#these characters all exist in the head of a teenage girl to be clear

[unravelingwires]

Stridulate

The door to Athena’s office swung open. She didn’t bother looking up.

“Did you know that when you snap, the sound doesn’t actually come from your fingers rubbing together?” Hera asked. “It comes from your middle finger hitting the base of your thumb.”

Athena kept manipulating her console. “Yes, I did.”

“And when you make a th sound, your tongue is just shaping air to move through your teeth.” Hera bounced over to Athena’s desk.

Athena glanced up. “Does this have a purpose?”

Iphigenia stuck her head in the office. “I gave Hera a book of facts.” She walked away before Athena could respond.

Hera draped her hands over Athena’s console. “Crickets don’t actually chip with their mouths, they just rub their wings together to make noise.”

“You know, I write the fact books in the mindscape,” Athena pointed out. “You can’t tell me—”

“It’s called stridulation when they do that.”

“...you want me to take a break.”

Hera grinned. “You’re so smart!” Annoyingly, she didn’t sound sarcastic.

[whatdidtheydotomygirljinx]

Why Episode 7 is the worst episode in all of Season 2.

This fuckass Timebomb ship is the worst thing to ever happen to Jinx's character.

Ok so finally we're gonna talk about Boy Savior Complex and AU Girl Next Door Powder

This is gonna be long. Also, we're not only talking about Episode 7 and Timebomb, we're also discussing Jinx's suicide attempt and how her character's resolution is actually really sad.

First of all, Jinx never liked Ekko back. Season 1 makes it pretty clear that they're friends, and that Ekko has an unrequited crush on her. His feelings are clear, but she never shows any reciprocation. And, no, the art book that came out after season 2 concluded doesn't count. You can't just put "the boy with the unrequited crush" trope in your story and then retract it.

And now to get to the serious part... who the fuck is AU Powder?

Ekko gets transported into this alternate timeline where we the audience soon realize everyone is happy and none of the conflicts that plague the original story exist and everything is perfect and "as it should be". So this is the ideal world and the one where all these characters reach their highest form of happiness. Even Silco is back with Vander.

And in this ideal world Powder is... a waitress at The Last Drop? I rewatched this episode and I genuinely tried to pay attention to see what does she actually DO. Like what occupies her time in this universe. And between Vander's line about how she's "too smart to be spending her life in a bar" and the fact that she is at one point behind the counter (while Ekko is studying his books... imma get back to that) and the fact that we never see her in any other places besides the bar and her hideout and that one time Ekko takes her out... this seems to be it.

So in the perfect timeline, Powder has decided to stay back with her family once she's grown up, to remain with Vander and help him run his bar, and implicitly has no big ambitions of her own, and definitely no ideas that she would sacrifice her family life for.

Now... Powder/Jinx as a family person is not actually wrong characterization. This is pretty congruent with her character in season 1. Her entire story and literally everything revolves around her family and not much else. When she's Powder she's attached at the hip to Vi and when she's Jinx she doesn't seem too interested in the world outside of her hideout and Silco's office. So considering all we know, yes, Jinx does place family first.

And this is pretty assumed by the show. Now, I also characterized her like this in season 1! She is a family girl. And Jinx happens to have all these people with big revolutionary ideas around her, be it Vander or Vi or Silco or Sevika, but she herself never actually seems much interested in that. She has a small moment in arc 1 of season 1, which i think it's significant to mention comes right after Vi plants the idea in her head. It would've been one thing if these ideas stayed with her, but post time-skip she doesn't bring anything like that up again. She mostly acts like a bored teenager whenever Silco drags her to the river to tell her all about his tragic past that radicalized him. Overall, any time she exhibits any revolutionary spirit, it seems to actually be more of a personal vendetta for her.

So, okay, Jinx is a family girl and she's never really actually been about all these big ideas, I can agree with the writers that this represents her character.

It's just that... this much?

Man, COME ON. There were people making "Everything's Perfect" AUs since season 1, and they almost all had Powder be a student at the Academy. This girl was clearly passionate about her little inventions, her bombs didn't work but she kept and kept trying. You're telling me she would be completely uninterested in learning more about engineering, in getting a formal education in that, in doing anything with it? Since in this world, there's peace between Piltover and Zaun, we can't talk about any barriers to her becoming a student. And, for that matter, in League lore there's an academy in Zaun, too, that she could have attended.

Even Ekko points it out, man. Now, to the writers' credit, the story acknowledges quite clearly that Powder choosing to stay with Vander and help him run the bar is weird. It just... never explains it. Like why is she like this, though? Let's throw out some possibilies:

(1) in some scenes, there seems to be a little "jinxiness" in this Powder, too. maybe she's aware of that side of her, and doesn't like it, and fears that if she went off and did what she wanted, and was truly herself, it would ruin what she has, "things are good now" (in this case, this Powder is actually a tragic character. nowhere near ideal timeline stuff.)

(2) in act 1 of season 1, the reason Vi makes Powder stay back is because she fears losing her, after Vander tells her that she might lose Powder in a confrontation with Piltover. since Vi dies in this universe, on a job, maybe in that moment Powder internalizes that rocking the boat in any way is bad. Vi was spirited and had big ideas and wanted to be someone and it led to her death. so maybe this Powder gave up on all of that then. Vander seems like the type to give her a "look what happens" speech, too.

But these are just my theories. This doesn't ever get properly explained in the show. So then maybe Powder is actually content like this and likes this and maybe these people constantly pestering her that she could do and be more are just annoying nuisances to her, same as Sevika is an annoying nuisance to Jinx in the original timeline (although there it makes significantly more sense).

(Also, why is Vi even dead in this universe? They could've easily found another way for Piltover and Zaun to make peace. Guess Jinx doesn't even get to be happy in the Perfect Timeline, goddamn, girl really is cursed after all.)

If you're gonna spend an entire episode on fix-it fanfiction that is supposed to pander to fans and give them, on screen, what they always wanted to see, why didn't we get grown up Powder in a cute academy uniform, being a top student and working on school projects and being loved by her professors cause girl was a prodigy.

Instead... this is Ekko in this universe, actually.

Ekko is the "big idea guy" and he's working on an entry to the innovations fair and he gets to be Heimerdinger's pupil. To her credit, this Powder still seems to be very smart, Ekko comes to her for help cause he can't actually build his invention alone. But she only uses her intellect to help Ekko. I always thought it would be Powder who would be Heimerdinger's pupil. Instead, here, she's hanging off Ekko's arm, and being all cute, as he discusses Important Stuff with Heimerdinger, stuff that she doesn't get to be privy to, but that she is expected to help them with anyway.

So AU Powder is this very smart girl who is helping her boyfriend build his entry for a contest because he can't actually do it himself but it's okay she'll help him of course and no he can take all the credit she doesn't want to be recognized or anything or to go to like University that would be crazy she's doing it cause she loves him and she's sweet like that and she likes to help others and she doesn't have any character traits that make her difficult she's just a cute funny and relatable down-to-earth girl and she pokes fun at Ekko but like in a loving way and she likes being a waitress and she'd rather be recognized for her dancing skills and................ I'm sorry.....................

So you're telling me Ekko gets transported into an alternate timeline in which his childhood crush who never liked him back is stripped of all her personality, has no goals or ambitions of her own and has no interests besides being his supportive girlfriend, is devoid of all the traits that might have made a relationship with her difficult, and despite the fact that she never showed interest in him in the original world, here she is head over heels for him, always acting all lovey-dovey with him and being nothing but a cute and affectionate puppy.

This is every little boy's with an unrequited crush dream right here. Man, Ekko won more than any other character in this show. And she's mentally ill, too! He's hit the jackpot. Y'all what the fuck am I watching.

I'm sorry but literally ALL I COULD FUCKING SEE WHEN I WAS WATCHING THIS STUPID DANCE SCENE was that in this universe Powder is a good christian girl who stays home with her dad and loves her boyfriend and is always happy to help WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS GOOD GIRL PROPAGANDA get this bullshit OFF my fucking screen I cannot fucking believe what I'm watching here

Moving on.

Ekko has hurt Jinx more than any other character in the show.

Physically speaking.

Ekko is the one who does this.

Which leads to this.

Which ultimately leads to this.

It has always confused me and it continues to confuse me why no one in this fandom treats Jinx being injected with shimmer as a big deal, when this is the worst thing that happens to her post episode 3. And it's a point of no return for her character, she can't undo this. And yeah I know everyone thought Shimmer Jinx was cool in season 2, but her being turned into a half-dead monster is not a good progression for her character. She also goes through agonizing pain in the process.

Singed agrees.

It's Ekko who forces Jinx between death and being turned into a half-dead corpse. It's actually insane to me that no one in the fandom considers this and that this is never brought up in the show. If they wanted Jinx and Ekko to be a thing, you'd think this would be a big deal in their relationship. Ekko has changed her irreparably, for the worse.

Idk, is the guy who beat you up and left you for dead really boyfriend material?

This is the first moment Jinx shows any interest in Ekko. Interesting timing.

I'm pretty sure she doesn't even mention his name post act 3 of season 1. She doesn't wonder about whether he's alright after the bridge fight (for that matter, neither does he). The first time when Jinx looks at him with any hint of affection is when she's standing on a ledge, ready to throw herself off.

Jinx has no one anymore at this point. Her old family is long gone. Silco is dead. Isha is dead. Vi has decided having a good time with Caitlyn is more important than her. This is Jinx at her lowest moment. Does she like him back or is he just the only one who showed up?

Ekko is a winner once again. His crush has been abandoned by everyone, and he is the only one left to comfort her. Luck like this is hard to come by. And of course, she's gonna be super impressed and touched by any sliver of affection now. Probably gonna look at him with big, grateful eyes, and see him as her savior. I'm disgusted.

By the way, this should have never been Ekko. If Vi was too busy with fucking Caitlyn, this should have been Sevika. Sevika is the only character who has known Jinx since she was a child, and who has been with her through every iteration. And she's the only character who has never cared whether she's Jinx or Powder or any other persona she decides to take up, to her she'll always just be an annoying kid. And to Jinx this might actually be comforting. Sevika is the only one who has a realistic perspective on Jinx, and recognizes her flaws, so her talking her down might have actually been very touching, and there are things she could tell her that neither Vi nor Silco could.

(The fuck could Ekko tell her, honestly? That he went off to an alternate universe where she was his perfect girlfriend, so she shouldn't kill herself actually? What the fuck.)

I also wanna talk a bit about Jinx's resolution as a character. Not her fake-out death, but her in the last episode. I think it's interesting that everyone who had a connection to Jinx is gone, namely Silco and Isha. Silco and Isha are both people she chooses, actively, and she is herself around. Instead, now, she's back to Vi and Ekko, the same people that were with her in her childhood. This is a full circle moment for her.

This is Powder right here, guys. Powder was a little girl who made a mistake and then she went off on this journey where she met new people and she was someone else and it was fun for a while but ultimately she realized what she was doing was bad and she came back to her family and is ready to be that little, sweet girl again. The problem with the Powder-Jinx dichotomy is that Jinx, as much as she represents all this bad stuff that the show has made clear, also represents Freedom and Power, two things that Powder definitively lacked. Her coming full circle, coming back to Powder, is not actually a good resolution for her. She's right back where she started, with Vi and Ekko. Her venturing off on her own and making her own decisions was ultimately a mistake that only lead to her suffering. We can take this all the way back to when she decides to venture off on her own with that bomb, despite Vi's disagreement, and the consequences plague her for the rest of the story.

I know everyone thought it looked super cool when she lifted off that hood, but I could only think it was tragic.

[kaesaaurelia]

soooo I just finished watching that star wars hotel video and oh my god the fire safety what the fuckkkk

BUT ALSO if you are some kind of weirdo who watched this (or the evermore video) and was like "man I wish that thing existed but was good," I... can't help you specifically with Star Wars (or generic high fantasy settings) but if you are an adult or a family with teens (who are okay with some mild references to sexuality in a coming-of-age context -- which honestly would go over the heads of most kids too young to deal with them?), don't have issues with darkness, flashing lights, or potential immune issues due to touching touchscreens, and enjoy a little light cosmic and/or implied body horror I highly highly suggest going to Omega Mart next time you are in Las Vegas. It is surreal and fun and while I definitely ran into some issues there with 1. going down the story path I didn't mean to go down and 2. LOSING MY EMPLOYEE ID CARD (to be clear I did not work there, in the fiction of the game all guests are Omega Mart employees), there were helpful (actual) employees there to jump in and help me without breaking immersion at all. They were great.

There are some pathways (physical pathways) that require an ability to climb stairs but there are ALWAYS multiple paths between two points so while you might not be able to crawl through the tunnel and then climb the rope from [spoiler place] to [other spoiler place] or do the slides, you can still physically get to the plot-important places and I think at most people who can't do stairs miss... some kind of pointless music machines? (Which I had fun with ngl but I fucked around with them for like 10 minutes more because I was in the area looking for my lost ID badge and asking if people had found it.) I haven't been to the other Meow Wolf installations but I would love to go given the chance.

And if you really want a themed hotel... well, you can't find an eldritch dimension-hopping supermarket-themed hotel, no, but if you stay on the strip there's going to be a lot of neon and trying to sell you things, and also optionally a theme, so like. That's not dissimilar.

Fire safety both at these Vegas hotels and at Omega Mart will be better than crawling into a small closet with 4 of your closest friends and hoping to not die, also. And a substantial amount of the story of Omega Mart is "wow corporate greed does ruin everything," so if you liked the video you probably will also like this.

[Edit: also to be clear I don't really think Omega Mart is small-child-friendly, but mostly because it's a lot of reading, and the bulk of it is either corporate memos or a teenage girl's diaries. A lot of the stuff I found most engaging was exploring the strained intergenerational family dynamic between the girl, her mom, and her grandfather, something that small children would find either boring or upsetting or both. It's not the sexuality that's the issue, it's some offscreen implied character death-but-not-really (that not-really doesn't make it better!) and just plain bad parenting, plus the broader theme of a greedy grocery chain turning ancient mystery and natural wonder into queasy reality-breaking horror.]

[coraniaid]

for the ask meme: principal snyder

[Reverse unpopular opinion meme.]

Not sure how unpopular a take this is but I really like Principal Snyder.  He is genuinely one of my favorite minor characters on the show.

There are, I guess, a few different reasons for that.

The first is just a question of good timing. Snyder arrives during the second half of the first season, which is – to my mind, anyway – the point where the show really starts to find its feet.  (This is also, I suspect, part of the reason I’m so fond of Jenny Calendar, who shows up at around the same time.)  And he’s a recurring figure throughout the show’s second and third seasons too, which – while they might not be objectively the show’s best years – are certainly the seasons I personally have the most nostalgic feeling for and whose failings I’m most willing to overlook.  Snyder’s part of my favorite two and half seasons of the show, so I’m predisposed to enjoy him as a character.

Second, and along similar lines, Snyder is a type of character that I think that the latter seasons don’t really have: a recurring character who is somewhat important to Buffy’s regular life but entirely ignorant of the supernatural side of that life. Yes, we find out early in Season 2 that Snyder knows more about vampires than he lets on, and that he’s reporting directly to the Mayor; but that connection doesn’t seem to add up to him being in on the Mayor’s big Ascenion plan and he doesn’t show any sign of knowing that Buffy herself is the Slayer.

After the high school seasons, who else is there like this?  Parker Abrams, I guess, very early in Season 4, but … that’s it, right?  There are characters who could have taken up Snyder's mantle – Dawn’s social worker, for example, or Buffy’s second manager at the Doublemeat Palace, both in Season 6 – but for whatever reason nobody does. Almost everyone else Buffy meets after high school either turns out to be deeply connected to the supernatural -- other than Parker everyone she spends any time with in college turns out to be a demon, a witch or a member of the Initiative; the next Principal of Sunnydale High is the son of a previous Slayer, the doctor she starts talking to when her Mom gets sick is the mortal vessel of a hell god -- or just not a regular part of the show at all. I can’t even remember the name of any of Buffy’s college professors other than Maggie Walsh. 

And I think that’s a shame, because the existence of Principal Snyder as a low-level recurring antagonist makes Buffy’s life as a regular teenage girl feel a lot more consequential than it otherwise might.  If Buffy only had problems with one-off teachers we’d never seen or heard of before, or if she frequently complained about getting into trouble with an off-screen principal we never got to see on screen, the world of the show would just feel a little less grounded. And, in particular, Snyder's function as the show's clear unsympathetic authority figure implicitly helps make both Buffy's Mom and her Watcher much more sympathetic than they might otherwise be

More important than either of those points though, I think Snyder is just really fun to watch?  For my money, the writers strike almost the ideal balance between making him an unpleasant self-important bully and making him a ridiculous comic figure (one who, crucially, at no point shows any sign of being in on the joke).  Armin Shimerman is unfailingly great in the role from his very first appearance, and he gets such wonderfully silly lines to say. 

Some of my favorites:

“There are some things I can just smell.  It’s like a sixth sense.”   

“What are you, ghouls?  There are no dead students here … this week.” 

“That’s the kind of wooly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.” 

"Children everywhere ... Like locusts, crawling around, mindlessly bent on feeding and mating, destroying everything in sight in their relentless, pointless desire to exist."

“Why couldn’t you be dealing drugs like normal people?” 

"This is a time of celebration. So sit still and be quiet."

“There are things I will not tolerate: students loitering on campus after school, horrible murders with hearts being removed. And also smoking.”

Finally, I really like the fact that – unlike, say, Shimerman’s other big 90s genre TV role, Quark on Deep Space 9, and unlike somebody like Jonathan who was also a recurring character in the high school years who didn’t (then) know that Buffy was the Slayer – Snyder really never gets any more depth or attempts to make him sympathetic.  He never gets fully brought into the magical world or gets given some sort of character arc or has any previously well-hidden virtues suddenly revealed.

Yes, okay, there’s the aforementioned ties to the Mayor and the brief glimpse we get of teenage Snyder in Band Candy. But for all practical purposes the Principal Snyder we see in Season 1’s The Puppet Show – delighting in causing Buffy and her friends problems for no reason while boasting about how, unlike his predecessor, he’s too tough and disciplined to ever get eaten – is the same Principal Snyder we see in Season 3’s Graduation Day, getting eaten.

[deanmarywinchester]

previous years: 2022, 2021 / list of worst sf/f/horror

the bangers were BANGING this year, I kept mentally readjusting my top 5 list every time I read something good so the honorable mentions are extremely honorable this year. I hope you read anything that sounds good from this list and tell me about it!

top 5:

chain gang all stars by nana kwame adjei-brenyah: when I say that this book is like the hunger games for adults, I’m not making a glib comparison between two books about fighting to the death, I’m saying that I haven’t felt so intensely about a book since I stayed up late to tear through the hunger games and sob about it when I was thirteen. this book is satire as real and devastating as I’ve ever read, with action scenes that feel like they’re being dripped directly into my hindbrain and a unique and believable love story. put it on hold at your library literally RIGHT now.

the actual star by monica byrne: about a post-climate catastrophe utopian society built around a religion started by a teenage girl in 2012 based on mayan traditions, and also about the teenage girl, and also about the maya. this book made me crazy because the future society felt real enough to touch, with its radical openness and collectivity solving problems that exist today but causing new ones that are totally novel and meaty and interesting to dig into. read it if you’re interested in different ways of being.

the spear cuts through water by simon jiménez: really, REALLY good, fresh, original epic fantasy. jimenez picks a few perspectives to stick to but hops fluidly into bystanders’ brains to give you their perspectives, so even background characters feel fleshed-out and no one’s pain is dismissed as a side effect of heroic battles or whatever. highly recommended if you like framing narratives and stories about stories, and like epic fantasy but wish it wasn’t mostly about finding acceptable enemies to slaughter with cool swords

the dispossessed by ursula k. le guin: I love how much this book is about hope as clear-eyed commitment to the boring and difficult work of a brighter and necessary future. sometimes the work of the glorious anarcho-communist revolution is leaving your university post and romantic partner for months at a time to dig irrigation ditches so nobody starves when there’s a drought. read this book for diplomatic conniving, a clash of values between a capitalist planet and its dissident moon, and hope.

imperial radch trilogy and its spinoffs by ann leckie: what if you were built to be a weapon of the empire, a serene sentient battleship with thousands of human bodies all containing your consciousness, and you lost all bodies but one and had to figure out how to be a person, singular and alone? what if you were a 19th century british military officer and you slept for a thousand years into the decline of the empire? what if you were grown in a vat to be a facsimile of human and then told off for eating all your siblings even though eating them was SO interesting? what then. leckie’s prose is incisive and funny, her unreliable narrators are wonderful, and her stories are intimate even though the backdrops are insanely huge. 👍.

honorable mentions:

house of leaves by mark z. danielewski: guys? anyone hearda this one? anyway. Something Is Wrong With This House horror with themes of storytelling and grief. recommending that you slam this book as fast as possible like I did so you can hold all its layers in your head at once.

the lathe of heaven by ursula k le guin: i thought I didn’t like ursula k le guin, and then I read this book, went OH and immediately devoured the hainish cycle. im so sorry miss ursula. this book about a hapless pacific northwesterner whose therapist is making him dream different realities into being is so sharp and sly and funny. themes of choices, ends and means.

he who drowned the world by shelley parker-chan: I liked the prequel to this addition to the radiant emperor duology. I LOVED this book. parker-chan has invented new and exciting modes of fucked-up codependency and im obsessed. historical light-fantasy with themes of ideals vs what it takes to reach them, gender, and regret.

babel by r. f. kuang: found the didacticism of this book annoying, but i really loved the concept of this novel and the way it slowly ratchets up the stakes. this novel is for people who want to smash the fun of the magic school genre against the reality of universities’ complicity in the imperial machine.

piranesi by susannah clarke: im late to this book but it’s such a weird little gem. peaceful yet unsettling. a man takes care of an endless house with an ocean inside it until he realizes the house is stealing his memories. themes of memory and devotion.

hell follows with us by andrew joseph white: I can only read YA these days if it’s a reread or if it’s genuinely good and really really strange. this is that. weird gory fantasy about a trans teen who escapes his militarized post-apocalyptic christian cult and finds himself turning into something Different. my only gripe is that he uses 2023-perfect language to describe transness and I think he should be inventing genders weve never even thought of. such is YA.

some desperate glory by emily tesch: a rolickin’ good space opera time with terrible women <3. a thriller about how the golden child of her isolated human-supremacist space station cult deprograms and the consequences of it. this feels like a grown-up SPOP until the theoretical physics gets involved. big fan

the library of mount char by scott hawkins: this book is harrow the ninth in suburbia until it becomes a more macabre version of the absurdity of the gomens apocalypse. God raises his children, sometimes brutally, to hone their powers in a neighborhood that mysteriously keeps out outsiders. came for the dysfunctional mess of the god-children and now I can never look at a grill the same way

runners up:

bunny by mona awad: books that make you WISH you were in mona awad’s MFA program where she must have been having a terrible time. the weird one out in an MFA program accepts overtures into the unbearable rich-girls’ clique to find out what they’re Up To. themes of aimlessness and the intersection of class with the art world

camp damascus by chuck tingle: have you ever wished that you were simply too autistic to be successfully demonically brainwashed into not having gay thoughts? horror-flavored thriller that was just fun

light from uncommon stars by ryka aoki: this author put a bunch of genres in a blender and came up with something fun and surprisingly cozy. an immortal woman must sell violinists’ souls to the devil in exchange for their fame, or he’ll drag her to damnation instead. there might be aliens and coffeeshop romance involved. definitely a blender.

the fragile threads of power by v. e. schwab: if you haven’t read a darker shade of magic and you like tightly paced high fantasy and historical fantasy elements, political intrigue, and pirates, read that first. if you have, there’s more now! lila bard are you free on thursday when I am free

the library of the dead & our lady of mysterious ailments by t. l. huchu: a teenage girl provides for her family in soft-apocalypse magic edinburgh with a job carrying messages from ghosts to their living relatives. an ongoing mystery series about the intrigues she uncovers among the dead.

severance by ling ma: this books is on the list of media that is the terror to me: it's about an apocalyptic disease that makes people reenact their routines mindlessly until they collapse. intimate apocalypse novel with themes of late capitalist malaise.

ocean’s echo by everina maxwell: i didn't really like winter's orbit because i'm just not a romance guy, but this second novel stands alone and the romance is more insane and less of the entire point of the novel. (also it's between essentially Discworld's Carrot and Moist Von Lipwig, which is. really something.) in the Space Military, a buttoned-up mind controller must pretend to bend a socialite with illegal mind-reading powers to his will. what if fake relationship but the relationship they have to fake is "brain linked master/servant pair."

the murderbot diaries by martha wells: novellas about a misanthropic security android who jailbroke itself in order to watch tv. the name "murderbot" is a joke but it very much did kill people <3 themes of paranoia and outsiderhood, corporate wrongdoing, repentance, and trust

black water sister by zen cho: zen cho is good at any kind of fantasy she writes, including this, her first modern fantasy novel. a closeted lesbian has to move in with her family in malaysia after college in the US, only to discover that her dead grandmother has some unfinished business involving a local goddess and a conniving real estate developer. themes of family, gender, and place.

the way inn by will wiles: a man who’s paid to pretend he’s other people to attend conferences in their place gets trapped in an endless Marriott. has the sharp humor of a colson whitehead corporate satire until it becomes more straightforwardly horror-flavored.

[anncanta]

We are adults. ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Dracula’

Once in the chat, discussing Dracula, I said that it would be nice to write a fanfic about Dracula running a nightclub in London. To which one of the participants answered me, ‘Darling, such a story already exists, it`s Lucifer.’ I shrugged my shoulders and forgot about it. And a few weeks ago I decided to watch the series finally.

I absolutely loved the first three seasons, it`s brilliant. Smart, funny, dramatic, elegant. Tom Ellis is very good. He and his play are my discovery of the year. But the most interesting thing about the series, for me, is what follows from its similarities and differences with Dracula.

The similarity of motives, plot, and even to some extent – genre is obvious. But the differences are more difficult. Although they lie on the surface, making you realize at some point why the series Lucifer had problems and why it was closed after the third season.

Why do I love Dracula? For many reasons, but one of the main ones is that this is a film for adults. And not only because the heroes are over forty and have problems, consistent with their age but also because it was written and played at an adult level. You see, the main female character of Lucifer at the beginning of the film is thirty-five years old, and Lucifer himself, by human standards, looks forty-something, but at the same time, they have teenage problems and relationships.

Well, a grown-up woman can`t, giggling, bat her eyes and say to a grown-up man, ‘This is a date, right? Oh, I don’t know…’ or at every hint of sexual or emotional intimacy, wave her hands and say that that`s not what she meant. When characters do this, it inevitably involves teenage context and – of course – teen romance clichés. I saw reviews that said, ‘How is it that Chloe doesn`t react to Lucifer`s power? What is this, teenage fan fiction?’ Yes. With such a heroine, this can only be a teenage fanfic. And combined with her age, it looks terrible.

This approach to the heroine logically gives rise to another teenage cliche: the ideal girl and the bad guy.

That`s why I love Dracula and the relationship between Dracula and Agatha so much. Agatha was never a good girl and never considered herself one. Her monastic habit in this sense is a mockery of herself (in the text) and a reminder to the authors that ‘not everyone is a monk who wears a hood.’ After all, when Agatha says Johnathan about priests who always survive, she speaks not only about one particular priest but about all of them. Including that priestess who sits in front of Harker.

Not only is Agatha not perfect, she`s clear from the start that she`s interested in dark forces, and she clearly has a checkered past. She enjoys communicating with Dracula and does not hide it. She does not purse her lips and does not pretend that she is unpleasant about one or another of his actions – if she is unpleasant, then she is unpleasant, and she speaks about it openly. Agatha does not try to behave ‘decently’. She doesn`t care about decorum.

Agatha lies to herself, but this is the lie of an adult who has been burned many times by her own ugly truth.

And what about Chloe? Nothing. Sweet, smart, right, with a hairstyle that makes her eyes pop out of her head, she walks back and forth with a gun and, living in Los Angeles and being a police officer and a former actress who starred in a movie with nude scenes, she is horrified that... the nightclub owner picked up the cigarette at the crime scene?

Don`t get me wrong. I love the beauty and the beast trope. I don`t like it being turned into a straight-A student/bad-boy relationship. Moreover, if the student has not read anything except the textbook and is mainly concerned with ensuring that no one thinks that she likes the bad guy. It`s disgusting.

I don`t know how they planned to build the plot in Lucifer and who came up with the love line itself. But this is clearly its weak point. Everything else in the first three seasons is just great. All the characters, without exception, are good. The way they communicate and work together is amazing. The way the divine beings settle down on earth and try to find themselves is brilliant. The world of the series itself, its internal state, atmosphere, are beautiful. Everything in it is in its place and everything is where it should be. Except Chloe. And that`s the problem.

I don`t know why this happened. I assume that because the authors could not decide on the genre and audience of the series. On the one hand, the theme and genre seem to be teenage – a comic book about the devil who ‘lights up’ Los Angeles. On the other hand, a story about a hero who goes on a journey in search of himself (and this is what lies at the heart of the plot) is not a teenage one. Teenagers are not searching for themselves. Teenagers trying to fit in. These are different things. And the discord is completed by the choice of actors for the main roles and the age category of most of the characters – over forty. If all this happened, roughly speaking, with heroes Bella Swan`s age and in a high school setting, then everything would be fine. And Chloe`s mental turmoil would not look idiotic, but consistent with the age and psychological norm.

It hurts. Really. Because there are several moments in the series that are incredibly beautiful and valuable regardless of everything else. The main character`s journey to himself, his sad and funny attempts to get rid of his father and his unwillingness to see how much he loves his father and depends on him and his opinion of himself, his devotion to his friends, their connection that exists despite everything and radiates light. The way the hero reveals his face is one of the most intimate scenes I have ever seen, and also that how he protects his beloved. This is wonderful.

But at the same time, the story, after dozens and dozens of episodes, came down to whether the heroes would sleep together. That`s not how it`s done. Perhaps I don`t understand something and perhaps my opinion will change over time, but now everything in me is protesting. I want an adult story to remain an adult story. Do I want too much?

Or maybe Steven Moffat just spoiled me.

[harmlesspotato20]

BLLK | Nagi Seishiro - My girl.

❝┋volleyball player! kenma! fem! reader x football player! nagi seishiro

"See you later Chibi-chan!" Kuroo waved at you with a cat smile on his lips as you stared boredly at him and his rooster dark hair. You finished your volleyball practice from your high school club and was returning home when you met Kuroo.

Kuroo is your bother's bestfriend. He is the captain of his volleyball club. You were playing with your nintendo switch and had demon slayer manga pressed between your forearms. You unfortunately fell asleep on the bus back from the game.

Zelda series got you hooked on games. Your mates who see your everyday with switch and manga wonders how you have ridiculously clear skin being a gamer. Well Kenma genes run in you. You have social anxiety , never asked anyone for help.

Kuroo belived him being a kind angel , woke you up in the right stop and told you he will walk you home. But you walked towards a different street making him confused. He asked you how this is not Kenma's house once you both reached.

"It's my boyfriend's home.." you mumbled eyes on your game , your game character dodging all obstacles and moving forward. You and your boyfriend Nagi Seishiro , a football player just like you lazy and uninterested.

Maybe that's what pulled you both together. Your school Nekoma and their school's volleyball club had a match when Nekoma High went to their school. There , after you match , you had a manga on your lap while you played your game.

"Oh.. you remind me of my friend.." A manly voice said making you raise your head at the spoke voice meeting a purple haired male in his soccer fit. Your device beeped showing your character dead and points earner with a big written text that said GAME OVER and TRY AGAIN.

You just sighed and placed your headphone resting on your shoulder on your ears listening to songs to block out the voice. You had more time for break and didn't want to waste it now. "Oh come on.. don't do that." The purple haired guy pouted when someone called him out.

"Reo!" a noticeably tall teenager having have short white hair that leaves a V-shaped fringe in between his eyes called the guy who talked to you. "Nagi! look I found your soulmate!" the boy laughed calling his other friend.

The gray-colored eye boy looked at you who shrunk under your volleyball jersey , manga on your lap and switch in your hands. You both shared a solid 4 second eye contact which was broken by you. "y/n! let's go , break is over." your team called you out. 'y/n...' Nagi thought.

Nagi gulped , heart thumping. Not only he found someone who had same interests as him but also someone athletic. You muttered curses under your breath getting up and placing your things in your bag with a frown. "What's that look on your face? excited?" your friend teased.

"I don't know what you are talking about." you slumped and walked towards the court. "Say.. should we watch their game?" Reo suggested elbowing his friend with a smirk. Nagi said nothing just his eyes lingering on your for more than he intended to.

Those two watched as your team played against their school's team. The opposite team jumped and shot the ball at your team who's libero saved the ball in time. 'Why is gravity a thing in this world? gravity pisses me off' you made a annoyed face and jumped since you were a setter.

'If gravity didn't exist the ball wouldn't have fallen into out court' your grit your teeth touching the ball with your fingers and looked at the opposite team. "Man she sure seems happy to play.." Reo laughed sarcastically. Nagi's eye still at you as his mouth formed a :x shape looking at you. 

You saw the team's messed up defence and didn't set the ball to anyone but dumped into their court over the net. "A setter's dump!" player gasped seeing the ball hit the floor , your team gaining a point. Your team surprised by you , not being lazy thought you were sick.

Nagi''s and Reo's eyes widened at the stunt. "Man.. that was cool." Reo said seeing your team give you a banana which you had a grumpy face. "You must be low on carbs , eat a banana." your team captain smiled. You angrily munched on the fruit getting mad.

"Is it so weird that I worked hard for my friends!? is it that weird huh!?" you shouted , with banana still in your mouth stuffed in your cheeks looking like a cute hamster. Nagi looked away covering his face with his arms and ran away from the court.

Reo then discovered Nagi got shy and ran away flustered and teased him about that a lot. Blushing? Gross. Love? Yuck. Fortunately Reo playing a cupid , asked for your number. He discovered how you were socially anxious and didn't nag you more but said it was for his friend.

You looked at the white haired man with red face and :x expression and just gave him your number said your name. "Kenma y/n." you mumbled making him smile. "Man you have a great voice, you should talk more." he said.

And that's my friends the first meeting between two introverts. Birds of feather flock together right? Nagi took a good 2 months to gather courage and text you. Later you both became common friends by playing games.

Nagi confessed to you online when we you both were slaying ender dragon. "y/n if I kill this dragon without dying please date me!" he shouted , letting his tongue slip. He defeated the dragon but left the game too flustered and embarrassed to talk to you.

You then called him and told him you felt the same. You both went on a date in Minecraft , Nagi collected blocks for building home while you picked flowers to decorate flower. Nagi's minecraft character walked towards you and threw you a flower from his inventory. awww.

He would place his Minecraft bed next to yours. You both decided to meet offline and was too shy to talk to each other but soon got comfortable playing games , laughing and watching anime. You fell asleep on Nagi's lap that day making his heat almost burst out.

Now , presently your boyfriend and you were dating for 8 months , both in a happy healthy relationship. You walked in Nagi's house, since you had a spear key which he gave to you. His mom and dad were out for most of the time.

You looked at his pet cactus Choki and tapped on the pot twice like a greeting. Being tired and exhausted by the practice you looked at the house being lighted up meaning Nagi was home. You wanted nothing but to cuddle with him.

You removed your top left in sports bra feeling sweaty.  You placed your switch and bag on top of the table , walking towards Nagi's room holding your manga concentrated at the panels. You opened the door and looked up from the book as your eyes shot up wide and looked at your boyfriend who had shirt over his head.

"holy shit," you whispered dropping your manga and looked at Nagi's 8 packs. He's not huge, but symmetrical. Beautifully balanced. He was athletic and in proportion. Your drooled at him , Waist to hip ratio, waist to shoulder ratio, height and ring finger to index finger ratio everything.

As you look down he had boxers , above his V line flowing down. "Eh?" Nagi pulled the shirt over his head completely and looked over his shoulder too see his girlfriend standing near the door , nothing but with bra and shorts , manga on floor.

His eyes widened too, as blush forced from his neck to ears. But when he saw your red face , all his embarrassment went away as he felt more confident. "Oh hello , angel." he greeted walking towards you when you walked back. "Ack—" haired on your neck raised when he was near you.

Nagi raised his hand holding eye contact with you and pressed it against the hard door , locking it shut with you pressed against by your half naked boyfriend. "Hi Sei.." you mumbled only to be silenced by Nagi's lips pressed against yours.

He placed his hand under your head , holding you gently so you won't hit your head. Grasping your hips with his other hand, he sucked your bottom lip , you kissed him back with same pleasure. He sucked and occasionally pecked near you cupid's bow as his tubercles were on yours.  

You traced a random pattern on his chest using your finger tips. You both broke away for oxygen , both your faces red and gasping for air. He placed his head on your shoulder and mumbled in tired voice. "So.. sleepy, let's cuddle?" he asked pecking your nape.

"Yeah.." you shivered and closed your eyes , enjoying your boyfriend's warmth you both shared. Your fingers were intertwined into his long hair and clenching into a fist gently massing his scalp as he sighed in relaxation , feeling good when you did that.  

You kissed his forehead and he put you on the bed gently. You both laid on your sides. Seishiro wrapped his arm around you, providing a tight and secure embrace. He mumbled how he was exhausted practicing for nationals and both fell asleep in no time.

the end.  original source : my wattpad account. 

[librosamarillos]

Can I ask you why you portray Rhaenys in such a way in your fic? I really enjoy it all, don’t get me wrong, but her portrayal feels a bit off.

Thank you so much for your question! The short answer to this is that it’s supposed to feel off and one sided!

To further expand on that, we see Rhaenys through the PoV of other characters, but we never get to be in her own head to figure out who’s got it ‘right’ about her. For example, Aegon and Visenya both have a vastly different image of their little sister and her personality, despite the fact that they grew up together and conquered Westeros.

We see Rhaenys through the eyes of a grown up, very hurt Visenya, who clearly has a lot of unresolved issues with her sister (and Aegon too) and through her thought process we can see all her built up frustrations through the years. Little siblings have a way of getting under your skin like no other, don’t they? So through Visenya’s lens, Rhaenys appears as an annoying, spoiled and unthoughtful little girl. She has moments where she mentions a time when things were good between them and she misses her sister, but even years and years later, she has a lot of unprocessed emotions. (We will see them get processed eventually, I promise!)

Now, I’ve only given Aegon one PoV chapter, and it was the one where he dies, and even that I was highly debating to not include at all, but ultimately decided to go for it. Aegon is arguably this fic’s antagonist, as his actions are what kickstart Maegor’s downward spiral for the worst, so naturally he’s quite an unsympathetic character in this. His view of Rhaenys is the one closest to canon sources we have from Fire and Blood, so I won’t expand much on that. He views her from a lens of love, though in his chapter, he does grow to feel a lot of guilt about it when it came time for him to face the fact that he pretty much abandoned Visenya and just didn’t want to see it.

Maegor has no sympathy for his aunt, there’s no love lost here. It’s a great indication of how the relationship between the two sisters fell apart, as Visenya did not like to talk about her much to her son. In Maegor’s early chapters when he’s a young kid and teenager, there’s a lot of anger and resentment toward Rhaenys, who’s pretty much a total stranger to him. She does go out of her way to avoid him when she’s in the same space as him, so for Maegor that’s a loud and clear sign. He already has this non existent relationship with his father, yet he yearns for it so much. So imagine what it’s like to finally go see his father, only to see him love and dote on Rhaenys and their son, all the while tolerating Maegor and his mother. Of course he views Rhaenys as nothing pleasant and good, and in comparison to his own mother, he views his aunt as someone weak and foolish, who died in vain.

Then there’s Aenys, who of course sees her as his loving mother who was taken from him too soon. I’ve made it so that he’s in his early teens when she dies, instead of a toddler like in canon, so that Rhaenys has a much bigger role in his life and leaves a much deeper impact. So her memory is very much alive through him, and the fact that she’s no longer here to meet his own children really hurts. So of course when Maegor goes low and hits him where it hurts, things don’t end well. I’d like to point out that his idolisation of his dead mum, really mirrors Rowan’s, doesn’t it? ;)

Finally, we see Rhaenys from the PoV of two highborn Westerosi ladies, Rowan and Ceryse, who met her when they were both young, Rowan a child and Ceryse a teenager, but both make the observation that Rhaenys’ kindness felt empty and performative. To give her the benefit of the doubt, these two girls are essentially born and raised to be the top of their societies and a huge part of their culture is the Faith of the Seven, which both Ceryse and Rowan are devout believers in. Both girls have a history and background of being involved in charity, so of course they’re able to spot who’s in it for the clout. They both are able to see through the act and understand that Rhaenys is trying to soften up the image of the harsh Conquerors, to people who care about the little guy.

This could very much be true, she could care about them and it doesn’t need to be fake, but it is absolutely a performance of kindness. She needs to show to everyone that house Targaryen is not only about fire and blood and war. But to the two young girls who can see through it, it feels fake and disingenuous, therefore making Rhaenys untrustworthy to them. Both reach the same conclusion too, that they prefer Visenya for the fact that she’s not hiding behind any performance of kindness and relatability, despite how harsh and cold and distant she is.

Another thing both Rowan and Ceryse mention, that I really hope people picked up on, (please let me know if you did btw!) is the way she dresses. They mention it being over the top, excessive and in their eyes, gaudy. The Hightowers and the Evergreens are ancient noble houses, close to the faith, very, very wealthy and pretty much on top of the social chain. They’re the old money that doesn’t need to prove themselves to anyone, they need no validation, as the people already know them and their worth. So of course when they see this new money girly, dressed in jewels from top to bottom, wearing fashions that are gaudy and almost kitsch, trying to get into their circles, they can spot her out immediately. Another little note, that since both characters are very religious, modesty is something that is preached and taught, so flaunting your wealth in such a way is seen as very tone deaf. To her defence, perhaps Rhaenys simply didn’t know any better and was excited to get to afford so many new things that she mixed and matched outfits that looked good to her without much thought. Or maybe she did want to flaunt wealth and feign it ignorance and innocence, we’ll never know.

To finally get to Rowan a little bit more, she is very much attached to Visenya. She grows to see her as a mother figure after her own had died, so of course she loves her very much. Visenya relies on Rowan for emotional support from a young age, so she gets to see first hand the affect that Aegon and Rhaenys’ treatment of their sister has on her. Rowan doesn’t hate Rhaenys, but she strongly grows to dislike her because of how much pain her actions have brought to two of her most beloved people, Visenya and Maegor. While Rowan has the emotional intelligence to understand that Aegon is the one responsible for most of the conflict that exists between the three conquerors, she also cannot imagine ever having a sister and treating her like an inconvenience, the way she sees Rhaenys do.

Of course, Rowan is very young and clearly has her own biases, despite having the emotional intelligence to know she doesn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle, but as she is one of the main characters of this fic, her mostly negative view of Rhaenys is one of many that paint her out to be ‘the bad guy.’

The two conflicting images we have of Rhaenys were very much on purpose. She’s seen as either a sweet, carefree, kind and loving person, or a selfish, thoughtless and ignorant little girl. All of the PoV characters are biased and have their own reasons to be so, making the reality of things very difficult to grasp. I will say though, that since Rowan is meant to be our window in, her PoV will lean the most toward the ‘truth of it all’ if there can ever be such a thing. She’s a person that tries really hard to be objective (despite how partial things have become in recent chapters, she’ll get back on her feet, promise) so her PoV will be, in a way, a clearer one.

I hope this was a satisfying enough answer anon! I’m glad you asked, because I’ve gotten some comments on ao3 about this, and I really wanted to get the chance to expand here as well! Please let me know if there’s anything else you want me to expand on, my inbox is open! ♥️

[faintvibes]

Your ninjago oc's seem interesting.

And I'd like to know more about your oc's that knew the Spinjitzu family.

Can you please tell me more about them?

Thanks for being interested! I'd be happy to do so :)

I should clarify that not all the three are my ocs- the middle and left figures are intended to be Garmadon and Wu (respectively) during their teenage years. Apologies if that wasn't clear!

The girl on the right is Menodora, their sister. In my AU, FSM's experiences growing up amidst the war between the dragons and oni made him wary about recreating that divide. Therefore, when it became clear that Garmadon only wielded destruction, and not both abilities, he sought to not only create two more children instead of just one, so that there would never again be the risk of creation and destruction put at odds without something standing between them to prevent war. To his relief, Menodora didn't come to wield either the essences of Creation or Destruction, but instead an entirely separate power: she can manipulate fibres of any kind (plant or animal). This fit into her father's narratives quite well. Her role as the only daughter (in The Past) made this seem to fit even more. Ultimately, though, this only led to a false sense of security.

So, while her brothers were meant to embody the two most powerful abilities to exist, and were increasingly considered powerful ninja in their own rights, she wasn't given the opportunity to shine in the same way. Instead, because of her role as the middle ground, she was seen as the most average/the least exceptional. They were allowed to define themselves, to go on adventures, to learn Spinjitzu and to become characters in their own lives. Menodora, in comparison, was only ever allowed to be defined by the men in her life. She was expected to pacify Wu or Garmadon when they were upset, keep the Monastery clean and tidy, and fit the model of a noblewoman of her time. She had strict lessons going over the Monastery's archives, and learning the art of healing, but she'd be punished for ever picking up a sword, or attempting to form her hands into a fist. Her brothers were given free reign to travel across the continent, but she wasn't allowed to leave their home without an escort. She was taught to use her powers to sew, but forbidden from utlising them to protect herself or others. While all the siblings struggled under their father for different reasons, Menodora's struggles were particularly invisible to her brothers, creating a rift between her and them. Where Wu and Garmadon more-or-less experienced their struggles side-by-side, Menodora was always alone, unable to voice her feelings. As a result, her brothers never had reason to think that she was unhappy.

The art depicts them as teenagers, when they each are reckoning with their roles and destinies. Wu is largely satisfied with himself, Garmadon is being crushed by the pressure of being his father's eldest son (and thus presumed heir) while also knowing he will one day betray everything his family stands for, while Menodora is growing more and more disillusioned with the roles she is forced to play, unable to pursue her own personhood.

This came to a head shortly after their father's death. (Or, at least, shortly after they knew for sure he was gone for good, since Wu not knowing the sight of his tomb seems like a pretty clear indication that he didn't give much warning to his children.) Despite their respective issues with their father, this was of course a devastating, and entirely unprecedented, revelation for all three. It did, however, bring them a freedom that they hadn't had before. Menodora, therefore, assumed that she for once had the opportunity to do all the things that she'd been prohibited from all her life. So she mentioned the idea of going on an adventure of her own quite casually, perhaps a couple weeks later. Not as a definitive plan, but as something she definitely wanted to get started on planning. Rather than be supportive, however, her brothers saw this as abandoning the duties their father had left to them. After all, in their eyes, she had always taken to caring for the Monastery while they were away. Such a sudden divergence from what they knew of her struck them as a betrayal. Similarly, their reactions struck her as a betrayal, and so they got into a massive argument which led to her just straight-up leaving the Monastery.

This is the last time her brothers saw her. They never knew what happened to her (however, after Morro, it certainly continued to haunt Wu). Over time, with age and experience, they came to better understand her point of view, and regret the argument. However, without any knowledge of where she was, or if she were even still alive, they didn't have much hope of reconciliation. She became something of a faded memory, and they don't often speak of her. Lloyd does actually know of her existence, though only due to an off-handed remark from his father in s4, when they were walking through the rainforest together. Otherwise, she simply hasn't come up.

She did survive, though, and has been on an unending adventure traversing Ninjago ever since storming off. She went through a hard learning curve experiencing life outside of the bubble in which she was raised, however she came to thrive as a nomad. Over the centuries, she established many friendships and family bonds, even finding her own love and having a daughter named Mareva. (Her husband died more than 600 years ago, having a substantially shorter lifespan.) Though Menodora's feelings of hurt and betrayal would too soften with age and wisdom, as she came to see her brothers' perspectives more clearly, she remained afraid to return, in case they would remain steadfast in their stances or attempt to restrict her freedom. Her opinion wouldn't change until the Merge happened, splitting up her family circle. She recognised the event as something her biological family must be involved in, and its effects were the last straw. Of course, upon her arrival, she found that she'd waited too long, and both her brothers were unaccounted for.

And that nearly catches us up to the present! I'd rather not detail the points beyond her return to the Monastery (which happens between the two halves of season 1) for the moment, but if there's anything else you'd be curious to hear in more detail, I have no problems expanding on it :)

[aboutcustardcreams]

The mysterious passenger / amanda

summary: An encounter on the train between Gabrielle (my original female character) and Amanda leads to an unexpected, fluffy conversation.

It had been a frenetic day for Gabrielle. She had a job on the other side of the city, at the renowned Queen of Tarts' bakery, always crowded with customers at every hour of the day. Due to the upcoming holiday season, she was busier than ever. She had already booked over one hundred gift boxes to assemble within the next days. Luckily, she didn't work alone, there were three other colleagues responsible for the packaging. However, the workload was still a lot. Gabrielle had ended her shift at 6:45 PM, having started at 12:00 PM that day and now she was waiting at the bus stop to go home. Sun had gone down for a while, the sky was clear, but devoid of any stars. Gabrielle checked the time on her wristwatch, with a frown. She had been waiting for almost an hour now. It was unusual such a bit delay, "Are you kidding me?" she muttered to herself as a cloud of vapor escaped her lips.

She wasn't the only one waiting there. With her, a dozen of people, chilled from head to toe, was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. Gabrielle pulled her black coat a little tighter around herself, since she felt like shivering: she was wearing a red sweater, with long and puffy sleeves on the shoulders, black jeans and a pair of ankle boots of the same color, in a sophisticated cowgirl style, and on top of her head a simple white beanie. If there was something that characterized Gabrielle's style from others', certainly her collection of beanies was worth mentioning.

"It's ridiculous," a teenage girl groaned. She picked up her phone, checking the time for the tenth time in a bunch of seconds. Gabrielle turned to face her, nodding slowly at the oddness of the situation. "It's been two hours and still no bus is coming this way," a middle-aged man complained. Acknowledging that, Gabrielle's eyes opened wide in shock, truly hoping to have heard it wrong. She had been waiting for an hour, but she hadn't considered the possibility of a bigger delay, "Wait, what? One was supposed to show up at 5:35?", she asked confusedly, but the man shook his head, desolated. He pointed out a woman a bit further on, head bent down over her groceries trolley. "She said she's been waiting for much longer than that," Gabrielle had to bite her inner cheek hard, to prevent herself from cussing loudly in front of everybody.

She checked the time once again. It was 7:50 PM now. She thought about her dog. All she wanted was to snuggle with her on her lap, watching a movie and had a cozy evening. Then she had an idea. She remembered there was a train that everyday left exactly at 7:55. It could take her close to home, with only a small walking path to cover for about 10 minutes. She sighed and walked inside the station, the coming and going of people was chaotic exactly how she imagined. Luckily for her, her binary number nine was close enough to the entrance, so she found it easily. She took a sigh of relief, and once in front of the train car, she pushed the button in the middle, that automatically threw the doors open. It was warmer inside, but not enough for Gabrielle to take off her coat and beanie.

She rubbed her hands together while looking for a quiet place to sit. She loved to sit close to the window, that's why she smiled when she found a free spot in the left lane, that looked out to binary number 10, but when the train left, she would have a nice view upon the city illuminated by Christmas lights. The controller announced the train was departing and Gabrielle leaned against the seat, finding herself closing her eyes for a bit.

A voice came up to her ears, "Excuse me, may I sit here?", it was sweet, delicate and friendly. Gabrielle immediately felt attracted to the sound, and when she opened her eyes, she thought she had seen the most beautiful woman to ever exist. Blushing and blinking softly, she nodded, "Sure. Go ahead," she tried to reciprocate the smile, trying not to look like a complete idiot. The woman thanked her and sat down in the seat in front of hers, so that they were facing one another. The gap between them wasn't much, that's why for a moment their knees brushed together, making Gabrielle shiver.

Gabrielle turned towards the window, but out of the corner of her eye, she was looking at that mysterious passenger, who, with all the free seats available, decided to sit close to her. She couldn't contain the happiness at the thought, and her smile could only grow when their eyes met again. The woman laughed softly, because Gabrielle as clumsy as ever, tried to avert her gaze before she could notice, failing miserably. She blushed profusely and narrowed her lips in a thin line. The blonde woman in front of her tried to break the ice, "I'm sure it will be snowing soon," she muttered dreamily, averting her gaze from Gabrielle to the view outside.

"Right," replied Gabrielle, "the peaks of the mountains are snowy. It's a matter of time now..." Gabrielle's hazelnut eyes twinkled in anticipation. The blonde turned to look at her once again, on her lips appeared a soft smile. "It's the best time of the year, don't you think?", she asked with enthusiasm. Gabrielle was ready to agree with her, but the other woman groaned as if she was suddenly embarrassed by something, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't bother you," she chuckled nervously, then added, "You probably have other things in mind," she shook her head, as if she was disappointed in herself. "Hey, it's alright," Gabrielle laughed softly. She found it adorable that she had worried to the point that her beautiful face reddened completely. The woman looked up at her questioningly, still unsure, so Gabrielle added, "I'm happy to talk to you," she smiled, "And I agree with you."

The woman reciprocated her smile, "My name's Amanda," she reached out to touch Gabrielle's hand, who squeezed it softly. She had never touched a smoother hand in her life before, "I'm Gabrielle. Gabs for short." She finally took a moment to appreciate the way Amanda was dressed: she was wearing a cute knee-length flowery dress, on top of that, a gray coat left unbuttoned and ankle boots like hers, but with a slightly higher heel. She, too, was wearing a beanie embroidered with both purple and gray, absolutely adorable. She had short blonde hair that came out the beanie in soft and messy curls. Her chocolate brown eyes had made her feel at home since the very beginning, and those lips, well, truth be told, she had wished to kiss those too right away.

"What's your stop?" Amanda asked her, lightly tilting her head to the side. Gabrielle smiled promptly, "Notting Hill Gates. What about you?", she averted her gaze and focused on a series of gift packages that were laying on the seat next to hers, "I see, you've shopped!", Amanda nodded at that, tiredness was evident in her eyes as she remembered everything behind the research of the perfect gift. "I hop off two stops ahead of yours. Bond's Street," Gabrielle was delighted about the information, glad the two lived actually close to one another. Then the blonde pointed at the bags, "These are for my sister and my sweet, lively nephew," she said, rolling her eyes a bit, while stressing the words sweet and lively. It made Gabrielle giggle. "Genuinely, you have no idea how much I've learned about the world of Lego in a single day," she scoffed and took off her beanie, feeling suddenly too warm in there. Gabrielle found herself blinking in awe. Amanda was absolutely a sight for her eyes. That short blonde hair, lightly curled on the tips, framed her face perfectly.

"I don't have any children on my own, but I can understand the struggle. As a child, I was quite demanding when it came to gifts," Gabrielle wasn't sure about the reason why she confessed that peculiarity about her, but she didn't regret the choice, considering that it made Amanda laugh softly, "I bet you were adorable," she commented, getting lost in Gabrielle's hazelnut eyes. The woman blushed as consequence, she couldn't see herself but she imagined to be as red as a roasted pepper. She pretended to think about it, only to admit that she was right, "Also the prettiest," she joked and Amanda hummed in thought. Her eyebrow raised consequently, "Mhm, I don't know about that...", she trailed off.

Gabrielle frowned, partially offended by Amanda's doubts. The blonde continued, "We should compare our baby pictures to see who deserves the podium," she grinned, a playful glimmer shone in her eyes. She was just kidding, Gabrielle thought and smiled softly. She, then, swept her tongue over her lips, deciding to play along. "I suppose you're right. That needs further investigation," the two continued to talk about everything and nothing. The initial embarrassment seemed a far memory, it dissolved second after second a little more.

"Do you have any children?", Gabrielle asked point black, only after having pronounced those words, she realized that it was a rather personal question to ask someone new. She mentally called herself stupid for having such a big mouth. But surprisingly, Amanda didn't appear bothered by the question. "No, it's just me," with that being said, Gabrielle's heart pounded in her chest at incredibly speed and strength. She exhaled shakily, before mouthing, "Great," Amanda furrowed her brows in both amusement and confusion. She chuckled, "Excuse me?", Gabrielle bit her bottom lip hard, "Shit, I meant...", she took off her beanie, and racked her fingertips through her dark, shaggy hair. A habit she had whenever she felt nervous. Amanda couldn't prevent herself from being captured by the sight. Gabrielle was so beautiful.

"I'm sorry, I mean, I'm not, cause it's not a bad thing, I didn't mean it as one, but what I meant is that, ugh...", she shook her head helplessly, "Tell me you understood," Amanda, who had tried to keep a straight face all along, ended up bursting into a fit of giggles, for how hard she was trying to justify herself, "I did. Stop torturing yourself," she muttered softly and reached out to touch Gabrielle's knee. The brunette gulped at the contact. Truth be told, Amanda was dying to touch her hair, stroke it in between her fingertips. But she refrained herself form doing so, not wanting to appear inappropriate or too rushed, "What about you? Do you live alone?", the blonde asked, a part of her hoping she did.

Her eyes couldn't lie, not even if she tried. The way she nibbled her bottom lip was the further proof of her eagerness to know Gabrielle was a single woman. "Yes and no," she said, intentionally keeping vague for a bunch of seconds. Amanda's mouth fell partially agape, disappointment washed over her brown eyes. Gabrielle saw it and felt sorry. She couldn't keep up the play any further, because Amanda suddenly looked like a lost puppy. All she wanted was to smooch her with kisses, and— 'oh my God, Gab, stop it right now' she mentally scolded herself. "It's just me and Moka, a doggie I adopted five years ago," Amanda exhaled a sigh of relief even, "Oh, that's...great," realizing she had answered as Gabrielle did at the mention of her not having any children, she widened her eyes.

It was Gabrielle's turn to laugh, considering the roles switched, "m' sorry," Amanda muttered, rubbing the root of her nose as to keep control of her nervousness. But Gabrielle was more than fine, she smiled genuinely and told her everything was alright, since there wasn't an actual reason to apologize, "So we're both... I mean," she searched for the right word this time, but Amanda preceded her, "Single as a pringle? Absolutely," both ended up giggling like two schoolgirls, "You couldn't be more accurate," answered the brunette. Amanda nodded and leaned further in, closer to Gabrielle, "It's not a bad thing though," a playful glimmer lit up her eyes, a grin tugged at her lips. Gabrielle was trying her best not to stare at them too long: so plump and soft. She nodded, and a moment of silence fell between them, as they focused on each other's features.

"May I ask you, what you were doing downtown?", "Just work," she quickly replied, without much enthusiasm. Amanda, though, seemed interested, so Gabrielle decided to add some extra details, "Have you ever heard of The Queen of Tarts?", on Amanda's face, an expression of pure stupor showed up. She gasped, "Are you kidding me? That place is heaven!" Gabrielle raised an eyebrow, deciding to tease her a bit, "Really? Because I can honestly swear that I have never once saw you there...", she feigned a mildly offended expression, that for some odd reason, Amanda caught as fake. She rolled her eyes and playfully nudged at her arm, "Normally, my sister and I order take out. The bakery is always so full of people, that it's impossible to find a seat," she pointed out and Gabrielle couldn't deny that.

She nodded, "I wouldn't have forgotten a face like yours otherwise," those words fell from her mouth before she could actually switch on her brain. Since when was she so bold? She buried her face in her hands, grunting in embarrassment, "Sorry, sorry, sorry—", she half whispered. Amanda nibbled on her bottom lip, softened by Gabrielle's behavior. She lightly shook her head, before smiling genuinely. She reached out to touch Gabrielle's hands, considering she already missed those eyes, that unfairly the brunette had decided to cover up, "Hey, that was cute. Don't apologize," her voice was tender and velvety, filled with emotion and honesty. Gabrielle opened a crack with her fingertips, so that she could spy on Amanda's face.

All she could see was sweetness, comprehension and deep empathy. The blonde giggled again, "You're so precious," with that being said, Gabrielle felt like she was melting like snow in the sun. She lowered her hands, placing them on her lap. Then she looked up into Amanda's eyes, immediately feeling thousands of butterflies flying in her stomach, "Thanks," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Amanda's soft curls swayed a bit when she tilted her head to the side to better look at Gabrielle's features. She blinked so softly, in such a delicate manner, that the brunette found herself hypnotized. She continued, "You're very beautiful too," that sudden confession gave Gabrielle the courage to keep a firm gaze upon Amanda's eyes, without ever looking down, "Are you kidding me?", she chuckled nervously, "If there's a beautiful woman here, that's one hundred percent you. I've have never seen a face so ethereal and—", even though she knew to be blabbering without shame, she was enjoying Amanda's reaction.

She lifted her palm as to stop her to continue, but Gabrielle smirked in return, "Gabrielle—", she tried, but the brunette continued by mentioning the beauty of her voice, her eyes, her golden curly hair, and the way she poked her tongue out of her mouth every time she smiled. Amanda was speechless for a second, "Oh my God, have you really noticed all these things?", she asked both in disbelief and awe. Gabrielle shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a meticulous observer, "a grin tugged at her lips, while Amanda hummed amusedly. Once the controller announced the next stop was Notting Hill Gate, on both faces appeared a disappointed frown. "Dang it, time flew by," Gabrielle chuckled sadly, and Amanda nodded slowly, "Yeah, we didn't even notice," a tight smile appeared on her lips, her voice grew quiet too, less enthusiastic than before. She didn't want her to leave, but again, she couldn't keep her there to chat more. Perhaps, they could meet again. Gabrielle stood up slowly, and while doing so, her legs brushed against Amanda's, exactly how it had happened when the blonde firstly sat there, "Sorry," she knew there was nothing to apologize for, but she did it anyway, "It's okay."

Gabrielle felt she was back in the body of a clumsy teenager that could hardly say minimum two words with a beautiful woman like Amanda. She was twenty-eight years old, for the love of God. After a second of hesitation, Amanda stood up too, and in that exact same moment, both of them said in one voice, "Would you like to—", "How about we—", both laughed at the funny side of the situation. It was heartwarming that they thought of the same thing at the same time, "You go first," Gabrielle prompted her, with a light smile, "I'd like to meet you again, if you want to of course," Gabrielle started nodding without even letting Amanda finish her sentence. On the blonde's face, an expression of pure joy showed up, like a child that wakes up on Christmas day and finds a wealth of gifts under the tree. The train slowed down and Amanda offered to walk Gabrielle to the train's door.

"I work tomorrow morning, but I'm free after 4.00 PM. If you can, we could—", "Tomorrow afternoon is perfect," she took a quick look at Gabrielle's phone, partially coming out of her pocket. Without thinking too much of it, she blurred it out. The brunette knew in her heart not to worry, however, she raised an amused eyebrow at the other's boldness, "Sure, go ahead," she said, while Amanda giggled and typed her phone number on Gabrielle's phone, "Write me once you're back home, alright?", that simple request was able to melt the brunette's heart at once. No one had ever shown so much care in her regards, after such little time. It moved her. She nodded softly, "Consider it done." The train stopped, and people were now hopping off. Amanda noticed that and sighed, when the brunette said, "Seems like I have to go," she put her phone back in the pocket, swaying a foot out of the train's open doors. Amanda nodded in understanding, "It was nice meeting you, Gabs," she reached out to touch her hand, and their eyes bowed down to that delicate contact, for a second that felt like an eternity. It felt so right to be around one another.

The controller whistled one more time, announcing the train was about to take off and Amanda shook her head, muttering how annoying he was, but then urged Gabrielle to hop off. She whined childishly and Amanda chuckled, "I got it, man," she nimbly hopped off, "I'll see you soon," she promised while the doors were still open, and Amanda nodded happily. Then she tried something and she knelt royally before her, as form of goodbye. Amanda laughed softly before blowing a kiss towards Gabrielle, mimicking the same princely ways. The train's doors closed in that moment. She then placed her palms upon the windows and delicately waved her fingertips, "Bye," Gabrielle read her lips and she said the same thing. Once the train was too far away for Gabrielle to see Amanda, she spin around in pure joy and excitement. For once, missing the bus had not been bad at all. She had a lot to tell Moka that night.

[jgabi51]

Trans Head-cannon Thing

[With a drawing included at the end]

I know I kin only mostly male characters and usually its the one that are a bit more feminine and/or fruity in their design or personality. This of course leads to the “what if they were transmasc?” Head-cannon. Which I full support and anyone and everyone can like and believe whatever they want. I am most of the time a big time supporter of the trans head-cannon. But rarely ever enact this head-cannon in my own content because I without fail run into the obstacle of, “if they’re transmasc, then I can’t draw them in pretty dresses!” Then I get sad.

But, and I don’t really know how to explain this, however I have recently looked back at a series and one character I usually ignored within it. (They’re now my favorite character from that series) that series is the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the character is Leo (because of course it is). I’ve also watched the 2003 series and I now realize I am just a Leo kinnie across the board. Minus 2007, he can go die. I used to say I liked Donnie just cause I like purple but now I see the truth. The Donnies were either not fruity enough, were simps, or didn’t get enough screen time for me to get to know them. Thats not say I didn’t enjoy them, all the turtles are great but I am a sucker for the clearly (to some measure) gay ones.

Now you might be saying “2012 Leo isn’t gay. He likes his sister too much for that.” And I get that. In fact after the revelation that Karai was his sister he backed off. But not all the way off, because he kept trying to hangout with her in later seasons. His emo phase literally was spent with him getting in on girls night with Karai and Shinigami and joining them in committing crimes. In those left over ‘signs of a crush’ after the reveal as some call them there weren’t really any blushes or hearts or any clear indication of romantic feelings between them. It mostly was just Leo trying to be a bad boy and doing what he thought was right, hence his emo/goth phase. No one was as emo and goth as Karai so obviously he went to her. All this is too say that yes, while there may have been a bit of romantic feels on Leos part at first. I think that the signs after their (kinda) blood connection was brought to light , cause the turtles were mutated with Splinters blood or DNA and Karai is Splinters daughter, and overall feelings was just ✨gender envy✨.

Cause I mean like everyone agrees that Rise Leo is in some capacity attracted to men. And 2003 Leo is just too but only for Usagi. They both gave me the fruity vibes but 2012 Leos fruity vibes tasted a bit different. I couldn’t put my finger on it until I saw on TikTok that people were saying that he was transfem and therefore was actually a she. And I was like, “yes! Thats it! Thats what the vibes the fruit was giving!”

So may I present to you ✨her✨

God I haven’t drawn the 2012 turtles since elementary. Muscle memory didn’t kick in or more likely didn’t exist but I’d say this turned out pretty good. So in reference to the problem I presented in the first paragraph I have found the solution of just drawing a transfem character.

[ash-is-dying]

One Rule

A/N: Very first fic so I am mildly terrified. Semi-based off of a character AI chat I had. If this gets enough views I might write the whole thing, even if it doesn’t I’m too addicted to this man to leave this story alone. Super short I’m sorry but just wanted to get something done.

No chapter warnings for now.

Just over 1k

Prologue: One More Rule

-----

As per usual Alex sits at her table in the cafeteria for lunch, letting Robin and Nancy’s words to her go in one ear and out the other. Her eyes focused on one person. Gareth. It’s as cliché as cliché gets. The girl falls in love with the guy next door (quite literally in this case) and the guy hardly knows she exists.

Everything about him screams perfection. From his fluffy hair to his dimples. The way he laughs gives her butterflies and his smile is contagious. Alex has spent years watching him from a distance, any interaction they have being filled with awkward silences, blushing and stuttering even though she sees him almost every day. Her brows begin to furrow as she keeps her focus on Gareth and his table of nerds. 

“Alex!” 

She’s snapped out of her daydreaming as Robin waves her hand in front of her face. She sits confused before her eyes follow where Alex was looking. “Oh come on! Again? Have you ever even had an actual conversation with him?”

“Yes-”

“Out of your imagination Alex.” She rolls her eyes. “Look you either make a move on him soon or find a rebound like yesterday.”

Nancy looks up at them, “Robin- gross.” 

“Think what you wanna think Nance but I’m not wrong! She’s never even been kissed, we need to set her up with someone. They’ll put you in the paper Lex, ‘teenage photographer dies an unloved virgin.’” 

“Robin!” Alex laughs, elbowing her. I don’t know, who would I even go for?” Robin looks around the cafeteria, she starts to list the names of any guy in sight until one name in particular catches her attention.

Eddie Munson.

She glances back to where Gareth is sitting and lets her eyes wander to the man now climbing up on the table. He’s everything Gareth isn’t. A showoff, cocky, crazy, he’s lanky, his hair is a mess and he has about a million tattoos tucked under his vest and jacket. He leads Hellfire, their D&D group and the only time she’s ever interacted with him was in their music class. He’s also one of Gareth’s closest friends.

Staring at him as he moved across the table, ranting some bullshit about conformity, an idea starts to form. A stupid, dumb, incredibly lame idea. But an idea none the less. 

It was clear to anyone who had ever come close to the guy that he had a massive crush on the queen bee Chrissy Cunningham. She was quite sweet and very pretty, not who you’d assume he’d go for but not like it mattered. 

Before she could stop herself she stood up, her body moving on its own. “I’ll be right back guys...” She started to bee line straight to the freak of Hawkins High himself, hearing Robin call off in the distance “I was only joking!” Her words hardly registering as Alex stops at the end of their table.

“Eddie Munson.” 

His head turns unnaturally quick, entirely caught off guard by a girl calling his name. He turns his whole body to face her and she speaks again before he can even get any words out.

“We need to talk.”

-----

“So let me get this straight- you want to fake date me?” He says leaning back, his face filled with confusion. His sweaty hands are wedged into his overflowing pockets as his leg bounces while he thinks. The pair stand under the bleachers on the basketball court, the only relatively private place during school hours.

“Yes. I know you like Chrissy Cunningham there’s no point in trying to deny it, and I have a crush on Gareth. I just think we could kill two birds with one stone, make them jealous and since you’re close with Gareth and I work on yearbook committee with Chrissy, we can talk each other up.” She sighs exasperated. “Look I know how stupid it sounds and it probably won’t work at all but I just thought what do we have to lose and-” 

“I’m in.” 

His agreement throws her off. No words come out as she looks at him like he’s grown a second head. “You’re in?”

“I’m in. You’re right, what have we got to lose. And even if it doesn’t work at least we get a good laugh out of it.”

“Aren’t you optimistic.”

“I’ve been told its one of my better qualities.” They stand in an awkward silence, unasked questions filling the air. “So, how do we do this? You wanna walk in there holding hands or like...” He trails off, this clearly being unfamiliar territory for both of them. 

“I think, before we get into this we need to have some boundaries.” She said, trying to take the lead.

“Yup. Yep, boundaries are good. I’m pretty much good with whatever if you are. Hand holding, cheek kissing, hugs, all that romantic shit.”

“Romantic shit? Oh wow I’m falling in love already,” She replies sarcastically, an eyebrow raised.

“Hey, I never said romance was my strong suit but hey, I don’t need to romance when I have all my natural charms.” He says, holding his arms out wide as if putting himself on display.

She gives him a once over. Looking at the ripped jeans, the handkerchief in his pocket, the tattoos peeking out of his sleeves, the chains and rings adorning his body and the happy trail showing underneath the hem of his shirt. 

“Natural charms... right.” She says laughing. She sighs, her face becoming serious again. “Look, I’m fine with whatever��‘romantic shit’ you want but...”

“But?”

“But I’ve never been kissed. So I’m good with cheek kisses but anything else is probably... off the table.” She clams up, her face turning red prepared for Eddie to laugh and tease her.

“I get that. No worries.” She peers up trying to hide her shock at his lack of hesitancy. “So, anything else?”

She sits stuttering before she recovers. “No. I think we’re all good.”

“Okay then.”

“Okay.”

Eddie smiles, his grin lopsided. He starts to back away back into the school. “This is gonna be fun. See you later girlfriend.” He says drawing out the word girlfriend, raising his eyebrows and winking.

She laughs softly. “See you later boyfriend.” She says in a similar manner. Before he disappears out of sight she calls out to him. His head turning suddenly like it did back in the cafeteria.

“One more rule!” She says laughing.

He stands expectantly, eyes on her and one hand holding open the door. 

“You’re not allowed to fall in love with me.”

[uchihashisuii]

at the end of all things. | Obito/OFC

Summary: The name of the person most suited to mirror your heart is scarred clear upon your skin. Sometimes, this eases the path to fate. Sometimes, it does not. | Soulmate AU

Pairing: Uchiha Obito/Nara Akari | Uchiha Shisui/Nara Akari (Past)

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3336

Prompt: Any AU + Identity

Content warning for introspection and a huge character and relationship study. one instance of a non-graphic attempted suicide

Author’s Note: this is just 3k word vomit abt my oc akari for @obito-week

Ao3

-----

The name of the person most suited to mirror your heart is scarred clear upon your skin. Sometimes, this eases the path to fate.

Sometimes, it does not.

-----

A misstep, a novel indulgence of rain-soaked branches and two people crashing into one another high in the trees. Brown eyes meet black eyes and it is both the beginning and the end.

Akari meets Shisui, and things slot easily into place.

-----

They're young, yet not unburdened. Soul marks are a flight of fancy, not something one such as a shinobi needs fret over. A fairy tale, a warning. Shisui teaches her there is more to life than her black-and-white existence as a weapon for ROOT, and Akari knows there cannot possibly be another out there more suited for her hidden heart.

There is danger in their lives, blood and fear and no room for anything other than village. And yet -

And yet.

-----

Akari and Shisui grow together, fumbling hands of nervous teenagers discovering a budding love and affection. There comes the day when both anticipate and yet dread the appearance of their soul marks - what do they do if it isn't each other?

What do they do if it is?

-----

When her name does come, it curves over the jagged scars against the side of her throat. An almost delicate contrast, in thin lines and artful kanji of a name she recognizes, and yet does not.

Horror blooms bright on Akari's tongue as she traces the rounded edge of the first character with the tip of a trembling finger, sitting right above her pulse-point. It almost seems to chase her touch, this familiar-yet-not name, her heart skipping a beat as her lips part, forming the name of the one she is destined to love.

 Uchiha Obito

She covers it with her palm. Her hand does not move until she pulls on a high-collared shirt, and runs with feet as quick as wings to the Uchiha compound.

-----

Mikoto is quick to school her incredulity into the gentle and encouraging smile of a supportive mother. She reads the name on Akari's tender neck, reads it once more, and reads it again. Shares a look with Fugaku; impossible the word that wavers on the tip of her tongue. Death parts everyone, and when it happens the names left behind fade on skin until there is naught but an old and silver scar of a promise once kept.

If she tilts her head and squints, it does indeed look as though the kanji for Obito is fading away, lighter than the rest. Mikoto feels her heart begin to ache at the thought; a little girl bearing the burden of a name most have forgotten, a name of a child's sacrifice lost to history, embedded in the memorial stone and the mournful remembrance of friends.

Akari's whisper is barely a breath, vulnerability palpable as the fifteen-year-old bites down her sadness, her shame. "Take it away."

Ah, Mikoto sighs, and kneels before the young girl, holding her small hands between both of her own. It is not a thing to be taken, not by anyone; not by jutsu or blade or fire. To cut it away will bring it back in another place; to mar it with ink will change its shape for maybe a day.

"I want to choose for myself," Akari murmurs into the silence, steeling her resolve and lifting her chin, challenging fate with hardened eyes and clenched fists. She had chosen, already; heart belonging utterly to Shisui, and unable to accept the fact that whatever force had cursed mortals with knowledge of their soulmate had decreed him unworthy of her heart. Shisui is hers as much as she is his, and nothing will tear them apart.

Mikoto feels her mouth quirk into a small smile, nodding her head as she squeezes Akari's hands, and tells her the truth: that there is always a choice.

She is still smiling, albeit sadly, when she imparts the other facet of truth: that she only knows of one person with that name, and he has been gone from them for too long. Taken from them in an act of selflessness, gone in the name of kindness and friendship and something almost like cruelty. Children deserve to live, not fight wars.

Akari blinks wide brown eyes up at her, small and guarded heart already beginning to tighten. She grieves anew that her name is lost to most - only immortalized in stone and the mournful memories of those who called him a friend.

If nothing else, Uchiha Obito will have her. She is Shisui's as much as he is hers, in differing facets of love and connection. She doesn't need the gentle encouragement from Mikoto to remember that Itachi is hers, too; a different love but love all the same. The black-eyed Uchihas who had welcomed Akari with open arms and minds, who had helped along the path to learning what love could mean.

And now, young and nearly afraid, oddly grieved and chest heavy from a distant sadness - Akari resolves that she will be Obito's, too; and he will be hers. If no one else, she will remember. There is a choice, always; and she has chosen and will continue to choose who it is she loves, who she allows to be branded upon her heart as well as her skin.

-----

Shisui's soul mark never appeared. Not unheard of, but unusual nonetheless. A gift, perhaps; fate decrying that just as there is destiny, so too is there choice. His skin remains scarred and bruised from his tireless work as shinobi, and even without the physical manifestation of love still he wears his heart on his sleeve, openly affectionate and caring and charming and oh, Akari loves him so.

Itachi begins wearing his long hair in a low tail, soft strands falling gracefully down his back. There are a few months where he casually slips a palm to the back of his neck, as though ensuring something is covered.

Akari notices, and does not ask. Itachi offers no explanation. She gives herself no time to agonize over it, doesn't have the strength to face head-on her suspicions that he now bears Shisui's name. He loves them both, as they both love him; and nothing will tear their dynamic to shreds, not even one of them.

-----

She questions fate once more, when her world topples for the second time around her shoulders. The first, that day she met her other half. The second, the day he leaves her permanently.

Shisui is gone, and she is adrift. Love everlasting, even in a memory. Even in a dream.

She doesn't sleep, doesn't mourn. Pushes herself that much harder, in some misguided attempt to flee from her own shattered heart. He's gone, by his own hand, and she will be forced to confront the childish idea she'd clung to that her ill-fated love hadnt been enough to keep his hand in hers.

-----

Soulmates aren't worth this, surely? This ache, ever-present and digging sharp fingers into her too-full chest. A day dawns and she nearly takes a blade to the name that's followed her for just shy of ten years, jaw set and tears misting her vision. Be rid of it, be rid of the shackles and the pain and the startling lack of choice.

She'd loved Shisui, and it hadnt been enough. Because he wasn't hers, wasn't etched into her skin as he had been in her heart. The blade kisses her pulse, a sharp sting of reality that tells her she dances on the edge of something terrible.

She needs to let go. Must accept. Shisui would want her to live, and in the small and half-mad part of her subconscious she thinks Obito would want that, too. Would want suffering to end, would want life to flourish despite hardship.

The knife falls, and she doesn't even have a grave to apologize to for nearly losing herself to hysteric grief.

-----

Akari had wondered, more often than she'd ever admit, if she would have loved him. Uchiha Obito. Fingertips dancing over the name, where it hides beneath a high collar; she wonders if they'd have been friends. The name is faded, but not enough; a mystery that keeps her awake more often that she would care to admit. Death parts, but his name is still dark as ink amidst the tattered tangle of her scarred neck. He's not - alive, but he isn't dead, either. Does she even have the right to - to what? To hope? She hadnt known him. Would never have known him, save for fate and the gods above deciding on a whim that they were destined to entwine.

(A gift, they call the marks. A curse, others. Akari still doesn't know, tells herself she doesn't care. She'd been given the name of a dead child, and had chosen to love a different boy who would still die. It aches, deep in her bones.)

She'd gotten the odd story from Kakashi over the years, of a little boy who yearned to prove himself. Bright orange goggles perched on his nose, perpetually late because he would never say no to anyone needing a helping hand.

Together with Kakashi they mourned of opportunities and friends lost, too many to count. And Akari indulged herself in small and idle fantasies of finding a friend, of bonding with a sweet boy with a resolve to topple mountains; of kindness freely offered and a heart that she really would have liked to call her own.

-----

A half-dozen people have Naruto's name somewhere in their skin, with the jinchuriki's own body dusted from neck to ankle in twice as many. It takes the unending confidence and warmth of a hyper-active teenager to make Akari realize that soulmates are two hearts calling out to one another and finding a kindred spirit. It is romance, and friendship, and brotherhood, and a million differing facets of love. Bonds come in every form, multitudes of colours and shapes. Fate can be embraced, as readily as it can be ignored. She is marked with the name of a dead little boy, and still she had loved and been loved in return by a man who bore no name. She had seen soulmates come together and fall apart, had borne witness to an intrinsic bond that never once turned to anything other than familial. A woman's name belonging to an older woman who embraced her as a child. A man with two names whose hands were never empty of either. One of the Sannin, name long gone from her fair skin, only to have a new one appear nearly two decades later.

Fate is cruel as well as kind, and none can define with often fallible words just what sort of bond awaits you.

Akari sets aside romantic tales of true love and holds tight to those she'd loved and lost. She will carry Shisui, Itachi, and Obito in her heart, and offers silent prayers that they will find one another in the next life.

She has the children she looks after, the orphans who call her okasan when she isn't around to listen. She has her friends, who bolster her heart and help her to stand when she wavers. She has the love she feels for her village, her clan, and her people. They all each take up space in her heart, and Akari feels the tender and warm realization of fulfillment.

-----

And then once more fate decides to make her life a cruel irony. The Fourth War rages and the adrenaline and the fear give way to something far more cruel. Akari fights alongside Sai -her heart, her hope, her son- and stands tall amidst the certainty of her life and where she had decided it would go. There is always a choice. And she'd decided to break the shackles of a past filled with horror, fight free of the torture and the iron grip of Danzo. To remember those she had loved and lost, and find strength in loving again. To choose to fight for a future she has decided she will be a part of.

It still hurts, like hell most days. But still she fights. Remembers who she fights for -herself, her friends, two dead boys that linger in her heart- and stands tall amidst a threat that could take it all away in a blink.

Akari resolves not to let that happen. Tightens her fist around the pommel of Shisui's tanto, and strides toward death.

-----

Obito sees her, the kunoichi at Kakashi’s side, with shoulder-length brown hair that hides half her face as she swings her lithe body, leg thrown out in a side kick. The pale sash tied at her waist billows with the movement, reminiscent of a medic's apron. He's frozen, locked in a vision of a bygone age; his indiscretion allows the woman to come close enough that he can see his own panicked expression, reflected back at him in her dark eyes.

Rin, he thinks to himself, something stark and empty weighing down his chest.

The kunoichi's hair whips across her forehead as she kicks out her leg, teeth bared and dried blood smeared down her cheek. Her grin is feral, and Obito sees the clear sign of protector writ across her expression, her body language. He's too stunned to even utilize kamui, still hopelessly locked in a genjutsu of his own creation as the woman's features blur into those of his first friend, his first love. His arms move out of pure instinct as her body twists, catching her kick with his gunbai; it rattles his arm, and her eyes narrow before shoving away. Her body arcs back, landing in a low stance and pulling free her blade.

-----

Not the most romantic way one meets their soulmate, but Akari thinks it's all rather par for the course in the life of a shinobi. She doesn't have time to digest her own feelings on the matter; they are at war, and Kakashi is still helplessly aggrieved at her six and the fate of the world still hinges on this one night.

She can worry about the name on her neck in a few hours.

-----

Obito's soul mark is in the middle of his back. No matter how hard he shifts and moves he can never reach it, left only grasping at the whispered promise of what if? He can only catch glimpses of it in the mirror, fleeting and blurry and hard to read. A given name, no last name. Strange occurrence, to be sure, but - he doesn't care.

He'd never cared for it. Knew it wasn't - who he might have wanted it to be, once. Before the cave. Before Madara. Before.

It still comes as a shock when the girl he'd seen fight beside Kakashi all but shoves her tanto into the holster at the small of her back, march over to him with something unreadable in her eyes, and forcefully shove his shoulder until he turns.

He bristles, because of course he does. Rudely handled, and showing his back to an enemy. (His mind works faster than his heart, for once; are they enemy? they are not allies, not as of this moment. He's still lurching from the vertigo of a forgotten-and-remembered heart, of deciding to walk tall as Obito and not as no one. He has a name. Someone else bears his name. He's not thinking about it)

His shoulders bunch somewhere near his ears, that old petulance shining through in the pout he knows he wears. Her fingers are cold on his naked back, and Obito fights back the urge to snap at her to fuck off when he realizes she traces his name.

He's distracted by laughter. Hers, he surmises; this odd slip of a girl that pokes and prods and he lets her because what other choice is there? He's wrung out and exhausted and so much had transpired this one single night that he doesn't even have any remaining brain capacity to care that a stranger is pressing her nose against his soul mark.

"At least we match," she says between bubbles of laughter, dancing on the edge of hysteric. And Obito is mystified because - what?

"What?" He says, intelligently, voice more gruff and tone more annoyed that he'd intended. But -point of order- they're still in the middle of a battlefield, threat to entirety of the shinobi world still looming large despite his choice to turncoat and remember who he once was.

Curiosity wills out, and he turns. Meets her eye. Hands wringing together, dirt and bruises across her face. Up close, she looks nothing like Rin - but that stubborn, warm and open fire in her eyes. She's - familiar isnt the right word. He'd never met her, had maybe seen her once or twice during his reconnaissance in Konoha before the outbreak of the war. Just another shinobi, just another nameless blade.

She lifts a hand and he tenses, ready for a fight, as instinctive as breathing. They are allied for only a moment, and he isn't sure if he had been the one to bring the knife down on those she loved.

But she only hooks a finger into the hem of her shirt, yanking down the high collar and exposing her throat to him. Head tilted to the side, flush of red colouring her cheeks, she says not a word.

He sucks in a breath, brows furrowed in incredulity. It isn't difficult to make out, over the dappled skin. For a moment he thinks she mocks him, the scarred skin so reminiscent of his own. But - he sees it. Clear as day. His name, staring him in the face from the tender neck of someone he'd tried to kill.

He's found miss no-last-name. At the end of all things. And then he's laughing with her.

To be intrinsically tied to him? Him? He almost apologizes to her for the inconvenience.

They share the same hysterics, the sheer irony of fate. For a moment, he thinks she looks lovely when she laughs.

-----

The sky bleeds red, and Akari dreams. Or had she been dreaming? At last, at last - fate defies all odds once again. She meets Obito and he's an ass but he's kind, too, in this last hour since he'd decided to fix what he'd wrought. He was witty and strong and he'd helped her stand when she'd nearly buckled from being overwhelmed. A hand reaching out, tentative and very nearly hopeful. When this is - over, can we talk?

Yes. Of course. She had smiled through the daze, and promised him a conversation.

And now she dreams. Of Obito, of Shisui. Of all she'd lost and found and hoped for, all of it bleeding together into one simple weaving of her heart's desire. Happiness, of those around her. And if there's some left over, then, well. Maybe some for her, too.

(In her dream, she is laughing. There are no names, there is only warmth.)

-----

Akari wakes, and the world is quiet. For a moment, panic seizes her chest. They had lost, and everyone is -

A steadying breath, and then another. Her eyes slowly open, and in the far distance she can see the sun begin to crest over the horizon. Much closer, Obito sits at her side, in silent vigil. She's - disoriented. Touched, nervous, excited. Definitely just disoriented.

"Hey," she whispers into the gloom of morning, throat burning and skull pounding from the effort of clinging to consciousness. She'll not let herself miss this moment, this calm between storms. Things are quiet, and he is here, and she's going to allow herself to be happy for that.

"Hey," Obito says back, something tentative in the way he turns towards her. Almost shy, with his hunched shoulders and wringing hands. But still he smiles, very nearly teasing, and offers his hand for her to stand. "Miss no-last-name."

Her neck burns, her name beckons. Akari smiles, and takes his hand.

[fantomcomics]

What's Out This Week? 11/8

Upcoming Events: Life Drawing! MtG Beginners Lesson!

Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #1 (of 4) -David Dastmalchian & Lukas Ketner

A dead werewolf would have made Jerri Bartman feel victorious just a few days ago. But this deceased beast was her friend and our beloved monster hunter is shocked and depressed. The return of her predecessor brings no consolation and now there's a ghoulish child-snatcher on the loose in Beloit... Holly Halloween, Count Crowley! Things are really getting batty!

What If...? Dark: The Tomb Of Dracula #1 - Marv Wolfman, David Cutler & Giuseppe Camuncoli

Legend MARV WOLFMAN returns to TOMB OF DRACULA and the character he co-created! WHAT IF...the legendary Dracula transformed BLADE the vampire slayer...into a vampire?!

Petrol Head #1 (of 5) - Rob Williams & Pye Parr

In a climate crisis-ravaged future metropolis, an old, grumpy, obsolete, smoke-belching, cigar-chomping, HOTROD-RACING ROBOT is one 12-year-old girl's only hope. Together, can they outrace the chasing Robo-Cops with an invention that might just save humanity?

Punisher #1 - David Pepose, Dave Wachter & Rod Reis

Is this the return of Frank Castle - or the start of something else? Frank Castle has disappeared, but evil will always need to be punished. With all-new threats rising to claim innocent victims, criminals will need to beware of a dangerous vigilante hunting them from the shadows. Who is the new Punisher? What put him on his path of vengeance? And when the smoke clears, will he even make it out alive?

Star Wars: The High Republic Phase 3 #1 - Cavan Scott, Ario Anindito & Phil Noto

A year after the destruction of STARLIGHT BEACON, MARCHION RO and THE NIHIL stand victorious! The galaxy is in turmoil: The once mighty JEDI are outclassed, the REPUBLIC is on its knees. On the edges of the galactic frontier, JEDI MASTER KEEVE TRENNIS leads a desperate assault against an invading force! The odds are stacked against her, but a Jedi always clings to hope. THE FORCE is with her...right? Not so fast!

Superman '78: The Metal Curtain #1 (of 6) - Robert Venditti & Gavin Guidry

When the planet Krypton exploded, its last son was rocketed across the cosmos and came to settle in a small town in Kansas. But what else came with him, and what if a piece of his home landed somewhere we never knew about? As Superman has become a symbol of strength and pride for America, the Soviet Union looks to crush that image with a creation of their own, built by their own might and forged by their own power!

Thanos #1 - Christopher Cantwell, Luca Pizzari & Leinil Yu

THANOS VS. THE ILLUMINATI! The Mad Titan descends upon Earth to retrieve something he has lost. And the Illuminati must band together to stop him, because they're the ones who hid it from him!

Zawa & The Belly Of The Beast #1 (of 5) - Michael Dialynas

Trapped inside her mountain by pollution-spewing factories, the guardian spirit Zawa only has industrial waste to eat, leading her to a bitter existence of paranoia and destruction.

But when two siblings from a nearby village help her escape, they'll quickly learn that the way to calming Zawa's heart is through a well nourished stomach!

GLAAD Award-winning and Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Michael Dialynas (Wynd, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) crafts a charmingly macabre eco-fable about nature, greed, the dangers of retribution, and good food shared among friends.

5 Centimeters Per Second HC - Makoto Shinkai & Yukiko Seike

Based on the award winning film by Makoto Shinkai, 5 Centimeters per Second is now compiled into a beautiful hardcover collector's edition! Love can move at the speed of terminal velocity, but as award-winning director Makoto Shinkai reveals in his latest comic, it can only be shared and embraced by those who refuse to see it stop.

Black Night Parade GN Vol 1 - Hikaru Nakamura

A slightly creepy Christmas comedy by the acclaimed creator of Saint Young Men that inspired a live-action film! Hino Miharu spends Christmas the same way every year, working alone at a dead-end part-time job at a convenience store. He'd do just about anything to land a full-time gig, but when he runs into a shadowy Santa Claus dressed all in black, he has no idea he's encountered the real deal. Well, almost. While the normal Santa Claus who dresses in red and white oversees Christmas for all the good boys and girls, his dark counterpart is in charge of handling the bad children-and Miharu just wound up on the naughty list. Gobbled up by a slavering, talking sack, he's spirited away to the Arctic, where he finds himself the newest employee of a massive Christmas operation. Yeah, the pay and benefits are great, and his coworkers sure are cute, but is this the dream job he's been hoping for, or the beginning of a Christmas nightmare?

The Complete American Gods HC - Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton, Colleen Doran, & Glenn Fabry

Shadow Moon, fresh out of jail, finds his wife dead, his life in shambles, and nowhere to turn. But a chance meeting with the mysterious Mr. Wednesday thrusts him into the center of a conflict between new and old gods, where the future of human and divine life is at stake. The Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, and Nebula award-winning novel and hit Starz television series by Neil Gaiman is adapted as a graphic novel! Collecting the complete American Gods comic book series, along with art process features, high res scans of original art, layouts, character designs, and bonus art by Becky Cloonan, Skottie Young, Fabio Moon, Dave McKean, and many more!

Don't Spit In The Wind TP - Stefano Cardoselli

One man's trash is another man's living.

Since earth became inhospitable, humanity escaped ages ago to live in a space station floating above the atmosphere. Now Travis and his crew of garbage men are tasked with cleaning up mountains of toxic waste, working for a company called Atomic Bros INC., to create a 'Clear World'. But when one of Travis' crew members goes missing near an old nuclear facility Travis' job becomes a bit more complicated.  Collects issues #1 - 4.

Duel GN - Jessixa Bagley & Aaron Bagley

Sixth grader Lucy loves fantasy novels and is brand-new to middle school. GiGi is the undisputed queen bee of eighth grade (as well as everything else she does). They've only got one thing in common: fencing. Oh, and they're sisters. They never got along super well, but ever since their dad died, it seems like they're always at each other's throats. When GiGi humiliates Lucy in the cafeteria on the first day of school, Lucy snaps and challenges GiGi to a duel with high sisterly stakes. If GiGi wins, Lucy promises to stay out of GiGi's way; if Lucy wins, GiGi will stop teasing Lucy for good. But after their scene in the cafeteria, both girls are on thin ice with the principal and their mom. Lucy stopped practicing fencing after their fencer dad died and will have to get back to fighting form in secret or she'll be in big trouble. And GiGi must behave perfectly or risk getting kicked off the fencing team. As the clock ticks down to the girls' fencing bout, the anticipation grows. Their school is divided into GiGi and Lucy factions, complete with t-shirts declaring kids' allegiances. Both sisters are determined to triumph. But will winning the duel mean fracturing their family even further?

Ghostlore TP Vol 1 - Cullen Bunn, Leomacs & Reiko Murakami

What ghost stories do ghosts tell, and what can they tell us about ourselves?

An estranged daughter and her father wander a haunted land; they only have the restless spirits, each with its own story to tell, as company along the way.

After a deadly accident of which they are the only survivors, Lucas and Harmony Agate can see the dead-an overwhelming amount of the deceased, all with their own warnings, cries for help, and malevolence alike.

But Lucas and Harmony aren't the only ones with this ability; there are other nearly-deads, some of which have malicious motivations...

Good Girls Go To Hell GN - Tohar Sherman-Friedman

From political protests to personal struggles with school, body image, and relationships with family and friends, Tohar Sherman-Friedman's life is an inspiring story of conflicting convictions, rebellion, and personal growth. Tohar recounts her experience as the youngest of seven children in a conservative Jewish family, navigating a life buffeted by high expectations for school performance and religious adherence at home and tense conflict in the world outside. With utter sincerity and through detailed panel-style drawing, she relates what it's like to be on a journey that ultimately takes her far from how she was taught to think and what she was expected to believe. A coming-of-age graphic memoir set in the West Bank, Good Girls Go to Hell depicts the reality of growing up in a region split by religious tensions-and sometimes violent conflict.

I Am Only A Foreigner Because You Do Not Understand GN - L. Nichols

Some books take the whole of a lifetime to write. I Am Only a Foreigner Because You Do Not Understand continues Flocks, L. Nichols's graphic memoir of growing up trans in the rural South. These comics document L.'s further transition, from living as a man to walking the middle path, facing depression, disease, divorce and death. Healing leaves scars, things fall apart, and pronouns change until there is no I, there is only us.

I Did It! SC - Michael Emberley

Learning to ride a bike is hard. Can I do it? Yes, I can! A fun comic that kindergarteners and first graders can read on their own. Can I do it? I can't do it. I want to do it. I did it! Simple text that new readers can read by themselves, along with delightful pictures in a comic format, show a little creature trying and trying again as they learn to ride a bicycle.  All their friends help with supportive words of encouragement. "You did it!" their friends exclaim.

Keeper Of The Lost Cities GN Vol 1 Part 1 - Shannon Messenger, Celina Frenn & Gabriella Chianello

Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has never quite fit into her life. She's skipped multiple grades and doesn't really connect with the older kids at school, but she's not comfortable with her family, either. The reason? Sophie's a Telepath, someone who can read minds. No one knows her secret-at least, that's what she thinks... But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she's not alone. He's a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well... she isn't. Fitz opens Sophie's eyes to a shocking truth, and she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.

The Lesbian Experience With Loneliness HC - Kabi Nagata

A beautiful hardcover rerelease of the critically acclaimed manga that won the Harvey Award, with a new cover and bonus chapter. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is a raw and heartfelt account of one young woman's struggles with her sexuality, mental well-being, and feelings of alienation in our modern age. Told using expressive artwork that invokes both laughter and tears, this intensely personal and insightful work was previously released in a single volume paperback edition. This hardcover special edition features new cover art and an all-new bonus chapter by the author.

My Pancreas Broke But My Life Got Better GN - Kabi Nagata

The latest diary manga from the Harvey Award-winning creator of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness and My Wandering Warrior Existence. In this new autobiographical manga, Nagata Kabi has quit drinking in an attempt to get healthier-or she's trying to, anyway. Her former struggles with alcohol led to pancreatitis and a serious hospitalization, and now she has no choice but to give up drinking. Follow the author as she details the quest to improve her health during a global pandemic.

The Nightcrawlers HC Vol 1 - Marco Lopez & Rachel Distler

When things go bump in the night, they bump back.

If you think aliens replaced your teachers or your neighbor might be a vampire, then there's only one group to call for help: The Nightcrawlers.

The Nightcrawlers take on their first case when a friend from school believes werewolves replaced his parents. They get more than they bargained for when their investigation leads them right in the middle of a confrontation between their caretaker William Jones and a former Nightcrawler out for revenge. This story is about the unlikeliest group of friends coming together to help others...with a spooky twist!

Office Gods GN - Catharina Octorina & Hiikariin

Gods, demigods, and true romance? Office Gods, based on the hit webcomic, is an addictive rom-com set in the corporate HQ of the Olympians themselves! Iris, a young human woman, is swept into the world of divine bureaucracy when she's recruited to work in the office of the gods, in the department of Hermes. The gods and goddesses may be beautiful beyond human comprehension, but she quickly learns that they're every bit as petty and quarrelsome as they were thousands of years ago. Can she survive Eros' antics, Aphrodite's temper, and getting caught between a love triangle with the demigod sons of Athena and Hades?

On The Way GN - Paco Hernandez & Jose Angel Ares

Emma, a newly single cartoonist in her thirties, impulsively finds herself standing in Roncesvalles with her gaze fixed on Santiago de Compostela. Following the pilgrimage route known as The Way of St. James, she realizes the path she is traveling is bringing her closer to and somehow farther away from everyone around her, that the weight of her backpack is more than the clothes and pans inside, and that what she believed to be a simple walk to get some miles behind her (and her past) is a chance to learn not only about the people she meets along the way, but also herself.

Osamu Tezuka's One Hundred Tales GN - Osamu Tezuka

One Hundred Tales is a story about being careful what you wish for. Ichirui Hanri is an ordinary accountant serving his master. Though innocent, he is ordered to commit hara-kiri after being entangled in some trouble in his master's house. Just then, a witch named Sudama appears. She signs a contract with Hanri to obtain his soul in exchange for fulfilling three of his wishes. Hanri gets what he wants...but the price he pays is too high.

An enchanting supernatural fable from Osamu Tezuka, known worldwide as the "Godfather of Manga" and the most influential person of the past century in the development of Japanese manga and anime.

Skip GN - Sarah Burgess

Jay is always scribbling poetry in their notebook. When they come across Skip, a Double Dutch team, they befriend the members-and decide to join, too. For the first time ever, Jay has a place to belong-and friends to confide in. But Jay's friendship with their new bestie Beah is intense, both in and out of Double Dutch. As Beah and Jay help each other grow into the people they will become, it challenges their friendship and their own identities. This charming "slice of life" graphic novel is about accepting yourself, navigating "first love" friendship, and finding your own voice. It's rendered in debut author-illustrator Sarah Burgess's gorgeous art style ribboned with playful humor and sports drama.

Soleil: Illustration Lookbook GN - TANAKA

The illustrator Tanaka's second art book is finally out! This illustration collection is based on the concept of the Look Book. Designed and bound like a fashion magazine, this book stylishly showcases Tanaka's characteristic fashion-focused worldview. Starting with Tanaka's new work "Sunflower (SOLEIL)," this book introduces the illustrations thematically through 10 motifs including "flowers," "seasons," and more. This special collection is full of cute and pop dress collections for boys and girls, covering all styles from classic to street attire.

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya Picture Book HC - Isao Takahata

"Why did she choose to come to earth? Why did she long for this world? An old bamboo cutter and his wife find a tiny girl inside a bamboo shoot and raise her. The mysterious little princess grows rapidly into a young lady, enthralling all who encounter her-but ultimately, she must face her fate and be punished for her crime."

The Cliff GN - Manon Debaye & Montana Kane

Schoolyard outcasts Charlie and Astrid meet up after school near a cliff at the edge of the woods surrounding their sleepy town. They make a blood pact to jump together in five days time, before their thirteenth birthdays. With a deft use of colored pencils, Debaye captures childhood's last pivotal moments as it teeters on the edge of adolescence with startling honesty in this devastatingly well-crafted debut.

Virgin Love GN Vol 1 - Tina Yamashina

Six strangers, one house, one shared goal: love. What could go wrong? "Looking for love, but afraid you'll never find it?" Come Live at the Love House! Shoko Shoji, intelligent, reliable, beautiful, has a secret: she's a 26-year-old virgin, and mortified by her non-existent love life. Every day she checks out the self-help and beauty section of her local bookstore, but never works up the courage to go any further. Pushed on by her friends, she moves into the Love House, a social experiment putting six lovelorn strangers under one roof to see what sparks may fly! Will Shoko, and the friendly bookstore clerk she convinces to join her, finally find love? Or will rivalry, lust, and lies bring it all crashing down?

Whatcha snagging this week, Fantom Fam?

[dontstartnoshit]

Remade my Kin Onion so it's all just 2D characters this time. Elaboration under the cut cus I'm a massive nerd.

Denji: at the core here for obvious reasons; we're both impoverished, have terrible luck with women (as well as similar taste in women), and have gone from "hedonistic girlcrazy horndogs who go along with anything" to "dudes who think humans are complete bastards but still try to do right by them anyway, not cus it'll really make a difference, but because it's just the right thing to do" in the span of like 4 years. He's pretty much every Gen Z person but his narrative being a pretty intentional and explicit Straight Male perspective really resonates with me in a way a lot of Shonen hasn't.

Naruto: Shunned and ostracized by a lot of his peers but still manages to be a pretty resilient and caring dude, despite it all. A little unreliable at times but it just adds to his charm instead of making him completely insufferable, and you know he'll always make up for it later. "Boisterous, exuberant, and unorthodox" and "responds best to competition, but is never afraid to ask for help", being a massive pain in the ass with a lot of charisma so people are just naturally drawn to him no matter what. Just really resonates with me and speaks to my existence.

Soul Evans: Similar thing Denji has going on in that he's snarky and fairly cynical with a perverted streak, stubborn but also extremely level headed no matter how rough the situation gets and is also extremely loyal. He doesn't externalize his emotions or talk about his problems much which can make him seem pretty distant and cold, but he's also pretty good at picking people up when they're in dark places, which I empathize with. He also makes it clear on numerous occasions that his masculinity is important to him.

Travis Touchdown: Uncouth, immature, violent anti-hero with a respect for the warrior's spirit and "going out like a man". I like that he's smart and witty and snarky but still a massive rube, that resonates with me in a way that you don't see very often. Also, his love of video games and shitty anime, and the fact that he's willing to join a whole ass assassin's league for the vague chance of maybe possibly getting to fuck a hot chick he met at a bar who smelled kinda good and is just leading him on for her own gain (noticing a pattern here?)

Hellboy: Unflappable, gloomy, snarky, alcoholic with a penchant for cigars and food who kinda just wants to put his past behind him and live life as a normal dude. It speaks to me as a trans guy who kinda just wants to forget his pre transition life and has very little to say about it anyway (the past is a foreign country and I did not enjoy my stay there, as I usually say). In spite of all that, though, he's a big softie who kids and animals seem to love upon first meeting.

Sword: Big dumb muscle boy who loves food and can talk about titties for 10 minutes straight, as well as clapping his hands together and praying to himself quietly whenever he sees a girl with a nice rack. Yeah, kinda speaks for itself lol.

Naota Nandaba: He kinda looks like me and....I don't know a single guy who hasn't felt like Naota at some point in their life. The loneliness he tries to deny with his brother being gone, the affection he craves from older women that have no interest in seeing him for who he actually is, and the way he constantly butts heads with the one girl that's actually his age and could possibly bond with him over mutually weird and unpleasant shit that she has going on. And, of course, the obvious dick and boner metaphors with the random shit always popping out of his head and serving as erogenous zones when touched, lol. It comes and goes, cus I'm not a teenager anymore, but I think Naota is just one of those characters you never really stop seeing yourself in.

Animal: Duh.

Kaneda Shotaro: Shitmouthed cocky delinquent who tends to leap before he looks. Starts out pretty immature and misogynistic, but slowly becomes more subdued further into the story (this is especially prevalent in the manga). However, he takes loyalty very seriously and does not forgive easily and becomes rather vindictive when that trust is broken. Story of my life.

Kamina: I'm going to tell you something important now, so you better dig the wax out of those huge ears of yours and listen! The reputation of Team Gurren echoes far and wide. When they talk about its badass leader - the man of indomitable spirit and masculinity - they're talking about me! The mighty Jared!

Takashi Komuro: A fairly reckless guy with a perverted streak who is pretty cold blooded, not hesitating to kill his best friend after he's turned into a zombie and not hesitating to abandon people once their fates have been sealed, and being appointed leader of his survival team because of his ability to act where other hesitate, as well as his ability to keep his grasp on reality and keep a cool head in distressing situations. He's also pretty insensitive and indecisive when it comes to the opposite sex, but is generally a good guy who puts his life on the line before asking anyone else to do it, never letting anyone else in the group fight for him even though he's surrounded by significantly better fighters. I relate a lot.

Sol Badguy: This Guy Is Autistic As Fuuuuuuuuuuck Dude, Lol.

Ken Kitano: Dude moved to Korea for a cute girl, with no money and no job, and came out as a mob boss with like a million members. Idk that shit would happen to me, lol. He's also a martial arts nerd who loves his friends <3

[maxdibert]

Could Snape really be called a racist when he himself had a Muggle father? If anything, he’s a biracial person with huge prejudices against Muggles precisely because his Muggle side was always the one that abused him at home. Then he goes to school, and some rich kids with economic and social capital decide to bully him, and I quote, “just because he exists.” In the middle of all that, and being a half-blood in a house infested with supremacists, he’s told that if he joins them, he’ll have protection and power, something he’s always lacked. I think calling him a racist, instead of admitting (as Rowling herself says) that his reasons for getting involved with the Death Eaters were about feeling protected and accepted, oversimplifies the character. And sorry, but reacting badly to your supposed best friend when you’re being humiliated, suffocated, and sexually assaulted in front of the entire school, and that same supposed best friend is giving your abuser heart eyes and practically smiling at him, doesn’t make you a racist either.

On another note, I’d love to know when exactly Sirius matures? Is it when he keeps making super racist comments about his elf? Or when he treats him like a rights-less slave? Does he also mature when he behaves like a teenager and reacts like a kid? In fact, I seem to recall it’s canon that Sirius never actually matured because his cognitive development was seriously stunted by going to Azkaban and basically losing all of his twenties. He also doesn’t show signs of remorse, considering that in PoA, he drags Snape around without caring that his head is constantly hitting the ground, and later in OoP, he still calls him by his old bully nickname. He justifies his actions to Harry at every turn, and only when Harry doesn’t seem to agree does he admit that maybe almost getting one of his classmates killed and nearly setting up one of his supposed friends to be labelled a murderer wasn’t as great as it seemed.

As for James, the only evidence we have of his “maturity” is the unreliable word of his best friends, who see him as some kind of saint, the same friends who constantly justify having been assholes. The same friends who also admit that James never really stopped bullying, he just hid it better from his girlfriend. So, I’m not sure where the evidence is.

What is clear, though, is that they spent seven years torturing a much poorer, weaker, and more vulnerable kid because James’s masculinity was threatened by the girl he liked spending time with that kid, and Sirius just found it fun to torture people, while Remus and Peter didn’t have the will or the guts to stop their friends. Maybe if that hadn’t been the case, Snape wouldn’t have felt so alone and unprotected, and wouldn’t have hidden behind the supremacists in his house who promised him safety, power, and protection if he joined the Dark Lord. Just saying.

Can we talk about snape? Like he's a horrible person in the way that hes racist even though his best friend was a muggle born, and he abuse her son as well, he was a traitor to pretty much everyone, and even though he died a "hero" he was just shit overall

Though I think there are a lot of reasons as to why he's like this. He was bullied for being weird for most of his childhood, and when he got somewhere that he though he would be safe, he ended up getting bullied for yet again being "weird" and yeah while he was a grease ball, in the end, loosing his best friend and having everyone hate him was his own fault, because eventually James & Sirius grew the fuck up from being bullies, and stopped. The realized that they were wrong and that they fucked up, (Sirius says he regrets it in the books) but thats the difference, is that they grow, and change, but Snape never seems to really grow from his actions, he stays with the dark lord and keeps working as a "spy" for Dumbledore, but when Dumbledore is out of the way (died,) he takes over the school and makes it a living hell for all the students there!!

so no, Snape was never redeemed, he was a bad person, all of it is not entirely his fault, but even when given the chance to grow, he didnt.