#they're the only ones that get a remotely happy ending in both their stories

[limon-rat]

Thinking about domestic Lautski

Let them be happy

[starrynights-sunnyskies]

as the flowers bloom, my heart does too ⋆*·ﾟmisa x putellas!femreader, social media au, (14/-)

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when your relationship ends and all you want to do is hide and cry, flowers suddenly start to appear on your doorstep.

or; misa hating to see a pretty girl cry and suffer and going out of her way to cheer her up while staying anonymous

fic: see my masterlist 🤍

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8,429 likes yourusername: officially two years stuck with me 🤍

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marisabel_rguez Happiest two years of my life 😊

username1 how has it been two years already?

albaps9 ❤️❤️❤️❤️

bff3 Happy two years my loves 😘

friend1 to many more!

jennihermoso Explains why she's been less of a nuisance the last two years 🤣

username2 THE CUTEST

sofie.svava Angels!!

ingridengen 💘

alexiaputellas Good luck getting rid of her now, @/marisabel_rguez🤩 ↳ marisabel_rguez More like, good luck getting rid of ME now 😈

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↳ 55min ago: marisabel_rguez added to their story ↳ 55min ago: marisabel_rguez added to their story ↳ 55min ago: marisabel_rguez added to their story

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↳ 8h ago: yourusername added to their story

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↳ 8h ago: yourusername added to their story

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Direct Message

17:36 marisabel_rguez Got a notif that you tagged me?

17:36 marisabel_rguez Oh, hello ladies. I miss you. 👋

17:48 yourusername they miss you too 😌

17:48 marisabel_rguez Won't have to be much longer now!

17:48 marisabel_rguez But you know Ale is going to be annoyed when she sees it, right? 🤣

17:49 yourusername hmmmm so be it. she's a big girl, she can take it.

17:49 marisabel_rguez Wear that dress for me when you pick me up, pretty please?

17:49 yourusername i'll think about it 😉

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14,363 likes marisabel_rguez: Little Miss 'has a tiny home office but never uses it' 😁 Kidding. Always working hard, so proud of you, amor.

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albaps9 lord, she wouldn’t survive one day in the wild without internet

yourusername because if i sit there then i don't get to be around you 😭 ↳ marisabel_rguez I'm starting to think you only had me put up that desk for you just so you could see me work up a sweat. ↳ yourusername i will neither confirm or deny 😇

bff1 does she even realise you live with her lollll

sofie.svava Go outside. Feel the sun. Go touch some grass.

alexiaputellas Dating her laptop since 2019 🤩

username1 i can just see misa sitting there, taking these pics like 😍☺️🤳

bff2 Didn't know you two were polyamorous? 💻❤️👭

bff3 Oh, I see they're still together then! 🤭

yourusername everyone's bullying meeee 😔 ↳ marisabel_rguez They're just jealous of your drive 😉😘 ↳ albaps9 jealous? hahahahahaha no she works way too much ↳ yourusername i work a normal amount?? ↳ marisabel_rguez You did work remotely all throughout our last vacation 🤫 ↳ yourusername bc i had deadlines 🥺 and otherwise i couldn't have gone 🥺 and then i would've missed you 🥺 and then i would've been sad and then you would've been sad ): ↳ alexiaputellas No... you really work too much, hermanita 😅

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Text Messages

10:34 🤍 Misa 🤍 Thought we should move the conversation here.

10:34 🤍 Misa 🤍 But I know, amor. I was only joking. We both have to make sacrifices in this relationship to get the fullest out of our time together. I don't blame you for working when we're away or when you travel to watch me play, because you're still with me. You came for me. And I at least get to be in your presence or glance at you from across the room 😉

10:39 you i just always feel so guilty. when i'm there, but i'm not there, you know? i'm there to see you, to spend time with you, but i still can't give my full attention because of work. but i if i don't do it then, then that work will just follow me home and add to the list of things. and also when i have to finish stuff up at home and all i want is to spend time with you after you get homeeeeeeee

10:40 🤍 Misa 🤍 You know what I see when you're all focused in your home office? A hard working woman, whose built herself up from the ground, who is doing something she likes, who's making a career for herself. It makes me fall in love with you even harder.

10:41 you not sure what i ever did to deserve you. thank you for loving me the way that you do.

10:41 you you know that it still gives me butterflies whenever you flash across the screen or whenever you walk out onto the pitch? it feels so silly because i'm no longer a teenager with a crush, but you have that effect on me. i am so in love with you.

10:41 🤍 Misa 🤍 Haha, I know. It was like that for me before we ever dated. But you already know that. And it's still like that for me when I see you in the crowd.

10:42 you i doooo but tell me again 😊

10:42 🤍 Misa 🤍 Tonight, over dinner. I'll cook you something 😘

10:42 you then i'll cover dessert!

10:42 🤍 Misa 🤍 Oh! Okay 👀😏

10:42 you misa 🤣

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2,158 likes tagged: marisabel_rguez yourusername: what's missing?

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bff1 ME

username1 a rock on your ring finger?? 🤣 ↳ alexiaputellas It's looking a little lonely, isn't it? 😜 ↳ username1 GAHOGWHAGKASGLAWE HI ↳ username2 OMG ALEXIA ↳ username3 alexia captain of the ship confirmed ↳ username4 lol who would've thought!! ↳ username5 PK Alexia against Misa would NEVER-

albaps9 your left arm

jennihermoso My glasses, for sure. Because what the hell is missing? 🧐

marisabel_rguez Hah, cute try, but no, amor, we really can't get a pet. I told you ❤️ ↳ yourusername but but but but but please? ↳ marisabel_rguez Who takes care of it when we're gone? ↳ yourusername 😣

patri8guijarro can someone just tell me bc i'm lazy to look for it

bff2 Sugar in your coffee?

username2 so what is missing??? 🕵️‍♂️

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5,882 likes tagged: marisabel_rguez yourusername: 🌻

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bff1 i see you have a preferred seat ↳ yourusername duh! free seating wherever i go, who wouldn't love that?? ↳ marisabel_rguez Free? Since when? ↳ yourusername tHiS LoVe IsNT TRaNsAcTIonAL??? 😠 ↳ marisabel_rguez At your service 🫡😳😂

begovargas ❤️

marialeonn16 next time we pick the place!! 😆

ingridengen We had a lovely time with you two 💘

marisabel_rguez They really do it better! ↳ yourusername you're biased

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2,985 likes yourusername: dw i'll always stay loyal to you, barcelona <3

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albaps9 so, how's your life of chastity going?

bff1 that’s for sure not going to get you laid ↳ alexiaputellas Haha, I like that. Buy a few more of those @/yourusername. ↳ marisabel_rguez Meh, it's usually already off before I can read it 😛 ↳ bff1 savage 🤣🤣🤣🤣 ↳ albaps9 misa you truly are our bravest soldier ↳ alexiaputellas OYE??? Qué coño??!??

username1 idk what has spurred it but i love how they’re back in their ‘unapologetically lusting after each other’ phase ↳ username2 here for it 🤑 ↳ username3 RIP Alexia though 😂

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↳ 3h ago: marisabel_rguez added to their close friends story ↳ 25min ago: marisabel_rguez added to their close friends story

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Direct Messages

09:56 albaps9 MISA

09:56 albaps9 HAVE YOU NOT LEARNED ANYTHING? 🤣

09:59 marisabel_rguez She's been insecure about her physique and I couldn't have that 😌

09:59 albaps9 sure, you're just a horn dog. you both are. bye!

09:59 albaps9 btw i'm sleeping with yn tonight. you take the guest room. bc otherwise i can't look you two in the eye tomorrow morning xoxoxo

10:21 marisabel_rguez Noooo 😞

10:28 albaps9 yesssss

10:31 marisabel_rguez Are you really kicking me out of my own bed?

10:31 albaps9 yes!!!!

10:31 marisabel_rguez But it has the better mattress and I need that for my back. I'm the professional athlete out of the two of us.

10:34 albaps9 oh so it has nothing to do with the bombshell in that bed with you?

10:48 marisabel_rguez 😂

10:48 albaps9 see?! i don't want to be traumatised again so you take the guest room.

10:48 marisabel_rguez What do you mean 'traumatised' and 'again'?

10:48 albaps9 be fucking real rn misa

10:48 albaps9 i'm not stupid. you two did the nasty when we all came to madrid that first time

10:51 marisabel_rguez We didn't

10:51 albaps9 fuck off! you SO did!!!

10:51 marisabel_rguez Did not

10:51 albaps9 did

10:51 marisabel_rguez Did not 🙃

10:51 albaps9 I HEARD IT!!!!! I COULDN'T SLEEP!!!! 🤮

10:53 marisabel_rguez Our fridge is noisy and you probably heard the AC buzz too.

10:53 albaps9 ohhh right! that must be it! you have a very intelligent fridge if it can talk, you know? it must've been very lonely, calling out your names and all. how did you teach it?

10:54 marisabel_rguez 🙂

10:56 albaps9 that's right. so take the damn guest room bc i can tell ale and mami what you did while we were there and if they find out, they'll make your body disappear and then you'll have a very very very very sad and lonely girlfriend

10:57 marisabel_rguez Wow, YN wasn't kidding...

11:03 albaps9 about what?

Seen

11:48 albaps9 about WHAT

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Direct Messages

10:05 alexiaputellas Maria Isabel. No.

13:26 alexiaputellas Jover, Misa. I said no!!! Why post another one!!! 😫

14:00 marisabel_rguez jejeje 😁

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Text Messages

12:01 albaquerque 🌼 i'm waiting ten more minutes and then i'm going shopping for myself. i've been fighting the urge to splurge. saw some nice earrings.

12:03 you jesus, i'm barely late

12:03 albaquerque 🌼 where are you

12:03 you ummm im almost at the jeweller i think, but alba!!!!!!!!

12:03 you i love her but it's so hard to surprise her

12:04 you misa insisted on dropping me off so that i didn't have to take the metro. i had her drop me off somewhere far away so she wouldn't get suspicious

12:04 albaquerque 🌼 sigh. fine. the things i do for you and love.

12:04 you you have the patience of a child

12:04 albaquerque 🌼 😙

12:04 albaquerque 🌼 less talking more walking. chop chop.

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↳ 5min ago: albaps9 added to their story

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↳ 20min ago: marisabel_rguez added to their close friends story

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Direct Messages

14:05 alexiaputellas Good luck waking them up 😆

14:08 marisabel_rguez Starting to think I could bring a flamenco group in the room and they'd still sleep through it.

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15,381 likes tagged: yourusername marisabel_rguez: Queen in front of her palace gates 😍

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yourusername 😘

bff1 not the fanciest castle i have ever seen bff3 Yeah, it's quite shabby? bff2 Poor thing probably sitting there because no one's opening the door for her. yourusername i hate you guys 🤣

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5,109 likes tagged: marisabel_rguez yourusername: no stress, one boo 🤑

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marisabel_rguez You skipped over the good sex part, should I take offence to that? ↳ yourusername hm yea it isn't good. ↳ yourusername it's brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before <3 <3 ↳ alexiaputellas 😑 ↳ yourusername oh so now i can't quote lady gaga anymore?

username1 y'all are so goals

bff1 small circle 😌👌

username3 I want what they have

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18,329 likes tagged: yourusername marisabel_rguez: Christmas 🔜 ☺️

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username1 misa and yn are on gran canaria. pics are from people who met them. they were out with misa's family 🎅🎄

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username2 it's a good day for the queers

username3 Stop, they look so happy ):

username4 they're literally radiating i'm so happy for them

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a/n: christmas vibes in august, who would've thought? hope you enjoyed the update. happy august <3

[buddiebeginz]

I'm really happy that Buck and Tommy are finally over (thank god) but there was so much I didn't like about this episode. Not only does Tommy have a history of racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc but he was simply not a good boyfriend. And like not just not a good boyfriend to Buck (which he was that) but like not a good boyfriend in general. Like look at how he talked about Abby (and I'm no fan of hers).

I know some of the stuff with Tommy was probably due to Lou's terrible acting but some of it was definitely writing choices. I don't get the point of writing a character to be a lackluster love interest at best and dismissive patronizing jerk of a boyfriend at worst if it's not leading somewhere in the story. It just feels like bad writing. A lot of the stuff with Tommy does. It's why I'm still amazed at how much that fandom acts like they're the greatest romance of all time.

There's also all that stuff that happened in 7x04 that I fear is never going to get brought back up again. I mean it might when Buddie goes canon (which I still believe will happen) but it might not just because if Tommy's gone they might not feel the need to address it again. But it was clearly Eddie's attention that Buck wanted in that ep (I wrote a whole thing about it here). You also have the fact that Tommy was showering Eddie was all this attention and gifts and the only time we saw him do anything remotely like that for Buck was in tonight's ep on their anniversary and it was tickets for a game Buck didn't even like so clearly Tommy wasn't that invested.

It's just this show has a habit of Buck staying in these relationships where he's not happy. Not knowing his worth and not speaking up to people who hurt him all so he can feel like he's loved. And I know a lot of that goes back to the stuff he dealt with as a kid but I'm just really sad they did this to him again. I get that Tim probably wanted Buck's first relationship with a guy to end on a positive note but then like I said why write Tommy the way they did since s7? If you take Buck and Tommy's relationship just as it played out on screen then Buck definitely should have been the one to break up with Tommy.

They wouldn't have even needed it to turn into a fight or this bitter angry thing it could have been a matter of Buck realizing that him and Tommy were just too different. That Tommy didn't really get him as a person and that could have been further made clear by having a moment where Buck calls Tommy out on always calling him Evan. I also don't get why they decided to have Tommy call him Buck in the breakup scene but then never address it any other time. Like they never really explained why he only ever called Evan and then didn't explain why he switched it up.

Like I said I'm happy they broke up but I just feel like in some ways I can't enjoy it. In both this ep and 805 there was scenes like at the graveyard where Buck acts like Tommy is this amazing important person in his life and I get that some of that is Buck trying to make his relationship with Tommy into something more than that is. And really connecting his excitement and newness of coming out with Tommy. But it still hurt to see him asking Tommy about moving in when I know Buck deserves so much better. He deserves a partner who will love him and see him for exactly who he is.

Connected to all of this I didn't like the scene with Josh, Maddie, and Buck either. I know some of that was probably the shows way of trying to make us think about Eddie and his coming out in the future but they were also talking about Tommy. Tommy doesn't get a pass for being a misogynist or racist or a homophobe just because he was in the closet. Also whatever happened with him and Abby in the past he was still talking shitty about her when he was on the date with Buck (in present day) so clearly his attitudes towards women haven't changed.

I like a lot about Josh as a character and he doesn't even know Tommy or about his past so I feel like he was just trying to educate Buck on some queer history. I don't entirely blame him for that speech he gave. I do blame Tim and the writers though. If they wanted Tommy to be seen as a guy who made mistakes in the past and had grown they should have put the work in to show him as such. The couldn't be bothered to do that even in his relationship with Buck. Truly hoping this is the last we'll see of him and also that not much time is spent having Buck mourn that awful relationship.

[whispersleo]

So uhm I just finished Dragon Age so... NO SPOILERS here! Just want to do a tiny little ramble about the game. Be cautious, really bad english ahead!!!

Like what the fuck was that. Listen I WANT to love this game, really. As a transman I absolutely loved the representation, I think it's really important. But please. After 500+ hours in Baldurs Gate, it's impossible for me to not make comparisons and see the huge, absolutely gigantic, gap in quality between the two scripts. And I know Baldurs has a lot of problems with the script and the writing, It's not perfect, but after all the details it is REALLY GOOD, it is and can be truly beautiful, you can see and hear the beating heart of the game in almost every scene. I'm saying this not only as a Gale enjoyer (please believe me), but you can't tell me that Veilguard has a scene even REMOTELY close to the Gale scene where you contemplate the stars with him. He talks to you about immortality, about love, about dying and death, about suicide, his pain lingering in his voice in every breath, and if you happen to be interested in him, Gale confess his love in a way you can even hear him scared of ruining things (again?). He's scared, paralyzed in fear, regrets, pain, despair, sorrow, and yet he really is brave enough to open his heart completely to you in what is, in my opinion, the best scene in the game. I'm always excited to replay it, I hear him all the way through it every single time, I feel his emotions like they were mine and that is so beautiful and precious to me.

And then Dragon Age: The Veilguard, pales in comparison. This beautiful Gale scene happens in the middle of your journey, where you both still don't know if you can truly wake up for tomorrow. Hells, Gale doesn't even think he can live at all!, and yet he chooses to spend this specific night with you, to kiss you, to adore you. He tells you that he loves you. A lot of people criticize that the companions in Baldurs are too horny for their own good, and that they want to get in your pants too quickly. I get where they're coming from but I can't agree. For me, every company has its own reasons for doing that. Astarion tries to get into your pants because it's his way of surviving, for example. Gale doesn't try to do so until he's literally standing on the edge of a cliff in a desperate and maybe last act of love - if he can't love himself, he'll try to love and live for someone else. I won't go on about the other companions, but they do that because they trust you, because you have earned their trust.

We all know the elephant in the room in Baldurs Gate 3. Wyll. His story, cut short. His content, non-existent in comparison. His romance, with many fewer hours that makes me feel it's not worth it. His mission, not even about him. His character, boring to death (to me).

BUT, man, he's just one of the companions. It's not okay, but the others are amazing, Wyll is -sadly and in comparison- just a detail. In Veilguard, this problem is with EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

They all feel so rushed it's not even funny. As a Lucanis enjoyer (of course I am), I couldn't even get happy for finally getting a kiss from this man and an "I love you". It's just too late for that when it happens. So cold. When it happens, the character -me, as the player- can't even be in the "mood" for it. I hate it. I hate the moment. And I hate I love those puppy brown eyes -as usual, and can't even be excited, hopeful and happy and all the things I truly feel in the Gale scene. I can't. I've been wanting to kiss this man for the past thirty hours and is just too late when it finally happens. I wanted to kiss you before facing the horrors, not after. In Baldurs, you can feel the support of your lover all the way from the half game to it's end and conclusion, you can hear them say they love you if you want, telling you sweet words, greeting you with love and familiarity. The connections you form with the Veilguard characters is rushed, feels extra superficial, and the romance hides behind a poor "slow burn" excuse. This is just writing so fucking shit I've read fanfics at the age of 12 with like thousand of more layers and greaters sex scenes that Veilguard can't have in ANY moment of the script, not just the romance. I'm talking specifically about that because that's where I really felt like the game was freezing me out.

When I finished Baldurs the first time, I felt everything. I cried my eyes out, I laughed, I was so happy- and that was while watching Gale become a god and let Astarion ascend. But it all felt like everything I did (120 hours) was for a reason. It was all FOR this, good or bad choices. I cried when the credits rolled and kept crying when everything went silent. And I started a new playthrough feeling so excited to discover more and more.

Here, I tried to feel that again. To feel like I've saved the day, excited for the future, sad for saying goodbye, and happy for doing so. But I couldn't fake it if you had a gun pointed at my head and told me to smile LOL I was so cold. Just thinking "that's it? It can't be... can it?" And waiting for the game to say HA! Gotcha. But it never came. I watched the credits still trying to connect to something I just watched and finished.

If you're still here, let me tell you: I don't regret buying it.

Sure, the script is like a Marvel movie. A good one (I love superheros), but a Marvel movie still. Like Shang Chi, for example. Man I love that movie. I love the color palette, the characters look like fun, the scenography is amazing, the choreographies are just astounding! But the script. It's a Marvel movie. Characters are saying all the things instead of showing me. They're joking in really bad moments. Sometimes they don't even feel like people, just parrots saying random lines they suddenly remember. The ending it's a big battle that makes all the journey feel less enjoyable and more boring and flat as fuck. But it's really nice and decent entertainment and I'll watch it again if I'm doing the dishes or something.

It's just not great, but that's what Veilguard is for me. I love the colors, I love the character designs, I love all the places you can go, I love the gameplay and the combat experience and I'm excited to try new difficulty levels. But the script is just dog shit. It's entertaining enough to have it like background noise if you are doing something else, and that's it.

All I see is potential wasted. But I want to play it again, maybe as rushed as all the characters are. Just let me keep smashing shit, swinging my axe, and I'm pleased.

Thanks for reading.

[kayhi808]

More Than Our Scars - Florence Italy

Series Masterlist

It's been a while since I wrote for these two. They're my favorite couple. Murder Boyfriend & his Brave Girl. 💕

The culinary course that Billy enrolled you in is so challenging yet so rewarding. This was your dream and the amazing thing is now you have Billy by your side to share the experience. You thought champions & heroes only belonged in fairytales and comic books, but you found one of your very own. Not only did he save you from The Kingpin, but he also taught you how to love again. He built up your confidence and made you believe in your dreams. He adores you, his brave girl.

Billy found the most charming apartment with views of the Duomo, the 3rd largest church in the world. It's not a luxury apartment like his loft back in Manhattan. It's charming & quaint & old world. Turning into the courtyard, it's a 3 story walk-up that you don't mind at all. Letting yourself into your home, you dump your keys on the entry table. Hanging up your jacket, you make your way to the kitchen, to place your bag on the counter & go in search of Billy. "Billy? I'm home."

"Hey, babe!" Dressed casually in a dark green sweater & jeans, Billy walks out of the room he set up as his remote office. He envelopes you in his arms & drops a kiss on your lips. "How was your day?"

"Good!" Squeezing him around the waist, "better now that i'm home.

Billy walks you backwards to the kitchen, stopping by the bags, "What have you brought me to eat?" Letting you go, he rummages through the bag. Whatever you learned to cook that day, you brought home for Billy's lunch for the following day. He always looks forward to it.

"Cacio e pepe."

"Nice! Thank you." Cracking the lid of the container, he smells it & puts it in the fridge. "That's going to be good." Turning back around to you, "What do you want to do tonight? Want to wander?"

"Sure! Let me get changed." To change into something warmer. March evenings are still chilly in Florence. Matching Billy with a sweater & jeans, you apply some lip gloss & re-braid your hair, you're ready to go.

"All set?" You excitedly nod. Bill helps you on with you jacket & you leave to go exploring. Hand in hand, you make your way out to the cobblestone path. You've visit marketplaces in the neighborhood, grabbing fresh produce, bread, cheese...and an abundance of wine. It's such a great feeling to be out in public. You were kept prisoner by Kingpin for 3 years and spent months in hiding with Billy while he plotted your freedom. You had a small taste of freedom when you and Billy spent a couple days in Beacon, NY after James Wesley's murder. But this. This was amazing! Now you're in Florence strolling through markets, fingers entwined with Billy's, living the life you only dreamed of.

*****

The sky starts to darken on your way back home, as you pass Osteria del Flore, Billy's new favorite restaurant. "Do you want to stop for dinner?"

"Bill, we just bought a bunch of groceries"

Wrapping his arm around your shoulders & leaning down to press kisses into your neck, "But you've been cooking all day. Do you really want to cook again?" Billy already starts steering your towards their doorway, even before you can get an answer out.

"Signore Russo. Signora. Bentornato (welcome back)." The hostess greets you upon arrival & leads you to a table. The food has been incredible since you got to Italy. Billy jokes about the weight you guys will be gaining. It's almost sacrilege to have anything but wine while in Italy, but the beer selection here is excellent. Bill is so American. So New York. He wants his steak & a beer. You can't help but give him a besotted smile. You like seeing him so relaxed and happy. You both suffered so much, you deserved this blissfulness.

*****

Full bellied & a little tipsy, Bill's arm is thrown around your shoulders. Your fingers intertwined with his. Leaning into his side, you make your way back home. "Once your classes end & we return stateside, what do you want to do?

"What do you mean? I'll look for a job. I can't keep mooching off you."

"Shut up!" Curling his arm, bringing you closer so he can kiss the top of your head. "Where do you want to work?"

"I haven't thought that far yet. I'm concentrating on doing well here." Mulling it over, "I guess it depends on whoever hires me, that's where I'll go," you shrug.

"I'll make sure you have a driver available to take you to & from work."

"What?! I can get myself to & from work."

"Remember the last time you walked home from work?? You're getting a driver." The last time you walked home, Kingpin's men snatched you off the streets.

You whisper a soft, "thank you."

"What about private chef?"

"Those are long hours. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner? I'll never see you." You hear a low growl, which makes you smile.

"Or maybe I can buy you a restaurant."

"Are you crazy? No, Bill." You stop in the middle of the sidewalk, letting go of Bill's hand. "I'm serious."

Bill laughs, hitching the tote full of wine & groceries over his shoulder. "You can be your own boss. Make your own hours. Have plenty of time to spend with me." He tugs your braid, wrapping it around his fist, pulling you closer to him, to capture your mouth in a kiss. He only stop when he hears a soft whine escape you. "Don't you like the sound of that, sweetheart?"

Burying your face at the base of his throat, inhaling the smell of him, "I know nothing of running my own business. I'm still learning to be a chef."

Wrapping you in his arms and swaying with you in the moonlight, he dances you into the courtyard. The unevenness of the cobblestones makes you clumsy, but Billy doesn't let you fall or falter. "One day when you're ready, I'll help make it happen."

Laughing, "You spoil me."

"Anything for you, my brave girl."

@imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @e-dubbc11

[outmakingmoonshine]

(Some of) my hopes (and some theories) for S3

The number 1 thing I want is a scene after Nat's had her baby where Carmy sees Syd holding the baby and his entire world stops bc that's all he wants for his future 😭 If Sydcarmy kiss or something I'll be happy and I'll reblog every single gif of it like a normal person BUT if we get a Syd holding the baby scene I'm gonna be uncontrollable on every social media platform available. I might even post it on Reddit and watch the meltdown! This is where the bar of my expectation is for S3. If we get this (or anything remotely like it) I'll be so satisfied, any other good thing that happens between Sydcarmy will be a bonus for me.

We know we're getting a Syd x Pete scene and I want a Carmy x Pete scene where Pete's talking about how great Syd is and Carmy can't help but warm to him a bit more. The potential relationships between Syd x Pete and Pete x Carmy are so important to me 🥹 my three awkward, anxious lonely babies (Pete's not lonely now but I think he probably was once upon a time and the Berzatto men singling him out of the family must make him feel lonely and not good enough :( I love Carmy but I will fight him for Pete's dignity and honour!)

Putting the rest under a cut because it's mostly just my musings and ramblings

I want Nat to say something to Carmy about his relationship with Syd. Nat saw their dynamic before Claire came, she saw Syd's reaction to Claire, how sydcarmy's dynamic changed when Claire was around and how Carmy ditching her made Syd feel. She didn't witness all of that for nothing. Someone's gotta tell Carmy how he's been (unintentionally) making Syd feel and I doubt it'll be Syd.

I need to see Richie start respecting Pete at least a little bit. Carmy's already kind of made a step towards respecting and even appreciating Pete for who he is a bit more but I need to see it from Richie too because I'm pretty sure he's the one who leads that little mob mentality against Pete. Even if it doesn't actually happen this season, I need to see it heading in that direction because Pete doesn't deserve all this slander 😭 I need Richie and Carmy to start seeing that the only difference between them and Pete is that he's mature and confident in who he is. They're both not confident in who they are so their only way of feeling like they're above him/better than him is to make fun of him for it. (IRL grown adults with this infantile mentality get on my last nerve so I need to see them come to a realization soon.)

I want Donna to make amends and start finding peace. I know she's technically an antagonist in this story but it really bothers me the way people dismiss her as if she's some monster like we aren't watching Carmy treat the people he loves the exact same way she does. If we can empathize with a man for his toxic behaviour we can empathize with a woman who was going through her own trauma and loss while she had 3 kids (plus Richie) to look after. Any parent who welcomes another person's child into their family unit for years and makes them feel like part of the family despite whatever she's going through, isn't a monster imo. I know she traumatized her kids but honestly, most parents do that and have no remorse about it. Donna has remorse for her actions and the effect it had on her kids. And what is Carmy doing to Sydney's self-esteem and confidence right now? He's definitely not helping it! l If I can forgive Carmy because he's acting on his trauma and I understand he's not just a horrible person by choice, I can do the same for Donna. I know some ppl just don't like JLC because she's pro-zionist (idek I just saw this online somewhere?) which I understand but at the same time, the actress is seperate to the character. Donna's favourite person in the world is gonna be her beautiful black daughter in law! She's gonna love and appreciate Syd so much.

I want Donna's story to end with her starting to heal so people watching this show know that even late in life when you've made all the worst mistakes and inflicted your pain on others you can still heal and try to right those wrongs. It's never too late to start being a better person. This wasn't meant to turn into a rant about Donna but I think the way some fans talk about her character is so unfair and narrow minded because they don't keep the same energy for Carmy.

Some of my theories for S3

I know no one wants to hear this but I think 3x09 Apologies will be an apology to Claire where Carmy finally comes clean about why he gave her a fake number and why he can't be with her, putting an end to romantic Claire/Carmy for good. If we see the end of Claire in the first few episodes I'll be happy but I doubt they'll waste the "suspense" of Claire/Carmy vs SydCarmy by ending it 3 or even 4, 5 episodes in. I don't think she'll be in all 9 episodes leading up to it tho (please no, I love Molly but that's way too much of Claire.)

JAW said during awards season "Claire deserves an apology" which seemed random to me at the time because no one asked him that, he just brought it up and we all know Syd is the one who deserves the biggest apology from Carmy. Idk if they were filming S3 yet when he said that but he already knows where the story is going. Actors don't just play character's "blind" without knowing something about where their story is leading, especially main characters.

I think they'll do the Syd/Claire switcheroo and make it seem like Carmy's going to apologize to Syd (because it will be glaringly obvious he needs to) but it'll be him telling Claire the truth and ending things with her. Idk if Syd will get an actual apology (it would mirror 1x08 where Marcus got the actual apology and Syd didn't even though she probably deserved it more) but I think we will get some kind of super intimate heartwarming/heartbreaking scene from sydcarmy in that episode, just like 2x09.

Also Ayo said something like sydcarmy fans won't get what they want in S3 and it's the one time I actually believe her.

I think we're going to get some amazing sydcarmy scenes in S3 but I don't think it's going to end well for them. I think S4 will mirror S1 and build their dynamic up again back to what it was before Claire came in 2x03. I think S4 is gonna be THE sydcarmy season.

I'm in two minds about whether Syd will sign the contract or not. I'm leaning towards no because despite it meaning Carmy can't just leave again, going off to do whatever he wants with "wHoEvEr" and she'll have his full focus, I just don't think she wants a legal contract to be the basis of why they're committed to working together. Syd's never tried to tie Carmy to her so I don't think she'll appreciate him doing it to her. Carmy's doing this out of desperation, not out of purely wanting to collaborate with her and Syd will sense that. I think Syd wants him to want to work with her. That's why she never actively tried to get him to stay and work with her in S2 and she could've been way more direct and harsh than "I need your focus like you need mine", Lord knows he would deserve it but she isn't trying to force him. That's why she never made him feel bad about being with Claire either even though he ditched her for Claire right when they were getting closer. She doesn't want to guilt trip him or make him feel like he owes her something, she wants it to be his own decision. She wants him to show that he wants it just like she does. And he does...but he just doesn't know how to show it in a healthy way and toxicity raised him so I can't blame him.

Idk what's gonna happen between Syd & Marcus or Syd & Luca but I don't think it actually needs to be romantic to make Carmy jealous, especially if he and Syd aren't seeing eye to eye. I don't think it's necessarily gonna be romantic for Syd either, even if they see her that way. Just like Carmy didn't really see Claire romantically (in present day anyway) and I will die on that hill. That man had zero romantic interest in her despite literally kissing and having sex with her. It was more like he was just going through the motions of a "normal" relationship than it being something he genuinely wanted. Why does he show SO MUCH want and desire for Syd but not a single iota of the same for Claire?!

Seeing Syd get close to any other man is going to bother Carmy regardless, especially if he knows the man is attracted to her. But I feel like Syd is a 'connection before anything else' kinda girl (Carmy is too, that's why having sex with Claire literally sent him into a spiralling panic attack the morning after) but Syd doesn't have the exact same issues and trauma that Carmy has so I can't see Syd being with or sleeping with someone she doesn't feel connected to like that. I could be wrong but I can't see her changing her mind about Marcus and suddenly dating him at this point. She seems like someone who knows what she wants and won't settle for less just because it's available. (Not that Marcus is "less" than anyone, my sweet little cherub.) I could see her feeling a connection to Luca though, he's basically a calm version of Carmy that pays attention.

Ayo basically saying in an interview that Will Poulter pays attention to her instead of his phone was such a random piece of info imo. I get it made context in the story she was telling but it just seems like such a deliberate pointed thing to bring up knowing right now in the show Syd doesn't feel appreciated or listened to by Carmy. She could've answered the question without mentioning Will at all tbh, and even if she did mention him she didn't need to mention all of that, give us a whole backstory and everything, idk. This might be a reach but I'm pretty sure they give out of context clues like this in interviews, they definitely do it in the show so I wouldn't be surprised.

I think it was a clue about the dynamic between Syd and Luca in S3 and the difference between Carmy and Luca is Carmy's unfocused and makes Syd feel like he doesn't listen to her but Luca makes her feel like he pays attention to her. I still don't think this needs to be in a romantic sense but I'm happy for Syd to get some TLC from a hot blond guy with tattoos before Carmy sees sense.

Idk we'll see how that story plays out in S3 but if the fact Luca pays attention to her is a plot point (even a subtextual one) I'm taking that story from Ayo as an out of context spoiler.

I love Marcus and I adore Lionel BUT I just can't see Marcus and Syd being together. Their vibe is so brother/sister to me that it would just be weird at this point in the show imo. The same way sydcarmy ending the show only ever being "platonic co-workers" would give me weird inappropriate vibes about their dynamic throughout the show. The romantic dynamic between sydcarmy and the platonic dynamic between Syd x Marcus are kinda set in stone imo, especially after S2. It'll be very difficult from a literary standpoint to drastically change those dynamics in a believable way and keep the quality of storytelling and integrity of the show intact at this point. It's not impossible, I just don't think it's likely at all.

I'll be honest, I'm not looking forward to Marcus's storyline in S3. My mum died when I was young so seeing kids (even if they're adults) attending their mum's funeral on shows/movies always makes me emotional, especially when it's a character I care about. (If we get a flashback of Syd at her mum's funeral I might actually die of sadness bc I'm not ready for that! I've had enough time to accept I'm gonna see Marcus's mum's funeral but if they spring Syd's mum's funeral on me too it might actually break me idk.) I am looking forward to seeing him be supported through it though and other than his mother's funeral storyline I'm excited to see where his story goes in S3. I feel like Carmy's gonna be an asshole to him if he starts getting closer to Syd and while I love the angst and jealousy of SydCarmy he better not hurt Marcus's feelings or be too hard on him. I can't wait for some Marcus x Luca scenes too.

I nearly forgot the loml, Tina! I'm so excited to see her story in S3, idek what to expect other than her backstory episode that Ayo's directing 🙌🏽 but I'm sure I will love it. Liza does so well in this role at making me feel things (all of the cast do tbh but Liza as Tina just plucks my heartstrings on a different level.)

If you read this far, thank you I appreciate you 💛

[queerholmcs]

okay. you know the drill. i do need to elaborate on some of these, moreso than is allowed within the character limit of the polls; see the read more at the bottom of the post. yes it gets a bit long, i'm sorry, i'm not normal about this show, we've established this.

stop making me watch this. this is indecent. this is not suitable for public television. please get a room.

they all know sherlock and they know that he's insane. where they go wrong is in assuming that john must then be the sane one of the pair of them. (save mycroft; see number five.)

'here, use mine' as the obvious opener. but then we also get the bit where john returns to baker street and sherlock's like 'oh haha yeah i called you across town to ask you to send a text' and john gives him the most exasperated, reluctant look before giving sherlock his phone (heart). because at this point, there is no other option. (i won't say more. essays have already been written on the matter.)

the way a point is made to demonstrate sherlock's deliberate ignorance of molly's attempts at flirting. and john's painfully awkward attempts to hit on mycroft's PA. contrasted with their every moment on screen together. 'we can't giggle, it's a crime scene!' SHUT UP.

where do i start with this one. (mycroft is my favourite. i'm not sorry.) he puts so much effort into this stupid little trick and john completely holds his own against him. he's also the only one to see that john is also not sane and that as much as sherlock is going to be some sort of influence on john, john is going to do the same to sherlock. 'might we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?' → 'i can see from your left hand that's not going to happen' → 'time to choose a side.' hello??????? thank goodness mark gatiss mycroft holmes is here to spell things out for us.

it all starts when john says 'i looked you up on the internet last night' (weird move, it has to be said) and then doesn't immediately praise sherlock's blog. but then he also doesn't tell sherlock to piss off for deducing him and airing his family secrets like that? and from that point on, every remotely clever thing sherlock says, he looks to john for his response. ('do you know you do that out loud?' 'sorry, i'll shut up.' 'no, it's... fine.') i maintain that he only points out anderson and donovan's little affair to show off for john.

look. do i even have to say anything here. we establish that everyone sherlock interacts with thinks he's gay. we establish that john and sherlock are both unattached and that girlfriends definitely aren't sherlock's area and that it's fine to have a boyfriend, by the way, john thinks this is fine, just if you wondered, he's also unattached and it's fine if girls aren't your cup of tea and have we mentioned they're both unattached? and they have what is about the most intimate eye contact ever for far too long while doing so.

chance or chess? play the game. engage with the story. read between the lines. is it a bluff? or a double bluff? or a triple bluff? play the game. (mention the game one more time. i dare you. shut up.)

this is in both the physical and the metaphorical sense. they have no concept of personal space, either of them, and it is a bit awkward for everyone else in the room who's forced to watch them make bedroom eyes at each other. on the metaphorical side—john is the first to say 'actually, it's not obvious, so get on with it and share your thoughts with the class, would you?' and '...bit not good, yeah. maybe be slightly more sensitive to people's emotions, there.' and 'you're so full of it. you absolutely do guess, admit it, i can tell when you're lying.' lestrade watches them interact for all of ten minutes and then declares that, though he's known sherlock for five years, he still doesn't know sherlock nearly as well as john does.

who is he? well, he's with sherlock. it's sherlock holmes and doctor watson. they're a set. (do not separate!) they go together, they are defined by each other, they balance each other far too perfectly to ever be removed again. welcome to The Dynamic. you'll never know peace again. (or is that just me?)

[kyouka-supremacy]

hii again!! thank you for answering my asks hehe 😊🤭

Going off from your response (about the bsd ladies ✨), I have some random questions for you 💗

Who is your favourite bsd *female* character?

Who is one female character you'd want to rewrite?

And who is the female character you see the most wasted potential in?

No pressure btw!

Omg hi thank you so much for this ask I love sharing opinions almost as much as I love talking about women 💞💞💞

Favourite bsd *female* character?

All of them LMAO. But Kyouka holds a special place in my heart <3 I mean, I think she's quite objectively the best written female character in this series, if anything because she gets an actual character arc beyond the two occasional chapters of spotlight. I really like the inherent duality of her character in being both a skilled assassin and a little girl (and how it can be both tragic and hilarious! The versatility). Her character arc is sincerely compelling, I'm a sucker for any character who's just doing their very best to be a good person even when it feels like going against their nature. Her backstory is so tragic! Her relationship with her ability is so interesting! But I just love how truly… Strong-willed she is, how determined and resolute she can be; she's truly inspiring. If you ask me, she's got that charm of magical girls anime: sometimes you really need to see little girls defeat unimaginable evils with the power of love to heal your heart. And the fact that she doesn't really fit the trope of happy-go-lucky girl is all the more capturing!! Again, I really love the interior conflict - or coexistence - between her dark, ruthless side, and the side that likes bunnies and crepes and girly things; it makes her so authentically and unmistakably Kyouka. I appreciate how she's the only character who can sort of keep up with the protagonist role to ss/kk and s/kk, and she's only 14 eheh. And I LOVE her interactions with the other characters, so much!!!! I adore her relationship with Atsushi (truly. Not even remotely close to how much I talk about them), and I feel like they truly deserve each other in a lot of ways. The way Kyouka's sharp attitude and blunt personality fit and mitigate Atsushi's eternal indecisiveness and insecurity and the way Atsushi reminds Kyouka every day that she can do good and that she is good. How they saved each other and how they keep saving each other every day. I've said it a lot of times that Atsushi is profoundly selfish and that all good actions he does are to be traced back to some twisted conception of self-survival, but if there's really anyone Atsushi loves selflessly and unconditionally, that has to be Kyouka. If there is such a thing as platonic soulmates, Kyouka and Atsushi definitely are for me; they're just so siblings in a way I can't even put in words. AND AND AND her relationship with Akutagawa I've talked about endlessly before!!! Her relationship with Dazai!!! KOUYOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Kyouka and Kouyou chapter my beloved aka the only bsd chapter to pass the Bechdel test). Omg potentially Yosano!!!!! Kenji Kenji Kenji!!!!!!!!! I just. Love Kyouka a lot okay she gets me emotional. Kyouka supremacy forever. (Also, she's dubbed by beloved tpn Emma va Sumire Morohoshi :') )

*Catches breath*

One female character you'd want to rewrite?

Ah, as of now, definitely Teruko. Here's the story I imagine her having: she fought the Great War by Fukuchi's side, as her second in command; despite what her appearance may have looked like back then, she's about the same age as him. She doesn't love or worship him, but she surely admires him a lot; they were comrades and she learnt from him a lot of her ideals on how soldierse have to stain their hands and do horrible, ruthless things in order for the majority of citizens to live safe and happy. She learnt to adore the cause because of him, and she's very loyal to her uniform. She started dressing as a young girl after the war ended, as a way to negate the cruel and traumatic experience of war in her mind and withdraw to the unknowing, happy times of childhood (while still staying her and self-aware; it's just an ephemeral relief). The rest of the story proceeds pretty much as it is in canon, but when Fukuchi reveals to her that he's actually a terrorist working with the doa, she doesn't side with him. She actually feels throughout betrayed, because he had been this pillar of justice and integrity for her, and knowing he was actually a terrorist left her shell-shocked. She DOES act like she's following him, because she is smart and experienced and she knows that she can't take him on her own (differently from Tachihara and Jouno who faced him alone with no backup. Lol. They're a little stupid.), and waits for the moment he lets his guard down to strike and impale him. AND NOT BECAUSE HE ASKED HER TO. WHICH IS HONESTLY TERRIBLE UNDER EVERY ASPECT. Insert here a flashback with her backstory and how Fukuchi himself taught her that justice comes before anything else, because it's the prime tool to serve citizens and pursue world peace. Interior turmoil and trauma for killing the person she respects the most ensues. Now that's how I would write Teruko, because I care about her.

Female character you see the most wasted potential in?

Probably Naomi!!! I love how sly and ingenious she is even in spite of not having an ability, I really hope we'll get to see more of her. I like the theory of her being a projection of Jun'ichirou's ability, although I acknowledge it's problematic in the way it takes away even more agency from her character; even then, it would be cool if she took the form of some kind of sentient ability like Gab in 55 Minutes, or if Jun'ichirou himself was a projection of Naomi (eh. a girl can dream). I really like @frankenjoly's headcanon that she and Mori would be besties, I think about it a lot ahah, I can really see it.

ALSO Higuchi and her ability C'MON I know it's there!!! It MUST be there because bsd so far has been following a very strict pattern where all characters named after writers have abilities, while non ability users are named after novels' characters or non-writers irl people (not to talk about Sakunosuke Oda's The Literature of Possibility passage that's mentioned at the start of the Dark Era novel, with the novel creating a DIRECT connection between writers irl and ability users in the bsd world). I really really hope after this arc is over we'll get an Higuchi arc!!!!

That said, pretty all characters I feel have wasted potential pffttt. Give Lucy and Yosano more screentime!! BRING KOUYOU BACK!!!!!! Finally elaborate on Agatha who's the only female organization leader!!!!! Gin!!!!!!! Wells!!!!!!!!!!

[silverynight]

The happy place

Katsuki has a happy place... and his name is Izuku. It's also the apartment they live in together and the couch where they both end up on top of each other, sometimes fighting over the remote... Sometimes just taking a break from all the things they have to do for everyone else.

They're hero partners now and Katsuki somehow managed to convince his friend/rival that it was more convenient for them to live together.

His mother gave him a knowing and judging look when she heard the story from Izuku, the first time their parents payed them a visit; Inko was just happy for the two of them.

Katsuki knows his mother is right and this is ridiculous, that he's torturing himself, but if it's the only way he can have Izuku then he's willing to endure all the "suffering" that comes with it. The truth is that he's mostly enjoying himself; when they're not paired together and he gets home early, he makes dinner for the both of them. When he gets back later and very tired from his patrol, Izuku makes him a cup of coffee and starts patching him up.

Even in their days off they're almost never apart from each other, Katsuki makes sure of it. They both visit each other's friends together, sometimes they go to a coffee shop or a new restaurant Izuku is dying to try and talk about everything they want to.

Katsuki loves what he has now, although he's not going to lie and say he's never wished for anything else. Sometimes he finds Izuku asleep on the couch and leans closer to him to kiss his curls before taking him back to his own room, thinking what it'd be to sleep in the same one instead.

Sometimes he wonders what it'd be to be greeted with a kiss on the lips instead of the happy smile Izuku always has for him.

Other times he's afraid, especially when he notices the way people look at Izuku, when a fan asks for an autograph and gets a little bit too friendly with him until they notice Katsuki (pro hero Dynamight himself) looking like he wants to kill someone over Izuku's shoulder.

How long does he have until Izuku meets someone and leaves him for good? Katsuki doesn't want to think about that... It's true that they would still be friends if that happened, but it'd never be the same.

It's been a year since Katsuki started living with Izuku and he's not sure if he can live without him anymore. His mother sometimes tells him he's being overdramatic, but she doesn't understand.

His father does and perhaps that's why he keeps encouraging him to confess before it's too late. However, Katsuki is afraid of scaring Izuku off; he always has been, otherwise he'd probably have confessed when they were in the UA still.

Looking fondly at Izuku's messy hair over his chest, Katsuki ruffles it before he notices that his nerd has fallen asleep all over him again. He enjoys those quiet moments because he has the opportunity to be completely honest without fearing the consequences.

Katsuki leans over him before kissing his forehead, Izuku hums and smiles in his sleep before nuzzling against Katsuki's chest.

"I love you, nerd," he whispers. "You make me happy. Don't you ever leave me."

The last words always come out a little bit sad and broken, because Katsuki knows that he'll watch Izuku leave eventually.

***

Izuku has early access to all his merch because Katsuki can't help himself and enjoys too much when his nerd wears a Dynamight hoodie that's too big for him inside their apartment.

It's the closest thing Katsuki has to Izuku wearing his clothes, he secretly pretends they are his anyway; he knows it's ridiculous but he really doesn't care, Izuku looks too cute to care about anything else.

He's constantly posting pictures of Izuku on his Instagram and Twitter and doesn't bother to reply when his fans start asking if pro hero Deku is his boyfriend or what kind of relationship they have.

He tells his friends it's because he doesn't have time to answer those questions and he knows people are going to think whatever they want anyway, but the truth is that he likes when people assume Izuku is his, it makes daydreaming about it a lot easier.

Katsuki not only makes dinner for both of them, he has learned how to make Izuku's favorite foods. He enjoys making him happy and he secretly wants to give Izuku more reasons not to leave him.

His friends know about all of this and have tried to persuade him to confess, but Katsuki is too stubborn to listen to them, he's also afraid of scaring Izuku off.

Besides... What he has with Izuku is enough, Katsuki can live like this; he can live really happy with arriving home and throwing himself all over a very sleepy Izuku who only complains a little that Katsuki is too heavy, before moving on the couch a bit so Katsuki can fit better...

He doesn't actually start to panic until he watches Izuku getting interviewed one day and the pro hero mentions that he'd love to have a family eventually.

Katsuki wonders if he has someone in mind already or maybe if someone has asked him out... Then he paces around the room thinking about how long it'll take until someone watches the interview and decides to make Izuku's dreams come true and steals him from Katsuki for good.

He's so distressed, Izuku notices something's going on as soon as he walks in their apartment. He sits next to Katsuki on the couch and cradles his face with both hands.

"What happened, Kacchan? Are you alright?"

"We can have a family, if that's what you want," he blurts out, before he can stop himself.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"The interview... You said you wanted a family..."

Izuku pulls Katsuki into his arms and starts stroking his blond hair gently.

"Eventually..." He corrects him. "I don't think I'm quite ready for it right now."

"But when you are... I'm... I can give you that too, okay? You don't have to go to someone else, just don't leave me..."

Noticing how upset he actually is, Izuku tries to calm him down by kissing him on the forehead.

"Who said I was going to leave you?"

"You will when you fall in love..." Katsuki blurts out because he can't stop now, even though he's in pain. "If you give me a chance I can try to make you fall for me..."

Izuku rolls his eyes before pressing his lips against the other's.

"I'm already in love with you!"

"Then why are you going to leave me?"

"I never said anything about leaving you!"

They're arguing, but none of them is truly angry, they're confused and hurt, but nothing else...

Katsuki freezes before he jumps over Izuku, pushing him all the way over the couch; he ends up on top of him, staring at his green eyes in awe.

"Are you in love with me?"

"I am. I have been for a while, Kacchan... I thought it was obvious but you only liked me as a fri–"

Katsuki doesn't care, he can't wait any longer, he leans before kissing Izuku's breath away; he's been waiting for that moment for so long...

And it's even better than in his dreams because Izuku melts into the kiss with a moan before putting his arms around his neck to pull him closer to his chest; they kiss desperately, trying to let the other know how much they care, all the things they haven't said in a while...

Eventually, they have to pull away for air, but Katsuki keeps touching and pressing light kisses all over Izuku's neck and face until he makes him giggle.

"Wait, Kacchan... We need to at least talk about it first... What do you want from–"

"Marry me." Katsuki is not embarrassed of his words, he's tired of hiding how he feels so he doesn't even blink when Izuku stares back at him in shock.

"Are you... I mean, we just–"

"I have loved you for years now, Izuku," Katsuki cuts him off, cradling his face in his hands. "We have lived together enough and have known each other our whole lives... I know the best and worst about you and you know the same about me... I love you, there's no else for me..."

Katsuki only hesitates once, after he notices Izuku's tears falling from his eyes. He wipes them off gently, before kissing his cheeks.

"It's okay if you don't want to–"

"I'd love to marry you, Kacchan."

Katsuki kisses him again, but stops suddenly to rush towards his room; he's so happy he doesn't care if Izuku finds it ridiculous...

"Kacchan, why–" a loud sob escapes from his lips as soon as he sees the box and the tears slide from his eyes again as Katsuki puts a ring onto his finger. "Since when?"

"Highschool."

Instead of making fun of him, Izuku pulls him closer and gives him a kiss that leaves Katsuki dizzy for a while.

"I love you, Kacchan."

"I love you too, nerd."

***

Patreon

[captainkurosolaire]

To Restore ~ Semi-Update

Delving deep into waters. First-off I've got to say it feel's good to get back, it's only within these confines, do I really feel alive.

Although I haven't been able to properly hoist and send my flower's to the wonder's the beauties surrounding this platform, or praise before the unbelievable atmosphere's that have continuously cultivated these gardens you irreplaceable gems have done. My admiration and eye's even in silence are always belonging of you. You're my gravitational pull. My life hit a twilight period, apologies for the hiatus, my candle lost a severe amount of its passionate heat. Yet this is where it'll burn and flicker most intensely near the end. With my remaining, I'm attempt to manifest a roar; a battle cry of inspiration & motivation, perhaps set ablaze everything contagiously, causing an absolute wildfire. Future predictably is all but here. Artificial rising up, while there's benefits to it. There's also plentiful are harm. People losing their hope, they're overwhelmed unable to maintain belief nothing they do anymore matters and it's destroying making many fade. Artificial Intelligence for those who create, is our arch-nemesis while many will falter because no-matter-what the path of least resistance will always be appealing. There's purpose in your life, your one-of-kind sublime individualism. In millions of years. No intelligence, artificial, constructed nor any future life-form. Can ever match me. Cause I've found a secret. We believe magic isn't a thing, that was only through fantasy. But we've had it the entire time. In our core resides, infinity. Just nothing that could be felt without nurturing our Emotional Intelligence. Long ago maybe seen as horribly weak, a flaw, even to have... It's become foreign, nothing remotely taught or furthered. I believe, that's where we went wrong and our unexplained missing key-piece we couldn't seem to find. Our emotion's let us push beyond matter itself, we've witnessed weight's being lifted and achieved, diseases overcame, not thought possible all because of mindsets alone. Our world all came from scriptures, lettering's, all the essence of writing and creating being foundation. We've all stories only we can tell, what darkness we underwent, the light that elevates us from fond memories, the pain, it's all something worth capturing in your ways. To share, express, live that spreads more powerfully and may unlock inner-discovery. As it does a chain-reaction happens. More passion is drawn from our depth's to an unidentifiable amount. Energy we cannot see, is given to another through our senses, empowering them in moment's, surely sought after in their most need. Nothing in any life-time, that'll ever be as important as you to value yourself. Putting yourself out there may be the hardest hurdle, the most difficult obstacle known, but I assure you, leaving your footprints, will come to benefit future tourist. I'm on a forever-quest, chasing to be all of me. Despite I may be the greatest self-sabotage and enemy of my own design, at time's prohibit myself from ever having happiness. Downtrodden by thick rain on unforgiving days. Stuck on the past shade, my shortcomings. Being broken, someone hurt by others, and who surely hurt others as a result by never being consistently what I should be. It's difficult to break the sickness, the gymnastics, and hurdles of living it can feel. Remember... there's light. We know it exists and majority it's a matter of finding that right one for us. Where we can rest and know our heavenly peace. I critically was sick and encountered a near death once... but I know, now that even was necessary, for me to really open my eyes and appreciate life. In Ugliness, or Beauty. Weak or Strong. I'll be and take both, all as a single entity. For those who may find anything, I hope. If anything we'll be able to soar and fight alongside another and become friends even if mutual without exchanges, let's continue building clouds together. When my star-collapses, I desire you to encompass the night-skies, with a brilliance, illumination unparalleled. Then perhaps my soul will return and we can repeat, in our almighty infinity.

For now, appreciate you hearties. I'll get back to my lane, until the next invasion, merely!

[pyroreadscomics]

What are your thoughts about Howard's Catwoman run?

The run being really gay doesn't save the writing from being really mediocre.

(More nuance below the cut)

Well that was snappy, unfortunately my thoughts are many and complicated and probably won't be entirely ironed out until a few months after she leaves the book or I reread the run again, or both. That phrase was something I said while reading through the series for the first time a some months ago that I still mostly stand by, but now feel the need to caveat and add nuance.

(Also, it feels weird that, because I put off answering this for months, the end of Howard’s run is just a few months away now, but I’m just going to assume the ending is neither so good it retroactively makes everything better or so bad it tanks the run with guilt by association)

When I say mediocre, I very specifically don't mean bad. I'm using mediocre to mean it's average, ordinary, of moderate quality. Not bad enough to hate, or even particularly dislike, but not good enough for me to shed a tear if it was suddenly canceled (which… seeing as it’s end is now on the horizon… I’m actually filled with anticipation as to what comes next.)

And like many multi-year runs, Howard's Catwoman has had it's ups and downs while it's low points are i think widely known: Her dialogue tends towards what i can only describe as AO3 generic, the plotting itself is sub-par, Gotham War disappointing even though there was no way to go into it with high expectations (joint effort i know, but even taking only half blame for it Tini Howard doesn't come out of that event looking remotely well), and I have an entire rant ready for how I dislike how Black Mask is used in that series.

1. The reintroduction of Eiko

But, that said, at this moment I do feel like calling out some highlights of Howard's run (or at least, the bits of it I really liked.)

Also yes, alot of this could be considered fanservice, but I’m at least acknowledging that things that make me happy don’t inherently make a run good. (but at least more enjoyable to slog through than Tom King’s batman or most of her New 52 stuff)

Okay, let me be clear, Eiko in this run is a shadow of her debut in Valentine's run but Selina's supporting cast has a worrying tendency to disappear without a trace after one, max two runs, so damn if it wasn't nice to see Eiko suddenly reappear in a major role in the Catwoman run after a 6 year absence and not have her confined to the dustbin of comic history alongside other Catwoman supporting cast members such as Gwen, Alice, Zee, Clutterbuck, Wilder, Arizona, and Cassandra Cartland (If you knew every single person i mentioned without having to check, I like you, and you like me also know too much about Catwoman)

If nothing else, if Eiko's appearances in this comic, and her guest appearances in other current Gotham stories (like Punchline: Gotham Game or Ram V's excellent Gotham Nocturne) manage to cement her as a persistent part of Catwoman's cast, this run will have done enough for me to earn a passing grade.

Also I like Eiko's new catsuit and not just because it makes it easier to tell her apart from Selina

2. Catwoman #43 & #44 (The Harley Quinn two parter)

Judging by the mood in the room, If anything gets me an angry response it's going to be this.

It's fun, it was a fun two parter, and honestly there are times when I wish more writers would stop trying to do the high drama stories they're kinda bad and instead write fun inconsequential side stories.

Also yes I do ship it. What of it?

Actually speaking of

3. The queerness.

It’s not a lot, but for a character who’s been out as bi since 2015 Selina is never written that way (at least in the main comics, I understand the HQ show and the recent movies have either explicitly or implicitly had bi Selina). Like it’s so bad Selina doesn’t even get pride tie in stuff, no appearances in the pride anthologies or even pride variant cover. JFC Nightwing gets one every year and last time i checked he was still canonical cishet. And… a bit like Eiko, but less important, it’s nice to have another run where Catwoman is canonically queer. Selina acknowledging Eiko as an ex, flirting with other women, that Selina and Harley sharing a bed scene. It’s just nice to have that part of Selina’s character acknowledged.

Also it’s so minor but the gay bar called Conroy’s got me just a bit.

4. Knight Terrors

On balance, despite me having criticisms of it, I did like it as a version of “What does Selina’s worst nightmares look like”. It’s not quite as good as Devin Grayson’s take on the matter (and ain’t that a sentence) but I’m a big fan of Selina’s mind dark fears conjuring force a lot of catholic imagery and doing something actually interesting with the Sister Zero concept. (It’s really just a shame that this story is clearly setting something up for Gotham War that never actually gets paid off, which is wild considering that was literally the month after Knight Terrors)

Lastly:

5. Valmont

Look, I really liked Valmont for two reasons, one of which is superficial, one of which actually had thought put into it.

Superficially: Selina deserves a whipped subby bisexual twink, as treat. Sure he's a cocky asshole, sure he looks like pirate au ghostmaker, sure he's ready to murder anyone who looks like a threat to his dom love (and honestly anyone in general), but honestly that's all part of the charm.

Because Bruce, as the whole wedding thing shows, is big on these concrete declarations of affection, even as he’s really bad at actually expressing his affection in more casual ways. And Eiko, as she says, is “comfortable with these declarations, names. Things like titles and vows.” So in dating either of them Selina would be consenting being put into a box and labeled, even if it's a box as unconstrained as “dating” and a label as loose as “girlfriend”.

But, putting a bit of thought into things, Valmont has this really interesting role in the story. He's the obviously incorrect choice in a love triangle, but also the one who Selina would pick anyway.

Like, the issue before he dies the story teases a bit of romance with Bruce and Selina, and earlier there were some teases (or.. maybe acknowledgement is the right word?) between Selina and Eiko. There's two existing love interests for Selina, Bruce, who's the moral and safe choice, the wedding bells and gaggle of step kids choice. And there's Eiko, who's a major crime lord, one who's conducting business with some of the worst in Gotham. If it was just the two of them (especially if Eiko was closer to her Valentine personality), it'd be a pretty classic "the good boy and the bad boy girl" love triangle but Valmont is here, and he adds an interesting angle onto that love triangle(?) (is it still a triangle when there's three potential lover interests?).

(A reversal on Eiko and Selina’s very undefined relationship in Valentine’s run, which could be seen as divergence for the character but also kinda makes sense. With Eiko ending that run by shedding Catwoman (and identity that embodied personal freedom and also rebellion against her father) to become the head of the Hagisawa family (an identity marked by responsibility to the family and her place as her father’s heir) that going forward she’d be a lot less likely to engage in a nebulous undefined relationship when her life is now, by choice, very defined. It’s still however one of those things that assumes a non-zero amount of character development happened off screen.)

But Valmont? Valmont doesn’t ask anything *of* Selina.

Sure he does initially, “hey here’s this cat, I know where you live, join my thieves guild”. But this tactic gets him shot down by Selina and at best relegated to “untrusted ally” status (and more likely “useful but dangerous”). But after this, and after a brief break during the CatQuinn two-parter, Valmont’s back with a new tactic called “I’ll do literally anything you ask of me, including stopping killing people, and ask for nothing in return.” Which… with Selina being somewhat adverse to long term commitment (or commitment in general depending on the writer) this works.

Valmont’s hardly a healthier romantic option (he might not be the worst person Selina’s ever dated, but he’s still at the end of the day an arrogant invasive assassin) but he puts a spin on himself that makes Selina let her guard down around him and they do eventually become some vaguely undefined item.

And then in his final issue, Bruce accuses him of still being loyal to the league of assassins and of manipulating Selina. Then he kills again in the process of undoing a problem he caused, and gets in a big fight with Bruce about it. And when Valmont goes to kill Bruce, she kills Valmont which… It’s a weird moment for Selina, she’s normally very reserved about killing people and while yes needing to save Bruce could theoretically push her far enough. But also, it’s the best thing this run could do with Valmont.

Because Bruce’s accusations (along with Valmont’s general sketchiness) lead to this question with Valmont: does he genuinely love Selina, or is he using her for some unknown end? Because he know what he’s naturally like (down with murder) and we know he’s changed his behavior, but we don’t know whether it was because he wanted to be with Selina enough to change himself for that chance (which… understandable) or, if he was on some deep cover mission to manipulate Selina towards and he changed behavior in order to further his own covert ends. And… imo the possibility of it being one or the other is more interesting than any story you could get out of committing one way or the other.

And by killing Valmont, the run gets out of having to answer this question, which, again imo, is the most intelligent narrative decision this run made aside from bringing back Eiko.

That said, If in the last two issues Howard answers the question of “what really was up with Valmont” I’m retroactively taking back all of this praise and will be downgrading this run to "of poor quality but at least Eiko's here"

[therese-lokidottir]

Why Sylvie so bad character? Even her fans can't denied how bad her character is.

For one it was okey writing her as bad person or even evil person but the problem is that everyone in screen and MCU claim that she is good person while she not showing anything and no no no don't point at when she in McDonalds that she asking a teen if his mother will pick his up, and when she let Victor go, maybe she have a moment but the rest? No, that is no made her good person.

That also what is her personalities actually? Yes, she showing emotions but what or who is she? I can't even put a draft her personalities.

Top of that they forced as to like her.

Listen I may no professional writers but as viewer, if you can't make background a character then make this character have personalities that interesting and of you can't than just doing 'one shot' (the character gone after do the Purpose), and more importantly do not forced everyone to see the character to see like what you see

You know Megatron and Starscream? They both evil and a jerk but fans love them because how evil they both and the transformers creator not claiming that they are 'hero or good' (they have reasons but not justified anything) and they do have personalities and they have they own stories. And that MCU how you writing evil guys but fans still love them

Btw it's including monius and other characters that evil Or bad but got claimed as good persons

I've said but started of as more neutral on Sylvie and more pushed to dislike her after hearing all the dumb stuff from the creators along with being really annoyed by the pompous fans. The attitude that people who didn't like her where sexists made me hate her out of spite.

Yeah, the thing is it's fine that a character is selfish or mean, that doesn't have to be a problem in itself. The problem is not treating those aspects like they're flaws or trying to the pretend the character is some that she's not. Because she is not a hero or a liberator or someone who remotely cares about anyone but herself. The only thing you could say about Sylvie is she is technically right about the TVA being bad but she ends up being no better than them.

And that this is someone who has never had a chance to have kind of relationship, not friendship, not familiar and has no chance do develop normal social skills is now going to work the service industry!? She is going is going to have to deal with people yell and complain at for the pettiest things and look down on her. She has to do a lot of hard unrewarding work with other people who don't really want to be there. The reason why the opening of Endgame is actually really good is because how much it understands the character. Nebula doesn't know how to have fun and play a dumb game, it's such a foreign concept. The mix of emotions she has are great because you can see the awkwardness.

Sylvie is whatever the plot needs her to be. She's what you'd get if you typed in Strong Female Character in an AI generator.

I love characters like Regina Mills and Wanda Maximoff, tragic messes who I do sympathize with and want them to be happy, but I also acknowledge that have done bad things. Or I can like characters like Mystique and Demona, terrible women who might have some sympathetic aspects but are ultimately terrible but that terribleness is what makes the fun to watch. But Sylvie is none of those things, she's just a boring selfish brat and they treat it like that's either ok or that she's not.

[s-creations]

Dude DUDE I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ur writing. U have a way of just weaving everything into this beautiful tapestry of a story. I'm in absolute awe. I really like ur YPRG Au!! Anything related to it I inhale. It's so cool and interesting the way every character interacts with each other and the world. And I'm so so soft for both sets of bros🥺. Would it be ok if u did 🌱 and ☁️ for them? Only if u want to of course no pressure!!

First off, THANK YOU! This was an awesome message to wake up to! This is going to sound absolutely corny, but I love hearing from people about my stories. Because there are some times where I really don’t feel confident in what I’ve written. It’s nice to hear/read that I’m somewhat competent. Again, thank you for the kind words!

I too am also soft for the bros. XD

With that said, I’d be happy to answer your emoji asks! (Original Post)

🌱 SEEDLING - what is their most vivid memory from childhood?

Wario - When Waluigi was born, though he’ll never ever admit it. He swears if he was even remotely artistically competent, he’d be able to paint a picture of what the room looked like, where their parents were, and how it looked when he got to hold Waluigi for the first time. It’s so well stamped into his mind that he recalls it on days he’s really stressed out. As a reminder for why he keeps working so hard.

Waluigi - The first ‘invention’ he and Wario made. He barely spoke at the time as Wario knew what Waluigi needed, so he never had to ask for anything. But working on making a prototype for their ‘Chores Robot’ (so the worry of keeping the house clean wasn’t such a burden), it was the first time that Waluigi took over. Telling Wario what he needed and what part needed to go where. Even if it didn’t work (seriously, why the heck did they think sticks and rocks would be good materials?) Waluigi was still thrilled by the idea of building. 

Mario - It was a conversation between him and his father. Learning about how sick Luigi was and how scary it could be. But also talking about what they could do, together, to keep the younger twin safe. It was the first promise Mario made to anyone. A promise to his parents, said to his father, that he would keep Luigi safe and well, no matter what. Because he loves Luigi, and he wouldn’t let anything keep them apart if he could help it.

Luigi - When he was able to go outside for the first time. While the twins were a little older at this point, Luigi’s early early memories consisted of white walls and doctors. This was the first solid memory he had. He remembered it was nearing the end of Spring, if not already in Summer, when he saw something outside the window that he really wanted to see. He was well enough to leave the house, but still fearful, until Mario agreed to take him outside. While he could only reach the edge of the patio, he was still able to get a better look at the flowers that interested him. Mario told him they were looking at roses. Those are his favorite flower to this day.

☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon

Wario - He loves to hear Waluigi snoring. It lets him know that his brother’s still there. He wouldn’t listen to it on end, but it’s a comforting reminder.

Waluigi - He started to learn how to cook so it was one less burden Wario and his mother had to deal with. But he says it's because no one in the family besides himself knows what spices work together.

Mario - He’s very shy about it, but he loves to sing. Mainly to Luigi with a lullaby from their childhood, on days when they're feeling nostalgic and missing their parents. But…if asked…he wouldn’t say ‘no’ if Peach asked to hear him. 

Luigi - He took up baking as a way to stay close to their mom, as well as to learn how to embrace every second given to him. Because nothing lets you think about life like waiting for cake to rise.

[necromycologist]

#prev the narrator tries to quit????? #that's incredible do you have any other details??

@certified-bone-owner haha ofc! i think most of my old planning documents got deleted but i'll try and put down what i can remember

iit got written while i was biiiiig into the invisible library series and also making my way through peritale so if you have any idea what those are theyre a pretty good guide to the conceit and general vibes of the setting. also looking again i think there's definitely a bit of kate milfords work/specifically trigimene foulk in his dna so. take from that what u will

the main character was this extradimensional narrator (rather obviously ig), and part of a whole guild of similar beings who were somehow recruited to guide and tell stories. i can't actually remember his name, but he was a pretty typical cynical wisecracking type. ...he also happened to be a grey jay, for some obscure 13-year-old's reasoning that i can no longer remember.

now that i think about it, he might've been a grey jay/whiskey jack because he was called jack (as in, the generic fairytale protagonist jack) but i don't really know for sure. ill call him jack for now

he was.. relatively new to the whole narration thing, i think?

stories got assigned based on difficulty level, which in practice meant how hard it was to wrangle characters into obeying the plot.

(the narrators DID tell the story, obviously, but they also spent time planting plans, drumming up resentment, etc so that characters would act as needed. by design this was limited tho as the narrators aren't really People, just conciousnesses. they tended to just get smoothed out of characters' brains once everything was done which i think was an angst thing 2..)

he got assigned a case above his paygrade, so to speak, when a prominent narrator that was meant to tell it disappeared along with their last story.

hes very determined not to screw this up. he is a Good Boy and is doing Lots of Planning and Scheming to get this to go right

unforch it turns out that at the beginning of this story not only is the villain pretty nice and actually makes friends w jack despite his supposed unmemorability, she's also very much in yuri with the hero.

like fully they lived together in a little cottagecore wizard tower i think. they are Going, eventually, to break up and become bitter and jaded towards each other. this seems very far off and remote.

he feels kinda bad for his earlier scheming now.

this is really screwin with his plans in a multitude of ways. on one hand he wants to get this job done but on the other hand these are, yknow, the only people that have ever seen him as a person in his entire sad gothboy narrator existence and he REALLY doesn't want to kill both of them.

oh yeah, did i forget to mention? they're both supposed to die at the end by the other's hand.

he's screwed himself over now!! he's quite literally cooked!! he's set the dominoes up and by golly the rube goldberg machine will run!! his friends and their happy life and town are arthur dents house and you can fuckin call jack a bulldozer driver!!

he's stuck, frantically, speeding forward and back through the story like he's in some pathetic self-inflicted timeloop, trying to find a loophole for them or a way out of telling the story to it's conclusion for him.

there's no loophole. or way out.

i never got NEARLY far enough in writing this to actually get to this part (i wrote like. two pages of actual prose and a 5 page planning doc i believe) but i think the end was either, depending on my mood, his final selfish escape out the side of the story to avoid witnessing the tragedy of it all (at which point the remainder of the book would simply be blank) or his grudging resignation to telling the story, with the hopeful implication that despite its course being set, the story could be replayed.

anyway yea that was the general plot! i kinda want to revive these guys now tbh... they were pretty cool

[lcatala]

A Review Of Nimona

Despite some reservations, I really liked Nimona.

I open with the conclusion because this review starts off quite pessimistic and is rather long, so that way those of you who won't make it to the end will not leave with the false impression that I didn't like Nimona; I really much did.

I have a complicated relationship with 3D animation.

Well no, actually, it's a pretty simple relationship: I hate almost all of it.

It's not that there's any reason why 3D animation cannot be good in the abstract. I'm not a medium snob; you can tell good stories in live action, in 2D animation, in 3D animation, in stop-motion, with hand puppets, with shadow puppets, with paper cutouts ; in theory, it absolutely doesn't matter.

Except, in practice, most 3D animated films range from mediocre and forgetable to actively repulsive.

Visually, they almost all look the same, to the point that it's really hard to distinguish studio styles at all (without looking it up, between Coco and Encanto, which is Pixar and which is Disney?) Storywise, it's all very pain-by-numbers, hero's-journey crap with little deviation. But what gets those from merely nondescript to actively annoying is the tone. So so many of these movies revolve around "hype" and "cool" teenagers who constantly strike poses, raise their eyebrows, and talk in one-liners. Everything is manic and noisy, there's not a single moment to breathe, because if nothing stimulating happens on screen for more than three seconds, surely the audience will stop watching, so there's always someone gesticulating, dancing, singing, making faces, or all four at once. And everything has to be crammed with pop culture references and topical allusions so that the audience can relate.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to have media you can relate to, media that speak of modern problems and adress a modern audience in its own terms. But there has to be less insultingly condescending ways of doing it than shouting "HELLO FELLOW KIDS" over and over for 90 minutes.

Let's be clear: this isn't happening because the people involved are not competent or because the budgets are too tight. Very talented people work hard (routinely to the point of exploitation in fact) on these movies, and they actually get quite strong budgets reflecting the benefits they're expected to make.

And that's the actual problem: there's too much financial stake in 3D animated films, too many producers and shareholders breathing down the neck of everyone else, too many committees trying to craft the perfect crowd-pleaser, too many rewrites and re-rewrites, too much fear of failling to capture the children-and-teenager audience and losing hundreds of millions. So everything must be made to appeal to the widest, shallowest base as possible, and every second of screentime must be an attention-grabber that leaves absolutely no chance of anyone getting bored.

Mirroring this, there's no reason for 2D animated and stop-motion movies to be inherently better than 3D ones. They are so in practice because big studios see them as uncool and no longer profitable, which means that the only people who still make these kinds of movies have to actually deeply care about them and go in with the full awareness that their next project might well be a commercial flop that will set them back for a decade on the project after that or might even end their career.

So when it was announced that Nimona, a webcomic I had really liked for its quirky, original, both humorous and dark tone, was going to be adapted by Blue Sky Studios, who had afflicted the world with not one, not two, not three, but five Ice Age movies, well, I was not happy at all, because that seemed like worst possible match. It was hard to imagine them doing anything other than remove anything remotely interesting about the story and turn it into a generic seizure-inducing mess with poop jokes because that's all that they do with their movies.

I feel bad about it retrospectively, but my first instinct when I heard that the movie was cancelled was to rejoice that we had been spared from what would certainly have been a complete disaster and a terrible insult to the original comic. And the revival of the project, while it was always a positive for the actual people involved, left me largely indifferent.

Who would I have had instead to adapt this into a movie? Why, Cartoon Saloon of course! A fantasy story about a free-spirited, hyper-active, shapeshifting red-headed girl and the friendship she seeks with another outcast character, leading to a fight against the instutions of law and order that turn out to be corrupt and evil? Why, they would have loved making that movie.

Except they did make that movie. What I'm describing is not just the premise of Nimona; it's also that of Wolfwalkers, the absolutely amazing 2D animated film that Cartoon Saloon released in 2020, as the third part of their "Irish Folklore Trilogy" (following The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea).

Ok fine then, if Wolfwalkers already exists, it would be redundant for Cartoon Saloon to make it again, so I guess Nimona can be in its own thing; if it doesn't work out, I'll just rewatch Wolfwalkers.

Then I saw that ND Stevenson, the author of the original comic, was actually really enthusiastic about the project — which in itself isn't a definite proof, many times has a creator be enthusiastic about an upcoming adaptation of their work only to get burned when the actual thing came out, but at least it was a positive sign. Maybe I was going to give this movie a chance.

Then the movie came out, and I saw a lot of positive reviews from people who I trusted not to be easily swayed by any old crappy animated film just because it had some queer representation. Ok, ok, fine, y'all win, I'll watch it.

So I watched it and… I actually had quite a really good time.

I liked that there actually was a conscious stylistic choice in the animation, this sort of 3D-2D hybrid technique, like very-advanced-cel-shading seems like it's a lot more flexible when it comes to actually give an animated movie a distinct, signature style — and it blends in a lot better than pure 3D, as seen on how Ghibli has used those techniques for complex individual shots since Princess Mononoke in 1997 — a movie mostly made in 2D traditional animation, but that has a number of digitally made shots seamlessly incorporated using those 3D-painted-over-to-look-like-2D techniques. By the way if you like Princess Mononoke, you should also watch Wolfwalkers, it has a number of similar vibes!

I liked the humor! For the most part, it worked, and some jokes were actually pretty clever in their absurdity, like having Nimona pull out a polaroid picture she's somehow taken a few minutes ago just for the sake of a visual gag, even tho we've already established that this is a futuristic fantasy setting (which is also a thing I like, the worldbuilding was pretty cool) where everyone has smart phones (but it also works as a subtle early hint that Nimona is much, much older than she seems).

I liked that queer representation was front but not center: several main characters are openly, explicitely queer, but this isn't a plot point, this isn't something that they have to defend or call attention to. It's just a normal character trait, and the problems, drama and obstacles these characters face do not stem from them being queer.

I liked the story, the themes it went for and how it executed them, twisting traditional feudal fantasy and hero's-journey tropes but without being heavy handed and obnoxious about it, showing that you can play with a genre and pick apart its problematic implications without being a scatological edgelord about it (yes I loathe the Shrek franchise, why do you ask?)

It still has some of the things that make me strongly dislike modern 3D movies, but it's contained. It's here and there, but not to the point of ruining the story. Yes Nimona is an out-of-control nuclear-powered goblin, but the movie actually goes into why she is like that, and suddenly it's a lot more interesting to have a character be manic and constantly at 11 because she has a lot of pent up anger and insecurities about being alone than just because that's a quirky character trait to throw in randomly; and the movie does manage to have a few quiet and reflexive moments, and those matter a lot in the story.

I am of two minds about its qualities as an adaptation. On the one hand, even if this is a very different story from the original, the themes are there, the spirit of the original story is there; different media have different strength and what would work in comic format wouldn't necessarily work in an animated movie. Having the movie tells its own story makes it less redundant compared to the comic, more complimentary — you can know the one by heart and still get surprised and awed by discovery when you get to the other. And updating the material can be good; people always complain about Disney's track record of sanitizing fairy tales, but I can assure you that you don't want to see a faithful adaptation of Sleeping Beauty on screen. In general, an adaptation making significant changes to the story isn't a deal breaker for me, some of my favorite movies massively depart from their source material, usually for the better.

On the other hand, it seems to be almost a constant with animated adaptations that the source story is going to get discarded. It gives the feeling once again that the people involved in making these adaptations do not take the medium seriously and cannot imagine that these stories could stand on their own without needing heavy rewriting, that they can't see them as deserving a faithful adaptation. I understand why a lot of these changes happened for Nimona, but I still regret some of the stuff from the comic. Like yeah, it's very clever that in this version, Nimona has essentially no origin story and actively refuses to talk about how she came to be, but then we miss out on this absolute wham moment from the comic, Ballister telling her "Nimona, you forgot your own backstory!"

So in the end, I have to take the movie for what it is, rather than look too closely as what it is an adaptation of. Those are two different takes and stories on the same characters and themes, both with their strong points, and I think I can live with that.

So in the end, I had a pretty good time. It had some small issues, it's probably not the best version possible of that story, but it's still far, far better than anything I was expecting. I you loved it, I do still recommend checking out Wolfwalkers as soon as possible if you haven't already, you might well love that one too.

[nolita-fairytale]

how my living with sirius & baby harry on a remote island headcanon would end

au headcanon where you and young!sirius black flee the country to live on a remote island and raise baby harry instead of going to azkaban

pairing: sirius black x fem!ravenclaw reader

warnings: none.

a/n: thank you again to all who have read, liked, reblogged, and commented. it's meant so much to me that you were interested in reading this little idea i've been marinating on since november and couldn't get out of my head. i've written two alternate endings -- one happy, and one i feel is maybe more realistic but isn't a happy ending -- so that you can choose how you'd like to see this au end.

part one | part two | part three | part four

harry going to hogwarts would include (happy ending version):

the both of you are so excited for him to go to hogwarts, but know that it will be a huge change for everyone. you make arrangements with dumbledore. hagrid is sent to fetch harry and to act as a guide to the wizarding world before starting school, since the two of you cannot.

you know that you and sirius cannot return yet, since sirius is a wanted fugitive and you're not sure how you're going to explain the eleven years you've just disappeared off the face of the earth

after harry leaves for school, you and sirius experience strong empty nester syndrome, which leads to you reconsider the 'let's have a baby' conversation.

you are, afterall, harry's godparents. while you both have fallen in love with harry and being parents, you'd never want him to think you're trying to replace james and lily.

sirius is more than excited to try.

you get pregnant during christmas time. you hate that you're not able to share it with harry in person, but you all agreed that, in order for him to go to hogwarts, you and sirius had to stay under the radar and that he could not come home till summer as not to arise suspicion.

harry's overjoyed to be a big brother and writes you both immediately.

you give birth in early - mid august, right before harry returns to school for his second year. it's a baby girl you decide to call cassiopeia. sirius doesn't care to carry on the family tradition of naming children after star constellations, but when she's born, it just feels right. (two leo children? you and sirius sure have your hands full)

in the happy ending version of this story, you and sirius would stay on the island until voldemort's return. you'd both return after gof, after voldemort's return and harry's attacked in the graveyard. sirius offers up number 12 grimmauld place as the order headquarters and you both move back into his childhood home.

together, you'd continue raising harry, though you're both much more housebound than on the island -- something you both struggle with at the beginning.

living in his childhood home brings up a lot of things for sirius and some nights, when the order meetings are over, the two of you stay up all night talking about it: his experiences as a childhood, what he wants to do differently as a father, and eating grilled cheese -- the only thing he makes well.

you and sirius would raise you cass and harry together, fighting together till the very end of the second wizarding war, both alive, with your beautiful happy family.

in this au, remus & tonks live as well, so you get to raise cass and teddy together too.

renovating sirius childhood home and freeing kreacher, so that you all can have a fresh start after the war.

sirius is THEE over protective father, especially now that he's a girl dad. sirius argues with cass as she gets older about dating. "sweetheart, i once was a teenage boy, and i know that they're not to be trusted. absolutely not. no. you will not be going on this date."

i'm sorry but do we need a sirius as a girl-dad headcanon?!?!

you'd return to the island during the summers to spend time with your parents (who've decided to stay on the island forever), but spend the school year in london, considering harry would like to stay and the baby is a quickly growing kid a few years away from starting hogwarts.

unhappy ending (canon-adjacent version):

the events of after harry's second year, and second year in a row being attacked by voldemort, sirius insists that it's worth the risk and cannot just stand by. after a long debate, you both finally agree to make your way back to england the summer before harry's third year so that you can keep a closer eye on him.

sirius argues that you both swore to protect harry, and it wouldn't be right not to try to be closer now that the dark lord has made attempts twice now.

the daily prophet announces a sighting of sirius black (something you and sirius endless argue over) that sets in motion the events of prisoner of azkaban.

even though sirius' arrest is a close call, everyone makes it home safe that summer and you get to be the happy family that you've been on the island.

offering up number 12 grimmauld place as headquarters for the order.

having a pit in your stomach knowing that something bad is coming. it's an all too familiar feeling. it feels too much like last time. you regret leaving the island while simultaneously you know it was the right choice to be closer to harry.

in harry's fifth year, you and sirius go to the ministry to fight the death eaters and help harry. however, bellatrix lestrange kills sirius, changing you, harry, and baby cass' lives forever.

you shift between being plunged into deep grief and burying yourself into the order.

being, perhaps a bit reckless on a few missions and fighting with remus about your behavior. he knows that it's because you're grieving, but he refuses to let you get hurt as well.

in this au, remus steps up to be there for you and baby cass. the time spent with her may influence his decision to have a baby with tonks.

speaking of tonks, the two of you grow closer, even if she's quite a bit younger than the two of you. you are more than happy to play wing woman to her and to remus when needed.

when the war begins, it feels impossible to let harry go. the two of you fight like crazy about him not returning to hogwarts, but eventually you accept that this is something he has to do.

at the beginning of the war, (what would've been harry's seventh year) you return to the island via muggle methods of transportation with cass so that she can be with your parents.

inevitably, you must return to london because your heart is in this fight. sirius died for this fight and harry is risking his life for it. but you know cass needed to be kept safe and away from it. it's heartbreaking to be apart from her, but you know your parents are taking good care of her and that you'll be reunited soon.

fighting in the final battle at hogwarts alongside everyone and honoring sirius with your fierce bravery. and when voldemort is defeated, you know the fight isn't completely over. you're ready to help rebuilding the wizarding world alongside everyone else.

after returning to the island to bring cass home, you take a job at the ministry to be a part of creating a kinder, safer, more inclusive version of the wizarding world.

even after getting married and starting his own family, harry is there for you and cass, day in and day out. the two of you are closer than ever, though you're not sure how you feel about being a 'grand-godmother' so soon.

every year, on the anniversary of his death, you, harry, and cass visit his grave, then snuggle up with each other and eat grilled cheeses to remember him.

as cassiopeia grows older, she has some of your features, but looks so much like her father. she's a brilliant witch. while she has your smarts, she's got her father's heart and is unquestionably sorted into to gryffindor. you wish that he could see her growing up, because he'd be so damn proud of the woman you've raised. you know she carries on his legacy within her, and you couldn't be more proud to be her mother.

taglist: @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy