#will i ever evolve beyond the <3? probably not

[ofmermaidstories]

SUMMARY: The call to be a Pro Hero has never been a question—not for Katsuki Bakugou, explosive and guarded, nor for Izuku Midoriya, protective and determined, and certainly not for Shouto Todoroki, who’s family legacy hangs over him like a shadow. Years after the War that upended Hero Society, these three men have helped rebuild a path to Pro Heroism for the next generation, tentatively heralding a new era of hope. But there’s danger lurking in this rebuilt world, danger that has the power to rekindle old fears and usher in new resentments, and as the trio branch out to find and end these threats, they each encounter a new challenge along the way—colliding with someone unexpected, and falling in love.

(A Pro Hero x Reader Trilogy; in which falling in love is a random chance all at once chaotic and exhilarating and incredible, for each of the Big Three)

The premise is simple: three heroes, three fics, and three different lives to live. Named for the Katy Perry song, The One That Got Away, the In Another Life trilogy was originally intended to be a series of five stand-alone fics that evolved, fairly quickly, into what we have today: three interconnected stories that let our Reader-inserts move throughout the My Hero Academia world, and eventually find where—and who with—they belong.

Started in 2020 when the manga was still on-going, the fics have diverged from the canon Horikoshi’s given us both in small and large ways. Despite where they separate (and where the fics have to stay faithful to their own canon, now), it’s always been my hope that they read like the love letters they are—to My Hero, to the boys, and to x reader fic at large.

i’m running to your side—flying my white flag

1. surrender (whenever you’re ready) [Explicit] — ao3

93k+

Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

COMPLETED ✔️

SUMMARY: You first meet Ground Zero when he's thrown, unceremoniously, through the glass window of your florist shop.

(In which Bakugou cannot stand flowers but finds himself coming back, anyway)

i’ve been reading books of old—the legends and the myths

2. something (just like this) [Explicit] — ao3

203k+

Izuku Midoriya x Reader

COMPLETED ✔️

SUMMARY: It probably says a lot about you that your first thought on meeting Deku, international Symbol of Peace, isn't something like "Oh, wow," or, "Oh he's so nice," but is instead the un-Plus Ultra thought of, "I definitely would've bullied him, in high school."

At least until those muscles came in.

(In which Midoriya is an absolute nerd for the release of his own hero-inspired comic book series—and the artist responsible for it)

all your flaws and scars are mine

3. still (falling for you) [Explicit] — ao3

TDB

Shouto Todoroki x Reader

WIP 🕙

SUMMARY: The first time you and Shouto cross paths, he nearly drowns you.

(In which Todoroki meets a jeweller by the sea, and learns the difference between the value of the lessons he's been given—and the precious things he chooses to keep)

🚧 UNDER CONSTRUCTION 🚧

i am actively adding to and editing this section, still. if you think something is missing, or you have something you’d like included, please let me know!!! i am going through all the posts and links i do have, manually, so i may still miss something and would love a gentle reminder. 🌷

🚧 🏗️ 🧱🔨🔧🪛 🚧

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] do u think bakugou ever gets so angry his mouth misses [Readers] when they’re making out?

Katsuki’s home for once, sleeping off the last few days in the darkness of his room, cocooned.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] what type of jewellery would Bakugou gift [Reader], if any at all?

The first gift Katsuki gives you after Christmas is a pocket knife.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] merms, what are bakugou and weeds up to this christmas? :)

Katsuki wakes up before his alarm, before the sun rises—the city spread out beyond his bedroom windows like a carpet of stars.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] i miss weeds and katsuki so much 😭😭

It will be proper twilight, when they leave together; Weed's hand in the crook of his arm.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] how are weeds and katsuki?

It’s a Wednesday, a normal day, and they are figuring it out.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] petition for you to write [Reader sending] bakugou horny tweets

light it up like an ELECTRIC STRIKE ⚡️: please please PLEASE Kacchan has blocked me and muted the groupchat PLEASE, I need him to see this, please just send him this ONE THING, PLEASE!!!!!

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] would [it] be important to bakugou for [his parents and weeds] to meet?

Masaru will just scratch the side of his nose under his glasses and think about a younger Mitsuki, who literally would not take no for an answer from him—and a younger Katsuki, who had the same laser-focus when it came to the things he wanted in his life.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] i am asking for royal au + florist au for [weeds/bakugou]

In his armour still, his forest-green cape, Ser Bakugou is dressed for war—solid and imposing as he stands on your threshold.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [SJLT] what does [Reader] post [to instagram]? + [SWYR] things weeds would post

The one consistent has been art, good, bad and middling.

[ASK/DRABBLE 📖] [IAL] it’s so cute that SWYR’s reader is a fan of SJLT’s comic

Kacchan has never asked for anything from Izuku—beyond that he doesn’t look down on him (beyond that Izuku live).

[DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] katsuki keeps a pot of strawberries for you in his kitchen;

When they finally fruit he’s disgruntled.

[DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] katsuki’s quieter than usual

So you wait. You let him have his silence, and you fill the space around it with your own presence.

[DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] he tells me he’s gentle when he wants to be—

The bed dipping under Katsuki’s weight wakes you.

[DRABBLE 📖] [SWYR] you and bakugou walk home in the rain

“Y’re meant to go home, dipshit,” he says, disapproving

[DRABBLE 📖] [SJLT] bad touch (you and me)

Minoru’s skeleton nearly fists itself out of his asshole when a voice behind him says, “That was a kindness you just did, for Midoriya.”

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] if you were to write surrender today, do you think anything would change?

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] what would have been the moment bakugou knew he had it bad for surrender's reader?

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] what do weeds and bakugou fight about? and how do they apologise?

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] do you think bakugou ever feels like weeds would be better off without him? :(

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] have you ever written/imagined Kirishima’s POV [throughout the fic]?

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] how does bakugou and haru’s relationship progress?

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] idk if you meant her to come off in this way, but [Reader] strikes me as [lonely]

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] i’m literally going to throw up from excitement if you actually make a bakuweeds oneshot collection

[ASK ❔] [SWYR] i am vibrating in my boots with excitement about the [SWYR] one-shot series!

[ASK ❔] [SJLT] did you have any inspiration for the kimono Reader is wearing in SJLT?

[ASK ❔] [SJLT] looking forward to our [gala] wear

[ASK ❔] [SJLT] could we have visuals of Reader’s outfits during the gala?

[ASK ❔] [IAL] double dates

[ASK ❔] [IAL] what city/prefecture does [the series] take place in?

[ASK ❔] [IAL] how [would] the Y/Ns react to fanfic about their heroes?

[PODFIC 🎙️] [SWYR] surrender (whenever you’re ready) — narrated by Chthonianqueen

[PLAYLIST 🎧] [SWYR] surrender (whenever you’re ready) [plays on spotify]

[PLAYLIST 🎧] [SWYR] and i’d give up forever to touch you: a suggested-songs playlist [plays on spotify]

[PLAYLIST 🎧] [SJLT] something (just like this) [plays on spotify]

[PLAYLIST 🎧] [SJLT] like lightning: a suggested-songs playlist [plays on spotify]

[ART ✏️] [IAL] bakugou & weeds, deku and & scribbles & bakugou/weeds, deku/scribbles, monoma/reader — by @groshia

[ART ✏️] [SJLT] you get to witness, in real time, as [Deku] leaps from the now open door — by @getstarried

[ART ✏️] [SJLT] izuku, just izuku. just as he is — by @handlethegbread

[ART ✏️] [SWYR] when you’re bakugou katsuki, — by @okeydokiescribbles

[ART ✏️] [SWYR] haru + the flower shop signs

[MOODBOARD 🖼️] [SJLT] the moodboard trend inspired me to make this little thing

[MOODBOARD 🖼️] [SJLT] SJLT is my all-time favourite fanfic,

[MOODBOARD 🖼️] [SJLT] this is just […] a collection of things that reminded me of this story

[BINDING 📚] surrender & the widening sky — @ladybirdk

[BINDING 📚] surrender (whenever you’re ready) — @/captain-liar

[PODCAST 🎙️] Canonically Incorrect, episode 75, season 2: Surrender (Whenever You’re Ready) — 10 December, 2022

[ spotify | apple ]

[PERMISSION STATEMENT:] You are more than welcome to print out any of the fics and bind yourself a copy for personal use, or otherwise record a [non-AI] reading of them, or translate into another language—as long as my ao3 username, OfMermaids, is credited somewhere as having written it. 🥹📚 I also love, love seeing and hearing about the work that goes into the pieces you create for yourselves, so if you’re comfortable with it, I’d love to see a picture of (or get a link to!) your efforts!!

final note:

This series is the result of several years worth of love and work, and most importantly, encouragement from the people who have come along and read the stories in it. Whether this is your first time discovering the trilogy, or you’re otherwise revisiting the boys, this is a note to say thank-you for being here. Thank-you for reading, and for being apart of something that has been so much fun to create. Fandom and fanfiction has always been about sharing the excitement with other people—so thank-you for letting me share mine with you. 🌷📖

[geekgirles]

"I would've preferred it if Amalia were our Queen instead."

"Like many others, sweetie, but you can't say that right now."

"Where did Amalia go, Mum?"

"She's gone explore the world, like she usually does."

Okay, but this little piece of dialogue is crucial to understand so many things about the Sadida and their opinion on their royal family.

And we stan that little girl. Yes, baby, I, too, wish Amalia was queen instead. I don't trust Armand and Aurora as far as I can throw them.

It's already been established Armand resents his sister not only because of her wanderlust or the fact that their father seemed to favour her, but because so does their people.

The fact that there are apparently many who support Amalia, the younger princess, over her brother, the Crown Prince, comes to show that for the Sadida actions speak louder than words.

There is no denying that both royal siblings care immensely about their kingdom. Armand was in the front lines when Nox attacked alongside King Oakheart and many of Amalia's best, most mature moments were in relation to her wanting to protect and serve her people. Like when she decided to stand up against Armand and inform their father of Nox's attacks back in season one, or how she was more than willing to forego her chance to marry for love and marry Harebourg instead if that meant her kingdom would survive Ogrest's Chaos in the OVA.

The difference between the two of them, however, especially in the eyes of their people, is their actions or, more accurately, the consequences of said actions.

Armand is the Crown Prince, and he remains in their kingdom carrying out his duties while Amalia went off to explore the world and have fun, away from her duties. At first glance, that should make Armand the better choice in the eyes of the Sadida, except that also means they've probably been far more subjected to his less pleasant moments.

Having to watch your tongue out of fear of severe punishment or even death just because the prince is sensitive over his bad breath is overkill, plain and simple.

Not to mention, every time Amalia left her kingdom, her adventuring evolved into a life-or-death mission to save the world.

With Nox, the fact that she ran away allowed her to gain the intel needed to go back home and warn them of the upcoming attack. Something Armand refused to do anything about until King Oakheart entered the picture and took matters into his own hands, all because he couldn't believe his sister would ever be more than a spoiled brat trying to run away from her responsibilities.

With Quilby, what at first was a simple, humanitarian mission to retrieve his dofus and welcome the Eliatrope children eventually turned into a desperate battle for the survival of their world.

Again, in the OVAs, the entirety of the Sadida kingdom was aware and celebrated Amalia's sense of responsibility and selfless decision to enter an arranged marriage for their sake. I haven't watched beyond the Throne of Ice, so I don't know if the Sadida ever found out Harebourg's true plans for their forest, but if they did, all the more reason to respect Amalia for refusing to put her people in jeopardy.

Finally, people talk. In season 3, it's made apparent that since Aurora entered the picture (at the very least), the royal siblings' relationship has strained practically to the point of no return. And while Amalia isolated herself and mourned her father's deteriorating health, it's very likely the castle guards and servants bore witness to how the prince's treatment of his sister worsened each day. So I wouldn't be surprised if word got out and the rest of the kingdom sympathised with Amalia either.

Now, it is true that while Amalia does have a sense of responsibility and duty to her kingdom and a deep love for her people, despite her royal upbringing, she is not really made for the stifling life of royalty. Hence, her constant wanderlust. In that regard, Armand is indeed the most reliable of the two.

It just so happens that when it comes to personal flaws and his treatment of others he is wholly unreliable. It's his way or the highway. And that is a very terrifying quality for a king to have, to be unable to compromise.

But most importantly, what really sets these two apart in the way their people perceive them is that while Armand is a prince, Amalia is a hero. And she has proven time and time again that she will do everything in her power to assure everyone's safety and well-being.

And that alone speaks volumes of a ruler's true character.

[fanfictionismyaddiction]

Falling Into Place

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10

Word count: 1.1k

Pairning: Aaron Hotchner x Agent!reader

Summary: Y/n navigates the evolving dynamics of her relationship with her boss, Aaron Hotchner, as their children bond during a soccer game

______________________________________________________________

A few months had passed since that first day when you brought Ava into the office, and things had shifted in small but significant ways. Hotch was no longer the distant, almost hostile boss you first met. He was warmer now, more approachable, especially when it came to Ava. You often found him engaging with her when you had to bring her around, and she had taken a shine to him as well, always lighting up when he appeared. He’d even helped with some babysitting emergencies when you were stuck at work—a gesture that hadn’t gone unnoticed by the rest of the team.

Still, nothing much had changed beyond that. There was no crossing of professional boundaries, though you'd be lying if you said you didn’t catch yourself thinking about him in ways you probably shouldn’t. You chalked it up to the fact that he was a single dad, tall, handsome, with that authoritative presence that always made you weak in the knees. But he was still your boss, and getting tangled up with Aaron Hotchner wasn’t an option.

Today was Ava’s first soccer game, a moment you’d been waiting for ever since she started training with the girls’ group. She’d been so excited in the days leading up to it, constantly talking about her new friends and the little drills they did at practice. As you dressed her in her tiny soccer uniform—complete with matching socks and the cutest pigtails—you couldn’t help but smile at how adorable she looked.

“Mommy, do I look like a soccer star?” she asked, spinning around in her outfit.

“You look like the cutest soccer player I’ve ever seen,” you replied, crouching down to kiss her cheek.

It was a warm summer day as you both made your way to the soccer field. The air was light, and you wore a breezy short summer dress that felt perfect for the occasion. As you settled on the sidelines with other parents, you noticed a few appreciative glances your way, but your attention was solely on Ava.

The game was adorable—kids running around, occasionally kicking the ball in the wrong direction, laughing and falling over. There were no winners, no losers, just the sheer joy of playing. Ava was doing well, her little legs pumping as she chased the ball with determination. You couldn’t have been prouder, clapping and cheering for her from the sidelines.

As the game was wrapping up, you suddenly spotted Hotch making his way over, Jack and Rossi in tow. Jack, now ten, looked excited as always for his game, and Rossi was carrying a bag of equipment, cracking jokes along the way.

“Well, look who it is!” Rossi called out when he saw you, his voice warm. “The next Mia Hamm, right?”

Ava waved at Rossi with a grin, and you laughed. “She’s definitely working on it.”

Hotch approached with a smile, though it was subtle as ever, and Jack immediately ran up to you both. “Hi, Ava! That was a cool game. You play soccer like me!”

Ava’s eyes lit up. “Really? You play too?”

Jack nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, I’m on the big kids’ team. You wanna watch me play?”

Ava nodded eagerly, turning to you with wide eyes. “Mommy, can we stay and watch Jack?”

Before you could answer, Jack turned to Hotch. “Dad, can Ava and her mom stay a little longer? I wanna show her how good I am.”

Hotch’s gaze flicked to you, and you felt a flutter in your chest at how he effortlessly commanded attention, even in a casual setting like this. His eyes lingered on you for a moment—just a moment too long, and you swore you saw something flicker in them. You knew the look. He was trying hard not to ogle you in your summer dress, and the thought sent a wave of heat through you. But you had to push it aside.

“I don’t see why not,” Hotch finally said, clearing his throat. “We’ve got a little break before Jack’s game.”

As you sat back down, you couldn’t help but watch Hotch as he got involved with coaching Jack’s team. There was something undeniably attractive about seeing him take charge, giving instructions to the kids with his calm authority. His voice was firm but patient, and the kids clearly respected him.

Your eyes drifted over him—his strong, broad shoulders, the way he moved with confidence. It didn’t help that some of the other soccer moms on the sidelines were obviously eyeing him as well, whispering amongst themselves and giving him glances that were far from subtle. You couldn’t really blame them. Hotch was tall, dark, and ridiculously handsome, and here he was, being the perfect father and coach all at once.

Still, you had to shake the thoughts out of your head. He was your boss. You couldn’t afford to have the hots for him, especially with all those moms practically drooling over him.

Rossi, ever the observant one, noticed you watching Hotch and sidled up to you with a knowing grin. “He’s good with kids, isn’t he?”

You shot him a look. “I’m just watching the game, Rossi.”

“Sure, you are,” he replied, winking. “And I’m just here for moral support.” He glanced over at Ava, who was talking animatedly with Jack. “You know, Ava’s lucky. She’s got one hell of a mom. And between you and me, if Hotch wasn’t so damn focused all the time, he’d see it too.”

You flushed at his words. “Rossi, I—”

He raised his hands. “Hey, just saying. I see how he looks at you. And how you look at him. But you know, I think Ava wouldn’t mind if her mom found someone good.”

Your heart skipped a beat at his comment, and you looked away quickly, focusing back on the field. Rossi always knew how to get under your skin, but you appreciated his protectiveness.

As Jack’s game began, Ava tugged on your arm, asking if they could play together after the match. You glanced at Hotch, who overheard and gave you a small nod, a hint of a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

“I don’t see why not,” Hotch said, his gaze meeting yours again. And for a second, just a second, you felt the weight of everything between you—the unspoken attraction, the shared moments with your kids. It was all there, simmering just beneath the surface.

But for now, you pushed it aside, watching as Jack played his game while Ava cheered him on from your lap. You couldn’t help but sneak glances at Hotch every now and then, the way he handled himself as a coach, as a father. It was a dangerous game, letting yourself feel anything more for him, especially with all the other women around who clearly wanted his attention.

But something about the way he looked at you today—the way his eyes softened when they met yours—made you wonder if maybe, just maybe, he was feeling it too.

[ccuniculusmolestus]

so you know how richard literally worshipped henry and saw him as god (kinda) or at least this flawless being etc etc. this makes me curious in how do you think bunny saw henry? we know how he talked about henry rather positively during that lunch with richard. but did he also worship henry in the same level as richard's or do you think bunny had very different view of this man and could see him beyond his perfect surface??? love ur bunny posting btw :3

tank uuuu i love bunny posting also and i enjoy these asks os much so thank u for them :3

Did Bunny worship Henry like Richard did or not?

ok HUFF i have many Though.ts about this and theyve evolved ever since i read the book the first time. i wanna write a concise reply without yapping so i just cut like entire blocks of text.....sigh. let me try and gather my throughts for real

(irrelevant thoughts added with asterisk * at the end)

i think one of the biggest ways bunny differed from the others in the group-- and a big reason for henry's growing distaste for him-- was the fact that Bunny didn't worship henry like he SHOULD have.

Bunny, out of everyone (even richard), received the most amount of grace from Henry. Yes, Henry saved Richard from dying in that shithole in winter, and he 'saved' (debatable) Camilla from Charles, but how many times do you think, in the 3 years he knew Bun, did he pay for Bunny's food, clothes, and most likely medicine/inhalers etc. (thats another headcanon for another time i was just about to type a whole ahh paragraph). Considering everything he'd done for Bunny, Bunny should've been the one most devoted to him. And yet, he was ironically the least devoted. (but i'd argue he was somewhat of a devotee anyway)*

I say Bunny admired Henry enough to stick with him throughout the bachanal attempts. Given his conservative way of thinking and unserious attitude towards the practice, I was always baffled about WHY bunny even gave a shit about the bacchanal, why he didn't blow them all off. He surely didn't care enough to be involved in the practice for the sake of Francis (homosexual) or Camilla (woman, incest-er), or Charles (alabama) because by then he was disillusioned with them all. He gave a shit because Henry was doing it. He wanted to be involved because he wanted to stick by Henry.

Bunny's almost child-like dependence and clingy-ness (Read: How he drove Henry mad in Rome by following him EVERYWHERE. even to the BATH?) when it came to Henry was also baffling considering his brash and over-confident, 'masculine' character. He probs knew he was dependent on Henry, like a devotee is to a god. Or a son is to a father. (DONT. get me started on THAt. i have talked about it before i will no shutup ABOT it,)

So now we have established that Bunny did in fact worship Henry to some degree, but in the end he only saw him as another man (cough. A friend.) Because Bunny was not so detached from the rest of the world like Richard and the others were, he had a foot lodged in the door of reality and he only occasionally peeked into crazy lala cult land for the sake of Henry every now and then. He most likely assumed he'd be able to get away with it by just doing performative shit for his friends like wearing togas and singing in the forest lol.

Bunny's image of Henry's superiority or his godhood shattered in Rome, when he realized he was nothing more to Henry than...well, whatever Henry had called him in his journal. And also, that Henry was apparently crazy enough to kill a man with his bare hands. (MIND YOU, he read HENRY'S direct thoughts on the murder. Thus we can argue he knew about the murder more intimately than anyone else did. I just know Henry didn't really voice his true thoughts with any of the others (about how the murder probably felt exhilarating) but BUNNY read that shit. So thats when he realized just how fucked up Henry really was.)

Now, for richard and the others (particularly richard) the murder did nothing but lowkey solidify Henry's 'godhood' (and power) because these fucking morons were so detached from reality that they fr thought they were living in a greek myth or something. lame as hell. (me biggest greek class hater , hater #1)

Also I think its a bit karmic-ally satisfying how and why Henry meets his end lol. It IS through Bunny, and brought about by his OWN hand (Henry turned the letter, Henry pressed the trigger). But the reason Henry was really driven to it was because his own god was destroyed when he was shunned by him (Julian).

Henry's hand shoved Bunny off the cliff, but Bunny's hand wrote his ruin.

What does a scorned follower do when he loses his faith? He destroys his god. So Bunny's final act of prayer-- he destroyed Henry through Julian. Julian's godhood for Henry shattered when he abandoned him. An eye for an eye.

*Henry became extremely disillusioned with Bunny AFTER Bunny refused to observe the rites properly. Up until then, he was tolerating him despite everything, even the stupid stunt he pulled with richard LMAo. I guess the rites thing really showed Henry how little Bunny was willing to do for him, so he cut him out of the bacchanal entirely.

[sineala]

Hi there. I just got interested in 616 Steve and Clint dynamic recently, and I wonder if you can recommend some titles highliting their relationship? Thank you. 🥰

Steve & Clint's friendship is seriously one of my favorite things about Avengers comics. We start out with Clint annoying the fuck out of Steve, and over a period of years we evolve to Clint continuing to annoy the fuck out of Steve except they care deeply about each other now. Clint learned how to be a leader from Steve, is extremely, extremely loyal, and will defend Steve in basically any circumstance. This is not to say that they don't disagree, because man do they ever disagree. But they're good friends. I think Steve likes having friends who aren't afraid to disagree with him.

(I didn't know until I read Young Avengers v1 for the first time last week that Kate became Hawkeye while Clint was dead, because Steve gave her the name, because he was impressed by how she stood up to him. You might have thought Clint would have given her the name after he came back to life, but no. Whoever annoys Steve the most gets to be Hawkeye. Apparently that's the rule. What's really funny is that Steve also does this again to someone else in the current miniseries Avengers Twilight, for the same reason. Who gives him the most shit? You're Hawkeye now! It's great.)

So! A list of Fun Comics About Steve And Clint!

The obvious starting place is the Kooky Quartet era of the Avengers. This begins in Avengers #16 when Clint joins the team. For those of you who don't have this issue memorized, in Avengers #16 Steve is off fighting villains by himself in another country, when the rest of the founding Avengers decide they need a break. So Steve finds out when he gets back that they're all leaving, that he's the new leader, and that his new teammates are Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye, none of whom he knows, all of whom are former criminals and/or villains. I don't know when the Kooky Quartet era officially ends, but I can tell you that the team mostly contains Pietro and Wanda until #47, so I suppose that's the end of the Quartet. I read up to #35 relatively recently so I can tell you there's good Steve & Clint stuff up to at least that far, and probably farther. You get to see their relationship evolve into them deciding that maybe they actually like each other.

There are also a lot of retellings of early canon (and newer stories set in the past) that will give you glimpses of the Kooky Quartet era with a more modern sensibility. The thing I'm thinking of here is Avengers #1.1 to #4.1 by Mark Waid, which was a miniseries released in 2017 as part of Mark Waid's Avengers v7. I think the wiki lists it under v7; it was released in trade with the title Avengers Four, which isn't confusing at all. Anyway, it's all Kooky Quartet and it's great. You know how Waid's Man Out of Time series kind of rewrites and expands Avengers #4 to tell a new story? This is like that but for Avengers #16.

You might also consider series that are entirely early-canon retellings like Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (the miniseries, not the cartoon); I know that definitely goes up to the Quartet and beyond. There are two volumes of this series.

I unfortunately can't tell you what happens in most of v1 off the top of my head, but I can give you a list of Avengers v1 issues in which both Steve and Clint are on the team, because I have a big list of team rosters. After Avengers #62, Clint changes his codename to Goliath for a bit, but he's still there until #111 (mostly with Steve also on the team), then #142-147, then #172-177, then #181-182, then #221-232. This takes you up to the mid-1980s. After that, except for a few scattered issues, Clint and Steve aren't both on the Avengers again until volume 3, in 1998. (You will note that this is also true of Steve and Tony, and in fact it's for the exact same reason -- both Clint and Tony are on the West Coast Avengers, in California, for pretty much the rest of v1. Clint's other Avengers v1 appearances are #305, #309, #313, #397-401. So it's not a lot there.)

But, don't worry, Clint also has several cameo appearances in Captain America v1. Unlike Avengers, I don't have a handy list of these, so you can probably just go through Clint's appearances list on the Marvel wiki and see which ones are in Cap comics. I can tell you the three that stick with me, though! Two of them are Cap #316 and #317, where Clint and Bobbi come back to New York for a visit, and Steve and Bernie break up so that Bernie can go to law school in Wisconsin, and Bernie throws a party on her last night there that Steve is supposed to attend, except Steve fucks off to go superheroing with Clint. They talk about their love lives and Clint gets to use Steve's shield and Steve gets to use Clint's bow. Steve gets back to find out that he has entirely missed the party and Bernie has finally left him. Can't imagine why.

My other pick is Cap #401, which if you are a Steve/Tony fan you will know is the issue after Operation Galactic Storm where Tony finds Steve in a bar to apologize for everything he's ever done. But the reason Steve is in the bar in the first place is that Clint got sick of Steve sulking and came and jumped on his bed until Steve gave in and went out for a drink with Clint.

Clint does then of course make him talk about his feelings. It's a very sweet interlude of Clint cheering Steve up in his own unique way.

Volume 3 is the next time Steve and Clint are together on the Avengers since Clint left for the West Coast -- and, I mean, it's a good read anyway. This is when I set the one Steve/Clint fic I actually wrote, so here we see my biases. Clint starts out on the team right in Avengers v3 #1, and he stays there until #10, which is when he leaves to lead the Thunderbolts. (Note to self: read Thunderbolts.) You'd think at this point that Clint wouldn't be back with Avengers for a while, but he immediately comes back in #12 and brings his new Thunderbolts and gets into a fight with Steve about whether the T-Bolts can be trusted. Clint later pays the team another visit in the Avengers/Thunderbolts crossover "The Nefaria Protocols" (Avengers v3 #32-34, Thunderbolts v1 #43-44 -- but, you know, in more of an interspersed order) which is a lot of fun and I'm not just saying that because I have a 160,000-word Steve/Tony WIP that is set during it. Anyway. Kurt Busiek started out writing both Avengers and Thunderbolts in this era of canon, but by the time this crossover happened, Fabian Nicieza had taken over Thunderbolts.

There is also a second Avengers/Thunderbolts crossover during this timeframe, the 2004 miniseries Avengers/Thunderbolts #1-6, by Busiek and Nicieza. I haven't actually read it because I wanted to read more Thunderbolts first, but I can tell you it does have both Clint and Steve in it, although it's set after Clint has stopped leading the T-Bolts and has returned to the Avengers.

Yes, Clint does actually rejoin the Avengers proper toward the end of v3 -- he's there from #75 right up to #503 (it renumbered to #500 after #84), although I suspect that that's when he actually dies, because that's Avengers Disassembled. The only Steve & Clint interaction in that time period that really sticks in my mind is Avengers v3 #77, in which Clint takes it upon himself to give Steve some romantic advice that Steve definitely isn't asking for.

(If you've seen any of this issue at all, it's probably an out-of-context panel of Steve telling Clint he didn't say he wanted a woman.)

Once again, Clint also makes some cameos in Steve's comics, in Captain America v3. The one that's memorable to me is in the Capmania arc of Cap v3, which is the very first arc, #1-7. The TPB version of this appears to be called To Serve and Protect. Mostly I remember Clint giving Steve shit about Captain America's new, massive popularity (which turns out to be an evil Skrull plan).

So after Avengers Disassembled, Clint is dead until after Civil War, at which point Steve is also dead, so they're, uh, not interacting much. However, even though Steve is dead, you probably want to read Fallen Son (specifically #3), which is the issue where Tony learns that Clint is alive again and then immediately tries to get him to be Captain America because Tony only has the best and healthiest coping mechanisms when Steve is dead. Clint tries out the shield and uniform and then basically tells Tony to go fuck himself. So that's a no from him. While he's running around dressed as Captain America is also when he meets Kate for the first time and finds out that she's Hawkeye. Everyone is very angsty about everything because that's just what Civil War comics are like.

(I guess I should have known after reading this comic how Kate got her name, but, as I said. I hadn't read Young Avengers until last week, so everything the Young Avengers did in this comic didn't really register.)

The next time Steve and Clint are both alive at the same time is Avengers v4. Clint is on the team for the whole run (#1-34). Technically Steve is Commander Rogers of the Secret Avengers up until after Fear Itself, so he doesn't actually rejoin the team until #18, but he spends a lot of the first half of the run hanging around the Avengers anyway for some reason (it's because he's deeply weird about Tony). So you might as well start from the beginning because Steve's there a lot despite technically not being on the team. I can't say that Steve and Clint have any memorable moments in v4 that are coming to mind right now, but they are both there and it's a reasonably fun run.

Speaking of the Secret Avengers, Steve runs the Secret Avengers until #21. Clint runs them from #22 onward (Steve stays for the first couple issues of Clint's tenure, #22 and #23). Don't ask me how Clint can lead the Secret Avengers and be on the regular Avengers at the same time when Steve apparently can't do this, but this seems to be a thing Clint can do. It's probably because Clint's not weird about Tony. Anyway, the issue you actually want to read is Secret Avengers #21.1, where Steve actually hands the Secret Avengers over to Clint and they do some superheroing together, just like old times.

Clint was on the Avengers during Hickman's run, as was Steve, because pretty much everyone was on Hickman's Avengers at some point (seriously, have you seen those team rosters?) but I don't know that Clint and Steve had any really good moments. There was that bit in one of the Original Sin tie-ins (#30) where Future Clint told Steve he should kill Tony but I don't think that was a very good moment. I'm not sure that Steve and Clint have been on a team together since then because I honestly don't think Clint's been on the main team since then, though they've both shown up in events and so on. I guess you could read Avengers Millennium. That had both of them and it had some fun moments for them, by which I mean that one panel where Clint watches Steve punch out a lion.

In terms of Clint's cameo appearances in Cap comics of this era, I know Clint's been in Brubaker's run, although the only moment with Steve I can honestly remember is when he gets mad at Steve for not telling him Bucky was the Winter Soldier, in the Trial arc. And -- not by Brubaker but at the same approximate time -- there's a Captain America & Hawkeye series (#629-632).

It's part of the same series of Cap team-ups that includes One Night In Madripoor (Captain America & Iron Man #633-635), and in fact these are the issues that are right before One Night in Madripoor.

It's fun. Steve gets turned into a dinosaur.

So you might wonder at this point whether Steve appears in any of Clint's solo comics, and sadly I can't really answer that because I haven't read a lot of Clint's solo comics and the ones I did read didn't have a whole lot of Steve that I remember. Mostly I've read Fraction and some of the really early Hawkeye minis. @blossomsinthemist recommends the miniseries Hawkeye: Blindspot (2011), which I have not read but which does have Clint and Steve on the cover, which seems promising in terms of its potential to contain both Steve and Clint.

I looked at the beginning and it appears to be set in early Avengers v4. You see what I mean about Steve just hanging around the team. This is apparently following on from the events of the 2011 miniseries Widowmaker, and it's about Clint going blind. All the angst.

There are probably more Hawkeye solo comics that feature Steve but I don't know what they are.

To recap, in list form, vaguely ordered by Avengers comics in an era and then Cap comics in the same era:

Kooky Quartet: Avengers v1 #16-47

Avengers Four (Avengers v7 #1.1-4.1)

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes v1 & v2

Avengers v1 #48-111, #142-147, #172-177, #181-182, #221-232, #305, #309, #313, #397-401

Captain America v1 #316-317

Captain America v1 #401

Avengers v3 #1-10, #12

The Nefaria Protocols: Avengers v3 #32-34, Thunderbolts v1 #43-44

Avengers/Thunderbolts (2004) #1-6

Avengers v3 #75-503 (esp. #77)

Captain America v3 #1-7

Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #3

Avengers v4 #18-34

Secret Avengers v1 #21.1 (and #22 and #23 if you want)

Avengers: Millennium #1-6

Captain America & Hawkeye #629-632

Hawkeye: Blindspot #1-4

I hope that gives you someplace to get started!

[scarlet--wiccan]

Seeing the Wicked movie together feels like how Billy and Loki would reconnect after their latest friendship falling out tbh. I remember that Loki's at LEAST enough of a fan to know all the lyrics to The Wizard And I.

Maybe. I feel like the stunt Loki pulled on Kava is a little too extreme to be patched over with a movie date. To be clear, I don't think Loki was in the wrong-- and I do think that Billy and Teddy should be capable of understanding that, and forgiving them, but as rulers, they're in a tough position.

I don't think I've ever really written about this, but I was kind of disappointed and underwhelmed by Loki (2023). It was very well-written and I loved the artwork, and I thought the initial premise was really exciting, but ultimately, the series didn't have anything new to say or do with Loki's character. After so many stories about breaking the cycle of what it means to "be Loki", seeing them once again forced into playing the villain in order to save the day-- and bearing the brunt of everybody's consequential hatred-- felt like a step backward. It felt punishing. And it's ground that we've retrod several times since Agent of Asgard, particularly during the Aaron era, where Loki often appeared to be treading water until finally breaking through in the War of the Realms finale.

There is, of course, more to Loki than that, and I want emphasize again that it was very well-written, and the character felt extremely well-realized, but overall, the character ends in a worse place than where they started. And I think that was especially stark in #3, because Billy and Teddy are their established friends who have, particularly in War Of The Realms, been able to hold a very nuanced dialogue with Loki about empathy and forgiveness. To end the issue with Billy echoing that old, tragic refrain-- "damn you"-- was a little heartbreaking.

In Thor (2020) #24, and, subsequently, Defenders Beyond, Ewing set Loki back on the path they'd started down in Agent of Asgard, culminating in Immortal Thor, where they have evolved into a fully realized "god of stories" who can play multiple roles, including the villian, when necessary, without setting back their relationships or personal growth. Loki (2023) was a weird interlude between Defenders and Immortal that wasn't written by Ewing and doesn't quite fit into his vision for the character-- rather that try to resolve it, Ewing's mostly just stepped around it. It's probably a long shot, but I know Ewing likes Billy and Teddy a lot, so I'm holding out hope for a reconciliation between them.

[inthedreamatorium1]

God I have so many thoughts about this one. It's going to consume me for the next 2-3 business days.

First of all, Colin is looking FINE. The tousled hair, the open shirt, the relaxed way he's wearing the dress coat. The man is RELAXED. Every time we saw him at home or when he was with his family (the exception being Violet told him Penelope was about to get engaged), he was very buttoned up and dressed properly. He was so tense and wearing his armor. Now, with Penelope, he has shed the armor and he's physically and mentally relaxed. The man has zero worries right now (rip).

Then we have the crinkled up paper? HE IS WRITING!!! Did Penelope motivate him to revisit his journals? Was he inspired to go through them and start editing them because he has the support and love of Pen? He's finally inspired and motivated and can finally be the nerdy loser self he always was. <3

Now, Eloise. I wouldn't be surprised if this is from episode 5, maybe the day after they announced their engagement. I've seen some people speculate she might be trying to tell him Pen is LW. I don't think she's there yet as she's given Pen an ultimatum and I believe El would honor that. What I'm guessing is that she's trying to sus out whether or not Pen hoodwinked him into proposing. Or trying to see how he really feels about Pen. I love Eloise but she's not the most observant person. Her best friend for years was in love with her brother and she had zero inkling. So, to her, the engagement probably seems completely out of left field. Colin never once showed a romantic interest in Pen before (in her eyes. and this goes back to the idea that no one ever considered Penelope a viable love interest for Colin. Like HELLO? How anyone could write off his yearning is beyond me. The ton are a bunch of idiots), so clearly Pen may have done something to force his hand. I'm hoping this is where he tells Eloise that he wants to marry Penelope and that he came to this decision all on his own and to please respect my wife, thank you very much.

(bless you, Eloise, but that man was literally on his knees in front of Pen begging her to love him)

Colin and Eloise are such an interesting pair and I'm looking forward to seeing how their dynamic evolves in part 2. In the book, these two were always super close so it's fun to see that translate into the show. Eloise cares about Colin and I have a feeling she's going to do something that forces Colin to firmly tell her to back off. Luke and Claudia have such natural chemistry and play off each other so well, it's going to be fun watching them.

Basically, I'm excited for any scene where Colin tells anyone and everyone how amazing Penelope is and how he is stupidly in love with her.

[starscape724]

Why Splatoon means so much to me - a longgg post by StarScape

About a day ago, it was Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion's anniversary, so I'm gonna yap about how I feel Splatoon has really redirected my life and inspired, and still keeps on inspiring me.

In 2018(I think), I got my first ever Nintendo Switch for Christmas and my parents had bought Splatoon 2 along with it. My sister and I BEGGED for Splatoon before this since we both found it cool and intriguing. We played the campaign, loved it, and then learned about Octo Expansion.

Octo Expansion was the turning point for me, and a lot of other players. Truly learning about how Splatoon dives into darker themes and complex characters without fear. Throwing you into a different perspective in a war, making you think: "Who really is the bad guy in this scenario?"

Splatoon 3 then came out, when I tell you I FLEW at the announcement and got on my hands and knees asking my mom and dad to buy it day 1, which was a success, by the way. I sped through the story mode, maxed out my weapon, explored every crack and crevice of the Alterna, and completed After Alterna. Had a friend try it out during this time as well, and was super stoked to have an interest of mine be a shared one.

The way Splatoon, by itself, is simply just a funny, cute, E for everyone game where squids shoot paint at each other, but then the more you look beyond the surface, the more it feels more alive and real. The Splatoon universe is our universe, but changed, evolved. The Inklings and Octolings are clueless to the darkness of the world and focus on turf wars and fashion, just as we are until we study it for ourselves.

Splatoon has REALLY stood out to me among any other franchise, and I never get bored over the little world Nintendo's created, and keeps on creating. The art, the different genres of music, the characters, I fall more in love with the game everyday. The way it represents different people, different cultures, and clashes them together in harmony.

I may sound like a nerd, and it's probably true, but I will never forget about Splatoon. Because of Splatoon I feel motivated to draw more, because of Splatoon I feel less afraid to make friends and be myself, because of Splatoon, I open up to new ideas and try them out for myself. In the end, art, music, passion, it's what makes not only Splatoon's world, but our world, so vibrant.

It's really, REALLY, late as I type this, and I'm sorry if it doesn't make any sense or says the same thing over and over again lol. TLDR; I love Splatoon and it drives me to create more. For me, for you, and for everybody.

[bthump]

this has probably been asked here before but how likely do you think it is that the author actually truly intended for Griffith and guts relationship to be romantic? How likely do you think it is we’ll get a blatant confirmation (eg a confession of love beyond being friends or even a tragic kiss) and if it does happen do you think it’s likely we’ll get an explicit confirmation on both of their ends so we know the feeling is reciprocated (because I know guts feelings can be underestimated sometimes compared to griffiths). Likelihood as a percentage or on a scale from one to ten lol. I think it’s already pretty obvious enough for me to be satisfied whatever happens but it would be nice if there was an undeniable proof of mutual romantic love. because I think no matter what happens if it’s anything less than spelling it out word for word people would still make attempts to deny their feelings which is kind of sad to me. But I could be wrong of course and romance wasn’t intended by the author. Either way I want them to reveal their feelings for each other whether platonic or romantic.

I'm cynical, so I feel like the odds of something textually romantic happening are like, 2/10 at best. Might've gone up to 3/10 if Miura was stlil alive since it's getting more and more common to confirm gay subtext and that might've influenced him, but since it's being written now by someone determined to adhere to the plans Miura told him, whatever happens is frozen in amber circa Miura and Mori's last conversation, with no room to evolve.

That's all pretty much a moot point anyway because again, I think the odds were always gonna be pretty miniscule anyway.

That said, I think the odds that Miura intended the gay subtext are like 9.5/10 lol. I think the romantic undertones are almost certainly deliberate.

I guess I just don't think it necessarily follows that the point of the subtext was ever to eventually become text. I think it was probably there for a lot of potential other reasons: to add a sense of depth and complexity to their relationship; to add more chemistry; potentially to appeal to women; to suggest that their relationship had the potential for romance that will never be realized therefore making their relationship even more all-encompassing and adding to the tragedy; serving the theme of childhood trauma fucking up your relationships; etc.

Of course I'd be overjoyed if it was acknowledged eventually, and I think the story would ultimately be better for it, like I'm not gonna say it's ~deeper~ if it stays subtext lol. But I think that considering the main target audience for Berserk is horny straight dudes, and while it's getting more common it's still very rare to have textual gay romances between two leads, and almost unheard of in legacy media properties, I just don't think the odds are in griffguts' favour.

Oh, though I do want to add that I'd say the odds of getting an acknowledgement of intense feelings between them post-eclipse is very high. I don't think it'd likely be a romantic confession, but yeah I think it seems very likely that Griffith and Guts are going to acknowledge the intense emotional hold they still have over each other. And if that happens I'll be happy even if it's not textually romantic. I'm sure it'll at least be homoerotic enough for me lol.

Thanks for the ask!

[just-a-carrot]

We know genzou has feelings for iggy since high school but at what time did Orlam and gidget develop feelings? Gidget also probably in high school from some of the flashbacks but I never caught on about orlam

you mean for iggy??? gidget i would say was kinda slow throughout middle school as the two of them would hang out in computer class together and work on projects together after school. it was probably the type of thing where iggy did or said something completely innocuous and gidget was like 😳 and suddenly realized maybe they like-liked him and it just grew from there

orlam did not like iggy at all when they were kids (beyond friendship i mean)

technically ow finale spoilers here because i need to separate these:

in main game timeline, orlam did not have any thoughts about iggy beyond that of friendship until arc 3. he'd probably thought iggy was cute before that because orlam kinda thinks a lot of people are cute, but he'd never taken it beyond that in his mind until iggy showed genuine care for him in his time of emotional fragility

in post-game timeline orlam!epilogue, orlam would have developed feelings over the course of high school as they hung out more and more

in post-game timeline neutral!epilogue, orlam would never "officially" develop feelings for iggy and instead would just think he's cute for a long time, and though he likely entertained the thought of what they could be like together and has genuine affection for him and enjoys teasing him, he wouldn't ever go beyond that given how different they are from each other and the assumption that they would never work, so it just stayed a fun little game for him. i would say only after iggy starts specifically reaching out to him that this evolves into true flirting, which evolves into him actually considering it, which evolves into the end of orlam route OC

[phading]

Hi, it's me!

Okay, so there’s probably a lot you don’t know about me. So just in case you’re in the least bit interested:

I try very, very hard never to read incomplete fics. Purely selfish, and the result of reading far too many heart-grabbing stories that never got finished. If you need kudos or encouragement or anything else to continue, I’m here and over the moon excited to read anything you’d like to throw at me. Just let me know what you want in return - comments, critique, suggestions, hugs, encouragement, emojis, whatever ...

I posted one fic a chapter at a time, and I doubt I’ll ever do it again.

Characterization is everything.

If you’ve noticed an absence of Brains, Grandma, Lady P, Havoc, etc… in my fics it’s because I don’t give a twit. Perhaps one day I will evolve beyond this simplistic state.

I suck at prompts, challenges and deadlines. My muse is never in the right headspace at the right time.

I have a ridiculous need to keep it believable when really, the stuff that goes on in the show – no matter how much I adore it – is often somewhat miraculous.

It’s the future, people, I’m allowed to invent things.

In real life, I write kids’ books.

To the best of my knowledge, I’m the oldest member of the Thunderfam. Challenge me if you think you can claim the title.

The first thing of importance I ever wrote was a full length Star Trek Next Gen novel which I submitted to a few select New York publishers (oh, the innocence of youth) . Surprise, surprise, many of them actually read it and sent back comments written on famous restaurant napkins.

So, in light of all of the above, I’m once again doing my own thing. Inspired by the recent “10 opening lines from 10 recent fics” post I’m changing it up to “10 opening lines from 10 WIPs”.  I mean, seriously, I’m a newbie here and have far more WIPs than I do finished fics. So here’s what’s – pray to the anti-depression, anti-chronic pain gods  – coming up …

A WHOLE LOT OF SUPERFICIAL The uniform discarded in a heap on the floor outside the showers was expected – the purple neoprene wasn’t. (Virgil, Scott, shaping up to be humour)

THE LAST ZOO ON EARTH “Say again, John. I thought you said we have a situation at a zoo.” (All brothers, major rescue, major whump, pissed off Gordon)

THERE ARE NO CANNIBALS ANYMORE “Sir! I need you to calm down!” (Hurt Virgil, this one could go graphic in a hurry)

IT DOESN’T HURT Virgil glanced up from the piano keys, searching for inspiration but instead witnessing his fish brother's spectacular dive off the board – a dive that would leave his re-built back in shambles. (Fishtank, chronic pain)

TIGHT ROPE “I’m sorry, John, but if she’s dumb enough to try and pull off this ridiculous stunt, I see no reason why we should save her from her own stupidity.” (rescue gone sideways)

STARSTUCK Alan Tracy had been looking forward to this moment for a very long time. (Hurt Virgil, guilty Alan, Thunderbird 3 whump)

STELLAR “Hey, John, what’s this?” “It’s personal, that’s what it is!” (Guilty John, comatose Gordon, poetry, John has a secret)

CASPIAN John Tracy blinked open his eyes, breath catching when he discovered the most beautiful thing in his universe mere centimetres from his face. (John, OC-John’s lover, angst, Marks and Wings, John is not only a telepathic Ave but he’s bi!)

PSYCHOTIC MEDIUMS The probe entered Earth’s solar system broadcasting a symphony of alien sound that instantaneously drove the half-a-million or so humans who were listening insane. (Virgil centric, angst, sci-fi)

THE JOHN-CODE “Hey, Eos, you wanna help me test this new game?” (Alan, John, Eos, virtual games gone wrong.)

[bettsplendens]

Hello and good evening, may I kindly ask for some orollow propaganda pretty please I'm curious 👁️ (anon bc I'm shy but we interacted earlier I'm following up on my words)

Important author's note: check the notes in a bit for a reblog on my writing blog, ft. first kiss.

hello yes you've activated my trap card (the trap is that now I talk about bugs)

(unfortunately I have my own trap card tripped. namely: headache. hopefully there is coherence.)

First, some background. I swiped a headcanon from author NurgleTWH that Oro was some flavor of battlefield/wartime medic, and I then brought him into my post-canon longfic to be useful in two capacities: a good deal of experience with severely injured bugs, and being large enough and strong enough to easily move, say, the entire Hollow Knight.

He shows up in chapter 3, is introduced to Hollow, and proceeds to pick them up to move them. Hollow, who is reeling and deeply confused at being rescued, on a great deal of pain medication, and being bridal carried, manifests a large number of question marks at the entire experience. He then gets a proper look at the place where their shoulder, part of their flank, and a bit of their lung should be, and immediately swears about it. Cue solidly over a chapter of careful examination, involving him handling them as gently as he can, talking to them, and helping to get the gunk scrubbed off their everything. Very confusing for our favorite sacrifice.

I then had two people in my comments mention that it seemed like there was a spark of something between them. Now, they're both too preoccupied for that something to be romantic, but there is definitely something.

And then I thought about the ship idea, and, oh no. That's really good actually.

So! Propaganda.

There's so much potential for that first meeting. Hollow gets probably about the first gentle medical attention and respectful handling they've had in their entire life, and Oro gets to meet the most terrifyingly stubborn bug-thing he's ever met in his life.

A lot of potential for how that evolves, too. Hollow gradually coming out of their shell, getting more of that gentle care, and Oro finding to his surprise that this incredibly traumatized, terribly injured warrior likes and trusts him.

They get along well, once used to each other. They both have a tendency to socialize like cats- they quietly sit near whoever it is, probably doing their own thing. Hollow ends up leaning on him a lot.

(Oh, that's another bonus of Beetle Big, beyond him being able to pick them up. He stays warm a lot longer than a small bug would.)

Important to this ship, I think: at some point in the future, when they both start to realize they've been mutually wandering towards something more than quiet companionship, it's Hollow who makes the first move. Oro doesn't dare- he worries about inadvertently pressuring them, and he also doesn't entirely think they like him entirely this much. He's a cranky bastard with nothing much to offer. Probably why it takes him a bit to realize what they're up to when they keep quietly bringing him things. He works it out somewhere around about the second live orchid, I think.

They're both idiots, a little bit. Hollow doesn't entirely think to inform him that they're trying to court him, and he goes "well. that can't possibly be what it looks like." for a somewhat entertainingly long time.

They also find each other's prowess in combat to be extremely attractive. Vessel observation pro tip: one can easily tell whether the large beetle in the sparring ring is Mato or Oro based on whether Hollow, watching, looks either mildly interested or like they're about to pounce on him. (My angle on Hollow is demi. Mato is also an impressive fighter, but they don't have enough of a relationship with him, or anything near the right sort, to find him attractive.)

Another stolen headcanon: Oro embroiders. Extension: Hollow picks up on his (canon!) liking for small, pretty things and brings him assorted live plants about it, Oro quietly embroiders matching flowers on things for them to wear. It's very sweet.

Neither of them is overly expressive in most circumstances, but Hollow does routinely go to exchange affectionate little head-bonks regardless of if there's an audience, and Oro hasn't turned that down yet. He also, very rarely, approaches them for quiet public affection, and they light up every time. (there's a lot more affection in private. Hollow likes to pour themself into his lap when given the opportunity.)

Basically: grumpy bastard loner with a soft squishy center under all the armor meets lethal eldritch creature who's learning how to exist without the chains they were born into, somehow they wind up being sweet at each other. Woe betide anyone who threatens either one of them, because they both know the other is able to handle themself but like fuck are they not going to react anyway.

Mildly/moderately NSFW bit below this cut:

Hollow, post discovering their libido (mainly by means of picturing themself and Oro in the place of the characters in a smut novel they're reading), turns out to be much less wary and much more enthusiastic about sex than expected. Yes, their body is doing new things and sort of inventing genitals from scratch, but they're thoroughly enjoying themself and they trust him entirely. They're done with fear and shame, they've got a few years practice under their nonexistent belt and are very firmly done with fear and shame about their reactions and desires, they're just going to enjoy.

Oro, first time: I need to be careful and gentle. It's entirely possible they're going to not like this at all, or need to take things as slowly as possible. Hollow's libido, revving up: pin me down and bite me please

(Wyrms that choose to find a mate only to breed will often battle for who has to carry the eggs, as they all produce both sets of gametes but generally prefer not to spend the resources required to carry a clutch instead of siring it and leaving. Whichever wyrm ends up the egg partner typically also ends up being wrapped in coils and bitten as a sexy-for-wyrms method of restraint. Hollow comes already wired to find this sort of thing hot, stacks their enjoyment of Oro's strength on top of that, and adds their own biting kink to what came with instinct.)

Hollow deeply needs many opportunities to shut their brain off and let someone else do all the thinking and worrying about things, Oro likes to have a partner relax for him to give all the attention to. Lines up perfectly- they get to lay back, purr, and have nothing to worry about except showing what they like, and also to make use of their lack of abdominal organs for size queen purposes, and he gets to have this unearthly, beautiful creature squirming and purring for him.

Sooner or later Hollow arranges for some entirely unobserved time in the sparring ring, riles Oro up enough to get him to actually handle them roughly and pin them to the wall, then convinces him to continue handling them roughly in an entirely different faction. They're gonna claw the hell out of that wall, and fall over afterward on discovering that their knees temporarily don't work.

Hollow has about five essentially-prehensile tongues. No further words needed, I think.

[somorrow]

Hi! I'm sorry to do this over Anon instead of engaging with your poll properly, but unfortunately I am crippling shy. Regardless, I love your fics, so I wanted to interact. I sincerely hope its not overstepping, and I apologise if it is because I know how presumptuous it sounds and I recognise I have no right to expect it and would never assume so, but personally I want to suggest an option that isn't even presented in the poll. I would love it if you would leave the current version of In Hell up, and post any rewritten or revamped version as a separate work, even if you changed or swapped the names to clarify that the current version was an old WIP version.

I completely understand how things have changed since you began writing it, and it will always be your choice and your perogative what you do and where you go with the series, but I love the current In Hell and all of its branching storylines. And while I'm excited to see any new directions it could go in, I feel like I would mourn it if the version I've come to love disappeared. I would miss it. AO3 is an Archive, and I would love it if you would consider leaving it up as an archived, older version of your work, even if it would no longer be considered going forward as the 'true' timeline of your story.

I understand that you probably view your own writing differently now, and I'm so glad you have found fresh inspiration. I'm glad your ideas have evolved and I'm greatful for everything you've shared and everything you will share in the future. It's a privilege to be able to enjoy your stories, and it would be a privilege to continue reliving them. They've brought me so much enjoyment and nostalgia, and as cliché as it sounds, I think experiencing your writing really did help me grow and understand myself better as a person through a medium I cherished throughout all of my formative years. Your stories are some of my all time favourites.

I'm also sorry if this sounds clinical, I have a hard time finding the right words, and I struggle to convey my meanings in a way that doesn't sound outright brazen. I'm so so aware that every chapter you've ever uploaded has been a gift. It doesn't feel right making requests, but I didn't see the harm in suggesting it in case it's an option you may find appropriate to consider. I really am grateful to you, no matter the outcome. Thank you for sharing your writing, I appreciate all of the time, attention, thought and effort you put into your very clear labours of love. <3

First, thank you. It sounds like you’ve dedicated a lot of time to reading my works, and I’m beyond appreciative that you’ve been impacted so thoroughly. Anonymous or not, your opinion matters. Please, don’t ever hesitate to send me a message. I do my best to respond to everything, but my busy schedule sometimes causes delays. Rest assured, I will always get back to you eventually. Secondly, I have a rather long response incoming, and I want to assure you that none of what I say is personal. This is just me explaining my thought process. 

I’ve thought about your suggestion for a while, and while I’m not entirely opposed to leaving the work up, I feel very strongly compelled not to. My goal is to finish the universes/fics I’ve started and then to move on to original work. What I leave behind here is something of a “legacy” to me. I can think of at least two fanfics that I’ve read over the years that really impacted me, and I wanted to be that for someone else. Naruto has always meant a lot to me, and so much of Naruto’s plot and the characters were handled poorly in canon. I’ve always done my best to do things accurately, but going through these fics years later, I realize I haven’t always done that. 

Unfortunately, the beginning of In Hell (formerly The Second Path: Hell) is something I really can’t bear to look at. I know I’ve deleted probably far too many works as is for the same reason, but for it to even be there mentally impedes my progress, if that makes sense. As a perfectionist, it’s hard—if not impossible—for me to let it sit there. I have a certain story to tell, and I want it told in the way I envision. The old version/TSP works against what I want from In Hell. The point of deleting it/replacing it is so that there would be no room for comparison or talk of "alternative timelines". The new version would be my canon/standalone version of Itachi's/the reader's story.

In general, these stories have been ongoing through too many different phases of my writing, making it difficult to find my new voice. Most were started from 2018-2021. The knowledge that people can sit there and crack open something I think is subpar is anxiety-inducing. Sometimes, I look at it all and see no improvement—sometimes, I even feel the quality is decreasing.

I’m not over-exaggerating when I say I put my everything into my writing. I do all of this as a completely solo parent while I’m in school working multiple jobs. I research for hours on the smallest of things. I cry, I re-watch, re-read, rethink, rewrite. I study the characters and the universe I’m in/creating. I study literature, grammar… I read through dictionaries and thesauruses to find the perfect word to encapsulate what I feel, see, or think. I have to sit in those thoughts and emotions for a while to properly communicate what’s happening. Exsolutus has two separate suicide scenes, for example. Another example is the rewrite of Shisui’s death. I had several passings of people who were close to me in a short time-period right before and as I was writing it. I have to live in those moments to conceptualize them. I'm glad my labors of love reach you. That's one of the biggest reasons I still try.

As most of you know by now, I write triggering content, and sometimes darker content that people might find offensive. I find myself asking: was that too far? Did I trigger too many people? I try to put things in the tags and authors’ notes, but do people even read authors’ notes? Was my grammar that bad? Is Itachi/Obito/Shisui/Sasuke too OOC? Is the reader too OOC? Was it too short, too long? If I don’t hear from anyone, I feel like what I’ve posted was hot garbage. I know I’m not alone in this, but lately it feels like I’ve been talking to (and posting to) the void, lol. I put weeks of work into the Sasuke fic, and I burned for some type of feedback. I didn’t get any until almost three weeks later… today. I’m very grateful for it, but with everything I put into that chapter, I was aching for anything. A good word, a bad word. I have to admit that this has me a bit discouraged, which may influence my current feelings of wanting TSP gone. I understand our fandom is dying but I put so much into everything I write that I take the lack of feedback to heart now. I never used to care; I honestly used to write because I had a story to tell and didn’t worry much about show vs. tell, foreshadowing, or any of that. But now that I put more nuance into what I write, I guess I take it more personally.

Maybe I never had to worry about receiving feedback because the fandom was more active then. Maybe all of my more recent studying has made me look at my writing with an excessively critical eye. I'm not sure, but I've been experiencing this for a number of years. It was part of why I quit before, and I suppose those feelings are still lingering around. Feeling out of practice worsens this. It’s painful to look back and dislike what I’ve written, especially when writing again still feels strange. In my eyes, why keep it up when it’s impeding me from moving forward?

I’ll genuinely consider your suggestion further, as I haven’t made a decision yet. Thank you again for speaking up; I wouldn’t have even thought of it myself. I would never have known people felt that way without you saying anything. Over the next week, I’ll take the time to consider this third option and will let you all know when I decide how to proceed. In the meantime, there is always the option to download the fic for your own safekeeping. Thank you all for staying with me and being so understanding. We’ll get through these fics, I swear it. I love you all.

[ideas-on-paper]

Thoughts on Tron: Identity (quick review)

Finally, I closed the biggest gap in my Tron education: I played Tron: Identity at last!

And let me say, it was an amazing experience - short, but amazing.

I really love that the game digs into the "spiritual" themes of Tron, like the Users being akin to gods for the programs. At the same time, it's kind of funny since all of the programs on the Arq server are ISOs, so none of them were written by any Users - technically, they don't have any gods at all, since they spawned out of nowhere. Still, despite having no higher-ordained function, they're looking for purpose by organizing themselves, and some of them - like Prinz - even turn to the Users for guidance. (I guess programs are not too dissimilar from Users in that regard…)

Also, I really enjoyed the inclusion of the Automata - I love the idea of a faction of programs wanting to evolve beyond the predetermined parameters of the Users, and who place greater value on finding their own path and information being free to access for everyone. (I'm a big fan of AIs valuing their otherness, if you can't tell. xD)

Nevertheless, I think that the theme of control of information/information as power present in the game is very relevant, probably more so now than ever. In the age of the internet, the value of information and data will only increase, and whoever holds them will have control over pretty much everything - and wherever there is power, you can count on someone being there to abuse it.

Aside from this, Tron: Identity also has some pretty existentialist themes, like dealing with the realization that God has abandoned you and that knowledge is sometimes more of a burden than a boon. I can relate to both of these very well, and I love the way they implemented this little bit of philosophy into the game.

From a gameplay perspective, Tron: Identity was my first visual novel, and I have to say I quite enjoyed it - due to the nature of the story, I found myself thinking really hard about some decisions, and to my own surprise, I actually really liked the puzzle minigames intermingled in between. (I'm usually not that big on puzzle games; I think that's because most of the time, there's only one correct way to solve the puzzles, so I'm glad that the minigames in Identity allow for multiple approaches.)

[Spoilers from this point onwards!]

Still, I somehow feel like I got the worst ending possible - Proxy took off with Prinz, Ada turned to voxels from Cass's explosion, and Grish was royally pissed at me. xD In the end, I didn't have much of a choice but to derezz Grish - I considered handing over Cass to him just to keep both of them alive, but I couldn't bring myself to betray Cass. Sorry, Grish, but I had to protect my precious baby. xD

However, from what I've read in some guides, it could've gone much, much worse - if you try to stop Proxy from taking Prinz, you will accidentally hit Prinz with your disc. I was considering to defend Prinz, but I was worried about him being in the line of fire, so I didn't take that choice. (Good call on that one, I guess... ^^')

I suppose 3/5 survivors isn't the worst you can do (since Sierra can't die anyway), but maybe I'll do another run in the future to see some of the other outcomes.

Either way, Tron: Identity is a fantastic addition to the Tron franchise, and you can really tell that Mike Bithell put a lot of love, effort, and care into the story. I just hope we'll get a sequel to it soon, and that your decisions from the first game will have an impact on the second. (When I freed Sierra, I was kinda hoping he would help you out as an ally later, so that's something I'd really like to see.)

[biblioflyer]

Evolving beyond your core conceits: risks and rewards.

Allowing a setting to grow while remaining recognizable and accessible to the audience is difficult. Too much of the wrong kind of changes can make a setting unusable for the themes and storytelling devices it started off with. It is, however, possible to grow without cheating the heroes of earned victories and without wholly divesting from core themes.

This is part 4 in a series of discussions about the pessimism of the X-Men setting, its origins, its consequences, and whether that’s even a fair assessment.

Part 1 laid out some of the core conceits of the setting.

Part 2 discusses theories of historical change.

Part 3 is about the messiness of allegories.

It's difficult to evolve beyond a setting’s original conceit without having to become something radically different, even unrecognizable.

I’m one of the people who started to lose interest when Stargate SG-1 moved beyond Earth as scrappy underdogs and essentially became a superpower, while still somehow being able to hide the entire program. Also it turns out that SG-1, regardless of the roster, always seemed to be exactly the right people in exactly the right place.

Committing to the bit has risks too.

The X-Files solved and then had to unsolve its core mystery multiple times, becoming ever more convoluted in an effort to ensure its gnostic pursuit of ever deeper mysteries did indeed have even more arcane conspiracies hiding behind the busted ones.

Core characters evolved in Supernatural, but after a few repetitions of the Winchester brothers gaining and then losing access to resources and networks of allies, it almost became a bit of a joke that everything always led back to the two living out of motels. Yet while the situation of the Winchesters wasn’t allowed to change much, the threat of each season had to be ever more cosmic. This ultimately resulted in a direct and extremely meta confrontation with the very force that ensured their lives always defaulted back to misery and watching any progress they made fall through their fingers.

The conceit of Star Trek’s Federation is that our contemporary flaws can be resolved, but to model solving its allegories for contemporary societal issues it has to periodically discover new -isms that have emerged within it that the Federation has rationalized away. 

Augment proscriptions are rationalized as protecting the egalitarian nature of the Federation and preventing the rise of superior beings with superior ambition, fully sentient artificial intelligence had a rocky road to recognition, people struggle with fully recognizing XBs as fellow victims of the Borg Collective rather than conflating them with the destruction and horror the Borg have perpetuated. 

There have been enough repetitions of the storyline that there is something rotten in the Federation that needs to be confronted and opposed that many (not I) feel like the Federation has undergone a very cynical deconstruction in the streaming era (although it would probably be more correct to say it started with DS9.) Which is part of why the “Magneto was right” discourse began to alarm me, because I associate it with the increased sense in the Trek fandom that the Federation is both rotten at its core and too naive to survive without the rot.

Kudos to Star Trek Discovery though for reliably shifting away from the “edgier” darker tone it began with and embracing the idealism of the TNG era. I realize there are those who look at a dark and fearful world full of war and revanchism and find it childish for fiction to be aggressively sunny, but I enjoy having a few things to watch here and there that stimulate my mind but don’t leave me drained and morose when the credits roll. I don’t mind good pessimism, but I never felt like Discovery was doing more than gesturing at more mature, emotionally and ethically complex themes in its early seasons. It's still not doing more than gesturing, but in my opinion it's no longer pretending to be more than thoughtful camp.

The Expanse novel-verse is one of the rare examples I can think of a setting that resolved one of its core conflicts, but still managed to be an effective vehicle for storytelling about many of the same themes. By the end of the original six book series, Earth and Mars are on the path to reconciliation and the Belters have won statehood and the means to prosperity. 

The sequel trilogy introduces a new nemesis that partly resets the setting, but critically the reset doesn’t put the Belters back under the boot of the Inners or restart the original cycle of violence. In many ways, Earth and Mars get a dose of what it’s like on the receiving end of imperialism.

In this way, the writers could still speak about war, cycles of violence, paranoia, various forms of oppression, and the difficult moral dilemmas of gray zone conflict but without victims becoming oppressors or having all of their gains rolled back.

Did you forget this was an article about X-Men, bub?

Which brings us back to X-Men.

Because X-Men is a setting dedicated to storytelling about oppression, a critical thing to remember is that things are not going to get better in any lasting way. 

Not because the message you are supposed to take away is that nothing can ever be better and trying to disrupt violence and humanize oppressed people is self defeating, but because showcasing oppression and the fight against it without it ever actually being resolved is its raison d’etre. 

Unlike the Expanse novels, the X-Men is not a closed storyline with a limited number of authors tightly controlling it. While specific iterations of X-Men could, in theory, make progress against the core human vs mutant conflict without rolling it back in a devastating way, there is an expectation that X-Men more broadly is a bit like Coke or Pepsi: consistency and recognition across all “products” is a baked in assumption. X-Men without the mutant vs human conflict could drift away from the otherwise very low barrier to entry for the audience.

The last installment will discuss how X-Men '97 does leave the door open to some things getting better even though the general state of affairs seems poised to get pretty bad.

[chihirolovebot]

and so it is possible to evaluate the attitude of other participants in the game of a physicist from one to ten? I'm terribly interested in the relationship of physics and maki.

i THINK i understand what this means but if ive gotten it wrong just . shoot me another message clarifying and i'll redo it . i believe ur asking me to rate how the other participants feel about physicist on a scale of 1-10 ? let's say 1 is enemies and 10 is their closest friends.

i'll start with physicist's weakest relationships and work my way up to their strongest !

shinguji — 1/10, not really any friendship built before the incident where shinguji tried to murder phys; likewise, phys always felt vaguely distrustful and creeped out by kiyo even before the incident. a very safe last place.

yonaga — 3/10, one of the only characters physicist has had a real, longstanding problem with. phys is generally pretty passive, but yonaga definitely managed to piss them off by brainwashing kiibo and trying to control the student population. i don't think yonaga had any grudge against phys personally, though.

shirogane — 4/10, phys seems very neutral and sometimes irritated by shirogane. throughout the story, shirogane is rarely seen standing up for physicist, generally quick to believe they are guilty when accused.

houshi — 5/10. i don't think physicist ever had any sort of problem with houshi, they simply didn't know him well enough before he died to really feel close to him. i think they would get on if they had more time to spend together.

yumeno — 5/10. again, physicist is mostly neutral on yumeno, but their opinions on her probably skew a bit more positively than shirogane. yumeno has definitely earned sympathy points from physicist and has moments where she tries to believe in physicist's innocence.

gokuhara — 6/10. we're starting to move onto people physicist likes now. gokuhara is ranked low because i wouldn't consider himself and physicist to have a very deep relationship beyond generally liking each other, though. their relationship was definitely tainted by chapter five, too. i think gokuhara only cared for phys as much as he did all the other students, and physicist liked him well enough and felt it hard when he died.

iruma — 6/10 physicist tends to think iruma is a little much, but they definitely appreciate her as a scientist. iruma is a coward, so she's for sure very jumpy and paranoid around phys after they kill korekiyo, but killing game circumstances nonwithstanding i think they'd be pretty good friends.

akamatsu — 6/10, akamatsu was definitely super important in physicist's early development, i think she gave physicist a lot of hope and she would be remembered a lot more fondly by physicist if she hadn't murdered amami and started the killing game.

harukawa — 6/10, an interesting relationship for sure !! they start out in a super rocky place with harukawa accusing physicist of amami's murder and being stubborn when confronted with reason, and physicist disliking her because of it. there's a lot of shaky points for them, but i think they've both grown to a place of mutual respect. they may not ever be close friends, especially in the killing game, but they've learned to appreciate the other at the very least.

momota — 6/10. a source of strength for physicist, although their philosophies dont always align. their relationship is weakened a little by momota refusing to see physicist's agency in their relationship with ouma.

toujo — 7/10. ranked a little lower for the whole uhhh toujo considering killing physicist and trying to throw them under the bus about it thing. but pre-ch2 they were very close. i think phys is the closest anyone got to seeing toujo as a person, and toujo genuinely cared for and respected phys a lot.

chabashira — 8/10. another relationship that needed a lot of time to evolve. chabashira and phys didn't really interact meaningfully until chabashira discovered them after killing kiyo and helped cover it up. since then they've grown incredibly close, something of a result of chabashira being the only one to see phys like that, and continuing to have faith in them. one of the only people to see the real phys, i think.

saihara — 8/10. these two have a more subtle relationship i guess, but still extremely close. saihara believes in phys a lot, not just because of his detective's intuition, and they mean a lot to him. both of them care for the other deeply, and beyond that, want to be cared for by the other. they each find comfort in talking about their grief and regrets, and have near-unwavering faith in the other.

amami — 8/10. only isn't a 9 because of his secrecy and the amount of stuff physicist doesn't know about him, but needless to say amami very much acted as physicist's rock in chapter one and that losing him in such a brutal way damaged them to their core. amami, in turn, adored physicist in a sorta big-brother way, felt pretty protective of them. i think it said a lot that he told them he'd come find them first after ending the killing game? he grew to feel pretty close and protective to them in the short time they had together. physicist constantly looks to his memory for advice on what to do when they're struggling.

ouma — 9/10. this bastard. he's so high up because he probably knows phys better than anyone else, and the same goes for phys knowing him. phys is closer to him than anyone in canon ever got, and although they've had a very very rocky journey they both harbour indisputable respect for the other. there's something so intimate abt their knowledge about each other, the way they know the exact things the other wants to keep hidden the most. he's ranked a point lower than a ten because of his obsessive paranoia and trust issues, and also his struggle to get over phys killing kiyo and using them in his plan to kill iruma and gokuhara.

kiibo — 10/10. u may question this ranking when thinking about the recent distance between them but i raise you . in regards to each other , everything phys and kiibo have done is a result of extenuating circumstances and not their own actions. phys only allowed iruma to be killed because they believed the world is virtual and iruma wouldn't actually be dying, and only distances him because they can't tell anyone at all about the plan to catch the mastermind. circumstances nonwithstanding, physicist and kiibo love each other. they are best friends, they trust the other wholeheartedly, always the first to jump to the other's defence. kiibo's faith in physicist is incredibly stubborn at times because he knows who they are deep down, and the same for physicist. anyway. they mean everything to me :3