#why was title such an asshole tho

[oh-meow-swirls]

was looking through old posts and i'm surprised to see that i seemingly didn't have any commentary on anything in 3 in chapter 7, 8 or 9, the posts related to 3's story go from "my first reaction when i saw yopple-bot was 'i love you. but also you are definitely the boss for this chapter-'" to "i have been in hell all day. hell being bada-bing tower." funny to me cuz those chapters are like, the best ones sdfkljsdfjfsdkjlfsdjkl-

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

apparently rumors are surfacing that answer is dlc

Yeah...yup.......that's what I was referring to.

Happy to have Metis back but....................................................................................... the DLC still pisses me off. Like I'm torn.

Do I buy it because that's what Atlus WANTS me to do? And it's what will get me maybe FeMC or other stuff?

Or do I boycott it, but Atlus will be like "oh they don't want the item" and I'll continue to not have said item.

I'm fucking screwed either way.

[astr-venus]

｡⁠☆ Who Is This Diva✦

｡⁠☆Content: Shouta Aizawa BF headcanons

｡⁠☆Cw: swearing, pregnancy mention, threesome mention (still sfw tho !), no use of y/n

✦ Not the sweetest boyfriend or husband, at least not in most people's opinion. He's quiet, blunt, a bit of a tease as well, and all of these things kinda make him look like an asshole. These qualities don't change when you're together either, you just get really good at reading Shouta.

✦ Incredibly observant and somehow remembers everything you ever tell him. You could slightly hint at wanting to go to some fancy ass restaurant, and 6 months later when your anniversary rolls around all of a sudden he's taking you there, hell you don't even remember mentioning it.

✦ The man is blunt, but still a little shy, especially with overly lovely PDA. He can do handholding, hugs, pecks on the lips, but anything more than that and he'll push your face away like he's annoyed. He knows damn well he's flustered and embarrassed, but he absolutely refuses to let you see that. Heaven forbid you see your big strong man weak for you.

"What the hell is wrong with you, we're at the school... No you can wait till we get home you aren't dying, stop being dramatic.... My face is NOT red and I'm not into it either, get away from me. You're such a pervert."

✦ A little insecure. He doesn't feel good enough for you. If you left him or fell out of love with him he wouldn't beg for you back, but I can't say he would just accept it either. He'd probably just... Grieve. He would want you back so bad, but would hate to make you stay when he fully believes there's way way better than him out there.

✦ shit texter. Terrible texter. Horrendous texter even. He's so dry and he deplores talking on the phone, half the time he just leaves you on read. He just don't even try to reply.

✦ a cuddle bug, but only behind closed doors. As soon as the lock on your front door clicks his arms are wrapped around you and his head is on your shoulders. He trails around the house behind you like a lost puppy (and if you don't let him in the shower with you ? Oh Lord you'll never hear the end of it)

"I don't care about whatever the hell an everything shower is. There's no reason why you won't let me in, I've literally been inside you, I don't care."

✦ possessive. Wants to know where you are and what you're doing at all times. Slightly controlling, but will back off if he's over stepped.

✦ scruffy but hygienic. Showers at least once every two days, but most of the time twice a day because of teaching and patrol. He buys antibacterial everything in a generic scent, but if you have preferences for anything he doesn't mind changing it as long as he still gets clean

✦ a worrywart. If you stub your toe and don't tell him he's pissed. An injury is an injury no matter how minor. He just wants to make sure he's taking care of you. If you do the same and try to help him with any cuts or bruises from patrol he'll pretend to get fed up, but in reality you make him feel so incredibly warm inside he feels like he might burn to death

✦ secure in his masculinity. If you're a fashion guru (or if you're Eri) he couldn't care less if you picked his outfit. You can put him in strawberry perfume and a skirt and all he would ask is that you make the outfit school appropriate

✦ speaking of Eri, that's his daughter, straight up. He loves that little girl like he birthed her himself, and the minute you two start bonding is the minute he figures out what heaven looks like.

✦ Shouta never really wanted kids, not to say he doesn't love teaching the brats at his school, but that really was enough time spent with children for the day. Until Eri came, and then when you came. I think he'd love to give Eri a little sibling, though I don't think he wants more than 3 kids. 4 at most.

✦ don't try to watch movies with him, don't bring him to the theater either, he's just gonna fall asleep as soon as the title screen comes up. He will beg and moan to watch some shitty movie with you and fall asleep before the main character even has their first line

"Hmm, what? No I wasn't sleeping... My eyes were closed because I was training my spacial awareness, I promise I'm still watching the movie... When have I ever lied to you ?"

✦ doesn't have a big presence and has a staring problem, people who don't know you're together think he's a stalker. Between his overall rough looking appearance and his hard focus on you he looks like a serial killer, there's a good chance you won't have to worry about a lot of other women bc of this tho (not that he would ever cheat, he'd fall upon his own sword first), so good for you !

✦ jumpscares you forever. He claims he isn't doing it on purpose, but for how often it happens it's gotta be malicious !! It's gotta be !! You turn around in the kitchen, when the hell did Shouta get there ? You're at the store, when did Shouta follow you out the door ? You wake up, good lord Shouta why are you staring at me like that ? There is no escape from how often he scares you either.

✦ starts referring to you as his wife before you're married, but he only calls you wife behind you're back before you're engaged. Since I don't see Shouta as the type to really yearn for marriage, I think if you don't have a want for it either he's calling you his wife a year into the relationship

"Yeah, my wife is at home with my daughter. They hate publicity as much as I do so I left them at home.... We've been together for a year, but known each other much longer. I'm incredibly lucky to have her."

✦ a very soft man. To outsiders he's cold and prickly but he's actually the sweetest blueberry in the basket, he's like a huge cat. All of his touches are gentle, he would never forgive himself if he hurt you, he'd spend his whole life atoning for something like that.

✦ I would like to end this post by saying if you ever convince him to do a threesome it would be with Hizashi. That is all.

Also, what character would YOU like to see next ? Thinking Mina or... Maybe I'll work on my Hawks characterization... Decisions decisions....

I kinda wanna make another post like this but it's erasermic + y/n. My fav polycule besides for tdbkdk if I'm honest. Should I do a Mic intro and then the poly post or just skip straight to the poly post ?

Slow posting as well 💔💔 made this blog and immediately got hit with the Too Busy To Post Beam, but I stare at it longingly before I go to bed every night

｡⁠☆Requests open

[11queensupreme11]

7th love interest - cú chulainn!

yep so everyone who voted for cu chulainn in the previous poll (which was surprisingly a majority of you) got it right!

for those who don't know, cu chulainn is a character from the ror spinoff: apocalypse of the gods, and he is a demigod. like, an actual 50% human and 50% god.

yeah so that means there are now 2 types of demigods in the ror verse: a human with the strength of a god (gained via drinking ambrosa aka, zeus' blood; ex: heracles before ascension) and now the actual half-blood that we're familiar with

BECAUSE I ALREADY STATED IN ARSENIC BLUES THAT BIOLOGICAL HALF-GOD AND HALF-HUMANS DON'T EXIST AND ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO CREATE, CU CHULAINN WILL BE LIKE PRE-ASCENSION HERACLES: a human with the strength of a god BUT he got this through drinking lugh's blood and was also blessed by him (hence why he will have some of lugh's powers too)

so..... why cu chulainn? well, he actually has a lot of similarities with percy:

both are mortal children of a god. percy being the biological daughter of poseidon and cu chulainn being the adopted son of lugh (for my fic at least)

both have doggies 🥺🥺🥺

both are heroes/warriors. 'hero' more for percy, and 'warrior' more for cu chulainn (i'll explain this later)

both started young. cu chulainn actually started at age fucking seven 💀 and twelve years old for percy

both have ungodly amounts of rizz. percy's getting bitches left and right in BOTH pjo universe and ror universe, and cu chulainn's a fucking whore. no fr, in a lot of his lore, men hated his ass cuz they feared he may "steal their wives and ruin their daughters". he was balls deep in everyone 💀

both have hilarious beef with war gods 😭 ares for percy and morrigan for cu chulainn (fun fact: morrigan actually tried to rizz him once but he rejected her and she's hated his ass since 💀)

both have A LOT of enemies 💀 percy's pissed off like half the greek pantheon in the pjo verse and is on every monster's hit list and cu chulainn literally got killed because the sons of the people he killed wanted to get his ass for revenge 💀

both are really really good at killing their enemies 😂 percy's kill mostly consists of monsters tho and maybe some enemy demigods whereas cu chulainn pretty much killed hundreds of people in táin bó cúailnge in less than five minutes cuz he went into goblin mode 💀💀💀 (and then he went on to terrorize the entirety of ireland)

HOWEVER!!!!! there are also some MAJOR differences between them that i can't wait to explore.

cu chulainn was born into royalty. his mother was a princess and the sister of the king. then there's broke ass percy 😭

cu chulainn is an arrogant asshole in the myths and in the manga and percy's an actual sweetie pie who was raised well by her mom 🥺

cu chulainn's basically the heracles of ireland, and by that, i mean he was a huge fucking piece of shit 💀💀💀 yeah, he's basically as much of a jerk as pjo!heracles 💀

you know how in greek myths, there's tons of heroes that we learn about (theseus, odysseus, hercules, etc), but then you read the non-sugar coated version of their stories and realize "omg these are horrible ppl"???? yeah that's the same with cu chulainn 💀 back in ancient times, they pretty much called anyone who can kick ass a "hero", which is very different from our modern definition where we think of good people who go around saving lives. cu chulainn was more of a warrior than a hero tbh 💀

also, the dude was a rapist too (so he's already fitting in well with the yanderes yaaaaay 🤗)

i'm gonna have so much fun writing about him and percy lmaooo they share so many similarities, but at the same time are so wildly different

anyway, cu chulainn will show up in ACT TWO, not in act one!!!

and for those curious to learn more, here are some links:

for the list of stories of the ulster cycle (some don't show up, so i suggest googling the title to read it else where)

someone's analysis of the sexism and misogyny in these stories with excerpts to back up the claims. they also go into detail about how much of a shitty person he was lol

[aluria-sevhex]

HELL FUCKING YESSSSSSSS

hey if you wanna read all of my posts as i play through ISAT, they are all tagged as #Aluria plays ISAT for the first time (please don't spoil)

notes:

-aight i'm back yippee

-title theme my beloved

-i always find it so funny when an enemy tries to freeze Mira

-gonna try this boss again

-ok i think i'll just replay Floor 3 on this loop instead of looping forward after i find out another one of Bonnie's favorite foods so i can build up everybody's stats

-OH. BONNIE OVERHEARD THE DEATH CONVERSATION.

-heh Bonnie slapped Siffrin

-uh... the audio is REALLY ominous...

-oh, Bonnie...

-WAIT WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT DID I JUST LOOP SLIGHTLY BACK IN THE PAST?

-Siffrin you ok i don't think that was helping ur mental health issues your eye is covered in shadow in your dialogue portrait

-i will once again NOT kill Siffrin via anaphylaxis. i will take the fish head

-...i didn't. get info on Bonnie's favorite foods this time.

-ok according to the save screen that didn't count as a loop

-anyway time to try looping to get the Bonnie snack info

-hey... the Tear dialogue isn't as silly anymore (it just says yes or no without the 'looping time' or 'living time')

-hey i didn't skip any loops this time!

-time to kill this pair of assholes again

-"carry my ashes with you" aw that's a sweet dialogue option

-i am so tempted to kill Siffrin. but i won't.

-awwww... i talked to Bonnie and now Sif is comforting them

-ok how the fuck do i get the info. BONNIE PLS.

-hold up. does Siffrin no longer nod when zoning out? :((((

-WAIT FUCK DID I FORGET TO GET THE KEY ON FLOOR 2.

-...Mira's roommate. was learning to make bombs. why???

-lol Isa knows how to make a bomb

-Mira has anti-anxiety meds. this makes a lot of sense tbh

-...what are these papers for???

-so i decided to try using the silver coin since a person said that you can do something with it related to the croissant lore. and it said "you think about the Incident" or smth like that lol

-lol Sif forgot the term 'stuffed animal'

-idk why but it feels like a lot of Craft skills are like. slower. or have bigger cooldowns in Act 3. even tho i KNOW they don't and my brain is fucking with me

-ok the game accounted for the key thing

-in the bathroom again

-Sif is calming themself again and figuring out what to do

-Siffrin, self-loathing and calling yourself stupid won't help :(

-i zoned out at some minor dialogue but i don't remember what the dialogue was the first time so i am fucking clueless about what was going on with a choice i made. sorry Mira idk why i 'saved you' by smacking your mouth ;_;

-i love getting to obliterate weaker Rock enemies with Paper α V

-i have now gotten Sif to level 60

-sometimes it's nice to take a break and talk to Loop

-wait a sec. doesn't one of the lower floors have a sharpening stone?

-ok it's been a while and now i have everybody back to level 52. time to kick the asses of the 3rd floor boss

-ooo Odile got a new skill

-time for the last snack break!

-Bonnie's upset now because i didn't try the fritters D:

-time to face the King again... and hopefully talk to him

-welp. *that* didn't work

-oh nvm now i can ask him questions via the Craft menu!

-you. you can give the King the flower.

-yeah the characters have a point! why Vaugarde specifically?

-the King is NOT responsible but he says Siffrin has an odd smell. huh... the only other things where an odd smell has been noted is Bonnie saying the star crest Sadnesses smell odd... but if Sif had that smell then it would've been noticed sooner...

-dude. how rude to say that if Siffrin doesn't understand Time Craft they can't understand the King's methods. maybe i should read more on Time Craft in one of the libraries? or that one book on craftonomy...

-the "you have heard this before" for zoning out got more and more annoyed

-once again. what does the King need to say?

-hm i was talking to Odile and Bonnie piped in really excitedly that they have more pineapple in their pocket

-GOD FUCKING DAMMIT MIRABELLE I LOVE YOU BUT YOU STOPPED ISA'S CONFESSION ToT

-time to talk to Euphrasie and loop again ig

-hey what's that in her hair?

-"you inhale sharply, almost choking on the smell of burnt sugar around you" BURNT SUGAR BURNT SUGAR THAT'S THE SMELL OF TIME SHENANIGANS AS SEEN WITH THOSE SADNESSES

-SAY SOMETHING ELSE EUPHRASIE

-how do i get the familytale?

-ok i talked to Odile and i'm gonna help her!

-am i gonna have to go all over town for this?

lmao yeah i think i will

-oh hey the wizard-loving kid is named Manon

-oh my god. i have to go back to the boulanger

-FINALLY

-:O THERE IS NO RESEARCH???

-oh THAT'S why Odile is in Vaugarde

-oh... her mom left... all of her travels here have been to try to reconnect with that part of her...

-HEY SIFFRIN I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING WHERE THE *FUCK* ARE YOU FROM?

-damn. bro has amnesia

-LMAO I ASKED MIRA ABOUT THE PAPERS AND THE BATTLE THEME STARTED

-...bonding proposals???

-oh my god Mira joined a dating website group

-"we have one of those at home"

-"oh, i don't have a type! i like all kinds of people equally!" is this in a bi way or an aro way

-YEAH AROMANTIC REPRESENTATION

-DIVERSITY WIN! THE KICKASS HANDMAIDEN WHO'S IMMUNE TO BEING FROZEN IN TIME AND THE SORT-OF CHOSEN ONE IS ARO!!! I FUCKING CALLED IT YEAHHHHHHHH :D

-oh, Mira :( you're not the problem you don't have to do anything like that you're not comfortable with

-hm this game is dealing with personal identity a lot

-:( :( :( oh, Mira...

-DIVERSITY WIN!!! THE SKETCHY WANDERER STUCK IN A TIME LOOP WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS IS ACE!!!

-MY BLORBOS ARE ACE AND AROACE FUCK YEAH I AM SO HAPPY

-FUCK IT I'M POSTING NOW

SERIOUSLY THO I DON'T THINK I CAN ACCURATELY CONVEY HOW FUCKING HAPPY THIS PART IS MAKING ME. TWO OF MY FAVORITES ARE ACE AND AROACE HELL FUCKING YES

[quizzyisdone]

I've seen your posts about Russell Adler and they are wonderful to read! My favorite one is the morality of Russell Adler ,I thought it was so insightful to his character and really well done.👏

I'm curious what do you think about the headcanon, which Russell Adler is the father of Phillip Graves ? I've seen it around the fandom and I like reading what others think of it.

Thanks so much for your time !

Aw, thank you so much for the kind message! I'm glad you enjoyed that post, I'm actually working on an updated version of that to reflect what we see in Black Ops 6 and how his character has developed over time.

As for the whole concept of Adler and Graves being related -- I actually really do not like it. If that's your headcanon, I respect that, I even see the appeal in it, but personally, I just do not like it. Here's why;

(TLDR; I do not like the headcanon, it makes zero sense for Adler to raise a child like that and the two characters are not even in the same universe. )

On Phillip Graves' Lineage

First you may be asking - why don't I like it?

Simple, it really is not in character for Adler to raise a brat like that or fuck up fatherhood so royally that he raises a leader of a mercenary group whose loyalty goes only to the highest bidder. I love all of my Graves' fans but honestly, he's a POS in my opinion. (Doesn't stop him from being hot tho)

Graves has no motivation to betray the 141, y'know, the guys who are actively trying to stop and protect civilians from a deadly missile attack, aside from a fat pay check from the douchebag himself, General Shepherd. Still yet, he betrays them and then later denied involvement and threw Shepherd under the bus when it benefited him.

Okay - so what does that have to do with Adler?

A lot actually. This headcanon actually came into popular fandom canon for two reasons, A) they look alike. B) people like to draw false parallels between the two characters.

The second part is what frustrates me. That mostly comes from people completely misunderstanding Adler's character and taking his actions, dialogue, and narrative and twisting it into something he absolutely is not.

Essentially the line of thinking is "Well Adler is an asshole, Graves is an asshole, so the two must be related." There are several things wrong with this statement. Firstly, Adler is actually a very loyal and devoted man who employs seemingly harsh and unorthodox methods to his job. Saying Adler is just an asshole because he brainwashed Bell and is therefore unlikable is such a surface level take and it irks me to no end.

I think there is a cutscene in BO6 where Adler is listed as having kids and I can see that, I mean the man does theoretically have an ex-wife (unless he was lying just for funsies) so it's not out of the question for him to have them. While I don't think Adler is the Father of the Year in any sense of the title, I do not think he is uninvolved. Perhaps very distant and pretty big on tough love and not always there due to the nature of his work, but he still loves them and I would think his kids know that he loves them in his own way. (Definitely gave them so weird ass daddy issues along the way though)

So yeah, no, I don't think Adler gave Graves daddy issues so bad that he became the absolute garbage fire of a man he is today. It's not like him and it takes a lot worse than daddy issues to give a man motivation to do something like that.

Also, the main reason they are not related:

Black Ops and Modern Warfare are not even in the same universe. Yes, I know they are both in the franchise but no, they are not in the same universe. And if the devs ever decide to retcon that decision I will turn into Travis the Chimp and bite some poor lady's face off in a psychotic rampage.

It would make no sense if the events of either franchise occurred in the same universe.

When I am referring to Black Ops, the only games that are canon/have any relevance are of course World At War (mostly because of Reznov), Black Ops, Black Ops 2, Black Ops Cold War and Black Ops 6.

When discussing Modern Warfare (the reboot, not the originals), the only games that are canon are Modern Warfare 1-3 (three is questionable, I feel like that game is the one thing devs need to retcon and rerelease with a different story)

It is literally impossible for Adler to be the father of Graves, the two don't even exist in the same universe.

At the end of the day,

I did not write this to be mean or to shit on anyone's headcanon. I mentioned it before, I do see the appeal in it, if you happen to have a different opinion on the two characters than I do. If you like this headcanon, go on with ya bad self and keep posting your art and fanfiction about it. My opinion on it doesn't/shouldn't affect yours at all. <3

[formulapookie]

💛💛

Under the cut to read on Tumblr, here to read on Ao3 ch1; ch2; ch3; ch4

Les fleurs du mal ch.5 rosquez, 2.1k words

It’s nine in the morning of a beautiful Sunday, he finally got all the truth Uccio for God knows what reason had chosen to change, corrupt, modify for him to see a distorted version of reality.

The telemetry, that shit was just made up, by a jealous? angry? Uccio, who chose to ruin the one good relationship in forever like that, like it had just been a flash, instead of the sun in his life.

He wanted to call Marc, hell no drive until Cervera and say he was sorry, that he had been an asshole, a terrible person, but to please forgive him because he had been shielded from the reality and couldn’t see.

That now tho he sees the love Marc always reserved for him, he sees how much Marc is willing to sacrifice for them, for the love they share.

There’s a voice note in his notifications, along with two missed calls, from Marc.

And a text from Lorenzo.

“Vale?”

“Mh?”

They’re laying in bed, at Vale’s house, softly surrounded by pearly colored sheets, the sound of the town filling the outside world.

“Do you ever think about like, the future?”

“In general or us?”

“Both”

“Well of course amore, I think of my racing career and more titles and of the time when I’ll inevitably have to retire.

And I think about us, free from the media attention, in a beautiful house near the see.

No neighbours, just us, and you are sunbathing naked next our pool and then I-“

Marc blushes, hiding his face more in the crook of Vale’s neck

“What amore? It wouldn’t be the first time I see you naked eh. I think I saw you pretty clearly last night”

“Vale! This was supposed to be romantic!”

“Is it not romantic? Making love to you in a house we share?”

“I - yeah it is”

“See? And you? You think about the future?”

“Yeah. I see us in a house in the middle of the countryside tho, with animals.

Dogs, a lot of dogs, and your strange red cat too”

“Rossano is not strange!”

“He looks at me funny whenever I’m here.

But anyway, a cute house in the countryside, just the two of us, it’s peaceful”

“But? I feel like there’s a but”

“But I also think about the sport and the danger and - Vale are you scared of death? I am terrified by it. It’s just - one day you just cease to be and I cannot think the universe is so cruel to do this”

“Amore, of course i’m scared of it, and it. In our sport it can happen. It took me years to get over the fact Marco was gone. But life ends in death no matter what we do, we have to live it at our fullest still”

“Im scared thought, I don’t like the idea of it. It’s cold you think? When you”

“I don’t know. It could be. Or it could be warm like drifting asleep with a blanket on and just - sleep”

For Marc it’s cold when he dies.

Freezing even, and so so lonely.

When Roser finds him, curled beside his bed, clutching in his arms the helmet signed by that man, it’s like being shot in the heart.

She tries to wake him, tries to call him, but he’s cold.

Unmoving.

Still like the moment she finds herself in.

Marc is holding onto that one piece of his heart like he’s still alive, the strong grip seemingly coming from a strong person.

But when she looks at him all she can see is her little boy, her son.

Pale and tired and sad.

He looks like he’s having a bad dream, the unsettling kind of dreams where you don’t precisely know where you are and can’t get out.

There’s petals on the ground.

Yellow. 

So much yellow and she just wants to burn it all away.

She cries more, calling for Marc again, trying to get him back.

But Marc can’t hear her, the only sounds in the room are Roser’s sobs and the repetitive buzz of Marc’s phone.

When Marc wakes up in the middle

of the night he’s cold, shivering.

The fever is taking over, he’s hallucinating again.

He reaches out for Vale, why is he not in bed? 

Oh right, he’s still not back yet.

But it doesn’t matter.

Because they have time.

The scratch in the back of his throat seems to be less excruciating too, like it’s being kept at bay.

Well this just means Vale is close right? 

He’s coming, finally he’s coming home to tell him he still loves him, and - and the roots will go away the same way they arrived.

“Oh I need to set the room up, Vale has to see my collection has improved, yes, he needs to see it”

Marc unpacks the two boxes Roser had stuffed full, carefully taking out the items in them.

The cap and the picture first, he places them on the shelf next to his bed, close, so close the cap covers half the picture, the half where Marc is.

Then it’s the bikes turn.

Slowly, methodically, precisely, Marc takes them out the box one by one, placing them in the same exact order he had bought them.

He sees Alex in his room, he’s not happy.

“Marc come on stop you look ridiculous”

“Ah Alex stop it, you’ve just never been in love, when you’ll be you’ll get it”

He’s standing on his bed, mattress dipping under his rapidly decreasing weight.

“You see, Vale is coming and the room has to be nice for him, I want it to be more beautiful than ever, he deserves the best”

Marc is smiling, like a kid on his birthday, waiting to blow the candles.

“Oh he’ll want the 2004 Yamaha to be the most visible for sure, he loves that bike God how he loves it”

He keeps talking to a non existing Alex, while he feels colder and colder.

“I better put on a hoodie, don’t want to catch a cold before Vale arrives for sure”

He goes pick up the one hoodie Vale left there, in his home.

It still smells like him.

He sits on the bed, legs crossed with his phone beside him, facing the door.

He stays there for minutes, maybe an hour even.

There’s no sudden buzzing of the phone, no sound of a car parking outside, no knocking on the door signaling Vale is there.

Well not yet, maybe he just doesn’t like to travel with the dark.

Yeah it - it must be that.

Because it’s either that or.

Or Vale isn’t coming.

Not now, not in a million years he’s gonna spend tidying up his room to welcome Vale back in it.

When the fever lets go of him and he sees clearly again it hurts.

Physically, mentally, emotionally it all hurts like it’s been crushed by tons and tons of rocks thrown on top of him.

Hot big tears fall from his eyes, follow the now slim outline of his cheekbones, and collect under Marc’s chin.

“He is coming. He is coming. I know he’s coming”

He tries to convince himself of this, even with the hallucination gone, he gets up and sets up the room.

It has to look exactly like it did when Vale came here last time, little bikes in their precise fragile order.

The last thing he takes out the boxes is the helmet.

Signed, a little note left for him by Vale, unmistakable messy handwriting on the clean visor.

He takes his phone, it’s stupid, childish but he can’t do otherwise.

He calls him.

Twenty, twenty five seconds of his phone ringing. No answer.

He tries again. And once again there’s no answer on the other side.

He opens their chat, it’s still on hold since the last text Vale sent.

“Good luck for the race babychamp”

He presses the button to send the voice note, the first few seconds just of silence.

“Vale. It’s me. I - please Vale it hurts so much, I can’t breathe I need you to come here quick I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry for what I did, all of it, I’m sorry I didn’t want you to lose, I didn’t want to do anything against you. I never - I never went to him, I would never cheat on you, I only ever had you please believe me Vale. Vale I love you. I’m home and, and it hurts so much. Please I need to see you. Please. I need to feel your hugs again. I’m cold Vale so cold”

The voice note sends, but there’s no blue ticks to signal it’s been read.

Marc climbs off the bed, his phone beside him, holding the helmet between his arms like it’s the most prized possession of his, he fears it may scratch, or get ruined if he accidentally bumps into the shelf he usually laid it on.

All his words now barely a whisper, he’s trying to stay anchored to reality by clutching at that damn helmet, it’s almost sunrise, almost sunrise and there’s no sign of Vale.

He abandoned him.

Vale abandoned him.

He truly hates him, he truly wants Marc to not represent a menace at all.

That’s fine. Vale will be fine without him too, he was fine before meeting him, there’s no need for Marc to exist in Vale’s life.

Maybe he’s gonna be a weight less, he will just go away, like he came in.

A breeze.

Marc can feel himself getting colder, and the petals in his throat now make it impossible to breathe.

He vomits them rather than coughing, a sea of yellow hollowness making its way out of his body, the everlasting presence of Valentino beside him even right now.

“you promised it was going to be warm like falling asleep with a blanket, but it’s cold, it’s so cold”

He’s still waiting there, looking at the door like a dog waiting for his owner does.

Argo had waited for Ulysses for years before he came back, and had died right in his arms.

But Marc knows his Ulysses won’t arrive, not even to hold him as he leaves behind the ugly and hurt of the mortal world.

He’s an abandoned dog. Even if he was loyal. He’s been abandoned.

He cries on the helmet, the last tears he can still produce, before his life abandons him too, the last breath used to hope, to call Vale’s name.

When Roser finally looks at the ID of the caller on her son’s phone she is angry.

She wants to smash that phone against a wall, make it shut up once and for all.

“Vale💛💙” identifies the person calling, the rage she feels is unexplainable through words.

She doesn’t answer. He doesn’t deserve to know from her what happened to her sweet boy, he will forever live with the guilt of having killed him. 

She only manages to call Alex and their father two hours later. 

She tells them to come there, that Marc has gone to sleep the night but hasn’t woken up now.

When Alex barges in he’s red in the face, crying and cursing.

He runs to the room they used to share, and sees how Marc has set it up once again, memories of Vale on all the shelves.

He also sees the many yellow petals littering the ground of the bedroom, a dark feeling taking residence in his chest.

“Marc? Marc it’s me, it’s Alex, I know you can hear me, you’re just sleeping, but you have to wake up, mom is getting worried. You need to wake up Marc please, I don’t know what to do without you”

“Alex he’s not-“

“HE’S ALIVE HE’S JUST - he’s just making a joke mom he - he can’t be dead mom he can’t be”

“Alex come here”

“No. No he - it’s not right. It’s not right he shouldn’t be, it shouldn’t end like this, he promised me we would’ve been together on the podium one day, he promised”

Roser has to drag Alex away from Marc, he doesn’t want to let go, he wants to save him.

“Alex. Look at me. You have to think of what Marc wanted ok?”

“Marc wanted to live! He wanted to race and win and - he wanted so many things! He’s scared of death, terrified of being alone! AND HE WAS ALONE!”

“But he wanted you to live too, he wanted you to be there on track, to be here with us. Please don’t - don’t make me lose you too Alex”

“No no i’m not going anywhere mom I promise. I’m not going away, sorry sorry sorry mom I’m staying here”

“Can you? I can’t call anyone to tell”

“Yeah yeah i I’ll uh ill call people”

“Be kind with yourself, as kind as your brother was with you ok?”

“Ok”

They think about removing everything from the room.

Putting it back in boxes.

But Marc’s last wish was probably for the room to be like this, and they couldn’t go against his wish.

[tidalfoam]

hey look, legitimate reference sheets for my Fates AU. Look at me, doing things i said i would. my art is always shaky and im bad at consistency so hopefully this helps me.

more Fates shit beloooow (spoilers for the fanfic) (warning for MASSIVE wall of text).

how dare you read spoilers instead of waiting for me to actually finish the next chapter (i am sobbing im stuuuuuck). anyways.

i forgot lambert's jewelry in the ref sheet fuuuuuUUUUCK.

Uhhh so Fates is a 2-part story. Currently writing/posting Fates Worse Than, which is Narinder's POV. Love Can't Save You From is part 2 (working title lmao) thats Lambert's POV.

Basically switch em. Nari is vessel Lamb is god of death. After Narinder inevitably defeats lambert, lambert dips for 200 yrs and is a hermit while the world changes and Nari founds the New Faith.

Pt 1 follows standard gameplay and is a lot shorter than pt 2 (though my word document begs to differ), its a lot more about what's going on in Narinder's mind and unpacking backstory.

After burning midas's bitch ass place down, the other areas on the map (save for midas's bitch ass place and ratau's shack) become towns of their own. The old cult grounds break down and a Temple of TOWW is built. Nari rescues the old Bishops from purgatory, they become his disciples, and three of them run the temples in towns as Disciples/New Bishops (sans powers, just gold skull necklaces) and Shamura keeps the Main Temple of death by themselves. NONE OF THIS i actually write its just explained during the story. Hah.

pt 2 basically is Lambert & Narinder regaining trust (narinder feels shitty for what he did to lambert and cares for them greatly.) And then theres a lot of trauma unpacking, sibling reconnection, and the two of them growing closer.

BIG SPOILERS NEXT

Ya so basically Nari doesn't fully have control of his godhood powers and folks start ressurecting randomly, but 9/10 of them are Cursed and this is Not Great. After consulting with Shamura and doing their own investigating basically aaaah Narinder either has to monitor the gateway or give Lamb the crown back.

They fight over this, obviously, like right after they finally hit the "lovers" part too. fun!

and so in the end they both agree that Narinder will sit in the Gateway, at least for probs a few centuries to maybe a millenia until he has full control over everything. He asks Lambert to lead the New Faith and keep tabs on everyone, thus coming full circle. Narinder is TOWW in the gateway, Lambert is his servant (but no crown, Nari keeps the crown). End of Spoilers.

Also just fun shit. They can't reproduce, gods of death can't create life. I will 10000% make non-canon shittens content tho because ITS FUN.

Lamb is They/Them

Shamura is actually one of the Old Gods, and slaughtered other gods to steal their crowns to give to their "siblings". They literally stole Kallamar as a child, didn't like how he turned out. Stole lamb as baby, loved them and was closest to them, so stole heket too and were meh about her. They were in the middle of slaughtering other gods and destroying crowns when Lambert and Heket found a baby worm in the woods. They begged shamura to keep their new baby brother. Shamura and Kallamar weren't happy but caved to their beloved baby siblings. That worm baby was Leshy. Then shamura drove chemench insane, the group finished slaughtering all other gods & crowns, and that was that.

Goat isn't canon but i did draw him once because it felt like fun and maybe one day jokingly i'll do an au to the au whoops

everyone calls ratau old but he's not that old Narinder & Lambert are just dicks lmao. I promise i do like Ratau i'm just writing in the POV of two assholes.

if you got this far... why? i'm extremely honored but holy hell WHY. I love you now. I love you dearly.

Please feel free to ask me anything i'm foaming at the mouth constantly for this, its my new Sole Purpose. I am absolutely not avoiding my actual fucking novel i'm supposed to be finishing l o l.

[cassidy273]

Watching Shameless (US version) for the first time. I'll update this as I go.

Note: Please don't spoil anything. The most I know is a character named Debbie has a kid eventually.

Season 1 Episode 1: I'm sorry who the fuck names their child LIP-

Ian is giving off LGBTQIA vibes. Idk tho I might be wrong.

Did...did that child murder a cat?

LIAM IS SO CUTE OMG MY HEARTTTT

Kev and Veronica goddamn-

Why is Frank kinda...

Damn six updates before the fucking title screen.

GODDAMN FRANK AND FIONA ARE BOTH KINDA...

"You're almost nine, you're gonna have to start pulling your weight." made me CACKLE

THIS BITCH REALLY BROUGHT A WHOLE ASS BABY TO SHOW AND TELL-

I wanna execute those two guys who were saying that shit about Fiona at her job.

Midget Naked Witch Bending Over is a really good band name

Why is she going under the table I'm literally so confused-

WHAT THE FUCK

HOW THE FUCK DOES SCIENCE TURN YOU ON KAREN

Why was showing his bare ass necessary?

Lovely. I really wanted to see a guy looking at pictures of boobs today.

Those aren't boobs.

Wait omg my prediction was actually correct what the fuck-

Fiona's dress is literally so pretty omfg

WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP DISRESPECTING FIONA FIRST THOSE GUYS MAKE WEIRD COMMENTS ABOUT HER THEN SHE GETS FUCKING ROBBED

DON'T CALL HER A SKANK YOU DICK

Goddamn I forgot that guy's name but he punched that dick so I love him

I'm gonna take a shower I'll watch the rest after

I'm back y'all

The word 'knob-job' just rubs me the wrong way it just sounds so gross-

I was happy that the poor kid's name wasn't Lip but then I heard his name was Philip and that's even worse omg I feel so bad for him

Veronica is an ICON

WHY DID THEY START MAKING OUT WHAT THAT WAS LITERALLY SO RANDOM

Guys I don't think this show is very kid-friendly

BOTH OF THEM ARE ATTRACTIVE TO ME IDK WHO TO LOOK AT I THINK THIS IS WHAT A BI PANIC FEELS LIKE

THEY'RE NOT EVEN TRYING TO BE QUIET WHAT THE FUCK

I feel so bad for her she was almost there and then a fucking garda showed up

I'm gonna leave my laptop for a while sorry

I'm back again

Frank get out of the bar and take care of your kids omfg

He's such an asshole I love him-

OMGOMGOMGSTEVE'SBACK

Aw he's such a nice guy he's not bullying Philip because y'know his name is fucking Philip <3

I think Steve and Fiona might be the first straight ship I've liked in a long time-

Oh my god imagine being Ian like 'Hey, so um, I know I'm your brother and all, but I found your secret gay porn stash and also here's a blowjob from a girl who gave one to me. Enjoy!'

Karen's dad is such an asshole omg kiss your wife dude.

OH MY FUCKING GOD IF I WAS IAN I WOULD LITERALLY EXPLODE RIGHT THERE IMAGINE A GIRL IS SUCKING YOUR YOU KNOW WHAT UNDER THE TABLE AND THEN HER DAD PULLS BACK THE TABLECLOTH I WOULD ACTUALLY DIE

I'M SORRY IS HE TRYING TO BEAT UP THESE KIDS FOR HAVING SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS WITH HIS DAUGHTER

I'm actually dying oh my god that fucking greenscreen as Lip jumped out the window-

I love all of Veronica's outfits she slays so hard

Ew uncensored penis

HE BOUGHT HER A NEW WASHER STEVE IS SO NICE

"Hey! You honour thy father!" "GET FUCKED!" Karen is so iconic

Fiona going 'Please tell me you didn't get some girl pregnant' to her gay brother killed me

DEBBIE IS LITERALLY SO INNOCENT AND KIND I LOVE HER SO MUCH I HOPE SHE DOESN'T TURN OUT LIKE HER DAD-

Steve is the only straight man other than Robert Smith we need as a society.

Never mind. The phrase 'This whole city belongs to the Jennas, and I'm sick of them' sounded a lot like 'You're not like other girls' which is the worst compliment ever.

NEVER MIND X2 I WISH SOMEONE WOULD TALK TO ME LIKE THIS-

Omg I thought he left her for a second and I was so fucking pissed

Imagine you gave a bj to two different guys (WHO ARE BROTHERS) and the first guy's all like 'Hey, did you give my brother a BONER??'

WAIT HOW OLD IS IAN AND HOW OLD IS THE MARRIED SHOP GUY BECAUSE IF THEY'RE HAVING AN AFFAIR I GOTTA GOOGLE THIS

IAN'S FUCKING FIFTEEN WHAT THE ACTUAL DAMN DIDDLY FUCK

'He's done nothing to be sorry for' AYO DUDE

I love Frank so fucking much-

SHOTSSHOTSHOTSHOTSHOTSHOTSSHOTS

I literally forgot Carl existed I feel so bad

Is it just me, or does Lip kinda look like Shia LaBeouf when he played Stanley Yelnats?

AWWW STEVE IS SO NICE

Final Thoughts:

That was so good, and I'm probably gonna not watch it again for a few weeks like what normally happens with shows I like.

[rose-reveries]

PJO Episode 6 (spoilers)

The good

1. Ok, I do agree that having 4 pearls instead of 3 makes more sense I guess. Because then they have hope that they’ll actually be bringing Sally back.

2. This was a fun episode, but definitely the farthest from the source material.

3. The “Clarissa is the lightning thief” fake out is NICE. Like sure?? I’m down for it (don’t think there was enough about that tho. Like if we had a hellhound scene in ep 2, we would know someone in camp was the traitor but alas)

The bad

1. Why change it to after the solstice instead of the day before? I like the stakes better when they’ve wasted 5 days in the hotel and have 24 hours to fix everything. We’ve learned the gods are assholes. If they missed the deadline, why tf would Zeus care what they have to say after that deadline. His pride is still gonna be too fucking hurt and he’ll start a war over his broken ego anyway. I don’t know, just not a fan, personally.

2. I’m getting kind of tired of the trio knowing exactly what is happening at all times. There was no whimsy and fun in the casino. There was no Percy slowly figuring out something was wrong. In fact, we don’t even really learn that people in the casino don’t age and everyone there are from different decades. Just not a fan of the trio knowing everything all the time. Like they are 12 year old kids. Let them play for a little bit PLEASE. The plastic credit cards, the sims city game, the deer hunting people game, the nice big hotel room, etc etc.

Edit: 3. WAIT WHY THE RANDOM SATYR??? LIKE JUST TO DRAW GROVER AWAY?? Really?? I don’t know, whole thing could’ve been done better. There is no fun in this episode, only s e r i o u s business.

???

1. Why keep the episode title “We take a Zebra to Vegas” when there is no Zebra…? Not to mention there is no Percy talking to said Zebra. Neither of these points are too important and I can live without them. (I’m sure we’ll learn that Percy can talk to horses another time so it’s no big deal but still.)

2. I don’t know, this episode was fun, right? But like, it’s starting to feel less like TLT, and more like a parallel universe.

Week ?? Of me saying TLT is still the closest adaptation of Percy Jackson we’re ever gonna get and that’s funny. I’ve been pretty open-minded about the TV show and I like it as it’s own thing, but as an adaptation I think as it goes on I’m just starting to feel more meh about it. When our characters tell instead of show, they know everything, etc etc there’s no stakes, there’s no suspense, and it gets stale. It’s the same every episode…

[abs-2020]

Captain John price x (fem) reader

~Aye Aye sir~

Summary: a new and alluring man unexpectedly moves in next door to you his hulking frame and calm nature drawing you in..

Warnings:(nothing too serious yet) masturbation/explicate images/detailed images/almost getting ran over???

A/U: I didn’t really know what to title this but I’m if anyone has a better suggestion let me know? This is definitely going to have multiple parts tho.. and possibly Simon Riley.

———————————————————————————

Your heart was pounding and your chest thumping as sweat ran from your forehead trickling down to your cleavage. Each breath you took was quick and sharp as music blasted in your ears. Each step you took light and swift. You were running, a nice and peaceful morning run. And your body felt like it was beaming with pride and joy each step of the way. This was your favorite part of the day. A morning run. They were always peaceful, long, and never interrupted.

Of course that was until you were making your way across the street only to be met with the sound of screeching tires and a honking horn.

A gasp would leave your throat as you jumped back from a giant silver Ford F150 truck. Salty sweat dripped into your eyes as your heart now raced 10x more than before.

‘Asshole…’

Anger would flash across your eyes in a shimmer as your face contorted with the emotion.

“Asshole!” You’d shout as your brow furrowed.

“FUCKING ASSHOLE!”

Anger would swell inside of you, the powerful emotion caused you to slam your fist against the hood of the truck as you started into the sunglasses of the driver. He looked unfazed his plump lower lip pressed into a hard line, the top one hidden beneath what you had to sadly admit to yourself was a ‘killer beard’. You’d shake your head again.

“Watch where you’re going you dumbass!” You’d shout again.

With that you’d flip the driver off one last time before feeling pleased enough to continue your run with a shake of your head.

‘Idiot.’

———————————————————————————

The slam of a car door and the click of a lock fillyour ears as you struggld to carry all of your groceries in your arms. A small grunt would push its way past your lips as you balanced evening in your arms. You looked like what you could only imagine to be a cartoon character and it had you cringing on the inside as you held onto a carton of eggs with your chin praying to god that ‘they don’t fall and crack open’

You’d squeeze your eyes shut for a moment and sigh

“God damn it..” but you’d quickly shake your head and make your way to your front door. If all of this was going to fall it might as well fall while you’re trying to get it to your DAP(distant aiming point).

“Aye, let me help ya with that why don’t cha?”

The accent of what you could only imagine to be a British babebrute filled your ears. Hastily you looked to the left and right of you only to hear a ‘panty dropping’ chuckle.

Whoever was behind you was probably new, someone who’d just moved into the right next to you area you though to yourself. Either that or he’s stayed hidden for a long time.

“At your six love~”

Your eyebrows would shoot up at the name ‘love?’ Your quickly ignore the heat growing in your lower abdomen at the foreign nickname and shake your head. ‘It’s probably a British thing.’ You told yourself.

With a sign you’d turn around. Your grip on your groceries tighter than before. You weren’t 100% when it came to military stuff or knowledge but you knew enough to know what ‘six’ meant. You’d paint a smile on your lips as you turned around to face the new Britain behind you.

“Uh yeah, some help would be nic-“

Your mouth would drop into the shape of an ‘o’ as you can face to face with the man in front of you.

“YOU!”

You’d shout as your brows furrowed at the realization of who the man in front of you was. And he seemed to catch on just as quickly because his eyes widened in realization as he took a small step backwards. And if you were totally honest the small step backwards didn’t help much, because this guy was huge, massive even. His shoulders were wide wide enough to block anything else behind him whistle he stood in front of you. his arms and pecks seemed to bulge out of the way to small grey shirt he was wearing. And you wouldn’t even get started on his forearms, But it wasn’t only his muscle mass, ‘oh god no’ you thought to yourself it was also his height. A good ‘6ft something’ you thought to yourself as you all but oogled(eye fucked) the man in front of you.

And he seemed to notice, a certain tilt of his head and an observant glint in his eyes all but told you he did. He noticed your wandering eyes. He didn’t saying anything though.

Quickly you’d contain yourself and furrow your brows even more your lips twisting into a frown.

“you, you are the idiotic asshole that almost ran me over this morning because your dull ass must’ve been to blind to see me!” You glare up at the bearded brute “either that or you just drive like old people fuck, and that’s bad.”

The Britain’s eyes would widen at your words his mouth falling into a small ‘o’ the expression quickly turning into a faint smirk. You would’ve missed it if you weren’t looking at his lips. Again the Britain would chuckle, sending more heat to your lower abdomen. You’d internally curse yourself for having that kind of reaction to the man that almost ran you over this morning.

His smirk would turn into a smile his facial hair covering most of the upright curve of his lips, it would’ve been hard to miss but his eyes, ‘god his eyes’ you thought to yourself. They were so full of emotion and expression. The little creases that formed around his eyes as he smiled almost melted your heart. Almost..

“Well, I’ll take that as a no then eh?” The brute would make an ‘oh well’ gesture as he casually pivoted to the right and made his merry way back to wherever the hell he came from.

Reality would finally kick in as your anger quickly subsided and turned into regret watching the Brute Britain walk away. Now you had to show how manage to hold all these groceries while you got the house key from your pocket and then above all that some how manage to open the front door.

All by yourself.

Now you were the idiot.

———————————————————————————

You would be lying to yourself if you didn’t believe or think that the Britain(next door) was the most beautiful and drop dead gorgeous man you’d ever seen. You’d be an idiot to deny that fact. Downright stupid, so when your fingers started to fiddle with the elastic waistband of your underwear who could blame you? You sure as hell wouldn’t blame yourself. ‘Sure he almost ran me over.’ You though to yourself as your fingers slipped under the elastic fabric and started to inch they’re way to your little bundle of nerves. Slowly, inch by inch, tantalizingly. Images of the brute flashed in your mind a small gasp leaving your throat when the small pads of your fingers finally touched your clit.

You’d bite your lip at the image played out in your head. It wasn’t you touching you, it was him. The British brute. His thick and what you could imagine calloused and rough fingers rubbing slow and tantalizing circles on your clit while his other hand went to rub the tent forming in his black sweats. His deep azul eyes staring right into your pleading one’s, watching, observing every little reaction that came from you. Your face contorting, lips twitching in pleasure, eyebrows furrowing, watching how fast your chest rises and falls, the way your toes curl, hell he even went as far as to listen in on every peep you made so he knew exactly what to do. that’s what the military trained him to do.

Well you could only imagine and assume he was former or still in the military. There was no doubt about it. You’d been around enough military men to know when you see one. For better or for worse…

A small moan would leave your throat at the scene playing out in your head your fingers making quick and needy circles as your hips bucked up into your own hand and your thighs began to tremble. Your chest would rise and fall your breaths heaving as you tried to bite your lip to keep yourself quiet. Getting closer and closer to your wanted high.

His shoulders were huge, wide, and firm. He took up your whole view. He took up everything. He was all you could see, smell, or focus on. And his forearms were no different, his forearms were massive. You watched each muscle contract as his fingers danced around your clit his veins protruding in the most slutry way.

“Yeah that’s right love, come undone with just my fingers. Look and see what I can do to ya.”

Another moan would leave your throat, you were just about to hit your high.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes,-“ you whispered only to be interrupted by 3 harsh knocks on your door.

“Fuck..”

———————————————————————————

A/N: sorry I haven’t been writing as much I do apologize, but I hope this will suffice for a bit. This is supposed to be like a series for THIS little “short fic/Drabble” of mine since y’all said you wanted more. Anyways uh I hope you enjoy. :) <3

[running-with-the-feels]

I’ve been thinking about what Hanzo’s master must have been like back in the old Shirai Ryu and I have come to this conclusion: he was a right, proper asshole. Very Kyoto attitude with insults thinly veiled as compliments and politeness. Just a judgmental person all around and lived by the code of “the nail that sticks out must be hammered down”. He did not like Hanzo, did not like how “soft” he was, and the only reason he ever trained the future grandmaster is because he was forced to take on an appearance and he resented that it was Hasashi. He would have resented anyone, but it just so happened that the unfortunate party was Hanzo. Thoughts?

I actually really like this, and if you add in the Ainu Hanzo headcanon there's another layer to it.

My own headcanon is somewhat similar, in that I think Hanzo's dad was an asshole and he fled to the Shirai Ryu where he was trained by his uncle, who was something of a zealot about fulfilling the Shirai Ryu's ancient task of wiping out the Lin Kuei, which led him to be a very demanding and sometimes cruel teacher. I also hc that Hanzo was never the heir to the grandmaster title, Harumi was, and he took it up to honor her when he refounded the clan.

I really like your headcanon tho, bc it gives a lot of space to explore why Hanzo is the way he is. Of course he's got some anger issues, if he lived under the thumb of someone like that for so long some resentment is bound to build up. Also, in the mkx blood ties comics we see that Hanzo is maybe a bit too strict as a teacher in the early days of the new Shirai Ryu, because he's falling back on the only example he has even if he knows it isn't a good one. Your headcanon also gives Kuai Liang and Hanzo something else to bond over, as they were both trained by the same kind of person. Like, I love fics where Hanzo discovers the full extent of the Lin Kuei's cruelty to Kuai Liang, but I'd KILL to read a fic where it's Kuai Liang learning about how Hanzo's teacher mistreated him.

[dontforgetoctober3rd]

Come Go With Me

A Michael Gavey fic.

EDIT: Now with art! (just a sketch tho)

Summary: It's the spring of 2007 and Michael Gavey has so far kept to the vow he made to never socialize again after Oliver ditched him. Then he meets a cute girl at a coffee shop. Will the vow stand strong or immediately go down the drain?

Word Count: 3986

Rating: T (plenty of swearing, instances of misogyny, objectification of the female body, atrociously incorrect bagel eating, New York City slander, etc.)

Author's Note: yes, the title is the song by Expose. Also, I'm a corny writer.

Divider by @cafekitsune

“I don’t know or care what Oliver Quick is doing this summer,” Michael said, continuing to type on his laptop, not even making eye contact with whoever asked the question.  The guy who asked left without saying anything further.

Some random guy in the library asked Michael if it was true that Oliver was going to be spending the summer with Felix on his family’s estate.  It was more about prying into Felix’s business than him wanting to know anything about Oliver, Michael thought.  Oliver was not on the same level of being interesting (in the eyes of the general student populace) that the Cattons were.  

Michael didn’t give a shit that Oliver was going to fancy fucking Saltburn with his new, snobby, loser, nepo baby friends for the summer.  Really, he didn’t.  When Oliver humiliated him at the bar, he made the decision then to swear off any further socializing at the university.  It was the best thing he ever did.

Already, he felt less anxious.  He had more time to focus on his coursework.  More time to read new books, attend off campus lectures.  Walks in the park by himself were quite relaxing when he didn’t have to think about topics to keep a stilted, dying conversation going.  He even went so far as to set aside time to play video games again.  Every weekend, for one hour and a half, he lost himself in Fable on his Xbox.  

Michael still felt the sting of the bar betrayal from time to time, as he thought he had finally found a true friend in Oliver (or at least, the potential for him to become one).  The new, lone path taken had helped him realize that he was not the problem.  Oliver was just an asshole, like the majority of those who went to Oxford.  

Sometimes Michael wondered why people didn’t like him.  Must be how smart he was.   There was nothing weird about being good at math.  What was so awful about being good at math, anyway?  He guessed that most peoples’ biggest issue with his smarts was that it reminded them they were stupid. Oh well!  Plenty of time for activities by himself now.

One of those activities was fast became his favorite, after only his fourth visit.  Visiting a little coffee shop he had discovered near the river, he was able to “mingle” among people without having to talk to anyone. No one would bother him here and he would still get his dose of human contact which, after all, was vital to the psychological constitution of a person.  As rigid as he intended on being with his new No Socializing At Oxford vows, Michael did not intend on becoming a psychopath.  Besides, the baristas never got his order wrong. They never talked to him beyond the perfunctory taking of his order but after the third time, when he walked in, instead of asking what he would like the person at the register had asked “The usual?” and Michael would just say yes, thank you, and then pay.

Michael packed up his laptop, shoving it and the charger into his reusable Tescoe bag along with his notebooks. He stood and adjusted his sweater, checked all his pant pockets were buttoned up and zipped closed.  He kept his visits only to every other day so as to not have the monotony grate on his nerves. The coffee shop made fresh bagels every day, however, and he had been looking forward to enjoying one all morning (his favorite was blueberry).  He liked to eat his a certain way, scooping out the insides of each slice before finally eating the hollowed out crusts.  Someone at school would surely have an opinion about his bagel-eating method (not that he cared) but at the coffee shop, Michael was left in peace.

 Walking briskly through the library doors and outside in the crisp spring air, he didn’t even look in direction of Oliver walking up the steps into the library with Felix.  They were laughing about something but Michael didn’t even breathe in their direction.

—---------

The delicious smell of bread baking hit him in a wave as he stepped into the coffee shop.  It looked like a rush had just hit, the baristas busy cleaning and restocking various items.  

“Hi! I’ll take your order right over here.” came the chipper voice.  Michael turned.

Oh god, a new hire. An American one (he was pretty sure the accent he heard was American) Maybe he wasn’t entitled to feel irritated about changes in the store, it's not like he owned the damn thing, but Michael felt irritated just the same.  This was HIS spot and someone new had just invaded it.

The new girl had long hair parted in the middle, tied back in a bun.  The hair was turquoise. A very bright turquoise, almost neon, he would say.  It pissed him off even more. Dyed hair was so fucking tacky.

He trudged to the register, hating every second of anticipating having to deal with someone new, someone chatty, even for something as impersonal as coffee.  

The girl was almost as tall as he was, eye-level to him, smiling the fakest fucking smile he had ever seen.  I mean, it had to be fake.  Who looked this happy to be taking a stranger’s order? He didn’t even bother attempting to smile back.  Whatever.  Get my coffee, bitch Michael though.

“I’ll have a large vanilla coffee, sugar free, with a blueberry bagel.” 

“Ah, so just cutting back on the sugar but can’t quite quit it altogether, eh?” the girl said with a wink and another smile, totally unperturbed by his attitude.

Michael pursed his lips and said nothing.  The girl, still unbothered, looked down and clacked away on the touch screen.  He quickly looked over her in the few seconds she imputed his order.  

She had long, acrylic nails, painted a pastel kind of purple.  Her name tag said Cat, which he guessed was short for Catherine.  Maybe.  Also her boobs were big.  Not normal big, but stripper big.  Not that he would know, but still.  Too big for the word “boobs”, for sure.  Tits seemed like a more appropriate word.  If he had ever been to a strip club he was pretty damn sure stripper tits would look exactly like hers.  And she had tattoos covering the entirety of her left arm.  Classy, he thought condescendingly. No wonder she was working here instead of somewhere like a bank.

Michael wondered if she had tattoos on her chest as well…he was so sure he could avert his gaze before she noticed but suddenly her fingers snapped and her head lowered into his line of vision, a smug look on her face.  Small wisps of hair hung in front of her ears, he noticed.

“You lose something. buddy?” she asked.  

“I didn’t mean-I was just looking at your name tag.” he sputtered, fidgeting with a cuff of his sweater.  

“Look, it's fine. They’re tits.” 

Michael flinched slightly at her casual use of the word.  It was one thing to talk like that with other guys, but girls? What was she trying to prove?  Tits tits tits. He made a point to stare straight into her eyes and not look away while she continued to speak. “Its not a big deal, I promise,” she said, finishing up his order on the register and offering her hand to take payment. 

Choosing not to respond, Michael set his Tesco bag on the counter so he could unzip one of his pockets to get at his credit card.  The pocket it was in was hard to open and the zipper always caught, so two hands were needed.  

“You can look, you know,  just don’t be creepy about it.” she continued, as he struggled slightly with the pocket.  

Michael did not look at her as he handed over the card. 

Being branded a “creep” was the last thing Michael needed.  He was already the Lonely Nerd at university, he really did not want to become the Creepy Lonely Nerd (that ogles stranger’s tits).  Not that he would give a shit what people thought, but one less socially crippling label was better than one more.

“I mean, it’s not like I can leave them at home, right?  I don’t mind a little look here and there!” she said with a laugh, handing back his card. Unbelievable.  She was still talking about her tits! 

“Can I get that to go?” Michael answered more than asked.  

“Sure thing. Uh, what’s your name?”

“I’m Michael.” He was not staying here. He was not going to stay and become the Creepy Tit Guy.  Given her outgoing nature, Cat would probably have something to say about the way he ate his bagel, too, he was sure of it.  He would become Creepy Tit And Weirdo Bagel Eating Method Guy if he stayed. Maybe dealing with this at university would have been easier but this was supposed to be his relaxation spot. The coffee shop was ruined for him now, he would never come back.  Ever.  Fuck this place and fuck her.

“Alrighty, dude. Be right back!” 

“My name is not…dude..” Michael stepped away from the register, his voice fading away to nothing as Cat got his order ready, unable to hear him.  There was no one else coming in right now, it seemed he came during a lull. The other employees were still cleaning and restocking. 

“Here you go!” Cat said with a smile, handing him his bagel in a paper wrap and his coffee. 

Still not looking at her, he took his bagel and his coffee and got the fuck out of there, practically powerwalking away. 

 It was only until he made it to a nearby park bench that he finally saw what Cat had written on the other side of his bagel wrapper.  A whole paragraph, practically.  Michael, sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I was just trying to be funny, I swear.  Enjoy your coffee.  Hope you come back! 

Michael felt relief for a moment, before loudly groaning and spilling some of his coffee as he made to slap his forehead with that same hand.  He had left his fucking Tescoe bag at the coffee shop.  His bag that had his computer, his notebooks, his finished papers for a couple of classes. 

He had to go back.  Fuck.

“Yeah, sorry, but she said she knew you.”

Michael swore. The cashier informed him that Cat had just left, her shift was over.  She had taken the bag with her to the Oxford library.  Apparently, she was a student there?  Who fucking knew!?

“You need me to call the police?”

“No, that’s all right, I do know her.”  Michael lied.  “I told her earlier I’d be headed to the library later.  She probably figures she can catch me there.”  Without a single, civil ‘thank you’, Michael practically fled the shop.

He didn’t care how dumb it looked that he was frantically looking everywhere in the library for the familiar, turquoise hair.  People always looked at him funny.  It’s not like he could go to each of them individually and ask them hey could you please stop snidely whispering every time you look in my direction? Old Michael would go back to his dorm, have a cry, wonder why no one liked him and then quickly finish his homework in his dungeon of a bedroom before crying some more and then going to sleep.

New Michael didn’t give a shit.  New Michael was focused 100 percent on his academics and self-care, and right now his academics were in jeopardy because that Tesco bag held papers he had yet to type (Michael liked to hand write his work first, he felt it was more thorough). Also, maybe New Michael should better remember to not forget his shit at random shops.  Old Michael wouldn’t have forgotten. Whatever. 

After scanning the entire first floor of the library, he stomped to the second floor.  If she was a student here, how had he never seen her?  The hair would have been hard to miss.  Of course, it's not like he made it a habit to people watch anymore, especially in the library. 

Suddenly, he saw her.  Way in the corner, at a table right under a huge window, he saw her returning with her nose in a book from the shelves.  On the table, his bag.  

“Give it here.” Michael said, approaching the table.  Cat looked up from her book.

God, she was pretty.  He felt like a troll next to her.  It was so fucking unfair. More importantly though…why was he telling her to hand the bag back?  It was HIS.  He should just take it and go, without a word.  She had basically stolen it.  The girl was a thief and took it to give him a hard time because she was a bitch, like every other pretty girl he had ever interacted with and been cut down by. Maybe he could like her if he gave it a try…but the days of trying to get people to think he was cool or amazing were over.  She was a bitch and he knew it.

Mmm not what the note on your bagel showed, an annoying voice in his head began. That note could only have been written if she liked you because who would write that for a random customer?  You should talk to her an-  

Oh, fucking christ.  Old Michael.  Desperate-to-be-liked-by-someone-ANYONE Michael.  Shut the fuck up, Old Michael. You are dead.

“Yeah, no problem, I mean it is your bag!” Cat said cheerfully, closing her book and holding the bag out to him. “Sorry you had to run all this way to get it, Michael.”

“Um, it’s ok.  I run fast.” Michael said, immediately regretting it. God, that sounded so fucking stupid. He reached out for his bag.

Oh, so we’re no longer on that socializing ban, huh, Mr. Comedian?  I mean, what was THAT?!  Old Michael thought slyly. Shut up shut up shut up shut up!!!!! And, look!  She remembers your name! SHUT UP.

“-couldn’t just leave it there, you know?” Cat had finished saying.

Michael froze. “Huh?” 

What had she been talking about?  Shit. “Uh, why not?” Please let that be the right response.  Please let that be relevant to what she was fucking saying, Michael thought desperately. 

Cat rolled her eyes, but still sounded…not like a bitch?  “The laptop would definitely have been long gone if I hadn’t taken the bag.  I couldn’t just leave it there.”

Oh.  That was it.  That had been all she had said. Michael nodded and mumbled his thanks, ready to go…except Cat still held onto the bag. And stopped him with her next words.

“You play Fable a lot?”she asked.

It’s a trap.  She is going to make fun of you, he thought to himself.  Just get your shit and go. His hand was also still on HIS bag.  That she was not letting go of, for some reason.

“Yeah, I like it a lot.” 

Oh, how riveting.  That will make her swoon! Old Michael chimed in. 

“Really?” Cat responded.  Her tone wasn’t mocking.  It was…interested?  “I like it too but it feels unfinished, somehow.  I wish they would release Fallout 3 for these new consoles already, I bet it would be 1000 times better than this crap that Lionhead put out.”

Michael nodded.  She liked Fallout? She was impatient for the release?? Ask her to go with you to the midnight release next year!!! Ask her ask her ask her ask- No.  Shut up.  Be normal, for once in your life, be normal and chill about something. 

“-able doesn’t feel like it’s TRULY a good rpg, where you can do whatever you want, you know?  You can only go in one direction and can’t put off the main quest at all.”

She was still talking about Fable.  She was still talking about video games, something they both liked, something they had in common.

This is your chance, you know. Old Michael piped in.  Did any of those other people ever show even the slightest interest in the stuff you were into?  Ever? Ask her out!

“Ok,” Michael began. “I see your point, but the mechanics of the game aren’t the star so much as the incredible story and character designs-” 

While he continued to go on a tangent of Fable’s good qualities to Cat, trying his best not to sound too rant-y, Michael frantically gave the idea of asking her out some thought…

What if she said no? Hm what if she says yes? 

It’s stupid. The release for Fallout 3 is next year.  No, not even.  It’s October of that year, so…over a year away!  Almost two fucking years! What kind of weirdo would ask someone on a date almost two years from now?! Plus, she isn’t even into me.  She just likes video games, like any other person.  

Why is she still holding onto your bag, then? Old Michael thought smugly.  Why did she write that little note on your bagel? Why did she remember your name? Why-

All right, all right.  

“Right, so…want to come? To the midnight release for it?  For Fallout 3?” Michael asked, throwing all caution to the wind and swallowing his preemptive rejection rage that already was bubbling up.

“For Fallout?” Cat said, still holding onto the bag. “Which store you going to?” 

“Target.” Please say yes.  I don’t even know you and I know it’s weird to ask you somewhere practically two years from now but PLEASE SAy YES, Michael thought.

“Mm, nah.” Cat, said, letting go of the bag to dig in her bookbag.

Shit. 

Michael’s chest began to hurt, the hand holding his bag falling limply to his side.  He could feel his eyes begin to water.  She was just like the rest of them. Pathetic.  So pathe-

“You should come with me to Game on Queen Street, they always price cut!” Cat said, whipping out her blackberry. “Whatever price we show them for the game, they’ll shave 5 off it!  I mean, it’s not much but I’ll take what I can get! Here, put your number in.”

On sheer autopilot, Michael put his number in.  He felt ashamed the entire time, having choked back a scathing insult at the last minute before Cat had shoved her phone at him.

“Are you ok?” Cat took her phone back, eyeing him with a concerned look.

“I’m fine! It’s just-probably something I caught the other day, I can already feel the sniffles coming on and whatnot.  It’s nothing!” Michael babbled.

It cannot be this easy, Michael thought.  It’s been this easy the entire time?  Hanging out with a girl?  Talking to her?  Making plans?  Why did Oliver never like him when they had so much in common?

Holy shit, forget about fucking Oliver! You have a date with your future wife! Old Michael practically screeched. Jesus fucking Christ, you are desperate. Shut the fuck up!! Be Normal!

“You wanna go back to the shop and get another bagel?” Cat asked, putting her books away and sliding on her bookbag. “ We could use my discount, that way-”

“Yeah, let's go.” Michael cut in.  Grabbing her wrist and not waiting for her answer, he turned and began to swiftly move through the library.  He tried not to get excited as Cat uttered a quick ‘cool’ and kept pace with him.  

He also tried not to think about how awkwardly he was holding her hand. Everyone in the library was staring, he saw it in his peripheral.   It had looked so cool in his brain but now everyone could see how his stupid hand around her wrist slightly resembled him holding his limp-no no no no noooo shut up shut up SHUT UP. 

“Blueberry runs out quick.” Michael said, as they both briskly walked.   “I went one time at around this hour instead of my usual time and I had to settle for onion, which is gross as shit.” You’re rambling, Old Michael chided.  She fucking works there, she doesn’t need a play-by-play of bagel supply issues. Let her say something, idiot!  The reason he never noticed her before, it turned out, was that she hadn’t dyed her hair yet.  Cat also began to tell him about her history degree.  Something about the American Gilded age and how she was deep into research of the British Astors or something.  Michael surprisingly found himself not bored.  Were her eyes fucking green?  Oh, fuck, they were green!

They finally saw the shop in the distance.  Right after his anti-onion bagel tirade and her talk of her studies, he set straight into a long-winded verbal onslaught on the statistics of how rare green eyes were.  Micheal thought his heart would fall out of his asshole when Cat adjusted their hands so her fingers were laced with his.  About halfway through the distance, he had cut in when she mentioned her favorite bagel flavor (pineapple) and talked her ear off the rest of the way about his bagel eating method, insisting on its practicality but really prepping her so that she wouldn’t be horrified when she saw him do it and ditch him like fucking Oliver.  She laughed. 

“That’s so L.A. of you.  New York would hate your fucking guts, though.” she said, with a grin.   “Good thing I’m a California girl!  I’d rather deal with horrible traffic and scooped bagels than having to fight rats for sidewalk space.”

Right before they got to the doors, Michael went for it.  “I’m telling people that you’re my girlfriend.”, he said seriously.  She hadn’t run off when he had taken her hand (wrist).  She had noticed the Fable stickers on his computer.  She had remembered his name after one interaction. The American thing was a slight issue but hey, no one was perfect! 

“Cool, because I already told the staff that you were my boyfriend when I took your bag!” Cat responded. “I told them you like to pretend you don’t know me when you get mad and I just play along to pacify you.  It was the only way they were comfortable letting me take your bag!”

Be cool!  Do not fucking freak out! Act fucking normal! Do NOT scare her away! Say something a fucking weirdo would never in a million years say! Old Michael reminded him.

“Let’s go back to my place after and study some calculus.  Your grades in that sound horrendous.” Fucccccck.  You just got yourself a girlfriend and this is the shit you respond with?! Old Michael panicked. 

Cat smirked. “Only if you promise to fuck me into your mattress after.”

Michael stared at her, almost daring her to say she was kidding.  When she didn’t and her gaze briefly dropped to his lips, he abandoned any doubts he had and turned to walk away from the shop, practically dragging Cat with him.  

Cat giggled and adjusted herself to clutch at his arm with both hands, her legs and his in perfect sync as they made their way to Michael’s room.

—------------

“What the fuck?” Felix said to Oliver, pointing. Both were sitting on a bench, relaxing a bit before their next class.

 “Didn’t he go fucking mental at you the first day? Not to be a dick or anything but is she safe with that guy?”  

Oliver followed Felix’s finger and froze.  

He gaped at what he saw:

Michael fucking Gavey, math genius slash freak of nature, walking happily with the pretty American girl who had said no to their bar hopping invite just last week.  It was definitely surprising, but Oliver was now more determined than ever.  If a fucking social reject like Gavey could get what he was after, then someone like himself was sure to have the same luck if he continued to put in the effort.

THE END

[angel-gidget]

Gidge's Intro to The Challengers of the Unknown

First off, who are the Challengers of the Unknown? They are a team of adventurers. Their comic originates in the late 1950's, and it ran until 1978, ending with issue #87.

Their adventures are supremely stereotypical of the time. They start off as very pulpy sci-fi fantasy in the 60's and skew more mystical/occult through the 70's. They functioned as Jack Kirby's rough draft for the Fantastic Four, but even so, have slightly different dynamics.

Origin: Four experts in their field concluded that their survival of a deadly plane crash was nothing short of miraculous. They noticed that the watch on one man's wrist had stopped, as if frozen in time. The men--Ace Morgan, Mark "Prof" Haley, Red Ryan, and Rocky Davis--concluded that they were living on borrowed time. They decided to use that time adventurously as the Challengers of the Unknown.

One of their earliest adventures caused them to seek the help of computer and robotics expert June Robbins. As June helped them save the day on more than one occasion, she became an honorary challenger. Many modern references to the roster include her by default.

The Team

Ace Morgan is portrayed as a pilot in the 60's and has his wheelhouse extended to astronaut as we veer into the 70's. Ace possesses an even keel that garners instinctive respect, and this is why he is the default leader.

Mark "Prof" Haley is their resident "egghead". Because nerds weren't cool yet, Prof gets occasionally teased about having more brains than brawn, but that's usually ended by him judo flipping whoever was talking smack.

Since 60's common knowledge didn't differentiate between a lot of sciences, Prof kinda knows them all. Since deep sea diving is his main schtick, he'd probably be introduced as a marine biologist today. The only thing that isn't his main wheelhouse is computers/robotics. There, he is very much outclassed by June.

Red Ryan is is a skillful acrobat and mountain climber. He is also an asshole. I mean this with affection or annoyance depending on the day. 90% of interpersonal drama with this team is from Red being sexist or generally shallow and opening his mouth about it. However, this is often used as a device, and the point is to show that Red is wrong. Then June or Rocky or whoever Red was poking at saves the day. He does occasionally use his snark to be actually funny, tho.

While many of Red's words tend to suck, his actions show a lot of loyalty to the team. Perhaps the most endearing thing about him is the love he has for his baby brother, which is major plot point of some arcs.

Rocky Davis is the team's gentle giant. He is an expert boxer and wrestler, and as such, is often teased for a lack of brains or looks. As sensitive as he may be about that, Rocky is no pushover, and will gladly attempt to punch whoever was giving him too much grief (usually Red).

In truth, all four of the men do poke fun at each other for being confined to their niche roles, but all of them actually do posses the ability to move beyond them.

They all pick up skills in science, fighting, and the arcane from working together. Pretty sure they were all born snarky, tho.

So who are my Top 3 Fave characters from their title?

#1. June Robins

June is a gal of many hairdos and many talents all through the 60's. A mistress of computer science, disguise, piloting, chemical experimentation, and alien diplomacy.

Sadly, as cool as she began, the 70's did not do her justice. She was gone from the team for like, half of that decade, and when she returned, they gave her some fandom bicycle drama and a lot of damsel in distress scenarios. But at least they gave her a uniform to show she was really on the team. I'll take that win.

#2. Tino Manary

Tino is introduced in a very fun way. When Red appears to die in the line of duty, a teen music celebrity begins to use all his fame and money to attempt an assassination of the remaining challengers. For revenge. Bc he blames them for Red's death. And why does he care?

Because surprise! He's Red's kid brother! Once he realizes the challs aren't to blame, he starts popping in on occasion to help them. Or just annoy them. Or both.

#3. Corinna Stark

When Prof got shot by an eldritch-summoning cult leader, he appeared to be at death's door. That's when the cultist's daughter, Corinna Stark, showed up. She stuck Prof in one of her dad's cryo-pods to save his life. She agreed that her dad was quite evil and needed to be stopped, provided the challs with new uniforms, and served the team as Prof's temporary replacement.

While she clearly knew more about the occult than the sciences, this proved pretty helpful for the things the challs were up against at the time.

Corrina was introduced in the 70's, during that time June was going mysteriously unmentioned. It's seriously a shame the ladies never met.

I suspect the writers were trying to see if Corinna could be a good replacement for June, but their expertise and origins were different enough that it would have been cool to see what they could bring to the team if they were on it simultaneously.

Am I done talking about this crazy comic? No, but I'm pausing for now.

[mxtxfanatic]

Now for our Peerless Character Breakdown and Review! As always, beware of spoilers ahead!

Qiao Xian: *Puddin voice* but why? Why did you hafta do it? 🥺

Pei Jingzhe: oh my sweet summer child, it is truly a miracle you survived to the end

Qin Miaoyu: from a prop to a properly-paid employee, WE MADE IT!!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Ming Yue: go back to your paperwork, man, you've earned it

Zhangsun Bohdi: has martial prowess and can do paperwork, the best of both worlds for an underling! Wish you got the girl tho 😔

Yuan Sansi: aha, that's what you get, asshole 🤭

Fan Yu: terrible shizun, you do not deserve the title

Yuwen Yihuan: girl you existed for all of five seconds and honestly? you didn't even deserve those, either

Kuhezhen: you, too, existed for all of five seconds, and I wanted you dead for all of them. B+ villainy, points detracted for self-destructing like an idiot

Tuan Qinghe: you can go straight to hell Mr. “all I wanted was a fair martial duel 🥺” while wandering around POISONING PEOPLE cause your white moonlight asks you to. Fuck off

Xiao Lu: I haven't wanted an antagonist dead this badly since Xue Xiuzhuo from QJJ, A+ villainy!

Feng Xiao: a narcissistic bastard but just beneath the label of rat bastard

Cui Buqu: a bastard only kept in line by the limits of his sickly body (and even then...)

Feng Xiao x Cui Buqu: I love when assholes get together, like yes! keep your toxicity contained within your relationship! Love that for y'all 💖

Honorable mentions:

Emperor and Empress: for once no one made any stupid moves, so you and your kids and your grandkids got to live. Praise 🙌

Princess Leping: it is only be the grace and wits of your parents that you survived. The most unintelligent character of the novel, but she lived I guess 😒

Probably one of my top reads of the year. Idk if Meng Xi Shi has written any other works, but this one far outshines Thousand Autumns, and I loved that novel. This one is less about the martial world side of things and religious/philosophical discourse, but if what you want is a romance (with a nice side of political intrigue), then this is the novel you should start with. Feng Xiao and Cui Buqu are also so perfect for each other as they are simultaneously probably thr worst people they each know and also the most devoted to the other while refusing to openly admit it. Their characters were a delight separately and as a pair. The range of villains as well as their different, sometimes conflicting motivations also kept the story engaging and suspenseful as you never knew what wrench was gonna come out of the dark to wack you upside the head. Really, there was not a dull moment to be had in this novel!

The fan translation is fine but riddled with a bunch of minor grammar mistakes and word mixups ("he greeted his teeth" instead of "he gritted his teeth," as one example). I'm looking forward to how the official will clear up these mistakes. As of now, the fan translations are still up, but the novel has been licensed by 7seas and is currently releasing:

[accio-victuuri]

OCTOBER READS 📚

Another productive reading month for me! Manhua/Manhwa binge again and for those who are interested in what titles I tried, then this is the post for you. I don’t know what the next months will bring but I wanna get back to reading novels… we will see how that goes. for now, I just feel thankful that these works are out in the world for people to enjoy ^^

• The Tyrant Prince’s Last Promise ( Chapter 74 ; Ongoing )

Adapted from the novel, “the wife is first” so I see why there are alot of people following the manhua. Jing Shao ( MC ) is a prince who is good at battles and was made to marry a male concubine Han ( ML ). He didn’t treat him well for years but Han stayed by his side even if he was sentenced to death and was accused of so many things. Right before they died, he promised to treat Han better.

So his wish gets granted and he goes back to their wedding night. Then the whole story focuses on their relationship and how Jing Shao pays his dues and tries to be the best husband for Han. He also tries to make different decisions to prevent him from falling from grace like before. This story is just so fluffy and sweet <3 and i love their chibi versions! ☺️☺️☺️ I might read the novel to see where it goes but i have to say it’s a standard trope — and i will never get tired of it.

Guilty Affection ( Chapter 47 ; Ongoing )

Esper/Guide trope but this one is more problematic. LOL. The MC, Han Yoonjae is an undocumented Esper and living his life as a normal person. There is some mystery from his past because you can tell that he is strong but decided to leave his life as an Esper. Then here comes the ML, Cha Minhyung. A popular & strong guide who comes to his life and offers to be his guide and make his life better. These two have a shared past and the story tries to uncover that. Also what will happen to Yoonjae and his power. I really like his power, and I understand why he will be someone that everyone will want to control. The relationship between them is not really the “romance” type but more co-dependence and lots of smut.

Crushing Jade & Catching Pearls Chapter 51 ; Ongoing

This one is very unique, I have never read something with this plot. It is modern era, but the MC/ML both work as apprentices for an old art of sculpting. Tho the ML ( Ding Hanbai ) is much older and is more accomplished in the field. It’s really more of the relationship between the MC & ML and less “romance” so far. I feel like some people will find it boring, but there is something about it that draws me to it. and it doesn’t hurt that the art is pretty. Ding Hanbai starts off as an asshole who bullies the MC Ji Zhenzhu — but then they slowly become closer. The MC who is the goodest boy with puppy energy melts Ding Hanbai’s heart 💕

No arguing with Mr.Mo Chapter 71 ; Ongoing

The trope of Mr. Cold hearted CEO who is actually a simp for the MC is not new and I usually like it — I often root for the MC and hope they get together. But in this one, I find myself liking the ML ( Mr.Mo ) waaaay more than the MC. To the point that I don’t think the MC deserves Mr.Mo at all. I get that Xiao Nuo have some trauma and baggage of his own but his drama over nothing just irritates me. Mr.Mo is straightforward and clear with his intentions, but MC takes advantage of him, willingly or not, is not my cup of tea.

I won’t be continuing on, or if i do, maybe it’s to see Mr. Mo’s panels.

Hard Boiled Love Chapter 93 ; Ongoing

I only finished up until Chapter 40 cause I felt like there is nothing else for me as a reader to see, plot-wise. I could be wrong but maybe I will pick it up again when i’m in the mood. This is popular, and i understand why, the trope is catchy : Rich kid and his Bodyguard, then add BDSM into the mix. Boom! There is just no way that people will not click and read. It is a good read and enjoyable but I wasn’t in the headspace for that type of smut, the interaction of the MC/ML tho are sweet!!!! 💕

What captured me tho is the ML. Hwayoung Yoon. He is a lovable psychopath. He gave off so much Hisoka vibes ( from the anime hunterxhunter if you didn’t know ) and this type of character would do so well if done in live action. How he seems to be this sweet boy that his family dotes on but is secretly a sadistic bastard. I mean, look at him as a kid:

A master manipulator.

The MC too, Gyuwon, is well written. He is an ex mercenary who really wants to be someone’s sub ( in a sense ) but he doesn’t think that will happen because of how he looks. People have expectations of how he should be but lo and behold, he meets the fucked up Hwayoung. 😂😂😂 it’s more light and funny considering the subject — they could make the plot really dark, so i’m glad they didn’t.

Campus Trap Chapter 24; Ongoing

AHHHHHHHHHH! My new favorite. The omegaverse hoe in me is screaming! 🤍 too bad there are only a few chapters out. I honestly want to read the novel which is already completed but i’m still trying to figure out how to navigate korean sites. The plot of the story may seem dramatic to some, because it’s all about the MC (Chaewoo) who is an Omega and trying to make ends meet. He was once this kid who lived a pampered life but things changed and now he is a struggling student. One day, his Uncle, told him about the concept of a reset partner, which is kinda like a surrogate. So a dominant omega like him will be a surrogate to a rich dominant Alpha. He agrees and finds out that the Alpha is someone he goes to school with — Mister popular, Euigeon. It doesn’t help he doesn’t like the guy and Chaewoo is even jealous of his “success” cause he feels like he will be the same way if unfortunate events didn’t happen to him.

I LOVE IT. I LOVE THEM. The campus setting and the two being music students is also a bonus, it’s only beginning to be explored and I wanna see more. They have great chemistry and the way I squealed during the car scene. 😱😱😱 it’s also the type of story where I can’t wait for the ML to fall for the MC. I’m reading about Euigeon being this arrogant bitch to Chaewoo and i’m like— can’t wait to see you fall head over heels and regret your actions. It’s nothing abusive, if anything, I feel like his actions are reasonable cause he doesn’t want to make their relationship complicated. It’s supposed to be a business transaction. I wanna know more about ML too cause i’m sure he has so many issues that caused him to be this way. I have spoiled myself a by reading comments on the novel but i will surely keep an eye out on this till it’s completion.

Miss you, Lucifer 15 chapters ; Completed

A short Manhwa that is full of uwu and love! 🥹🥹🥹

If you want something to lift your mood up then this is the best pick. Honestly! It had everything: romance, comedy, angst and some plot in there even if it’s only 15 chapters. The premise is an “idol” from a boy group that’s not popular x A-list actor pairing. I don’t wanna spoil too much cause it’s better to just dive into it, and like i said, it’s not that long.

Business as Unusual 15 Chapters ; Completed

Another short one that I enjoyed. 💕

Tho i’m not a believer of getting back together with your ex. Lol. That’s the story here. MC/ML were a thing back in college and because of a misunderstanding they “broke up”. Years later, they meet again as office mates and rekindle their romance. I’m happy for the characters because they had a second chance at love and are now at a better place to stay together.

Considering the length of this, there was one scene that really stuck with me. The two are walking on the street late at night and ML is chasing the MC, he wants to talk but the MC won’t listen so he shouts:

“HEY! MY FIRST LOVE KIM MINJUN!” 🗣️🗣️🗣️

It’s so funny considering why it was said, to get someone’s attention — but also so romantic. It is like a scene in a k-drama.

Tied To You 64 Chapters ; Completed

I feel so lucky that I found this title in it’s completion cause i would absolutely go nuts if I had to wait, to find out what’s gonna happen next. As soon as I started, I couldn’t stop and took me 5 hours to finish the whole thing. So worth it. This kind of Manhwa is the reason why I keep reading, hoping that I will find something like this. It’s really something special. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

the synopsis is as follows:

It’s only sleeping together while holding hands, nothing else. That’s what Shin Wooseo tells himself when a red ring that ties a person to their soulmate appears on his finger one day. Once two people get tied by the ring, they cannot fall asleep unless they’re physically together. However, his destined partner isn’t his long-term friend and secret crush, Kang Jiseok, but rather his older brother, Kang Jigeon! And so starts the tragedy of loving one brother but having to share beds with the other. Although, it might not entirely be a tragedy, as Kang Jigeon doesn’t seem so disappointed about being tied to his younger brother’s best friend…

I don’t usually go for love triangle tropes, but this one is not really that kind of love triangle. The strength of this Manhwa is the storytelling. Every panel & interactions served a purpose. As a reader, you are pulled in and can’t help but want to know more. I also appreciated that we can see the perspectives of 3 different people, but moreso on the MC/ML. I liked the concept of “love” that was portrayed too — it’s something that you have to work and fight for. It’s a conscious choice and not all sweet gestures.

Now i wanna spotlight the ML, KANG JIGEON 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 If I was to rank my fave MLs from all the stuff I read, he would easily be in the Top 10. He is manipulative but in the best way because all he does is for Wooseo to pay more attention to him. I have to say that he ultimately sets up the “scene” but most of the time the choice is still with Wooseo. His devotion is very real and his approach to fighting for his love is ( to me personally ) admirable! GO GET YOUR BOY! I’m not even mad at him.

I’ve been wanting to read a character like him, a chaotic good if you will, and that’s probably why this made such an impact on me. It was hilarious seeing the comments of readers in the early chapters being sus about Jigeon and thinking he is gonna be an asshole ML. In the middle, they were confused whether to love or hate him and the schemes. Towards the end, everyone was cheering for Jigeon and applauding him. Lol. I guess he was successful in making the readers fall in love too. ❤️

The King and Me Chapter 36; Ongoing

The story is very unique, atleast to me, cause I haven’t read anything set in Ancient Egypt + Time travel. There is also some heavy plot aside from the romance and every character here is just beautiful and badass!!!! The first few chapters broke my heart. I swear. It was effective in setting up the MC’s quest and why he is so stubborn when he goes back in time. What he is after is so important. 💪🏼

I adore the MC (Zhang Li)!!! He is so smart and determined to find out the truth about his “Rocky” and the tyrant king. His circumstances are not the best, but he tries to adapt and is not some love sick fool. Even if the main reason that he is there is because of love. This story is still in it’s early stages and I feel like it could easily go up to 150++ chapters because of the plot and well, the progression of MC/ML relationship. It’s also a slowburn so if that’s your thing, you would enjoy this.

Manhattan Romance Chapter 40; Ongoing

This reads like the kind of novel set in a specific city, in this case, NY, and two people meet each other and fall in love. Of course there are challenges and issues between the characters and their environment but the central story is their relationship. I think people who will read this would want to be the MC (Hyeon), in a way, all because of how much the ML (Luwan) dotes on him. Hyeon has his own issues and he is a precious bean that is too good for this world! I’m so happy that Luwan is the person who “caught” him and not some toxic shit. Let them live in their penthouse and be happy, Let Hyeon paint more masterpieces and the two of them to travel the world. ❤️

Ordinary life of a Universal Guide Chapter 61; Completed

Because i’m a sucker for esper/guide universe I had to pick it up. There is really nothing “special” with the plot, it’s the usual for the trope. My comments sounds like i hated it or something lol but the truth is — it’s alright. I picked this up after reading really good ones ( tied to you & the king and me ) so this was an in between read. I can’t always be that lucky.

The Third Ending Chapter 67; Completed

OMG how do I even begin to describe this perfection. I’ve been seeing this on other people’s list but for some reason I kept putting it off. Funny how I always manage to “start” reading something really good just before bedtime — which delays the “sleeping” I should be doing 😂😂😂

First of all, I love the art. It reminds me of Omega Complex that was so pretty so that helped a lot. 🫶🏼

Synopsis:

Suh Yoonseul has had life easy—everyone likes him, he’s good at his job, basically everything has always worked out as smooth as butter. However, there’s something that brings all of his good luck down, and it’s the infrequent dreams he has of Kang Joon. Who knew that rejecting a guy once would hang so heavy on your life? To make things worse, after he runs into Joon the dreams keep on coming daily. At his wit’s end, Yoonseul takes some advice from a friend so that he can free himself from this jinx. It’s simple. Make Kang Joon think that he’s a nice person. That can’t be hard, right?

Yoonseul is one of my favorite MCs. He’s a chronic people pleaser and has this perfect facade that he presents to everyone. So when he remembers being mean ( showing his true self ) back in high school to someone who confessed to him — he can’t let it go. It was so fun to see him suffer when it comes to winning Joonie over ( AHHHHHH Joonie is the most precious and can do no wrong!!! ) because tbh his intentions weren’t good. He is selfish. The entire season 1 was such a treat. Seeing their relationship progress and I— I don’t wanna spoil anymore but this could easily be a kdrama. There was that scene in the snow. AHHHHH! I was screaming while reading it! Lol. Season 2 is sweeter and more on fluff, by that time, you’re already so invested on them that you don’t care about any plot. Personally, what I loved about this is their mutual obsession towards each other. I’m a fan of that. I like tropes that are about “fated pairs” or something similar.

Between the Lines Chapter 20 ; ongoing

Not gonna say too much about this and I encourage people to wait for more chapters but it has a solid start. The MC/ML are both likable. Especially the MC. The premise is also hilarious, cause MC is a bl writer who is having a writer’s block and needs an inspiration for his protagonist. Here comes ML, who acts like Mr.Perfect ( but he isn’t ) and inspires him. There is so much more going on here that I feel like will be explored more as the story progresses so i’ll definitely come back to it.

Necromancer Survival 79 chapters ; 2 seasons completed and s3 is TBA

I had no idea what was in store for me when I decided to pick this up. I have a thing for necromancers and this one has the whole “dungeons” concept to it so I was down. But like — this probably ruined every other story for me. In a good way. Now I want a plot-heavy type of story with the romance as a bonus only. All I’ve been reading so are heavy on the romance & relationship, this has that element too but you get really invested with the plot.

Synopsis:

When the weak and unconfident Choi Yikyung first found out that he was a user, he thought he had finally hit the jackpot. In Yikyung’s mind, Necromancy seemed like the ultimate mix of cool and interesting. Back then, he had no idea that the Necromancer class was the weakest of them all! But as Yikyung enters the newly reopened Tower of Spirits in search of enhancement materials, he is sucked into a mysterious area of the dungeon where he encounters a frightening corpse. “Ding!” A quest window pops up, and it says… “You have made a pact with Seo Dawon, a vengeful spirit.” When tackling quests, it doesn’t hurt to have a companion or two, especially if one of them is the spirit of an ultra powerful and handsome young man. After all, “it’s dangerous to go alone”!

Don’t let the art fool you. It’s not some bright and shiny story. I made the mistake of thinking it’s gonna be some g rated adventure story lol It’s literally a necromancer whose goal is to make a master/slave pact with all the members of a dead team. He has to fulfill their wishes and help them get their revenge— which means killing a lot of people. It comes with a price, because every summoning is making him weaker in some aspects. Also no one knows what the true power of a necromancer is so whatever it is he’s doing — they don’t know what will happen to him in the long run. I freakin love the concept and how it’s mixed in with the romance. Is Seo Dawon only attracted to Yikyung because he is his master or are these real feelings? How will this relationship even work when one of them is Dead? A huge bonus too are how likable the other characters are. Especially Jung Garam!!! 🫶🏼

I hope the Manhwa continues cause I wanna see them get that revenge! 💪🏼 I wanna know too if Yikyung’s power will allow him to resurrect people and if so, what’s the payment?

I see lots of comments that say this adaptation does not live up to the novel & source material. Which i get it — a Manhwa will have restrictions, especially on the themes. The novels seems more gruesome and explicit ( not the sexual kind ) which usually has to be toned down for a Manhwa to get a license. Plus from what I can tell, the Novel is like 500 chapters ++ with a concept so niche and is for a specific type of reader. So yeah… I’m not sure if I will pick up the novel. I don’t have that urge yet, tho I am very interested in the censored scenes and if it’s really as dark as people are saying it is. I have a feeling it’s right up my alley. && I read some comments that Yikyung gets more dangerous as the story progresses ( getting corrupted by the summoning and the practice of necromancy ). I’m very curious! 👀

If anyones decided to read this, lemme know what you think. 💕

Black Mirror Chapter 64 ; Completed

This is the perfect spooky + sexy read for the season we’re in right now. From the first page down to the end, I can’t stop reading and wanting to know what happens next. It perfectly captures that eerie feeling, even if there are a lot of explicit scenes, it’s still there. The author really planned this well and the artist perfectly executed it. I don’t explain more because it’s best to go into this blind and experience the story for yourself. Highly recommend ✨✨

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See you all next month ^^ & feel free to recommend me some titles! 💕