#the translation said grooming idk what to think about that but okay

[lemonfreshlysqueezed]

The neurodivergent behaviour!

[rosyandraw]

Speaking of Damen’s POV. I’ve always wondered what Damen was thinking in Chapter 5 when he just got back from secretly rescuing Auguste and Laurent ask him whether he wanted to fuck him. Idk because the way you wrote it seemed so ominous.

Did Damen ever suspect that Laurent was ever groomed at all? Because I think it’s evident that Laurent portrays obvious signs of unhealthy experience like how he assumes that every favour should be repayed with sex etc.

Would love to know more on Damen’s introspection of Laurent. And ngl for someone as protective as Damen, I’m surprised that Damen didn’t take action on Bastian sooner. Like just beat him up already djdghshs

Okay this might get long so I’m very sorry! And I’ll put it under a cut because it could potentially be upsetting or triggering and I don’t want anyone to accidentally see it.

Damen’s awareness of Laurent’s abuse in canon and how I translated this.

Firstly, thank you so much for this question, and yes, it was meant to be a little ominous or dark because you guys all know what it implies.

I’ll start by saying it is a tough topic to navigate in fiction because the nuances can get lost on page and there is no one size fits all.

And that’s always very present in my mind when I think about Captive Prince and the way it deals with -and the ways it doesn’t deal with- Laurent’s abuse.

For Damen in particular I based NMFY and Damen's behaviours/reactions entirely on my opinion regarding the canon.

Did Damen consciously and actually think the words “Laurent was groomed”? No.

Do I think he was aware on many levels of the things he was witnessing, and cataloguing of Laurent's behaviours, and it's likely source? Yes.

I think Damen, like many of us, would never just assume something so brutal regardless of what’s in front of us. It’s not a standard thing to think or assume regardless of the people and circumstances around the person. Most people do not go around thinking of it because it is abhorrent and outside of -most- people’s experiences. I think as good people we -like Damen- would shy away from the conscious admission of the thought because we don’t want it to be true. Even when something is “off”.

And I believe that is at the heart of Damen's understanding in canon (and in my fic by extension). Canon Damen is very good at compartmentalising and actively not thinking about the things that upset him. His ability to repress his pain (Kastor, Jokaste, being made a slave, not getting to say goodbye to his murdered father, the prep and ring scene, the post, Ancel... the list goes on) is unparalleled and speaks to his own trauma response mechanisms. I think this very much extends to Laurent and the fact that he was, as Damen said "mishandled"

He actively shies away from it. He notices little things here and there and then quickly swerves away. An example that springs to mind right now from very early on is Pg 13 of Prince's Gambit:

There was something uneasily transgressive about the idea of sleeping in the place meant for Laurent’s uncle “the prince stays here often?”. The castellan mistook him to mean the keep, not the rooms. “Not often, He and his uncle came here a great deal together in the year or two after Marlas. As he grew older, the Prince lost his taste for the runs here. He now comes only rarely to Chastillon."

Damen made a leap but he doesn't tell us exactly what that leap is. We just know that the intimacy of Laurent sleeping in his uncle's bed made him uneasy. That something felt off. But the castellan mistakes Damen's meaning implying it is something normal and follows up with what is essentially the reason he thinks nothing of it. And then food arrives and Damen rushes off to it with the air of someone desperate to cut the conversation. A flash in the pan; noticed, documented, and quickly buried. One instance of many.

So, yes. I think Damen was only waiting for confirmation both in Canon and in my fic. He was actively repressing everything he had noticed and rejecting the conclusion he desperately did not want to think about.

Because what if he was wrong? That’s a terrible thing to assume or bring up or bookmark in your head about someone when you don’t know.

I think in Canon, and likewise what I attempted in my fic, it equates somewhat to: Schrödinger’s awareness. He doesn't know, but he also does.

In Chapter 5 of NMFY it gives Damen pause, like most of Laurent’s glaring markers, the same way they do for Damen in canon. It’s something he makes a note of and something he endeavours to not question out right -not his place- and to make sure Laurent feels safe enough to know Damen would never do what Laurent expects.

This part in particular I based on Laurent’s assumption following how drunk he gets at Marlas in Kings Rising, that Damen probably fucked him. Laurent in CP and Laurent in my fic are both aware that being out of it (drugged, practically asleep, incredibly drunk) means it’s easy to fuck him and all he has to really do is lie there and it’ll be over quick, because his submission or compliance is the expected norm. Neither upsetting nor angering to him. Just is what it is. An expectation from experience. He’s less trouble when he’s half conscious: this he knows and equates it to ideal time to fuck him because docile is preferable and his comfort/consent has never been part of the equation.

In my fic Damen clings to the idea that Auguste would have said something if it had been true of Laurent. So whilst he’s aware something about Laurent is off, he consciously shuts the ideas down. But Damen doesn’t take time to be convinced both in my fic and in canon, he just absorbs it. There are no questions, it’s just bringing a hard buried suspicion to the forefront as fact.

As for Bastian I think Damen wants to so very badly. But he’s also aware that he can’t really do that given who they are. And he’s never exactly certain that it’s his place to do so. He (and me by extension or is that the other way around? Haha!) needs Laurent to pull the trigger so to speak. He’s protective yes but Laurent has his own agency and Damen wouldn’t overstep that.

Especially in a modern setting and in this setting in particular where he has to worry about the press and the truth of a certain situation which he can never afford to have out. Anything with the police is a no go for him. Just in case. Damen is aware that the Royal family, the secret service, they’d all flip if someone dug up -or dragged up- the truth so its best not to tempt fate. Which absolutely isn’t to say he can’t be pushed but as of right now he’s conscious of Laurent and his choices and what he might want -or not want- and his place in all of that. He’s not petty enough to lash out with jealousy at least. Like in canon jealous Damen is more derisive and sulky than aggressive or petty.

I am very sorry this got so long but I wanted to give it a proper answer 💕💕

[haleigh-sloth]

Is tomura saying he knew he was being groomed since the start, or is he saying he’d come to realize that recently (like around the war arc)? I just cant imagine a traumatized 5 year old being that aware of his situation, but I’m still confused by the way he’s worded it

It IS confusing because Caleb just didn't pay attention. And I don't entirely blame people for being confused here, but lemme explain.

Caleb took a fat L this chapter.

On a few things, but this being the absolute stupidest one:

“Using Shimura and All Might to push my buttons”—-is just, idk where he got that from. He pulled that out of his ass.

Pikahlua’s translation says this:

AFO used All Might's connection to NANA to HARASS HIM. How did he do this? Using Tomura.

And, while people can go debate translations all day, this is literally the only one that makes sense.

Why? Lots of reasons.

Tomura didn't learn about OFA until Ujiko told him, right before his surgery. So, given that, he had no idea about All Might or OFA at all, he also didn't know Izuku even had it! He didn't know about their connection. Zilch. Nada.

So with THAT, Tomura didn't know about Nana's connection to All Might. Because again, why would he? He didn't know about OFA, which is what connects Nana to All Might. He didn't know about Nana's connection to AFO until the PLF war when they met in the vestige either.

Next, AFO....literally...fucking...said it...in the Kamino arc. That he used Tomura's connection to Nana to piss off All Might. He literally. Said. It.

So WHYYYY Caleb thought that it made sense to say that AFO used Nana's connection to All Might to push Tomura's buttons is fucking beyond me.

Last obvious explanation is that, we are very fully aware that Tomura's memories from when he was five were locked away...for a long ass time. He didn't remember until MVA. So it's seriously just...not possible for him to have just been aware this entire time. How can he be aware when he wasn't even aware of what happened for like 16 years? In Tomura Shigaraki: Distortion, he explains that all he has at the time are just distorted images and feelings, and that he only remembers his master holding him, he doesn't know (also not the way you talk about someone you're fully aware is using you the entire time??).

But as Caleb translated it...I mean yeah, you could assume he was saying that he has been aware since he was 5 years old???

But given the evidence above ^^^^ that is just not true.

Imo the obvious explanation is that he became fully aware of his situation during PLF when, you know, AFO started hi-jacking his body.

I think he started retaining his "origin" during the S&S chapters when we got our first Tenko spotting. And then as we go on we see him changing into current Tomura (which is negative development still) and then pop! He comes out and says "I'm gonna do exactly what my sensei gaslit me into believing I am only capable of doing and BORN to do because I'm so independent and such a free thinker :D"

All of this because he re-contextualized his origin *again* into something AFO constructed lol

Free! Tomura is fake news. God.

Okay anyway--no he definitely was not aware since he was kidnapped. Just, no way.

This chapter was so good and it's frustrating that the official translations were fucked up :/

[ticklepinions]

Hi! Hope you're doing well. I just came for advice ig? I saw another blog I follow get a really disturbing ask and it made me really uncomfortable. Long story short it was about the ler being very controlling and domineering. To the point where the "Lee" was getting their boundaries crossed. Idk what my question is exactly just curious on your thoughts?

Heyo. Very long winded answer under the cut. I encourage everyone to read though.

Warning: consent being ignored. Mentions of kink terminology

TL;DR Remember people are human. They aren't just what they can do for you. Their wants and desires are just as important as your own. Communication is key as usual. Be upfront with what you want and expect in the relationship (platonic or romantic). Being ticklish doesn't mean you want to be tickled/teased. If people get angry at you for setting boundaries that is a big red flag, you deserve to have your consent respected.

I think I have a feeling about which ask it was. Yeah. It made me angry. I said it once and I'll say it again.

Being a lee does not mean you're inherently submissive and feminine.

Being a ler does not mean you're inherently dominant and masculine.

Can you be? Sure, but the roles don't need to be boiled down to those specific categories.

I've never actually had a "session" before and I'm sure they're other blogs who have great advice you can check out.

In my opinion, consent should never be crossed. The "Lee" has all the power over their own body. If they say do not tickle me there. Guess what? You're not tickling them there. If they are uncomfortable with restraints or tools, you guessed it, you aren't involving any of those elements.

And people like to, for lack of a better word, groom others into doing what they want to do. They pretend like they want to "help" you get over your fear but really they just have ulterior motives. Lees become nothing but a tool for the ler's pleasure and that is a big red flag.

Alternatively, Lees shouldn't be forcing lers to do things they're uncomfy with.

I get it. Setting boundaries is hard. Especially with people who may push back, sometimes unintentionally. I thought I was a pro at consent stuff but I found out I suck. And it's okay, I'm still learning. I'm a people pleaser so I have a tendency to ignore my own personal boundaries just to ensure the other person is happy. And I try to be mindful of when I get into those moods. Sometimes you really just have to remove yourself from the situation, take a step back and reassess.

As a switch, it is such a problem. I know I have multiple posts of how ticklish I am, but get this:

Being ticklish does not mean I want to be tickled/teased.

I don't like being tickled by people I don't know or can't trust with my body. I am ticklish yes, very much so, but it should be enjoyable for me as it is for you. I've had several encounters with people who just don't respect that. I try my best to communicate that while I may be ticklish, at the end of the day, I am most comfortable doing a majority of the tickling. But I understand. As a switch it's difficult. We all have different needs right? I've messed up before when it comes to trying to sway people into a Lee or Ler mood. It happens sometimes, it starts out as teasy and fun then you realize that you might be coaxing this person (in the wrong way) into a mood they weren't in and didn't want to be in.

Communication is so incredibly important but extremely difficult at times. I find it harder to set boundaries with people I like because I want to keep them so to speak. But guess what!? I (and YOU) deserve relationships (p or r) that revolve around respecting each other's boundaries!

If someone EVER gets angry at you for having a boundary, RUN. That is some major toxic stuff right there. Like ofc, communicate that it's making you uncomfy because a lot of people just don't understand consent (it's actually pretty scary).

And the fact that being a Lee has somehow automatically translated to being submissive has really hurt this community imo. And what does society believe is the epitome of submissiveness? Femininity. Before joining the community I've been a lurker and the shit I have seen yo. Women both trans and cis have been preyed upon by, usually, cis men. People receiving unwanted teasy asks or sliding in their DMs etc. I remember seeing this one butthurt person being like "well she posted a tummy pic she basically asked for it". Like... People really think that. I don't want to open that can of worms but- damn bro.

But anyways back to communication. If you interact with a switch, and you are one yourself, be up front with what you want. An example would be a Ler-leaning switch and a lee-leaning. The ler/lean will have greater wants to do the tickling and the lee/lean will have greater wants to be tickled. If they both agree that they are okay with that relationship, great! However, if the ler/lean suggests they be the one being tickled that's a topic of discussion. Both parties should and must be willing. If the Lee/lean says they don't want to, then they don't want to. It's just important to establish that so people know what to expect ya know? Because one person won't be able to fulfill all your wants.

An example: You'll make friends who like the rougher side of tickles but they can't provide you the gentle tickles that you may crave. So you happen to make friends who are great at gentle tickles. One weekend you make feel like rough tickles the other gentle tickles, and you bounce back with the people who mutually agree with what you want at the time.

Same concept can apply to switches. There are gonna be people where you will win the tickle fights and like that dynamic. There are others where you will lose tickle fights and enjoy that dynamic. Lastly there are people where you will have a stalemate and find joy in that dynamic.

Example Convo between Switches

"So I know you're Ler-leaning, and you know I am lee-leaning"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay with being tickled by me? There are times where I really want to tickle someone and I think you'd be fun to tickle."

"Hmm well I'm not sure, I think I prefer just being the tickler. I really appreciate you asking though!"

"Understandable! No problem at all"

Scenario 2

"*insert teasy words here*"

"Actually I'm not really feeling like a ler today. But I wouldn't mind if you tickled me if you're up for it"

"Oh sure no problem! Same safeword as last time?"

"Yes! Thanks friend"

[calpops]

together | c.h.

@notinthesameguey said: If you're able to 👉👈What about a lazy dinner and they just talk about the wedding? Maybe they're huddled in the living room eating some pizza and they joke about wanting some pizza at their wedding and yeah

1.3k words

dates with cal masterlist

Copyright © 2020 calpops. All rights reserved. This original work is not allowed to be reposted on any platform in any format (translations included).

<< >>

Calum comes home late but you’re not alone, the ring on your finger keeps you company and reminds you of his promises. You don’t tire of staring at opal and silver inlaid with flecks of diamonds. It’s not just the beauty of the ring that keeps your attention but the feeling that it evokes. When the front door finally opens you turn from your perch on the couch and wave Calum over as he enters with a grin. His first instinct when he reaches you is to hold your hand, let his eyes look upon the ring and then let his lips brush the back of your hand past a smirk. 

“That ring was made for you,” he says in a whisper as you pull him down onto the couch, the reality of being engaged coming down with you.

“Did you eat?” You ask, knowing how Calum’s schedule always becomes skewed when studio and rehearsal hours wear him thin. “We have left overs.”

“I could go for that,” Calum says but makes no move to get to the fridge where day old pizza lingers. Instead, he nuzzles into you and takes a moment to be with you.

Ever since the night of tears and questions of distance you’ve both gotten back on track to spending time together. No more tense moments of silence follow you, no more doubts or fears plague you during lonely nights. Simple things bring you back to normalcy. Taking an extra moment to linger with each other, spending mornings together, getting engrossed in a new book when sleepless nights ensue. Now, it’s all done with a ring on your finger and plans of a wedding in your heads.

“Let’s go together,” you suggest around a laugh when he still makes no move to get food. He whines in a low rumble at the thought of disentangling himself from your side but he complies; leftover pizza in an empty stomach too tempting to give up on completely.

After it’s heated in the oven and put on plates brought over to the couch you settle back into each other’s holds. Your legs are draped across his lap, shoulder under his arm and his free hand occasionally running through your hair. You can tell he’s tired, that a book probably won’t be read tonight, so you enjoy a lazy dinner with him and talk while you can.

“I told my parents today,” Calum says and you know he’s referring to the engagement. You had kept it between yourselves for a week, wanting to spend some alone time as fiancé’s without anyone else in the mix. “My mum squealed. She actually squealed over the phone, I think Duke’s ears hurt after.”

You laugh, head tossed back into the cushions as you imagine his mom animatedly squealing through the phone. Calum’s sister Mali and Ashton already knew, had helped pick out the ring on your finger, helped to plan the day that became a second chance.

“And your dad?”

“He couldn’t believe it at first. Then I think it hit him fully and he realized it’s you and it all made sense after that.”

You go flush at his comment. His family’s love and support means worlds and worlds to you. You remember how nervous you were the first time you met them, but then how easy it was as soon as they were near. Mali had taken to you the moment you met, his mother had hugged you like you were family without question and his father held pride and happiness in his eyes as Calum introduced you as his.

“Do you think Mali would be in the wedding?” You wonder, hoping she might be your maid of honor, knowing you want her with you and that Calum would too.

“I think if she’s not you won’t have a groom to marry because she’ll kill me,” Calum laughed but turned serious around another bite of his slice of pizza.

“A groom,” you repeat in a wondrous sigh. Calum smirks. “I can’t believe you’re gonna be my groom. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you in a full fledged tux before.”

Calum’s smirk only deepens and his tone goes playful, “should it be blue or orange? How many ruffles?”

Your eyebrows shoot up but you wave him off. “Well that would be stupid. Then we’d be matching.”

He laughs and goes on a tirade asking you if he’d marry you in this or that. You always nod, say yes, and eventually tell him you’d marry him no matter what.

“Do we have anymore?” Calum asks, gesturing to the empty plate. “That pizza is so good, I would marry it,” he exclaims and it’s so easy for both of you to speak of marriage now it feels freeing and light. Before it was a topic to tiptoe around, to mention only late at night when the stars and moon disguised the future.

“Not if you marry me first,” you shoot back and point up at the counter where a few slices remain.

He grins, pats your legs before getting up to grab the last of it and settle back down with you.

“We should have it at the wedding,” he comments before a bite and just the word wedding is enough to excite you. His eagerness to mention it, to plan it even in small jests and jokes makes you realize how much he wants this and how much you want him.

“At the reception,” you say seriously and he turns to give you a curious gaze. “Nothing’s better than a party, some drinks and then pizza.”

“I knew I was marrying you for a reason. We could have it at the engagement party too.”

“Engagement party?” You question, completely unaware and feeling stuck in left field at the mention.

“You really think our friends will let us get engaged and not have some sort of party?” Calum rebuts lightly. “Ashton was planning one before I even picked out the ring.”

Calum finishes his last bite and leans back into the plush cushions of the couch, arms seeking you out to pull you against his chest. “I suppose that would be okay,” you muse, typically not one for making a spectacle. “But nothing too big or fancy, okay?”

Calum’s eyes dart from you to the ceiling and back again. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Just close friends?” You ask and bite your lip. “And family if they can come.”

“Your parents?” Calum questions timidly.

Your parents aren’t a subject you bring up much or much of presence in your life. They’ve never met Calum and to some it might be strange you’re engaged without your parents knowing your fiancé. But they’ve never worked that way. You’ve never been close and sometimes the distance hurts but you’ve had Calum and his family to make it feel better.

“Maybe…” you muse and lose yourself in thought for a moment. “Maybe we should invite them to dinner with just us first? That might be easier.”

“Whatever you want,” Calum replies and you believe his sincerity. “I’ll be right there with you,” he soothes as if he can feel the anxiety beating inside you. “We’ll get through it. Dinner, the party. And then we’ll be married.”

“Oh,” you smile. “It’s that simple? Why don’t we just elope?”

Calum shrugs. “I would if you wanted,” he says and rubs his hand up and down your arm. “Though it’d be a shame if no one else got to see how beautiful you’ll be in white.”

You blush. Still amazed he can elicit such reactions from you. “And you in your bright orange ruffled tux.”

He laughs and so do you. It doesn’t matter if you elope, if a crowd of hundreds gather, if you wear white and he wears orange. All that matters is you’ll be together. 

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[sugarandspice-games]

I guess this is becoming a trend... I’m popping in before the actual intro to clarify-- if the text is in italic, it is me (Sugar) talking and regular is Spice. Alright? Cool. And so--

So, one night I’m going through youtube and I come upon this one shitposty video about some random anime that I’ve never even heard of. After doing some research, I discover that it’s actually based on a dating sim that I’ve also never heard of. As a joke I was like “Hey Sugar wanna watch this as a joke, it might be funny” and so we did. And uhm. Well.

Today we’re gonna be reviewing Brothers Conflict, aka Sweet Home Alabama 2: Electric Anime Boogaloo aka the anime that ruined our lives. [Again, disclaimer: neither Sugar nor I condone incest and/or pedophilia, two themes which are uh, very rampant in this anime which is why I cannot recommend it in good faith. It’s not good, don’t get me wrong. I can’t really say that I liked it even if watching it and ragging on it was kind of enjoyable, and I did get attached to some of the characters because that’s the kind of idiot I am. Also, we’re not shirking our duties to write I swear please don’t kill me--] Anyway, an obligatory SPOILER WARNING though this probably isn’t going in the main tag bc I do not want the fans to publicly stone me. Why are we reviewing this? Bc we need to talk about it somewhere. Though I say review lightly bc this... is really more of a critique.

ALSO we only watched the anime, idk if things are different in the game. There is no full english translation for the games and most of the LP channels have been copyright striked, so please don’t come at us for not knowing anything. I also know that otome games and dating sims don’t tend to translate well to anime, and I will be addressing this later.

So, dear god, where do I begin.

Where do we begin indeed? How about the fact that her name is Ema and I had to google to remember the heroine’s name? Also, she is seventeen.

Our plot, or well... what you COULD call a plot, I guess, if you REALLY wanted to give this anime that much credit, focuses on the aforementioned seventeen year old Hinata Ema, who has an absent father who apparently FOUND THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE AND GET MARRIED BUT NEVER HAS A SECOND TO SPARE FOR HIS ONLY CHILD, RINTARO I SWEAR TO GOD I AM TAKING CUSTODY OF YOUR CHILD. HAND HER OVER-- Anyway. He’s getting married to a woman who has 13 sons (jesus christ ma’am have you ever heard of a condom?) and he decides to move her in with them because... I guess he has less braincells than I have balls, which is to say, zero. Hi, I’m trans.

So, Ema moves in with them... along with her talking grey squirrel, Juli. Juli is... interesting and by interesting, I mean-- ABSOLUTELY PUZZLING. He, apparently, has seen the majority of Ema’s life from babyhood to teenagerhood and can talk but is only understood by Ema (who he calls Chii) and Louis, the eighth son in the Asahina family. It is never explained why, or how Chii came across him or how in an episode, a single episode, he becomes human because why the hell not, I guess??? (Also, he is pretty. YES. I said it. Fight me.) [Quick Spice intervention, this squirrel can talk to people, transform into a human, enter dreams, and live way longer than a squirrel should since the average lifespan of a squirrel is like 6 years in the wild. Juli is apparently a god as none of this is EVER explained.]

And when she meets the Asahina family, it’s pretty much immediately chaos because these heterosexual (I guess? They look like a bunch of twinks to me but there goes anime trying to convince me that straight people are real and not a lie made up by Trump) men have NEVER and I mean NEVER known a woman in their entire lives, since they seem to want to bang their stepsister immediately. And most of them are GROWN ASS ADULTS. Only three of them are actually minors (though Iori is 18 and only one year older so I guess??? It’s okay??? But still weird) and one of them is a 13 year old who looks and acts like he’s 8.

Oh, and did I mention that out of these boys, only the adult triplets and the abusive asshole 16 year old get any kind of characterization AND character development? I mean, Subaru gets an “arc” if you can call it that, but really, they don’t give him much... personality. You could replace him with a cardboard cutout and it’d be the same. I feel bad for him (but not really because dude you are 20 and she is your sister, what the fuck--)

But if there’s anything good about this anime, it is the characters themselves. Several of the boys have redeeming qualities and interesting personalities and quirks, as well as interesting relationships and dynamics with each other. Yes, some of them are lacking in the plotline department while others may have decent plotlines and lack personality, and then some of them are just given absolutely nothing (COUGH Masaomi COUGH Ukyo COUGHCOUGHCOUGH Iori, and by the way, what the fuck is that game plotline bc I read the wiki since I wanted to know more about him. We don’t have time to unpack the mento illness luv. But you’re telling me they had all this meat to work with and they threw it in the trash and gave him nothing? What the hell?) And if anything, I feel as if the characters themselves are crippled by the plotline. If given a different story, perhaps, they may have room to shine, because a lot of them are compelling if not lovable (though some may not be... lovable. COUGHFuuto, at least not for me.) If you want to see our review on the characters, we’ll put out another post.

Iori... Iori has a hell of a plot in the game, according to the Wiki but I can’t blame the writers for not exploring all of it because whoa. It is dark and not in a good way. But back to the subject at hand... I agree with Spice. I do/did like quite a lot of the characters... provided the entire romantic plot is taken away but we will go into more of why the plot is problematic below. All I can really add is: There is a baby in this dumpster and canon has been taken out back to be shot like a lame horse.

This brings me to a point in which I would like to pause the character discussion and bring up a glaring flaw with this anime in general (aside from the... plot. Look, I’m not a huge fan of weird stepsibling stuff but I think that if you want to do something like that, there are ways to do it and ways not to do it. This was the way not to do it, which I’m getting to). The biggest thing that made this anime so uncomfortable was the imbalance of power dynamics. Why is the protagonist 17 when most of the love interests are 18 and older, and I mean much, much older? And she’s not any 17 year old... she’s a lonely, neglected girl who is starved for the love of a family. This makes her easily manipulated by the brothers, who clearly desire her for less than wholesome reasons, and that makes it skeevy. I’m not sure why there’s such a fetishization of nonconsent in media, as if it’s fine for as many men to lust after female protagonists as the writer desires BUT the woman can’t want a single one of them in return. It’s creepy, and quite frankly, I am very much over it. I also get that the age thing is probably a product of the protagonist of a teenager oriented dating sim not translating well to an anime (because really, all otome game MCs are meant to be a neat little pair of shoes for the player to imagine themselves in), but why are we fetishizing a teenager being groomed by adults anyway? Especially adults who have this much power over her to begin with? The power dynamics bring this plot from “Oh, this might be kinda trashy but it could be entertaining” to “This is extremely creepy and rapey and kind of a dumpster fire.”

This is also true. If we were to take age into consideration, Fuuto, Yusuke, and Iori would be the three candidates left for Chii. This is taking out the youngest as well, who is... thirteen, I think? But anyway, (I know I am probably going to get some hate for this but go for it), I am into stories that explore the stepsibling thing and it can make a good narrative-- but before everyone gets uppity: There is a line between FICTION and REALITY and I do not condone real life incest but a story is a story and there are ways to frame it that make it clear that it is not a romantic thing, or acceptable. This anime does not do that in it’s dynamics because some of the brothers do start off in that very firm caregiving, family role and it is a sharp turn into romance that makes you go, “?” or in Fuuto case, a blending that does lean into fetishization.

All in all I think the plot maybe could have been okay? I’m not saying it isn’t problematic, because we all know it is, who are we kidding? But I don’t think it’s wrong per se to explore family dynamics with romance and to understand where the line should be drawn, and maybe exploring the definition of family itself. I have seen fanfictions with similar tropes ask those questions and explore the concept beautifully without romanticizing or fetishizing incest and unhealthy power dynamics. It could have been good, and I get that perhaps I’m barking up the wrong tree by expecting mature themes in an anime based on an otome game, but it also could have been a lot less... creepy (I have used that word so much that it looks wrong now) even if it wasn’t the greatest thing ever. But again, what was I expecting? I watched this whole thing as a joke and ended up attached to the characters like a fool... That tends to be a trend here, and this is why we are so salty all the time. So anyway, stay tuned for our review of the characters! We may not cover all of them since some of them don’t really get anything, but we’ll cover what we found interesting.

[margridarnauds]

I have an Irish ask! How did the regional kings hierarchy work - was there a high king irl? How did you rule, and what over, and how did you get to be high king, if so? (From - a descendant of the Kings of Desmond, but very confused about what's shit, and what's legit, in Irish History?

Kingship in an Irish context is an endlessly complicated topic, and it seems like for every question we get, someone’s written or plans to write a dissertation on it. You accidentally tripped over a landmine when asking me this one. Which is DEFINITELY not your fault, I don’t resent you for it, it just means you are getting a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG answer.

But. Anyway. Kingship. I will preface anything I say with the acknowledgment that I am a mythological literature person, not necessarily a law/contracts/history person. Also that, tragically, there are a LOT of law tracts that remain untranslated. (And a lot of things. In general.)

So, this is…complicated, since a LOT of the work in the legal tradition revolves around the notion of kingship (seriously, my closest friend in the department is a legal scholar and we have had some long bitchfests about how much attention is paid to kingship VS the common people, simply because…..guess who was paying for these manuscripts to be made? Yep, it ain’t Farmer Cormac. The single most important thing you can ever remember about these texts is that they were made by and for an elite audience); you have a lot of kings in a fairly condensed space, and it gets to the point of whether we should even really properly translate rí as “king” or whether a more generic term like “leader” is actually more accurate, though it IS cognate with Latin “Rex” and Gaulish “Rix.” (Aka “Vercingetorix”, “Cunorix”, “Asterix”…all the most important “Rix”s of the ancient world.) So. Kings. Definitely kings. But not really in any way we would generally consider “kings” to be. Fergus Kelly estimated that there could be as many as 150 KINGS throughout Ireland between the 5th-12th centuries (17), which….on a relatively small island that holds only about 5 million people in the present….**150**.

Traditionally, the idea of a singular high king of Ireland was….okay, so you have a LOT of guys who claim to be “King of Ireland,” but there’s a question of how real that power actually was, how much power they ACTUALLY wielded, and how stable they actually were. And, on one hand “King of Tara” is generally taken to be synonymous with “king of Ireland”, (hence the Uí Néill’s LONG claim to power), but there are a lot of issues with that one, and it’s something that’s a matter of debate, not the least because it seems like the Uí Néill…..might have influenced the literature ever so slightly as a way of bolstering their own claims (Jaski, Early Irish Kingship and Succession, 215). Basically, no evidence that the kings of Munster paid tribute to the kings of Tara before the 9th century, making the claim that the King of Tara = King of ALL Ireland doubtful. 

And….well, I’ll let Bart Jaski explain the title of ardrí (high king), since he’s the man with the big book on it: “To keep up with [the political developments of Brían Boru’s victory at the Battle of Clontarf], the annalists of the tenth century introduce the title ‘high-king’ (ardri) as a title of recognition or flattery to denote a powerful king who achieved a remarkable domination over others. In later historiography, the old kingship of Tara came to be regarded as the ‘high-kingship’ of Ireland, which is both an anachronism and an inaccurate estimation of what the kingship of Tara meant, both in pre-historic times as in the documentary period. The title of rex Hiberniae given to the kings of Tara Domnall of Cenél Conaill and his grandson Loingsech does not lend support to the existence of a ‘high kingship’. as they were apparently subjectively awarded by partisan annalists and others.” 

Fergus Kelly was more to the point, “The king of Ireland (rí Érenn), who figures so prominently in the sagas, is rarely mentioned in the law-texts. Though the idea of a kingship of the whole isalnd had already gained currency by the 7th century, no Irish king ever managed to make it a reality, and most law-texts do not even provide for such a possibility” (18). 

Charles-Edwards disputed this conclusion in Early Christian Ireland (okay, technically, he disputed Binchy’s conclusions, but this line of thinking), discussing some further references to a single king of Ireland binding the other kings of Ireland to him, as Conchobar was said to have done with the men of Ulster, as well as the legal term tríath, with a line from an 8th century law text being “He is a burdensome tríath who penetrates Ireland of peoples from sea to sea” (519). Liam Bhreatnach suggested in his article ‘Ardrí as an old compound,” as the name suggests, that the term itself, while little used, is old. I can’t get ahold of it at present, but I’m going to presume he did make a solid case, given that Carey, Jaski, and Charles-Edwards all cite him, and they are all careful, respectable scholars. What John Carey would point out in “From David to Labraid” is that actually, several of those early references were in fact to the Christian as opposed to an earthly deity. AKA “The ULTIMATE high king, the highest of kings” (pg. 21-23). Something suggested by Carey in that same article is that the Church MIGHT have promoted the idea of high kingship as a way of appealing to kings who would be interested in it in exchange for their support of Christianity; a quid pro quo. 

Basically, the question of the extent of the high king’s power, both in a Christian and pre-Christian context, is HIGHLY controversial and something I reckon will never fully be satisfactorily resolved, not the least because it also has the misfortune of featuring two favorite, perennial topics of many Celticists: Etymological arguments and kingship. What I think we CAN gather from the debate is that it was very far from a SOLID title, more a matter of individual monarchs as opposed to stable dynasties. Medieval Ireland did not have a Versailles and a Louis XIV, there was not a singular sun king who decided their fates. 

Now, in general, kingship was not necessarily held with the same iron grip that you would see with, say, the Plantagenets in England. Primogeniture was not necessarily a thing here. You did have to be a nobleman to be king (Sorry, Farmer Cormac, you’re out, get back to your field, peasant), and you had to be descended from a king in either the first or the second degree to be king, but you did NOT have to be the firstborn son. If you have seven kids and the youngest is the only one who is qualified to lead….yep, Junior takes the lot. So, that’s the first thing. There’s a section of Mac Firbis’ Great Book of Genealogies (which is a LATE text, but includes basically a scrapbook of older material) that references that exact scenario. Youngest can take it, eldest can take it, eldest PROBABLY has a higher shot of it because…older, more time to be groomed for the kingship, more time to gather people loyal to him, etc. But. Like. All of the kids have a shot, and depending on where they’re fostered off to, their foster families will very likely support them if they want to make a bid for the kingship. (Irish dynastic politics were VERY turbulent.)

 A king is elected to the tribe through the popular acclamation of their major clients/family members; their power, while it is something that is expected to some extent, is not a GIVEN to the same extent. (Jaski 212). Which. Is where the role of tánaiste comes in, which is a late development, but it irons things out so it’s like “Okay, when the old fuck dies, this dude is king.” In a literary context, this is also why Bres’ kingship is kind of doomed from the beginning. Because it’s the WOMEN of the Tuatha dé who support his kingship, not the men.

 And, of course, even if Junior does take the throne, that does NOT mean that his brother’s kids are out of the running when Junior dies (or, more to the point, they might try to speed things along and arrange for a “hunting accident” to happen.) Because of the three generation requirement to maintain noble status, there was quite a bit of infighting (Jaski 197), as different offshoots of a given high king will want the throne in order to maintain their noble rank. Knives Out: The Medieval Ireland edition. 

One story that deals with this is Echtra mac nEchdach Mugmedóin (Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedóin), which discusses how the future Niall of the Nine Hostages, born the son of a Saxon slave and the king of Ireland, hated by his stepmother, and the youngest of the lot of the sons ends up taking the kingship anyway. (Answer: He’s down to sleep with an old hag. Who is also the sovereignty of Ireland. And is like “Okay, that was some good D, here’s how you get the kingship now.”) Now, this is primarily a literary as opposed to a historical story, but…..well….that’s where a lot of our stuff for this. Does come from. For better or worse. And I’m not just saying that because I’m currently procrastinating on working on an edition of that very text. 

So, on the question of “How to rule.” The main relationship was between an overking-client king. So, let’s say that I am an underking in….IDK. Munster. What can I say? I like Munster. I’m not even a pronvincial king, but I’ve got my tuath, I’m chilling out, I’ve got my cattle, I’ve got some Nemed-class people with me, I’ve got a bit of land, and a couple of those people we don’t really talk about because they’re not important (Aka “Commoners, slaves, etc.” The people who do the work that the more privileged classes CANNOT do, like chop wood.) 

Now, let’s say that you’re a provincial king, King of Munster. Your father’s just died, you’ve become king, or, alternatively, you’ve beaten the shit out of the other candidates, and you roll up to my people. Now, I could probably fight, but like. That’s a way to. Die. And maybe I do want the protection that comes from a Lord-Client relationship, since, hey, that DOES mean that you’re responsible for me. And if the King of Connacht rolls up and is like “Hey, I want to attack you and steal your cattle” you can roll up and be like “Hey, want to die?” Also, if one of your OTHER subjects kills a man in my tuath, you are expected to mediate, with me taking a hostage from your court until everything’s resolved, and you and I both getting a part of the resulting settlement (Kelly 23). And, of course, I’ll support you as well. It’s a mutual client relationship, just….an inherently uneven one. Most of the powerful subject kings, who were free but still subject to an overking were related to that king by a shared kinship, but there was a double edged sword: I support you, and then your brother Eochaid comes to the throne, I’m up Shit River with no paddle (Jaski 206). If I’m particularly useful/powerful to you, you might even foster one of your kids with me, so I can support him politically later down the line. (And also strengthen the relationship between our two peoples; that kid is going to be more mine than yours by the time that his fosterage is over, he will call you athair and me datai; one is a more formal term meaning “father,” [cognate with Latin pater and English father] one is more like “dad” and is cognate with the Welsh dat. Which seems to be related to….yep, the English diminutive dad.) Peter Parkes rather magnificently talks about this system as: “Clientage dressed in a false plumage of kinship: Cuckold consanguinity.” (”When Milk Was Thicker Than Water?”, Comparative Studies in Society and History 6.3, pg. 606)

So, what would happen there? Well, the system of overking-client king was held together much in the same way as the relationship between individuals would be, ie through hostages. The giving of hostages is something that was EMBEDDED in the legal system. So, you and I would proceed to haggle over who I have to hand over. Now, I don’t want you to take someone too important, you will want to take the most important person you can. I’ll try to get you to take my third cousin twice removed who I might see once every few years, Conall, you’ll try to get one of my kids. And, let’s be real, since you have the most power in this situation, you’ll probably fucking win. “He who has the sword makes the rules”- NOT an official medieval Irish legal statement, but it might as well be. Now, it should be emphasized that hostages were HIGHLY respected and treated well, there was no particular stigma against someone who was a hostage at some point, and you do have accounts of hostages eating at the king’s table, in a position that denotes a degree of intimacy and companionship. And a couple who are brutally executed or maimed when their kings broke the terms of the agreement, but, hey, only a 2% murder rate or so; very good for the times. It could be that the king’s son had a role when it came to making sure the hostages were cared for. But there’s not been all that much work done on it and a lot of this is being remembered second hand from a PhD student in our department who did a STELLAR lecture on the topic; if and when he decides to formally publish it, I’ll probably make a big deal over it. Because….this shit is IMPORTANT. 

This is also why it’s Niall of the Nine Hostages. Because that’s how many peoples he extracted hostages from, that is a sign of his power as a king. You could NOT be king of Ireland without hostages. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Like, how are you going to be sure that your supporters are going to stick with you? And even if they do, where’s the signs of your authority? Why do you expect anyone to take you seriously? 

So, a king of Ireland’s reign would be held together by a similar system, whether it’s provincial or the famous ardri. A high king would take hostages from their client kings as a way of showing off their power and authority, and they would probably show them off when making a circuit of their territory. Your ancestor would definitely have had a group of hostages taken from the athech-thúatha, or client peoples. The Triads put it slightly more succinctly: “[220] Three things that constitute a king: a contract with other kings, the feast of Tara, abundance during his reign.” 

Now, again, this is an idealized literary context, but we’ve discussed the first one, the contractural nature. The feis Temro, or the Feast of Tara, was something that a High King of Ireland HAD to do as a way of securing his reign, and in the early days at least it seemed to involve some sort of marriage/sexual ritual with a representative of the goddess of sovereignty, a living embodiment of the land, and it would involve imbibing some sort of drink offered to him by her as well. (This is why Eochaid Airem HAS to marry Étain, because he needs a queen to have his feis Temro and become a king. This is also why Niall of the Nine Hostages secured his reign via sleeping with aforementioned hag.) 

And there were a number of different taboos and responsibilities tied to said kingship. For example, in The Tidings of Conchobar Mac Nessa, it is said that “Now Conchobar himself used to give them the (the feast of) Samaim because of the assembly of the great host. It was needful to provide for the great multitude, because everyone of the Ulstermen who would not come to Emain in Samain lost his senses, and on the morrow his barrow and his grave and his tombstone were placed.” The Adventures of Nera also features Medb and Aillil throwing a feast on the day of Samain for the entirety of the province. Baile in Scáil features Conn rising every day so that he can go onto the ramparts of Tara with his druids and poets to defend it from the possibility of otherworldly attack. Another obligation was “the Prince’s truth,” the idea that the king, when giving out judgements, should be able to INTUIT the true answer. Giving a false judgement = ruin for the land, everything goes to shit, the harvests fails, cattle die, aliens invade (okay….maybe not, but like. it would be cool if they did), the king of Leinster steals your wife, etc. until the bad king is replaced. (It has been SUGGESTED that that might be the reason for some of the bog bodies. Possibly.) He also HAD to go out with a retinue when he was out hunting, a king who didn’t lost his honor price, same as if he’d used an instrument of MANUAL LABOR (the horror, the shock) (Kelly 19). For what it’s worth, I do know of at least one case in….I believe the 16th century where a woman claimed that the king was the father of her child, there was no one who could dispute it since he was alone, he took a shine to the child anyway, and BOOM heir. Which further shows one of the social dangers of a king on his own.

More specific ones to each province are laid out in the Book of Rights, which Myles Dillon did an edition of in “Taboos of the Kings of Ireland”. An example (chosen at random) includes, “The five prohibitions of the king of Munster: to hold a court before celebrating the feast of Loch Lern from one Monday to the next; to spend a wet autumn night before winter in Letrecha, to camp for nine days on the Suir, to hold a meeting at the boundary near Gabruan ; to hear the groans of the women of Mag Feimin in their oppression. And his five prescriptions : to despoil Cruachain at the call of the cuckoo; to burn the Laigin to the north of Gabair; to chant the Passion in Lent at Cashel; to travel over Sliab Cua with a company of fifty after pacifying the south of Ireland; to go with a dark grey army on Tuesday across Mag nAlbe.” 

Either way, in Ye Olde Days, there was definitely an element of protecting the people of the region from the possibility of supernatural attack. That would obviously die down a little with the coming of Christianity, I don’t know whether a king in the 15th century, for example, would be expected to keep to it that rigorously, I lean towards “no” personally since this is generally talked about as an outdated custom, but it remained a popular trope in medieval literature. Dillon himself points out that, given that many of the taboos mentioned in here were only recorded in the 14th century, they were likely considered to be an odd, antiquarian quirk. That being said…..it’s ALL tied into the kingship, the idea of the king being tied to a certain series of obligations, the mutual relationship between king and people. 

Now, if a king failed in his duties and taboos, he could be ousted. Like “you fucked up, buster, get packing.” Some examples of kings who lost their sovereignty include Bres mac Elatha (my BOY, my SON, my ANGEL, my…..little piece of shit), who was satirized by a bard (this is why people REALLY tend to underline the power of bards, because like. This was an ACKNOWLEDGED power of theirs. They were held in a heady mix of respect and fear for this one), Fergus mac Roiche (didn’t lose it because of incompetence per se, but did hand it over to Conchobar, and the men of Ulster, inexplicably, liked Conchobar more, which….their mistake but.), and Congal Cáech (whose bid for king of Tara was, according to legend at least, ruined by an unfortunate bee sting. In his eye. Whether he was actually king of Tara is something that seems to be slightly disputed.) People often will ask me, when I mention how much I love Bres, why I love him so much, and I feel like the answer to that….there are a hundred answers, depending on my mood, and this is NOT a Bres post, but the one most relevant to the overall topic at hand is that he really experienced the full kingship experience: The rise, the fall, the absolute tumultuous political reality of a 9th century king, albeit a fictionalized one. 

Bibliography: 

Carey, John, ‘From David to Labraid: Sacral Kingship and the Emergence of Monotheism in Israel and Ireland’, Approaches to Religion and Mythology in Celtic Studies

Charles-Edwards, T.M., Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge University Press

Dillon, Myles, “Taboos of the Kings of Ireland,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History,Literature, Vol. 54

Jaski, Early Irish Kingship and Succession, Four Courts Press

Kelly, Fergus, A Guide To Early Irish Law, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

Mac Cana, Proinsias, Celtic Mythology, Littlehampton Book Services 

Parkes, Peter, ”When Milk Was Thicker Than Water?”, Comparative Studies in Society and History 6.3

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 116: Prison Chat

Previously on BnHA: We took a break from the U.A. kids and their provisional license exam antics and got a whole chapter from Twice’s point of view. He has a fucked up backstory which involves him cloning himself and then his clones all battling for dominance and murdering each other, and now it’s just him left and he’s not even sure if he’s the original. We also learned that Endeavor is not exactly winning people over as the new number one hero, and most people are either underwhelmed or openly creeped out by him. Meanwhile, emboldened villains feel increasingly comfortable committing petty crimes in broad daylight and teaming up now that All Might isn’t around. A new group of villains lead by a dude named Overhaul committed some light dismemberment and arson, and it looks like Twice is thinking about recruiting them to the League. Finally, we cut to a max security prison where All Might is apparently meeting with the imprisoned All for One to “settle things” omgggggggg.

Today on BnHA: All Might asks All for One about Tomura and about what he was planning. All for One is predictably unhelpful and says that Tomura is working on his own now. They have an admittedly fascinating discussion about why All for One decided to groom a successor after being injured by All Might. AFO then expertly provokes All Might by speculating about the chaotic state of the outside world with startling and annoying accuracy. He taunts All Might about being frustrated and powerless. All Might says he knows that AFO was planning to have Tomura kill both him and Deku. He says he won’t let that happen, and that no matter how many evil schemes AFO hatches, he will always be there to crush them. Back at the fanfic dorms, the kids of 1-A wind down as they excitedly await the start of the new semester. Bakugou comes up to Deku and tells him to meet him outside later and that “it’s about your quirk.”

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 151 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.

**There are spoilers in this recap for chapter 131, which has not yet aired in the anime.** These spoilers are tagged as always, but take heed.)

BAKUGOUUUUUUU

“the noble beast of class 1-A” lol wtf

“Tartarus Greeting” isn’t that like the Greek hell

WE ONLY HAVE THREE MORE CHAPTERS LEFT IN THIS VOLUME FOR THIS BRAT TO GO CONFRONT DEKU ABOUT HIS QUIRK. GET A MOVE ON ALREADY BOY

but of course we’re opening right where we left off first. the prison with All Might and All for One. which I’m also pretty hyped for, so

All for One is complaining about the high level of security in this high security prison

apparently they’re monitoring his vitals, brain waves, etc. at all times, and if you so much as wiggle in your chair the wrong way, all the gun turrets in the place will point at you

still think he could escape in an instant if he wanted to. he probably has a bulletproof quirk. and we know he has a fucking warp quirk. he’s just biding his time

oh, apparently Tartarus is the name of the prison. also the prison is underground. or at least his part of it is underground. cuz it didn’t seem to be underground when we cut to the exterior of the building just a couple of panels ago

is there any wood around, All Might. you should probably knock on some wood. fucking jinxed us all, dude

All for One’s only response is “let’s assume that to be the case.” fffff lol yeah okay

so he’s asking what does All Might want with him, where’s Gran Torino, why did All Might come alone, “what’s with that pitiful costume” -- and okay, with that last one though, so are you actually fucking blind or not. I know he doesn’t have eyes and he’s been using infrared and the like, but his scathing remarks about All Might’s appearance are always so on point and it’s like ???

(ETA: goddammit I wish I could just project this thought into Horikoshi’s mind. like he suddenly wakes up in a cold sweat and is all “THE PLOT HOLE. OMG. I FORGOT” and immediately goes to write one of his infamous bonus page ramblings to correct it. I mean, it’s an easy enough fix. he can make up some bullshit quirk to explain it easily enough. but just. it really bothers me for some reason, like way more than it should. fuck you, All for One)

All Might really fucking hates All for One you guys. not gonna lie, pissed off is a good look for him

now he’s asking where Tomura is

All for One says he doesn’t know. “unlike you, I’ve already let my successor carry on”

now All Might’s asking him what he was trying to do. “what were you after?”

okay but now that the immortality thing has been brought up, it reminds me that I’ve been wondering why would this basically immortal guy suddenly become so obsessed with molding a successor? to the extent where he said that everything he’d been doing was for Tomura’s sake. (although whether or not that’s true is a whole nother story)

All for One says it’s pointless to explain it because All Might would never be able to understand

and now he’s saying that he and All Might are the same. two sides of the same coin type of thing. “in the same way you aspired to be the hero of justice, I yearned to be the king of evil”

when he says “live on eternally”, he’s talking about his legacy living on through Tomura, then? cuz idk, I still don’t buy it

and now All Might is also asking him “if that’s the case, why a successor?”

ah, he says it’s because of the injury All Might inflicted on him

I really love the way the reflection is dividing this image between All Might and All for One’s faces. oh damn

and all right, I guess I can buy this explanation. but I still can’t see Tomura as having those final villain chops though. idk, I wouldn’t be surprised if All for One changes his mind, or manages to acquire a better healing quirk than his current one -- one which actually allows him to restore himself to his former glory -- and then he decides he wanted to carry on with the whole villain thing after all

someone over the speaker is telling All Might he only has three more minutes

and now All for One is like OH SHIT and he’s trying to think of all the other shit he wanted to say to him lol

he’s asking how the world is out there now that All Might’s retired

it’s like Order of the Phoenix, but not quite Half-Blood Prince, fyi

dude on the loudspeakers is warning All Might not to give him any info

All for One says “what a shame”

and now it looks like he’s going to speculate. and probably be bang on target too

did you actually read the previous chapter yourself somehow or what

I wish All Might would stop gritting his teeth and clenching his fist and sweating in this way that just confirms every damn thing that All for One is saying

ffffff he must be so frustrated though. he devoted his entire life to making a peaceful world and to see that all fall apart and to be helpless to do anything about it...

and of course All for One is making the exact same observation. :/ “I believe you will spend the rest of your life stricken by your powerlessness and inability to do anything”

fucking hell, can’t we just have one of these turrets suddenly tragically “malfunction” and end this dude already. someone please tell me why we’re keeping him alive. clearly he’s no good for information

he’s asking All Might how it feels

All Might, the best thing you could do right now would be to just stand up and walk out of the room. you’re not getting anything else out of him and right now he’s getting under your skin, and seeing you hurting over this is giving this fucker exactly what he wants

the loudspeaker voice is also telling All Might to back away

I feel like he’s talking to me more than to All Might. about the “no hitting” part. yes that is indeed a shame

ooh, All Might’s gonna fire something back at him! GO TOSHI GO

he’s telling him not to presume that he knows everything. and he says he understands All for One’s thinking very well

oh shit

okay so like. I really like when older mentor type characters mention their proteges like this and they’re like “that boy” or “that child” and it’s like a reminder of how young and vulnerable and inexperienced the protege character is still, and how the mentor character is always looking out for them. like. I just like that. maybe it’s that it makes me feel like I can bond with the mentor character over our mutual protectiveness of the kid

anyway. so All for One isn’t even denying it; he’s just like, “and?”

and All Might is just like

dang. although once again I really wish that there was some wood nearby for you to knock on fffffffffffff

(ETA: ****SPOILER WARNING FOR CHAPTER 131, WHICH HAS NOT YET AIRED IN THE ANIME****

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so not only is All Might saying “fuck you” to All for One here, but he’s also giving the middle finger to fate itself. and I have to admit, it’s incredibly badass, even if it also makes me more worried than ever about him jinxing it. you see, that’s the upside of sticking around to raise your successor, AFO. you get to be inspired by them in some unexpected ways.

also, All Might is very brave and very determined and I love him so much omg.

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****END SPOILERS****)

and now the loudspeaker guy is telling All Might his time is up

All Might says that whatever future AFO is envisioning, All Might will always smash it no matter what, and AFO can spend the rest of his life sitting here and looking on

yeah bro. way to get the last fucking word in

now the doors are closing on All for One, and he’s laughing because of course he is

oh fuck you, dude. this conversation has been amazing but I’m tired of you now lol

now we’re cutting to All Might riding home with his best bro Nao

Nao’s asking how it went and All Might’s like, yeah, it didn’t

!! he’s mentioning that he also talked with Stain?!

(ETA: Mangastream’s translation made it sound like he spoke with him, but Viz and Fallen Angels's versions said that he was making plans to question him but hadn’t actually done so yet. given that this hasn’t come up again yet -- at least not at the point where I’m currently at -- I’m guessing Viz and FA got it right. though I’m still curious as to what they actually want to talk to him about.)

but now he’s getting interrupted by his phone which is buzzing

AHHHHH HE GOT DEKU’S WHOLESOME TEXT

All Might please charge your phone soon

HE EVEN HAS DEKU LISTED IN HIS CONTACTS AS “MIDORIYA-SHOUNEN” LMAO

HIS DAD FACE AT THE END OMG. HE REALLY NEEDED THIS RIGHT NOW

also it completely slipped my mind earlier, but he finally has his arm out of that cast. and apparently the hand is doing pretty well since he’s using it to text. good good

AHHHHH FINALLY WE’RE BACK AT THE U.A. DORMS

the kids are hanging out in the common area. Deku’s wondering if All Might got his text yet. he has this super cute proud little smile on his face

I’m so happy for him

but I won’t pretend I’m not also preoccupied with how Bakugou is doing lol. like, he wasn’t one to hang out with the others much even before this, and now it’s probably going to be even less so, at least until their excitement at having all passed the exam dies down. I expect Shouto will be keeping to himself a little bit more for a while too

gasppppppppppp

[FRANTICALLY CHECKING OWN PULSE BECAUSE I’M PRETTY SURE MY HEART JUST STOPPED]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDD

(((o(꒪ □ ꒪ )o)))

I’M FREAKING THE FUCK OUTTTTTTTTTTTT AHHHHHHHHHHH

 BONUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU GUYS!!!!!!!! HOW AM I EVEN SO EXCITED WHEN I FUCKING KNEW THIS WAS COMING?!?!?! I DON’T EVEN KNOW!!!!!

THE BONUS PAGE IS JUST KACCHAN AND HIS SQUAD ALONG WITH TETSUTETSU AND MONOMA FROM CLASS B FOR SOME REASON

ALSO THE GUY WHO WROTE THE VIGILANTES SPIN-OFF THINKS THAT TSUYU HAD A LIL TADPOLE TAIL UNTIL KINDERGARTEN!

IT SAYS “NOTE: NOT CANON” BUT IT’S MY FUCKING CANON NOW DUDE

“AND I LIKE TSUYU” I FUCKING LIKE HER TOO OMG

BAKUGOU!!!! AND DEKU!!!! OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!!! TALKING. ABOUT. QUIRKS

someone help me, I’m pretty sure if my apartment were to fucking catch fire right at this moment I’d still be reading and just ignoring it omggggg

[hoshyeoms]

85 Statements

I was tagged

 by @sunkissedjae, thank you friend!!! ((((: 

THE LAST

1. drink: apple juice  2. phone call: joshua called me this morning cause my schedule was wrong and i was late for work *insert upside down smiley emoji* i was so frckn mad that i was late. i’m always 20 minutes early!  3. text message: if you count snapchat text, it was evie. if not, it was my family group chat lol  4. song you listen to: mercy - kanye  5. time you cried: last tuesday when i fell out of the kayak and lost my glasses in the river 6. dated someone twice: ...never dated anyone lol  7. kissed someone and regretted it: yee, but they were trashy boys and i should have never gotten involved in the first place 8. been cheated on: geez, i’d hope not with how exciting my dating life is 9. lost someone special: yeah, but they’re looking over me and that’s what matters most. they’re not lost when they become something other than alive, simply just transcendent.  10. been depressed: unfortunately, yes, but i’ve become a lot better since i moved out of mom’s house. 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: i’m oddly super conscious when i get drunk, so i know when to stop and thankfully have not thrown up

3 FAVORITE COLORS

12. periwinkle  13. dodie yellow 14. green 

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU

15. made new friends: i have!  16. fallen out of love: i mean i stopped loving a lot of artists i liked cause i realized they had/have morals that don’t better them as musicians, but make their image something that holds materialistic things higher than the passion of the craft.  17. laughed until you cried: literally anytime i think of the “joutjout” meme which is like everyday  18. found out someone was talking about you: nah, but like i have a very small circle of friends and we all support each other. we don’t have time for petty shit like that.  19. met someone who changed you: kinda, more they showed me why i don’t need to change. they opened my eyes to the confidence i never had, and showed me that my weird and quirky traits i hide myself behind only make me shine.   20. found out who your friends are: sure lol  21. kissed someone on your facebook list: i don’t even talk to more than 2 people on my facebook list lol 

GENERAL

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: yo last time i was on facebook was around when alex and i went to california, it’s all people from my hometown and it’s pretty toxic 23. do you have any pets: 2 corgis named Max (my snuggle bug) and Minnie! I really want a cat, but my grandma is allergic and we can’t have more than 2 animals in our neighborhood assoc. 24. do you want to change your name: when i’m at work yeah lol, i’ve met 2 people with my name but i see like 12 dogs a week with my name. literally i share a name with more dogs than people and it trips me up some days.  25. what did you do for your last birthday: dad and i went to a korean bbq place (and i suffered a v bad haircut), but then the week after alex and i went to disneyland after con and celebrated there too (which was frckn amazing we met Traci Hines) 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: watching dream high 2  28. name something you can’t wait for: Noon saturday (but i’m also super anxious, so i’m sure you’ll see a post or smthn of me yelling about my feelings) 29. when was the last time you saw your mom: in July (which isn’t that bad because our relationship isn’t the best. i love her, but loving her is hard when she treated me so poorly for so long) 31. what are you listening to right now: Power - Kanye (it’s just a ye playlist on spotify for now)  32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: yeah, he was a navy captain my mom knew. he’s in a betty white movie  33. something that is getting on your nerves: pretty much nothing, my anxiety but that’ll go down in a few.  34. most visited website: youtube 35. hair colour: brownish auburny color 36. long or short hair: it’s longer than it was a few months ago 37. do you have a crush on someone: not really, i don’t leave my house often and i don’t really find myself attracted to many people. maybe one day i guess 38. what do you like about yourself: my sense of humor, it’s slightly twisted but my family runs on puns so i’m always joking around. i do also like my smile, it’s a bit crooked but it makes my face brighter and happier.  40. blood type: O positive, I used to donate twice a year until college, i ate so poorly i got an iron deficiency and can’t donate anymore :(  41. nickname: chlo, chipotle, joshua calls me chole cause work spelled my name wrong on my clock in badge, evie calls me sunshine, dad and i have a joke that i call him jedi master and he calls me padawan, idk people just calls me names tbh. my grandparents call me by my cousin’s name sometimes, once they called the dog my name.  42. relationship status: single, but like not worried about it  43. zodiac: gemini 44. pronouns: she/her 45. favourite tv show: i don’t watch much tv, but i do really like game of thrones and rick and morty. those are really the only 2 i keep up with, my grandma and i watch “this is us” together cause it’s how we spend time together. When christmas comes around, I watch the hallmark channel with her cause they always play my favorite christmas movie!  46. tattoos: just one on my upper inner left arm, i was supposed to get another one but i used the money to buy a new purse since i’ve had the same one since 7th grade and it’s super dirty and worn out.  47. right or left handed: right 48. surgery: not that i know of

50. sport: i played soccer in middle and part of high school, i don’t really keep up with sports except detroit soccer over the summer. 

51. vacation: being cliche, but i want to eat pray love w a backpack all around the world, but if i do end up in school again, i hope to get admitted in the language program and get to travel abroad to work on translating and teaching alongside multiple linguists.  52. pair of trainers: pumas

MORE GENERAL

53. eating: nothing, but i just had a few clementines  54. drinking: water  55. I’m about to: watch another episode of dream high 2, maybe go to sleep, bre was right i get super sad late at night and shouldn’t put myself through that 56. waiting for: noon saturday  57. want: to go to a park and just sit outside. one perk of college was that i could go sit outside at this time and it be okay (except it was humid af how did i live in georgia for 18 years). Now I can’t go outside or walk around at this time without being scolded, and all I want to do is just sit under the stars or just enjoy the night air.  58. get married: hopefully one day, i went to planned parenthood the other day and they asked me when i wanted to get married, i said 26 cause hopefully by then i’ll be more stable and with someone, but like i have this feeling that i will be by myself forever, or end up in a very toxic marriage like my mom. I lived my whole life being called ugly up until now, and now i just feel like the people suddenly confessing to me only want to use me.  59. career: I work in a grooming salon now and could one day get an offer to go to grooming academy, but if I could get back into psychology I would, I also really want to get into linguistics and just kinda travel using my degree to do odd jobs in different places. Experience the cultures of different places by meeting and interacting with the people those places have to offer. 

WHICH IS BETTER

60. hugs or kisses: depends who is giving what, a hug is warmth while a kiss can be hunger.  61. lips or eyes: eyes 62. shorter or taller: i prefer tall, but i am short  63. older or younger: either or as long as there is nothing but 100% commitment 64. nice arms or nice stomach: why does that matter when i’m getting cuddles and love?  65. hook up or relationship: relationship, more meaningful  66. troublemaker or hesitant: i say this with a clear head but a troublemaker. being hesitant can really hold you back in this world, and will make you miss many chances you might not get again. 

HAVE YOU EVER

67. kissed a stranger: no 68. drank hard liquor: yes, but i’m more of a wine girl  69. lost glasses/contact lenses: yes :(((  70. turned someone down: ye, but that was because he had told me prior he was using me for sex  71. sex on the first date: guess who still has the magic v card  72. broken someone’s heart: i hope not  73. had your heart broken: uh no?  74. been arrested: no, my step dad is a cop he would personally start ww3 if i was 75. cried when someone died: kinda yeah  76. fallen for a friend: yes? but like he’s my best friend now and those feelings went away very fast

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

77. yourself: if i didn’t, who would?  78. miracles: kinda yeah 79. love at first sight: no, but someone could prove me wrong one day 80. santa claus: HoHoNO

81. kiss on the first date: if they treated me right and they date went well, there is no harm in a kiss on the first date 82. angels: i do 

OTHER

84. eye colour: i always thought they were hazel, but they are green with a ring of browny/amber in the center. in the right light and when i’m sleepy, they’re grey it’s p cool  85. favourite movie: i watch a lot of movies, but i did really like moana.

i tag: @parkjinyoungaf (i forgot the url annie i was like WHERE IS SHE OH NO), @doublebam1a @thekoreanguys (i hope you’re okay i’m v worried about you :(( )