#this isn’t even necessarily shippy tho it could be

[bluedillylee]

made myself sad thinking about how much stuff Geralt and Jaskier don’t talk about with each other😭

[ID sketch of Geralt siting on the ground with his back to Jaskier as he looks over his shoulder at Jaskier. They both have melancholy expressions. End ID]

[skullvins]

S4 dynamic ratings from my fave/best to my least fave/worst let's go

these are NOT necessarily as SHIPS, just their dynamic as characters. I talk a bit about ships but I'd only go for some of these in a ship sense

WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY:

aloha + skull - absolute comedic duo. they're both kinda chill/carefree and Skull's enough of a bitch that he could defo subtly get aloha to do stupid shit and laugh at it internally the whole time. they're the more obviously practically inclined of the S4 so the idea of them just going out and doing stupid shit together isn't unrealistic. I can see aloha being like 'u wanna do X?' and skulls just like sure. Let's kill some time together. I can also see them both being super irresponsible sometimes and they just enable each other. Aloha comes up with the dumb ideas and skull is the muscle that lets them happen. He's on full autopilot with aloha whilst thinking he isn't and it's great. Catch aloha pestering the staff while they're out shopping like there's no tomorrow while skull wanders about buying whatever he likes in the bg. Most underrated S4 dynamic change my mind

army + mask - they're both huge nerds and yet no one is interested in the nerd and nerd dynamic? they've both kinda gone from being super up themselves to being more chill/humble, and also they're both the more 'responsible' ones but not really. army's responsible until you compare him to mask, and then he's actually really excentric. Having the more excentric one be the more traditionally nerdy one while the more levelheaded one is the sarcastic gamer nerd makes for an amazing dynamic. army can also strike me as the slightly out of touch rich boy and altho mask is definitely not mainstream 'normal' he could defo be like army. Get with reality.

army + skull - the 'should we be concerned' / *eats popcorn* 'nope' combo. Oh my god. Look. This will make more sense with the next point but aloha and mask are a fire waiting to happen in a good way and these two are the mutual witnesses to it, except skull is SO much more easygoing/does not care with it (and probably older/more experienced with this kinda thing) while army is like uh. Guys? Is this? Is this normal? they're also probably the two more battle minded ones and I could see them sharing notes/strats, and if you go with the idea of skull being older/more experienced then there's a bit of a 'skull helps army with his turf war homework' dynamic. not saying army can't hold his own (he's part of the S4 ffs) but I think he would be somewhat open to Skull's advice. these two are pretty agreeable compared to the other two, so I could see them casually getting along. Also, food.

aloha + mask - best contender for rivals to lovers/besties. aloha's an asshole and mask initially doesn't like him, PLUS they're both the middle S4. makes for an interesting game of one-upmanship. they seem to argue the most out of the S4 too, so a long run of them slowly getting along better or finding things they have in common could be really interesting. I also think seeing them in the arguing phase is entertaining, even if I don't think initially they'd like each other very much. also, this fuels my previous point further, so there's that

mask + skull - only S4 dynamic I'm neutral on? I could see these two getting along, if only because skull can be so passive. they're more just sit in the same room and vibe characters, so tho I think they'd get along well, I don't think their dynamic is as interesting as the last four. that being said, I can see mask commenting on skull's antics being funny. honestly this is a better combo if you make mask the chatty one, which is. Weird. Could work tho

army + aloha - ohmygod this is SO OVERRATED. Someone tell me WHY this ship is so popular???? aloha has more interesting or shippy dynamics with rider, mask, hell even scuba or skull. WHAT is this???? army also has more interesting or believable dynamics with say specs, mask, rider, WHERE does this ship get all its popularity???? I do like their dynamic as friends, but more in an 'aloha shows army how to loosen up a bit in a way that is 100% to army's detriment'. if more people played them up as friends, or army's naïvety as easy fodder for aloha to be funny and/or an asshole, then maybe I could get into it more? army probably finds aloha annoying while aloha finds army out of touch and that COULD be capitalised on for humour but I don't think taking it in a shippy way is as good for it. That being said, this isn't a review of them as ships, but a ranking of their dynamic as a whole. I still think it's the blandest of the six

bonus round: combos of three but we leave someone out, GO

leave out army - comedy gold in the sense that aloha overrides masks common sense and skull doesn't give enough of a shit/finds it entertaining. you know when army gets back he's gonna have to nag at everyone and yet you know aloha is just gonna keep provoking and the other two are gonna fall for it

leave out skull - the interpretation of the other three being somewhat intimidated by skull is REALLY interesting, although I don't think it offers as many hijinks. I honestly think it's more interesting from Skull's perspective, but also the image of them all discussing skull with each other while skull is actually just off stuffing his face with ice cream is very funny

leave out mask - leaving out the ACTUAL common sense and these three are gonna get real stupid real quickly, maybe. I like skulls dynamic with em both but not really their dynamic with each other as I feel they'd both bounce so well off mask instead. army having to deal with the force of skull n aloha and aloha having to deal with the force of skull and army is funny tho. I don't think skull would end up the victim of their mutual bullshit, however, unless they could both find something obscure to agree on

leave out aloha - aloha's the confrontation that fuels most of this, otherwise it turns into the more passive three who probably wouldn't engage with each other much unless they had a central focus. more just becomes mask + army with skull as a third wheel. COULD be fun if they all had to work together on something as I feel it would bring out both the best and worst of them without aloha as one big loud pink distraction

[midnyghtmadnes]

Thoughts

So... I finished SVSSS. Gonna just stream out my thoughts. Will be long cause I wanna cover all my final opinions. Then I’ll shut up about it lol.

So, all in all, the novel was enjoyable and fun. Definitely can't say I have the same emotional investment in the characters as I do in MDZS though, except SY, he's my favorite.

To start, I guess this is where fanfics will come into play, but I want more SY and Airplane interactions. They're the only two that can truly understand the other's situation and I think that’d make for a lot of interesting and fun interactions. Though at the same time it's also funny how they have that understanding but their current relationship is basically just like, not a love-hate relationship. But a.. somewhat camaraderie I'll help ya out maybe if you need it-but I also don't particularly like you, relationship. Still, I am falling onto the Cucumberplane wagon (not in a shippy way though).

As for MBJ and Airplane.. I just wish the novel went into the status of their relationship after everything that happened. SQH was constantly stressed out by him and seemed to have had his share of beatings from MBJ. I saw shipping stuff with them as I was reading it and I was like.. ehhhh? At that point the only connection I knew was that MBJ was the one who was supposed to kill him, so I was like ?? Where did that come from. By the end of the extras, I wanna say I'm on board with it lol, but I just wish we saw more.

Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang... :( I love them and am really sad for them. And yes, I do constantly forget that ZZL killed Gongyi Xiao (who I liked a lot), but come on. He's snek Wen Ning and you can't tell me otherwise. I also actually like Shen Jiu's character. Which is kinda funny thinking about it, cause for example I know many ppl find JGY to be a sympathetic villain, and while I can understand, I still hate him lol. But SJ, who feels very similar to JGY in some ways, I find him really interesting and want to explore him more (that's what fanfics are for ayyy). Funny how all the antagonists of this story caught my eye lol. I didn't care for any of the villains in MDZS in terms of nuance (not that they were poorly written, but they just weren't the Type™ I fall for). But SV managed to get me to want to know more about all of them.

Bingqiu final assessment.... complete indifference. It wasn't as terrible as it could've been, and the extras did make it better, but idk. I flipped flopped a lot as I was reading regarding whether I was okay with it. The 50s chapters, no. Then it got better. Then chapter 80 happened and I was just.... it was genuinely painful getting through that chapter lol. I was constantly pausing and just.. collecting myself. Then the extras and I was like, hmmm it seems.. ok I guess. But I still think it's not the healthiest relationship. You can’t tell me his spiel in chapter 79 isn’t still a total guilt trip. Xin Mo exacerbates his negative emotions, it doesn’t make them up. He’s also constantly jealous even in the extras, making comments of suspicion on the slightest things and just wanting SQQ’s attention for himself. His whole world revolves around SY, and that’s just not a healthy thing for any relationship. It’s undeniably obsessive, and while I don’t see LBH acting on his jealousy, I think that’s only because “it’d make Shizun sad” and not because it goes against his morality. I think LBM is just as capable of doing messed up stuff (murder, torture, etc.) as LBG.

I also just feel like there's something that just doesn't connect between SY in the whole novel, and SY in the extras. By chapter 78 he still did not seem particularly reciprocative of LBH's advances. And even within the extras he's very no-touchy and anti-PDA. He tends to refuse LBH’s requests for intimate moments (until the crocodile tears guilt him into doing what LBH wants) and overall is easily embarrassed, like he's not confident in this relationship. I think at the least more lines of buildup should’ve been added, particularly in moments where it was just the two of them.

And you know what also kinda bugs me about it? I dislike how much the story pushed on that SY was confidently straight since birth. If you want to convince me that the initially ‘straight’/uninterested character ends up falling for another guy, just don’t push it so hard in my face contradicting that. Wei Ying flirted with girls, cool yeah. But the novel never gave the impression he was completely closed off to the idea. With how WY is written, I can totally see him being bi. But SY is more like, well I somehow ended up raising the ML as gay but hey that’s not so bad I guess, at the last minute. I can't say I ship LiuShen either, but I can definitely see the appeal when the canon alternative may easily not float your boat. Nothing beats Wangxian in my heart though 💕

As I expected, am sad with how the relationship with Cang Qiong Mountain ended up. I mean I guess it wasn't necessarily on bad terms, but basically his other disciples are left without their shizun and the sect's whole familial relationship is scattered. I guess it's because I appreciate Wangxian staying in the Cloud Recesses, having this space of theirs and the Jingshi that they can call home. I read the fanfics that have LWJ making WY a lotus pond out front and just their beautiful domestic post-canon life. I love that they can go out night hunting with the juniors. They can go out and travel, just the two of them, when they want. They could retire one day if they wanted. But they'll also always have a family to come back to. LQR begrudgingly accepting WY in time. The bread and butter that is Yunmeng bros reconciliation. Bingqiu.. doesn't really have anything like that. For instance, Liu Qingge and LBH are on terms that I don't feel could ever be recuperated the way WWX and JC could. I don't think Bingqiu could ever stay at CQM in complete comfort. So that's just a little sad.

Also is it just me who, when reading, would always imagine TLJ with short hair, even tho nobody ever has short hair in these novels lol.

Anyway lol, I think that about covers everything I can think of. If you got this far, you the real one ✌🏼

[spockandawe]

So! I got that question last night about whether my xiyao fic took place before or after Jin Guangyao killed Nie Mingjue and his father, and like I said, part of my immediate reaction was ‘I don’t know, does it even matter?’ but I wanted to shake that idea a little and see what else shook out, because I wrote that fic from Lan Xichen’s point of view on purpose, and there are all kinds of things he’s not aware of. I’m long-winded, have a cut.

From a practical pov perspective, it genuinely does not matter whether or not Jin Guangyao has done those particular murders yet, because Lan Xichen isn’t going to find out about it until after Wei Wuxian’s resurrection. With me writing from his point of view, he’s going to be a bit sadder after Nie Mingjue dies, but that’s not necessarily something that will noticeably impact this relationship, other than maybe cherishing his surviving sworn brother a little bit more. And maybe he’ll be a little more at ease after Jin Guangshan dies and someone he, trusts on a personal level is leading the Jin Sect, but that’s just an extra degree of complication to whether or not they could do a relationship period, and there was already plenty of complication to go around.

And on the level of a wider perspective, like..... does it matter if Jin Guangyao has done these two extra murders? Both of them went through the sunshot campaign and are very acquainted with all kinds of ugliness and death by now. Jin Guangyao was a double agent under Wen Ruohan, and in just the little piece of that we’re shown, we see him very casually killing some Nie Sect people to maintain his cover (or in case he needs to side with the winning team, whatever). And after the war is over and his father gives him his very conditional recognition, he gets pressed into service as his father’s torturer. He’s already up to his elbows in blood, and Lan Xichen knows that, and still canonically cares deeply for him and trusts him anyways, whether that care is platonic or not.

Also, as a side note, I have seen people who do give attention to those atrocities instead of just picking out two deaths from a whole cheese platter of them, and I find it really interesting how much less grace is given to Jin Guangyao than is given to characters like Wei Wuxian. Some of that is down to natural sympathy with a likeable pov character, but like... Lan Wangji witnessed the end of Wei Wuxian’s brutal torture campaign with Wen Chao, for example, but people don’t expect them to sit down and have a conversation about it, never mind have a moralizing conversation about how ‘wei ying, you know that was very naughty of you, and you’d better realize it was wrong and bad and never do it again.’ All of the characters except the youngest generation have lived through a lot of awful things, and that’s... numbing. I would be shocked to see any of them sit down and discuss it openly, never mind expect it from them before they’re permitted to be loved.

Now, back to JIn Guangyao’s murders. Would Lan Xichen knowing about those two particular extra deaths matter? Yeah, definitely. Lan Xichen also cared very deeply for Nie Mingjue, and having your father raped to death is all kinds of fucked up, plus there are the cultural taboos about killing your dad, etc. But I would also argue that in the story, Jin Guangyao tries shields Lan Xichen from the ugliest parts of himself. It gets a little complicated to provide textual explanations for this, because they both spend most of their time off screen, and I’m not going to get pulled into an long side tangent, but bear with me.

But just from a character perspective, it only makes sense. At a bare minimum, it’s protecting himself. He’s terrified of everyone and everything, he says. Nobody is more aware than he is of how precarious his social position is, and his father did nothing to help him with that. Lan Xichen likes him and trusts him, even though he knows some of the terrible things he’s done. So why wouldn’t Jin Guangyao shield him from the things that might turn Lan Xichen against him? And if self-preservation also aligns with not hurting Lan Xichen as well... Why wouldn’t he avoid hurting Lan Xichen? We see him handling him gently at other times, even after he was in a position where he could have used force. I do wish very much that we could have gotten in his head in canon, but reading into the motivations behind his actions is half the fun, so what do I know, haha. 

I’m not going to convince anyone who’s like ‘bluh bluh jin guangyao never cared for a single person in the world beside himself’, but I honestly think that makes the character profoundly boring and also doesn’t make much sense. Even if he only ever cared for one (1) person beside himself (still think that’s a boring read, but hey), then that person would have been Lan Xichen. It isn’t a one-way street, where Jin Guangyao just takes and takes. He helped Lan Xichen rebuild he cloud recesses. Even if that got him a closer ally and stronger political alliance, it wasn’t a necessary gesture to make. Nobody would have criticized him for just standing by and not spending piles of money on the rebuilding. He didn’t help Lanling Jin the same way, after all. I’m getting lost down this rabbit hole, but my point is that while it’s not that hard to read mercenary motivations into any one single thing he does, there is a pattern of behavior in his treatment of Lan Xichen particularly, and that pattern makes the most sense if care and compassion are involved. Jin Guangyao’s motivations when it comes to Lan Xichen make the most sense when they’re at the intersection of self-preservation and affection, and other reads on him just are not nearly as compelling to me.

Anyways! Back on topic. If there’s a xiyao relationship while JIn Guangyao is Jin Guangyao, even if he hasn’t killed Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangshan yet, he’s... probably at least thinking about it. He’s maybe working on it a lil bit in the background. And one, he’s already an experienced torturer tho, and two, Lan Xichen already cares about him even though he’s a torturer. I think it’s actually much more interesting to try to determine where the story falls in terms of where Jin Guangyao stands in regards to Xue Yang. Is he actively collaborating with him yet? Is he actively providing him with materials? Even if Lan Xichen would have a hard time forgiving Jin Guangyao for what he did to Nie Mingjue, I also think he’s capable of understanding why Jin Guangyao was so terrified when it came to Nie Mingjue. Even if he didn’t agree with him in the end, I think he would be able to listen and understand. He would just go into a horrible conflicted deadlock of grief and emotions and withdraw to seclusion for the foreseeable future. I think it would be much, much more damaging to Lan Xichen to know that Jin Guangyao was feeding a supply of innocent people to Xue Yang for experimenting. 

In the end, it’s rarely an interesting question to me of how many bad things a given character has done at any given point in a shippy story like the one where I got this question, because like... This fictional mass murderer from ancient fantasy china is still capable of love, so. Now, am I talking about JIn Guangyao? Or am I talking about Xue Yang? Wei Wuxian? Jiang Cheng tortured and killed a bunch of demonic cultivators, but like.... still want him to reconcile with his brother tho. What kind of boring reading would I be doing if nobody involved was allowed to make a bad decision ever? A chronic series of bad decisions? Xuexiao is so compelling to me because of the sheer amount of terrible decisions Xue Yang has made before he starts wanting to be loved. Wei Wuxian comes back from the dead exhausted and wrung out and dragged down by the weight of his first life. He’s confronted by people who are like ‘it’s your fault I lost my leg!’ or whatever, and Lan Wangji doesn’t pull away to be like ‘wow, that man is right, that is really terrible of you, let’s have a conversation until you tearfully self-flagellate enough to earn my love again.’

So the question about my fic doesn’t really have an answer. Has Jin Guangyao killed Nie Mingjue or his father yet? Idk! Haha, probably! Or he’s at least working on it, he’s a busy little bee. And none of that has any bearing at all on his ability to love Lan Xichen (except now that i think about it, their deaths would probably make it easier for him to have that conversation, because there are fewer external threats to his safety, and he has more space to consider voluntarily allowing more vulnerability into his life). Would knowledge of those deaths impact Lan Xichen’s ability to love him? They would make it a lot more hecking complicated, that’s for sure, but that is also the canonical seasoning of this relationship, platonic or romantic. And, incidentally, it’s the exact spice I crave. I would have no interest in this relationship if they were two perfect angels, I am here because Lan Xichen is an absolute doll, and Jin Guangyao both cherishes him above everything else and has deliberately done terrible things that wounded him deeply. That’s the appeal.

[sonnets-and-snowdrops]

It’s No Surprise // A Genjo Sanzo Birthday Fic

Fandom: Saiyuki Pairing: None (I mean, maaaaaaybe a touch of 939, but not a whole lot. This just isn’t a very shippy fic.) Genre: Fluff / slice-of-life-ish / friendship / birthday fic! Rating: G Word Count: 1k Summary: Sanzo doesn’t like surprises. Also, he’s not great at expressing affection. Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai definitely know this. They also definitely don’t care, and decide to pull some birthday shenanigans anyway. Author’s Note:  I have decided that everyone in the Ikkou gets fanfic cake on their birthday this year. Apparently. Also uh we can ignore the fact that I still haven’t finished Gojyo’s birthday fic, and skipped straight to Sanzo’s, right? Right? Cool. Uh. Thanks. I WILL FINISH IT TODAY THO SO HELP ME I mean I have to publish it before November’s over at the VERY least ohmygoodness I’m not too sure when or where this fic takes place. Probably, something like a “Domestic AU” would make the most sense, or maaaaybe it takes place in some vague limbo time post-Burial but before their journey starts - however you want to slice it (ha-ha), it involves Sanzo living in a really mediocre apartment (and probably holding a well-respected but low-paying position in some corporation that kinda grinds at him day in and day out - like, haven’t thought this through, and it doesn’t come up anywhere in the fic, but that’s kinda the vibe I’m getting - but he also still has a gun?? idek), and being friends (not that he’d necessarily use that word) the rest of the Ikkou. I’m still getting used to writing Sanzo and Goku, so, uh - hope that went okay? Admittedly, Gojyo and Hakkai are my faves, so it might take some time for me to get super comfy writing the other two - but I couldn’t ignore Sanzo’s birthday ^_^ Okie! Enjoy, friends!  This work is un-beta’d. All errors are mine. 

The house smells funny, and it isn’t the kind of funny that makes Genjo Sanzo want to laugh. It’s the kind of funny that disrupts Genjo Sanzo’s hard-won sense of order, pisses him off ever so slightly, and makes him want to figure out what the hell is going on.

He dips a hand into his jacket pocket, withdraws his smokes, pulls one out, lays it between his teeth, and lights it. He takes a long, long drag, and then exhales, rolling his tired eyes up to the ceiling and to watch the smoke spiral lazily towards the flickering lightbulbs overhead. Maybe one day, he reflects grimly, the building supervisor will get around to fixing the faulty wiring in this dump.

One lightbulb surges brightly, and then blinks out, with a faint pop.

Sanzo frowns.

Probably not.

He drags his feet as he sidles down the hall, making for the kitchen, where he knows he can find a beer - because he’ll be damned if he’s going to try and figure out where this weird smell is coming from without the notable props of both nicotine and alcohol on his side. He rounds the corner, already sticking one hand out, prematurely anticipating the position of the refrigerator door -

“SURPRI - ”

“Goku! Be careful!”

“Eyyy, take it easy, Sanzo - I know the monkey’s a pain in the ass, but you don’t really wanna shoot him, do ya?”

Sanzo blinks. He holds his gun in his right hand - he wasn’t even aware that he’d drawn the weapon. Or, for that matter, that he’d cocked it, or that he’d pressed the barrel of the thing to the first forehead he could find - which happened to be the broad and remarkably innocent-looking forehead of an overexcited, pint-sized monkey boy for whom, even he has to admit, he harbors more than a little affection.

Sanzo frowns again.

“Who says,” he grumbles, “I don’t really want to shoot him?”

“I told ya,” comes a rough and familiar voice, “that he wasn’t gonna be into the whole ‘surprise party’ thing.”

“Oh, come now, Gojyo,” comes another voice, just as familiar but considerably smoother and more diplomatic in tone. “Goku was excited, and he thought it was a good idea. Isn’t that right, Goku?”

The barrel of his gun bobs up and down as Goku nods his head, a little more enthusiastically than is, strictly speaking, necessary. “I made a cake, Sanzo!” the kid says, beaming widely.

“A cake, huh?”

“Yeah! And, uh - I think it actually turned out okay! I didn’t think it was going to at first, but - ”

“Is that what I’m smelling, Goku? Your half-baked attempts at making a cake?”

“Both his attempts and the cake itself,” says Hakkai, stepping forward and gently laying a hand on Goku’s shoulder, “are considerably more than half-baked, I can assure you. He did very well.” At that, Hakkai smiles, too. “On his third try, and with a little help, that is.”

“So, uh - whaddya say, Sanzo-sama?” Gojyo, leaning nonchalantly against the fridge, shoots a grin across the room. “Gonna drop the loaded pistol and eat some cake, or are you gonna blow the monkey’s brains all over the kitchen?”

Goku keeps on beaming up at him, like the stupid monkey he is. He can practically feel the warmth and admiration radiating outwards from those big, golden eyes.

For a third time, Sanzo frowns.

He lowers his gun, and tucks it safely away. “Fine,” he growls. “Someone cut me a piece of cake, dammit.”

“Okay, Sanzo! Just a sec!” Goku scampers away, towards a lopsided lump smothered in frosting and decorated with sprinkles and sparkles and squiggly lines of color, which perches proudly on the kitchen counter. Gojyo sidles sideways to help, wielding a dull knife and a sharp smirk.

“You could,” Hakkai says softly, as they watch Gojyo and Goku grapple with the cake, “be just a touch more grateful, you know.”

“I’ll be grateful,” Sanzo mutters in response, “if I survive the experience of eating whatever you and the monkey cooked up together.”

Goku returns, a plate of shoddily-cut cake in hand. He hoists it above his head, presenting it to Sanzo, and slapping another big, dumb smile on his big, dumb face. “Here ya go, Sanzo,” he says. “I hope you like it. I, uh - I worked really hard! I’ve never made a cake before!”

“Not that anyone would ever know that if you didn’t say anything,” Gojyo says under his breath, prodding the lumpy cake with his finger.

Goku had the foresight to lay a dingy fork with two bent prongs on the plate alongside the unsightly piece of cake. Sanzo grabs the fork with one reluctant hand, loads it up with a sizable bite of cake, and brings it to his mouth. He lets it hover there for a moment, sniffing, and expecting to be wholly disappointed, and maybe even a little grossed out - but when he inhales, he can’t quite keep the surprise from his face.

He scowls down at Goku. “Well,” he says, begrudgingly, “it doesn’t smell lethal. I’ll give you that.”

And with that, he sticks the cake in his mouth.

Shit, he thinks.

It’s good.

It’s actually good.

He chews, and he swallows, and he tries, and fails, to keep himself from shooting a mildly repentant glance at Hakkai, who smiles either a little too innocently, or a little too knowingly - it’s always impossible to tell with him, gods damn it - for Sanzo’s liking, from where he still stands at Goku’s shoulder.

Sanzo drops to one knee. He meets Goku’s eager eyes, golden and wide and desperately begging for approval. He nods, just once, and he sticks out a hand, and he ruffles Goku’s thick hair.

He hesitates, not sure what he should do next. Hoping for inspiration, he glances around his tiny, shitty kitchen, taking in the faces of his three shitty companions. He feels strangely inclined to say something nice. How long has it been, he wonders vaguely, since he last spoke simple, kind words, like “Thank you”?

He’s lost track, but he figures it must be long damn time.

So, Sanzo draws a breath. He takes his gaze back to Goku, to the uncanny boy who’s managed to stir both his ire and his heart on more than one occasion, and who is still holding a plate of lumpy, delicious cake and gazing at him eagerly through those strange, strange eyes.

“I freaking hate surprise parties,” he says.

[sparkinstein]

heck

so reading @kinesisboomer‘s shippy as fuck Torms and Lieu stuff has me in A Mood of major bittersweets. 

so hey time to word vomit about my dudes.

Lockjaw doesn’t take any special notice of Grifter until far far after Grifter notices him. To Lockjaw, Grifter isn’t much more than a gladiator and a nuisance that keeps winding up in the fighting pit’s medbay. And of course, since LJ laid him out flat one time he’s the one that has to deal with the biggest mech the pit has. Of course. A specific, chatty, oversized nuisance is his price to pay for showing he can handle his own against some gladiators hopped up on battle.

And Grifter is Bad At Flirting for that matter, especially in the early days. He doesn’t help his case by being clobbered around and making light of it. ((“Guess Ah jus’... fell fer ya, doc!” “Grifter your leg is broken stop toppling off of the berth or I will break your OTHER ONE.”))

So Lock is mostly just vaguely aware of Grifter until the Decepticon movement becomes a Thing that’s Talked And Debated About. It’s dangerous in Kaon like it’s dangerous everywhere else, but the Senate is cracking down harder on dissidents, and it’s downright stupid to be bandying about a sympathetic viewpoint of the ‘cons. It’s very dumb. It’s even dumber to be loud about it.

Kind of makes sense that that’s how Lockjaw starts to see Grifter as a person: arguing with some jackass in a bar, some jackass enforcer in a bar, about the mistreatment of mecha under senate rule, about how the conditions of miners in Tarn and Kaon. Grifter’s big, he could lob the guy through a wall, but he’s arguing instead. Growling and snarling some, but using words over his fists. Some smaller mechs dart out the bar, a good call since it turns into fists a second later, but Grifter didn’t throw the first punch at least.

When the bar brawl calms down Lock takes him by the hand and pulls him away from the bar before more enforcers show up, takes him back to the medbay in order to patch up the grazes and none of them are serious- Grifter’s a fragging tank of a mech- and he just asks, “what did you think you were doing in there?”

“Ah mean,” Grifter says, wincing at the sting of scratches being cleaned up and patched for the moment as he hunkers down in the medbay so he and Lock can be on optic-level with one another. “He started it?” It’s a weak excuse.

“He also nearly ended it,” Lockjaw puts a bit too much force into popping one of the dents in Grifter’s frame, the giant doesn’t seem to notice much.

“Pullin’ a gun’s cheatin.”

“Grifter.” There’s a heavy look leveled at the even heavier mech. Golden optics narrowing at a red visor. “If I have to knock an enforcer unconscious I would like to know for what purpose this all began.”

Grifter’s face twitches down into a frown and he thinks for a moment, Lockjaw gives him time to put his words together. “Those minis that rushed past, you seen ‘em?” Lockjaw gives a nod. “They weren’t doin’ nothin, just scrounged up some creds for somethin’ better’n the swill’n the pits. Gettin’ hassled by some enforcer who cin jus take things? They ain’t gonna fight back on that, so Ah did.”

Lockjaw’s hands are still over Grifter’s fist, listening and looking at the mech with a quiet curiosity. It’s a gentler dissecting look, aiming for the root by reading more than tearing as Grifter continues. “Ah’m big- Ah say somethin’ 'gainst th’ senate an’ they’ll come at me instead. Bigger target ‘n all.”

“You believe in what you said, then?” Lockjaw pries gently, but it’s a question that doesn’t necessarily sound like it can be brushed aside with a shrug or a grunt. Grifter does both, regardless.

“Well yeah,” the brown mech clarifies. “Ah didn’t come up with none ‘a it, though, heard some folks near th’ mines talkin’ tho. Said it was a treatise ‘er some scrap, Ah jus’ thought it’d be smart ‘nuff t’shut ‘im up.” A shift of weight and another shrug as Grifter settles more on the floor of the medbay. “But Ah ain’ never read whatever it was. Ah can’t. Ah’d like to, though. Sounded like good stuff.”

There’s a longer pause this time. There’s no more injuries to patch, but Lockjaw has not let go of the massive hand between both his own.

“You were quoting, word-for-word, an autobiography called Towards Peace,” Lockjaw says finally, the new purple brand on his wheel wells glinting in the dim light. “Would you like to hear the rest of it?”

[tuckerfuckingdidit]

Agent Carolina? 💙

MY WIIIIFE. thank u for this. thank u. this meme’s gonna all be under cuts because omg. you can tell this is the only writing i’ll be doing today, because goddamn, do i ramble.

edit: it is now, in fact, the next day, fml. we are not going to talk about how long i spent rewriting portions of this post. we just aren’t.

How I feel about this character: *raptor screeching* carolina is my fave lady, period. i spent the whole show thinking tex was badass, but lina was the first character i loved. nope, not wash! that title is all hers. she’s the only character i’ve ever based an OC on intentionally because i was too chickenshit to actually write her. those days have since passed. mwahaha.

every time i watch it, i spend the entire freelancer arc rooting for her so hard. she is 100% the main character for me, the story is about her. that chase for the briefcase is one of the few things i’ve seen where every time i’m pulled 100% into it—like if she just pushes herself hard enough, she’ll win this time, even though i know she can’t. the fact that she gets so bitter and then comes out of it, and finds another family that she sticks by instead of keeping to her lone wolf act—like, the fact that she resolves to Be Better, period, is just. *flails* she’s such a personally inspiring character to me, and i am constantly floored by how much of herself she puts into everything she does.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: maine (thanks anne), wash, maine AND wash, kimball, south (!), york, 479er, wash and tucker. tucker could get it alone if she had a single doubt he wouldn’t brag about it for the rest of his fucking life. but since he has no chill, he gets none. she flirts though, but she was probably flirty with half the freelancers, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

oh, and emily. don’t look at me. i like ships that get off to bad starts. haha. get off. bow chicka bow wow.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: her and epsilon!!! oh my god. i could literally read c-squared dialogue for the rest of my life. any time they appear in fic with Banter™ i am So Alive. 

My unpopular opinion about this character: once she’s no longer at 9000/10 stress levels 28 hours of the day, carolina is tactile. not cuddly, but tactile. it really grinds my gears that due to the nature of everyone always having a gun in their hand in halo, we rarely see characters make physical contact with each other in a friendly manner. people are either hitting/shooting each other, or standing seven feet apart. like, you’re telling me tucker isn’t the type of person to get in someone’s face when he’s yelling at them? the blocking is just… not good a lot of the time. 

carolina strikes me as a playful elbower, a shoulder clapper (sarge too), and, dare i say it, someone who knows how the hell a hug works. it would take her off guard at first, but physical action is not something carolina struggles with. it’s talking about her feelings where she hits a wall. so it’s not overt. she’s not handing out hugs—but she is participating in them once she gets over her shock.

subtle taps to get attention, teasing hip checks/shoulder bumps, turning people’s bodies to make them look at things, dragging them off places when they won’t hustle—that’s carolina to me. she’s very direct. especially aboard the moi before The Angst swallowed her life whole, omg! i can’t see her not making physical contact with her fam when they’re all lying around out of armor before Everything Is Terrible. i don’t think it’s a coincidence that when carolina finally comes out and says the reds and blues are her family (aka finds her place in the galaxy again), she comes out of her shell and starts touching people. i think she’s coming full circle, not reinventing herself.

i’ve also always thought it was fucked up that they wrote her not saying a word to the boys when they were fucking shipwrecked. like, if you’re going to retcon it, retcon it properly?? she also just doesn’t get anywhere near enough on-screen relationship development with the reds and blues before the F-bomb gets dropped—as in “family”, not “fuck”. carolina’s relationships are the department she gets shafted in every time, because the writers only want to put her down when it’s time for her to kick ass. part of this is because the episodes are so short. #rip

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i wish we’d been able to see her turn on her father. she sides with him, the meta throws her off the cliff—and then she’s just gone. she just told her father “i would do anything for you”!!!! half of the freelancers have kicked up a mutiny; her father is not a soldier. i would have really liked to see carolina go back to her father to try and protect him from what was ostensibly a huge threat, demand answers, search for them herself when she wasn’t given any, and then leave when she knew her father had totally fucked up. carolina as the original recovery one while wash was recovering unfit for duty would have been awesome.

my OTP: fuck. fuck. i feel like i can’t adequately weigh in on this until i have read mainealina, but it also really fucks me up to stan a ship where half of the people involved are dead. like, both dead? okay, whatever. person A having to live knowing they can never bring person B back is an instant moodkiller for me.  that’s too depressing, so i’m voting quasiplatonic carwash. i started to say kimbalina, but [spoilers for season 15] the team leaving chorus after church’s ~death makes me too sad to think about the girls ending their relationship on that note, omg. at first i really didn’t like the idea of the reds and blues leaving, but when you think about the season 13 finale, blue team is going to be pretty fucking demoralized, and retirement elsewhere means no more fewer Blue Team Problems for red team. i suddenly have a much easier time seeing them leaving. [/end spoilers for season 15] no kimball/carolina interaction doesn’t alarm me the same way carwash being split up does.

my cross over ship: not necessarily shippy (see next point), but i think she and john-117/the master chief would’ve been a sight. to. see. (epsilon and cortana tho. omg.) 

a headcanon fact: i couldn’t pick between two, so have both. she’s blonde, looks a fuck ton like her mother, and dyed her hair when she enlisted as an announcement to the world that she was going to be her own person, not a younger allison. 

potentially more controversial: i read carolina as aromantic, toward the “idem” end of the scale. she loves her friends hard, would die for them, but she wouldn’t know for sure whether she has Romantic Feelings for someone if said feelings bit her in the ass. she’s worried that exact thing happened with york and she didn’t notice, but she just. has no clue whatsoever. sexual encounters with friends? cool beans. realizing one of those friends is rOmANtCiALLY aTtRaCTEd tO hEr? then she starts to put pressure on herself that does nothing but stress her out over how to categorize things, how to label her feelings, if things should continue, etc. it’s a mess.

[lulusoblue]

UK FINALLY got to air "The Power Inside Her"

I’ll put my thoughts at the end of the post, for now enjoy some live commentary of my ongoing thoughts, featuring @onthespectrumwriting and tested & approved by @call-me-the-cooky-one

• intro so far: love Leo sitting nearby like the concerned bff for April’s sake “look your powers scare me but Donnie getting closer to mad scientist levels is scarier”

• lulu: OF COURSE THIS GOES WRONG spectrum: what did they expect to happen yes poke the big scary unknown force with a stikc great idea!!!!!

• lulu: *ties crystal of destructive power to a leash* bad crystal spectrum: i love raph’s solution to things

• April cuddling up to Leo = awwww now we know the writer’s true agenda; they were faking us out for Aprinardo all along i mean CUDDLING can’t be platonic and that isn’t worry on Donnie’s face, it’s JEALOUSY

• i have yet to see all the “Apritello” people say this episode has aside from them just basically interacting with each other and if it’s his concern over the crystal well then the show must be dropping hints for pairing her with every male in the main cast

• lulu: EEEEEEYYYYYYY MY PUCKHEAD GETS A SPOTLIGHT AGAIN get rekt TC spectrum: yo casey was AMAZING in this ep soak in the glory that is the trash child

• lulu: also just remembered Rahzar is still alive spectrum: somehow even though april killed him lulu: dude can get run over by a train and be fine later like that’s actually scary spectrum: yeeee puckhead can kick his ass tho lulu: he sure grilled Fishface that’s for sure

• lulu: *pokes the crystal with a stick literally instead of figuratively* “I think i’m beginning to get it now” get what that the crystal is bad? spectrum: its never said that donnie practices Safe sciencing

• lulu: April force choking Donnie is what I live for now spectrum: ha ha ha holy fuck donnie lulu: like it should be the go-to for forced romantic advances spectrum: donnie you poor sot

• Splinter being the one to first snap her out of it and not Donnie /clearly/ they’re shipping her with Splinter and we have to call out Nick for grossness ASAP WHY ARE THE PEOPLE SO BLIND

• also holy shit she’s turning into a dungeon boss

• lulu: oh look she’s crying Casey’s name while focusing on saving people IT’S CANON WHEN WILL THE BLIND SHEEP SEE?! (this is totally not me being a biased shipper because that would be hypocritical) spectrum: (oh obvs, but watch how she ignores him the rest of the ep) lulu: (fool, there is only Za-Naron the rest of the ep) spectrum: (i will see you in court on why that’s not entirely true) lulu: (and ignorance obviously means love if Apritello can get away with it)

• we are introduced to Za-Naron https://youtu.be/7jz7rFuZZZc all i am thinking watching this

• (poor casey has no grappling hook)

• me: don don’t say it Donnie: Give me the crystal me: oh my god YOU’D THINK HE’D KNOW BETTER THAN TO ASK FOR IT BY THIS POINT aaaaand donnie go bye bye

((at this point time difference takes a hold and spectrum must sleep, i venture onward alone))

• well April’s sad moment over Donnie didn’t last too long almost like there wasn’t enough time in the episode to really flesh out the seriousness of this arc

• Hun stares death in the face and laughs ajdbwjsndksnxek we need more 2012 Hun he’s such a confident ass

• “but what if April’s still in there?” Casey you are the only one allowed to properly emote in this ep, like relish your spotlight Case 👌 STOP ZOOMING IN ON CASEY’S WOBBLY LIP WE GET IT YOU FORGOT TO HAVE ANYONE ELSE BE SAD OVER THE SITUATION

• OH JESUS SHE’S BLOODBENDING RAPH’S BODY NOW

• “HEY BEFORE YOU KILL ME REMEMBER HOW YOU ALREADY KILLED DONNIE” that’s what I’m getting here nothing that shippy and she only destroys he crystal after Leo reminds her /she’s/ the only one who can APRINARDO IS CANON CRY SHIPPERS CRY THE BASIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN TWO CHARACTERS DO NOT LIE

• finally she uses that tanto i was beginning to think it was an ornament with how little it was utilised

• “it was /all me/ in a way” oooooooooooooooo now THIS LINE why are people ignoring THIS LINE

• from now on all death will be referred to as Molecular Scattering it’ll be what the Shadow Realm is to the Yu-Gi-Oh dub

• Donnie just letting April flop onto the cement PFFFFFFFT

• Everyone but Splinter just keeping their distance

• CASEY STANDS UP SOON AS SHE’S AWAKE I’M CALLING CAPRIL IF PEOPLE CAN CRY APRITELLO WHEN DONNIE GETS FORCE CHOKED I CAN CRY WHEN CASEY JUMPS TO HIS FEET LIKE SOMEONE WAITING FOR NEWS ON A LOVED ONE AT THE HOSPITAL

• “hey i know you guys are nervous about my powers since i kinda blew one of you up and bloodbended the shit outta Splinter and Raph but CHECK OUT THIS SICK MOVE” *levitates sword from her belt into her hand*

All in all I still enjoyed the episode. I really wish we had some more build up to Za-Naron, or maybe a two-parter for the conclusion of this arc. The boys could have emoted a little more, but I put that down to how much that had time for in the episode and not the writing team trying to make the death of a brother a “no biggie” for the rest of the team (again i really think this should’ve been a two-parter).

Honestly S4 is kind of cramped in terms of story. Space doesn’t feel as important, Karai VS Shredder doesn’t feel as important. IMO they should’ve made space take up the whole season, if only so we could explore it more or have the chance to build some urgency, then had S5 focus on taking down Shredder so we’d have more action there *cough*andShini*cough*. Of course, that would be more in an ideal world, where Playmates isn’t breathing down Nickelodeon’s neck and the writers have no fear of not being renewed for a sixth season.

I’m really hopeful that S5 is a little more focused. From what we’ve heard thus far it sounds like they’re going for more contained story arcs, a little like TMNT 2003 had with their various shenanigans and mishaps. ‘course I probably won’t be too bothered by anything at all so long as we get more Karai and Shinigami. *shakes fist* WE’D BETTER GET MORE KARAI AND SHINIGAMI

disclaimer: my comments on shipping do not necessarily focus on Apritello… mmmostly, i’m just an adult with extra salt who remembers how much one can read into things if it means making it about their ship. i did it with Digimon, i did it with Pokémon, shipping is just a big mess of stockpiling screenshots of your OTP standing within close proximity to me 😶

[sixmorningsafter]

[1/?] i'm gonna talk about steroline first bc you know i've always been here for the bamon, but you've got me really caring about steroline in this fic! caroline trying to set boundaries on intimacy was really heartbreaking--i think you mentioned in an ask before the chapter went up that she's actually more afraid of intimacy bc that's what kept her in a toxic relationship, and i could definitely see that. and then you turned it into something really sweet and funny with her and stefan

watching romance(?) stuff. it was all super cute and i’m loving these two even tho it’s not what i started reading for. stefan’s jealousy re: daroline was also interesting bc it made it clear (to me at least, idk how you intended it) that after being cheated on in his last relationship, he’s not ready for something open/casual. aside from it just not being his personality, i don’t feel like that’s something he needs to get over walking in on his ex with another guy. also think it’s interesting how you have stefan assuming the worst abt damon. obviously it’s a throwback to canon (and damon shoots him down which was nice) with its good bro/bad bro stuff, but it also makes me wonder if bonnie was taken advantage of in her bad period? bonnie obviously has a lot of negative associations with hookups–which was a REALLY nice touch, i loved the narration there–so it makes me wonder what stefan saw going on there when he was more removed from the situation.

ELANAAAAAA! You have no idea how happy I got when I saw your BAMF icon in my inbox, man. I didn’t even have to read the messages to know I’d be like giddy with joy and lo and behold, here I am, giddy with joy. Anyway, this reply is probably like three? Weeks? Late? At this point? But I’m finally diving in to some of these longer reviews and gah, I’m just like remembering how incredible they are all over again so thanks so frickin’ much for taking the time out to write this. Seriously. Means so damn much. ANYWAY, I condensed the SC parts into one half and I’ll do the same with the BD half, so onto the Steroline of it all:

I’M SO HAPPY TO HEAR THAT I’VE GOT YOU VESTED! (Side-note: I feel like I’m going to have to limit my caps lock abuse in this reply because if I had my way the whole thing would be in caps…) Before I started this fic I didn’t actually think through how tricky it could be to have two main ships and four main characters in a fanfic where different fandoms are coming in for different reasons. LMAO like it just totally didn’t even occur to me that it’d be any different from writing any other fic, but it totally is, and it’s weird because you sort of put equal time and effort into realizing each character and each ship but naturally have people coming in predisposed to wanting one thing more than the other. So I feel like just as an author, you almost challenge yourself to write in a way that can pull people into the things they didn’t necessarily come for, and it’s legit the best feeling ever when you hear that you’ve managed it even a little, SOOOOOOO hearing that I’ve got you lowkey rooting for SC makes me super happy. JFC I haven’t even gotten past the first line of your message and this reply’s already two paragraphs long help me.

Re: Caroline, totally on point - she’s definitely the most rattled by intimacy, man. She just doesn’t trust herself to think clearly and put herself first when she’s emotionally vested because of how her relationship with Matt played out. I’m super glad that’s leaking into the fic because I’m not sure it’s something Caroline’s outright admitted yet (that her biggest issue with Stefan isn’t actually his tendency toward falling in love but rather hers, you know?). Like I’m hoping that’s coming across, but it’s just tough when you’re writing a stubborn, self-preserving character who repeatedly claims the opposite, lololol. So super stoked that’s the impression you’re getting!

Re: Stefan’s jealousy, I think that’s a great observation and definitely within my intention. Like as fun as it was to sneak in a little jealousy, I’d argue that scene ended up being more of a characterization one than a shippy one because it gave some insight into where Stefan’s at emotionally, independent of Caroline or really anyone. We’ve heard a lot about his emotional baggage from Bonnie but I think that was the first time we got it from him, and I think you’re definitely right that like what he actually probably needs is to believe in love again. Both him and Caroline. Not storybook Elena love, not angsty chaotic Matt love, but something more natural, less learned. LMAO so naturally I have them both seeking casual hookups instead.

Re: Stefan being protective of Bonnie because of her history, I think that definitely played a role, and I feel like we Vulcan mind-melded because I absolutely think Bonnie was taken advantage of to a degree. Like willingly, she probably thought at the time, but it was messy - the people around her should’ve known better, and if they actually gave a damn, they would’ve. I think your drabble covered it perfectly, like Damon was the kind of person who, while still a ‘bad kid’, knew better than to engage, whereas dudes like Enzo and Klaus engaged anyway. I don’t think she ever really talks about it (sigh, Bonnie) but I’m sure Stefan knows. Not details, but he’d see her around town with older, sketchy dudes - picking her up from school, hanging out in parking lots, etc. - and I headcanon that Lexi would probably see her at upperclassmen parties with seedy seniors. So yeah, not to excuse Stefan from snapping at Damon or anything because I definitely think most of his motive was still a knee-jerk reaction to his own cheating baggage, but this would’ve definitely factored in, too.

LMAO @ the length of this reply I’m so sorry.

[thatsnotbeautiful]

hypmic Secret Santa 2018 requests

hi! thanks so much for making me a thing, i’m excited to see what you come up with!

i’ll go into more detail about what i might like for different hypmic characters and/or ships below, but you can also look at my general likes/dislikes and nsfw likes/dislikes. (some of my prompt ideas are nsfw but i’ll flag them accordingly) 

i tend to be pretty long-winded with my exchange requests, but please know that all of these are intended as suggestions or as jumping-off points for you to brainstorm ideas, if that sort of thing helps you. i’d say the only thing you “have” to read are my general dislikes, i.e. things i definitely do not want to see in a fic.

i’ve lumped my ideas according to crew/ship because it was easier for me to organize everything that way, but i’d also be happy with single-character-centric or platonic/gen fic, it doesn’t necessarily have to be shippy!

~ MATENROU ~  - i ship all three of them in any combo tbh, including OT3  - i’d love to see soft domestic moments together, literal sleeping together, or anything relaxing with any ship combo tbh - i like supernatural elements in general, but i quite like the idea of Jakurai in particular being some sort of supernatural or immortal being living among humans (e.g. Shinigami, vampire, some sort of monster person) - please don’t include suicide/suicidal ideation for Doppo. 

hifudo - i really like their whole semi-codependent dynamic where they help each other with things they’re bad at and fill in the gaps for each other (Doppo reigning Hifumi in when he gets out of hand, Hifumi taking care of/standing up for Doppo)  - silly roommate shenanigans - how did they become roommates anyway? what were the early days of them living together and getting used to sharing a space like?  - i really like intimacy and knowing each other really well, better than most other people know you, so, anything with that? - one of them going on a trip and the other missing his presence?  - maybe Doppo doing something to show his appreciation for everything Hifumi does at home??  - going on vacation together! - get-together fic! i especially like UST and/or mutual pining (them living together for a while but not realizing they’re into each other) or them like... basically dating, or everyone around them thinking they’re dating, before the two of them realize oh that’s p much what they’re doing huh?  - that Hifumi apparently wants guys to call him “Hifumin” as well is too cute... Doppo call him “Hifumin” already. please. 

nsfw ideas:  - sleepy languid sex after one/both of them come home from work and scoot into bed together; exhausted sex  - somnophilia if you wanna take that a lil further (Doppo gets so little sleep......)  - Doppo groping/sexing Hifumi up bc he’s stressed out from work and this is a good release, lol. (i’ve seen so many fanarts from Japanese artists of Doppo just, coming home and tiredly squeezing Hifumi’s ass bc he’s stressed and, it’s good,)  - smooching in the kitchen while Hifumi is in the middle of cooking a meal or sth like the good house husband he is  - (tbh i 100% feel like Hifumi is the kind of person who would start cooking dinner in nothing but an apron for Doppo to come home to as a surprise lmao)  - nsfw offshoot of the nickname thing — Doppo calling Hifumi “Hifumin”, but Hifumi gets off on it. i especially love the idea of Doppo wanting to but being kinda embarrassed about it, and doing it really tentatively in Hifumi’s ear when they’re just lazing in bed or something, and Hifumi fucking shivers  - they’ve been best friends forever, i can’t imagine that they wouldn’t have gotten off together at least once as an ~experiment~ or bc they were pent-up university students and it was convenient. and if there’s UST/mutual pining, even better. if the sex is awkward bc they’re awkward and inexperienced, but feels super good anyway bc they’re both that into it/each other, even better - some sort of scenario with multiple Hifumis (magic? clones?)  - Hifumi selfcest???  - Doppo -> Hifumi watersports. and uh by “watersports” i mean Doppo peeing on Hifumi and Hifumi enjoying it. i’m sorry it’s just... the champagne thing......

jakudoppo  - the way i envision their dynamic is very, Doppo deeply respecting Jakurai as this mentor/role model/authority figure, but also thirsting after/crushing on him so hard he doesn’t know what to do w/himself, and lowkey being unable to reconcile the two (thirsting after your role model is rude/disrespectful, isn’t it??)  - buuut he does work thru it eventually bc i don’t want this to turn into full-fledged angst, tho some (perceived as one-sided) pining could be good - but yeah like... Doppo just, reacting really intensely to the smallest goddamn things. Jakurai sitting there but the sunlight hits him in this nice kind of way and makes him look really handsome. Jakurai patting his head or kissing his cheek. chaste kisses.  - my ship manifesto for them is essentially “Doppo dies a lot” - meanwhile, i really like how Jakurai takes care of Doppo, talks him through his anxieties, etc (both in a gen or a romantic way)  - i also feel like neither of them have done much romantically... (or at least for Jakurai it’s been a while) Doppo because he’s too busy and stressed to make time for dates and Jakurai because i don’t really see him dating casually... if he’s really into the person he’ll date them but otherwise he doesn’t go out of his way to find people to date? i guess what this means is: them getting together and Doppo being relatively inexperienced and Jakurai being rusty so they have to kinda fumble through it a bit, at least at the beginning  - get together fic! who confesses to who? how does Doppo even get past his anxiety to talk about it??  - Doppo in Jakurai’s lap is a good image  nsfw ideas:  - with the above ship dynamic stuff in mind... this lends itself very well to Doppo being cool with doing “anything” for Jakurai (not in the sense of, agreeing to things he doesn’t want to do, but perhaps agreeing to more than he can actually handle and ending up being sort of out of his depth)  - i like... a lot of kinks for them, honestly. it’s real easy to fit other kinks into this D/s sort of framework. e.g.s bondage, breathplay (obvs), fingering/prostate milking, edging, overstimulation, being overwhelmed, fisting, even something more AU or supernatural like naga!Jakurai and tailsex or oviposition  - also just D/s in general or Jakurai service-topping Doppo and wanting to take good care of him in a sex way  - that said, i see them both switching rather than Doppo being bottom all the time — Doppo would prob really be into making Jakurai feel good  - kink negotiation; Doppo being nervous/embarrassed about explaining to Jakurai that he’s into a thing (and Jakurai probably sort of guessing from the beginning anyway)  - Doppo’s anxiety compounding with arousal in general  - Doppo being a virgin or, at least not having done very much (e.g. trading handjobs with Hifumi once or twice but nothing else) and Jakurai being his "first” for a lot of sexual experiences  - Jakurai not being that great at sex bc he’s rusty but Doppo being really into it anyways bc it’s Jakurai - Doppo kinking on Jakurai’s hands/hair 

jakuhifu - admittedly i haven’t thought about them as much as hifudo and jakudoppo, but i still like it as a ship... i especially like thinking about Hifumi being really overt about wanting Jakurai’s attention, sort of as an extension of how he acts in canon (just swinging into Jakurai’s office, going fishing together etc) - i see their regard for each other kinda like jakudoppo, but without any of Doppo’s hangups about it since it’s Hifumi, lol. Hifumi respects Jakurai and crushes on Jakurai and! it’s fine!  - pat his head and spoil him, sensei! 

nsfw ideas: - D/s and petplay is... a really good thought for this ship 

OT3 - please let them go fishing together/do something relaxing together - established hifudo and fitting Jakurai into their relationship  - established hifudo talking about how into Jakurai they are  - h/c or healing each other up after receiving battle damage  - i have this really persistent mental image of them all laying in bed together and hifudo just on either side of Jakurai curling into him... 

nsfw ideas: - hifudo talking about how into Jakurai they are while they get off together - taking “competing for Jakurai’s attention” to a sexual level (who can make sensei feel better?)  - Jakurai getting hifudo off using his hypmic/voice 

~ JYUTODOPPO ~  - the basis for this ship is mostly the fact that they knew each other before and the stuff in Death Respect tbh - riling each other up or angry UST - what they say to each other in Death Respect seems... really personal to me, like they used to know each other way better than just a casual acquaintanceship and/or reading up on each other before the battle. how did they know each other? - i really like knowing each other p well but also being enemies, and weaponizing all the shit that you know about each other  - moving away from the Death Respect/enemy dynamic, Jyuto being a really smooth flirt and Doppo being drawn into it in spite of himself is good too  - or, actually liking each other romantically and managing that relationship on top of being on rival rap battle teams 

nsfw ideas: - angry sex - pain kink, blood  - using sex as a means to feel powerful/dominant over the other  - suit kink; hand/glove kink (it is Jyuto after all)  - semi-public sex  - Jyuto on his knees reducing Doppo to nothing via BJ while Doppo grabs his hair 

~ DICE SHIPS ~ - ...namely: Ramuda, Rio, Doppo (& Hifumi) - tbh mostly i like thinking about the others “adopting” Dice in some way (i mean, for Ramuda this is basically canon lol since Dice goes to live in his house)  - Ramuda just thinking Dice is a teammate (and then maybe an FWB) but unexpectedly catching feelings and not knowing wtf to do about it  - Ramuda using Dice to model his fashion designs  - Rio/Dice and the adventure of living in the woods, Rio feeding Dice and Dice enjoying his cooking etc - tbh out of all of them i actually think Rio/Dice would be the most stable romantic relationship? i just like thinking about them being cute domestic loving boyfriends. Rio seems like he’d be a good rock for Dice’s erratic Dice-ness  - Dice being an actual catboy that gets adopted (i particularly like this one for Doppo + Hifumi) 

nsfw ideas:  - taking the “adopting Dice” idea a step further to sugar baby Dice, except he’s not really a good sugar baby like... at all. instead of coming home to find him being all sexy in bed or something the other person just finds him lounging on the couch with empty chip packets everywhere  - Dice has a thing for thrills and risking himself/risking being in danger and i can definitely see that extending to sex as well. 

~ JAKURAMU ~  - supernatural AU with either or both of them being some sort of monster person (again, Jakurai being a naga. Ramuda being a fae or a changeling. but basically open to any supernatural creature possibility, not even necessarily humanoid ones)  - full-on fantasy AU where they’re not even in the hypmic ‘verse anymore  - i’m really curious about why they hate each other so much or why they both feel betrayed by the other. the common idea is that one broke the other’s heart or left the other, but i’d be interested to see other ideas of what might have lead to this deep betrayal, to the extent that Jakurai thinks of Ramuda as lacking humanity and Ramuda can’t even bear to talk about Jakurai anymore  - both of them seem to have? potential shadiness about them? Ramuda bc of the reveal that he’s connected to the govt (and just, general fake cute fronting, what is it exactly that he has to hide?) and Jakurai bc to me at times it feels like his saintliness is almost too good to be true, plus if he’s such a good person, what exactly did he do to make Ramuda so angry at him? it’d be interesting to explore that as well