#which again there’s nothing wrong with that! everybody starts somewhere

[coyotesinew]

Some recent thoughts about nonhumanity and my relationship to the community + my personal relationship with it that I cleaned up, my writing style is a bit disjointed, I would like to share more of my writing, if anyone would be interested in seeing that :)

[smehur]

Some Harry/Draco Fic Recs

There is so much great fic in this fandom, I'm struggling to keep track of everything I read and like. I already mentioned some of my early favorites here, but I have since found several more.

In no particular order:

Hermione Granger's Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run by waspabi

In which Harry did not go to Hogwarts, but is instead found by a group of seventh year students led by Hermione, and recruited for the war at the ripe age of 17.

I'm not usually a fan of AUs, but this charmed me within the first few paragraphs with irresistible characterization. Harry is a little different than how I imagine him, but the premise allows for it. And the Harry/Draco romance is possibly the sweetest, softest I've seen so far. 10/10 would read again.

In Pieces by dysonrules

Harry returns to Hogwarts as the new DADA instructor, only to find his teaching efforts thwarted by a very familiar ghost.

When I got this rec myself, I wasn't sure I would like it, because, well, the summary spells it out, doesn't it? But I ended up loving it. It's incredibly sweet and tender and sad and hot. I couldn't put it down.

An Emerald In The Sky by corvuscrowned

The hardest part about shagging an Unspeakable is that they’re not allowed to speak of anything. All Draco knows is that Harry works in Time. Harry works in Time, and while he’s out there in all of that time, it is as unforgiving to him as it is to anyone. Somewhere along the way, Draco realizes he's been thinking in lines, when he should have been thinking in circles.

This story moved me like few others. It's a masterpiece of 'show, don't tell' in that elusive way I have never been able to tap in my own writing. It speaks in images, and the images capture incredibly specific, perfectly chosen details that paint years and decades of slowly fading hope. Just the thing for one who considers their own aging and mortality increasingly often.

Take You Home by lq_traintracks (lumosed_quill)

Everybody’s a little fucked up after the war, Draco especially. What starts as hate sex after a night out, eventually turns into something else, something more like comfort. And even though his friends all tell Harry he’s just being used, all Harry’s doing is making sure Draco gets home in one piece. He’s not falling helplessly in love.

From the author of one of my early favorites (Right Hand Red), a hugely enjoyable read that makes love to a post-war Draco (and his long hair in a man-bun that he fastens with his wand). I gulped this down in one sitting.

Hey, Potter by SunseticMonster

Harry returns to Hogwarts for his 8th year, determined not to let Malfoy get to him. But when the snarky teasing starts up again, Harry finds that returning the jibes with compliments has a far more interesting outcome.

I am in love with this premise. It works so well? While I wished for a bit more shipping and a bit less collateral, I still enjoyed this story immensely and went on to read almost everything the author wrote for the pairing.

An Issue of Consequence by Faith Wood

Draco has woken up in an alternate universe. Or he has woken up utterly insane. Nothing else can possibly explain why Harry Potter suddenly seems to think he's Draco's boyfriend.

The light-hearted summary belies the gravity of the plot of yet another favorite tale from the pen of my favorite author. The POV immersion is so deep that I absolutely did not see the resolution of the mystery until it was revealed, and then I was just as shocked as Draco. Fabulous stuff.

A Doll's Tale by Faith Wood

Harry/Draco, as observed by Draco's childhood doll. Please note, this doll is very self-absorbed.

This... broke me a little, lol. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing (too) heavy, angsty or dark about this story. It's as innocent as they get? But it just clicked so well with the idea I've been brewing in my own (yet to be published) writings, of Draco as this... sensitive boy hiding under the guise of confidence and cruelty. And the plot-twist, Merlin. Was it obvious? Maybe, but not to me! It struck me like a (fluffy toy) train and days later, I'm still recovering. I want to take this fic and hug it when I go to sleep.

Actually, I'm in a bit of a pickle, as my instinct is to list pretty much every single thing written by Faith Wood that I've read so far. But that would be silly, so I'll list only one more, as a treat.

Beholden by Faith Wood

Draco Malfoy might not be a killer, but it turns out he's an effective painkiller. If stopping pain was all Draco's touch did, things might not be so complicated, but either way Harry can't afford to be choosy.

I already mentioned this one in that inaugural post I linked at the very top, but: 1) it's now completed and can be safely binged on; and 2) the only thing I said about it back then is that it deals with chronic pain, which was particularly relevant at the time because I was at the peak of sciatica and could relate to poor Harry all too well. But that's just one of the many merits of this incredible story. Now that I'm feeling better, I'd praise it first and foremost for the patient exploration of the characters' inner worlds and the gradual, methodical and inexorable buildup of their feelings and convictions that eventually leads to falling in love. A masterpiece of slow burn. I plan not only to read this again, but to study it in the hopes of improving my own craft.

Tagging the authors I found on here: @dysonrules @faith2wood @corvuscrowned @lqtraintracks and also my friend @kuraiummei who helped me find some of these gems.

Thank you for enriching my life. ❤️

[firstfirerebel]

𝕽𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖑𝖊

Sumary: Part 2 of 𝕳𝖎𝖘

Pairing: yandere! adult! Tom Riddle/Voldemort x fem! reader

Warnings: dark content, yandere/toxic behavior, death eaters, kidnapped reader, hints to torture,

Same timeline as in Part 1

A week has passed since you got kidnapped by the dark lord himself, and it hasn't been an easy or calm week. Luckily, he wasn't around you often because he had so many meetings with different death eaters to give them new missions and updates on his plans. Much to his dismay. Every time he had to leave your side, he wasn't in a good mood, and everybody knew that.

Unfortunately, he intended to actually have a romantic relationship with you. Until now, he hasn't forced you to anything, but you knew it was only a matter of time or your behavior.

Even though he wanted to give you some time to get used to everything, he still insisted on sleeping in the same bed as you. It wasn't as bad as you imagined it at first, but it was still uncomfortable. Mostly, he suddenly hugged you from behind, hid his nose in your hair or your neck, and dozed off. Getting free was impossible. He almost clinched to you, and when you tried to escape his arms, he just tightened his grip.

Escaping would be a real problem. You didn't even know where this mansion was. Were you in England? Or was this in Scotland or completely somewhere else?

Was only the mansion surrounded by Death Eaters or the scenery around it, too?! Did Tom think you would try to escape or not?

Lost in your thoughts, you didn't hear the knock on the door. When the person entered, you were relieved that it wasn't Riddle. It was Narcissa.

"I knocked, but you didn't awnser. The Dark Lord wishes to meet you,"

As on your first day, you followed her. She was pretty fast so keeping her pace was a bit difficult. Once you reached his so called 'office', Narcissa immediately walked away and left you alone with him.

When Tom saw you, he basically ran to you and pulled you into his arms. His breath was so loud for you, and you hated his touch to be honest, but at least it wasn't something worse.

"I missed you", he whispered into your ear.

Suddenly you realised that you two weren't alone, the curly head of Bellatrix was behind Tom. He seemed to notice your discomfort.

"Bellatrix, leave. I want to be alone with her", she was obliviously mad at that but still left the room without a word.

He turned his head back to you.

"Better?"

You didn't do anything. Fearing that a wrong awnser would make him mad, you just hugged him again and hid your face in his chest. Hugging him wasn't something you enjoyed, but if you closed your eyes and just felt his warmth, it was a little comfort in this so cold building and every time you hugged him, it made him happy, and a happy Tom was better than an upset one.

His clothes smelled like a library, or just good old books, which calmed you a little. In libraries, you have always felt safe. With no bullies around or other loud students, it felt like heaven.

And a safe place was now all you needed. Since he even talked about having kids, you knew some bad things would come, though it was questionable if he intended to do it with you 'wanting' this or if he didn't care.

"Tom?" You had to ask him, even if it would make him mad...

Instead of saying something, he kissed the top of your head to show you he was paying attention.

"What if I'm not ready for kids? I mean, I would love to start a family with you, but I'm scared", Liar liar pants on fire, was all your brain screamed.

Instead of freaking out, Tom was really calm. He put his hands on your shoulders and looked straight into your eyes.

"It's okay, my love. Y'know I was scared too, I was scared that something would hurt you without me being able to protect you, but after I killed this mudblood. I realised that nothing could take you away from me",

So badly you wanted to scream 'I didn't and still don't want this! Get yourself to therapy, you creep!' But you didn't dare it and your question still had no awnser. Would he dare to harm you for his 'lust' or should you consider it a wish? Again he pulled you close and hid his nose in your hair.

You somehow found comfort in his touch and immediately you knew that you had to run away as soon as you had the chance. Otherwise you might not be able to keep your sanity.

This man kidnapped you! Killed people! Hurts and tortures others every day! He is mad! You mustn't feel this way when he hugs you! Especially if you didn't even want this touch!

But still, you were scared to end this hug. Somehow, Tom couldn't get enough of physical contact with you, and if you pulled away, he might freak out like on your first day.

Flashbacks of how he threw the whole table through the room made you shiver, and you knew if he wanted to harm you, he could easily do it. Obviously, he didn't even fear the ministry. What could you do against him?

Even your wand was taken away from you. You were literally helpless in this situation. Tom wouldn't just hand it over once you asked nicely... most likely giving you your wand back would be the proof of trust towards you.

But every day you had to stay here, increased the possibility of getting mad.

Maybe even the food or the drinks that were served to you had a little bit of love potion in it. Not enough for you to fall for Tom immediately, but enough so you would fall for him over some time.

This couldn't and mustn't happen!

Even one more day here could become dangerous. You had to flee! But you also had to be clever. If you would start to act weird, he might realize that you were up to something. Though some 'making him happy' wouldn't hurt as well...

"Tom, do you have one more meeting with your death eaters today? I don't want to be alone all this time..."Your voice really sounded sad, and you even let out a sigh at the end. Luckily, you have always been a good actress.

"Yes, one late at night. You'll be asleep when I return. And I also don't like being parted from you, but we'll find a solution, okay?" You nodded for a yes and even could fake a small smile towards him.

OK, fleeing when it was night was scary, but also easier. In the dark, you could easily hide from preying eyes and maybe even get a safe distance to this place. It had to be tonight. Another day here would be too risky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once you were back in your room and Tom was about 10 minutes gone, you changed from your nightgown to a comfortable jeans and a warm hoodie, beneath you also wore a T-shirt just in case and of course a warm jacket.

Silently, you opened the door towards your room. Without a wand, your survival skills wouldn't be the best, so you had to find a wand first. It didn't matter if it was your or not. As long as you could make simple spells like 'Incendio', it was enough.

Luck was once on your side. In the office of Tom, you found your own wand in the first drawer. Back on the corridor, you conjured the disillusionment charm on yourself. It wasn't the safest option but better than nothing.

You kept running the stairs down until you were at the ground floor of this mansion. Out of the front door, you sticked to the walls just in case someone wanted to look outside the window.

Surprisingly this was much easier than you thought...

It was pitch black, which was a blessing and a curse at the same time. You could barely see your own hand, but this also meant that no other person could see you from afar and chase after you the moment they saw you.

Around the mansion was a huge fence, so you had to open the old gate that was rusty and squeaky ! Not good...

When you opened it, it didn't make as much noise as you feared. But still, you had to run now, which was very hard in the dark, but you didn't dare to make any light with 'Lumos'. In the worst case, they already knew that you were gone and made up teams or something to find you. Well, 'they' were 'him' in this case.

You ran until you saw trees around you. You weren't exactly the sportiness in person, but all the fear that built up over the days you were captured started to overcome you and gave you so much adrenalin that you managed to keep running. Fear also from the fear of him finding you again and doing worse things to you than he already did.

You felt your head becoming hot and your legs getting tired. Your vision was almost blurry, so you had to stop. Though you didn't see much, you saw three trees around you, and the floor was covered in dark leaves. You tried to calm your breath so you didn't make too much noise. You also tried to hear as much as possible.

But you didn't hear any steps or any running, nor any speaking. The only thing that was heard was the wind, the chill wind that felt like heaven. Not only because you just ran away as fast as possible, but also because you never heard the wind in the mansion. Neither did you feel it against your cheeks in the past week.

The air also felt much better. It wasn't thick and warm. It was fresh and cold, and you even smelled the forest you were in. The trees had their own smell, just like anything else did.

And finally, you felt happiness again.

You wanted to scream it out, but couldn't. So, instead, you threw yourself into this feeling and started to twirl yourself around in the forest.

Now you knew how hamsters or other small animals felt. In the past week, you were in a different kind of cage, but still a cage. You weren't able to do your own hobbies that became a need to you. No going out to hear the birds or just smell the grass. Cause he didn't want it. Somehow, you felt like a little pet to him. He could do to you whether you liked it or not. You were at his mercy. He could have just let you starve when he thought you didn't act like he wanted you to. Or maybe just lock you in a room cause he thought you were annoying. But also do anything else to of with you.

The thought made you sick to the stomach. No one should live a life like that. Silently, your eyes began to burn, and then the hot tears rolled your face down.

If he would manage to bring you back, you knew you would go crazy. You weren't some kind of thing that he could possess. You were your own person with needs and wishes, but if he would ever realize that was the question.

In fact, now you saw that Tom didn't really love you. In his twisted mind, he did, but he saw himself more as your 'owner'. He 'loved' the idea of you with him but not you as the person you were. In his mind, you weren't even allowed to have any friends that he saw as bad influence, neither would he tolerate you doing something that could hurt you.

He just wanted a real-life doll of you that did whatever he wanted, but still loved and adored him. But conflicts belonged into a relationship. Two people can't always share the same opinion.

In the end, this realization was what got you captured again.

You were so deep into your thoughts that you didn't hear the mad laughter you hated. The craziness in a voice. Bellatrix. Once she saw your silhouette, she started to laugh again. Actually, she didn't want you to return at all. But maybe she could add some bloody scratches before she returned to the dark lord. If she was the one who brought you back, he would definitely praise her! That was something no one would take away from her. And again, a 'stupor' met you, and everything went pitch black. Again...

[very-bad-poetry-captain]

TOS novel book review - McCoy edition nr 2

By popular demand I'll continue these... but since I'm on holiday I picked a short story this time - probably not a well known one but I really enjoyed it!

Link to the first one

Title: Where Everybody Knows Your Name (part of the short story collection Constellations)

Author: Jeffrey Lang

Year published: 2006

To summarize the story in two sentences:

McCoy is forced to present one of Spock's papers at a conference together with Scotty. Unfortunately we only get to see the trouble they get into on the way home.

Official plot summary:

As the Enterprise approaches the end of her five-year mission, Dr. McCoy and Mr. Scott step off the ship for an adventure of their own, involving a misguided Klingon and several Denebian slime devils - proving once again that you're only as old as the liquor you drink.

This book is for you if you:

Can accept that you won't get to read about McCoy actually presenting Spock's research at a starbase

Can accept that they don't even show McCoy pestering Spock about it

Like reading about McCoy getting drunk with Scotty (scones anyone?)

Enjoy McCoy getting kidnapped

(It's actually really good despite my slight disappointment over missed potential)

The ultimate McCoy questionnaire (below the read-more):

1. Is McCoy in it?

Yeah for sure it's his pov mostly

2. Is McCoy in it a lot?

This author really likes McCoy (a man of my own taste) I only wish it had been longer. It starts off with McCoy agonizing over the end of the mission and feeling old (classic), goes on to give him ample room for complaints about the conference's accommodations, and ultimately allows him to do some drunken commiserating together with Scotty.

3. Does he get to be concerned over whatever angst has befallen Kirk lately?

Well he tries but Jim won't let him. Uno reverse card kinda thing, really.

4. Does he get to have silly little arguments with Spock?

Not really, no. But they sneak in some meaningful eye contact for mysterious reasons. He does all the arguing with Jim in this one.

Quote:

"You were only here for a day," Kirk said.

"I do not think he means Denebia, Captain," Spock interjected.

McCoy was surprised to hear the comment come from the first officer, but the two locked gazes for a lingering moment. Something in his eyes made the doctor wonder if he was the only one who was feeling like it was time for a change.

👆note the lingering slipped in there. Which could mean nothing.

5. Is he the damsel in distress?

I mean, aliens do kidnap him, but they do it very badly. And he gets to win a barfight. What's a cracked rib or two in the grand scheme of things if you get to befriend a random Klingon, much to the shock and consternation of your captain?

6. Does he suffer, preferably a lot? Physical and/or psychological torment

Well. The suffering is pretty tame in this one, with some regular end of mission anxiety. Obviously he thinks Jim and Spock would continue to work together in some manner and leaves himself out of it ofc. We can assume most of the suffering was done during the presentation at the conference, which, again, we don't get to read about.

Quote:

Somewhere in the middle of the second day of lectures, meetings, and endless technical debates, he had lost all will to live.

"I'd be thrilled if my only problem was depression," McCoy said from his bunk. "But I think I'm also suffering from a bout of murderous rage mitigated by nervous exhaustion and, oh, my back hurts. I think I've mentioned my mattress?"

"Aye, Doctor," Scotty said. "Once or twice."

"I'm going to kill Jim. And Spock. Spock first."

7. Does he get to whine and complain and be right about it? Even better is he wrong about it?   

He's 100% correct that they should stop drinking those drinks named Denebian slime devils. But Scotty proves that they can both transcend the limits of local alcohol tolerance and so after that point everything is great instead. He did really hate the beds at the conference and the ship that takes them to and from the conference. Scotty even says he turned those smallest cabins into storage rooms on the Enterprise so you know it's real bad :/

8. Does he get to throw some of that southern charm around?    

My personal belief is that this is how they won the Klingon over. Unimportant that it contradicts the text.

9. Does he get to do some medical malpractice?

Apparently there are so many doctors and nurses etc training on the Enterprise right now that they can spare him for the conference:/ poor man

10. Does Spock call him illogical or similar?

Another compliment and not a single insult... highly suspicious. Whether or not Jim is putting words in his mouth is up to interpretation.

Quote:

McCoy groaned. "Am I even going to understand what I'm presenting?"

"Bones," Kirk said cheerfully. "I'm surprised to hear you talk that way. When I asked who should go in his place, Spock said, 'We are fortunate to have one of the finest scientific minds in the Federation aboard the ship'."

11. Is he forcibly put through his arch nemesis the transporter? Or the dress uniform?

Presumably but it's not mentioned :/

12. Does Kirk call him handsome (joke or not this happens more than you'd think)?

Jim says he looks like his dog died. Sad.

13. Bonus points if his accent is pronounced and his speech is full of befuddling southern expressions which make Spock question McCoy's sanity (and me wondering if I need a dictionary)

One day I'll find a book that goes as hard as the comics do. But I'm not sure I'll enjoy it.

Criticisms/things I’d change

I truly, desperately, want to read about McCoy presenting Spock's research. I feel robbed... I'll forgive the author only because I assume there was a word limit and the kidnapping thing was pretty funny.

Highlights

McCoy realizing he's become a person who doesn't like being alone anymore and immediately deciding to do a paper on the psychological effects of five-year missions. While drunk ofc. Also how petty he is towards Jim. It's like they were already divorcing lol. All in all a fun little story!

Final McCoy meter: 7/10

A little extra bonus for those who like spock/kirk and/or perhaps mccoy/scotty (for context, the aliens think scotty is kirk and mccoy is spock) (yes mccoy is very upset by this when he finds out):

Kirk elbowed his companion. "What do you think? Fancy a little stew?"

"Ehhhhh..." Spock said without lifting his head from the seat. Apparently the stories about these two having an almost telepathic bond was true because Kirk simply said, "All righty then. Off we go."

[youcouldmakealife]

LBTE: Jared (173-174)

In which we prepare for the end by going back to the beginning.

If you'd like to follow along, the series page is here.

Final LBTE the day after tomorrow -- the epilogue itself is tomorrow.

173. Lodestar

He’s already talking about taking next year’s rookies under his wing — taking them out for lunch, inviting them over to play video games, making sure they feel welcome.

Jared terrifying the rookies might put a crimp in Bryce’s rookie mentoring plans.

And — fuck, is Jared going to have to host shit? Jared doesn’t want to host shit. Letting people into his space sounds horrible. Hopefully they’ll get a pass, since there’s no way the team could all fit in their apartment, let alone significant others and kids. They had a few preliminary discussions about getting a house after they re-sign this summer, but no way is that happening if it increases the likelihood of Jared having to endure guests.

Refusing to buy a house solely so no one makes him host anything is the most Jared thing possible.

You’re co-hosting a wine night with me he receives from Stephen, who continues to have the uncanny ability to say the thing that Jared would like to hear least. Jared guesses Gabe told him the news.

Wine nights happen when the Canucks are on the road. Jared replies, rather than ‘I would rather die’, just in case Stephen takes him literally.

Very smart not to tell Stephen your worst fears: he’ll make them happen. Also: you’re co-hosting a wine night with him. It’s inevitable. The rookies may fear Jared, but the WAGs will love him.

The Scouts are flaming out against the Kings, earlier than their typical Stanley Cup Final choking.

This is the Red Wings’ year. So Kings vs Red Wings in the WCF (yes, this 'verse shunted Detroit right back to the west when they finally thought they were safe), then Red Wings vs Lightning in the Finals. Sorry Seb.

Bryce is, but he’s been busy with other things — getting a crash course on what’s involved in wearing the A from Gabe, babysitting the Kurmazov spawn while Dmitry and Oksana pack up their own place for the offseason, bringing some of their extra food over to Elaine’s, and somehow coming home with more shit than he left with, though thankfully all the childhood shit Elaine’s unloading on him is nonperishable.

Seriously, Bryce is 100% living the dream. Mentoring, babysitting, hanging out with his mom.

In one of the boxes is a battered stuffed bear with a bow tie that Bryce greets like an old friend, and now sits with the minor Winnie the Pooh collection in the sulking room. He doesn’t fit thematically, but Jared figures he gets extra points for making Bryce’s eyes light up. His name’s Mr. Bear. Bryce was apparently not a creative child.

Because Bryce was Bear, the Mr. was included to avoid confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Jared asks.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Bryce says.

“Is it your shoulder again?” Jared asks.

“It’s not my shoulder,” Bryce says.

“Is it somewhere else?” Jared asks.

Jared is not a very good listener when he’s panicking.

He’s suddenly terrified Bryce is going to propose or something. Demand they get married again, but in public this time. Fuck, Jared doesn’t want to marry Bryce again. He embarrassed himself in front of enough people last time, and is frankly extremely grateful no video evidence exists. He can’t deny that he cried if there’s a video of him doing exactly that. Not that he’d cry, but—

You’d fucking cry, don’t start.

Also if Bryce knew he could make everybody hold a party for his relationship with Jared? On one knee in a second flat. So Jared will just…never mention the existence of vow renewals in his presence. And quit bugging Gabe and Stephen about when they’re getting married so Stephen doesn’t snap and mention it himself.

Bryce hasn’t shown any signs of stopping to breathe, but Jared doesn’t interrupt him, knows Bryce won’t be able to gather the threads back together if he does, and, more than that, that he’s nervous about this for some reason. Nervous about telling Jared this.

Bryce rambles when he’s nervous and when something’s really important to him. This is both.

Mostly he’s trying to figure out how Bryce did all this without Jared knowing. Like, Jared knew Bryce was keeping busy, but how did he miss a whole ass project? Bryce did financials? He talked to Marc Lapointe?

He had a lot of spare time. Especially during road trips. It wasn’t particularly difficult to keep it on the DL, considering.

“We started in like, January,” Bryce says. “I wanted to have like, a real idea before I told you, make sure I was still like, serious about it. And everyone says to do the research so, like, mom and I did the research. Gabe and Stephen helped too. Stephen was only like, kind of mean about it. Though he kept saying shit about my hair.”

“Babe, saying you have Disney prince hair isn’t an insult, I told you that,” Jared says.

“He says it like an insult,” Bryce says.

Because he’s offended that your hair just DOES that. Stephen is very vain about his own hair, he hates having a competitor.

(It does not just DO that, there is great time and financial investment involved in Bryce’s terrific hair)

“He says everything like an insult,” Jared says. “That’s just the way Stephen communicates.”

“He’s nice to Gabe,” Bryce says.

“Have you ever met anyone who isn’t nice to Gabe?” Jared says. “Even I’m nice to Gabe.”

Er. Nice(r).

But seriously, who’s mean to Gabe? Stephen will kill them.

“I wanted it to be like, fully planned out before I told you,” Bryce says. “You’re always so like — you always think shit through, you know? So I wanted to make sure I thought everything through first. And that took like, way more time than I expected it to. And help. This stuff isn’t like, my thing, you know? But it matters to me, so.”

Bryce trying to make sure he got ahead of every road block and set back so it would be perfect by the time Jared found out about it kills me a little.

“It isn’t?” Bryce says. “I mean, I know it isn’t, I just — you don’t think it’s dumb?”

“Of course I don’t think it’s dumb,” Jared says, and it kind of breaks his heart, how relieved Bryce looks.

Mine too.

“I just don’t want anyone thinking they can have hockey or love but not like, both,” Bryce says. “Like, I’d be a fucking mess without you, and I was kind of a mess without hockey too, and I just—“

Bryce going from someone who can’t even say the word gay out loud to willingly becoming the face of an organization meant for LGBTQ youth athletes — this boy.

“I can’t believe you made a secret club just so you could hang out with your mom,” Jared says.

That’s just a BONUS, Jared.

“I’m not—“ Bryce says. “It’s not a secret club!”

Note there is no denial about the hanging out with his mom part.

“You can join the club,” Bryce says, then, quickly, “But you don’t have to or anything. I know you’re not a joiner.”

“Obviously I want to join your secret club,” Jared says.

“Really?” Bryce asks.

“Duh,” Jared says, kicking Bryce’s foot, and Bryce kicks him back, grinning.

Jared’s evolution has been subtler, but of course he makes an exception for Bryce.

Bryce goes to grab his laptop with this jaunty little trot Jared doesn’t think he’s ever seen him do before, and he smiles down at his hands so he isn’t grinning at Bryce when he returns, just in case Bryce thinks he’s laughing at him.

Another evolution: Jared’s awareness of how easily Bryce’s feelings are hurt, and his efforts to make sure he isn’t the one doing it.

“We can take a break,” Bryce says quickly. Jared decides it wouldn’t be constructive to point out they haven’t actually done anything, form-wise. Certainly wouldn’t get either of them what they want, unless what they want is to be frustrated by bureaucracy.

Excellent work NOT cockblocking yourself with forms, Jared.

For the second time Jared gets to see the jaunty run. It’s a little dorky, but Jared won’t tell Bryce that. If he does, he’ll never see it again, and he’s already fond of it.

Jared getting to see parts of Bryce nobody else does, and being SO SO fond of them.

Jared decides to speed up just a little. If Bryce is going to put on a show, he doesn’t really want to miss it.

Like, yes, this is about sex, but also very much a dynamic that plays out across their relationship, which is great, because Jared doesn’t mind that Bryce is the better player/higher profile/bigger name. In fact, all the extra stuff Bryce deals with because of that is shit Jared is very glad not to deal with. But he loves getting to sit back and watch Bryce do his thing.

174. Starstruck (Redux)

There are so many callbacks in this part it might be easier to point out what isn’t one. One of the great things about doing this liveblogging (I reread the first 102 before I restarted this endeavour) — everything is very fresh when it’s time to wrap things up.

It’s also a really nice way for me to come to terms with finishing things — I get to go back and honour every part of the process, which helps, because this part always hurts. This series has been in my life so long it’d be a first grader by now, so it's been particularly hard to say goodbye to it.

It always feels a little strange now, travelling commercial. Well, strange is putting it nicely. Terrible. It feels terrible. Jared has had five hours of sleep and his Starbucks is burnt and his husband is wearing a toque indoors ‘so people won’t recognise me, J’. He looks ridiculous, and if his coffee’s burnt he can’t taste it, probably because there isn’t much coffee involved in that concoction.

Who says Jared isn’t a morning person (everyone who’s met him, and many would say he’s not an afternoon, evening, or night person either)

“You’re that guy from the Canucks, right?” she asks, inexplicably looking at Jared rather than Bryce.

Guess you should have worn a hat like your genius husband, Jared.

“My friends all think you’re really cute,” she says, then runs back to her group without asking for an autograph or anything, greeted with yells and cheers like she just scored them the OT winner.

She is a god among them.

“Don’t look so douchey in my hat now, do I?” Bryce asks.

“You still do,” Jared says. But he looks like a douche with a good idea.

Shoutout to the time Jared wrote a heartfelt card on his first anniversary that used the word ‘douche’ twice.

“I packed an extra,” Bryce says. “Just in case you changed your mind.”

Jared continues to underestimate how often they’ll be recognized, particularly in Vancouver. Bryce prefers to be prepared so he doesn’t have to take pictures and sign shit when he’s just trying to get a coffee.

Once the plane door shuts, Jared rips the hat off his head. “Is it fixable?”

“I don’t know how you can say I’m vain about my hair,” Bryce murmurs. Jared would tell him it’s because he is, but Bryce is fixing his hair for him at the moment, so it doesn’t seem like the most opportune time to argue.

Jared’s less vain about his hair and more vain about his so called dignity, and messy hair is not dignified. But then, neither is Jared, a lot of the time.

Training with you. I come back to Canada in June.

Absolutely not. Jared texts back.

Chaz and Raf already said OK. So did Arvan. So I’m coming.

Too bad Jared texts back. You’re not invited.

“What’re you so happy about?” Bryce mutters.

Julius officially in the crew and Jared is visibly delighted about it.

“Jared!” Bryce says, grabbing his arm.

There’s a few instances of physical communication between the two of them in this part. Big because it’s always in public/in front of others, and that’s something they’re only recently grown comfortable with.

“Did you know Julius was coming?”

“What, Julius is coming to train?” his dad asks. “That’s news to me.”

“I didn’t mention training,” Jared says.

“Shit,” his dad says, and Jared snorts.

Jared got his terrific lying skills from the best.

“Great,” Jared says. “Wonderful. I’m so happy to be home.”

“We’re as happy to have you as you are to be here,” his dad says.

His chirping skills are mostly from his mom, but sometimes Don comes through.

“Is that where Erin’s taking Bryce?” Jared asks.

“As far as I’m aware,” his dad says.

“Well,” Jared says. “Then I guess that’s where I’m going.”

These two. Two planets orbiting one another.

“I tell you I’m proud of you yet?” his dad asks.

“Not in as many words,” Jared says.

“Well, I am,” his dad says. “Proud of Bryce too.”

Look at Don growing too!!

“Me too,” Jared says. “Next season he’s going to — actually, I’ll let him tell you about it over brunch.”

“The charity thing?” his dad says, then, “Shit.”

“Oh for—“ Jared says. “Come on.”

Elaine got ahead of herself, she’s sorry!

Ashley has a ring on her finger. Grace doesn’t, but judging by Raf going red and hissing ‘shut up’ when Jared asks him about it, that’s changing very shortly.

Raf’s trying to find the perfect moment. Chaz did it in their living room and almost wiped out on one of Maia’s toys when he went to kneel.

“You're pregnant," Bryce says.

"No," Ashley says. "Okay, yes, but—"

Everyone had a couple beers (or spritzers) but her over the afternoon. Bryce noticed, Jared, of course, did not.

“To keep the numbers even we thought that maybe Bryce could be on my side?” Ashley asks. “And you two could partner up. But we don’t want to do that if you’re not—“

“Can I wear a suit that matches the bridesmaid dresses?” Bryce asks.

Ash and Chaz worried he’d feel emasculated, being on the bride’s side. And once upon a time he would have, but now he’s just hyped about a pastel suit.

“So it was Chaz you were hiding it from,” Jared says.

Ashley’s mouth flattens. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“It is an excellent instrument,” Chaz says. “You’re just haters.”

If he plays twinkle twinkle little star on that thing one more time…

(And it is always twinkle twinkle little star. Because that is all he knows.)

Jared leans over to Chaz as Bryce and Ashley put their heads together. “Did you steal a toy from your own child?”

“We’re teaching her to share,” Chaz mutters.

Can MAIA play twinkle twinkle little star? No! It’s wasted on her.

Raf proposes, but only after weeks of making everyone around him miserable. To the surprise of absolutely no one but Raf, she says yes. Jared would be more smug about calling it if he hadn’t been the only one blindsided by Raf asking him to be his best man.

Just wait until Jared remembers there’s a speech involved.

Jared’s volunteered to help, mostly to make sure that Julius doesn’t mistake Jared telling him he’s not welcome, and explicitly uninviting him, for actually not wanting him here.

Taking Jared at his word would obviously be a mistake.

“Oh my fucking god,” Jared mutters. Bryce had finally gotten rid of the convertible when he left Calgary, and Jared had figured that was that, because Vancouver’s the opposite of a good place for one. Maybe that was naive. “You’re too old for that car! Also too young!”

Bryce gets out of the front seat, sliding his sunglasses off and tucking them into his polo. He looks like bad porn. Right in front of Jared’s parents, too. Jared glowers at him as he walks up the driveway.

Jared’s anti-convertible gripe turning into ‘how dare you look hot enough that I now want to ride in your dumb car’. In front of his parents, to boot!

“Nice looking car, Bryce,” his dad says.

Bryce grins. “Want to come for a spin?”

“Watch my pots!” his dad says, then literally jogs down the driveway to get in the passenger seat.

Don has dibs though!

Jared exchanges a look with his mom.

“Well,” she says. “It’s nice to see he’s finally gotten over his Bryce related car trauma.”

Growth!

It’s another half hour before Bryce and his mom come back. It doesn’t involve anyone shouting ‘what a rush’ as they come inside, so it’s more subtle than his dad’s return

I love Don.

Jared scoots over, and Bryce lies down beside him. They don’t fit. They never have, really, but now Jared has to put his back against the wall, tangle their legs together so Bryce doesn’t topple right off the bed.

Back in Jared’s high school bed. Every time they do it gets more and more cramped.

“I thought we could get some pizza,” Bryce says. “Sit around at a park or something. It’s a nice day for it.”

“You got a blanket in the trunk too?” Jared says.

“Maybe,” Bryce says. “Not a Flames one, but.”

This boy. This ridiculously romantic boy.

“Absolutely,” Bryce says. As soon as they get outside he jogs ahead. Jared’s about to ask him what he’s in such a hurry for before Bryce opens the passenger door for him, and then he just has to stop everything, take a moment and watch him, golden in the late spring light.

Jared’s still so gone for him.

“You coming?” Bryce asks.

“Yeah,” Jared says. “Yeah, of course I am.”

So gone.

[emonydeborah]

snw episodes rated by Una

in which Una is my unit of measurement, not that this is what she would think of the events

All from memory bc who has time

SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING

1x01: she’s literally the catalyst for getting Chris off his butt and the whole episode. Barely in it but she did all the detective work for everybody. “Somehow I knew you would” with the little smile and “La’an!” in the softest voice immediately established both relationships and my abiding love for her. She’s literally driving the plot but still not there much; 6/10.

1x02: she shares some LooksTM with Chris. Chris was slightly subdued at one (1) dinner party and Una went something is deeply wrong. Chris is sad and Una tells him to live his gosh darn life. Pretty sure she flies the ship a bit. She’s here. Can’t complain. 6/10.

1x03: OOOOHOHO here we go. Whatever camera angle it is that shoots from the floor to watch people walk away and makes them look tall was excellently utilized. Girl was STRIDING everywhere. Hauled a grown man over her shoulder and was greeted with the shock and awe she deserved. Told her biggest secret (!!!!) to help the crew!!! bc she would sacrifice herself for them!!!!! also she googled her glowworm episode like it had not happened her whole life (which I will accept as a writer thing. but she really looked at a picture of someone glowing bc of an infection and went 😮). Girlie managed a whole ship of sedated/crazy people and did not let anyone jump into the sun/warp core. Had a deep talk with La’an and revealed more of their shared history. Stunning. 10/10.

1x04 another case of I can’t complain. As my favorite character I want her to be happy, but I will take some internal bleeding and other catastrophic injuries. As a treat. The sheer power of ordering the medical staff to give away her blood transfusion and then knocking herself out before they could argue. Unparalleled. Had no impact on the main plot but what she did do in her sphere of influence was important and exemplary. I’ll take it. 7/10.

1x05: back at it again with the b-plot but I AM HERE FOR IT. GIVE ME LA’AN AND UNA BEING GOOFY. Loved the death glare at Joseph so he would confess and how she pretended not to be huffy about her nickname. La’an went can we… play a game… and Una went YEs sounds educational. For science. The look of absolute shock and betrayal when La’an shot her and her little “ow.” “People are idiots. You’re fun.” La’an went lol my childhood was a bleak horror scape and Una went absolutely NOT I’m going to commit crimes to rectify this. I like people having wacky misadventures while the plot is plotting somewhere. 8/10.

1x06 Chris forgot her name. She had to leave so she wouldn’t verbally tear him to shreds in front of his crew. Most likely explanation. Where was she I miss her. 4/10.

1x07: she locked the pirates out of the ship!!! We love a competent first officer shooting people on her bridge. She shook her head half an inch and Spock went absolutely whatever you say. Chris was thrown to the floor in front of her and she crossed her arms and watched him get up. “We’re starting a mutiny.” "Someone's breaking the rules today." Legitimately appreciated her teamwork with Chris in planting the mutiny idea. Would love to see it again sometime. 7/10.

1x08: bow and arrow. She checked on Joseph after and I appreciated that they carried that through from her finding out about Rukiya before. Una was here but she wasn't Una. Also. If we're real she wasn't really there. I liked the eye shadow though. 5/10.

1x09: "you should really try the omelet." The breakfast scene is my favorite and in fact the only scene. Nothing else happened with Hemmer or Spock or anyone. Really short episode. I would have liked to have seen her face when Chris snapped the tongs. She tried to follow the shuttle to the surface with scans and Chris went nah babe we're fine. Let her do her job Chris. Breakfast scene 10/10. Episode 5/10.

1x10: notable by her absence. She checked on Chris and once again told him to live his life. She's not there in the future but I won't take points for that because Chris immediately went where is my bestie. I cannot function without my work wife where is she. Her arrest kick-started the series and for our cliffhanger she was arrested again. I'm sensing a theme. What will they incarcerate her for next and how will Chris break her out this time. I will always appreciate Chris going absolutely feral for his first officer/life partner. 9/10.

2x01: prison. She tells Chris not to be stupid and he goes don't tell me what to do *cough* I love you *cough* Not a strong start for our girl but I trust her to overcome. Once again Chris is going off on a mission to save her. Lost points for the brevity of her appearance and the weird black jumpsuit. 4/10.

2x02: Girl sat in a chair and watched her friends say nice things about her for days. I would shrivel up and die. Una looks teary. Her lawyer put some heat on a guy who said he would NEVER hire Una if he knew her real race and Una said that was too mean leave him alone. La'an confessed her feelings in public. Spock gave the whole courtroom a heart attack to make Una smile. Chris hugged her looking panicky. please don't go away again. Una looked at Chris like she wanted to kiss him or perhaps sip one milkshake through two straws. The whole episode is about how great she is. 15/10.

2x03: unfortunately for most of this episode she did not exist. Liked the professional and sassy attitude towards Pelia but I must reduce points for Una not existing. 2/10.

2x04: Una succumbed to a disease she should canonically be immune to. Fridged almost immediately. Chris said I need some good fighters and took his doctor instead of his super strong first officer who was familiar with the terrain. Una called Chris out on relationship nonsense like the og she is but this cannot repair the damage. Drove me to writing fix-it fic. -10/10.

2x05: Una is canonically one of the girls. She hangs out with some very specific junior officers including her emotionally constipated son and her traumatized daughter. She laughs very loudly and I like to think the writers are purposefully making her more open now that people know her genetics secret. Tells Mr. Spock how to be a Vulcan. Part of a lineup to talk to Spock and is a head taller than the rest of the line. All in all a great time. 9/10.

2x06: she yells at her former professor who is also thousands of years old. I would simply perish. "yoU HaVe CruMBs oN yOuR uNifOrM" Starfleet said we need someone to get this defunct and thus far unmanageable station up and running. Send Una. "Oh good, I was afraid I'd miss the speech." Rebecca Romijn note- she is nine inches taller than Carol Kane, but she manages to look/act a lot younger and smaller than normal. Pelia takes about 14 seconds to get Una teary eyed. "My final paper was METICULOUSLY researched." 8/10.

2x07: "That's ridiculous, we can't just 'Not Look.'" "Like... a p i n - u p p o s t e r?" Girl is constantly baffled the whole time. One (1) young man was unnerved by her and she went he knows how I die. She then winked at him and he almost had a stroke. We see a picture of her as she is idolized in the future. Excellent. Different flavor than 2x06 but still 8/10.

2x08: lots of Significant Eye Contact with Chris. She said if you don't get this ship where it's going asap I will revoke your command and drive us there myself. "Everyone is on their own journey." I feel like she knows Joseph murdered a man in sickbay but we don't know for sure. She's out here being a competent first officer and telling the captain how the crew is feeling. I like the reminder of her priorities. Chris is here to explore and it's Una's job to make sure he has a functional crew to do so. 6/10.

2x09: Una Chin-Riley, musical theater nerd, had the absolute time of her life and I am so happy for her. Girl JUMPED into that first song with much soulful pushing of buttons. "A surprisingly beautiful baritone." Chris asked Uhura the singer how musicals work and Una answered. Is feeling her feelings so much these days she started singing about her job. Waltzed through the halls with James T Kirk. La'an went I would like to not do this please and Una said feel your feelings. Fly away with me. Accept yourself. Love yourself. "You came in here hot. On fire. It's making me sweat." The whole ship is singing and La'an is making friends. This was the best day of Una's life. 1000/10.

2x10: Una volunteered for a dangerous forbidden mission to save her husband's gf and spent the whole time stalking around the bridge like a tiger or a mom looking for sales at Target and giving hopeful speeches. She did tell Spock his gf might be dead but if you want to look for her go for it champ. "ORDERS CAPTAIN" Chris is hanging on by a thread. Una is the thread. Not a great end if I'm honest but she did look fantastic walking around murderously. 5/10.

[pupyuj]

what if....jock yuj with short hair KANSKAJSKSKSKS IM SORRY IM O B S E S S E D WITH HER SHORT HAIR U DONT UNDERSTAND I LOVE IT SM IM GNA COMBUST

-🪿🪿🪿🪿

ACK . LISTEN 🥺🥺

so this is like, sfw for the most part i hope that's okay cuz i feel very soft for short hair yuj ☹️ yuj being a nice jock here for once and having the biggest crush on cheerleader reader ,, you're both super popular so you know of each other, but you're not that close! poor baby thinking that you don't really see her as anything more than just being the captain of the basketball team but she was so wrong!!! yuj talking to her teammates about cutting her hair short one day and all of them making jokes about how it would look weird on her,,, BUT LIKE... you and your friend happened to be passing by and one of yuj's jock friends asked you if you think she would look fine with short hair SJDHCKD POOR YUJ BLUSHING SO HARD.. and she's so nervous abt your answer she couldn't look at you properly :((( and her friends knew about her crush on you so they were just giggling.. meanies 😭😭

"i think you'd look very pretty, yujin." ACK yujinnie almost fainting on the spot sjfbfjdkcsk bcs your smile was so pretty and you sounded so genuine 🥺 ofc she couldn't keep her eyes off of you as you walked away w your friend,, and her heart almost leaped out of her mouth when you looked back and smiled at her again,,, YUJ'S FRIENDS PUSHING HER AROUND AND TEASING HER... AND SHE'S SO HOPELESS SHE'S KICKING HER FEET N SHIT... 😭😭

omgomg yuj coming to practice w her fresh cut,, head down n cheeks super red bcs everybody has been looking at her the entire school day,, unfortunately you've been running around somewhere else so you haven't seen her hair yet... but would you look at that! you're sitting on the bleachers w some other cheerleaders and ofc you take notice of yujin's hair 🥺🥺🥺

sjdbjfksc the baby smiling at you cutely while she was walking by where you were sitting.. "looking good, ahn." you told her, laughing when she looked away bashfully STOP SHE'S SO WHIPPED 😩😩 she was full of energy the entire practice!! her shots were perfect too, she had to impress her crush after all! 🥰

okay now here's the fun part 🤭 yujinnie being left behind in the court bcs she had to talk to her coach about stuff,, going to the changing rooms to finally take a nice shower before she goes home.. and then there's you entering right after her... yuj being so surprised to see you she kind of freezes up on the spot 😭😭😭 you truly did have a reason to be there though! you forgot one of your cheer uniforms in your locker, which happened to be right next to yuj's 🫢

ehehdjdkffj yujin's brain literally shutting down when you take the towel from her hands and start wiping the sweat off her forehead and neck yourself,,, "you're doing a really good job as captain. i don't think you get told that enough." you were saying, reminding yujin of the reason she fell in love with you in the first place :(( "i knew i was right when i said you'd look pretty like this." god, how hasn't yujin evaporated yet????? especially when you brushed her now short hair through your fingers so gently :(((

"can i kiss you, yujin?"

EEEEEK LOVESICK YUJ NOT EVEN HESITATING TO JUST GRAB YOUR WAIST AND PULL YOU INTO HER 🥺🥺🥺🥺 she kisses you so desperately but softly!!!! this definitely leads to the two of you fucking on the benches but not before yuj asks if that was what you wanted 🥺🥺 she would be so gentle,, but not to the point of it all being boring, she wants to savour this moment!! 😵‍💫 very very good with her fingers, and she'd get addicted to your moans... hitting all the good spots that she learned just to hear her name fall from your lips again, not really caring if there was someone outside that then hear the two of you omg...

and then the two of you shower together where you're just making out and getting to know each other's bodies, nothing sexual at all just soft touches and even softer kisses 🥹💞💞

[princess-of-the-corner]

Ojiro Family List (in more detail)

Honestly, once the thoughts start, getting them out is the only way to make them stop. So, a general overview of everybody, where they are in life, any specific feelings on the Masumi Situation. Again, you are free to pick, choose, alter or discard whatever you want. If it doesn’t fit, or you need to toss it, feel free!

Genkai Ojiro - Grandad - Quirk: Stubborn

Retired. Used to be a very prominent martial artist from the Saotome Family, but changed his name upon marrying Sumomo. The only person in his family growing up with the Stubborn Quirk, dealt with a lot for having a wildly different Quirk from his parents and siblings. Not particularly close to any remaining family on his own side. Still teaches martial arts classes, but part time, focusing on people who have Quirks that give them unique physiology. Loves Mashiro to bits, and was one of his biggest supporters in his desire to be a hero. Was the one who helped him figure out how to do martial arts with his tail, and helped him prep for the exams. Is FURIOUS with Masumi for abandoning Mashiro, and also for not bothering to mention who Mashiro’s dad is. During their last conversation, he more or less disowned her, unless she was willing to try and make any kind of relationship work with her son. Hasn’t spoken to her in almost a decade.

Sumomo Ojiro - Grandma - Quirk: Bounce

Retired. Owned the Ojiro family dojo, which has been in her family since WELL BEFORE the beginning of Quirks - she still has the original paper deed framed up somewhere. Has a brother who owns a resort somewhere, but otherwise no family on her own side. Still teaches martial arts part-time, with a focus on teaching women, and young kids. Was often critical of Masumi leaving Mashiro with them for extended periods, feeling like if a kid was incompatible with Masumi’s lifestyle, she shouldn’t have had a kid at all (as much as she loves Mashiro, she often thought Masumi should have either got an abortion, or put Mashiro up for adoption). That said, she also believed Masumi could be a good mom, and that if she wanted a kid, there was nothing stopping her. So, she wasn’t just angry when Masumi abandoned Mashiro, she was devastatingly disappointed and felt betrayed. She has also told Masumi that, unless she’s willing to try and make up with her son, they have nothing to talk about. Like Genkai, was deeply upset that Masumi never mentioned Mashiro’s dad, and while she tried on multiple occasions to get answers, never got any, and feels kind of bad about it.

Yosuke Ojiro - First born Son - Quirk: Stubborn

Current head of the Ojiro Dojo. Owns and operates it, teaching various martial arts classes, both out of the family dojo, and at rented spaces that make the classes more accessible. Has hired instructors to teach a variety of styles. A good bit older than Masumi and Shizuka. Took over the dojo mostly cause neither of his sisters wanted to. Was not PLANNING to have eight kids, but loves them all to pieces, and does his best to be a good dad. Is utterly disgusted with Masumi for abandoning Mashiro. The last conversation they had was Yosuke and Masumi shouting at each other, saying things with the intent to hurt, and they haven’t spoken since. Yosuke cares a little less about Mashiro’s “mystery dad”. Like, he thinks Masumi should have given the guy a chance to know he has a kid, but also, if she doesn’t want the guy involved, like, he gets that might be valid. However, the fact she always implied she knew who it was, but just didn’t care to contact him, rubbed him wrong.

Keiko Ojiro - Yosuke’s wife - Quirk: Momentum

Helps Yosuke run the Dojo. While usually works on the more technical stuff - employee salaries, renting spaces, planning events and the like - is an accomplished martial artist in her own right. She and Yosuke got married right out of high school, and are still going strong. Also did not expect 8 kids, but loves them all to pieces. Was never particularly close to Masumi, but liked her fine, and thought maybe having Mashiro would mellow her out. Was shocked when Masumi left Mashiro. Was fully on board to take Mashiro in, but was pregnant at the time, and wasn’t sure how she and Yosuke would handle their kids, plus a new baby, plus Mashiro and any possible issues that might arise from him being abandoned. Was privy to the screaming match Yosuke had with Masumi, and is holding a grudge over some of what was said.

Shizuka Ojiro - Third kid, 2nd daughter - Quirk: Stubborn

A financial consultant, she travels for at least a week every month for work. Lives in an apartment across town from her family, but visits often. Lives with her datemate/eventual fiancé - the only reason the two are not already engaged and getting married is that Shizuka wants to be in a position with her job where she travels less. Was the closest to Masumi growing up, and the one who felt the most caught in the middle when Masumi left. While she still gets calls from Masumi, and the two still talk, it is always a bit tense for Shizuka, and they never talk about Mashiro unless it’s on Masumi’s terms. Shizuka misses her sister, and wants desperately for their family to get back together, but also knows that what her sister did is wrong, and won’t tolerate Masumi doing anything to hurt Mashiro.

*Arika - Shizuka’s datemate/future spouse - Quirk: Gecko

Seamster. Works at a local clothing boutique that specializes in fitting “unique persons”. Also does stuff online - sewing tutorials, fabric comparisons, DIYs, How To’s, clothing alterations, stuff like that. Met Shizuka after Masumi had already left, so has never met her in person, though they have spoken on the phone a few times. Arika does their best to stay out of it if they can help it, they don’t really feel like it’s their place to make judgements, but they have been helping fit Mashiro for clothes since the kid was 7 or so, and if Arika gets even a HINT that Masumi up and leaving has anything to do with Mashiro’s Tail? Oh, they are throwing hands. (It didn’t, but Arika brought it up once, and while Shizuka assured them that WASN’T it, Arika is a bit skeptical.)

Masumi Ojiro - Second Born kid, first born daughter, Mashiro’s mom - Quirk: Bouncy

Uh. I don’t know that “Gambler” is a professional job?? But that’s basically what she does. She did get hired at a few places to sort of gamble for the establishment, like, be a dealer, or make people lose to the casino or whatever … anyway. That’s basically what she’s been doing for the past decade. Enjoys travel and seeing new places. Kind of self-absorbed, doesn’t often think about how her actions affect other people. Honestly pretty smart academically, mathematically, why she’s such a good gambler. Got pregnant after a one-night stand, and at the time, was enamoured with the idea of being a mom. However, didn’t seem to realize the responsibility she was signing up for, and after Mashiro entered toddlerdom, began to feel very stifled. Started leaving Mashiro with her siblings and parents for long stretches, so she could have “me time”, which her whole family criticized her for. Masumi mostly ignored them - really, their opinion barely registered. When Mashiro was about 4 or 5ish, Masumi got a job offer to work on a cruise-ship in their on-board casino for close to a year or more, and excitedly took the job. She dropped off Mashiro with his grandparents that weekend, told them she had a new job that meant she’d be gone longer than usual, and left. She didn’t tell them any details until Genkai called her about a week later, asking how long she’d be gone.

That’s when everything blew up.

Masumi honestly didn’t get what everyone was so mad at her for?? Like. Her parents kept getting on her case to get a “real, stable job”, (not that she cared) but now she has one and they’re mad at her? Oh, Mashiro? Oh, you can look after him that long, can’t you? He’ll be fine! She wasn’t ABANDONING him, she was just leaving him with family! Masumi felt annoyed that her family was “blowing it all out of proportion”, and after several angry phone calls, decided she would just push it aside, deal with it when she went back.

Only. She didn’t go back. A year turned into 2, turned into 3, turned into a different job at a casino in Italy, in Brazil, in Vegas, until it had been a decade since she even set foot in Japan. I won’t say she “forgot”, exactly. She very much did not. She occasionally would ask Shizuka for updates (as long as her little sister didn’t harp on about her “motherly duties” like their parents). But, Masumi didn’t really deem it “important”. She was out in the world, living her life, being her own person. She was having fun. Mashiro was clearly fine, doing well. Why does she need to be there? Like. It wasn’t as if Masumi didn’t care, cause she does! She loves Mashiro. She carries around a picture of the two of them in her wallet. If Shizuka called, told her Mashiro had … idk, cancer or something, she would be on the next Japan-bound flight she could get. But also, that’s what it would take to get Masumi on a plane “home”, no questions asked. Not just, “hey, maybe Mashiro needs his mom”, cause he doesn’t, right? He’s got his aunts, his uncle, his grandparents, he’s healthy, he’s doing well. 

In fact, Masumi might have kept up her with her own life, probably wouldn’t have shown up again until her parents funerals, except. Uh. Well. Making your living mostly by gambling … it’s honestly a miracle she managed a whole decade before landing in serious debt. Even then, she wasn’t really planning on going back to Japan - in her opinion, the various “opinions” and “judgements” from her family would NOT make that worth it - but while she was ruminating on what to do, she ran into someone with a “Fortune Teller” Quirk. Someone who actually had some clout, and proof of results. So, she asked what she should do. And the guy told her, “As long as you travel, your life shall be empty. Homeward, in the arms of those you left, is where you will find true happiness.” Masumi didn’t really get what to make of that, and thought the guy was just giving her some sappy bullshit, until she caught the U.A. Sports Festival on national news, and saw a clip of Mashiro competing. Suddenly, it all makes sense! Her baby’s gonna be a hero! That means he’ll be able to take care of her, right? Oh, he was such a momma’s boy, he’ll want to make sure his mom has the best, right? 

So, Masumi cheerfully calls Shizuka to get the ball rolling.

Grandkids

Yosuke & Keiko’s kids

In general, Mashiro’s cousins are at varying stages of knowledge about the whole “Aunt Masumi left your cousin here one day and never came back”. The older kids remember it better, but it isn’t something any of them really think about? Though, they are all used to people mistaking Mashiro for their sibling, not their cousin. None of them ever correct anybody, given they were all raised together, they figure it isn’t like these people are wrong. Most of the kids want to go into professional martial arts.

(Note, basing ages in relation to Mashiro

Niko, Son - Quirk: Stubborn - 19

Yuma, Son - Quirk: Stubborn - 18

Chihiro, Daughter - Quirk: Stubborn - 17

Sosuke, Son - roughly Mashiro’s age - Quirk: Momentum - 16

Botan, Daughter & Daichi, Son (fraternal twins) - Quirk: Stubborn - 14

Shinji, Son - Quirk: Stubborn - 12

Miki - youngest girl - Quirk: mix of Momentum & Bounce - 6 (Miki was a surprise to everybody, her parents most of all.)

And finally:

Mashiro - only child - Quirk: Tail

So, for the record. Mashiro remembers VERY LITTLE about his mom at this point. He has a few memories, but she left when he was VERY young, so much of it is muddled by time and distance. Most of his opinions on his mom were formed by listening to his grandparents, uncle and aunts disparage her for abandoning him. Not to his face! They tried really hard not to do that! But Mashiro overheard plenty of discussions he wasn’t supposed to. So, while he very much WANTS to see his mom again, he is also very wary, wondering what she wants, why now? The reason he eventually decides to see her actually has little to do with her specifically. Like, yes, he wants to see her again. But also, Mashiro is closest to his grandparents, and his aunt Shizuka (not that he doesn’t love Yosuke or Keiko or his cousins). So, he knows how much Shizuka misses her sister. How much she’d like to see her again. So, there’s that. But he isn’t sure he trusts Masumi. And if he does decide to see her, he’s sure his grandparents will be pissed, so decides to ask about his dad. Like, “I’ll meet up if you tell me who my dad is.” It’s part “show of trust” - if she tells, clearly she wants to see him more than she wants to keep the “secret” (Mashiro is under the impression it’s a “secret”, not that she just doesn’t care) - and part hoping to smooth over the eventual meeting. He knows it’s gonna be tense regardless, might as well get one of the land mines out of the way

But the thing is, he honestly expected her to not know. Like, he’s figured out he was a one night stand baby, and he’s ok with that. No judgement there. He thinks she just doesn’t know who it was, and that his grandparents are being a little “old-fashioned” about insisting on knowing who the dad is. He figures she’ll say she doesn’t know, he says ok, they all finally drop it. He doesn’t realize Masumi DOES actually know who the guy is, still has his phone number even, and just never bothered to tell him. Like, not even a “I don’t want him to know” or anything, she just never thought it would matter. 

Masumi: “Oh yeah, it’s this guy I saw at the bar a few times, we hung out a bit, then fucked, that was it. He was new in town, when the Zodiac Agency was starting to get big, ya know? I think he was a sidekick? I think Shizuka’s mentioned he’s pretty big now, maybe I should have gotten an autograph! The scorpion guy?”

Mashiro, who was all primed for making sure his grandparents knew he was ok not knowing who his dad was: “You. SCORPIO!?”

Masumi: “Yeah, that’s him! I still have his number!”

Mashiro: *tea kettle noise*

-

GOD I LOVE aLL OF THEM

[shoto-lee]

Tickletober Day 8 - "I'm Not Ticklish"

lee!tsukishima ler!yamaguchi

Summary: Yamaguchi wants to know what side tsukishima is more ticklish on - the left or the right. However, Tsukishima claims he isn't ticklish...

A/N: binging haikyuu so i decided to write something for my favorite character, tsukishima! (posting this a day early)

-

Tsukishima sighed. He didn't know why he had agreed to let Yamaguchi do this... Maybe it was because he was cute when he asked, maybe it wasn't. Who knows?

"When will you be done?" Tsuki asked, a slight frown on his face.

Yamaguchi ignored his question - he hadn't even started with his experiment. He was desperate to figure out which side of the taller boy was more ticklish. His left thigh or his right thigh? His left knee or his right knee? The question went on and on, and Tadashi was determined to answer it.

He already had a prediction. Thanks to some supporting evidence from a practice match some time ago, he knew that Tsukishima's right side was more ticklish than the other. During the match, Tsuki had gotten a cramp in his left calve. Daichi had tried to remedy it with a brief massage - pushing and circling his thumbs across the sensitive area.

When that didn't work (which he 100% expected it would), the captain of the team became confused and thought he was massaging the wrong calve, so he moved on to the right one. Tsukishima was a giggly mess as soon as he was touched there.

"Alright. I'll begin here." Yamaguchi placed his index finger on his friend's right thigh. Tsuki was wearing shorts, so the area was largely exposed.

Yamaguchi slid his finger down Tsuki's thigh until he met his kneecap. He then slid it back up to the end of his shorts. Nothing. Not even a slight grin.

Tsukishima could see Yama's visible disappointment. "I've told you already, I am not ticklish." He cockily laid on his back, putting his hands behind his head - leaving Yamaguchi kneeled down beside him.

The boy huffed and puffed. "I can't accept that! Everybody is ticklish, even you, Tsukishima."

The blond scoffed, shaking his head. Did he really believe he wasn't ticklish? Yamaguchi was right - everyone is ticklish somewhere. Tsukishima was in for a rude awakening.

Tsukishima's confidence began to crumble when Yamaguchi slid his hand under his leg, softly tickling the bottom of his outstretched knee. He pressed his lips together to keep from giggling.

Clueless to the fact that with a little bit more effort at the spot he was at, he'd have Tsuki a ticklish mess, Yamaguchi decided to make his way down to his calve. He lightly traced circles with his fingernails on the taller boy's skin.

Lips still pressed together, Tsukishima was nearly unphased - only on the outside, though. On the inside, his heart was slowly beating faster and faster. He hadn't felt the ticklish sensations he was feeling now in a while. He slowly began to remember the way his brother, Akiteru, would tickle him when they were young... This scared him because, with those memories, he remembered just how ticklish he really was.

"Y-Yamaguchi, are you finished yet? I already told you, I'm not ticklish." Tsukishima scratched his neck, a nervous look on his face.

Yamaguchi noticed this, unfortunate for Tsukishima. He could tell that he was close to getting to a ticklish area, so he continued down the boy's leg.

When Yamaguchi reached Tsukishima's heel, he tried to pull his foot away but was quickly stopped by Yamaguchi placing his ankle in an armlock.

"Why are you trying to get away? I thought you said you weren't ticklish."

Tsukishima tried to reach Yamaguchi's body to get him away from his foot but was stopped once again. The boy had begun to claw his fingers up and down the middle blocker's heel, causing him to gasp and giggle.

"Ahaha, Yahahamaha! StohohoHOhOHop it!" Tsukishima didn't know how to react to this ticklish feeling... All he could do was laugh and laugh. And laugh some more.

"Wow~ Someone's right heel is ticklish. What about the left one?" Yamaguchi teased, swiftly snatching Tsukishima's left ankle and scratching at his heel.

Tsukishima bashed around, trying not to laugh. He held his lips together but they were immediately separated by sweet chuckles and snorts every single time.

Yamaguchi took notes. Although he was having fun wrecking poor Tsuki, he still genuinely wanted to find an answer to his question. And as far as heels go, he concluded that Tsukishima's left heel was more ticklish.

But what about Tsuki's sides? Or his armpits? The experiment continues... But at another time.

Yamaguchi released the ankles that were in his grip. He quickly crawled over to a pink-faced Tsuki, rubbing his back.

"Are you alright? Do you need some water?"

Tsukishima caught his breath and replied, "No. But, I do need..one thing."

Yama tilted his head, listening carefully. The least he could do was help out his friend after tickling the hell out of him.

"I need you to not try and get any revenge after this." Tsukishima smirked, pushing Yama to the floor and pinning his arms above his head. All of this happened so quickly, leaving the smaller boy in a blur.

However, he quickly realized what was happening after he felt a hand reach under his shirt and dig into his armpit.

"NuhohOHOHA! FuhUHUHAHA!" He yelped, kicking his feet all around. It was only fair that Tsuki got a bit of revenge, right..?

[bestworstcase]

I feel like (different anon) half of the fandom doesn’t even care about Salem in the sense that regardless of what Her goal is? To be fair in my corner I’ve seen more individual character hatred rather than “this plot doesn’t make sense” hatred. Or ppl just saying the plot sucks without offering why they think so which is the majority of rwby “criticism”. But Salem being the key to the end of the show has been very well telegraphed since the end of volume 3. She started as this faceless monster, a creature to hate, the one who killed their headmaster and plunged the world into war. Then we learned that Oz was also keeping secrets and outright lying, so that knocked him off of the Trusted Adult pedestal (tho he has always been kinda shady but in terms of story formula that’s what I mean). Volume 6??? The Lost Fable?? Still so amazing. Salem very literally gets humanized in the eyes of our characters. She still did all of those awful things but she’s a Person now rather than an Entity. Those moments of confrontation (Ironwood’s office with Ruby, Yang while in the whale, Oscar.” We get to see her talking to her Evil Guy Crew. We see her have emotions.

AND THEN THE BROTHER GODS once thought of as entities much like how Salem was seen by the cast in the beginning. Yes they are still gods but not in the sense that at least I was thinking. They came From somewhere. And yes Salem was the first to discover they were fallible but knowing what V9 told us helped me put it into perspective

So the last arch being about fully learning what Salem wants and then, probably possibly, deciding how to help alongside with it. I think ppl get upset bc they view that as “oh yeah all the ppl she killed and lives she ruined don’t matter she’s our bestie mow” kind of Joining with Salem. When im seeing it as a more Neo agreeing to work with Cinder type deal. If Salem wants to stop the gods, get revenge, make them humble, and the gods return and want to wipe out remnant For Good, I’d say that’s a common goal our kids can get behind.

rwby is a cool show with cool villains and I enjoy it a lot and also your thoughts about it sorry this is so long

the thing with salem and the, like, common fandom interpretation of her and where her arc is headed is that. at least since v9 it’s less about resistance to the idea that the final confrontation being team rwby vs the gods as it is the way folks assume salem fits into that, namely that most of the fandom still takes completely at face value the idea that she’s selfish, arrogant, and needs to learn her lesson about the value of life and death. so you get these wild takes that the gods were assholes who punished her out of proportion for what she did, paired with this implicit idea that salem does actually deserve this punishment because she Still RefusesTo Learn Her Lesson, and thus she needs to be redeemed by team rwby proving her wrong somehow.

but like

salem did nothing wrong. praying to the gods was not wrong, reacting emotionally when they were cruel to her was not wrong, recognizing their fallibility and unworthiness was not wrong, rallying people against them was not wrong, vowing to keep fighting after they massacred everybody was not wrong, cursing them after they left and blaming them for ending the world was not wrong, jumping into the pool of grimm was not wrong, BEING grimm is not wrong, rejecting the divine mandate after ozma hid it from her for years was not wrong. frankly continuing to be a thorn in his side since then is, i would argue, also not wrong, because she’s made herself the immovable obstacle preventing him from summoning his genocidal god back to remnant to kill everyone again; it is laughably obvious that the ultimatum is not a game humanity can win. and then factoring in the part where ozma is obsessed with finding a way to destroy her, what else is she supposed to do besides live in exile. and of course if you close off every other door except violent rebellion you are eventually going to invite violent rebellion. 

so like. Salem Is Right, and seems to be taking what she considers the path of minimal destruction (the grimm held beacon but pull out of vale within a few days; her plan for haven was nearly bloodless and left mistral untouched; she made no move to attack mantle and began her siege with a grace period for her to leave in peace if the relics were surrendered), which means that she’s likely willing to negotiate methods if other less destructive paths are opened to her. her villain -> hero arc can’t turn on team rwby persuading her that she’s wrong, because fundamentally her position is “the genocidal divine tyrants do not deserve our obedience and we can and must defy them” which is, um, correct. but if they adopt that position themselves and then negotiate How i think they’ll find she’s a lot more reasonable than they’ve been led to believe, and i do not think the wider fandom is prepared for that whatsoever

[blackswan446]

CORRUPTED || thirteen.

𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐔𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐃 ✩✩✩

the music blaring in the large house vibrated the walls. the heat in the room from all the people contrasted with the harsh cold of outside, as snow fell from the sky and coated the ground in a light coating of white. the dim mood lighting did nothing to conceal the sea of people in the rooms, some screaming to people across the room, others standing in the corner with their own group. hoseok, who was clutching a plastic cup with whatever potent drink the host had conjured up, was somewhere in the middle of these two groups.

he spend his time drifting through the crowd, shoving through the crowd of people, moving between the kitchen and the living room. to others, he probably just looked drunk and dazed, but he knew what he was doing. the reason for his movement and ignorance of everybody else, was because he was looking for you.

earlier in the day, he had received an invitation from somebody at school to go to a house party, hosted by some rich hotshot. hoseok wasn't exactly a huge partygoer, with most of his evenings being spent with you or at home with his family. but he figured it could be good, to get his mind off the emotions that were paining him every agonizing second he was conscious. besides, it was walking distance to his house, so why not?

of course, he just felt wrong going without telling you. he knew that, in actuality, there was nothing wrong with not sharing his whereabouts with you 24/7, but there's a difference between knowing and feeling. so he told you, and begged you to come along. all you said is that it sounded fun and you might go, but you were also tired. you told him to go ahead, to not wait for you, and that you'd let him know if you were showing up.

that was hours ago. you still hadn't showed up, which wasn't really an issue if you were looking at the big picture. you decided to stay in that night, who cares?

at least, that's what hoseok tried to tell himself.

he knew there was nothing technically suspicious about the situation, but no matter how many times he tried to tell himself that, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very, wrong.

making it back to the side door in the kitchen after going to check the front entrance again, as well as scanning the crowd as he passed and sending you dozens of texts, hoseok decided he couldn't ignore the feeling of impending doom growing in his stomach. something was wrong.

looking around the party, looking at the hoards of trashed college students, he tried to find anyone that could possibly help him find out something. all he saw were people who he didn't know, and people that were not going to be helpful. the anxiety was starting to make its way from his brain into his bloodstream, infecting his entire body as he desperately searched the crowd.

finally, his eyes landed on someone who could be of use. kim namjoon.

he was yoongi's best friend, an athlete who somehow had time to balance sports with his schoolwork, and stay in high-level classes. he had never really talked to the tall male before, outside of school-related interactions. admittedly, hoseok was a little intimidated by him, as he looked like he could beat the ever living shit out of anyone who crossed him. but now, he pushed those worries aside to make room for the problem at hand.

namjoon, who had his back facing hoseok, was busy talking with a group of swooning girls. hoseok approached him from behind, getting his attention by tapping his shoulder with back of his hand. namjoon, who was clearly sloshed from the mystery drink that was being served out of the sink, spun around clumsily. "hey, what's up man?!" he said loudly, holding out his hand to shake hoseok's.

"listen, man, where's yoongi tonight? is he here?" hoseok asked, ignoring the male's friendly handshake. namjoon squinted his eyes thoughtfully, as if he was trying to make out something through thick fog. suddenly, he had a lightbulb moment and widened his eyes. "i remember! he's with that girlfriend he has, what's her name again?" he slurred, sputtering out variations of your name that were close enough to guess.

hoseok clenched his jaw and rolled his eyes. "oh, alright." he said, his hand tightening around his plastic cup. namjoon nodded contentedly. "yeah, man, i wonder where they'll end up. they have such a beautiful love story, oh god, it's so cute." he mumbled, going to walk away. hoseok snapped his head back up at namjoon, angry eyes meeting the athlete's own shaky ones.

"what did you say?" he gritted, grasping his bicep. namjoon, who was just confused, was muttering gibberish. "namjoon. about yoongi and his girlfriend. what do you mean you 'wonder where they'll end up?'" he asked, voice low and serious. a look of realization came over the drunk male's face. "ohh, that. yeah, sorry man, they're running away together."

in that moment, hoseok, who had been an anxious mess for weeks, so scared to slip up, to personify evil, to give into the darkness, changed.

nothing else mattered anymore. it didn't matter what anyone thought, what people said, even his own beliefs, the same ones he had found so much comfort in, meant nothing.

and that's when hoseok, a man of morals, trust, and strength,

broke.

hoseok, his knuckles white from the grip he had on namjoon's arm, spoke again, more serious than he had ever spoken in his whole life. if looks could kill, namjoon would be long gone. "namjoon," he said, in the calmest voice he could muster, "i need you to tell me everything; where they are, where they're going, and when they're leaving."

namjoon winced at the pain in his arm and continued spitting out the truth. "i think they're at her house? or maybe his..." he stuttered. hoseok shook his arm and gripped it tighter, causing him to reel in drunken pain. "her house! they're at her house. i don't know where they're going man, but yoongi texted at 10:30, saying they were leaving in like...an hour? i don't know, now let go of my arm, bro, it hurts!" he said, yanking his arm out of hoseok's hand and giving him a weird look.

it didn't bother him, not in the slightest. he didn't need to hear more information anyway, he had everything he needed. glancing down at his watch, he read the time.

10:44

discarding the now broken plastic cup and all its contents on the ground, he pushed and shoved ruthlessly through the mobs of people, not hesitating to slam them into walls or tables. he slammed the door to the house and took off sprinting in the direction of his own home, the snow and bite of the air not phasing him in the least.

this was the first time in so long that he didn't feel scared, or anxious, or angry. instead, he felt a weird sense of relief, and a newfound confidence in himself. it didn't matter that his confidence was dark and twisted, it freed him from the prison his own emotions had locked him into, and if anything...

he was grateful for it.

✩✩✩

mars stood out like a black sheep against the deep, dark, night sky. hoseok, who had ran home, was now equipped with a shiny steel gun, and he held it close to him, not bothering to conceal the weapon. he checked the time on his watch again, squinting to see the thin hands and the numbers they pointed to.

11:02

there was still time, he knew there was, yet he still increased his pace from a brisk walk to a light jog, leaving clear footprints in the ever-growing layer of snow on the ground. the snowflakes, now large and heavy, stuck to his hair and covered his shirt. any other person would be bothered by this cold, they would rush back inside their houses and slam the door shut, feeling borderline offended by the low temperature.

but for some odd reason, hoseok didn't feel like that. he didn't shiver under the whip of the wind, or shake as he felt the cold snow touch his skin. the thrill and electricity of his new confidence warmed the blood that ran through his veins. his heart was pumping rapidly, but not out of fear or unease. no, he felt just fine, maybe even...a little excited.

the high of confidence and pride he was surfing on suddenly came crashing down, when he turned onto your street and saw the sight that made his excitement morph into pure rage.

you and yoongi, walking out of your house, about to get into his car.

abandoning his slow jog for a full on run, he did nothing to try and mask the sounds of his heavy footsteps on the pavement below. the snow crunched beneath him with a muffled, gritty noise and they did anything but hide his presence. yoongi, who was the first to whip around at the odd sound, had a look of disgust and anger wash over his face. you, on the other hand, looked shocked and guilty, like you felt bad for him.

"what the fuck is your problem?" he said, forcefully pushing back on hoseok's shoulders as he approached him. hoseok ignored the question for a moment, instead opting to take hold of your wrist and push you behind him, like a parent shielding their child from danger. you tried to resist, but ended up tripping and landing in the snow, frozen in shock and fear.

"my problem? you're the one dragging a girl away from everything she knows because of your own insecurities. i think you're the one with a problem." he gritted, not hesitating to push him back, and hard. you looked up, watching the two men fight, when something glinted in hoseok's hand that made you yell out in terror.

hoseok whipped around and saw you staring at the weapon in his hand, and slowly turned back to yoongi, who had also taken notice of the firearm in the male's hand. "says the one who shows up unannounced with a gun. do you even know how to use that thing?" he mocked, scoffing at the ridiculousness of this situation.

hoseok finally snapped, clenching his fist and throwing it at yoongi's face, eliciting a panicked cry from you. my no means was it a weak punch, either. yoongi stumbled backwards and was able to catch his balance, lip now oozing blood as he stared at hoseok with narrowed eyes. "that's how you want to settle this? by a fight? i knew you didn't know how to use the gun, you fucking pussy." he said, laughing wryly, "now go on home to your mommy and daddy, alright?" he finished, wiping the trail of blood that stained his face.

hoseok scoffed at his insult. "you wish you could go home to mommy and daddy, don't you, yoongi? but you can't, cause they're alcoholic pieces of shit who barely remember they have a son." he said coldly, poison dripping from his words. yoongi froze, and rolled his eyes, unsure of what to say. "now you're at a loss for words? looks like you're the real pussy here. maybe you should think before you make fun of somebody that actually has parents, you fucking orphan." hoseok spat.

yoongi, with his breath rattling, reached his arm backwards and swung at hoseok. "shut your fucking mouth!" he screamed, yelling a stream of swears and obscenities as hoseok caught his fist before it made contact with his face. hoseok slowly drew the gun in his hand upwards, pointing it at his chest, yoongi only being able to watch in fear.

"hoseok, no! please, don't-" you cried, tears running down your face as you shivered in the snow. he only ignored you, looking into yoongi's eyes with a piercing gaze as more blood dribbled from his lip. yoongi, staying strong, only laughed again. "even if you did know how to use that, you wouldn't. you're too scared, isn't that right? you don't have the guts." he taunted, a smug smile forming on his bloody lips.

"what makes you think that?" hoseok said lowly, pushing the gun further into the male's chest. yoongi snickered, amused at his weak comeback. "because, isn't that why you're here now? because you're scared? scared that your poor, sweet, best friend is going to run away with her prince charming, and forget all about you?" he said, "so you ran home and grabbed daddy's gun, desperate to be her knight in shining armor, and save her from her big bad boyfriend and live happily ever after?" he said, the ruthlessness in his voice hitting hoseok like a thousand knives.

yoongi didn't stop there. "you've been a problem all along. you were always just there. standing on the sidelines, watching. were you jealous, hoseok? did it make you mad to see your sweet girl, the one who you wanted all to yourself, go off with another man? maybe it made you insecure, angry, even?" yoongi ended his sentence and was swiftly met with another punch to the side of his face, causing more warm blood to trickle from the other corner of his lips.

hoseok sighed calmly. "it's time to say goodbye, yoongi. do you have anything else to say?"

you screamed at his words, finally pulling yourself up from the freezing snow and grabbing hoseok's arm, desperately trying to pull him away. "hoseok, no! please, please, don't hurt him." you wailed, tears pouring from your eyes. your heart was beating like a drum, so fast you thought it was going to give out.

"i promise, [n/n], it's for the best. you'll thank me later."

yoongi nodded. "yeah, i do have something else to say."

hoseok turned back and raised his eyebrows, prompting him to speak. "when are you finally going to accept, that she doesn't love you?" he said sharply. the words went directly to his heart, shards of glass stabbing it over and over until there was nothing left. he took a deep breath, the click of the gun piercing the hanging silence. yoongi gave one more icy laugh, seeing hoseok's silence as defeat. "come on now, shoot me. you said you would." he mocked, "do it. i want you to. i want to see you try and kill m-"

first a bang, then nothing.

like a shockwave amongst the silence.

you shrieked, falling to your knees as your hand clasped over your mouth. hoseok stood there, watching as yoongi collapsed to the ground with a thud. dark crimson blood was pouring from the gaping wound in his chest, staining the crisp white snow that sat on the sidewalk.

"no!" you shrilled, your breath catching in your throat as you sobbed. you crawled over to yoongi's near lifeless body. his shallow breaths and weak heartbeat told you that he was still alive, but that his consciousness was long gone. you knew, he definitely wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. through your grief, you felt a strange sense of deja vu. the red snow and your tears reminded you of something that you had seen before, perhaps in a dream...

hoseok stared at the scene, you holding yoongi's clammy hand in your own as you sobbed over him. the only thing that pulled at his heart strings was you, seeing you so distraught as the blood was soaked into your clothes and smeared all over your hands and body, he couldn't help but feel your hurt as his own. of course, he didn't feel one ounce of remorse or guilt for yoongi. in his eyes, the bastard deserved it. all he was, was a problem that had to be dealt with.

hoseok stared at the gun in his hand, and, saying nothing, knew exactly what needed to be done now. raising the handle of the gun in the air, he brought it down forcefully, smacking the side of your head with it. you folded to the ground, head landing right on yoongi's shoulder.

hoseok didn't say anything, instead, he knelt down next to you. collecting the car keys from yoongi's coat pocket and unlocking the vehicle, he picked you up gingerly. he carefully loaded you into the back, laying you down across the seats and shutting the door. taking one last revolted look at the gory sight of yoongi's dead body, he got into the driver's seat, started the car, and took off down the road.

✩✩✩ 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐔𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐃

[dappledpaintbrush]

How do you git gud at writing? 🥺🥺🥺

Uh uh you uh you you YOUYOU YOU YOUYOU YOU UHH UHH IHHH (suddenly bursts into a huge explosion. when the smoke dissipates, I am a pile of ash on the floor.)

I hate saying I’m good at writing because there’s always something to improve which is a 🤓 sentence I know but it’s TRUE OKAY. But I also know the whole “just keep working on it and you’ll improve! :D” thing is smtg that people who are looking for advice absolutely dread to hear

That IS true though. You have to keep working at your craft to improve. And when you can’t because you think it sucks or you have writer’s block or anything else, I encourage you to keep writing anyways. It’s getting past those obstacles that are crucial to seeing the improvement you wish to. But like I said, that is probably not all you wanna hear lmao

TLDR: Just keep on writing no matter what, allow yourself to be inspired, don’t be afraid to take risks, accept the fact that not everybody will like your writing, and know that, somewhere, you DO have an audience. You just have to put yourself out there to find them. Don’t give up, and you will improve the way you want to improve. I promise.

Yapping:

Now here’s where things get. Complicated. So, the arts have been a major part of my life ever since I could hold a crayon. However. Growing up, I was extremely adamant on not taking advice. at. all. Here’s some advice: DO NOT DO THAT. I got better about it around my early-mid teens, but I still occasionally struggle with it to this day. My mindset was that I wanted my writing and my art to be mine alone with no outside influence whatsoever, and while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it is detrimental to actually . Yk. getting good. And it’s also impossible.

I was influenced by others, which is another thing: it is okay to take inspiration from other’s writing styles. It seemed so taboo to me when I was younger because of my mindset and also oooomgggg whaaat if I’m steaalinggg!!! but you are not. Part of what makes writing and the arts in general so beautiful is that it is shared. It is also EXTREMELY helpful in figuring out what is considered ““““““good”””””””” writing. Good is in quotations because what counts as good in art is subjective. If somebody’s way of writing is “bad” to someone else, but is “good” to you and you are inspired, go for it. I would never admit this as a kid, but I’ll tell you now that my writing style is inspired by the Warrior cats series, aka most of the books I have ever read in my life. A lot of people including diehard fans think the Warriors writing is bad. Like really, really bad. And yet you’re still asking me for writing advice! :D

That’s something else that is very important to “getting good” at writing- which is accepting that you will never be good to everybody. My writing has been mocked and laughed at to my face by my family and other peers. I am POSITIVE there are people who read AJL and thought “wow that is the most DOGSHIT thing I have ever read I am literally never reading again because that was so bad it killed my passion for everything I used to love.” I used to be paralyzed with fear at the thought of people disliking my writing, but I’ve learned to accept and be content with it, and without that acceptance, I personally would not be writing today. I had not written at all in two years when I started AJL. Two. Years. All because of a bullying incident that completely killed my confidence in my skills as a writer. I was terrified to write and put that first chapter out there because I had convinced myself I was a failure and was so scared that if there WAS anything “good” left, it was now rusted because I hadn’t written in so long.

But that’s another thing: Risk. If there’s something you have to possess as a writer, it’s courage. You will likely never improve if you do not take those risks that absolutely terrify you. Finish that WIP that’s been sitting in Google docs for a year. Write that plot-twist that you are worried may be negatively accepted. Upload that fanfic you are worried people may not like. Write. Just. Write. And let people see you Write. That is so, so important. You will be met with love and adoration, criticism and hate, everything in-between. But if you don’t welcome every single part of it, the good with the bad, it will be very difficult to see the improvement you are longing for. Like I said, I’m sure there are people who hated AJL. But there are people who loved it, too. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s both of those people who keep you going.

I didn’t have an audience when I put my writing out there the first couple of times. And although I gave up for a while, you don’t truly stop being a writer. The arts can never really leave you. I took what felt like the thousandth risk with uploading AJL, put myself out there again, and I found my audience.

Everybody is different. You might find your audience the first time, or the second time, or the third time, or the fourth time, or however many number of times, but as long as you keep on writing, despite everything that may happen as a result, you will git gud, whatever that may mean to you :)

[taegularities]

Hi Rid. I hope you're having a great day. So umm I'm gonna be ranting about something or a certain someone so please bear with me.

There's this person and they're popular for doing this one thing. Everyone's like always hyping them up no matter what they do. They talk about this person as if they could do nothing wrong and they're all sunshine and sprinkles. And quite frankly I like their work as well and I acknowledge their efforts.

Now I am generally one of the observers and i recently started to uhh show my hidden talent as well lol and honestly, I was doing it gir myself, not for anyone else's validation or anything. I wanted to do it because I felt like it and some people ended up liking it which I'm very thankful for and i was getting compliments from a few people here and there so it was good and i decided to do it again and i already informed ONLY the person in charge of those activities. And that person mentioned that they liked it in front of everyone. And out of nowhere this person (the “OG” as they like to call them) suddenly wants to do it too when they're already in the middle of something else that requires a lot of attention? And everyone EVERYONE is going crazy over it. They all completely ignored that I am currently doing it already. I've also noticed that this person always responds/talks to almost everyone but me which is weird cause I never behave disrespectfully or rudely to that person.

See idk if I'm overreacting of anything but i feel dismissed, ignored and neglected. I know not everybody is going to like it but isn't it disrespectful to me? It gets too much sometimes I feel like disappearing from that place altogether without saying anything cause I know nobody cares but I also know that I'm doing this for myself not for validation but it still feels awful at times. Idk if I'm just being a bad person or insecure it's just that i really wanted to get this out and i apologize if I'm in the wrong. I'm really sorry if I'm acting childish but you can't always be mature right?

hey hey. you have no reason to apologise at all… we're allowed to indulge in something we enjoy for ourselves and still feel shitty when we feel like our efforts are being diminished just bc someone else with a larger group around them decided to do it, too. if you're feeling bleh about it, then that's your right, not overreacting (i hate that word, bc we're all literally just reacting, right? our feelings aren't nothing, no matter what).

if you'd like, you can talk to them. not in like, a confrontational way, but more like – ask them if they could at least 'credit' you and let people know that you did it first. even if you're only doing it for yourself, it's okay to want validation and praise somewhere inside, yk? so yeah, i'd tell them – on top of that, also let them know that you feel neglected and ignored. my biggest advice is always communication – maybe bc i hate being silent about what hurts me, so i just go and try to resolve it asap 😭 maybe it works for you, as well!! <3

[endlesstwanted]

my entry for @flashfictionfridayofficial 232 prompt — among any option! AO3 link :)

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (TV 2023)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Characters: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Luke Castellan

Tag: Canon Divergence towards the end of Episode: s01e02 I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom / Warnings: mention of wounds and fighting & presumed dead.

Summary: After Capture the Flag is over, Percy comforts Annabeth. He worries he’ll never be safe anywhere.

Wordcount: 500

The crush against the ground hurts, but not as much as the reason why he’s there. As Percy looks up, he can’t begin to comprehend why Annabeth would do something like that: use him as bait.

“What’s wrong with you?” he shouts, because instead of running like Clarisse did, Annabeth is just staring at him.

He knows well what usually comes up after this. His mother gets a phone call, and he gets expelled from the school. But now Percy knows there’s no-one calling her mum, and she’s not coming to get him. Grover should be around anyway, but Percy’s not sure if he’s still on his team.

It seems like nobody has seen anything, so he gets up, soaked, and tries to think about what to do next. Now everyone is there, the flag has been captured and the half-bloods are meeting by the shore, unaware of what was happening just two minutes before.

“Percy …” Annabeth starts saying.

“No,” he stops her. The anger in his tone is so heavy that he doesn’t realise how the lake’s water works its way over his skin, closing the wounds of the battle with a magical pace only the girl can see. “If this was your plan, you should have told me! This is your game, and they tried to kill me.”

Luke has walked to their position, and Percy doesn’t care if he has heard the truth. He appreciated Luke telling him about Annabeth beforehand, but Percy thought she could trust her. It is too soon to start losing friends again. “Percy, are you okay?”

“No, this is supposed to be a safe place!” he jumps. “My mum gave her life so I could get here, and now—” he looks at himself and the missing marks of the attack, which makes it feel like it’s only in his head. Like it hasn’t happened at all. All over again.

Luke said everybody there else sees the world the same way he does, so he wouldn’t be an outcast anymore. Is there a word for when you’re too different that others like you don’t consider you to be one of them? That’s what Percy’s feeling right now.

Luke stretches out a hand, unhesitant, to get him out of the lake. They are siblings, but even after Annabeth’s betrayal Percy feels that he can trust the boy.

Before their hands connect, Luke gasps looking somewhere over Percy, and he shuts his eyes, wishing it’s not another feral giant magical bird coming for him.

Nothing happens then. Only Luke’s gentle tug of his hand, getting him back to earth from thinking the worst. 

“Your father has claimed you,” his friend whispers.

He opens his eyes to find a trident, in the air over him.

Poseidon.

His mind goes back to Luke’s story about how he got to the camp, and the forbidden child, his sister who didn’t make it in.

If Percy needed more reasons to know he doesn’t belong here, there it is.

[kobblefort]

Orbsarmor: What Could Possibly Go Wrong

Here we go again.

Not a tree in sight, nor another living being. Which means no beds, at least not until we've made it to the caverns. But uhh, speaking of which...

The very first frame I unpaused, I was told "a section of the cavern has collapsed," which is really quite strange. So I went to reveal it, just to check - and see how far we'd need to dig down before we hit trees, and, well... we won't. These are not cavern layers. That green stuff? It's grass. Trees do not seem to grow in it, or at least, none of them have yet. Oh, and some of those little "HFS tubes" might have shattered down on the third cavern layer. If you don't know what that means, absolutely do not worry about it one little bit okay. Either way, if we want any kind of farming to ever happen here, we'll have to get down there and get to work on it. And we basically need farming to happen here, but before any of that we need stairs, a way of dealing with the aqueduct (I'm just going to reuse the Blackfaint method since decapods actually like waterfalls) and some kind of meager little production setup.

And fuck it, here we are at -62, starting a production area with Amontillado'able doors. Unfortunately, we have no underground seeds, 3 logs, no trees in sight, and a long time before our first caravan. But the queen gets what the queen wants, and the queen wants the perfect library - far, far away from any and all distractions. Well, it's more than a bit likely we'll just die trying. But I think sometimes you have to think "what if I DON'T fail?" And yeah sure that's been co-opted by all the morons who really run the world and get to blow billions killing themselves in submarines or trying to make AI write all the movies. But I think it obviously has some kind of value anyway.

There's a yeti up on the surface. And well I'm not saying that we could hunt it for food if we get hungry, but... we could hunt it for food if we get hungry. Just a thought!

Oh huh, that's pretty early. Well you snooze you lose right. You guys got here early!

When they ask us what we want, we're not shy. We explain the fucked up caverns problem to them and they just sort of shrug because they don't really go to the caverns.

We've gotten enough marble blocks carved out and good enough rough gems to get enough plants, meat and fish to tide us over a good while longer, but before we can bring any of it downstairs... this happens? I've never seen this before.

I think it's because of this?? Are they all about to die of exposure?? Should I be glad I haven't even gone through everybody's character screens yet???

Nope after a few minutes everyone turned out fine. Nice. Another huge W for crabs. So here we have the beginning of our "starter base," where we intend to make sure we can get self-sufficient before we bother killing ourselves for the paper economy. It'll be... well more than just a little hard, all things considered, but up on the top the orthoclase buildings are our construction workshops, and all the cobaltite ones are for kitchen-related activities. Except for the farmers' workshop, which is kinda food but it kinda flexes to textile production too, which I suppose we'll need to do at least some of.

Then a random cave-in kills one of our bobbit worms and it just gets me thinking, dude something is really fucking wrong with this whole fortress. I just... I don't think this is going to work man. We can't grow anything, anywhere. I bet you think I'm exaggerating.

Look this is fucked. Cavern didn't work. Literally nothing up on the surface. We gotta pack this shit up man. We're gonna try this shit somewhere else. Tell the Queen that shit didn't work. Daarunbay Detevay is a glitchy fucking world sometimes. We're just gonna build the library somewhere else. Did you guys take the caravan apart yet? No? Ok good cause we're not going this far man. We're not doing the glacier thing, it's stupid. We're going to the woods a little south. Let's pack up and try this again.

[mugenmcfugen]

In other news, few days ago I had a streak of finding ''lost media'' I've tried finding before but to no avail. I think my biggest mistake at that point was trying to rely on Google for searching, but it seems Google is straight up shit at this point for doing simple search. And I understand for the most part the result doesn't have to be on a first page but not only there isn't 1st page anymore but endlessly expanding page, but also it was clogged with links that really have nothing to do with what I've searched in a first place. Place I've had to rely on was Reddit, and specifically subreddit r/tipofmytongue.

All it took for me to dig up those was using terms of what I've remembered and being tiny bit patient in sifting trough pages, and surely enough I've dug them up. Ridiculously enough, since reddit in all of its bullshit IS haven of information. However, even me typing ''(my term) reddit'' in Google didn't gave me the result, EVEN THOUGH I've found both of them ON REDDIT. Yeah Google, thanks a lot(not).

What was the media you wonder? It's just old cartoons I used to watch on TV when I was kid. Now, this is period right after war, and it's not any cartoon channel (Cartoon Network came way later to us). I'm also pretty sure one of these was sort of prerecorded on VHS, but it doesn't matter. All of them were dubbed to our language and were obviously all in different style.

This all started because I randomly found the first one I was looking for, and it had to do with VA actress Eiko Masuyama passing away. She was mostly known as Fujiko from Lupin III, but she also voiced fairy creature Candy from ''Anderson Monogatari''. It was specifically this episode of ''The Little Match Girl''

I remember mostly the last part when everybody is crying. Ahhh, fun times of ''child memory retention''.

Second one was one where I started actively digging for other two I've remembered. I also remembered last scene the most, something about it was eerie but impactful in my mind. It was ''Enchanted Boy'', old soviet animation from 1955, and it's adaptation of ''The Wonderful Adventures of Nils''

I had hunch it was something from USSR, probably because of text cards in there being in Cyrillic.

And last but not the least, was funnily enough a Christmas Cartoon. You'd think it would pop up somewhere while googling for it, but to no avail, and I wouldn't say it was that unknown, at least in Western interwebz, but I was wrong it seems. It was never mentioned in many Christmas cartoons articles that were all over the place. But this one, when I watched it again, I remembered the whole episode, and it's still charming today, even 30 years later. It was ''Santa's First Christmas'' , which had it's own spinoff in 1996 ''Romuald the Reindeer'' .

I first found the 1996, but noticed it look somehow way too new from what I remember, surely enough there was one more from 1992.

Anyways, this post turned out way bigger than I anticipated, but here they are. I hope I helped someone too trying to remember these. It also serves as a place where I know I have all these in one spot.

So yeah, have fun watching and remember, fuck Google for what it became. :))