#theres- so many people interested in buying shit-

[intotheelliwoods]

squints, looks around.

It would appear some merch options have come and I need some opinions

1 - I can put buttons into the packages with the keychain and stickers, as I planned originally

2 - To make up for the over 30 people interested in buying something, I can put the money meant for buttons towards another keychain design instead. Which would be sold separately

Option 1 would just mean one listing to buy when the shop drops, the package deal with keychain + stickers + buttons, only 30 available

With option 2, when the shop drops there would be 2 listings to buy, The Poptart keychain + stickers deal, and a standalone keychain (probably that sprout design).

[bomber-grl]

Damian Wayne relationship head-canons ♡

Pairing(s): Damian Wayne x Gn!reader (no specific pronouns)

I’m sure we’re all aware of how cold and indifferent Damian usually is

So he was definitely… something when you two first met

Ofc he begins to soften up and w/o being cringe, he’s definitely a tsundere

Like he feels love towards you but he refuses to admit it at times

Now, many people around you definitely were surprised when the two of you guys got together

No one expected Damian to actually love someone

Like???

Anyway

He’s not really into PDA

I’m sure we would’ve all came to the conclusion of this

He’s not very physically affectionate, at least not when he’s in the right state of mind

You see,

Giving Dhar Mann

He’s always on guard

Even with you

Sure, he loves and cares about you but he can’t help but have some sort of guard up

However, when you see sleepy Damian and try helping him into his room, he began spouting nonsense and cuddling into you

You were surprised by this but also the fact that Damian even let his guard down so much??

You totally mention it the morning after 😇

Anyway

You think Damian is a huge annoyance?

Yea well he becomes even more annoying after you begin dating

He’s just a silly little guy 🤷‍♀️

But yea, you think he’s a know it all now? 100x worse after

Poor you, man

Bro won’t even shut up until I threaten to reveal sum u heard him say during the time he was sleepy

Even then he threatens you and advises you keep your lights on at night 😔

Aside from him being a significant annoyance and being very aggressive, he’s also really sweet

It honestly surprised you since he was raised to be an assassin and is pretty emotionally constipated

He’s always gifting you stuff

They’re usually small stuff in the moment

Like little notes, origami, and just little candies or snacks that he has

If you mention how “cute” it is he‘lol ignore you for the rest of the week

But yea, and bro is rich too

So best believe he’ll be like those grandparents that but a shit ton of whatever you said you liked 5 years ago

You like hot Cheetos? Best believe he’ll buy them for you and throw them at your head then walk away

You’re like??? I told you I liked them last year and you’re still buying them for me?

Plus, as I said, he rich rich

So he probs buys u rich people shit

Idk what examples, I’m poor

So 😍😍 am I right?

And here you are with your lil notes and origami roses

Like damn

He claims he likes them but still

U gotta get rich bestie

Pretty much it

Honestly considering he’s a billionaire Bruce Wayne’s son, ima go ahead and guess theres a bunch of paparazzi and it’s all over headlines of your relationship once it’s revealed (by u or on accident)

And there’s obviously different reactions from different crowds

There’s fans who are upset that you “stole” their “man”

And then there’s the rest who don’t rlly care but are shocked depending on who you are and just cuz Damian never expressed interest in romance

You just love getting dragged online 😍

But he’s not their man he’s yours sooo🤭🤭

Extra- when you announced your relationship Tim rlly doubted it’s legitimacy

——————————————————————————

Authors note: hope u liked :))

[nico-the-newt]

Dating Blaise Zabini would include...

Your first interaction being him asking you to the Yule Ball in fourth year

And at first you’re just kinda like “huh?” because you had never spoken to this kid in the four years you had been at school

But you somehow find yourself agreeing to go anyway

So you go to Hogsmeade with your friends and buy dress robes and a stupid pair of heels that you could barely walk in

The day of the ball you were shitting bricks and just wondering if you should pretend to be sick and then avoid Blaise for the rest of your schooling

And your friends are just like “fuck that - you are going to the ball and you will have fun”

And to your surprise - you did have fun

It was kinda weird at first, as the only other time you two had spoken was when he had asked you to the ball

But then you started actually having a conversation and it was as if something had clicked

(He had also sat out on the dancing with you when you twisted your ankle in the stupid heels, even though lots of people were inviting him to dance and he obviously itching to go)

It was a lovely night overall and you even shared a peck on the cheek at the end of the night but you didn’t show much interest in each other after that and basically went back to being strangers

That was until the following year when you joined the quidditch team and started reconnecting with him through that

So after a few months of chatting, flirting and training together he asked you on a date and you accepted

And the rest was history

You don’t really get along with each others friends

Your friends think he’s a bit of an arrogant dick and while you don’t deny that, you know how sweet he truly is when its only you two

And his friends are all the popular Slytherin kids so naturally they dislike you

Date nights on Saturdays which ranges from eating dinner on the astronomy tower to getting drunk and seeing how long you could play exploding snap in the library before getting kicked out (high score was half an hour)

Him not being a big PDA person

Not big on cuddles either but will still enjoy constantly touching and holding you (eg. Letting you lean into him or rest your head in his lap, holding your hand, running his fingers through you hair etc.)

Sneaking around for alone time

Its not as if you two don’t have anywhere to be horny idiots you both just get a thrill out of sneaking about

His mother inviting your family over for Christmas during your sixth year and you’re both nervous as fuck

Your parents being a bit iffy about your boyfriend and his mum purely because of the rumours about Mrs Zabini and her many husbands

Only Mrs Zabini is the loveliest person you’ve ever met in spite of her possibly being a murderer

Having a lot of arguments during the beginnings of your relationship because Blaise is bad at addressing his emotions and you’re too good at addressing yours which often ends up in a lot of miscommunications

Encouraging him to open up a bit more which leads to a bit more arguing

As you date for longer you both learn how to read each other a little easier which leads to less arguing

Breaking up during seventh year when you join DA

You both spend the year feeling even more depressed than you already were

Finding him after the fire in the room of requirement

Making up straight away and fighting side by side for the rest of the battle because you both realise that life is too short to not be with each other

And you also both know that theres a high chance of one of you dying

Vowing to never leave each other again after Voldemort is defeated

[wonder2realities]

as someone who came into the manifestation / LOA space like before the void state and neville goddard was even talked abt - its rlly interesting to see how much ppl focus or try to act as if the void state is the only way to manifest

cuz like i found out abt the void state like 2 years ago through shifting, but prior to that everything ive manifested has always been super simple i mean currently im literally living my dream life in so many ways possible (i can go into heavy detail in another post lolz) and it was never through the void state or through me reading pages of neville goddard and theories and shit and this isnt me saying theres anything wrong with that its just interesting how no matter how much time passes and different trends with the community continue there's always this need to "logicise" and almost profit off of manifestation

for example i remember ppl would pay money for someone to write affirmations for them (idk if ppl still do this) or people would pay to get tips, i rmbr ppl paying money for OTHER PEOPLE to go into the void state in like 2022 so that they can manifest for you etc — that alongside the concept of manifestation coaches and influencers and its so...tacky

and the same thing goes for submakers, as someone whos had a lot and i mean A LOT of shitty experiences with larger submakers (cons of being a blk autistic ; not a lot of ppl want u to exist happily...if i had a penny for everytime someone asked me to manifest my autism away id be scrooge mcduck) — a lot of them also fall into this category of turning manifestation or LOA into this profitable business and its sad honestly

something that is free, where you dont need anything is being turned into something that is behind a paywall - its almost sinister honestly and rlly makes me feel bad for any younger ppl (like 10-15) who are getting into manifestation or interested in it because u basically have ppl being like "YOU CAN ONLY GET UR DESIRES IN THIS ONE WAY. IF YOU WANT, I CAN DO IT FOR YOU BUT YOU NEED TO PAY ME TONS OF MONEY!!!" - it almost gives a subconscious message that they cant do it on their own which goes against the whole point of manifestation and it just sucks ass

idk maybe im like a commie in the manifestation society #downwiththesocialhierarchy but it rlly irks me and i dont like it and again maybe its cuz i dealt with a lot of bullshit before the LOA community became more...minority friendly and that shit TRAUMATISED ME but like idk i just dont fw it yk

u can do wtv u want in wtv way u want for free, u cant buy a consciousness so you dont need to waste money on shit (obviously if u wanna support a submaker or someone thats perfectly fine but you dont HAVE to)

[starsoftheeye]

TMAGP 16 LIVE REACTION

here we go again! featuring: me doing a computing quiz in prep for my exam as i listen to the horrors

obvious spoiler warning ahead

Pre-Episode

Once again relying on spotify since my youtubes still being weird

Ads gives me times to set up the bulletpoints tho so thats good

haha not the hello jon reference

titles relatable lmao

Pre Statement

Omg alice actually spoke about her trauma no-one expected that

"i'm alright" babes youre not fooling anyone

"hadnt seen someone die since..." more alice lore? is this her parents?

yeah of course you believe her celia

I'm glad alice actually told someone about it, i was worried she was just gonna hold it in. her horror film survival skills have proven me wrong yet again

alice :(

alice do not manifest that into existence

Statement

loving this girl already

INK5SOUL

INK5OUL REVEAL

they sound kind of monotone(?) dunno if thats intentional or if its just me but thatd be cool if it was

omg we're gonna hear them get horror-ified by tattoos

"whats the worst that could happen?" oh honey...

oh i guess no tattoo audio, just concerning noises

what happened jesus

INK5OUL SITUATIONSHIP HUH???

DID THEY MANIFEST THEMSELF A SITUATIONSHIP WITH A HEART TATTOO OMG THATS AMAZING

im loving the special effects and genz slang

"big mood am I right?" girl RUN

i wonder how many influencers could get away with trying to meet a fan in a graveyard and proceeding to give them a shovel and tell them to dig

not the "you said you were goth" are they gonna start asking for 5 different goth bands

i wonder how the cymatics of physically affecting someone with a tattoo works. like do you have to actually alter the tattoo and it gives them diseases or bad luck or can you just manifest it with the power of gothic tattoos and eldritch horror

im guessing theyre referring to the sea guy in a previous statement who met ink5oul?

oh no poor girl :(

i love the fact that ink5oul takes being an influencer seriously tho, idk i just kind of expected them to be kind of removed from their fans and and instead just totally focused on their craft like some people can be. id buy both depictions tbh but theres something about them using their platform as well as their weird ability that makes them more interesting, especially as im assuming their fans are just like that and arent also following the same powers as 1nksoul

oh god

holy shit

hell of a metaphor tho

this poor girl oh my god :(((

Post Statement

oh alice :(

nice to see sam and celia be there for her though. i feel bad for alice but my samalicelia heart is loving this

gwen what are you doing

oh lenas upset

ooh she wasnt supposed to bring lady mowbray in

go gwen tbh

thermodynamic comedian is gonna love this episode

(had to edit this post as i realised id spelled ink5oul as 1nksoul the whole time lmao)

[mamadarama]

I was going through some posts I missed and came across the “tatsumi is mature but still does 19 year old things” and I just wanna say I’ve never been able to put it into words when my friends ask but like. That’s exactly what I love about this game.

We’ve got scandals and drama and weird crypto currencies and convoluted backstories of implied murder or identity theft or military shit or relations to underground gang activity or so SO much more and yet the writers still succeed in reminding you that this is a game full of high schoolers.

Natume was one of the five oddballs and suffered through so much during the war where it affects him to this day, but he also refers to his tech savvy and love of the occult as magic and loves the junior he “adopted” to death. Despite Aira struggling against every odd to become a real idol he still buys merch and looks on the internet to look for content of the ones he likes. Rinne was destined to become the monarch of his homeland but ran away in an attempt to find happiness and acceptance and is an amazing strategist who uses it to take down corruption, but his sense of humor is entirely made up of sex jokes and romantic teasing like Aira being “hiiro’s little girlfriend”. The amount of characters that assign themselves the mom friend role just because. Trickstar. I don’t think I need to explain Trickstar-

Like this game has made me cry so many times and it has its ridiculous moments but it also has its genuine ones while also being the most teenage shit I’ve seen in my life and I feel like so few media can balance those and still have a decent story like that. Sorry for the long ass post I just have so many feelings about this kind of stuff 😭

YEAH this is exactly what i was talking about in a previous ask when i said i have nothing meaningful to add to the enstars cast that isnt a headcanon . its all very well thought out and the interpersonal relationships are nuanced enough to feel realistic but outlandish enough to be interesting .

worldbuilding and character design is one of my special interests and i say this any chance i can get: the most important part of building a character (and a story in general) is realizing the importance of comedic irony and comedy as a whole regardless of genre or tone. it makes characters feel more 3 dimensional and relatable because people arent stagnant and theres multiple facets to any individuals personality (this is also why some of the most popular animes of all time have filler episodes or funny bits that show the characters personalities, every event hits with 3x emotional impact the more you know about the characters as people but that's a different discussion) enstars does a really good job of this . like for example if wataru were to have had a realistic reaction to eichi starting the war it wouldnt be nearly as good of a story. the fact that eichis ridiculous ass backwards plan to get wataru to fall in love with him actually worked is a perfect example of comedy used to make a story more interesting. another thing similar to this is how sometimes its better to not detail something and let characters do things for a mundane reason or even no reason at all . for example subaru hating chiaki just because he annoys him, or shinobu being on the broadcasting team despite his character not being associated with technology otherwise and therefore having no real backstory on why he likes radio stuff. its all really well planned worldbuilding with an insane amount of subtle details , which is why enstars is one of my favorite stories to analyze . the only thing i could possibly want more out of it is hardcore tragedy but thats entirely a personal preference rather than a critique because im a slut for catharsis and i love sad endings , especially ones where characters die . (don't worry im in therapy)

[osomatsuconfessions]

vaping and general smoking thoughts long long long

osomatsu: sticks with just cigarettes mostly, antiquated frame of reference where old and comfortable is the best with little change allowed. matsuzou smokes so i think oso just followed by example and liked the relaxed feeling and repetition aspect. he would maybe try a vape under the idea that a buzz is a buzz and a buzz feels good but would find the synthetic taste and experience to be offputting. has many complaints that comically go against audience expectation: 'whats the point! it doesnt even smell bad! it doesnt even make YOU smell bad! it doesnt even make my lungs burn!' etc etc

karamatsu: impossibly weak nicotine tolerance, smoked one cigarette and got extremely sick and took it as an omen. wouldnt vape because sucking on a little rectangle doesnt line up with his idea of coolness. holds cigarettes and cigars in his mouth to get the image of being intimidating and tough without ever lighting them.

choromatsu: WOULD be interested in vaping out of the fear of what smoking is actively doing to his body and what it says about his restraint and responsibility over himself by putting his lungs in danger, plus (kiddish and so, hard to admit) the flavors sound appealing. would sneak hits of tottys vape really obviously in the middle of the house any time hes not around and would over time want to start branching out with different pods, making his own rankings in his head. choro does not see this as lame but instead something akin to taking up wine tasting as a hobby (same level of prestige in his mind but less cost so its even better. hes even better). writes whole entries in a journal bought specifically for this purpose about the notes and undertones and things. to him this is for explorational AND educational purposes. this is the hobby of a discerning mind. this is not him being addicted to drugs. this is not JUST some guy vaping a ton for the sake of vaping its DIFFERENT. the other matsus find the journal and mock choro and his analysis of unicorn 50w by reciting passages back to his while she goes catatonic and silently switches back to cigarettes. never gets any buzz ever again from the insane tolerance build up but will never share this fact or think deeper about what it says about his habits

ichimatsu: explicitly doesnt smoke nor would vape. shit in his lungs is shit in his lungs it all sucks

jyushimatsu: intermittent cigarette smoker just whenever the chance presents itself. in line with him sharing the coffee milk with osomatsu where its probably more about the taste and getting to chug it and spin around than the effects of caffeine, its a vessel for comedy and appearances (for reference humor to specific archetypes or doing physically impossible tricks) and stuff more than an actual enjoyment of nicotine. he probably finishes other peoples but doesnt start his own. also thinking of jyushimatsus fixation with chewing and teething on shit like cybers heads or the lollipops theres no way hes not chomping the shit out of the filters. i think vapes initially would kind of confuse him same as all the others, but hed be reeled in by the idea of super sweet flavors and the comedic potential of making giant clouds. hed be like a fog machine. teeth marks on the vape too nothings safe if its going in there

todomatsu: would vape, specifically orange or strawberry pods. totty also doesnt really get it but it SEEMS like its hip cause there was a lot of buzz about it a couple years ago and he is forever multiple seasons late to any kind of trend so hes more than willing. hitting it around other people makes him feel like his fingers on the pulse of modern culture and not a guy who spends his time gambling and fishing like an old man. confidence booster plus he thinks it makes you smell better to women, especially compared to tobacco smoke, which is another plus (and cuts down on buying gas station perfume 2 in 1 bargain). when not accompanied by people totty means to impress (the other matsus) he would smoke cigarettes. he (like the rest) is a fiend of habit and behaviors set by osomatsu especially are ingrained so its pretty inevitable that he followed along in earlier adult years and then got hooked. but by s3 hed give it up more (riceballs using their electronic vape things further pushing the idea that this is futuristic and impressive and something that they should get with the times on, which totty would feel self conscious about not understanding/already doing + additionally having already made his extreme departure from following osomatsus actions beat for beat as he otherwise was predisposed to in s1) but would have an itch for it that hed mostly only scratch when drunk or making excuses. to compensate for his late switchover and to further distinguish himself as The Sextuplet In The Know Of Things hed rub in their faces how bad tobacco is for your lungs and how hes gonna live way longer and chide them about how they prioritize getting a hit in over living a long time like 'good luck having sex when youre DEAD with TAR LUNGS idiots!!!' when asked how vapes are at all better for your lungs he goes silent and looks away

.

[bluiex]

Screw it my brain rot is so real and SO INTENSE right now Im sharing my thoughts on a Cyberpunk AU for Settphel

Definitely not taking inspo for Setts background from Cyberpunk ER hehe Sett being a street kid (because im in love with league species- there will be vastayans and things in this universe. so Sett is half vas, and his mom full) Whos mom works as a EMT, long hours just to pay the bills and for Sett to go to a corpo school Sett definitely fought a lot because he is street scum going to a corpo school, and half-Vastayan- bros got it rough out here Age 16 is when he gets his first chrome, fist enhancing chrome that make him as strong as like ykno, in league lmao so then theres The Pit, he frequents this after getting the chrome (illegally may I add) and starts bringing home money ofc he tells his Ma its from work, hes found jobs no need to worry Ma, you can start taking less shifts. now this is how it deviates from CPER, Sett actually stays in corpo school (doesnt lose his mom) he climbs that Corpo ladder. But on the side, he manages to take over The Pit and many other underground gangs while doing so. He ends up getting all the way to the top of the Corpo Ladder and becoming the CEO of one of the companies Gets his Ma a lovely cottage outside of the city, away from the struggles and dangers of living there. Esp now that hes got many people out for his head- needs his Ma away and blissfully unaware of his underground shit and safe

For Aphelios..

Nomad makes more sense for Aphelios the more i think about it Growing up way outside of the city, in the "desert" area, but it wont be a desert here, itll be the mountains in this universe lol anyways yeah the religion being very stigmatized. The Solari of the city, hate Lunari. So far the hate leaks into the common people cuz the Solari is in the city and everywhere So they stay in the mountains. Though growing up Alune and Phel are faced with the Corpos wanting to encroach on their land, keep trying to buy it and stuff like that. as they get older, the elders of the clan raising Aphelios to become their assassin, to slowly start killing off Corpos, the important ones, or as important as they can get to. While Alune stays back at the clan, learning everything she can to take over as the leader once the Elders are gone in this, Aphelios just chooses not to speak most of the time, only when he has to he will. Preferring to sign with his sister and anyone who knows it

This is where Sett comes into the picture, now being the main dog of Corpos now, his company wants to forcefully take the Lunari land (under Setts nose too, because Sett isnt the kind of man to take away someones home like that. and people still hold prejudices against Sett being half-vastayan and a former streetkid, so theyd definitely not tell the big man what theyre doing and just push all backlash and blame onto him) Aphelios is tasked to assassinate Sett at a some corpo "ball" (not really a ball its a formal party or something)

At this party, of course Sett is on high alert. He always is really, a lot of people want him dead. So when a strange man comes into the party, dressed to the nines- unfamiliar face- Sett is wary, keeps a keen eye on him all night. Whenever Sett isn't looking though, caught up in conversations, he feels eyes burning into him, but when he looks in the direction its gone. What a good assassin, being able to hide from Sett like that Peaks his interest greatly After awhile, skillfully playing a game of cat and mouse with this stranger, Sett is finally able to get to one of his private rooms and simply waits, his poisoned drink in hand on a plush armchair for the assassin to walk in and make sure the job was done

Much to Phel's surprise, when he sneaks into the room, Sett is waiting for him, the smuggest grin on his face he's ever seen.

[killing-machine]

Thought id share my information about my two madcom ocs since i never really talked about them.

not much backstory with them atm, just mostly normal grunts doing mostly normal jobs, Janitor is the only one who is slightly abnormal.

His main gig is doing clean up for the aahw since theres *always* a mess around. but just bevause he does eork for the aahw doesnt mean he is directly for them. he is easily swayed into working for the sq or anyone else if they offer him something good enough, things usually go unnoticed since hes just concidered a lesser working and normal grunts usually are pretty clueless so noone really questions if hes up to something.

i had a bit of a story where 2b offered him some good money to smuggle out intel and supplies and so he's a bit more on the sq's side since that gets him more interesting things to do for better pay. but those kinds of jobs arnt steady so he sticks with being a janitor til something else pops up. sometimes he just gets paid to beat the shit out of someone with no questions asked, he just does his job.

he blends in really well when he needs to so he can literally smuggle in whole guys into the buildings too, had the idea of maybe doc asking him to smuggle deimos and sanford in as fake supplies and since he can literally just look like a normal grunt they wouldnt be able to figure out where the leak came from.

and with Vendor, he is really just. a normal grunt. He serves food, but is kind a germophobe so he doesnt really touch people and stays away from corpses and stuff. he can handle it but just not on his hands so he wears gloves.

they are mute, never expressive besides vauge motions and is often just seen as bland but not many people notice that they often love to do little extra touches to spruce up their clothing

the simple bottle cap pins to them tying their apron in a bow just to help themselves feel a bit more different without it being too obvious about it, they like cute things a lot.

the janitor id imagine would often buy things from the vendor and eventually just got interested in the guy and started chatting them up, they never responded but vendor honestly just wanted someone to chat to and the vendor never really made them leave so it just ended up where they had a routine of janitor showing up during lunch break to talk to vendor about his wild adventures, and vendor would quietly be amazed and live through these stories and experiences and enjoy someone seeing them as a person rather than just another grunt.

vendor would never be able to experience the sort of things janitor could, probably would die very wuickly, but they enjoy imagining what it would be like out there. and janitor could never be able to stick with one job and be satisfied being stuck in one place but they love having atleast has something that stays the same, and thats the vendor.

opposites that end up meeting in the middle

sorry if this was messy, it was mainly copy pasted from a rambling i sent to my friend over discord, said itd be a good idea to share this so why not.

[suffarustuffaru]

Reading your tags about how people miss the very obvious "there's some fucked up shit boiling underneath" regarding Otto, just gave me a sudden realization. Otto is the only character I know in fiction where they act all innocent and drive up the "clumsy", "just in the side-lines" and "straight-man (heh)" persona. When. Like no one's in the EMT camp is buying it. They know he's way more capable than he let's on. Meanwhile, the tomfoolery is completely brought on by the Western audience.

Like Otto is failing miserably to make other characters believe that he's not up to mischief, Roswaal even thinks it can bring his downfall. But the audience, who even sometimes *sees* his fucked up thought process, is buying it.

*head in hands*

no u bring up so many good points bc ive been really thinking about this for a while T^T its such an interesting phenomenon in the difference in perception otto has between the japanese speaking half of the fandom vs the english speaking half which can be explained by—yeah. media illiteracy mainly. im also putting my head in my hands anon T^T

because—okay sorry wkdndn im gonna get into meta again but hear me out bc this pattern of the fandom underestimating otto is interesting bc i kind of sort of i cracked the code maybe??? o.o i think the nature of otto is a character is that youre SUPPOSED to underestimate him at first, just like what happens sometimes in universe. i mean wayyy back then i definitely wasnt expecting him to get more depth added to him in arc 4–which was a pleasant surprise—which is also the reaction the vast majority of people have to reading/watching arc 4, along with the other vast majority reaction which is being a bit endeared to ottosubas friendship and respecting otto for being a good friend. and then its easy to underestimate otto bc of 1. all the chaos going on in rezero at any given moment and 2. hes almost always overshadowed by other characters doing worse shit or being more insane than he is and 3. otto of course damn well knows hes easy to underestimate and counts on that. thats what he did against roswaal in arc 4. plus—i mean even aesthetics-wise hes 100% DESIGNED to be easy to underestimate. his outfit and physical features make him look either friendly or frazzled or soft. so i think that the point is that we were supposed to be kind of fooled—at first.

because yeah, we’re endeared to otto. we respect him for helping subaru the way he did. we think that hes a nice person and we now support his actions especially after feeling sympathetic towards him after learning his backstory. (or at least the average audience member will think this wjdndn.) but like—you dont even NEED to look at any side content at all for it to dawn on you that theres something Wrong. with him. like all you need is main route arcs 3-8 aka ottos entire screentime thus far, because at arc 4 its so easy to overlook otto unless youre thinking a bit deeper (for example—he gets violent with subaru. like yeah its entertaining, its played for laughs a bit, yeah subaru needed to be snapped out of his own head, but was it 100% necessary??? why did otto have this response??? bc if you just look at the main timeline otto really decided to beat up subaru first. and bc this tendency is now Less Funny in arc 8).

but even if youre just looking at rezero face value, when you get to arc 5 its starting to get even more clear that ottos weird in the head. like we already saw him being very good at scheming and planning in arc 4–in arc 5, we find out about otto hiding the tome for a year. we find out WHY hes been hiding the tome for a year. the tome then leads the witch cult into priestella, so like—in the sense, otto is RESPONSIBLE for arc 5. but theres STILL a tendency sometimes for the audience to continue underestimating him even though by this point we’re getting more clues and many characters around otto, like you said anon, KNOW hes very capable. i keep wondering why this is, but arc 5 is, again, FULL of chaos and different storylines happening at once, so its so easy to almost kind of forget otto there in the background until he occasionally pops up again. plus otto serves an additional role as comedic relief sometimes—he spends all of arc 5 being bitchy and whiny (i say this affectionately HAH) about his camp being full of disasters, for example, so i think the natural response from the audience tends to be “aw otto!! what a silly guy!!” sometimes. you know? so its like. i think at this point some people tend to be like “yeah fair that otto was wary of roswaal and thats why he saved the tome…. anyway ooooh whats going on with these other plot points” wobsbss. its so fascinating bc—ok this might be my own personal experience but anyone reading this pls tell me if you agree or not—i dont think ive seen a lot of people actually even MENTION otto bringing the tome into priestella attracting witch cultists. and the english speaking fandom LOVES to go into certain characters’ wrongdoings so why gloss over otto????

the only explanation i have for this is that from arcs 3-4 underestimating otto is. kind of the point of his character UNTIL you get to arc 5 and the clues in the main story start seeping in even more. and also the western audience DOES have media illiteracy a lot. theres that too. just look at rezero content on youtube or reddit or fanfic sites or other things of that sort T^T but no yeah i think ottos nature as a character exacerbates it. youre supposed to start asking questions about him. youre supposed to start connecting the dots and then SUDDENLY its now EXTREMELY obvious in arc 7-8 and even while theres so much chaos going on its basically shoved in your face. arc 7-8 is just delivering on all the leadup that was arcs 3-5.

and i think that youve gotta be media illiterate for sure to NOT get that otto is not squeaky clean and innocent BY ARC 8. i think that ottos the deconstruction of the loyal best friend trope, and also a mirror into what subaru couldve been like if he decided to be more ruthless instead of jumping right to forgiveness and saving everyone, except sometimes that flies right over the audience’s head wkdndnd. it confuses me bc ive seen some people completely miss the point or completely agree with otto and overlook the Bad Parts of it or, you know, STILL think ottos perfectly sane—like T^T please.

and yeah so back to what you said about otto Not being underestimated In Universe—its such an interesting detail bc hes ALWAYS been simultaneously pathetic and Very Competent wjdndnd. but yeah no all of his friends have seen various hints and clues and evidence of what hes capable of. like even though he hid the tome from them successfully and even though hes hiding info now its INEVITABLE that its gonna blow up in his face one day. like you got characters like garfiel who literally saw otto punch the wall and break his hand in an unhinged fit of rage, julius who got snapped at by otto and while julius is a Bit naive definitely knows somethings off there, anastasia whos smart as hell and definitely knows not to underestimate otto, and roswaal who, like you said anon, literally went out of his way to stop otto from breaking his hand in another unhinged fit of rage and warned otto that he will literally be destroying himself if he keeps going on like this. its this fascinating dichotomy bc otto is NOT fooling anyone around him but at the same time his current schemes are mostly unnoticed—for now—which yeah i havent seen that in a lot of media!!! its an interesting balancing act bc people around him realistically know hes competent after seeing the Proof of that for the past couple arcs, but otto is still finding ways to try and Win…

which—again, the anger and violence is an extension of arc 4 otto!! this is the same guy!! hes always been like this!! ottos kind of stayed the same, deep down, this whole time and as an audience its ONLY shoved in our face with a big gigantic spotlight on it FOUR ARCS LATER, but it was hinted to all this time. and like you said anon—we LITERALLY see ottos fucked up thought processes. literally what sane person thinks any of that shit. its spelled right out for the reader HAH T^T which—yeah. media illiteracy…. and also this whole ask was a longer way of just saying that otto is VERY easy to see at surface level if youre media illiterate. but at the same time it should be very easy to figure out otto is A Bit Fucked Up bc tappei underlines it in bright red print!!! i think people sometimes just hang onto soft awkward silly otto and forget about the rest T^T either that or they dont think he cares about subaru at all. which. that phenomenon of thinking characters that do care about subaru Dont Care is also interesting to me bc why????? we’re at arc 8 and you STILL dont get it??? o.ooooo

but yeah apart from that….. i said this earlier but yeah sometimes some people agree with ottos realism in arc 8 which is. understandable, but the whole point is that he is EXTREME. with it. hes Not in the right here, but the same crowd that wants wanton revenge in rezero is gonna agree with that kind of stuff T^T ottos been lurking in the background so much so that tappei made it meta by doing the whole “walking in darkness” part of his character, so i guess people just. dont see ottos ACTUAL worst traits and instead think he would ditch subaru at the first opportunity or something. but at the point we are now, arc 8 ottos problem isnt that hed ditch subaru. his problem is that he would sacrifice the world for subaru. his problem is that he gets extremely angry at subaru for trying to do good. his problem is that hes trying to micromanage everything around him and is willing to sacrifice anything necessary to get what he wants. but sometimes people dont get that bc otto doesnt look sound or seem like a character thatd do that. the Underestimation part of his character is doing too well on. certain audiences. please T^T the soft and awkward and silly parts ARE part of his character just like all the Darker parts are!!!

additionally im also wondering if western audience perception of otto is also clouded by the fact that otto looks and sounds more feminine / androgynous and he doesnt have the appeal of Overt Power either……. he cant Really be waifu-ified… and he cant be used as a weird self insert like subaru…. and you Have to look at him closer to understand him…. and for some reason people dont tend to hate on him so aggressively, if anything people cant even see his actual canonical flaws half the time wkdndn so if youre not paying attention otto CANT be aggressively hated on bc theres nothing there if ur not looking at it….. and if youre not paying attention otto seems more “boring” compared to the others…… (not that people arent allowed to not have otto as a favorite character bc thats totally fair but im talking about the tendency to think hes Saner than he actually is.) but yeah these are just my guesses. i have no clue the western fandom is a little T^T some people unfortunately cannot read.

anyway. big thank you to the japanese fanbase for understanding ottos character more and making so much wonderful fancontent for him T^T also i think that we as a collective fanbase should stop underestimating otto in general bc its exactly what he wouldnt want and i think itd be really hilarious. <3333 make him explode with rage please

[terraliensvent]

I hate terraliens because the price of characters has dropped so much. I spent a lot of effort and valuable characters to get my first terraliens and now they cost nothing.

I blame them for giving out point buy myo to every person and not even making these characters linked to an account to reduce inflation.

I blame them for the species no longer ignites my heart because I see how much bullshit they do and how they don't do anything interesting. They delayed the launch of a new subspecies even though they've already spent a shitload of time on it, and they still can't get enough?

I blame them for being idiots and not bothering to find a better programmer and fix their fucking website. They're idiots and don't understand the consequences of uploading 4 megabyte images, which is what uploading 1k pixel images each leads to. They are idiots and they don't give a shit, because they don't use the site from the average user's point of view.

I blame them for not bothering to find normal extensions for their fucking site, although karma found and installed world expanding for their site, while the theres were open-mouthed at the mention of this extension. ARE YOU FUCKING IDIOTS OR ARE YOU JUST FUCKING WITH US?

Terraliens are burning and dying and I wish them a quick descent into hell.

i agree with everything here anon

the terra economy is one of the strangest to me, they were insanely high value at the start, then grubs tanked because staff never gave anything to spend on other than items, then jasper items tanked because they were made forageable, then terras themselves tanked because the mod team was so shit people just wanted nothing to do with them

point buy myos were the final nail in the coffin for this economy that they royally fucked up by introducing staff myos into (thus creating a focus on lim traits to add value) so not even lims have trading power

they pushed out a new subspecies without thinking about fixing the lore people have been asking for since the species start, and then when confronted about it just said "whoopsies we r dum!!" then delayed the launch of said subspecies that WAS ALREADY LAUNCHED

they use insanely large images for their site, going against the recommended image sizes that lorekeeper gives you right next to the "upload image" button, creating such a workload for the site that now it runs incredibly slow because they refused to read and decided they needed 1000x1000 px images for items

they know NOTHING about their own tools to the point that members suggest very easy implementations and staff turns it down because they cant even begin to comprehend operating lorekeeper; when someone suggested allowing a volunteer coder, kea assumed that they could just delete the whole site which isnt possible at all. even the coder they currently have on has said they have no lorekeeper experience.

the staff are constantly mystified by the most basic parts of lorekeeper, even a glance across the extensions wiki gives you so many options for site features that are typically very easy to add outside of dealing with migrations.

even upgrading the site to v3, which theyve said is supposedly at the top of their priorities, should be incredibly simple considering how there are almost no extensions installed, but they still just havent made the change.

the team is incompetent and has been for a very long time. terras is dying and it has been for a very long time. we are halfway through the month of october and there is still no announcement for this month's event. it took them a full month after the birthday storm event ended to even roll the damn raffle because they just didnt give a fuck. hell, they probably didnt even have a design for it until someone asked in staff-ask saying "hey where the hell is it its been a month" and they had to scramble and throw something together

i just want it to be officially done and over with because its clear that everyone is moving on

[mostlymaudlin]

Top 5 vs Personal 5

List your top 5 fics ranked by kudos on AO3. are you surprised by what's most popular to your readers? then provide your ranking of your personal top 5 fics, and tag a few fellow writers!

ty for the tag @sillyunicorn :D this is cute and also interesting. i tag @starwarned @urban-sith @tea-brigade @fortheloveofexy @nanatsuyu @justadreamfox @jaydreams @halfpintpeach

im actually going to do my Personal 5 first because that's what i want above the read more cut 😂 no one is escaping looking at my babies.

Thorns (E), 18k, andreil // a post-canon fic where andrew and neil cope with doing a long distance relationship when u both have fatal levels of attachment issues lol. i spent a stupid long time on this fic for the word count, but there is love in every single word. i like this universe bc it's what i want for post-canon andreil. no one gave them the tools for this shit, but i love the idea that they will always figure out how to be together, even if its messy.

No Turning Back (E), 31k, andreil // this is perhaps recency bias, but i think this is the best thing ive ever written. i have a hard time summarizing it.. but it's an au where the conflict is almost entirely in andrew's head, which of course means he Causes Many Problems. i actually built this fic out from Andrew's fucked up internal journey, which was cool for me -- like, the main plot was developed to fit his character arc. i think that's probably not rocket science or unique but it was my first time doing it that way!

We Can Live Forever (T), 46k, andreil // i used to not like hs aus and then i wrote a huge one lol. its childhood best friends-lovers, and centered on this ridiculous lip sync serenade fundraiser ?? i made them all dance. a lot. sometimes its serious, but its mostly very silly. i wrote it w the intention of giving people that "read until 4am screaming into ur pillow bc cute aggression" feeling that so many fics have given me, and the feedback ive gotten implies ive succeeded, so im rly proud of that!!

Stoner AU (E), 21k, snowbaz // i'm cheating a bit because this is a series, but i almost consider this thing to be like a collection of sitcom episodes lol. it's a normal au, simon is a weed guy and baz buys from him and also falls in love w him. theres a lot of penny and shep and its all just very FUNNY imo. and they are all so fucking devoted to each other in kind of unhinged ways. i love rereading these fics.

I'll Come Back To You (T), 6.9k, andreil // ok, for 1: that's the exact word count. every time i fix typos on rereads i have to edit it to preserve the wc. but 2: this fic is Not Silly or Smutty LOL. it's probably my plottiest/most serious fic in some ways -- it deals w, like, multiple dimensions ?? and amnesia. and loneliness. i'm proud of the ambiguity, because i tend to be a writer that punches you in the face with The Theme. this one leaves a lot for the reader to figure out (to the dissatisfaction of some commenters lol), but i like that you have to think about it a bit.

ok, AO3 Top 5 under the cut!

all of these are andreil, because aftg fandom is a lot bigger than carry on </3.

boyfriend privileges (T), 4k // i should not have been surprised that this did the numbers, but i was kind of shook when my ao3 inbox blew up like never before. it's fanfic catnip -- a 5+1 post-canon with resolvable angst interspersed with soft moments. i wrote it in like 2 days and didn't edit, and aint that just the way of ao3 lol.

flashes of intimacy (T), 7k // this is a series of fifteen <500 word fics that i add to pretty often, so it also makes sense that it's got a lot of readers! ive always been proud of my ability to write short, so it makes me happy that it's up here. it wld probs be #6 on my personal rating.

Inside Thoughts (T), 1.5k // andrew gets his wisdom teeth out and is a goober about it. one of my first aftg fics -- i think it's up here bc it's almost a year old. i am not passionate abt it tbh, i wrote it kind of as a joke one night while i was high lmfao

Do Not Disturb (T), 2k // another of my first aftg fics that i kind of dont care much about hahaha. it's another catnip situation, a post-canon moment where neil panics & unconsciously calls andrew, similarly to how he does in canon. and then they r soft <3

Tequila Sunrise (M), 4k // i know people love this one -- it's also my most bookmarked. it's fun!! drunk neil!! but i almost can't read it anymore lol. there's some prose im proud of in there, but there's also some lazy characterization choices i made bc i had no idea it would get so many hits. its hard for me as the Characterization Guy to reconcile that hahaha.

ok as usual that was long-winded as hell. i love 2 talk abt writing :) also i feel bad 4 the lack of snowbaz representation here lol, but i think that i'm 1. better at writing andreil and 2. have gotten a lot better at writing while i was unemployed the last few months. i think a lot abt taking snowbaz for another whirl now, but consider: then i wouldn't get to write abt Andrew Minyard :(

[until-the-brahmin-come-home]

In a previous draft, I went more into how I understand the point of Fallout is maybe don't put the world on the brink of destruction or at least be wary of those who'd take advantage of it, so who fired first isn't the point... Except it kinda is if it was in fact Vault-Tec. Fallout 3 has a bunch of stuff that indicates it wasn't the States. I could buy maybe it was the Zetans if only because that'd be funny, but I don't see a lot of supporting story-telling for that. Yeah, there's a hot war in Alaska with the Chinese, but it's not an atomic one and had managed to stay so despite a large scale land invasion. MAD was still in place. In War Games, theres a scene at the end where WHOPR is simulating every possible atomic exchange. One of the more interesting ones is, 20 years before they would have their own operational atomic arsenals, Pakistan and India launch first and the rest of the world launches before the bombs even land. (It's on screen for under two seconds but you can see it.) You're correct, the point has always been it doesn't matter who fires first, because everyone fires next... except for the one organization that has an entire industry dedicated to successfully ducking out of mutually assured destruction. I always took the implications here to be Vault-Tec is doing science, but it's mad-science. It's not about publishing or prestige, it's about curiosity absent morality. It's Stanislaus Braun in his playground forever. It's Vault 101 canonically the control vault for all other vaults. It's whatever hella sus shit the Overseer has going on virtually every time.

(previous ask)

i mean, yeah, okay, fair enough.

(although of course there's not a lot of supportive storytelling for any one faction being responsible - that was the point, the vagueness of it all, and with the show saying vault-tec fired first, well, of course that now has more points in its favor)

although vault-tec doesn't seem to actually be that good at "ducking out of mutually assured destruction". again, how many vaults weren't completed/filled despite supposedly knowing the deadline? why'd Barb let her kid be outside, far away from home on the day the bombs dropped?

and it's the show that really hammers home the 'vault-tec is a company doing this for capitalism reasons'. the whole proposal for experiments feels more like the bait they're using to entice other corporations into funding them. you are right in that "for the sake of mad science" is pretty much the only consistent concept vault-tec has going on in the broader canon (note: in fallout 1, vault experiments weren't a thing! that idea was introduced in 2). but also mad science is so very unsustainable. so, so many of the experiments end with absolutely everyone dead - including the people in charge! and there's really no guarantee that the experiment can last longer than a generation - what, are you going to indoctrinate the scientist's children into the experiment, forever? all it takes is one person going rogue to throw the whole thing.

it's just. idk. it's a personal gripe for me. i am, like, an actual biologist with four years of college under my belt (and i was in a science program for four years before that) so maybe i'm a little more sensitive to how nonsensical the whole thing is. our mileage is obviously varying wrt this topic. i like mad science but it's gotta have charm, and so much of vault-tec is utterly charmless to me.

final point: from a storytelling perspective, i just get a lot more pathos from "humanity set itself on a path of destruction and was unable to get off that path until it was too late". having vault tec explicitly be the cause flattens that idea into "one corporation burned the world for their own vague goals". like with the fall of the ncr, i could've been okay with this decision. there are maybe some statements to be made there! but i just don't feel like the show really stuck the landing.

also wait how'd vault-tec get a bomb-

[wonderful-world-of-hetalia]

So theres kind of plush dolls that have grown to be REALLY popular especially among the Genshin Impact fandom so I took a little peep at one site that sells them to see what other characters they do and LO AND BEHOLD! there's a possibility of Hetalia characters!

For what the dolls look like since they haven't made these guys yet, they're incredibly cute plush dolls! Here's an example of one they got a lot of interest for, Yuji from Jujutsu Kaisen! Their hands and feet have embroidered pawbs on them just like my big Kumajiro!

Here's another example someone did get, it's literally Soap from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and you can see the toe beans!

Did I also mention that you can dress them up too? Now imagine Italy with a Capybara onesie!

There's also bigger dolls too, such as certified Tumblr Sexyman Emet-Selch doll (Yes many of them come NAKEY! For the purpose of dressing them up of course)

I do believe most of these dolls are poseable because they have a skeleton inside of them, so you can have your funny country guys do funny things for pics :o)

Also from the screenshot I provided, if you do give your $1 deposit to Ruadoll, they will give you $5 credit towards your purchase of your funny country people, IF they do get them made! (if they don't, they'll just refund you back)

However

I do not know if any other doll enjoyers have bought from this site before, and I don't want to have a lot of disappointed people be scammed because as a lolita myself, it seems like they're affiliated with Devil Inspired, which is basically a reseller of jfashion (mostly Lolita and recently, Jirai Kei) from Taobao, notorious for hiking up prices and having shit service unless you basically say "a lolita fashion youtuber i enjoy sent me here" and then give you good service?? what

I have had experiences with Taobao shopping services because Taobao (which is basically like Amazon but only for China, hence using a shopping service) has some gems I have bought for lolita because there are so many amazing lolita brands on Taobao but I am not well-versed in dolls, especially plush dolls! (rest in peace, C.C. Cat) Also I cannot speak any Chinese dialect at all (ie, Mandarin, Cantonese) so I gotta use Google Translate oops

So the question would be...

[limpfisted]

THE SPECIFIC LORE OF THE BLADE OF THE FRONTIERS / RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WYLL AND FAERUN, WHAT YOUR MUSE WOULD HAVE HEARD OF WYLL.

by default, unless your muse just does not give a shit about the happenings in the last seven years, your muse would have probably heard of a heroic “arcane knight” who frequents the hells to fight “evil” devils and monsters—but also goes town to town, place to place, fighting bandits, cultists and monsters (and yes, whoever mizora asks him to, sometimes innocents he allows himself to be fooled into thinking are guilty), and proctectinf women, children, people of marginalized fantasy races (besides goblins and devils), refugees, and the poor. he is a proper folk hero, and people HAVE heard of him all over the coasts, and he is known for storm and sword powers, as well as his charisma in telling tales of the hells.

but more importantly, no one, save the people wyll knows personally and has interacted with before AND after his banishment, know wyll ravengard, banished prince, is THE BLADE OF THE FRONTIERS. wyll has not been back to baldur’s gate since his father exiled him, some of the nobles never leave it. the blade and the banished son are known as names and rumors/legends all over faerun, but very few people know the two are one and the same, and wyll will dodge the question if asked. wylls father has also not told anyone about the pact, save his closest confidants.

in general, wyll never asks for payment, but is happy to take it when others insist. he buys fine things sparsely with his money, packs light, has few personal keepsakes, buys books and gifts them to libraries or sells them to shops when he is done with them. he keeps a journal full of poetry, and a seperate full of his adventures, and a third a book of spells and “progress” with his powers, and the further “gifts” he recieves from mizora.

mostly, people seem to be wary of him even before the horns, so they don’t ask too many questions until the job is done and their lives are saved—and even then theyre always content with not tall tales, but true tales enlarged, and news of other towns, over free drink and board.

wyll does not travel with others, though he sometimes makes friends on “missions.” he does not check in on them often—but they always have a blade by their side for missions of their own—though very rarely leisure.

wyll is something of a “workaholic” when he’s not celebrating his victories. he always goes the extra mile, theres always showmanship and flourishes, he genuinely lives to fight for others and be recognized for his goodness. which is what he deserves tbh he just saved ur life!!

wyll takes his job helping ppl by fighting monsters and devils very seriously, and he knows the blade thing isnt THAT serious, but wyll loves to have fun and keep things light and cheery even when hes suffering. the blade makes him confident and proud, and it gives his ferocity and impulses for violence and vanity and gratification meaningful and fun, even when they scare him

a part of wylls thing is in many ways hes a generic adventurer in temperament. like, he is swishy and gay and poetic and he can talk his way out of things and he makes a good love interest and a better player character. like balduran, he seems “pure good,” the heart and hope and pride of the gate. he keeps it light and smiley and soft, but his heroes and his upbringing are full of lies, and so is he.

in general i believe wylls stats and proficiencies were much higher pre-tadpole, a level 15 at least. hes lost some points!

wyll has saved many ppl, and pre-game, he is actually quite known in the hells as well as a pesky demon-like human. untouchable bc of his powerful pact. but also? a huge asshole? who makes them so so mad? they think this dude must be insane fr. how is some human gonna come here asking for another devil without making a deal, the damn nerve!!!

[vampiremourning]

on nines' wiki for fic stuff, have some copy-paste of me going Feral about him and kat in discord

crying thinking abt how genuinely kat will compliment her man & how inadvertantly Serious she gets bc she really does sincerely mean it & it would be easier to process if she was actually doing it to fluster him but no sometimes she just gets into a certain mood

also the idea of her like hgjhkj absolutely backing him 100% when other barons push back on shit like this, knowing that her reputation is in a very strange place where too much will be seen as in poor form but not really caring bc she knows how to exude enough bad vibes to get people to shut up lmao. his coterie might feel the same as she does but they dont have the same effect on audiences, the ventrue aura of 'listen to me or Else' comes in handy and he gfhjk doesnt quite know how to feel abt it being used for him lmao

she does love how much he cares tho,,, its a very sexy quality its not smth shes used to. she might not completely Agree with him all the time but the way she completely trusts him overrides that so it doesnt actually Matter. & i think she also sort of uses that as a better moral compass than the one thats been trained into her, like inherently she sees herself as a semi-bad person bc of how shes able to detach from certain decisions and thats just not how he operates & she has a lot of respect for that (& probably also misses the fact that if we're comparing traumas hers are a lot more. uh. Direct lmfao.)

also god love her but she is Not a Car Girl TM. she will sit there in the garage trying her hardest to follow along & ask questions but rly truly, she has no idea wtf he is saying to her. she recognizes that he is talking about parts and seems Excited & shes just glad it requires minimal thought on her end beyond very basic open ended questions. im pretty sure he thinks she understands a Lot more about mechanical stuff than she actually does bc shes very good at picking out important words and repeating them gfhjjfdgfhg shes not TRYING to bullshit interest she just doesnt have the heart to tell him she have 0 comprehension of anything he said just now. he is so stressed so much she wants him to be happy & relaxed whenever theres an opportunity for it :(

also he listens to her interests gfhgjh even if theyre significantly less technical lmao. she likes dissecting the manufactured drama & relationships of reality tv and stuff like that bc it reminds her of a Much lower stakes version of kindred politics & the pettiness is entertaining to her. he also gets to hold her while they watch on the couch or in bed while she goes & picks apart all of the 'fighting' and production tampering & he loves hearing her talk in general but its kind of fascinating to him how she can take something so shallow & dissect it, loves how Perceptive she is when it comes to people in particular. i think sometimes if she's maybe squirming a bit much or maybe if he just feels like it he'll offer to paint her nails. she's really on top of keeping up a manicure but doesnt always do acrylics & i think he would actually get fairly into the fact that 1. its essentially just Hand Holding for a reason and 2. it requires a decently steady hand & attention to detail so it doesnt get messed up and as someone who restores bikes with tiny intricate mechanical parts, hes surprisingly well suited to this. i bet he would do little designs too if he had the tools for it. it just feels good to do something for her :')

she knows jewellery even if she doesnt know fuck all about mechanics. firmly believe she just buys him stuff all the time & shes stupidly good at nailing what someone's preferred style is. like i dont think hes ever had someone who just casually gets so many things bc 'i saw this and thought of you' and again acts like its nbd??? because it is?? shes like yeah ofc why Wouldnt i? & tbh i dont even think that the gifts stop with him either once the rest of his coterie realizes shes cool and not a camarilla mole lmao they also start getting little things. jewellery keychains shirts Whatever, all usually just dropped into their hands mid-conversation with very little acknowledgment from her. if you mention youve had your eye on a bracelet or smth she'll just grab it without thinking. if Really pressed she'll probably brush it off as 'i wasnt spending my money anyway' (girl likes to take cash when she feeds from the wealthier Reverse Orphans TM especially if theyre also cheating gfhjhj) but rly. she just enjoys making people happy, which is also something her adores about her. its the casual way its just ingrained into her personality & how she doesnt make a huge deal about it, its just how she is.

ofc he always makes sure to take care of her back, she clearly expresses affection in gift giving and acts of service but she likes quality time & physical touch for herself. which is absolutely okay by his book, he was never even close to being as touch starved as she was at any point whereas she went literal Years without being touched in some way that wasnt negative or hurtful in some form. its overwhelming for her initially & she doesnt really know how to Ask for contact but by god she gets it through him. he's always loved holding her; she just seems to tuck in Perfectly into his arms. if she's maybe getting too overwhelmed with that then he's also good to switch gears to maybe just having a hand on her back or leg or holding her hand bc there's a period right when they first officially get together where she's still trying to level herself out after so much isolation. & he's such a constant reassuring presence, it almost doesn't feel real.

tbh if he wasn't as stable as he was im not sure she would have been able to heal properly after killing her sire, she had spent so long tethered to that man and shaping her life around running from him that she didnt quite know what to Do with herself when he was gone. nines didnt explicitly provide a 'purpose' for her life, he just gave her a place to rest and recuperate while she figured herself out and started to understand the fact that she was finally safe. & that's another thing, her sire might have been a genuine threat to the point she didnt want to risk his safety, but everything else? i doubt there would be any stopping his protection instincts. sometimes thats a concern to her, but again, she needed to be with someone who would be able to be that type of support & strength while she finally released literal decades of repressed trauma & a constant fight or flight state. he cant protect her from her own mind, but he can put a stop to any outside threats. she's never had that. he might have been abandoned by a ton of people in his life, but she would have taken that over the active harm/passive allowance of harm. understanding that, to him, she is someone worth protecting? its a wild learning curve.

im also sure theres some angst to be found in his history of being abandoned + her former commitment fear that evolved into the constant need to Be Around Him but also consider: the amount of comfort he would finally have knowing theres a 99% chance if theyre at home he just has to walk into the next room to see her (assuming she isnt already closer) & how she openly admits to wanting him on all levels, like shes not just gonna be someone else who walks out of his life. absolutely her favourite spot in the world is curls up beside him, like thats where she considers Home to be and ohh man. i think that just stirs smth up in him internally. ofc he cares about a lot of people and a lot of people care about him back but this is Different. in retrospect, knowing what she went through just to be able to sit here with him? even though there was a chance she would be rejected for not being transparent with her situation prior & never fully committing (even if she otherwise would have)? knowing he might be Too Hurt to let her back in and trying it anyway & letting him take the lead on the pacing and decide what it was He needed, that's insane. but she wanted to be with him so badly it was a risk she was willing to take on, which is telling bc her whole thing was caution to the point of being detrimental to herself.

it's like,,, he knows how it feels to have followers. but just like he did with her, she was able to peel back layers and layers of public-facing personality traits & see who he was in the privacy of his own home, and Still wanted him. imo even though he knows how to command a room, he's still not 100% positive what it is about Him Specifically that makes him so special to everyone else aside form being the guy who was in the right place at the right time to make a reputation for himself. but she's like. the one person where he actually feels like he maybe understand why she looks at him that way, & its still a nebulous feeling, but its more Concrete than what he gets from starry-eyed fledglings. kat is not and has never been someone who gives people more credit than they deserve or who blindly follows people. she's harsh and she has to have a Reason to do that.

if theres ever a situation where she has to drink blood outside of her restriction, you know he's gonna be the one to take care of her. she's not a fan of it, she's in pain and she feels gross and doesn't want him to Watch the whole episode, but why would he be put off by it? they both came from big families with plenty of kids, the threshold for being grossed out by that stuff is really goddamn high for them both lmao. also she looks completely Miserable curled up on the floor like that, if she needs someone to hold her hair and rub her back a bit then okay! she will have that its what she deserves! she's gonna resist a little at first bc she was always the one doing that for her sisters being the oldest with no mother/mother figure for most of their lives but like with a lot of stuff he does, she will relax and melt into the touch after a bit and start to physically decompress. if she's up for up she will also be carried to whichever soft surface she desires, no questions asked.

theyre so domestic it Hurts. fully believe the only actual regret she has about the relationship is missing the boat on them both being human & getting to live that normal suburban family life bc she know she would have completely abandoned her Rich Husband goals & it would have been fine in the end + her dad would have loved him. theres a very deep part of her psyche with a list of names that would have sounded fantastic for theoretical children like fdgfhgjh god. she is so far gone for him, 'vampires dont love' my ASS. not to be cheesy but he's It for her, even when theyre in a rough spot she literally cannot imagine being around anyone else or giving herself to someone so fully like that and trusting that they won't use that against her or shatter her heart in the process.

i just gfsfdhgfrwhgqsahxgfghgfejgwdshhjgrf theyre so in love. SO in love.