#this is so mushy oh my god it's so hard to write them not obsessed with each other

[courtofparrots]

🎲

yesss serennedy one of them!!

HEHE OK

(Kiss drabble roulette list is here if anyone else is interested I WILL do more)

Okay you got #33. A kiss to a scar, birthmark, injury or other marking!

The afterglow is always Leon's favorite. Calm, deep-seated satisfaction in his veins, lying partially on top of Luis so that his head rests against a warm tan sternum, feeling slow breaths make their way through the body beneath him.

He raises his head, running fingers through wiry dark chest hair until they come to a familiar scar.

"Did this hurt very bad?" Leon asks, grazing the scar with his fingertips. A pair of eyes slit open to look at him, expression just slightly annoyed. Luis must have been about to doze off.

"Why?" He responds, voice thick with near-sleep and a little hoarse from their previous activities; Leon's favorite tone, "Are you jealous? You don't have enough harrowing scar stories of your own?"

Leon huffs a small laugh and shrugs, "I was unconscious when mine was removed, but I remember the way Ashley sounded.." he trails off. Luis's eyes soften, "it wasn't too bad," he murmurs, but it's obvious that he's lying.

Without thinking, Leon dips his head and replaces his fingertips with his lips, kissing the bottom tip of the scar feather-light, mouth growing firmer as he trails it up to the top. The tiniest shudder runs through Luis, and long fingers card through Leon's hair.

When Leon's tongue pokes out to greet the scar tissue, feeling the ridge of the old injury with care, a small noise escapes from Luis's throat, muscles going slightly more rigid, expecting.

"Sancho..." Luis whispers, and it's a pleasantly breathy sound that makes Leon shiver. He raises his head so he can meet Luis's eyes.

"I'm just really glad you're here," he says, as firmly as possible, dipping his head to plant one more kiss to the scar before the fingers in his hair are gripping and dragging him up to his love's lips.

[alotsgonnachange]

Mystic Messenger Saeran’s AE Thoughts (.......And Prayers..) #Spoilerz

Hello, I just finished Saeran’s after ending and I have a lot of things to say and I am going to write it down while I'm still all keyed up about it.

First of all… Please DO NOT ask me how much money I spent to finish this as fast as I did…. I’m grown but my bank account is certainly going to have a good ole fashioned CHUCKLE at this….. It’s been a long quarantine I deserve a lil happiness as a treat methinks!

I have been playing this absolutely insane game since I think 2016? When I first started playing the deep routes had JUST come out I think? And I was just finishing up high school and am now a college grad...lmao

I’ve played all routes at least once except Jaehee but i’ve seen walkthroughs of her route (I’ve heard it makes you hate Jumin and he’s my favorite so um. hehe). V’s and Saeran’s routes I found to be so emotionally intense and just….a lot and I've been waiting a long ass god damn time for this after ending okay…. I would theorize and make up an ending in my head but i’m no writer so it was hard to figure out lol. I’m a Jumin stan mostly but I love everybody and yeah I should probably play that jumin dlc too but I need like a DAY to recover from Saeran’s AE. Enough about me HERE are my thoughts on it overall

Major Saeran AE Spoilers under da cut!

Can we please discuss V showing up to the C+R conference room with basically chloroform and made everybody Pass Out like??? I was alone in my room at like midnight just SCREAMING at my phone???? And the creepy ass CG ???? It’s like that gif of sarah paulson from ahs being like “I put arsenic in the wine….and the pasta”

Anyway I screamed at V a lot during this process!!

Loved RFA being sweet and kind to saeran (before V fucking drugged them…)

This is such common V behavior “I have to do it all myself...there’s no other way..” GIRL SHUT UPPP You do this every route....

SO many CG’s and I enjoy them a lot

Saeran’s sprite looks a little TOO crisp compared to everyone else but maybe its a glitch??? V next to him is in 480p while saeran is like 1080p

Hearing both Saeran and Saeyoung missing the other brother the whole time??? PAIN. All my homies know is PAIN

BOSS and his V for Vendetta ass guy fawkes mask??? I literally yelled “this game is TERRIBLE!!” several times at my phone

Their dad is so>??????? When he was sitting on the couch with saeyoung in that one CG while simultaneously telling him to kill himself?????????? Maybe chairman han is actually the best dad in this game somehow

When V and Rika were like we’re back together teehee teehee okay pack it up bonnie and clyde ..

When chairman han calls u and says hes jealous of u and saeran…..HUH????? I’m calling HR

When they go to the apartment and see boss and vanderwood and poor saeyoung is sitting there seeing his brother for the first time in years i wanted to D word sooooo bad like PAIN...PAIN….

Can we HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT JUMIN HAN BEING THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE GAME AND HE LOST EVERYTHING IN THIS AE……. he just took the blame and moved on jumin what the hell….. I love him so much r we serious? He watched his 2 closest friends betray him in the worst way and found out abt how Rika abused Saeyoung and Saeran???? I felt just AWFUL. Terrible ...Terrible….

Rika’s change in demeanor from Saeran's actual route is certainly a Choice. I find her much more bearable this time around and unfortunately i think I was too nice to her and ended up with a bad end LMFAO

I was happy to see Saeran stand up for himself and become stronger and confident. You go king!

The CG of Yoosung laying in Zen’s lap is everything to me…

HOWEVER YUP I sure did get a bad ending and I was so mad fdsafdskfdhsf ! (I would be happy to clarify how I got the good one the second time.) MAKE SURE To SAVE EARLY in days 2 and 3 bc the branches on day 4 is where the bad end will show up. For me it was the first day 4 chat and then a story mode titled “SAVIOR”.... If you see that RUN FOR THE HILLS!!

I was so mad! But I had saved in day 2 and replayed and MANAGED to get good end

I’m obsessed with everyone calling V and Rika “that psychotic couple” like…..its true its true…

No those two are so toxic… V’s route was torture watching them go on and on about the sun like yo can yall just call each other babe like normal people.

I respect straight people but not V and RIka that shit was just wrong… Straight marriage was a mistake

Oh lord i also FULLY Forgot Rika killed the twins’ mother…. Yeah that scene was um Certainly a lot but it needed to happen eventually

Like it’s good they know but damn that storyline is just so bleak

I think it was satisfying TO A DEGREE….To see Rika understand where she was wrong, why she was wrong, fess up and even APOLOGIZE! I was very surprised.

Saeran and Saeyoung are Certainly twins with the amount that those two self sacrifice in every route MY GOD…..

The scene with Jumin talking to his father and the other scene of him praying oh my god I cannot tell you how happy I was to see him begin to understand and address his own feelings in a route that was not his own. My main problem with Jumin’s route has always been the trapping MC in his penthouse aspect.. This way Jumin understands love and emotions without being overly possessive !!! YAY also loved seeing him be on good terms with his dad who was surprisingly profound

That last Story mode was Really a Lot…. and Strange things occurred which I will get into in just a minute

Jumin becoming a politician is so funny but ngl … i see it.

Yoosung going to france to study pastries ok king I see u! (it made more sense to me than the vet thing anyway)

Lastly Zen FURRY ERA

MY BEEF With the AE

I was happy with how they handled it for the most part. I think Cheritz heard our feedback about V’s after ending and was like okay….let’s try something different

HOWEVER

Saeran…. Sweet kind saeran… IS SO AFFECTIONATE HAHA….

He must have said I love you like 300 times…..very mushy gushy flowery language...and maybe that’s just his personality but for me it was like eating cake with buttercream cake. It means well, but god damn is it sugary and going to cause a stomach ache later.

He was just… SO MUCH! SO forward and ON all the time in his affections. I honestly felt kind of smothered and by day 3 and 4 I was sooooo over all the compliments… King you’ve come a very long way, but ur still putting MC on a pedestal and probably need to see a therapist.

Nextly….Rika and V….. Naw that knock out gas really ...that hurt lol. Coming from “I would do anything to protect RFA” V? Idk like…. EYE felt betrayed reading that. It was just hurtful. I can’t even imagine how the members would have felt as they were passing out. It was just so cruel. I suppose I understand why but like?? Just TERRIBLE

Them being in cahoots with the agency and the prime minister..HUH??? Also too much

V just felt so irresponsible like I do understand that he ended up in a weird web of secrets that’s hard to untangle but he’s so fucking stubborn he’s SO stubborn it makes me insane. Like sir… It seems like in other routes he wanted to try to protect Rika and the RFA.. But in this AE it seems more to me that he was like yeah i’m protecting Rika and That’s It… so fucking hurtful to me. Both of y’all apologize ESPECIALLY to the twins and Jumin..

The forgiveness thing…… Okay so I think some people will not like that Saeran decided to “forgive” the people who hurt him (Rika, V, Saejoong, his mother). I would point out that I actually think this was approached somewhat well. He says at one point that he doesn’t think they’re good or bad, just people. I think he sounded mature and like this was the way for him personally to accomplish his healing process. Would I have loved for Saeran to flip V and Rika off and kick Saejoong off a cliff? Yea I really would. But like…. If that’s what HE needs to do to heal then who am I to judge?

HOWEVER…. Everything Eye just said goes out the window when the scenes at the end with Saejoong come up… I was PERPLEXED. Like why did he HUG his deranged father who just kicked the shit out of him??? Also all the chat options that MC has with him r like blah blah you’re like this because no one loves you were so corny to me LMFAOOOO?

AND WHEN HE WAS IN THE ROOM LATER WITH SAERAN… i’m sorry but if that were me I would have called a nurse to deck his ass. Cool he turned himself in YOU SUCK SOOOO BAD AND I NEVER WANT YOU TO COME NEAR SAEYOUNG AND SAERAN AGAIN THANKS.

*scratches ass* I wish I got to see saeyoung and saeran finally sit down and have that first conversation after a long time and hug CG but the ending was fine I GUESS….. I dont care about ROMANCE I want those boys to be happy brothers together

Anyway that was really emotionally exhausting but I fr think I got it out of my system after literal years… And I can rest in peace knowing the choi twins are happy. THATS ALL I WANTED TO KNOW!!!!

[siren1song]

In Which Jo Loves Content Creators

I’m in a mushy mood. This means it’s time to snipe people with my love for their work and affection for them as people. (People I don’t know that well/talk to regularly won’t be as personal as people as I’ve made good friends with! All to avoid making anyone uncomfortable <3)

I’m going to start with @sleepless-in-starbucks, because of course I’m starting with Lia. I know I’ve made a literal collaboration post with Max about how much I love them and their work, but Also how can I not mention once again how sweet and funny they are? I vowed that one day, I would rick roll them, they don’t believe I can, but I will, one day. Also they’re really good at comforting people??? And let me scream about some of my favorite fics/tropes to them. I also really enjoy talking to them about stuff I’m working. Listen. Lia is great, okay?

Speaking of @max-is-tired did you know they’re an incredibly sweet datemate who’s super considerate and easy to talk to and gosh I love them a whole lot? Not to mention their writing and ideas are phenomenal!!!! Max is so big brained!!!!! I will never stop expressing my love for them ever.

Oh, oh, oh!!!! @thechildoflightning is also really super sweet!! I became a huge fan of their writing through their daemon prinxiety au!! And my love of their work just kept expanding as I read the jksf verse they’ve worked so hard on! Their research is expansive!! And did you know they’re really cute when they info dump? I asked them to tell me about the bird facts the other day because I wanted to hear their info dumping and it was really cool information!!! I learned a lot about a really cool bird!!

(This is going to get long... time for a cut!)

Another segue! You know who else I’ve learned a lot from? @lilfellasblog who is so cool? And kind???? And smart? Sometimes, I’ll ask them questions in a joking way and then I’ll end up learning something and wow! That’s so cool! And they don’t mind simplifying things for me when I ask! And their fic, Healing Broken Wings? An actual masterpiece, though if you check it out I recommend reading tags thoroughly. And if you have questions about a tag, ask them! They’re so willing to elaborate to make sure you’re able to stay safe!!! They care more about your safety than your readership!!!!! And that’s so awesome! I love Lil so much! A great friend and an amazing writer!

A friend I don’t really talk to nearly as much as the others but who I still care about a whole lot is @illogicallyinclined. They say they can’t write, but bullet fics are a Valid Form of Writing, and also their art? Stunning? They’re the reason I started appreciating Logan a whole lot more than I used to, and their hockey au  is really good (and Jam Packed with Logan Angst if you’re into that.) They’re also hilarious to talk to. I have chatted about Virgil and Logan being huge ass meme’s with them on multiple occasions.

Someone I’ve only recently started talking to is @sign-from-god-complex who’s actually really cool? I was talking to him about my love for fandom content creators before I decided to make this post and of course I had to include him? I’m literally going to be bingeing his writing as soon as I finish this Love and Appreciation post because it’s amazing! I can’t believe I haven’t read more of his work before! A travesty, honestly!!! And oh my God his music is good? Literally the whole reason I joined his server and started talking to Lo in the first place was because he was really nice when I asked him how downloading music worked because I’ve only ever done that onto an MP3 (I know, I’m old) and even then I had to have help because I’m not adept with technology. A great singer and writer!

Now for people I’ve never talked to personally but really want to show my appreciation for... Goodness, there’s so many?

I’m gonna start this section with @princeanxious who’s writing, art, and ideas in general are amazing? Have you seen his coma au? Heart wrenching. His Lost Guardian au? Beautiful world building! His punk lo/pastel dee au? Adorable oh my goodness I can’t get enough!! I tried to talk to him once, but I kind of got scared I was bothering him, but he seems really nice!!!!

Did I mention soulmate au’s earlier? I did. You know who writes really cool and great soulmate aus? @not-so-innocent-bi-sander and MAN is their writing great! Have you read their vampire soulmate au? That was so cute??? I loved Logan’s internal conflict with changing Patton and Roman, gosh? And they have such interesting au ideas too? Like I have actually never heard the concept of Lockets before, and it was such a fascinating idea for a soulmate au? I mean, obviously they have other fics that aren’t soulmate aus, like their prinxiety fic Overcoming a Legacy? Stunning, I am pretty sure I stayed up really late reading that one.

Speaking of fics that made me stay up late (so many segue’s) @impatentpending ‘s fic Powerless had me up from 5:30 pm when I started reading it to 2:30 am when Max finally woke up and distracted me long enough to make me shower and go to bed cause I had work in the morning. Do I regret it? No. Powerless is a stunning fic with an amazing concept. I can’t tell you how excited I was to read a fic where Virgil willingly took on a villain role to protect his loved ones. And also I’m going to physically fight Missy, she can catch these hands. I can’t really give much else on the rest of her fics, because I tend to avoid anything that might not end happy (I’m five chapters away from finishing Powerless, and I’m only just now getting skeptical they might not get their happy ending so count me scared) but I have no doubt everything she’s written is just as good, if not better since this fic was finished in 2018? Wow.

Another fic that had me up super late was @lovelylogans gilmore girls au where you lead, i will follow. Don’t be fooled by the eleven chapters, that fic is over 100k words but God is it so worth it to read every single one. You don’t even need to be familiar with the show the au is based on, it’s amazing either way. The characters, the plot, the romance, all absolutely stunning. I will personally fight Patton’s mom. And the rest of her fics! Wow!!! Stunning, amazing, wonderful, beautiful, I’m running out of adjectives. I loved their princess bride bullet fic a whole lot, that was fun.

If you ever see me gushing about mermaid aus, please know that @voidsides au is Probably my favorite take on it. The prinxiety! The sassy virgil!!! The Logan being so done with Roman’s shit. Literally the one comic with Logan interaction I could practically see “Roman I swear to god if you don’t stop flirting with the fish I’m going to push you into the water” in his words. He didn’t say it, but man he was definitely thinking it.

Oh man, I can’t forget to mention the person who got me into g/t-slash-borrower sides @infinimay cause his content? Amazing, really. I found him when someone I follow reblogged one of his halloween fics and I fell in love and proceeded to binge the rest of their writing. Amazing, really. I really love the giant hermit virgil and hiker logan ones a lot. There’s more that I definitely love a whole lot as well, but I can’t currently match content with titles right now and if I go through I’ll get caught up and forget to come back to this post, but just know I love

Another giant/tiny writer I really love who I fell in love because of his amazingly written alien au- @delimeful WIBAR is currently one of my fic obsessions and I might reread it soon because it’s so good? I love the world building and how he’s written the characters so much. The rest of his work is Also Great? The fic where Virgil turns into a dragon when stressed? Amazing I can’t wait for it to continue.

@tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors You got me so in love with laoft I think about it often. Scary Virgil?? Changeling Logan???? Witch Roman???? Gifted Patton????? I want to cry I love them so much. And God, May! May Gage is a disaster of a woman but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love her. I just. I love this au so much and it’s gotten me to love fae lore so much like I used to. I want to reread this au now, crap. Wait I need to read Lo’s stuff first. Double crap.

Oh man. speaking of writer’s who keep bringing up fae and reminding me how much I love them, @lefaystrent I hope you know your parental shenanigans on my dash bring me life. I didn’t know carbonated milk existed until last night. Kind of wish I was still ignorant on that particular topic. Either way, your fae virgil fic? Amazing. I got so super excited every time I saw an update, and that epilogue? A beautiful ending, if you ask me.

@stillebesat I start screaming in excitement, reading your Interview fic. When I found it, I became so in love with the fic I had a really hard time reading anything else and I frequently checked your blog looking for an update. I am so in love with it, and honestly there’s lots of questions I have about it but if I ask all of them this post will be even LONGER and it’s so massive already.

@today-only-happens-once You’re writing is amazing. So many of your fics are so stunning?? I fell in love reading The Only Exception. Still need to go through your masterlist thoroughly, but man everything I’ve read from you so far is so well written and takes my entire heart.

This post wouldn’t be complete without @notalwaysthevillian who actually got me to start shipping Logince with her fic Shattering Stereotypes. And then there’s of course her tangled prinxiety au??? Which I actually really gotta finish but what I’ve read of it? Amazing. 

Oh crap. If void has my favorite artistic mermaid au, @teacupfulofstarshine has my favorite written au. LDAD is a stunning fic and I would die for it. And also her recent atla au fic? I was screaming over it. Also also her moxiety dad au series she did for halloween had my entire heart. Every installment of that series had me so incredibly soft I probably could have cried.

And finally, @randomslasher I really love your writing. Your fic, Starved was one of the first I read in the fandom and I adored every single word. I haven’t actually had the chance to really sit down and binge any of your work that I could find, but I plan on fixing that soon. It’s also?? Really nice to see an older fander! As someone in their twenties and constantly seeing how young everyone is, it’s comforting knowing I’m not the only one!

That’s everyone I wasn’t scared of bothering! Everyone who I wanted to shower in my love for their work (and affection for the people I talk to!) This isn’t really in any particular order, beyond me separating the people I talk to from the people I don’t. This post is massive, but I hope everyone enjoys my appreciation for their content!

[hawopro]

Prince of Tennis (2019) meme

I was tagged by the lovely @sandreeen​ on my main (@rupru-russiaxprussia​) but anyway, I’m going to do this here! Never done this before, was I supposed to response with reblog or?? :D?? Original post here

Tagging: @zhuxinjie @wndrnvrlnd @luckycheesefoodie321@kdramapit @pillarpair @tsukkiyume if yall wanna do it, and other who’s watched this show and need to rant like I did months ago.

Lmao like I’m doing now actually, bc these answers are long............ Let me know what you guys think! I’m always down to talk about this show bc this fandom is so little hahaha

1. Favorite character(s)?

2. Favorite school team(s)?

3. Favorite coach(es)?

4. Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.)

5. Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation?

6. Who do you think enacted their role best?

7. Favorite singles match?

8. Favorite doubles match?

9. Favorite story arc?

10. Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)?

11. What did you like most about the adaptation?

12. What do you think the adaptation could have improved on?

13. Any other thoughts you want to share?

Answers: 

1. Favorite character(s)?

Childhood favorite is Zhuo Zhi (Fuji) BUT now my taste in fictional guy is douchebag with character development, therefore Ji Jingwu (Atobe) is my favorite hands down. And Ming Ren did such an amazing job that I swooned tbh... perfect amount of arrogance, charisma, with mushy inside (letting Shishido back on team and caring about Siyang like come on). But I love this adaptation of Siyang (Tezuka) as well, anime Tezuka was too dry for me. Yu Shirota’s Tezuka was good, but I love this dorky Siyang.

2. Favorite school team(s)?

Rokkaku! They’re so pure and adorable, super chill and quirky af! So accepting of Lu Xia (Ryoma) into their midst. Babies.

3. Favorite coach(es)?

Rokkaku’s coach! Mr. Six, old wise man. Where can I find one? I need life changing advice.

4. Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.)

Echizen Nanjiro (I forgot his Chinese name). Is he supporting cast?? Haha I love that he’s obsessed with a singer, make weird food, but really love Lu Xia. None of that perverted bs from anime. I approve. Especially love his and Qiao Chen’s (Momo) interaction over the singer (how Qiao Chen called him Dage and then switched to Shushu in front of Lu Xia lmao). Most striking scene is when he and Lu Xia shared a blanket. My heart.

5. Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation?

Qi Ying’s friend Peng Xiang (Sakuno’s friend uhh Tomoka?) I thought she was kinda annoying in the anime, but Peng Xiang is supportive af, always there with encouragement for Qi Ying. So funny when she said she won’t look at men other than Yu Qing and then Rokkaku walked in with sleeveless shirts.

6. Who do you think enacted their role best?

I think everyone did really great! I think the director and writers really know the anime personalities. Kudos to them for awesome in making characters well-rounded and realistic in this adaptation. Side characters from other teams didn’t get much thoughts, but I’m sure that’s due to budget and time constraint.

7. Favorite singles match?

First thought would be Siyang and Jingwu’s match. But that’s bc I’m biased. Upon thinking more, I like Lu Xia and Zhuo Zhi’s match during practice in the rain. They are a good match up, and it’s a shame we never got to see the end of it (in any adaptation.) Zhuo Zhi was actually being serious haha. It’s like they’re battling for the title of Siyang’s no.1 favorite.

8. Favorite doubles match?

OH i gif this so hard, but the Rival pair match!!!! god I love their dynamic and their development on the court! I swear when Golden pair graduates, and Baiyang (Kaidoh) and Qiao Chen became capt and vice capt, they’ll be the new Golden pair. Who else know you better than your rival amirite. New recruits would whisper behind their backs “are you sure that’s Yu Qing’s golden pair? they’re fighting like cat and dog” and then be flabbergasted when witness their teamwork during game.

9. Favorite story arc?

Studying for exam arc and training camp/power up arc. I’m a sucker for those slice of life team interaction. It’s not a sport anime without the studying bootcamp at a team member’s house. The training camp arc has nice interactions with Yu Feng (Fudomine) and you can really see that while Yu Qing is one of the top tennis schools, they really have a lot of flaws and have to work really hard to be better! That and the pillow fight scene during the power outage. And Yu Feng thought they were training. All I’ve ever wanted. Very nice.

10. Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)?

This adaptation is hilarious! I love the whole Yan’s juice (Inui’s juice) running joke and Nanjiro’s inedible cooking with crawfish and durian and weird stuff. I also love how everyone just fainted when drinking it hahaha even Siyang couldn’t handle it. Stretcher bros are funny af, that one time they’re so used to carry stretcher and needed to bring it everywhere hahaha. And when they tried to paint each other omg. Also love when Qiao Chen crashed into Nanjiro, and Nanjiro was drawing chalk line around them to preserve evidence afd;sjlkda i died laughing. And when Qiao Chen swerved his bike and Lu Xia fell off. And Qiao Chen and Lu Xia’s double practice... there are a lot more, but I will shut up now.

11. What did you like most about the adaptation?

I’d say refer to my post Things I loved about... but basically I love how there are a lot of nuances from the anime in this adaptation. Everything is as similar as possible to anime but not forced. So I def prefer this adaptation to the JP movie or the Taiwanese series.

12. What do you think the adaptation could have improved on?

The tennis and cgi could be better imo. The JP live action movie had amazing cgi for the special techniques and they didn’t look outlandish or cringey... Also I might be wrong, bc I’m no tennis expert, but most of the actors didn’t seem to know how to play tennis? Their serve, smash and sometimes forehand really cringed me... no way those forms are legit... that ball would have flew into the fence... it’s a bit distracting and kinda embarrassing when I tried to get my friends to watch this hahaha “here watch this tennis show, but don’t watch the tennis in it”

13. Any other thoughts you want to share?

oof I spent way too much time writing this instead of studying... please come talk to me about this show! I love it so much! If yall ever write fic on ao3, please link me, I’d love to read bc there’s so little content for this fandom that it hurts me! Thanks for reading my rant until the end hahaha

[rachelannc]

Gilmore Girls (Credit: Warner Brothers).

Call me late to the game, but I have joined the world of Stars Hollow and fallen in love with the girls we know as the Gilmore Girls, twenty years after it first debuted, and I’m not even mad about it.

Mind you, I had no intention of binging or even finishing the entire show, but as I casually watched one episode on Netflix and found how easily-digestible it was, one episode turned into three, and then it turned into every other day, and then it became a nightly ritual and, well, you know how it goes.

So grew my uncanny obsession with mother-daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore’s witty banter, exceptionally close relationship and charming small town, that I became so invested in their world and was able to finish the show in the two months I have returned and been quarantined in my own little small town. (A surprise for me, as someone who hardly ever watches or keeps up with a show, let alone ever binged a show. Seven seasons? Where do I even start, I thought?!)

Twenty years ago, I was just a seven-year-old girl listening to Hilary Duff and the Backstreet Boys while watching teeny-bopper shows and everything on the Disney Channel. I never really got into soapy teen dramas until (obviously) later in my life when I became a proper teenager.

My first reaction to watching Gilmore Girls? Wow. This Rory girl seems a lot like me.

Rory, the shy and introverted goody two-shoes and bookworm who loves school and always hangs out with her single mother and lives and grows up in a small town where everyone knows each other and loves her; and me, a girl who grew up in a town called Pleasant Hill. And if those Chilton uniforms didn’t remind me more of my own private school uniform? Ha, well I don’t really know what to say.

But really, the resemblances are uncanny and watching the show made me think: What would have happened if I had watched this as a girl growing up? Would I have handled situations with boys differently or treasured my girl time and female friendships a whole lot more, if I had seen Rory and Lorelai grow up, interact, and handle regular growing pains alongside me, as well?

As a first-time viewer, the writing and pacing of the show immediately stuck out. It’s incredibly quick and entertaining, witty through and through. I appreciate all of Lorelai’s references to eighties pop culture and Rory finding refuge in classic literature and the strong female characters and feminists I had so long been inspired by, too.

Moreover, it was incredibly comforting to find another person I could see myself reflected in, onscreen, growing up and making mistakes and always trying to do the right thing, but still staying true to who she was all along.

Her experience was so similar to how my adolescence had felt and been: my mom, who had given me all I ever needed to grow up, and me, just wanting to do right by her, was always responsible and loved at school, receiving attention from boys but never really ever cared for it because I was just happy reading a book or playing my guitar, ha.

And if that scene between Dean and Jess getting into a fight over Rory at a party couldn’t feel even more familiar to my high school days — when I was caught in a love triangle with boys who confessed their feelings to me on the same night, pressured me to make a decision, only for me to see their friendships fall apart right in front of me at school. Wow, that was high school in a nutshell, ha! And it was funny to see moments like that played back onscreen, happening to Rory as she had wished for none of it to happen, yet couldn’t really do anything about these boys’ feelings for her at the same time. (I feel you girl.)

The fact Rory wants to travel and pursue journalism as well couldn’t hit it home for me any more. Her university days reminded me of my own writing articles and chasing stories for my school newspaper. And when her and Paris wanted to experience “all the college experiences,” embarking on a cliche spring break trip trying to do “spring break right,” I couldn’t help but giggle as I found myself in college as well, very well knowing I am not the party type, but decided to get “all the college experience” as well, embarking on a Vegas trip with friends which, I do have to say, was a hell of a time.

There are so many moments from the show that have stuck with me, but here are a few memorable thoughts and moments I’ve had:

When Rory said, “I cannot do this alone. I need my mommy and damn it, I don’t care who knows it!” (s3 e13) I think she was speaking for all of us.

“I don’t want to be that kind of girl. That kind of girl who just falls apart because she doesn’t have a boyfriend.” (s1 e17) Yup. Yup, yup Rory. That was me.

Lane and the Kims and their lifelong friendship was just charming, and I couldn’t help but feel for the Asian best friend and strict mom who means well.

Rory and Paris and their ongoing escapades. Man, you can’t help but love them. Their spring break trip was all too relatable: Rory drinking and drunk-calling Dean for the first time and them doing spring break even if they never want to do it again because they realize they just aren’t the partying type. “It’s a college memory. I intend on having as many college memories as possible.” (s4 e17) Yeah, all too relatable. Ha.

Also Paris being that one friend we all know who is a little too much, too bossy, too aggressive, can turn people off but is also one of our very best friends? It was also incredible to see how their “hatred” (and Paris seeming to pop up everywhere Rory was, lol) turned into a real friendship over the years. I loved seeing that.

Rory’s graduation speech: “My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be. She filled our house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Welty to Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible eighteen years, I don’t know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her.” (s3 e22) That was a moment that made me just cry and tear up, for being a grateful kid myself, but also feeling just how mushy Lorelai must have been feeling as a mother, raising a good kid, all on her own. Ugh. 😭

Oh, Dean and Jess. They represent the boys we all meet and fall in love with when we’re young: Dean, the dependable boyfriend who is ready to give you everything, support you, be there for you, and may always love you even when you might take him for granted; and Jess, the said “bad boy” and mysterious romantic who leaves you hanging onto every single word that makes you fall head over heels for him, even if you know it might be bad for you.

When Rory has sex for the first time (s4 e22): It was such a big, telling, and coming-of-age moment. And you could feel that. I could feel and know exactly how she was feeling: how excited she was, how dumb it was, how one’s feelings get the best of you even when you normally think every action through and make reasons to justify it. God. I was also afraid to see how the show would handle the situation, especially Lorelai. I’m glad she was never quite overbearing to Rory and trusts her and lets her grow as her own individual, but I’m glad she put her foot down and told her how it was not okay for her to sleep with Dean, who was still a married man. #greatmothermoment

When Rory drops out of Yale and takes some time for herself:

I couldn’t have felt more seen. Going back home, bored at home all over again, finding things to preoccupy myself with until I got bored of it and wanted to move on to the next thing, because I genuinely wanted to… that feels very familiar. And it was heartwarming to see her have this moment and want it for herself. I know it may have been a controversial choice for many, but Rory’s quitting school let her evaluate her own choices, have the space and time to figure herself out — who she was beyond what everyone expects her to be — only to realize that she really does want to be a journalist. Her whole life had been predetermined by her surroundings, and we see just how hard of a worker she is, that to have this “slip-up” is actually the best thing she can do for herself — she realizes she can be and is responsible for her own actions. To experience that in college, rather than many years later down the road, is admirable.

And moreover, I appreciate how Lorelai handled the situation. She never forced Rory to do anything or made her feel bad about her decision. Rather, she let Rory have the space and time to want to go back to Yale and school to be a journalist. She realizes that no one can make that decision for her, but her. And I loved that. Another #greatmothermoment.

Even more so, when Jess surprisingly came back and tells her he’s written a book and reminds her that “this isn’t you,” (s6 e8) that moment almost broke my heart. It reminded me of a time I felt so lost myself and a boy who once knew me would be tough on me, because he cared for me and knew who I was and always have been, and wanted me to do “better” because I was better… I think we’ve all had those people who know us very well who tell us hard truths about ourselves. And we don’t really want to listen, but a part of us knows that maybe they’re actually right. 💔

I actually really liked Logan and Rory’s relationship and the sense of trust and maturity they had built since that infamous “You Jump, I Jack” life-and-death brigade episode (s5 e7). Beyond that, Rory and Logan were completely smitten with each other the whole time. They came from worlds that were incredibly similar, yet wanted to be different. I appreciate how Logan knew and acknowledged his privilege and mistakes. I appreciate how Rory made herself clear that she is a “relationship kind of girl” instead of an “every girl” and gets a boy like Logan to stop his ways. (If I had to be honest, I was never that kind of girl, either.) When they said they’d “factor each other in,” they showed ultimate support for each other. And it’s clear that they were each other’s biggest fans. (When Logan took Rory, Lorelai and Luke out for a Valentine’s Day weekend getaway? Wow.) It’s clear they have a lot of chemistry and fun together. And Logan’s smile to Rory. Ugh.

On Lorelai:

I thought Lolelai and Jason were actually kind of cute. A part of me wanted it to work out, but I knew it never would.

Oh man, I had a fat crush on Max Medina too.

I loved seeing Chris and Lorelai stick by each other throughout all those years, and actually try to make it work. He’s a good guy who means well, and it’s clear how comfortable they are with each other, but timing was never on their side.

The letter Lorelai wrote to Luke’s defense to have custody over his daughter legit brought me to tears. Luke really was there for Lorelai and saw Rory grow up. You can’t ever take that back. Ever. Ugh.

What happened between Lorelai and Chris was bound to happen, and I was actually so happy for Lorelai to be with him. I’m incredibly impressed at how the show was able to show such a raw, real and complicated feeling of never really being “in love,” so well.

Emily and Richard: what a hoot of grandparents. I loved all their comic banter. All those Friday night dinners and the show they always put on. Richard’s relationship with Rory was so warm and comforting, and Emily’s incessant complaining and nitpicking was great. But when Emily actually had a moment towards the end explaining to Lorelai how Lorelai was able to be a single mother, independent and all on her own, while she herself has always been a wife, not knowing how to be independent, couldn’t be a more self-aware moment.

After all of this, it’s incredibly refreshing to see a show like Gilmore Girls let its characters be who they are: wholeheartedly immature and charming, unabashedly flawed yet real. And while these characters could be problematic — Lorelai is at times immature and inappropriate, yet means well; her relationship with Rory may be too codependent that Rory ends up dropping everything to tend to her mom; Rory is part of an elite society that comes from wealth and privilege; Emily constantly hates on the help; etc.

As much as the above is true, it’s still inspiring to see how Lorelai and Rory take on — and maybe even take down — their given worlds. They bicker and laugh, whine and moan, lust, laze around and criticize, but they are also incredibly real. Just as we humans can often be short-sighted in our lives, Rory and Lorelai are too. Too often we are given female characters who are either a saint or a sinner, a wife or a girlfriend, a prude or a prostitute, that with Rory and Lorelai, we get both. I think we all are at times a little annoying, yet incredibly fascinating the next. And that’s probably what has made the Gilmore Girls so beloved and such a cult-classic since its debut in 2000: Its heroines are flawed, yet deeply human, just like us all.

https://twitter.com/rachelannc/status/1295641850913501185?s=20

https://twitter.com/rachelannc/status/1292361621071790091

Thoughts I Had While Watching Seven Seasons of ‘Gilmore Girls’ for the First Time, Ever Call me late to the game, but I have joined the world of Stars Hollow and fallen in love with the girls we know as the 

[liplicked]

               [  kaylee  bryant,  cis  female,  twenty  ]  it  looks  like  MADISON  GILBERT  is  late  to  class  once  again.  how  do  they  expect  to  get  their  degree  in  NURSING  by  skipping  class  ?  it’s  a  wonder  that  they  made  it  to  their  JUNIOR  year.  then  again,  i  heard  that  they  were  DISCIPLINED  which  may  give  them  a  pass  with  professors,  but  they  are  also  DEPENDENT  so  maybe  not.  all  i  know  is  that  they  remind  me  of  COLOUR  CODED  NOTES  IN  NEAT  HANDWRITING,  BURNT  SUGAR  COOKIES,  OBSESSIVELY  PICKING  AT  AN  EXPENSIVE  MANICURE,  so  watch  out.  oh  look,  SHE  just  walked  in  !

maddy  gilbert.  everything  in  her  life  has  been  meticulously  planned,  even  her  life  itself.  maddy  is  the  only  child  of  charles  &  nancy  gilbert,  who,  after,  a  long  period  of  trying  unsuccessfully,  finally  conceived  through  the  third  round  of  in-vitro  fertilization  –  and  that  shit  ain’t  cheap  !  even  before  conception,  charles  &  nancy  spared  no  expense  for  their  little  girl,  and  that  didn’t  change  through  the  rest  of  her  life.  

maddy  went  to  the  best  daycares,   then  the  best  private  schools,  then  on  to  whitton  university  like  both  her  parents  before  her.  nancy  had  been  the  president  of  zeta  beta  zeta  in  her  time,  and  maddy  dutifully  followed  suit,  joining  the  sorority  in  her  first  semester  of  university  with  jessica  santiago  as  her  ‘ big ’. 

less  than  a  month  into  her  freshman  year,  maddy  met  jacob  wright  at  a  sorority / fraternity  mixer.  he  was  a  year  older,  and  she  was  smitten.  a  relationship  quickly  began.  and  then,  in  august,  just  as  quickly  ended.  (  she  claims  it  was  mutual,  but  anyone  who  witnessed  her  crying  into  tubs  of  ice  cream  and  watching  old  romcoms  in  pyjamas  would  say  otherwise.  )  

and  then  in  november,  he  was  making  out  with  jessica  santiago  at  a  party,  and  then  he  was  missing,  and  then  he  was  dead.  not  the  best  way  to  end  a  relationship.

how  would  one  describe  madison  gilbert  ?  someone  being  nice  might  say  sweet,  thoughtful,  caring,  studious,  conscientious.  someone  being  less  nice  might  say  needy,  goody-goody,  a  pushover,  a  crybaby,  a  tryhard.

she’s  the  girl  next  door.  the  sidekick.  lawful  good.  the  girl  a  meaner,  more  cynical  girl  might  look  at  and  say,  at  least  i’m  not  like  her.  maddy  is  definitely  the  kid  who  cried  when  her  parents  dropped  her  off  at  kindergarten,  and  the  girl  who  stops  on  the  street  to  give  loose  change  to  people  begging  for  money.  she’s  not  stupid,  or  naive,  like  some  might  think.  she’s  just  excessively  tenderhearted.  

gets  anxious  very  easily  !  she  does  not  do  well  with  people  not  liking  her,  and  can  be  a  bit  of  a  people  pleaser.  she’s  very  worried  about  how  people  perceive  her,  which  makes  her  needy  and  dependent,  which  makes  her  worry  she’s  being  too  needy  and  dependent,  which  makes  her  worry  about  how  people  perceive  her  …  it  ain’t  a  cute  look  !

to  cope  with  the  anxiety,  she  bullet  journals,  almost  obsessively.  she  takes  cute  pictures  of  her  cute  notes  with  her  cute  manicure  and  a  starbucks  frappucino  in  the  background.  has  a  whole  studygram.  her  room  is  constantly  neat  and  tidy.  honestly,  if  she  wasn’t  such  a  pushover,  she’d  be  a  total  control  freak.  order  and  stability  calms  maddy.  some  might  call  her  boring,  but  she  doesn’t  care.  (  well,  no.  she  cares.  she  cares  a  lot.  so  sometimes  she  might  get  into  sticky  situations  for  the  sake  of  not  being  seen  as  a  wet  blanket.  )

i  feel  like  i’ve  really  been  dragging  maddy  through  the  mud  here,  but  she’s  got  her  strengths,  too.  she’ll  be  the  most  supportive  friend  you’ve  got.  extraordinarily  intuitive  to  other  people’s  emotions.  she’s  studious,  and  disciplined,  and  organized,  and  genuinely  intelligent,  though  prone  to  overthinking.  and  she’s  so  kind.  she’s  a  soft  bb.  pls  be  patient  with  her 

WANTED  CONNECTIONS  !

this  gon  be  messy  cause  i’ve  already  spent  ages  writing  her  bio  &  now  i’m  impatient

bad  influence.  i’d  love  someone  who’s  a  bit  more  rebellious  &  chaotic  and  can  drag  her  into  sticky  situations  and  stress  her  out  a  whole  fuckton  please

girl  squad.  I  NEED  GIRLS  SUPPORTING  GIRLS  IN  MY  LIFE  PLEASE  !!!!!  especially  after  the  whole  thing  with  jacob  and  jessica  ....  ya  girl  was  a  wreck.  give  her  some  support

unlikely  friends.  she’s  very  girl  next  door.  gimme  someone  who’s  not  but  these  two  manage  to  get  along  anyway  !

hookup.  maddy  is  definitely  not  the  type  to  hook  up  with  people  so  this  would’ve  probably  been  a  one  time  thing  n  she’s  probably  suuuper  embarrassed  by  it  lmfao

unrequited  crush.  PLEASE  ....,, ..  maddy  is  absolutely  the  type  to  fall  head  over  heels  for  someone  who  is  not  interested  in  her  !!  bonus  points  if  it’s  a  lady  n  maddy  slowly  comes  to  the  realization  that  she  ain’t  as  straight  as  she  thought

enemies.  ok,  i’ll  admit  it.  sometimes,  maddy  can  be  super  annoying.  sorry  girl,  not  everyone’s  gonna  like  you  !!!  please,  give  me  people  who  just  cannot  stand  maddy  so  that  she  can  try  embarrassingly  hard  to  impress  them.

OR,  somehow,  the  rare  person  who  maddy  doesn’t  like  !

slow  burn  /  friends  to  lovers.  do  i  even  gotta  elaborate.  bring  me  that  mushy  stuff.  maybe  they’re  pining  after  maddy  and  she’s  totally  oblivious.  maybe  they’re  friends  and  she  thinks  they’re  cute  but  she’d  never  say  anything.  i’m  talking  REAL  slow  burn  shit

rebound  bf.  as  much  as  i  love  maddy  she  is  needy  af  and  probably  is  the  kind  of  girl  to  normally  be  in  a  relationship  so  ....  a  guy  she  got  together  with  probably  a  few  months  after  jacob  died  (  even  tho  she  clearly  isn’t  healed  from  that  )  but  she’s  kinda  in  it  just  for  the  stability  ......   yikers  :/  they  could  still  be  together  or  maybe  they’ve  split  up  by  now

someone  she’s  tutoring.  she’s  a  smart  bih  what  can  i  say  !

childhood  friends.  this  shit  would  be  cute  af  thankssss

or  literally,  anything.  anything  please  god  i’ll  pay  you

[soul-music-is-life]

Pls give us some Sammy pls pls pls pls pls pls pls even if it’s like a paragraph? Pls

I’m doing a "try not to hate my fluff writing” challenge. I have a love-hate relationship with my prompts, especially the lighter ones, because I feel like they lack depth. And when I write them I don’t get a chance to obsessively edit them, so they feel unclean and unpolished. It’s such a different vibe than I’m used to with my stories. But I’m trying to own that doubt. Here is my nice little unclean unpolished “inner critic is screaming and pulling her hair out” prompt.

***

The Rosewood High School Bake Sale was one of the biggest sales of the year. Everyone was encouraged to participate. Normally, Grace didn’t go near the kitchen unless there was pizza on the table, but Lily had made it a competition and Grace couldn’t resist. They were further enticed to do well when they found out that the students who sold the most baked goods would get a $200 gift card.

They argued about what to make for almost two days. They’d finally decided on two different recipes. Chocolate chip brownies and snickerdoodles with salted caramel chips. What they weren’t counting on was the extra ingredient of chaos that their little brother would bring to the party.

“Alright, Sam is down for his nap. Let’s get going.” Grace quickly shuffled into the kitchen.

Lily had all of the ingredients separated nicely next to all of the measuring cups. Grace didn’t even bother looking at the recipe. She just started mixing things together.

“The whole point of this is to actually sell the food. No one is going to buy pastries that could be used as a weapon in a war.” Lily snatched the flour from Grace and put it on the counter behind her.

“Okay, Hell’s Kitchen.” Grace scoffed.

“Oooh, Grace said a bad word!” They heard a chipper little voice coming from the living room.

“Sam, you’re supposed to be in bed.”

“NO! I don’t want a nap!” He came toddling into the room. He saw all of the ingredients laid out and his eyes lit up in delight. “I help.”

He walked over to Lily and tugged on her apron. He lifted his arms up.

“How about we read you a story, peanut?” Lily picked him up.

“No.”

“Okay. Let’s do your nursery rhymes. You love your nursery rhymes.”

“No.”

“Why is that his favorite word?” Grace muttered.

“I want a cookie.” Sam reached for the brownie batter.

“Sammy, that’s not…”

Before Lily could stop him he’d dipped his entire hand into the batter. He shoved his fingers in his mouth and smiled at Lily. He licked most of the chocolate off and then pat Lily’s chin, leaving a large brown smudge against her jaw.

“I help,” he said again. He pat Lily’s apron.

Grace snickered at the mess he was making on her fussy clean sister. Lily licked some of the batter off of her lip and then reached for a towel. She handed Sam to Grace and then wiped her face off.

“Okay, big guy. You want to help?” Grace dragged his booster seat over to the counter. “I’ve got a really important job for you.” She put him down in the chair and then handed him a spoon. “I need you to stir something for me.”

She grabbed a plastic bowl and filled it with water. She figured it would be the easiest thing to clean up.

The water distracted him for a little while, leaving Lily and Grace free to bake. But as he watched his sisters he became determined to do more. He watched Grace pour a cup of measured flour into a bowl with milk. Sam saw the bag of flour sitting close to the edge of the counter. He moved to stand up in his chair, reaching for the bag. He managed to grab it without his sisters seeing.

He reached in and pulled out a handful. He really liked the feel of it, so he reached in with his other hand and grabbed another handful. He dropped some into his bowl, but it didn’t look the same as what his sisters were making, so he grabbed more. The sticky pasty mess was getting all over him. He stirred the water, flinging flour everywhere, including in his hair.

“Sissies!” He exclaimed. He was proud of himself.

“Just a second, Sammy.” Grace tapped a button on the stove.

Sam grumbled angrily. He didn’t like that they weren’t paying attention to him. He grabbed the bag of flour, his little hands barely able to grip it.

He looked to see if there was any more white stuff so he could make more food and make his sisters even happier. He couldn’t tell if there was anything in the bag, so he tilted it towards his face.

Flour came pouring out of the bag, painting his face completely white. He closed his eyes in surprise. Some of it got into his nose. He sneezed and dropped the bag next to the bowl, sending the bowl crashing to the floor. Lily and Grace both spun around.

“Oops.” Sam looked down.

When he looked back up he saw his sisters staring at him in shock. He could only see the mess that he’d made on the floor. He couldn’t see what a mess he’d made of himself. He had flour everywhere, including caked into his hair.

Grace snorted.

“Oh my God. He looks like he’s covered in cocaine.” Lily gawked.

“Hey, lil Scarface, how ya doin?” Grace snickered.

“I fix it.” Sam climbed out of his chair.

He smooshed his hands into the watery flour mess on the floor. It was starting to look like a little snowman.

Grace was howling in laughter.

“Where is my phone? I have to get a video of this.” Grace looked around the kitchen.

She grabbed her phone from the table and pointed it at Sam to take a picture. She was still laughing hysterically. Sam picked up a mushy pile of wet flour and hurled it at Grace. It hit her in the face.

Lily doubled over in laughter.

“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?” Grace wiped her face off. She grabbed some of the dried powder from the floor and hurled it at Lily.

“Real mature.” Lily rolled her eyes. “Come on, help me get him cleaned up.”

Sam let out a squeal and then started running around the table. He led his sisters on a chase that ended up with him knocking one chair over and using another chair to climb up next to the counter to get to the chocolate. He pelted his sisters with chocolate and caramel chips.

It turned into an all our war between the three of them.

By the time Alison and Emily got home Sam had stripped out of everything but his diaper and he was covered in flour, chocolate, and icing. He was standing on the table shouting out a loud toddler war cry and throwing chocolate chips at his equally messy sisters.

Emily immediately pulled out her camera. She was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. Alison stared at the scene for a few seconds. A confused expression spread across her face.

“I don’t remember doing any acid,” she muttered.

“This is my favorite day ever.” Emily aimed her phone at their kids and snapped a picture.

Lily, Grace, and Sam were so busy creating chaos that they didn’t register that their moms had walked into the kitchen.

“What is going on here?” Alison questioned.

All three of them immediately stopped what they were doing. Sam was still giggling.

Lily and Grace pointed at their little brother and simultaneously said the same thing:

“He started it.”

Emily walked over to their youngest.

“Is that so? Sammy, did you do this?”

Sam grinned at her. He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he scooped a chunk of brownie mix and icing off of his chest and smeared it on his mother’s face.

“That’s…” Emily wasn’t the least bit surprised, “Thank you, son.” She licked the batter and icing off of her lips.

“I helped,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her neck and gave her a huge messy hug.

“Yes, you certainly did.” Grace smiled.

“So much for the bake sale.” Lily shrugged.

Most of their ingredients were all over the floor…or all over them.

“We could always just sell him instead.” Grace suggested.

“Aw, because he’s so sweet?” Lily asked.

“No. Because he has $200 worth of groceries painted all over him.” She looked at Sam offering Emily a chocolate chip. Grace smiled. “And because he’s so sweet…”

They didn’t end up winning the gift card, but they ended up with something priceless that day. Photos and videos that they could one day use to embarrass their little brother on his wedding day. They were awarded with memories to last a lifetime. And a mop bucket and soap to clean up the war zone in the kitchen.

[likeshipsonthesea]

The Picture

Hey! So yeah. I finished it. It’s really silly and short and fun and I enjoyed writing it! I think originally this was going to be this long, drawn-out, angsty thing that ended with feelings and mushy sex, but I’m actually really happy with how it turned out to be, which is completely different. I don’t often get to do fun silly stuff. So enjoy!

(Also I could have sworn that this was based on an actual picture I’d seen somewhere but I can’t find it, but just know that something like the fic describes actually exists somewhere!)

         When Dex sees the picture pop up on his phone, the buzz of wanting to get laid flares up quick and hot. It’s a guy, the picture obviously taken in the mirror. It’s a side view of the man’s lower torso and upper thigh, but this man is so beautiful that this simple perspective turns Dex on more than any other dirty picture he’s ever seen.

        The man’s thighs are huge, stretched across most of the screen, with an intricate pattern of stretch marks, light against the dark skin, spanning like artwork from the top of his thigh downward. The picture was artfully taken in a way that the man’s crotch isn’t in the picture, but just the hint of dark, curly hair can be seen. This hair leads up to a toned stomach, abdominals starkly outlined and tempting and oh so lick-able. Dex is a little overwhelmed.

         Apparently, this guy had seen Dex’s own profile picture on this app and also found it attractive, because he sent Dex a message. It’s a simple Hey, but it alights desire in the bottom of Dex’s stomach. He hasn’t gotten laid since the very beginning of this year and, when he turned eighteen, he didn’t see anything wrong with making a “dating” profile to try and get some easy sex around campus. The app works by location, so everyone on it is mostly from Samwell, and the prospect of getting laid overruled any reservations he had about the app.

         Now, getting this message from such a tantalizing picture, Dex is extremely pleased with his decision to join this app.

        Hey, he sends back. He gets a reply immediately.

         You free now? the guy asks.

         Yeah. Dex doesn’t need to ask to know that this is only sex. It’s in his own profile that he’s only here for hookups and, judging by this guy’s picture, he’s here for the same.

         Wanna meet at Annie’s? Fifteen minutes?

         See you there.

         Dex pulls on his jacket, having already dressed himself in anticipation of this moment (he’s wearing his best boxers and the jeans that made Bitty wolf whistle when he saw them on Dex the last time they went shopping together), and rushes out the door. Annie’s is about twenty minutes out from his dorm, so he might be a little late, but he figures five minutes isn’t too much of a difference to risk his chances.

         He gets there in a cool eighteen minutes and walks up to the counter to attempt to act like he’s not just here to meet a potential hook-up. This particular barista knows his order by now, a simple black coffee because it’s cheap and he doesn’t mind the taste, so he gets his coffee and pays quickly before taking a seat at one of the tables. There aren’t many people here, as it’s around 9:30 at night and coffee isn’t exactly a nighttime drink, but there are a few students cramming or finishing up essays with their fourth cup of coffee sitting in front of them.

         However there is one person who isn’t furiously typing on a laptop or falling asleep on top of a textbook. In the far corner, next to the front window, sits someone who matches the picture perfectly. Gorgeous dark skin, brown curly hair, thick thighs. He’s beautiful, no doubt about it, sitting there with a book in his hand, illuminated by the moonlight. Dex would have almost no problem going up to this guy and introducing himself before going back to the guy’s place for a nice one-night stand. However, there is one problem.

         The guy is Nursey.

         Dex decides to take the easiest out from this situation, so he stands up, grabs his coffee, and walks out of Annie’s without looking back.

 *~*~*

           There’s no problem after that. Well, that’s a lie. There is one big problem after the whole almost-fucking incident; that damned picture.

         Nursey looks so good in that picture. With his thick thighs and teasing curly hair and toned abs. He’s a dream and Dex can’t stop obsessing over the fact that he was this close to fucking Nursey. He goes back on the app, ignoring Nursey’s questioning texts about what happened? and where are you?, and screenshots the profile picture. Just to satisfy his curiosity. Maybe it’s not Nursey; maybe Dex’s usually-dormant-imagination was just screwing with the situation.

         Then he looks at the picture and yeah, no, that is definitely Nursey. Dex has gotten enough glimpses of Nursey’s abs to know that it’s him in the picture. And now he has those thighs and that curly dark happy trail to add to the picture and shit, if this wasn’t a problem before the dating app, it definitely is now. Because Dex can’t look at Nursey without seeing the picture, can’t think of him without desire surging through his entire body.

         Dex tries to fix it, attempts to hook-up with somebody else, but it doesn’t work. All he can think is thick thighs, beautiful stretch marks, curly dark hair, abs pretty enough to lick vodka off of. He starts dreaming about them, waking up hard or, frustratingly, cold and sticky. It’s becoming a serious problem, distracting him on the ice, which is just not acceptable. Something needs to be done about the situation; Dex’s hockey scholarship and sanity depend on it.

         So Dex does the most rational thing he can think of; he talks to Nursey.

         It’s probably completely ridiculous, but it’s the only thing he can think of that doesn’t involve scheming or dramatics. Dex will simply approach Nursey with his problem and, together, they can figure out a suitable solution.

 *~*~*

           It doesn’t go exactly as planned.

         “That was you?” Nursey asks, incredulous, when Dex explains the situation. Dex flushes deeper than he previously was, embarrassed that Nursey can’t believe that he was actually attracted to Dex. Or, at least, that’s what Dex is interpreting from the reaction.

         “Uh, yeah.” Dex coughs, trying to expel the awkwardness from his throat. “So, like, I think we should have sex.”

         “What the fuck. Oh my god. Dude, give a guy a minute to process.” Nursey stares at the table between them, shaking his head intermittently as he apparently thinks through everything that happened. Dex allows him this, as he was pretty screwed up when he first figured it all out too. “O—okay,” Nursey finally says, after forever later, “I think I’ve figured everything out except.” He squints at Dex. “Why do you still want to have sex?”

         “That fucking picture,” Dex says, holding his hands out, clenched, to display his frustration. “It’s too fucking—it’s too hot, okay, I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s affecting my hockey.” Dex can feel his blush spreading across his face but he can’t give a fuck. This fucking picture is jeopardizing his scholarship. He needs to get it out of his system.

         “Okay, one? Real jarring that Dex the Straight™ is losing his shit about my nude. Two?”

         Dex interrupts to say, “Straight t-m? Really?” but Nursey continues without pause.

         “You think fucking will get you to stop thinking about it?” When Dex imagined this conversation, he predicted a healthy amount of embarrassment for himself and an unhealthily large amount of chirping from Nursey, but Nursey doesn’t seem to be making fun of him. If anything, he appears sincere.

         “Yes,” Dex says slowly. “I’ve thought about it logically. If we fuck, then the picture should lose it’s power or whatever.”

         Nursey looks back at him for a second before shrugging. “Sounds chill.”

         Dex is so ecstatic about getting past this picture thing that he doesn’t even roll his eyes at the “chill.”

 *~*~*

           Dex huffs, smiling at the ceiling as his breathing evens out. He can’t say for sure, but he thinks that it must’ve worked. He definitely isn’t thinking about the picture anymore. No, now he’s thinking about the sounds Nursey lets out when Dex does something he likes, the way his muscles constrict before he comes, the feel of their bodies sliding together, their mouths catching, everything about sex with Nursey.

         Dex blinks.

         Oh fuck. This is so much worse.

         “Dex?” Nursey says, breathing similarly labored. “I don’t think it worked.”

         “No,” Dex says, dejected, “it didn’t.”

         “Well.” Nursey turns on his side, cupping his head with his hand and using his elbow to hold himself up. The blanket falls until it’s just barely covering his crotch, the beginning of his happy trail enticing Dex to follow. Nursey grins at him. “I guess we’ll just have to keep having sex until it works.”

         Dex sighs heavily, put-upon. “I guess we will,” he says, faux-annoyed, as he pushes Nursey back onto his back and looms over him.

         “I’ll be a lot of work,” Nursey says, nodding seriously. His hands come up to clutch at Dex’s shoulders, where little raised red lines are already present. He digs in lightly and Dex sighs.

         “I’m willing to put the time in,” Dex says, settling into Nursey’s lap. “I have a great work ethic,” he says, and kisses Nursey as he laughs.

[ghostmartyr]

Okay. Let’s try this again. But healthy-like.

...Which, since it’s me, means religious stuff. I understand if reading about how I want to blow my brains out is easier to stomach.

Things are bad, but not insurmountably bad. I have a solid support system. The monetary side of that support system scares me to death, but nothing has gone away yet. Even if it does, I am supposedly devoutly religious enough to believe in miracles, and believe that divine intervention is very literally the only reason any of my life has been possible.

There’s no reason to think that’s going to change. The fact that I don’t find that entirely comfortable is between me and God, and the more energy I put into that, the more it’ll be okay. Life is bad enough that only a miracle can save me, and I believe in miracles. That’s like the opposite of a problem.

In theory. Practical application of said theory is lost somewhere between wanting to shoot myself and deciding to announce to the general public that I want to shoot myself. Every time I point out to myself that my faith says I’ll be okay because God’s always there for me, another, deeply cynical part of me points out that He was also there for me when I had sepsis, and if I’m being honest, that was the most horrifying experience of my life.

Knowing that I can come back from anything really just fills me with existential dread, because you know, I have seen a fair share of ‘anything,’ and I don’t care for it. I don’t want to know that I can survive anything. I want to be safe from anything happening to me.

Historically, I am the person who ends up eaten by a whale. Or I guess it wasn’t actually a whale? My Bible literacy is made of fail, but the point is, me and God are still in the “Do I have to?” phase of our relationship.

The current unwanted task is living.

To which the answer is no, I don’t have to keep living. However badly I screw this up, there’s an eternity waiting for me, and I can flip the switch whenever I want.

This life doesn’t have an eternity. It’s a unique, temporary, instant of existence.

Putting off forever for one more sliver of that instant, just to see where it goes, isn’t that hard. I do it by accident all the time. I go to bed, and wake up breathing.

I like my bed. It has a tiger bedspread. It’s thinner than it used to be, and I can’t make myself make the damn thing, but it’s snug, it’s mine, and I don’t see a problem with it. I feel pretty confident in saying that death would irrevocably change the interaction I have with my bed.

It’s temporary, so I should make the most of it. No one else is going to care about my bed or how my bookcase is organized, and even though I have days I don’t care either, there are days when I do, so what the hell.

Everything hurts a lot right now. I have zero control over the physical. Again, miracle needed, so I can just relax and coast and. you know, suffer. A lot. A real awful lot. An unfair lot.

...Yeah, no happy silver lining answers for the bad days or moods. They’re bad, I tolerate them badly, and I scare people. But I’ve been having a bad day for months now, and it hasn’t stopped me from doing things that aren’t so bad. Infinity War was amazing. I wrote 9000 words of a hs au my brain is convinced no one cares about. Several people have told me they enjoy it, so I know my brain’s lying about that, but believing that no one cares means that, while no one’s cared, I’ve written 24k words of story in a handful of months. Story I kind of dig. All while being horrifically depressed.

I think that turned into a silver lining answer.

Fuck, I don’t know, man, if I’d offed myself I wouldn’t get to write about Ymir wanting to bang a cheerleader, and that’s clearly the pinnacle of what I should be doing with my life.

I can never remember any of that during the bad times, and that sucks, but hey, maybe writing it down will make the memory a little deeper.

So, uh, positives.

Despite certain inclinations, I have not actually committed murder. Every tiny setback right now feels like the end of the world, but being able to wake up in the morning and hate the world would seem to indicate that it’s still there, so it’s just a very, very bad feeling, not real.

I have very little concept of what’s real or not, since my emotions sort of exist in peekaboo limbo. Babies have no concept of object permanence, and right now, neither do parts of me. On the one hand, awkward, on the other, it means that the tempest of rage is only summoned when provoked. Yay team.

Less positive, it is not good that suicidal rage has developed as a coping mechanism to doing slightly poorly in a video game, and once it’s started, it’s hard to shut off. I get it. I don’t feel like a person, so I judge myself based on accomplishments, and because of my health, those accomplishments are things like doing slightly okay at a video game, and I’m letting my entire sense of worth hinge on that. Along with other external factors.

This is bad, and unhealthy, and since I hate myself, I’m probably going to keep doing it. Not in a, “oh you scamp, haven’t you learned yet?” way, it’s just entirely possible that the fact that I can sometimes aim in a video game is really the most positive thing I can say about myself some days, and I can’t see a way to delicately switch myself over to understanding that it really doesn’t matter without losing one of my few bright spots.

But I am clearly overly investing in certain things, and I need to get into the habit of just turning the damn game off if it’s making me that angry. I know the moods come on fast, and I know I have delusions of conquering them before they go anywhere, and sometimes, I even break through the other side.

Oh well. I don’t like feeling like that. I hate that feeling enough that I should get into the habit of cutting my losses at the first sign of self-loathing. I know I feel like there is nothing else I can do with my time, but there is. I can watch anime. I can play other games. I own a game where the entire strategy revolves around killing yourself. I love it, and it keeps failure entertaining. I have other outlets.

Also, obsessive cycles have tripped me up my whole life. This is just one more, and it needs to be handled the same as all the others. No, it won’t be fun, and maybe I will be bored out of my skull, but that’s better than frothing with rage.

And I really should be watching more anime. I don’t know what it says about my mental health that I am actively avoiding things I have a long history of loving, but I’m guessing it’s nothing good, and even if I can’t fix the underlying problem, I can address the symptoms. Go watch more cartoons. Write more. Any day now, I can lock myself in my room and finish my Lego X-Wing (Poe’s, so it’s black, and so very badass, and no, I don’t know why it’s been collecting dust, but again, I’m sure it’s a sign of nothing good).

So the argument that I need to keep doing the things that make me angry is moot, because it isn’t actually all I have. It just feels that way, and all of my feelings are wrong and damaged, so I should stop listening to them.

...In a healthy, rising above way. No a repressing way. That is at least half of the reason posts like these end up happening.

None of this is really making me feel better right now, since I’m in a moment where I’m less than sure I have feelings, but that isn’t the point. I learn better when I put things into my own words, and I haven’t been taking care of myself lately. I don’t know that it’s even possible for me to do better than I have been, but the end result is the same, and the end result has me really tired.

This is like a benign to-do/ponder list. Maybe it will make an impression, maybe it won’t, but at least one more time, I went through the motions of trying to sort life and its greys out instead of painting the whole thing black.

Hopefully that something something. I dunno, I’m kind of a wreck, and I lost my perceived point more times than I want to count. I think I’m done here.

Except for saying thanks to the people who responded to the more... head explodey post. I’m bad at saying thank you, and letting people know how much they mean to me in general. I get embarrassed. Usually, when I hit my meltdown point, I know, on some level, I will find my calm again. Receiving kindness when I could have kept my mouth shut and gotten over it makes me uncomfortable. Especially when I know it’s probably going to happen again. People help me out so much, and with such regularity, and it kills me that it’s not enough, because it’s more than I could have ever asked for. I don’t know how to say thank you without feeling ashamed the next time. It’s like I failed, and dragged all of you down with me by letting you believe you helped me.

When that’s a really, really incomplete view. It helps. It always helps. It isn’t the magic bullet, but it always means the world, and it always bolsters me for whatever the next thing waiting for me is. I really wish I could say that more often, because it would be great if you guys could know it. But, you know, shy. Cagey about being vulnerable. Suicidal ponderings okay, heartfelt appreciation of someone’s value is overly mushy and something to fear. Obviously.

Also, I’m me. I let loads of stuff go unsaid because with the important things, there are times I feel it strongly enough that the thought of bringing it back to earth where you need to tell people that it exists for them to know that---unspoken understandings shade a lot of my relationships. Then I end up horribly insecure because I don’t know how many boundaries I made up or we actually both agree on, so I don’t know why I keep thinking it’s a good way to treat people.

What I mean by all of that, is thanks. For being a large part of why I’m still here. I wish less of you knew what I was going through. I hope things improve for all of us, and I hope we’re all around for a good long time to share the evidence of that.

[bakubrattt]

Sleep (Urie x Saiko)

I am Urisai trash, don't judge. Wrote this quick fluff thinking oh maybe my son Cookie might survive mama duck and go say fuckityolo420justblaze to the CCG with best girl Saiko and go join forces with the ghouls. ;~; I'll write more if enough people like this. ------- They were forced to share the bed together for the night thanks to having to rent a room in some shitty hotel while they remained under cover after defecting from the CCG. Urie Kuki wasn’t very happy about that. Sure, the shitty hotel part sucked, but he could deal. What he resented was having to share a room, let alone a bed with Yonebayashi Saiko. He could only imagine how the rest of the night would go. She’d probably stay up through the late hours, playing some silly RPG on her hand-held gaming device, tossing and turning to find a comfortable position every ten minutes. When she’d finally fall asleep, she’d probably snore very loudly. Having a small fraction of the bed left for room for Urie would be considered a luxury, he thought. He expected her to drool all over his pillow, or worse, cling onto his arm and leg and bury her hot, drooly face into his neck. Or, realistically, all of the above. Urie groaned as he finally mustered the will to leave the bathroom after he showered and face his awaiting discontent. She was lucky they were very close now, he thought. If it were anyone else, he would have probably just slept on the cold, hard ground. Well, he thought about it for a while, but ultimately the thought of a soft, warm bed was worth the tiny but oddly endearing pain in his ass he had come to genuinely cherish over time. “(Please be asleep. Please be fucking asleep, Yonebayashi,)” Urie thought to himself expressionlessly as he creaked the door and peered into the dim room. Urie stood there, still, his brows furrowing at the sight of Saiko laying on the bed in her nighty, halfway under the blankets, fingers laced over her chest as her big sad eyes stared at the ceiling. “(Huh? She’s awake…Not gaming…”) He was both relieved and concerned, “Yonebayashi. It’s late. Turn off the lamp so I can sleep.” Saiko barely blinked at the sound of his voice. She never moved as he climbed into bed with a sigh, lying beside her with a distance. “Alright, what’s wrong?” He stared with slight annoyance that he had to ask, or rather, that he cared enough to. He knew he owed her that and that turning over without a word was a dick move, no matter how much he had perfected the art of pretending not to give a rat’s ass about the people around him. There was no use doing that to Saiko. She was a perceptive little shit who knew just how much of a worry-wart softie that muscle-head was deep down…And Urie hated that. Saiko turned her head over slowly, her mismatch-colored eyes brimming with anxiety, her small lips in a pout. “Urie…What do you think will happen to the CCG? What about-…What about our friends?” She pleaded quietly, almost uncharacteristically quiet for the loud-mouthed little lady. Urie looked away indifferently, lacing his ungloved hands beneath his head as he found the ceiling easier to look at. “Does it matter? We’re terrorists, now,” he resisted an urge to shrug, “(They’re no longer our friends. We’re the enemy, now…)” Saiko huffed at the answer, rolling closer as she laid on her side and elbow, “yes! It does matter. They’re still our friends! We can’t just-“ “We made our choice. We’re doing the right thing. You can’t expect other people to follow. The CCG will inevitably crumble now and we can’t-“ “URIBO, YOU BLOCKHEAD!” She growled at him, punching a muscled arm as she nearly knocked him off the bed, “you’re not listening to me! We can’t just fight from the ghoul’s side blindly. We’ll be fighting our friends! We-…We have to get them on our side, somehow…” Urie blocked any sight of her annoying face looming in his vision as he pushed her tiny fist away, climbing over the edge of the bed to resume his spot as he fixed his violet hair, “do you honestly think people like Hsiaou and Higemaru are going to fight for the CCG once the truth reaches the media? Once they learn I’m alive (with a vengeance) and find out what really happened when we fought Furuta? (That corrupt fucking bastard and his shitty duck sidekick…) And Mutsuki has gone completely mad. He won’t see the truth of any of this. He’s blinded by obsession and Aura will continue to fuel him. I’d hate to say it, but they’re a different story, and we’re not going into that tonight. (You won’t want to hear any of it, anyway.)” Saiko opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. “Really, Yonebayashi…” Urie sat up, finally looking at her, “(say, what’s with that look on your face?) You think too much. You talk too much. Just hush that little head (and mouth) of yours and sleep. I promise you, this is all going to work out.” Saiko sat up as well to meet his tired gaze. She ran her petite fingers through her sky-blue locks as a nervous habit, still staring at those dark, sullen eyes Urie had, as if pleading for a better answer. That wasn’t enough for Saiko. She wanted to be told that everyone would live happily ever after; that no one else had to die, that they wouldn’t have to inevitably be forced to fight Mutsuki and Aura, that this would all have a happy ending. Although, no matter how much she wanted to hear that reassurance, she knew Urie wouldn’t tell her such silly little lies, and she had to accept things being as fucked up as they were. “I-…” She choked out, turning away as she felt the tears building up in her eyes, “I can’t sleep, I-I can’t think about what’s gonna happen when we join the ghouls, we’ll fight the CCG with Maman again, o-or Kaneki, Ken, or-“ “Quiet, come here,” Urie said it softer than he had intended to. There was only one real way to hush Saiko now and make her snap back into her senses. If there’s anything he learned from her it was that being buried against someone’s chest was somehow efficient enough to shut someone up right quick. At least, it was true for him back when he rampaged after framing out for the first time. “Come here,” he gently pulled her into his chest and lied down with her, wrapping around her comfortingly. Saiko’s hair smelled of cinnamon rolls, pressed against the lower half of his face. Urie uncontrollably breathed her in, smiling at the familiarly sweet aroma of this small, charmingly infuriating little terrorist he had somehow gotten so close to. Even though the scent of human food had progressively gotten more and more vile for Urie, now with things like sandwiches and cinnamon rolls being completely inedible after his fight with Roma, the way Saiko smelled never changed for him. She was sickly-sweet in a childish sort of way. If anything, holding her comforted him probably more than it comforted her, he thought; yet he didn’t hate to admit that, at least not in this very moment. “This is what you did to make calm down and fall asleep, right?” Urie’s voice almost came as a whisper, “(God, when did I become this way? I’m no longer human, but I feel more human than I ever have before…)” “Yes…” She spoke, muffled in warmth and the smell of that favorite body soap she secretly loved that he used. It wasn’t even a question, Saiko not-so-secretly lived for this and her smile said it all as she snuggled Urie close, neither of them realizing it when she draped a leg over his, “although, your body feels a lot harder than mine, machy-boy. Heh…” “…You feel like cookie-dough.” Urie grumbled in annoyance. It wasn’t a compliment despite that he enjoyed the softness of her curvy little figure more than ever right now. That, he did hate to admit to himself. The fact that Saiko felt nice, hell more than nice against him was an uncomfortable thought to fathom. Not to mention that they were literally cuddling in bed and about to fall asleep together in God knows what other mushy positions. Urie tried his damn hardest not to think of it like that. He had just wanted to comfort her. This was a coincidental accident, he told himself; and it really was…Not that he could complain, at least. “Whatever, Cookie Urie.” Saiko giggled quietly in victory, sneaking a single kagune tentacle under her nightgown to reach for the lamp so she wouldn’t have to part from Urie. She figured he wouldn’t hold her again if she did.

[franeridart]

i love your art so much?? like the comics and stuff are fantastic and i'm sndhwahsjsbdjd about them

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!! Oh my g o d s!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Thank you for always providing us with such good soft kiribaku 😍 also, I’m obsessed with the Bakusquad in big comfy sweaters in that last comic! Omg they look so cute

!!!!!!!!!! I’m happy you liked them!!!!!! *O* big comfy sweaters are my weakness, honestly hahaha

Anon said:Hello! I adore your comics, they’re all so good I cri. There’s not a single comic you’ve made that I don’t like. They’re all just so cute and you always draw things I could see happening in canon. It’s like you understand every character so well and is able to draw them in character because of that, if you know what I mean?? And also your art is so pretty and unique I just!? I lov.

Anon said:I scream and cry *in a good way* very loudly everytime you update. So thank you.

You’re!!!!! so cute!!!! Oh my gods!!!!! Try not to scream if it’s too late tho haha

Anon said:Um… hello. I just wanted to say that i really love your BNHA and HQ stuff especially your Kiribaku. It has replenished my soul so thank you very much!

I’M GLAD YOU LIKE THEM!!!! Oh my gods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

Anon said:Hi! I was wondering what your main account is! Have a nice day hon, love your work ❤️

Thank you!!!!! And it’s @franeridan !! :D

Anon said:lol on your recent post i read “*Denki voice* the only fast thing about those two is their speed during NIGHTS” and I thought ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) they be getting it in bed. but then i re-read it and was a bit disappointed lol

A n o n they’re not even dating yet!!!!! They don’t even know they wanna date each other yet!!!!! They’re two small slow turtles!!!!!! Two cute little baby snails still unaware of their very much romantic feels for each other!!!! Also nothing is ever n s f w on this blog anyway lol

Anon said:I LOVE HOW YOU DRAW KIRI YOUR KIRISHIMA IS TOOO CUTE

OH MY GODS THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I love drawing him and I’m g l a d I can make him at least a bit as cute and adorable as he is in canon!!!!!!!!

Anon said:OC’s?

If you’re asking if I have any, then they’re in my original art tag!!

Anon said:The only word I can find to fit that last comic is "mushy." Fran, they're tough boys, how can you make them so soft. (No complaints tho)

....................they’re soft boys anon, mushy babies, as soft as marshmallows, squishy and fluffy for each other (glad you like it hahaha)

Anon said:Dude, I want someone to look at me the way Kirishima is looking at Bakugou in that drawing

*whispers* it’s loooooooooooooveeeeeeeeeeeeeee~ I’m happy I managed to portray that right hahaha

Anon said:is bakugou singing all star or despacito

……………welp, I did say you’re free to imagine whatever you like best, so if that’s your pick go for it hahaha (but if you pick despacito may I suggest you go for Eddie Van Der Meer’s fingerstyle guitar cover cause honestly that’s A+++)

Anon said:Kirishima’s eyes in that newest drawing blow me away. I mean, the whole thing blows me away, but holy shit, those eyes.

;A; thank you so much oh my god !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (っ˘зʕ•̫͡•ʔ

Anon said:Fraaaaann I have a biiig problem, I either keep sending asks but forget what they were or I keep *think* about sending asks and forgst if I did or not??? So “wait, did I sent this???” Is what I think when I read %80 of your answersssss. Fran help meee my forgetful ass is gonna be the death of meeee ahhh

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wELP! I answer to nearly all asks so either you were the one to send it or not 99% it’ll be answered anyway! But if you really wanna know which are yours you could put a ✧ at the end of your asks, so that you’ll recognize them!!!! :D

Anon said:Asdfghjkll ohh you and your art are so lovely I’m dead I’m never gonna stop staring at that last bakushima. Baku with a guitar singing to Kiri would already have been enough AND THEN IT HAD TO LOOK THAT GOOD I WAS BLOWN AWAY the colors are so wonderful and the shadows and postures on both of them and the details on the whole thing and even their clothes AHHHHH it’s so good 20/10 highest quality I’m staring at it and zooming in at everything and just !!!! Bless you

*REALLY GROSS SOBBING* thank you so much oh my g o d !!!!!!!!!!! this ask means the world to me??? Holy heck???? (* ;A;) bless you

Anon said:Okay but the “K” around his neck as me cryin

You guys notice everything oh my god hahaha I’m glad tho!!!!! makes me weirdly super happy~

Anon said:I honestly love seeing you babble in your tags, it’s so precious and I look forward to it every time I see you’ve posted something :D

…………..h e c k  that’s such a cute thing to say I’m !!!!! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄

Anon said:You: a quick doodle Me, and intellectual: a fucking masterpiece worth all my money ily kami-senpi

o h m y g o d you guys are out to kill me I swear (∗∕ ∕•̥̥̥̥∕ω∕•̥̥̥̥∕) (also you said Kami and I thought Kaminari and I just, yes, that’s good, I’m Kaminari, I’ll accept this title with 90% of all it entails l m a o)

Anon said:Lmao, I’m the franswers anon, let go with rice(cakes), anyways I’m sorry for the l existential dread about it, riipo

The dark secret I’m sure no one had realized yet following this blog is that I’m weak for puns and I can’t believe I hadn’t realized I could make one with my replies tag j f c shame on me

Anon said:Thanks to you i started to ship kaminari and sero so much, i have been writing some little fics cause they are so adorable, anyway thank you so mich for introducing me to this amazing ship💞

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH you’re MOST welcome!!!!!!!! Thank you for providing more content for this super tiny ship!!!!! ( *¯ ³¯*)♡

Anon said:What are your feelings on bakumina because I love this pairing (I actually love the whole bakusquad as a big ot5)

I love them!!!! I also drew them, once! Definitely my fav het ship for Bakugou, they look super nice aesthetically next to each other and their personalities would mesh super well, too! Also I’m still of the opinion they should have a kid. Like. Just to have the kid with the strongest quirk ever. Like, if they feel like it. Just saying. 

Anon said:*WAVES HANDS FRANTICALLY* YES HELLO!!! I also ship serobaku!!!! Like so freaking hard!!!!!!!!!!! ASDFGHJK I’d die if you drew them bc they’re so rare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOON!!! LIKE, SUPER SOON!!!!! Cause I found out I’m not alone and that’s!!!!!!! Pumping me up a lot!!!!! I love that ship it deserves a lot more love

Anon said:I wish that some day… Class 1-b will have more screen time…

After this arc, probably? They’re having some classes with 1A, so they’ll be around more! Probably!! I can’t wait to know what Hiryuu’s quirk is actually about ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Anon said:Why isn’t Kamisero also called ElectricalTape? The second I post some kamisero, I think I’m going to tag it ElectricalTape somewhere…

They should be called that! I usually only go for names-combinations for the ships names (so kamisero and serokami and seronari and so on), but I’m sure if they were a bigger ship that would be the name! It’s not kamisero, but there’s a fic by @shizuumi151 in which they call themselves that, by the way~ (……….it’s honestly one of the fics I’ve read the most times in recent times so tbh if you feel like it you should check it out (σ･з･)σ )

[itsnewstome]

12 with Jack and Davey for the 40 prompts thing

Send  me one of these prompts

This was???? Such a good prompt???? Thank you

Title: Three Little Ol’ Words

Pairing: Jack/David

Rated: Gen

Word count: 1504

    The process of coming into his apartment was very much a string of automatic movements. Jack locked his door after himself and then hung up his keys on the little hook on the back of the door (cute thing his boyfriend Davey once bought him. It was a small, circular wire rack hung up with a small nail. Inside the circle was a neatly fitted clay pot; in the pot dwelled the cutest little succulent Jack had ever laid eyes on). He toed off his shoes and kicked them to the corner, not spending the effort to put them in line with the other pairs.

  He flicked on a few lights on his way to the kitchen, dropped his backpack on a chair next to the table, and flung his mail to the counter.

  A moment later had him leaning against the counter, picking at a bowl of grapes he had just plucked from the refrigerator.

  Absently, he poked through the mail; the most notable bits were an internet bill and a catalog Davey was obsessed with - at least, that was until he had come across a plain white envelope, stuck with a floral stamp and large, scratched letters reading Jack Kelly over the middle.

  There was no return address, but Jack had a very good guess at who's handwriting that happened to be.

  Jack tore off the end of the envelope with steady fingers. The sound was the only thing in the dim little apartment, 'sides the clamour of the tenants above him, a toddler running around and the clang of a pan against a pot. Inside was a thick piece of paper, folded in thirds. The lines of words were on the straight and narrow, though the paper was unlined. The words were messy, smattered with crossed-out words and half-baked phrases.

  The handwriting was undoubtedly Davey's. Years of filching class notes and previewing small story excerpts made Jack recognize it instantly.

  Jack leaned his hip against the counter and crossed his legs at the ankle, getting comfortable for this curious occasion. Davey had never sent him a letter before - now that he thought about it, Jack had never received a letter from a friend before. The only things shipping to his apartment were bills, ads and the occasional Amazing purchase.

  Dear Jack,

  I must confess that this is odd for me. I've never written anything like this. But, well... I suppose all of this needed to be said.

  You are the best man in my life. You came in like a whirlwind, and had anyone ever told me that I would end up here, I would never had believed them.

  -I-

  -You-

  This is proving very, very difficult, Jack. A real struggle. I can never seem to connect point A, to B, to C smoothly.

  Let me try this.

  Basorexia.

  That's a big word. Scary word. Try it in your mouth. Sounds almost clinical, right? Like it's an ailment. Well, it kind of it, but I digress.

  It means a desire to be kissed.

  Swell, huh?

  (Do people still say "Swell"? That was odd. This is odd. God, what is wrong with me?)

  I never really felt that before you; I am not one for fantasizing about kissing strangers, and thinking like that about friends is just generally uncomfortable, isn't it? But with you it's... almost like a constant?

  Not that it's a question. I just find myself… um.

  -Fuck.-

  It isn't just about kissing you, Jack. It's about being near you. Close enough to hold you, to smell that godawful cologne I've learned to love, to be able to kiss you senseless.

  Like... when you come over on Friday nights, because my couch is comfier than yours, and we'll snuggle together and watch cartoon reruns on TV. That's one of the absolute highlights of my weeks - because the fact that I get to be so near you, to experience those Friday nights boggles my mind that you'd let me in on something like that.

  And this whole time, with my being at home with my family just Really makes it all stand out. I miss you so much. I miss being able to wake up next to you, and how we make breakfast together. I miss the way your fingers tangle in mine, and how you comb through my hair.

  And I have just realized that I'm talking like you died, or something. That probably isn't the best way to go about this, is it?

  Well.

  I know I'm only gone for a month. And that I’m coming home in almost a week. And I know this is weird, and that it should be said in person, or at least in a better way that isn't in a mess of rambling and me being clingy and mushy, but Jack Kelly.

  There were tappings of ink around the corners of the paper, giving Jack the mental image of Davey fretting, tapping his pen anxiously. Slowly, Jack reread the line over and then he read the bit before that again, trying to squash the little bubble of anxiety coming up his throat, threatening to choke him out.

  Jack Kelly. I love you.

  The phrase was scratched out four times, like Davey just didn't like the way it was written and he'd tried over and over before he was pleased (or at least satisfied) with the words.

  Jack's breath caught in his throat, right alongside his heart, and he found it difficult to breathe. He tried to make his eyes stay on the page, scanning over the line again and again, how the "L" was in a straight vertical line, how it contrasted with the gentle slope of the "I". He concentrated on the letters so he wouldn’t make a grab at his phone to call Davey up before he even finished reading the letter.

  I really, really love you. And I feel like I can say it, now. I feel like, if anything, it's overdue.

  So. Yes. That's really all. I really should have just Snapped you a picture of it written on a Post-It(™), but I figured that this... meant something?

  Something more?

  Hopefully.

  If nothing else, you can tell people about how saying I Love You-

  (The words were only crossed out once that time.)

  -saying I Love You meant so much to David Jacobs that he bought a godawful pack of writing stationary and went through the weird task of getting a stamp from his mother, just so he could send his boyfriend a letter.

  How funny.

  Now that I read that over, it makes it seem insignificant. Wow. That was a mistake to write that down.

  Uhm.

  Yes, so I am going to try and end this and save my non-existent dignity.

  I'm getting on a plane, coming home in just over a week, and I'm finding that the only reason I haven't flown back already, is that Sarah and Les would never let me hear the end of it. I am trying to soldier on, but it is hard. Wish me luck?

  I love you.

  It was the only phrase on the line, no mess-ups or crossed out words.

  You make it all worth it.

  I'll see you soon - even if "soon" isn't soon enough.

  - Dave

  Jack stared at the off-white slip of paper for a long moment. He took in the words and tried very hard to process them all through the thick haze that bogged down his brain.

  He read it over again. Once more. Twice.

  Finally, his hand dug in his back pocket, fingers jamming into the keypad until Davey's line was ringing.

  "Hello?"

  "I love you." The words were out in a flurry, a rush of breath Jack didn't know he was holding. "Dave, I love you."

  Davey made a surprised sound, something akin to a parrot squawk and a squeaky door hinge. It took him a moment before he replied. "I guess the letter came in, then?"

  "I just read it," Jack said, "like fifty times."

  "Oh. Well, hell." He laughed nervously and Jack found himself grinning like a fucking mad man. "I didn't think you'd like it. It was... all over the place. Jack, I can't even remember half of what I wrote."

  Jack spluttered. "Wait, you thought I wouldn't like it? God, Davey. You're an idiot." Davey made a small, wounded sound before Jack went on. "You're an idiot, because I love it. It was amazing. You're so amazing." His cheeks hurt, but he couldn't stop smiling, found he didn't want to. "I fucking love you, David."

  Davey's voice wavered, and Jack could almost see his quivering mouth stretched out in a smile.

  "I love you, too."

  "I'm totally flying out there."

  Davey spluttered at the very thought, but didn't protest. The next morning, Jack was stepping off a plane in northern New York state to the warm, open arms of his boyfriend. There were kisses exchanged and many, many repetitions of those three little words.

[hearts-in-hand]

This post deleted a bunch of the stuff I added to it - like four song dissects - and it’s so exhausting to think about that instead of doing a dissect I’m gonna do a really short dump of what the entire song means to me instead of a full run through. Sorry!

1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back by Olivia Rodrigo

This is for a fic I’m writing lol. I’m doing based off the whole album. I’ve been wanting to get back motivation to write it so I added the whole album to my playlist.

Me Without You (All I Ever Wanted) by All Time Low

God so many of these songs are honestly just about the very REAL struggle I see Jugpea having to go through to make their relationship work. For this one specifically, Sweetpea is used to hitting hard and making it count - when Jughead gets back up and returns to him every time, it’s different. New. Special. And for Jug, well he’s used to being withdrawn and forcing hardness to protect himself. He’s really very soft and gentle and kind and mushy - and Sweetpea is one of the VERY FEW people who see it in all its glory and loves it without taking advantage or weaponizing it. Yeah <3

My Strange Addiction by Billie Eilish

This song is actually pretty self explanatory. They’re drawn to each other but Everytime they meet something explodes, and they both struggle to find a balance between love and possession. Between wanting and needing. Between adoration and obsession. Their relationship is new and what both of them have been HUNGERING for but once they get it down it fits very well. Until then...

Summer of Love by Shawn Mendes

Oh this song gives me “Jugpea dated during the time skip and when we pick up in season five afterward they’re still in love but are now exes for some reason” vibes. But before the exes thing. I sometimes listen to this song and imagine what that time together might have been, and how it might have ignited a realization about how toxic Betty is... maybe that’s why they broke up - Jug panicked. And maybe that’s what lead to a certain email...

Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder

Jughead “I am deeply in love with Betty Cooper and always will be - there is not room on my heart for any other” Jones and Sweetpea “I’m a tough as nails, angry ass teenager and gentleness and kindness is weakness - a weakness I cannot allow myself” ...last name ...anyway, THEM falling in love? Seeing each other beginning of season two? Opposites clashing, leading into YEARS of pining that leads to a beautiful snippet of time where they are blissfully in love... and now they’re here. Exes. Almost strangers. Yearning once again, but this time so much more out of reach. Both of them sweat they’ll never do anything like that again - it was too painful. But they’ve made promises like that before haven’t they?

First Time He Kissed A Boy by Katie Elder

I add this song to every playlist that has first time/young love, especially for my bi boys who may be experimenting for the first time. I think they may have both dabbled but this is the first time a kiss has felt like THIS, and it changes everything. So yeah. This song!!

Dark Side by R5

This is literally just Sweetpea being like “lmao ditch the blonde and let a real man treat you” and Jughead pretending he doesn’t absolutely want to. I love this song for them oh my god the IMAGERY I get every time I hear it???? Golden. Beautiful. Perfection.

A Daydream Away by All Time Low

Okay but imagine after all the angst and healing and messing around and they’re in a good place and they’re so comfortable with each other. They’re together and it’s home. But they’ve been here before and GOD they’re terrified of messing it up again... so they just won’t. They won’t touch it or talk about it, because they couldn’t make it through another round of Jugpea failure. They’d rather have this than nothing.

Favorite Crime by Olivia Rodrigo

Another one for that fic I’m writing!! Really it would be such a rant - too much to put in one place. I swearrrrr I will get working on it LMAO

Dear Maria, Count Me In by All Time Low

We can talk about how much of a top Sweetpea is and how much of a bottom Jughead is but actually they’re both switches and as much as Sweetpea is ADDICTED to taking care of Jughead and just absolutely praising him, he also adores being taken care of and being praised and watching his sweet little boy’s eyes light with mischief and that delicious smirk paint his pretty face - the one that makes Sweetpea fall to his knees and make a fool of himself. Sweetpea will go wherever Jughead leads him; wherever he’s told to, and he won’t even question it.

Chandelier by Sia

Concept: Sweetpea partying and getting drunk to forget Jughead like he did during the Riverdale episode to forget about Josie.

That is all thank you for your time.

For every note this post gets I’ll shuffle my Jugpea playlist and reblog with the song that comes up and explain why it’s on there.

I am in a: mood.

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

Gotham 4x04: A Liveblog

Once again, friends, I come to you with review and summary of the latest Gotham events. And Ed’s back this time. ...god help us all.

TL;DR - I wonder what’s happening in the REAL Gotham where character motivation still makes sense

Ben, whatever happens, I’m holding you personally responsible

Side Note: what exactly IS an embalming knife? Like... where does a knife come into the embalming process? Is this the knife you use to carve out the mushy bits, is that it? Because like... to my knowledge, embalming is a primary function of embalming liquid. Like... mostly it’s preserving and shit. And I don’t know how a knife preserves fuck all. But maybe someone who knows anthropology or mortician practices can explain this to me.

“That cuneiform is definitely pre-Venetian” ...did... did I just hear that right? Oh, PHOEnician... that makes way more sense. I was just... had a heart attack for a second. Carry on.

Look Bruce, you could have a friend your own age! Or... you know, continue to live alone with your butler like... all normal kids do. I suppose you have Cat but... mmm. mm.

...Ed’s fine. He’s fine. Upside down in his... obsession pit. He’s fine.

It’s a TOTALLY NORMAL and HEALTHY thing to paste thousands of pictures of your ex all over the walls while you contemplate revenge, yeah that... this is fine. It’s all Fine.

You’re uh... looking a little ramshackle and disheveled there Ed, OH HEY KNIFE. HI, uh... Okay. Did you fucking... DRAW sketches of Oswald yourself? Oh my god Ed... oh my god. See you haven’t changed at all really.

Yeah, he seems fine

Meanwhile, stuffed birds all over the place. I’m sure that’s... fine

You know, it’s pretty great how ancient cultures are always keen to write their hellish prophecies on their murder weapons, always appreciate that

UHHHHHH SABER SKELETON. UHHHHHH. UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. *Randall Tier flashbacks* UMMM UMMM UMMM UMMM. I JUST UH. I FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS MIGHT WANT TO BE CAREFUL WITH THE ALLUSIONS YOU’RE MAKING GUYS. YOU DON’T HAVE A WILL GRAHAM TO SAVE YOU.

Just... just all of the safe. All of the safe.

Maybe uh... maybe don’t talk about the Demon’s Head being a person and then cut to a saber skeleton. Maybe we don’t encourage brutal fledgling serial killers hahahahaha. 

That uh... sure is some hair, there, Alexander Siddig. God this show’s aesthetic is fucking weird. 

...this whole sequence has been nothing but Hannibal allusions.

They are REALLY pushing for the Hannibal aesthetics. Got a real crush on that show.

Look Bruce! Your new friend has ALSO been traumatized by witnessing the death of his guardian! You have so much in common!

*frowns* Harvey left and didn’t tell Jim??? Like, given what happened this summer, I can totally understand Donal not being around for filming but... write it better than “Harvey left and didn’t tell Jim” Because that’s bullshit.

I also DO NOT WANT TO PARTICIPATE in a love triangle where 2 women fight over Jim’s soul NO NO NO NO NO. So if that’s where this is going FUCK OFF, FUCK EVERYTHING, AND FUCK YOU.

Welp, seeing another dead guardian should stir some shit up for Bruce

At least this sends Jim back to Barbara... I mean, that’s not really a positive, but at least I don’t hate Jim and Barbara, mainly because they have the stamp of canon on them

I don’t know how I feel about Babs hair this season, it’s... different

Okay, HARD NO on Ra’s-al-Ghul’s underlings, HARD NO. I just came from American Gods and THAT IS NOT ANUBIS. For one thing he’s white. What.

Intense staring contest with bowler hat. Oswald’s So Over It.

What’re you expecting Ed to jump out of it? Holy shit Oswald, calm down

I... you didn’t want to be disturbed... during your staring contest with the hat??? I... okay. Also, maybe close your fucking door then, it was wide open. Just saying.

Huh... Oswald and Sofia are meeting. Okay. Better put the masturbation hat away then Oswald, it’s a little too revealing

Hmmm... be careful Oswald. You’re right to be wary of her, don’t let her fool you. Also, Maybe Talk To Jim About This.

...White Rabbit. Really. *long, put upon sigh*

AAAAAAAAAAND the worst rap of all time! Well DONE Ed!

Oswald’s reactions to this are everything. Bless you Oswald. I love you. 100% everything I feel too.

Belated Side Note: Zsasz used to work for Falcone, and Falcone has taken control of him back from Oswald on occasion. Why then does Zsasz offer to stab Sofia? Is he truly loyal to Oswald now? Or was his relationship exclusively with Carmine? OR is it a bluff and Sofia’s already tapped him? Or will she tap him later? Lots of questions... lots of questions.

Yeah because WHY would you murder the guy??? It’s WAY more healthy for your psychological state to just... keep him on ice forever. That’s progress.

“I want Ed Nygma” we... we know Oswald. we know.

Always, ALWAYS the fucking docks. Goddddd. PLEASE GET A NEW SPOT YOU TWO.

Also, Oswald, DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO THAT??? That WASN’T a riddle, that was... statements. His brain is SHOT. God knows what a second spell in the ice will do.

Also also, I can guarantee that Ed won’t even be at the docks because he’s a dumbass now. And somehow the obvious answer will be wrong.

Um, frankly, I wouldn’t trust Bruce if I was Alex, Bruce is 100% the person who got Alex’s granddad killed. I’d be super pissed at Bruce. But... y’know, okay, whatever. Moving the plot forward.

Ahhh, Alex is giving Bruce the benefit of the doubt, I see. Nice kid. Very generous in his grief.

Also, why the shit would he come after you? He wanted the KNIFE, that’s it. I mean... I guess you’re a witness, but he didn’t see you so he doesn’t know about you. You’re not in danger kid. At least, not so much danger the police can’t take care of it, for once. You’re very much safe as houses until the plot inevitably fucks this up.

It would be a good idea to give up the knife tho, then you’re really in the clear

How the FUCK is Ra’s-al-Ghul at the library! How does he know to come here? Presumably he knew to come to the antiquities room because he was tracking Bruce because Babs told him to... I guess he could have tracked Bruce here then. Meh.

Ah yes. The creatures. Fuck that.

White people speaking ancient Middle Eastern languages. Mmmm nothing like it.

Ah, the old collapsing book case technique! Because no one thinks to GET OUT OF THE WAY of that shit. Nah, just gotta stand here and be crushed by the 3 ton weight of literature. It was my destiny to die this way.

Oh, I see, you’re just going to make like a harmless academic and this knife has been in your family for generations, of course...

You’re awfully paranoid kid. I mean... I suppose you were attacked now, so... I guess that’s justified

Uhhhh, kid, Bruce is not a Good Example of literally anything. He’s been training to become the world’s most popular vigilante for a few years now and that was born out of this very trauma so... y’know, don’t compare yourself to him. Please don’t. We don’t need more Batmans.

“No, you’re cool” I think you mean wealthy. Wealthy and cool CAN intersect but I feel like this is a classism thing. Let me provide you with a book on Marxism, kid.

If this doesn’t turn into another exploration of sexuality subplot, I’m gonna be disappointed

Uh, if he’s here on international business, like... check his visa Jim, he should have legal paperwork and shit to take that knife back to Nepal

JIM. WHY ARE YOU TELLING A MURDER SUSPECT THAT THERE IS A LIVING WITNESS. YOU’RE ACTIVELY PUTTING THE KID IN DANGER HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT NOT GOOD PROTOCOL JIM. Unless you were planning to trip him up on a lie, THIS IS NOT GOOD PROCEDURE JIM. THIS IS A HANNIBAL LEVEL FUCK UP. AS PEOPLE CONTINUE TO TELL HANNIBAL, THE ACTUAL CHESAPEAKE REAPER, SENSITIVE CASE DETAILS ALL THE FUCKING TIME. HOLY SHIT NO.

This... this whole interrogation is a shit show, oh my god, not great work, very bad work, the both of you. Awful lying, Get Good.

Welp. I guess Ra’s-al-Ghul can teleport. Or turn fucking invisible. Glad that’s very justified. Everyone know if you get resurrected you get Special Powers. The divine amniotic sack gives to all.

Yeah because Sofia Totally Won’t Challenge Penguin For Power. That Defs Won’t Happen. And It Especially Won’t Involve Jim.

Oswald You Good. You Good Good Good Villain. How I Love Thee.

Brilliant babe who is rightfully suspicious after 3 seasons of this bullshit. Y’all fucking forget that Oswald is a sewer rat, you cannot trick him.

Oh boo hoo Sofia, I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you

Her criticism may be valid, BUT, on the other hand, as I said, Oswald’s lived through 3 seasons of this bullshit, while you lived the high life in Cuba. You might have your father’s perspective, but you don’t have any of Oswald’s hands-on experience. I still stand by Oswald’s decision to just murder them, he’s played the politics here long enough to know there is no loyalty amongst thieves. Not for him.

You know, it’s very considerate of Ra’s-al-Ghul to break shit every time he enters a scene so we know he’s here. Very thoughtful of him.

Oh it’s his fucking creatures again... ugggghhhhhhh...

More quality rapping! Good job Ed! Continuing to be the Best!

HAHAHAHAHA *more Randall Tier flashbacks* HAHAHAHAHAHA! ALL of the Hannibal allusions! Phew!

...no. no to the bone gag. just no.

Yeah, kid’s dead. Good job Ra’s-al-Ghul, at least you come through on your weird ass threats.

I mean... Ra’s totally made you make that call tho Bruce, this is his sick game, it’s on him. No one should have to decide between the death of one innocent or the deaths of millions of innocents. That’s a bullshit moral quandary that doesn’t actually exist. He wants you to think like he thinks, that’s all, this is psychological warfare, that’s the whole point. Remind yourself he did this, not just for the active murder, but more so because he thinks there is something to be gained by making you do this. He’s the asshole responsible.

Ed, I’m just... sweetie, pumpkin, if your point is to prove Oswald is a coward or an idiot, then... you proved it. Running after him sorta... disproves your point. If you want to meet him and murder him then... make that the point. Just... show up and murder him in the first place. *siiiigh* Or invite him to a cordial murder, whatever, but don’t make it a contest of wits if what you rally want is a confrontation. Get your shit together.

*nods* He’s right, they do suck, they were AWFUL

This... that... was bizarre. This was bizarre. What... exactly does Oswald want? I don’t understand. I know Ed isn’t himself anymore, but... you could help him. You could help him become himself again. And you both hate and are afraid of the Riddler. Why... would you want him back? As you just said, you want him only to freeze him. And just... that personality wasn’t even WHOLE, it was a fractured disaster. That wasn’t even a person. Just like this isn’t even a person. Why would you taunt Ed with saying “you’re not him”? I know you want Ed as an equal, but... do you think he can only be your equal as the Riddler? Who you hate and fear? You’ve got some weird ideas floating around in your head, Oswald. I would make the argument that you don’t hate or fear the Riddler nearly as much as you claim to and you want to bang the living daylights out of him, but like... *siiiigh* I dunno. You didn’t always want that. You wanted Ed to be whole and your equal. Nothing you’ve seen of him since he was your chief of staff has been real. None of it, all of it was a mistake, aborted attempts at personalities. And I just don’t know what you want anymore if you won’t take this broken, defunct Ed and help him.

You’re pushing him towards becoming the Riddler again, so I guess that’s what you want. And maybe you’re tired of being his mentor, after all, you tried that, reluctantly, and that went SO well. Maybe you hope/expect him to work it out for himself, and come back to you when he’s ready. That would put your relationship in a WAY different paradigm than it has been... but... okay??? I guess??? I’m having another time of not knowing what the hell the writers want for them

Why. why why why why. I hate everything.

I hate Jim so much

Ben You Done Fucked Up.

[dragonkeeper19600]

Either, Do an analysis of Nazz's scene in the swamp from Big Picture Show. Starting from where Nazz and Kevin are thrown into the swamp ending at the point where Nazz chucks Kevin's bike into the swampy water. Or if you don't want to do an analysis you may answer this question Is Nazz truly a kind person? Do you think she has been wearing a mask? *If you have any questions look at the post on my page.

Everyone throughout this month has been consistently naming the swamp scene in Big Picture Show as one of their favorite Nazz moment. Their reasons for liking this scene in particular seem to be A. We finally get a moment of definite personality from Nazz and B. Kevin gets told off for being a jerk/idiot/Gary from Pokemon. So, a lot of fans view this scene in a sort of “Right Vs. Wrong” light. I rewatched the scene a few times to see if that reading holds up.

The last time we saw Kevin and Nazz before this scene, they were in the Lemonbrook Gag Factory. I know you said we only had to analyze the swamp scene starting when they’re in the pipe, but I think it’s important to at least remember what happened to them before that.

So: In summation, Nazz accidentally flips a switch, activating a conveyer belt at the factory. The conveyer belt begins to carry away Kevin’s bike. Kevin panics, and Nazz volunteers to get it, but in trying to reach for it (which involves standing on her tiptoes and reaching up like a ditz), she gets caught, too. Kevin is completely frantic. He tries to flip the switch back, and when he can’t, he shouts, “I’m coming, babe!” climbs to the top of the conveyer belt, dives heroically in front of the chute leading to the waste disposal pipe and at the last second grabs… his bike.

Whew! That was close.

Um, meanwhile Nazz is still kind of stuck on the conveyer belt. She shouts, “What are you doing?” because, of course, she was kind of expecting Kevin to try and save her and not the bike, but the only other thing she has time to say is his name before the conveyer belt dumps her into the exact hole Kevin saved his bike from and all three end up in the pipe.

Evidently, that was a pretty long pipe because the swamp scene starts with them still rocketing through it. It was still daylight when they arrived at the factory, and the sun has already set by the time they land in the water. Who knows what ecosystem of horrors they ran into along the way.

Anyway, Nazz comes out first and lands on her face. Just as she’s getting up, Kevin, like, careens over her with his bike hard enough to literally knock her shorts off. Not sure how she got ahead of him, seeing as how her fall from the conveyer belt is what knocked him in. Continuity error! NURSE!

Anyway, Kevin screeches to a stop, frantically pulls off his shirt, and begins polishing the bike with it. Nazz stomps up, covered in mud and with a water sausage stuck to her head, and shouts, “How’s your bike?”

Kevin’s response: “Oh hey, Nazz!”

That fucking “Oh hey, Nazz!” cracks me up. It’s just so casual! It’s as if he’s pleasantly surprised to see her in the neighborhood. Like, he hasn’t even been thinking about her at all up to this point. “Oh, hey? What’s up?”

Kevin’s obsession with his bike has reached a truly absurd level. This is beyond just being self-absorbed, it’s like he has no ego whatsoever outside of the bike. He ripped his shirt off, knocking his hat into the bog in the process, just to rub down his bike. It’s like even his own safety doesn’t matter compared to that of the bike. Where are we? Who cares? Bike. Is Nazz okay? I can’t hear you! Bike! Should I be taking my shirt off in a place full of mosquitoes? There is no God, there is only T H E  B I K E.

Anyway, this is the point where Nazz slaps him.

I have a few words to say about that slap. Nazz is clearly infuriated that Kevin has prioritized his lord and master, the bike, over her safety. She’s had a pretty stressful day, something she herself will bring up later in the scene. Remember The Scam That Went Too Far happened that morning. She’s potentially miles from home, exhausted, scared, and full of rage. A lot of people see her slapping Kevin as a moment of triumph for Nazz. However, I have a few qualms about women slapping men in the media. Hitting is often portrayed as an acceptable way for a woman to express her anger with a man because, well, she’s just a woman and it’s not like she could hit that hard anyway. However, in real life, violence between anyone of any gender is not okay, and Nazz’s slap has in no way clued Kevin in to what’s upsetting Nazz. Granted it should be obvious why she’s unhappy, and it’s not Nazz’s fault that Kevin’s a fucking idiot, but his immediate question upon getting hit was, “What was that for, man?” That slap in no way told him what he was doing wrong, and it rubs me the wrong way how many people are applauding it.

But then again.

This is Kevin we’re talking about. Kevin’s a pretty violent guy himself, as I’m sure you know. He’ll knock Eddy into the sky without provocation. He once threatened to tie Edd’s legs into a pretzel. He completely destroyed Jimmy’s toys without remorse. Granted, that last one was a mistake, but not even an “I’m sorry?” Really? A big part of why people like this scene is that Kevin usually doesn’t receive any kind of retribution for his violent outbursts. It’s not like Kevin has gotten out of the series unscathed up ‘til now, but there is the sense that Kevin has had this coming for a long time.

On the other other hand, the code “don’t hit girls” is something that seems to have been drilled into the boys in this show. Ed specifically mentions it’s something that his mother taught him. (As a side note, this would be the same woman who taught Sarah to show no mercy.) Girls are on the receiving end of slapstick in this show, but it’s usually either delivered amongst themselves or is the result of some prop falling on them, like when the fence flattens Sarah and Nazz (and, um, Jimmy) in “High-Heeled Ed.” The girls are hardly ever, if ever, deliberately harmed by the guys. Ed holds Edd back from attacking Sarah after she coughs on him in “Is There an Ed in the House?” Rolf lets Nazz absolutely thrash him in “Little Ed Blue” when he tries to steal her popcorn. Even Eddy has never physically retaliated against Sarah. Really think about that. Can you name even one moment when Eddy hit Sarah? One?

A man’s refusal to hit a woman is rightfully seen as a sign of his moral fiber. By contrast, if a man does hit a woman, it’s considered a horrific crime. Remember when, in this same movie, Eddy’s brother called Edd “girlfriend” and then slammed him into the ground? Not even Eddy’s brother hits a girl onscreen, but the fact that he thought he did and was okay with it is used as (one of many) indicators of how terrible he is. Kevin’s already an unpopular character, but imagine if he ever slapped Nazz, the way Nazz just slapped him. People would be burning him in effigy for that.

What complicates this question even further is that, well, none of these characters are really supposed to be role models. They are just kids, and the things they do are meant to be a reflection of how children behave not a guide for how children should behave. And Ed’s mother, the one who told Ed to never hit a girl but told Sarah to show no mercy, is implied throughout the show to not be the best parent.

So, it’s unclear if the show is treating this double standard in a positive light. Honestly, you could probably write a whole dissertation on these issues, something like “The Morality of Violence in Slapstick,” but honestly we don’t have time for that.

Anyway! Back to the scene. Nazz slaps Kevin (with her left hand, I might add. Is she left-handed?) and when he asks why she did that, her response is, “It’s late and I’m cold.”

This response implies that she’s expecting Kevin to take care of her. The subtext is clearly, “What are you going to do about it?” but Kevin doesn’t get this, and as she glares at him, waiting for a response, he just silently looks back.

I like how his eyes awkwardly drift to the side as the silence drags.

Making prolonged eye contact with someone is sometimes seen as a hostile gesture. That’s definitely the case here, and it doesn’t seem like Kevin can face that angry look for too long.

It definitely seems like Nazz is testing Kevin. Evidently, he fails because she angrily declares, “Fine! I’ll make a fire.”

Kevin’s response? “Sweet!”

Oh, Kevin. Someone help this poor, idiot child.

Nazz’s attempt to make a fire is truly pathetic. Not only does she not seem to know what to do, she’s working with wet wood on mushy ground. When she blows on the sticks, it sounds like she’s blowing raspberries, not really the type of air needed to start a fire. She seems to realize how futile it is, angrily slapping her sticks on the pile of wood she created and then throwing them on top. In typical cartoon fashion, a roaring fire immediately springs up out of nowhere, rendering her instantly dry.

She gets busy getting herself warm, rubbing her hands together and such, but when Kevin calls out to her (“Wicked fire, Nazz!”), she gives him a truly delightful glare.

Kevin asks if he can join her in what I guess is supposed to be a seductive way. Nazz normally responds positively to attention like this from Kevin, but this time she just ignores him and pokes the fire. Kevin is surprised by this response. Evidently, Kevin thinks that if he just acts friendly, Nazz will forget about whatever’s bothering her. Remember: Nazz still hasn’t really told him, and it’s not like this kid is going to figure it out himself. 

Kevin looks from the bag containing his sandwich to Nazz, and you can practically see the wheels turning in his head. Maybe splitting the sandwich with her will improve things? He offers to do so, but Nazz, still mad, takes the whole thing. 

Kevin’s a blundering idiot who fails to grasp the simple concept that girls have feelings and don’t like being run over with bikes, but I still think it’s kind of cute how he doesn’t even get mad. He just sidles over next to her, comments that it would be nice if they had another sandwich (not once reproaching her for eating the whole thing), and puts his hand on her shoulder.

The sound effect they use in this shot struck me as oddly familiar. I was wracking my brains trying to figure out where I’d heard it before when I suddenly remembered: It’s the fucking growling stomach sound from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

In this case, however, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to sound like a cat purring. This one affection gesture from Kevin is enough to placate Nazz. She sheepishly apologizes for eating the whole sandwich. Kevin gives Nazz a thumbs up to show he’s not mad and puts his hand on her shoulder. Nazz responds by tugging Kevin abruptly close in a shoulder-to-shoulder embrace, which he was clearly not expecting.

The following scene is rife with sexual tension. I feel weird saying that considering these are thirteen-year-olds, but there’s really no better way to describe it. Nazz bats her eyes as she apologizes for slapping Kevin, and both of their mouths are really close together through the following exchange. 

Nazz: “It’s been such a crazy day, you know?”

Kevin: “Yeah. No foolin’.”

Nazz: (dreamily) “No foolin’…”

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m uncomfortable.

Kevin holds a finger to her lips and tells her not to move and that he’ll be right back. Nazz waits for him, clasping her hands together into a silent squee, no doubt expecting some kind of romantic gesture. But when Kevin walks up with the bike, her eyes pop.

Kevin comments casually that leaving the bike out in the cold is bad for the paint. Here is where Nazz loses it. She socks him in the stomach and tosses the bike out into the swamp in a fucking WWE giant swing. Kevin frantically chases after it as Nazz shouts, “That’s I think of your stupid bike!”

Perhaps the most vital component of any relationship is communication. If both partners aren’t on the same page or one has problems or an issue that the other doesn’t know about, then all kinds of additional problems can come up because neither party has everything they need to solve the problem. Throughout this whole sequence, Kevin and Nazz fail to communicate as they should. 

Nazz clearly has an idea of what Kevin should be and most of her ideals for him are born from his status as a male. She wants him to be there for her, to save her, protect her, provide for her, hold her, and Kevin seems incapable of doing any of that. Kevin’s attitude by the fire reminds me of the stereotypical “husband in trouble” idea. He knows that something’s wrong, but he can’t figure out what, and he figures he can get himself back in the clear just by being nice. He tries asking her what’s wrong exactly once (“What was that for, man?”) but doesn’t ask her to specify when her answer gives him no clarity. He never asks her why she threw his bike into the tree, dismissing the action as “I just don’t get her, man.” Kevin seems to have abandoned understanding Nazz’s behavior as a lost cause. It kind of reminds me of Eddy’s recurring complaint: “Dames! Who can figure ‘em?”

This seems to be a recurrent issue men have in general. There’s a common saying that women are “mysterious” or “unfathomable” creatures because men find themselves unprepared to deal with any kind of emotional negativity from a woman. “If I’m not upset, why is she upset?” Maybe that’s oversimplifying it, but it’s a damaging attitude to have because what’s so “mysterious” about women is their failure to behave in the exact way men anticipate them to behave. Oh, you think that a hug and a smile is going to make the problem go away? Clueless boy, you don’t even know what the problem is. 

Nazz, for her part, is not making things any easier for him. True, as I’ve said before, the reason she’s unhappy should be obvious, but assuming that something that’s clear to you is also clear to someone else is often dangerous. Nazz tries to give Kevin the silent treatment after he disappoints her. While she may have needed a minute to be alone, that strategy didn’t really help Kevin at all. I don’t think it was cool of her to hit him, take his sandwich, or sock him in the gut, but it definitely wasn’t cool of him to run her over with his bike, not even worry about her safety in the factory, or dismiss her anger as “Women, amiright?”

This is a good scene because we get a lot of character from Nazz and see her pushed beyond her limit, but neither character really comes out of this scene looking ideal. But, honestly, none of the characters of Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy are flawless. That’s kind of the point of the show. This scene documents the early growing pains of two kids in their first love. Of course they’re going to fuck it up and do and say stupid things. They’re still young (that’s they’re fault); they’ve got plenty of time to learn how to do it better. Not necessarily with each other, but definitely with someone. 

[kaedekayano]

hi it's me gakushuu anon here off anon to defend my identity as gakushuu lover #1 wanna scream more? i'm always listening literally bombard me with anything about my son i am waiting also i love your soul you're the pillar of the karushuu community

Wow, I am so flattered thank you so much omg

I’m writing meta (which I have not done in way too long) because I love my son and I love thinking about him and how much I want him to be happy. So here’s an analysis of his relationship with various people. Except it’s really incoherent because it’s late and I wasn’t trying very hard to be articulate, whoops. Have 1.3k of meta.

The Five Virtuosos

Ria @haise-potato and I were discussing them over Skype recently and I’m bringing back this post (http://karushuus.tumblr.com/post/148925252800/on-the-five-virtuosos-and-their-friendship-with), one of the first posts I’ve ever written, because oh boy do the Five Virtuosos fuck me up! People don’t really talk about them or what their relationship w/ Asano is because they are so minor 

But look, okay, they’re just a bunch of teenagers who are irresistibly drawn to Gakushuu because Gakushuu is canonically super charismatic and brilliant and everyone thinks he’s amazing, and they’re no exception, except they in all likelihood (see linked post for evidence) are damn well aware of the insecurities and weaknesses that lie beneath the surface

But God, they’re loyal to him and they love him and they know that they’re not his equals, that he’s too brilliant for everyone, but they care so much about him regardless even if they’re aware they can never really understand him because they aren’t on his level, and they believe in him despite those insecurities, which I think is really valuable, you know?

Dammit Gakushuu appreciate your fucking friends more. The group dynamic isn’t quite healthy but it could be if Gakushuu would just stop and communicate with them and I just — I just love them a lot because the group dynamic is so fascinating, they’re set up to be villains at first but they’re just middle schoolers who don’t quite know how to communicate with each other and that’s so human and understandable.

Also my wish is for all of them to have established character tags on AO3. Gakushuu and Ren already have one but what about the rest, hm

Gakuhou Asano

Heya just a little rant here but I really, really hate depictions of his relationship with his dad as black-and-white. No, Gakuhou wasn’t a good dad, stop portraying him as otherwise just because he started getting a little nicer toward the end of the story and he wasn’t an asshole twelve years ago. But he also wasn’t the devil. When I see fics where he constantly hits or sexually abuses his son I’m like the fuck, where did you get that from. Also wasn’t a pedophile!

Anyway! Fandom rants aside. Something I’m really big on when it comes to abusive relationships is that always, there’s a power imbalance. Yes, the show initially paints it so it seems like they’re competitors, and yeah, they are. Gakushuu is always trying to snatch away his dad’s power and get the better of him. But they weren’t equals, and Gakuhou was really the one in a position of power and authority, and he abused that.

It’s unclear how much of Gakushuu’s personality and ideals are because of his dad, but when Gakushuu tries to deviate from his dad’s principles, Gakuhou does not react well — hypnotizing the Virtuosos + all of Class A, and hitting his son in front of the class when it doesn’t work out for Gakuhou — plus when Gakushuu doesn’t do as well on finals, pole toppling festival, culture festival, etc. and thus isn’t the perfect son anymore, Gakuhou gives him a lot of shit for it. Presumably, a lot of the way Gakushuu is at his introduction — obsessive, manipulative, self-absorbed perfectionist with a notable superiority complex — is because of Gakuhou’s teaching.

Something I don’t see much in fics often: Gakushuu was around three years old when Ikeda died (resulting in Gakuhou’s personality change). While the two probably had an excellent relationship prior to that, it’s unlikely Gakushuu remembers anything from when he was three years old. The Gakushuu we see in-story has only ever known the Gakuhou who emphasizes strength to his students over kindness or compassion. Which is sad and crushing in all kinds of ways, honestly.

Something I really really want to emphasize: Gakuhou and Gakushuu both become noticeably better, kinder, less self-interested people by the end of the story. And that’s great. That’s amazing and impressive. But that doesn’t mean they’re suddenly both saints, especially Gakuhou. Please know that Gakushuu is a 15-year-old boy, aka a teenager, and being a teenager means you have a lot of emotions and you change a lot and you have to figure a lot of stuff out — so honestly, he probably underwent some radical changes, especially morality-wise. But he doesn’t need to forgive his father.

Riiight this is a subject that I cry a lot about but you never need to forgive someone who abused you, and the Asanos had an abusive relationship. Gakuhou was like that for twelve years, impacting the person Gakushuu became to an incredible extent. We don’t know how Gakushuu’s relationship with his dad changed post-canon, but “smooth sailing, everything is perfect now” is highly unlikely to be the answer.

(He did go to study at MIT, far far away from Japan, and so probably sees his dad less. And honestly, knowing that’s canon, I breathe a lot easier for it. Poor kid needs to get some freedom away from his dad.)

Karma Akabane

Yeah, okay, so my ship bias is showing through. Sue me. Anyway, I’m gonna be realistic — they don’t have a lot of interaction, and it’s all rivalry, but it’s not terribly in-depth in terms of mushy romantic stuff so I’m gonna skip shippy things and talk about what these two actually mean for each other. As foils, parallels, etc. they’re really interesting in the narrative choices made.

Gakushuu and Karma look really alike, by the way, as several people have mentioned. I literally thought when I first saw Gakushuu that he was Karma’s cousin or something. Of course, this is deliberate because foils — not gonna go in-depth on this, just thought it’d be nice to mention.

There is a whole lot of parallelism and juxtaposition with these two. Check out some of the gifsets from the anime, y’all. I’m fond of these: (one) (two)

Karma and Gakushuu aren’t polar opposites, not at all. What I’d describe them as is being similar in all the wrong ways, and the same for their differences. This kind of rivalry exists in real-life, just usually not in a shippy way. There’s always a whole lot of clashing because both of you are incredibly smart but you always want to do different things with that.

Class 3-E as a whole, not Karma specifically, is the first time Gakushuu really and truly tastes defeat, and he improves for it. It’s honestly great for his character development. Karma specifically, however, I think teaches Gakushuu a lot of things and forces him to improve. Karma basically seizes Gakushuu’s throne by three points, and sure, he’s all modest about it to the class, but to Gakushuu Asano’s face, doubtful. And good.

They both start out as these ominous, intimidating, arrogant types but reveal themselves to be so utterly fallible and flawed and okay I’d need a lot more time and a whole separate post for this but it’s really cool, okay. Karma’s arc is about forcing him to work harder because stop thinking you’re invincible, and Gakushuu’s is about him working too hard but he doesn’t need to be invincible. His dad constantly pushes him to be invincible, to be perfect, to never ever lose, and it just messes him up.

Just look at the gifsets. They explain it so much better than I ever could.

tl:dr; I love Gakushuu Asano my son he is so wonderfully complex and amazing and he’s obviously not a very good person but he’s getting there and I am so proud of him.