#trying to get better with my comedic timing..... ill get there eventually

[wewerebornsextuplets]

a word of advice, never mock the person holding clippers to your neck

[meyhew]

“WHAT WE MOURN FOR THE DEAD IS THE LOSS OF THEIR HOPES.”

I never thought I’d make this post. Any time I imagined a One Direction member dying, I pictured myself weathered and grey. This was an eventuality that wasn’t supposed to be actualized until the boys and I had lived full lives. To have to come to terms with Liam’s death—his perpetual absence moving forward—in my mid twenties feels absurd. I wrote a long thing the day after I found out, so I’ve already gotten some thoughts out. I’m going to try and keep this short. I likely won’t succeed.

Liam was kind. If he’s remembered for anything, I hope it’s that. I know he helped out with food banks in London during lockdown because there were photos of him packing boxes, but I didn’t know until now how much money he gave them. £80,000 without any publicity. And it wasn’t a one-time donation. He kept working with various orgs to help food insecure people. In the week leading up to that unfortunate Wednesday, he gave away thousands to fundraisers—primarily set up to help people with severe illnesses. He’d been part of Soccer Aid for years. He was involved with anti-bullying campaigns. He worked with Rays of Sunshine to make hundreds of sick children happy. Over the years, he also donated to nonprofits that help children in Gaza and other places. The T-shirt he designed for Choose Love has garnered nearly £200,000; Choose Love has been working with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Medical Aid for Palestinians to provide desperately needed aid in Gaza. Liam understood the value of his wealth, and what his social responsibility was. He did his part to make this world better.

All that without taking into account everything Liam did for us. The youtube videos he started during quarantine because it was a way to distract people, give them something to look forward to. His comedic timing was something special. The discord server where he talked to fans and highlighted their creative endeavors. His livestreams, the endless culture-defining tweets he made. I still see people laughing about his tweets. We all remember Mrs. Horan, yes? I mean, go all the way back to TwitCams. Just google the phrase and one of the first videos you get will be Liam’s. From day one, he took it upon himself to make sure the fans were happy. That we felt seen, heard. And he kept One Direction alive for us, on occasion at a great personal cost. He performed deep cuts we’d never seen sung live, he was always so enthusiastic about everyone else’s projects, he never shied away from talking about the band—because it made us happy. He knew what the band meant to us, the blend of hope and nostalgia many of us clung to, and he held on with us. For us. The masses ridiculed him for his clinginess, and he didn’t let go—for us. I’m sure he knew there are those of us for whom the name One Direction still means everything. And how right he was. Look at the global charts for the past two weeks. We’ve made history again. Because of Liam. He had been the glue holding a lot of the fandom together, whether people realized it or not. He brought us all together again in the most heartbreaking of ways.

One Direction came into my life at a time when I was becoming lonelier by the day. I had moved to a new country two years prior, and I didn’t yet have many friends because I knew only enough English to get by at school. Outside of school, I had no friends. They were all back home in the place I’d left. All I had was my two siblings—and when you’re 13 years old, your 14 yr old sister is hardly the person you want to spend all your time with. I didn’t have space for me, to do and to be something that was just mine.

Then I found 1d through a girl at school and they became that something for me. I bettered my English by watching them talk. I found this community because of them, and I have learned so much from being a part of it. So many wonderful people have touched my life because of them over the years, some I’ve fallen out of touch with and some I hung out with just this month. They—and, by extension, Liam—have made me wealthy in friendship.

Claudia, Ingrid, Mery; Thank you for putting up with my insanely specific demands and making headers for me. Ingrid, you’ve been so patient about teaching me how to gif. Mery, I still have your rec list for learning Spanish saved in my notes app. The TPWK print you gifted me hangs on my wall. Cloudy, do you remember that lineart you made of me? I still have it. You’ve all been so kind to me.

Rafa; You have no idea how much you’ve helped build my confidence as a writer. Lyab is a thing of the past now, but those hours you spent fleshing out the details of that fic are priceless to me. I’d never written anything so ambitious before. And, frankly, I don’t think I would’ve attempted a novel if I hadn’t written a 100k fic—which I couldn’t have done without your encouragement. I think this is my first time telling you I finished the first draft of my novel in September. Thank you <3

Yas; Beloved you are so dear to me. You have shown me such kindness over the years, at times I wondered what I had done to deserve it. Not many people check in with me the way you do. I value your presence in my life beyond words. You have so much love and affection to give, and I’m glad I get to receive so much of it.

If I wrote a personal note to everyone who’s in my life because of Liam we’d be here for hours and hours. Jess, Bella, Alex, Jack, Hayley, Hope, Soni, Kayla, Sara, Arsh, Tina, Ola, Cristal, Kylee, Hana, Ali, Antonise, Clare, Abby, Nina, fnh, mert, people I don’t follow anymore, everyone who’s come into my life because of liam—I love you. Literally every single person I follow should be named here because I wouldn’t even be on this website if it weren’t for 1d. You’re all so special to me.

I still can’t believe Liam is gone. I was at the grocery store and it hit me that it’s real, and I thought, no, there’s no way. It feels so fucking weird having this invisible hole in my life that’s never going to go away. But I’ll always be grateful for everything Liam brought into my life. I know I’ll grow old with a whole bunch of you in my life—I’ve already spent a decade with some of you in my life—and I wish Liam got to grow old and weathered with us all.

This is such an inadequate goodbye. I think I’ll keep coming up with things I wish I could tell Liam, or things I want to say to you all. There’s so much history here, so much to reminisce about. He took a piece of my adolescence with him. I’ll miss him forever. Too many of my memories are intertwined with him and I’ll miss him forever.

Sleep easy, Liam. I hope, in time, you’re remembered for your limitless capacity for love and your desire to do better, be better. You deserved more. 🤍

—————

tagging 1d people here because i know many blogs aren’t active on a regular basis. apologies if i missed someone (i’m sure i did). hugs for everyone

@1dclowns @hrrytomlinson @sandiazucar @fookinfreezin @hoeranghae @wlwmermald @tomlinsun @epubgf @heyangel @fireproofs @90sgrungelouis @lirry @iconichalo @itsnotreal @aquickstart @roguecurls @harryscuddles @hoteyelinerguy @babyy-honey @goldencereza @kindathoughtprovoking @kindofsharethat @fuchsiasea @queerbloodyangel @tofiveohfive @aboutmetamorphosis @wastelandbabyblue @delicatepointofview @twentybiqueen @girlcrushau @chaoticsue @chimnation @akasakasads @icouldbeluckyagain @alloutshirt @half-lightl @halohamilton @willowfey @meltedwings @softandslow @loustyles @onedirectiom @pop-punklouis @pridesobright @finexbright @femstyles @baawree @iamnathanscott @avocadolouie @userautumn @niallerer @itsnothesameasitwas @usignedupforthis @svpportive @svncourt

[ohshy]

Feelin kinda down so fuck it- how about some burnt bread hcs if you got any?

If not, how about disco kid?

~ fan-mans

hope u feel better soon bro ! also HELL YEAH BURNT BREAD !!!!!!!! one of my favorites :3

so where does it all begin? well.... (under the cut bc its Long)

aran didnt actually have to use any of dirty tricks to take joe down, so they didn't start off on that bad of a foot, or a bad foot at all. (fighting is par for the course for this sport, of course.)

that being said though, you still see n hear things ab eachother, and have assumptions as a result. Aran initally sees joe as a snobby, wimpy man, and joe aran as a scary, unpredictable brute.

eventually, however, aran starts looking at joe... a little differently. he pranks him a lot because yknow. its funny. but joe doesnt seem to mind it at all... in fact, he takes his pranks really well, and it makes aran see strong joe is in a way and how much of a sense of humor he has.

joe at the other hand, noticed that aran, outside the ring, was actually fairly tame, outside of his pranks of course. it helped a lot with mellowing his perception of him. combine this joe's many hobbies and aran's try-everything attitude, and youve got the start of a click !

news of their little budding relationship spreads around the minor- and world circuit, and kaiser begins to take notice ab how joe talks ab aran, how hed normally b horrified at the prospect of him being anywhere NEAR him.

so one day, in all his eternal german grace, he says...

''well if you love him so much, why don't you two kiss, hm?''

and joe hadnt gotten that thought out of his head since.

as for disco kid hcs, ive already told most of them so ill talk ab how the minor circuit reacted to joe wanting to confess to aran instead !!

disco, albeit kinda scared of aran, is ecstatic for joe, wishes him luck and wants to know EVERYTHING about how it went afterward

i imagine hippo would be pretty whatever about it. guy isnt too concerned ab peoples love lifes. wishes him luck like disco tho.

meanwhile kaiser? ''Eh, it is your funeral''

I imagine the world circuit wouldn't be as close with eachother seeing as how theyre busier n likely more hounded by journalists, but they do know in broad terms what goes on in the lives of eachother.

so macho catches wind of aran's crush, and he basically shittalks joe to arans face

''I know everyone's standards are too high for you, but joe's just a sad bar, even for you.''

Aran, not even reacting to the dig against him, starts ranting to macho about how joe is admirable as all hell for getting back up after 99 losses, and how that must mean he has a real love and respect for the sport. He even boldly exclaims that joe arguably works harder than macho, the victories who seems to come so easily to him.

macho eventually leaves, deciding aran's not worth his precious time.

aran then turns around, and OMG HE SEES JOE STANDING THERE !!!!!

anyway he heard all about what aran said (thats right, overhearing ooc conversations and miscommunication happening is OUT, overhearing conversations and gaining respect for someone is IN), and confesses right there and then. aran, hearing prolly the most romantic speech thats ever been directed to him in his entire life, is at a loss for words. He can't say anything other than ''of course, joey.''

and thats the start of their relationship :3

as for other misc hcs that dont fit anywhere else...

one time, when cleaning out aran's jacket pockets (joe's a bit of a neat freak), he found... a bunch of lint. But also !! he found a ton of crumpled up notes. They included phrases for the ring, comedic poems... but they also had affirmations for himself, about his family, but also about joe. joe, sans the lint, left the pockets as is. ever since then though, he's felt closer to him than ever.

joe will often try to pick up aran like a princess. considering hes still decently muscled, he can do it succesfully.

joe loves baking, especially bread, but aran will ALWAYS manage to set something on fire. think spencer from icarly.

they infodump to eachother ab their respective countries histories and folk tales, joe esp ab the former n aran ab the latter.

one time, joe and aran set out for a night walk. then, they (or rather aran) thought he heard a banshee screech. what they actually heard prolly was a car tire screeching in the distance. aran, however, was never the less scared SHITLESS and ran tf home, screaming highpitched. He had to be comforted by joe all night after they got home.

aran loves going to theme parks. he loves the rush. joe, however, hates the tall rides like the rollercoasters, n prefers the calmer rides like the teacups. They have a ''goes onto the rollercoaster alone'' x ''holds the persons stuff while theyre gone'' dynamic.

they rly like singing duets together, especially after a couple drinks. wine in joe's case and beer in arans case. theyve sang at macho's parties before as well, and needless to say they make for great entertainment.

aran often sends joe cursed memes n selfies that joe just Does Not understand

''aran, i will Not hold feet with you, zat's disgusting''

''come on joey..... do ye love me or not......''

[thekrows-nest]

Heh. The cage is meant to be somewhere to get kidnapped against your will which is cool for a horror-ish setting.

But I'm gonna flip the script, mix it up a little.

Comedy: How would Krow react to a Dove that refuses to come out of the cage?

or exercise

or shower

Dove is totally allowed out, because it's been well established that they have zero motivation to escape. They also may not physically be in any shape to run.

They just refuse to leave and sit in there with the secondhand Switch/Nintendo DS Krowie got from the pawn store. They've gone full basement dweller and won't do any of the self care or healthy routines Krow asks. They might even sass Krow a bit when reminded to bathe.

Oh man I think I just described Fone <3

Angst: Or yeah, more charitably maybe they're not lazy or bratty. Just like this because disabled, chronically ill, depressed, trauma, or extremely agoraphobic.

I wonder if Krow would be ecstatic and take full advantage by enabling the inability to leave, or feel sad and conflicted enough about Dove's quality of life to try and help them get past it. (Especially if they were fearful to exit the cage.)

Krowspiracy flipping the script.

At first, Krow wouldn't think anything is really wrong. Dove doesn't wanna leave the cage? Ha ha this makes things easier. And and! It must means they like it, love it even? Loves him? Things are fine! He'll do some tests, slowly. Like unlocking it secretly, see if Dove notices. Eventually building up to purposefully showing them he's unlocking it to even just leaving the door open. It's when they still don't really come out for things like getting a shower he gets... concerned.

"I'm... g-glad you like t-the space my S-songbird b-but... i-it's good to keep up w-with hygiene. I-I do have a b-bathroom right over here, t-there's even a tub, y-you can have a bath i-if you prefer. But you need to c-come out."

As much as he would loathe to do it, he will get Dove on out to at least give them a washcloth bath if he must. Do his best to talk to and persuade them how they should come out at least to stretch their legs and get some showers in. Try to persuade them via favorites snacks or food, gifts, whatever. Then feel bad cause then this feels no better than trying to wrangle a dog or a cat. And Dove is not a pet.

For the more angsty side of things, similar to above at first he'd feel some measure of happiness, thinking (or even believing) it's cause Dove is happy with the situation. If he's not TOO far down the rabbit hole, he'll eventually realize something is wrong, albeit much worse than the more "comedic" scenario.

While he wants to keep Dove in his life no matter what, he'd start to feel conflict on what is a declining way of life, and try to resolve it.

...But if Krow is too deep in his own delusions and jealous insanity in keeping Dove (so really the worst case scenario) he wouldn't think anything is really wrong. Off at times maybe, but think that Dove is just as happy as he is.

[elphabaoftheopera]

HELLO!!!! how are you? it's been a while haha 😅... but, long story short, after watching wicked last night im back in the fandom! and what better way to celebrate than read a fic by my favourite author 🥳 ? so, i read "In Any Universe", and boy do i have a lot of good things to say about it!!!!!

this fic is awesome, im sad that i didn't read it earlier! it had my favourite tropes that were amazingly executed, along with so many wacky and interesting alternate universes 😁😁! some that stood out to me were fake dating, masquerade, family and musical. to say that i really enjoyed these would be an understatement!!!! first of all, fake dating is my absolute favouriteee trope, so i was so so excited to see it applied to fiyeraba so well! the masquerade was honestly a really interesting plotline, and the musical universe was cool to see referenced! and family au was soo adorable, and parents fiyeraba make me feel so happyyyy ❤️❤️! overall, they were all so so romantic and cute and made me realise how much i miss fiyeraba 🥺!! i also really liked the general storyline, and the pipeline of fiyero coming to terms and accepting his situation was so lovely and satisfying to read!

i was wondering if you had any little facts about this fic? it was super creative and i couldn't help but love every separate storyline!!!!!

sorry for gushing, im just super happy to be back and reading your fics again! ill hopefully in the fandom again for a while, so i can find the time to read some other works of yours and maybe reread 😁😁😁

@melop-sia!!!!! It's so wonderful to hear from you!!!! Welcome back to the Wicked fandom! Your message just made my entire day, I actually screamed when I read that I was a favorite author of yours, words like that TRULY go a long way. thank you for your thoughts on In Any Universe. I had so much fun writing that one!

Welllllll since you asked, I'd love to share a little bit about it!

Light spoilers for In Any Universe below the cut!

The idea came to me when I was just thinking a lot about fanfiction tropes in a loving way, inspired by fanfiction writers and our tendency to put the same characters into countless different situations/lives and have them fall in love all the same. I got the idea when I was driving (most of my ideas come when I'm driving) about my otp essentially going on a "tour" through the different tropes. Initially it was supposed to be 100% comedic and self aware.

I didn't have a strong throughline planned out in the beginning that would set them off on their journey. I thought about (and even drafted) Fiyero mentioning how "random" it was that they got together and if any one thing was different they'd probably not be together, then I'd have Elphaba take offense to that. But it just wasn't working, especially because I was clinging to the idea that I wanted Fiyero to be human in the present timeline. Once I finally released my hold on that idea and let him be a Scarecrow, the story throughline became much clearer to me! It was easier to write when Fiyero had a "lesson" to learn (sort of "It's a Wonderful Life" style, though I've never seen that movie). That of course made the throughline a bit more serious, as well as some of the timelines getting increasingly darker.

I just can't resist angst and hurt/comfort no matter how hard I try!

I just really love the quote I put at the beginning of the story about finding the same person over and over.

As for the stories within the story, I just started by making a list of as many tropes I could think of. Fake dating, fix-it fic, crossover, etc. and eventually trimmed it down to the stories that made the cut. I wrote them all out of order and then stitched them together later with the throughline story. I think I did the coffee one first, then the masquerade, and then I put it down for several months (as is my style) and picked it back up with the Wicked actor one.

I really considered breaking the story up into chapters and sometimes I regret the fact that I didn't, I still consider breaking it up because I know it's very long. Still I think it flows better as a singular piece but at least can be easily read in multiple sittings if you're like me and need mind breaks.

When I decided to make it one single piece I made a real effort to keep the sections snappy and not longer than they needed to be. I was pretty obsessed over word count and keeping it below a certain amount (I think 1000 words). I think the Fake Dating one ended up being the longest and the hardest to keep trimmed. Still, I wanted each story to have a satisfying arc in its own way.

One challenge I gave myself (which was VERY difficult) is that I didn't use the word "love" until the very end when Fiyero told Elphaba he loved her after getting shot. I came to that idea later on and had to edit a lot of the earlier stories. Then he says he loves her many times in the finale scene.

I thought it strengthened his lesson about being grateful for what they did have. I found it really important to mirror the "can't imagine thinking about how things might be different" (paraphrasing) in the worst timeline with her dying in the cornfield with what he'd said in the beginning.

As for the ending I did leave it slightly ambiguous, but I believe as the writer that the journey he went on was real and not a dream (kind of like I believe that in Wizard of Oz Dorothy's experience really happened, even though it seemed like Dorothy was waking up from a dream). However, I wanted to the reader to decide for themself!

I think my favorite ones to write were the Fiyeraba family (I love them as parents!), Coffee shop AU, and the Masquerade. I also found it clever and trippy to do the Wicked actors, but that one was by far the hardest challenge!

I so appreciate your readership and engagement with my work!!!! Please reach out in the future if you ever have thoughts or questions.

I don't want to jinx it because it's still early days but I'm excited to say I've been writing again (Fiyeraba, obviously) now that my life has more time. We'll see where it takes me, so be on the lookout!

[fleetwood-mac-andcheese]

My thoughts while watching Holes for the billionth time

It’s fucked up that the movie starts with all the supporting characters watching their friend attempt suicide

How long was Stanley’s trial and how short was Zero’s trial? Because we know that Zero got arrested the day after Stanley did, but he arrived at Camp Greenlake significantly earlier. Like, he knew Barfbag, he already had a nickname, people knew he liked to dig. How long was he there before Stanley showed up?

In the book when they sing the song, they howl on the word moon (it’s written “moo-oo-oon”) and I wish they did that in the movie

The Yelnatses screwed Stanley over by not getting him a lawyer. The little bits we see of his case prove they had no clue what they were doing. And when they eventually do get a lawyer, he’s let out almost immediately.

I love how Dr. Pendanski is written. He’s such a terrible person who has convinced himself and is trying to convince those around him that he is the nicest guy around. He fucking sucks and I love how he’s written and how Tim Blake Nelson plays him.

“Today’s menu: Chili, string beans, re-fried beans, garbanzo beans, green beans, and banana jello” — aren’t green beans and string beans the same thing?

The cinematic choices made in this movie are just *chef’s kiss*. The way they jump from timeline to timeline without ever losing pace is masterful

Eartha Kitt is flawless.

While Eartha Kitt is flawless, I want it noted that in the book, Madame Zeroni is described as a one legged Romani person (Sachar actually used the G slur) and Eartha Kitt is neither one-legged nor Romani.

Zero is the fastest digger in the camp, but they never really explain how big the camp is. Like, is he the fastest out of 25 people? 60 people, 140 people?

Just to revisit point 8, I fucking love Eartha Kitt

The yellow spotted lizards are such an excellent plot device

All the inmates are either A) mentally ill B) people of color or C) severely traumatized. But most of them are D) all of the above

When Squid throws out Stanley’s letter, catch Zero in the background with a pool cue ready to beat the shit out of that motherfucker

It’s weird that they show Sam as some kind of snake oil salesman when we know that his product actually works. The yellow spotted lizards won’t bite you if you’ve eaten his onions. Why claim they cure baldness or that Mary Lou is over 100 years old?

Zero back at it again ready to throw hands for Stanley, this time with a billiards ball

The fact that magnet got locked up for stealing a thousand dollar puppy

“You are here on account of one person. You know who that person is?” “Yeah, my no good, dirty rotten, pig-stealing, great great grandfather. That’s who it is”

Henry Winker provides such comedic levity

When Zero asks Stanley to teach him how to read and it’s such a nice moment of vulnerability, only to be shot down by Stanley. I just want to cry

What happens if someone actually dies at Camp Greenlake? Like, Zero and Stanley ran away and Barfbag got sent to the hospital, but they all survived. What would the protocol be if someone just dies while digging? Clearly there’s not a lot of oversight because Stanley can get away with Zero digging his hole, so what happens when one of those kids get overheated working all day in the Texas sun and just collapses in their hole one day and nobody thinks to check on them until the next day when the buzzards are all gathered around their corpse?

I’ve waited long enough to say this. Sigourney Weaver in this movie is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. I fucking love her

Sam and Katherine. nuff said

“Well then I guess you’d be in a lot of trouble if your boat leaked.” *sobs*

Just casually reciting Edgar Allen Poe from memory as a way of professing my love to a woman I legally cannot be with due to racist laws forbidding interracial relationships.

I can’t help but remember that Scott Plank died during the post production of this movie. Respect to him and his ability to play such a good villain as Trout Walker

“No one ever says no to Trout Walker.” “I believe I just did.” SAY IT LOUDER, KATE!

Sam

I love that Kate’s MO came from a racist sheriff sexually harassing her

The sunflower seed thing reminds me of something that happened to me at RTC and it’s just a really nice moment for me

Stanley acting so casual by not doing the one thing he’s supposed to be doing

The look on Magnet’s face right before Stanley covers for him

I really want to know more about the Warden and Mr. Sir’s relationship

I also really want a bottle of that rattlesnake nail polish, but maybe that’s just me

I also really like that Sachar didn’t shy away from the racial implications of a white guy having a black guy do his labor for him. Then again, the whole story is an indictment of racism and the American prison system, so it makes sense he wouldn’t ignore that

The way Stanley gets so excited when Zero mentions that park. Like ‘oh, we have something in common. We used to go to the same park!’ and Zero just shuts it down with “I used to sleep in the tunnel next to the swing and bridge” Stanley may have been cursed, but he still had a home

Zero finally gets to throw hands on Stanley’s behalf. He’s been waiting to do that since point 14

Pendanski really is the shittiest

“No one cares about Hector Zeroni” “I do”

I love that Twitch was just instantly ready to help Stanley steal Mr. Sir’s car

What are the chances of Kate, Zero, and Stanley all finding Sam’s boat in the middle of the desert? And I know Kate probably spent years looking for it after the lake dried up and for Zero and Stanley it was destiny, but still

Zero, you gotta ration that sploosh

One more time for emphasis: I love Eartha Kitt

Kate dying and she hallucinates Sam, only to be snapped out of it by Trout Walker. Just Trout stopping them from being together one last time

“It hasn’t rained here since the day they killed Sam” and you think whatever deity made that happen is gonna let anyone in the Walker family end up with Kate Barlow’s fortune?

“I can’t leave without Hector.”

“Call my mom. Tell her I said I was sorry. Tell her Theodore said he was sorry” cue Small Steps

Justice reigns over the Walker family and rain falls over the Walker estate

I would love for someone to find out just how much that treasure chest was really worth. Can one of those theorist channels get on that, please?

Hector finding his mom is nothing short of heart-melting. I’m not crying, you’re crying

“Camp Greenlake was closed and the boys were released on time served and sent to real counselors” Wait, are you implying that forced labor is an unjust prison sentence? Someone better tell the prison industrial complex!

So what happened with Sweet Feet? Did they sit him down and explain the misunderstanding before or after signing him as the spokesperson for their product? He was the prosecution’s lead witness at Stanley’s trial, but nope! All is forgiven!

The soundtrack slaps

Point 53, however you have Shia Labeouf and Eartha Kitt in the same movie and you put which one of them on the soundtrack? Just wondering who made that call. Like, you layer ‘I Want To Be Evil’ or ‘Burned As A Witch’ over any of Kissing Kate Barlow’s scenes, it’d be perfect. But no, instead we get the dude from Even Stevens trying to rap.

[cool-the-binge-eater]

Apothecary Diaries - manga rec

Summary

Before it had an English name I just called it Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. It's about mao mao who was forced by kidnappers to be a court maid. A plain freckled girl who is nonchalant about it but misses working as a doctor assistant for her father.When the high ranking court ladies babies come down with an illness that others deem a curse mao mao figures out the cause. Trying her best not to get stuck in court drama squabbles only leaving a note on the cause. However a eunuch named jinshi figures her out and is forced to solve palace mysteries while also working as poison tester. (it's fine she likes to test poisons on herself)😓 So basically Chinese historical story that deals with harem life that's also a detective and medical story. So their are modern conventions and solutions that we take for granted that are used as solutions in the story. That’s the draw of alot of time traveling stories but since its not we don’t get an outsiders perspective about what we would consider wrong. Maomao has resigned herself to whatever happens to her and dosen’t fight the system directly but she still has a strong sense of justice.

Maomao- the pharmacist

Maomao is the protagonist /pov chara and is the main reason you read the story she's very eccentric when it comes to medicines and poisons but is actually very quick witted and emotionally intelligent. She's a realist and down to earth often thinking little of herself. Maomao has resigned herself to whatever happens to her. She knows she's smart and might be toooo smart. Her only motivation is medcine so political infighting and conspiracies is the opposite of that. Whenever her sense of justice shows up it really bursts and it's great to see💖😊 Even though she pettite skinny and a commoner whenever she decides to do something it really feels like she's risking her life.Also aro/ace representing she really dosent care about much except medicine.💞

Jinshi -Eunuch

He works as a foil to maomao becasue hes a born noble, the boss of her and is one of the most conniving characters. His personality starts off as a sadist/playful tease but eventually really cares for maomao in the story as he gets to know her better. Jinshi is the one who presents the issues to maomao and is the one withe the authority to give her tools to solve the cases.He's obviously hinting at maomao alot but she dosent get it or doesn't care.His job is to work in the harem and to do whatever the emperor requests if him. He's the most beautiful person in the story and alot of woman and men want him. He drinks this a medicine that make him more eunuch like to maintain that appearance. The reason why we don't know and his backstory is one of the big mysteries.

Setting

It's not a specific year which is good Apparently mongels are still a problem and they can keep in contact with the west if they want. Historical Chinese dramas I guess 🤷‍♀️. Politically ppl dislike the last emperor and just over a decade before slavery was abolished. U can technically sell family members tho if ur poor. Maomao was sold as a palace maid and all her earnings go to her "family". In fact most of the maid charachters are the same way.So some cultural things need to be addressed if your new to court drama. Honestly it's a cliche for me cuz I watch alot of Asian dramas but others might not.

In the palace we have the outer court that does real work like paper work and women can join the outer court but they are akin to secretaries. I think they dislike inner court ladies cuz they had to take a test (Also technically maids but they don't do the best job compared to inner court ladies). The inner palace only has women and they are all concubines for the emperor. There have been cases of maids becoming lower ranked concubines if they were pretty. 4 great positions are taken by great noble ladies and their families. These 4 ladies each have their own palace and are the ones most likely to become empress/create heirs.

Hanmachi/red light district is a big part of the story. Mao mao was raised there and is the 2nd location the story takes place. It's both a beautiful gorgeous palace and a dark dangerous alley. Maomao says that the brothels are both a cage and a Wall that protects them from the streets Maomao isn't a courtesan but was raised with her 3 big sisters the 3 princesses of Rokushoukan. All high courtesans need to learn to dance, play instruments, talk, play go or other board games and read. Men don't usually get to sleep with high courtesans and it dosent work on all girls but the more pure you are to get the higher the price.

BTW we never go to them but there are brothels that are lecherous, and there are cases of rape within that district and maomao has almost been in that situation which also hasn't been shown.

Adaptations/art

There are like 3 types of versions of the story for some reason. There are 2 mangas and the og light novel. The mangas not done but maybe the first one went in a different direction of the novel 🤔 idk??? I've read a little bit about the the light novel but honestly not that different. Mao mao is a very introspective charachter she has alot of thoughts and won't say alot of her thoughts or feelings due to fear of nobility or just laziness.

So the manga makes her alot more expressive while keeping her introspective thoughts. She can be very funny and comedic with her expressions. Later on when she gets stitches they keep reopening(she just roles with it and everyone gets freaked out for her)

The 2nd manga makes mao mao her personality more serious and aparently there's less emphasis on romance. Only 1 volume so can't judge on much. (Only read 2 chapters) so I'm gonna talk about the 1st manga.

(Light novel, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto manga and Mao Mao no Kōkyū Nazotoki Techō manga)

The art is really good what happens alot in shoujo series set in harems or inner courts. Is that the women are not hot they can be beautiful, pretty even but they really aren't hot.

But damnnnnnn all the girls are 🔥🔥🔥

Specifically the hanamachi ones and even maomao herself sometimes. Lol 😆 I'm gonna stop now

But seriously I like how they talk about sex, prostitution and harems. Alot of shoujo are so PG about a place that is notorious for sex work.

Last minute thoughts

Check it out there's 2 manga volumes out and more coming. (Or read the scanlations I did both)

I like jinshi when he gets jealous since he's so cool and in control alot seeing him flounder about with mao mao is fun ❤

Maomao has a pretty interesting past too and it's hinted at really early there's this guy she definitely dosent wanna meet in the outer palace (that's my hint for foreshadowing) 🤐

I would read the light novels if ur like dying to know the plot the manga is a monthly series (I won't cuz I'm lazy)

Previous emperor is a pedo current one is a dick. So yea royal family sucks what's new 🙄

[lassieposting]

Bit late and random but it's the anon you leave food out for here to give away I am also bi and I think exactly the same as you about bi val pretty much, every time Derek offers me representation my reaction is to slowly, hesitantly take it and say "thaaaaaaaaanks..." while rolling my eyes, in much the same way one accepts their least favourite flavour of sweet from an annoyingly enthusiastic uncle-type-individual. Ironically I feel I had more in common with her before the bi shit started up.

What I find really amusing is that Landy actually did reasonably well at representation when (and only when) he wasn’t trying. 

Oh god, this got long, anon, my ass rambled.

tldr; I'm glad actual bi people dislike bi val (or how Laundry handled bi val) as much as me, this will probably offend at least one person but i don't really care, Dirty Laundry wrote better rep when he didn't mean to write rep at all, and if he ever starts trying to "represent" groups I'm part of I'll take him out back like a dying horse and shoot him.

Like, yes. He had stupid and potentially offensive shit - I say potentially because what offends one member of a group won’t necessarily offend all of them. His attitude to mentally ill people is, frankly, disgusting. We’ve had “Skulduggery can’t be abused, he doesn’t have feelings”. We’ve had “eVeRyOnE iS bI eVeNtUaLlY”. We had Ping, who seemed to be pretty much universally offensive. And that's what's always going to happen when a straight, cis, white, wealthy, male author tries to write marginalised groups he doesn't know shit about, because inevitably he's going to fall back on stereotypes.

But we also had:

SEXUALITY REP: Phase One's nonstraight characters were treated like the straight ones, and like, isn't that the whole point? There was no need for a massive Coming Out Story TM to grab for those sweet sweet Woke Points, because sexuality isn't supposed to be important to mages. I never understood why Val needed that whole Coming Out Panic storyline. Like...Des and Melissa are ridiculously supportive, encouraging, loving parents. They accepted you dating a ~19 year old when you were ~16. They accepted you revealing you could do fucking magic and that you'd been lying to them for like seven years. They took your undead buddy in stride and the most pressing question your dad had was whether magic toilets exist. There is zero reason to think that "I'm bisexual" is gonna be the thing that makes them flip and throw you into the streets in disgrace, Valkyrie. Come on.

Tanith had girlfriends and it was just mentioned casually, because it's normal.

China had massive UST with Eliza. That was an opportunity right there to not only include a f/f relationship, but also to bring back one of the few precious surviving characters from Phase One, using characters and a relationship that already had several books' worth of setup and tension and interest from fans.

The Monster Hunters have a casual conversation about which one of the Dead Men they'd date.

Ghastly has a conversation with Fletcher about the pain he's been through being in love. He never uses any pronouns.

It was confirmed at one point re: the Dead Men that at this point, after 300-odd years, everyone's been with everyone else at some point.

Thrasher is gay, and while Scapegrace's...everything...is treated as a joke/comedic relief, Thrasher's love for him isn't. He's completely devoted to Scapegrace, and that in itself is not played for laughs, even though the rest of the scene usually is. Thrasher's description of their first meeting is essentially a love-at-first-sight situation for him.

"ABNORMAL" RELATIONSHIP REP: Age gap relationships are normal for mages. Off the top of my head, using only canon, canon-implied or almost-canon ships:

Ghastly/Tanith (~350 year age difference)

Tanith/Sanguine (~250+ year age difference)

Tanith/Saracen (~350 year age difference)

Caisson/Solace (~250 year age difference)

China/Gordon (~400 year age difference)

Kierre/Temper (~500+ year age difference)

If you include fan ships, there's also things like Mevolent/Serpine or my Mevolent/Vile, which are both ~600 year minimum age gaps based on the timeline, or Valdug (and its variations) which is ~400 years.

Now, whether you consider this kind of rep positive or negative is up to you, but it’s there.

MENTAL ILLNESS REP: more like "Which characters in this series don't have a mental illness or a personality disorder?" I have some of these issues, but not all of them, so this is just how I read it, but:

ADHD: Skulduggery

Dissociative Identity Disorder: Skulduggery & Vile

Dissociation: Skulduggery again, most notably in DD and DB

Schizophrenia (or similar): Valkyrie & Darquesse, Valkyrie "seeing" Darquesse's ghost thing in Phase Two

Impostor Syndrome: Reflectionie

Autism: Clarabelle

Trauma/PTSD/CPTSD: Skulduggery, Valkyrie, China, Ghastly, Erskine...pretty much everyone has a believable, understandable, morally grey trauma response in this series. People struggling with trauma are spoilt for choice of characters to see themselves in.

TRAUMA REP: This series is a trauma conga line, but everyone has a believable, understandable, morally grey trauma response in this series. I see little bits of myself in more than one Phase One character.

Childhood Abuse (of varying degrees & types): Skulduggery, Carol & Crystal, Omen, Fletcher, Ghastly, China, Bliss, Sanguine...

Estranged Family: Skulduggery abandoning his crest, Fergus & Gordon, China & Bliss

Bad Romantic Relationship: Skulduggery is also very clearly an abuse victim. He’s got a solid history of romantic attachments to women who manipulate, use and gaslight him for their own agendas.  There's a whole paragraph in SPX about how Abyssinia broke him down, isolated him from his friends and preyed on his desperate need to be loved, all classic abuse tactics.

And I’m personally a huge fan of this backstory for two reasons:

1) Society likes a plucky victim in media. The "My suffering made me stronger" type of victim. And it's not always like that in real life. Not all survivors come out of their abuse stronger or kinder or more understanding. Some of us come out cold and fucked up. Some of us end up as emotionally stunted, bloodied-nails-and-bared-teeth survivors, broken in ways that can't be fixed and sustained by enough rage to power a small sun. But society doesn't like to tell the story of that kind of survivor, because we're not usually a likeable protagonist. When we're shown in media, we're usually the sympathetic villain, or maybe the antihero. But Skug is someone who's done awful things and lost pretty much all his faith in humanity and been burned more times than he can count, and he still makes the conscious choice to try and be the good guy when he could so easily go Evil Supervillain on the world, and I don't know about any of y'all, but I've modelled myself on him in that. I've made the choice to do something good when all I really want to do is just become a horrible, shrivelled ball of nastiness and revenge. And that's because I saw him do it and realised that I could do that too.

Skug is an incredibly capable, strong, masculine Man's Man. He gets in fights all the time, and he usually wins. He's military, an industry that's Really Bad for stigmatizing weakness and mental illness, and he's right up at the top of the hierarchy. Almost everyone is afraid of him. He's a straight up cold-blooded killer. Skulduggery Pleasant is precisely the type of person who's not normally portrayed as a victim of anything. Nothing about him screams "victim" at all. But his abuse history is insidious. He's so conditioned to respond in a certain way to abuse from the women in his life, probably from a very young age, that despite all that strength and capability and stubbornness and ego, he just goes along with it. And it's an established pattern going back hundreds of years. He keeps going back to China, even though he knows she's bad for him and his friends keep telling him to stay away from her. Abyssinia latched onto him when he was traumatized and vulnerable and weaponized it against him to make him easier to control - and when she reappears, hundreds of years later, she jumps straight back into using, tmanipulating and gaslighting him and not only does he let her, he doesn't even seem to realise that behaviour is abusive. He thinks it's normal! That's how he's always been treated by his long-term girlfriends, with the notable exception of Wifey. Even when Val is being fucking nasty to him in the first couple books of Phase Two, sniping and lying and blaming him for everything under the sun, he just takes it. There's no attempt to tell her she's being unreasonable, no telling her to fuck right off and give her head a wobble, no defending himself even when she's bitching over something that isn't even his doing. And this is a man who has an absolutely gleaming steel spine the rest of the time; Skug has no problem saying no to anybody else, but he can't get past the way he's been taught to treat the important ladies in his life. Skug is a walking reminder that anyone can be a victim of abuse, even the ones who seem least likely to be susceptible.

GENDER REP: This one is the most iffy out of the bunch and definitely was not done very well in the eyes of the people who matter most, but I'll include it anyway because it mattered to some.

So there's Nye, who's...agender? Genderless? And uses "it" pronouns? Nye was generally considered horrible rep because it's also a war criminal and experiments on people and I've seen people say "Well I don't want to be seen like that" but? It's still possible to be a war criminal and also genderless. I never saw the two things as being related or relevant to each other.

There's also Mantis, who's in exactly the same gender/pronouns boat as Nye and always seems to be forgotten about, which sucks because Mantis is a war hero. It fought for the Sanctuary during the War and they never lost a battle when it was in command. It's called out of retirement to fight for the Supreme Council in LSODM, ends up fighting alongside Skulduggery during the Battle of Roarhaven, and ultimately dies attempting a very brave, very risky strategy. Mantis is, unreservedly, one of the good guys. It was also my introduction to sentient beings using "it" pronouns, and did it in a way that felt natural, so when I met my first person online who used "it" pronouns and hated to be referred to as he/she, it was...weird, but not as weird as it would otherwise have been, because I was like, "Oh yeah, like the Crenga. Okay."

And then there's the Scapegrace sex change plotline, which...I might have an unpopular opinion on this one. From what I’ve seen, trans people don’t seem to think was handled well or with any sensitivity at all. I’m not trans, so if the trans community says he was being offensive to them, I’m not going to claim otherwise. But...I first read the Scapegrace plotline as a young teenager in a tiny rural school with zero diversity, going through a period of being deeply confused about my own gender identity. He was more or less my first introduction to the idea that genitals =/= gender. I was relieved, at that point in my life, to read someone having a lot of the same thoughts I was having about being in the wrong body. So while it may have been badly done and yeah, the series would probably have been better without it, it did make at least one kid suspecting she might not be cis go “Huh! So there are other people who feel like this.”

Thrasher is also implied to be legitimately trans/gender-questioning, and that's not played for laughs either.

So? Phase One, while it absolutely had faults and issues and things that were just "Oh god why", was actually full of rep, at least compared to the other series that I read as a child/teen. But? As soon as Dirty Laundry started trying to be woke? He fucking sucks ass at it. Aside from confirming Phase One's hints that Skug has a background of abusive relationships, every single attempt at shoehorning rep into Phase Two is Bad.

The painfully OOC, forced, badly-written awkwardness of Val suddenly being rabidly horny for women out of fucking nowhere. The stilted, forced cringiness between her and any of the women she's flirted with - contrast that with Sorrowscorn's interactions, full of natural chemistry that had us all like 👀 I mean, I never shipped Val/Melancholia, but I could always see why people did - they had miles more chemistry than Val/anyone in Phase Two.

The fucking mess that is v*litsa, because if someone says "I'm really not interested in friendships/relationships right now", clearly the route to true love is to bulldoze their boundaries and forcibly insert yourself into their life and proceed to treat them like a delicate soft uwu flower, completely ignoring the horrible things they've done, while gleefully damning their best friend as an irredeemable monster for the exact same things, which is. You know. Gonna affect your so-called love's self-confidence and self-esteem because she knows she's no different to him. Y'all know I love an angsty ship, an unhealthy ship, a ship with fucked power dynamics, but I literally cannot roll my eyes any further back in my head at this shit. I never read Demon Road, but from what I've heard from friends who did, it does seem like every time Laundry tries to write an f/f ship, he comes up with a cringey abusive/manipulative caricature and tries to call it rep, and he needs to Stop.

Val's Mental IllnessTM arc. It's funny how he wrote Skulduggery as a wonderfully complex character with deep-rooted psychological damage and long-lasting trauma, but believes he wrote a character with "no feelings" - but when he tries to delve into the damage the world of magic has done to Val, he turned her into a weak, whiny drug addict who treats everyone around her like garbage and is so selfish and dislikeable that I? Honestly can't even reconcile Phase Two val with Phase One val. They're two completely different people. He's shown on Twitter that he doesn't have any respect for mentally ill people, and it shows. Other mentally ill people might see it differently, but the whole thing just makes me go "yikes".

Never, who has no personality outside of being genderfluid, and whose pronouns make no sense. I'm sorry, I have never met an nb person who insists that you change from male to female pronouns multiple times in a sentence, every time you refer to them. It's confusing as fuck. Now I have been told that Never has apparently received some character development in the last couple books, and if so, fair play, but I quit reading after Midnight, and Never and the rest of the personality-less new characters introduced in Phase Two who just seemed to be 2D Stereotypes to snag Woke Points were a big part of why, so. Development too late, I'm afraid.

(Now, if anyone is looking for a well-written genderfluid character, I recommend the Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb. I have a lot of issues with her as a writer, and unfortunately I hate her POV character which puts me off the series as a whole, but she wrote the Fool/Amber/Lord Golden and their gender identity/approach to sexuality with so much more respect and realism. That is the kind of rep nb people should be getting: 3D, complex, realistic characters whose gender is only a tiny fragment of their personality, not the be-all-and-end-all of their existence. You know. Like cis people get. Nobody wants to be represented by a 2D cardboard cutout stereotype.)

Anyway idk how much sense this makes it just really amuses me that Laundry would include all this rep completely unintentionally and then go on Twitter and remind us all that actually he's a massive asshole via insensitive/offensive tweets about the groups he'd actually done a fair job of including (i.e. Skulduggery has no feelings, mentally ill people should find another series to read, the bullshit about Val being "heteromantic bisexual" on Twitter and then spouting all the "the woman she loved uwu" shit in the books (proving he has no idea what he's talking about), eVeRyOnE iS bI eVeNtUaLlY. He can only write half-decent rep when he's not trying and he inevitably outs himself as having a really shitty attitude towards those people anyway, proving that ultimately it's all either unintentional rep or performative wokeness.

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Venn Diagram

Venn Diagram Fandom: My Hero Academia Pairing: DabiTwice; Implied Huwumi Summary: DabiTwice Week Day 2 Prompt Fill: Part of a longer DabiTwice Pro Heroes AU I have in the works and may have spoilers for more recent manga chapters if you aren’t up to date. Dabi reminded himself that he should maintain his composure, as expected of a Pro of his caliber. After all, it was just a civil meeting with another Pro to discuss agency lines and the swiping of a culprit. So what if the other Pro in question had a jawline of immaculately chiseled marble? He certainly didn’t care! Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.

Also Minor Trigger Warning: Implied/ Referenced Mental Illness

Touya checked his appearance in the mirror for the upmtenth time in the last five minutes. He shouldn’t be this worked up, he reminded himself, fussing as if it was a real date. It wasn’t a real date, he insisted to himself for an even larger attempt. Sure, the other had practically purred the invitation to coffee at him but that didn’t mean anything! It was just two guys hanging out and discussing the logistics of whether or not the other had stolen Dabi’s target from him! At a coffee shop that the other insisted was great for getting a handle on someone else!

So what if Bubaigawara Jin was 5’Hunk tall with a warming grin and sharp eyes? Touya certainly didn’t care! This was strictly business!

Which was why he’d spent two hours the prior night stressing over his outfit.

And then another hour and a half fussing over it when he woke up.

And planned to come up with an incredibly clever lie to tell Father as to where he was going, because God forbid Father know who it was Touya’s little meetup was with.

Touya groaned and scrubbed his face with his hands, reminding himself to stay calm as anxiety caused his skin to prickle with warmth. He was usually incredibly good at keeping his Quirk under control and had learned early on that his emotions correlated to it. Thankfully enough, Father had been quick to come up with tactics to handle his flames so as to halt his harming himself and allowing him to pursue Pro Heroics professionally, eager to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Which placed him back in the current moment.

Todoroki Enji was not an easily impressed or rattled man, more times than not seeming cruelly indifferent. This was, of course, just how the public saw him. Touya and his siblings knew that, while a harsh critic and incredibly awkward at expressing his feelings, Father was an ultimately good and kind man. He was also, however, a very disciplined and serious man, who took pride in his work and shouldered the weight of his profession with the kind of regalia he expected of others.

It was most likely why he had some rather… strong opinions about his peers.

The obvious ones were Number One Pro All Might, who he made his disdain and resentment for apparent all the time. After that came Hawks, ranked Number Three, who he found irritating due to his haughty behavior. They were the two big standouts due to their close ranking to Endeavor himself but much more so in how they had the ability to set him off in the first place with minimal effort. Hawks was your standard troll the handful of times they’d interacted, playfully digging at the older man in ways that he knew would set him off behind closed doors and then smiling through the tongue lashing. All Might was an unintentional irritant. His apparent ignorance to Endeavor’s self-imposed rivalry between them seemed to only further push Enji’s buttons regarding it.

And then there was Pro Hero Torrential, whose agency was their neighbor and Enji held equally strong opinions about. More times than not, he could be heard grousing about that “uncouth sea hag and her salty little hooligans” just across the way. Torrential herself was relatively skilled at what she did - well enough to rank in the top 25 - but she seemed to revel in firing Enji up more than chasing down baddies. Her own Quirk was water-based so she was always quick to use it to her advantage along with passive aggressive jabs just to prod at Endeavor’s ego. If Touya was honest, he didn’t understand his Father’s reasons for falling for it every time. After so long, he figured that it was the reaction that had Torrential poking and prodding like she did. Furthermore, there were 20 ranks separating them on the charts, so why should her opinion matter so much? Or was it more a matter of how frequently she was able to rattle his cage? However, Torrential was part of why Touya felt compelled to lie about who he was meeting up with.

Jin was also a Pro Hero by the name of Twice, who was Torrential’s faithful right hand man.

He shook his head and started to make his way down the halls to head out. As he walked through, he realized that it seemed Father was nowhere to be seen. Had he stepped out for something? He knew he was off work today, but it wasn’t impossible that something had come up. The man was a workaholic, after all. He felt himself relax at not needing to have any kind of story figured out. He stopped at the door to lace on his boots only to jump as Father walked in, Shoto and two of his little friends a few paces behind him. “Touya? Where are you going?” Enji asked.

He opened his mouth to answer, trying to keep the panic from being too obvious, when there was the sound of quick footfalls behind them. “Touya, you jerk! I told you I just needed an extra minute to finish getting ready!” All eyes shifted to Fuyumi as she came bustling into the entryway, pouting at her brother with her hands on her hips, all dolled up for a trip of her own.

It took Touya less than two seconds to roll with it. “Not my fault you take forever,” he drawled with an overly dramatic roll of his eyes.

Enji looked between his older two children with a raised brow. “Where are the two of you going?”

“Akiko and I wanted to go shopping today,” Fuyumi said as she stepped down to put her own shoes on, “but Mom was worried about us going out alone, what with all the escalated Villain activity lately.”

“So I offered to go with as bodyguard in exchange for Yumi paying for my grub,”

Shoto blinked slowly. “Hopefully you’re gonna have two servings, because I get the feeling they’re gonna use you like a pack mule,” he quipped flatly.

“Shoto! So mean!” Fuyumi gasped while Touya released a sharp bark of laughter. Shoto wasn’t always the best with his comedic timing, but when he was, he always nailed a bullseye!

Enji made a small noise of agreement. “I see. I was hoping you could help me with these three today, but this is much better,” the older man said with a small nod. “You two look after one another out there. And if you need anything, just call. We’ll be there at a moment’s notice if you need the assistance.”

“Of course, Father,” Fuyumi said, giving him a brief hug and quick peck to one cheek before waving at Shoto and his friends. “Have fun training, boys. And don’t let Father work you guys too hard.”

“I think it’s actually the other way around,” Touya hummed, grinning mischievously when Enji scowled at him. “You aren’t exactly a spring chicken any more, old man.”

“In yet I can still run circles around you,” he said back, the only shift to his expression being the slightest twitch to the left corner of his mouth.

“What did you sa-!” He was suddenly jerked away from the brewing squabble by Fuyumi tugging on his arm.

“Touya, you and Father can bicker later! We’re gonna be late!” With that final declaration, he was unceremoniously dragged out the door, Shoto and his friend with the green hair waving at them.

Once they were on the street proper, he readjusted himself and glanced sideways at Fuyumi. While her outfit was casual enough for a girl’s day to be plausible, he had his doubts. “So, what are you actually getting up to?” he asked suspiciously.

She flashed him an expectant look. “What, no ‘thank you’ for saying your floundering butt back there?”

“I wasn’t floundering,” he huffed.

“But you would have been the second you had to lie about what you were doing. Because clearly you’re going on a date. And with someone you think Father would disapprove of, if you feel the need to hide it,” she explained evenly. He winced and averted his gaze from her. Fuyumi was an incredibly quick woman, much to Touya’s simultaneous chagrin and relief. She was incredibly in-tune with the people she loved and could piece things out with them with the greatest of ease. This attribute could be a great asset or a detriment, depending on where her loyalties lay at any given moment. “Look, I’m not going to pry or anything. If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

“Thanks, Yumi,” he said with a small sigh. He felt his shoulders slump a bit as he relaxed. Despite her occasional bratty little sister tendencies, Fuyumi knew when to keep certain things to herself. “Just… I’m going to talk to Father about it eventually. Probably. If anything more comes of this.”

“Not sure if this mystery man is gonna pass the first date test?” she asked while waggling her eyebrows at him playfully.

He contemplated answering that it wasn’t a date, but a work-related conference. Because he was still insisting to himself that it really was only that. “Not sure if I’m gonna pass the first date,” he grumbled quietly.

“Touya,” she said in quiet shock. He tried to ignore her by continuing to walk, but she reached out and grabbed his arm. He stopped and turned to face worried cerulean eyes. “Hey, if the first date doesn’t go well, that’s not your fault. It could just mean you two aren’t as good together as you initially thought.”

“Just like the last two guys I tried to get serious with?” he scoffed, rolling his eyes. He didn’t like thinking about it, really. But it felt like… Well, outside of his family name, he didn’t have much to offer a boyfriend. His own rise to acclaim as a Pro was far from glamorous and he knew his tendency towards sarcasm and dramatics weren’t always the biggest appeals to lots of people.

Fuyumi huffed and reached up to lightly pat his cheeks. “Hey,” she said, her tone serious and firm in a delicate way that only she and Mom seemed capable of, “I know what you’re thinking and I’m gonna break down why you’re wrong. You’re successful, you’re funny, you’re smart, you know what you want and how to get it. And, most importantly, you know who you are and don’t put up with other people’s crap. Those guys before? They were just assholes who thought they could ‘fix’ you without realizing you don’t need fixing. It’s not your fault if they were intimidated by you and how comfortable you are in your own skin.”

He opened his mouth to say something before chuckling quietly and closing his eyes. “Damn, just cutting straight through, huh?”

She giggled and let her hands shift to carefully adjust the janked collar of his leather coat. “Now, cheer up! You’re clearly interested in this guy, whoever he is, so focus on having fun!”

“Fine, fine,” he mused, opening his eyes to glance at her again. He realized that they should probably iron out the details of their plan. It’d look suspicious if they came home without the other, after all. “So, how do we wanna deal with the rents when we get back?”

“Akiko’s already aware of the cover story, so I’ll let her know to cover for you, too, just in case. We were going to meet up for dinner around 5:30-6. You can join us for gossip, and then we go home together afterwards,” she suggested as they reached a crosswalk. He nodded as he hit the sign to keep going north, towards the train station, while she moved to go west. “I’ll add you to our text chat so that you know where to meet us at.” With that said, she waved and scampered across the crosswalk as it turned, lifting her hand to wave at a figure waiting on the other side.

Touya froze for a second as he took in the figure, wearing baggy clothes, large shades and a cap with a wide brim. The outfit was clearly a front to keep their actual physical characteristics hidden; whether to avoid the ire of the Todoroki men or not, Touya wasn’t entirely sure. He tilted his head to the side and narrowed his gaze as Fuyumi rushed to their side. They offered one of their arms to her, which she eagerly attached to, her back still facing Touya. The capped figure glanced up briefly and Touya froze at the sharp golden eyes fixated on him, followed by a sly grin.

He was tempted to follow after them but then the crosswalk chimed for him. He decided to leave it until later, given Fuyumi had done him a favor. He couldn’t shake his sudden hunger for barbeque-style chicken wings, though.

Thankfully enough, he showed up right on time at the agreed upon coffee shop. Bubaigawara was waiting out front for him, one hand in the pocket of the bomber jacket he was wearing while the other was scrolling through something on his phone. He perked up as Touya approached, his phone immediately disappearing into his pocket. “Hey! Hope it wasn’t a hassle finding this place,” he prompted.

Touya flashed a small smirk as he reached him. “Think I’ll be disoriented just because we’re in a shop on your agency's side?”

He chuckled and indicated the simple chalkboard display and Wooden hanging sign that read “Bean There, Brew That” above the front door of the shop. “More just because this place is a little bit of a hole in the wall. Owner’s a real sweet lady, though,” he assured before reaching for the door and holding it open for him. “After you, Dabi.”

He laughed as he slipped past. “I ain’t on duty; drop that formal bullshit. Just call me Todoroki or Touya,” he groused.

“In that case, Todoroki,” Twice said as he walked in after him, “fuck the formal bullshit with me, too.”

“Sounds good, Bubaigawara,” he agreed, allowing the other to lead him to the front counter. The shop, as he said, was a simple and laid-back place, with quiet piano music playing over the speaker and only two or three other patrons occupying the joint. The elderly owner was behind the counter, ringing customers up, while her grandkids helped her with preparing orders. Bubaigawara insisted on paying for both their drinks while Touya was sent to find a seat. He ended up selecting a spot by the window.

There was a soft thunk as his drink was set in front of him. “Fan of people watching?” Bubaigawara asked as he settled in across from him.

“Nice way to kill time,” he shrugged, sliding his drink closer. He carefully removed the plastic lid and watched the steam roll out in large uneven plumes, the strong and thick scent of fresh brewed coffee filling his senses. “Tended to do it a lot as a kid. Learned when a lot of the other kids were getting up to dumb shit.”

“Oh, that must have made you real popular with your peers as you got older!” he laughed.

Touya snorted himself as he took a sip of his drink. “Enough so that I got kicked out of my ritzy lil school,” he scoffed. The blonde haired man perked up at that, sipping his own drink and making a noise of interest. Realistically, Touya knew he shouldn’t be sharing this fact so early on. This information was more of a second or third date sort of thing. But… He also didn’t want to have to skirt around parts of himself. He was a work in progress and he wanted to make sure any potential partners were aware. “My first year at UA I got in a real bad fight with some other kid. Now, admittedly, I wasn’t exactly the scholarly type to start with, and I’d butted heads with this particular dick more than once. Ratted him out for cheating on a practical test so him and his buddies jumped me after school. Pretty sure I broke the asshole’s jaw and left him with some permanent burn marks.”

“Sounds like they deserved it, though,” the other said evenly. “I mean, they attacked you. And they outnumbered you. You were just defending yourself.” He took another sip of his drink and flashed an amused smirk. “Plus you’re the one that became a Pro, even without attending a proper Hero school. You’re the one that cared enough to still deserve a career in the field while I’d be willing to wager those dipshits all flunked out or are nothing but coffee jockies.”

Touya froze as he leaned to take another sip of his drink. He blinked three times in quick succession before shaking his head. “What?”

“What?” he parrotted back, glancing back up in surprise.

“You… You’re serious?”

“Yes…? I mean, again, they started it. Did they just expect you to roll over and take it? You wouldn’t just let a Villain you stopped from robbing a bank curb stomp you under the principle of alerting the police that they were going to be apprehended,” he pointed out, waving one hand as he spoke.

Touya continued to stare, mind reeling. While Father hadn’t been angry with him for getting thrown out of UA, he also hadn’t been thrilled. His pride in his son for doing what was right was undercut by his disappointment in that same son not showing the restraint he knew he had. The resulting lecture from Father had been a strange mix, trying to insist he stand by his morals but also knowing when to back down from a fight. Even to this day, though, Touya struggled with that specific concept. After all, it was up to Pro Heroes to protect the public, to assure law and order was upheld. If they didn’t hold other Pros to the same standard, what good was all their preaching? It would be nothing more than moral grand-standing.

“And, I mean, if it makes you feel better, I dropped out of middle school,” Bubaigawara said with another shrug.

“No joke?” Touya asked, relaxing at the table and leaning a bit closer.

He hummed. “That was around the time that, uh, my mental health took a nosedive. Struggled with that shit for a long time. Got this as a result of all that, actually,” he laughed lightly, reaching up to tap the long scar that ran down the center of his scar. Touya had only really seen it a handful of times and always assumed it was something medical, but now that he looked at it closer, he could tell that it wasn’t perfectly symmetrical like he always thought. “I… Kinda gave up, to be honest. Everyone around me gave up on me, so what was the point? I decided to just become who everyone assumed I always was for a good couple of years. But then… After the worst week of my fucking life… Captain found me.”

Touya blinked in surprise. Captain was the term that Torrential’s staff called her by. He knew part of it was as a show of respect and he’d heard she recruited her staff through unconventional means, but the details weren’t something he’d explored. “Huh… And she set you on the right path?”

“Don’t know if she really even meant to get me the way she did,” he confessed with a wistful smile. He sipped his drink and stared outside at the few passersby. “But long story short, she pushed me to follow my passions and gave me the encouragement I needed to do it. But I’ll tell you about that another time.”

A small chuckle escaped Touya at that. “I’ll hold you to that,” he hummed, feeling more at ease on this date than he had on any in the last three years.

And, yes, he finally embraced that he was on a date.

[daily-dose-of-imagines]

ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴᴀʟ ᴍᴏᴅᴇʟ | ᴍᴏᴅᴇʟ!ᴀᴋᴀᴀꜱʜɪ x ᴘʜᴏᴛᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜᴇʀ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ | Haikyuu!! One-Shot

Woo woo! Taking a bit of a break from Jojo and decided to give the loml AGAAAASSSHHIIIII some lovin moments-- sksk I hope you guys enjoy this one-shot~! ;; 

» » Admin Ko

Looking down at the minimalist card, she couldn’t help but release a hesitant sigh as she brought her gaze back up to look at the intimidating building before her. It was a week before the semester ended, and for her photography class she needed to take a meaningful photo that held a deep sense of understanding, and was open to various amounts of interpretations. 

It wasn’t necessarily a hard project, but with her other finals creeping up on her she had ended up pushing this one to the very end; and now? She was in a pinch to find something that could help her leave a lasting impression. Despite not having photography as a major, she took the class more so to improve her skills for her hobby. It was uncouth, especially in consideration of tuition costs, but there was just something about having at least one class she could fall back to when her brain was depleted from energy from factual and information overload. 

Another sigh came from her lips as she melted into her coat. Her features practically melting with her as she couldn’t help but feel as though she was being an inconvenience.

In her search for a perfect idea or motivation for her project, her friend Akaashi had offered his help in her quest to find something that could spark her interests. 

She agreed, happy to have one of her good friends accompany her on her journey; but when he gave her his business card all thoughts went blank as she stared at the card in hand. 

Akaashi Keiji | Model 

xxx-xxx-xxxx | akaashi.k@hmail.com | 22-27, Nishishinjuku 7-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

“M...Model?” 

Her question went unanswered as she found herself talking to no one. The thought struck her as she felt a sudden weight fall onto her shoulders. Her phone buzzing as she numbly pulled it out before reading the message sent to her. 

[Akaashi Keiji]

I apologize for leaving abruptly, but I had an appointment to head off to. Were you alright when I left you? You were spacing out so much you didn’t even respond to me when I called your name.

Flustered, she quickly typed out a response as she had pocketed the card.

[Me]

Oh! no worries ^^;; I just had a lot on my mind is all! 

»»————-　♡　————-««

[Akaashi Keiji]

Is that so? Please take good care of yourself alright? I wouldn’t want you falling ill before you finish the semester. On another note, please text me when you’re next availability is. I want to make sure I clear out a day for you.

»»————-　♡　————-««

[Me]

! ; o; Akaashi you don’t need to clear out a day! But I promise I’ll let you know! You should also let me know your schedule so I can work around it too!

»»————-　♡　————-««

[Akaashi Keiji]

Nonsense. I want to help you make sure you ace this project. ^^

Utterly shocked, she couldn’t fight the blush that took over her cheeks as she reread his messages. His sweet words melting her heart even more as she quickly pocketed the device. She couldn’t handle another text from him at the moment, not with her mind swirling with the newfound information she gathered. Though as the days dragged on and her deadline drawing near, she couldn’t help but forget about the card....

....until she found herself staring up at the complex he lived in. She was hesitant, that was for sure. Despite talking it out and having a set game plan for what they were going to do and what areas they would head to, she couldn’t help but feel a pit of overwhelming dread hit her when she made her way towards his apartment complex. 

“What even...” She murmured as she shuffled into the building. Her form quickly hobbling towards the elevators as she scrunched in on herself. Once inside of the elegant looking elevator, she quickly sent him a text of her arrival. The thought of being alone with the gorgeous male sent her nerves on end as she stumbled out of the elevator and began her little trek towards his door.

She knew it shouldn’t have surprised her to hear that her college friend was a model, but to see the accomplishments of it really had her reeling in her thoughts. 

As she walked, she hadn’t noticed the figure standing at the door she was walking towards. A soft and adoring smile on their features as they observed her murmur to herself before finally calling out.

“(y/n)-san.”

Immediately, her gaze flew up to meet cool gunmetal blue and a sudden yelp of surprise came from her as she jumped subtly. 

“A-Akaashi-san! What are you doing out here?” 

Confusion was written in her voice as she felt her heart beat erratically in her chest. Despite wearing simple clothes, the style and fit of the clothes made the appeal to him grow exponentially that she began to take notice of his physical features even more.

“I felt it would be better to greet you out here than to let you wander the halls and potentially get lost.”

Despite the motherly tone in his voice, the hint of a teasing tone was also found laced in between as he gave her another sweet smile. Pushing himself off his door, he made his way towards her, gently ruffling her hair in an affectionate manner before leading her into his apartment. 

The action itself had her eyes widen as her cheeks darkened in color. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for Akaashi to be a little affectionate with her, but to be greeted by it when they first met up? It was almost unfair how smooth he was. 

The stammering in her heart didn’t let up as she stepped into his home. Shoes slipping off at the entrance as she took in the simplistic yet cozy apartment. Even with the simple theme that went on, there were little touches of Akaashi that just made her smile. The accents of his favorite color. Simple yet meaningful memories of his time in the volleyball club back in high school. It all reminded her that even if her thoughts portrayed her friend as a model, he was still her friend Akaashi.

“Would you like some tea before we head out?”

His voice cut through her thoughts quickly, and she scrambled out a quick yet as she turned to face him. The look on his face further adding to her ongoing crush with the other as he went to prepare a cup. Once his attention was off of her, she went around exploring the little details of his apartment. Admiring the pictures and giggling at the more comedic pictures with him and who she assumed to be Bokuto. 

“He’s an energetic one. His emotions were always sporadic when we played.”

Flushing at how close he sounded, she willed herself to keep still as she could feel his breath fan her neck as he joined her to look at his old memories. 

“He...seems likes a really fun kind of guy...”

The comment came out soft, though it was truthful. After hearing all of the stories about Bokuto and his emotional roller coaster, she couldn’t help but want to meet the human embodiment of energy.

“You can meet him one of these days. I believe he’ll be free from Volleyball practice eventually.”

The slight tease in his voice had her smile at the tone he held for his friend, and she couldn’t help but look up at the other with her own smile on her face.

“I’d love that.”

Despite her answer being purely platonic the comment he made after had her mind short circuit as she stared at him baffled.

“However, you have to go with me if you’re going to meet him.”

She processed the words in her mind. Once, twice, slowly, quickly; any which way she could she did to make sure she wasn’t reading it wrong. Seeing her expression, Akaashi couldn’t help but chuckle before leaning down to place a chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth before pulling back. A light blush on his own features as he spoke.

“I suppose I should’ve been more blunt... but I did enjoy watching your reactions, (y/n). The truth is, I like you. I’ve actually liked you for a long time.”

If anything, both the statement and kiss had her stare at him in utter shock. Her brain working hard to work through the information it was being sent, and before she could even think her body moved on it’s own as she pressed her own lips against his. 

The action further deepening the blush on the male’s face as his eyes widened briefly before melting as he loosely wrapped his arms around her waist. Cheeks flushed, she shyly looked down as she fiddled with the strap to her camera bag. 

“I-I like you too Akaashi, and h-honestly I’m kind of...still processing this?”

The comment had a light chuckle escape his lips as her heart swelled with affection. 

“I suppose that could happen. Well, let’s at least sit you down so you can finish processing while you have your tea. I do hope I didn’t completely fry your brain though. We still have to go to those locations today.” 

Nodding, she mutely followed him to the small island in his kitchen before seating herself down. The steaming mug that was set before her sent a feeling of comfort through her body as she went to take a sip. The tea helping to soothe and calm her mind and heart. Though when she opened her eyes she couldn’t help but become starstruck.

The look Akaashi was giving her was...so loving. So loving to the point she almost dropped her mug as she hurriedly struggled to get out her camera.

“D-Don’t move! Please try to keep that expression!” 

Shocked, he was startled by her sudden movements, but did as told as he couldn’t help but feel his own heart swell at her animated movements and flustered appearance as she pulled out and set up her camera. 

“Just...pretend as if the camera wasn’t here.” 

Absolutely amused, he gave her a nod. With that, she snapped a couple of pictures. Checking in between as he took a couple of sips from his own mug before leaning over to peer at one photo she took in her flurry of motions. 

“I...I think I want to use this one...” 

Her voice was soft, but the amount of affection that dripped from her words had his heart practically implode with love as he was shown the photo. It was a simple photo, one that showcased his purest emotions and smile for her mid laugh at her cute antics.

“Then I presume we don’t need to go out?”

Subtly disappointed, he was ready to hear the day end, but was rather surprised with her statement as she looked up at him with a shy, yet sweet gaze. 

“Actually...I still want to go out and take photos....of you.”

Wide eyed and stunned into silence, the male couldn’t help but stare at her before exploding into his own expression of a bright grin as he leaned over the counter to press a kiss against her lips. His words soft as he spoke against them,

“Then I’m happy to be your personal model for the day, and hopefully for a good long while...”

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-5th Place

Up until now, I’ve been pretty iffy on which show went where on this list. However, from here on out, there is no doubt in my mind the ranking is almost perfect (or, at least, to me it is). 

Just keep in mind, this next pick isn’t as cute and innocent as it might look.

#5-Camp Camp (2016-)

The Plot: Camp Campbell is a place where kids can go to do anything! Like space camp, theater camp, art camp, magic camp, and also other magic camp! It’s a dream come true...except for a little rapscallion named Max, who was forced to go there by his crappy parents. With the help of his two new friends, Neil and Nikki, the three of them will make it their life's mission to make life a living hell for their two camp counselors. Or, at least, it’s their life’s mission until the end of the summer.

This is the first and only web series on this list, and it is made by the (in)famous production company called Rooster Teeth. And trust me when I say that Camp Camp is the best show Rooster Teeth created ever since they started working on Red vs. Blue. And I can think of a couple reasons why.

Reason number one is the show’s comedy. Just like Rick and Morty, Camp Camp relies on being absurd and dark to get a laugh out of audiences. However, there is one thing Camp Camp has that gives it an advantage: The fact that it’s a show on the internet. There’s a lot of jokes that writers are not allowed to get away with on television. But on the internet, it’s all free game, baby! You want to make jokes about Hitler and the holocaust? Go ahead. You want a young cis boy to ask when he’s going to get his period? Go ahead. You want four kids to get scarred for life after catching old people having sex? Go right the f**k ahead. Because this is the internet. A place that is impossible to make kid-friendly, no matter how hard certain websites try! (And in case you’re wondering: Yes, all of those examples I just listed are actual jokes within the show. So have fun.)

With the benefit of having little to no filter, Camp Camp’s sense of humor allows it to go further with its jokes while having competent enough writers knowing the definition of “too far.” Because believe it or not, there is a limit that this show has with how far it’ll take its humor, and rarely does it feel like it crosses it (and it’s usually Kerry Shawcross’ episodes that crosses the line, oddly enough). Now, as I’ve established in my Rick and Morty review, not everyone is going to find these types of jokes funny. But for the most part, I personally think Camp Camp is hilarious. In fact, out of a fifty-nine episode line up, there is a total of ONE episode that I felt was low on the laughs. And like most good comedies, the best jokes come from who’s saying them and not what's being said. People need to remember that humor comes from the characters. Otherwise, when the gag goes to the wrong cast member, you’ll end up having people respond with, “but that’s not what this character would do or say.” In fact, the only time when a joke falls short in the show is when the wrong character says what is already a funny line that’s just misplaced.

And seeing as how we’re already talking about the cast, now might be a great time to mention that Camp Camp has the best group of characters Rooster Teeth made since the first thirteen seasons of Red vs. Blue. Like I said with Rick and Morty, I prefer to have a series with a moderately large cast of characters, as it offers writers enough room to work with so the series doesn’t become stale. And boy, does this show have a lot to work with. Everybody starts off with a personality that’s simple and serves the purpose of making a joke. But as the Camp Camp goes on, the more that these personalities grow and the audience gets to learn more about them. Even characters who seem like they’re only useful for the same comedic bit eventually become more complex as the series progresses. The best example is Dolph, who starts off as a source for Hitler jokes. But in the episode “The Candy Kingpin," we see that he’s also a little kid who’s just lonely and naive...while also still being the source of Hilter jokes. Now, at a glance, it might seem like there are too many characters, and it can certainly feel like it at times. Luckily the writers are smart enough to know which characters need more focus and which ones can be used for comedy. For instance, Space Kid doesn’t seem that complex in the slightest, but he’s a source for comedy, so he doesn’t need to be. Besides, the writers can develop any characters it wants whenever they want to. Because if Max and David are of any indication, this show has the best character development in any Rooster Teeth series.

I’m not kidding when I say that the relationship between Max and David is the best thing about the series. They start off with a simple dynamic: David is the happy go lucky optimist who gets in the way of Max’s pessimistic schemes. There’s nothing too noteworthy at first, and the majority of the episodes are just Max screwing over David and David keeping Max in check. However, the showrunners found a way to make their relationship more intriguing with each season. (Kinda spoilers ahead) Not only does Max learn that David understands how rough life can be, but, realizes why David has the determination to stay optimistic in the first place. And once David learns why Max is so jaded, he begins to work with Max through a new angle. In fact, the second they’re both on even ground, the two of them stop working against each other and learn how to work with each other (kinda spoilers over). Now don’t get me wrong. David still gets on Max’s nerves and vice versa, but there’s still a small amount of respect shared between the two. This is what I loved about their dynamic: Their development isn't blatant, but it still exists. In Red vs. Blue, it feels like Tucker’s development seems to take a step backward and forwards with every other season. And in RWBY, it feels like Yang is a different character after experiencing a traumatic event. This is understandable given what happened to her. But seeing how her having a sense of humor, which is everything likable about her personality, left after this one moment, it can be a bit disappointing (especially since Yang seemed like a person who hid her trauma through comedy). As for Max and David, everything that is likable about their personalities is still there, only now seen through a different light. This may not seem that impressive, but considering how Rooster Teeth has handled character development in the past, it’s pretty great.

Here’s another thing that may not seem as impressive as it really is: The show’s animation. I am amazed at how this series manages to have a television-quality of effort. Now, that may not sound like a compliment, but considering that this is a web series, it’s pretty darn impressive. Most online animated shows barely stick to a weekly schedule and the ones that do only manage to have episodes lasting for 3-5 minutes. So, seeing as how Camp Camp can have 12-24 minute long episodes once a week AND still managing to look good is a testament to how far internet animation has come. There’s also a surprisingly large amount of detail added into the show. I’m not talking about the characters themselves, as they have pretty simple designs. What I am talking about are the little things that the animators added in. If you pay attention to the props, backgrounds, and even things they wrote in, you’ll notice a whole lot of things that would have flown over your head otherwise, such as great jokes, continuity nods, and even sublime foreshadowing when it comes to season three.

So as you can tell, there’s a lot to like about this series. So you’re wondering why it’s only #5. Well, my reasons are more pitiful if I’m being honest. You see, Camp Camp is aimed at adults, but it doesn’t feel like that at times. Like I said with my Final Space review, most writers think that for a series to be considered for adults, you have to use sex, drugs, violence, and cursing. Now, in all fairness, those aren’t really meant for kids. And understandably so. However, if you take all of that stuff out, then what’s stopping this show from becoming kid-friendly? Not a whole lot, especially since there’s a handful of episodes that have plots I’ve seen in other kids' shows (“Jermey Fartz,” “Eggs Benefits,” and “Night of the Living Ill,” to name a few). Personally, I believe that for a show to be for adults, it requires two things. One is to have writing that may seem boring to kids but interesting for adults. It's also important to have stories/plots that kids are not ready to fully understand yet. If you fail to do both, then there’s nothing stopping a twelve-year-old from watching your show and enjoying it just the same. And I should know because I was twelve when I started watching Rooster Teeth’s content in the first place.

Also (and this next complaint is less pitiful and more problematic), it's not good with how whitewashed the voice cast is. I get it. A voice is a voice, and the color of the actor's skin shouldn't matter...except that it does. Because if you're going to go the route of having a diverse cast of characters, then you might as well go all the way by having their voice actors be people of color as well. And don't get me wrong, these actors do a perfect job for their respective roles, both for the dramatic and comedic moments. But, as this series started coming out in 2016, long before current events, it still bothered me that a character like Nerris--

--was voiced by a woman like Barbara Dunkleman:

Yeah...That’s a big yikes.

So while it may not exactly be the best example of an adult series and definitely needs some recasting, Camp Camp is still one of the best shows in the 2010s. It has impressive animation for an online series, has hilarious comedy, and even better characters to enjoy. And seeing as how this is only #5, that can only mean that the shows can only get better from here.

(Side note, is it bad that two seasons of this show made me connect to the characters much better than the first six seasons of RWBY? Because I certainly think so.)

[faefictions]

Lonely People | Ch 1

(If you would like to listen to the Lonely People playlist, either send me an ask/message or search for it on my profile!)

Pairing: Harrison Osterfield x Reader (slowburn, enemies to lovers)

Word Count: 4,015

Warnings: underage drinking (that’s all for this chapter, but I would just like to state now that this story will deal with some heavy topics later on, such as abuse, addiction, and mental health issues. Those chapters will have those warnings before them!!)

“Y/n get over here!”

She searched the room for the voice calling her name, scanning over what seemed to be hundreds of heads before her eyes landed on her friends. The 2 were standing next to the beer pong table, waving their hands, urging her to come over. 

“Jace needs a partner,” Sierra explained, handing her the ping pong ball as she approached. 

“And why couldn’t you play with him?”

“Because I wanted the best, now get over here,” Jace said, pulling her wrist so she would join him. 

Ten minutes later, y/n had made every shot while the other team had made none. 

“Well, as fun as that was, I think I need to actually drink,” she winked at Jace, before grabbing Sierra’s hand and rushing off to take shots. 

“It’s really good to see you two finally socializing again,” Sierra commented loudly over the music. 

“I told you he would get over it eventually,” y/n replied. 

Just two months prior, Jace had tried to pursue a relationship with y/n, but her reply was less than ideal. Her exact words were that she didn’t “do the whole relationship thing”. They didn’t speak for more than a month after that, creating an awkward situation for Sierra considering their shared residence. 

“I mean I don’t think he’s really over it, he just knows that ignoring you isn’t going to get him anywhere.”

Y/n poured 2 shots, hoping that her best friend would just drop the subject. She had done her best to avoid talking about it for the past two months. 

“I thought you thought he was great anyway, I don’t get why you don’t just give him a chance,” Sierra remarked as she took the glass. 

“How about shut up before I stop talking to you too,” Y/n joked, clinking their glasses together and downing the liquid. 

2 shots later, the girls made their way to the living room of the house, sitting on the couch laughing through another story from Sierra’s childhood. This was their usual Friday night, although it wasn’t unusual to find them drunk at a party any other night of the week. 

The three roommates were all in their sophomore year of college and at that point, it was a miracle that none of them had been kicked out of their university. They all had their fair share of absences, tardies, and failing grades. 

Sierra and Jace grew up in the same town, and went to the same schools most of their lives. They didn’t really become friends until they went to college though. People tend to gravitate towards what is familiar, especially in foreign situations. That was the real reason the two became friends, but their bond became inseparable through their freshman year. 

They had met y/n halfway through their first year. She was at a party with her old best friend and Sierra ended up accidentally spilling a drink all over her. She helped her clean up and introduced her to Jace. That was just the first party of many for the three. Y/n fit in right away, and their friendship extended to make them an inseparable group. 

As they were laughing on the couch, the girls heard Jace’s cheers and laughter. They both turned around to see him running laps around the beer pong table, a sign that he had definitely had enough to drink already. 

“We should probably get him home,” y/n stated, a bit disappointed that she hadn’t had the chance to drink nearly as much as she wanted to. 

They both sighed as they got off of the couch, heading over to where he was still cheering. He was now high- fiving his partner, stumbling a little as he did. 

“Hey Jace, Sierra isn’t feeling too well, we should go.” 

The thing about getting a drunk 20 year old boy to leave a party is that he never wants to go. Without a good reason, there is no way he will depart without a fight. So the girls had a system of getting Jace home. They always lied about one of them feeling ill. If he wasn’t drunk every time they used it, he may have caught on. 

“What a shame, he’s one hell of a partner,” the boy beside him chuckled out.

“Are you sure we’re talking about the same guy? Because as far as I’m concerned, he’s never made a shot in his life,” Y/n snarked, making Jace gasp comedically. 

“I never said he was good, just fun. I’m Tom by the way.”

He reached out to shake both of the girl’s hands. Y/n looked at Sierra as she shook the boys hand, and it was obvious that her friend was smitten.

“I’m y/n, and this is Sierra.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” he said, holding eye contact only with Sierra. 

Jace came over to y/n and threw his arm around her shoulders in an effort to keep himself up, causing her to tense.

“You know it’s a good thing you guys are wanting to go, I’m starting to feel like maybe I had a liiittle too much.”

“Ok, big guy, let’s go,” she chuckled, then glanced to her other friend, “Meet us out front?”

Sierra nodded in response, prompting y/n to try to guide Jace out the front door. After a lot of struggling and weaving in-between underage drinkers, they were at the front door. As y/n reached to open it, Jace fell to the floor. She sighed in annoyance and tried to help him up, but he refused to let her grab him. 

“You are the most stubborn piece of shit.”

“I could say the same about you,” he chuckled from the ground. 

She rolled her eyes at his remark as Sierra and Tom appeared at her side. 

“Need some help?” Tom asked. 

“If you can work the miracle of getting him out the front door, be my guest.”

Tom stuck out his hand, and Jace took it right away, sticking his tongue out at y/n as he got up. The girls watched as Tom helped their roommate stumble out on the front lawn. They reached the front sidewalk when Jace suddenly stopped. He stumbled over to the tree a few feet away and used it to prop himself up while he spewed everywhere. 

“We were only here for like an hour. How is he this drunk already?” y/n mumbled to Sierra. 

“I told you he’s not over it. This is just exhibit A. Welcome back to the shit-show.”

A bit of guilt hit her in the chest, but she pushed it away. She told herself she shouldn’t feel bad for not liking her roommate back. At least she didn’t string him along, she told him the truth the second he mentioned his feelings. 

“Hey, mate, everything ok over here?” they heard someone call over to Tom. 

“Oh my God, there’s two of them,” Sierra squealed quietly to y/n, causing her to stifle a laugh. 

Tom told his friend that he was helping the girls get Jace out of the house, and introduced the boy to them. “This is Harrison.”

They all mumbled some nice to meet you’s before returning their attention to Jace. He was now leaning against the tree, luckily his puking had paused. 

“I’m taking the chance between hurls to start walking him home. You can stay here if you want, Si.”

She knew Sierra would have much rather stayed and gotten to know the boys. The expression on her face every time she glanced at Tom really gave it away. 

“I’ll feel like a terrible person if I don’t help you get him home.”

“We live like 2 minutes from here, I’ll be fine. You should really stay. I don’t know that there will ever be a party where you don’t have to babysit Jace again.”

“Hey, I can still hear you,” Jace called from by the tree. 

“Seriously, Si. Stay, and call me if you want me to come back and walk you home.”

Y/n walked over to Jace and put his arm around her shoulders again, helping him stand up. She was almost a whole foot shorter than him, so she wasn’t the best support, but she was better than nothing. 

They got back to their apartment, only having to stop twice for Jace to puke again. As soon as they were in the door, he rushed to the bathroom in his room, too rushed to shut any doors. She sighed at the sound of him violently heaving, knowing he was going to feel like shit the next morning. 

She went to her bathroom cabinet, grabbed some tylenol, and went into his room. She got his water from his bedside table, replacing it with the tylenol, and grabbed a blanket from his bed. Jace was sitting against the wall across from the toilet, so she took a place right next to him, setting the blanket over his legs. 

“Thanks,” he muttered. 

“No problem, now drink,” she said, handing him the water bottle. He reluctantly grabbed it and took a few sips before closing it again. 

“I put some tylenol on your bedside table. Take a few when you wake up, and when you’re done they go in my cabinet. Where’s your phone?”

“In my jacket.”

“Ok,” she grabbed the phone from his pocket and walked to his bed to plug it in. 

“It’s charging. Feel free to come knock on my door if you’re dying, Ok?”

“Ok… Thank you y/n. Seriously,” he was quiet, but she knew he appreciated her. 

“Of course. What are friends for?”

She returned to her room, finally getting the chance to look at her phone. 

She had four texts from Sierra. 

OH MY GOD this Tom kid is my future husband stg

His friend Harrison is pretty cute too. We could double date. Jace would hate it ;)

TOM IS GOING TO WALK ME HOME LATER!! AHHHH!!!

It might be the alcohol, but I think I’m in love

She chuckled at her friend. Their romantic lives were exact opposites. Relationships were the last thing on y/n’s mind, love didn’t matter to her anymore. But to Sierra, EVERY-SINGLE approachable boy was automatically her new soulmate. Going to the mall with her was like going on Tinder. Y/n was annoyed by it initially, but she found it entertaining at this point in their friendship. 

Y/n waited up for Sierra, wanting to be sure she got home safe. When she heard the front door open, she peaked her head out of her bedroom. She heard Tom and Sierra exchange goodnight’s, and watched as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before walking away. 

The blush on Sierra’s cheeks was evident even in the dark, as she closed the door with wide eyes. 

“Ok, for a heartless woman, even I thought that was adorable,” y/n whispered from her doorway. Sierra immediately turned to her, a giddy grin on her face. 

“He was such a gentleman. Those don’t exist around here. I told you, I am marrying him. I have dibs. Every other girl can suck it.”

********

On Monday morning, y/n woke up to her alarm loudly sounding off. She hated Monday’s because she had one of the only classes she cared about. She had it on Wednesday’s too, but skipping parties on a Tuesday was easier with her roommates. But Sunday nights were a little more difficult for her to turn in early. If she skipped class, she would feel guilty, but getting up at 7 am was hell. So when the alarm went off, she got up and threw on some pants and a sweater, bracing herself for the chilly morning. 

She walked into one of her few Photography classes, being 2 minutes early for the first time all year, despite having stopped for coffee on the way. She sat down near the door on the left side of the room, getting her laptop out of her bag and sighing in and effort to ready her brain for the lecture. 

It was a fairly small class, full of Visual Arts majors. Y/n wanted to be a photographer when she graduated, that was the reason she never skipped that class. Even if she got herself kicked out of the university, at least she would have soaked up some knowledge about what she actually wanted to do. 

There were only about 12 students in the class when the professor, Mr. Sullivan, walked in, quick to comment on her being there before him. She wasn’t teachers pet, but she definitely had a relationship with this professor. She wasn’t lacking talent and he was quick to pick up on it. He wished she had better work ethic, but he knew that nothing he said could change that in her. 

After the first few minutes, the full class was there, a measly 16 students. The professor was going over some kind of composition lecture, but y/n wasn’t exactly paying attention. She tried her best to not go out drinking on Sundays, specifically so she could go to her Monday morning class without a hangover, but Jace and Sierra had begged her to go out with them for a couple hours. They promised they would be home by 9 pm, but 9 turned to midnight, and by the time they were leaving, she was about 6 shots in. That was the point where she went over the line between tipsy and drunk. 

So she was definitely hungover that morning, despite drinking a couple cups of water before bed. She tried her hardest to pay attention, but her professors voice was monotone and seemed to fade to the background, her headache the only thing on the forefront of her mind. She grabbed the bottle of pills she kept in her bag, full of tylenol and allergy pills. She took a couple pain relievers with the coffee on her desk, before trying again to concentrate on the lesson. 

Halfway through the hour, her professor finally caught her attention by announcing that they were going to begin working on their midterm. 

“We are going to be partnering with one of my colleague’s Fashion Modeling classes. I want you to make a portfolio as if you were applying to be a fashion photographer. I know that isn’t the field a good chunk of you are interested in, but it’s a good source of income and you might find yourself doing it on the side at times. You’ll all be paired up with a model at the end of class, and together, next week, you will find a few different outfits that our theatre department is nice enough to lend to us. The portfolio will be due on the last Wednesday of the quarter, so you will have about 2 months to complete it.”

Y/n sighed, resisting the urge to bang her head on her desk. She had taken portraits of families and High School seniors to make money on the side, so she knew how the general public was on the other side of her camera, but the one time she had worked with an aspiring model, she wanted to punch the girl’s face in. She was so bossy and entitled, and she openly said that she could have taken better photos of herself. After that, y/n openly hated models. 

He continued on to show different examples of fashion photography from magazines and websites, being sure to go over every single tiny detail of his favorites. 

With about 15 minutes left in class, someone poked their head in the door, asking if his class could join them. The modeling class came in. There were 18 of them, meaning that 2 of the photographers were going to be having 2 models. The only thing that would have made the situation worse for y/n would have been having to work with two models instead of just one. 

“We took the liberty of pairing you up based on prior assignments,” her professor announced before starting to call off the names of partners. 

She breathed a sigh of relief when the second photographer with 2 models was called out, knowing she only had to deal with one diva. 

“Y/l/n, you will be photographing Harrison Osterfield.”

She looked around the room to see which model raised their hand. She was relieved that she would be working with a male model, and when she saw who was raising their hand, she was even more relieved to see the boy she had briefly met at the party on Friday night. He hadn’t seemed too horrible, so she had hope. 

The professors finished calling out names and released the students to meet their models, get acquainted, and exchange contact information so they could begin planning shoots. 

She said hello to Harrison as he approached her, opening her sketch app on her laptop, ready to begin planning shots. 

“You’re Sierra’s friend right?”

“Yeah, y/n,” she said, reaching out to shake his hand. 

“It’s nice to put a name to the face,” he smiled. 

“Here,” she said, writing her name and number on a piece of scrap paper. She tore the excess off and handed it to him with a small smile. 

He entered it into his phone, shooting her a text letting her know it was him. 

“When you have exchanged information, you guys are excused. We will be meeting back here first thing on Wednesday,” the modeling professor announced 

“Y/l/n, stay behind a second,” Mr. Sullivan called out before she could make her way out of the class. 

“Ohhhhh,” the boy sitting next to y/n whispered to her. 

“Oh, shut up, Rob,” she scowled, swatting at his shoulder, causing him to chuckle. 

Y/n packed up her belongings in her bag, and made her way up to the professors, leaving Harrison behind without so much as a glance goodbye.   

“So, y/l/n, we paired you two up for a reason. According to Mr. Reynolds over here, Harrison is the most promising model in his class. He asked me to pair him with my most talented.”

“And you didn’t give him to Robin?” she asked in false surprise, causing the professor to scoff. 

“Don’t be a dumb ass. But since I paired him up with you, that means you are going to be coming to class on time from here on out, right? And hopefully this is the last class you come to with a hangover.”

“Professor, you and I both know I am too young to drink. I would never come to my favorite class with a hangover. How dare you?” she said, sarcasm thick in the entire interaction. 

“They’re going to get along well,” Mr. Reynolds scoffed from the side. 

“I’m serious, y/n. You and I both know you have more potential than you are showing right now. This is my second year with you, and I am not going to go as easy on you as last year. I’ve let a lot of your behavior slide, but I am not going to be like that anymore. I want a perfected 15 shot portfolio from you. Anything less will earn you a failing grade.”

Her smug expression fell, “15? You told everyone else 10.”

“Well, congratulations, you are my most promising student, and I’ll be holding you to a higher standard for this assignment. Show me you can do it and your final will be the same as everyone else’s at the end of semester.”

“Ok, fine, but you better expect an extra photo at the end of my portfolio, a picture of a very specific finger.”

He laughed at her snark, knowing fully well that she was serious. She had turned in a photo just like that for one of her assignments the previous year. The composition fit the criteria exactly, so he hadn’t failed her, and that had started his interest in her as a pupil. 

“I’ll expect nothing less, I’ll see you on Wednesday, Ms. y/l/n.”

She smiled as she walked out the door, ready to go home and fall back asleep in her bed, but the boy in the doorway ruined her plans of that. 

“Wow, you really have some balls,” Harrison said and she passed him. 

“Were you listening to that whole thing?”

“Of course. I heard my name as I was walking out, so I had to eavesdrop. Glad to know I’m the most promising in my class, and that I’ll be working with the best photographer.”

“Oh, trust me, I am far from the best in my class. Sullivan just has some weird obsession with pushing me harder than anyone else. I think he thinks I am a prodigy or something, and he assumes that if he pushes me hard enough I’ll have some kind of breakthrough and become this amazingly famous photographer and I’ll owe it all to him. I would shut that theory down, but he lets me get away with a ton of shit because of it, so I let him think whatever he wants.”

“So if you aren’t this amazing photographer that he thinks you are, should I be worried about the midterm grade?”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about that. I have perfected the art of giving that man exactly what he wants. We’ll pass with flying colors.”

“Ok, good to know,” Harrison chuckled, “By the way, Tom hasn’t shut up about your friend since Friday night, in a very obnoxious way. Any chance she likes him too?”

“Why doesn’t he ask her himself?”

“Is that a yes?”

Of course y/n knew how much Sierra liked this guy. She had spent the weekend listening to her drone on and on about him, asking why he hadn’t texted back or complaining that he hadn’t shown up to the same parties. It had gotten old after the 17th time she had brought him up, so y/n understood where Harrison was coming from. 

“That’s her business. But if he wants to see her, we’re going to a party tonight. I can send you the address.”

“But it’s a Monday.”

“And?”

“Do you often go out on Monday nights?”

“Day of the week doesn’t matter. You want the address or not?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Ok, well I’m going to go sleep off this headache, I’ll send it to you later.”

She departed their path, leaving him smiling after her. He was amused by her. She was a small girl with the personality of a seasoned bouncer outside a nightclub. Something told him that working with her was going to be a difficult task though. 

Sure enough, a few hours later, he got a text from her. It was an address of a house about 20 minutes away from his shared apartment with Tom. Harrison was in his bedroom waiting for Tom to get home when he got it. He glanced at the message, too focused on the textbook in front of him to actually read it. He knew that if he was going to be going out that night, that he should get at least some of his work done beforehand. 

Tom came through the door, throwing his bag down on the floor in exhaustion. He had 2 back to back morning classes and then a 4 hour shift at work. He wanted to lounge for the rest of the night, but his plans were quickly ruined when Harrison appeared from his bedroom. 

“So guess what I did,” he called with a smug smile. 

“Good afternoon to you too,” Tom replied, collapsing onto their sofa. 

“You know that girl you won’t shut up about?”

Tom’s face lit up, eagerly asking Harrison to continue. 

“I got the address of a party she’ ll be attending tonight. Figured you would want to go.”

“But it’s Monday.”

“That’s what I said. Sounds like you found yourself a party girl. You want to go or not?”

Tom let out a loud groan. Of course he wanted to go, he had a huge crush on Sierra, but he didn’t want to stand up ever again. 

“Fine, when is it?”

“We’ll leave in 2 hours, lover boy.”

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I would love to hear any thoughts/feedback on this! I’ve been really nervous to post this since I have spent over a year working on it, so any kind of love with be MUCH appreciated. Love you all <3 

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Ashes of Love: The Problem with the ‘Protagonists’ Actions and Characterization, and an In-Depth Look at their Concerning ‘Romance’

Now, as anyone would be led to think about my opinion of Ashes of Love based on previous things I’ve written is that I didn’t like it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I adore Ashes of Love and the imperfect world that it’s created and most of the stories that unfolded from there. Unfortunately, the odd thing that has to be addressed is my absolute loathing for the supposed ‘protagonists’ of the story Jin Mi and Xu Feng, and that’s long before I get into the idea of their absolutely creepy romance. Now I’ve watched Ashes of Love about four times now before this post idea hit me, only wholly through once and the others were more picking the episodes I liked and skipping around, but I was curious why I hated what was arguably the backbone of the entire show. If there was no Jin Mi and Xu Feng and their ill-fated romance then wasn’t there no show? Isn’t their love supposed to be the thing that drives the plot forward and fleshes out all of the characters around them?

I’d actually argue that they’re not, and I do think that’s one of the biggest problems that Ashes of Love has.

That’s not to mean that I despise all of the time spent on secondary characters and their motivations. I actually think that so much time on the secondary characters saved the show. I think it was necessary to know why Run Yu became the token ‘bad guy’ in order to try avoiding the ‘second male lead is evil just because’ trope. I think it was necessary to have other characters for the audience to root for or like outside of the main characters. Unfortunately Ashes of Love even with all of this extra backstory never manages to accomplish the Run Yu task and gives up near the end to just make Run Yu Evil Incarnate™ just because. I’ll touch on the problems with Run Yu and his storyline/characterization in Ashes of Love in another post. This one is focused on my impressions and read on Jin Mi and Xu Feng.

Now in order for me to truly understand why I despised these characters so, I decided to rewatch their scenes without the distraction of other characters storylines and really try to wrap my mind around why I just couldn’t get behind these characters. Unfortunately these days we have to add this, but these are my personal opinions. Respond accordingly. 

Here were the results: 

Part One: Plot Problems and Character Actions -

Right away, jumping into the story we have the inciting incident that starts us on our journey through this world. Zi Fen, the Flower Immortal and Jin Mi’s mother, has experienced a series of horrifying events and fears that her daughter will go through something similar and attempts to circumvent that problem in the strangest way possible: she decides to take away Jin Mi’s ability to understand love. This is a simple enough start, however already the narrative fails to deliver on what this actually means and what this little anti-love pill does. Jin Mi is portrayed as someone who can feel love but cannot understand love. And not all love, just romantic love. She loves her friends plenty but does not understand the subtle nuances of her feelings for Xu Feng.

Xu Feng and Jin Mi have a chance meeting when Xu Feng’s assassination attempt lands him right in Jin Mi’s backyard. The two strike up a quick friendship and Jin Mi runs away from home to go off with Xu Feng. Upon getting to the troubled Heaven Realm she meets the secondary male lead Run Yu and strikes up a bond with him. Through a series of quirky events we find out that Jin Mi is no ordinary grape fairy but instead the daughter of the Water Immortal and the Flower Immortal! What? Who knew? Just kidding, we all did, or at least the second parent. After this the narrative comes up with an obstacle for these star-crossed lovers – Jin Mi is engaged to Run Yu! She’s the bride he’s waited thousands of years for! Oh the drama!

Here's where the plot really starts to fall apart though. I’d argue that they should have scrapped the majority of the demon realm arc and give more time to the before period of Jin Mi and Xu Feng prior to finding out that she’s the Water Immortal’s daughter and bringing in The Engagement. Why? Because Jin Mi’s naïve personality and Xu Feng’s constant hounding starts to lose momentum once this piece of information is revealed. At that point I still found myself asking ‘Why are they together? Why are they so determined to be together? Why is their love so intense and eternal?’. We needed more scenes of just the two of them building a serious relationship instead of just short comedic and cutesy scenes between them. I truly don’t feel that the narrative gives us an answer for any of those questions other than a ‘because it’s their love story duh!’ response. As much as these are immortals going through thousands of years, the narrative never really does a good job showing that a good chunk of time is passing and it feels like all of this nonsense is taking place right after the other. It gives a feeling of weakness to the main characters love and their trials. It feels too new, it feels untested and like the roots it has are unearned and just exist just because it says they do. [Understand this is the show and not the novel which I have heard is better at handling this problem and is nothing like the show not that I’ve read it]

This leads into the problem that really started to drag on me. The Engagement.

For how flippantly Xu Feng seems to believe that anyone can end this engagement at any time: see him tell Jin Mi she doesn’t have to, see him ask Run Yu several times to break it and so on and so forth; it doesn’t make any sense to the rules of this engagement. The Water Immortal and Run Yu express that it is an absolute, and that breaking it in terms of the Night Immortal equals demoting to the human world and stripping of their immortal title. That seems like a heavy price to pay to break this engagement and yet several times this heaviness is undersold by the narrative as a ‘Water Immortal almost ends it but Run Yu manages to say tricky words because he’s a tricky little schemer watch him scheme’. Later Jin Mi decides not to tell Run Yu that she wants to end the engagement in order to spare his feelings. The strength of the engagement and the consequences of it never really settle and it’s confusing up until the end. Not to mention, just the politics of it all.

Ashes of Love is a heavily politics driven show but not in a completely BAM in your face sort of way but more as the setting/backdrop/reasons why people are stupid sort of way. It never fully addresses the issue of Xu Feng’s constant chasing of Jin Mi considering that the eldest royal brother is already in a pre-contract engagement with her that has been there for at least several thousand years. Xu Feng seems unchallenged by the rules and continues blatantly chasing Jin Mi throughout it all.

The secondary characters need to push Jin Mi and Xu Feng together doesn’t truly make rational sense either. Jin Mi is engaged to Run Yu so why is the Moon Immortal and Immortal Yuan Ji going to Xu Feng to discuss acceptable choices in Jin Mi’s human redemption? Why does no one intervene in the Moon Immortal using his strings to tie the two together in the mortal realm? Why doesn’t anyone point out how out of line Xu Feng’s reactions are and how much he’s insulting and shaming Run Yu?

The return from the mortal realm is where things really fall apart long before the demon world arc. In fact, I’m not even going to mention the demon world arc because at this point is where my feelings on the main characters were solidified and I could no longer find it in myself to care about them in the slightest. A big thing in the show is the Engagement and the problems that it causes for Jin Mi and Xu Feng to come together. During the mortal realm we as the audience were able to see how much danger Jin Mi was in and how much extra effort Run Yu went through to protect her while Xu Feng was off playing mortal with her. Jin Mi returns and acknowledges that she loves Xu Feng. She wants to be with Xu Feng, but her father basically tells her no. That ‘human Jin Mi’ and ‘Immortal Jin Mi’ have different responsibilities and requirements to fulfil. Jin Mi then goes and does two things: one she does not break off the engagement accepting Run Yu’s request for time during his mourning; and two she has sex with Xu Feng.

…While still engaged – to Xu Feng’s brother. While Xu Feng’s brother is in a fragile state so she didn’t want to hurt him by breaking off the engagement, she goes off and starts a sexual relationship with Xu Feng which is so much worse than just telling him no to the marriage.

Then the next problem occurs – the Water Immortal and the Wind Immortal are murdered! There’s evidence that Xu Feng did it! Not just that - Run Yu finds out about Jin Mi’s affair and infidelity and restores the no love pill inside of her to put a stop to it! Drama!

This leads Jin Mi to accepting her responsibility and duty to the contract and goes to marry Run Yu, but wait! There’s more! Xu Feng arrives at the wedding to stop a coup from Run Yu [sorely needed coup] and Jin Mi kills him! Shook! Shock! Only then does the pill break fully and Jin Mi is released from the spell but it’s too late! She’s killed her love! Commence with the convenient restoring him to life plan and Jin Mi’s inability to let go of Xu Feng and her guilt about what she did – although she will eventually throw all of the blame onto Run Yu in order to clear herself of wrongdoing because ‘she was deceived’ and the narrative will side with her on this in order to clear up the problem of Jin Mi acting of her own accord to enact revenge and cannot handle what she did after she realizes that she didn’t have all of the proper facts. So she can’t be guilty even though she did it – the Evil Incarnate Run Yu™ was solely responsible [cue eyeroll].

This all accumulates in the major part of the plotline wherein we’ve followed the meeting of these two, the falling in love, the obstacles and the separation and return. Unfortunately the narrative never fully manages to give these lovers a weight to their story making their struggle seem pointless, self-created and exhausting. The problems they’re having are by their own hands and it never gives me, in my opinion, a reason to believe why they can’t let go of each other.

Xu Feng has no true hardships to overcome. He’s the spoiled prince who everyone loves despite being an arrogant bird. He’s loved by the beautiful Sui He but he’s so put upon because he doesn’t want her. He chases after his brother’s fiancé and gets annoyed that his brother won’t relent and give her to him. He goes down to the mortal realm to protect her but becomes useless in that endeavor and just plays king, because his mother refuses for him to have true hardships, and goes after the girl that he has no reason why he should be going after her and why no one is stepping in to prevent this. He’s unchallenged by any character. Overpowered and adored. Everyone prefers him. Everyone loves him. He has no real growth or reason to grow because everyone becomes ‘yes men’ in his presence and lets him do what he wants with no consequence. He’s blind to his parents true natures and cruelty to the worlds at large, coming across as sheltered and self-righteous in the worst ways. He’s not a hero, he’s a spoiled prince being denied a toy for the first time and he doesn’t like it.

Jin Mi goes from hopelessly sheltered and naïve to cheating fiancé. Neither character are very likeable or able to be stood behind despite everyone doing it for reasons unknown.

Side Note Expansion of the OP- Rant Ahead: If you can’t tell, I can’t get over the affair. Honestly at that point they became absolutely irredeemable which is why I didn’t need to go into the demon realm arc. There was no reason for it at all. Don’t care if you ‘love him’, you had the option to break the engagement or at least mention it. You are a piece of shit character and Xu Feng is worse sleeping with his brother’s fiancé after pawing at her for who knows how long. Run Yu could have been the evilest of evil and yet he still wouldn’t deserve that to be done to him because NO ONE DESERVES THAT! Having witnessed it before I know how much something like that fucks you up; and regardless of it being an ‘arranged marriage’ and ‘oh but Jin Mi truly loves Xu Feng’ – to Jin Mi it references that Run Yu and her were supposedly friends and that she cared about him as a friend and just not as a lover, and Jin Mi and everyone in the Heaven Realm knew how Run Yu cared for her. You don’t do that to your friends. You don’t do that to your enemies. You don’t do that to your future spouse and certainly not with their brother.

Part Two: Issues with Characterization Coming Next

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Reboot Reviews: The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!

Fenton faces some of his greatest challenges yet: Gizmoduck’s soaring popularity and the possiblity of amour...  oh and the return of his arch enemy but that’s a standard tuesday for a superhero. It’s a Date, don’t let him trick you noooo, under the cut. 

I have to admit something first: I WAS going to cover the other two fentoncentric episodes before I got to this one, as a build up to this weekends episode. The problem though was I realized that this week’s episode is, via word of god, going to cover WHY Gyro hates Fenton , and thus I really can’t dig into Gyro’s behavior in both eps, especially Who Is Gizmoduck? where despite his rational fears of having funding cut, he’s still an uttershithead to fenton and I feel it’d be better served if I waited a little and did the ep sometime after saturday.  So with that bit of expostion you probably didn’t need out of the way: Dangerous Chemistry! This one is a personal faviorite of mine, to the point that when I was bored a week or two ago I watched this one just for fun, and probably will again. That’s not why i’m reviewing it: even if I hadn’t I would rewatch it and planned to for the ones I was going to review, it’s just dumb luck. And part of that is Fenton is one of my faviortes: Lin Manuel Miranda really brings his a game to the character, and the crew really fleshed him out, making him a really likeable, fun, and relatable awkward dork. Another reason is one that should be obvious if you saw my comics reviews when I in vain tried to review each dawn of x comic on a weekly basis before throwing up my hands at the sheer volume: I fucking love super heroes, and Who is Gizmoduck and this very episode are very good superhero stories that still fit well into the ducktales universe, as is the darkwing debut “The Duck Knight Returns!”. And finally the episode also has Huey in a major role and I love my red boy. So with all that stuff out of the way I can dive into the ep itself.  This one, as you probably know but I do like me my context, takes place in the second half of season. While Fenton did show up earlier for fellow instant classic “The 87 Cent Solution!”, he’s otherwise been absent this season. My honest theroy is, rather than Lin being busy, which while he sure as hell is he still squeezes the show in, it’s more a simple fact that season 2 is pretty damn stuffed: looking back at the episode count almost EVERY ONE ties into one of the major arcs of the season (Della’s journey home/struggle to fit into her kids life/ the moonvasion, glomgold’s bet with scrooge and louie inc), and those that don’t either bring in major new characters like the Cablleros or Drake, or touch on previous arcs: Last Christmas! touching on Dewey missing his mom while she’s still missing. Lena’s episodes bringing her back to the world of the living/introducing her sister, and then resolving her fear of magica for now and revealing where Magica’s been, and this ep checking in on fenton. There was just a LOT to do and get through, and Gandra was really the only time sesntive thing Fenton wise they had to absolutley do this season. So while it sucks, I do understand why they did it this way,  I do see why and hold no ill will over it.  And to the crew’s credit they used the fact Fenton had been absent cleverly and had a valid reason why we hadn’t seen him outside of one breif apperance: he’s busy. Simple as that. He’s been superheroing all this time: when we catch up with him he’s outright called burnt out by a c-list weather villian who looks like dr.doofnschmritz but lacks his awkward charm. He even uses the same pun twice. It’s also logical: his literal JOB is to be a superhero, it’s what he’s paid for, and given Duckberg seems ground zero for lunatics, it’s only natural ther’es a bakers dozens with techno gimmicks and costumes floating around trying to beat him up. He’s naturally exausted and i’ts made worse by two factors: His alter ego being all over the news, so even when h’es off work he can’t escape work, and being unable to do science.  And both are clever delimas: a lot of the usual superhero issues are non existant for fenton: while he’s bad at hiding his identity, the only person he really has to hide from is his mom, who we later learn at the end of the season already knows and has come around to it. His job isn’t in remote jeapordy because Gizmoduck IS the job, while he still has full acess to a lab to do the science work he’s always wanted. But he’s starting to see the price for doing the right thing: He’s spent so much time as Gizmoduck.. Fenton has nothing of his own. No time to do science, only two friends, and as a result is exausted and burnt out and yearning for a break.  So thankfully he’s taking one, and in another use of “time has moved on a bit because we didn’t have time for Fenton this season” he and Huey have gone from superhero and biggest fan to best friends. But I let it slide, partly because again the season is overstuffed dand i’ll likelky delve into that more when I get to this seasons arcs at some point, and mainly beause the two have a great dynamic: Huey is supportive, just wants his friend to be okay, and meshes with fenton perfectly: Their both big nerds who people tend ot ignore who get overly excited about science. But Hueys more openly confident while Fenton clearly lacks it at times. It’s a nice eb and flow I hope to see more of. 

HE and Huey are hanging out to do science and stuff, with webby tagging along because why not, and I absolutly love the gag of gizmoduck passing by, Webby not noticing at all and only finding out Fenton and Gizmoduck are the same person because Huey makes a rather big deal abotu the fact Gizmoduck just passed by and Webby is really smart and likes solving shit.  So we quickly get the rest of our setup: At the elctronics store, Fenton has a meet cute (which the juinor woodchuck guidebook of course has an entry on. ) with Gandra Dee, played by guest acress Jameela Jamil, better known from the good place and being the only one to point out “hey emil hirsch beat the shit out of the woman what the fuck” when quinten Tarantino cast him in the otherwise amazing film “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood”, who does a great job here. The two have some romantic tension as she calls fenton a suit and what not, he fires back he is good at sceincing and they schedule what may or may not be a date... with Fenton unaware that Gandra is a spy hired by mark beaks to get the gizmoduck passowrd and use her nanites merged with gizmotech to boost his strength. As you do.  The resulting episode is really damn good: Starting in the obvious place, Fenton and Gandra have a reall good dynamic: besides the obvious oppsoites attract thing: the modernized nerutoic nerd and the rebllious scientest there’s the nice contrast in who they work for: Sure Fenton works for a billionare who DOES use some of his and gyro’s work for fairly self serving things (and I didn't realize the universal solvant was a rosa thing first time around, I learned it between viewings, but it’s a nice mythology gag), but it’s been shown as far back as the pilot that’s he’s more than willing ot help all of duckberg, even if it makes a profit. WHy WOULD he stop gyro or fenton’s research for any reason? He funnels a ton of money into them simply beause he knows for every dozen failures something useful will come out of it and at most simply wants more treasure hunting gear, stuff both can whip up easily and for Fenton to spend most of his time as defender of the city, something Fenton wanted anyway. He’s a good boss... while the billionares Gandra’s working with, Bradford as we learned later and beaks in this episode.. are self serving scumbags who only want innovation for world domination and personal validation. By refusing to have ties with or trust anybody or put in the legwork to find an employer who would give her mostly freedom, she wants complete freedomf or her work in exchange for taking money from truly awful people. She’s no freer than fenton is and her hypcoricy is obvious, without making the character terrible in any way. As the kingpin once said in spiderman the animated series “the best strings are invisble”. While Gandra is well aware of who she’s working for she refuses to see the irony or the possible harm in her actions , and it’ll be intresting to see where her charcter goes from ehre.  As for Beaks, he’s a FAR better threat here than in the past episodes: I didn’t MIND him being a joke villian, though I was horribly disapointed, and he will likely be super dated eventually... but here it finds a nice ballance: While he’s still a whiny manchild, the breaking into the lab sequence is utterly delightful and shows that he’s NOT harmless. He’s at his best, like glomgold, when he’s either off to the side comedic relief, or a mixture of genuinely threatining and utterly moronic. His drinking 80 pounds of senstive chemicals turns him into the hulk and the resulting fight scnees are great, as is his confusion upon taking huey and webby hostage “I have your kids.. I think.. I don’t know how this family works” and his cries of “whose the looser now coach dad” are both funny and offerd our first peak into why he’s so screwed up. And his defeat while rediculous is clever, using his love of fame and his phone against him. Overall a much better showing than the past that so far has kept up into season 3: even if his plan backfired there and was for goofy reasons, it was here too, it only fell apart because he hired someone who hated him and underestiamated how much he’d pissed off graves last time. 

As for Fenton himself, the episod eis a great showcase, besides the before issues his manuvering around both the obvious date the kids set up for him (more on that in a second), and his genuine chemsitry and contrast with gandra are a delight.. as his his dad’s lesuire suit. On top of that the scenes wher ehe chews gandra out are a great bit of acting from Lin manuel Miranda, the hurt and fury in his voice coming through great.  To finish it out Huey is a delight this episode, showing himself to be a suprisingly good romantic for his age, serously violet won the lottery with this one, and while overenthsastic, i’ts still sweet and his friendship with fenton is genuinely heartwarming, as is what has to be the best line of the episode besides the beaks one above Huey: Fenton’s going to be devistated! Webby: (Annoyed) Or kidnapped by spies! Huey: (Dead serious) TWO BAD THINGS COULD HAPPENS! It’s a sweet dyanmic overall and the cherry on top of an utterly fantastic episode. Hopefully the momentum keeps up going into saturday. Until then, later days. Speaking of which.. WHY ISN’T THE WEEKENDERS ON DISNEY PLUS. God I shouldn’t be able to keep thinking of shows that are missing. Anyways, once again later days.  P.S. I almost forgot Launchpads great bit listing off all his exes and confriming that he’s probably bi. It was great. 

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: The Grinch

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

What can be said about the Grinch that hasn’t already been said a million times by a million different people? The Grinch is easily one of the most iconic Christmas characters of all time, up there with the likes of Scrooge, and he even has a similar character arc in which he learns the true meaning of Christmas and becomes a better person. The original Chuck Jones animated short has gone down as one of the most beloved Christmas specials of all time as well as one of the best Dr. Seuss adaptations ever (if not THE best), and it gave the Grinch his iconic theme song which every other adaptation has seen fit to use.

The Jim Carrey live action take and the Illumination version which featured Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role both tried to bring a fresh take to the world’s most beloved classic Christmas curmudgeon, but did they succeed in making him entertaining and engaging as a villain is the real question?

Actor: In the original Chuck Jones short, none other than Frankenstein’s monster himself, Boris Karloff, portrayed the Grinch, but this is mostly due to the fact he was the narrator of the story and the Grinch is the only character who really speaks due to the tale being mostly shown from his POV. Still, let’s not pretend like Karloff isn’t the definitive voice here, especially considering his competition.

Carrey and Cumberbatch are both good actors, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think they really do the Grinch all too much justice. Carrey, bless his heart, at least comes fairly close, with his Grinch being in line with the original, but at the same time this is a comedic Carrey character coming off of his 90s run as a wacky comic actor. Carrey injects that manic Carrey energy into the performance, and while I think it’s a good performance, I don’t necessarily find it to be a good Grinch,

Cumberbatch faces a similar issue, not helped by his decision to use a weird American accent as opposed to his natural British one, leaving his Grinch sounding like a nasally dork. Again, he doesn’t do a terrible job by any means, but his performance certainly does nothing to convince you the Grinch is a mean, rotten soul.

Motivation/Goals: The Chuck Jones Grinch sticks to the original book to a fault; the Grinch is just a cranky jerk who hates Christmas for some inexplicable reason, and so decides to ruin it for everyone out of petty spite. Yes, it lacks any sort of depth, but the Grinch is a character from a children’s book and he just puts so much darn effort into his plan that it’s really easy to forget he’s just doing this because he is just a miserable bastard.

The two other attempts at the Grinch have gone a long way to giving him some sort of tragic backstory explaining his hatred for Christmas. And… I actually really like that. Yes, yes, villains can just do villainous things because they’re jerks, but I do appreciate the other adaptations attempting to do something interesting with the character and make him a bit more engaging in a feature-length product. In the Jim Carrey film, the Grinch becomes bitter and evil due to a childhood of constant bullying, while the Benedict Cumberbatch Grinch was a lonely orphan who never got to celebrate Christmas. While obviously it’s up to the viewer to decide whether or not these backstories add any sort of interesting element to the Grinch’s hatred of Chrtistmas, it’s hard to deny that it makes a bit more sense than the Grinch suddenly and randomly deciding after half a century that this Christmas was going to be the last ever.

Personality: While this section of Psycho Analysis is going to be semi-retired, the three Grinches are actually a perfect example of where examining the personalities of the characters can actually show a lot about the overall quality. Obviously, the original Grinch is exactly what a Grinch should be, at least in my eyes: a bitter, miserable curmudgeon who takes great joy in bringing misery to others with his selfish, senseless acts of holiday thievery. He’s a mean one, Mr. Grinch.

The Carrey Grinch does still have these elements, but it’s a bit outshone by Carrey’s hammy performance. His Grinch is about as wild as Ace Ventura or the Riddler, and while hammy villains are always fun – and there’s no denying the Grinch is – it makes it a lot easier to see him eventually turning to the light side, especially since he’s actually shown to have some redeeming qualities.

These issues are continued into Cumberbatch’s Grinch, and in fact here the problems peak. Cumberbatch’s Grinch from the start comes off as more as mildly irritated jerk, yet one who really doesn’t seem evil at all, and as the story continues he seems far more like a depressed, unhappy man with undiagnosed mental illness who is suffering due to childhood trauma. You don’t want to say this guy has termites in his smile or that he’s slippery as an eel or that you wouldn’t touch him with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole; you just want to give him a hug and tell him that things are going to get better. He just seems like he needs a friend, not a total life-changing epiphany.

Final Fate: We all know how it goes; his heart grows three sizes and he learns the true meaning of Christmas. Each of the adaptations keeps this in, though obviously to diminishing returns as each successive adaptation has made the Grinch nicer from the get-go in some regard due to the tragic backstories and whatnot.

Best Scene: At least for the original, his best moment is, of course, the montage during “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch,” in which we get to see all of the slippery ways this green meanie is ruining the holidays. Of course, this is matched by the epic moment at the end where the Grinch gains super strength from his heart growing three sizes and lifts the sleigh of stolen goods, which is equally awesome whether it’s te animated one or Jim Carrey doing it.

Cumberbatch’s Grinch manages to have a different moment to call his best: after he has redeemed himself, he gets invited to dinner in Whoville, and the scene where he nervously goes to the house and makes small talk is just very sweet and endearing. It’s easily the best scene in the movie and shows that even watered down there’s still plenty of heart to be mined from this timeless tale.

Final Thoughts & Score: I think that the fact that the Grinch is constantly being reimagined is a sign at how impressive and enduring he is as a character, and he’s easily the greatest Christmas villain of all time (with apologies to Hans Gruber, Mr. Potter, Burgermeister Meisterburger, and Kirk Cameron). The original special is obviously the definitive portrayal of the character, to the point where the Grinch became a household name and got himself two more specials, one in which he once again terrorized Whoville (this time with a wagon filled with nightmarish hallucinations) and one where he faced off against the Cat in the Hat, the latter being especially notable for beating Zack Snyder to the punch at making “Crossover Versus Movie in Which One of the Title Characters Is Redeemed By Mentioning His Mother” by 34 years.

The original Grinch even effected himself; his iconic green, almost goblin-like appearance was a departure from the book, where he sort of resembled a more mischievous Who, and it has ended up sticking for the character ever since. Throw in that iconic villain song about how foul he is sang by Thurl Ravenscroft AKA Tony the Tiger, as well as the fact that “Grinch” is up there with “Scrooge” as shorthand for someone who hates Christmas, and it’s easy to justify letting the Chuck Jones take on the Grinch steal not only Christmas, but an 11/10.

Carrey’s take on the character is different, but not bad. I’m not going to say it’s good either, though; I still think Carrey hammed it up too much and just let loose his manic energy. And it’s really weird, because I have a soft spot for the film and I love the performance, and I think the insane energy of Carrey’s performance is what elevates the film and has helped it become a sort of holiday cult classic, but I think that it kind of misses the point of how the Grinch should be. It really boils down to the usual thing with these adaptations that try and add complexities to characters that just work better when they are simple: Jim Carrey’s Grinch is a great, fun character, but he just isn’t a great Grinch. Still, the makeup and costuming is so amazing that I’d feel like a Grinch myself if I stole too many points, so I think a 6/10 is a solid score for a performance that manages to be a bit above your average villain.

And then we get to Cumberbatch. I’m just going to say it: I barely consider his Grinch a villain. He’s just too nice and sad and cranky to really be evil. Sure he has wacky inventions, sure he is a bit passive aggressive to the Whos, but god this guy is just not mean enough. The fact he can just walk into town and interact with the townsfolk and they don’t even bat an eye says a lot about how watered down and toothless this take on the character is. Not helping is the safe, soft design Illumination gave him, as well as Cumberbatch’s weird American accent. Still, I don’t think this Grinch deserves worse than a 4/10 when it comes right down to it. In this case, it’s more that what’s interesting about him as a character saves him from sinking any lower than just being subpar as opposed to the problem with Carrey being that what made him interesting as a character made him less appealing as a Grinch. This guy does still try and steal Christmas, after all… It’s just that he’s so nice to begin with that you really aren’t too shocked when he does end up turning over a new leaf.

While it’s obvious the Grinch has had his ups and downs over the years, the fact he is such a legendary figure and an enduring cultural icon really says a lot for his staying power, as well as that sometimes a simple villain that lacks any complex motivation beyond “he’s a jerk” can really resonate with people. Maybe all of these other adaptations don’t quite measure up to the original animated special, but they don’t need to; it’s just interesting to see what different visions for the Grinch look like from different creators. Whether it’s good or bad, one thing is for sure: he’s a mean one, that Mr. Grinch, and we all love him for it.

You know what we don’t love him for, though? His dental hygiene. 

Merry Christmas!

[wordtotherose]

Ahh, thank you kindly for your reply. =) Truly, I appreciate the reassurance. It is only that as mentioned, there a couple scenes I would dearly love to see. I found myself wondering -- when Crowley volunteers to take Aziraphale's job in Edinburgh -- how Crowley would go about blessing someone, and how it would work? (Crowley being mistaken for a priest would be doubly funny!) But I also wonder how Aziraphale might go about blessing someone? May I ask for a fic on this, please? Thank you!

Hiya! Here it is! I hope you enjoy, thank you so much for the prompt! :D 

1 - Edinburgh

“Toss you for Edinburgh.”

“Fine. Heads.”

The coin turns in the air and for a millisecond Crowley considers cheating, he doesn’t particularly mind Edinburgh after all and he knows Aziraphale is having a swell time lately hanging around Shakespeare. The journey up there is by far the hardest part of the job. He claps the coin down onto his hand and uncovers it so Aziraphale can see too.

“Heads. Looks like I’m off to Scotland.”

Aziraphale’s smile is worth it.

***

He stays for the end of the play, whispering into Aziraphale’s ear quippy comments about the performance. It doesn’t escape his notice that Shakespeare has edged closer to them again and is squibbling down on his parchment. He makes a point to make Aziraphale laugh in the gloomy parts of the play, earning dangerous looks from Burbage on stage. If Shakespeare overhears his jokes he is more than welcome to use them, the comedic plays are always better than the tragedies, in his opinion.

When it’s over, Aziraphale has to be dragged out of the Globe because he keeps making himself look like an idiot as he compliments Burbage and Shakespeare profusely. He’s getting funny looks from the spattering of other play watchers. Crowley also hasn’t eaten lunch and could do with something filling. Alcoholic too, just to take the edge off the annoyance at having to ride a horse all the way up north. It’s another half hour before they leave in the end. Turns out he still can’t help indulging the angel.

He gets the rundown on what Heaven wants Aziraphale to do and then they spend the rest of their meal arguing over the finer points of having so many soliloquies in a play and what counts as appropriate audience participation. Crowley steadfastly argues against shouting ‘buck up’ at the actors.

***

He gets to Scotland and makes a mental reminder to find a carriage or something to go home in because there’s no way in Heaven or Hell that he’s taking the trip again by horse.

***

Of course Aziraphale’s blessing has to do with rewarding a long-time church-goer for their faith which means the only time he knows they’ll be about it is when they’re leaving church on a Sunday morning. So he loiters and lurks outside the church until the session is over. He gets his fair share of funny looks, what with the tinted glasses, but encourages them to forget they’d seen anything easily enough. It takes a while but eventually the doors open again and he perks up from the bench he’d been lounging on and strides across the square to sift the intended woman out from the crowd. It’s a minor shock when he sees the child in her arms. A little girl. She looks deathly pale.

“Madam Stuart?” He asks when he’s in range, standing confidently and trying to exude the sense that she can trust him. He’s also trying to smile at the kid who just blearily looks through him. 

“Miss Stuart, Sir. Are you a priest? I heard a new priest was coming in from out of town.” 

Crowley looks down at his dark clothes. Then back up at her. Then down again, then at the woman’s eyes, trying to figure out if his ‘sense of trust’ has actually made him appear all holy and proper to her. She doesn’t wither under his gaze or do anything more than adjust the child in her arms. He shrugs internally; it makes things easier. And gives him something to bitch about to Aziraphale later.

“Sure. That’s me. The travelling priest... Would you follow me please?”

It’s really a testament to humanity’s stupidly trustful nature that Miss Stuart just nods and follows Crowley through the streets to loop round to a small grassy area, a couple trees. Almost a park. Empty, perfect for a quick blessing and minor miracle. Only. The minor miracle, Aziraphale had told him, was due for Miss Stuart which didn’t make sense when she wasn’t the one who was ill. Why reveal his wings to her to reinforce her faith in this difficult time when he could just heal the kid? Surely that was both more Good and more practical. It’s like Heaven wants the kid to die and for her to return to her faith during...during the grief…

Crowley stops under a tree and spins to face the woman who looks a little startled at their sudden stop. She squints up at him, trusting. So trusting. What was with humans and trusting people they don’t know just on their word? So foolish. He runs a hand through his hair and holds a hand out. She hesitates before taking it. She’s cold. Not surprising. Calloused fingers. She works then.

“Miss Stuart, I am on a mission to help you in this difficult time. Will you accept my blessing of good will?” He goes through the rote message, he could do it from afar but he likes to give them the option to refuse. 

Something falls in disappointment in her eyes but she nods. 

He digs into his power and uses part of his focus to try and mimic the soft, chilly feel of Aziraphale’s divinity when invoking the ‘blessing’. She’ll have some good luck for the rest of the year. But she isn’t technically blessed. He can’t actually do that. But the results are the same. Mostly.

“I- Pardon me for asking, Sir, but could you also give your blessing to my daughter? She is ill, you see, and they say there is no cure,” her voice trails away and Crowley can’t help the pang of anger in his chest. 

Kids. What is it with Heaven and not caring about kids?

“Of course, can I hold her hand?” 

The kid blinks up at him, a little spark of awareness resurfacing as he holds her small fingers in his. She’s feverish. Skin clammy and it makes Crowley feel sick himself. That Aziraphale was meant to be the one doing this. That, if the coin flip had gone a different way, he’d have sent Aziraphale to do this. And for all Aziraphale is sweet and compassionate and as in love with humanity as Crowley is, he knows deep down that Aziraphale wouldn’t have done what he’s about to. He wouldn’t have enjoyed leaving this child to die, but he’d have still done it. Faith in Heaven’s orders ranking higher than his personal moral qualms. 

Crowley shakes his head and squeezes the girl’s hand comfortingly. He isn’t going to leave her behind to this fate. 

***

2 - London

“Crowley, my dear. I really must get going now,” Aziraphale says, shuffling on the sofa he’s sitting on. 

Crowley is currently settled in his lap, heavy and soaking up the angel’s warmth. He doesn’t move. “Take me with you,” he rasps. 

“Crowley I cannot take a snake with me to do a blessing. They’ll get all flighty when they see you and if I don’t do this blessing I’ll get another note.” Aziraphale says all this in his ‘I mean it this time, you wily demon’ voice but also continues to stroke down Crowley’s scales. 

“Not moving, angel.”

They pause at this stand-off. Neither of them willing to budge until eventually Aziraphale huffs. He gathers Crowley up in his hands and drapes him, ignoring his hissed protests, onto his shoulders. Crowley readjusts, looping round to stop from sliding off and drops his head next to the angel’s neck. He flicks his tongue out to tickle Aziraphale.

“Who we blessing?” He asks as they leave the bookshop.

Aziraphale is gaining a fair few strange looks but they’ve only just started talking again after the holy water argument and Crowley isn’t willing to let go. It’s new now. Just ever so slightly different. That moment in the car had confirmed things for both of them and now they were readjusting, making the best of it as they can. It’s scary and thrilling and very freeing. 

“Just a quick in and out one at the homeless shelter. Teenager needs some unconditional love and faith and all that.” 

The weather’s not too bad, for London, but it’s chilly enough that Crowley goes through the complicated motions of burrowing under Aziraphale’s coat, popping his head out where he’d been before just this time under a layer of warmth. Lovely.

“You gonna talk to ‘em or just wave your fingers through the window?”

“Dream this time, I think.”

“If they’re not already asleep I’ll tempt them to a nap for you.” 

Aziraphale’s smile is obvious in the way his walk bounces a little. Crowley holds on a bit tighter. “Oh, thank you, my dear. That’s very sweet of you.”

“Eh, don’t shout it.”

“I do wonder how many people like them are out there, you know. So many people I could be helping...”

“Help too many and you’ll get reprimanded,” Crowley reminds him as they turn a corner. 

Aziraphale sighs. “I know but it just doesn’t seem fair. I’m allowed to reaffirm her faith and all but I could do so much more. She hates her body, Crowley, and I could change that! I could give her the body she wants but--”

“But you’d be in trouble. So would she. You know how humans are, they’d poke and prod her instead of leaving her alone to live her life. You don’t want to give her that.”

Another sigh. Crowley tickles his neck again, less in an attempt to make him laugh this time and more to try and comfort. “I’m sorry, angel.”

***

3 - Earth, Somewhere

It’s early days in their...acquaintanceship and they’re wandering around a desert. Just because they were both going the same way, towards a town where they’ve been assigned some odds and ends jobs. A couple blessings. A couple temptations. It’s still new and they’re feeling things out. Slowly. Carefully. 

They’re having a small debate over nothing really when Crowley pauses, wrinkling his nose. Aziraphale stops a step later and turns to face him, already asking what’s wrong but Crowley’s focused on the strange feeling building up. He waves away Aziraphale’s lifted hand that had been reaching for his arm and takes a step back. 

Then he sneezes.

Aziraphale cracks up laughing at Crowley’s expression but still gets out a quiet ‘bless you’ because he does have some manners still. Crowley’s terrified expression, morphing from his disgusted confusion, is more than enough to instantly sober Aziraphale up. 

“What did you just say?” Crowley asks, eyes darting across Aziraphale and looking for all the world like he expects himself to spontaneously combust. “Angel, did you just? Really?”

“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry! It’s not a real blessing, I promise.” Crowley’s terror eases a little with the reassurances but he’s still shifting his weight around. “My dear, I promise. I haven’t actually blessed you. You’re okay. It’s just a polite phrase.”

“Stupid phrase more like. What if you’d actually meant it? Who invented that, seriously.” Crowley shakes his head but starts walking again. “What were you saying about grapes, angel?”

And they continued on. Blissfully unaware of the tiny aura of luck that was following after Crowley like a shadow.