#why the hell are you analysing every little thing i write like that?

[call-me-pup2]

When you make a post on fetlife asking why people take things so seriously over there and in response people take that post way too seriously 👁👄👁

[neptvnes-melody]

Walk me home

pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x f!reader

summary: After a long day at school, you find yourself walking home with Katsuki, when suddenly it starts pouring, leaving you two with no option but to make a run for it.

word count: 1.8k

warnings: nothing at all, just pure fluff. Katsuki is in looooveee, friends to lovers.

author's note: THIS IS MY FIRST tiME EVER WRITING so please don't flame me if its messy I wrote it in the middle of class, also it's lowkey short.

The sun sank slowly, casting a soft, golden light across the city. The sky was painted with warm tones of peach and lavender, not too bright, not too dim—just enough to feel like the day was ending on a peaceful note. As the colors deepened, there was a quiet stillness in the air, a calm moment as the pink light painted the sky. 

School was finally over after a day that felt like forever. It was hard to deny the fact that after the recent villain attacks, everyone felt a bit unsettled and the school was training your class even harder, which often led to after school training going slightly overtime. As you gathered your things and prepared to leave, you noticed Katsuki lingering by the door of the classroom. You knew that he usually kept to himself, often dismissing anyone who dared to approach him. But lately, something had shifted.

He’d been a little nicer recently, even if he wouldn’t admit it. He started helping you out in training, and finding excuses to talk to you, though still in his usual hot-tempered demeanour, even if just a few words. It was subtle, but it was there: a softness that occasionally crept into his voice when he spoke to you, as if he were testing the waters of a feeling he didn’t quite know how to express.

You gathered the last of your things and started toward the door, sneaking a glance at Katsuki. He looked focused, his brow furrowed, but every so often, his gaze flickered to you.

As you stepped outside, you took a deep breath, enjoying the cool evening air. “It’s nice out today,” you said, trying to break the silence. “I thought it was supposed to rain.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not,” Katsuki replied, a hint of irritation in his tone, but you caught the slight quirk of his lips. “Guess the weather can’t make up its mind. Just like you with training.”

You turned over to him and laughed lightly, playfully nudging him. “Hey! I’m getting better! I think I can keep up with you now.”

He scoffed, “Tch, you think you can keep up? You’re still slower than me, but maybe you’ll get there someday.”

“Someday? How generous of you,” you teased, smirking as you fell into step beside him.

Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Just don’t complain when I leave you in the dust.”

You shared a comfortable silence for a moment, the soft glow of the sunset wrapping around you. As you walked, you glanced over at him, catching the way his jaw tightened slightly, as if he was working through something in his mind.

“Oi, you,” he suddenly called out, breaking the quiet. You turned to him, heart racing a little. “You’re not walking home alone. Let’s go.”

You blinked, caught off guard by his unexpected offer. “Wait, why? You’ve never asked to walk me home before,” you replied, genuine confusion lacing your voice. It was hard to wrap your head around the fact that Katsuki Bakugo, the person who hates when anyone gets even remotely too close to him, is willingly walking home with you.

Katsuki huffed, crossing his arms. “Don’t get any weird ideas. I just don’t want you getting jumped on the way home.”

“Right, because you’re such a knight in shining armor,” you teased, though you couldn’t help the smile creeping onto your face.

___________________

As you both walked home, Katsuki glanced over at you, analysing your features, his expression slightly serious, before speaking up “You really need to stop letting tape arms distract you in training. That guy is annoying as hell.”

You chuckled, shaking your head. “Where’s this suddenly coming from? he’s not that bad, he just likes to have fun.”

“Fun? Is that what you call it? He only acts like that because he likes you,” Katsuki shot back, a hint of bitterness in his tone, sounding almost jealous.

“Pfft, no way! Sero’s just friendly,” you protested, but the blush creeping up your cheeks gave you away.

Katsuki raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “Sure, keep telling yourself that.” he retorted as he rolled his eyes.

You were about to respond when the first drops of rain finally began to fall, lightly tapping against the pavement. You glanced up, surprised. “Oh shit! I didn’t bring an umbrella!”

Before you could say anything else, Katsuki suddenly grabbed your hand, his grip was firm yet surprisingly gentle. “Come on.”

You stumbled a bit as he started running, pulling you along. Your heart raced not just from the sprint but also from the unexpected closeness. “Katsuki, wait! You’re going too fast!”

“Just keep up!” he shouted, glancing back at you.

As you reached your house, the rain started coming down harder, soaking you both. He finally slowed to a stop, and you took a moment to catch your breath, looking up at Katsuki, who was doing the same. He glanced down, only to realize you were still holding hands. Katsuki blinked, a shy warmth spreading across his cheeks as his eyes widened. He quickly pulled his hand away, trying to mask his embarrassment. You felt a small pang of disappointment from the loss of contact, but it quickly faded as you looked up at him, noticing how the water clung to his blonde hair and annoyingly clear skin, and how his cheeks were flushed from running. Was he always this good-looking? you thought to yourself, before shaking off the thought and bursting into laughter. 

At first, he looked at you with confusion, but soon his lips twitched into a smile, and he joined in your laughter, the sound echoing in the rain-soaked evening. When the laughter finally died down, Katsuki broke the silence, his expression shifting to an awkward grin.

 “Uh, sorry for dragging you through the rain like that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

You smiled, trying to ease the tension. “It’s fine! I mean, it’s not like there was anything else we could do.”

“Yeah, I just didn’t want to stand around like an idiot waiting for the rain to stop.”

You giggled at his honesty,He finally made his way down the path, a satisfied smile lingering as he replayed the moment in his mind. “I appreciate it, really.”

Katsuki huffed, trying to play it cool, but there was a hint of vulnerability in his voice. “Tch, you drive me crazy, you know that?”

“What do you mean?” You chuckled, the question slipped out before you could stop it, catching you off guard.

“Just—don’t get it twisted! It’s not like I actually care or anything,” he snapped, but the slight flush on his cheeks betrayed him. 

You stepped a little closer, emboldened by the atmosphere around you. “Really? Because it sure sounds like you’re starting to enjoy spending time with me,” you teased, a playful smile dancing on your lips.

He shot you a glare, but it lacked its usual intensity. “Shut up. You’re just imagining things.”

“Am I?” you countered, tilting your head slightly. “You could just say that you actually kinda enjoy my presence.”

“Pfft, like I’d admit that,” he retorted, crossing his arms defensively. “You’re just a distraction. It’s not like you make training any easier.”

“But you keep helping me,” you pointed out, your voice softening. “If I’m just a distraction, why bother?”

Katsuki's gaze dropped for a moment, frustration simmering just beneath the surface. “I didn’t ask to be your babysitter. It’s not like I want to—”

“Then why do you?” you pressed gently, feeling the weight of his hesitation.

He opened his mouth to retort but faltered, his expression betraying a mix of annoyance and something softer. “Look, it’s just… you make it hard to focus, okay?”

Just then, the rain began to let up, and you both stood there, unsure of what to say next, realizing how close you were actually standing to him, you could almost feel the warmth radiating from him. Katsuki’s gaze held yours, his eyes searching as if he was trying to decipher a puzzle. The silence stretched, and your heart raced, a mixture of anticipation and uncertainty swirling within you. You could sense the tension thickening between you, pulling you closer despite the distance of mere inches.

In that moment, something sparked within you, urging you to take a chance.

Heart pounding, you took a step closer, closing the distance between you. In a sudden burst of courage, you leaned in and pressed your lips to his. The kiss was quick at first, catching both you and Katsuki off guard. He tensed for a brief moment, surprise flashing in his eyes before he melted into it, his lips moving against yours in a needy way, as if he had been longing for this moment his entire life. One of his hands found its way to the back of your head, fingers threading through your hair, holding you gently yet firmly in place. The other hand slipped around your back, pulling you closer as if he was trying to envelop you in his warmth. It was as if the world around you had faded away, leaving only the two of you and the warmth shared between your bodies.

You pulled away slightly, breathless, a smile creeping onto your face as you tried to process what just happened. But before you could fully collect your thoughts, Katsuki leaned in again, pulling you back toward him, drawing you into another kiss, as if he couldn't get enough of you. You both smiled against each other’s lips, illuminated by the soft glow of the streetlights and the warm lights spilling from nearby houses.

Finally, you both pulled away, breathless, the world around you slowly coming back into focus. Katsuki’s eyes roamed over your face, taking in how the soft glow of the streetlight highlighted your features—the way the light danced in your eyes and the slight flush on your cheeks. He couldn’t shake the feeling of disbelief, still processing what had just happened.

You both stood there, lost for words. 

“Y-you should get inside before you catch a cold.”  he finally managed, his voice barely above a whisper. The shock in his expression made you smile.

“Yeah, I guess so,” you said, forcing yourself to take a step back, but you could still feel the lingering warmth between you.

“Goodnight, then,” you said, taking a deep breath to steady yourself.

“Yeah, night,” he replied, pinching your cheeks lightly before shoving his hands into his pockets as he turned to leave.

Just before he turned the corner, you called after him, “Katsuki!”

He paused, looking back at you with those piercing eyes. “eh?”

 “Thanks for walking me home.”

A soft smile broke out across his face. “Yeah, anytime. Now get your ass inside, if you get sick I’m gonna kill you.” Amused by his response, you stepped through the door and gently closed it behind you. 

And with that, he finally made his way down the path, a satisfied smile lingering as he replayed the moment in his mind.

[ineffable-suffering]

The Jane Austen Ball and why it was never about Nina and Maggie

Otherwise known as (*takes a deep breath*): A completely inflated close-up look at various dialogues and events of Season 2 that prove that the Whickber Street Traders and Shopkeeper's Association Meeting Cotillion Ball was supposed to be Aziraphale's confession to Crowley

Look, the point's been made before but that's never kept me from making it myself again, still. In fact, even I made it before, at the end of one of my other metas. But I feel like it's absolutely worthy enough to get its own soppy, way-too-long post. And I do love it so very much to write ridiculously long essays on something that could easily be condensed into a short paragraph.

So, here we go! Snuggle up, get cozy, settle in and, most importantly:

(Word count: 3.177 | Reading time: ~13 minutes)

As I already said above, I laid out a similar case in my meta about why Aziraphale is somewhat of an unreliable narrator. I'll try and recycle it here briefly, so I can further make my point.

When Aziraphale arrives back in London from his Edinburgh journey, he seems oddly happy and giddy for the fact that he just had a rather odd and threatening encounter with Shax. I explain in my other meta that this is because he just spent the last hours of his drive reminiscing on the thrilling and romantic magic show adventure of 1941 and also the fact that he just found out that Crowley has been replaced by Shax and no longer works for Hell.

Ergo: We have a hopelessly lovesick Principality at our hands, who's practically swooning over his serpent who saved him, his books and his magic show all those years ago.

Ergo:

✨This✨

Realistically, Aziraphale should probably be a tad worried about the eery encounter with Shax, in which she definitely had the upper hand on him. But well, if you spend many-a hours driving across the serene countryside (Edinburgh is about an 8-hour drive from London), pondering on one of the craziest, sticky-sweet romantic adventures of your not-life life, well ... things tend to turn a little rosy around the edges. Head in the clouds and all that. Light shades of grey!

Alright, onwards: Once the angel, filled to the very brim with fond memories and butterflies, gets out of the Bentley, he's kindly met with a face full of verdant plants and a very in-character-grumpy Crowley.

Fhwack! Way to burst the rosy bubble.

Seriously, the absolute lightning speed with which Crowley storms out to vacate the bookshop the very second Aziraphale arrives makes me giggle every time.

Let's make a first small (who am I kidding) diversion into analysing the following conversation in unnecessary detail ...

... simply because I enjoy quoting dialogue as an accurate reference in my metas. I'll also highlight certain passages I want to comment on in individual colours so I can back up my thoughts with them below. Alright, their little chinwag goes as follows:

Crowley: "They you are! I was worried something might have happened to you." Aziraphale: "No, nothing happened to me. Very uneventful journey indeed. No strange things at all." Crowley: "Good. That's what we wanna hear." Aziraphale: "Um .. everything okay with- ah.." *nods to the bookshop* Crowley: "Oh, yeah, fine. He's singing to himself. I think he must have been asleep. I heard snoring coming from his bedroom–" Crowley, to the Bentley: "Did you miss me? I bet you did." Aziraphale: "... I'm sure it did." Crowley: "So, any more clues from the mystery of the missing archangel?" Aziraphale: "Not exactly. Or, if there are, I haven't yet cracked the case. But I'm certainly hot on the trail of something." Crowley: "I'm sure you are. Oh, by the way, the whole sudden rain and awning thing was a complete washout." Aziraphale: "Sorry?" Crowley: "You know, project making Nina fall in love with Maggie. I failed, it's your go." Aziraphale: "I see. Well then, Whickber Street Traders and Shopkeeper's Association Monthly Meeting, here we come!" Crowley: "You're really hosting the meeting?" Aziraphale: "Absolutely! And I can guarantee you, it will be a night to remember."

At first glance, this has little to do with the plot of this meta but actually, it folds into my point very nicely! However, it's not time for that yet, so we'll just state the facts as they are for now and then bring them back 'round later when we need them. That being said: For the love of Someone, will these two ever manage to simply tell each other the truth of what happened instead of thinking they can protect each other by lying about it all the time? Hrmpf. As a big fan of open communication myself, I'm close to developing a stomach ulcer with the amount of false truths being spewed here. (Then again – and yes, that is another, way larger meta I'm currently cooking up – it plays so very perfectly into the whole Jane-Austen-Pride-and-Prejudice tragic miscommunication theme that this entire Season has, so I understand the point of it.)

Very uneventful journey indeed, Aziraphale, except for the fact that you were ambushed by a demon who told you she was Crowley's successor, knows about the rumors of the two of you being an item as well as what went down in 1941 (that almost had both of you exposed) and also seems to have figured out where you and your demon boyfriend are hiding Gabriel, all in the span of about a minute. No strange things at all, nooo!

And Crowley's "Oh yeah, fine" is a total lie too. Again, we see him make an absolute run for it before Aziraphale can even enter the bookshop. After all, he just once again witnessed Jim have a Gabriel-flashback, speaking of the Second Coming, while Crowley was alone with him. As fumingly angry he is with the amnesiac archangel – he's also absolutely terrified of what might happen (to him and Aziraphale) should Jim regain his memories. So, no wonder he's quick to vacate the premises after witnessing Jim's rather eery memory flashback (and was, just like Aziraphale, threatened by Shax mere moments later, lol).

But no, nothing out of the ordinary happened to either of them. Tip-top. Absolutely tickety-fucking-boo.

Alright, let's get back on track with the actual topic of this meta. Certainly hot on the trail of something, hm? At first glance, it might seem like Aziraphale is talking about the fact that Gabriel was in company of someone whenever he went to the Resurrectionist Pub. (The clue!) However, I don't actually think he is talking about that. Why? Because, and this slipped my mind too at first, he never actually follows any of this information up, does he? Yes, sure, he went to Edinburgh, found the capital-c Clue and then returned to London. But what does he do with it? Nothing. He doesn't keep investigating this hot trail because that's not the important thing he realized during his journey. No, the more important clue Aziraphale found during his trip, is that Crowley no longer works for Hell and that he is also very much irrevocably in love with him and must confess this at the earliest given chance. (The latter part isn't necessarily a new discovery for Aziraphale, but it surely is fuelled by the fact that he just realized Crowley's out of a Hellish job and simply hasn't told him yet.)

This exchange just the perfect indicator for the fact that Aziraphale, at no point during his drive back, was thinking about the Maggie and Nina mission. He has no idea what Crowley is talking about once he mentions it and seems surprised, even, that he would. Even though they just talked about it on the phone when Aziraphale was still at the graveyard. Which is another important piece of evidence because it means that the last status update Aziraphale got of Mission Lovebirds, was that Crowley had sensed an opportunity to make them fall in love – and had then hung up on him. Why is this important? Because it means that until that very point of their conversation, Aziraphale did not know that Crowley's attempt had failed! There would have been just as much of a chance of Crowley's weather miracle actually working out and Maggie and Nina already having skipped into the sunset happily ever after.

So, riddle me this:

Why would Aziraphale spend the entire ride back from Edinburgh plotting "a night to remember" (because clearly, he already had the entire Ball planned out down to a T in his head since he goes into action right away after arriving) if he didn't even know yet that Crowley's attempt had failed?

To be very clear here: We're not talking about Aziraphale driving on the M1 to London, having a silly little idea for putting on some good music, miracle-ing Nina and Maggie to dance to it and watch them confess their love–

No.

He planned an entire actual Cotillion Ball with very particular location design that involves re-arranging the entire bookshop, specifically designed individual outfits for (almost) every single attendee, topped off with a live band, hors-d'œuvre, drinks and an actual choreographed group dance.

During one car ride.

Where's the party planner Aziraphale AU? I'm waiting!

Now, sure, we know that it's still quite important for Aziraphale to convince Heaven of the faux-reason they gave for their accidental ✨25-Lazarii miracle✨. But if we're all honest, this all seems to be a tad much just to make two random humans fall in love, even for that.

Glittery ball gowns and suits? Red and gold wall curtains? A modified language filter? Bloody vol-au-vents?

Talk about over the top ...

Once we start S2E5, Crowley is still surprised at the mere fact that Aziraphale is actually planning to organize the Monthly Meeting – and he doesn't even know yet that it's gonna be the most extravagant ball-boogaloo that the Whickber Street Community has ever seen! Aziraphale wanting to organize the meeting alone, is enough to render Crowley incredulous, because Aziraphale never mingles with the other shopkeepers. He usually actively avoids them and any sort of social encounters as much as he can because he doesn't care about the bloody Christmas lights, alright?

These things seem mundane and uninteresting to him, obviously, since all he really cares about is hoarding his book collection in peace like the little hedonist he is and drawing as little attention as possible to his none-business business.

Oh, right, speaking of books:

Let's take another unnecessarily detailed look at the whole Whickber Street invitation scene:

Aziraphale realizes very quickly that he's not the only one who's quite unenthusiastic about the blessed Chritsmas lights. And despite his very persuasive methods of temptation ...

... he has to take some more drastic measurements. And those are?

That's right: Giving away his books.

I'll repeat it again, slowly: Aziraphale is willingly (!) giving away or lending his books to pretty much complete strangers to, allegedly, make two other humans strangers fall in love.

Seriously, who is that angel and what has he done with our prim, fussy, hedonistic Aziraphale that protects his books with the vice grip of an eagle carrying his precious prey?

Believe in the importance of Mission Lovebirds as much as you will, but we're talking about Mr. A.Z. Fell here who, over the past millennia, has pretty much spent every day actively working out methods to stop people from purchasing as much as a single paperback from his holy shelves.

And yet: the 1965 September Dr. Who Annual? Given away. The first edition of Expert at the Card Table that was S. W. Erdnase's personal copy? Lent away to grubby human hands to fondle around with.

Let's do another coloured dialogue diversion (don't worry, it's not as extensive as the last one):

Crowley: "You just did what I think you did?" Aziraphale: "I'm not prepared to talk about it." Crowley: "You gave away a book." Aziraphale: "I had to! Maggie and Nina are depending on me. They just don't know it yet."

Crowley backs up my point: This is a huge deal. Aziraphale does not sell his books – let alone give them away for free. We're all shocked! Flabbergasted!

And the explanation Crowley and us get just ... doesn't satisfy. Something and someone sure is depending on this Ball and doesn't know it yet. But it's most definitely not Maggie and Nina, folks.

You know for whom Aziraphale would give away his books in the blink of an eye, though?

Mhm, that's right.

This pretty old serpent.

I want to take a minute to show you the reaction again that Aziraphale has upon entering the very same magic shop him and Crowley went to in 1941 to acquire the Bullet Catch:

You ... you need a minute there, angel? You're sure looking a little ... affected.

And I mean, well, no wonder. He reminisced about that very memory four hours last night. To him, this shop is where the most turbulent, ecstatic, adrenaline-fuelled and romantic night of his life began. And it shows.

I've made my point in my other meta series about how Aziraphale is an incredibly nostalgic character. He romanticizes so many things in his memories – especially the parts that feature Crowley. So, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that he's once again willing to loosen the tight grip he has on his book collection to get the successor of Will Goldstone's Magic Shop, the shop that started it all for him, to come to his fancy Ball.

As we watch Aziraphale and his little lap dog demon pat around Soho, I'd like to take another second to point out that he goes to seven or more establishments before he even invites Nina.

... and he only does so because she starts talking to them on the street. Almost like he'd forgotten about it. Why not ask her at the very beginning? To establish whether or not he'd have to book-blackmail her too?

"Perfectly ordinary invitation with no hidden agenda of any kind", except that he's using you and Maggie as a pretence to resolve his own clusterfuck of a relationship-miscommunication Jane-Austen-style so that he can then hopefully confess his undying love to his demon not-boyfriend boyfriend.

Marvellous!

You'll forgive me another short diversion but my God, the whole exchange at the Marguerite's restaurant with Crowley literally cat-call-whistling Aziraphale over to him (and Aziraphale checking if he meant someone else first, I–)? I am weak. So, so weak and

However, this is also when we get a snippet of Crowley finally revealing the truth in place of his "Oh, he's fine"-lie earlier and telling Aziraphale that he's actually pretty scared Jim might turn back into Gabriel and smite him altogether. And Aziraphale's response is, in a cosmic sense, (remember the pink paragraph now) so hilarious:

"Have you thought of just talking to him?"

Yeah, have you? Have any of the two of you? Just thought about talking? To each other? About anything?

'pparently not. But hey, it's all good because remember what the ultimate remedy for star-crossed lovers simply misunderstanding each other is?

Bish, bash, bosh, problem solved!

Back at the ballroom bookshop, Aziraphale sends Crowley to invite Maggie in order to, in my opinion, not spoil the Ball-y surprise for him. (Inviting Maggie only now?! Wouldn't she be one of the only two guests who really should attend? Why the short notice? If she's really that important for the Ball you're planning, hm?)

On top of this, we see Nina almost not attending the Ball meeting after her partner broke up with her and Crowley being the one who coincidentally runs into her and ushers her into the bookshop before Shax and her "legion" of demons start creeping up on them. Again, if this hadn't happened by pure coincidence, Nina would have left to go home and this whole Ball would have taken place without her, rendering the apparent sole purpose of making her fall in love with Maggie useless.

Why doesn't Aziraphale care more for both of them to attend and be there? Why is he instead busy fussing over everything looking perfect and wonderful and doesn't even seem to notice that both Nina and Maggie are really late to the meeting?

Well. Well.

The answer's in the title, babes.

Alas, Crowley safely gets Maggie and Nina to join them, Mr. Brown is the only one who doesn't get a miracled outfit (fussy, petty angel, you just don't like him, do you?), Jimbriel stuns with glamour and flirt (and whatever sexually suggestive thing he does with his cheeks) and the Whickber Street Ball is a-go!

Sorry, I just had to chuck this in again because Crowley's face here absolutely kills me every time. He looks so confused, I am hollering.

And the heart eyes Aziraphale is making at Nina and Maggie now that they're actually here?

Oh, bless it, angel.

He's all like "Oh look, it's working! Jane was right! It's all going to be resolved, all the misunderstanding and quarrels! Crowley, where's Crowley–"

Ah yes, there he is.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is an angel who is not listening to a single word being said right now. No, in his head, Aziraphale is already down on one knee, pouring his heart out to Crowley after they just danced the night away.

Oh, yes, right. The dancing.

Parallel much?

But well, as marvellous and beautifully romantic as her stories tend to be, it turns out that Jane Austen isn't always right after all. Because before we know it, the perfect night shatters into many-a tiny pieces (literally).

And once again, fhwack:

... the rosy bubble bursts.

Let's take one more deep breath so I can make my final point:

In S2E2, Aziraphale explains to us very exactly what Jane's Balls (hrhr) used to be about: Solving miscommunication and confessing love to one another.

During his car journey back from Edinburgh, Aziraphale:

doesn't know Crowley's Mission Lovebirds had failed

remembers 1941 and just how badly he's in love with Crowley

and also realizes that they seem to have been wildly miscommunicating for quite some time now. (Crowley didn't even tell him he basically got let go!)

So, what does maddeningly strong love plus a want to resolve all the miscommunication equal? That's right: A night to remember! A Ball to change it all! A dance, a vol-au-vent, a confession. And, ideally, a happy ever after. Because:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man angel in possession of a good fortune Jane Austen collection, must be in want of a wife demon husband.”

The Ball was never for Nina and Maggie. As a byproduct, maybe, yes. But the whole rest of the glimmer and glamour, the careful, romantic planning and set up of it all, the book-bating the other shopkeepers– that was for Crowley and Crowley only.

And oh, if only it were as easy as in the books.

*whispers* I'm sorry, I had to.

***

Your honour, the tinfoil-hat crackpot defence rests. Feel free to share thoughts (and prayers) if you want to!

Au revoir! 💗

[randomnameless]

tbh, I stopped caring about houses that much when I found out that it's an otome/dating sim game with srpg gameplay sprinkled on top. In other FE games, you either gather supports by pair ups or by having units standing against one another. And mechanics like cooking in Fates were done to get some more stat boosts. And even if the avatarization of the game started with New Mystery, Robin and Corrin feel more like customizable characters than an avatar for the player.

In houses, Byleth is like every typical dating sim protag, that does not speak and the few times they do is by having the player choose options that may raise heart points with a character or lower them, you have to find lost items and when you give them back you gain heart points, you have to give them gifts to gain heart points and cooking now doesn't give you any beneficts in battle and only works for, you've guessed it, getting heart points. And let's not kid ourselves, tea time is like the "dates" in otome games, in which you can spam gifts till you raise the affection to the max. The only thing that distincts those points from the otome ones, is that those are necessary for proficency and for unit classes.

Heck, we even have a ring to give to the chosen blorbo in order to get a special custom made cutscene, when in pasts games getting an S support gave you a broken unit to deploy and a little blurb of text during the credits. And of course, calendar/day systems are also common in these tipes of games too.

People complained about awakening and fates for turning the franchise into a dating sim, but 3Houses is literally one in and of itself, and yet is praised as peack FE experience and as peack srpg.

(I could also argue that is because of this otome nature why the characters are "tell don't show" with their given trauma, unlike in pasts games when it was "show don't tell" (Nino, Reison, Camilla, Leif, Soren...))

Well,

When you put it like that, it becomes obvious that the other games (FEH, Engage) mentionning Fodlan are stuck on the uwu monastery part of the part 1 and not the, y'know, events happening that will lead to part 2 because as you said, the SRPG aspect is just "sprinkled on top" lol

However, the "pair up your units and build their relationships!" has been a non gameplay mechanics for decades now (FE4's was a gameplay mechanic, it had no support convos - FE6 added the support convos and gave a small gameplay boost but it didn't commit and we had no endings, FE7/8 had endings, FE9 had convos but FE10 removed them and yet had endings depending on the pairs, etc etc) even without avatars.

Then we entered the avatar era and if it added the "my waifu and my bae" shenanigans, FE13/14 were still more centered on the story aspect that on the "dating sim" aspect, as in, even if you could raise affinity with a character by doing X or Y, it wasn't really coded in a minigame - came FE16 which you analysed perfectly : tea time, gifts, eating, S-support CG, etc etc.

That being said, FE is a RPG, meaning it has characters : you play FE for the solid gameplay but you also build characters, and imo the best way to develop and write characters is to interconnect them with other characters, and/or with the plot/lore.

Sure, Arden functions as a wall/tank. But through the 5 lines he has, you learn that he is part of a group of knights, has friends who often tease him but is relied upon by those people and takes pride in that, he'd also like to find a wife someday and has self-esteem issues.

Is he as developped as, say, Xillia's Alvin? Hell no! But they're characters from two different genres, Arden has those 5 lines that puts him above any "generic" armor.

(I find it interesting how UO and in a way, FE11, gives you the opportunity to play with generics instead of playing with named characters, in UO generics will turn out to be better since you can change their growths, but they're generics. Do you want the RPG of the Tactics/Strategy aspect?)

So, I'd say that support conversations are important, I love Saias and Ralf to bits, but I'm sure I'd love them more if they had more lines. And since support through battle can be a chore (hello FE GBA and trying to get Bartre and Karla's supports when she joins 2 chapters before the end!), I initially welcome any way to grind those supports faster lol.

However, it can quickly spiral in, well, the otome mechanics we have in FE16 - if you want to build support then why not have an entire mini-game for that, and meals and chorals and whatever else?

It's all about finding balance between developping your characters without turning your game in a dating sim or what I'd call "playing the sims and pairing those dolls with those other dolls you like".

Still, let's not kid ourselves, nowadays the "dating sim" aspect of the series is, while decried by some, very popular - and FE is first and foremost, a series that has to sell.

3H is not peak SRPG not peak gaming experience or even in FE gameplay that'd be FE5 but I can't ignore the fact that its dating sim aspects might be part of the reason why it's still very popular.

[lycorid]

Sometimes venturing onto the For You side of Twitter sparks joy.

Based take. Shoujo and Josei are fucking top notch, both in characters and art style (how can you not think they’re beautiful?)

“Ruined the JJK and MHA fandoms” is WILD. I avoid fandoms for the most part (except perusing tumblr for the occasional fucking thesis women write about character motivations i love you women <3) because they usually suck. Seriously, I kept up with OPM for a bit because it was entertaining but holy shit the subreddit (very much full of men) is literally just… sexy woman. More sexy woman. Memes about artist constantly drawing sexy woman. Memes. Occasional power scaling arguments. Low quality page colorings of the exact same page. There is NOTHING. How the hell can women ruin the fandom when the fandom IS the women?!

It’s the women creating in depth analyses on characters; it’s the women writing fanfiction, creating doujinshis; it’s the women creating fandom centered accounts; it’s the women buying every new merch piece that comes out AND giving free advertising by posting about it online. And then men will go on and rag on women for doing all these things. It’s infuriating.

Longevity of a series is also something these idiots ignore. Seriously, look at Katekyo Hitman Reborn. The manga ended in 2012 and the creator is working on a different series. Katekyo Hitman Reborn still gets regular merch releases. This is a series that ended over a decade ago and still has an incredibly dedicated fanbase of, I wonder who, that regularly spends enough money to keep it consistent. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that series is supported mainly by men. I do not care how hard Amano Akira tried to alienate her female fans with her treatment of the female characters you know exactly whos spending the money based on who is constantly getting merch (minus the titular character, because of course he has to be there.)

Honestly I don’t give a damn that fandom can often be absolute insanity; you get a group of people together and it’s always going to be a shitshow, that isn’t unique to fandom, people just like to pretend it is because as always, there’s an undercurrent of misogyny because people know women carry that shit but they only want to acknowledge it when they can use it to criticize them.

I love that she came for the JJK fandom as well. I’ve been following the series because honestly it is really fucking funny because it is the epitome of shounen tropes. The author literally baked them into the world. Explaining your abilities to the opponent makes them stronger. So this entire series you get giant pages of just white with text explaining every little fucking thing like theres a narrator standing over your shoulder making sure you can’t possibly miss anything on the first read. Fuck dude, I don’t mind exorbitant amounts of text in my manga, but you cannot be serious in pretending that is good writing. There’s a deus ex machina that every character can pull out of their ass called a binding vow. Black flash also falls into this category.

Hell, the latest arc has literally just been flashback after flashback playing during the battle of the characters forming a bunch of plans in preparation for the fight we currently are following. This is genuinely one of my most hated tropes. The characters just get off screen power ups that then get handwaved as “well we showed you the flashback right?” there is NO anticipation, any excitement you feel for the battle is purely manufactured rather than genuine. It’s not “I can’t wait to see how the growth I followed of these characters affects the battle” it’s “wow, what cool ability will they pull out of their ass next?” I hate it I loathe it and it’s even worse with emotional moments. Why couldn’t you write this into the story in the first place? Why are you giving it to me in a shitty flashback?

Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough because I launched into a rant. The reason I hated it so much is because it forced the reader to be an observer rather than an active participant in the manga. Everything is spoonfed to you. You don’t need to reread the chapters over and over to put together the pieces on how, where, and why each action took place, the author does that for you. You don’t see everything from a new perspective when you read it a second time, catching lots of things you may have missed because you’re not allowed to miss anything the author deems important.

I enjoy this manga. There is good things about it. But it is nowhere near the god manga (“kamige” would be the term if it was a visual novel; I don’t know a manga equivalent) men like to pretend it is. It genuinely seems like they think everything being explained every page is good writing.

Based and succinct.

Anyway, you shouldn’t restrict yourself from experiencing specific genres because they’re for “the lessers” because that’s actually fucking cringe and maybe you should touch a Josei manga, or even a Shoujo manga. Maybe it’ll open your eyes and you’ll realize, hey, women’s media is actually- oh who the fuck am I kidding just pull the trigger.

[obeyme-lost-thought]

The little girl

Self-indulge AU to give me some motivation and write something because I literally disappeared (and you all duplicate, like, what 120?!).

Something happened with Barbatos's power and a teenager girl come out from a different timeline... the problem are her mother and uncles.

________________________________

As she was standing on the ground, her gaze was analysing every single one of them. Not even her Rad uniform could sell her as a demon, as she had a very particular Aura that could seem everything except demonic.

"Is she.."

"An Angel" - "A Human"

A perfect balance come form the girl, as if Heaven and Earth were both inside her.

"Eh-... Ehhhhh. What happened ? Why am I on the ground? Weren't us talking about the exchange students program? And why are you all here?"

A sweet voce that expressed surprise and fear filled the Council Room. Of course, no questions could had been asked if the girl continued to panic, so, trying to go on with what they thought was a delirium, Diavolo started to speak and try to calm her.

"Exchange students program? Are you maybe an exchange student? "

"Wha- what? Of course I am. It was you, Lord Diavolo, to specifically ask for me as one of the two representatives of my realm"

"I'm sorry to inform you, but here nobody has ever heard about you"

"Ehhhh. Is it a form of joke ?! How can you say that with them behind you?"

While the strange girl and the Prince were both trying to understand what the other was saying, the "problem's origin" had a open book near him, and after seeing what it was about (and its power), some questions found their answers.

"So, are you saying that Barbatos, the one and only perfect butler of hell, messed up with his power and so I'm in a different time line with a different story ?"

"Pretty much, yes, that how it went"

"But if I can say my thought, young master, the culprit isn't me, but the one who left open a dangerous book, hopping that somebody touched it "

At the and of the sentence, a guilty Satan looked at the butler, whispering a sorry.

"Anyway, leaving out guilty or punishment, how can I go back in my timeline?"

"That... the problem. To know the exactly timeline in which I have to send you back, I have to know the reason why it's... different(?)"

"Well, honestly from what I'm seeing, there are a lot of different things, precisely 7/8 people"

"It's not about people, but about event, so it isn't easy as you think"

...

Silence

No one try to talk, as for knowing what is the difference, one of the two part had to tell the other one all the secret and events that take them in th Council Room.

"Well, why don't she try to stay here some week and wait for one of us to found out the difference? No say every single event of our life. No problem. Only the one which change our time line. When we found out, Barbatos can send her in this moment of her timeline."

"That... a good idea Mc. She can stay at Purgatory Hall."

That how, somehow, a temporary solution was found out, and the girl as been living in this Devildom for quite a month.

From her words, she's more older than what Solomon thought, but at the same time she's more younger that what Simeon thought.

For some reason she's half angel and half human, but she doesn't want to say who are her parents, as she swear that only the one who she trusts a lot can know, making clear that she still wary of them.

Her name is Rachel as it mean ewe or lamb and was a way for her mother to ask protection form God for her. This implemented that her birth wasn't well accepted in Celestial Ream. But the real reason why she specified it was for MC, a true lamb.

For all the time she was as been there, the more asked questions was about the brothers and MC. The latter, actually, was more about their nature, similar to her as they also emitted both angelic and human energy. But that was also a secret that nobody wanted to say.

In this way, a game of questions, lie, answer and secrets started, while everyone become more fond of the girl.

The relationship with Rachel and the brothers was very strange. She always felt safe with them, even if no things were made for make her feel this way. And they didn't hate if this other lamb wanted to pass her time with them. Lucifer and the Twins especially felt very protective, not that the others were more different. Stargazing with Belphi were became a daily to-do, as cooking with Beel. Lucifer started to ask her for some favor, having a lot of trust in her. Reading time with Satan or Levi (with manga of course) ... go out to shopping with Asmo... or helping Mammon get some money in a legal way. A strong bond created, thing that surprised the brothers but not Rachel.

As 2 month passed and trust grow bigger, the 2 parts chose to answer onesty one question. Because they are more, Brothers and MC were the firsts to answer, not knowing that it would be enough to found out the true.

"Let just say that I'm curious and I saw a so much difference that I don't have an actually question. So, MC, why are you... this way?"

"Well, it's difficult to explain... do you know the angel Lilith?"

"Why? Of course I know her... and very very well"

"Better this way. I'm the descent of the former angel Lilith"

....

A sad face appear on the girl.

"What... what do you mean former?"

Simeon, that with Diavolo and Barbatos was also there, said what nobody wanted to.

"Rachel... Lilith is dead"

Tears start to fall form eyes that watch and analyse every one as the first day that she was there.

"Again, what do you all mean? Dead?

As the girl continues to ask always the same question about his sister, Mammon lose his cool and scream against her.

"YES, SHE'S DEAD. THAT IT, SO STOP WITH ALL THIS QUESTIONS. IT'S OUR TOURN"

But still, even a louder voice didn't stopped her. And so, in a sound full of pain, an important part of the puzzle slipped form her lips.

"AGAIN, WHAT DO YOU ALL MEAN? MY MOTHER ISN'T DEAD"

On Mammon, holding him from the collar of the shirt, both of them stopped to scream to cach their breath.

"I- I... mother?"

No answer.

"Can I... can I ask another question? It was the second one in my list... Why- why are you a demon uncle Mammon?"

Let's not say more on the discussion, as everyone didn't actually said anything more, and for good 10 minutes stayed in the pose they had before. More questions were added and not even Belphagor sleeped the night.

In the morning, everyone more calm, the one and only things that was needed to be known started to have a form.

"So... you are Lilith's daughter" Asked Lucifer with a rather sweet voice for the situation

"And here mom died" Rachel said.

....

Mammon break the silent: "We fought against our father to protect our sister, and loosed. That why we are demons". Words that wanted to answer the question of the day before.

"My ... uncles also fought for mom and me, but not against grandpa"

"Your father... who is he?"

"I- I don't know my father. He died for a lliines"

"Here, our Lilith, tried to save his lover, probably your dad, with angelic food. That why she was doomed from God"

"Ah... I think I know the difference between our timeline.."

Before starting to talk again, Rachel take a deep breath.

"My mother wanted to save dad the same way she did here, but she couldn't because she was already pregnant... with me.

Having an child with a human, mom called me the way she did hopping to get God's approval for my existence. As he never said anything, I was accepted in the Celestial Realm.

Still, older angels were against it and so a war started. It was already declared the winner, as Uncle Lucifer had help form the other Serafin and his precious brother. Only one time me and mom end up in a very dangerous situation, and Uncle became so angry that Uncle Satan born, not as a demon, avatar of wart, but as an angel, protector of human hybrids.

With the start of the exchange students program, Lord Diavolo asked expecially for me, as I was a representative of both realm... and that explain why I was in the Council Room 2 months ago"

... Nobody tried to say anything or ask something alse. But Leviathan felt the true form his brothers... jealousy. A timeline where they were all together. Where their family was happy and alive.

What no one knew was Diavolo's relief for having Lucifer, or Barbatos choosing this timeline as his reality because it was the most convenient for the Prince. Or Mc's fear of a world where they never met everyone.

And in the end, no more things come out, as Rachel wanted more than before come back in her timeline, and Barbatos didn't lose time in sending her back.

________________________________

X: How many story want to create that have a new character or some reference to Lilith ?

Me: Yes

It was an Au that I wanted to perfect and make it a fanfiction, but I never was able to do it, so single post where I try to explain it as best as possible.

For any grammatical errors, tell it to my clock (3:00 am).

[lnkedmyheart]

am i the only one really disappointed by the new episode? like, i do like it bc it shows how far dazai has came (his words abt trust to fyodor and him not making any snarky remarks towards nikolai after fyodor's death) but it just felt so underwhelming. and just left more and more questions instead of answers.

Imo one of the reasons we feel disappointed is because it took the manga a years and a half to get to this point when it canonically took all of 30 minutes in canon. We sat there making theories upon theories, over analysing every little detail because we were stressed as hell for a year. However, the plan wasn't that out of left field to be entirely honest with you and it feels very soukoku. As for the general plot points that don't add up,

The anime often rushes through several chapters in the manga.

This arc isnt fully over yet. Fyodor's death is very sus given that he just mentioned a previous rival AND his ability is still a mystery till Sigma wakes up. Which has also been foreshadowed with the claim that "he will never wake up again" yeah that's a very in your face remark and it will come back around with Sigma waking up at a crucial point.

We still have the storm, verlaine and the clocktower. I genuinely don't believe this arc is done entirely and it will have a lasting effect going forward and imo will come back in some way.

Again the whole skk thing isn't that far off from their usual bullshittery during missions. Considering a majority of the theories turned out to be true. The elevator theory, the fake out theory, the skk have a plan theory as well as potentially the dazai wasnt 100% sure chuuya could hear him and come through theory based on his words that he didnt know everything.

@iwritenarrativesandstuff mentioned that they'll write an analysis on why they feel it might be bad writing in their opinion so keep an eye out for that. I personally am slightly conflicted but feel that I can't judge the ending unless I see what happens in the manga cause bones does have a habit of really rushing to the end and skipping important points.

[ladysomething]

Hiiiii!

First of all, all hail our queen, this chapter blew my mind, and writing with injured wrist is impressive as hell! (Take all time you need, perfection takes time and patience is a virtue, some should remember that)

Now I also totally get if you won’t answer this ask because of the second part, so I will praise your work some more: when you eventually finish, the quality of writing and the plot and everything will definitely make this THEE fic to be turned into a real life book, it’s better than most of contemporary literature out there right now!

What I wanted to ask (besides the praise bc fr this is right now THAT fic) how do you feel about the comments, as there are currently three types of comments (if I may analyse a bit - max is sad hence I am sad commenters, praising the work and third type: did you even?-ers) and reading them I got a feeling that some of them are taking this whole fic a bit too seriously? I get it, freedom of expression, but why do some feel the need to basically attack (DiD yOu EvEn ReAd ThE pReViOuS- obviously we all did 😬) other users for expressing their opinion on the work? Do you have any thoughts on that? Obviously high engagement is good for the fic but as someone who likes to read the comments as well, it wasn’t as pleasant as it usually is today.

Again, as I said, no pressure to answer (because it might create a discourse in your asks)🩷

Loved every chapter, excited for some more lore, whenever it might come to light.

imagine me turning a 300k omega verse fic into my debut novel. what a power move from me.

and to answer your questions ... ok, bear with me here, because I already know I'm about to ramble.

but I guess. I don't really know how I feel about it. on the one hand, it's very flattering for people to feel that strongly. on the other, I don't like that readers can make other readers uncomfortable.

but then, I'm not entirely sure what place I'm supposed to have in that discourse. it's not really for me to decide what insights readers do or don't have, or how they engage with other people. I would always step in if things got genuinely nasty (especially if its in the comment section of the fic), which I have done in the past, but an author's responsibility is kind of a grey area in fic.

I of course wish that people could always speak kindly to each other, but I also think it's easy for tone to be misinterpreted in comments. I also don't see the comments linearly - when I get emails saying there's been a comment, the email doesn't tell me its in response to another comment. I have to go and seek that information out, which I often don't do.

all of which is to say - I don't usually know what kinds of conversations are happening underneath chapters, particularly when there are as many comments as there was on this chapter.

as for why I think it's happening ... honestly, I just think that this chapter stirred up a lot of emotion for a lot of people. most readers have either been on team Max or team Charles for a long time now, and from what I've observed, their immediate reaction is always to take the side of THEIR character. I think they often do also come back and go "hm, maybe the other person had some points too" but in the moment, the immediate, knee jerk reaction is to defend their character, and to "hate" on the other one. that's always going to spark discourse, because nobody can really agree on who's right and who's wrong in this fic (which is by design, of course).

anyway, I hope that kind of provided a little bit on insight.

[crystallinestars]

Hello again!

I do remember talking about shipping as activism a while back, though it's important to keep in mind I'm not from the USA, nor from any English speaking country, I just spend an egregious amount of time in English speaking communities haha

But yeah, I've noticed this trend where some subsections of the fandom will get super attached to their HCs / interpretations and actively preach about it like it's their god-given duty to make sure as many unfortunate souls become the next victims of their "rightful" wrath, basically becoming the blorbo police in a way. I do feel like this could be called activism: there's a lot of focus on identity and a thirst for representation in media so they latch onto the closest thing available (fandom) and engage in discourse. Maybe because many people feel powerless to make any meaningful change 'IRL'?

I was thinking about that (again) the other day and I found a few reasons why this 'activism' always bewilders me, especially with games like HSR or Genshin

1) I feel like there's a CRUCIAL difference to make between "this game / character or whatever is a source of comfort for me as a person with x identity" and "this game is actively and obviously trying to give us representation and you're a fool and probably a x-phobe not to see it". Call this "semantics" all you want, Words mean Things (wowzers), and it's just basic courtesy to communicate intent clearly, instead of always parroting the same 3 tiktok one-liners to sound witty. There's also a difference between headcanons, interpretation, subtext, etc.

2) We've already talked about this but for the love of god can we please please please stop arbitrarily categorizing behaviours, clothes, ways of speaking and so on as "OBVIOUSLY ROMANTIC IN NATURE" or whatever? I'm begging on my hands and knees, this is a very slippery slope. I understand making silly little jokes but past a certain point it's unclear whether or not people are serious about this.

3) This one is a bit different and not exactly limited to this subject but recently I've found myself getting slightly irritated whenever there are analyses / metas without sources, especially when said analyses aim at proving a point using specfic information. Blame it on the uni student in me who's had to write way too many stupid essays, but whenever I see claims like "x flower or whatever symbolises x thing in x culture, therefore it's proof that x thing in x media is x", even if the analysis is interesting, I always want to ask the person where they found that information, so I could educate myself on the subject. Maybe I'm a bit too pessimistic on this but part of me always feels like the person deliberately cherry-picked what suited their interpetation, especially if they later say things like "look it up yourself". Idk,I'd just like to see if these analyses are the product of a genuine research or if they just heard someone on Twitter say it and ran with it.

4) Tbh I find that the way Hoyoverse goes about things is not that different from the way kpop singers are told to act to appeal to the audience. I 100% agree with you when you say that "attractiveness" is one of the most important factors as to why some characters are ppopular. And since I get the same vibes between Hoyoverse and kpop, I'd say that latching onto something like that for representation is kinda setting yourself up for failure down the line. Like, I'm sorry but if tiny crumbs mostly born in the fandom are enough to quench your thirst for representation, then the bar is truly in hell

And Aventurine. Oh Aventurine. I hope I won't sound too angry when I say this but looord was the fandom annoying these past few updates. This is linked to point 2) but I HATED every second of it whenever I saw people say things like "omg Aventurine acted sleazy / told a man his marble bust is handsome, it's obviously proof he's gay and the biggest whore in all of HSR because no straight man would say that!!!!" 😐 I don't even care if people want to HCs him as gay (by all means, do whatever you'd like) but allow to present an alternative: you know what kind of man would speak like that? Someone who's overacting the harmful stereotypes associated with his tribe as a defense mechanism of sorts against the whole world. Kind of like "you want me to be the crafty, smooth-talking and capricious Avgin? That's what I'll show you". Idk, I feel like THAT'S a much more sensible reasoning than the hormones driven screeches aforementioned.

Like seriously, is it y'all's first time reading a story like that?? Some people took one look at the character with a suspicious tattoo on his neck that SUSPICIOUSLY looks like the word "slave" and decided he was the fuckboy trope. Then 2.1 came and they had the gall to be surprised pikachu face when it was revealed that "yeah this is really a slave brand and Aventurine is Not Doing Well Mentally" (I saw posts where people said they were surprised this character wasn't as smooth and flirty and whatever as they had thought, like do you want me to applaud you for thinking with your brain for the first time in months or what??)

Anyway, I apologize for the sudden anger, I needed to get this off my chest.

Regarding translation issues, I do know a few things about translation as a whole but this ask is already getting long so maybe I'll talk about this another time 😅

In the meantime, I'm happy to see you and all the others catching a win with the lack of Kaveh in the banner! I do hope it'll continue in the same direction in the future

Also, I've talked a lot on here so maybe I should choose an emoji to sign my asks? If it's not taken could I use this one 🪻?

Hello 🪻 anon! Long time no see ☺️

Wow, you're not from an English-speaking country? With how eloquent your English is and how knowledgeable you are about Western fandom issues, you had fooled me haha.

A lot of the sexuality gatekeeping and preaching about x character being ___ sexuality or ___ -coded is a form of activism, for sure. As I said before, Americans in particular have a tendency to drag politics into every aspect of their lives, even foreign entertainment.

It's hard to say why some people act like morality police when someone disagrees with their headcanons or interpretations. Perhaps it's as you say--they feel powerless to make a change in the real world. A part of me also thinks they're virtue signaling; meaning, they show support for various causes for the sake of looking like a good person in front of others.

Regarding your frustration with the lack of a reliable source in analysis posts, I would say you're right to be wary of how factual the posts actually are. People generally make such posts to give their headcanons more weight. Basically, trying to prove their headcanons are right/correct. Cherry-picking is to be expected of such posts. I'm sure there are some well-researched, factual posts presenting a good analysis, but I find that those are mainly present in lore discussions. Maybe I'm being too negative, but I honestly don't expect anything good from fandom anymore. I am too jaded.

Your 4th point though lmao. The bar truly is in hell 😂 I get that there isn't a lot of representation in media, much less good rep, but Mihoyo's games aren't it, man... there are better sources of rep that this.

THE AVENTURINE BIT! I feel you on that so much!!!! LORD.

Mischaracterization in the name of shipping is a staple of fandom culture at this point. Your analysis of Aventurine's behaviors is spot on, but people like to view character actions and words through shipping lenses to try and find any crumb to support their headcanons. It's more fun to paint everything a character does as further support for their ship/headcanon than it is to appreciate who the character actually is.

The way Aventurine (And Childe. They massacred my boy) was quickly reduced to a flirty fuckboy hurts me to this day. After 2.0 story quest, people quickly came to the conclusion he was some perverted playboy, and proceeded to treat him the way they usually treat characters under the fuckboy trope: depict him in abusive situations. I saw so much fanart of Aventurine being collared and leashed, of being beaten black and blue, yet look like he's enjoying it. He was treated like a masochistic punching bag. While I love me some art of characters being roughed up, it really didn't suit Aventurine. Especially not after we just learned he was a slave, his race was murdered, and the Avgin people are discriminated against based on harmful stereotypes. But people seemed to have missed that?

The surprise pikachu moment they had when 2.1 dropped had me sitting there like:

Really? It was hinted at back in 2.0 that his backstory was rough, so it was no surprise he carries a lot of trauma and isn't as confident and cocky as he makes himself out to be. However, it seems like people really didn't pick up on that, or didn't understand the gravity behind it all. It felt like they and I read entirely different stories.

Idk, it's probably moments like these why Genshin has Paimon 😐

The small Kaveh win we had was worthy of celebration, but Mihoyo will never let their favorite shippers starve. They're already over-analyzing the camera panning between Haitham and Kaveh in Cyno's quest, as well as Sethos's voiceline about them. They do not rest.

Apologies for going off on a tangent again. I'm so happy there's someone else who picked up on Aventurine's trauma since the very start of the story 😭 It really felt like I was the only one. Ever since meeting him, there was something about him that made me want to hug and comfort him, but seeing all the abusive art just felt bad. It's much better now, thankfully.

Anyways, thanks for stopping by! It's always fun to read your messages since you have a lot of great insights. Hope you have a great day/evening whever you are, 🪻 Anon!

[sometipsygnostalgic]

16 for the violence ask game 🔪

Thank you Jagm, I can always count on you to choose violence.

16 - you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

This is a hard one to answer because I absolutely understand why people like most things, at least in the things I enjoy. I consider myself to be very good at analysing what makes media and even fanfic feel good.

The main problem is that my answer deeply ties to every other question on this bloody post!!!!

But with She-ra, this largely ties into romance.

With Entrapdak I don't like the Suave Hordak trope. To me he's not suave at all, I don't like it when he calls Entrapta "Starlight" which is a popular thing people came up with. I prefer a straight up abundance of autism with my Entrapdak. Hordak calls Entrapta "Entrapta." and Entrapta calls him "Hordak!!!!" and nicknames are for losers.

With Catradora I don't like that people remove Catra's fangs. This is probably my answer to every damn question on that post. Why do people mischaracterize Catra as a pathetic little blorbo who is a victim of everything and is mildly tsundere. This is what Hordak should be-- okay ignore that, I have my own issues with Hordak's blorbification especially in canon-compliant fanfic. But in fanfic AU scenarios, people love working with S5 Catra in her final form, they don't bother touching on dysfunctional earlier show Catra, nevermind her S4 self. If I write a Catra-focused AU I think I'm going to focus on that broken version of her.

What is the obsession with characters having kids? Okay I know that we are all gay and gay people having kids is a fantasy but, fucking hell, raising kids is HARD. I don't think "this relationship is so much richer because they had children who look like a cursed crossover of both characters". You can agree with me on that one, right Jagm?

Oh and finally I don't like that everyone has decided the romance is UNAMBIGUOUSLY set in stone. I blame Nate somewhat for this because he basically word-of-god canonized all the unconfirmed romances. But specifically I think of Entrapdak. It's a good reading but it doesn't need to be romantic to still be one of the most amazing dynamics in the show. Same for Scorfuma, a lot of doors have been opened for them and I'm sure they're falling in love, but it doesn't mean they'll settle down immediately and have flower babies. Queerplatonic relationships are good and valuable too, as is intense platonic love. These characters still prioritise each other.

With Adventure Time, it's the way everyone wants Finn to have a GF at the end. Who gives a fuck!!!! The entire point was Finn learning about his own strengths and weaknesses without fixating on the next girl. He is now able to stand on his own two feet and he isn't going to wallow in misery because he isn't smooching someone. After all, Jake is his soulmate, nobody else.

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

I always love your analysis of every characters for fanfics you're currently working on, those long posts you wrote about them always add more flavor and depth and it made me wonder.... do you usually write those kind of analysis first on a book or something before you start a fic, or do you just wing it every time?

I love slow burn but I don't think, as a writer, I have enough patience to create one myself and writers like you always amaze me to no end tbh :D

Aww thank you, you're way too kind.

The analyses always follow the work. There is some analysis predating the fics in the sense that I have general aims when I start a story that usually end up being expressed in the analyses, but it's really not until I'm down in the process of writing and developing that they become clear. And if I’m doing fanfiction, I’ve already had the canon character to pick apart for a while. The analyses then are just the best ways I have at explaining what I was trying to do.

If the question is if I like, plan out the story and all the intertwined character dynamics or if I just spitball in the moment, the answer is a little of both.

First off--disclaimer, the strategies I use for developing stories depend if i'm doing fanfiction or original fiction. Fanfiction i have way more story pieces from the start. It's like a sandbox filled with toys. With original fiction someone kicked me out of the passenger side door in the middle of the desert and I have to find water.

If it's fanfiction, nothing gets written down until I'm starting the fic itself. I know some people enjoy great success by outlining their story points on a plan ahead of time, but I never really was helped by that. It's more of a matter of personal taste. That being said, the story and the characters usually have their skeletons by the time I get to the writing stage.

I'm just a big daydreamer, honestly. An idea starts spiraling and then I have a few scenes and then it's more than a few scenes and we get the scenes that I really like and it's just like, constant fiddling and tweaking and discarding in my mind. Eventually I get like, this general shape in my mind as to what the story is going to be. It's not fully there but it's usually got the major beats and scenes I want already determined. If I like it enough, I'll sit down and try to write the first chapter.

The closest I get to like, plotting a fic out ahead of time is less an actual planning strategy and more that i have this long-suffering best friend who lets me spam text her descriptions of my stories. she has never watched a single episode of daredevil, yet she has suffered through extremely extensive descriptions of it, breakdowns of the characterisations, and probably like, fifty fanfiction explanations at this point. i may have left her with slightly more queer polyamory in her mental image of this franchise than there actually is. who's to say.

she is also why nhthcth exists. i was emboldened to finally drop that one by a different tma story i was explaining to her. she retains spiritual custody of danny stoker.

i take a completely different approach to fanfiction insofar as like, balancing character dynamics the way my analyses usually focus on than I do with original fiction. with fanfiction, I have a huge amount of source material to play with. I can spend time batting things around in my head. I actually usually start writing wayyyy sooner with original fiction because i know that i'm only going to figure out who these characters are if i am putting them in Situations that will all be scrapped in the second draft.

By the time I get to the writing point on fanfiction, though, I usually have a pretty solid understanding of who the character is—which is always based on what I think of in canon as the core base traits that make them them and then adapted based on how I think those would best interact with the story. Which is how you end up with things like kintsugi!Matt and hells!Matt, who have all of the same base characteristics but who still diverge. Both Matts are built of what I think of as like, core “Matt Murdock” traits—fear of being taken advantage of, self-hate for his own perceived (not actual) culpability in his abuse, rage, loneliness, effects of ableism, etc. That’s all just the inherent building blocks of Matt Murdock, in my mind, and I already had them from canon before I ever came up with either story.

It’s the way the discussions around these characteristics are framed that really diverge and allow them to stand as variants on the same character. Take ableism—both Matts struggle with the way society treats disability and the sheer anger they experience as a result. But k!Matt’s discussion of ableism is framed around the way the public sanctions these abuses as something that’s both totally acceptable and for the greater good. It’s a very broad, overbearing, societal focus on how ableism has affected him. Because k!Matt’s story is meant to be interacting with the Accords. Granted, that storyline is primarily going to be focused around Luke Cage, and we won’t be seeing it properly until after kintsugi wraps up (Luke’s own aside is going to act as a bridge with the first multi chapter fic and second), but his fears about being taken advantage of are integral to his interactions with Peter, who he perceives as someone exposed to the same vulnerability. Since the overarching narrative theme is societal justifications for abuse, that’s the tint Matt’s own focus on it adopts. H!Matt, meanwhile, needs a story that’s in interaction with Lisa’s.

So much of why Lisa was targeted by stick in the first place and why his method of psychological abuse took such root was inextricably intertwined with her own pervasive feeling of helplessness and anger in the face of her family’s brutal murder. In order to explain why Matt felt so strongly about personally helping her through what happened, it really needed to be emphasized that Matt was recognizing within her his own pain at that age and that no one had helped him. Each instance of abuse related to his disability in Matt’s childhood is meant to develop that pervasive experience of infuriating helplessness. So Matt’s discussion of ableism is all focused on personal experiences rather than overarching societal analysis, because it’s meant to dovetail with Lisa’s journey.

And I don’t want to pretend like these things are like, springing forth fully formed—the act of writing itself develops the characters to an insane degree. A lot of the tiny details I extrapolate on in the character analyses that I drop on here are usually things that are discovered in the act of writing. I talked in a previous post about glaze defects, and how Matt’s imagined Captain America is meant to be a reflection of what he needs, like, mentally at that stage of his life. I didn’t figure out that’s the role of the imaginary captain America was until the second or third time he showed up and the representation of him changed. The base idea of “Matt is superimposing his own thoughts on life as an enhanced person onto this representation of Steve Rogers” was there, but the reflection of Matt’s changing mindset and needs was only figured out when I started writing.

On a much grander scale, the characters are constantly being fleshed out during the writing process. Sometimes it fucks the original plan. I’ve mentioned in a different post that kintsugi actually had a different ending than it’s going to have now—it changed because I developed my understanding more of the characters and realized they would not do what I was planning for them to do. So I said “fuck fuck fuck” and had to tear up my plans for the next installment, but it makes for a better story in the end. You’re building the plane as you fly, to a degree.

See, the thing is, slow burn as like, a style for me came over time. There’s a lot of very old drafts from where I was first starting writing where I have characters changing their minds and coming to these big sweeping decisions and working together very very quickly. It was more as my style developed that I figured out how to slow down. That being said, some of my absolute favorite works on AO3 or in published fiction are short stories or one shots that my more slow burn style is pretty unsuited for. Writers who can encapsulate that kind of emotional weight with very limited space are cool as hell to me.

I will say that my slow burn style came less as a strategy of story development and more as one of character development. Like, it’s less centered around plotting or planning strategies and more of trying to herd characters like sheep without fucking their characterization.

I’m hesitant to call them rules of character development, because there are no rules. It’s more the I have like, a set of values I’ve developed over the years insofar as characters that I keep in mind with each character and how they interact with plot. Like questions I ask myself, if that makes sense. Guidelines? I dunno. The plot has to be constantly balanced and developed with respect to those. But it’s less of what we’ve discussed here and more independent considerations as to what I, personally, think makes for a good character.

[meltingpenguins]

Something I still don't understand (sorry to bother you with this, but I love your analyses and maybe you can help me)... everybody is angry at Aziraphale for wanting Crowley back as an angel, but in the TV series, in season 1 already, Crowley always seemed to regret his Fall, even when he's alone in his apartment (so he's clearly not lying because he's alone) or when he's drunk, I've always felt like he was saying he didn't deserve to Fall and he wished he hadn't. But then at the end of season 2, he goes all morally superior and omg I hate what they did with his character in the TV series, I hate it so much! So, all in all, I guess my question is: did it feel like Crowley wouldn't have wanted to be an angel in the TV show? because if he didn't, they should have made it clear(er). To me, it felt like he very much didn't want to be a demon, and I'm 1000% sure Aziraphale asked if Crowley wanted to be an angel again for Crowley's sake, as an act of love, nothing else, not because he couldn't love a demon. I don't know, it just bothers me every time I think of it, and I thought to ask. Thank you in advance.

The issue is the writing:

S2 ditches all continuity and consistency for the sake of milking the money cow that is a specific kind of shipper. So personality are ditched for whatever is needed to make stale, uninspired, paint-by-the-numbers shipping-drama happen.

It's irritating, unnecessary and just... why?

Yeah, s1 crowley (as well as book crowley in a way) was someone who wanted to understand why he Fell. in s1 there already was an unfortunate undertone of this crowley being angry that the Almighty doubted HIM, but there was some saving grace (hah!) that instead of that it was genuinely crowley trying to make sense of things.

Said it in a different post, but book crowley had some regard for his brethren in Hell, and even seemed on board with Hell getting a piece of the pie, just not by burning down the rest of the buffet.

But s2 crowley? There is only the worst kind of 'chosen one' tropes played perfectly straight.

And the writing is so awfully manipulative from s1 on already. The show is making Showley out to be infallible, everyone (inlcuding Az) is inferior to him, everything would be better if people would just do as showley says etc.

But this level of bad writing goes hand in hand with the general vitriol towards older fans, which is just sad to see.

This is a little rambly and not very organized, but eesh, s2 is so... Seltzerberg have more love and respect towards source-materials when they're writing their spoofs.

I'd just love to know -why- but if you are asking questions in this fandom right now... funny isn't it?

[missingn000]

HI IT’S ME AGAIN

Anyway!! to continue from my comment:

i have a huge weakness for descriptive writing and you nail (pun possibly intended, you’re welcome) it every single time with your delightful use of figurative language. something in particular that i found really interesting was the diction of injury in association with tokyo tower - it’s undoubtedly a sight nobara’s dreamt of seeing her whole life, but higuruma’s perception of the very same view is, by comparison, jarringly bleak.

okay wait i’m sorry for rambling about one (1) minute detail about what was probably meant to be a character study 💀 i love love LOVED the contrast between nobara’s hellbent insistence on self agency and yuuta’s hesitation to disobey getou’s will!! both of them want to be loved, which is of course normal for children (especially ones as criminally neglected as they are), but where yuuta embraces being saved, nobara is looking for something slightly… different. she’s never been a damsel in distress and never will be; instead she seeks “to be loved so much” that she’s “something to fight for.” absolutely banger line btw, it hit me right in the feels. IRONICALLY THOUGH higuruma has already done that!!! and intends to continue to do so!!! bc every interaction is a fight of some sort to win her approval! hell, their very first one was higuruma deciding that going against geto was worth it if it meant nobara lives to see another day, sooo……

“That’s none of your business” being the comeback Nobara defaults to is very intriguing considering… well… what the sheriff from her village said in response to Higuruma’s probing- “That’s our business.” seems like the village rubbed off on her a bit, huh. not to mention it feeds into her unyielding independence too: “it’s none of your business” -> “i can handle this on my own” -> proving both to herself and an invisible entity that she’s worth loving, goddammit

ok omg one last thing. dyou think the reason behind nobara’s decisiveness is the lack of stability (for the lack of a better term) in her life?? making her own decisions was the only way she could ever gain a modicum of control over her surroundings and that’s why she confuses support (which she never had to begin with, and would therefore be unable to recognise) for people trying to wrest her agency from her, which she would of course resist

I do apologise if literally none of this is correct because I don’t. actually know a lot abt Nobara and Higuruma’s characters or paid attention to them in canon until you worked your magic as usual LOL

Thanks for reading & have a good day!!

HI OH MY GOD I LOVE YOUR ANALYSES?? no need to apologize, they're right on the nose! with regards to yuuta and nobara, i really wanted to highlight the stark contrast between how they view getou and higuruma, respectively. to others in random chats, i've described it like this: nobara doesn't want to listen to anything her father figure says, while yuuta has a hard time doing anything but.

while yuuta and nobara were both shunned by others, they had completely different responses to it. nobara fought back against the villagers' judgmental words and isolated herself willingly, while yuuta is a people pleaser who just wants to be given love, no matter who it's from. and ahh you're right, higuruma is fighting for nobara -- she just can't see it, and he barely even realizes it himself. these two have such a long way to go

it's cool that you caught nobara's "that's none of your business" vs the sherrif's "that's our business" because it was totally intentional :D i think nobara's decisiveness does stem from a lack of stability, and a lack of overall control of her circumstances. since she's a child, she couldn't choose to just leave the village or take care of herself, so she clung to the little agency she did have and made snap decisions with little forethought, because too much rumination could lead to choices being made for her, which was not an option to her.

also you're making me ;__; i'm so honored reading my work has made you interested in these characters!! hyper-analyzing them made me more attached to them too lol

[project-sour-grapes]

Just Trans Things

I just got out of a meeting with a bunch of dudes discussing the current state of surgery for trans people. Part of the reason I started this blog was to address the "sour grapes" in my life, the things that I have tried and failed so many times to get that I convinced myself I didn't want them.

Now, I've mentioned in previous blogs that I've already transitioned and have been on testosterone for about a decade, so this is not my coming out post. However, the meeting we had just now illustrates how little has been done to improve trans surgeries since the start of my transition. If you had asked me in 2013 what I'd expect from the next 10 years of science for trans healthcare, I would have expected organ transplants or some sort of regenerative or neoplastic medicine going on. Since getting my biology degree, I see why that was a lofty timeline. However, for the only real improvements since then to be having a few more trained surgeons, better health insurance coverage, and a couple new types of implantable devices that are only approved in the EU? In 10 years? Come the fuck on.

Anyway, I left the meeting and turned the thoughts over in my head. I recalled the guy leading the meeting saying how there wouldn't be any meaningful improvements in trans surgery "in our lifetimes." The tone of the group was reluctant acceptance of that as a guaranteed fact.

Fuck that. 1000% no goddamn fucking way, fuck that. This is the ultimate sour grape for me, right here. Honestly, this research question most of why I started my blog and my business. For me to not tackle this issue head on would be antithetical to my soul. Few other people are taking up the gauntlet to research regenerative medicine, stem cells, and tissue regeneration to make trans people feel whole. Bonus, whatever this research discovers would also transfer to regeneration for other ailments, like paralysis, amputation, organ failure, and more. Everybody with every creed, background, and disease stands to benefit from this research. This needs to be done.

This will be a massive undertaking, and will involve me standing on the shoulders of giants (researchers and clinicians far better than me) and a century of biomedical research that precedes me. It involves learning more neuroscience, biology, biochemistry, immunology, bioinformatics, everything. There will be data and cell cultures and bioethics committees and writing and writing and writing. Hell, I'll tap into the steroid hormone pathway analyses of Derek from More Plates More Dates if it furthers the research. I don't care if I have to wake up at 4 in the morning every day or go to school for 10 more years or whatever. This research will get done, and we will gather the skills, people, and resources needed to do it.

We will have functional, regenerated, reproductive organs for people who lost or who were born without said organs, in vivo or in vitro, by March 12th, 2033. Ten years.

"That's a lofty goal." Yes, and?

"What if you fail?" I will fail. A lot. That's the point. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.

"What if you burn out?" We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Burnout is less likely to happen if there is underlying meaning to the work.

Plan forthcoming.

[greetings-inferiors]

Okay but this is kinda the thing I love about the fnaf lore

When you look at it, it’s a clear story of a man driven to murder by grief, he gets a taste for blood, then his son and eventually his ex business partner work to put his victims to rest and make him atone for his sins

The fun part is when you zoom in.

There are so many tiny details that it’s like puzzle pieces, and trying to fit them together to not just understand, but know the bigger picture is the fun of the fnaf lore.

Knowing the lore of other games or piece of media is theorising and all that, sure, but with fnaf it genuinely feels like a field of active research. You could unironically write a thesis paper on the fnaf lore (matpat’s done so many times over), and it’s all still interesting?

We know so little but what we do know is researched to hell and back, and I love the thrill of it.

Because it’s a part of my personality at this point, I have to talk about how security breach fumbled this.

The other games were vague, but if you looked you’d find something. You could come to many of the conclusions that theorists have today through analysing the games without the books. They help, but it’s not required. You could figure out things about william’s family, you could pinpoint dates, you can even go so far as to accurately guess the order of william’s victims.

But with security breach, they looked at people enjoying the vague lore and thought “oh that’s what they want - vague lore! Clearly they don’t care about the fact that there’s actual logic and substance behind it and that it’s not vague and convoluted and contradictory for the sake of being vague and convoluted and contradictory!” So they made it vague convoluted and contradictory for no real reason. Vanessa does nothing but is really important and threatening we swear and she’s dead but what there are two Vanessas???

Why are the staff bots possessed? Idk we thought it was cool imagery, we’ll think about it later.

Oh hey the last three games brought afton back and they were really well received, let’s do that again (even though people complained about him in pizzeria simulator, was praising ucn for putting the story of afton to a close and, praising help wanted for introducing a new main villain of the series)

Wait our game has to have a plot? Uhhh Freddy glitched (for some reason) Gregory doesn’t trust Vanessa (for some reason) the animatronics are all evil now (for some reason (oh hey this is explained! (Even though the explanation is explained with (for some reason)))) oh also kids are going missing (gotta have missing kids) and also uhh the ending to fnaf 6? Yeah you know the game acclaimed for it’s story and one of the best endings in video game history? Yeah none of it actually matters and literally every major change it made was reversed. Every single one. (For some reason)

I’m sorry I just really hate security breach

I have so many thoughts on the fnaf trailer

To preface: oh my god it’s such a good teaser, I can’t wait for the full trailer.

My main two hopes is that they really let the animatronics be lifeless for a good while. That’s what makes them scary, give them the glowing eyes once that creepiness has started to wear off later in the movie.

And I hope it gets really trippy. The scene with Mike in the woods with the missing children just screams dream sequence and I really hope the movie dips into the more psychological side of the franchise.

Some other thoughts (will be updated later, don’t worry)

William looks so old! I really hope they nail him, he’s the essence of the franchise. I really hope they make him like a friendly old man but reeeally threatening when in “murder mode”. I don’t want to just be afraid of him, I want him to make me sick. William is a really twisted man, I really hope they go all out with it (also please show the springlock scene oh my god I want it so bad I want it to be in full graphic detail I wanna be traumatised by seeing this man torn to shreds)

There being a character called Mike, and a character called Vanessa, is so funny, because most likely both of them are original characters.

I really hope they keep the names of the missing children (if we find them out at all). Those are Gabriel, Fritz, Susie, Jeremy, and (most likely) Cassidy. I also hope Susie is the first of them to die (I’m fine with the large lore changes but it’d be so cool if they kept the smaller details that casual viewers wouldn’t really think about but signal to fans that they know the source material and really care about it)

I’ll update this (either edits or reblogs) as I have more thoughts

[glitterslights]

Viktor (Arcane) - Soft Alphabet

Pairing : Viktor x gn!reader

Genre : headcanon, sfw, fluff.

Warnings : none.

Credits : the template of this prompt was created by @writing-prompts-by-sybil. Thanks for sharing your ideas 🧡

Notes : Hi pals ! Here's a little SFW alphabet for our dearest Viktor, from Arcane (I'm just so soft for him). The idea is to do alphabet prompts with each letter of the character's name, but don't hesitate to request other letters for them if you want to !

Have a nice day my loves 🌻

Value - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

Viktor is a workaholic, and he knows it. The fact is, he assumes you're as aware of the matter as he is, and are alright with it. Assuring the security of Piltover, and giving a chance in life to people, comes with sacrifices. In his mind, what he does for a living contributes to your own happiness, and he can have quite a hard time to grasp why people don't always see it his way. It is why I picture him needing an independent and chill partner.

However, in the beginning of your relationship, and depending on your own needs, his behavior could have lead to a few argues.

It was quite hard for Viktor to grasp the problem at first, given that you started dating him knowing how he functions, and I imagine him being a little too stubborn about your tantrums at times. If there's one thing Viktor will targue himself about, despite his many insecurities, it's the fact that he chose not to change, not anymore, not for anyone. In all honesty, if it wasn't for Jayce, who one day had enough of the situation and decided to kick some sens into his best friend's mind, you both might not have been together for much longer, despite the affection you shared for one another.

Injury - What do they do if their s/o gets hurt?

Viktor would be a total mess.

After the initial shock of your health state passed, he will try to find his own solution, and won't hesitate to require meeting after meeting with your appointed doctor.

If desperate, that man could actually have the very bad idea to go consult that doctor from the Under City. However, he wouldn't let him get close to you in any circumstances, and would analyse a million time each and every possibility he gave him before acting.

His own health being what it is, he won't take yours for granted (and won't let you laugh about it), and will make sure you get out of the hospital with a long-term healing program. Give it to him to suddenly find the time in his agenda and be right at your side at your appointments, taking notes of your medical needs, and not letting you go out of the office until he's totally sure you understood every term used. You will certainly have him catching up his work in the incomfortable waiting room, because work stays work, but have no doubt that his presence is a testimony of his feelings for you.

Kisses - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Hell yes.

I do picture him as demi-sexual, and with it (and his dedication to his work) comes the fact that he never took time for developing an actual relationship. He's a mess when it comes to see the hints from potential lovers, and probably missed his chance more than once. His first kiss might have been stolen by some hot investor at one of the rare party he (was forced to) attend to, and he didn't find any interest in it.

You crashing into his life and filling his all being with tender butterflies actually felt like an earthquake to him. It took him years to make peace with what he calls his "disinterest to love", and then, there you are, proving him wrong in all your glory.

Your first kiss must have been a sweet, adorable mess, that you both secretly cherish to this day. Noses bumping against each other, missed tempo, soft laughs, all wrapped up into the quiet of your embrace.

But, oh boy, Viktor is a quick learner. He jumps straight in each new passion of his - you being his absolute favorite. He's not a peck person, oh no. If you kiss, you kiss.

He loves taking it slow, needs the reassuring sensation of your arms around him. He's a bitter. Lips, jaw, neck, everything he can reach will be his playground. It gives him the opportunity to tenderly ravish your skin after that, pretending to soothe you because he still thinks he needs an excuse to loose himself in you.

Time - What are their future plans?

The fact is, Viktor has the bad habit to think that what he is absolutely certain of - like the fact that you're both deeply in for the rest of your life - is also clear as day for the rest of the world.

In this perspective, he can give the sensation that he lives your story on a day-to-day basis. If it can be quite reassuring in the first months of your relationship, giving you the time to figure out your own feelings, with the years going by, you could need some reassurance.

Communicate about it, because this man, as genius as he is, won't be able to understand it at all if you're not blunt about it.

Orange - What color reminds them of their s/o?

Blue. Blue like the peace, calm, soft happiness you bring into his life. Whatever your personality may be like, and even if you're a spicy little thing, you remain the anchor he needs in his life.

Your hugs are what will always comfort him the most, your words a succession of reassurance. You're his sky, sun and stars reunited, as he once wrote in a messy little poem, after a few drinks (and that Jayce shamelessly stole from him and uses as a leverage since then).

Romance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

He's a creative. He's too shy to give you loud declarations, whether in words or acts. Subtlety is more who he is. Viktor is a romantic in his own way. He believes in love forever. You're his person, you're into his heart for the rest of his life.

Like always, he can be a little lost in his mind, and will forget to remind you how much he adores you. I hope you're quite low key about displays of affection, because you won't receive that much from him on a daily basis. However, don't hesitate to act upon your own feelings. It's a way to reassure him and to slowly remind him that this is a way to be in a relationship.