi? As in Choi Yuri? As in Ahreum’s best friend from school?”

“Yes,” said Yuri, feeling extremely awkward. She had expected to get two words in before Jimin caught on, but it seemed like she had severely underestimated him. “I’m sorry Ahreum didn’t tell you what this meeting was about. These aren’t the most favorable circumstances for us to meet. Nonetheless, I’ve heard a lot about you and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Taehyung bowed in response, but his expression was still uncertain.

“What brings you here, DI Choi?” asked Jimin. “I doubt it was because you were dying to see me again. But -” he stood up and leaned towards her ever so slightly - “I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea if that were really the case.”

Not for the first time, Yuri realized how powerful Park Jimin’s presence was. She could see him becoming a very successful CEO with how he commanded people’s attention. However, she couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling his gaze elicited. It was like she couldn’t predict what he was going to do next, much less fathom what was going on inside his head.

“Mr. Park,” she said, sitting down on one of the sofas in the booth. Taehyung and Jimin followed suit, but this time, they were both seated on the same side. “I’m afraid this isn’t a social call. I’ve come to talk to you about the ongoing investigation regarding the death of Kang Eunwoo.”

“I believe I answered all of your questions last time,” said Jimin, narrowing his eyes. “In fact, I believe I answered all of DI Jeon’s questions. You didn’t have much to say, as I recall.”

Taehyung’s head snapped towards his friend. "Jeongguk? You were at the station? Why didn’t you tell me, Jimin? What’s going on?”

“You and I both know that you didn’t provide much information. But that’s not what-”

"I don't think I was really required to answer any of your questions, DI Choi. Linking me to a rival company heir's death without a shred of evidence - " he leaned forward once again, his silver bangs falling over his forehead - "Some would consider that harassment. That would mean my lawyer would have to become involved. And neither of us want that, now do we?"

This is harassment. You really don't want to know how I deal with any kind of harassment, DI Choi.

Yuri took a deep breath, trying to ignore the words that kept her up almost every night.

"Your cooperation is highly appreciated, Mr Park," she continued, placing her hands on the table. "However, in order to save you from any further harassment, there is something you could help us out with."

Jimin did not respond immediately, giving Yuri the time to continue her, frankly, insane idea.

"We would require you to provide a blood sample. Which would help us eliminate you from the investigation. It shouldn't take up too much of your time - just a short visit to the station, and you'd be free of us."

Yuri waited for a response - anger, disbelief, frustration - anything really. What she didn't expect was laughter. Full on hysterical laughter. In fact, Taehyung was probably not expecting it either because he kept glancing at his friend worriedly.

"You are truly remarkable, DI Choi," said Jimin, once he had calmed down. He wiped a lone tear from his left eye, the many rings on his fingers glinting in the sunlight. "After everything that you've witnessed, you really thought you could somehow convince me to provide a blood sample? Sweetheart, I have 10 years worth of DNA that the police have been trying to get a hold off. Do you really think you'd be able to convince me when you weren't even able to get an alibi out of me?"

Yuri's face fell slightly, her mind grappling with ways in which the situation could be salvaged. It was at this point that Ahreum came over, looking distinctly more worn out than when they had arrived at the diner.

"Ahreum." Jimin turned his attention to the other girl. "You have such an interesting friend. Are you sure she's from Seoul? I didn't think such naivety could survive in the capital. Much less in law enforcement."

Ahreum frowned, snatching up the glass of water in front of Taehyung and gulping down the entire contents. "Stop being a dick for once in your life, Jimin."

"I love when you talk dirty to me." Jimin winked at her.

"Cool it, Jimin," said Taehyung, his expression no longer confused and worried. "Ahreum, what the fuck is going on?"

Ahreum looked at Yuri, not sure how she could help with the situation. Apparently, things hadn't gone well while she had been diverting Seulgi. "I'm sorry, Tae. I don't know anything other than Yuri wanting to meet Jimin."

"But you knew it had something to do with an investigation," said Taehyung, his handsome features creasing. "Why didn't you tell me that your best friend Yuri was a detective? That doesn't seem like information to just leave out."

Ahreum looked at him guiltily. In Taehyung's eyes, he was the only one who had no idea what was going on, and he felt both hurt and betrayed by her. This entire plan had been a train-wreck and to make matters worse, Seulgi had returned to the diner because she had dropped her keys inside.

"What the hell?" Seulgi stood at their table, her eyes narrowing disapprovingly. "What're you doing here, Park?"

"Hello to you too, darling," said Jimin, leaning back into the sofa lazily. "It's been so long since I've seen that beautiful face of yours."

"So." Seulgi turned towards Ahreum. "Are you really interested in going into forensics? Or was it just a way to distract me so that I wouldn't run into him?"

"Seulgi, I-"

"Darling, they were just trying to convince me to provide a blood sample," interrupted Jimin, his face curling into a smirk. "Was that your idea? You know I would've said yes in a heartbeat if you had asked nicely."

"Fuck you, Park!" spat Seulgi. She turned to Yuri and shook her head. "This isn't how I thought you'd get things done. I can't believe you're bargaining with a murder suspect!"

"Now that's a bit harsh, isn't it darling?" Jimin was enjoying the situation immensely.

"Jimin, don't." Taehyung warned his friend.

"Seulgi, please, this isn't what you think-" Ahreum ran out after the taller girl, the diner eerily quiet after the blowout.

"Jimin, you can find your way home yourself, right?" asked Taehyung, getting up to swipe his credit card at the counter. "I have to go."

Jimin nodded, his fingers lazily running through his silver hair. It was a wonder all the rings didn’t get caught in his hair.

"And Yuri - " Taehyung paused, his long fingers clenching around the plastic of the card - "It was nice meeting you, I guess."

"I think that went rather well, DI Choi" said Jimin, once they were the only two left at the table. "I was thoroughly entertained."

Yuri pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on. "My apologies for wasting your time, Mr. Park. Have a good rest of the day."

Once outside, she realised that Ahreum had left. Her mode of transportation had left. Without letting her know. She sighed and unlocked her phone, trying to figure out if it would be easier to walk back home or to the station.

"Were you abandoned as well?"

Yuri took a deep breath, preparing herself before facing Jimin once again.

"Friends these days aren't what they used to be."

"I don't know you, Mr. Park." Yuri crossed her arms and tilted her head to one side. "I have no preconceived notions, and I have no affiliations in this place. I am merely doing my job - trying to find out how Kang Eunwoo died. I don't really understand why you're trying your damned best to make things difficult for us. But let me tell you one thing- I'm not going to stop until I get to the truth."

Jimin seemed at a loss for words for the first time since she had met him.

"If you didn't have anything to do with Eunwoo's death, providing the blood sample should be nothing more than a formality for you. But by declining to assist us, you're pushing us into thinking you do have something to hide. I don't know about you, Mr. Park, but if I were involved in a murder investigation, I'd like my name cleared as soon as possible. All personal conflicts aside."

xxx

Back at the station, Yuri felt her head was going to explode. She hadn't eaten anything the entire day, her morning coffee forgotten in the chaos of the diner mission. On top of that, her desk had a large pile of papers waiting to be read.

"Goh dropped these off when he came in," said Jeon, noticing how she was staring at the pile. "Just procedural stuff - it's pretty much the same everywhere in the country. But each station requires anyone who joins to read through them and sign."

"Oh, I see -" Yuri stopped abruptly, her head spinning towards her partner. He had never managed to go two words without snapping at her, much less initiate a civil conversation. Why was he suddenly behaving like this? Was this some kind of trap? Was he baiting her?

Jeon seemed completely unaware of Yuri's internal dilemma, and continued typing on his work laptop until his phone pinged with a message. He quickly closed the laptop and walked towards the exit, already speaking to someone on the phone.

Yuri glared at his desk, trying to figure out what he was playing at. Gradually, her eyes landed on that wretched file. The 2nd Nov case file. The file that seemed to be Jeon's purpose of existence.

The 2nd November case that Jeongguk’s been overseeing - I want you to go over it. You might be able to help

Yoongi's words rang in her head. She began reaching over the partition that divided her desk from Jeon's, her hand was just a few centimeters from the file-

"Need some help?"

Yuri jumped in astonishment, Jeon's voice startling her into knocking her knee into the desk. She ignored the throbbing sensation, and focused on trying to explain herself.

"Need a pen to sign the papers. Mine's out of ink."

Jeon seemed to buy this reason, and picked up a pen from the large stack sitting inside a pale red mug on his desk.

"Anything else?" he asked, when her eyes kept flitting back to his desk.

"N-no." Yuri sat down hurriedly, sifting through the papers she hadn't looked over even once.

The next hour went by without much incident. Yuri had managed to grab a dodgy looking sandwich from the break room, and somehow finished it off in between large gulps of water. Never again was she leaving the house without eating.

Her texts to Ahreum had gone unanswered so far, which was hardly surprising. Yuri was pretty sure she was trying to explain things to Taehyung. It was best to give her some space at this point - she'd call and check on her later at night.

Jeon's phone rang again causing him to rush out once more, and from the fragments that Yuri managed to catch, it was Chief Inspector Goh on the other line.

"DI Choi?"

Yuri was stunned to see Park Jimin standing by her desk.

"How can I help you, Mr. Park?" she asked, after a moment's pause.

"I'm here to... cooperate."

"You're agreeing to the blood sample?" she asked, incredulously.

"Yes."

Yuri cursed under her breath. It was lunchtime, which meant that Seulgi and most of her team would be off.

Suho happened to be passing by at just that moment. "DI Choi, can I speak to you for a moment?"

"S-sure. Mr. Park, please wait here for a moment."

"You managed to convince Jimin to provide a blood sample?" asked Suho, lowering his voice.

"I guess so..."

"The labs are closed for lunch right now."

"I know." Yuri bit her lip in frustration. "I don't know how long he'll be willing to wait. It's already a miracle that he's showed up."

"I think I saw one of the junior lab technicians come back early," Suho wondered out loud. "Let me call him and ask."

Yuri waited as Suho dialed the number on his phone. In the meantime, Jeon had returned, his eyes catching sight of Jimin and temporarily halting him in his tracks.

What followed next was one of the most stressful 3 minutes of Yuri's life. Jeon was speaking to Jimin, when Suho informed her that the junior technician was available to draw a blood sample but would not be able to stay long enough for the sample to be handed over to either his senior or Seulgi herself. This was a definite issue because according to the station's protocol, junior lab technicians were not allowed to officially check in anything related to an ongoing investigation. It seemed like Yuri would have to wait at the lab until Seulgi or a senior technician came back, so that the sample would not be left alone until it had been properly entered into the system. The only problem was, Jeon appeared to be packing his stuff and Yuri's window to grab the 2nd Nov file was closing. This would've been the perfect moment, given that he was slightly distracted due to his conversation with Jimin. Suho seemed to sense the conflict raging within her, and offered to wait at the lab instead.

"Are you sure?" asked Yuri, her attention fixed on the file still on Jeon's desk.

"Yes," said Suho. "But I think you should tell Jimin that I'll be taking him to the lab instead of you. He'll probably take it better if it’s coming from you."

Yuri nodded and walked over to where the two men were having a conversation.

"- a bit annoyed that he didn't know I had been down here." Jimin chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Why didn't you tell him, then?" asked Jeon, frowning. Yuri took this opportunity to swipe the file from his desk.

"Ah! DI Choi, I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me," said Jimin, his eyes falling on Yuri.

"Sorry for making you wait. Unfortunately, I have some urgent matters to attend to. DS Lim will take you to the lab and make sure everything is alright." She hid the file under her coat, and beckoned for Suho to come over. "Thank you once again for your cooperation, Mr. Park."

Jeon raised his eyebrow questioningly, but Yuri was out of the station before he could get a word in. She didn't have much time before he realised his precious file was missing.

Once inside her car, Yuri opened the file and read through every single inch of it. It was a grim case no doubt - a single mother had been stabbed to death by a homeless drunk, who was assumed to be the father of her three year old daughter. The girl had been missing since then, while the man awaited his trial in jail.

The pictures were quite awful. The small nook where she had been living told a rather tragic, almost pathetic, story. A young woman without many choices. Her pale, lifeless body only added to the sense of despair. Yuri wondered why Jeon was so obsessed with this case. Sure, it was terribly sad, but not unlike many other drunken brawls resulting in an unfortunate death. She wondered who was in charge of looking for the girl at this point. According to the file, no body had turned up in over a month. Which meant that she was either alive or her body would probably never be found. If the former was true, there was a high probability that this was a kidnapping. It didn't make much sense. Maybe there was something she was missing...

Staring at the picture of the woman's corpse, her eyes caught sight of a small detail - a ring. A ring which looked very familiar.

Sifting through the pictures, she found a close up of the ring in question. It had been lying near the body and it was assumed that the ring had fallen from her person at some point during the struggle.

Only...

Yuri took out her phone and quickly snapped a shot of the picture of the ring. This was absolutely against protocol, but she was desperate at this point.

It had been 20 minutes since she had run out of the station, and after making sure that Jeon had left, she made her way back in and dropped the file at his desk.

xxx

"Did you clear things up with Taehyung?" asked Yuri, sitting down at the table.

Ahreum picked up some pasta with her tongs and placed it on Yuri's plate. Tonight's dinner was in honor of Namjoon making it home before the clock struck midnight.

"Yeah, he's not one to hold grudges. He was just a little upset that I had lied to him."

"He looked quite betrayed when he realised that we had set them up like that."

"Don't worry about it." Ahreum shrugged while pouring wine into the glasses. "He's fine now."

"Tae can't stay mad at Ahreum for too long." The deep voice sounded familiar yet strange to Yuri, who had barely interacted with Ahreum's older brother when they had all been living in the same city.

"Namjoon!" she stood up, giving him a hug. He was still awkward with any kind of physical affection, though he had grown into his limbs and no longer resembled a gangly teenager. "Took me 4 days but I finally managed to get a glimpse of you."

"Ah," he said, pushing his black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Sorry about that, Yuri. I had a major project due last night so I was basically living at the library doing research."

"Well, I hope it's not going to be as difficult to meet you from now on. You and Ahreum are the only people I know here."

"No new friends yet?" asked Namjoon, digging into the pasta. "Ahreum, this is delicious! We should've called Seokjin over. He always appreciates good food."

"Seokjin? As in the guy who runs The Moon's Post Office?" asked Yuri.

"The one and the same. How do you know him?" asked Namjoon.

"Happened to visit the bakery on my first day here. He's got quite a way with shortcrust pastry."

Namjoon laughed at this. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that. That place is Seokjin's pride."

"But back to the friends question," he continued, grabbing another helping of pasta. "Detective work not leaving you much time to socialize?"

"Sort of..."

"She's been having trouble with her new partner," piped up Ahreum, her eyes glinting mischievously. "Maybe you can help her out on that front."

"Oh? Who's your partner?"

"Jeon Jeongguk."

"You're not getting along with Jeongguk?!" Namjoon nearly spilled the wine on himself.

"Namjoon, please calm down. It's not that serious," said Ahreum, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry," her brother murmured, placing the glass back on the table. "It's just... I know you both. There's no reason for you to not get along."

"He's being a dick," supplied Ahreum, helpfully. "Not sure why. Doesn't sound like the guy you're always gushing about."

"I don't think 'gushing' is the right word... but I get your point. Has he said anything to you, Yuri?" asked Namjoon.

Yuri didn't hear what Namjoon had said. Her attention was fixed on her phone, specifically on an email from Seulgi. The blood on Eunwoo's sleeve was a match for the sample taken from Park Jimin earlier that day.

xxx

another chapter done!

[greencharisard]

I promise I'm still working on that pokemon project, but it's a pokemon-trainer set of 6 of a 'mon that's very detailed so it's taking a lot of time, and I ended up artblocked.

The first pick was the first thing I did after almost a week of not drawing, what happened is roughly this:

- Was still working on-and-off on the pokemon pic set, and a new TLK one.

- Re-downloaded Steam for some reason I can't remember.

- Found out Spore is in there with all three packs  and on sale (base game+creepy & cute+ galactic adventures)

- caved and bought it cuz it's been years and I wanted the third pack and a convinient way to access it that wasn't a 10+ y/o disc/code I've used a million times on 5 or 6 PCs.

- Played it for 3 days or so, including a day were I completely messed up my PC by tampering with the core folders (went back to normal now THANK GOD) and played switch games for that day.

- Spent another half day after fixing my PC making an EA account to have a proper acc on Spore itself (had to go forum digging, it's a mess). Then played Spore more.

- In all of this watched one HK meme video and stated getting a bajillion of them in my YT recommendeds.

- Played a bunch of switch games for a day trying to stay away from Spore and start drawing (failed).

- Decided to start playing HK again at piss off o'clock in the evening. Still couldn't get past Hornet in Greenpath.

- Next morning finally beat boss 2 and open up a MASSIVE CHUNK OF THE GAME.

- spend the next 2 or so days playing that, including most of today.

So yeah, I fried my brain, in an attempt at grudging trough the art block I tried making an OC, then also tried making self-inserts because Hollow Knight has been my lifesource for the past few week or so, while Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss have been one of my latest obsessions for months, so it only felt fitting to morph my crittersona to fit in those universes.

- First I wanted to draw him as an imp, technically I already drew him as a demon/sinner, so a creature native to hell seemed like the next best AU choice. I didn't think much about what he would do, I just focused on the design part itself, and even then as you can see I had quite a few ideas I tried out on the side. One of the main reasons that made me think he'd fit as an imp is that in an earlier design he had that I never posted the tip of his tail was arrow shaped instead of being just a tuft like now (I should draw that impish form again sometime, he was basically like now but not a noodle). For the clothes I kinda used stuff I own irl as inspo, while thinking "what would fit the HH/HB style?" so I used a sleeveless hoodie, a black shirt (I have a lot of those, I just made one with a generic skull pattern here), and the only pair of jeans I own that I can actually stand to wear... escept by the time I remembered I wanted to draw those I had already drawn cargo pants on him out of habit, so I just colored them like jeans instead... I would probably love pants like these lmao. Oh and chains linked to the belt loops, I actually have those too, they're made form crafstore legit normal chains, not ones made to be actually worn like this. Listen I got them in high school I was an edgy basard and I didn't know where to get stuff like that so I just asked dad to get some like this instead ok. I have a pair of normal steel and a pair of black ones, here he's wearing the latter.

- The other idea was to turn him into a HK bug, more specifically, a mosskin tribe member from greenpath, cuz it's my favorite stage of the game with how pretty it is (listen the artwork of that game is goreous ok). He would probably be a bit of a loner/outcast, always hiding with his leaf/bush cape; the lighter fuzz is part of his body. I imagine he'd be a side character you have to go out of your way to meet and interact with, and depending on how you do so his outcome in the story may vary: one option is that he just stays like normal if you befriend him, the second is he succumbs to the infaction and he ends up being a secret boss an you have to kill him, a third however is maybe he does get infected, but if you do some sort of side quest before defeating him you can cure/save him still(?) Idk. His boss/infected form is partially inspired by aspids (because they're some of the most annoying enemies and I think that fits him/me well enough :') ), he probably attacks from a distance with a combo of spitting at you directly from the ceiling and throwing bubbles of infection around the stage by swinging his tail; maybe even releasing bursts of orange gas like some other enemies when you hit him (in later pahses). And yes, the name is a pun; I noticed the characters in this game either have descriptive names/adjectives, or normal names so I went with a combo of the two.

art and characters by me, do not copy, trace, repost, reuse ecc without my permission please.

[celialestial]

Okay. Well, if I’m being honest, this episode was not the greatest. This is also the first analysis I’ve made for a show, at least that I’m posting. We’ll see how this goes. Strap in, this is going to be long. 

I think we have all learned by now that Jamie-focused episodes are never the strongest. I find it a bit ironic that in a show called Jamie Johnson, the least interesting character is Jamie himself. 

We finally saw the end of the, dare I say, idiotic Under-13s subplot. The classic “arguing friends are trapped in a room together until they make-up” trope was used to its, not fullest, but decent potential. The greatest part of this episode was the fact that their eighth-grade drama was resolved; that and the ten seconds of screentime Dillon received. Liam continues to prove that he has still not grown. Here’s my analysis of his development:

[I was going to insert a clever chart of his nonexistent growth, but I’m too lazy, sorry. Here’s a paragraph about it instead:]

Liam needs to learn that manipulating people and pretending to have changed is not maturity, it’s being an asshole. He has a terrible father, that’s true, but Dillon managed to change. Nothing has ever truly been at stake for Liam. He’s been able to lie and manipulate others to get out of all the trouble he’s caused. He was given a second chance to play with the Under-13s and has continued to use those around him in order to seem, I don’t know. Big? Powerful? All he has done is made the Three Musketeers dislike him even more. He has done absolutely nothing to earn their trust. I could go on and on about Liam Simmonds, which I suppose proves he’s an interesting character (that’s more than I can say about some people *cough* Jamie *cough*). 

Eric learns that Aisha has feelings for him too. Yay! He also learns that Aisha is much smarter and more mature than him, choosing to step back and give him time to be with his friends. Yay? Freddie has been incredibly weird this season. I can’t tell if he genuinely liked Aisha as more than a friend, or if he thought he was supposed to, given how much Eric liked her. This entire storyline comprised of way too much unnecessary drama. Looking at Instagram comments, however, it seems that it was very popular among younger kids. I suppose I am a bit too old to be criticizing middle school relationship drama in a children’s show. Poor Alba was practically thrown to the dogs in favor of a petty love triangle. All of their problems were wrapped up so neatly, it felt a bit uncomfortable. Like they didn’t deserve this ending. 

I don’t know if it’s just me, but something about this episode seemed off. When comparing it to other episodes with similar premises, the lack of emotion and genuineness becomes obvious. Take episode 10, for example, there were many (and I mean many) subplots. It was a little all over the place. And yet, the end of the episode left me feeling bittersweet, intrigued, and wanting more. This episode didn’t do that. I am sick of Jamie’s bullshit and tired of this dumb love triangle. Thankfully, the latter is complete now. 

Onto Jamie’s storyline:

1) I told y’all Jetpac11 would be Jethro! These are some big brain hours.

2) This boy is supposed to be the TITLE character. His storyline is meant to be the most in depth, the most interesting, and, above all else, the most entertaining. It is none of those things. The stakes are supposed to be high, and they are, but they don’t feel like it? He supposedly lost his place at Hawkstone over a goddamn video game. Why don’t I feel anything except contempt? If not frustration at Jamie, then frustration at Ian, who I suppose I should be used to by now. Everyone says Jamie should know better than to trust him after all he’s done. That he should just listen to Mike. Obviously that’s true, but Ian was on his side, not the other way around. Ian enabled Jamie and allowed him to make a stupid decision, one that has huge consequences. Ian didn’t tell Jamie to keep playing for his own gain, well, kind of. He let Jamie keep playing because he though it would make him happy and regain his trust. It’s the same reason Mike lied to Hawkstone. Both adults displayed extremely poor judgement, Ian just far more so, as always. I must admit that I have zero interest in video games. I also have zero interest in soccer (or, rather, football). Yet this show keeps me interested in the matches and invested in the characters. They have failed at maintaining my interest in this video gaming storyline. Part of this could be because I find Jamie boring and repetitive, or maybe he simply seems that way due to the plethora of vastly more compelling side characters. All I have learned from this is that Jamie is a pretty terrible friend, a poor judge of character, and impulsive. These are all faults he has had since season 1, except he used to be a genuinely decent friend. He has grown more self-involved and one-sighted (and one-sided, as in one-dimensional, or you could take it literally, seeing as one leg is currently out of commission). I get that he was hit by a car and his leg is broken. He doesn’t see a future in soccer for himself anymore. Mike is right, though, he should be focused on getting better and being able to play again. I don’t even like Mike most of the time -- I honestly find him fairly annoying, although this may be due to the acting -- but he is the only sane one in the Johnson family right now. Both of Jamie’s parents are enabling him and Mike has too, though only for around an episode and a half. I am so happy this storyline will be resolved next week. I am sure we will still be left with a cliffhanger at the end, as with every season. 

Dillon also got a bit of screentime in this episode (wow, a whole twenty seconds!). I really do like the way the writers are portraying how conflicted he is. He is torn between living a lie or risking his future as a professional player. I understand why they introduced Elliot. He was Dillon’s first crush and I think he was necessary for Dillon to come to terms with his sexuality. Where they messed up with Elliot, however, is by entirely removing him from the show after he fulfilled his purpose of giving Dillon the strength to come out. Just as @mcustorm said, he was a plot device and it was out of character for him to out Dillon. I could probably write a whole essay about how dirty both Elliot and Kat were done. The only way using exclusively Ruby to further Dillon’s storyline would’ve worked was if they kept the whole “Ruby has a crush on Dillon” thing from season 4. Doing that would likely ruin their entire dynamic as best friends and make things awkward. If they had done that and made, say Harry or Michel his first crush, they wouldn’t need Elliot to be Dillon’s first real crush. Although, Dillon was only around 11 or 12, and most real crushes don’t hit until 13-14, at least in my experience. Also if they had ruined Dillon and Ruby’s dynamic, then Dillon would have no real support system. I can’t really see Ruby abandoning Dillon over this, though, even if she had an unrequited crush. 

Next week should wrap up both Jamie’s and Dillon’s storylines. It will also be the final episode of season 5! A lot to look forward to and a lot to be absolutely terrified of, not to mention the fact that season 6 production has been postponed for obvious reasons. 

TL;DR:

It’s the end of the Under-13s drama! And possibly the end of Aisha, knowing how JJ deals with its newly irrelevant characters.

Jamie is being stupid and probably lost his chances of getting into Hawkstone. Or maybe not, considering he’s the protagonist of a kid’s show. JJ does have a habit of dealing out real consequences, though, so who knows.

Dillon got... something? He’s feeling conflicted, which is entirely natural, especially at this stage in his coming out. 

Next week is the last episode! Stay tuned for more, I guess. Let me know if you guys enjoyed this type of proper analysis. 

[curestardust]

if you want: cute and nice art style and designs / Japanese ghost stories and urban legends with its own unique presentation / an intriguing story and character arc (which doesn’t go anywhere in the anime though) / about 80% comedy and 20% depressing or creepy stuff

The “Seven Wonders of [Insert School’s Name Here]” is a popular urban legend, at the very least in anime (I shall ask for input on this from my Japanese friend actually). Horror episodes in anime that’s mainly set in Middle or High Schools usually include these types of apparitions. From what I’ve seen, while certain rumours differ, there are multiple ghost stories that more or less stay the same. There’re the spooky staircases, the creepy anatomy classrooms, the self-playing pianos in the music classrooms and of course the school bathroom toilet ghost, Hanako-san.

Hanako-san is usually depicted as a girl of similiar age to the students of the school. She is said to haunt the 3rd floor’s girl’s bathroom and can be summoned by knocking 3 times on the 3rd stall’s door and then asking if she is there. In the urban legends there’s not really any point to doing this besides a dare, most similiar to the Bloody Mary challenge in the west, as Hanako-san will either do nothing or essentially kill you. Not here though!

“Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun” stars Yashiro Nene as its protagonist. She is obsessed with falling in love with a handsome boy and constantly changes who she is into at the moment. During one of her crushes, she decides to summon Hanako-san as she is said to fulfil your wish, in exchange for something of course. To her surprise however, Hanako not only turns out to be a boy but also an immature one who messes around with Nene. Things happen and the episode wraps up with Nene being saved by Hanako-kun from an apparition and the 2 forming what is essentially a contract, binding Nene to Hanako-kun. The 3rd protagonist is Kou who is from an exorcist family. He tries to exorcise Hanako, fails and then just sorta... sticks around from then on.

I had quite high hopes for this anime sorely based on the cover art and because I quite love Japanese horror and urban legends and this seemed like an interesting take on it. But what I got is, very unfortunately, unfinished. Believe me, nobody is sadder than me over not being all over this anime.

The story is actually very good up until around halfway where we meet 2 of the others of the “Seven Wonders”, fix the issues plaguing some smaller apparitions and meet a gang of mysterious characters. Then on, however, something shifts. The story starts to dabble in more serious, depressing subjects and certain questions we had become more and more frustrating as they drag on without even a sliver of a hint. The anime doesn’t lean in on this though. Overall, the tone is comedic. These comedic scenes start to really clash with what’s going on in the latter half which was jarring. The horrific scenes and their implications lose their impact and the comedy feels forced.

The art style of the anime is still very nice with its character designs and colour pallette. The animation is a bit here and there. A unique presentation of sudden switching between styles fits the comedic scenes as I mentioned but they also break the flow of movement. But this is mostly up to personal preference, I know some people will really like this style.

I’m sad about the score I ended up giving. The first half was so fun and the anime had so much potential but then the second half is rushed, unfinished and leaves us with more questions than answers. The lack of announcement for a 2nd season also doesn’t help matters. Still, I wouldn’t discourage people from watching “Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun” *especially* for people who go to read the manga as well afterwards. The anime does offer a lot of intrigue and some comedy but the ending is far from fulfilling.

[6/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

[sonderrow-moved]

                           LINK TO QUINN            LINK TO JAEL           LINK TO ROY

LIKE for a preestablished relationship/plotting line with Archer… BUT have at least one category in mind before I hop in your IMs!

I entirely get the urge of wanting to roleplay, expand our muses together, and this is my personal starting pack for Archer! If you’re hooked to one category but don’t think your muse can fit still HMU about it and I’ll see how we can work that out!

REMINDER I HAVE A LOT OF THREADS. Like often a lot. Roleplaying is something that effortlessly really relaxes me, but I am still one human. I like to see all my threads through no matter how long the wait is and do my best ! Thus we might not be threading right off the bat depending on how much stuff I have, but everything established can get into asks, dash shenanigans, etc. What matters is that it shapes our characters. 🙏

BUSINESS PEERS. Archer’s professional and very efficient work ethic made him notorious in unspoken matters as someone who will get things done with no needs of public recognition… which would lead to inner, private and ultimately more treasured recognition. He used to have clients, partners and met a lot of others at parties he went frequently to, mostly charity parties often disguised as business ones. Those partners may have known his father, maybe his grandfather, or maybe they’re fresh right out the bat, maybe the Kessler company sought them, maybe your muse’s company sought them and you stumbled upon him. Mind you that Archer has made the scandalous decision to sell the majority of his actions towards the company and doesn’t get more involved than necessary with its activities. This profile fits to every muse high enough in the business ranks to meet Archer; at least chief of a team in a department. It’s all about title. Do be reminded that the Kessler company is known to have an illegal and scandalous history as of NOW and that a lawful good muse would probably not want to be associated with it, or any muse wanting to go legal.

LEGAL WORKERS. With the horribly enormous pile of cases Archer’s been involved with, he needs a lawyer cabinet to back him and his business. Multiple ones. Maybe it is a genuinely crooked one, or a blindly optimistic one who believes his claims of innocence and being against the world, maybe the whole cabinet is broken and as a newly employed lawyer you are still too innocent until you notice. Law enforcers and government representatives knows how much Archer is guilty (or not), making him infamous in their ranks as one of those irritating cases where the system doesn’t seem to work. For muses working in the justice system, on any side, from judge to prison guard.

“FRIENDS”. Archer lost all of his friends when he was accused and imprisoned. He would have done the same thing; every one who was still linked by friendship to him risked everything. You’re one of those, because you’re not an idiot… or maybe you are and you did lose everything to keep your integrity. Or maybe you really were too stupid and loyal and believed Archer did nothing. This applies to particular muses who can fit in a scenario like this. Although for the sake of social standing Archer could “befriend” quite some people, he had a particular preference towards artists and introverted yet talented minds who had lots of potential, wanting to make them grow.

CRIMINALS. Con artists, mafiosos, yakuzas, drug dealers, maybe assassins, thieves, hackers, corrupted law enforcement agents, rich guys with illegal fetishes… Archer has dealt at least with all of them at least once. As a “cleaner” before he finally sat down on the CEO chair, Archer was the one who by circumstances became known for his professionalism, cool head and ability to erase any evidence from even the most alarming and need-to-be-quickly-done situation. Even a killer who does so as a hobby or for personal gain would eventually be caught as he goes on, unless he can take a contract or too, and have him give a helping hand in exchange for secrecy.  This applies to muses with at least a medium-ranked profile in the underground (so no simple alley drug dealer unless plotted).

ENTERTAINERS & SEX WORKERS. Given how Archer sees sex as being an extremely powerful tool, he often got around the latter, choosing carefully which escort he’ll personally put at his services. Archer kept the best ones at hand, to please contacts and clients. He respects them for their work, but he wanted professionalism from you and not cry if you got almost cut in half after a night. Although he stepped down from his CEO position, Archer was pushed into his sire’s hotel line, which secretly dealt with human trafficking and prostitution. With his experience, he slowly is coming back and is moving all his contacts over there, wanting to change his approach. Despite the need of running a very real business, he cannot ignore the amount of work his sire’s illegal business brings. This profile fills every muse working in the sex business outside camshows and movies. They don’t have to be the ones close to Archer.

VICTIM(S). Archer is a very high-rated criminal. Although he has only been found guilty of extortion, corruption, blackmailing, piracy and other business-linked crimes, he was accused but not found guilty of sequestration, serial murder, serial rape, torture, committing indignity to a body, publishing obscene material, harassment, insert lots of other legal terms surrounding this. Accusations which have been highly mediatized given how high profile he was at the time, him being used as a scapegoat and the scandal only worsened when it was said it was both on minors and adults. I won’t get too much on what the truth is, but if you’d like your muse to be victim of Archer’s real crime(s), do hit me up I’ll be very selective on this given it’s important to his background story. This profile would fit highly disturbed muse, hobos, prostitutes, people living in very poor districts, pretty much people who have the perfect victim profile. OR it can also be other businessmen, common people, those who would have their life ruined indirectly or directly any organization Archer was or is involved with, the most common being as putting you in debt with the mafia knocking at your door to kill you, break your legs or torture someone you love until you give them what they want.

NEAR THE VICTIM(S). There are suspicions your friend/lover/brother/whatever was done wrong because of Archer. Maybe you’re the one who pressed charges. Maybe it’s not you, but in some way you were involved indirectly in the scandal and it did something to you and you have your own opinion on it. Maybe you seek where Archer is to kill him, maybe just talk to him and understand… something.This profile fits a muse who has lost someone close to them in suspicious circumstances.

PARTNER IN CRIME. You were there and you liked every bit of it probably (or if not you’re surely dead). VERY SELECTIVE. This profile fits muse with probable sociopathic and/or psychopathic tendencies who knows their way across the most fucked-up places of the underworld.

OBSESSION. High profile criminals with atrocious records are known to, sadly, have, yes,fans. Your muse believes that Archer did most of what he was accused for, choose to your discretion. Maybe they wanted to visit him, maybe they sent him gifts and mails, maybe they were already almost obsessed with him BEFORE he was accused given his bit of a disturbed but extremely charismatic and successful behavior and just FELL more as he was sequestrated. This profile fits muse going to the simple nerd with morbid curiosity to the very intense stalker.

MATCHMAKING. Since his teens, Archer has met multiple people for a potential marriage; the woman in question and the relatives that accompany her. And… when bored, his sister has the nasty habit of wanting to play matchmaker with him; Archer may not be the best person, but he’d hate to not make up to someone his hell of a relative tricked. Self explanatory. Archer’s sister, Eve (Everleigh), is owner of two modern galleries, so single people susceptible to befriend her could fall into that trap.

SCHOOL FACES. Archer cut next to every tie which couldn’t help in business after he graduated from university. It was brutal and without much warning although given how he was drawn to his duty, nobody was surprised. Archer got schooled at home as a child after becoming a depressed before going to a rich high-end private school. Afterwards, he became a star tennis player and the moral support of the team. He was also the president of a literature club where he was able to bond a bit with nerds and was known to tutors younger kids he believed had potential to help his reputation or parents who had power to help his family. Archer was mostly loved by everyone, but still bullied the weak or didn’t hesitate to stomp on other to raise himself higher. Victims of his young impulses, partner or rival in the tennis court, maybe the librarian, maybe a classmate, maybe someone from another school who always saw him and wanted to know him. This profile fits muses that Archer would not talk to unless he knew them from the past. Mostly younger muses that leads a life that has nothing to do with his work. RP can be during his younger years or simply skipped to the main verse.

MEALS. As a vampire, Archer consolidated his hypnotic powers and feeding, starting to leave some preys alive, but dazed and forgetful at times. On top of the numbness and blinding aphrodisiac the poison in his biting provides, he is able to leave the impression like their meeting was a dream; victims will remember vaguely his face, voice or other depending on characters, but not remember the feeding. However, willing and loyal ones may even befriend Archer, who finds consenting people much easier to deal with than laying bodies and sudden disappearances. This profile fits grey morale muses, ones who loves the supernatural, masochists, etc. who’d trade their blood and silence in exchange of being around a vampire. Archer only feeds on females if they ask directly for it or if there is nothing else, highly preferring to feed on males, which is linked to his sexual preferences.

RED LIGHT DISTRICT. Archer has become a prominent figure of the red light district; as the one guy who owned everything (which is not true, but blown out of proportions). Due to the forceful, ruthless and undeniably lustful reputation his sire has, being the envoy puts him in a powerful position where the line between him and the one who turned him might blur to others, as if they were the same person. Anything new in the district goes through him and pros and cons are weighted for healthy competition. Outside the hotels and their affiliated businesses, Archer personally owns two bars; one is lounge gay bar and the other one of the same style, only for the supernaturals of every shape and form, with products to cater their needs. Both are actually places made to cater to his difficult and high maintenance taste; if you cannot find it, do it yourself. Those bars include their own staff, which he selects himself to make sure nobody he would find inappropriate works under his image. As for the hotel line itself, it includes its own staff, administration, underground administration and staff, restaurant staff and entertainment staff for diverse shows and parties thrown. This profile fits any muse which would frequent the red light district, from newcomers to others looking for a job, frequent visitors and owners of businesses. From the woman who runs an escort club with a heart of steel to the bartender who just wants to pay his education fees to the security guard who has nightmare about the noises he hears behind closed doors.

HITMEN. You were paid to fuck with him, but thing is it’s pretty complicated. This profile is picky since obviously the attempt is going to fail and you cannot always RP back and forth attempts. This would be nearly a comical bond with a need to plot a resolution depending on your muse!

SUBMISSIVES. Archer’s history as a dom was… infamous. Long story short, he was known to be good, but dangerous. With a more stable mind he wouldn’t mind going back to one of his favorite hobbies. The deal is simple; he owns the person obviously, no penetration sex, no deep kissing, no romance (which doesn’t mean no affection or love) and not to start screaming about it on the streets. Although he wouldn’t mind so much now to play by the rules, if allowed Archer will become ruthless, enjoying giving permanent marks on others and inflict gradually harsher punishments or rewards. This profile fits, well, masochists and submissives people, from any form and shape really (a victim is a victim) who are willing to give their body for a mutual game, be they be paying Archer or not. Very selective… because Archer is difficult. The way he treats your muse can be from pretty sweet to downward harsh… entirely depends on what degree he finds your muse attractive. Beware scars and broken parts. Sessions can last from one evening to a whole weekend.

MISC.I’ll add more when I think of them! DO THROW ME YOUR IDEAS LET’S GO.

Like with any interaction, relationships are officially in the singleverse timeline if it is roleplayed to a minimum extensively. Looking forwards to write with you!

[gunnerpalace]

YourIchiRuki (Neapolitan Ice Cream): The BattleTech AU

SUMMARY

A very slow burn (500,000+ words just for setup) of Yoruichi, Ichigo, and Rukia trying to figure out how to deal with feelings and making a relationship work in a universe beset by war and political intrigue, as complicated by the fact that they are A. mercenaries, B. members of the nobility, and C. more than a little incredulous as to how they wound up in this mess in the first place, as set within a Bleach-y adaption of the BattleTech setting.

SETTING OVERVIEW

It is the year 3016. The Inner Sphere, a region approximately 1,000 light-years in diameter encompassing some 2 million stars and 2,000 inhabited planets, is split among five Successor States of the defunct Star League, each ruled by a Great House:

The Lyran Commonwealth, ruled by House Kuchiki

The Draconis Combine, ruled by House Shihōin

The Federated Suns, ruled by House Shiba

The Capellan Confederation, ruled by House Fujita

The Free Worlds League, ruled by House Hasegawa

The Periphery and Deep Periphery beyond their reach remain comparatively disorganized. Earth and the Sol System are ruled by ComStar, currently headed by Primus Sōsuke Aizen.

The Third Succession War, one in a series of conflicts waged nominally to restore the Star League, rages onward and is entering its 150th year. It is fought through all available means of combined arms warfare, but the premiere platform of the conflict is the BattleMech, an armored walking war machine piloted by a MechWarrior.

The young Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, Byakuya Kuchiki (26) has come to learn of the acquisition by the Federated Suns of the so-called Halstead Collection, a trove of Star League-era documents recovered during a military strike against a Draconis Combine staging area that was under construction. Realizing that House Shiba is nearing completion of their New Avalon Institute of Science to study the collection, he devises a plot to infiltrate the institution and gain access whatever secrets might have been found.

The linchpin of his plot is the world of Edo[1], a massively developed commercial and industrial hub. The cosmopolitan nature of Edo provides an easy means of inserting an agent into the society of the Federated Suns who can assume the identity of a native and then work their way onto the staff of the NAIS without raising suspicions. To this end, Byakuya dispatches his "adopted" younger sister, Baroness[2] Rukia Kuchiki (22), on an infiltration and reconnaissance mission, in order that she might prove herself. She is afforded a BattleMech[3] painted in Draconis Combine livery for the sake of additional deception and self-defense should anything go wrong (the Draconis Combine long having had designs on Edo).

After analyzing available data, Rukia decides that the best method of completing her mission and winning his approval is to infiltrate through what she reasons to be the soft underbelly of Edo: its countryside (or what passes for one). She selects the relatively sleepy city of Karakura, on the continent of New Tama, as her entry point.

Unbeknownst to either of the Kuchiki siblings, or indeed anyone in the Federated Suns, this is exactly where a former Duke of the Federated Suns, Isshin Shiba (from a branch of the main Shiba line, and now going under the adopted surname of Kurosaki) chose to flee from his responsibilities and raise a family. Although his wife died tragically some years prior, his son Ichigo Kurosaki (21) is in college, while his daughters (and fraternal twins) Karin Kurosaki and Yuzu Kurosaki (16) are in high school.

Likewise an unknown factor is that Kisuke Urahara (29) and his mercenary company (the Urahara Wild Cards) are in the same place. They have been reduced to the sorry state of having only two pilots, his chief officer (and former Coordinator of the Draconis Combine!) Yoruichi Shihōin (28) and Tessai Tsukabishi (34), as a result of most of the others having decided to go their own way (to form a company of their own called Visored). His company is actively recruiting.

The stage is set for a most curious complex of circumstances to unfold...

INITIAL PLOT SUMMARY

The idea behind this is that, although the setting features mecha, war, and political shenanigans (especially what with at least three people from the Great Houses about), I really wanted to use that as a framework for developing interpersonal relations. So, the general gist of the timeline would be that it starts off sort of like Bleach. 

Rukia shows up in Karakura and starts conducting her mission, but things quickly get out of hand. The canonical Federated Suns present themselves as being as honorable and democratic (or, at least as much so as an aristocratic system could be) but there are still vast wealth inequalities and social stratification in their lands, so my feeling is Rukia sees something or other which flips her chivalric and noblesse oblige switches, and she gets involved (eventually using her 'Mech), which draws the attention of the local military forces.

This results in a Fishbone D-style fight, which Ichigo and his family get dragged into. (Perhaps Rukia's 'Mech winds up being pushed into a residential area as she tries to retreat?) Rukia takes a hit to the cockpit while trying to shield Ichigo, getting injured by some shrapnel, mostly in her right arm. (Whoever she's fighting gets knocked down by her counterattack at the same time.) Ichigo clambers up into the cockpit (probably one side of it being torn open) to try and get to her, and finding her injured, decides he's got to fight in her place after getting her out of the ‘Mech[4].

Since he's the child of a Shiba, Isshin has probably subtly been training him to do something like pilot a 'Mech over time somehow, even if it wasn't obvious that's what it was training for. So, Ichigo is fairly naturally able to work with the 'Mech despite no prior official experience, and manages to take out the opposition without destroying the entire neighborhood in the process. He then passes out from heat exhaustion because Rukia's 'Mech is overheating and he doesn't have any kind of cooling gear on.

This is when Kisuke shows up (as in Bleach), having observed this battle from a distance and sensing an opportunity. He and his team scoop up Rukia and recover both her 'Mech and the Federated Suns one that continued pursuit, basically scouring the place for obvious evidence. Things go from there.

Ichigo wakes up the next morning in bed. Isshin, Yuzu, and Karin are fine (maybe they were knocked out through concussion or falling debris or being thrown against walls or something, but are alright; this is a bit handwavy but whatever, no one really cares that much) and seem to think it was a gas main explosion or something. The authorities are basically covering it up as exactly that. Ichigo remembers, but dismisses it as some kind of nightmare.

Until he meets Rukia on his college campus.

She's been patched up enough to be ambulatory but her arm needs time to recover and she can't pilot properly, and so she enlists Ichigo to help her with her infiltration mission by helping her with school and generally blending in and pretending to be a Federated Suns citizen. He refuses at first, but as she saved his life (and he is rather politically disaffected) and he finds there to be a charm in her notions of what honor and chivalry mean, he eventually comes around and grudgingly assists her. (It later turns out her 'Mech is in the care and repair of Kisuke, who is essentially billing her for the services and making her trade on token favors in the meantime.)

A month passes, much as in Bleach, with Rukia living out of Ichigo's room. During this time they converse quite a lot and grow close (as in Bleach and more especially its live action movie). Rukia comes to appreciate the comparative freedom of life in the Federated Suns (even compared to being a noble in the Lyran Commonwealth) and starts to genuinely doubt her mission and cause, finding them to be incompatible with how she interprets chivalry. During this time, she assists Ichigo in getting revenge on a criminal who was responsible for the death of his mother years prior (Grand Fisher equivalent, probably personal combat rather than a 'Mech fight). This is the final straw in her deciding to desert her mission and go native. She stops sending reports back to the Lyran Commonwealth.

Although Kisuke technically owns the Urahara Wild Cards, the reality of the situation is more complicated. He and Tessai were formerly retainers and subordinates of Yoruichi’s from her time as the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine; when she deserted her post to save them from certain execution (due to a convoluted conspiracy), they all wound up as dishonored ronin. Still, he shows her all due deference (if sometimes playfully) from their former lives. He prefers to take an administrative and executive role, leaving day-to-day operations to her, and logistical matters to Tessai.

It is around this time that Yoruichi returns from elsewhere on the planet, her own independent recruiting efforts in more populated areas not having yielded any results. Finding out what's been going on in her absence (with Kisuke having determined Isshin's real identity in the meantime), she's pretty stunned. (As the former leader of the Draconis Combine, finding out that both the sister of the Lyran Commonwealth's Archon and a plausible claimant to First Prince of the Federated Suns are present on such a world is pretty wild.) She joins Kisuke in taking an immediate interest in this situation, but takes care not to make her presence known around Ichigo or Rukia, reasoning at least the latter might be able to deduce who she is (or rather, used to be).

There is growing involvement from Ichigo's college friends and acquaintances (i.e., Chad, Uryuu, Orihime, Tatsuki) who get drawn into matters for personal reasons. (I'm leaning toward including them for contrast, use as sounding boards and interaction for the mains, additional pilots, and for side stories and subplots.) Of these, Uryuu might have his own (Light) 'Mech[5] already, with the Quincy perhaps being some sort of independence movement or armed militia group. (I find it debatable whether Keigo and Mizuiro should be included, but for once they rather plausibly could be.)

Another month passes, and Rukia decides it's time to leave, having come to reason that her mere presence puts Ichigo and everyone else in direct danger. Unfortunately for her, she is too late: shockingly, Byakuya himself arrives on Edo, along with a rising LCAF military commander, Renji Abarai, in order to retrieve her (again with Draconis Combine-styled 'Mechs). Byakuya has come to view her "failure" as a matter of personal honor.

This is where things start to diverge much more heavily from Bleach. Although Uryuu and Ichigo intervene, their ‘Mechs are no match for Renji's 'Mech[6], let alone Byakuya's[7]. All hope seems lost until Yoruichi, Kisuke, and Tessai deploy into battle in heavy and assault 'Mechs[8]. Suddenly outnumbered 2:5, Byakuya and Renji are forced to withdraw and retreat. However, this skirmish draws the attention of the local military much more heavily than even Rukia's initial actions.

The Urahara Wild Cards immediately make ready to leave the planet, and extend an offer to Ichigo, Rukia, and company to join them. Faced with little choice given the attention about to be brought to bear, Ichigo and Rukia choose to leave, prompting the others to join them too. (Rukia having already been prepared to leave, and Ichigo really not wanting to be apart from her but openly reasoning he was planning to leave home anyway after college. The others perhaps view it as more exciting and amenable than staying behind)

They all depart the planet and, after returning to Kisuke's orbiting DropShip (the Geta-Boshi[9], which is too large to make planetfall) soon also leave the system behind. Although Rukia initially finds the idea of becoming a mercenary distasteful for cultural reasons, a speech by Yoruichi[10], who chooses this moment to properly "introduce" herself, results in the six (or eight) deciding they might as well apply their skills as mercenaries under Kisuke's employ, bringing Urahara Wild Cards up to (at least) two full Lances worth of pilots.

The next several months are spent training and taking odd jobs. The young adults from Edo (Ichigo, Tatsuki, Chad, Orihime, and Uryuu [and maybe Keigo and Mizuiro]) come under the supervision of Yoruichi and Tessai for proper basic 'Mech training. Rukia, having received LCAF training, also gets roped into this as a co-instructor. Ichigo winds up being the star pupil of this program by virtue of his history, although Uryuu is not at all far behind.

They settle on a force structure that roughly balances out relative skill while still affording a strong main team and a good reserve team, yielding Alpha Lance (Yoruichi, Rukia, Ichigo, Chad) and Bravo Lance (Tessai, Uryuu, Tatsuki, Orihime). (If Keigo and Mizuiro are there, they're basically backbenchers until the Urahara Wild Cards get at least two more pilots[11] to form a third Lance, Charlie Lance, which would bring them up to Company strength.)

Rukia and Ichigo continue on much as they had before, on Edo. Although they both, along with everyone else, are issued fairly comfortable and private quarters (owing to the size and nature of the construction of the Geta-Boshi), more often than not Rukia chooses to spend her time in Ichigo's quarters, often falling asleep there. It relatively quickly becomes common for them to share a bed, although their relationship remains nebulous and unofficial; almost everyone else treats them as though they are a couple, but they remain very emotionally and personally intertwined rather than lovers.

The Ichigo-Yoruichi and Rukia-Yoruichi reactions are from the outset established on the basis of mutual respect, but as time goes on admiration, care, concern, and physical attraction start to creep into them. Ichigo winds up often getting additional training and instruction from both Yoruichi and Rukia, though more often from the former. He winds up becoming good friends with Yoruichi off-duty as much as on. They have sort of similar interests and approaches to things, and often wind up talking shop about hobbies or knowledge. Yoruichi and Rukia become fast friends due to a mutual background and lifestyle focus; although the Kuchiki and Shihōin are nominally bitter enemies, it turns out they have a lot more in common than it might first seem. They swap more advanced piloting techniques and train together frequently to keep each other sharp. They also spend time together when off-duty, and in the process also become closer with Tatsuki and Orihime, as there are relatively fewer women aboard the Geta-Boshi and the MechWarriors tend to stand apart from the ship's crew and the engineering staff.

A bunch of little incidents also take place that heighten their growing closeness. Two examples: 1. Ichigo winds up walking into Yoruichi's quarters to ask her a question and accidentally catches her in a state of undress; he retreats in (appreciative) embarrassment, but Yoruichi also realizes she doesn't mind that he saw anything. 2. Yoruichi, deducing during an R&R stop on a planet that Rukia is more than a little repressed, and inexperienced to the point of not even knowing how to please herself, offers to show her how as a fellow woman, then reveals she didn't know what she was doing either the first few times she tried.

If the initial time in Karakura were to take roughly 75 chapters (at about 4,000 words each), then this all would probably take at least another 75 chapters, and probably more.

Eventually, one evening Ichigo winds up joining Yoruichi at the only bar on the Geta-Boshi and they trade stories and talk about themselves and each other (although only he drinks). Yoruichi gradually realizes over the course of the evening that she enjoys the sense of connection they share, and that she genuinely finds him attractive, and has the sense that he feels the same about her. Although she's (very) well aware of Ichigo and Rukia's "not-a-relationship," she's also discerned they're not actually lovers, and although that leaves her a bit conflicted, she still chooses to act on her impulses, reasoning she's not doing anything wrong by pursuing him.

After they leave together, she gets him alone (in his 'Mech rather than in either of their quarters, not wanting to make it about power) and reveals her attraction toward him. Her understanding of her feelings is often physical, and she comes onto him, even though she knows that what she’s feeling isn’t purely lust; it’s something more emotionally meaningful and leaves her vulnerable, and the way she takes control of it is by being a bit forward. Ichigo has a kind of similar attraction and doesn’t fight her, having a sense of her perspective and emotions. They have sex, both wanting and needing it, but it’s not just that, and it’s great. Feeling awkward about just doing it and then going their separate ways, Ichigo goes back to her quarters with her, where (despite some innuendo) they probably just shower and fall asleep together (with maybe more in the early morning). This has been prototyped out as about two chapters.

Although Yoruichi initially only considered the idea of it as being a one-time thing, despite her feelings, it keeps occasionally happening over the next few weeks (maybe about every 3-5 days or so) as both of them enjoy the physical comfort of their connection, and the pillow talk afterward.

Meanwhile, Ichigo often spends his other nights finding Rukia asleep beside him, and starts to think about how deep his emotional connection to her is, and how comforting that is too. It leaves him more than a little conflicted and he starts to focus that feeling in on himself as he tries to figure out what to do.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

This is where my sense of the plot becomes a bit less certain, and where I felt that input could be particularly insightful.

My sense is that Rukia, smart cookie that she is, would figure out what is going on very quickly. (Probably having a sense of it almost immediately, and piecing it together within a week.) Considering the undefined nature of her relationship with Ichigo, I don't think she'd be mad at him or upset with him. I do think it would also make her reflect on her feelings toward him, and together with her own growing recognition of her sexuality, would lead her to be curious and to want to try and have a physical connection with Ichigo too.

So, I think that she would prepare herself mentally and wait until a night when he was in his quarters, and make the first move. And Ichigo would not resist and quickly start to cooperate, wanting to make Rukia feel good. It'd be different between her and him than with him and Yoruichi, but just as intoxicating.

Probably the next morning, Rukia would slip out early and go to see Yoruichi to try and discuss things, having some sense of Ichigo's emotional turmoil and not wanting it to go on further.

I think they'd talk in Yoruichi’s quarters (as I don’t think Rukia would be intimidated by talking there), but they might also go somewhere private on the ship, maybe a kind of industrial or disused area as neutral ground.

Rukia would begin with just a frank admission of, "I've slept with Ichigo," not wanting to make the talk confrontational or anything.

Yoruichi would say something like, "Good. It's about time."

"That's all you have to say?" Rukia would be surprised more than anything.

Yoruichi might maneuver closer and get in her personal space, assessing her carefully and critically. Rukia might tense up a little but would hold her ground, not afraid.

Eventually Yoruichi gets closer still and leans in to just softly kiss her.

Rukia's stunned, then like, "What are you doing?!"

Yoruichi would pull back and consider her, then cross her arms over her chest as she looked away. She'd say something like, "I know you will, but make sure you take care of him," making it clear she approved.

Rukia would be stunned for a moment, giving Yoruichi the opportunity to begin to gently quiz her on the experience. Did she like it? Did Ichigo? Was it good? Where do they want to go with their relationship?

I think Rukia would see through it, and although she would answer, she would press Yoruichi on her own feelings. It would turn into a kind of Self-Sacrifice Olympics because Yoruichi would be willing to step aside, and Rukia feels bad about that because she can tell that it wasn't purely physical on Yoruichi's part, and back and forth.

They would talk through things for longer than they might have thought they would, with Rukia discerning Yoruichi's care for Ichigo and Yoruichi truly grasping how considerate Rukia is.

I think Rukia would be moved, personally, and she'd eventually return Yoruichi's initial smooch but for a different reason, to make it clear how heartfelt her respect was.

Now, of course, the goal here was to set this up together gradually, so I think that given their shared history to that point, Yoruichi would return it and it would turn into something more, more mutual and a bit handsy.

By the time they pulled apart and looked at one another, they'd both have expressions like, 'Well. What do we do now?'

I think it'd be Rukia who said, "We'll have to see what he says... together."

I don't think they would immediately become a trio from there, it'd be a lot rockier than that, with each having their doubts about the matter before them. 

Ichigo would be worried that they were just doing this for his benefit and that he didn't deserve either of them. Rukia would be less confident in her newfound sexuality and lack of experience and might have a bi crisis (or recurrent bouts of it). Yoruichi would be secure in her sexuality but be worried about hurting them and how that could affect them all professionally (to the extent of even getting them all killed).

I also think it'd take them a fair amount of time to try anything all together, even just cuddling. So it'd be a drawn out process of discovery rather than them all just jumping into it. Movie nights, hanging out, going on dates in pairs and as a trio, and splitting off to take turns as duos (Rukia and Yoruichi at first having an understanding, and eventually taking the step of trying being with each other). It would probably take almost as much time to process through as it did to set up before they finally fully settled in together. 

Meanwhile, the surrounding situation would also obviously be growing more complicated...

In addition to mercenary adventures and dealing with the continuing wrath of Byakuya and the Lyran Commonwealth, there is an even larger picture owing to the Third Succession War.

While, obviously, this does not slavishly follow BattleTech's history as it is, nor will it going forward, taking elements and using them seems prudent. In BattleTech canon, the Third Succession War ends in 3025 with the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns signing a defensive pact (in 3022) which is ultimately designed to unify them (into the "Federated Commonwealth"). The Free World League, Draconis Combine, and Capellan Confederation then ink their own agreement to counterbalance the threat of this.

My feeling is that the FedCom pact could have an interesting basis in Ichigo and Rukia coming together (and, because I'm a basic and predictable bitch, Byakuya and Kuukaku getting involved), although Yoruichi's presence would make things more interesting and complicated. Regardless, I think that with three Great Houses being represented (by Yoruichi, Rukia, and Ichigo) the crew would wind up playing some sort of role in the Third Succession War's resolution.

Other characters can be integrated variously throughout in different ways as well.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Likely standing in for Robinson in the actual BattleTech setting. [2] Rukia's official title of nobility is quite low considering her relation at this time. [3] Rukia, operating on behalf of her brother, has a rare customized 'Mech: an FS9-H Firestarter with 3/4 of the Flamers replaced by Medium Lasers, changing its BV (2.0) from 694 to 883. The rear-facing Flamer is the one retained. This would give it decent staying combat power for something so light. Looks something like this. [4] In BattleTech, the Successor States lost the knowledge of many Star League-era technologies ("lostech"). One of them was cooling suits for MechWarriors; "typical" garb is instead a cooling jacket and as little clothing as possible, usually a sleeveless leotard. So this could be a kind of funny scene if that's kept. (How hard is it to turn a vest into a suit though...) This would make Yoruichi's preferred taste in attire in Bleach fairly normative, though. Alternatively, the standard could be more like what was envisioned in one of the latest video game adaptations. [5] Probably a bog-standard LCT-1V Locust, the most common sort around. Looks something like this. [6] Perhaps an HBK-4G Hunchback. Looks something like this. Renji can have an ugly 'Mech to start with. [7] I'm thinking of a stock VTR-9B Victor. Looks something like this. [8] I think Yoruichi might have a TDR-5SE Thunderbolt (looks), Kisuke might have a MAD-3R Marauder (looks), and Tessai might have a BLR-1G BattleMaster (looks). [9] Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Tessai have somehow found (and renamed) the Argo. [10] It's notable that the Draconis Combine hates mercenaries, so that Yoruichi is here (with Kisuke and Tessai) doing mercenary work also Says Something. [11] As I am constantly saying Fullbring should’ve been introduced early in Bleach, maybe they meet (and beat) rival mercenary group Xcution and take on the remnants (probably Jackie, Yukio, and Riruka) as pilots?

[ice-cream-nekogirl]

Finally! I drew my Amy Martinez!! My OC that initially began as a reader insert and blossomed into her own character! Technically a BNHA OC whose parents are My Hero Academia and American Horror Story. My Hero Academia explains why Amy has heroic traits, but American Horror Story also explains why she’s so... psychotic and creepy. She was born in the Coven season too, so she grew up among powerful, glamorous witches such as the beautiful Cordelia Goode and the wicked Fiona Goode,  Cordelia’s late mother and the former Supreme. Alongside her were also powerful witches and her new sisters Zoe Benson, Queenie and Madison Montgomery, however her best friends are Hitoshi Shinsou and Ashlen Kyanse (@ashleigh-luvs-14cats) and her other best friends are Izuku Midoriya, Denki Kaminari, Shoto Todoroki, Mina Ashido, Sero Hanta and Eijirou Kirishima. And her on-and-off boyfriend is Katsuki Bakugo.

She does not possess a quirk, so she believed, instead she discovered that she’s actually a witch as her mother is a witch and she comes from a line of witches descending from Salem. Her father however, DOES have a quirk, a quirk called ‘Feelings’ which allows him to feel whatever other people are feeling. And this manifested in another power Amy gains later on when she masters six of the seven wonders.

She’s a unique girl, energetic, hyperactive, cheerful and often smiling even during times where she shouldn’t be smiling which showcases her overly optimistic personality. She’s also very mischievous, childish and a troll who likes to scare the crap out of her classmates in the hero course as she’s constantly pulling pranks or making immature, vulgar jokes. Amy is also a goofball who likes to make jokes to lighten up the mood even if it’s at her expense, and can be reckless when it comes to herself as she frequently overeats despite getting sick afterwards or jumping off the school-building and using her telekinesis before hitting the ground to give people a cheap thrill. Although Amy seems like an airhead she’s actually very intuitive, sly and pragmatic when it comes to battle, although she has been criticized for cheating and breaking several rules, but Amy defends herself by saying rules won’t protect them during villain attacks. Likewise, Amy is very outspoken, passionate and unafraid to speak her mind even if it gains unfavorable remarks, and is especially outspoken about her feminist views. Her feminism borders on radical feminism due to being raised by powerful, assertive and aggressive witches, but she knows when to back down and won’t hurt any males unless they give her a reason to by acting like perverted creeps (i.e Mineta),

Despite her vices, Amy is true to her name (beloved) as she is sympathetic, affectionate and caring and never hesitates to help a friend when she can sense they’re upset, especially where her childhood friend Shinsou is concerned, or close friends Izuku and Todoroki, as well as her best friend Ashlen (my actual best friend @ashleigh-luvs-14cats‘s OC) and her boyfriend Bakugo. She’s very empathetic as her powers allow her to feel what her friends feel, and she does her best to cheer them up or find a way to make them feel better whether it’s by letting them vent or crying it out, she’s willing to hear them out and be their shoulder to cry on. Her empathetic side also allows her to sympathize with villains as she befriended Toga and Twice when she got herself captured when trying to rescue Bakugo, and also managed to understand Shigaraki and have a decent conversation with him. This also has to do with her occassionally feeling like an outsider to the heroes due to being a witch and being generally unfavored by society and so she understands the villains. Shigaraki attempted to use this against her, albeit also being willing to let another fellow outcast have a place in his league of villains, but she declined because of her friendship with her classmates. 

Amy adores all of her friends and likes to be around them because they make her feel ‘safe’ and ‘loved’, and although she knows she can be a pain in their butts, she does feel guilty for going overboard at times and does her best to make up for it to her classmates.  Although she witnessed her parents being murdered and witnessed several other murders during her stay at Robichaux in New Orleans, Amy is compassionate and tries to smile and be happy during tragedy so she can cheer up her friends and make them happy when they’re feeling under pressure

However, even this can crack when she’s under pressure as she has proven time again that she’s actually quite emotionally fragile and somewhat psychologically unstable due to the trauma she’s faced in her childhood after her parent’s death and witnessing all the bloodshed, hatred and betrayal in New Orleans. In fact, her concerned classmate Iida speculates that she has some kind of mental disorder which is not improbable given her fluctuating moods, occasional irritability, tendency to say inappropriate things and risky behaviors that Madison encourages such as drug abuse and shop-lifting. When properly provoked, Amy loses her empathetic traits and becomes even crueler than Fiona and Madison and can disregard the well-being of others. Having murdered before and committed other crimes, Amy can also be sadistic, psychotic, bloodthirsty, violent and vindictive at her worst. When angry she’s not above physically harming people who anger her whether they are innocent or not, or if they’re a classmate, friend or even a teacher. Because Amy’s unique power stems from her father’s quirk and her mother’s heritage, Amy’s powers can easily spiral out of control in accordance to her strong/negative emotions and cause things around her to break, not unlike her classmate Tokoyami’s quirk. However, unlike the latter, Amy displays an acceptable control over her powers and freely loses control to lash out and shows more of a willingness to destroy things.

Amy’s anger can be so great that she’s even willing to argue with and even fight with a friend should they try to provoke her, which has earned the fear of her classmates as her temper is often unpredictable. Her anger makes her powers more unstable, but her depression and shame also adds to the instability, only she doesn’t always realize what she’s doing until she calms down. Yet, even though she states that being angry gives her a ‘high’ and sense of being ‘in control’, Amy always, always feels immense shame for lashing out afterwards, but always feels like her apologies will never make up for the damage she’s done, even when her classmates and friends forgive her. At her core, Amy has a desperate need to be loved by people and especially the people she loves and who love her, as her feelings can be easily hurt by them and she’s prone to breaking down and lashing out should she feel that someone she loves is upset with her. Her shame has turned into self-hatred over the years as she’s aware of her flaws and how she lashes out because of her envious, resentful side, but she hates the fact that she’s like that, even if she can’t always help it. Although Amy is brave and reckless most of the time, her biggest fear is being alone and unloved.

All in all, Amy is far from perfect, and she knows it, but hates herself for it. However, her loved ones are there to keep her grounded and are there for her when things become too much for even an optimist like her to handle, and despite everything, Amy does have a big heart and sensitivities that make her an empathetic girl who just wants her loved ones to be happy. 

So that’s my Amy... she’s... actually more complex than I intended her to be...

Compassionate yet Merciless Sympathetic yet Unforgiving Gentle yet Vindictive Laidback yet Enthusiastic Carefree yet Serious Feminine yet Tomboyish Cheerful yet Depressed Peaceful yet Mad Innocent yet Mature Loving yet Resentful

[scotianostra]

Stars shine above Shenavall bothy, with a glimmer of aurora beyond Beinn Dearg Mhòr and Beinn Dearg Bheag.

Shenavall was first occupied by one Colin MacDonald and his family on a cold dreich morning in November 1891. With a swirling mist obscuring the surrounding peaks of An Teallach and Beinn Dearg Mor and many mountain burns in full spate, their arrival by boat at the head of Loch na Sealga was not an encouraging start to occupancy that was to last all of ten years. The family’s miserable possessions consisted of no more than a few trunks, some bedding and a wheelbarrow.

The stonemasons who had built their home had left only the previous day; the walls remained unlined, and the bare earth was strewn with rubble. Within days, however, father and son had plastered the walls with some blue clay taken from a nearby mound of glacial debris. Major improvements were started in the Spring with the construction of upstairs bedrooms and insertion of wooden wall linings and floorboards. The family’s arrival was due to Colin’s father having been appointed stalker on the Dundonnell estate. Mr MacDonald was also a skilful crofter, fisher, shepherd and stonemason. Evidence of the latter skill can be seen in the well-constructed dry-stone barn which abuts the house to this day.

Colin was born in the now ruined house which still stands on the left hand side of ‘Destitution Road’ before the descent to Little Loch Broom. Mrs MacDonald must have been busy looking after four children – three born during the family’s sojourn at Shenavall. In addition, there were four cows requiring daily attention, the milk having o be made into butter, cheese and crowdie. Wool was clipped from sheep and spun on her spinning wheel, leter to be knitted into socks and pullovers. The walled garden ensured an ample supply of fresh vegetables, while the surrounding estate furnished plentiful stock of venison and trout.

Not that the MacDonalds were entirely self-sufficient. Twice a year supplies of meal- at twopence a bag – paraffin, sugar and tea were conveyed by pony from Dundonnell. A roll of tweed was bought from Ullapool every year from the then-busy mill. Soaked in the burn for a few days, it was then stretched out on the roof to dry in readiness for the itinerant taylor who would make suits, trousers, skirts and jackets for the whole family. Life was not lonely at the turn of the century, as there was then four other inhabited houses in the area : Auchnegie, Laroch an Tigh Mhor (‘Foundation of the Big House’) situated just across the river, The Watcher’s House at Loch an Nid, and Colin’s birth place at Loch an Voir. Each homestead had four cows, each of which produced a calf annually. When weaned, the beats were driven overland to market in Inverness. The problem of educating the children of this isolated community was solved by the School Board appointing a pupil-teacher from Dundonnell School – a young lady named Miss MacDonald. She stayed with each family for a month : board and keep in fair exchange for her instructions.

All told, however, life was very harsh for the inhabitants of the area. The winter of 1895 – 1896 was most severe. A few days after Christmas, so much snow fell that no-one could leave the glen until late March. More than 500 sheep were starving at Loch an Voir when three men and numerous dogs set out on a rescue bid. In single file and alternately taking the lead the three men broke trail, with the sheep following in tow, until they reached Loch na Sealga, where the snow was less deep and grazing was possible.

The weather improved in April 1896. It became quite warm, though much snow still covered the land. One morning as Colin and his family were working outside, a tremendous bang rent the air. No noise they ever heard before or after that morning surpassed the loudness of that sound – eardrums were almost burst. Later, when they had recovered from the shock, the family looked towards the Loch from whence the noise had arisen. A huge fissure had rent the entire six mile length of ice. As the meltwater had drained away down the Gruinard River, the iced surface of the loch had been left suspended. No longer able to withstand it, it had split in one explosive moment.

The isolation of Shenavall might have presented serious medical problems to the inhabitants, but this was not so. During the twelve years that Colin lived there, the services of a doctor were necessary only on one occasion, when his brother developed an abscess on his gum. The three children born to the MacDonalds at Shenavall were all safely delivered by the midwife, a Mrs MacKenzie from Dundonnell. The mode of transport for this important visitor consisted of a deer saddle fixed to a sturdy pony. In an undignified fashion, the midwife was securely fastened into the saddle like a garrotted hind.

Many famous – and no doubt, infamous – souls have sought shelter under the hallowed roof of Shenavall. HRH Prince Charles, for one, appreciated the house’s austere comforts while he was still a pupil at Gordonstoun, near Elgin, he being but one of many visitors to have recorded their thoughts in the Shenavall log-book. It was from that same book – through an entry from Colin MacDonald’s daughter – that I met the man himself. He spent his twilight years in Dollar, Clackmannanshire where, at the age of 94, he accompanied me on an afternoon’s hillwalk. As we walked, this fit and articulate Highland gentleman relatedthe incredible story of Shenavall. To Colin I dedicate the following poem which was composed by Jim Ballie, my constant companion and helper at Shenavall.

Poem to Colin MacDonald   –   Jim Ballie In winter here, no heart could mourn for summer nor spring, No blemish or sickness or deformity see, In anything that grew upon the earth, On all the land there was no stain. Though hiking days are gone, And dull and grey the sky, In memory still lives on, Days on mountain high. Of valleys stilled in twilight calm And fires that flicker in the evening breeze, The mountain river sang an evening psalm. Someday, perchance, we will return to these.

Info and poem from MBA  https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/