#yet another in the long line of famous games with little fandom that i get intensely obessed with

[insertcommonnoun]

Hey everyone I am really sick so made the alphabet in Spore

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[voidmadisonrecs]

chris evans recs

these are more for me then anyone else but here are my fav chris evans (and co.) fics, blurbs, headcanons, etc.

feel free to message or comment with suggestions that i should read and make sure to check out these writers other works because they are all amazing <3

Chris Evans

butterflies - @chanelfaerie

chris has got butterflies for you—do you feel the same?

pop the questions - @angelkurenai

you are costars and in a relationship with Chris and while on the set of ‘Gifted’, you are very clingy. when Chris sees you interact with your youngest costar, he realizes you would make a great mother

white - @agentofbarnes

chris can’t seem to function while seeing you in a white dress

ask me properly - @twittytelly

while spending time with his family, chris realizes that it's the perfect time to put his 'plan' into action

red carpet w/ chris - @avenging-fandoms

your chris’s costar with Chris and you’re both tipsy in a red carpet interview and giggling together, making no sense but just being all happy and sparking dating rumours

happy goddamn new year - @fluffymisha97

the morning after your new year with the evans’ which doesn’t go all that smooth

sweet creature - @buckyhoney

domestic shit

ass man headcanon - @agentofbarnes

chris evans sure does love ass

and then he came along - @teebarnes

you haven't had the best record when it comes to relationships, you thought you couldn't be loved. until one day as you sat on the beach shivering, everything changed when chris came along

granola bar and lots of love - @planetofawe

with the kids away, you and chris have more than enough time to practice some aftercare (smut)

claim - @cloudystevie

your husband puts a baby in you (smut)

beer gut - @violetlilysunshine

chris gets self conscious after gaining a little bit of weight and not working out as hard as he used to during his Marvel days (smut)

dumb - @agentofbarnes

chris evans makes you dumb and you are a little touchstarved (smut)

red, white, blue’s in the sky, summer’s in the air, baby heaven’s in your eyes - @cloudystevie

sunday’s are for football games and attention (smut)

the big 4-0 - @rocketrhap3000

chris being insecure for his 40th bday but reader makes sure he knows just how much she loves him (smut)

my girl - @punani

chris loves calling you his girl (smut)

the fluffer (masterlist) - @punani

it’s the 70′s and the erotic videos industry is experiencing another boom after the risen popularity in the previous decade. the studio’s are hot, gemini flanagan is a brand, and you’re a newly hired assistant at shaggin’ studios. chris takes a liking to you, altering your job description so that you get to work more closely with him. is this all just physical, or is there something more? (smut)

wedding shenanigans - @flowerbouquet

in which you and chris have a sneaky fuck in the bathroom during your best friends wedding (smut)

grocery run - @bucksfucks

innocently wearing chris’ shirt leads to you finding out just how much he can’t resist you (smut)

chain - @bucksfucks

chris tells you to bite down on his chain (smut)

home late (part 2) - @violetlilysunshine

smuttttttt

severance - @punani

the divorce process with chris is messy, seemingly never ending, and ultimately: heartbreaking. you had to be strong for your son, yourself, and eventually you wanted someone else to be strong for you, so, it seemed only natural that you would venture into the arms of another. however, sometimes the line between something officially ending or simply taking a break blurs when you’ve known someone for longer than you can remember (smut/baby fever/ex!reader)

so beautiful to me - @uprootbasic

despite being broken up and coparenting, chris still want to show you how much he loves you (smut/baby fever)

sundress season - @jurassicbarnes

in which all it takes is a pretty little dress to break his resolve (ex!reader/smut/baby fever)

mwah - @iguessweallcrazyithinktho

ur little bubba is obsessed with kissys and keeps leaning in to kiss you (baby fever)

long hair lover - @iguessweallcrazyithinktho

chris comes back from filming red sea diving resort and his baby daughter is crazy in love with his long hair (baby fever)

slobbery kisses - @iguessweallcrazyithinktho 

chris wakes up to sloppy kisses by his baby (baby fever)

baby rose - @fluffymisha97

reader and chris had a little baby girl. but not everything is going that well, you're both trying to navigate life as new parents (baby fever)

eve - @kiwisomething

you drop your son off with his father and he invites you in (baby fever/ex!chris)

parenting is hard blurb - @lokiscu

chris and the reader have just had a baby and the lack of sleep mixed with lack of physical affection and time they have with one another gets to both of them and they end up fighting because of the stress (baby fever)

isla - @uprootbasic

the reader is a famous singer and always sings to her little girl. one night, chris and the reader decides to have this little jamming session with their baby. chris plays the piano while the reader sings I wanna hold your hand by the Beatles (baby fever)

the neighbours lights - @lokiscu

it’s your first Christmas with a baby (baby fever)

paparazzi - @ozarkthedog

chris evans and reader are both famous and one day they are out with their daughter when paparazzi start to follow them (baby fever)

thunder - @worksby-d

your daughter is scared of the thunder (baby fever)

she’s the one - @worksby-d

chris x singlemom!reader masterlist (baby fever)

protective stepdad chris x single!reader - @worksby-d

masterlist (baby fever)

truth be told - @kthynes

chris finds out he has a 6 month old baby because his partner didn’t have the chance to tell him that she is pregnant because they broke up (angsty??/baby fever)

not her - @agentofbarnes

chris wants a family and you just aren’t ready yet, but that doesn’t mean he wants you any less (angsty?)

the love we have - @kthynes

the reader is chris's ex wife and she's about to be married again to a guy she doesn't really love. so in the night of her bachelorette party she's really drunk and she ended up going to his apartment and tell him that she still loves him and that she wants to hate him because he was the one who file for divorce but she can't, then she leaves. on the day of the ceremony their 10 year old kid tells Chris that he should go after her before is too late (angsty??)

Frank Adler

i ruined our sweet tune - @rodrikstark

the last person you’d expect to see in florida is the hot professor from your undergrad philosophy class 

buttons - @rodrikstark

buttoning franks shirt headcanon 

waffles - @amylillian22

the morning after their usual saturday date night, y/n runs into mary unexpectedly. frank wakes up to find them making waffles

remember - @sweater-daddiesdumbdork

frank wakes you up at the ungodly hour of 3:30 am and will not even tell you why

breeding kink - @stargazingfangirl18

as the hot single dad everyone wants to get with, frank turns a few heads at back to school night, and well, you may get a little possessive (smut) 

magic demeanor - @bloodiedskirtts

after moving back to Florida in the middle of a heat wave, things seem to be getting worse and worse. the only thing to make her days any better is her neighbour, Frank. with neither of them willing to admit that they can’t get enough of each other, a pesky shower malfunction may be the only way for them to tell each other how they feel (smut)  

Ransom Drysdale

2:27 am - @cloudystevie

it’s 2:27 in the morning when ransom shows up at your doorstep, and he wishes he could tell you why 

cold (third part of his return) - @kiwisomething

hugh is cold sleeping on the couch by himself 

new man - @worksby-d

ransom loves to pretend he’s not whipped for you, but here he is letting you do your skin care routine on him

morning dew - @agentofbarnes

it was only supposed to be one night, but ransom can’t seem to get you out of his head (smut) 

Andy Barber

the proposal - @fairyevans

andy takes the reader on a gorgeous vacation but everything goes wrong except the proposal 

consequences - @stargazingfangirl18

life after your breakup with ransom (smut)

yes, mrs barber - @jurassicbarnes

in which you’re down on your knees, about to suck his dick within an inch of his life because it was the only way to shut him up (smut) 

[woeisme-iamwoe]

an absolutely massive Haikyuu!! fic rec pt. 1

I went through my entire ao3 history because I’m insane, AND here’s my favorites. (There’s not a lot of aus because I’m not a huge fan of them, and there’s no sad endings. I’m a hopeless romantic leave me alone. There is angst though! Lots) 

Beginning with SakuAtsu (I’m a hoe for Atsumu): 

Hide and seek, by badreputation (10k. E. canonverse) 

It sure is a good thing Atsumu doesn't have a latex allergy 

It’s just a fleeting infatuation. As long as he pushes through it he’ll manage. So what if nowadays there isn’t a night where he doesn’t dream of Sakusa pinning him down on his own bed, in the shower or make Atsumu go down on his knees in the hallway? Those are just pesky details.

Some Memories, We May Keep, by mika60 (31k. T. canonverse) 

This is canon, fight me on it. 

The missing panels, the missing games, the missing moments.

The them we never saw.

*Now complete! :)*

 every action has an equal and opposite reaction, by akanemnida (10k. T. canonverse) 

Miya Atsumu gets a modeling contract with Calvin Klein, which sets Kiyoomi's heart in motion.

(Or: Sakusa Kiyoomi realizes that the rules governing the universe are absolute rubbish at explaining matters of the heart.)

 Ass-fingering as a prelude to relations of the emotional kind: a case study, by neverwere (2k. E. canonverse) 

Fucking hilarious, the imagery is absolutely hilarious. 

"Marry me, he thinks, as he comes around Sakusa's fingers and all over himself.

This. This is exactly why you don't let strangers or very attractive teammates finger you out of the blue.

Everyone knows that the ass is the shortest way to the heart."

Or

When it comes to sex, Atsumu has rules. Guidelines! SOPs! He swears they work, they've always worked.

Until they don't.

 parallax error: angle of inclination, by min_mintobe (10k. T. canonverse)

But now there's the one person Atsumu'd promised himself never to touch. His eyes leave Atsumu breathless with guilt at seventeen, and he spends the next six years safe in the satisfaction of making things right.

Feelings, of the physical kind, and one kiss.

ft. competitive spirit, childishness, and late night conversations.

Atsumu POV.

 autumn ends, but we remain, by wolfsbvne (5k. T. canonverse)

Author says in their ending notes that they're not an ‘author’, but methinks they should write more and pursue that career path because this was wonderful.  

atsumu stares at his ceiling at 2am. he stares until he can make out designs in his popcorn ceiling. a cat there, an onigiri here, and then something that suspiciously looks like a mop of hair, triangle eyebrows, and oh those two bumps are moles right above what atsumu just mapped out as an eye.

(or, atsumu is in kind of in love. sakusa is maybe in like.)

I left a taste in your mouth, by emso (26k. E. bodyguard au)

Because obviously 

Sakusa fixes him with a vague expression of something like distaste. There's a scathing edge to his tone when he speaks. "Contrary to what you seem to believe, not everyone who meets you is instantly dying to get into your pants, Miya."

"Lucky I don't really care right now what 'everyone' wants to do, then." Atsumu swivels his mug around on the tabletop a few times, and then brings it to his mouth to drain the last few dregs of his latte. Over the rim of his mug, he adds casually, "Just you."

Whoa hey Bodyguard Omi, I think Spoiled Rich Kid Tsumu might possibly have a teensy crush on you. 

 How do you know you're in love?, by spiritscript (12k. T. canonverse)

Pure art

“So, how did you know you were in love? How did it feel?” Atsumu felt nervous asking this, a slight wiggling in the pit of his stomach, unable to look at the man beside him who rolled his shoulders in an attempt to reset his posture. “I mean, you didn’t resonate with what I said, so, what is love to you Omi-kun?”

Atsumu thinks he must be in love with Hinata Shouyou and so asks the best person he knows to help him understand his feelings

 san'yo expressway, 6:17 pm, by yamabota (13k. T. canonverse)

Of violent forethoughts, and handheld car vacuums. 

Atsumu tilts his head to watch a slice of orange light bend over the impassive planes of Sakusa’s face. He is absolutely, ruthlessly beautiful. It makes Atsumu want to punch something—put his foot through the windshield—scream, maybe.

Kiss him again, maybe.

They have 344 kilometers to figure this one out. 

Different Kinds of Dysfunctional, by DeathBelle (Series, 5 works. T-E. Canonverse)

Honestly, I think this one is kind of famous amongst Sakuatsu readers but I can’t not include it. If I recall correctly, this is the fic that got me into Sakuastu, so thanks, DeathBelle. The characters are portrayed really well (i.e. Sakusa is disgusted and confused, and Atsumu is a little shit). You’ve got a good balance between conversations and descriptive thoughts and all-in-all it’s just a really good read. 

 Atsumu said into the heavy silence, “You can’t say you’ve never thought about it.”

"Thought about what?" said Sakusa.

Atsumu smiled to himself, smug. "You know."

"No, I don't."

"You know. Of course you’ve thought about it. There’s no reason to be ashamed, Omi-kun. I’m a real catch.”

Sakusa was appalled. "You're disgusting."

"You flatter me. I'm not judging you. I can't lie and say I haven't thought about it, too."

Sakusa shifted, slowly, to peer over his shoulder. He wasn’t scowling, but his expression was unreadable. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Atsumu wasn't joking, and he was about to get more than he bargained for.

i'll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands), by liliapocalypse (7k words. T. canonverse):

Oh, god. This one was so cute. Super fluffy. Loved the metaphors and symbolism. Sometimes you just can’t say things out loud. 

When a bad injury shocks the whole V. League, Sakusa finds himself paired with Atsumu for more rigorous assisted stretches before every training. Atsumu then finds himself writing random letters on Sakusa’s skin to soothe the spiker, forcing Sakusa to reevaluate how his touch aversion became an irresistible yearning for more, and how the boy with the annoying hair somehow brought that hunger to life.

Or, the fic where Atsumu mindlessly writes a confession on Sakusa’s back when he thought Sakusa wasn't paying attention. Sakusa always did.

 mortality is found is the flesh of your sins, by novrik (10k. M. canonverse)

This is literally my favorite fic of all time. Not just of Sakuatsu, not even of the Haikyuu fandom. Ever. Favorite fic ever. Listen, I’m an atheist, but this fic took me on a religious experience that I haven't come down from yet. The symbolism had me actually shivering, and I had to put my phone down quite a few times. Just, oh wow, just read it. I’d like to share my favorite line; ‘And if Sakusa is Eve, if he takes a bite, what then? Perhaps, he is a little afraid of the knowledge he will gain’. My god, author, if you ever see this, this is not only a plea for you to continue writing, but also an offer of marriage. Your hand, author?

 dickhead one, sakusa kiyoomi. dickhead two, miya atsumu. neither understand how to communicate.

Pray tell, why are you drawn to him?

Are you drawn to him in the way he looks beautiful even when crying?

When his eyes are red, shiny tears streaking down, lips quivering, is he beautiful?

 sakuatsu domesticity simulator, by pseudoanalytics (75 words. T. canonverse)

75 words because it's actually a digital art simulator. An interactive fic! How frickin’ cool is that? The art is so beautiful and I love the plotline and ugh, just everything. Please read, or watch, or click around, yes. Good. 

Update: artist created another interactive fic and of course it is wonderful. SunaOsa this time! https://newttxt.itch.io/cheesecake honestly just check out @newttxt their work is amazing and I love everything they do. 

a vaguely interactive mixture of fic, art, and html, where you too can experience the inherent romance of a big fat jerk and a too-blunt jerk attempting intimacy

***

(this is the result of letting the sakuatsu brainworms really get to you...)

 Pas De Deux, by hatsuna (19k words. T. Ballet/college au)

There's just something about prim, proper ballet Sakusa and human-benign-tumor Atsumu that makes my heart burst. Seriously gorgeous writing style, loved every second. By the same author who wrote ‘liminal spaces’ (which is also just perfect) so that should give you a good idea of the style. 

The mystery athlete gives Kiyoomi a once over in the mirror. “Yer pretty tall,” he observes. The twang of an accent rasps low in his throat. His brazen eyes drift to Kiyoomi’s legs, and something like exhilaration glints gold in his gaze. “Good quads, too. Ya ever played volleyball?”

 Ah. So it’s volleyball.

“I’m a dancer. Ballet and contemporary, mostly.”

 the affective presence of our black and white reruns, by kozumess (19k. E. canonverse)

Beautiful, classic misunderstandings, my heart actually physically ached at that one scene (you’ll know the scene when you come to it). Kiyoomi is so refreshingly relaxed(? Is that the right word to use? We all know Omi never truly relaxes). 

but the want, it's always there, constant like the static playing on every television channel, present even when the station disconnects.

 cut the conversation, just open your mouth, by meeksoo (E. 16k. canonverse)

Absolutely filthy...BUT WITH FEELINGS! Completely nails the Sakuatsu dynamic, and protective ‘Tsumu? Love it. 

Sakusa opens the door. He always does.

 They’re teammates first, barely even friends. But they hook up on the regular and it works. It’s simple, easy. But then a fan gets too close, Sakusa reacts, and Atsumu is swept up in how quickly things can get complicated.

__

As Atsumu palms himself over his briefs, still feeling off, he realizes it’s because he still wants it. Him. Sakusa. Even after already having him earlier.

He should probably feel self-conscious, mildly ashamed even, that he’s panting ‘Omi Omi’ into the dark beneath the steady thrum of the AC unit when Sakusa’s right down the hall, probably good for it if Atsumu ended up back at his door. Instead, he lays there, writhing and sweaty, alone in his hotel room bed thinking about Sakusa and touching himself.

Afterward, as cum begins to cool on his chest, Atsumu really can’t help but face the fact that things may be getting complicated.

 the hands that beckon me to come, by Ellieb3an (4k. E. canonverse)

So hot, what the fuck! 

The toss, the run, the spike-serve at the end of it all—Sakusa sees it happen in perfect clarity as if time has slowed and his vision narrows to the center where just Miya exists, all powerful muscle and extraordinary skill and that air of confidence.

Sakusa isn’t one of the best receivers in the league for no reason, so his body moves on muscle memory, forearms absorbing the sting of the hit. It’s not enough. But his eyes are still on Miya—on the way his shorts ride up his muscular thighs as he lands, on the bead of sweat dripping down his forehead, on the clench of his fist thrust into the air—when the ball ricochets out of bounds.

***

Atsumu stays late at practices to work on his new third serve, even when his frustration with it starts throwing off the rest of his game. Sakusa notices and starts hanging back to secretly watch him from the gym doors. He’s fascinated with Atsumu's determination... and more than a little turned on by it, too.

 you're the flame i use (when it gets dark), by starkartifices (55k. M. canonverse. Ongoing)

Everything is the same except the Sakusas are super rich. 

“Oh, if you want dear, you could bring a plus one. Though, I doubt you have a partner yet.”

“I do actually.”

“What was that, dear?”

"I do have a partner, I mean."

alt title: crazy rich sakusas 

 the inherent romance of classical conditioning (or; the fine art of emotional recognition), by pseudoanalytics (13k. E. canonverse)

Ah, yes. A Pavloved sex life. A Pavloved LOVE life?? 

It's stupid. Atsumu isn't a romantic, no matter how many times he's imagined laying Sakusa out and finally really touching him.

So there's no explanation for why Atsumu is constantly stuck thinking about brushing his fingertips against the meat of Sakusa's palms or the prominent tendons in his freaky wrists.

There's no explanation for why doing dishes sets off a warm burn in his ribcage, or why when he smells disinfectant he inhales like he's walking past a bakery.

Yer doin' this to me, he thinks furiously, as Sakusa derails his thoughts with kisses that come more and more frequently now. Yer conditionin' me, and I can't stop it.

 flutterbird (a collection of sakuatsu oneshots), by wordstruck (5 works. T-E. canonverse)

Works 1-3, I think follow a linear story, whereas the last two don't. 

All sakuatsu works are just the angstiest, most miscommunication filled pieces of absolute gold and this one is no exception. Wow. These men are assholes and they bring out the worst in each other, but I’ll be damned if they’re not soulmates. 

Collection of SakuAtsu fics. Several fics are loosely set in the same storyverse. Not necessarily directly connected and can all be read as standalones.

[searchingwardrobes]

Get To Know You

I was tagged by @optomisticgirl Thank you! I really enjoyed reading your answers to these. I love learning knew things about my mutuals. 

1. Why did you choose your url?

Well, it was already my url on Ao3, and luckily, it wasn’t taken yet. The reason behind it is actually something I was talking about in a discord chat the other day. I was obsessed as a kid with stories about finding secret passages, doors, and portals to other worlds. (The Narnia books, The Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland, stuff like that.) My grandmother, we called her MoMo because it’s the South and we call our grandparents crazy things, lived in a really old house. It was fun to explore it, especially the wardrobes (because like most old houses, hers didn’t have closets). Another time, we (me, my sister, and my cousins) decided to dig a hole to Wonderland in MoMo’s yard with sand shovels. When she caught us, we thought we were in trouble, but she just went and got her garden shovel and said, “here, this will work better.” That’s one of my favorite memories of her. 

Anyways, so that’s where I got my url from. As it says on my Ao3 account, “If I keep searching wardrobes, maybe one day I’ll find Narnia.” It seemed fitting for writing fanfic about a fantasy tv show. 

2. Any side blogs?

Nope

3. How long have you been on Tumblr?

Ummm . . . hold on a sec, let me check . . . Since 2018. 

4. Do you have a queue tag?

No. I’ve noticed people have them, and I’m probably going to sound stupid asking this but: Why do you need one? Tumblr really needs a user manual or something. I feel like you just learn stuff by accident on here. 

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

@teamhook kept bugging me to on Ao3, haha. I also found out that a story I wrote was nominated for a fanfic award, but I didn’t know until after voting was over because I wasn’t on tumblr. And it felt like everyone knew everyone else in the CS fandom except for me, so finally I caved and started my blog. I was a little late to the party, but oh well. It’s been fun nevertheless!

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Shameless self promotion, lol. It’s the cover of my second self-published novel. It’s also really pretty (I didn’t design it, so I can say that!)

7. Why did you choose your header?

My husband bought me a journal that said “Dreamer, Writer, Storyteller,” and I loved that! So first, my header was a just a photo of the journal’s cover. Then I noticed you could make tumblr headers on Canva, so I made one. I look nothing like that girl running (I wish!), but the colors fit with my icon. She also reminds me of Chloe, the main character in my first novel, and Emma Swan, so . . . it works? Canva’s tumblr headers aren’t really sized right, however, so there’s annoying white space on either side if you’re in desktop mode. Canva needs to fix that! Otherwise, I love the way it looks. 

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

How the heck do you figure THAT out? I seriously looked through my stats, and I can not for the life of me see where it tells me this information. So yeah, I have no idea. 

9. How many mutuals do you have?

Uhh, again, how do I know this without scrolling through everything? I swear, people know how to do stuff on this site that I am clueless about still after four years. Remember what I said about needing a manual?

10. How many followers do you have?

743

11. How many people do you follow?

421

12. How often do you use Tumblr each day?

I scroll through it a lot, but lately I haven’t been reblogging or posting as much. Um, maybe thirty minutes a day total? 

13. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Yep. Once someone even MADE a tumblr blog just to troll me. That was . . . interesting. 

14. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

I have erased my answer to this four times, if that tells you anything! Yeah, I don’t like those. 

15. Do you like tag games?

Absolutely!

16. Do you like ask games?

Yes!! I don’t get asks often, so I eat these up!!! I also copied this from B: “And I hold strong the belief that if you reblog a post to participate, you need to send asks to the person you reblogged from. (this was Kait’s answer, but it’s mine as well! Fandom etiquette peeps)”

17. Which of your mutuals do you think is Tumblr famous?

I’d have to say @welllpthisishappening - or maybe I’m just her fangirl, lol. But seriously, her Blue Line series is one of the most popular CS fics out there, and for good reason, 

18. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

Well, @kmomof4 did take me out for my birthday once . . . ;)

Tagging @teamhook @welllpthisishappening @kmomof4 @snowbellewells @xhookswenchx @whimsicallyenchantedrose

[thatweeboverthereisthirsty]

Could we please get some relationship headcanons for Ezra, Juvia and Mira?

Hello! I’ve been taking so long recently it’s soooooo annoying but the good news is that camps almost over and so is my algebra class. Hopefully I’ll be able to write more soon. I really loved this ask anon so thank you so much for being patient. It’s not as long as I would have liked but I think it does it’s job. Anyways I think I’m gonna take some time after cleaning out my inbox to write up something in a different fandom cause I haven’t had the chance yet. Hopefully if I write something fresh I can get back in my mojo and open up my requests again. Anyways I hope y’all like these since I really enjoyed writing them.

Erza:

- It’s no secret that the armor changing red-head known as Erza Scarlet was a fierce warrior but what nobody ever knew was how she was with her darling s/o

- For such a wild and commanding woman, Erza was surprisingly gentle with you, letting you take control of the situation more often than not

- Date locations, meals, clothes, activities, jobs even, all of it was your choice

- Unless of course you wanted to do something that was to dangerous or risky

- That was when Erza stepped in and helped you consider another option

- Still she appreciated anything and everything that you decided to do

- It was quite obvious that Erza loved you very much

- Everytime she went away on a job she would make sure you had a communication lacrama and something to eat for the week, money and other essentials

- Then she kissed you goodbye and left for her mission

- Erza was never gone long so you never had to worry but you still found a way

- When she came back from her job she always brought you a gift

- Sometimes it was flowers, sweets you could share, a monster horn, jewls, silks and other expensive things

- And everytime she asked if you liked them you told her that her coming home was the best gift of all

- Y'all had an unnecessarily sappy relationship and it seemed to annoy many people around you but the knew better than to speak up lest the great Titania raise her blade to their necks

- Being together with Erza meant you had a close friendship with the rest of team Natsu, even going so far as to help Erza sneak into Lucy’s house with the rest of the group and have sleepovers

- Y'all had fun together but at the end of the day it was just the two of you laying together on the floor pretending that Natsu and Gray weren’t snoring

- As you fell asleep Erza would watch you and thank whoever was out there that she had gotten so lucky, even with such a nasty start her life was turning out to be perfect ❤️

Juvia:

- Juvia is a… unique kind of lover

- She talked in third person, acted suspiciously when you were around other guys and girls, and was always giving you anniversary gifts when it wasn’t really an anniversary

- But this was just another part of her charm and another reason you loved her

- It took very little time to get together at all since she is so persistent with her attempts at wooing her beloved

- In the beginning you were a little nervous since you guys rushed into a relationship but once you were together Juvia let you take it as slow as you wanted

- It started with nervous pecks on the cheek and maybe hesitant hugs that you should have limited but wanted everyday

- Soon you became more comfortable with physical affection and all the praise she gave you constantly

- You didn't need any reassurance that she loved you but Juvia did

- Her whole life people found her rain gloomy and she was worried that you would find rain to be gloomy as well but she was pleasantly surprised to find that you enjoyed the rain

- Maybe you didn't want to stand in it for hours on end but watching the rain through your windows with a mug of something warm and a blanket around your shoulders was very peaceful

- Juvia would join you and you would tell her that you loved the rain and that you loved her more

- She would probably pass out afterwards with hearts in her eyes

- This water mage is a hopeless romantic

- If you give her flowers or chocolates she might die of happiness

- Forget that if you give her anything she’ll die of happiness

- Expect many at home dates where no one can look at you or ‘flirt’ with you or steal you from her

- (she’s got some lowkey yandere vibes but there only minor lol)

- You’ll probably watch some pretty exciting movies together so she can watch the emotions on your face change

- Maybe even something scary so you can grab her or she can grab you (whether or not she’s actually scared ;)

- Dates will be super chill over all and even though she’s not the most chill person it’ll still be a chill relationship

- All Juvia wants is for you to be happy and with her that's the happiest you’ll be ❤️

Mira:

- Mirajane Strauss would be super fun to date

- Like really fun

- You probably had a crush on her for a while before she pulled the classic ‘my shifts over at ??:?? You wanna go grab a bite’

- She would take you to a casual but still nice restaurant (the kind where you don’t have to dress up but it’s got good food)

- You guys would talk and eat and you’d tell yourself over and over again it was just a friend thing cause obviously someone as cool as Mira wouldn’t like you but then when she walked you home she would say “that was fun we should go out again sometime”, kiss you on the cheek and walk away

- Mira is smooth

- Y'all almost fainted when she did that

- After that you guys would go out regularly and when you didn’t have time to go out she would let Kinana take the reigns and Mira would make you your favorite drink for free 

- You guys would chat and flirt and everyone in Fairy Tail would give you guys looks and winks

- People still catcalled Mira but anyone smart knew that you were hers and stay away from you cause the she devil is possessive

- Friendship was fine but the second some random guest crossed a line Mira would probably shoot him/her one of her famous glares and they’d head for the hills

- And if you were hurt… dear god help their souls

- Mira would probably go full devil on them

- She wouldn’t hurt them too much though but only because she knew you didn’t like it when she did that

- Afterwords she’d take you home to her know private apartment (Lisanna got herself her own place) and snuggle with you and make you food

- And gosh is Mira’s food good

- If you guys have a fight and Mira wanted to apologize she would do it by making your favorite meal and dessert

- You could never say no to Mira’s cooking yet somehow you never gained any weight 

- It was magical (probably literally)

- The other Strauss siblings came with Mira

- It was a full package and you didn't mind, in fact you enjoyed the sister like bond you had with lisanna and the laughs you shared with Elfman

- Friday was family night so all 4 of you would get together and play a game or watch a movie

- Mira loved you most in those moments

- When she looked around and saw the pure domesticity of the situation it helped her forget all the nasty stuff in the world and focus on what was important, the people that she loved

- Including you ❤️

[makeste]

There's been a lot of talk about Mina's optimistic line about how they'll all be fine and back to class is a death flag, but if anything I think it's a desth flag for U.A. They'll be fine, but they won't be back to class as normal, because there won't BE a class to attend(RIP Shinsou)

seems like everyone in the fandom is talking about death flags and kids dying and society falling to pieces these days lol. fwiw, as I’m sure most people have seen by now, Viz’s translation showed that Mina was actually talking about Midnight, so if this really is a “famous last words” situation, it would apply to her rather than the kids.

but it seems like the speculation hasn’t really died down despite that! so since the whole “kids dying” thing keeps coming up, I’m gonna go ahead and weigh in on it again here and say that I don’t think it’s going to happen. so far I’ve mostly been trying to keep my reasoning short and sweet and leaving it at “it would be too dark”, but in truth, the real reason why I don’t see it happening is because I don’t think it would serve any purpose.

here’s the thing about character deaths: assuming that the writing is any good (which I would argue that it is, in BnHA’s case, although you are free to disagree!), they should always serve a purpose. and in most cases, that’s going to mean one of four things:

it serves as a way to write the character out of the story for whatever reason (for instance if the character is getting in the way of letting a plot be resolved, or if the actor is leaving, which of course doesn’t apply to BnHA but is a huge factor in a lot of other media). an example here would be Twice, who was written out of the story because his quirk would have prevented the heroes from having any chance at all of winning.

it sets the stakes and takes away the audience’s sense of security by establishing that No One Is Safe, and that People Can And Will Die. this is important in that it builds suspense and makes the audience more invested than they might otherwise be, because they can’t be 100% certain that their fave is going to make it out alive. a good example of this would be the recent massacre at Jakku, which showed in no uncertain terms how powerful Tomura has become, and also demonstrated that Horikoshi has no qualms whatsoever about killing off any number of pro hero characters in this arc.

it completes that character’s arc and serves as a fitting (if depressing) end to their story. this is probably the most controversial as far as “reasons for killing someone off” go, because it’s so easy to fuck up, and because someone will almost always argue that there were other, better ways for a character’s story to end. most “redemption” deaths fall under this category, as do the “character makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect their loved one” deaths. if Endeavor ends up dying there’s a good chance it will fall under this category. so far though, BnHA has been pretty light on these types of deaths, which tbh suits me just fine. ideally this sort of death is supposed to provide some sort of closure, but in practice it doesn’t always work out that way.

lastly, the death furthers the story in some way. it galvanizes another character into action, or serves as a motivation for them. or maybe the death shifts the political landscape of the story and sets new plots into motion. most tragic backstory deaths fall under this category; for example, pretty much the entire Shimura family (r.i.p.). this is another potentially controversial area though on account of there being many other ways to move the plot forward without resorting to killing someone off. not to mention that “fridging” deaths also fall under this category -- deaths where one character is used as a plot device to move another character’s development forward. Nana, unfortunately, is an example of this, but that’s another rant for another day.

anyway, so these are the four biggest reasons to kill off a character in a story. there are others as well, including simply adding some more tragedy and emotion to the story, but IMO that doesn’t really apply to this particular genre. BnHA isn’t a tragedy, nor is it the kind of bleak, grimdark narrative where killing off characters more frequently would make sense. this isn’t the kind of series where gratuitous character deaths are necessary to add shock value or realism. making the shift into that kind of writing this late in the game wouldn’t make much sense, and IMO would do a lot more harm than good.

so as far as I’m concerned, this means that if Horikoshi is going to kill someone off in this arc, that death needs to come under one of these four categories. oh, and something I forgot to mention before -- it should be necessary, as well. in other words, it accomplishes one of these four things, and is the only way that said thing can be accomplished. those are basically my criteria for a “good” character death.

and as far as I can see, none of the kids’ deaths would currently fall into that “necessary” category, or meet any of those other four criteria. none of the kids are so powerful that they need to be written out of the story (and even if they were, there are other ways to do that with AFO and the quirk-be-gone bullets now in play). they don’t need to be killed off in order to raise the stakes; clearly, fandom is already very convinced on that front already, or people wouldn’t constantly be freaking out over death flags and such in the first place. and none of the kids is anywhere near the completion of their respective story arcs. maybe if one or more of them had been featured more often recently, and there was some actual buildup, like we saw with Mirio right before he lost his quirk, or with Nighteye before he was killed. but we haven’t seen anything like that recently for any of the kids, with the possible exception of Bakugou (hence why I’m still pretty certain that he’s currently heading towards what Aizawa would call a “death”, with quotation marks, i.e. the loss of his quirk).

so that just leaves us with “their death would further the narrative in some way”, which is probably the most open to interpretation of the four. but for the life of me I just can’t think of any way that the death of a kid would advance the plot in a way that couldn’t be achieved by other means. want society to freak out about children being involved in a war? just injure a bunch of them, or have one of them lose their quirk on live TV with the world watching. want to traumatize the other child soldier characters for some reason? kill off one of the teachers, then. or, again, take away one of their friends’ quirks, and have them feel some misplaced guilt over not being able to stop it. this was the winning formula for the Basement arc, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work here as well.

tbh a lot of this does depend on what exactly Horikoshi’s goals for this arc are, which still aren’t 100% clear even this late in the game. I’m not sure right now what he’s planning for the aftermath of this thing. will it be like Kamino and Fukuoka, where society is shaken up but still rallying behind the heroes and giving them their support? or are we instead building up towards a scenario where society’s faith in heroes finally crumbles and people are left totally demoralized in the wake of yet another brutal attack, and the total decimation of the Billboard Top 10? the latter outcome is seeming more and more likely to me, but an awful lot of it depends on how the next few chapters play out.

my best guess is that we end up with a scenario where the heroes succeed in staving off total disaster, but at a heavy cost. a lot of the pros are either dead or out of commission, Tomura and the League are still at large, and everyone is basically just sitting around trying to process what just happened and figure out what to do next while they wait for the other shoe to drop. word gets out that the kids were pretty much the only reason the battle didn’t end in even greater disaster, and as a result they get swept up in the ensuing political drama. the HPSC tries to parade them around as the next big thing; humanity’s hope for the future. but meanwhile a growing faction of the general public is furious at the government getting children involved in a war, and start arguing that the hero program should be shut down and U.A. should close its doors. and in the midst of all this, the kids try to lick their wounds and deal with the aftermath, and enter their second year very much unsure of what the future will hold.

anyway, so this all got very long-winded and out of hand as usual, but to sum up, I don’t think any of the kids is going to die here, and I think there will still be a year two of U.A., but that it’s going to feel very different from the U.A. we’ve known up to this point. if the threat of Tomura is still looming over everyone’s heads I very much doubt the kids will be able to focus much on their studies. but it may also be a case of them trying to cling to what little semblance of normalcy they have left. the teachers might decide to press on simply because it’s the only thing they can do. basically I’m anticipating something very similar to the aftermath of Kamino, but with the tension ramped up to 11, and with the adults fighting a losing battle to keep the kids from getting caught up in the middle of it all.

in other words, I don't think it’s an actual death-death we need to worry about here. rather, it’s going to be a much slower and much more subtle death by a thousand cuts. but it’ll be the kind of angst the characters can still work under; the kind that, rather than suffocating them, instead makes them grit their teeth and find a way to push forward. so yeah! anyways though, now that I’ve said all this, watch as Horikoshi goes and fucking decapitates Aoyama next week or some shit. lol maybe I should knock on wood just in case.

[arcticdementor]

“Hey bro! Check out this Nike ad!” This was my entry point into a new world.

…

Since Carlos had lived mostly outside the United States, he was able to follow soccer on a level I’d never encountered in my hometown. Back then, before social media and the advent of scarf-wearing Northwestern fútbol hipsters, big-time European soccer was like the metric system: Known to almost all but ourselves. But Carlos knew, and immediately used LimeWire to curate me a massive archive of 1990s through early 2000s soccer highlights. What was I doing in the world without them?

Oddly enough, in trying to inculcate me in soccer fandom, he started not with game highlights, but with the advertisements. Yes, Carlos was an educator and a voluntary footsoldier for Big Apparel. Going in, I had no clue about high-quality, internationally popular Nike soccer ads. The ads, written by the legendary Wieden+Kennedy firm, were miniature movies, films that were often creatively daring but also quite funny. The most popular of these ads might be “Good vs. Evil,” from 1996, where Nike’s best soccer players team up to play Satan’s literal army. The blending of sacrilege, theology and comedy just worked, like a more ambitious version of Space Jam that somehow took itself less seriously than Space Jam.

…

Yes, I know ads aren’t supposed to be high art. I understand that they are the purest distillation of manipulative greed. And yet, they sometimes are culturally relevant generational touchstones. While Nike was weaving soccer into enduring pop culture abroad, it was having a similar kind of success with basketball and baseball stateside. These ads weren’t just pure ephemera. Michael Jordan’s commercials were so good that, as he nears age 60, his sneaker still outsells any modern athlete’s. “Chicks dig the long ball” is a phrase (a) that can get you sent to the modern HR department and b) whose origins are fondly remembered by most American men over the age of 35.

Modern Nike ads will never be so remembered. It’s not because we’re so inundated with information these days, though we are. And it’s not because today’s overexposed athletes lack the mystique of the 1990s superstars, though they do. It’s because the modern Nike ads are beyond fucking terrible.

…

They’re bad for many causes, but one in particular is an incongruity at the company’s heart. Nike, like so many major institutions, is suffering from what I’ll call Existence Dissonance. It’s happening in a particular way, for a particular reason and the result is that what Nike is happens to be at cross-purposes from what Nike aspires to be.

…

For all the talk of a racial reckoning within major industries, Nike’s main problem is this: It’s a company built on masculinity, most specifically Michael Jordan’s alpha dog brand of it. Now, due to its own ambitions, scandals, and intellectual trends, Nike finds masculinity problematic enough to loudly reject.

This rejection is part of the broader culture war, but it’s accelerating due to an arcane quirk in the apparel giant’s strange restructuring plan, announced in June. Under the leadership of new CEO John Donahoe, Nike is moving away from its classic discrete sports categories (Nike Basketball, Nike Soccer, etc.) in favor of a system where all products are shoveled into one of three divisions: men’s, women’s and kids’. Obviously Nike made clothing tailored to the specificities of all these groups before, but now, Nike is emphasizing gender over sport. Gone is the model of the product appealing to basketball fans because they are basketball fans. It’s now replaced by a model of, say, the product appealing to women because they are women.

And hey, women buy sneakers too. Actually, women buy the lion’s share of clothing in the United States. While women shoppers are market dominant in nearly every aspect of American apparel, the clothing multinational named after a Greek goddess happens to be a major exception. At Nike, according to its own records, men account for roughly twice as much revenue as women do.

You might see that stat and think, “Well, this means that Nike will prioritize men over women in its new, odd, gendered segmentation of the company.” That’s not necessarily how this all works, thanks to a phenomenon I’ll call Undecided Whale. The idea is that a company, as its aims grow more expansive, starts catering less to the locked-in core customer and more to a potential whale which demonstrates some interest. Sure, you can just keep doing what’s made you rich, but how can you even focus on your primary business with that whale out there, swimming so tantalizingly close? The whale, should you bring it in, has the potential to enrich you far more than your core customers ever did. And yeah yeah yeah, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but those were birds. This is a damned whale! And so you start forgetting about your base.

You can see this dynamic in other places. For the NBA, China is its Undecided Whale. It could be argued that the NBA fixates more on China than on America, even if the vast majority of TV money comes from U.S. viewership. The league figures it has more or less hit its ceiling in its home country, so China becomes an obsession as this massive, theoretical growth engine.

…

Here’s the main issue for Nike in this endeavor: The company, as a raison d���être, promotes athletic excellence. While women are among Nike’s major sports stars, the core of high-level performance, in the overwhelming majority of sports, is male. Every sane person knows that, though nobody in professional class life seems rude enough to say so. Obviously, there’s the observable reality of who tends to set records and there’s also the pervasive understanding that testosterone, the main male sex hormone, happens to give unfair advantages to the athletes who inject it.

Speaking of which, there’s a famous This American Life episode from 2002 where the public radio journos actually test their own testosterone levels. The big joke of the episode is just how comically low their T levels are. Sure, you would stereotype bookish public radio men in this way, and yet the results are on the nose enough to shock.

As a nerdy media-weakling type, I can relate to the stunning realization that you’ve been largely living apart from T. Before working in the NBA setting, I was an intern in the cubicles of Salon.com’s San Francisco office, around the time it was shifting from respectable online magazine into inane outrage content mill. Going from that setting to the NBA locker room was some jarring whiplash, like leaving the faculty lounge for a pirate ship. To quote Charles Barkley on the latter culture, “The locker room is sexist, racist, and homophobic … and it’s fun and I miss it.”

…

The “Good vs. Evil” ad boasts a “Like” to “Dislike” ratio of 20-to-1 on YouTube. On June 17th of 2021, Nike put out an ad ahead of the Euro Cup that referenced “Good vs. Evil” as briefly as it could. In this case, a little child popped his collar and used Cantona’s catchphrase. As of this writing, the new ad has earned a thousand more punches of the Dislike than of the Like button.

When you see it, it’s no surprise that the latest Euro Cup ad is disliked. I mean, you have to look at this shit. I know we’re so numb to the ever-escalating emanations of radical chic from our largest corporations, but sometimes it’s worth pausing just to take stock and gawk.

…

But today we are in the land of new football, where we take dictatorial direction from less-than-athletic minors. After her announcement, we are treated to a montage of different people who offer tolerance bromides.

“There are no borders here!”

“Here, you can be whoever you want. Be with whoever you want.”

(Two men kiss following that line, because subtlety isn’t part of this new world order.)

Then, a woman who appears to be breastfeeding under a soccer shirt, threatens, in French, “And if you disagree …”

And this is when the little boy gives us Cantona’s “au revoir” line before kicking a ball out of a soccer stadium, presumably because that’s what happens to the ignorant soccer hooligan. He gets kicked out for raging against gay men kissing or French ladies breastfeeding or somesuch. Later, a referee wearing a hijab instructs us, “Leave the hate,” before narrator girl explains, “You might as well join us because no one can stop us.”

Is that last line supposed to be … inspiring? That’s what a movie villain says, like if Bane took the form of Stan Marsh’s sister. Speaking of which, was this ad actually written by the creators of South Park as an elaborate prank? It’s certainly more convincing as an aggressive parody of liberals than as a sales pitch. Why, in anything other than a comedic setup, is a woman breastfeeding in a big-budget Euro Cup ad?

It’s tempting to fall into the pro-vanguardism template the boomers have handed down to us and sheepishly say, “I must be getting old, because this seems weird to me,” but let’s get real. You dislike this ad because it sucks. You are having a natural, human response to shitty art. This a hollow sermon from a priest whose sins were in the papers. Nobody is impressed by what Nike’s doing here. Nobody thinks Nike, a multinational famous for its sweatshops, is ushering us into an enlightened utopia. Sure, most media types are afraid to criticize the ad publicly. You might inspire suspicion that what you’re secretly against is men kissing and women breastfeeding, but nobody actually likes the stupid ad. No college kid would show it to a new friend he’s trying to impress, and it’s hard to envision a massive cohort of Gen Z women giving a shit about this ad either.

Now juxtapose that ad not just against the classics of the 1990s but also the 2000s products that preceded the Great Awokening. Compare it to another Nike Euro Cup advertisement, Guy Ritchie’s “Take It to the Next Level.”

…

Here’s the problem, insofar as problems are pretended into existence by our media class: The ad is very, very male. Really, what we are watching here is a boyhood fantasy. Our protagonist gets called up to the big show, and next thing you know he’s cavorting with multiple ladies, and autographing titties to the chagrin of his date. He can be seen buying a luxury sports car and arriving at his childhood home in it as his father beams with pride. Training sessions show him either puking from exhaustion or playing grab-ass with his fellow soccer bros. This is jock life, distilled. Art works when it’s true and it’s true that this is a vivid depiction of a common fantasy realized.

Nike’s highly successful “Write the Future” ad (16,000 Likes, 257 Dislikes) works along similar themes.

…

The recent Olympic ads were especially heavy on cringe radical chic, and might have stood out less in this respect if the athletes themselves mirrored that tone on the big stage. Not so much in these Olympics. It seems as though Nike made the commercials in preparation for an explosion of telegenic activism, only to see American athletes mostly, quietly accept their medals, chomp down on the gold, and praise God or country. Perhaps you could consider Simone Biles bowing out of events due to mental health as a form of activism, but overall, the athletes basically behaved in the manner they would have back in 1996.

But Nike forged onwards anyway. This ad in celebration of the U.S. women’s basketball team made some waves, getting ripped in conservative media as the latest offense by woke capital.

…

“Today I have a presentation on dynasties,” a pink-haired teenage girl tells us. “But I refuse to talk about the ancient history and drama. That’s just the patriarchy. Instead, I’m going to talk about a dynasty that I actually look up to. An all-women dynasty. Women of color. Gay women. Women who fight for social justice. Women with a jump shot. A dynasty that makes your favorite men’s basketball, football, and baseball teams look like amateurs.”

When she says, “That’s just the patriarchy,” the camera pans to a bust of (I think) Julius Caesar. At another point, the girl says, “A dynasty that makes Alexander the Great look like Alexander the Okay.” Fuck you, Classical Antiquity. Fuck you, fans of teams. You’re all just the patriarchy. Or something.

Nike could easily sell the successful American women’s basketball team without denigrating other teams, genders and ancient Mediterranean empires that have nothing to do with this. Could but won’t. The company now conveys an almost visceral need for women to triumph over men because … well, nobody really explains why, even if it has something to do with Undecided Whaling. In Nike’s tentpole Olympics ad titled “Best Day Ever,” the narrator fantasizes about the future, declaring, “The WNBA will surpass the NBA in popularity!” ​

…

There are theories on the emergence of woke capital, with many having observed that, following Occupy Wall Street, media institutions ramped up on census category grievance. The thinking goes that, in response to the threat of a real economic revolution, the power players in our society pushed identity politics to undermine group solidarity. Well, that was a fiendishly brilliant plan, if anyone actually hatched it.

I’m not so convinced, though, as I’m more inclined to believe that a lot of history happens by happenstance. If we’re to specifically analyze the Nike Awokening, there is a recent top-down element of a mandate for Undecided Whaling, but that mandate was preceded by a socially conscious middle class campaign within the company.

This isn’t unique to Nike, either. Given my past life covering the team that tech moguls root for, I’ve run into such people. They aren’t, by and large, ideological. Very few are messianically devoted to seeing the world through the intersectionality lens. They are, however, terrified of their employees who feel this way. The mid-tier labor force, this cohort who actually internalized their university teachings, are full of fervor and willing to risk burned bridges in favor of causes they deem righteous. The big bosses just don’t want a headline-making walkout on their hands, so they placate and mollify, eventually bending the company’s voice into language of righteousness.

…

All the guilt and atonement transference make for bad art. And so the ads suck. There’s no Machiavellian conspiracy behind the production. It’s just a combination of desperately wanting female market share and desperately wanting to move on from the publicized sins of a masculine past. So, to message its ambitions, the exhausted corporation leans on the employees with the loudest answers.

There’s a lot of interplay between Nike and Wieden+Kennedy when the former asks the latter for a type of ad, but the through line from both sides is a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Based on conversations with people who’ve worked in both environments, there’s a dearth of personnel who are deeply connected to sports. In place of a grounding in a subculture, you’re getting ideas from folks who went to nice colleges and trendy ad schools, the type of people who throw words like “patriarchy” at the screen to celebrate a gold medal victory. The older leaders, uneasy in their station and thus obsessed with looking cutting edge, lean on the younger types because the youth are confident. Unfortunately, that confidence is rooted in an ability to regurgitate liturgy, rather than generative genius. They’ve a mandate to replace a marred past, which they leap at, but they’re incapable of inventing a better future.

…

Ironically, Nike mattered a lot more in the days when its position was less dominant. Back when it had to really fight for market share, it made bold, genre-altering art. The ads were synonymous with masculine victory, plus they were cheekily irreverent. And so the dudes loved them. Today, Nike is something else. It LARPs as a grandiose feminist nonprofit as it floats aimlessly on the vessel Michael Jordan built long ago. Like Jordan himself, Nike is rich forever off what it can replicate never. Unlike Jordan, it now wishes to be known for anything but its triumphs. Nike once told a story and that story resonated with its audience. Now it’s decided that its audience is the problem. It wouldn’t shock you to learn that Carlos hated the new Nike ads I texted to him. His exact words were, “I don’t want fucking activism from a sweatshop monopoly.” He’ll still buy the gear, though, just not the narrative. Nike remains, but the story about itself has run out. Au revoir. 

[captain-of-the-historicfuture]

~hello~ !! For the meta asks!: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 25 :))

Hello!! Thank you for sending these; I was really excited to see that ask game and I was hoping somebody would send some in. It still took me a while to actually answer them though, and for that I apologise. But without further ado! Some meta answers (under the cut because they ended up being fairly long, whoops):

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (Consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway.)

I thought of a few examples, but they could basically be grouped together under a common theme: whumpy/angsty scenes that were self-indulgent as all heck. The whole self-indulgent aspect often required the characters to be just the teeniest, tiniest bit OOC and/or necessitated rather unrealistic plot circumstances. So it was simply easier to keep such scenes as maladaptive daydreams, rather than trying to think of explanations for the character/plot issues…or exposing myself to judgement for them LOL.

Receiving permission to write/share one such scene anyway is an opportunity I can’t let slip by though. It might be because I’m writing this while running on zero (0) hours of sleep—let’s hear it for insomnia, y’all!—but I suddenly couldn’t remember any of my newer ideas under this category. However, I did recall a one-shot I had started writing a couple of months ago that sort of counts? “Sort of” because I could actually be arsed to write it since I was, ya know, writing it. Only got about six hundred words down though.

…should I share those six hundred words…?

………nahhh. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.

But here’s the gist of it: Coulson and May (because of course it’s Philinda) were married for quite some time before the Attack on New York. But then Coulson DiedTM and then got ResurrectedTM. But gasp of horror, he had to lose his memories of his romantic relationship with May because reasons. (I actually did have some ideas for those reasons but sshhhh this is about me yeeting context and setup.)

The first half of S1 still happens as normal (except MayWard doesn’t happen because??? Vows) and it’s now post-E20 “Nothing Personal”. The morning after (or a morning soon after, whatever) the T.A.H.I.T.I. reveal! May’s mom—who doesn’t know about GH.325 and whom May fed a cover story about Coulson divorcing her or something equally as oof, IDK—shows up at the hotel and starts ripping into Coulson for breaking her daughter’s heart, then dragging her back into the field with her ex-husband (him), then accusing her of terrible things and forcing her away again.

Poor guy’s confused as heck, and so is the team, and soon enough so is Lian. The only one who understands what’s going on is May, and she’s freaking dying off to the side like why is this happening to me and eventually everybody’s like! Explain??? (Was thinking about including something from Coulson like, “Are you still keeping things from me?” Just for that extra smidge of angst, yay!)

So yeah then May gives a, like, two-sentence debriefing that elicits more questions than answers. Coulson decides to take May aside and they have a heart-to-heart. Lots of feelings and angst and hurt/comfort and at some point plenty of kissing too. Just! May hiding her feelings for Coulson’s sake but really magnified, plus some actual apologies and consideration of the grief May’s been through on Coulson’s part.

And uhh yeah that’s basically it I dunno hdsjncjshd. I warned y’all it’s OOC, plot-bendy, and very self-indulgent!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

I don’t think I could name a single character for this. I get different things out of taking on different voices, you know? I guess recently I’ve found myself gravitating towards more taciturn and introspective points of view, like JQ from my original novel Rosewood or M. Yisbon from my…other original novel Temple.

Generally, however, I like tackling stories from an outsider’s perspective. That’s why I so rarely write my more “substantial” (serious? demanding? for lack of better words?) projects from the PoV of my “preferred” character. This usually means writing from their love interest’s perspective, but not always. With shorter fanfic, using a more removed/unconventional/niche PoV can be really fun. Like, I once wrote a canon compliant ficlet purely(-ish) about Philinda from Tony Stark’s perspective. That isn’t always sustainable with stories that demand more character development or closer character studies, however, which is why it’s a good thing I like writing drabbles!

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

My word counts tend to run long, but I usually only write one-shots for fanfic. If I’m even inspired with a novella- or novel-length story idea for a fandom, you already know I’m in deep with them. And if I actually find the motivation to plan and execute that idea? Dangg. That’s only ever happened…twice, maybe thrice, and I’m in a lot of fandoms.

At times, I wish I could go for more of a middle ground ’cause, like, you know what I love to see? An AO3 dashboard with several completed novellas for my ship/character of choice. I mean yes, I hecking love >90k fics, but sometimes I’m in the mood for quick reads…and what am I supposed to do when I burn through all the drabbles and 2k one-shots? (Besides despair and/or reread my faves desperately.) Novellas are basically always safe for me LOL, and I’d hope to be able to give as much as I take.

Ultimately though, I think I’m okay with where I am with regards to that. I wish I could write more in general, but I’d be okay with “writing more” just meaning “writing more one-shots”, ya know? More than okay, really. I have mad respect for fic writers who have, like, a hundred or more one-shots under their belt for this one ship. The fandom ecosystem would be incomplete without them (as well as every other type of writer, but sshhh that’s the type of writer I’m closest to being right now).

I’m definitely a plotter, and I definitely prefer it that way. It’s cool having such a detailed record of my process. I like feeling like a frazzled genius on the brink of a major discovery with all of my different outlines and colour coding and many drafts and various websites.

12. Do you want your writing to be famous?

Not exactly. It might be cool if my original works were recognisable in the world, but I don’t think I’d want to be recognisable. As for fanfic, I’d low-key enjoy gaining a place in that fandom’s community as a fic writer. Like someone who gave and got fic gifts from fic writer friends, who participated in challenges and GCs, who received writing prompts on Tumblr, whose name was known for doing a certain trope/genre a bunch of times… Ya know what I mean?

Unlikely to happen when I’m so hecking hesitant to publicly (i.e., outside of AO3) claim credit for my writing, but fjnskfsjhfjs. A writer can dream, right?

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Of those three, tags are the easiest for me, for I have a reliable system for figuring out those.

Next easiest would probably be titles. For fanfiction, I like to use titles that are a quote from the source material. You should have seen all of my old Hamilton fanfic… I was really proud of some of those titles. And I don’t mean, like, whole lines—usually only two to five words. It’s a unique type of wordplay that I just love dabbling in.

And lastly, summaries. Sometimes inspiration strikes me and a snappy and intriguing synopsis just jumps out—one that I’m quietly pleased with—but most of the time I’ll spend way too long trying to think of such a synopsis and eventually just go with whatever I’d come up with so far. And live with my quiet dissatisfaction for the rest of time.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (Plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations...?) Tell us about them!

Typically, no. If I have deleted scenes, I save and publish them separately, but that’s about it. I sometimes think of AUs for my own work and might talk about them in my author’s notes—might even talk about writing them—but I never really do anything with them.

Although…

It’s not uncommon for me to decide a plotline isn’t working for a certain story or to think of an interesting but undoable arc for a certain character, but what I’ll do is make a whole new story for those ideas. Once I’m done developing the original idea and the branched-off one, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell they grew from the same roots. Does that count?

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as (film, webcomic, animated series, etc.)?

That depends on the story. I’ve actually written stories in other mediums—movie screenplay, musical stageplay, poetry, TV show scripts, play scripts, roleplay—but the novel does tend to be my comfort zone. Sometimes, if I have an idea that I think could work, or would even work better, as another medium, I’ll label it as such in my folder of ideas and decide not to write it as a novel.

Most of the time, my non-book projects are collaborations. I’m working with five different people on six different story ideas: two webcomics, one stage musical, one anime, and two animated TV shows. Little concrete progress has been made in any of those, mind you, but they’re still fun to discuss!

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Absolutely. But I’ve been writing stories since I was five years old, so we would hope so, huh?

I wouldn’t say my writing’s changed completely, though maybe that’s just my insider’s perspective.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

Oh gosh, I can’t believe you’d make me choose. Writing is just such a wonderful experience for me; I love just about everything to do with it. Admittedly, not all the time, but. Since that barely qualifies as an answer, however, I’ll give you this—

The endings. Not only that intense feeling of rightness when you wrap up that last sentence, but also the moments before. The adrenaline of knowing you’re almost there but you gotta push just a bit more to actually get there. And also the part right after—the real wrap-up, honestly: the revision and the editing. Heavens, I love revising and editing my work.

Which is not to say I don’t like writing it out for the first time, too—there’s nothing quite like seeing your cursor scroll to the next page, like going from a blank expanse to a Oh man, how many more lines are even going to fit on this page?, like watching that page counter tick up another number. However, there’s something cathartic about finally ironing out those problems I had to force myself to stop worrying about earlier because “just finish the first draft dangit”.

I guess that’s not really the end of the writing process, but whatever. Close enough (as fic writers are wont to say).

Another thank-you for these asks, and feel free to come back with more at any time! ;P

Send in fun meta asks for your friendly neighbourhood writer!

[recentanimenews]

OPINION: The Life and Times of an Indian Otaku

  Makoto Shinkai's Weathering With You marked a historic first in my anime watching career. Contrary to popular belief, being the first anime to be released in Indian theaters is not the historic first in question (that honor goes to Shinchan: Bungle in the Jungle). Rather, Weathering With You would become the first film I'd ever watch on opening day — "first day first show" as we Indians call it. In the mad scramble to get tickets, I'd emerged a winner. Was it worth the struggle?

An emphatic yes. It was so good I went on to rewatch it twice.

    To fans in India: I’m so happy to tell that ‘Weathering With You’ (Tenki no ko) will release in India this October! We have licensed the Indian distribution rights to PVR Pictures and BookMyShow backed company Vkaao.

— 新海誠 (@shinkaimakoto) August 10, 2019

  The Indian theatrical release of Weathering With You in 2019 marked an important moment in the history of the Indian anime fandom. The story of how Shinkai noticed (and fulfilled) an online petition by Indian fans asking for its release here is already the stuff of legend. Because access to anime (especially in theaters) was so scarce in India, even in 2019, fans sought to have the film legally released in theaters. And thanks to Shinkai, it worked. To Indian anime fans, this represented the moment Japan — and the rest of the world — recognized our existence in the fandom. But Indian otakus didn't spring up overnight. Anime has had nearly three decades of history here. It just looks a little different than the rest of the world. The origins of anime in India go back to the '90s. Prior to the economic reforms of 1991, we had one — yes, only one — TV channel, the state-owned Doordarshan. The post-1991 wave of private TV channels brought with it a flood of international TV shows, among them anime like Robotech (which aired on the newly-created Star Plus). Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, the anime adaptation of the Indian mythological epic of the same name, was released in 1992 and had a long and troubled production history, but the end product was a grand success, with its all-star Hindi cast and catchy songs turning it into a TV fixture for well over a decade. It even received a US release, with Bryan Cranston voicing the lead role. The remainder of the '90s would see various anime achieve varying degrees of success, from Nippon Animation's 1989 adaptation of The Jungle Book — which became a nationwide hit — airing in India starting in 1993, to late-night anime like You're Under Arrest and Gunsmith Cats. Despite this, there wasn't yet an actual fandom surrounding anime at the time. That would all change upon the turn of the century.

  Cartoon Network revolutionized the Indian anime market when the channel arrived in 2001. The launch of dedicated anime programming block Toonami brought with it two anime that would permanently shape the future of the fandom: Dragon Ball Z and Cardcaptor Sakura (albeit in its heavily-edited Cardcaptors form). While I never watched Dragon Ball Z (compared to all my friends at school), I did watch some Cardcaptors with my sister, which would actually be the very first anime I watched. My own viewing habits notwithstanding, DBZ was very much the anime of the moment. Schoolkids would frequently shout out famous lines from the iconic English dub. We'd even invented various hand games based on attacks and moves from DBZ. In 2003, another monumental shift would come as the childhood classic Pokémon hit the small screen, followed closely by Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Beyblade. The merchandise associated with these franchises turned them into smash hits with a younger audience. All the cool kids had Pokemon cards and Beyblade tops. Battling with them at school was the stuff childhood was made of. To this day, these toys continue to sell well. Beyblade tournaments are still very much a thing. While many of my schoolmates were avid fans of DBZ, there were other trends in anime that could be observed, trends that had to do with language. From my experience, certain anime were only available dubbed in Hindi — a language spoken largely by the northern half of the country. Coming from a south Indian city with a significant north Indian population, I could observe a clear trend wherein Hindi-speaking north Indians grew up with these Hindi-dubbed anime, while people in the south (who spoke other languages) largely grew up with titles that were available in English (or Tamil, as fans of DBZ's Tamil dub can testify). Interestingly, these Hindi dubbed anime tended to be ones that were popular in Japan but not so much in the West — stuff like Doraemon, Shin-Chan, KochiKame, and Case Closed. This gave the north Indian anime scene a rather unique flavor. An even more interesting case is that of India's northeastern region (comprised of states like Nagaland, Manipur, and Meghalaya). Being culturally different from the rest of India, these states have had a history of consuming Korean and Japanese media, and they embraced anime and manga in a way the rest of the nation had not. Anime-related cosplay is huge in the northeast, with some of the best cosplay conventions in the nation taking place there and becoming a part of the local fashion scene. The general acceptance of otaku culture in the region continues to be high.

Eventually, anime would become a little more accessible to all. The launch of dedicated channel Animax in 2004 represented another watershed moment in the fandom. The shows Animax brought over were unlike anything we'd seen in the medium. Shows like Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Inuyasha, and K-On! redefined what anime meant for Indian audiences who had previously seen anime as a childhood interest and no different from other cartoons. As the channel slowly began to shift its focus to the older teen/young adult demographic, more mature anime like Cowboy Bebop, Hell Girl, Akira, and Welcome to the NHK challenged our conservative notions of what was acceptable to air on TV, especially considering these shows aired in daytime slots rather than late-night. This honeymoon period did not last. Animax was delisted by service providers in 2012. The years to come would be some of the most frustrating for us anime fans, as availability was at its most inconsistent and uncertain. While the channel attempted to make a comeback later on in 2016, it eventually disappeared for good in 2017. Despite all these problems, I look back on Animax fondly. Thanks to it, we became aware of the existence of the entity known as "anime." We began to actively seek out anime over other forms of animation. In short, it resulted in the formation of an actual fandom centered around anime. Anime fan clubs began to pop up in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata. Widespread conventions outside of the northeast region came next. Anime Con India was started in 2010, followed closely by Delhi Comic-Con in 2011. Anime conventions in India are a curious thing. They are very unlike the sprawling, sophisticated conventions of the West. The funds simply aren't there for that sort of thing. I don't recall a single Indian anime convention that was attended by a voice actor, animator, or the like. So what are Indian cons about? In an interview with The Citizen, Anime Con India founder Nitesh Rohit talked about his reason for starting the con: "like any other belief and faith they all needed a temple to congregate (at)." This statement really resonates with me, and sums up what Indian cons are about. What they lack in scale and facilities, they make up for in intimacy and a feeling of togetherness. They are more or less small-scale events for anime fans to find other fans, to network with them, and basically feel less alone. Because feeling alone was part of the original Indian otaku experience. The early fandom was largely an urban phenomenon, as going to cons wasn't an option for everyone and the internet wasn't what it is today. So, you had these disconnected pockets of fans. People around you were unlikely to share your interest in anime and may have even judged you for it. The general consensus in India was (and still is) that animation is a medium for children. And remember, for a long time, anime accessibility varied by region. So, if you were lucky enough to find a kindred otaku, there was no guarantee they were into (or had even heard of) the same titles as you. This meant that we hadn't really had the ability to develop any sort of unique culture or traditions of our own. Things like going to cons, renting anime DVDs, memes and in-jokes — these things didn't exist for the vast majority of early fans who were school-going kids or college students of little means. A culture of our own wouldn't arise until much later — when that generation grew up.

  Of course, it wasn't just us who grew up — technology did, too. The internet became more ubiquitous. Social media and forums enabled us to network with each other regardless of location, in ways we'd never have imagined. To the scattered fandom of the early days, this has been nothing short of a blessing. The other big change ushered in by the internet was the era of streaming. Until then, most of our anime viewing took place on television and as previously stated, was not always very consistent. Accessibility improved greatly with the launch of Netflix in 2016. In today's India, Netflix is a household name, with a significant portion of young adults having access to a subscription. With a catalog of over 200 anime, Netflix has been responsible for pulling in many new fans. Plenty of people "come for the movies, stay for the anime." Series like My Hero Academia, Death Note, and One-Punch Man have become mainstream successes in this fashion, with a significant following even among non-anime fans. Another streaming service that is beginning to make inroads into the Indian market is Crunchyroll, with simulcasts like Boruto and originals like Tower of God, and the fact that it is free makes it accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Most Indian anime fans I know of have heard of Crunchyroll, and as more titles get licensed it is inevitable that its popularity will rise. And us otakus are doing plenty to help it do just that.

The success of Weathering With You is a shining example of the tight-knit nature of the Indian anime fandom. All it took was one person (an anime fan named Divishth Pancholi) to create a Change.org petition asking for its release in Indian theaters. The petition went viral, getting over 50,000 signatures and attracting the attention of Shinkai and the producers, resulting in its release here. Today, that event is seen as a smaller part of a greater Indian anime movement that is pushing for increased availability and acceptance of anime in India. Hashtags like #IndiaWantsAnime frequently make their presence felt on social media. This fandom isn't without its problems — it isn't the most inclusive when it comes to non-male fans, the "animation is for kids" specter hasn't been fully shaken off, and I'd love for anime BluRays/DVDs to be more widely available here. But I am grateful for the fandom's existence for getting me into anime in the first place. Without them, I'd have never been sitting in a movie theater on October 11, 2019, watching Weathering With You.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[melyaliz]

Heads

Fandom: Harry Potter 

Summary: Heads or Tails, which would you chose

Pairing: Fred Weasley x OC 

Notes: Chose your Ending! This is one of two possibilities 

Other ending: Coming soon 

Read the rest of the story:  Master List 

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive​

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

DONATE or REQUEST

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The electricity jolted through his body and Fred gasped for air like a fish. His eyes wide as he coughing up blood.

“What…. what…”

“There is no way in hell you are dying before me” Rose hissed putting a hand over his face. He took it eyes wide panting still trying to take in what was going on around him. Gently, with the help of Percy she helped Fred up escaping down to the infirmary.  

Helen met them at the door helping Fred onto a chair as Rose explained what happened.

“It worked…” the older girl said more to herself than her cousin.

“What do you mean it worked!” Rose shot, the thought of it not working made her heart freeze over. The possibility. “You said it would!”

“I said it might…” Helen said checking the boy's eyes and pulse, “we’re going to have to check him for brain damage and…”

An unearthly scream cut her off. Everyone turned to see Liam bursting into the room, a bloody Clara in his arms. Behind them, Alfie let out a few more curses at someone who was obviously following them.

“Help her!” Liam yelled, “It was a werewolf.”

Both Helen and Pomfrey rushed to his side helping set the screaming sobbing girl onto a table. Her blonde hair was matted with blood and her hands were gripping Liem so tightly she was going to leave a bruise.

“My legs, I can’t feel my legs!” Clara screamed as Helen pulling her bag with her muttering something to Pomfrey was nodding.

Rose watched as if the world around her was spinning, turning to Alfie, as if in a daze. What was happening? Where was she? When was she going to wake up from this nightmare?

“What… happened?” she choked out, her brother turned to her. His eyes wide and hollow.

“She…” it was all he could get out before he bent over and threw up all over Rose’s feet. Rose knelt down rubbing her brother’s back as he tried to right himself. His body rocking with sick and sobs.

“There… It got a Ravenclaw, Clara was trying to help him get out…” Alfie mumbled, “There was so much blood.”

“Liam,” Helen said, voice was sharp as her brother turned storming toward the door, wand in hand.

“Liam wait!” Rose echoing Helens as she tried to help her brother who was gagging on the floor. Hand reached out as if she could grab the other boy and pull him back to safety.

Her cousin paused for a moment turning to look at her. His look was so fierce it frightened Rose. For the first time in her life Rose felt scared of him and remembered how powerful he had become, “They can’t get away with this” He hissed venom in his voice that made her blood run cold, “I’m going to kill them all.”

From behind her, Rose could hear Clara’s sobs as Helen quickly tried to stop the bleeding on her legs.

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That first year after the Death of Voldemort was one of the worst years in Rose’s life. So many deaths lay in their wake. It was as if every day there was another Oh you remember that one boy? That one mother? That teacher? It was the same conversation over and over with a different name.

Rose tried to block it out, the pain and guilt was something she just couldn’t handle. She knew she was selfish as she focused on helping Fred recop. Coming early every day to the Weasley home leaving late at night. Some days just getting him up to eat and talk was a pure victory while other days just being able to hold his hand and know he was right there was all she needed.

Survivors guilt, that’s what Helen had called it. But Rose would just brush her off as she kept busy after all it wasn’t just Fred that needed help rehabilitating. Clara had lost her legs and some days Abigail's memories were so bad she couldn't even remember her own name.  

And there were others, scars that weren’t as visible. Alfie was never the same after that day. His happy songs turned to tragic ones. Using his music was a way to express himself. He became a famous singer and turned the world. He was never able to look at Clara the same way again. Blaming himself for what happened.

Liam became a Marksman like their Uncle Nolan. He married Carrie a few months after the war. It was a small wedding and an even smaller honeymoon.  Carrie never complained about his long absences, instead keeping herself busy starting her fashion line for witches and wizards.

And a year after Fred kept to his promise and married Rose.

With George as the best man and Clara was Rose’s Maid of Honor sitting in her new wheelchair. Norie caught the bouquet. Rose got cake all over Fred’s face before he shoved her almost head first into his piece.

Almost two years later they had a girl who Fred insisted on calling Georgina.

The day she was born Fred stood there holding his little girl. His eyes so wide and calm. Calmer than Rose had ever seen him before. Turning he looked over at this beautiful wife “I want more” he whispered, “I want a house filled with laughter like yours. I want there to be so many children we can’t move.”

“Wait a few weeks before telling me that,” Rose mumbled, “I just got that one out.”

Like he promised Rose ended up having seven children. Each with large smiles and a great sense of humor. There was never a dull day in the Primmington/Weasley house. Somedays Rose felt like their laughter shook the very rafters.

There was Georgina, the eldest who sometimes seemed to take that responsibility a little too seriously. She would stand up for anyone who was weaker than herself and if anyone even looked sideways at her siblings they would end up with a nasty hex that would take weeks to remove. She was almost always in and out of trouble because of her protective nature, however, her punishment at home was never much more than a wink from her father and fake apologies to the teachers from her mother.

Josh was the second and unlike his namesake took on more of his mother’s temperament. With Fred’s flaming red hair and Mother’s bright green eyes, he looked like trouble a mile away. But with one soft smile, he could disarm anyone. He had a knack for talking his more mischievous siblings out of trouble with some large vocabulary and calm demeanor.

Amelia -called Amy by all her friends and a few enemies-  was Fred’s daughter. A born troublemaker, when she gave her mother that little glint in her brown eyes Rose could only see Fred plotting some crazy scheme. She was the one who caused her parents the most grief yet the most laughs. While she was 2 years younger than Freddie and James the three of them would get into more trouble that would rival her father and his brother in their days.

Jack just wanted to be able to do things. He was always in the middle of the action ready and willing to do anything. Never the one hanging the bucket over the door but the one hoisting his sister up. He worshiped Amy and she was his inspiration for anything he did. He had Rose’s observations people and Fred’s creativity to get in and out of a situation. In many ways, he was a born leader and a born follower. Like Fred, he was stubborn when he didn’t want to do something and did very poorly at school because of it. While it was hard to annoy Jack once you did that was the end. You were dead to him.

Danny was very active like Jack but channeled it in a very different way; Sports, if there was anything that described Danny it was sports. Games, competition. Rose wasn’t quite sure where he got it from but never questioned it. While he was always for a good prank with his siblings but his true love was on the field playing Quidditch. He even ended up playing professional Quidditch soon after he left Hogwarts and his family never missed a game.

Fred wanted twins. He never said it out loud but he did. But Rose knew so when he finally got them Rose declared she was done.

Martha and Mickey. They were inseparable since birth. Or they were until Mickey got his Hogwarts letter and Martha didn’t. It was Mickey who had cried that night stating that he wouldn’t go. He would stay with his sister. Wizarding school be damned, Martha was the most magical person he knew. In the end, his sister coaxed him into going letting him know she was excited about her muggle school and that they would write each other letters each day comparing the school experience. Yes, that little 10 year old used experience in her vocabulary.

So while her siblings were all off learning potions and spells Martha spent her days at the local school and nights with her father who would get her options on any new trick he was working on. While he would never admit it, Martha held a soft place in his heart. Maybe it was because she never left him or maybe it was because she reminded him the most of Rose.

Which is why he went to live with her after Rose’s death.  

A promised Rose died first, Fred wasn’t really the same after her death saying it just wasn’t as fun without her laughter. He moved in with Martha and her young husband and kids. Four months later he died in his sleep. No fuss no bang, just fell asleep and never woke up to the sound of the most beautiful sound in the world.

Rose’s laugh.

That beautiful, deep down in her soul laugh.

“Hey”

------

Story Master List

Get Tagged! 

@0hmydeku @thespacebuns

[hcpefulmarshmallow]

Time for some long, unnecessary Meta. I’ve had this one in my brain for ages, but I haven’t really had an excuse to talk about it until recently. Identity isn’t a major theme in Nagito’s character (although it plays it’s part), and so, I’ve been putting this one off. Then, my good pal Ashi had to go be a literary genius and incorporate some really interesting things into their Gundham, and now I have all the excuse I need. So I’m going to be talking about him, too, to a marginally lesser extent, using aspects of the Best Gunny’s characterisation. (Seriously though, plug. I’m not even sure it’s possible to follow this blog and not know about Ashi’s Gundham, but on the off chance: @the-taboo-king.)

 Under a cut for length, philosophy, and shameless, shameless Roulette.

 This is the part where I say something that makes the reader’s eyes glaze over, but indulge me. No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. It’s about three people - Garcin, Inez and Estelle - who are all doomed to hell, except hell is just an ordinary room, and it’s really, really good. I’d highly recommend. 

 The characters spend much of the start of the play sitting around, waiting for Satan to show up with the hot pokers and the lube, but once the three of them are gathered in this room, nothing happens. All they can do is sit there, get to know one another, and watch the people they left behind on Earth live out the rest of their lives and move on. There’s nothing there except three chairs; nothing else for them to do. It’s explicitly mentioned that hell has no mirrors, so for instance, when Estelle wants to fix her makeup, she has to rely on Inez to tell her if it looks alright or not. The trouble is, Inez is really attracted to Estelle, so Estelle has no way of knowing if Inez is telling her the objective truth or not. Furthermore, Estelle is kind of grossed out at the thought of another woman being attracted to her, so she starts flirting with Garcin. Not because she’s especially interested in him, per se, but he is the only man there, and Estelle thrives on male attention. 

 Garcin doesn’t seem to want much to do with either Inez or Estelle at first, preferring to focus on watching his wife try and cope with the terrible reputation he left behind. However, eventually she, and everyone who knew him, dies or moves on. It becomes like he never existed, as it does for them all. 

 Garcin accepts Estelle’s advances, but it’s not her attention he wants. It’s Inez’s. She’s furious, jealous, and ready to throw some hands. Inez’s fixation remains on Estelle; Estelle’s on Garcin; and Garcin’s on Inez. Things become vicious between the three, until, at last, the door to hell opens. Garcin has the chance to leave, but he doesn’t. 

 The play is especially famous for the line “Hell is other people”, and directly opposes the old adage, “I think, therefore I am”. It posits that humans exist because we are seen, and therefore if we are unseen, we do not exist. At this point, Garcin has become dependent on his feud with Inez. He might be forgotten in the world, but as long as she hates him, there’s a him to hate. The absence of mirrors removes the characters’ abilities to reflect on themselves, so they can only experience themselves through one another. In that sense, their purpose here isn’t solely to be punished, but to punish one another for all eternity. 

 So, what does this have to do with Dangit Roomba 2, the game where everything’s made up and the deaths don’t matter? Like I said, this play has been in the back of my mind for a while when it comes to writing Komaeda, but it hasn’t been explicit enough for me to justify writing oodles about until recently. So before we talk about Nagito, let’s talk about the man, the myth, the hamster dad himself. 

 Identity is a major theme for Gundham. He cultivates his own very, very carefully, only breaking character here and there either to adjust himself (and comment on a “good line”), or when he’s flustered and his composure slips just a little bit. Given how much effort he puts into his words and appearance, you’d be probably correct in assuming he wants to be seen a certain way. He appears to thrive off the fear and intimidation he inspires, yet despite demanding “silence and solitude”, he seems to crave companionship, and find it best in those who can easily reconcile his demonic persona with the kind, nurturing person he is underneath, as opposed to people who try and see directly through it. He needs that persona, you see. He can’t cope with it being stripped away. I’ve spoken about Gundham’s tendency to play the bad guy even when he is, objectively, the hero, before, so I won’t belabor the point too much. But what I’m driving at here is, who he is, and how he’s seen, are too intricately linked to be separated.

 If you recall, the door to hell opens and Garcin has the chance to leave, but he doesn’t. 

 I can think of no better example than the ideas in No Exit, and the intricacies of Gundham’s character, falling into place better than Ashi’s future verse. Which is really, really good, and a masterful take on the philosophy of identity. When Gundham shatters the mirrors and covers the reflective surfaces in his living space, he is effectively robbing himself of the ability to see himself. He’s forced into the vulnerable position of his identity being placed in the hands of others. With no way to reflect on himself - literally and symbolically - he has to take what others say to him as is. Rely on other people to cultivate his appearance and judge what he can no longer see, and therefore, alter. Coupled with his persistent, subsequent self-aggrandizing and deprecation, and he’s submitting himself to the torment of being made into the villain of this story, no matter what he does from hereon out. 

 You see, the world isn’t in despair anymore. He’s been given a second chance. The door to hell is open, and Gundham has the chance to leave, but he doesn’t. 

 Like Garcin, he becomes reliant on the fight. The constant struggle against people who will see him in the worst light possible, no matter what he does. But unlike Garcin, Inez, Estelle, or even Nagito - and we will get to Nagito - he isn’t forced into this state, for survival or for punishment. At least, not by a third party. He’s condemning himself. He’s robbing himself of the ability to improve, or to see himself improve. He doesn’t think he deserves to. He relies on others to validate who he is, because others have always let him down. Always seen him as the villain.  The weird kid. The one not worth including. He’s waiting to be told, “Actually, you’re a bad person and I don’t want to be near you”. He’s waiting to be abandoned and left alone because, when there’s no one left to see him, he will, effectively, no longer exist. He’s given up on a meaningful, extraordinary death, opting to instead languish in the depths of oblivion. For someone who has grappled for years to forge an identity he can live with (again, that other meta I did on him a while back), this. This is hell. 

 Now that I’ve outed myself as a secret Gundham Tanaka stan blog, let’s talk about his boyfriend. Identity is less a key theme for Nagito, and more a background element to his character. So it hasn’t been something I could justify a thousand-odd words on so far. But now I have an excuse, I’m going to talk about the single most underrated ship in all of Dimple Raddish. Like I usually do. Look, there’s been a semi-recent semi-surge on popularity for Roulette in the fandom, just let me ride it out, okay? As someone who doesn’t shut up about these two, I have no idea how much of it I’m responsible for, but I am arrogant enough to take more credit than is due, so. You’re welcome, fandom. 

 For all the things Nagito is awkward and dumb at dealing with (see: All The Things), helping Gundham cope post-tragedy is one thing he does pretty effortlessly. Because what Gundham needs is what Nagito has in perpetuity: relentless, unyielding love. The only way Gundham will ever face himself again, is if he’s forced to believe there’s something worth facing. There is an opportunity in seeing himself as others do. He can see the good things he’s never let himself acknowledge before. 

Now’s as good a time as any to say: this is not a healthy way to be. And I’m not trying to imply that the love of the right person can cure years of trauma and abuse. But you know what can help? Being treated with some basic decency and respect. And heck, even love. Gundham is not a role model, and Nagito, less so. He’s a morally ambiguous, deeply damaged young man. He can’t really be fixed. But he can be given the support he needs to heal.

 This is the inevitable part in all my long metas where I lament that Nagito’s childhood was loveless, and robbed him of the ability the feel any kind of self-worth. That he’s rendered incapable of recognizing his own needs much less putting them first, as a result of them never being met. That he’s a good person who deserves a good life, and despite having been through insurmountable hell, it’s a wonder he came out the other side so, very capable of selflessness. And that it’s tragic his biggest wish in life is to just know how to feels to be loved in any way by anyone, just to have the most basic, fundamental human experience. F in chat. 

 Nagito has interests, and hobbies. He...reads, sometimes. He likes dogs. His luck ruins everything. But when he isn’t encouraging others to chase that One True Hope, what is he actually doing? What would he be doing if he never attended Hope’s Peak? Given how many times he’s been treated like a burden, can he ever truly feel like he’s worth something to anybody?

 There’s a sense of static around him, I feel. Like when the video quality suddenly drops, and it takes you a moment to realise. Who is he, exactly? The answer is simple and sad: whoever he’s told to be. He’s spent his life being treated like his feelings are a burden and he’s useless trash, therefore he is burdensome trash. In class he is often ignored and ridiculed, so he largely keeps to himself during group activities, and whenever he says something out loud, he often scolds himself for it before anyone else can. You know, that whole, “Haha sorry, that was a bit much, guess I’m just trash” thing he does. He has to be this way. For his own survival, for whatever sanity he has left. It’s easier to be treated like garbage if you believe you deserve it.

 It’s normal for people to be different around different people. But I find that to be especially true with Nagito as I play him through different relationships with different people. The more he is with Gundham, the more his nurturing, animal-loving side comes out. The more he is with Celeste, the more we see his intelligent, competitive, gentlemanly side. With Sonia, his ability to be princely and adventurous; with Chiaki, his gentle and relaxed nature, with Yuuki, or the WoH, or literally any child under his care, we experience a strong paternal side to him. He is by no means a different person, but different aspects of his personality are given more dominance over him as a whole, based on what somebody sees in him. He’s very capable of stepping up, but only when he feels someone expects him to. Otherwise he’s content to sit on his hands and watch, because he doesn’t think he deserves anything better. 

 Nagito will not see these things, or anything especially good, in himself until he is given permission. Until he is made to feel, by an authority higher than himself, that it’s okay. He exists as others see him. If someone he looks up to, whose opinions he values, recognises the - for lack of a better term - hope in him, he will eventually be forced to accept that it’s there himself. He might even. You know. Develop enough self-respect one day to forge a more self-actualised identity. Have the audacity to want things, and have dreams and stuff. He might even follow them. It’s a long, tiresome, non-linear process; but a worthwhile undertaking if I say so myself.

 I guess the tl;dr here is that: both boys validate themselves through the eyes of other people because it’s the only way they know how. It’s not a good or healthy thing to do, but with the right kind of support, and enough time and patience, maybe next time the door to hell opens, they’ll have the courage to leave. 

[findmeintheafterglow]

A Guide to Every Single Newsie

There are way too many of those punks. If you’re new to all this come learn whom is who

Let’s start with some pictures, they’re blurry because it’s surprisingly hard to get a decent screenshot. There are lots of them but hopefully just seeing their faces a few times will help you. Recognizing them just comes with time trust me, I used to struggle to find Race and now I see a pic of someone's feet and am like “ah yes Finch my boy”. Also, I’m only covering the newsies live cast because that’s what you can legally watch and what most people are familiar with. Also, I didn’t want to do every cast member to ever be on Broadway or tour.

Please note some of the things I’m about to say may not be canon but are part of what I know is widely considered true within the fandom. As far as sexuality I may mention it with some characters/who they’re commonly shipped with just so y’all aren’t lost when you see fics and things.

Jack: You know Jack so I’m not going that deep into his character. He’s 17, full name Francis Sullivan, newsie nickname is Cowboy. He’s the leader of the newsies of Lower Manhattan. A charismatic asshole who really just wants meaningful relationships and happiness for those he loves. Undeniably bisexual. Played by Jeremy Jordan.

Davey: Full name is David Jacobs, newsie nickname is Walking Mouth though he’s only addressed by his nickname in the 1992 movie. The most educated, attended school until he was around 17 ish. He’s a doofy little nerd and also mom friend ultimate, I repeat bc this is a defining trait Mom Friend Ultimate. I’m not sure if this is canon but pretty much everyone recognizes that he and his family are Jewish. Played by Ben Fankhauser.

Les: Sassy angel child. Full name Lesley Jacobs. Albert calls him shortstop a few times but it’s not quite a newsie name tm. 10 years old(almost). Also pretty Jewish. He’s kind of an impressionable little firecracker, he looks up to all the newsies but especially Jack. He just has a lot of energy and wants to hang with the big kids. Sass master in training. Buckets of charm packed into about 4 feet of human. Played by Ethan Steiner.

Crutchie: Crutchie! You know him! You’ve already fallen madly in love with him! Lost use of one of his legs to polio. Last name is Morris for sure and a lot of people say his real name is Charlie. Jack’s closest friend. He’s often painted as a pure sunshine boy, he is a pure sunshine boy. However, he is also tough, streetsmart and ready to fight. Very kindhearted and eternally optimistic. Played by Andrew Keenan-Bolger(you may see it abbreviated as AKB).

Race: This boy has lots of names so strap in. Racetrack Higgins is his name, people mostly call him Race not Racetrack. He is also sometimes called Racer. I don’t think this is canon but as a fandom, I think we’ve determined that he’s aggressively Italian and his real first name is Antonio, you may also see Anthony or Tony. Best friends with Albert. Crutchie is Jack’s best friend but Race is sort of Jack’s second in command. Sprace, him and Spot Conlon, are pretty much the biggest ship in Newsies. He’s a gambler and has an affinity for betting on horse races. He sells by the Sheepshead Racetrack hence his nickname. Very easy to recognize because he always has a cigar. The definition of a disaster gay. He has good intentions most of the time but is also a chaotic piece of shit. Played by Ben Tyler Cook(BTC).

Albert: Albert DaSilva is his name, having fantastic hair is his game. Race’s best friend. Personality is similar to Race but a little less chaotic, like he still does dumb things all the time but isn’t nearly as loud. Prankmaster and Sassmaster ultimate. Lives on the lower east side with his dad and two older brothers but generally that fact is ignored and he’s lumped in as living in the lodgings.  His cap is on backwards most of the time which can help you recognize him. Played by Sky Flaherty.

Spot: Spot Conlon, the man, the myth, the legend. Leader of Brooklyn. Comically short but will also soak you without hesitation. Side note bc I didn’t know this for a long time: the newsies call beating someone up “soakin’ ‘em” because you beat them up so bad they’re soaked in blood. Back to Spot, he’s tough as nails but also cares about his boys in Brooklyn a lot. Played by Tommy Bracco.

Elmer: A smart yet small boy. Very good at math and science and somewhat interested in politics. He has 8 older siblings. Polish apparently? I learned this very recently?? A very friendly and sunshiney guy. The newsies make fun of him saying that he’s bad at selling papes. He’s a hardworker. This is definitely not canon but you may see his last name as being Kasprzak. This comes from Evan Kasprzak, the actor who played Elmer in the Papermill and Original Broadway Casts. People like writing about Elmer so they just kinda gave him that last name and it works. Played by Anthony Zas.

Jojo: Jorgelino Josephino De La Guerra where to begin. A good Catholic boy. He was raised by nuns in a cathedral in Harlem. A nice boy, a kind boy. Down for some shenanigans but is generally reasonable and doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. Very ambitious and wants to be a big baller(in KONY he wishes for a solid gold watch I mean). Played by Joshua Burrage.

Buttons: Benjamin Buttons Davenport, what a guy. So I don’t know that he’s actually younger but he definitely reads as a little more youthful. He’s optimistic and easily excitable and overall kinda has this genuine hope and happiness that some of the other guys have lost to the street. He lives with his family and has at least a few siblings but I feel like he has hella. Not gonna be last in line for the tub tonight. Played by Chaz Wolcott.

Romeo: Will flirt with anything that moves. He has very distinctive bright red and blue striped socks if that helps you identify him. Is one of the younger newsies but makes up for it with overconfidence. Very lighthearted, we never see him get too serious. A charmer through and through. Still a very kind and caring guy. Played by Nico DeJesus.

Specs: Specs is a good one. He wears glasses obviously so you can identify him pretty easy. Definitely on the older end of the newsies. There’s no basis for this in canon but I feel like he’s been around longer than Jack. Kind of helps lead and run things with Race and Jack because he’s the most responsible motherfucker in that lodging house. Think kinda like Davy where he’s a bit of a mom but more easygoing, less cautious and more one of the boys. Generally a happy guy and so so sweet. Very forward thinking and genuinely likes selling papes. Played by Jordan Samuels.

Finch: Finch! A personal favorite please show him love. Full name is Patrick Cortes. He has a family(or at least a mom) but ran away when he was little. He carries a slingshot with him a good amount of the time so use that to find him. He’s sarcastic, funny, and always rarin’ to go. Tough but not in an “I’ll fight you” way. He will fight you if needed but it’s more like “Life’s a bitch but look how far I’ve made it”. Kinda like a cool older brother vibe but throw in a good handful of antsy. Played by my main man Iain Young.

Sniper: Mkay it’s time for the tough boi trio, these next three are fighters. Last name is Wah. His dad is named Sam Wah and owns a laundromat above Jacobi’s Deli. You may see him as a girl in fics or hcs because for almost all of the tour he was played by a woman. Boy has aim like no other. He is confirmed to be the quickest and strongest of the newsies. Also sly and cunning. Boy’s like a snake or a fox or whatever simile you prefer but regardless be scared. Has a reputation so people don’t mess with him. Would never hurt another Manhattan boy, he’s scary but he defends his brothers. Played by Daniel Switzer.

Tommy Boy: Don’t know a ton about Tommy Boy but here we go. He’s a man of few words, when he talks his answers are brief and to the point. Not in a mean way though that’s just how he is. Appears to be confrontational as he’s consistently seen stepping to a fight(before the world will know when Jack says “keep your shirt on” and when he scabs he gets in people’s faces). A good dependable guy but kinda mysterious, I would not provoke. Played by Michael Dameski.

Mush: Last name is Myers. First name is possibly Nick? In the real strike, there was a boy named Nick Myers so. He lives in Harlem?? But who cares about canon, ignore that. Mush is a ‘hattan boy. Has a lisp. He considers himself to be the muscle of Manhattan and will throw down for his brothers. When the strikebreakers show up, Jack literally has to hold him back because Mush is just trying to get to those hoes so he can protect the rest of the boys just yellin’ “Nah man I’ll get ‘em”. Very caring and very selfless. Boy’s got muscle but is totally a teddy bear with a heart of gold. I’ve always thought of him as your classic rough and tumble but clean-cut caring all-American boy. Played by Nick Masson.

Henry: Last name is possibly butler after the real life newsboy, Henry Butler but the only confirmed name we have is Henry. Became a newsie at 11 when his dad died and his family lost their deli. Has a mom who he still sees sometimes but doesn’t live with. Boy really likes food. It reminds him of the deli with his dad and also he just really. likes. food. Fairly easygoing, practical, and will call guys out on their bullshit(e.g. whom the fuck cares about being famous). Played by Michael Rios.

Smalls: Smalls! I don’t got much at all but here’s what I know. Very commonly thought about as a girl as Smalls was played by girlsies for all(?) of the Broadway run. Pretty firey or at least high energy. Sometimes headcannoned as being leader of the Bronx because in the normal not filmed staging he’s the one to yell “so’s the Bronx”. Played by Julian DeGuzman.

Mike: Twin brother of Ike. These guys are hard to tell apart because they’re played by actual twins but here are some distinctions. Mike wears a brown cap, a plaid shirt, and green socks. Played by Jacob Guzman.

Ike: Twin brother of Mike. Has a dark grey cap, a striped shirt, pin-striped pants, and brown socks. Both twins seem to be pretty fun-loving. They kinda rough house a lot and are often messing around. Played by David Guzman

Hotshot: A Brooklyn newsie, I don’t really know his deal? A typical production doesn’t have Hotshot in it but he was in the filmed version and was apparently there towards the end of the broadway run. Kind of arrogant and tough. Sometimes seen as Spot’s second. Has literally only ever been played by J.P. Ferreri.

Vince/Myron: Ok so for newsies live they just threw in some extra newsboys for the heck of it and this guy is one of those. I don’t even know his name because the actor who plays him also plays a strikebreaker. On the wiki cast list, it just lists him as playing Vince and Myron with no indication as to who’s the newsie and who’s the strike breaker. Just from the nature of the names I can guess that Vince is the newsie? A big tough Brooklyn boy. Played by Stephen Hernandez.

Willie/Bart: Same deal as Vince/Myron. I’d be willing to guess that Willie is the newsie. Another Brooklyn boy. Played by Andrew Wilson.

Kenny: Also thrown in just for newsies live but I actually know his name. A pretty sunny guy, as far as I can remember he’s always smiling. Not in any of the pictures because he’s not in any of those scenes. It’s the same guy who plays darcy so go to carrying the banner or once and for all and find the guy in the yellow suit. That’s Darcy, Kenny looks just like that but in newsie clothes. Played by Jack Sippel.

Am I about to throw Bill and Darcey in just for kicks? yeah I think I am. Ok so this is a last minute decision and I don’t have pictures for these guys but here we go.

Bill: Not a newsie. Son of William Randolph Hearst, owner of the New York Journal. Full name William Randolph Hearst Jr. Katherine and Darcey’s friend. A sophisticated, classy, educated boy. Not tough in a street way but is kind of cold/reserved or maybe just a bit calculating. You can definitely tell he’s a rich boy by the way he holds himself. Looks like Mush bc they’re played by the same actor. Blue suit. Played by Nick Masson.

Darcey: Not a newsie. Son of Whitelaw Reid, owner of the New York Tribune. Still high class but more excitable and interested in the newsies world. Very kind and always concerned of behalf of others. His sweetness does not equal weakness, when Romeo approaches Kath in Carrying the Banner, he’s ready to handle the situation. Yellow suit. Played by Jack Sippel.

so there we go that is every newsie I could think of and then some. I’m gonna attach the pictures I have of an old wikipedia cast list which is what I use for reference since the one that's on wiki now isn’t great

That’s it! If you actually read all this, God bless you. If I got anything blatantly wrong or if you have any questions please talk to me

[cgmayra]

Hi I'm really enjoying ready a lot of your prompts. I'm not sure if you have answered something similar before but my question to you is if you could explain why do you think Amy is in love with Sonic and possibly why do you think Sonic 'might' like Amy in return. Thank you so much and I really appreciate it if you could answer these questions.

I would love too! It’s been a long while, so I might as well collect ‘new evidence’ right? :)b Also, thank you so much! I’m sorry everything is on shutdown (except Commissions! Rules link: x Pay link: x ) but I’m always excited to write a prompt when I get around to it! lol

Let’s start with the beginning. According to her creator, Amy was made with many “Fingers in the pot” and one of the main traits he mentioned was that he wanted Amy to be cute and have her focus set on Sonic. Since Sonic is always moving towards the next adventure, not really focused on anything else, he needed someone who would be completely concentrated on him. In Japanese culture, devotion/loyalty is an endearing characteristic, and it’s clear that Amy exhibits a sole fidelity to Sonic. This was intentional but perhaps mistranslated when interrupted by American culture.

Rosy the Rascal was meant to, based on fan speculation, set up the world’s perception of Sonic. He was famous for his heroic deeds, but in Sonic Adventure, we learn that he never considered himself a hero. He tells Shadow he’s just a guy who loves adventure, and according to the Canon Timeline, Amy was the first ‘friend’ Sonic ever had. His first ‘saving the damsel’ act, that defined a hero (especially in those time periods) was set up by him saving Classic Amy Rose.

She, therefore, has a small backstory explaining how she admired his heroism, used Tarot Cards to find out where to meet her ‘destined’ and was soon kidnapped and rescued by him. This only solidified her feelings for him, showing that not only did Sonic have a fan, but now he had a devoted self-proclaimed girlfriend in the process as well.

It was important that Amy was ‘self-proclaimed’ because besides being ‘shy’, Sonic is also not one to demonstrate a lot of emotion. This correlates with the ‘cool’ image that is reflective of Japanese young heroes. So, Amy set up that Sonic was a popularly recognized hero and even had fans, but she also revealed that most found Sonic attractive in his deeds and personality. “He’s so cool!” kind of stereotype. But besides being a rising star, Amy fell in love with him for his good deeds and risking so much to save her.

This is stage 1, let’s move on through the timeline.

As Amy kept reappearing (after Sonic met and befriended Tails and even Knuckles) she asserted herself into his circle to be closer to him. She gained a new strength, the Piko Piko Hammer and drew new expressions out of Sonic that normally wouldn’t have been seen before. Because Sonic doesn’t show many personal emotions, Amy has emotion enough to spare between the both of them. It’s relevant that this behavior, common in Japanese anime stereotypes, is frowned upon in the American fandom, but it’s actually praised and regarded with admiration in the Japanese fandom.

Another Sonic official on Twitter stated that if Sonic didn’t have a boy’s heart(A.K.A, wasn’t a young boy), he would probably choose Amy. I believe that’s because “The one who stays in the race, finishes the race” is true in this regard. Because Amy chases Sonic (A healthy part of any romance) she is constantly there (In sight, in mind.). So it’s safe to say one of the reasons Sonic could be more fond of her than he lets on is because he recognizes that she’s always there. She won’t abandon him nor her feelings for him. This level of devotion is praised in Japanese culture, and I would imagine he reciprocates this.

He rewards her efforts for this loyalty time and time again. Not only by saving her, but by also allowing her to do as she pleases. He never really goes against her. He never fights back with her. In fact, in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 battle, directly resulting after the Classic Era, it shows Sonic’s consideration for her feelings.

“Amy…. Take care of yourself.” In the Japanese version, Sonic pauses a considerable amount of time as Amy expresses the horror of his supposed sacrifice to protect her. He gives her one last cool pose, preparing for whatever may come, and reveals that in his heart–he felt it was his job to take care of her.

This correlates with Classic Sonic’s feelings, although not fully expressed in words and mostly done through deeds.

Amy’s feelings only grow stronger after this point, resulting in her being even more forward about wanting to marry Sonic, as it is her way of saying she’ll be his forever, and love him for all eternity. It is stated by SEGA that Amy can never get over Sonic, there will never be a ‘another love interest’, though they have explored Sonic being charming to other girls. Due to his already stated ‘attractiveness’ because of his heroic deeds, many girls have swooned over Sonic, and he’s treated this with patience and a heroic smile. He comforts girls, but he always returns to Amy’s side. Why is this? You may say, “Well, it’s because you just said she’s devoted to him, so he’s returning the gesture.” Well, you’re half-right, but it’s only half the tale.

In later additions, Sonic is shown to also get exasperated with Amy’s overly energetic flirtations with him. It’s actually more an anime stereotype once again, where the boy is embarrassed by the girl’s forwardness. In Japanese culture, the demure girl is praised as the most attractive quality for a woman. Amy is the stereotypical opposite, due to Sonic’s aloof nature, she has to be bold in her declarations of love for him. You can see the ‘demure’ type of girl found in Cosmo, Vanilla, Elise, Shahra, and even some in Blaze. Rouge is the stereotypical ‘older matured woman’ to put it lightly, but Amy is the energetic girl in anime stereotypes, bold and quick to anger or at times bossy.

In a Japanese translated bio online, Amy is stated to ‘cheerfully embarrass men’ which is shown in many incidents in Sonic X and the video games. In this regard, we could deduce that Sonic silently enjoys the praise as well as reciprocates her devotion. She loves him because he won’t hesitate to do what’s right (Heroism) and always follows his heart (cool and willful personality) while Sonic stays relatively close (in spirit) and is always devoted to protecting or being there for her.

These are the biggest traits that define Sonic and Amy’s feelings for each other. Mostly demonstrated in Sonic X, we see Sonic returning home to Amy, their telepathy ability when Amy is thinking hard about Sonic, and revealing that Sonic was thinking solely about rescuing her. We also see it in Sonic saving Amy from drowning, and Amy diving in to save him from the Metarex. There is also stated attraction on Sonic’s end for Amy during the ‘dress’ scene (But Amy is canonally stated to be a ‘pretty girl’, which is subtly expressed in the Video Games as well. Silver stating this world is beautiful, but pausing to blush and look away when Amy tilts her head while the sun highlights her is just an example. Sonic flirting with The Lady of the Lake and having a date with Amy is another example from Sonic’s POV.)

So, to conclude this little essay, I’ll say that the real answer is- “Sonic returns to Amy because she’s his perfect match. Her devotion is of course included in the mix, but it’s also because she expresses her feelings for him so openly, it’s touching how she’ll risk everything for him and he would willingly do the same.” They both care so much in such different ways, and the different ways they express it is perfect for how the other wants to be loved. Sonic doesn’t always like the forward attention, but he appreciates that he never has to question her devotion to him. Amy loves Sonic because although he’s shy, he finds ways to still show he cares deeply about her.

Although these two are still very much children, they have a foundation of mutual fidelity and trust that can’t be broken. (Sonic won’t destroy Omega, Sonic protectively defends Amy against Jet, and Sonic accepts Amy’s bracelet for him, A.K.A shows he accepts her feelings for him.)

Many in the fandom argue that Sonic can be inconsiderate of Amy’s feelings, which is true. He’s still a young boy and makes mistakes, but there is supportive evidence to suggest he does this in the presence of Eggman or others. I also support the theory that he doesn’t want her to get hurt because of him, so he keeps his distance during crowds, but as it is often player choice, he also goes on dates off and on with her from time to time.

In conclusion, these are just some things that result in Amy’s love and Sonic’s crushing. I say ‘crushing’ because Sonic isn’t quite fully there yet. He’s devoted but rarely speaks his honest opinion of her.

Even Omochao states in Sonic and Mario Winter Olympic’s: “No one knows if Amy is or isn’t Sonic’s girlfriend or not.” He never tells. Could this be because of his fear of her getting hurt by his enemies? Or his shyness? Possibly the fact that he never does say how he thinks about Amy?

Ever notice that?

But he constantly thanks Amy, and I think that subtle, “Thanks, Amy. I appreciate it.” Is honest. It may not be “I love you” but it’s something along those lines. Amy’s “Marry me!” Is her way of saying it, but moreover, what she wants to say is– “I don’t want to give you an ultimatum, because how you live your life is wonderful! But at least let me and my love for you be a part of it!” Which I believe he does return in full freedom of allowing her to love him in the way that suits her best.

He may refuse her advances, but he never has refused her heart.

She may not like it when he doesn’t consider her feelings, but she will always believe in him.

This is what I believe Sonamy is today.

There is plenty more, but I believe this is what needs to be stated, and perhaps this is too long already, so that’s how I’ll leave it for now ;) Thanks for the ask!

[sineala]

Iron Man: And Call My Killer... MODOK!

So if you're a Marvel Comics fan of any stripe, you're probably aware that Marvel has a longtime history of publishing what they call "prose novels" and what literally any other publisher would just call "novels." You know. Books with only words in them. As opposed to "graphic novels," which is I guess why Marvel needs to make the distinction.

You're probably also aware that a lot of these prose novels are, well... bad. Some of the current ones, the original ones with new stories, have been getting good reviews -- I've heard good things about the Black Widow and Squirrel Girl books -- but a lot of them are just things like "novelizations of Civil War" and those ones are not great. (The MCU Iron Man 1 novelization was pretty good, but I would say that that was one of the few exceptions, and that only because Peter David both can actually write and has also written comic books.)

But a few weeks ago @blossomsinthemist told me that there had been a line of paperback Marvel prose novels way way back in the late seventies, and I was immediately interested for two reasons. One, if it's not novelizing an existing story arc, it's less likely to be terrible. And two, I really like late-seventies Marvel comics. So if I get to read a brand-new (to me) late-seventies story, I'm going to be pretty excited.

(If you're looking for these for yourself, prices vary, because people seem to be really into just having them for collection value, but if you don't care about condition and are patient you can get them for $5 to $10 or so.)

Anyway. I'm starting here with the Iron Man one, And Call My Killer... MODOK! It's from 1979 and is by William Rotsler, who also appears to have written the Doctor Strange novel in this series, and according to Wikipedia, he won four Hugos for Best Fan Artist, though most of his prose work appears to have been SF novelizations, and, uh, he was involved in the making of over two dozen pornographic films? Thanks, Wikipedia!

Right. Okay. The actual book. We are talking about the actual book. So the plot, as you can guess from the title, involves a lot of AIM and MODOK -- and because this is vintage 1970s Iron Man, also a lot of Happy, Pepper and SHIELD. SHIELD here is a lot of Nick Fury and a lot -- hi, again, 1970s -- of Jasper Sitwell. (If you're only familiar with the MCU, 616 Jasper Sitwell is, like, the ultimate Boy Scout SHIELD agent, a giant nerdy stickler for protocol.) Basically, AIM is scheming to get the armor, and the basic plot itself is kind of fun in that respect -- Tony scheming right back, decoy fake plans, a fake auction of the armor, and of course Tony and Happy captured by AIM. There's the requisite fight with an armored villain, of course, and what feels like a very perfunctory showdown with MODOK. (It's not a long novel.)

But since we're in fandom, we're not reading these things for the actual plot content, and so I am happy to say that on a characterization level, if this is the Tony Stark characterization you like in this era of comics, this book is going to make you happy. Because he really is, just... peak, classic Tony Stark. This is established very early on, in what is actually my favorite section of the book. Tony addresses a roomful of students about ecology, and his plans for SI and for the future, and about how he's not actually in it for the money and he just wants to do the right thing and save the world and so on and so forth and he wants to hire some of these kids to help everyone and build space colonies and so on. Similarly, when we first see Tony at SI, there's a paragraph about how he knows his employees' names and values them as people and it's very much classic Tony characterization. I love it.

In terms of canon, I'm not quite sure if this is relying on any particular recent developments in canon. Pepper and Happy are still together, and there's a throwaway line, in the list of Things That Have Happened To Tony's Heart, about how he's had several surgeries and a new heart and at this point in his life he has to wear the chestplate some of the time but not all of the time. I think that whole "weak heart" era is the Michael O'Brien/second Guardsman stuff, but I'm not exactly sure; this is not an era of canon I'm 100% up on in order. That may be a little too early for this, as well. Sorry; I'm not the best at this part of this game.

There is, of course, some identity porn, since what would an Iron Man story be without some good identity porn? There's a section early on where Tony explains why he would never reveal his secret identity. (Literally, he wishes he could "come out of the closet," and, yes, they do put that phrase in quotation marks.) His rationale is that the media would never let him alone, and also there are "Iron Man groupies, publicity seekers, and other assorted crazies" who would make his life miserable.

The weird thing is, then he goes on a date with what seems to be an Iron Man groupie. Pepper sets him up on a date with a woman who is a bellydancer and auto mechanic trying to break into acting. (The even weirder thing is that she seems to be named after a woman the author has coauthored several novels with. I, uh... I hope she knew first?) Anyway, they go on a date and she starts asking him about what Iron Man is like. Now, in a book where the plot appears to be that the bad guys want Tony's armor, I would be a little suspicious of people who were curious about Iron Man. But apparently this woman is on the level and just really likes gossip about famous people, and then at the end of the book when Tony talks about maybe going on another date he seems excited to "give her an opportunity to know Tony Stark." Although, really, she seems to still think Iron Man is cooler, so I don't see this working out well.

(Also, in the course of the plot, he does end up unmasking in front of MODOK, and as cover he comes up with the excuse that he isn't the only Iron Man and that there are a group of them. Which, y'know, historically, isn't even untrue, for a certain view of Tony's behavior -- there have actually been multiple people in the suit before now. So I kind of like Tony's quick thinking there. Amusingly, as he's bluffing his way through this, one of the fake Iron Men he names is Captain America, which honestly I think would make a hell of a fanfiction plot.)

Another weird thing: since this is right before Demon in a Bottle, Tony still drinks. It's not even an issue. And obviously it's meant to show something about his affluent lifestyle (and how he considers alcohol a necessary part of that lifestyle) but it's interesting reading this in retrospect and thinking about all the character development that Tony is basically about to undergo but hasn't yet.

So, yeah, in terms of characterization, this is an interesting look at Tony Stark basically preserved in one of the more-well-regarded eras for him, so on that basis I think it's worth reading. Which is not to say that there aren't some downsides, and since this book is mainstream fiction from the 70s, I bet you can guess what the main one is: namely, there is a certain amount of casual sexism and racism. The first scene takes place on a college campus and there is a lot of, uh, dwelling on co-eds and their short skirts. There is also a retelling of Tony's origin story, and you probably already know that ToS #39 is racist as hell (especially if you have seen non-recolored versions in which Wong Chu is literally yellow in the art) but the prose retelling here manages to add in some racist epithets (many characters are referred to as "the Oriental") which is... disappointing. Neither of these things are really unexpected for a book from 1979. But, you know, there they are. Heads up.

It also makes some weird narrative choices. One is that it has a surprising number of extended flashbacks in which dialogue is taken directly from the comics. I understand that back in the day before trade paperbacks and Marvel Unlimited and back issues whenever you want them, you the Iron Man fan might not have been aware of a lot of Tony's history. So I get why you would want to spend some time going over the events of Tales of Suspense #39. And, okay, Happy is a pretty important character in the plot, so I get why you'd want a lot about their first meeting in Tales of Suspense #45. But then there's a whole flashback devoted to the whole body-horror extravaganza of how MODOK came to be, and that one... that one was just kind of weird, especially because Tony didn't even figure into it.

And that leads me to my final complaint about weird narrative choices, which is the author has chosen to write this book in 3rd person omniscient point of view. I mean, it's a valid POV choice, sure. But it's a little jarring coming from fandom, where we are all basically 3rd limited forever and ever (like, honestly, I'm not even sure I'd know how to write 3rd omni if I tried!), and it's even weirder to read Tony in the middle of one of his inspiring speeches while a female student is thinking about how sexy he is even if he is an "older man." Yeah.

Also, the narration calls him Tony when he's out of the suit and Iron Man when he's in the suit. Consistently. Even when he's thinking about himself. I am pretty sure fandom never does this, and it is weird as hell.

So, overall, I have to say that despite some reservations, I really enjoyed this, and if this is an era of Iron Man canon that you enjoy, you will probably like this if you can get your hands on it, because it's a lot like reading an Iron Man comic from 1979, and the plot shenanigans are amusing. I mean, it's not the best-written book ever, but it is a lot of fun, especially in terms of Tony's characterization.

[ladybub]

The next chapter is here! I got on a roll last night, I wanted to get the next chapter out ASAP so that we could get that sweet, sweet action going.

Enjoy!

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Chloé Bourgeois, Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe, Lila Rossi, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Nathalie Sancoeur Additional Tags: Overboard AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst, Fluff, Fake Marriage, I have literally got nothing planned, i am winging this, most likely smut Summary:

Overboard AU. Marinette Dupain-Cheng hasn't had the best of luck in her life, not only has her husband Luka passed away tragically three years ago, she's one failed test away from losing her scholarship, and also already lost her job at the cafe. With three children to take care of, she doesn't have the time to dawdle and needs to find another job, or a miracle, stat! Meanwhile, on his own personal yacht, Adrien Agreste - the heir to the Gabriel fashion line - hasn't a care in the world and women on his arms at all times. He's living the life of a Bachelor with no problems whatsoever, other than the hangovers he gets the morning after. However both their luck changes after a chance meeting, and when the son of the rich designer has an accident which causes him to lose his memory...

So... Marinette didn't end up with a job at the end of the day.

It seemed word got out about a clumsy waitress that was rumoured to have recently broken over half the mugs in the Le Blanc café - her old workplace - in one fell swoop, and had gotten fired. So when Marinette rocked up, resume in hand, it seemed that the managers were all too eager to turn her away, saying that they had no positions available and that they were very sorry - no matter how much she insisted.

She knew her luck was bad, but come on! She figured she wasn't going to get a job straight away, but she couldn't believe not one place would give her any hopeful indication that she had a chance. Even the ones that did take her resume didn't seem like they were interested. She felt the fuzz of anxiety in her mind, as her fear of losing the apartment loomed overhead.

Marinette shook her head and slapped her cheeks. She didn't have time to dwell on that right now, she had to get on the game! She opened the van door; she had just parked near the dock, right next to the hugest yacht she'd ever seen. Like, seriously, this thing was practically a cruise ship. It had multiple rooms and levels, and was absolutely spotless. She already knew that they had a kitchen on board, a fully-functional chef's kitchen nonetheless! More staff ran around on the board, and there were people on the deck, setting up for the party. It looked like it would be a long night.

She started packing the containers in the van onto a collapsible trolley that was tucked in the back. It wasn't even dusk yet and they needed to have everything ready by 9pm. She was so happy that her parents had opened the store to catering. Since they got the extra business, Tom and Sabine had extra time on their hands. They had taken a small step back now that they were older and the business was pretty self sufficient. They loved to babysit their grandchildren regularly for Marinette, and she was so happy that they were so involved in the kids lives, but mostly happy that they could take the time to enjoy themselves.

Marinette immediately felt out of place when she took a step onto the boat, just to her right was a giant spa! As she continued through the yacht, she walked past exquisitely décored rooms, each with their own ensuite. When she reached the kitchen, it was brilliantly polished and sparkling. As if it was brand new and untouched.

She finished depositing all the containers of food into the kitchen and already had completed the preparation, so all that was left was to stick them in the oven when the client wanted the appetisers shared around, and she was currently waiting for the first batch to come out. All the cold appetisers were plated and ready to go.

Marinette sat and watched the other staff scamper around in the meantime. She knew at 9pm, Tikki - the other server who was rostered for the night - would arrive, but that wasn't for ages away. She knew no one else here.

It seemed like the client wasn't here either, since no one bothered to greet her when she arrived. She couldn't help but feel curious about the many rooms in the boat, and quickly checked to see if anyone was paying any attention to her. Nope, coast seemed clear. It couldn't hurt to have a quick look around the yacht, right? She wasn't a thief, she just wanted to have a peek at exactly how big it was.

It was huge.

There was one kitchen, with in-built pantry the size of a room, two bathrooms - one with a bathtub, three master bedrooms and the forth one had its own balcony over the first floor. The fourth bedroom was the one she was in now, and it seemed to belong to someone, considering all the blankets were mussed up and there was more personal decorations around the room.

She quickly called Alya, she just had to know where she was. It didn't take long for Alya to answer.

"Hey Marinette, what's up?"

Marinette held in her giddiness, "Alya, you won't believe where I am right now. I'm doing a catering job for the bakery, and the place we're serving is a freakin' 5-star mini cruise ship!" She walked into the en suite, and eyed off a bottle of Gabriel cologne on the bathroom bench. Look's like the client is a guy... She thought.

"Really?! Who is hosting the party?" Alya asked excitedly, "Someone famous you think?"

Marinette quickly popped Alya onto speaker as she opened her emails, "Hmm, let's see... A guy named Adrien Agreste..." Her mind went blank, as it stuttered over the last name. "Wait, as in Gabriel Agreste's son?!" Marinette almost shouted.

Alya gasped on the other side of the phone, "You've got to be kidding me! Model for the Gabriel fashion line, mega hottie, Adrien Agreste?" Marinette knew the exact face Alya was pulling right now, and she was already dreading her next words. "Get in girl! This could make your career if you manage to get a contact with Adrien. Plus, have you seen him?" Alya made a noise that Marinette didn't want to put too much thought into.

"No way, Alya. I mean, you know that I used to have photos of him in Collège... But that was just a... Celebrity crush on a 14 year old boy. I haven't really been paying attention to social media, so I have no clue what he looks like now. Besides, I don't want to use some poor guy. I want to achieve success on my own merit."

"Mari, if you saw him you might change your mind." Alya encouraged, "You HAVE to open up Instagram right now, his handle is-"

"Do you mind keeping it down?" The voice came from the bed. Alya went silent and Marinette's blood went cold. No way.

Marinette's turned around, words of apology on her lips but then froze. It was like she was watching a magazine shoot in real life - on the bed was Adrien Agreste, sex hair from sleeping, and completely naked. Luckily (or, unluckily, depending who you asked) the sheet covered the important parts, but as he stood up, unbothered by her presence, and she got a full glimpse of his ass.

Notably, she noticed that on his left cheek, there was a cute little paw print, with the words 'Chat Noir' written below it.

Her face went beet red and she quickly looked away, she finally spluttered the words that she meant to say before. "I'm so sorry, I had no clue anyone was here. I was just looking around but I-It was rude of me to intrude, I'll leave now." She quickly turned to leave, hoping that if she walked off fast enough, he'd not notice her face and she could not die of embarrassment.

Before she'd managed to get out the door she heard his reply, and paused. "Don't worry about it, I'm not shy." Said Adrien, wrapping the sheet around him, and gave her a charming smile. "I mean, the world has seen most of it anyway." He shrugged, moving past her and into the walk-in wardrobe. As he dropped the sheet behind him onto the floor again, he gave Marinette a wink before walking out of view to get dressed.

After Marinette started thinking straight again, she began for the door once more. "Still I'll get out of your hair." Right as she reached the door, she saw Adrien's blonde head pop out of the wardrobe.

"Oh, wait!" He called, causing Marinette's heart to skip a beat. He walked out the wardrobe, buttoning up his perfectly pressed white shirt. "While you're here, do you mind getting me a..." He pursed his lips in thought, "A bloody mary. Yes."

Marinette's brain froze. Again. But this time, it wasn't because she was getting lost in his emerald eyes. "O-Oh, sorry, I'm not a bartender, I'm one of the servers of the catering company you hired, Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. We're here to serve the appetizers."

Adrien looked at her for a long moment. Shit. So much for leaving before he saw you properly. Marinette scolded herself. She then felt her skin prickle as his eyes dragged over her body. She suddenly felt self conscious. "Is there something on my uniform?" She looked to check.

"No, no. You're fine, it's just..." Adrien let out an over dramatic sigh, "You're a bit flat, princess. I prefer my girls with bigger breasts, what a shame, since your face so cute." Adrien gave her a very fiendish smile. "But still, I wouldn't mind if you crawled into my bed at the end of the night." He winked at her.

Marinette felt herself flush in embarrassment, but also felt like she had a bucket of ice water dump on her head. That was no way to talk to someone! Who did he think he was? "I-I have to go. To serve the food." She bit out. "You'll have to get your own drink." She stormed off.

Marinette reached the kitchen and opened the oven to peek inside. She closed the oven door, making a new timer for the next 5 minutes. She was barely containing the growing anger inside. If she wasn't representing her parent's bakery, she would've clocked the guy. Well, probably not. But she wish she could! Right in his smug face, maybe break his nose. Okay, that's excessive. She sighed, frustration now mingling with a bit of sadness. At least now she'd be able to distract herself with serving, and she'll just ignore him. She'll treat him like any customer, and the moment that the kitchen closes, she's out of here!

She groaned. Except that she had to come back in the morning and collect all the equipment. She couldn't be packing away everything and transporting it into the van so late at night. Guess she'll just have to take it as it comes, she didn't want to let her parents down.

Finally, right as the timer went off, Tikki arrived in the kitchen, a cute little ladybug pin on her apron.

"Tikki! Just on time, as always." Marinette was relieved to have someone else with her now. "I love your haircut! Short hair looks really cute on you."

Tikki touched the short red locks on her head, "You think? I was worried it'd look weird, but..." Her smile shined brightly. "I really love it! My head feels so light."

"Its super adorable." Marinette began filling the trays with the first round of appetisers, and set the first tray on Tikki's open hands. "Now we're just serving in the open areas," Marinette instructed, "I'll be keeping an eye on the ovens and get the new trays ready as they are needed. When you want a break, let me know."

"Got it, ma'am!" Tikki smiled playfully, before shooting an excited eye beyond Marinette and towards the music, which had just begun blazing throughout the yacht. "I can't believe that we're here, I feel like I'm on one of those party boats for celebrities."

"Well, considering the host, it pretty much is..." Marinette laughed weakly, she really didn't want to ruin Tikki's fun by being a wet blanket, but she knew she should tell her what happened the moment before. "Our client is Adrien Agreste, and unfortunately the only nice thing about him is his face." She scowled.

"Adrien Agreste?!" Tikki exclaimed, "Wait." Her excitement turned into a look of concern. "What happened? Did you meet him or something?"

Marinette sighed as she finished preparing the remaining trays and walked out the kitchen with Tikki, "He called me flat, and then invited me to his bed! I've head of negging but," She huffed, "he really seemed like he didn't care about hurting my feelings at all. Trust me, avoid him if you can. Adrien is a entitled brat."

Tikki gave Marinette a pitying look, "I'm so sorry, Marinette. You didn't deserve it, but," Tikki stopped and smiled at two guests who took a few quiches of her tray, "What do you expect? I mean, he's had beautiful girls throwing themselves at him all his life, and people sucking up to him for his wealth. He probably has some sort of God-complex."

"Ugh, you're probably right." Marinette's nose crinkled up, but she gave Tikki a reassuring smile, "I won't let it get to me, don't worry. I have bigger problems to think about."

Tikki reached up to Marinette and pinched her cheek, "That's my girl!"

It was an exhausting night, but Marinette was glad it was finally over. Lucky for her, Adrien was distracted the rest of the night and seemed to forget about her existence entirely - which, she admitted made her bristle slightly. What happened was so insignificant to him that he didn't even notice when she served him multiple times, whilst she had anger coursing through her the entire night every time she looked at him.

She parked the van in the same spot she had last time, and unpacked the trolley from the back. She'll be in and out, before anyone knew she was there. She brought along a cap this time which she pulled far down her face and wheeled the trolley up onto the deck and into the kitchen with no issues.

Just has she finished putting the last container into the van, the trays were the last things she needed to get. She sneaked onto the yacht one last time, and was just ready to leave the kitchen after collecting the trays when she heard the sound of two set of feet coming down the hall. She quickly ducked behind the wall, not wanting to be seen.

"Adrien, this has been going long enough. I won't tolerate any more of your abhorrent behaviour." A pang of familiarity hit Marinette. This voice, no, it couldn't be...

"Or what, Dad?" Adrien's voice spat out, "You'll cut me off? Your heir?" Marinette heard Adrien scoff, and she could tell that they both moved into one of the spare bedrooms just outside the kitchen. Adrien's words confirmed her suspicions, right in the room across from her had to be Gabriel Agreste. The same Gabriel who hasn't been seen out in public in years - and here he was, on Adrien's yacht.

"Perhaps I will!" Gabriel snapped, and Adrien seemed to go silent for a while, probably shocked to hear his father raise his normally reserved voice. "I will not have some brainless, alcoholic bachelor as the face of Gabriel. If you don't fix up your act soon, son..." A pause. "You won't be an Agreste anymore."

Marinette sucked in a shocked breath, was he going to disown Adrien? She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she couldn't hear anything from Adrien either. A long moment passed before she heard someone leaving the room.

"You have one month. The week before the Spring Gala, if you don't come back to the estate with the intention on apologising and becoming an heir worthy of the Agreste name... Don't bother coming back at all."

With that, Gabriel Agreste left the boat. Marinette couldn't help but feel bad for Adrien, she couldn't imagine having that sort of relationship with her father.

She waited a few minutes before peeking out into the hallway, she couldn't hear anyone anymore. Perhaps now was the time to get out of here.

But before she could get away completely, a voice called out.

"Hey! Server girl." Adrien stood at the door to the bedroom, his eyes were red and when he walked up to her, she smelt the distinct scent of alcohol coming from him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you for a drink." He shot her a entertained look as he stumbled a little when he made his way towards her. "Instead, how about some more of those little..." He gestured with his hands, "cheesy, bacon... Egg things. Hm?"

All sense of sympathy Marinette felt was gone as she remembered the night before, but she couldn't bring herself to get angry at him after what she just heard. Not to mention, she was in uniform. Ugh, she hated the hospitality industry sometimes. "Sorry, the contract was only for yesterday evening. Besides, there's no more food and all the equipment is packed away."

Adrien plucked out his wallet and then grabbed a wad of cash, dumping it on the trays she was holding. "Go get me something to eat then. I'm feeling something..." He thought for a moment, "sweet. Maybe fruit? What's in season right now?"

Marinette balked at the money, but still, grabbed the cash and shoved it into Adrien's chest. "I'm not doing anything for you. The contract is over. I'm going home."

Adrien grabbed her arm before she could leave, "Aw, come on. I don't bite." He winked, "Unless you ask."

"Ugh!" Marinette yanked her arm from his grip, "I don't want to spend one more moment with a sleeze like you."

"Me-owch. This girl has claws." Adrien didn't seem perturbed by her comment, "Did I hurt your feelings last night, princess? I was wondering why I didn't see that cute ass of yours in my bed."

Marinette felt the disgust curl in her stomach, "No. I just would never sleep with someone who didn't respect anyone but himself." She turned on her heel to leave, only to feel herself begin to pitch to the side - falling right into the spa!

Or, well, she almost did. Then two muscular arms wrapped around her and stopped her from falling. Marinette became very aware of that fact that she was pulled towards Adrien's bare chest. Did this guy ever have any clothes on?! She couldn't stop the blush that made its way to her cheeks. Adrien was a prick, but, even she had to admit was he fit.

She pushed his arms away hurriedly, "Get off of me!"

"Is that anyway to thank your saviour?" Adrien chuckled, the sound deep and sardonic.

"I don't need your help." Marinette straightened up and smoothed down her clothes. "It's just a little water anyway, I would've been fine."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really."

"Alright then..." Then Marinette felt his hands on her again, but this time instead of pulling - he pushed her!

Marinette fell into the jacuzzi with a large splash, the trays clattering to the floor loudly, some of them denting as they fell down the steps beside the jacuzzi, down into the entertainment area below. When she resurfaced, she gasped loudly, "What the fuck! I could have seriously injured myself if I hit my head." She spluttered, and wiped the water from her face, "You really are a dick, you know?" She didn't care anymore, she couldn't hold in the anger.

Her only answer was Adrien's entertained laughter.

So she got out of the jacuzzi, slapping away Adrien's offered hand while he snickered. When she began collecting the trays, she noticed three of them had huge dents in them, making them unusable. Her heart sank. These were her father's favourite silver trays that they saved for the high-class events, like the one last night.

She stomped up to Adrien and waved them around in his face, "You need to pay for the damage on these, look!" She pointed at the dents, "These are custom silver trays that my father ordered for the business! They cost hundreds of dollars, and that's just for one of them!"

Adrien shrugged, "Not my problem, you dropped them."

Marinette seethed, "You pushed me!"

Adrien bent to her level, "What you gonna do, sue me? With what proof?" He laughed as he walked away, "Since you're not going to stay and suck me off, you can leave." He looked into the distance, waving someone over.

"W-What?!" Marinette spluttered, "You can't do that, you- you damaged our property!" Suddenly, the sun that was warming her back disappeared as a large shadow blocked the heat.

"Gorilla, escort her out. If she struggles, just throw her into the Seine." Adrien plastered on the fakest, sweetest smile she'd ever seen. "Bye bye, server girl."

Marinette didn't want to satisfy him with a response. She turned towards the Gorilla, a frown deeply set on her face. "I can see myself out. This isn't the last you'll hear from me."

She left the yacht in a huff, trying to ignore the burn of Adrien's stare on the back of her head.

Oooh, she was going to make him pay her family back, one way or another.

Notes:

Yes. Adrien is a huge dick in the beginning. I promise that he'll get his just desserts, and also that he'll get better.

Chloe and Lila will be back in later chapters, I promise there's more to them than being the bikini girls who hang off him.

I hope this chapter was more entertaining than the last! I really want to get to the good, juicy stuff. It'll come, eventually.

[readingthelastpage]

Tay is still playing the game: it is too soon to do this yet

hate to be the bearer of bad news

warning: this is a looooong analysis of the Gaylor fandom, the Rep era and the new era.

so us Gaylors were kinda enamoured with the queer context of the beginning of the Rep era. she dropped a few tunes that had people who used to believe her man-crazy reputation googling Karlie Kloss, wrote a nice little declaration about how everyone looking for specific men in her new songs is wrong, changed from outfits designed for the male gaze into something more comfortable and had a British unknown with a wonky relationship timeline as the public muse of the album. All is well, we thought - she is literally burning her Reputation, she will let people come to their own conclusions, she will take the money, they will both ditch the boyfriends and come out.

And hey, maybe that was the planned narrative in the beginning. But both boyfriends are still here, and one has been updated into a husband (with two separate highly publicised wedding parties). Now the new narrative is that Taylor will let people figure out things more and more - which is inextricably linked to Karlie, whose boyfriend wanted the “het card” so bad that he has to marry Karlie twice before she is released. They all want to erase Kaylor so deeply that they have to spend years in these new golden cages, but at the same time, Karlie will not even block instagram comments that call out her marriage as fake and Taylor will not stop people from writing articles about her that keep referencing Karlie. Maybe their strategy really is to lay low in public for years while building full separate lives but still be linked even in places that they have full control over, but then I don’t think it really is a good strategy. I think the more likely thing is that we overestimated the honesty of the Rep era and the extent to which is was another performance.

Of course people acknowledge it was a performance. Everyone in this fandom acknowledges that it’s good business sense to stay in the closet and maximize your fanbase before you cut the cord. But then, I argue, Reputation was playing the game on hard mode, it was a bit of a flop (sorry!), she switched gears and started contemplating the next era very fast, and we are probably about to get another performance, another continuance of the game, with things being concealed from us just like they were in the previous era. Everyone always wants that candid, natural era from Taylor and we were so smug thinking we were the only ones getting it.

Let’s walk back a little. Taylor always, always responds to criticism. They doubted her songwriting credentials, so she wrote an album solo. They called her a sugary country princess so she lost the accent, wrote a few pop anthems for Red, just for kicks, and did highly glam performances of them with no guitar in sight. They called her conservative and unfeminist so for the next album she debuted a glam squad and her public narrative was about friendship, her against the world, her against the haters who don’t want her to write about her feelings. She wrote Blank Space as an indictment of her public image (and, as Gaylors have probably correctly read, the narrative she pulls transparently with all public boyfriends), and people freaking loved it, and part of the reason why she keeps referencing it even into the Lover era is because she has never been so loved and lauded. But make no mistake, I’ve been on Tumblr since 2010 and people wrote first posts about how they shouldn’t be called out for liking Taylor Swift long before Taylor Swift started writing about being called out for BEING Taylor Swift. She has always responded to what we want to hear. Yes, her art is for herself as well as for others but Taylor wants to be an iconic popstar. Art is just a part of being an iconic popstar.

Flash back to the Rep era. The media was bad, so they get nothing. People were mean and used things on her social media, boom, wiped. There is no explanation, just Reputation. The sound is dark and she’s an edgy princess and she admits her faults and candidly writes all about a broad-shouldered love that helps her hold on - but no juicy details and pap pics. Looks like an abject refusal to play the game. But if you look again, it just looks like a response to all the criticism. Taylor, stop calling all your friends and the paps every time you go out to get milk - fine, you get next to zero pics. Taylor, stop exploiting your dating life for fame and having pictures taken every time you fly a jet to a famous boyfriend to sit on his lap - fine, I’m dating an unknown, we only hold hands, and I have broken up with two boyfriends in the meantime but will only write one relationship narrative song for both of them. Taylor, don’t play the victim when we know you’re a powerful popstar who plays the feud game sometimes - Look At How You Made Me Do Something Bad. The old Taylor you hated is dead - the new Taylor is both edgy enough to kill her and conscious enough to write this line making fun of herself. And those are not the only lines where she’s sarcastic and high drama either.

She Did All Of That, created some iconic imagery, and pretty soon she was able to see that it wasn’t really landing the way 1989 did. She gambled everything on a carefully planned (but still abbreviated) tour, won the gamble, landed on her feet, pulled some other cool artistic and political moves, got bolder with the wlw messages... but she started conceptualizing the next era very early on, at least visually, and we keep getting visual proof of that. I think Taylor wanted to reframe who she was even back in 2018, as abbreviated as the era was it was a long time to keep playing the snake Taylor character. It was the last album she wouldn’t own full rights to. I also think that it was a long time to keep portraying a cohesive narrative that wasn’t really all that true anymore. I think Karlie and her broke up for good around the time of the release, and had some serious arguments probably around the time Taylor disappeared, but even if you don’t and think they are still together, one can argue that Rep didn’t have a lot of space for all the angst Taylor was feeling. People say there’s even too many songs about how she got cancelled - but they mostly focus on the media and the Kardashians, with some shoutouts to false friends, and all quickly erased by “I have a hot partner so F U”. There’s not a lot about the pain you feel when you get rejected like that, including by your own fans, not a lot about fears for her career, not a lot about other things we know she went through, like being stalked and her mom’s cancer. Rep conceals as much as it reveals, and she probably wanted to write about these emotions as soon as she processed them a little better - hence the “really sad songs” we will hear on Lover.

One of the reasons why Rep just didn’t land is because “pop is dead” and people look elsewhere but the big pure pop girls for popular music. Every big pop girls latest era is either years away in the past or her most recent phase is an experimental or edgy one. The new sounds flirt with rap and trap, productions are minimal. Taylor’s Rep phase is also a part of that. The big girls try to play the game, but no one wants to hear Katy or Taylor doing Lorde, people want to hear new artists. Even Ariana, an old school maximalist who only barely adapted to this new era by being close to r’n’b from the start, is wearing a cute minimal uniform, writing in low caps and putting out trap-inspired songs. But the pop press has been talking about being bored of it for a long time. I think Taylor is seeing this opportunity for the tide to turn, has seen it since 2018, wants to be ahead of the curve and will put out a colorful maxi pop album about unabashed positivity, being who you are and celebrating others being who they are (ME!, as a first single of this era, blatantly points in this direction, just like every other Taylor first single pointed at the rest of the era), fighting for what’s right, processing your unhealthy feelings.

But will she come out? I don’t know, because this is still playing the game - it’s just that the game and the cultural moment aligns with what Taylor wants to write right now. Listen, I’m an older millenial just like Taylor and I am tired of edgy characters, dark spaces and the color gray. Maybe she is too. Maybe this time we’re getting full radical honesty from her. But it is likely that it’s not, and that it’s too soon to unleash everything that Taylor is into the world. Get ready for that possibility as well. Maybe the rainbow messaging will only remain as what it is right now - activism for others, and a little wink.