Tumgik
#wow tumblr was super annoying putting this up
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CRAIG: Hey homos
CRAIG: Remember when I said I made a Tumblr like
CRAIG: A year ago?
STAN: Yeah, that thing is more inactive than my Myspace
KYLE: You still use Myspace???
STAN: Uh…
STAN: Maybe…
STAN: But making fun of Craig is more fun than making fun of me
KYLE: Oh yeah
CRAIG: Wow, okay, first of all, fuck you guys
CRAIG: Second, we got an ask I think? 
KYLE: What do you mean you think ???
CRAIG: I don't know! Tumblr’s ask blog stuff usually sucks on Mobile
CRAIG: But I was thinking…
CRAIG: What if we like….
CRAIG: Use the questions on the blog to like uhm….
CRAIG: Ask the ghost or demon or whatever the questions?
CRAIG: Since we’re all probably too high to think clearly
TOLKIEN: No, that's just you and Kenny
TOLKIEN: The rest of us are fine
CRAIG: Haha lmao me when I lie
TOLKIEN: Shut up
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CRAIG: Ew, Tolkien don't touch me
TOLKIEN: I am literally not, bitch
JIMMY: Am I w-w-w-witnessing a l-lovers q-q-q-q-quarrel?
TOLKIEN: God no
CRAIG: I would rather put a bunch of nails into a blender, sprinkle in some thumbtacks, blend it together with my hand STILL IN THE BLENDER, drink up the nails, thumbtacks, AND MY HAND AS I AM BLEEDING OUT, than EVER date Tolkien
CRAIG: Besides, he’s stupidly dating Clyde anyway
CLYDE: I CAN'T REACH THE BOARD I HAVE BIG FAT SAUSAGE FINGERS
KENNY: Well don't squish my HAND with your SAUSAGE FINGERS
CLYDE: I CAN'T HELP IT CLYDE: I CAN'T HELP THAT MY GENETICS CURSED ME WITH BIG FAT MANLY MAN HANDS
KENNY: You are the straightest gay person I've ever met
KENNY: I bet you watch Andrew Tate videos in the Home Depot shelves
CLYDE: HEY!!
CLYDE: …They kicked me out so I can't do that anymore
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CARTMAN: I hate this so much, I hope all of you know that
KYLE: Shut up, like actually
STAN: What's the first question, Big Supreme Man?
CRAIG: ….
CRAIG: Never breathe those words in my presence ever again or I will twist you like an Auntie Anne's pretzel
STAN: Well butter my biscuit and call me Popeyes
CRAIG: Hey Kenny, Do you think you could fight a demon?
KENNY: HELL YEAH!
KENNY: In fact….
KENNY: HEY!! If there's a spirit watching, I bet I could kick your ass!
JIMMY: K-K-K-K-K-Kenny, d-d-d-don't you kn-kn-know the f-f-f-first r-rule of h-horror m-movies?
JIMMY: D-don't p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-piss off th-the ghost
KENNY: The ghost can go Sugondeez
KYLE: Sugondeez?
KENNY: SUGONDEEZ NU-
CRAIG: WAWAWAWAWAWAIT SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP
CRAIG: I wanna ask something
CRAIG: Is anyone there?
TOLKIEN: That is the most vanilla shit you could ever ask
CRAIG: Fuck you
(silence)
KYLE: Nothings happening
STAN: Lame
STAN: We did this for nothing
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JIMMY: Uh, f-fellas?
JIMMY: L-l-l-l-look at th-this!
CLYDE: WAHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK WHOS DOING THAT?!
CLYDE: I'M GONNA PISS AND SHIT MYSELF!
KENNY: Does anyone wanna trade places with me?
LITERALLY EVERYONE: No
CRAIG: (pulls out phone)
KYLE: ARE YOU FILMING THIS RIGHT NOW????
CRAIG: If I'm gonna die, I wanna die famous
KYLE: UGHHHHHHHHHHH
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STAN: H……..e……..y?
CRAIG: Woah, cool
CRAIG: This is gonna look so cool on my Google + account
STAN: ....Excuse me??
KYLE: Google + ?????
STAN: Who in their right mind still uses Google + ????
CRAIG: Me, your super totally cool and awesome famous friend who you should stop bullying
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CRAIG: Anyways, what's up Ghost? Say hi to my fans
CRAIG: .....This is gonna get me so much clout
LITERALLY EVERYONE: (ANNOYED GROAN)
(EDITS BY @pissblanket)
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allwormdiet · 22 days
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Gestation 1.3
I'm gonna be so annoyed if Automattic kills Tumblr before I finish reading this series, but anyway
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Again, Taylor, I adore you and I've barely even gotten to know you, but this costume is so fucking scary and if that wasn't on purpose I'm not sure how you missed that.
Incidentally, was thinking about this haste during my shift yesterday. The events of 1.1 are massively critical to the entire rest of the story's events in a way I hadn't initially registered, even when they were laid out in 1.2: the incident with the juice wasn't just another awful moment in Taylor's life, and it wasn't even meant as a simple establishment of the bullies' characters. The destruction of Taylor's notebook is what puts her out here on the streets tonight, and of course her first night out is a momentous one.
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WOW just going right into it huh. Crack whores and gangsters. Taylor you live next to these people and, if I understand correctly, you live in a single-income household and your father works for the Dock Worker's Union, in a city where there's no dock work. You wanna show a little more sympathy for the have-nots next door.
...Is there still a crack problem in Earth Bet? Like crack cocaine pretty decidedly fell off in its presence and profitability in our own world, for a lot of reasons. It could be a matter of timeline differences, but this one irks for some reason.
Whatever, moving on.
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There is a certain kind of delicious symbolism in the Protectorate being so removed from the city it's charged to protect that it is literally an artificial island on the water, bristling with force fields and missiles that have never even been used. Taylor finds the defenses comforting, but will they protect Brockton Bay?
And again I'm a little surprised at the lack of sympathy for the people who lost work with the Docks losing their lifeblood; the rich get richer and the poor are there to be goons for the costumed lunatics trying to make money off those rich dickheads. No care for whether the goons are doing it because they want to or because they're trying to make the best of a bad situation.
For now I'm gonna just chalk this up to Taylor thinking like a cop, but I suspect with the different POVs in the Interludes it's gonna turn out no, Wildbow's thinking like a cop.
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Kinda more of the same as above. Interesting that the Docks are short on power, but in a really bleak kinda way; the first two chapters weren't shy about describing the lingering cold in the Bay, that can't be comfortable in there.
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I know everyone who's already read Worm is well past this point, and I know enough to not be surprised, but this first introduction to the ABB is not heartening. Like I know a bunch of them are here as a diaspora, like Japan just straight up doesn't exist anymore, and I can't imagine that Brockton Bay treats its immigrant population super well, given the fucking Nazis running around so sticking together is somewhat reasonable, but like. Pan-Asian ethnic gang (which is a fucking oxymoron in itself) that hangs out in a mostly-abandoned neighborhood with no profit opportunities? What, are they bullying the drunks for spare change?
Also it's such a petty gripe but what the fuck with the red/green gang colors, it makes me think of Christmas and it ruins the seriousness of the moment.
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Yeah hey I know this guy
Wild to know Lung just goes around shirtless, doesn't even put on a jacket or anything.
Again that lumping Asian cultures together by calling the dragon tattoos from "Eastern" mythology, I know Taylor probably doesn't know which ones they're from but she doesn't have to specify. Just, ugh. I need to move past all the gang based narration before it spoils things.
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Current Thoughts
Yeah so that thing up at the top where I mused that the destruction of Taylor's notebook being a fundamental stepping stone in the novel's timeline was partly informed by osmosis, because I know this first night is important for a lot of reasons. Obviously got a bit longer to go before we see the rest of the night play out, and of course the repercussions form literally the entire rest of the novel, but that's for later.
Meantime, God, people have told me Wildbow was a frustrating writer when it came to like, the treatment of nonwhite people and poverty and the root causes of crime and all, but it really is a different beast to experience with my own eyes. What a fucker. I'm probably gonna get real sick of that down the line, but I've navigated around worse writer habits than this.
Probably gonna keep reading through the evening. Let's go save the Undersiders.
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snowinthe-south · 2 years
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Okay, I'm really annoyed because I've tried posting this like 5 times but Tumblr keeps eating it. But I'm gonna try one last time because I'm still excited and am telling anyone that will listen I GOT TO SEE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA ON WEDNESDAY.
It has literally been a lifelong dream of mine to see it live on Broadway someday... I've loved Phantom since I was a child, my mom played the soundtrack for me a lot and one of my earliest (non-traumatic) memories of literally me asking her to play me "the mirror song". It's shutting down on Broadway in April and there is no sign of a tour in the next for years... I cried on the day of the announcement because I thought it meant I'd never get to see it. But my boyfriend knew how much it meant to me, and he got tickets for my mom and I to go see it together as a Christmas gift.
We only went to New York for one night, it's about an hour and a half flight away from my state. And we stayed in this super nice hotel. I chose the hotel based off of convenience (a 5 minute walk to the theater) and affordable cost. But by a huge coincidence, the lobby had masks all over the cieling with lyrics from Music of The Night!!! I was absolutely giddy upon noticing this.
And the hotel had like, 45 floors... we were on the 39th floor. The receptionist joked with mom and I, saying "I hope you ladies aren't afraid of heights, because you're on the 39th floor." Mom and I who are both petrified of heights: "hehe... about that..." But listen ya'll, as much as I hate being up high I was LOVING our window and the view. The lights were beautiful!!!
During the beginning of the show when the chandelier starts to rise and the overture begins to play, I absolutely lost it. I mean it, I went from "wow!" to hysterical crying in 2 seconds, complete with mascara running down my face (on one of the few occasions I bothered to apply the stuff) and the scrunched up crying face. I scared my momma and the woman sitting next to me. 🤣
I cannot put what I felt into words, honestly. It really was a childhood dream come true and I'm so grateful for the experience. The show was wonderful and I cried (a little less dramatically) for the entirety of the first half. I must've looked like a crazy person!
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thylacinetears · 2 years
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Hey!
G'day Tumblr, I'm Thyla. Like it says in my bio, I've been meaning to make a tumblr account for ages, and the Great Twitter Incident of 2022 sped that up. Lmao. So I guess I better make an introductory post? My pronouns are they/them/theirs, xe/xem/xirs, ze/hir/hirs, ey/em/eirs. I'm basically nonbinary and queer, but I also use a lot of other labels like demisexual, androgyne, genderqueer, sapphillean, mspec, etc. I am a radical inclusionist - I include all GOOD FAITH queer identities. I have ADHD, and I'm 2e. So ADHD, if fact, that I forgot to put it in this original post and had to edit this lmao. I write fanfic sometimes, but I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to link public social media to my account, lol. I am a young adult, and I'm from Melbourne. I don't feel comfortable disclosing my exact age, my exact location, my AGAB, or my race when online.
I have no DNI - if you're being annoying then I'll block you, and then you can't interact. That's the DNI, lmao. My interests (absolute favourites in italics): YouTube - I watch basically anything Grian, Mumbo Jumbo, PearlescentMoon, or GeminiTay post, including Hermitcraft, the Life Series, 100 hours hardcore, Afterlife SMP. I never got into Empires - well, not before the crossover, lol. I indulge in a bit of Stampy's Lovely World, on occasion. I also like other non-minecraft YouTubers: mostly ContraPoints, Jessie Gender, Luxander, RTGame, Philosophy Tube, Todd In The Shadows, etc. Some politics, some fun stuff. Books - I read a lot of fantasy, YA, and queer books. Right now I'm into the Grishaverse series by Leigh Bardugo, The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake, the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, the Nevermoor series by Jessica Townsend, The List duology by Patricia Forde, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and related books by Becky Albertalli, and many of Rick Riordan's books. One of my favourite books/series of all time is the Lionboy trilogy by Zizou Corder. It's super underrated! Movies & TV - I love anything sci-fi, fantasy, or animated! Particularly Doctor Who, Firefly, Good Omens, Heartstopper, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Star Wars, Star Trek (Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Enterprise), Pixar, Studio Ghibli, Dead Poets Society... you get the idea. Music - Basically anything that's vaguely pop, indie, electronic, etc. My favourite artists include 100 gecs, Alice Glass, BANKS, Billie Eilish, BLACKPINK, Cavetown, Coldplay, Dua Lipa, many Eurovision artists, FKA twigs, Hozier, Lorde, Maneskin, MARINA, Mars Argo, Mitski, Olivia Rodrigo, Paramore, S10, Tame Impala, Taylor Swift, Troye Sivan, Vance Joy, Vera Blue... Musicals & Theatre - I've seen a couple, my favourites are Come From Away and Hamilton. Other things - As you can guess, I love thylacines! I like most animals, really. I particularly love Keeshonds and other Spitz-type dogs - I have a 2 year old Keeshond and he's the most gorgeous doggy in the whole wide world. Things I haven't finished yet, so please no spoilers - The Owl House, Star Trek: Prodigy.
Wow, that's a long post. If you made it this far, um, congrats?
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Your irl friends sound awful. I’m sorry you experienced that, I used to be in friend groups that were like that and it’s just a bad experience all around. I’m glad you have better friends online now because you deserve better
yeah that was super duper fun i was always just there but not apart of the group, i had given up on real life friends by 9th grade people just treated me like i was either annoying or a literal child i knew i deserved better my exact thought process was
“wow these people SUCK i’m gonna let my sisters check and see if people are worth my time before actual trying to be friends with them”
because didn’t want to waste my energy on people that wouldn’t see me as a equal/friend and none of the kids where, so i spent my time in the nursery with the babies who liked me and felt safe with me (i still prefer babies and toddlers to irl people)
i also was going though it mentally and i will admit there was people there i could have been friends with i just wouldn’t/couldn’t put the Energy into taking because socializing is exhausting for me, so it was on me a bit.
tumblr is the one place where i don’t have to pretend to be normal or fit in some sort of box and worry about making people uncomfortable, it’s also the first time i ever had more than one friend at a time,
what i need to do is try to find friends irl that will treat me right but that is scary also i need to stop making my voice go up three octaves and sounding like a kid when i’m nervouswhich is a problem (i can talk to kids just fine adults though)
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ladynestaarcheron · 5 years
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Like Pristine Glass - Chapter Eleven
ao3 - ff.net - masterpost (ff.net isn’t working for me rn, so i’ll update chapter eleven there probably tomorrow)
(tagging these cuties: @humanexile @skychild29 @rhysandsdarlingfeyre @candid-confetti ​ @rhysandsrightknee @missing-merlin @azriels-forgotten-shadow @books-and-cocos @sezkins79 @city-of-fae @someonemagical @dusty-lightbulb @messyhairday-me)
hey hey hey!! i’m back with chapter eleven after only two weeks!! i was actually procrastinating writing my poetry essay and working on my novel by writing this, so that counts as productivity, right?
thanks to my fantabulous beta @thestarwhowishes and thank to you all for reading!! i am just floored by all of your support, it means so much to me!!
(and psst!! if you like my writing maybe try out my sideblog where i post original content @liorzoewrites)
anyway, chapter eleven! enjoy!
---
November 2 - 4 years after
 When Hazar finally arrives at the shop, Maz, Amir, and Xeyale start to tell the whole staff what happened at Amalike Orchards’ berry fair.
“Chokecherry already had booths set up when we got there,” Maz says, grimacing. “With Morrisey’s new novel.”
“And they had agents with them,” Xeyale adds.
Adil frowns. “What do you mean, agents?”
“Publishing agents.”
“They were signing authors at the fair?” Hazar asks, disbelief all over his normally cheerful face.
“Not exactly,” Xeyale says.
“They were taking in manuscripts,” Amir says. “For short stories, we think. We think their plan is to publish a collection of them.”
“And that’s their brilliant archiving strategy?” Nesta says. “Just taking any short story from any writer who shows up at the berry fair and tying it all together into a book?” She shares a look with Adil.  No one appreciates the art of literature anymore.
“It is a brilliant strategy,” Hazar says, reluctant to admit it.
“We think so, too,” Amir says, and Xeyale nods behind them. Before any of them can protest, Amir raises their hands in surrender. “Look, you’re all archivists. Readers. Some of you are writers. But from publishing and marketing standpoints...it goes faster. If one author writes a three hundred page novel, that one author has to have a good idea and a good execution. Or people won’t buy it. But if you get ten authors each writing thirty pages...even if four of them aren’t that great, people will still buy it for the sixth.”
“Or one big name author with a few other smaller ones,” Hazar says. “That’ll sell just the same.”
“But the same number of books get sold,” Adil says. “Don’t they lose money, with all the authors they have to pay per book?”
“More books get sold,” Hazar says.
“It suits a larger audience,” Nesta realizes. “So more people buy it.” Because those six authors they’ll buy the book for are different authors for everyone.
Sometimes Nesta hates individual taste. Especially if it’s poor.
Adil puts his head in his hands. “How many publishing agents do they have?”
“Not many,” Maz says. “We only saw three at the fair.”
“For all those new authors?”
“I imagine the authors aren’t treated very well,” Hazar says, frowning slightly. “But they might not care, if they get published quickly.”
“That’ll be bad for them in the long run, though,” Leyla says, speaking up.
“I agree with you, but again, they might not care.”
“Do we have to start publishing short story collections?” Zeyn asks.
Nesta thinks about what would go into that. They would need to find so many new authors. Sugar Books--and Adil--believes in the separation of genre, so they couldn’t just cram any random ten stories together. It would go against their idea of what the literary world should be. What would that take, to find a variety of authors who write on the same subject, with the enough of the same general style to create harmony, but each unique enough to justify its presence in the book?
She shivers involuntarily, very thankful for Cassian’s shared account.
"We’ll definitely have to start signing more authors,” Adil decides. “We’ll...send out scouts.”
“To Chokecherry?” Maz says.
“No,” Adil says. “But everywhere else. Where authors frequent. We’ll have to go overtime on reading manuscripts. But we will not--” he slams his hand down on the table quite suddenly, startling them all “--compromise on the integrity and quality of literature.”
“Hear, hear!” Zeyn calls, and Nesta suppresses a smile. He catches it and winks at her.
“We’ll split up. Xeyale, Amir, and Nesta, you’ll stay and run the shop. Hazar, you stay here, too, and wait for our new clients. Miri and I will go to Berries’ Rivers, Maz, you go to Privet Falls, Leyla, Wintergreen Glen, and Zeyn, Juniper Hills. We’re talent scouting. Find places authors frequent, approach them, if they’re any good, send them here.” He looks at them all intently.
Zeyn and Nesta exchange a glance.
“Ah, Adil,” Zeyn says, rather timid. “You do know that that’s insane, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to hear it,” he says, already making to leave the room and go back to his office.
“All the gods,” Hazar says, standing up. “I’ve got to go get a cup of coffee.” And he leaves too.
“I mean, that’s insane, right?” Zeyn says.
“I think we’re all in agreement of that, yes,” Leyla says, nodding.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Miri says.
They all look at her.
"Maybe it’s time for a change,” she defends. “Maybe this is the way to do it. This is what they do in the acting industry, right?”
“But this isn’t the acting industry.”
“He’s really stressed about this,” Miri says. “He doesn’t want this place to lose anymore than Chokecherry has already taken from it.”  He doesn’t want any of you to lose anymore than Chokecherry has taken, she doesn’t say, but they all see it in her eyes. “I think it will work.” She stands. “And at any rate...it’s what we’re doing.” She leaves.
“I hate what this is doing to everyone,” Maz complains, and Nesta hates to agree with him, but she does too.
“I can’t believe I’m going to be the only archivist while you’re all off turning into the acting industry,” she says, shaking her head.
Zeyn and Leyla laugh.
"Don’t worry,” Xeyale says, grinning at her. “We’ll be here to keep you company.”
“A real comfort,” she says dryly. She stands too. “Well, I suppose we’ve got work to do. We need to find all the places...authors frequent.” She rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, in a fifty mile radius,” Maz grumbles. “This is never going to work.”
“Don’t say that,” Zeyn says lightly. “It might. And wouldn’t it be great? To discover new talent like that?”
Nesta knows the question isn’t directed at her, but she wonders anyway--what would it be like? In publishing? She didn’t think she’d like archiving before she started; she thought reading was the only thing she enjoyed.
That’s not something she can explore now, though, and that’s why Adil is having her stay here. So she shakes herself and goes to find maps of the surrounding towns.
---
November 20 - Year of
 She avoided him for days after she snapped. He caught her in the living room when she came back from work one day.
“Wait, Nesta,” he said, jumping to his feet as soon as she walked in.
Nesta stifled a groan. She didn’t want to have this conversation.
She didn’t like that tentative, detached politeness. She was angry.
(And Cassian was anything but tentative and detached. It felt abnormal sharing that with him.)
“Please,” he said. “I just wanted to apologize.”
Nesta said stiffly, “Don’t worry about it,” and tried to push past him.
“No, Nesta,” he said, raising his hands and blocking her path to the hallway. “Not for breakfast. I mean, yes for breakfast, but also...for everything. For bringing you here. For...leaving  you here.”
She froze. He did too.
She moved her eyes from his face. She couldn’t look at him.
Why was everything so hot all of a sudden?
“I...should have known this wasn’t the right thing to do,” he said, slowly, carefully. Nesta could tell he was thinking hard about each word before he said it. “To bring you here and leave you alone. Here, of all places. We thought...I thought it would be good for you. I thought...you would have space and maybe you would want to train and that would be a good outlet for you the same way it is for me and you’d get....”
Better, he didn’t say.
“I’m sorry,” he said. His voice was hoarse and Nesta was scared to look at him so she didn’t.
He sat back down. “That’s...all I wanted to say,” he said lamely.
Nesta kept her eyes averted as she nodded slightly and ducked into the hall, into her room, shutting the door behind her.
He apologized. 
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t that.
And he certainly seemed sorry--just by his voice, of course, because she hadn’t seen his face.
He’d thought she might want to train...he didn’t know her at all, clearly. And he hadn’t mentioned all of it; not all that happened in Velaris and the fact that  she was this thing now, but she was glad of it, because all he did say was nearly too much to bear.
And she couldn’t spend the rest of her night going over everything, playing it all back in her head until she knew the words by heart, so she tried to best to put it all out of her mind.
Because...was she supposed to forgive him now?
---
November 2 - 4 years after
 The staff is gone later that day, as Adil is determined to discover five brilliant new authors before the month is over. Nesta is glad Miri is going with him; she might talk some sense into him.
“Does he actually think Gilameyva’s just bleeding ingenious writers?” Leyla had muttered to her before they all left.
Nesta laughed a little. “He’s just anxious,” she said, echoing Miri.
"I can’t believe I have to go to Wintergreen Glen. It’s so boring.”
"Well, maybe you’ll find a whole new world to fall into.”
"Right. I’m sure we’ll find the next Morrissey in Wintergreen Glen.”
"Why not?” Zeyn had said, appearing next to them. “Morrisey’s from Privet Falls.”
And Morrissey, Nesta thinks to herself as she walks back home, isn’t even that great of a writer.
She doesn’t have to pick up the children from nursery because Cassian’s already got them. It’s quite nice, actually, to be able to spend a little while longer at work locking up and stop for a coffee from Jamal’s without worrying too much.
Aysel is there, too, and she walks back with her. “So,” she says to her, eager to get to the point after what was surely a painful exchange of pleasantries for the town’s resident busybody, “I hear that Cassian of yours has been staying for quite some time.”
"He comes and goes.”
"He’s been here a week.”
“That’s true,” she says.
“I saw him today. He picked the children up. Oh, they’re so cute, you know. Just the sweetest little things.”
“I agree with you.”
“You do such a good job with them!”
“Thank you, Aysel.”
“I remember when they were born. Ooh, Ollie was so tiny, do you remember?”
“Their birth?” Nesta laughs. “Vividly.”
Aysel laughs too, in that hurried way she always does. “Of course, of course. He’s so big now.”
“He is,” she agrees. She can’t believe it, sometimes, how much they have grown in three years. Especially Ollie; he had been so small.
“And his father,” Aysel says, in a tone she thinks is supposed to be sly. “Well, he’s not small, is he?”
“He’s tall,” Nesta says neutrally.
“ Very  tall. Probably the tallest person in Sugar Valley, ever.”
“We had some tall people in for the last Berry Fair.”
“Tallest one now.”
“Probably.”
“How tall do you think your boys are going to be?”
“I don’t know.”
“And Ava?”
“Taller than I am, I hope.”
“Oh, don’t say that, dearie. You’re such a darling height.”
They reach their street then, and Nesta might’ve invited her for strawberry tea and jam, but she’s not going to. Confirming personally that Cassian is her children’s father to Aysel is one thing, inviting her inside to meet him is quite another.
“Well, have a good evening, Aysel,” she says.
“You too, dearie. Kisses to the babies!”
 She waves at her over her shoulder and strides up to her porch.
She might’ve guessed something is wrong by the fact that she can’t hear any noise from the inside, but she knows for sure because Cassian rips the door open as soon as she reaches it. His face is pale.
Nesta’s heart drops. “What is it?” A million different scenarios run through her mind, each one worse than the last.
“Come inside,” is all he says.
They rush up the stairs, Nesta’s pulse going faster than it ever has before when he leads her up the stairs and to her children’s bedroom. She braces herself as best she can for when she goes inside, but she knows there isn’t a good way to prepare.
But they’re all there...whole. In three perfect pieces. Nicky and Ollie laying in the beds, Avery standing in between them, her hand on Nicky’s form.
She looks at Cassian, his face still ashen. “What?” she asks.
His eyes widen. “They’re sick!”
Nesta throws a hand to her forehead. For mercy’s sake. “Don’t,” she says, rubbing her temples, “ever deliver news to me that way.”
Her heartbeat back to normal, she joins Avery in the middle of her sons’ beds. She settles herself on her knees and pulls her close. She doesn’t feel hot.
"How are you feeling, ladybug?”
"Good,” she says, slightly muffled against Nesta’s body. She looks up at her. “Nicky and Ollie are sick.”
"Yes,” she says, nodding. Then she looks at Cassian. “It’s flu season.”
"Emilia’s sick, too.”
"Yes,” she says, still looking pointedly at Cassian. “Probably the flu, poor thing.”
He glares at her, but she can see his coloring darkens slightly, which probably would have delighted her once.
She doesn’t hate it, now.
She puts her hand on Nicky’s forehead and then Ollie’s. A fever, each of them. Ollie is sleeping soundly, and Nicky seems like he’ll fall asleep soon.
"Mummy will bring you something to drink,” she whispers to him, dropping a kiss on his forehead.
She leads Avery and Cassian out of the room.
“I don’t want to be sick.”
“You won’t,” she assures her. “You’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want my brothers to be sick.”
Nesta feels the same rush of overwhelming emotion she always does when her children express how much they love each other. “Don’t worry,” she says to her, smiling. “They’ll be better soon. Why don’t you go play outside for a bit?”
“Are you out of your mind?” she says to Cassian when she’s gone. “Do you know what went through my head?”
"They’re sick!”
“Children get sick! People get sick! They’ll get better!”
“Well, I’ve never had children get sick before!”
Nesta softens at the fear in his voice, shining through his eyes as well. “They’ll be fine,” she says in a more gentle tone. “It’ll be a few days...it’s properly miserable to see them, but they’ll be fine. I only don’t want to keep Avery here...I don’t want her to get sick, too. Normally I’d ask Miri and Adil,” she says, talking more to herself. “But they’re gone, and I can’t ask Amorette. I guess I’ll keep her in my room. Oh, and I’ll have to stay here. Oh, but I’m alone at the store....”
"You’re alone at the store?”
"Yes, Adil’s got everyone traipsing around the country, looking for authors,” she says, waving a hand. “Unless...when are you going back?”
“Not before they’re better.”
Nesta straightens. That was the right answer. “Well, could you watch them during the day?”He nods, his expression casual, but Nesta can tell he’s terrified.
"It’s really not that big of a deal,” she says. “I’ll show you which medication to give them, how often. I’ll make soup. They’ll need fluids. Oh, and Nicky can’t have plain water when he’s sick, he’ll need tea...I’ll write this down for you...but it’s not like I’m going to be leaving you alone,” she adds at the sight of him. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere. Just work.”
“I know,” he says. Hesitates. “I just...”
“What?”
“I’m...worried.”
Nesta puts down the pen she’s picked up and crosses the room to his side. She moves her hand to take his, but thinks better of it. “You don’t need to. They’ll be fine. So will you. You’ve been...” her eyes dart around the room, but she meets his gaze when she says, “very helpful. This week.”
His head lifts slightly, and that all-too-familiar cocky grin appears. “Yeah?”
“Yes. In fact...” Now Nesta hesitates. “Maybe...if you would feel comfortable...you could spend the night with Avery at Miri’s house?”
His grin slides off his face.
“If it’s too soon,” she says quickly, “then--you know what? Forget--”
“No!” he says. “No, I can! I can--sure. At Miri’s...yes. I can. I know what she needs. I can...yes.”
“All right,” she says, relieved somewhat. “I’ll...make you a list.”
“Okay.”
“And...she’ll have flying lessons tomorrow. Maybe you’d like to go with her? And I’ll stay home with the boys?”
Nesta’s never seen his eyes light up the way they do now.
---
November 12 - 1 year after
 She didn’t feel exactly ill, but she felt off. Like the world had been tilted a few degrees. She had been hungrier than normal for her the past week or so, but it’s not till that day she wondered if something was wrong with her.
Only briefly. Then she pushed the thought aside. Things were going well, and she didn’t need to look for something to be upset about.
"Good morning, Nesta,” Zeyn greeted her cheerfully. How was he always so happy all the time? It was jarring.
"Hello, Zeyn,” she said, rubbing her temples.
“Headache?”
“No...” she said, because her head didn’t hurt, it just felt...weird. “Just tired.” Perhaps that was it.
“I’ve got a lot of new books today. Maybe you’d like to read one. Do you like mystery?”
“It’s all right,” she said. Most mystery novels were predictable to her. “I’ve got to finish mine, though.”
“How have you been with all those?” he asked, following her to the back room.
All that is Holy, she thought. “It’s going well, thanks.” It was reading. And fixing up books. And setting a price. As long as you could read, it wasn’t hard.
“I just get so overwhelmed sometimes,” he said. “You know, all those books. In such a short amount of time. And how do you set a price!”
“Length and demand,” she said, frowning slightly. How else would you set a price?
“Yes, but it’s hard to foresee demand at a store that sells used books,” he said. “I imagine it’s even more so for you, because human-authored books are so unpopular. Not that they aren’t good! Just so, I guess, uncommon. Yes, that’s the word. It’s rare to come across one. But now that the Wall is down, we might trade more. It’d be really fascinating, don’t you think, to see what books are popular with humans. Don’t you think? Nesta?”
“Just...” Nesta said, “I. Oh. Oh, I have to...” she trailed off, not being able to hear herself suddenly.
“Here, lie down.” She could feel a pair of warm, strong hands lower her gently to the ground. Oh, it felt so-- wrong , to be touched like that. By another male’s hands. Oh, she didn’t like it...
The room was spinning. She could hear more voices. Emerie was yelling. No, not Emerie. Not Emerie, right? Who was that? Who was speaking?
Someone was saying her name. Someone...but she couldn’t hear.
And then she couldn’t see.
---
November 2 - 4 years after
 Cassian’s still has yet to regain his power of speech, but it doesn’t matter, because Ava keeps the conversation going on her own.
“And I will put my horse here, and I will put my dog here, and I will put my owl here...” she sing-songs, placing her stuffed animals in various spots on the bed he has set up for her in Miri’s house.
She’s ready to go to sleep, after being fed  and bathed at Nesta’s house. But she wants to set up the room the way she likes it first.
"And I want...my giraffe.”
“Your giraffe?” Cassian repeats, looking around. “I don’t see...”
“Nicky has it.”
“Nicky has it?”
“Yes.”
“But Nicky’s at home.”
“Let’s go get it.”
“Well,” he says, wishing Nesta were here, “we’ll go home tomorrow morning, and we’ll bring your giraffe then.”
Ava looks outraged. “I want it now!”
She hadn’t mentioned this. Nesta didn’t say anything about a giraffe. And he’s never been out with Ava before; how was he supposed to know? “But...we’ll let Nicky have it. Because he’s sick. Just for tonight.” Maybe that tactic will work?
Ava considers it. “Tomorrow I will get my giraffe?”
He’s nothing if not strategic. “Yes. Tomorrow.”
“Not tonight?”
“No, not tonight.”
Ava thinks some more. “All right, tomorrow.”
Cassian breathes a sigh of relief. Ava’s been throwing crisis after crisis at him. He feels like a novice, back when he did simulations. When his commanders had given them every possible thing that could go wrong, all at the same time. There was an Illyrian expression that loosely translated into “difficult training makes for an easy battle”--but there is no training for parenting and it is by no definition an easy battle.
“Tell me a story,” she orders him when he finally convinces her to get into bed.
Cassian nods. Nesta had told him one as they packed, reciting the important lines a few times over for him to memorize. “I’ll tell you the one about Jack,” he says.
“No, I don’t want Jack.”
Fantastic.
"Well,” he says, trying to keep a level head. “What...story do you want?”
“Not a Mummy story.”
“What’s a Mummy story? Oh, not one of Mummy’s stories.” She wants one of his? Nesta wouldn’t like him telling any Illyrian tales...and he doesn’t think it’s a particularly good idea either. “Maybe...” Cassian rack his brain.  He has stories, doesn’t he? One of them must be child-friendly. Or he can edit it to make it so.
Had he ever gone on some sort of quest that didn’t end in bloodshed?
“Not too long ago,” he says, in the way Illyrian tales always start, realizing as he begins that it’s quite eerie, but no matter, “there was a male who loved a female very much. And the female loved...very much...more than anything in the world...chocolate.”
Ava laughs. “I love chocolate!”
“You do? Well, the female loved chocolate so much, but there was one type of chocolate she loved more than all the others. But she hadn’t had it since she was a little girl, and she now lived very far away from the place where they made it. One day, she was very sad...and he knew only that chocolate would make her happy again. So he decided he would travel to find it.
“He had to cross an ocean and many lands, for only one tiny little town across the world made this exact kind of chocolate. When he got to the tiny town, he searched and searched for the chocolate shop. And then...he found it. And he bought some chocolate...and he brought it home...and then the female was happy again,” he finishes lamely.
Ava looks at him, unimpressed. He doesn’t blame her. Although in his defense, it had been more exciting when it had actually happened.
“Tell it again!” she says.
He does, trying to make it sound better this time around, but he isn’t very good at it. He might’ve laced the story with bits and pieces of other (real) quests he had been on, but he isn’t sure what he’s allowed to say.
After the second time, Ava looks at him thoughtfully. “That was not a good story,” she tells him.
He laughs a little. “I’m sorry. Should I tell you the story about Jack?”
“Yes!”
He recites the story Nesta had told him, exactly the way she had instructed, and Ava is thrilled. She laughs and claps along.
"Again!” she says when he finishes. And again and again.
Until he says, “It’s time for you to go to sleep, now, Ava.”
"So let’s go home.”
“We’re sleeping here tonight, Ava, remember?”
To his horror, her eyes well up with tears. “I want to go home with Mummy and Nicky and Ollie.”
“Don’t cry,” he says, fretting. “Don’t--it’s okay, don’t--oh....”
“I don’t--want--to stay here,” she sobs. “I want to go home!”
“I’m sorry...we’ll go home tomorrow, Ava.”
“I want my giraffe!”
“But we said we’d let Nicky have the giraffe tonight, don’t you remember?” he says desperately. But Ava doesn’t care. He can’t quite make out exactly what she’s saying and he doesn’t know what to do.
So he picks her up out of bed and lays her against his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he says, trying to bounce her. That’s how to calm children down, right?
“I don’t want to stay here all by myself!” Her cries are muffled against him.
“Well, you’re not all by yourself,” he says. “I’m here. I’m staying with you.” Would that be enough?  Please let that be enough. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if that’s not good enough for her. Just for one night.
She sniffles a little and lifts her head, looking up at him with his own eyes. Except so innocent, so pure. “Can I sleep in your bed?” she asks, voice still wavering.
Relief crashes over him. “Sure,” he says. “Of course.”
The smile she gives him is vibrant, and he marvels at how little he loved her at the beginning of the week compared to now.
---
November 30 - Year of
 She’d told her sister, once, that the last thing she would want would be to be remembered as a coward. She felt like one now.
Like a coward and angry and hurt, perhaps, more than anything. Which made her feel stupid.
Sometimes Nesta thought she felt too much.
After Cassian had apologized, she’d fled to her room and avoided him successfully for over a week. It was made easier by the fact that he did have to leave a few times during the week, to one of those neighboring camps he always went off to.
She didn’t want to think about it. Especially the pain. Because if he had hurt her...she didn’t let herself finish the thought.
But one afternoon, at work, while counting out jackets in the back, she heard Emerie say, “What are you doing here?”
And then she heard him reply, “I came to see Nesta.”
She nearly dropped the jacket she was holding. She normally felt him before she heard him. Where had that gone? It was of no use to her when they were both in the house, and now it was too late to sneak out the back, because he was coming.
"Nesta,” he said, pushing open the door.
“The sign says ‘employees only’,” she blurted out, which she knew was the stupidest thing she could have said, but it was too late.
“Emerie said I could go in.”
Traitor.
“I needed to talk to you.”
“It couldn’t wait? I’m working.” Perhaps he’d make some snide comment about working in a clothier as opposed to being the Night Court’s Emissary and then she could pick a fight over that and kick him out of the shop and they’d go back to the way things were when she got here. Except she’d have Emerie and her drinking habit more under control, so it’d be better. 
But he just said, “I know. I’m sorry, it couldn’t wait. I’ll be leaving again soon. For about five days, I think. Maybe longer. And I couldn’t go without...” he trailed off. Ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sound. “I keep doing things wrong with you, Nesta. 
She averted her gaze. She couldn’t do this. This was too much. And if he mentioned...that day...the battlefield...she didn’t know what she would do.
But he did.
“I promised you time, once,” he said softly.
No. No, she could not do this.
“I have to go,” she managed. She pushed past him, quickly, careful not to touch him.
“Wait, Nesta, please--”
“Nesta,” Emerie said, turning as she entered the room. “Where are you--?”
But Nesta didn’t stay to hear her finish. Instead, she ran.
---
November 3 - 4 years after
 This time it is Nesta who rips open the door as soon as she hears Cassian approaching.
“Mummy!” Avery calls, reaching her arms out for her.
“Hi, ladybug,” Nesta croons. She holds her tightly against herself. “I missed you so much.”
She had regretted sending Cassian out with her the moment they had gone. She hadn’t spent a night away from them, ever. She had never not tucked them into bed. And now...Avery had had a night without her. It felt like she should look different. There should be some mark upon her face.
But her daughter looks just as she did last night, just as cheerful and chattery. Cassian looks relatively unscathed, too, if a bit tired.
“Did you have fun?” she asks her as she ushers them inside.
“Appa told me a boring story,” Avery says, and wiggles out of Nesta’s arm onto the ground. “I want some orange juice in my purple cup, please.”
“Boring story?” Nesta says to Cassian.
“She didn’t want yours. And I didn’t want to tell her something you wouldn’t approve of. She still asked for it again, anyway,” he says defensively.
Nesta looks at him. “And you told it to her?”
“Yes.” Now he looks unsure. “And then she wanted yours...so I told that one, like, three times.”
Nesta shakes her head. She looks at Avery. Her daughter knows how to get what she wants, that’s for sure. “Did she ask to sleep in your bed, too?”
“...is that bad?”
Nesta rolls her eyes. Avery wraps everyone she meets around her little finger. Why should her father be any different?
“How are Nicky and Ollie?” he asks.
"Still ill,” she says. “The main thing is just to keep them on a constant stream of fluids so they don't dehydrate. Soup, if they feel up for it. Talk to them if you can, but they might be too tired.”
“Shouldn’t we take them to a healer?”
She hadn’t realized how much she’d appreciate hearing him say  we . “We don’t need to,” she says. “It’s the common flu. They’ll be fine.”
“So...you never take them to the healer? If they have the flu?”
“It’s not necessary if it lasts only a couple of days,” she reminds him, “for adults and children both.”
“Infants--”
“Not the same,” she explains patiently. “They can digest medication. Infants can’t.”
She finishes putting Avery’s breakfast in front of her. “When you’re done, Mummy will take you to nursery.”
“I want to say hello to Nicky and Ollie.”
“Finish your breakfast and then go,” she says to her. Then she says to Cassian, “Well, other than that...how was it?”
“She cried,” he admits. Then he grins. “But I calmed her down.”
“By letting her sleep in your bed.”
“Why is that not allowed?”
Nesta shakes her head again. “You were only with her. What if they all wanted to sleep in your bed?”
“What then?”
“They would kick you out and you would end up on the floor.” Nesta had thought moving them into their own beds would be a hard step, and it was, but as soon as she woke up from her first night alone in over two years, she didn’t miss it anymore.
Cassian laughs. “I can take them.”
Nesta hides a smile. “Finish up, Avery,” she says. “It’s almost time to go.”
She busies herself around the kitchen with nothing in particular, just feeling his eyes on her.
---
November 12 - 1 year after
 She could hear everyone around her before she could see them. Low, hushed voices. Some whirring sound, too. She shivered from the cold and from something else.
“Oh, she’s waking up,” she heard someone whisper.
“Nesta?” another voice said. Miri, from Sugar Books. What was she doing here?
Nesta opened her eyes. Where was here, exactly?
Here was a small room Nesta didn’t recognize. Pale blue walls decorated with tiny sugar berries; the sheets on the bed she was lying on the same design. The curtains on the window were a cheerful yellow and the expressions on Zeyn and Miri’s faces were anything but.
“Can you hear us, Nesta?”
Nesta struggled to sit upright. “Of course I can hear you,” she said, grumbling slightly. “What are these?” She shook her arm as she spoke, at the needles prodded inside her. She was in an infirmary of some kind. She vaguely remembered blacking out at the store, but since she could feel no pain, she assumed she was fine. Probably just dehydrated. After all, she had been Made. The epitome of perfection, was she not? She didn’t get sick anymore.
“Fluids,” Zeyn said unhelpfully.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course they were fluids. But Zeyn was harmless, if annoying, and she didn’t want to start an antagonistic relationship with the coworker who clearly liked her best.
“You blacked out,” Miri said, her wide dark eyes searching Nesta’s face. “We brought you to the clinic. A healer is seeing to you. Her name’s Amorette. She’s fairly new here, but I’ve been told she’s very good.”
Nesta nodded. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she said, hoping they’ll hear the dismissal.
They do. “Feel better, Nesta,” Zeyn said, reaching her hand to squeeze it. She tried not to flinch.
“We’ll be by to check in on you,” Miri said.
Oh, for the love of all things Holy. “That’s very kind of you, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She smiled as she spoke, hoping she did so normally.
Cassian used to make fun of her forced smiles. You look like you’re in pain.
Why was she thinking of him all of a sudden?
They left as the healer stood in the room. She looked to be about Nesta’s age--although with Fae, you couldn’t really tell, could you? But at any rate, a pretty, High Fae female, with light blue eyes and blond hair that kept tied at the nape of her neck.
“Good afternoon, Miss Archeron,” the healer said. “I’m Amorette Dadashov. I’ll be your healer today. May I come in?”
Nesta raised an eyebrow. “Sure,” she said, pleasantly surprised at the healer asking permission.
Healer Dadashov closed the door behind her. She was holding a notebook in her hand. “I can see all your vitals have returned to normal,” she said, without checking them like a mortal nurse would have to. “All things considered.”
"All things considered?”
“Yes,” she said, flipping through the pages of her book. “I understand you’re new in town?”
What on Earth did that have to do with anything? “Yes.”
“And, forgive me, you’re here alone?”
Nesta’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
“And you’ve not been to our clinic yet, correct?”
“Correct.” Shouldn’t that all be in her book? Why is she asking all this?
“So your options have not yet been explained to you?” Dadashov looked Nesta in the eye as she spoke.
Nesta’s patience was wearing thin. “Look,” she snapped, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’d very much like if you could just tell me what happened and what I have to do so it doesn’t happen again and let me go. Please,” she added as an afterthought. It didn’t sound very gracious.
Dadashov’s eyes widened. “Miss Archeron,” she said, not quite stuttering but certainly with none of the confidence she’d had before. “You do...I mean...you know that you’re pregnant?”
Nesta’s favorite book as a child was about magic. It wasn’t called magic, of course, for in the tiny human section of their island, magic was shunned. But that power to manipulate nature; that was what it was. The heroine was a girl named Avery, and Avery’s villain was a woman who could make things vanish. The most terrifying part of the story, in eight-year-old Nesta’s opinion, was the part where the villain made the floor vanish right from underneath Avery, and she fell and fell for miles until she could get her magic working to pull herself back up.
Nesta felt that. But there was no one to pull her back up. Because she was alone. There was only falling.
“I...can see you did not know,” Dadashov said softly. “All right, well...” She pulled a chair towards the bed and sat down. She gripped Nesta’s hands, hers a warm peach next to Nesta’s stark white. “It’s going to be all right,” she said soothingly. “The clinic is very well prepared for any option you choose. We have three healer’s for female reproduction, myself included. We’re all more than capable of treating you in whatever...oh, dear. Here,” she said, passing her a wad of tissue paper.
“Oh,” Nesta said, taking some and wiping her eyes. “Oh, er, tha--” 
But she choked on her words.
What was she supposed to do?
“I can’t be pregnant,” she whispered aloud. Because she couldn’t. Then she realized--she truly couldn’t. “This...can't be possible. I haven’t...been with anyone in months.” Even with the gravity of the situation, Nesta still felt a slight blush creep up on her cheeks. Perhaps she had not entirely thrown out the excessive modesty of her upbringing with her few months of numerous partners in Velaris, and the few months living with Cassian.
Oh,  Mother.  Cassian.
“It’s...possible for a female to get pregnant months after intercourse,” the healer said slowly, carefully, like Nesta was an idiot.
“It is?” she replied, feeling like one.
“Yes.”
Of course, Nesta thought, thinking it through. Because her cycle was so slow...and that meant her whole system was so slow...and if pregnancy once would have occurred a few days after sex, now it happened months.
And she had stopped taking the potion. Because she had stopped sleeping with people. But that didn’t matter, because it had only been...Nesta counted backwards in her head...a month since she had last slept with Cassian.
(A month? Had it really only been a month?)
Nesta put her head in her hands. “All right,” she said, summoning her nerve. “Tell me about the other two healers.”
“Well,” Dadashov said, slightly taken aback, “there’s Huseyn Por--”
“Male.”
“Er, yes.”
“No. The other one.”
"Marya Kamal. She’s brilliant, one of the best in the field. We’re lucky to have her. Her studies--”
“How old is she?”
“Er,” Dadashov said, eyes darting around. “I believe...twelve-hundred, or so?”
“No. You, then. All right.” Nesta paused to take a deep breath. “I don’t know anything about faerie reproduction. I wasn’t born faerie. And I...can’t have this baby.”
Eugh, why did she say baby?
Dadashov’s eyes go even wider.
She’s a patient from Hell, she imagined. But Healers liked a challenge, didn’t they?
---
November 3 - 4 years after
 The day spent with his sons is miserable. He sits with them all day, talking to them while they’re awake and running his hands down their backs while they sleep. Nicky seems to be doing a little better towards the late afternoon, and sits up to have soup, but Ollie barely takes the water Cassian makes him drink.
He’s beyond relieved when Nesta and Ava come home.
Ava rushes up the stairs ahead of Nesta. “We’re going to flying lessons now, Appa,” she sing-songs. “We’re going now, we’re going now, we’re going now.”
"Hi, angels,” Nesta says, coming into the room and sitting by Nicky. “How are you feeling?” she asks him, putting a hand on his forehead.
“Better,” he says, but his voice is still so weak.
Nesta kisses the top of his head and hugs him. “What about a bath? Would that make you feel better.”
He shrugs into her.
“I think it would,” she says, standing up. “How’s Ollie?”
“Sleeping, mostly.”
“Poor angel,” she sighs. “All right, you go on to flying lessons. Have fun, Avery. Say hello to Madam Sabina for me.”
“Bye-bye, Nicky! Bye-bye, Mummy! Let’s go now, Appa!”
Ava takes his hand and starts dragging him towards the door. “Bye,” he says over his shoulder. “We’ll come back soon.”
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go now!”
Ava keeps up variations of her chant until they arrive at one of the parks where flying lessons commence. The children all look to be around her age, accompanied by a parent or two. They’re all various types of lesser fae, none of the likes of which he’s seen in the Night Court.
Madam Sabina is a round, pink female with large, feathery wings. 
“Hello,” he says, introducing himself. “I’m here with Ava.”
“You’re her father?”
“Yes. Nesta’s at home. With the boys. They’re sick.”
“Ah, flu’s going around. All right, then. Normally I fly with the triplets, but good. You’ll do it. Wonderful. Are you excited to fly with your Daddy, Ava?”
“He’s my Appa,” she says. And then she starts singing again, “We’re at flying lessons now, we’re at flying lessons now.”
Madam Sabina shrugs. “Excited enough, I guess. All right, students!” she cries, clapping her hands. Let’s all gather around in a circle--mummies, daddies, uncles, let’s get behind them. Let’s start our stretching exercises.”
"Hi,” says the female next to him in the parents’ circle. “I’m Nuray, Zehra’s mother. I’m a friend of Nesta’s. You’re the triplets’ father, right?”
He nods. “Cassian,” he says.
“Nicky looks so much like you,” she says. “Where are the boys?”
“They’re sick,” he says, wondering how many friends Nesta has here, or if everyone who has a child in the same age group counts as a friend. “The flu.”
“Oh,” she says, clucking. “Poor dears. Well, it’s going around. Nice that Nesta’s got you here now, to help out. Especially with Zeyn gone.”
“Oh, yeah,” he says, struggling to maintain a casual tone. “Good stretching, Ava,” he says to her.
“All right, now, let’s just flap our wings. Just like that. No, Fidan, not too fast! We’re just flapping, we’re not flying! All right, good!”
Ava grins up at him. “I already know how to fly,” she tells him.
“Oh, do you?”
“I’m so good at it.”
“I bet you are.”
“We’re not allowed to fly until Madam Sabina says it’s okay.”
“That’s right.”
“Because we have to stretch first because it’s very important.”
“It is very important, you’re right.”
“And, now we’re going to run all the way over there and then back again, all right? Go!”
Ava shoots off as fast as she can, making him laugh in delight. He feels a rush of gratitude towards Nesta for giving them such a beautiful, quiet place to learn to fly.
"I think it’s great that you’ve moved back in,” Nuray says. “In a town like this, people talk, but they’re good. People talked when my wife and I separated, but now we’re back, and people stop talking, you know?”
"Er,” Cassian says. “We’re not--I mean, I’m not--I don’t...live...here.”
“Oh!” Nuray brings a hand to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry! I just...assumed. I’m sorry.”
“No, that’s all right,” he says, eyes darting around. This is so--weird. Sugar Valley is so weird. People he doesn’t even know congratulating him on moving back in with Nesta. No one here knows who he is. No one here has served in any military. He’s not even sure Gilameyva has a military. It’s so detached from Prythian, so different.
“Well, at any rate...I think it’s great that you’re stepping up.”
“Thanks.” Is this a normal conversation?
Thankfully, Ava comes back then.
“All right, everyone,” Madam Sabina announces. “Pair up, pair up. We’re going to go up! Stand by your partner!”
Ava stands in front of Cassian, beaming up at him.
“Okay, just high enough to their heads. Now...up!”
Ava kicks herself off the ground--it isn’t graceful in the least, but he’s so proud, prouder than he’s ever been in his life.
“And now we’re all going to do a lap around the park together. No higher than six feet, parents! And uncle!”
Ava takes his hand as they fly together. He’s going abnormally slow, but he doesn’t care at all.
---
Chapter Twelve
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theleavesofwesteros · 2 years
Text
kuroo x nekoma manager!reader
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author's note: HI! this is my first thing that I've written on tumblr and i hope whoever finds this enjoys!!! idk if i'll write more, i want to, but i think that if i do it, it'll mostly be for my own indulgence....i love this man so much omg...sorry if it's like super long <333
you and kuroo have known each other for a longgggggg time (childhood) and you supported the boy through his growing passion for volleyball even though you weren't personally as passionate about the sport as he was.
you were more passionate about watching him play
when you and mr rooster got to high school and he got into the volleyball team, he started begging you to become the manager.
you were lowkey scared because we're talking about a bunch of guys who're definitely strong af
but kuroo is supportive bestie immense simp so he comforted you and reassured you and so you tried out for manager
shockingly (not really) nobody else had tried to get that position so you were immediately put into place as manager
KUROO WAS SOOOO HAPPY
aw
<333 he now had a reason to spend even more time with his long time crush (+ he could flex in front of you)
you're super stressed because now you have to deal with seeing kuroo play volleyball
and yeahh, you've seen him do it for years but now he's older and it's different and you don't realize that it's because you like him
(the eternal pining between you two drives kenma insane, pray for him)
tbh it's not too bad until kuroo becomes captain
after that......wow
it just got so much harder for you </3333 because if you thought he was attractive before..........i have some news for you babe
(kuroo was super happy because now he had even more reason to flex in front of you)
but then, yamamoto joined the team
and i'm not saying he was rude or anything like that,
quite the contrary
he was SMITTEN with you
he entered the gym for the first time, saw you, and i'm not kidding, fell to his knees
you were (rightfully) very worried for him so you went up to him and held out your hand to help him up and he burst into tears
kuroo watched from the sidelines while holding back laughter
okay but during classes, kuroo would help with your chem hw (even though you didn't always need help because you're smart bestie <3)
(sometimes you just asked for help so you could spend time alone with him)
anyways more and more guys joined the team and they all lowkey had a crush on you (who can blame them omg)
kuroo, yaku and kai formed the coalition called "protect y/n"
kenma was getting super annoyed at you and kuroo still not admitting your feelings to each other because he had to deal with each one of you freaking out about the other one to him
so for a long time, nothing was happening between you two, soooooo boring
and then, yamamoto started getting really close to you because he stopped crying while near you (it took him a while)
and he was actually really nice and funny so you enjoyed time with him
this is when kuroo started losing his smug demeanor </3
you literally started spending more time with yamamoto than with kuroo and that did not please the nekoma captain
you guys were best friends for a long time, now you were captain and manager (literally iconinc duo hello????) and he even had a crush on you so why were you so close with yamamoto now??
you honestly didn't do it maliciously, you just found yamamoto very sweet and wanted to make a new friend!! :)
one faithful day, kuroo walked into the gym and saw you and yamamoto already there and joking around and that's when kuroo saw the text on the back of your signature red jacket was different.
it was yamamoto's number......uh oh
kuroo wasn't pleased.
at this point he was sad and jealous :((( he assumed you really didn't like him anymore because you didn't even ask him for help with your chem hw anymore :(
he was in a bad mood during all of practice that day and obviously you noticed because he's your crush !!! and why is he sad ! :(
after practice was over (lasted way longer than usual because mr rooster head was in a bad mood and held everyone back) and the team was very tired, you were packing up when kuroo approached you
"so, i'm guessing that you and yamamoto are together?" (he wouldn't even look at you as he said this, he was that sad)
"what? what makes you say that?" (you were genuinely confused)
"i mean, you spend basically all your time with him now. you don't even ask me for help with chemistry anymore...."
:((( you finally looked up at him and he looked so defeateddddd :(((( poor tetsu
"i'm not dating yamamoto, tetsu. i don't even like him like that..."
kuroo's eyes immediately landed on you
"but i don't understand what that would change for you..."
then, kuroo blushed (a rare sight for someone who doesn't know him too well)
"it matters because......i like you..a lot. and i have for a while now..."
then, you smiled and hugged him very hard
"i like you too, tetsu" !!!! <33333 :)))
"FINALLY" could be heard from literally outside the gym??? (okay snoopy kenma)
when you're dating (this is getting long i'm so sorry)
literally ICONIC couple
yaku had an hour long discussion with kuroo about how he had to treat you right (he knew he would, but it was the protocol, okay??)
yamamoto still worshipped the ground you walked on (as he should) and kuroo literally supported him except if he went too far (which happened a few times)
the whole team loved your relationship (but loved you even more, because you weren't as smug as kuroo, you were their babysitter basically <333)
omg as for kuroo being a bf, you get to wear his jacket all the time omggggg
now he even gives you his chem answers (if you give him enough kisses ofc)
kenma has now gone from annoyed to disgusted (jk he loves you guys together)
kuroo doesn't get jealous all that often, but if he does it's quiet jealous and you always manage to reassure him in the end so it's all good
he loves you so muchhhh <333
and you bring homemade snacks for the team for practices and even tournaments and they're all just so thankful
and kuroo especially, because you take such good care of his team <333 omg
you always kiss him before games and he claims it's his good luck charm
hugs with him after a game where nekoma won are the best (even if he's sweaty) because he's just so happy and proud!!!
he loves kissing your forehead and your cheeks
always has a hand around your shoulder or is always touching you in some way
loves showing you off
he's so proud of you!!
like when other teams come over for a tournament and you bring your homemade snacks he's just: "look at my s/o!!! look at what they made!!!"
bokuto is literally the number one supporter of your relationship!!! he's so happy for you both!! :)
he LOVES seeing you because you're so nice and you always offer him snacks
akaashi is because he has someone else that helps him deal with the rooster and owl
(LAST DETAILS I PROMISE)
when karasuno first meet with your team, tanaka and nishinoya lose their shit because omg!!!! gorgeous manager!!!
but then kuroo comes out of the gym to greet karasuno and kisses your cheek out of habit (and makes you blush) and tanaka and nishinoya LOSE IT
because a guy actually got to date his team's MANAGER (their dream </3)
then you become friends with them too (they're so funny bro)
they love you but they're unsure of kuroo because these two simps believe you deserve better
tsukki doesn't really pay attention to you and kuroo's relationship during the day but he does notice how kind you are and how you offer snacks to all the teams, even to him :))
after the day is over though, and bokuto and kuroo ask tsukki to practice with them and akaashi, tsukki notices the way you and kuroo act around one another and he lowkey loves it
you guys clearly have chemistry (i'm so funny)
in conclusion: an iconic couple, everyone loves you together
(lev wants to come to the wedding)
+ kuroo uses chemistry pickup lines on you daily (never gets old)
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shemarmooresfedora · 3 years
Text
Sugary Sweet Apologies
Summary: You and Reid never really got along but when he saves your life, you decide to be the bigger person and thank him and hopefully start over. Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy.
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader
Content/Warnings: light to mild angst with fluffy ending, swearing, spencer reid being an annoying bitch, brief mentions of case stuff (if you watch cm, you should be fine)
A/N: this is for @willowrose99 ‘s 1 year anniversary on tumblr writing challenge!! congrats! i literally wrote and edited this whole thing in less than one day because i got so excited, anyways i hope you enjoy!
Word Count: 1.8k
“Reid and Y/L/N, go to David Whitney’s house. He was the therapist of two of the three victims. He could have some insight into the victimology and know of any overlap between them. He has no criminal record of past aggressive behavior but we can’t rule him out as a suspect entirely,” Hotch stated.
“Hotch, you stuck me with her yesterday for the geographical profiling. Send Prentiss with her instead,” Spencer whined.
“I don’t mind going with Y/L/N. She is a great partner in the field,” Emily glared at Spencer.
“No. Reid, go with Y/L/N or be taken off this case. I’m a unit chief, not an elementary school teacher. I don’t have time for temper tantrums,” Hotch chided.
“Fine,” Spencer grumbled as you grabbed the keys to an SUV.
You don’t know what it was but ever since you started at the BAU four months ago, Spencer had never liked you which resulted in you disliking him as well. Everyone else on the team was super friendly and welcoming but Reid always was jabbing snarky remarks your way like “I don’t have time to explain it to you” or “This was in the FBI handbook. God, you need more training.”
Luckily, the others were quick to defend you. Once Garcia even heard him snip at you over the phone and as soon as you all got off the elevator after the case, Reid was being dragged by his ear into Garcia’s lair with him going “ow ow ow” behind her. So, you didn’t really pay much mind to him because you could deal with one annoying know-it-all to have such an amazing job with great coworkers minus the one.
“Look, I’m not happy about this either,” you said as you climbed into the driver’s side of the SUV, “But at least I’m not being a whiny bitch about it and being rude to the other person’s face.”
“Oh wow, I’m so sorry that I hurt your feelings,” Spencer mocked.
“Fuck you, Reid,” you shook your head.
-
David Whitney was on edge the second you arrived and showed him your badges. He was bouncing his leg up and down, he couldn’t sit still, and he kept avoiding eye contact.
He knew way too much about the other victim that wasn’t even one of his clients but you didn’t have anything solid on him. His house seemed very neat so you doubted he kept anything incriminating here. Organized offenders usually have a secondary location. So, you decided to push his buttons a little.
“I mean blitz attacks, leaving the bodies on the side of dirt roads,” you combed through the crime scene photos, “This guy was a real coward.”
Spencer picked up on what you were trying to do and his eyes widened, he was subtly shaking his head and mouthing “no”.
“Excuse me?” David asked.
“Well, I’m just saying a real man wouldn’t cower in the bushes and blindside a woman. He must not be very strong,” you stated, “He probably can’t even get it up.”
Before you even had time to react, David pulled out a switchblade knife from inside the couch cushions and put you in a chokehold, pressing the cool metal up to your throat. You closed your eyes tightly.
“David, you don’t have to do this,” Spencer stood with his gun pointed at you both.
“This bitch insulted me,” he snarled.
“She insults me too. That doesn’t make you any less of a man,” Spencer spoke carefully, “Just put the knife down and I’ll escort you out.”
David sighed, dropping the knife to the floor and releasing you.
Spencer put David in handcuffs and walked him outside as reinforcements came running in.
“Are you okay, Y/L/N?” Hotch asked.
“Yep, a little shaken up but fine. Thank you,” you stood.
“Let’s get you to the medics,” Morgan grabbed your arm to support you as you walked over to the ambulance.
Spencer never checked on you.
-
You knew your decision in the field was a little rash and you wanted to thank Spencer for essentially saving your life.
However, there was no way in hell you could verbally get out an apology while staring at his smug face, but you could bake. You settled on a note tucked inside a tupperware container of your Grandma’s special recipe of chocolate chip cookies. It was a good peace offering, maybe even a chance to start fresh.
During your lunch break, you took the tupperware from your desk drawer and approached the break room where Reid had entered about 5 minutes ago.
“I’m just saying I could not have been more clear in my message to her that it was too dangerous but of course, Y/L/N didn’t listen cause Y/L/N is going to do whatever she feels like,” Spencer stirred his coffee.
No one had noticed you standing in the doorway yet.
“Reid, you’ve got to be nicer to her. She earned her spot here just like the rest of us,” Emily defended you.
“Did she though? How much do we really know about her? She couldn’t even tell me how many pages the FBI protocol manual was,” Spencer said.
“That’s not a normal thing people know,” Morgan retorted.
“Well, I’m just saying the team was perfectly fine before her and it would probably be better off if she left,” Reid finished.
Garcia looked up from her yogurt to see you standing there, “Oh, Y/N”.
Spencer turned around in his chair as you angrily stormed up to him.
“Here’s your cookies, asshole,” you seethed, grabbing the note from inside and crumpling it up into a little ball and tossing it into the trash.
“Y/N!” Emily called after you but you were already gone.
The whole team glared at Spencer and picked up their lunches, leaving him alone at the table.
Spencer retrieved the balled up paper from the trash, having to fish through Rossi’s week old pasta and Anderson’s half eaten tuna fish sandwich.
Dear Reid,
Thank you for saving my life, I guess. These are my Grandma’s secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies so I hope you enjoy. I think we got off on the wrong foot and I would like to start over. I think cases would be a lot less miserable for everyone if we got along.
Thanks again,
Y/L/N
Spencer, you’re such an idiot, he thought to himself.
You never came back after your lunch break ended and Derek made Spencer go tell Hotch why it’s his fault you were missing the rest of the day.
He tried to call you multiple times but they always rang out before going to voicemail.
Spencer hesitantly knocked on Penelope’s door at the end of the day.
“Is she okay?” he asked softly.
“You don’t get to ask that as the person who hurt her in the first place. Also, she told me to tell you that don’t you dare go to her apartment to ‘check on her’. I’m headed over there myself actually,” Penelope collected her things and shut off her monitors.
“Will you at least tell her I’m really sorry?” Spencer followed her to the elevator.
“Absolutely not. I’m not doing any apologizing on your behalf,” Penelope huffed as the elevators shut.
-
You came in the next morning, keeping your head down. You grabbed a pen from your cup holder and the first folder on your stack before getting to work.
You were on the second page of the file when your clean, empty tupperware was placed in front of you plus another baking dish with aluminum foil over the top.
You glanced up to see Spencer guiltily looking down at you and you returned your eyes back to the file.
“I-I made you cinnamon rolls,” Spencer broke the silence.
“Are they poisoned?” you asked, not sparing him another glance.
“No, they’re not poisoned,” he assured you.
“I’m just saying how can I trust you as you have made it very apparent you would like me off this team.”
“I didn’t mean that,” Spencer was quick to reply.
“Then why the hell did you say it, Reid?” you slammed your pen down.
You grabbed your empty coffee mug and briskly walked to the break room but unfortunately, Spencer was right behind you.
“I didn’t eat any of your cookies by the way. Not that I didn’t want to but I felt like I didn’t deserve them so I handed them out to everyone else.”
“Oh how kind, taking credit for my work,” you tried to close the door in his face.
“I told them that they were from you,” Spencer insisted.
You rolled your eyes as Spencer grabbed the coffee pot before you could get to it, pouring your mug of coffee for you.
��What do you want from me, Reid?” you asked defeatedly.
“I want you to try a cinnamon roll and let me explain.”
“Fine but only because I didn’t have breakfast yet and I want to critique your baking skills,” you huffed, walking back to your desk.
Spencer gingerly placed one of the sticky frosting-coated rolls on a napkin and pushed it towards you. You tentatively bit into it. Damn it, it was actually delicious.
“It’s okay,” you understated.
You knew Spencer hardly ever used his kitchen let alone be up baking all night. He even chose a recipe that required more time and effort because the yeast dough would have to rise for a few hours.
“That’s good. The first batch didn’t come out as great...or the second,” he smiled softly.
“Well, the floor is all yours, Reid. Please explain to me why you talk shit about me to my co-workers when I’m in the other room,” you leaned back in your chair and crossed your arms.
Spencer muttered something incoherent.
“I have to hear the apology, you know,” you said, enjoying watching him uncomfortable.
“You’re intimidating to me because you’re intelligent, beautiful, and courageous. I think I was a little jealous that my spotlight as the ‘kid’ of the BAU was coming to an end so I said some harsh, completely untrue things and I’m sincerely sorry.”
“Oh my god,” you smirked, “Hotch was right, you are an elementary school kid.”
“In what way?” he curiously asked.
“You like me like like like me. You don’t know how to talk to the girl so you pull her pigtails on the playground,” you giggled.
“I take it back. You’re a horrible profiler,” Spencer was getting up from his seat, completely flustered.
“Awww,” you were laughing at Spencer’s bright red face as he went to go to the break room to fill his coffee mug.
When he got back to his desk, a sticky note was placed front and center.
In typical elementary school fashion…
Will you go get coffee with me?
Check:
Yes
or
No
Spencer smiled before picking up his pen and checking one of the boxes, crumpling the sticky note up into a ball and throwing it over to your desk.
“Good choice. See you Saturday at 9 at the cafe down the street,” you grinned.
“It’s a date,” he smiled.
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antiquemotel · 3 years
Note
Hi could you do a reading for bond between Sunghoon and wonyoung
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yes, I absolutely can! I saw another anon asking the same thing but Tumblr had deleted it by the time I recovered my account :(( It's posted on my master list as well!!
Disclaimer: Tarot readings are subject to interpretation. All tarot readings given by me are for entertainment purposes only. Choosing to believe in the tarot is a choice.
Anon: Hi could you do a reading for bond between Sunghoon and wonyoung
Sunghoon and Wonyoung. So for this reading, I completely based it on tarot…It’s embarrassing to admit but I’ve been so busy doing school and moving countries that it had been a while since I heard any k-pop news so… I searched it up before the reading(for context) and apparently they’re both MC’S!! Congratulations to both of them! Please take this reading with a grain of salt or leave if you want to spread malicious words - Positive vibes only<33
Enjoy the reading my loves
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Now I see a lot of new beginnings, I’m assuming that Wonyoung and Sunghoon aren’t veteran MC’s (doing it for a long time) or they’re at the beginning of a beautiful relationship (friendship or dating)
Sunghoon’s Intuition seems distraught while Wonyoung’s seem more aligned and that is usually an indicator of presumptions. Sunghoon was very judgmental towards Wonyoung at first, or at least he came across that way while Wonyoung entered with an open mind. This could have been an opening for conflict or argument in the collaboration aspect of their relationship. But all was solved and assumptions were put to the side once the awkwardness died down and it benefit them greatly! It’s mostly smooth sailing from here on out. I had previously done a ~Jake and Sunghoon reading~ and definitely picked up some vibes </3 that would perfectly make sense so I highly suggest you read that one!!!
Recently Sunghoon had been feeling like a burned-out candle and Wonyoung seems to be a good support system for him aside from the members ^^
Future predictions
In fact, for future predictions, they'll be having many interviews online in which they interact with and “get to know each other” although I’m pretty sure they did already ;)). I’m not going to say much as there isn’t much needed to be said, they both are very attractive individuals and I don’t want to start dating rumours outside of the tarot community because to the locals I’ll easily sound like a crazy lady or even create havoc among strange sasaengs. I see a veil of deceit most likely because the show is scripted:,) but also because they aren’t revealing the full extent of their relationship to the media (most likely due to the industry and dating rumours which can tarnish their reputations)
Dating rumours
Oh wow just as expected :// there will be plenty going around not just of them but other idols as well…be prepared for Koreaboo articles filled with dating rumours of Sunghoon and other female idols and dating rumours for Wonyoung as well (something could be revealed soon) ^-^ but this is just the toxic aspect of Koreas couple culture as the dark can easily overshadow the light. Mostly, there will be a lot of supporters from both sides of the fandom. “Sibling energy” fans who INSIST that their relationship is purely Platonic and “innocent” which is kind of annoying to Sunghoon and Wonyoung(not to me as I don’t have any business shipping or not shipping since I already know what’s going on 😭��) and SUPER obsessed fans who EXPECT Sunghoon to propose to them tomorrow :// Also, the Korean media is going to exploit the hell out of their "friendship" (companies as well)
NOT THE TEASING I- anyone who’s a fan of ENHA already knows but yeah he’s going to get some for a while until it becomes the norm and no one bats an eye anymore.
I hope you found this answered your question anon<33
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Death By Bagel
NCT Culinary Student!Mark Lee x Fashion Design Student!Reader Summary: Mark makes a cake cause he's realized he can't lose you to some f-boy. Word Count: 3k+ Warnings: Fluff, childhood au, college au, slowish burn, slight cursing, reallllly fluffy, some broksi-dude action, typos sksksksks, etc.
R E Q U E S T my friend: mark lee, slow burn, friends to lovers
A/N: I wrote a fic that already had like 1k+ word then I LOST IT (i think i deleted it) thus this. It took me 10 years to write this msmsmkskskks. PLEASE TUMBLR IS MESSING WITH ME AND MIXED UP THE ORDER OF SOME OF THE DIALOGUE
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“As a doctor, I don’t think you should be doing that,” Mark says, not even bothering to look at his patient seated rudely on the floor. Oop, he’s lying down now.
Mark huffs and looks up from the clay block he was molding on his tray, “YOU’RE SO UNPROFESSIONAL!”
Mark’s mother nearly spits out her coffee upon hearing the words of his five-year-old son. Her husband snorts, “He got that from you.”
The woman throws a look at the man and was supposed to give a snarky retort, up until the sound of the doorbell ringing. She grins from ear-to-ear and dashes to get the door.
When she comes back to the living room, she’s accompanies by another woman and a tiny version of her.
“Markie! Say hello to your Auntie!” Mark’s mom calls.
Mark from the carpeted floor looks up and blinks, examining the stranger-woman and its human-ling. Mark turns to his father who was sat on the couch and receives a nod of approval almost. Mark purses his lips and waves at the woman.
The woman waves back and then crouches down to the little girl, “Baby, say hello to Mark.”
Unwilling, she shakes her head.
“Aw come on, baby. Don’t be shy. Mark over there is a really sweet boy. I knew him when he was in his mommy’s tummy, just like Mark’s mom knew you when you were in mine. You’re the same age so you’ll get along just fine.”
With the unnecessary explanation that gave no justification to the scene whatsoever out of the way, the girl was fooled into peeping up, “Hi, Mark.”
“Hello,” Mark says, not particularly interested, as his patient was still in the midst of dying in his office. He turned to his stuffed toy called Mr. Lion and attempted to stand him up once more.
At this point, the girl makes her way to Mark.
“We’ll be back in two hours, honey. Keep an eye on the children,” Mrs. Lee tells his husband who had been occupied with TV the entire time.
“Yeah. I got this,” he smiles to his wife then goes back to watching.
The bumble bee clad figure sat down to Mark in blue and watched him play.
Mark ignored her for a few seconds, needing to assert all efforts on standing that dumb toy up. Once successful, Mark turns to her, “Do you play doctors?”
Mark was then met with the same lack on enthusiasm. She hums, “I like playing baker doctor.”
All at once, Mark gasps, “ME TOO!”
It was unbeknownst to the children it was oddly specific and the chance of this happening was pretty slim.
And in a blink of an eye, excited giggles erupt in the room, as if they had been having so much fun before this scene. It was here and there the two would become best friends to the very end.
... so I guess it means the reckoning is upon us.
“MARK LEE I SWEAR TO THE FU--” “WHAT! WHAT!?” Mark laughs.
"YOU ATE MY BAGEL! AGAIN!" I growl in a loud whisper, throwing the wrapper at him and his flat head before he could think to dodge it while he annoyingly laughs.
"I asked if I could have it though!" he says, fully knowing his sins.
I glared at him and say lowly, "I thought you were referring to my notes, bread for brains."
Mark snorts loud enough for our teacher to wake up from his nap. Once the class notices, we all pretend to be doing something productive and Mark plays it off with a cough.
"Mr. Lee." Mr. Kim says sternly, clicking his tongue, blinking his eyes rapidly.
Mark finishes coughing and turns to our seated professor, "Yes sir."
"Don't go to school if you're sick and going to cause a racket with your coughing."
Mark nods firmly and Mr. Kim closes his eyes again, mumbling, "page 65 is due tomorrow."
The entire class grumbles. Mark beside me scoffs and makes a face, "Yeah, yeah, Doyoung."
I turn to him and elbow his side.
"Whatever," Mark shakes his head, "professor bunny-teeth won't hear me."
Once class ended, we both get our things and head out for lunch. We walk to our canteen, fussing over assignments, deciding we should do it together later in our mutually free period.
I groan and narow your eyes at him as we have an argument over how he hasn't finished the essay for English, "That's not the point."
"Yo Mark!" a voice calls from afar. Mark and I turn, looking for the voice, and I spot the dimpled senior, Jung Jaehyun, in a table with the rest of his squad.
I nudge Mark and point at the pale guy seated by the corner.
Mark throws him a smile and waves. I follow closely behind him as he walks over to the table. "We're going to sit with them?" I say in some sort of gasp.
"Yeah." Mark replies simply, not bothering to turn to me, "they're cool."
I knit my brows at that and nod, "Yeah I know. But I'm not cute today."
Mark stops in his tracks and throws me a confused look, "what?"
"I didn't put any make-up on today, also I'm pretty sure there's a visible stain somewhere on my jacket, I just don't remember where."
Mark scrunches his face up again, even more confused. "What? How do you... forget a stai-- that's not the point. Why do you wanna look cute today?" He scoffs and continues lowly, "hardly as if you ever look cute."
I let out an annoyed groan and punch Mark's shoulder. "Like when you panicked when Seulgi came over and asked for notes."
Mark openes his mouth, "That is so not the same! Jaehyun's a fuck bo-"
"Just shut up already," I snap and shove him forward so he'd continue walking. "Let's not keep him waiting," I add and mumble, "also I know. Dong Sicheng however is very cute."
Mark chuckles, "he's dated every girl on the dance team."
"Okay, maybe not that cute."
"Ya, Mark," Jaehyun grins and greets the said person with a high-five and chest bump. He turns to me and speaks my name with a smile. I smile back politely and wave.
I'm about to sit next to Sicheng, but Mark shoves me and so I end up sitting on the other side of the bench table with Jaehyun. I turn to Jaehyun with a small, non-awkward smile and shoot Mark a glare. He seems unbothered though.
"So, you up for a round later?" Jaehyun asks Mark.
Mark talks over me, "you know it, dude."
Jaehyun flashes his dimple smile all the stupid girls fall for. I'm only half falling for it cause I'm only half stupid. He raises his brows, "you bought the dough, right?"
This makes me knit my brows.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really did this time," Mark mumbles quickly. "It's my turn anyway."
Jaehyun gives an off look, "that's literally what you said last time bro."
"Yo, no for real. It's in my bag, if you wanna check."
Jaehyun shakes his head when Mark begins to scramble for it, "no, Lee, it's good. We wouldn't want you friend to get dirty."
Is it just me or do you feel slimey all of a sudden?
Jaehyun then gives me a somewhat, somehow sincere smile, "so. I hear you're in fashion design."
I give a soft chuckle, "yeah. That's me."
"I could tell from a mile away. Mark looks horrible next to your getup."
I look down at my sweater and ripped jeans. Mark exclaims in protest, "shut the hell up, Jae."
I give a soft smile at Jaehyun, "don't know where that comes from but thanks I guess."
Jaehyun chuckles, "I'm kidding," he eyes Mark, "I saw your Fashion Design pin on your bag when you sat down."
"Oooohhhh, haha, okay, that makes sense."
"Ya, Jeff," Sicheng calls for Jaehyun, "it's almost time."
Jaehyun turns to his friend and nods. He turns back to me and Mark, "well, it's nice to meet you. Mark won't put a sock in it even if I beg. See you around, fashionista."
He stands and slaps Mark's back, "see ya later, broski."
"Yeah, bruh," Mark replies.
Once it's just Mark and I, I snap at him and blurt out in a whisper yell, "YOU'RE ON BROSKI LEVEL WITH JUNG JAEHYUN?!"
Mark gives me a weird face, "bruh, I think he calls the principal broski, for real."
I smack Mark, making him whine, "you know what I'm talking about, Mark! And what, are you doing drugs?!?"
He shakes his head in confusion, "Wait, what!? Who the hell told you that?"
"Uhhhhh you were talking about dough and showing up later. Sounds like you owe him money for drugs, Mark."
"??? In what universe did we even mention drugs?? Does this," he slaps his face, "look like a face of a drug addict to you?"
"A gullible idiot maybe."
Mark's jaw drops, "oh wow, okay. I'm done with this conversation." He proceeds to stand attempt to walk away. I scoff, "not on my watch bitch."
Like the true idiot that he is, Mark begins to legit run away from me, like a criminal who stole my cookies. It's embarrassing that he, a man much taller than I, could not even outrun me. I suppose I should be grateful, but this just fortifies my thoughts of him being an idiot even more.
But okay... I wasn't actually expecting this... like... Mark and Jaehyun... like... actually baking bread after school with dough Mark premade at home. Also, uh, Jaehyun looks super cute in an apron that I'm having a mental breakdown. And what's new, so does Mark.
"I can't believe you thought I was a drug dealer," Jaehyun says in a soft pout as he rolls out dough on the marble counter of his friggin large kitchen in his friggin large house. Like dang, I knew he was rich, but he's like Rich™ Rich. Rich with a golden diamond encrusted Rolex watch rich that's in a glass display rich-- wtf.
Mark wheezes in his telltale high pitched laugh as he opens a pack of unsweetened chocolate pellets, "she thought dough was some sort of metaphor or something."
"Cute," they say at the same time. Mark turns to Jaehyun in slight surprise and Jaehyun turns to me. I roll my eyes, though I feel my neck burn. I avert my attention to the scene I was sketching on my pad, Jaehyun and Mark baking croissants. I clear my throat, "I'm just making use of the single braincell between us, cause if he doesn't die falling down the stairs, he's gonna pull some idiotic stuff like baking with Jung Jaehyun."
Oddly, it's Mark that reacts to that with a, "hey!"
Jaehyun rubs his chin on his shoulder, "I also can't believe you think so little of me.'
I break a sweat but decide to answer honestly, "... ... ... You have a reputation."
"Of being a fuck boy?"
Mark loudly transfers the chocolates into a metal bowl, making the two of us snap at him. Mark makes a face, "oh gosh, sorry."
Jaehyun sighs, "well. I admit I get around, but that's only because I get dumped every time."
I raise a brow.
Jaehyun purses his lips, "nah, let's not make this weird. The croissants will be flat."
"Dude," Mark turns to him, "that's literally only because you messed up the recipe."
Jaehyun grits his teeth, "no. It's because Kun's a little teacher's pet and sabotaged me so he could get the best grade."
"No, but like Kun is really nice, he helped me with the fold techinique."
Jaehyun scoffs, "He stole me vanilla extract, Mark. Who does that?!"
"No, listen, he's cool, like, for real--"
"No, you listen, he's a little shit and--"
The two begin to bicker like a married couple, and I begin to draw inspiration form the scene to design some random sketches of wedding dresses.
I look back to the two and still can't get over the fact that I learned Jaehyun was a culinary arts major with my best friend, and that I was currently in the Jung's boojie home because I thought Mark was buying drugs from him. Not what I was expecting at all my day to go like, but I'm not mad this is how it went.
"No, no, no, no," Jaehyun says. He turns to me and points, "let's just get an outside opinion. Babe, what's your favorite color?"
"BABE?!" Mark barks.
I take a moment to reply. I blink slowly, "uhh... pink?"
Jaehyun bites his lower lip and claps his flour covered hands, "Right. Pink croissants it is."
Mark shoots him a glare and turns to me, back to Jaehyun, "she has a name."
Jaehyun nods, "yeah, and she wants pink croissants."
Mark makes a face and Jaehyun examines it, chuckling under his breath. "Wah, you two are something, huh."
No one really responds.
We began to always eat lunch with Jaehyun and his friends. It's funny cause I realized Jaehyun, although I still firmly believed he was out to get nasty with every other girl he sees, he was actually just like Mark. A total loser with a love for cooking.
"Hey," Mark says with a snippy tone.
I give him a look and suddenly receive a paper bag to my face. Mark sits on his chair next to me, as per usual. I smell the thing before I realize what it is. It's a freshly baked bagel. I perk up and smile, "Aw, you baked me a bagel?"
Mark raises his upper lip, "no. Jaehyun did."
I knit my brows, "what? Why?"
Mark narrows his brows, "do you, like, like him?"
I give him a look. I take a bite of the bagel, making Mark look at me in disbelief. I answer, "You do know I only hang with him cause you do, right?"
"Then why'd you eat the bagel then?"
"Uh, a number of reasons. 1) it's a bagel, 2) free food, 3) I'm starving, 4) it smells amazingggg."
Mark does a face, "fair. I've been meaning to ask how he does his seasoning for a while now too." He releases a breath, "and anyway, I'm pretty sure he made a bagel cause I told him you liked them. Never talking about you to him anymore though."
I look at him, "why do you talk about me so much to him anyway?"
"Uh because you're amazing," Mark says instinctively.
I feel my heart skip at that. I coo and place my hands on my chest, "wait that's really sweet."
Mark looks at me. His face begin to shift, "too bad it's a lie- haha."
I give him a look and rebut, "jerk."
"Loser."
As quickly as I found out about Jaehyun being Mark's friend, that's about as quickly as I found out he didn't like hanging out with him anymore. It's kind of a shame I never got to go back to his boojie house.
There was this one encounter I had with Jaehyun though... which was a little weird, not gonna lie.
He was waiting for me outside my Tailoring class, smiling and waving when he saw me. I Reluctantly reciprocated and walked over to him.
He releases a breath, "I've been waiting for about 20 minutes for you. I didn't know when your class would end."
I raise my brows, "you could have asked?"
"Well I would need your number for that, and that would have ruined the surprise," he pulled out a brown paper bag, reminiscing the same one Mark chucked at my face.
"I made you two this time," he smiles.
I take a moment to reply, "you don't have to make me bagels, Jaehyun."
He grabs my hand, "yeah, but I want something out of ya," he places the bagels in my hand. He proceeds to lead us off and we begin to walk down the hall.
Truth be told, it's a little scary that his ulterior motive is up in the air. Jaehyun places his hands in his pockets, "I like your dress, by the way."
I smile, "thanks. I made it."
He smiles and nods, "right. That makes sense as to why it suits you well."
I can't help but blush at that, and simultaneously feel conscious when I realize a bunch of girls in my course are looking at me and Jaehyun as we strut down the hall.
"So, what did you want, Jaehyun?"
"Well, I clearly wanted to ask you out."
"..."
"..."
Jaehyun smiles and give a soft laugh, "is it so ground breaking?"
"... Uh..."
He sniggers, "hey, you can say no. I mean I hope you don't but you can." Jaehyun leans in and raises his hands, "I won't like it, but a man should take rejection from a lady well."
I turn to him as he straightens up. I turn to the bagels he made me and bring it back to him. He laughs, "no, I made them for you really. It's not poisoned, in fact it's made with love."
I visibly react to that, which makes Jaehyun wheeze. I can't help but laugh back, "that was hella tacky."
"Worth a shot though," he says. "Good luck with Mark."
I look at him with silence and he chuckles, "ya, you can't fool me."
I'm about to retort but then Jaehyun gets called by one of the frats dudes I identify as Johnny Seo. Jaehyun does a curtsy and clicks his tongue, "see ya later babez."
"You know, I would have said yes if you didn't do stuff like that."
Jaehyun purses his lips, "no you wouldn't."
I shrug, "worth a shot though."
Jaehyun places a hand on his chest, dramatically calling, "Uh, rejection hurts, man."
Yeah, I never went to Jaehyun's boojie house ever again.
Silver lining though was Mark's dorm smelled equally as nice because of all the food he cooks, although it came with a whiff of axe body spray from his roommate, Lucas. It's cool though, he was almost never around for me to smell it in its whole intensity.
"Aite," Mark calls from his side of the dorm. I perk up from the two seater dining table they had and turn to Mark who was covering the cake he was making for his finals.
"Don't, like, peek, okay. I want you to see the cake all at once and give me your honest reaction to it. Please, like, all my lives kinda depend on it."
"How many lives do you have?"
"9, I'm pretty sure."
I stand from my seat, "not you faking your life as a cat, but get it I guess."
Mark raises a hand at me as I walk over, "can you not, I'm high-key panicking right now."
"Over what? You literally made a box of donuts for your midterms and it looked better than Misty Mreme! I'm sure your cake is hot."
"It was in the minifridge for a day. I mean it barely fit cause of all of Lucas' mountain dew."
I groan, "just show me it, Mark Lee!"
Mark whined and dashes over to me, grabbing my shoulders, "okay, but like, don't be mean about it. I swear, I might cry."
I give a sound and fake cough, "it's ugly."
Mark doesn't respond to that particular jab, "I'm serioussss. Please be kind, okay?"
I look at Mark's nervous face and give a soft pout, "Markie, please, not that I think it would be ugly, but I promise you don't have to be nervous about my reaction."
He isn't soothed by that, but he does release a sigh, "okay. So for context, Mr. Moon wanted the cake to be one or two tiers, but I went with one, cause there aint no way I'm going to the other side of the campus to freeze a two tiered cake. Then, the theme was something from your childhood, so, I, uh, thought this was fitting. The exam is 60 percent decoration, 40 percent taste by the way."
Mark gives me a hesitant look, but steps way for me to see it. I then see a heart shaped, medium sized cake in my favorite pastel pink color. By the top there's a little boy on the floor playing with a toy oven set and little girl in a bumble bee dress, holding a stethoscope. At the bottom of the cake, there were jelly letters spelling out, "I like you."
I cup my cheeks at the sight of it and feel my eyes start to well at the sentiment.
Wait... was this really happening?
Mark heaves in and out, "okay, so like when Jaehyun began to like hit on you, that sucked pretty hard because he's known for getting girls and I thought maybe he'd get you too and I got panicky. Anyway, I....... have liked you since we were kids... And... I know you probably don't feel the same way but I have to try, you know.... Yolo."
My feel my tears retract from what I hear. I rub my eyes. I turn to Mark and find his nervous face. "Did you just say yolo in your confession, Mark?"
He looks like he's about to throw up.
I can't help but chuckle and pout, "dude..."
I prolong the moment. Mark gets even more nervous as he repeats softly, "dude..."
"We could have dated in grade school all this time."
It takes a moment to register in his head.
Like, a really long moment.
I sigh, "Mark! I like you too, dummy."
He freezes and blinks. His face begins to burn. He breaks into a soft smile, "nice."
I break into a laugh.
"... Uh... So... Can I like... Kiss you?"
I snort and feel my own cheeks begin to burn, "I think you should refrigerate your cake first."
Mark snaps out of this trance, "oh shoot, you-" I give him a quick peck on the lips.
He is dumbfounded.
I feel butterflies go wild in my stomach.
"I'll wait over there for when you've fixed that."
Mark watches as I walk away, "yooo.... That's not fair though."
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riathedreamer · 4 years
Text
Zero is Null
A discussion of Zero’s love-hate-relationship with RvB and struggling independence; including a hotdog too big for the bun, tragic backstories, a single bow-chicka-bow-wow, and a cookie at the very end.
Welcome to what will be a lot of text. Basically, it will explore why Zero fails as an RvB (with emphasis on RvB) season. I will not be the first one to bring forth some of the points, and I promise to be fair and civil and fun. This isn’t supposed to be a piece of hate – in fact, I’m writing this because I love Red vs. Blue.
Okay, first of all, to increase your fun – take a guess on just how much of Zero is spent on fight scenes. You see, I’ve calculated the exact amount, and I will reveal it later, but for now, take a guess and remember the number. Maybe you are the winner!
Alright, time to share my thoughts. Wait! Since I suffer from anxiety and have this one annoying voice pretending to be all those critical statements my opinion could be met with, let’s give it an actual voice and address the points throughout this review.
“Why would I care about your opinion, Ria?” – I don’t know, you’re the one who clicked Read More.
“Your opinion doesn’t matter!” – Of course, it doesn’t! Geez. Do you think your opinion matters, though? Listen, we’re on Tumblr, the actual equivalent of screaming into the void. And it’s fun, too!
“If you don’t like it, don’t watch!” - *activates Uno Reverse Card* “You can’t talk about something you haven’t watched!”
“You’re just a Hater” – Actually, this is a point I’ll come back to. Like a cliffhanger. Also, at the end of this, there’ll be a cookie. But this will also include me talking about the stuff I like, because, surprise, Zero is not without talent!
“You just don’t like it because the Reds and Blues aren’t in it!” – Actually, that’s a good point, so instead, this review will start with a sole focus on Zero and discuss the problem that lies within that story. Then we can address why the lack of OG cast is understandable and problematic and weird.
But first! Backstory.
When the first 5 second teaser dropped back in spring (you know, when we were young and innocent and the world didn’t feel like an apocalyptic movie yet), I held onto that one image of what I thought (hoped) to be Grif and Simmons in the sunset, hopefully addressing Grif’s hateglue arc, but boy was I wrong because a) that’s not Simmons, that’s Sarge, and b) the image was from a PSA since the Reds are not in Zero.
Actual face-reveal of me below:
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Admittedly, when I heard that the Reds and Blues were not going to be the main characters (or even show up), it felt like a gut punch. However, I actually found myself getting excited due to the creators’ hype. I want to praise them for this. It’s been a while since an RvB season was talked so much ABOUT before its release; it had advertisements, it had creators and voice-actors talking about it. Please. More of that in the future. Their passion rubbed off on me, and that deserves recognition. So it pains me that this was clearly a passion-project, and then when I gave it a try, I didn’t want to touch it again for weeks.
Here’s the thing. I cannot whole-heartedly say that Zero is bad. It’s not gonna melt your eyes. It’s not even so-bad-it’s-good. For me, it’s meh. It’s a Saturday-morning-cartoon aimed for a younger audience with a rushed plot and clichéd characters. The problem is that it calls itself RvB, and with that title comes something to live up to – but more importantly, something to continue.
My main issue is that Zero forces its story into existence by ignoring established content rather than adjusting to it. Let’s call this for the hotdog-too-big-for-the-bun syndrome solely for the sake of the bow-chicka-bow-wow that’s coming now. Bow-chicka-bow-wow. Many of the separate issues I will dive into all add to this hotdog-issue, so I will scream “Hotdog!” whenever this is the case so we can all keep track of my argument.
You can continue the story of Red vs. Blue without the Reds and Blues. While that would personally crush my heart, it can be done. There’s a story of Red vs. Blue that can be continued. The world can be expanded, the previous actions of the Reds and Blues can be explored from another angle.
So.
How does Zero do this? It doesn’t.
I just want to make it clear that new elements can definitely be added when it comes to worldbuilding. That’s literally the point of sequels. But Zero’s settings are presented with so little grace and with no connection to previously established worldbuilding. We get Alliance of Defense and GLASS thrown in our face as very big important organizations – yet we’ve never heard of them before. A big central plot point of RvB is the UNSC and Project Freelancers, and those were introduced naturally with the plot. We already have big established intergalactic organizations. What is AOD’s connection with those? We aren’t told. We are just told they exist and expected to accept it, no questions asked. If this was a whole new world and story – fine. But when you need to build on an already established worldbuilding, you need more grace than this. Chorus was a whole new setting, but it was explained, and it was connected to the previous plot. Same with Iris. Same with Desert Gulch. In Zero, it feels lazy. It feels forced. These organizations are just there because the story is built around them (HOTDOG).
This vagueness when it comes to wordbuilding is also reflected in the settings - we have a desert, a training base, a lab, temples, Tucker’s workplace, and we do not know if all those are set place on the same planet. If that is the case, what is this planet’s relationship with Chorus? Is it Earth? And most importantly, what is the deal with the temples? Why are they connected to Tucker’s sword if it isn’t the same planet. Are they made by the same aliens? Are people okay with this? Why haven’t these temples been explored before? Chorus makes sure to establish this, while Zero doesn’t, adding to a growing amount of confusion.
Okay, so no connection with previous worldbuilding. What about characters? I mean, we got Wash and Carolina and Tucker! So we have RvB characters, it gotta be RvB! Technically – yeah. But it feels dirty. These three characters are not here to be characters. They are here to be props to the new cast. They are not given any development. Their presence isn’t even that important, and if this was a whole new show, they could easily have been replaced with an unknown face. Worst of all, they feel miswritten.
Carolina and Wash are working at a new military organization? Leaving the Reds and Blues behind? To help people? First of all, fucking bad idea, Carolina, the last time you left the Reds and Blues alone, they changed the timeline. But most importantly – Carolina and Wash just joined this new super elite military organization? After being mistreated and manipulated by such an organization in the past?
Carolina is there to introduce the characters. That’s it. We are force-fed their personality by having her literally read out loud their personality. There is no gentle introduction to the new cast. We are not allowed to get to know them naturally. Why show when you can tell, huh? That’s Carolina’s role. That’s why she is there. To introduce the cast and explain their story. That’s it. (HOTDOG).
How about Wash? He is there to get beat up and be a damsel in distress so that the new cast has a reason to explore the plot. Oh, and that brain damage that was the consequence of previous seasons – gone now. The guy who literally has trauma from having an AI explode inside his head is fine with having a computer inserted into it instead. Because that’s needed. To explore his brain damage wouldn’t work now when his role is to be a prop to lure the new cast for one episode and then be put onto the bench for the rest of the runtime (HOTDOG).
And Tucker – he is there to die for a second and have his sword taken from him. That’s literally it. And for the few moments he is there, he feels like old super flirty Tucker, which erases the character development he went through in previous seasons. Okay, so Tucker dies, and then not dies, and then he is put on the bench with Wash where they can sit and talk or whatever (‘cause holy shit, the new cast is not allowed to that), because he isn’t important. The sword is. Tucker is just a prop, even more than his sword is (HOTDOG).
Damn. Wash gets beat up. Tucker gets beat up. Dies. Gets his sword taken away. Almost seems like a Red’s wet dream. Sorry not sorry, Blues, you were done dirty.
So there are miswritten old characters. Even worse is the retconning. The plot needs a “normal” Wash, so, bam, magic computer solution. Never mind Wash’s trauma and character traits. Never mind the logic of the new worldbuilding which also includes a character suffering for years to heal an illness. But the brain damage that was such a big consequence that it became the main part of the plot of the last two seasons – gone. I mean, a gunshot to the head can be healed by CPR. That’s canon. But no one gave Wash CPR so it’s a big thing, okay. It was canonically a big thing, and Zero erased that. This is not me saying that a Cerebral Enhancer couldn’t work in the RvB universe. Imagine it being done right. Wash struggling with the choice of getting used to his disability or accepting the possibility of help - at the cost of reliving his trauma. The struggle between what to choose - what should he choose when he wants to help as many as possible, the sacrifices he thinks he has to make, the way it could have been used as a part of his character growth. But in Zero, the enhancer isn’t a part of Wash’s character. It’s there so the story can work without having to deal with the previous plot’s consequence (HOTDOG).
Same with the sword thing. They sorta explain it by having Tucker flatline, but it’s weak. Honestly, I find it sorta offensive. What about Locus’ sword as well? It’s twisting previous lore to make the new plot work (HOTDOG). (Also, are we not gonna talk about the ultimate power being Spencer Porkensenson’s helmet? Have the writers forgotten Spencer Porkensenson? Have we as a community forgotten Spencer Porkensenson?)
If you have Red vs. Blue in your title, you cannot ignore what you inherit from it. You need to respect the worldbuilding, the established characters, and the previous plot. Zero does not do this.
Let’s talk about the Triplets. No, really, let’s do it. I don’t think I’ve ever talked about them before, because season 14 was a mixed bag for me (that I have now learned to appreciate. Thank you, Zero.) because I have heart at the size of the Grinch and can only love a few characters at a time, and that did not include the Triplets. Can’t even remember their names. Well, I can, but I can’t for the love of me remember which state is which, and my tongue is twisted every time I try to say Ohio, Iowa, and Idaho, and I know it’s on purpose. I know it is. And it got me good. That being said, the fandom actually embraced them really, really well! Seriously, I’ve seen more content for the Triplets than for Zero as a whole.
Why talk about the Triplets? (Was Iowa the lesbian? Or was it Ohio? Fuck.) Because like Zero, they introduced new characters with a story of their own. The Reds and Blues didn’t play a role. But here’s what I feel like the Triplets got right. They didn’t change the settings to force their narrative. They used stuff already established (Project Freelancer), added their own story as a continuation of that. They even included old characters in the beginning (Wash and some other Freelancers) but it felt natural and it didn’t feel like it happened at the expense of the old characters. Wash’s writing felt natural, and his presence wasn’t needed to tell these new character’s stories. He wasn’t a prop to them. He was there to establish the setting and to establish the relationship with these new characters, and then he and the other familiar faces (helmets??) left, and we as the viewers were left with these new characters. And the new characters told their own story by themselves. It felt like, hey, here’s something you know – remember Mother of Invention, and remember Wash’ lower rank, but now, try to imagine being even lower rank than him, aren’t you curious about those fates? Now let’s hear their story! It was new, it was something else, but it didn’t wreck what came before it, and it stayed true to the classic vibes of RvB.
As I said before, the hotdog-issue is my biggest problem with Zero. It infuriates me. I will return to this. But there are more issues, even if we try to look past the title-related problems.
If we try to imagine Zero as its own story and universe (as it should be, in my opinion), it still earns the meh review from me.
These isolated issues include awkwardness, the writing, lack of self-awareness, and pacing. First of all, holy shit, this is a tell, don’t show. Nothing is subtle, nothing is allowed to develop. It’s like the show thinks you are six years old with an attention span of a goldfish. You are not just led by the hand – they have literally pulled off your arm by the end of the show. We are force-fed every bit of information, every bit of personality from these new characters.
The voice-acting is a mixed bag for me. Sometimes it’s pretty good, sometimes it’s not. Some of the problems can definitely be blamed on the dialogue that you can only do so much with. It’s not good. I can’t remember any good jokes (the one joke I really appreciate was the cast on armor, and that was freaking visual humor. That was so RvB. Kudos to that. It was fun. More of that, please.), and RvB is known for having memorably good lines. This is a show built on good, clever, funny dialogue. Zero does not deliver. You have to sit through clichéd lines – “You’re not my dad”, “I trusted you”, “Come with me”, “It can’t be!”, “She’s way too powerful”, and “We have to do this together” – performed unironically. I cringed more than I laughed. Worst thing is that Zero could be a good parody. Sometimes, it feels like it is. One-dimensional characters, a villain wanting ‘the ultimate power’, very overpowered characters, bad one-liners, etc. But Zero takes itself seriously, and I was one of the people rooting for Jax to show up at the end and yell “Cut”. That would have been a funny-as-fuck twist. A spin-off parody. If I can’t have “Sarge the Movie”, I would have taken that and loved it. I would have forgiven everything. “We put so much info into finding that power, but we had no idea what it was” is really a line in the finale, and I cannot believe this is real in a show that somehow still tries to present itself as serious. What a plot.
We have to talk about pacing. God, first of all it should be stated that RvB is a mess when it comes to pacing. I honestly get what they were going for. Sometimes, RvB has come across as a bit boring when you get three episodes stretched over three weeks without much going on. I know season 11 did not have the warmest welcome because it was seen as boring until the finale. But when you see season 11 as a whole, as a movie, as a part of a trilogy, it works so well. Zero is more focused on being episodic. They want something to happen all the time so we will stay tuned. The thing that will happen – a fight. Oh god. The fight scenes.
I have done the math. I have run the numbers. I deserve a freaking cookie for this. Are you ready?
If you put all the episodes together, you have a runtime of 106 minutes. HOWEVER, with the introduction of credits in every episode, you gotta account for this. Removing the credits, this gives us 94 minutes of actual runtime. Out of that, 45 minutes are dedicated to fight scenes. That means 48% of the show is fight scenes.
If I wanted that many fight scenes, I’d watch Death Battle. Except the actual RvB Death Battle episode has a runtime of 20 minutes, and out of that, 5 minutes is dedicated to the actual battle. For the people who hate math – that’s 25% of the actual runtime.
RvB Zero has more fight scenes than a show called Death Battle. Take that in.
The pace suffers from this. Where’s the time to explore the characters? Where’s the time for good dialogue? All I can think of is this:
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I get that RvB is a show that’s literally making fun of itself by acknowledging all their characters do is stand around and talk. I get that you want characters to do more than that. But for the love of Church, would it kill the new characters to stand around and talk? For just a minute? Stop fighting, I am begging you, stop fighting! Am I a pacifist now? Am I purple? Have I joined Doc’s team? What has Zero done to me?!
The good thing though is that fight scenes are very good. They’re entertaining. However, they seem to deconstruct themselves when we need to get a fight scene in every episode. Usually, the few fight scenes in an RvB season were in some of the most climatic episodes. In Zero, I can hardly keep up with the pace because they won’t stop moving. Fight scenes aren’t plot. They aren’t character development. You need more than just fight scenes. They entertain, but there’s a limit to that.
Noël Wiggins, the co-writer, stated the inspiration was a Saturday-morning cartoon. They nailed that vibe. If that was their goal, hurray, they have accomplished something! Because of the poor plot and constant fight scenes, it feels like you could just switch on the TV and drop in at any moment and let yourself be entertained by the cool and colorful soldiers punching and kicking each other. I will admit that the fight scenes entertained me. But they don’t make it a good season.
If I were the six-year-old with the attention span of a goldfish that the show believes I am, I honestly would enjoy it. The stiff dialogue and the constant tell-don’t-show makes you feel like an audience that’s not supposed to do anything else but admire the flashy fight scenes. I miss the cleverness of RvB. I miss the characters I get to connect with as I see them grow.
I miss the tone of RvB. Because this isn’t RvB to me.
It’s not that RvB hasn’t changed its tone before. Holy shit, I sorta do want to experience the absolute shock the RvB fandom went through when s6 aired and they were given new characters and serious plot. I would have loved to experience that, but I was too busy being ten years old. The Freelancers seasons also introduced a new tone and more fight scenes with very talented fighters compared to the Blood Gulch gang, but a balance was kept by having half of the season still revolving around the Reds and Blues. But Zero – Zero is so much change. And it’s on purpose. At least this has been made very clear from the beginning.
They constantly seem to appeal to new fans, rather than be directed towards older fans of the show. If you want an entirely new audience with a season with a new cast, new worldbuilding, and new tone, I’m confused as to why they don’t just make a new show. The hotdog-problem begs for this solution. This story and environment and characters feel so out of touch with the original RvB, that with a few rewrites and lack of Halo-armor, it could just be a new show. Problem solved.
If not this, then present it as a spin-off. In all ways, it feels like a spin-off (again, see everything marked HOTDOG). But the creators refuse to do this, and I don’t understand why. I could forgive many of these issues, had they officially separated themselves from canon.
Ah, what’s the idiom? You can’t both swallow and blow? (You can hear the Bow-chicka-bow-wow in the distance). Something about eating cake and having it. Forgive me, English isn’t my native language. POINT IS why are you calling yourself RvB while actively fighting against the core essence of RvB? In my humble opinion, you can’t be both. Marketing it as a spin-off would have granted it some defense when changing, well, literally everything, and I just, would someone please properly describe why it isn’t a spin-off? Isn’t this season marked by its association with the plot of RvB rather than a continuation of it? Zero presenting itself as not a spinoff feels like a toddler clinging to the hem of its mother’s dress while forcefully running away from her, ripping the dress in the process.
When they do connect with the original RvB, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. When they let Carolina, Wash, and Tucker appear for a moment, it feels like luring viewers in with the RvB title. Look at me. Look at me! I’m not saying this is the case. I say that it gives me the annoying vibes of being lured, rather than letting the characters be a part of the show for their own development, rather than having RvB in the title to continue its story. I should not be getting these vibes at all. But I am.
If you want to use RvB in the title, something from the core of RvB needs to be embraced. Things can be changed. They should. Something new should be brought in. But there’s a limit to how much you can change and replace and twist until it would have been better with an original show. As a season of RvB, it should tell the story of Red vs. Blue.
From my perspective, Zero fails to do so.
It pains me that the old cast has been replaced, but as stated earlier, a season could have worked without them. However, I do not like the take that one should be excited about all the new characters. That it isn’t a big thing that the OG cast got replaced. That we should just deal with it. Just, try to imagine another show suddenly replacing the main characters with characters we’ve never met before. Imagine RWBY suddenly only focusing on a new team of huntresses with the previous main characters reduced to an Easter Egg presence, or Camp Camp suddenly being about a new team of campers, no warning given. Can you imagine the outcry? So maybe let’s agree that a replacement of the main cast is a big thing and should be addressed and it’s valid to be upset about this change.
Could Zero have worked? It’s hard to answer this. How can I accept something as RvB if the season actively pushes away the core of RvB aside for an isolated story that could have been told in any other media? As a spinoff, I could have ignored it. To enjoy Zero, I have to fully separate it from RvB in my mind, and then it’s alright. S’not good. But it’s not bad. It’s entertaining enough. I really ended up liking Raymond and Tiny, and there were a few good jokes, and the fight scenes were admirable (but too much) and I love the creators’ passion. But it’s not RvB. I also wish that the new characters had been attached to previous worldbuilding, for example soldiers on Chorus or agents from Project Freelancer. That way we could build on familiar lore which would have decreased the confusion and added a much needed connection with the previous seasons of RvB.
God, the anxious voice is back (by the way, it sounds like Tutter from “Bear in the Blue House”).
“You’re racist” – I hope not. Literally, I do not want to be. Tell me if I’ve ever crossed some lines, because I swear, that is not my intention, I will apologize and most of all, change and do better. I included this because I’ve seen this take thrown around in the big ugly mess that is the fandom clashes regarding Zero. And racism is problem within RT community (this includes AH and RvB, sorry, I just use RT as an umbrella term for the latter), and I’m not saying it hasn’t been a problem with this season. Writers should never be harassed, and never-fucking-ever because of their skin color, and voice actors shouldn’t be treated like they are responsible for the choices of the show. But I was legit nervous to post this review, and I hope it’s been factual without feeling like personal attacks on the creators because that has never been my intention. I was delighted to hear about the diversity behind this project, and Torrian’s passion legit blew me away because it’s been a while since I’ve seen that for an RvB project. I’d hoped for it to be good, and when I feel disappointed, it’s for the reasons stated in this analysis. That said, Zero is made by a diverse cast and it’s made with love, and both of those things are so, so great, but it does not mean that Zero cannot be criticized. It can, and it should. It’s a product, just like all the other seasons, and fans are allowed to discuss it – both what they loved, and both what they found troublesome. And to repeat previous points, and be respectful, always, fuck racists, and never-fucking-ever harass the staff behind a season, what the fuck is wrong with you if you do this.
“Don’t you get it, it’s different because it’s trying something new!” – Hey, remember the philosophical question: if you replace all the parts of a ship one-by-one, is it still the same ship when you’re done? If it doesn’t include the Reds and Blues, if it ignores previous plot, if the old characters feel miswritten, if it values animation over dialogue, if it values fight scenes over comedy, if it wants to be Fast and Furious instead of Red vs. Blue – is it still Red vs. Blue? Because it doesn’t feel like it to me.
“It's been 17 seasons, it’s time to let the Reds and Blues go so someone else can shine!” – I simply do not understand us having been with the Reds and Blues for 17 seasons should be an argument to let them go, rather than be an argument as to why their absence hurt like hell.
“The Reds and Blues ran out of things to do!” – Did- did they, though? I mean, if we were discussing pretty much any other show, I’d probably agree that they were running out of content. But for the Reds and Blues… I think the PSAs nailed it this year! I’m not kidding, I had more fun watching the Reds and Blues discuss how to do laundry than watching Zero. You could literally give me an hour of the Reds and Blues trying to bake a cake or clear a gutter or simply settling down with an ordinary life, and I would trust them to make it worth the watch.
“The flaws were due to the fact it’s only 8 episodes long!” – Look, I can only judge a product the way it’s presented to me. I cannot come up with excuses for it. If they had 8 episodes to work with, they need to come up with a plot that works with this runtime. Seriously, this excuse cannot work when 48% of the season is spent on fight scenes. They could have used more runtime, sure, but the show needs to be able to pace itself and be planned accordingly.
“The OG cast couldn’t be a part of this year, hence Zero!” – That might be true. But. Would one year without RvB kill it? Is Zero necessary? Again, I just can’t judge excuses for the show. But trouble with the cast has been an issue before. Season 15 solves Geoff’s sabbatical by actually making Grif’s absence a part of the plot. Zero’s lack of Reds and Blues just feels like this excuse to tell a story that needn’t be a part of RvB.
Am I a hater? I guess? I greatly dislike Zero for the critique stated above. I do, however, not harass the creators and no one should ever do that. However, I have to admit that I feel there’s been this weird rejection of any critique of Zero where everything’s been brushed off as haters gonna hate, including the critique stated above. And I think that’s a problem because critique, as hard as it can be to hear (and I know this. I’m an author of original works. Weird flex, I know), is valid and necessary and shouldn’t just be shrugged away. As always, both sides of the fandom should always be respectful, but my own opinion is that addressing the flaws of Zero should not be controversial.
Does this super long rant/critique/whatever mean you cannot enjoy Zero? Gods no! I almost envy you if you enjoy this season, but holy shit, feel free to love it and tell the creators that you love it! Me pointing out the issues I have with the season shouldn’t be stopping you. I loved (and still love) s15 when it came out, and it was majorly rejected by the fandom. There were many, many critical posts, people were going on about how RvB should have ended with s13, and it evolved into the writer receiving death threats (me, once again: never ever harass the creators, assholes). But I didn’t tell people to stop being negative. I actually agreed with many of the flaws that were pointed out, and I enjoyed the season despite this, because that is possible. We, as RvB fans, should agree that RvB, is... I mean, it’s not the greatest, most flawless of shows, but we love it nonetheless. So go ahead and love Zero. This is not a stop sign. This is my opinion that you chose to read.
Wait, I promised you a cookie, didn’t I? Well, you’re not getting one. Why? Because I’m a Red and this is my chance to piss off a Blue. As Caboose wisely said: “Well, at least I don't go around... knocking on people's non-doors... and promising them cookies... and then NOT. GIVING. THEM. COOKIES!”
Blue Team sucks.
End speech.
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woozi · 3 years
Note
Um this might be annoying but your descriptions on that mutuals as svt members was so wholesome! So I thought if you could name your mutuals and say what you like abt them? Your favorite thing about them kinda? Idk I thought it was cute but you don't have to do it if you don't want to ! 💚💚💚
i went through my following list and i think these are all of my carat mutuals/friends <3 i only included those who i'm mutuals with here on this blog, but with that in mind i hope i included the right people/and all of you! if not, i may have gotten confused with your main and sideblogs. :/ i divided this into 4 sections (because that's how i think of them in my head, lol). so, without further ado, here they are in the order of my following list (from the most recent):
caratblr
@leechaerok (mirelle) - mi!! i love how you are always striving to be positive and that this is something you share and extend to other people! you literally remind me of sunshine and i hope that only good things are coming ur way. ily!!
@ohoshi (cora) - cora my naughty (IN A PLAYFUL WAY) friend <3 cora's really fun to talk to and she keeps you on your toes. idk why i didn't follow her earlier (i didnt know i wasn't following her jsdjkdsjsdk). extremely talented!! also love the upbeat vibe.
@soonyoungs (cara) - same with cora, i've been seeing cara around but never got to interact with her until recently! i love how versatile cara is and how she always always always appreciates even the little things. 10/10 would let her visit my home again <3
@wrongnanab (aya) - i get mom/older sister friend vibes from aya and i think it suits her a lot. she’s also not afraid of reaching out and i love that sm about her!! i relate to her a lot and i love how she’s always there.
@junhaoshua (e) - something interesting always comes up every time i speak to e! i also love her initiative and how well she manages her time. she’s really passionate about the things she likes and i love how she can get people to be interested in them too!
@choibeomgyus (kale) - kale has excellent taste! i love her aes so much. <3 her work is particularly right up my alley and i just love how clean looking they are. kale’s also such a sweet friend, and she’s not shy about showing affection. i love her sm!!
@dokyom (izy) - izy’s one of the first carats i first followed when i got into caratblr and i’m so glad to have made that decision! her work always wows me and although we haven’t talked much, she’s one of the people i always look out for in here.
@seohoshi (nele) - nele, my mutual at heart. <3 the way we became mutuals is so funny and memorable to me, and i can’t say that about most people! i really like the way nele presents herself as well. she can have fun while still being collected, which i find really interesting. i think she’s someone who brings stability, but i can’t really explain why i get that from her. <3
@art-hao (carrie) - goddess on earth. so elegant. a literal virgo. i love how carrie doesn’t want to be too invested in one single thing. that being said, she’s multitalented, yet is skilled in each of the fields she’s venturing in. she also speaks what’s on her mind, and i admire that a lot. what can’t this woman do :/  
@svtreasure (kate) - kate is one of the first people i got to talk to here on caratblr! and although she’s not on here that much, i always look forward to seeing her. i feel like i have to protect her like a younger sibling <3
@uriboogyu (lee) - lee definitely has feisty younger sibling vibes which i think is so cute! like carrie and e, she’s not afraid of saying what’s on her mind. lee is also such a go-getter! the future is very bright for this one <3
@smallkore (kore) - i remember first talking to kore after she tagged all 3 of my active blogs in one post, and i thought it was kind of funny <3 kore is super talented and entertaining! i also think she’s super interesting, and i love her strange picture collection. <3
@rq-s (katrina) - katrina is also one of the first few people who i interacted with here on caratblr! she is so supportive and always has a nice word for everyone. even though she isn’t here much, i always like seeing her around <3
@boosbin (isa) - iconic. legend. will kick your ass. my beloved <3 isa is SUPER talented and she never fails to amaze me. she’s also very relatable and is super fun to talk to! idk i’m just really fond of isa lol
@dk-s (zay) - i love zay’s sense of style and her overall aesthetic! she also is really smart and gets really invested in her interests. i love her dedication and initiative!
@scoupsy (dreamy) - dreamy and i haven’t really talked much aside from interactions here and there, but she’s someone i really admire. i love how she doesn’t take anyone’s shit and knows what she wants. she’s really skilled in her areas of interest and takes pride in her excellent work. love that about her!! 
@julyprince (madison) - i was really shocked when madison followed me back because i love her work so much! i love how she is so consistent and dedicated (honestly, the constant 9 sets say it all <3). she’s intimidating at first, but she is actually so nice and likes reaching out!
@xuseokgyu (belle) - one of my treasured moots. belle is literally the seok to my soon. <3 she doesn’t know it, but i was kind of shy during my earlier days in caratblr, and she encouraged me to be myself just because she was always reaching out to me. i see belle as someone who really nurtures and is just a reliable older sister for me!
@haniehae (anna) - also one of my favorites <3 anna doesn’t really need too much words but u can always feel the love from her by her little tags here and there. she’s also super supportive and very appreciative of the little things! anna is such a cute person to have around. i lalso love how much work she puts into caratblr. also an amazing dancer oh my god???????
@jaemtens (kevin) - like dreamy, kevin and i haven’t really talked much, but i always love seeing him on the dash! one of the people i admire. it absolutely blows my mind how he has a phd (about to have one? :D) and that he’s still somehow able to make gifs (BEAUTIFULLY!) consistently. love that dedication, wish that were me!!
@tearsofsyrup (vi) - vi thinking of me and tagging me on cute stuff really just makes me feel so :’>. i love how easygoing vi is and i just feel light whenever we interact!!
@soonhoonsol (chey) - everyone’s bestie!! chey literally is the go-to person on caratblr. idk how she manages to do it but she’s always so nice to everyone and really does go out of her way to make everyone feel comfortable! chey has a special place in my heart, and my stay in caratblr wouldn’t be the same without her. <3
@iiasha (emily) - you all don’t understand how much i LOVE emily. i can’t even explain why i love her i just do. she’s also one of the first people i followed when i came on caratblr and i’m so glad to have met her here on our own personal hellsite. emily’s the perfect balance of smart, cool, and funny (this sentence sounds lame as fuck but idk how else to put it)! i appreciate how much she likes her job and that’s something i hope to also imitate! i’ve said it before but i also really love how generous she is. emily also made my stay here on caratblr very enjoyable and i always love reading her text posts <3 i think tumblr junation would nearly die without her so go thank her rn. (she also spotted me turning full dinonara without me even noticing that i am one so. <3 /mwah/)
@coupsnim (izzie) - izzie gives me calm artsy vibes.  her work is always stunning omg. queen of red lips (and i think it’s so fitting bc it suits cheol the best imo???). ALSO love how much she loves cheol!! izzie’s just a sweetheart. <3 would also support ur 0 note posts, lol.
@kyeomshine (lyns) - lyns coloring queen <3 i looove how clean and cohesive her work always is! she’s also one of the people who encouraged me to stay here on caratblr (although she doesn’t know it!!). and though we don’t see lyns as much nowadays, i still think of her as the resident dk fan <3 one of the memorable people for me.
@heartgyus (rhys) - my sister (dISGUSTANG!!). my enemy. THE mutual to have homoerotic subtext with. rhys is actually my closest friend on caratblr. she’s multitalented, almost all-knowing, and has prettie vibes. i’m not elaborating anymore from here on out because i just know she’s gonna be a little devil about it on the dms. 🙄
@hanwooz (kellie & christine) - one of my absolute favorite blogs! i think of them as one of the constants of caratblr. i absolutely love their posts sm and just enjoy when they’re around!! (and how do ur gifs always look good omg tell me ur secrets pls <3)
@7ww​ (yasmin) - one of my favorite (if not my favorite) gfx maker!! i love how you can immediately tell something is from her because of their trademark look. we haven’t talked yet, but she’s one of my favorite carats!
@mngys​ (sofi) - coolest person in the world. idk why we’re even mutuals i don’t deserve this <3 sofi always has the coolest ideas and i look up to her sm!! i’ve also seen her from the birdie community before i got into caratblr so i’ve been following her for quite some time now, but we became mutuals here!
aes carats
@vixenjun​ (kaya) - another one of my beloveds <3 i always say kaya is funnie and sexie but she really is, and those are always the first words i think of when i’m reminded of her. one of my absolute favorites. a bestie that's close to my heart. <3
@tiddie​ (deniz) - i don’t see deniz posting much about svt anymore, but deniz is one of my first carat moots (i followed aes carats first). this one really witnessed my jeonghan downfall. :/ so funny. is a great friend!!
@bwaldorf (ramasha) - A SWEETHEART!! ramasha and i don’t talk much anymore but when i think of her i only am reminded of good things. i rmb how much she supported my weird posts back then <3 also iconic aes hello???? 
@vernons (oona) - oona and i are literally just vibing here <3 i actually met her from the aes side of tumblr before i got into caratblr (like deniz) and discovered that she’s also a carat! i really like oona’s presence and i just feel like she’s someone i want to protect. <3 also makes amazing pastries. she’s also so pretty!!!!! (i really like ur hair sm i think i’ve said this before lol) a cute friend. would send u things saying ‘this reminded me of u’, and i’d get heart attacks from it jsdjdjksd
@oldbooks (fawn) - my frog friend. i think it’s so cute that fawn shares this agenda with hao <3 also unexpectedly tags you on things and leaves cute little notes/tags that makes me want to :’). sophisticated taste!! also really friendly. ily!!
@scoups (hani) - hani is so friendly and takes really good care of her friends!! i was intimidated of her at first, but learnt that she’s an absolute sweetheart. i love how she’s also giving us sm svt content when she’s around! hani’s a supportive friend that you’ll always find yourself looking for. 
@snwo (joy) - refined taste. funny text post advocate. i love joy’s vibe sm!! i first got to know her when she had a hao url and i was super intimidated of her. now she’s one of my absolute besties! aside from her impeccable taste, she’s also such a great friend. this one always has ur back. ily ms joy <3
@sataemism (sof) - sof literally the funniest person in the world!! i’m always happy to see her and she brings me so much joy. very lowkey chaotic vibe (the taemin and hoshi urls speak a lot abt this lol), and just a very fun person overall!!
birdie carats
@flowerbeom (kat) - kat, like the rest of those in this category, is someone i’ve been following for a while now as i came back to tumblr because of got7. kat and i haven’t really talked much but always interact with rb/s and likes and i love that JSDJSDKJDSJ that being said kat’s tags are always so enjoyable to read. + it’s so funny as well that when we actually got to talking we didn’t realize we had a lot in common! a very generous friend. gave me a yugyeom pc even though i’m literally from another continent. 😭
@tuanzie (joanna) - content queen. i looove how joanna’s work has a trademark look to them! they’re always so gorgeous and smooth-looking. i love how joanna’s able to speak her mind and would not take shit from people. i see her as someone brave, but not too out there! also someone you can rely on to put reposters on hit lists mwah<3
@gotseventeens (belle) - my name twin <3 belle is actually one of the people/reasons why i got into svt and i’m eternally grateful to her for that!! we’ve been talking since i first became a birdie but somehow we both have 0 recollections of our conversations JSDJDKSJKSDJ tumblr wouldn’t be as fun for me if belle weren’t around ngl. i love how she seems to be mature yet you’re also up for a wild ride with her!! she’s my own personal wonu <3
@secndlife (karoline) - i’ve also been following karoline since i was a birdie, but we only became mutuals here! i love her writing so much and i enjoy seeing her lose her mind over hoshi (mood <3)
@defgyus (val) - i often associate belle with val and i think they have a lot of similarities!! val also gives me the mature yet fun vibe. i think val’s so successful and i admire her a lot!! i love her work sm and just love how she interacts with people. very warm and homey!!
more carat moots i haven't really talked to but enjoy seeing on the dash
@emailclub (emily), @kyeomblr (maddie), @joshuahong (bea), @delicatecy (deli), @mintyseoks, @syuperseventeen (nat), @haol (mali), @svtclub (hannah), @cutiejoshi (siri), @chanswu (mandy), @jeonghannie (myrena), @squishy-woozi (kris), @wonwooo (hiba), @rameniji (rain), @cafevernon (ish), @hoshluv, @minghyu (nicole), @mingyiu (katya), @yeol (tat), @dearkyeom (kristy), @seokgyus (kai), @bbaksu (akemi), @1adyluck (sushi), @shineesbag (gen)
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batarangsoundsdumb · 3 years
Text
yet another ask dump yeehaw!
do you ever think that jay's mother was one of those bitch who believes in horoscope and tarots and things like that and so he believes in these things too, or it is just me projecting?
sheila haywood took one look at jason's birthchart said 'nah this won't do' and left.
Wait, but what happens when the justice league does find out that Bruce and John fucked? Lmao it sounds like it would be hilarious, really, I don’t want a justice league that doesn’t make fun of Bruce for like his entire life.
barry runs out of the meeting immediately and comes back with an entire sti testing kit. diana fully seriously wants bruce to get tested while bruce is sitting there like 'come on guys, you're being ridiculous, i already checked twice'
john is standing in the corner clearly offended while bruce is just like 'don't even say anything, constantine, you fucked a shark'
tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.
on the one hand, good for him, on the other hand, bro, how do you still have a secret identity when your superhero name is just your last name,,,,
Your fic on ao3 was GOLD PLEASE CONTINUE I loved Dinah's cameo btw ( @purple-vixen
thanks so much! i already continued but this ask is like 10 years old because i'm a notorious procrastinator (also yes! i love dinah so much aahhhhhhhhhhhh)
I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.
bruce internally: holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit bruce externally: get out of my city, alien
AHHH ur multimedia fic is the only thing that brings me happiness anymore continue it forever pls
uhh thanks, but can't continue it forever because my attention span is that of a toddler on crack on a good day and i can't function without at least 10 things going on at the same time and music in the background
Oi, so I'm getting into dc and watching batman the animated series, and they use fruitcake a lot. Which I thought was very funny and wanted to share w you - Denilla
wait like fruitcake (food) or fruitcake (derogatory) ?
young justice 🤝 teen titans slut shaming batman
tim drake and dick grayson to their respective teams 'you guys stop it, that's my dad'
Happyhoganon: If an eighty year old Batman had fought crime in Gotham City for decades and the only threats to him and the city lately are a wheel chair bounded Penguin, your usual purse snatchers and a few con artists popping up every now and then, how well could the Dark Knight do in maintaining the peace in Gotham despite him being just somewhat fit to do that as an elderly man (which says A LOT given how old he is)
uhh he'll probably do what my grandpa does and that is ruthlessly prank them until they die of shame.
in the death in the family interactive movie there's an ending where Jason is tasked with raising Damian and he decides he's gonna raise Damian to take down the waynes and al ghuls which uh maybe isn't great BUT the idea of Jason raising Damian... PRICELESS. CHAOTIC. I just need more people to know about this :)
yes i saw that wow holy shit but jason would accidentally drop damian on his head one (1) hour in and jason just yeets him into the lazarus pit.
Headcanon: The Penguin has a really hard time fighting any of the Robins because of his avian obsession means there's always a small part of his mind that's like "Birb. Child. Protect" ( @subspacecadet )
as soon as dick becomes nightwing the penguin is like 'you know what, fuck this dude' and shoots at him.
Y'all talking about King Shark dating Constantine, let's not forget about John literally hooking up with Satan
listen there's a clear difference between monsterfucker and satanfucker in that king shark is literally a shark and satan still looks like a normal dude
Does everyone in Gotham think Batman is a teen dad?
everyone in gotham thinks batman has been around since gotham was founded, but they do think that bruce wayne is actually a teen father and dick grayson's biological dad.
why. why would you do that fancast when you know it will only hurt people
what? i loved my fancast it was really well done. i did it with good representation in mind and i really managed that with alfred pennyworth being ✨italian✨
Seeing james charles a jason gave me psychic damage how dare you i need to wash my eyes
well that's a you problem isn't it?
do you think dick grayson thirst tweets about nightwing just to annoy his family/cause problems on purpose in general?
he thinks nightwing is hot, next question.
holy jiminy cricket batman, its as cold as the good lords ass crack in here!!
i- what? this is why i don't fuck with english expressions it's way too goddamn weird
Brooooooo, your teen dad!Bruce au is soooo good. I've got brainrot.
Honestly if you ever write anymore, I'd read that shit twice. Sign me the fuck up. Good stuff, Good Stuff.
uh yeah i'm thinking about writing a fic, but i have exams coming up and i don't wanna fail because that would suck. but after i'll certainly be writing more tho
your teen dad AU is so great! bruce acting like a big brother for all of like a week before he's telling everyone about his son. what if in the AU dick meets the JL because they need to rescue him? maybe he's in trouble/kidnapped at a gala and bruce starts calling for JL. clark finds him and has to fly with dick to bring him home - that's how dick and clark meet and superman becomes dick's fave hero. he goes around the manor thinking he can fly with a red blanket draped around him like a cape.
actually- if you want a young dad! bruce fic with like that kinda stuff(just with damian) go check uhh- in for a penny by cdelphiki. it's really good and bruce is like 24/25-ish. (and dick's there!!!)
This account has solely convinced me that Tim is a trash goblin ( @hamilcat-and-magic-turtle )
because he is. that boy has slept in dumpsters on multiple occasions even if he is the son of a billionaire.
Okay but when you said victory dance I did think of the whole justice league defeating the big bad and then they all start flossing
well that's exactly what hal jordan does and that's why batman uses a gun now. no but the victory dance in my opinion is like the 'we're all in this together' dance from high school musical.
The horrors in Invincible s1 was nothing compared to the comics, I cant wait for s2
oh well okay, i mean i personally react to horror and violence by laughing awkwardly so i can't wait to be called a monster for accidentally laughing at a mass murder.
I'm currently watching Batman: The Brave and The Bold and- Bruce is just talking about Oliver like he's an old love (@nightwings-kid)
okay im going to watch that lmao that's totally and completely in character for him tho.
The invincible comic is like super gratuitous with its violence so much so I'm shocked the show was able to adapt it in a faithful way! Anyway had the show been live action it absolutely wouldn't have the same impact as it does as an animated show and I'm so glad so many people agree with me on that
also because a live action casting would've been like uhh amanda stenberg for amber, the dude- the guy from the supernatural but with a mustache for omni-man, and scarlet johanssen for debbie grayson
Debbie grayson is a milf, yes. You're welcome for the invincible propoganda, now you can questions your life. Bruce def seems like the perfect father next to Omni-man. Like they really took a rip off justice league and I was like well, now I'm attached even tho I was like hah I know who they're supposed to be. And then bam- death gore death gore gore gore sad Mark grayson just had to have daddy issues. Why does every character have daddy issues. I'm sick of the attacks
because daddy issues make a person arguably funnier, that's why i'm not even remotely funny (haha good dad flex). i liked that it was dark contextually, but not in the colouring, bc i hate when it's like 'uh yeah graphic murder and now a shot so dark you have to sit in a dark room and squint at the screen to faintly see the characters. (like dcau ugh)
About the Wayne insurance, for a moment I thought you would put the video with moans over the waves.
i mean- i could've done that, but rick rolling seemed more family friendly.
Its the first time in forever that im surpise rickrolled, i usually expect it. Congratulations (i really should know better this is tumblr)
i get rickrolled so often but i actually like the song so i dont really give a fuck
Actually, my information about Damian and John's kids is outdated because it was revealed that the old men telling the kids stories about the Supersons were actually Jon and Damian the whole time. I was blinded by my thirst for Grandpa!Bruce Wayne but I was wrong... I liked my version better, tbh (@artemisa97)
fair enough. but i'd honestly like to see damian and jon getting together, just because it's a really fun dynamic and their friendship was really cute when they were kids. (also idk maybe it would be nice to have one (1) main batfam/superfam character that's not cishet)
How am i JUST finding your blog skdskfkd you're so fucking funny and ur takes are hot
i thought u were calling me hot :( but youre not :( crime detected (but lmao thanks)
So I have depression and I swear that your memes are one of the few things that have made me laugh so thank you 💛🥺 (@katekanebadass)
aw you're welcome, and i hope you're doing okay!
The metropolis memes are so funny, I love them 💀😌
i think metropolis is also so fucking funny it deserves more attention imagine having your entire police force being upstaged by an alien from kansas and his kids
as an american i feel your complete lack of knowledge of us geography is just so sexy (platonic) ❤️
thanks so much (i also don't know any other geography, i'm not kidding, like you can tell me you're from hungary and it will just blank, there will be nothing that comes to mind)
In the DC universe they don't say "Can't have shit in Detroit" they say "Can't have shit in Gotham"
this just reminds me of that guy whose porch got stolen like the steps to his door, and i'm thinking of people living in gotham and waking up without a front door and going "can't have shit in gotham"
honestly all i know about chicago is the bean, so. what would gotham's famous sculpture be?
gigantic gargoyle statue in front of one of the police precincts because a villain thought it was a smart way to keep the police inside, but it's too heavy to move.
why tf do people go on about how batman "works alone" or how he's the "lone wolf" when he like 38290202 members in his family
bc people think it's cool that a grown man in his 30s has no friends or family instead of calling it what it is (sad)
Bruce is gotham's sugar daddy
why would say something so controversial yet so brave.
my favorite batfamily fanfictions are the ones where they use their shitty codenames, unironically, in any context
dick: gerard way are you in position, gerard way are you in position
tim: for the last fucking time, my codename is 'totally not count olaf' this week, abbafan 3000
dick: shut up my codename isn't 'abbafan 3000'
dick: it's 'abbafan number 1' and you know it
I have a feeling Tim drake is ur favourite batfamily member but okay u don't have favs if u say so ok
i mean he is, i won't deny it. but i love each and every one of the batfam just the same, i just have a weak spot for short dumbass nerds, because i'm a short dumbass nerd.
Omg i fuckin love boy meets world too fam shsjkfk
bro boy meets world was the shit!!! it was just fire and awesome and so fucking great like bro. it was so good im not even going to be accepting criticism
you know I find the whole "joker completes batman" thing a bit disgusting considering the horrendous stuff the batfamily went through because of the joker and let's not get started on the "joker has a point" thing like yeah he's this cool complex villain but he's absolutely batshit crazy
like yes! i get what you mean the joker just fucking sucks man he doesn't do shit for batman's character or the batfam he's literally just annoying as fuck. like the joker has a point' shit is so stupid. i will accept 'magneto was right' because he fucking was and i think he didn't do anything wrong, but joker? he's just like that. he's not even cool and complex he's just a weirdo with a bleach kink at this point.
ALSO YOUR RACISM POST- SO TRUE BESTIE
thanks bestie, i'm glad you agree.
in today's essay of why I think cass should become batman- I was thinking Tim would probably be the most efficient batman in many ways but I also think he wouldn't want to be batman tbh none of the batfamily members would want to be batman because they're trying to outgrow him but cass is the one who wants to represent the symbol that is batman
absofuckinglutely i will say it again and again that cass represents the batsymbol more than anyone in the batfam, in batgirl (2000) she literally didn't care about anything else than bruce's oath to not kill, she thought the batsymbol was more important than anything in gotham. she's just an excellent character because her motivation to not kill is not 'i'm scared i can't come back from it' or 'well my dad says no murder so i'll go along with it' but that she's killed somebody as a young child and she never wants to kill a human ever again and that's so fucking beautiful for a new batman like yes.
need more cass, duke and tim inclusion in gothamite memes
yes yes, a tall order of cass, duke and tim coming up in 1-14 business days
oldest to youngest batfam members cus I'm confused as shit
okay order of being taken in: dick, jason, tim, cass, damian, duke order of age: alfred, bruce, dick, cass, jason, tim, duke, damian (though cass and jason are around the same age general consensus is that cass is a little older)
I'm so confused Steph is a redhead?? like how was it that hard to get this right? the source material is literally right there and free
cw is jared, 19
do you receive anon hate? if so, how do you deal with it
uh no, i'm not remotely popular enough to get anon hate and i also don't say a lot of things that would attract anon hate, but i do send anon hate to @the-real-peter-parker because he forgot about the specialists from winx club
Wait how many languages do you speak??
uhh- 5 if you include latin, but that's a dead language and i'm really bad at it. but english, my native language, german, and french also, tho german and french not fluently.
You can mix aguaepanela with aguardiente 😈 and is tasty
okay but now i'm curious if the liquor deserves the 😈 emoji or if that's a you problem. but i googled it and it looks like something you'd take one sip of and then not remember the rest of your evening.
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arhvste · 4 years
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❝ kuroo tetsurō - dating a co worker hcs ❞
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tetsu week masterlist
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-> your desks were put pretty close together, it’s a given you guys we’re gonna end up talking
-> eventually talking turned into causal banter and witty comments exchanged between the two of you
-> an before you knew it, it became straight up flirting
-> you guys were so oblivious too 
-> even the bosses on the top boards were frustrated and just as on edge as everyone else for you two to get together
-> ‘friends’ don’t go out for lunch dates everyday and know each other’s coffee orders off by heart
-> 7 months it took for y’all to get together
-> me and your coworkers are disappointed 😔
-> you guys should’ve been together from at least 4 months in but hey, you were together now after an awkward drunken confession from the tall man
-> “h-hey y/n, isnt is craaazzzyyy that our co workers like you know? they ship up? hahaha that’s crazy isn’t it cause like i was thinking”
-> you were a little tipsy yourself as the two of you giggled and held onto each other letting whatever nonsense come to mind spill out
-> “i was thinking we should maybe date and make everyone super happy! i’m so kind right? also, you’re like super pretty and funny and i think about you a lot so do you wanna date or nah?”
-> he’s snickered as you let your body gently away back and fourth, your own giggles jumping out
-> you guys drank a lot and it was only a WEDNESDAY 😾
-> y’all had work the next morning and you were out drinking?!
-> it’s okay though because yeah you both came in a little bit later the next morning
-> you also came in hands held tightly together
-> and you confirmed the two of you were dating
-> so you were let off
-> and the two of you also agreed never to drink on a week night
-> so your co workers are thrilled y’all are dating
-> and they tease you a lil cause that’s what annoying co workers do
-> kuroo is so mf smug
-> lowkey, your whole floor thought you were hot
-> but kuroo swooped in and took you for himself so of course he’s gonna be a little bit smug about it
-> but he’s so giddy too cause wow
-> you’re really his now huh
-> and vice versa of course
-> literally gets butterflies whenever he passes your desk even when you’re on the phone to a client and can’t talk to him
-> he’ll thank the stars everyday that you got assigned your desk near his because who knows if he’d even of met you had your desk been elsewhere in the office
-> you might’ve even ended up dating the guy on the third floor
-> kuroos just glad your desks are close to each other because it means he can stare at your pretty face all day
-> it’s also annoying though because he’s distracting
-> you’ll be on an important phone conference and he’ll slip a little bit of paper on your desk as he walks past
-> you’ll thank him thinking it’s an important document
-> but no it’s shit like this
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-> thanks kuroo very cool 🤩
-> anyways, he’ll be annoying from time to time
-> but he’ll always help you out
-> of he sees a particularly large pile of paper on your desk he’ll help you get through it
-> so if you have a list of phonecallas you have to make he’ll take half of them
-> he never wants you stressed out
-> and he’d do anything for you if it meant the two of you finishing early and getting to grab dinner before going home
-> it doesn’t matter if not though because you guys will always grab something to eat most nights
-> you guys alternate paying because you’re basically on the same wage
-> and you guys are quirky and built different
-> let the man pay everytime? no
-> you guys are ✨woke✨ and take turns 😼
-> kuroo will still offer to pay everytime and even insist upon it a few times though because that’s how he was raised
-> ugh thank you gentleman 😎
-> the older ladies at work think so too
-> theyre a lot older than yourself and kuroo but they never fail to compliment him and swoon over him in the office
-> it’s okay though because you both know they mean no harm
-> you know who does mean harm though?
-> miya atsumu 😾
-> and he examples this one time after a match
-> kuroos off talking to hinata about an advertising gig with kenma
-> so you’re stood there waiting for him to finish up so you can finish your reports and head home
-> but no
-> a 6’4 volleyball player with bleach blonde hair stalks his way over to you with a smile
-> “hey, i’m atsumu.”
-> “i know.”
-> bokuto and sakusa see him approach you and decide to just let him make a fool of himself so they’re watching from the sidelines from a distance
-> “so haha ya come around here often 😼”
-> “yes because i work in japan’s volleyball association in the marketing directing dept”
-> “ah that’s cool so yer hot and i think we’d be pretty hot together so can i get ya number?”
-> “-i”
-> “i’ll tell you what. you can get her number in return for your credit card one 😎”
-> your tall boyfie is towering behind you, hand placed firmly on your hip
-> “um my bad.”
-> atsumu sprints back to sakusa and bokuto who are ridiculing his pathetic attempts at flirting with you
-> “come on, let me take my one and only out for dinner hm?”
-> from then on kuroo makes sure to stand by you at every outing for work
-> especially if hot and attractive volleyball players were going to be near you
-> honestly kuroo’s gonna wanna stand by you anywhere you go
-> mf is so whipped he probably escorts you to the toilet and waits for you outside when he’s feeling particularly clingy
-> but when you brush him off he’s not too worried
-> because after 5pm on weekdays you’re officially all his again
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dt - @aislastetsu
general taglist → @atsumuwoah @bloody-bella @bbymilkbread @miracleboy420 @doggonudez @tsumue @peteunderoos @tsukkisbean @saturnfarie @toffees-main @zumisace @boosyboo9206 @totorosleaff @27kei @dai-tsukki-desu @angrylittleriri @tsukkaria @kuxredere @warakou @mattsuny @lovinnoya @sophiashortcake
ALL CONTENT BELONGS TO @KUROOSKULT ON TUMBLR 2020 PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, CHANGE OR PLAGIARISE
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cherryonigiri · 4 years
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S/O that thirsts over anime/game guys
reposted bc wasn’t showing up in the tags + I want to keep nsfw under the cut
@nononononojustno asked: Okay so could you write a headcanon where 2 random boys (can you pick then? I love all of boys from hq) and Ushi-kun where they walk on their gfs fangirling or thirsting over another anime/game character?And she was talking how hot he is? How they would react?👀😂 have a great day/night and dont forget to eat and get rest, love you💕
A/N: hahahahaha i laughed while writing this. FYI these are all based on legit crushes i had on anime/game characters at some point in my life - see if you’ve watched the shows i’ve watched :) ILY I PROMISE I’M DOING MY BEST TO EAT THREE MEALS A DAY AND GET ADEQUATE SLEEP MWAH. also i went overboard and added an extra boy bc why not. These are a little shorter since there were 4 characters but I hope you enjoy!
Content warning: implied nsfw for Atsumu + slight nsfw hcs for Matsukawa (both are under the cut)
PS: If anyone wants a spicy sequel/one shot for matsukawa i’m open to the idea 👀👀 let me know in my inbox!
Ushijima Wakatoshi
Ushijima definitely knows you’re into anime + games
Having visited your dorm room on multiple occasions he’s seen your extensive collection of manga, anime posters and you always seem to be playing on your switch whenever you have free time
Of course, he notices a significant portion of your collection is centered on male characters
And you’ve definitely mentioned a few games to him - Ikemen Sengoku, Code:Realize, Hakuouki (wow i’m really out here exposing myself) etc.
He doesn’t really mind though? Like - at the end of the day these are 2D men, whereas he is a very real boyfriend
At least he thinks he doesn’t mind
Recently, he notices that you seem to be on your phone a lot, and you seem to be texting the same group chat very often
He asks why and you laugh - it’s not actual text messages you’re just trying out a new otome/simulation game called Mystic Messenger. He finds the name silly but he just brushes it off he’s definitely J E A L O U S
Until one day he walks into your room while you’re calling one of your friends to freak out about that specific game
You sound kind of teary from outside the door “Oh MY GOD OH MY GOD I GOT THE GOOD ENDING WITH JUMIN!” and “[friend name] I THINK I CAN DIE HAPPY I’M MARRIED TO JUMIN HAN WHAT MORE DO I NEED IN LIFE” and “HE’S SO FREAKING ATTRACTIVE UGH I AM BLESSED”
He’s like who TF is Jumin and immediately bursts into your room looking pissed off
Poor babie is all like “you’re married?” and “if you had someone else you were interested in you should have told me.” “Who is this Jumin Han???” 🧐
Oh my god you start cackling, but you manage to tell him that NO you are not married and that Jumin Han is a fictional character from the game you’re playing
Ushijima looks confused after you explain - why would you find fictional men attractive when you’re already dating him?
Tendou almost dies laughing the next day when Ushijima tells him about what happened
Oikawa Tooru
Since practice finishes pretty late he usually goes to see you at your house at night, but tonight things wrapped up earlier - he’s excited to spend more time with you
You’ve finished up most of your homework so you’ve just been rewatching Attack on Titan since you’re super excited for the new season
You’re kinda distracted/have headphones on so you don’t hear your boyfriend knock on the front door. Your mom answers it and lets him in and he climbs the stairs
He can hear your fangirling (freaking out) over something as he walks towards your room
You jump in surprise when he opens the door, because you thought he would be a bit later but immediately release your pent up excitement
“Tooru just LOOK at him he’s such a bad ass like oh my gosh he literally has swords and he’s still running around slaying the MPs who have guns. God whenever he gets angry he looks so hot,” etc. etc.
You’re shoving your laptop in his face, showing him gifs and video of attack on titan, specifically the captain of the survey corps that you are obsessed with
Tooru gets it - for him its space, shitty alien films and astronomy. For you it’s video games and anime - or more specifically, handsome characters from said franchises
Even though he understand that it’s something you’re passionate about he still makes a whole show about whining how you’re in love with Levi Ackerman (lmao i still thirst over our favorite captain) instead of him
“y/n i’m taller than him! And more handsome! He has blood on him all the time! And he’s super annoying because he’s obsessed with cleaning.” *cue pouty Tooru*
You probably shouldn’t tell him that you are an avid follower of the levi x reader tag on tumblr
Tooru still somehow finds out you’re also reading reader insert fanfic and goes BERSERK with his pouting and whining - literally everyone and their mothers have heard his sob story about how “his darling y/n is leaving me for a short germaphobic asshole”
The rest of the team finds it hilarious - the end up pranking him by posting pictures of Levi in his school locker or texting them in the volleyball groupchat (Oikawa is Suffering™)
Makki and Mattsun get him a Levi keychain for his birthday and cackle when he chucks it violently into the nearest trash can
Miya Atsumu
Doesn’t really know you’re into anime/gaming at first
I don’t think that’s on purpose - Atsumu just has such a one track mind when it comes to volleyball and he’s always busy with practice
so he just kinda doesn’t really give all the anime merch in your room a second glance even though it’s a dead giveaway
I bet Atsumu secretly watches some superhero anime - probably shounen stuff like My Hero Academia, one punch man etc.
He probably starts to notice you’re into anime/games because you’ll play games on your phone/gaming device all the time
One day he notices you’re giggling + blushing while looking at your screen. He’s curious to he heads over to you when coach says they can have a break
Peeks over your shoulder because he wants to know what you’re playing - but instead he’s greeted by some 2D samurai guy called Harada Sanosuke asking you to marry him
“Huh, I didn’t know you were into this kinda stuff y/n” tries to sound playful but internally he is screaming / ?????? WOT I DIDN’T KNOW MY S/O WAS INTO OTOME GAMES
Atsumus pretty chill about it at first, he probably teases you a lot about playing the game but isn’t really bugged about it
“Maybe you should thirst over your boyfriend instead of a fictional character babe~”
I mean - he knows he’s attractive and why be jealous? You only really play the game when he’s busy and you don’t really let the game play seep into your dates/hangouts
But one time he walks in on you reading some ~spicy~ hakuouki x reader fanfic and he’s like are u serious
Like you were lowkey quiet screaming to yourself and muttering “omg omg omg” when he walked in and you definitely tried to close your laptop so he couldn’t see what was open in your browser
Too bad Atsumu has mad reflexes and manages to prevent you from making your computer go to sleep
Briefly skims whatever it was that you were reading and smirks at you
“Hey, if you really want something like this, why don’t you let your real boyfriend deliver” before kissing you
Matsukawa Issei
Look, Issei just wants a chill movie/tv show night where the two of you can bundle up on the couch and binge whatever anime you feel like
Has everything set up - this man is ready to go: snacks? he has all of your favorites, couch? filled with soft pillows + multiple pillows. Attire? Comfy sweatpants shirtless 🥵
Last time he chose the series for your binge sleepover so he let you choose what the two of you were gonna watch this time
Turns out you decided to watch Psycho-Pass - it seemed like a pretty cool show, he was down with the whole dystopia/psychological concept
Starts out pretty normal, is appreciating the action + mystery elements and is glad that you chose that show
About halfway through the anime you two decide to take a break - he goes to the kitchen to refill your snacks, leaving to stretch you back.
When he comes back with more food, he notices that you’re hunched over your phone, typing something
He sneaks up behind you after he puts the food down, “Whatcha reading there babe?” You squeak and try to hide your phone, but not before he sees the words kougami x reader typed into your tumblr search bar
Lit-rally exCuSE me what - he’s not mad (more amused than anything else) but he also kind wants to tease you (bc Mattsun is a little shit)
“Is that the reason you wanted to watch this show?” he asks playfully. “He’s pretty hot tho, I kinda agree with you there babe.”
Now that he’s released the floodgate, he can’t stop your occasional comments like “omg how does he look so GOOD when he’s punching someone” or “he could shoot me with his dominator and i’d still say thank you”
The thirst comments are kinda getting to him, so he decides to take things in a different direction
“Let me what I can show you with my dominator~” L M A O I’M SORRY THIS EXISTS
Suddenly you’re being pulled onto his lap, and pressed against his bare chest, Issei barely gives you time to adjust before he’s kissing you roughly, tongue plunging into your mouth
His hands wrap around your hips pressing your core closer to his own, and you can feel his hard-on pressing into your stomach
He’ll be sure to suck a dark hickey onto the side of your neck and his hands travel under your shirt, just to remind you who your real boyfriend is
Needless to say, you won’t remember a single thing about the second half of the show after the night is over couch sex? Couch sex 😏
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demonslayedher · 3 years
Note
Any Kny character you've grown to love/appreciate more??
Thanks for waiting, Anon, I have been trying to really, really hard to narrow this down, but the answer remains: the vast majority of the cast. The only character I loved right away was Tanjiro and that love kept me watching, as with almost every new character I was like, "ugh, I hate this guy. Here I was, having fun being emotionally invested in a high quality anime, and this might ruin it for me." But then the instant I see a different side of their character, I'm like, "...Oh." To go into some examples...
Zenitsu: I could not stand him right away, I hate womanizers, and his conniptions would go on so long that they held up the story. But Gotouge/Ufotable strung me along perfectly, the first glimpse of Thunder Breath made me immediately pay attention and think, "oh, that was cool. I want to see more of that." Seeing him protect the box pretty firmly put him in the "I need to protect this child" box in my heart. And then the spider demon happens, and I'm sending desperate reaction messages to a friend like "NOOOOOO!!!! BABBBBBBBBBYYYYYYYY!!!!" And then he annoyed me all over again at the start of Functional Recovery, ahaha. It's hard to remember how annoyed I was because I'm such a Zen Stan now, and he was a very firm favorite of mine by the time I finished binging the anime up to the last couple episodes, which I waited for as they came out. Inosuke: He was one of the reasons I was curious about the series, I saw some promotional art and was super curious about Nezuko's muzzle (I was one of the people who thought it was some ancient scroll or something, haha) and the kid with the boar mask. The art I saw showed his face, and I assumed he'd be some kid with a cracking voice performed by a female seiyuu. As much as I love Matsuoka's performance now, initially, since I knew what his face looked like, I found it grossly off-putting the moment I heard it. Then every chaotic thing Inosuke did dug a deeper hole; I very quickly decided I hated him, especially when he started beating up on the kid I was starting to like. As his chaos subsided he just became a character I tolerated, and then this happened:
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Images you can hear, am I right? This immediately flipped the "BABY" switch in my heart. It was also a lot of fun to understand the Inosuke memes I was seeing everywhere. So by the end of the anime, I loved, loved, loved, loved the Tanjiro/Zenitsu/Inosuke interactions and desperately wanted more (still didn't like how Zenitsu bothered Nezuko, though). I was so impatient for more, but the manga art looked disappointingly off-putting. I figured the anime was successful enough that there'd eventually be more of it, and I wanted to be patient, but then I poked around, read some spoilers, got back into Tumblr to look at fanart and memes, saw a spoiler image of Tanjiro affected by Muzan's poison and the binge-read began. (That's kind of a lie, but I'll get to that.) Let's back up a few episodes. There I was, having a great time, the guy who I forgot about from Episode 1 was back and haha, I guess everyone hates him, and the chick who I figured was going to be a medic who saves Zenitsu in the nick of time turned out to be savage, awesome. I was sending reactions to my friends who were ahead of me, and then we left off seeing the Pillars staring down Best Boy. And I...
Well. Uh. Here, I've dug up an old convo for you, my comments are in blue.
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Immediately followed by a passionate vocal rant, which I have transcribed here:
“I feel like what happened was that the mangaka was sitting around with his assistants and was like, ‘welp, gotta make this whole cast of characters, they gotta be so-o-o-o many more levels of extreme than all the other characters I’ve had so far, which isn’t hard, because all of the background characters are cannon fodder and I’ve just gotta leave them all with black hair and no personality traits. So! Gotta go to the opposite of the spectrum with the BIG! POWERFUL! People so no-o-o-body can be normal.’ And so he and his assistants sat down, and they all wrote down just random words or traits, and them put ‘em all in a hat. And then for each character, they pulled out a few of them and said, ‘OK. We’re gonna put these things together, now we have a character.’ And he was probably also like, ‘Iiiiiiiiiiiii’ll flesh them out later. For now, they just need t’… be there, and make an impact. How do we make an impact? By making sure it’s super, super clear what their character traits are. Here, we’ll have this guy repeat the word //HADE//…. ////HA DEEE//// over and over and over… to show that he’s a /showy/ person. Because he /cares/ about that. And he //should// care because that is his character and that’s why he’s powerful.’ OH MY GOSH, it’s so dumb.”
......orz I feel like Genya looking back at how he acted at the end of the Final Selection. I'm sorry, Gotouge, I had not even encountered your love for these characters yet in your little alligator form. Nor had I encountered the yet unseen-sides of these traumatized dragons and tigers. ...*coughs* Um. So. I was pretty harsh.
So this was my mindset, I went into the manga not caring about most of these characters and just wanting more Kamaboko squad interactions and wanting to hurry up and catch up to the battle with Muzan. And it's worth stating that I didn't mean to read it at first. I encountered a few spoilers, and just wanted to look for the context surrounding those parts, and then hunt for the (non-existent) build-up to those parts, and so... uh.........
I read a lot of the manga out of order, and yeah, that did affect how much I cared about what was going on. I didn't actually properly process a lot of it until later re-reads. But to try to state some things simply about each Pillar:
Giyuu: He was just 'ok' to me for a long time, I could see the appeal for why people I knew were fangirling over him but he didn't do it for me. His soft spot for Tanjiro was indeed endearing, though, and I firmly liked him by the time chapter 200 came out and I was properly heartbroken on his behalf.
Shinobu: She was intriguing, and then I liked her as soon as I saw her savage side, she was one of the characters I went hunting for spoilers for.
Rengoku: That stare really put me off at first, but I fell for him over the process of Tanjiro falling for him. When I first finished the train arc I sat back and said, "wow! That's going to make for a good movie!" and then in psyching myself out for the movie several months in advance, I fell hook, line, and sinker and was totally excited for him each time I saw the trailers. And then the movie was *stunning* and I love him even more. Uzui: He was the Pillar I hated most upon first meeting them. I blame the repeated use of his catchphrase. But then when he let his hair down to sell the kiddos the change in design helped warm me up more to him, like, "oh, there was a human in there." It took a long time for him to become more interesting to me, and an uncharacteristically subtle journey to becoming a character I liked. I am currently getting more and more psyched out for him and eager to see how much more I'm going to like him with the shiny Ufotable treatment. Mitsuri: At first I didn't remember her name, I had code-named her as "Boobs." But I kinda had a feeling she was going to grow on me quickly, and I was right, she's one of my easy favorites now. Muichiro: Who? Oh yeah, that kid who always kinda fell to the wayside in my attention. I'd see a lot of Muichiro-themed blogs and hear a lot of little girls looking at merch and showing a clear favoritism of him, and I'd like always react like Muichiro and just be like, "...", and then when I read his major battles I was more emotionally invested in things going on concurrently with other characters, and I was still like, "...", and then two days ago I revisited a Muichiro scene and was suddenly like, "......OH!!! MUICHIRO!!!!!" Himejima: I never really hated Himejima, even if I found his first impression kind of wimpy (haha... oh, I was so wrong). I had a pretty easy acceptance of him too, so I would generally count him among characters I like, but if you were to ask me why, I'd draw a blank. It's kind of a weirdly mature, subdued appreciation for him rather than passionate fangirling. But weirdly when I was daydreaming the other day I found myself thinking, "if I had to marry someone in the KnY cast, it would be Himejima." So like, not a fiery romance, but I see him as my dependable, sturdy rock to grow old with??? What is up with you, sub-conscious?? Iguro: My interest in him rises and falls. Being a Mitsuri fan helped warm me up to his character in the first place, which was the emotional tie I needed since his backstory didn't grip me much (I found it a frustrating distraction while I was desperately reading weekly updates). Reading more subtle details about his character in the fanbooks has brought me around and made me more curious about him, like I'd really like to be a fly on the wall for the conversation he had with Uzui one day about their pasts.
Sanemi: Hahaha, wow. He was so unlikable in the beginning, wasn't he? His character design (yeah, the eyes) was really off-putting too. But then I got to know him and there was no going back, I got totally played. He's a character I'm pretty fond of now and one of the characters I've enjoyed delving into most in fanfic. To keep this answer from getting too long, for the vaaaaaast majority of the cast, I was initially like, "meh" or "OK" or "ew" but now am like, "EEEEEEEEE, I LOVE THIS TOTALLY RANDOM UNIMPORTANT SIDE CHARACTERRRRRRR" so you know... times change. And the more time I spend obsessed with Kimetsu no Yaiba, the more I like them all, so even the characters I'm lukewarm on will probably have their eventual days when they take over my heart and smash it.
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