#But yeah will elaborate more in a separate post sometime in the future

[ell-arts]

Does Hell and Heaven exist in your pmatga aus? If so, does the Netherworld count as it's own version of Hell or is it a separate thing?

If they're all separate things in your aus I'd be hocked! I'd love to see your interpretations of them!

I was writing a whole-ass essay to this question when I realised that I was drawing it out unnecessarily 😅 SO I've decided to rather move the bulk of what I wanted to write into a separate post that focuses on my headcanons for the Netherworld and its reason for being.

So, short answer:

Heaven and hell do exist in most of my PMATGA written work, but they are separate from the Netherworld, in which the Nether acts as a border between eternal life and eternal death. The Nether is where ghosts go when they are not at peace and remain in limbo (or have unfinished business, so to say.)

This is not comparable to the concept of purgatory though, nor could the Nether be considered an equivalent of hell, even though it may have similarities. The Netherworld doesn't qualify for the rules and definitions of purgatory, nor does it portray the same amount of suffering that you would find in hell. But I'll elaborate more in that future post about headcanons for the Netherworld.

On the other hand, I also feel a bit inclined to headcanon that the Netherworld is not the type of 'afterlife' that we think of when we think of heaven and hell - rather, I wonder if the Nether is just a different dimension entirely, and the only way to access it is either through portals or through an abnormal separation of one's body and soul (like bodystripping) in which a person's soul is trapped in a different dimension (Netherworld) while it's body remains unconscious in the former dimension (Pacworld).

So, to sum it up, I hc that Pacworlders do believe in a heaven and a hell, but the Netherworld is a separate realm that comes prior to any sort of final/eternal afterlife.

#ask #pmatga #pacman and the ghostly adventures #This whole thing falls into a grey area for me #You can't headcanon or speculate about the Netherworld without referencing religion - where the concept of heaven and hell comes into play #And as a Christian I'm very careful about bringing in real-world beliefs and putting them in fictional portrayals of said beliefs #Because it may accidentally fall into a case where those beliefs are misrepresented and stigmatized #because of its inclusion in a fictional piece of media #Not necessarily because of a lack of awareness on the author's part #but for lack of awareness on the reader's part #For example: if ppl think that the Nether is just like purgatory then they'll have a misguided idea of what purgatory actually is #But yeah will elaborate more in a separate post sometime in the future

[willowworkswithwords]

Steve receives love the way he gives it and doesn’t know what to do with himself.

so i was going through my drafts folder because i'm thinking it's time to dip my foot back into the fic writing pool, and I found this collection of snippets and ideas that all stemmed from this post from @rogueddie. I thought about maybe elaborating on some of these, but I also wanted to share because I really enjoyed this idea. I also think I may have posted about this a long while back, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the whole thing.

-Future -> uses a pen like a sorta-stylus to hit each of his computer keys sometimes. Eddie figures out it’s because the keys don’t have enough physical separation between them (they’re so shallow) and it sometimes messes with his eyes [is this a feasible vision issue he might have??] so Eddie buys him an “old fashioned” keyboard with the big keys, one of the big colorful trendy ones.

-Eddie and Wayne keep the foods he like, foods he’ll always eat no matter what. Eddie notices that he’ll never ask for any special foods when Wayne makes the grocery list (when he moves in with them) so he starts being sneaky and goes on a recon mission a.k.a. asking Robin, Nancy, and the kids what he likes. Since Steve also loves to cook, Eddie looks through his cookbooks and recipe box and finds the ones with notes on them and him and Wayne practice how to make them

“Hey Wayne?”

“Yeah?” Wayne calls from the couch, beer in hand and the game on.

Steve steps out from the kitchen, box of tea in hand.

“Where’d this come from?”

Wayne doesn’t turn around.

“What is it?”

“Uh, the tea?”

“Picked that up for you the other day, since you were saying you like it better than coffee sometimes.”

“Yeah but… you and Eddie don’t like tea?”

He doesn’t know why he says it like a question.

Wayne tilts his head against the back of the couch, craning it to look at Steve in a way that’s so reminiscent of Eddie it makes Steve smile a little.

“You do, though.”

-Right before Steve moves in, when he’s an anxious mess because his parents are coming back but he doesn’t realize he’s anxious for that reason, he starts hiding little bits of his stuff in the trailer, mostly in Eddie’s room and around the kitchen. This puzzles Eddie but Wayne thinks it’s like Steve’s trying to expel his energy in a not-so-productive way, though there are worse ways. So, Wayne starts asking Steve to help more around the house, but especially with repairs bc they found out that Steve knew a lot about repair.

Steve’s been around a lot. Wayne sees his pile of folded bedding tucked behind the couch, and sometimes he sees the Beemer leaving the trailer park as he comes up the road from the plant. During daylight hours, when Steve comes by to help Eddie or brings the kids over or stays for dinner, he shows almost no signs of anything being wrong.

But Wayne is a combat veteran. It’s been a long time for him, but he hasn’t forgotten, and he never will. He knows his nephew went through war, and that Steve was right alongside him. From what Wayne has gathered, Steve had been in that war for a few years, and had been dealing with the ups-and-downs for two years before Eddie ever knew about it.

It hurts Wayne deeply, to see the children (because that’s what they are—as he and all his comrades had been) endure the aftermath. So he sees when Steve flinches, when he clenches his fists, when he holds his breath and makes himself breathe evenly.

Tonight is the least in-control he’s ever seen Steve.

He’s over for dinner again. All three of them are in the living room, a baseball game on, much to Eddie’s long-suffering sighs.

-Steve will make his opinion known about arbitrary stuff like movies and music, but if it’s been a Bad Day or a Bad Time, and he does, and Eddie reacts to it in a way Steve sees as criticism, he will then defer everything to Eddie to a frustrating degree. Eddie finds out that when it comes to their relationship, not any other relationship Steve has, Steve is extremely afraid of screwing it up so he thinks that means he should let Eddie call all the shots.

-Eddie memorizes Steve’s orders at restaurants

-Eddie sews Steve’s clothes without Steve ever realizing

The sun is just peaking through the windows of the trailer on a Thursday morning when Eddie gets to work. Steve, when exhausted, will sleep through just about anything, and the week had been a long one. Eddie had the opposite problem, finding little respite even curled around Steve. So, the early morning found him gathering up Steve’s clothes and taking them out to the front porch of the trailer.

Already out there on the side table was his sewing kit, spools of thread and thimbles neat and ready. Already out there on the couch was Wayne, sipping his morning post-work coffee and looking out over the misty park.

Without a word, Eddie settled onto his end of the couch, knees pulled up, and grabbed one of Steve’s jeans. There was a rip along the inseam, and Eddie took to it with steady persistence. After the jeans were shirts and three sweatshirts. Stitch after stitch after stitch, and soon Steve wasn’t left with a single hole in all his wardrobe.

“He still hasn’t figured it out yet?” Wayne asks, grinning into his coffee.

“Nope. I’ve almost convinced him of the existence of brownies.”

Wayne barks a laugh and Eddie smiles down at the last rip he’s fixing, laughing with his uncle. Steve has been with them for a month and is just now finally easing up, finally letting them both in—for the big and small. Noticing Steve get frustrated with all the holes in his clothes was the least Eddie could do for him, and if it warms him from the inside out when Steve excitedly rustles through his pile of clothes and realizes they’re all perfectly wearable, well. That was just a plus.

-Eddie compliments Steve on his personality and who he is more than what he does, because especially in the first couple years after Vecna, while both of their bodies are still healing, Steve feels a lot of guilt about not being able to do all the things he used to be able to do to the same degree. Even once he’s healed and starts being able to be physical like he used to, Eddie knows Steve equates his value with his service, and tries to help him realize that he is so much more.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #wayne munson #wayne munson is a good uncle #wayne munson cares very much about eddie and about steve #wayne munson is an excellent ally #and excellent uncle #eddie loves steve so much #and he tries so hard to help steve see that #acts of service #speaking in your partner's love language #speaking other people's love languages as the secret sixth love language #willow writes #my fic #willow talks

[periwinkla]

1-4 ending JP -> ENG comparison

Keep in mind: -Notes are in small text -The / is meant to separate paragraphs (I'll use it when it gets too visually messy) Disclaimer : I only studied Japanese for a little while. AA dialogue is pretty simple though. Also English isn't my native language either. Feel free to correct me on anything wrong here. Also note that I'm not trying to make the translations sound natural, I'm mostly trying to explain what the words are saying, sometimes I'll be more literal than others. Translation =/= localization.

Phoenix 終わったな、御剣‥‥。 Owatta na, Mitsurugi... So, it's finally over, Edgeworth.

Edgeworth ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … 成歩堂。 Naruhodou. Wright.

Phoenix ん？ N? Yeah?

Edgeworth: ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … ‥‥その‥‥、 なんと言えばいいのか‥‥。 ...Sono... nan to ieba ii no ka... I… I'm not sure how to say this.

Maya そういうときはね。 “ありがとう”って言うんだよ！ Sou iu toki wa ne. "Arigatou" tte iun da yo! I know! I know! Try "thank you."

Edgeworth そ、そうなのか。 So, Sou na no ka. I… I see.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

あ、ありがとう、成歩堂。 A, Arigatou, Naruhodou. Th-thank you, Wright.

Phoenix ど、どういたしまして。 Do, douitashimashite. Y-you're welcome. They sound fairly stiff here. Phoenix's response isn't exactly formal by Japanese standards... I'd say it's casual/formal, but the stuttering makes it stiffer, I feel. Also compared to how they behave in 3-5, I think it's very different. Will elaborate in a future post when I get to analyze that dialogue.

Maya うーん‥‥イマイチ、 ハリアイがないなあ‥‥。 Uun... imaichi, hariai ga nai naa.. I think you could have done better than that!

Edgeworth ム‥‥スマン。 こういうの、ニガテで‥‥。 Mu... Suman. Kouiu no, nigate de... Oof! S-sorry… I'm not good at this sort of thing.

Maya もう！　ダメだなあ、御剣検事は。 Mou! Dame da naa, Mitsurugi Kenji wa. You got a lot to learn, Edgeworth!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yareyare...) (Dear, dear…) (this is not at all important but I noticed it's an expression Phoenix uses a lot: yare yare...)

Gumshoe うおおおおおおおおおおおおおっ！ Uoooooooooooooh! Whoooooooooooooop!

さすがッス！　自分が見込んだ だけのコトはあったッス！ Sasuga ssu! Jibun ga mikonda dake no koto wa atta ssu! Amazing, pal! You pulled through just like I thought you would!

糸鋸　圭介。この恩は一生、 わすれないッス！ Itonoko Keisuke. Kono on wa isshou, wasurenai ssu! I'll never forget this! I owe you one, pal.

今夜は、パーッとやるッス！ 自分がゴチソウするッス！ Kon'ya wa, paa tto yaru ssu! Jibun ga gochisou suru ssu! And tonight, let's party! Dinner's on me!

今月から給料がちょっぴり 下がったッスが、気にしねッス！ Kongetsu kara kyuuryou ga choppiri sagatta ssu ga, ki ni shine ssu! Yeah, my salary went down a bit this month… But who cares!

Maya ほらほらほら、御剣検事。 イトノコ刑事を見ならうの！ Hora hora hora, Mitsurugi Kenji. Itonoko Keiji wo minarau no! See, Mr. Edgeworth? You should take a lesson from Detective Gumshoe!

あんな感じにやると、カンシャの キモチが伝わるんだよ！ Anna kanji ni yaru to, kansha no kimochi ga tsutawarun da yo! That's how you say "thank you"!

Edgeworth ‥‥ム。 な‥‥なるほど。 ...Mu. Na.... Naruhodo. Mmm. I… I see. Note how he basically says Wright's butchered JP name, which is a pun for the game (it means 'I see' / 'I understand') but it also means that the gap between them is somewhat getting narrower. It could just be for comic relief, but...note that when he attempts to thank him the first time, he calls out to him with 'Naruhodou', but now on his second attempt he says 'Naruhodo' before trying to thank him. Unfortunately the subtletly and ambiguity of this cannot be localized. By the way, he also uses 'Naruhodo' before the final trial in T&T, will elaborate on in at a later date. (I don't know whether there are other times other than these two, I haven't analyzed enough transcripts yet)

コホン。 Gohon. ahem

う、うおおおおおおおおおっ！ U, Uooooooooh! Whooooooooooooop! This is, and I'm completely serious here, one of my most favourite scenes. Note the difference between Edgeworth's and Gumshoe's shouts: in the JP, 4 'O's are missing in Edgeworth's shout, while in ENG, 1 'O' is missing - the localization was careful enough to add that tiny difference, and although I am not sure why they reduced it to one single 'O', it's still interesting they differentiated them all the same.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

ダメだ。‥‥ヤッパリ、 私なんか‥‥。 Dame da. ...Yappari, Watashi nanka... I… I feel foolish. literal translation: No, that's not right. As I thought, / someone like me... *'someone like me...' : the underlying message seems to be: 'As I thought, something like this/acting like this wouldn't fit someone like me'

Maya まあまあ、少しずつ 慣れていきましょうよ。 Maa maa, sukoshi zutsu narete ikimashou yo. Don't worry. Take it a little at a time. You'll get used to it.

more literal translation: Come on, come on, little by little / let's get used to it! It seems to me Maya says it in a way to mean something like they'll do it together, so he shouldn't worry - implying he's not alone (anymore), again Japanese can be subtle so I'm not sure, but considering Maya's empathic character, I'd say that's what she meant. In any case, she's trying to encourage him. Very sweet! Phoenix （こんなスナオな御剣を 　見るの、１５年ぶりだな‥‥） (Konna sunao na Mitsurugi o miru no, juugo-nen buri da na...) (It's been fifteen years since I've seen Edgeworth this… unguarded.)

more literal translation: It's been 15 years... since I've seen Edgeworth (act) this honest (with his feelings)... Phoenix is saying that it's been a long time since he's seen Edgeworth be honest/sincere with his feelings/upfront with his feelings. The localization gets the meaning across very nicely. Lotta おっ、いたいた！ O, ita ita! Hey, y'all!

Maya あ、ナツミさん！ A, Natsumi-san! Lotta!

Lotta いやー、アンタら。 カッコよかったでー。 Iya, antara. Kakkoyokatta de. Y'all were great in there!

Phoenix ありがとうございます。 Arigatou gozaimasu. Thank you!

Lotta おッ。ニイちゃん。 無罪、おめでと！ Oo, Niichan. Muzai, omedetou! Yo, Edgeworth! Congrats!

Edgeworth ム‥‥お、おおきに。 Mu... o, ookini. Er… thank y'all very much. ookini = 'thank you a lot' in Kansai dialect (which is the dialect Lotta uses) I find it adorably funny that first he tries to imitate Gumshoe to thank people and now he's trying Lotta's ways...

Lotta ウチには、最初から わかってたんやで！ Uchi ni wa, saisho kara wakattetan ya de! I knew you were innocent from the start, of course.

あんたが無罪だ、ってなあ！ Anta ga muzai da, tte naa! Just look at you! You wouldn't stick your hand in the cookie jar even if no one was there! The ENG adds a lot here which wasn't in the original. in the JP, she basically only says: 'From the start, / I knew! / That you were innocent!!' (I think this is mostly done to convey Lotta's character, since the dialect wouldn't have been enough here to convey that I believe)

Edgeworth ‥‥たしか、初日の 検察側の証人だったような‥‥。 ...Tashika, shonichi no kensatsu-gawa no shounin datta you na... You… were the witness on the first day of the trial, weren't you.

Lotta まま。まあまあ。 細かいこと、気にしなさんな！ Ma ma. Maa maa. Komakai koto, ki ni shinasan na! Yeah, well, let bygones be bygones, eh?

Phoenix そういえば、ナツミさん‥‥、 今は、何を‥‥？ Sou ieba, Natsumi-san..., Ima wa, nani o...? Speaking of which, what are you doing now, Lotta?

Lotta おー、今か？ 大学にもどったで。 Oo, ima ka? Daigaku ni modotta de. Who, me? Aww, I went back to college.

スクープカメラマンになる夢は、 もうオシマイや。 Sukūpu kameraman ni naru yume wa, mō oshimai ya. I gave up trying to be an investigative photographer pretty quick.

Phoenix そうなんですか‥‥。 Sou nan desu ka... Really? That's too bad.

Lotta あれ？ Are? Huh?

Phoenix ？ ?

Lotta あそこにいるの、公園の マンジュウ屋、ちゃうか？ Asoko ni iru no, kōen no manjū-ya, chau ka? Isn't that the hotdog guy from the park?

Phoenix ‥‥え？ ...E? Huh?

Larry ‥‥死ぬんだぁ‥‥。 ...Shinun daa... It's over, Nick! My life is over!

Phoenix な、なんでおまえが そんなカオしてるんだよ！ Na, nande omae ga sonna kao shiteru nda yo! Wh-why the sad face, Larry!? What happened now!?

Larry 成歩堂ぉ‥‥。 オレ、そろそろ死ぬからさぁ。 Naruhodouo... Ore, sorosoro shinu kara saa. Oh, Nick… I'm not long for this world. (Just funny how he drags Naruhodou's name out in a wail here.)

Phoenix い、いやいやいや。 I, iya iya iya. Uh… you don't look sick… literally like 'n, nonono' but meaning something more like 'wa, wait wait wait' - it sounds like he's about done with Larry's histrionics and possibly shaking his head in denial...

Larry カズミがよお‥‥パリ 暮らすって言い出して‥‥、 Kazumi ga yoo...Pari kurasu tte iidashite... It's Kiyance! Sh-she's goin' to live in Paris! Paris, Nick!

置いていかれちまったんだよぉぉ！ Oiteikarechimattan da yooo! She's leaving me behind!!!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yare yare...) (Larry, Larry…) I noticed Phoenix uses this expression a lot. It's quite funny to me, reminds me of an old man that is about done with his youngings' shenanigans.

Larry お。御剣。いたのか。 O. Mitsurugi. Ita no ka. Yo, Edgey! There you are!

Edgeworth ム。そりゃまあ、いる。 Mu. Sorya maa, iru. Um, yes, here I am.

Larry おめでとうな、御剣。 ‥‥コレ、オレからのお祝い！ Omedetou na, Mitsurugi. ...Kore, ore kara no oiwai! Congrats, Edgey! Here… a little gift from me in celebration!

Edgeworth “お祝い”？　‥‥めずらしいな。 "Oiwai"? ...Mezurashii na. Celebration? That's unusual for you.

Gumshoe お。アンタも後で来るッス！ ゴチソウするッス！ O. Anta mo ato de kuru ssu! Gochisou suru ssu! Harry Butz! You come along tonight too! My treat, pal!

Larry は、はあ。 楽しみにしてます。 Ha, haa. Tanoshiminishitemasu. Huh? Uh… thanks! Looking forward to it! （オイ、成歩堂） (Oi, Naruhodou) (Yo, yo, Nick!)

（アイツ、オレを取り調べした 　刑事だぜ‥‥） (Aitsu, ore o toriirabeshita keiji da ze...) (That's the suit that questioned me!)

（ゴチソウって、まさか 　カツ丼じゃねえだろうな‥‥） (Gochisōtte, masaka katsudon ja nee darou na...) (When he says treat… that's not police-talk for prison food, right? Right?)

Phoenix そ、それはないと思うぞ。 So, sore wa nai to omou zo. Uh, I think you'll be fine, Larry.

Edgeworth ‥‥成歩堂。 ...Naruhodou. Wright…

Phoenix ん？　どうした？ N? Doushita? Yeah? What's up?

Edgeworth ‥‥金が入っているぞ。 矢張がくれた封筒。 ...Kane ga haitte iru zo. Yahari ga kureta fūtō. That envelope that Larry gave me. It's got money in it.

Phoenix そりゃそうだろ。 “お祝い”だからな。 Sorya sou daro. "Oiwai" dakara na. Well, yeah. That's not that strange. People give money away to celebrate sometimes.

Edgeworth ３８００円だ。 3800 en da. It's $38.00, Wright.

Phoenix ‥‥また、ずいぶんハンパな 金額だな‥‥。 ...Mata, zuibun hanpa na kingaku da na... Huh. What a weird amount. I mean, it's not a little, but it's not a lot either.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

３８００円？ 3800 en? $38.00 exactly?

Maya ‥‥ななな、なるほどくん！ ...Na na na, Naruhodo-kun! N-N-Nick!

小学校のころ、御剣検事が盗まれた 給食費って、たしか‥‥！ Shōgakkō no koro, Mitsurugi-Kenji ga nusumareta kyūshoku-hi tte, tashika...! Wasn't that exactly the amount of lunch money that was stolen from Mr. Edgeworth in school!?

Phoenix さ‥‥３８００円‥‥？ Sa... 3800 en...? $38…!

ままま、まさか‥‥ Ma ma ma, masaka.... No… (I think the shock-induced stuttering in this line might be meant to parallel Maya's previous one. Cute!)

‥‥‥‥まさかああああッ！ 矢張、お前ェェェェッ！ ...Masakaaaaa! Yahari, omaeeee! No!!! Larry, it was you!!! There is a fun pun lost in translation here. Larry's JP name, Yahari, means 'after all/as expected/as I thought' - so Larry's name can be intended both as a vocative and a figure of speech here. "After all, it was you!" = "Larry, it was you!" The phrases basically overlap in JP, as if he were saying them at the same time.

Edgeworth 何をイロめきたっている？ 成歩堂。 Nani o iromekitatte iru? Naruhodou. What are you so surprised about, Wright?

Phoenix え？ E? Huh?

Edgeworth たしかに矢張は、あの日 カゼで学校を休んでいた。 Tashika ni Yahari wa, ano hi Kaze de gakkou wo yasunde ita. Larry was absent that day from school, right?

だが、だからといって 犯人でないという理由にはならん。 Daga, dakara to itte hannin de nai to iu riyuu ni wa naran. But that doesn't automatically rule him out as a suspect.

Phoenix え！ What?

Edgeworth １５年前の、あの日。 15 nen mae no, ano hi. Think back to that day, fifteen years ago.

休んだはいいが、タイクツだった 矢張は、学校に来てみたのだろう。 Yasunda hai ga, taikutsu datta Yahari wa, gakkou ni kite mita no darou. Larry took the day off, but he was bored, he came in to school anyway.

そして、まあ‥‥、ちょっと 手が伸びてしまったんだろうな。 Soshite, maa..., chotto te ga nobite shimatta ndarou na. Then he saw the money lying there… and the rest is history.

Larry 伸びちまったんだろうねえ、 イヤハヤ、これが‥‥。 Nobichimattan darou nee, iyahaya, kore ga... I never was good at History! Heh… The joke is a bit different here, Edgeworth jokes that Larry's hand must have 'stretched out' , but I suppose 'slipped' is more apt. And Larry is like 'Yeah, guess it must have slipped!' The translation would be something like: Edgeworth: And, well, / his hand must have ended up slipping (must have slipped). Larry: Yeah, guess it must have slipped, / eheh, well...

Phoenix ‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

御剣‥‥まさかお前、 ‥‥知ってたのか？ Mitsurugi... Masaka omae, ...Shitteta no ka? Edgeworth… you didn't know, did you?

Edgeworth ‥‥アヤシイとは思っていた。 ...Ayashii to wa omotteita. I suspected.

literal translation: I thought it was suspicious. (I find it endearing that he suspected but didn't say anything - despite how he acts, Edgeworth is really a softie most times, even towards Larry who he has the rightful urge to murder more often than not) いつもの矢張なら、 お前をかばうのはオカシイ。 Itsumo no Yahari nara, Omae o kabau no wa okashii. I just couldn't picture Larry protecting you like he did that day.

みんなといっしょになって、 ここぞとばかり責めたてただろう。 Minna to issho ni natte, Kokozo to bakari semetate daro. Everyone else was saying you did it. The whole class was against you, remember?

Phoenix ‥‥うむむむむ。 ... Umumumumu. Yeah… too well. Phoenix's blabbering is hilarious here. He's in utter denial. Like he's nodding at what he's saying but he's refusing the knowledge to enter his brain.

Edgeworth 成歩堂。もしかしたら お前は知らないかもしれないが、 Naruhodou. Moshikashitara Omae wa shiranai kamoshirenai ga, Wright, you may not know this, but we used to have a saying back in school.

この男は、こう言われていたんだ。 “事件のカゲにヤッパリ矢張”と。 Kono otoko wa, kou iwarete ita nda. "Jiken no kage ni yappari Yabari" to. "When something smells, it's usually the Butz." The saying actually means : 'In the shadow of an incident/trouble, after all, there is Larry' There is the usual pun 'yappari Yahari' so I think the localization of the saying and his name was done very well to render the original meaning.

Phoenix そのコトバなら、イヤというほど 思い知らされてるよ！ Sono kotoba nara, iya to iu hodo omoishirasa reteru yo! I know, I know. I would translate this more to: 'If you're saying that, why didn't you tell me!'

Edgeworth ‥‥いやあ、成歩堂。まさか、 キミが気づいていなかったとは。 ...Iyaa, Naruhodou. Masaka, Kimi ga kizuite inakatta to wa. Really, Wright. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out! '...Why, Wright. It can't be, / you hadn't realized.' This is so funny to me, in both versions. In JP it sounds a bit more teasing and cocky, but still. It sounds like to Edgeworth, shouting objection and reprimanding his classmates and teacher as a 9 year old was no big deal. So he didn't care to mention, thought Phoenix would figure it out. If not, no big deal. To Phoenix, it was life-changing. Phoenix is having a (mid) life crisis.

Larry 意外だねこりゃあ。 Igai da ne koryaa. Well, this is sure an unexpected turn of events, eh?

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth ん？ N? Hmm?

Phoenix 言えよ！ Ieyo! You should have told me! Here it may look like a whole different thing but it's mostly that there is no other natural way to translate this. 'Ieyo' is just the imperative of the verb 'ieru', 'to tell'. It kinda gives the feeling of 'But (then) tell me, dammit!'

Maya まあまあ、なるほどくん。 もう１５年前のコトでしょ？ Maa maa, Naruhodo-kun. Mou juugo-nen mae no koto desho? Now, now, Nick. It was fifteen years ago!

これって“じこう”ってヤツ だよね？　御剣検事。 Kore tte "jikou" tte yatsu da yo ne? Mitsurugi Kenji. Don't you think the "statute of limitations" has run out, Mr. Edgeworth?

Edgeworth そういうこと、だな。 Souiu koto, da na. I'd say so, yes.

Larry そういうことだよ。 Souiu koto da yo. There you have it! In JP version, I found it funny how Larry parrots Edgeworth's words. 'Souiu koto' means 'it's like that'.

Phoenix ‥‥まったく‥‥。 ...Mattaku,,, Grr…

お前らにカンシャして弁護士に なったぼくの立場はどうなるんだ？ Omaera ni kansha shite bengoshi ni natta boku no tachiba wa dou narun da? Where does that leave me!? I became a defense attorney because of what you two did!

Edgeworth 感動的なまでのお人よし、 といったところだろうか。 Kandō-teki na made no o-hito yoshi, to itta tokoro darou ka. Well, I'd call you a goody-two-shoes to the extreme.

Larry とんだお調子モノ、とも 言えるよナ！ Tonda o-chōshimono, tomo ieru yo na! Yeah! And you get worked up too easily, too!

Phoenix し、死刑だ！ コイツを死刑にしてくれェッ！ Shi, shikei da! Koitsu o shikei ni shite kuree! D-death! The death sentence for both of you!

‥‥こんなことなら、 検事になりゃよかったあ！ ...Konna koto nara, kenji ni narya yokattaa! Man, if I only had known, I'd have become a prosecutor!

Edgeworth ‥‥それは私も同じだ。 ...Sore wa watashi mo onaji da. The same goes for me, only the other way around…

“もしかしたら、自分は父親を 撃ってしまったのかもしれない” "Moshikashitara, jibun wa chichioya o utte shimatta no kamoshirenai" For the longest time, I thought that I might have killed my own father. These are provided as literal phrases he thought: 'Could it be, I myself was the one that ended up shooting my father.'

“自分は罪人かもしれない” "Jibun wa zainin kamoshirenai" I thought I might be a criminal. "What if I'm a criminal, myself.'

‥‥私は、そういう自分を 罰する意味もあって検事になった。 …Watashi wa, sou iu jibun o batsu suru imi mo atte kenji ni natta. I became a prosecutor in part to punish myself.

Basically the same, but instead of saying 'in part' he says that was one of the reasons. He says he became a prosecutor for that reason as well (among others), the reason being that of punishing himself. ‥‥こんなことなら、 弁護士になりたかったよ。 ...Konna koto nara, bengoshi ni naritakatta yo. If I had known the truth, I might have become a defense attorney after all. 'If it were like this (if I had known), I would have wished to become a defense attorney.' The way he says it seems way more heartbreaking in Japanese. Naritakatta = wanted to become, which here becomes 'I would have wanted to become' because of context. I translated it as 'would have wished' because it seems more apt here. Naritakatta expresses a desire for something you had wanted in the past. 'I would have gone for being a defense attorney'... It indicates that someone wanted to become or achieve something at some point in the past, but for some reason, they were not able to fulfill that desire.

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth かわるか、成歩堂。 Kawaru ka, Naruhodou. Want to switch, Wright? Says the same thing... and it sounds so resigned in both versions. It's curt, and their conversation ends just like that. Breaks my heart.

#ace attorney #narumitsu #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #wrightworth #aa musings #musings #aa localization

[starmonsterrr]

Introducing: Undertale self-insert #102480124 • (Update 2.1 - Doppelganger Form redesign!)

HELLO PEOPLE

I may have disappeared for a maybe long while

And that is because of 3 reasons:

Ink appreciation server

running @ink-selfship-shenanigans (surprise surprise it's me)

And school just started a week ago (which is more recent but i guess that may have added)

Except there is a 4th one and that is,,,,,,, I MAY have been working on a little Undertale AU,,,,, and then made an OC out of it,,,,

The AU will get it's own post and i'll reveal as much info as needed at the moment to explain who even is this new character that will be one of my faces on this blog (because i'm gonna have 2 OCs representing me. yeah- second one's design is still W.I.P (nevermind this is future me i finished the design but i might make a separate post for it))

And HERE IT COMES

(NOTE: RELY ON DOPPELGANGER FORM REF'S SOUL REF INSTEAD OF THE STAR FORM'S. ALSO THE STAR FORM DESIGN REWORK IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS)

A FURRY. What's cringier (affectionate /gen) than an Undertale self-insert in mid 2023? A FURRY Undertale self-insert that can shapeshift (WOW OP WHAT A MARY SUE) and exists for SELFSHIPPING

YEAH

THAT'S IT

TH- THAT'S THE CREATURE

And speaking of selfshipping if you scroll in my blog for a bit you might notice that i very much like Ink

and also reminder that I run a blog that has the purpose of feeding Ink simps

So uh I think you get what i'm trying to say

It might take me a little while (or until i get asks about it) for me to open up about the selfship shenanigans, but meanwhile, here are some bits of explanations and stuff!

which AU is this menace from?

OuterRenaissance. It's still being fleshed out (asks would help a lot), and I plan to later on make an outcode expanded version, and even have some basic stuff for that version. But in simple words it's Outertale but in addition of the space themes, i added themes of the Renaissance historical period, as it brought great advances to science; including astronomy!

what the flop is a star-born monster????

I have a post explaining exactly this!

(also, Io can shapeshift out of this appearance because shapeshifting powers)

Backstory???

Its AU died (destroyed by Error), and it almost did too, but i possessed it and fused my soul over time with its own using my creator powers and it is now technically a walking corpse puppeteered by me so I can interact with the UTMV, while also forcing it to change its form into the Doppelganger form; giving it the ability to, well, shapeshift. Also ink snas selfship shenanigans i haven't properly written yet (yooo two walking corpses that love eachother!!!!!1!!!1). that's the fewest words i can put it in

IS THAT A 'THE STARRY NIGHT' REFERENCE???

Yes. Yes it is. and fun fact: the ship between Io and Ink is named exactly that. The Starry Night. how clever of me, i should get a prize

Does it have a personality?

Yup. I just don't know how to describe personalities, but here's an attempt at that.

Io is a passionate artist, but struggles with some degree of perfectionism driven by the pride of its art skills which are, by far, its best ability. It also tends to be (sometimes dangerously) kind-hearted at others. It might act one of two ways in social spaces: kind of awkward, not talking much, OR ABSOLUTE MENACE as in SUPER SILLY. No in-between.

Also, it is a quick learner, and could be considered quite intelligent. Thing is ... It carried over speech from the Renaissance time period and is still adapting to modern words. A bit of an overthinker too, which can lead to communication issues, and tends to plan elaborate strategies to perform the simplest of things...sometimes not even following them.

Pronouns/gender identity?

Io, like me, goes by it/its pronouns and identifies as non-binary! (Subject to change as I occasionally explore my gender identity)

And here's some trivia to finish this off!

Io, due to being puppeteered by me; a Creator, also has the powers of one, but either doesn't use the powers at all or uses them in subtle ways to try and steer things to its/my favour. It may sometimes disguise it as "art magic" shown in these doodles i made a bit ago:

also. autism. i'm autistic and because i take control of this critter i'm dragging it into the spectrum.

And I think that's everything that comes to mind right now! Thank you for listening to this bunch of rambling that i did not beta read prior to posting.

#cringe warning: undertale (multiverse) self insert made for self-shipping and also potentially a mary sue #Also reminder that the block button exists #i don't care about cringe anymore #just wanna have fun #corv rambles about lore #corv's OCs #one mention of OuterRenaissance so like #because it's like one or two mentions i'm not really tagging it as an Undertale AU #undertale au #i lied #Corv's OuterRenaissance mentions #Corv's OuterRenaissance #undertale au oc #undertale oc #utmv oc #original character #oc

[fluffveebee]

aughgh i cant find any kincall blogs so i will just post a post like the cringe little FUCK i am. anyway hi i’m donnie rottmnt. looking for sourcemates in general honestly BUT. i do have multiple timelines im on the lookout for canonmates for. ill leave tiny little descriptions under here for those and you can feel free to dm me here or on discord @ hot topic#8405

main/canon compliant but not really: memories line up pretty much the same as canon except for a few things. ages were a tad different but almost the same i can elaborate privately as that’d be simpler. raph was plural/a system. april and i were qpps (and april and sunita were lesbian dating). post movie i fought in the battle nexus for a while, in exchange for a cloaking brooch from big mama. timeline fuckery led to my brothers and i remembering some things from casey’s future. i mostly got memories in bad moments of dissociation or in dreams. casey stayed in our time and was adopted by the o’neil’s. i was kinda a stoner lowkey. there’s more but i wont leave them here you can dm me separation au: yeah basically exactly how it looks. raph still grew up with splinter just as an only child. i was raised by draxum, mikey by big mama, leo in the foot clan, etc etc. basically we were all traumatized. draxum called me three and i called my brothers by their numbers for a long while after i met them (raph one, leo two, mikey four). draxum did experiments on me sometimes . update: ive found my two/leo for this one leo fucking dies au: uh yeah leo fucking died in the prison dimension i dont remember much else yet. other than i built a robot clone of him. and raph was not. happy with that

#kincall #canon call #fictionkin #rise of the tmnt kin #rottmnt kin #donatello kin #im too lazy to tag more than that

[thiscrimsonsoul]

11. describe your ideal outcome/endgame for the muse you are currently writing. if you are a multimuse blog: do this for your current favorite muse, or the muse of the last reply you posted. 12. what roleplay trends do you remember from the year you started tumblr rp? how did you feel about those trends?

1. describe your ideal outcome/endgame for the muse you are currently writing. if you are a multimuse blog: do this for your current favorite muse, or the muse of the last reply you posted.

Already answered here, but I can add something to that. Something I didn't mention in my last post was that I would like her to have more closure with Vision. Not just closure with her idea of Vision, with Westview Vision... but closure with actual Vision, Spectral Vision. That doesn't mean they get back together or that it would necessarily be happy closure. In fact, I see it being quite sad and maybe possibly even antagonistic. But I would be very upset if they never met again, because I think part of Wanda's healing process needs to include facing what Vision has become every bit as much as facing what she's become herself. Ideally, I would want them to meet at least one more time, and have that conversation of... here's where we're both at right now, here's what we each want, here's what the past means, and given that, where do we intend our separate futures to go from here? I don't see them ever getting back together, but I need them to at least have that uncomfortable conversation, because there is so much there that is still open, raw, unsaid, and unresolved between them.

12. what roleplay trends do you remember from the year you started tumblr rp? how did you feel about those trends?

Omg, so... I started rping on this site back in 2014 (Ned and Ygritte from GoT), and I barely knew what rp even was on this site, how to go about it, what I needed to do. I fell into it by accident, lol. I had fan blogs for those two characters, and apparently the way I had them set up, people thought they were rp blogs. So someone just started rping with me by sending something into my ask box, and instead of saying I wasn't an rp blog, I was like... you know what? Yeah. Sure. I'll do this. XD And it was really fun.

But that tells me something about the rpc back then. It was so light, casual, and forgiving. People had rules pages, I remember, but otherwise they were so chill and so kind to each other. It was okay if you didn't have an official rp blog. It was okay if you didn't use fonts and formatting and icons. It was okay to reblog memes from each other. It was okay if you didn't have elaborate rules or a triggers list. And people didn't have these like... angry sort of... "here are all the people/muses/blogs/FCs I absolutely won't interact with" and "here are all the reasons I'll block you instantly" tirades posted in their blogs basic info. Nowadays the vast majority of new blogs that I look at to see if I want to interact with start off so hateful and off-putting that I wonder why they're rping at all, because it seems like they just don't want to interact with people. Like they're automatically, before we even talk, so defensive and ready to block, ready to argue, ready to just hash it out and have drama. Back in 2014, it was like... do you want to write? Really? So do I! Okay, let's start! And that was it. It was that simple, and the hobby was a lot more inviting and inclusive rather than being so elitist and exclusionary sometimes. I feel like people focused more on the muses, the writing, and the storylines rather than on their personal drama and on sniping at each other, and I miss that atmosphere. The lack of tension and toxicity in the rpc is something I definitely miss.

#{ out of paprikash } ᵒᵒᶜ

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers (March 3rd, 2021)

Here’s our latest batch of anon ask answers! Thanks for waiting for them.

Will there be a 'Our Life' game for each season? Please say we're getting a winter one! 

As of right now we’re only planning on making two, summer and fall. They take quite a while to finish and we’re not sure where we’ll be when the second OL is truly wrapped up. But it’s not impossible we can do a third. Though, four Our Life games is probably not super likely, honestly, aha. Maybe the third game, if we make one, could be switch between winter and spring or something.

What engine/engines do you use to make your games? 

We use Renpy for all our projects!

For version 1.2 of OL, did you make any changes to the DLC? If so, could you post a changelog detailing what exactly (or at least a general overview)? If it's not too much trouble, could you also elaborate on the bugs/errors you fixed in the base game? 

There aren’t really any changes to the DLCs, except for the voiced name DLC getting an expansion. We fixed very few small typos and added a couple extra lines. Unfortunately, we don’t have a list of exactly what all the little fixes were.

I've been playing OL and I love the characters! As soon as Baxter showed up, I knew I wanted to learn more about him! Would you consider adding him as a prospective LI in the future? 

Yep, Baxter (and Derek) will be getting his own romance story as an optional DLC late in 2021! Glad you like him.

Hellooo! First off I'm a huge fan of the game and can't stop playing it. However, I was wondering about how much domestic life with Cove we'll get to see in step 4. Meaning the time before the wedding and the time after. In my game Cove and I talked about having children and I was hoping that would be an option in step 4. Either way, I cannot wait for the release and I send my best to everyone working on the production :) thanks! 

I’m sorry, there’s no children or scenes after the two are married. There’s sort of endless possibilities for what that future could be like, so we unfortunately can’t depict it. You only get scenes before they’re married and, if you get the wedding DLC, you can see the day they get married. It ends there, though. But thank you for the well-wishes!

Hello! I was just wondering, so step 4 is going to be similiar to the prologue/epilogue scenes of the game. Is the Wedding DLC going to be one long scene too or will that have moments? (I love the game by the way, its ruined all other visual novels for me in the most wonderful way <3 ) 

Yeah, Step 4 and the wedding DLC will be like the prologues/summer ended parts of the game. There won’t be separate Moments you can play in any order. I’m really happy you like the game so much!

You said that the OL MC's birthday can't be in summer, but what if you headcanoned it to be? 

You can headcanon it as being in summer! There just aren’t birthday events in the game even if you do know your MC was born in summer. We had to leave those out, since some people might not want their MC to be born in summer and then they’d miss out on extra birthday scenes because of it. It wouldn’t have been fair.

Hello!😺 I absolutely love your game!😻 I can't wait for DLS with Derek and Baxter. And I wonder if Baxter could have seen Cove and MC at the party during their first failed dance? Or is Baxter only paying attention to who he's dancing with, or is he not dancing with anyone at the soiree at all then? 

Baxter isn’t really paying attention to the couples on the floor. He’s just cruising the outskirts for someone available to dance with him. So he doesn’t get any memories of the MC or Cove at that party if the two just dance with each other. It’s great to hear you like the game!

time-wise/step-wise when does the nsfw dlc take place? 

It’s not super strict in terms of an exact of weeks/months, but generally it’s sometime not long after the end of Step 3.

Heya! I'm currently obsessed with Our Life (I played through the entire game on Valentine's Day, hahaha– ha... hah), and I have one silly question: if I start playing Step 3 with the less... "romantically inclined" interest levels (Fond & Disinterest), is there still a chance of getting a romantic ending with Cove? Can Cove and the MC realize "they're the one for me" in just one summer? Or... are confessions off the table completely unless at least at Crush level? Thank you in advance! 

So happy you’re having fun with it! In OL1 deciding that Cove is your friend means he’s truly only a friend. You can’t decide you have a crush partway through. But we are considering doing things differently in future games.

hey i have some questions about our life

a) is there a way to be friends with that mean bowlcut kid or is he always... like tha

b. what is coves ethnicity?

A. He is always like that, haha. At least as a kid, he does grow up to be different~

B. Cove’s mom Kyra is white, but Cliff’s race doesn’t come up and players are able to headcanon it. So Cove is half white and half whatever you prefer Cliff to be. 

how do you get to the two mc cut-in scenes from the new update?

&

Hiii! I'm doing another playthrough (it's only like my 100th time playing through the entire game) after the 1.2 update, and I was wondering how to get the new art? I also really love all the new stuff, thank you for working so hard and creating such a wonderful game :)

You can check our our CG guide on Steam for that! Thank you for the kind words.

Sorry to bother you, but I have a question about the Patreon moment. Will there be initiative settings there too? And if there aren't, will the MC lead the whole thing or will Cove lead at certain points too? Thank you~ 

There will still be flexibly in what you’re comfortable with and whether you want Cove to automatically do things or for choices to always be involved :]. And you don’t need to apologize!

Hello!! I wanted to ask a couple of questions about Our Life:

1. Will we able to buy all the DLC via Steam or will there be some of them only available in Patreon? Just to know if I should create a Patreon user XD

2. Will Our Life: Now and Forever be about the current MC, Cove and the other characters or will it be a game with a New MC, new romantic options and new characters?

1. There will be a Patreon-only NSFW bonus Moment. But all the normal planned DLCs will release on Steam.

2. Our Life: Now & Forever is about new characters- new MC, new family, new LI, etc.

just some small bug I noticed: even if you didn't ask Cove to dance, if he asks you at the Soiree in Step 2 later and you say yes to dancing, the MC acts like they got to dance with Cove again even if it was the first time. 

Thank you for the report on that! We thought it was fixed, but I guess it didn’t work.

I was messing around with the new update and I noticed that all the hands in the firefly CGs have the same skin tone regardless of what you put in, (with the exception of the really dark skin color) is this a glitch or something? 

The skin tones aren’t the same. It’s just because they’re out at night with only fireflies for light that it makes each image look dark and therefore similar. But if you line them up together it’s clear how there are changes in every option.

How long did it take to plan out and write the story for OL? Not including the programming, art stuff, or the DLC chapters, I mean just planning and writing the base game story alone. The base game story seems hefty as is, and then on top of that there's the changes to scenes depending on MC's and Cove's personalities and relationship, I'm curious how long that took 

It took basically the full development time, aha. I’m someone who doesn’t fully outline a project before start and instead continues to come up with stuff as a project progresses. There were new parts to the story being created right up to near the launch. So, starting in 2016 or so to later 2020, with some breaks/hold-ups throughout that time.

Hello! I'm really, really enjoying Our Life: Beginning and Always, it was the kind of sweet, wholesome content I needed during these past months. I had a quick question, will you be making any female characters for the MC to romance? In this game or any others like it? I'm a lesbian and I'd love to have a female love interest with such well written romance as yours! Thank you so much. 

Thank you for the nice comment! Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t have a female LI since we didn’t want to treat other gender options as second fiddle to the male lead. But we have just started full production on Our Life: Now & Forever, which will have a starring female LI! There’s a silhouette glimpse of her Step 1 self here~

-------------------------------------------------

Thanks everyone for sending the questions :D

FAQ   If you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Bl

#our life #Our Life Beginnings & Always #ask #gb patch #gb patch games #long post #Our Life: Now & Forever

[true-blue-sonic]

if you were in charge creating a story for a Silver game, what would it be about?

Thank you for asking this, I was thinking about it in-depthly literally yesterday!

So, I know Shadow the Hedgehog the game is not all that well-liked, especially due to it's complicated and often entirely contradictory mission structure, BUT. What I have in mind for Silver's game is something similar; you start out with a bad future (think '06 levels of bad), and very basically you travel back in time with Silver to undo it, with cool psychic powers plus hijinks and shenanigans aplenty from Sonic and friends along the way.

More elaboratedly, I can envision that you can play in both the future and the past, where you need to go on missions/search for info in the future in order to find out what happened exactly. You then take that info with you to the past to change things, hopefully for the better. I'd say there's maybe 5 endings:

one where everything is destroyed

one similar to Archie post-reboot where there's a society but the people are suppressed and exploited and the world is ruined

a slightly better one where people are free but the world still suffers from e.g. pollution and other such issues

one that's basically just the past

and then the best future wherein everyone can be happy and people and technology work together to make the place better for everyone (Sonic CD good futures basically)

Depending on your actions during the game and how much Silver has influenced the past, you get one of the endings. Perhaps like in BotW you can fight the final boss or at least finish the game whenever you want, in order to be able to achieve any ending but not needing to go through all of them to get to the best one (so far I haven't yet thought of if I want a true separate golden ending like ShtH has or not).

As for what happened to ruin the future in the first place, maybe Eggman pulled a Forces and managed to destroy the world entirely? I literally just thought up that we could have a Super Silver ending then as he fights to defeat Eggman, that'd be awesome👀👀 So yeah, the plot perhaps is not all that elaborate, but I don't think it's necessary (or encourage it, even; sometimes simpler plots are better and more engaging) for Silver to have his own fun game!

#silver the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #I’ve also been mulling over whether this should be an origin story for Silver or not #since allegedly Rivals is considered not canon by SoJ #and now Silver has never met Sonic and co before #though of course the golden ending would then get retconned immediately #since he comes back in later games from a ruined future #and I don’t want that for him!! I want his world to be saved and happy! #this game would be quite different from usual Sonic games but that’s okay #Silver is not Sonic after all and he plays entirely differently also #I’d say a high-speed adventure doesn’t suit him much I’d rather have something more fitting #but yeah I hope you like this it was fun to think of them ^-^

[bitter-sweet-coffee]

Henlo! I'm curious what your fave Sonic character(s) is ^^ and do you have any headcanons for them?

oh boy! okay i'm going to do my best to answer this but i have been in this fandom forever and could write a dissertation on just like,,, one character. so instead i'll sparknote some cute things about my top 4 and if you want to hear a more elaborate response i can do separate posts for each of them! it was hard enough to pick a couple characters since i love them all 😊

1) espio the chameleon

i love this little purple man so much oh my god. for starters, i'd like to think he isn't as serious as a lot of people make him out to be. yeah he seems chill but let's be real, he's arrogant and i love every second of it! he definitely radiates hot topic vibes but we're talking ronnie radke, hollywood undead vibes. definitely an e-boy but not in the fake alt way, he just radiates soft-grunge vibes? he's bisexual with a male lean and definitely dated mighty at some point, but i personally ship him with wave (more on that in a second!) his best friend is silver (i ship them too tbh) but his friends are rouge and shadow for the most part. he's the character closest to shadow (personality wise, not emotional proximity) and i adore their interactions in shadow's game so i sorta ship them too...? ahhh this is supposed to be about headcanons! anyways, i think he's fun to be around and has a thing for people with good stories to tell: wave about the past, silver about the future, and rouge/shadow with the present as agents. i think the cooperation between the chaotix detective agency and GUN is something people should write more often! oh, and he likes green tea boba ✨

2) wave the swallow

god, she made me realize i like girls and i still absolutely adore her. it was taken down but at one point years ago, her birthday was listed as november 11th which makes her a scorpio, and as a fellow scorpio i stand by it! she's also definitely bi but with a female lean, and her best friend/occasional partner is rouge. they remind me of maddy and cassie from euphoria, but wave isn't as bitter as maddy ofc. i feel like people forget that storm and jet are pretty damn incompetent without her, she literally does everything for them and that's a big nod to her people pleasing. yeah she's arrogant, but she's not wrong in being self absorbed because she keeps things running! she radiates hayley kiyoko, p!nk, 100gecs, and paramore vibes. she's a baddie but a softie! i think her and espio would be amazing together (even platonically) because he loves learning and debates, and she has a lot to say and needs someone to respond, as opposed to zoning out. i feel like she could be a famous rollerskater on tiktok or something, and would have her own line of custom gear! she might be cold and competitive, but she's really sweet and just has no way of expressing it... poor girl. i think her and sonic could be amazing friends, and i'd love to see more art of them being pals and going on adventures together!

3. shadow the hedgehog

hehehehehe oh boy, as the current love interest of my fixation character, shadow is getting more attention than usual these days! i always liked him but my fave boy and girl were espio and wave for the longest time, so finally getting to fixate on shadow is great for me! shadow is neurodivergent, basically in canon. his memory issues are both trauma related and just a part of his programming. something that i admire about espio and shadow being friends is that the former loves authority and doesn't need it, but the latter despises it but needs it. shadow was created to obey, and so even if GUN wrongs him a thousand times, he needs them. it's why he keeps going back to eggman, and helps sonic when asked. shadow might not admit it, but he has a saviour complex! although i agree that with modern music he'd listen to like mcr and pierce the veil etc, i think he'd also resonate with sex pistols and other music from the decades he missed while in stasis (footloose is probably one of his fave movies just because of the killer soundtrack!) he loves flowers and does his best to take care of plants, has nervous tics, and the reason his quills turn upwards is because of all the chaos energy he has! super sonic's quills turn up when transformed, and shadow is constantly tapped into that energy: even with inhibitors it's a lot to manage. shadow also loves reading, and i think his favourite book would be The Wars by Timothy Findley (amazing read, please check it out because it reminds me so much of Shadow oh my god)

4. INFINITE!!!

okay i have to keep this one short but he is currently my favourite character, and i could talk about him forever. i know SEGA claims his real name is Infinite, but i headcanon that in the village he came from he wasn't given a name because he was considered a burden and a curse (due to his heterochromia and other reasons). for me he was called araperi or ara (nothing/no in Georgian) because they only referred to him via negative reinforcement. the scar on his eye is because either he or another jackal tried to claw it out when he was little because it made him an outcast and he wanted to belong. he only started school when he was in highschool and never really learned how to read english (i base a lot of his village lore around Georgia and my experiences with Georgian culture- even though my culture was erased when i got adopted lol). he only learned english through musical theatre, and is fluent but not very literate in english (can't read or write very well). he radiates younger sibling vibes so i headcanon that he has 4 older sisters who all treated him pretty bad on varying levels. after a year or two of highschool he ran away with some friends and after meeting more nomads, squad jackal was eventually formed! infinite (or finn as i sometimes call him) was definitely into theatre (his favourite musical being sweeney todd) and he's an AMAZING singer, acting too (which is sorta canon because he adopted shadow's personality and fighting style after their first encounter and rehearsed a whole monologue lmao). his singing voice sounds like clem turner's but with a bit more rasp, probably because i feel like he'd listen to bring me the horizon and kim dracula! infinite is actually a big puppy once he likes you, he's just secretly awkward and insecure as hell (maybe the last part isn't a secret, haha)

wow, this was longer than expected and i feel like i hardly said anything, but this is sorta where i'm at with these four! i could talk about them forever though, so feel free to ask follow ups or request a full post for them, any ships i mentioned (or didn't) or if you want a post about anyone else!

#infinite the jackal #sonic analysis #wave the swallow #espio the chameleon #shadow the hedgehog #i love them so much #asks open #thank you for this

[dukeofonions]

Duke Gets Personal

So I’ve been doing a bit of thinking lately (dangerous I know) since the last Asides and I’ve come to this conclusion: I miss enjoying this series. 

(This gets long and is just a mess of feelings and thoughts so sorry in advance)

I miss analyzing videos and the characters, I miss looking at theories and coming up with my own, I miss getting excited for future episodes. I really wanted to stop enjoying it and move on to something else, but then this flipping video dropped and I just loved it.

This is the first time I’ve just genuinely loved and enjoyed an episode since Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts, the one where I stayed up until almost 2 or 3 in the morning to watch even though I had work the next day. 

The videos that followed just didn’t really do it for me, and the whole concept of Asides didn’t help either since it’s purpose seemed to have been lost with the first episode. Heck, I hesitated to call this last one an Asides just because it feels like it should have been a main episode.

That combined with the waits (especially after Putting Others First) also killed a lot of my engagement with the series. I’ve said before that POF felt like it was set up to lead directly to the finale, only for Asides to be crammed in and forcing us to wait longer for the conclusion to that episode, and season two as a whole.

I’ve said countless times how Asides has messed with the flow of the original series, with the complete tonal whiplash that was Flirting With Social Anxiety being the follow up to POF, and how the introduction of Nico completely undid everything that happened (at least to Roman) at the end of POF by having things suddenly be happy and good between him and Thomas.

I’ve said that certain moments (like seeing Virgil having to face Thomas again after his confession) were ruined by the Asides as well since we don’t get to see them happen in the main series and tend to be, well, brushed aside.

And you know, to an extent, I still see Asides as completely unnecessary and it feels like it was thrown in at the last second because they forgot they wanted to add a love interest to the plot so had to find some way to do it without disrupting the flow of the main series but ended up doing so anyway and so far all these Asides could just be regular episodes because they were apparently necessary to have before the season finale despite Asides being a relatively new concept so why would we have to have them before the season finale unless you were planning to go this route the whole time so why bother making a “separate” series in the first place when you were just going to be telling the same story anyway???

Sorry for the run on sentence but it felt like the best way to describe my confusion.

But to summarize, the last episode clearly shows that things are being set up for the finale. Everyone is reaching their breaking point and clearly, everything is not as fine and dandy as I initially thought the series was implying. And it’s here that I get to the actual reason of this little post.

The thing is, I’ve been jumping to conclusions about the series and making judgments about it as if I have the complete picture when, that’s not even remotely true.

Like this episode clearly showed that things are being put into place, and there is more thought to the story and characters going on than I initially gave them credit for. Sure, there are things I still don’t like, but I’m starting to come to the realization that I just need to wait and see where things go before jumping to judge something I don’t even have yet.

And part of that is because I do want things to get better. Like take Virgil for instance. I hate how he’s been written lately because it feels like all his negative actions just get excused and the show never addresses how harmful some of the things he says and the solutions to dealing with him (I’m glaring at you Embarrassing Phases) aren’t actually good or healthy at all and maybe I’ll elaborate on that later. 

But my point is that I need to see these things be resolved and for them to get better. It feels like all these characters flipping hate each other right now and it’s exhausting to see them like this. I just want them to work things out and start on the road to getting better because my gosh I just want them to feel like a family again. 

And I understand that story-wise it makes sense as to why they’re all so prickly with each other but y’all, Virgil’s been mad at Patton for who-knows-what for awhile now and we still don’t have a conclusion to that and again, I think the waits are a problem when it comes to this series because things get left unresolved for months, or even years, only for an episode to finally drop and the issue is never even brought up because those characters are completely absent.

And that’s why the Asides bug me so much because they initially promised something (less angsty content that we’d get more frequently between the heavier longer episodes) that we never ended up getting and it gets treated like a joke. 

Like I understand that so far the main thing that separates Asides from Sanders Sides is that they tend to be filmed in a different format, but is that really enough to count it as a separate series when it’s existence is deemed necessary for the series you’ve already been working on for awhile now?

I dunno, I loved this episode, I genuinely did and I’ve loved seeing people pick it apart and analyze it because there’s so much to unpack with it. And just from a technical standpoint, my inner film lover was geeking out at the use of camera angles, lighting, music, all of it.

And since I loved it so much it started to make me wonder if I’ve been being too harsh on the series, and even Thomas and the team in general. Most of my thoughts have come through assumptions made, and my own personal feelings, towards Thomas and the team, and I’ve realized that yeah, I have been harsh. And honestly, a bit unfair.

I’m not saying I don’t still have my own personal issues with them all, but a lot of the things I’ve said have just been, well, assumptions. Especially in regards to how much care and planning actually goes into this series. With all the details put into this last episode, how could they not have been planning things out?

Now part of me is hesitant to let my guard down in regards to how this series will go due to a number of things. One of them being that this could probably be the last episode that Joan had any input in, and personal feelings towards them aside you couldn’t deny that they had so much passion and love for the series. And it makes me wonder if future videos will be better, worse, or even the same without them.

Another thing is, again, the waits for videos. I still don’t understand why Thomas’s content in general takes so long to make, especially the unscripted videos which are fairly simple in terms of their content, so why do they take months to come out? And with everything they’ve talked about wanting to do or are planning to do, it makes me wonder if anything will ever get done due to them not seeming to be able to find a way to make their videos faster.

Like I don’t know if it’s an issue with finding people to work on videos, or them continuing to make things more difficult than they need to be, or maybe them just not working as much as they say, or a combination of multiple things. But again, I don’t know if any of that is the case.

All we have is Thomas’s word and the end product when it does finally come out. And yeah, this last video was really good in terms of the production, but there are still some things about it that make me feel iffy about certain aspects of the series that could come in the future, but this post is already getting longer than I intended for it to be so I’m just gonna wrap things up here.

On one hand, I don’t want to get my hopes up all the way due to one video that exceeded my expectations (which I had zero expectations to begin with) when the rest of the series could end up going downhill. On the other hand, I want to let myself try and enjoy the series again and find things to love about it instead of constantly focusing on the negatives.

Negatives that, technically, aren’t even real negatives to begin with.

So what does this mean for my blog? Well like I said, I still have some issues with the series and other things that I’m not gonna push aside (I use that word a lot don’t I?) just because of one video. However, I’m going to try and stop making harsh conclusions about the series before I’ve gotten the whole picture.

And of course, my blog is still open to anyone that has their gripes with the series because that’s what it’s for. Even if we don’t agree I like to get other perspectives from people and a lot of y’all really do bring up some good points. And the last thing I’m gonna do is turn around and start saying that y’all are wrong for feeling a certain way about the series.

This is all personal here. How I’ve been thinking and feeling in regards to what I’ve been personally saying. And you know what? This could all completely change by the time the next episode finally comes out because who knows what could happen between now and then?

When you’re presented with a new perspective or new information, sometimes you’re just bound to change your own and that’s just the way it goes. 

I’m probably going to start delving into the fandom and series again. Maybe write a fic or two or just some simple analysis. I do have one passion project of mine that’s been in the works for awhile and I’m finally getting closer to making it a real thing so I’m excited about that.

But I also really wanna start branching out into other media as well. Talk about movies or shows that I like, dislike, or have some kind of connection to. Whatever it is, I just wanna start having fun again, in whatever form that takes. 

So, yeah. That’s the long and short of it. 

I am gonna make an actual post talking about the video because oh boy there’s a lot to unpack with that one. But this has been pressing on my mind quite a bit since the episode and I just needed to get my thoughts out. If y’all stuck around to this point I’m sorry for the emotional spiel, and I’m also sorry if anything I’ve ever said has made anyone feel bad or ashamed for liking the series because really, there’s a lot to love about it and I don’t want people to think they shouldn’t like it just because of what some random person thinks.

I mean heck, I love movies and shows that are considered “bad” by most and who cares? As long as it’s not my family hating on the things I love than I don’t care. 

*laughs in family issues*

Alright, gonna atually close this out now so... see y’all and hope y’all are going okay.

#dukeofannouncements #long post #should have titled this duke gets personal #guess i still could but eh #oh okay i did

[arsenic-posts-shit]

~+Golden Hours+~ (A Mondo Oowada Fanfiction)

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting a fanfiction. It was mostly directed at myself but I’m posting it to see if anyone likes it! Reblogs are appreciate but please do not repost. If you guys like it I’m currently making some more!

_~+Golden Hours+~_

-+During the golden hours of late summer was the best time to set up camp on a hillside with your best friend. The cool breeze blowing through the marigolds and lavender. Though it can sometimes… give off mixed signals, if you don’t necessarily see your best friend in the “right” light. At this hour, it makes it that much harder. The clouds slowly drifted from left to right as the sun began to set by the horizon, the water reflecting and showing a beautiful gold. The colors made you feel warm on the inside, no matter the temperature outside. As the clock ticked internally, time continued to slowly pass by 4. Then 5. At one point, I even forgot he was there. I don’t know how that was possible with how radiant he is, but somehow it had happened. One glance was all it took to fall in love. That was where I was at fault. With both of us going through so many heartbreaks, even without any relationship experience, how would it work? How could he ever like a simple person like me, even in such a beautiful time and beautiful hour? God knows. I sure don’t. He may just tolerate me. But for now, those feelings can be placed aside. I gently raise my drink.

“A toast to us.”

I had said. I carefully turned my head, making sure to avoid the luscious flowers surrounding the two of us. He quietly chuckled.

“A toast? Seriously?” I snickered.

“Yeah? Why not?” He shook his head, smiling softly. He must think I sound stupid. My voice must sound so unpleasant.

“You’re not the toast type. Is it someone’s birthday or something?” My head turned back to the clouds. The sky was turning a bit dim near the top.

“No. Just wanted to make this moment a bit more memorable. Meaningful.” He hummed in understanding. My eyes drifted shut for a moment as I focused on the slightly chilled breeze. Fall would be approaching soon. Then Winter. Maybe we could share a blanket in front of a fire with some hot chocolate sometime then. I could only hope.

“Okay then.” Out of the corner of my eye, his drink lazily raised into the air. “A toast… to us. Would you like to elaborate?” His can slightly turned towards me. Oh god he’s looking at me. The calming feel of the hour helped make it a bit less worrying, but it didn’t help that I hadn’t taken my anxiety medications that morning.

“Nah. I don’t think I do.” He laughed, as it slowly filled the quiet atmosphere around us.

“C’mon. Speech, speech!” I groaned, rolling my eyes towards him. His lavender eyes matched the flowers and perfectly contrasted the sky. It was almost sickening how pretty he was. A sigh escaped my chapped and damaged lips. I had been picking them for years. They’d never be perfect again at this rate.

“Okay, okay. Weirdo… umm…” I thought to myself. How should I word this without making it sound stupid or obvious?... It seemed almost impossible. But a shot had to be taken, because now it had been what felt like way too long. My drink raised in the air, the light reflecting off the edges. The sun was painful to my eyes, no matter how dark they were. “A toast to our friendship. Through all the peril and strife we’ve gone through together, we’ve never faltered. No fights. No quarrels. Just us and our positive feelings.” God, that sounded corny. “And though time moves on, and we grow older, we do it together and have improved along the way. And no matter how we change, as separate beings or as one, I hope we will stay together.” He smiled softly, his crows’ peaks showing his true feelings.

“Amen.” We clinked our beverages, quietly chuckling to each other and sipped as best as we could while laying on our backs. As the sun finally began to set and the sky turned shades of blue and purple, we continued to stay there and chat about everything under the sun. School, our friends, our future jobs, our future lives… The more we talked the more it began to settle in and how I came to realize that I really was in love with him, and there was no way I was going to get out of it. Once the stars began to twinkle in the sky, we packed our things. But we made no effort to leave as we stood, watching the waves slowly crash at the sand down below us. It was low tide now, as high tide had passed hours ago, before we had arrived. Soon we found ourselves sitting on the edge together, bags in our laps. Our food was long ago consumed and empty cans safely tucked in the side pockets of my backpack. Two completely different drinks, yet so close together. Though it had been by force at first, they soon began to accept each other as time dragged on. Now they sat in harmony. Just like us. The wind was beginning to die down, and everything slowly melded together. Soon it was midnight and he had passed out long ago, his heavy head resting in my lap. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Well… physically. If only he’d take a hint. The dense bastard… A quiet sigh escaped my lips as I slowly succumbed to the calming darkness. Though that wasn’t much of a problem, as there was plenty of light from the moon and stars. Even through the occasional cloud, they still shined through. I think that was the best thing about that day. Even though I complained and tried to convince him that I didn’t want to go out, he continued to coax me out and finally persuaded me. And look at that. It was a wonderful night. Hopefully, we can experience more like it soon. As more than just best friends, and as more than the enemies we started out as.+-

#mondo oowada #mondo x reader #mondo oowada x reader #mondo owada x reader #danganronpa #danganronpa1 #danganronpa x reader #mondo owada #thh

[thebluelemontree]

I don't know if you've already answered a similar question, if you have I apologize and will look better for it. But do you think Sandor and Sansa would still love each with how much they've both changed? They've almost become new people, but still the same beings.

It’s no problem. I’ve written about that here and probably touched on this in many other posts. 

I wouldn’t frame the question as would they “still love each other with how much they’ve both changed.” It implies that their feelings were already understood as love by them when they were together. What they had was a confusing mess of conflicting emotions that neither were fully capable of understanding or accepting at the time. Each had their reasons for why that was so, which goes to some of the issues that stood between them. While there is chemistry, intimacy, and empathy shown, IMO, it’s better to think of them as possessing the building blocks that can lead to love in the future.  

On the other hand, there was also:

The fact that she’s too young, immature, and unready for a consummated romance with anyone. She needs space and time to grow up and figure out what she wants. Until AFFC, she’s still only comfortable consciously fantasizing about Loras Tyrell, who is non-threatening, conventionally attractive, and uncomplicated. They are still relatively chaste/borderline erotic fantasies. The unkiss takes time for her to consciously accept and embrace as reciprocated erotic desire.  

The fact that he has no idea how to express himself without resorting to the language of violence that he understands best.

The fact that he copes with the unresolved childhood trauma and PTSD in unhealthy ways like his abrasive Hound persona, his overly-cynical worldview, and sometimes abusing alcohol when he’s under stress.

His immaturity and inability to simply ask for and accept the emotional support he wants (which she was perfectly willing to give) without freaking out over being vulnerable with someone. 

The fact that they are on opposite sides of a war where Sansa’s family is in open rebellion against her captors who Sandor owes fealty to. 

The fact that she’s the king’s betrothed. She’s his property. To explicitly act upon any romantic attraction would be considered treason, punishable by torture and death.  

The fact that there is a massive class disparity between them that overshadows the age difference in their world. That’s one reason why neither can put a name to this thing between them. A future queen / high lord’s daughter from an ancient house should not be fraternizing with a non-knight from a house only three generations old. That’s why they struggle even knowing what to call each other because using first names shows too much familiarity and intimacy. This would be true even without any of the other conflicts. Class controls everything in Westeros. 

And yes, he still owes her a big heartfelt apology for his abhorrent behavior during the Blackwater, and he should beg her forgiveness.  

Most of these points I elaborate on in more detail in the links above. If you notice, though, most of these things have either been resolved or are in the process of being resolved. None of these issues were ever insurmountable obstacles. 

The ways in which Sansa and Sandor have evolved even in their separation has been largely positive and complementary of each other. They haven’t grown apart or become incompatibly different at all. If anything, it’s pushed their feelings further along, and it’s clear they are very much on each other’s minds. Since we can see Sansa’s perspective firsthand, she’s only thought about Sandor more since he left.  

Sansa has grown and matured a lot more when we see her in the TWOW sample chapter. Had the five-year gap panned out, she would be legally an adult in Westeros; however, dropping it doesn’t seem to have affected GRRM’s intentions for any of his POVs. She’s in the company of unconventional, sexually mature women in their early twenties who can be role models in navigating adult relationships. The sassy way she takes no shit from a brutally honest Harrold Hardyng shows she has confidence and the ability to go toe-to-toe with Sandor’s gruff personality without getting flustered and running away. After she wipes the floor with him with her wit, she ends up winning Harry over to the point he’s begging for her favor. There is no point in the sample chapter where she voices any anxieties about not feeling ready for marriage, sex, or children. This no longer seems to be an issue for her, so we can assume she feels okay with having an adult relationship at this point.   

Her time as a bastard girl has made her warmer and friendlier. She was always kind, but proprieties and courtesies can also read as aloof and re-enforcing strict class boundaries. Can you imagine Kings Landing!Sansa hugging someone like Lothor Brune, a landless knight, as she does in TWOW? Or preferring the company of a sex-positive widow who enjoys taking lovers or a bastard girl over the “perfect sister” she saw in Margaery Tyrell and her cousins? Hell no. That would never happen. This new Sansa lacks those prejudices and is openly affectionate towards people she was raised to keep at arm’s length. Once she loosened up and stopped reciting courtesies, people actually got to know her and like her for who she is. That’s what Sandor always wanted from her, right? To drop the courtesies and flattering bullshit and just be a real person with him, not a talking parrot. While that criticism was harsh and rudely put, it had a lot of truth to it. It seems to have made Sansa into a happier person and more in touch with her authentic self. Now that she has accepted in Feast that she wanted Sandor like that, what is there to stop her from acting on it later?

The Quiet Isle didn’t exist before Feast. It was written for Sandor to recover and rehabilitate. Not just physically, but he’s getting what constitutes psychological counseling and a treatment plan that deals directly with his worst traits. He appears to meet with the Elder Brother often enough because the latter seems to know quite a bit about Sandor’s backstory, what his issues are, and exactly who Sansa Stark is. The rest of the time, he must observe the no talking rule and do meaningful work as a novice. This man, who once flaunted his contempt for those who couldn’t defend themselves as weak and deserving of death, is put to work digging graves for the innocent victims of violence. All day long, he has to look at the faces of men, women, and children killed by evil men with that philosophy. One brother even yells at him for carelessly tossing dirt around with the shovel, and he silently takes it. No smart ass backtalk. In the evening, he has to serve food and clear plates for men he would have once mocked. They’re men of faith, they’ve renounced violence, and Sandor sits lower in status than them. To Sandor’s credit, he humbly submits to all this in a show of respect and humility. It’s like he wants to learn these lessons they are offering and is allowing himself to be schooled. Now Sandor may always be Sandor on some level (if Stranger kicking down the stable doors and refusing to be gelded is any indication). Still, it does look like he’s become a gentler, healthier, and sober version of himself. The only part of Sandor that Sansa rejected was the Hound, and it’s both stated in the text and by George himself that the Hound is dead. Period. And yeah, it seems like Sandor is in a place where he is unlikely to backslide into old behavior, and he can make that heartfelt and necessary apology to Sansa. I don't think Sandor could ever be okay with moving their relationship forward without making amends first. It wouldn't sit right with his sense of remorse and personal responsibility, which is a good thing. 

All these changes are for the better for them as individuals and as a possible future couple. Contrary to your ask, I would say a positive, fully-fledged romance with "HEA" potential wouldn’t be possible or believable without all the growth and changes they've undergone. When they reunite, they can do so on more equal footing. 

Not that there aren’t more conflicts to overcome. They both are currently wanted fugitives for murders they didn’t commit, so they both need to clear their names and reclaim their true identities. There is still the matter of Sansa’s marital status as Tyrion isn’t dead but their marriage was also unconsummated. She could try to have her marriage officially annulled by the Faith somehow, but to do that, she’ll have to take the risk of revealing her true identity. Again, these don’t seem like plots that won’t be resolved anyway at some point. What about that class divide though? Well, the Starks aren’t like Tywin or Cersei, and they actually value things like faithful service. No reason why Sandor couldn’t be awarded a lordship and lands in gratitude for saving the lives of both Arya and Sansa. I’m just sayin’.  

#valyrianscrolls #sansan meta #sansan #sansa stark #sandor clegane #asoiaf meta #my meta #future romance #asoiaf characterization #twow spec #asoiaf spec

[zeppelin-and-unicorns]

A Donna Pinciotti character study (and how I write her on my stories)

I'm apologizing in advance, this is too big, I talk a lot.

Someone sent me an ask a week ago asking why I write Donna as a nice character, and that inspired me to make a specific post about my thoughts on the characters and how I choose to write them on my published stories, more specifically, in Rock You Like a Hurricane and When The Levee Breaks. So here we go.

I love all the main 6 characters, not equally, everyone has a favorite, but in the end, they all have a very special place in my heart.

Out of the six characters, Jackie and Eric are my favorites. I have trouble writing Eric, but I really love him, I don’t get why he gets so much hate, he’s such a good person. They are followed very closely by Hyde, I relate to Hyde a lot, and honestly I love writing him. I think Hyde and Jackie are deep characters, with lots and lots of layers, and I love exploring them.

They are all complex characters with distinct personalities, each one has their specific storyline, and they all have their little quirks. They are not perfect, they have defects and qualities just like any other human being.

This post is about Donna, but I plan on making separate posts for each character later. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts.

Let's start off, shall we?

Donna was my favorite character, until I started season 4. One of the things that bothered me the most on the show was how much Donna's character regressed after her first break up with Eric.

Donna is a very likeable character in the earlier seasons, she's independent, determined, passionate about the things she loves, cares deeply about her friends, among other things. What I particularly loved the most about Donna, was how progressive she was for a teenage girl living in the 70s.

She and Eric were a sweet couple, and their love was pure. Their break up at the end of season 3 was heartbreaking, but it was very in character for me. Donna always wanted to be a strong, independent woman, and Eric was trying to tie her down. And while I could understand Eric's reasons, Donna also had a pretty strong point. I do believe things could have been solved with proper communication, but they were teenagers and these things happen.

After their breakup, both Donna and Eric acted immature, but after Donna's mom left, she... well, she's changed. And not for better. There's this one episode from season 4 that really upsets me. Right after Midge left, Donna slept with Eric, and Eric was really happy afterwards, he thought they were back together, but Donna had absolutely no intention of getting back together with him, in fact, she said "she would've done it with anyone". She used Eric in that episode, she should’ve been clear to him about her intentions, I get that her mom left and that she was sad, but that was kind of cruel of her and I felt really bad for Eric.

That's one of Donna's flaws: whenever she's going through something, she becomes this selfish person, too wrapped up in herself to focus on anyone else's problems. She refuses help and she acts up, showing really self-destructive behaviors (like purposely failing school, smoking cigarettes, dating Casey Kelso, etc). Donna’s kind of a hypocrite, she doesn’t like when people tell her she’s wrong about something. She also doesn't care about anyone other than herself when she's angry or sad, a clear example of that was running away to California with her best friend's boyfriend, because she was feeling humiliated about being rejected by Eric. That was a pretty shitty thing to do, Jackie did not deserve that.

In fact, Jackie did not deserve many of the things Donna did to her, but to me, Donna’s worst offence was to side up with Kelso during all the times he was an asshole to Jackie (yes, that includes when Jackie started to date Hyde).

As a self-proclaimed feminist, Donna should’ve been more empathetic towards Jackie. She should’ve told Jackie about Kelso and Laurie, she should have discouraged Jackie to get back together with Kelso on season 3 (everyone knew how toxic they were, even Hyde tried to stop them from getting together again in his own way - by breaking that egg - but Donna actually encouraged Kelso and seemed rather amused with the situation), she shouldn’t have shown her boobs to her best friend’s boyfriend on episode 4x20, she shouldn’t have ran away with her best friend’s boyfriend without even thinking about Jackie’s feelings, she should’ve supported Hyde and Jackie’s relationship from the beginning, she should’ve called Kelso out on his hypocrisy towards Jackie and Hyde on season 5, she should’ve been there for Jackie - without judging her - when her mother came back. She should have been a better friend to Jackie in general, Jackie was bitchy and kind of annoying, but she was a good person, and she was always there for Donna when she needed it.

Jackie was supposed to be the bitchy one with a huge ego, but Donna slowly took her crown. To me, in later seasons, Donna was worse than Jackie from season one - season one Jackie was a bitch, but she was also innocent, and she didn't know better, Donna did, and she loved calling Jackie out on her behavior. I'll elaborate more on that when I write Jackie’s essay. 

And (I’m afraid people are going to judge me for this one) Donna should’ve been a better girlfriend to Eric. People always say that Donna was too good for Eric, and well... I disagree.

In the first three seasons, Donna and Eric’s relationship was healthy, they were cute together, and you could see how much they loved each other. But they got back together in California and didn't even talk about why they broke up in the first place. They just ignored it and pretended it never happened. Like, wtf? And then out of nowhere Eric proposes and she says yes? She hadn't accepted his promise ring less than a year before, and now she accepted an engagement ring? I’m sorry, but that was very OOC to me. The reason why they broke up was that she didn’t want to make such a big promise because they were sill young, and then they just get engaged when they’re still in high school? That’s bad writing to me.

Their relationship in season 5 was okay, their engagement didn’t make any sense, but overall, they treated each other well and were in love.

Then Red had his heart attack and Donna decided to postpone college so she could be with Eric. Another thing that didn’t make sense to me. Donna basically threw away her whole future in order to be with Eric in season 6 and 7, and they broke up in season 3 because she didn't want that for herself. It’s just… well, shitty writing.

After she stayed for Eric, their relationship changed, at least from what I could tell. And then all the episodes had the same storyline for Eric and Donna: Eric does something stupid, Donna overreacts, Eric spends the day kissing her ass to make up for it, in the end she forgives him and it’s always the same thing “Donna, I’m a dumbass, you’re too good for me, I’m sorry” and bla bla bla. It’s a freaking cycle, and it only gets worse after Eric leaves her at the altar.

Eric was a good person and a good boyfriend, he had his flaws, but overall, he was a decent guy, he shouldn’t feel inferior to Donna. She mocked him for liking the things he did (Star Wars, Styx, roller disco), and often acted like she was too good for him, a good girlfriend is supposed to support her boyfriend in whatever makes him happy, not force him to quit something because she thought it was too girly.

(For example, when Hyde was going to work at the muffler shop with Red, Jackie didn’t like that idea, but she supported him anyways, she said “If it makes you happy then, I’m happy”. Donna wasn’t very supportive of Eric’s choices, the roller disco thing is a great example, I mean, yeah, it was girly, but he liked it, so she should’ve supported him).

In my opinion, Donna and Eric’s relationship on seasons 6 and 7 wasn’t a healthy one.

I’m not even going to mention Donna’s actions on season 8. To me, they were unforgivable, that’s why I totally understand why people write her like a bitch on post season 8 stories. But hey, everyone was acting OOC in season 8, that’s why I tend to ignore its existence most of the time.

In Donna’s defense though... That was mainly bad writing. I believe that the real Donna would’ve been more empathetic towards Jackie, she would’ve called Kelso on his crap, and she would’ve actually talked to Eric about their problems. She also would have gone to college, she and Eric could make distance work.

Up until season 4 we could see that the writers were actually developing a storyline for Donna. She was bitchy in season 4, but her parents had just got divorced, she and Eric had broken up, her mom left... Her life changed a lot, it’s understandable why she acted out, the writers knew what they were doing then, at least in the character development part, but then season 5 started and Donna was a whole different person.

I don’t know if I’m making any sense in this essay, I have trouble expressing myself sometimes because english is not my first language, but basically, to me, the writers stopped caring about Donna’s character development by season 5 and I’ll always be bitter about that. 

A clear example of character development is Jackie, Kelso and Hyde. They grew and matured over the seasons, Donna didn’t, not really, if compared to them. It's incredibly sad to see most of the characters growing and genuinely being better people, while Donna was just… being there.

Donna had her good moments, as I’ve mentioned before, Donna has qualities, plenty of them by the way. She’s passionate about the things she loves, she wants the best for her friends, she’s determined, she has a kind heart.

One of my favorite scenes from the show is when Jackie asked Donna to help her not to fall into Kelso’s “charm” again, when he was trying to grow a beard. Donna was an amazing friend in that episode, it really made me smile. Donna had some really good moments with Jackie. I wish she valued them more, but I blame that on the writers and their need to put women against each other for “comedy”.

The Donna I write on my stories is based on the Donna from the earlier seasons, it’s a Donna who still has her flaws, but she pushes her pride aside when she recognizes she's wrong and apologizes, she doesn't see Jackie as her competition, she sees her as a friend who she loves very much, and wants the best for her.

When The Levee Breaks Donna is the real Donna, at least how I think the real Donna actually is. After Eric sent her that letter, she recognized that she gave up too much for him during their relationship, and that she wasn't being herself by doing so, so she decided to no longer wait for him and be her own woman, that's why she moved to Chicago. No one is worth giving up her dreams for, not even the love of her life. 

She loves Jackie and wants the best for her, that's why she encourages Jackie to move to Chicago with her, and she also wants to make up for the times she wasn't the friend she deserved. Donna recognized how wrong she was by siding with Kelso, and admitted that she took Jackie's friendship for granted. 

This Donna lost all the respect she had for Hyde when he came back from Vegas, to her, that wasn't the same Hyde she grew up with (she wasn't wrong), and she wasn't going to stay quiet and let him destroy himself (and Jackie). She stepped up, and tried to shove some sense into Hyde's head before leaving with Jackie, but Hyde can really be an ass when he wants to, so she gave up and punched him, that was the last time she saw him until he got his head out of his ass and went to visit them at Chicago after New Years.

Donna was heartbroken, but she refused to dwell on it and tried her best to move on with her life. She's at the top of her class at college, she's trying to be there for Jackie (who wasn't doing so good when they first moved in) and she tried to date someone else. 

Turns out that you can't really date someone if you're still in love with your ex, so that didn't work out very well for her, but it helped her realize that what she felt for Eric was real, and that it wasn't going away anytime soon.

In Chicago, Donna and Jackie formed a strong bond, they were friends before, but Chicago kind of made them sisters. During those 6 months they've spent living together, Donna developed very strong protective instincts towards Jackie, especially after Jackie opened up about her childhood with her mother. She saw Jackie struggling every day, she saw how often Jackie cried over the things that happened in Point Place, and she started to understand her friend better.

Donna's protective instincts kicked in when Hyde and Eric showed up in Chicago, but they softened after she talked to Hyde and realized that he was being genuine. She was still pissed at him, but she could see that he was suffering a lot, so in the end, she just wanted to see Jackie and Hyde being happy again.

Her feelings with Eric were conflicting, she loved him very much, and she was aware of that, she got tired of denying to herself, but that didn't erase the hurt of their past. After a long talk, she and Eric agree to start things again, but she makes it very clear that she's not giving up her future for him anymore.

One of my favorite Donna quotes on my story is:

"Eric, I don't need you in my life. But I want you in my life, I really, really do."

So basically, that's how I write Donna in WTLB, she still has her flaws, but she's overall a good person and a good friend.

Rock You Like a Hurricane Donna is not so different from WTLB Donna, she's still protective of Jackie, but not for the reasons WTLB Donna is.

Donna and Jackie grew up together in RYLH, no Eric, no Hyde, no Kelso, just the two of them, and I believe that had a significant impact on both of their personalities.

Donna and Jackie first met in school, and became best friends after Donna beat up a kid who was trying to bully Jackie. Donna and Jackie both had no friends - Jackie was new in school, and Donna was new in town - so they started to play together and basically became glued by the hip.

The fact that she didn't grow up as "one of the boys'' changed Donna's personality a bit. Not too much, we still love a lumberjacky Donna thank you very much, but her behavior around Eric and the rest of the boys is sheepish if compared to her behavior around the entire gang on the show.

That changes after a while, she starts to get comfortable around everyone after a few months.

Growing up with Jackie had an impact on her, not a bad one. Donna's way less judgemental, and she's not a hypocrite, at least not like she was portrayed on the show. Jackie calls Donna out on her bullshit, and Donna does the same for her, they make each other better and they would kill for each other.

Donna's also not afraid of showing her girly side every once in a while, and she and Jackie support each other on their interests. As shown in some chapters, Donna sometimes even watches Jackie's cheerleading practices, and she's always there to support her in the games.

Jackie encourages Donna to write on a daily basis. She always loved reading Donna's short stories, she claims that if Donna ever writes a book, she has to write a character based on her, preferably, a princess.

They have a healthy friendship in both of my stories, it's how it should've been on the show.

That’s all, I guess. If you actually read this, please feel free to give me your opinion about Donna too, I would love to hear it!

I’m posting Jackie’s character study sometime soon. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

#that '70s show #that 70s show #rock you like a hurricane #donna pinciotti #character study #when the levee breaks

[gunnerpalace]

YoruIchiRuki (Neapolitan Ice Cream) AUs & Headcanons

(Art by @371am​, used with permission and originally posted here; if you like it, please go show your appreciation!)

INTRODUCTION & CONTINUITIES

YoruIchiRuki, or variously YIR, The Idiots, or Neapolitan Ice Cream (so named because Yoruichi: chocolate, Ichigo: strawberry, Rukia: vanilla) is my AU-only OT3 of choice, and I’m here to talk about their major AUs and my headcanons for them! Most of the notes I have are from discussions some years ago with @sequencefairy (Jess), although many other people have contributed as well and I will try to point them out as and when possible. If you find this post interesting, please give me your feedback!

As YIR is explicitly AU-only (because it doesn’t really make any sense at all in anything even really remotely resembling “canonical” Bleach) it’s probably prudent to go over its contexts first. The major AUs are as follows:

Grounded! Modern Continuity - What might be called the “prime” YIR continuity, Grounded! is the original timeline, set in a No Powers, Human, and Modern alternate-history in which Japan colonized the West Coast of North America. Rukia, Yoruichi, and Ichigo are drawn together in a series of comic (yet sometimes angsty) circumstances in the midst of the worst snowstorm in ages, and become entangled going forward. Its revised outline can be seen here, its namesake fic here, and other fics set in its timeline here (with two more associated fics here and here). I am attempting to get back to continuing the main fic in the near future.

Western Continuity - Set earlier in the above timeline (but technically in a parallel universe version of it), the as-yet unnamed Western Continuity is intended to be an east-meets-west fusion set in the Wild West, reminiscent of things such as Sukiyaki Western Django. Currently largely undeveloped. There is, however, a post about some of the aesthetics here.

Samurai Continuity - The as-yet unnamed Samurai Continuity is much the same as Western Continuity, except set earlier still during the Edo period and drawing major inspiration from Samurai Champloo, with Ichigo in a role like Mugen, Yoruichi in a role like Jin, and Rukia in a role like Fuu (searching for Byakuya, “the samurai who smells of sakura”). Currently largely undeveloped.

BattleTech Continuity - The as-yet unnamed BattleTech Continuity is set in a distant future where mankind has colonized the stars, only to divide into five major political powers and descend into internecine warfare, often waged by means of BattleMechs, hulking bipedal war machines. Yoruichi, Ichigo, and Rukia are members of the elite of three of these powers, and wind up serving together as soldiers of fortune due to a strange series of events. The initial outline can be seen here.

Operation GAMER QZGS Continuity - Designed by @synoshian (Lies), Operation GAMER is set in the same timeline as Quan Zhi Gao Shou / The King’s Avatar, a Chinese property (novel, manhua, donghua, and live action series) revolving around an MMORPG called Glory. Taking place five years after that series begins, and focusing on the Japanese (rather than the Chinese) professional scene, it sees Rukia, Ichigo, and Yoruichi as pro-players on different teams who all meet on alternate accounts shortly after the opening of the 15th Server. Although largely undeveloped, there is some nifty art of Yoruichi and Rukia’s in-game characters.

All of the characters are aged up in these scenarios, with Ichigo and Rukia usually being in their early-to-mid-20s, and Yoruichi being in her mid-20s to early-30s, depending (with the youngest age I could see being Ichigo at 18 in the Western Continuity; even Mugen is 19 in Samurai Champloo). The mechanisms of how YIR gravitate together vary by continuity. For example: in Grounded!, Ichigo and Rukia know of each other, but only properly meet each other after Yoruichi makes moves on Rukia; meanwhile, in BattleTech Ichigo and Rukia meet much as they do in Bleach, with Yoruichi entering the picture roughly a month later as usual. What matters to their dynamic is less who makes the first moves, and more who they are as people and how they interrelate.

VISUAL NOTES

Before I move on, I would like to briefly note the visual contrasts each pair of the triad presents. Everyone already knows how Ichigo and Rukia visually contrast one another. Ichigo and Yoruichi have a similar height contrast (as manga-Yoruichi is notably shorter than anime-Yoruichi), a skin tone contrast, and a hair color contrast (orange vs. purple). Rukia and Yoruichi are of fairly similar heights, but again have a skin tone contrast, an eye color contrast (violet-blue vs. yellow), and a body shape contrast (petite but developed vs. curvy but thin).

Each set looks good and distinct from one another optically, and the same is true when they’re all together as a result. I feel that their aesthetic is reflected in the OT3 name of Neapolitan Ice Cream; they’re just really nice to look at together.

LOVE LANGUAGES

To expound on how the three relate to one another, I recently discussed the concept of love languages with @rukia-kuchiki-divided​ (having first been informed of the concept by Jess and having discussed it with her), and she wrote a lovely post introducing the concept and applying it to IchiRuki. I agree with her reading of how it applies to them, and find it useful to expand on what’s presented there as a means of better understanding how YIR interact with one another. My best estimate for a more detailed take on the love languages that each of them hear (desire) and speak (provide), based on “canonical” Bleach, is as follows:

Yoruichi • Desires: 1. Physical Touch, 2. Acts of Service, 3. Quality Time • Provides: 1. Acts of Service, 2. Physical Touch, 3. Quality Time Ichigo • Desires: 1. Words of Affirmation, 2. Physical Touch, 3. Quality Time • Provides: 1. Acts of Service, 2. Physical Touch, 3. Quality Time Rukia • Desires: 1. Acts of Service, 2. Physical Touch, 3. Quality Time • Provides: 1. Words of Affirmation, 2. Acts of Service, 3. Physical Touch

As can be seen, Ichigo and Rukia are almost perfectly reciprocal. (Rukia’s tertiary provision was settled on being Physical Touch rather than Quality Time due to her tendency to bond through token violence, and initially aloof disposition, although it’s a fairly close thing. I think most of the others are essentially self-evident and don’t require much substantiation.) However, it can also be seen that Yoruichi has very strong secondary and tertiary matches across the board. That is what forms the basis of her addition to the triad in all scenarios.

Having at least alluded to the sorts of circumstances under which they come together (and hopefully having piqued your interest!), allow me to elaborate upon that further by explaining the history of the concept, which is strongly related to the writing history of Grounded! itself, before moving on to actual headcanons. 

IDEA HISTORY

When I first came up with the idea for Grounded!, the original intent was for it to be a sort of sexy and comedic one-shot. The short version was, instead of “just as keikaku” shounen shenanigans organized by Kisuke and Aizen leading to Ichigo and Rukia meeting, it’s instead Yoruichi’s desire to live her life the way she wants and enjoy herself that lead to her bringing them together, as she basically steps into their nascent awareness of each other in pursuing a physical attraction to Rukia, and then decides to catalyze them meeting each other by going after Ichigo and then setting the two of them up together. This probably epitomizes it:

“Listen: you could do the normal thing of going on dates and trying to do some kind of long-distance relationship and whatever, and be miserable about the opportunity you might be losing. Or you could trust in my judgment and believe me. You and you,” Yoruichi said, pointing between them, “are like this.” She clapped her hands together, interlinking her fingers.

Ichigo and Rukia flushed and looked at each other with disbelief.

Yoruichi unhooked her fingers and made a circle with one thumb and forefinger, poking the other forefinger through it. “So, you should save us all the drama and just do this already.”

Their expressions shifted to mortification.

Yoruichi shrugged and lifted a hand, rolling her eyes. “If you’re so nervous, I could be there for your first time together,” she teased. She didn’t really believe they’d agree, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t been with both of them.

At that, Ichigo and Rukia both gaped.

She gave a mock frown. “What?”

“No!” they both stated at the same time, looking at one another in surprise.

Yoruichi smiled and held up her hands in surrender before scooting her chair back and sauntering off. She’d expected as much. Besides, it was clearly a mission accomplished.

The pair watched her abrupt departure together before slowly turning their attention toward one another. It wasn’t long until they both flushed.

Ichigo looked away decisively.

Rukia looked down. “Well...”

“Let me take you out to dinner.”

She blinked and side-eyed him.

“I don't know about... all the nonsense she was saying. And you can decide whatever you want. But at least... let me take you out to dinner.”

Which would lead to dinner and a movie and staying over for coffee and one thing leading to another until Ichigo and Rukia lay together, cuddled together under the sheets and blankets

“She was right,” Rukia whispered.

“... Yeah.”

One of her hands spiraled over his chest. “But?”

Ichigo shifted his jaw. How Yoruichi had gone about proving she was right still didn't entirely sit well with him.

She peered up at him lazily. “I guess we owe her.”

There was a long silence.

“Yeah...”

Which led to the idea of the two getting their “revenge” on Yoruichi by rewarding her in kind. All’s well that ends well, and the three were supposed to go their two separate ways.

It was only gradually that the internal timeline of the story expanded and more emotive and genuinely angsty elements started to creep into my notions of it: Ichigo’s self-loathing at being unable to work up the nerve to approach Rukia, Rukia’s loneliness and isolation, the touch-deprivation of both, Yoruichi’s growing realization she made a mess of things by following her own heart, her resolve to “fix” things, and finally and most importantly, her own budding attachment to the two of them.

I started thinking about Yoruichi’s physical attraction toward first Rukia (and then Ichigo) turning into actual feelings. My read of her has always been that she’s much more emotive than she lets on, she just has a fairly tight grip on her sentiments most of the time and tends to keep her observations to herself. But after having slept with both Ichigo and Rukia, and especially the two of them together, I imagined her seeing what they had together and missing it afterward. I thought of her going to Kisuke’s bar and asking if she could sleep in his room just to not be alone at night. And I imagined Rukia and Ichigo missing her too—her playfulness and teasing, her confident smile, her laugh. The more I contemplated that, the more I thought of them returning to her some weeks later to invite her on a proper trip with them, only to find Yoruichi still hurt and lonely and aching for the connection with them. This is where “The Ending” section of the summary of Grounded! (linked above) came in:

Yoruichi frowned and set her expression hard, focusing intently on some point off to the side. When she spoke, her voice carried the gravitas of authority. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Rukia blinked and automatically drew her hands back in confusion.

Ichigo likewise released her as he felt her go rigid.

Yoruichi closed her eyes. “I can understand wanting to pay me back, but you did that already! Do you think I was bullshitting you!? You’re perfect for each other! Hell, it’s like you were designed to be together! You’re like yin and yang, black and white! Why are you trying to ruin it, you idiots?!”

Ichigo and Rukia’s gazes found each other before they glanced to Yoruichi and then looking to either side.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Yoruichi’s tone was low, but in the quiet that had descended over the room it was more than loud enough.

The attentions of the two were instantly upon her again.

Yoruichi clamped her hands around her upper arms tighter yet, letting out a brief, harsh laugh. Her voice grew quieter still. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to believe that there’s any place for me in that kind of thing…?”

A moment passed. Then another.

Rukia bit her lip and looked to Ichigo.

He met her gaze. A decision flickered between them and he turned his attention to Yoruichi, delicately taking hold of her waist again.

She blinked her eyes open in surprise only to freeze as Rukia’s hands returned to her cheeks.

Rukia once more tried to turn Yoruichi’s head—succeeding given her preoccupation—and studied her intently. Yoruichi’s voice had been steady but there was no mistaking the gleam at the outer corners of her eyes. She carefully brought her thumbs up to wipe the tears away.

Yoruichi’s eyes widened in response and she was suddenly aware of her heartbeat hammering in her ears. She looked up, needing to focus on anything but the concern Rukia was radiating for her. “I just wanted you to be happy,” she whispered. There was no space for her in that picture. No room.

Ichigo moved closer so he was lightly pressed to her back, and brought his forehead down to rest against the top of her head, burying his nose against the start of her ponytail. The citrus scent of her hair put him at ease and his arms naturally slid around her waist. “Then come with us.”

She shivered at the contact but didn’t try to pull away.

Rukia released Yoruichi’s hands and slid her arms around her neck, hugging her and pushing her back against Ichigo. The sudden rush of the aromas that so defined Yoruichi filled her thoughts and she found herself relaxing at it. “Please?”

Yoruichi shut her eyes. “But…”

“We’d like you to be there,” Ichigo insisted.

“And we know you’d like it too,” Rukia whispered.

Yoruichi clenched her jaw before dropping her chin so she leaned against Rukia, unfolding her arms. She got one hand around to the back of Rukia’s head and brought the other up onto the back of Ichigo’s.

This is where I came to a conundrum, and then happened to find the solution a few weeks later. Ichigo and Rukia, even in AUs, still often feel like they have the weight of their “canonical” symbolism arrayed about them—their Sun and Moon symbolism in all its resplendent glory. And this is what Yoruichi is alluding to in her criticisms of their actions; how can one fit into such a picture?

It’ll probably sound silly to you when I try to explain it, but there was a video of a black cat that got into a bath tub full of seaweed-based glitter from a Lush bath bomb going around at the time. Someone then drew some art with the caption, “he’s cosplaying the night sky,” and something in my head just clicked. While I reblogged it at the time with, “I know this is a male cat, but: imagine Yoruichi…” the association went deeper than that.

The characters of Yoruichi’s name, 夜一, mean "night" and "one" respectively. There are a number of ways to potentially read her name. The use of numerals in names is often just a counter, so it could mean something like "(first daughter) night," but counters are usually reserved for men. (Presumably, her brother Yuushirou's name, whose characters are "evening," "four," and a suffix for "son," is a similar time reference to his birthday rather than a counter, as there is no evidence Yoruichi had any additional brothers, be it two or three more, whom would presumably be dead.) What I think it might actually be supposed to signify is wordplay on her birthday, as she was born on the 1st of January (thus, on the literal first night).

If taken more literally and combined with her shunshin nickname (usually translated as “Flash Goddess,” but more literally meaning something like, “God of Moving in the Blink of an Eye”), it becomes evocative of a meaning like, “The Goddess Who Disappeared in One Night.” (There was an old name meanings post on the Soul-Society LiveJournal which has since been deleted which affirms this, but her relevant entry is still quoted here.) This was sort of a play on her disappearance from Soul Society, but as an actual character it does her quite a disservice; she is actually quite loyal and sticks around when she wants to. (One could also easily make “one night stand” jokes about her and I think this likewise does her a disservice, but I’ll get into that more later.)

Regardless, her association with the night is very established through her name. It's the dominant component of her name.

And so I thought, “My god, that’s exactly it: she’s the night sky. She’s Space.” What’s interesting about the Sun and Moon is that they do not exist unto themselves. You might initially think of space as nothingness, yet not only is that scientifically inaccurate, but more importantly for our discussion it obscures its role in permitting the Sun and Moon to exist and move around. Space is not nothingness, it’s a place. It is a thing unto itself.

I don’t think Rukia and Ichigo, themselves, are aware of their Moon and Sun symbolism, because that is essentially metatextual to them as characters. But if they were, and they were trying to explain why they wanted Yoruichi to come along with them in the scene above, I think they would say exactly that: “The Sun and the Moon aren't just these Platonic ideals, you know. They exist out in Space. But Space isn't just nothing, doing nothing. And you, you're our Space. You helped make this happen. You’re a part of it.”

I have had this idea in mind from almost the very start of actually taking Grounded! (and YIR in general) seriously, and as I constructed the more detailed love languages chart above, I felt that I was again seeing the same kind of underlying logic borne out in it. My conception of YIR’s dynamics, the way I really see it, might be considered as an expansion on traditional IR dynamics, rather than something bolted onto the side; like going from the set of real numbers to complex numbers, rather than just adding on a new code library to a program.

This has been a somewhat long-winded way of circling back to where we were with that love languages chart, but I felt that addressing the historical process of how this happened was important to explaining it and why I personally feel it’s more than just run-of-the mill crack fic, even if it again makes no sense in relation to “canon.”

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Ichigo and Rukia’s relational mechanism of being (playfully) combative is quite well established. They essentially play fight over petty or inconsequential matters as a way of showing engagement, but there’s a demonstrated understanding and affection underneath such behavior. Their comfort with and ease in being in physical contact and proximity with each other is a reflection of their secondary and tertiary love languages, with their primaries coming out in more serious and meaningful moments. This is not to say that they aren’t capable of being sappy or romantic, but rather that they often code it within their squabbling; arguing and teasing each other is often how they show they care. Consider Rukia’s teasing of Ichigo in chapter 423 of the manga as the archetypal example:

Rukia: What's this? Don't look so sad. Even if you can no longer see me, I will still be able to see you. Ichigo: What the hell? That's nothing to be happy about. And I don't look sad!

The image that Ichigo and Rukia front is one of a pair who seem to argue but do so mostly just to keep things interesting, like an old married couple, which is the main reason why so many people both in the text and reading it assume they are a thing. I think structurally similar but expressively different behavior would happen between the other two sides of the triangle.

Ichigo and Yoruichi’s behavior would often come across as being more like that of “bros.” In “canon,” Ichigo is clearly shown to have hobbies and interests (video games and literature) and to at least engage with other activities even if he doesn’t particularly care about them (sports, pop culture, movies). While the same is not immediately obvious for Yoruichi, it can be inferred she probably has similar token interests as otherwise there’d be precious little for her to do in the Living World. (I have always headcanoned her absence[s] from the Urahara Shop as being her out seeing the wider world.) We’re not talking about Bleach, but I think these behaviors are intrinsic to them as characters, and I think it’s how they’d often connect. They might talk about TV shows, movies, games, sports teams, whatever. I can imagine them setting up a fantasy football league between them, even if they didn’t care about football. The content is not really what matters to them so much as the fact that it provides them something to talk about and bond over, without necessarily being overtly emotional. They would probably also leaven it with physical teasing or innuendo (mostly from Yoruichi’s end, with Ichigo playing the role of straight man in response). The sense you would get as an outsider is a couple who are on the same wavelength and have the same values and interests and are rather physically in tune too.

Rukia and Yoruichi’s behavior would by contrast often come across as “girly.” I don’t mean that pejoratively or necessarily to typecast it. As they’re both proud, independent, and strong women, and are often in positions that require them to present a certain face to the world that relies on those attributes, I think they’d relish opportunities to figuratively let their hair and guards down, relax, and just laugh and smile and have a good time. I think one of the ways this would manifest is that they would see time together as a way of indulging in shared activities, many of which are seen as feminine, such as shopping, gossiping, and enjoying time out and about (such as in restaurants or cafes). A less traditional avenue of expressing it would be shared physical activities. I can imagine them wanting to do things like duos beach volleyball, badminton, paintball, and so on. (Ichigo, although physical and perfectly capable of playing sports, doesn’t seem much interested in them for their own sake; he is ironically the biggest “nerd” of the three.) I think they’d find a lot of commonality and companionship in these shared activities, regardless of what they were actually doing. They’d probably also tease each other and have a back and forth, as they both often tend to like adopting that role (perhaps more physically from Yoruichi’s side, and more emotionally from Rukia’s). From the outside, they would probably seem like a sprightly and sincere couple, more akin to “young love.”

I think what makes the concept of YIR really special to me is what happens when the three of them are all together, because what I see winding up happening is a synthesis of all three of these paired relationships. I imagine it as being fluid and fun. There is this concept in astronomy known as the three-body problem, the simple explanation of which is that when there are three (or more) celestial bodies moving together, it becomes impossible to accurately determine their future motion; there is no general closed-form solution and a dynamical and chaotic system is produced. And that’s exactly how I imagine YIR would work together. One minute, Yoruichi and Rukia would be teaming up to poke fun at Ichigo; the next, Ichigo and Yoruichi would be doting on Rukia and making her feel flustered; the one after, Ichigo and Rukia could be making Yoruichi feel sappy and mushy. From seemingly fairly simple operating rules, one gets very complex interactions that can turn on a dime. And I feel that’s really the joy of YIR as a triad: they’re very high-contrast and have tremendous range together.

I think all four sets of interactions (each pair and the triad) would have strong but subtle elements of verbal teasing and physical touch. Holding hands, light touches here or there (the shoulder, the side, the arm), and more provocative ones (little butt pats or brushes or slaps, or the ladies discreetly rubbing their chests against the recipient of affection), or a whisper in the ear... but I’ll address their teasing and more involved physicality and sexuality in more detail in two later sections.

Even more pronounced than that, however, would be their routine eye contact. Ichigo and Rukia are well known for using their eyes to communicate with one another, and I think Yoruichi would fit into that dynamic quite well, as she’s very visually expressive too. Where and how she is looking at things is a big tell for her mood and psychological state, just like it is for the other two, and I think she would be very good at speaking to them and hearing them in ways they already understand.

I’m working on a sort of compilation fic for @duckiesteasmiles​​ (Nami) called The Many Mornings of Yoruichi, where each entry is a different morning of Yoruichi waking up within a YIR relationship (nominally Modern Continuity), some of which are sweet and fluffy, some of which are spicy and sexy, and some of which are wistful and thoughtful. In one of them:

Her gaze continued to linger in his direction for long seconds until she closed her eyes and turned her head the other way, pressing her lips and nose to the back of his hand. She neither quite kissed it nor merely nuzzled it. His skin smelled good in a way she couldn't really explain, just like Rukia's hair did. Just like all of both of them did. And being like this with the two of them...

They gave her something that was difficult to put into words. It was like the difference between being out on the water and standing on dry land. It went beyond something as simple as a mere sense of stability. For the first time since she was a child, it felt like there was a place for her that she could truly call home. Such a gift, she wanted to both pay it back and pay it forward. She wanted them to have that feeling too, as best as she could possibly manage. Their family situations might not be nearly so estranged as hers, but... she wanted them to always feel that sense of home.

Yoruichi smooched the back of Ichigo's hand and turned her head back toward him and Rukia, quietly sighing in contentment. Did she really have butterflies in her stomach from just this? These two idiots have turned me into such a sap...

I feel like this middle paragraph is true for all three of them, if each in their own ways. In Bleach, it seems evident to me that Ichigo and Rukia create a sense of home for one another, and it manifests in the familiar and expected, the little things that fill in the gaps in their lives. I think things would be much the same for YIR.

A big part of that, I think, would be homemaking—mundane and domestic things through which they could show their care and affection. Things like washing the dishes together, going out for groceries, meeting each other at the arrivals gate and acting as chauffeurs for one another (Yoruichi would mostly drive, although sometimes Ichigo would), and collapsing on the couch together to watch TV or movies, or play games, or just lounge after they've had long days. Yoruichi would put away leftovers but always make sure there was lunch for them for the next day, Rukia would remember to pick up the juice she knows they like when she's at the store, and Ichigo would bring little things home for them when he comes back from wherever he's been travelling.

I think they would all take to cooking for one another. Yoruichi would do a lot of it and would be responsible for the majority of meal prep, and be the closest thing they had to a chef. Ichigo would only really be good at making a small set of about a half-dozen (hearty) hings, and they would often look a bit sketchy, but they’d taste fantastic (think like that one really ugly cake Gordon Ramsay hated to admit tasted great). Rukia is more into making fiddly pastries and desserts. They’d often wind up dividing dinnertime efforts between them (almost like an Iron Chef team) and sometimes it’d all go wrong and they’d have to order pizza, but they always have fun with it.

It feels like, by virtue of her choices in life (especially military service) and spending a lot of time living alone, Yoruichi would be primed to know the most about domestic activities (keeping things neat and tidy and clean, doing chores) and would try and set examples that way, even and especially when their schedules didn’t really line up. So, Ichigo and Rukia would come home to find everything in order and ready for them, and meals cooked in the freezer they could heat up. I think they’d always be kind of shocked she tried so hard, but that’d be part of how she justified her role in it to herself: she’d want them taken care of so they could be excellent, because that's what she was wanting and trying to do from the start.

And they’d take it up too and reciprocate it; when she was away from home for a while and they weren’t, they’d do the same for her—both of them realizing it was one of the ways she would tell them she loves them without saying it, and remembering to do it in return. Ichigo would perform a lot of this, sort of standing in as Yoruichi’s second in command in this regard, and also take on a lot of the “manlier” responsibilities like mowing the lawn, raking leaves, cleaning out the rain gutters, and so on. I imagine him becoming handy around the house and doing a lot of the heavy, tedious, or mindless things.

Meanwhile, Rukia would focus more on supporting morale, leaving around little notes and messages and reminders for them to keep up their spirits; things like fridge magnet messages or little framed photos or collages, cheery messages by text or chat or on social media. She’s the one who’d tell them both all the time how much she loves them—she's the one who would (eventually, because she’s stubborn sometimes herself) say that she misses them, who’d call when it was late and she thought they might be lonely, and when and she wanted and needed (however privately) to hear from them. She'd always be there with the right words at the right time; psyching Ichigo up before a big case, helping Yoruichi navigate a difficult co-worker situation... Rukia would always know what to say and when. (This, by itself, might move Yoruichi less, initially, but I think she would always appreciate the intent behind it.)

I think they’d also have interesting relationships with one another’s relatives. Ichigo would have to field some interesting questions from Karin and Yuzu and deal with some absurdities from Isshin (or Masaki!). Rukia and Yoruichi might work with Kuukaku to shield Ichigo from the public spotlight on the Shiba. Little things like that. Byakuya would probably be more than a little protective of Rukia and have interesting interactions with Yoruichi and Ichigo. Early on in the relationship, he might wind up getting into a staring contest with Yoruichi over the whole thing. Ichigo would back her up without question, and he’d just look between the two of them for a time before stating, “I know you will treat Rukia well.”  Later, Yoruichi would be annoyed at Ichigo and be all, “I didn’t need you to do that,” and he'd be like, “Yeah, yeah, I know, Captain.” 

(In the Modern Continuity, at any rate, Byakuya initially does not really approve, but also does not really disapprove. He sometimes checks in with Rukia by phone, and can occasionally hear Ichigo and Yoruichi yelling at each other in the background. This sometimes seems like an actual argument but is of no substance and is just about some surreal nonsense. [What is “Dance Dance Revolution” anyway?] Kuukaku catches him brooding about it after the calls sometimes, and is always touching a shoulder and intoning, “If she's happy, it’s fine.” “I know,” he says. Eventually, he really does come to believe it and respect the other two. In the other continuities, and especially BattleTech, it’d be... more complicated still.)

I also think the three would have a lot of intimate moments that weren’t sexual. Things like: Yoruichi and Rukia waiting for Ichigo to come home so they could surprise him with the contrasting lingerie they bought together; Ichigo and Yoruichi drawing a bath with candles and rose petals and scented wash for Rukia, sitting beside it and keeping her company while she soaks and then massaging her together; or Ichigo and Rukia laying out a candlelit dinner for Yoruichi and pulling her over to a fire place to sip wine with her, giving her just enough to loosen up but not enough to lay her out. (Yoruichi is “canonically” a total lightweight, although I sometimes headcanon that she developed a strong aversion to alcohol in her past; Nami has come up with a cute headcanon that she pops her hair-tie off and lets her hair down when she drinks, like Chisato in Love is Like a Cocktail.)

Hell, even the way they jockey for position in front of the mirror in the morning to brush their teeth together strikes me as cute.

To make a long story short, I think they could have a very mature and nuanced but still fun and playful relationship that winds up mutually supporting all of them.

TEASING

In my opinion, one of the other great joys of YIR is how they’d tease each other. I think their teasing of one another in public or private would be quite multifaceted, especially through repartee.

Yoruichi and Rukia would always be teasing Ichigo just for the fun of it; going to the bathroom together, shopping for clothes and going to the dressing rooms at the same time, it wouldn't matter. Always leaving him standing there in the store with the pile of bags or at the table with drinks and coming back giggling to each other and flushed. Maybe a third of the time they’d actually have done something, and the rest they’d just pretend they had, working each other up to the teasing by critiquing each other's acting and telling jokes. And he’d know, and play along even if they caught him off-guard:

“I know you're just saying these things.”

“Do you?” they both asked with raised eyebrows

They’d also always be being wing-women for one another, winding him up. They might be at a restaurant and:

Ichigo’s eyes instinctively tracked Rukia as she went to go get a bottle of ketchup from another table.

Yoruichi leaned sideways and brought her lips to his ear. “Did you know she's wearing crotchless panties?” she breathed.

He abruptly reddened.

She give his earlobe a kitten lick, adding, “So am I,” then smoothly leaned back into place before Rukia could return.

When she did so she stopped and studied him, noting the sweat at his hairline. She adopted an exasperated look. “Did you order your food too spicy again?”

Or Ichigo and Rukia might be laying on recliners poolside while Yoruichi is stretching some distance away before hitting the pool:

“Oi, Ichigo,” Rukia said mildly.

“What?”

“Have you ever noticed how well that swimsuit defines her mound?”

“Don't say things like that!”

Rukia grinned impishly at him.

And Ichigo would, of course, sometimes get them back:

Rukia: Don't act like you know my favorite kind of chocolate, fool. Ichigo: Of course I do. Yoruichi: So, what is it then? Ichigo: The same as yours: salted. Both ladies blink and then flush. Ichigo: The same as how I know your favorite pies are— They clasp their hands over his mouth while glaring at him.

But his main method of retaliation would be being really good at inappropriately hot goodbye kisses that leave whichever of them he’s kissing breathless and reaching for him as he steps back. That and he’d be good at low-key yet also really flagrant public displays of affection that give away they're a unit, like swatting or groping their asses, though he’d also be good at timing them so nobody else saw them.

This kind of teasing would extend across a wide range of scenarios too. Imagine, if you will: Ichigo and Rukia are sitting down for dinner in a really fancy restaurant; Ichigo has on a very fitted black tuxedo, Rukia has on a slinky black cocktail dress with lots of bling, and they're waiting on Yoruichi, who said she’d meet them there. When she walks in, she’s got on a white tuxedo jacket like James Bond (although her lapel flower is orange; I headcanon it as her favorite color) and the other two just kinda stop and stare because that is not at all what they were expecting, but damn.

Yoruichi: What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? Ichigo: ... Rukia: I think he’s just realized he’s kinda gay for you in that. Ichigo: ... Shut up! Rukia: ... I’m a little gay for you in that... Yoruichi: Haha. Only a little~?

When I was contemplating the Samurai Continuity, I thought about them commenting on the show intro of Samurai Champloo as though they were actors playing the roles and seeing the assembled cut for the first time:

Yoruichi: How fitting that Ichigo is symbolized by a cock. Ichigo: I could say the same about the irony of you being symbolized by a fish. Yoruichi: Are you insulting my hygiene, you bastard!? I don't recall you complaining about it last night when you had your head down there for an hour! Rukia: Shut up, both of you! How could I possibly be expected to eat so much food? It’s ridiculous!

In the same setting, I sort of imagined that Yoruichi and Ichigo would sleep together first given all the crackling tension between them (not quite a hatefuck the first time, but something competitive, rough, and passionate and not exactly loving) but would refuse to admit they had a thing together even afterwards:

Yoruichi: Me? With that orange-haired brat? Ichigo: With that purple-haired bitch? Yoruichi: With his stupid chocolate eyes? Ichigo: With her arrogant, gleaming, little canine-toothed smirk? Yoruichi: His oxen, large, dumb, wide shoulders. Ichigo: Her prissy, smug, sashaying hips. Yoruichi: Always getting you vice-like in those big, strong hands... Ichigo: Always shoving her chest into you every chance she gets... They both blush and go quiet. Rukia, in the background: GOD, JUST FUCK ALREADY! Yoruichi and Ichigo, turning: SHUT UP, HOW DO YOU KNOW WE HAVEN’T!?

I think Yoruichi would often indulge Rukia’s flights of fancy and cuteness. Going back to Grounded!, I can imagine them subjecting Ichigo to “The Thrilling Adventures of Chappy and Kitty” while he’s trying to work from home:

Yoruichi, wearing cat ears: He’s just mad because he doesn't have an animal associated with him, nyan.  Rukia, wearing bunny ears: That’s right! You’re just a strawberry, pyon! Ichigo: Seriously, it’s annoying, stop it. Rukia: Fool. Yoruichi, luridly: You plan on making us? Ichigo: Hmph... you wish! Rukia: You know, bunnies are famous for nibbling, and kitties for licking... Yoruichi leans over and gives Rukia a cute peck on the cheek followed by a small lick. Yoruichi: Maybe he doesn’t want to play~

A random little teasing scenario:

Yoruichi got her arms around Rukia’s shoulders from behind and put her in a light and playful choke hold, poking her head out to one side and leering at Ichigo. “Oi, wanna know how to make her squeal like a schoolgirl? I can tell you~”

I really just cannot emphasize enough how much I love their banter and playfulness and the different forms it can take, from mature and witty to childish and bratty.

ANGST

I don’t think YIR’s relationship would always be sunshine and rainbows. I think each of them has their own trauma to deal with, regardless of the timeline. In every one of these continuities (although not every possible continuity), Rukia would be dealing with the death of Kaien, and Ichigo would be dealing with the death of a parent (often Masaki, but as time goes on I think it’s increasingly more interesting that Isshin die instead). That’s well-established. But I also think Yoruichi has her own sources of angst too, albeit perhaps not as severe.

In “canon” Bleach, Yoruichi is shown as having given up everything in order to live on her own terms. This is often presented as no big deal, and as having been her choice, but I often get the sense that it added a contemplative and possibly even morose side to her. (If you made me pick two songs for her, one would be a song I had her choose to do karaoke to in a fic, Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life”, and the other would be a remix of Lana Del Rey’s “Born To Die”.)

I imagine the same is true of the various versions of Yoruichi in each of these continuities. I think many of them also have their own additional traumas. Yoruichi in Grounded! had some unpleasant experiences during the Gulf War (having had to eject and evade capture on the ground overnight), while Yoruichi in BattleTech would have seen (and done) a fair share of nasty things as Coordinator and as a mercenary, and the Yoruichi of the Samurai Continuity and the Yoruichi of the Western Continuity both probably would’ve done more than a little maiming, if not outright killing.

The result is that I see all three of them as burdened with some degree of PTSD, which would occasionally take the form of moods or nightmares. An example of the former, for Yoruichi:

Ichigo quickly finished shredding the pieces of chocolate he'd picked out and sprinkled them over the bowl of ice cream, peeking through the kitchen's breakfast bar into the living room.

Yoruichi's hair poked up above the back of the couch, unmoving.

He grabbed a spoon and slid it into the bowl, got a paper towel, and made his way out into the living room, going around to the other end of the couch so as not to walk in front of her.

Drawing nearer, he sat down next to her, scarcely hazarding a glance her way. He didn't have to, really.

Sometimes she would cry, but he had never seen it. She wouldn't ever let him see. Not even Rukia had ever seen it happen either. But he'd heard it, and listening to it was like standing in a rain made of nails. He hated it. Seeing her willingly vulnerable was one thing, but when she was compromised... Ah, there were times he wanted to burn the world down, go out and fight whoever had wronged her, hit them until blood trickled from their mouths like water from a faucet.

Mostly though, when she was in a mood, she'd be sullen. Sometimes with a side order of aggressive irritability if she was provoked. He could tell with a glance that that was how things were at the moment.

Yoruichi was curled up in a corner of the couch, sitting in a fetal position, her arms crossed atop her legs, frowning disinterestedly at the TV.

Ichigo kept his eyes on it. They'd bought a ridiculously large plasma screen after much deliberation, and it was currently playing an episode of Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet. The audio was barely perceptible.

He set the bowl of ice cream on his lap and took a bite, savoring it. It was chocolate chunk ice cream with chocolate syrup and more bits of milk chocolate on top. There was nothing subtle about the emphasis on boosting endorphins. After swallowing the bite, he took up another spoonful, holding it in front of her.

Yoruichi didn't react.

Ichigo kept waiting for a few seconds, then brought it back and ate it himself.

He kept on alternating for four more runs before he felt a tug on the spoon; she'd clamped her mouth over it.

After that they began to switch every bite until the bowl was empty.

Once Ichigo had finally set it on the coffee table, Yoruichi flopped over to one side, resting her head on his lap.

He started to gently rake his fingers through her hair, just carefully combing it out. They had all the time in the world.

I think they would have additional hang-ups that would occasionally beset them. Ichigo might sometimes feel that he didn’t deserve the attention of either Rukia or Yoruichi, let alone both. Rukia could sometimes feel that she was kind of superfluous or a burden upon Ichigo and Yoruichi. And Yoruichi could sometimes feel like she was just getting in the way of Ichigo and Rukia and didn’t deserve such companionship. (This is before getting into uncertainties they might have early on in their relationship together as a triad, which need not necessarily be a smooth process.)

I don’t have strongly developed ideas for hurt and comfort, but the BattleTech, Samurai, and Western Continuities all provide plenty of actual danger on a regular basis that could set up opportunities for it. We all know the lengths Ichigo would go to for Rukia, and vice versa, but I don’t think it’s very hard to imagine what Yoruichi would be capable of if either of them were threatened or injured.

I think that all these things give them an added dimension of complexity, as they’re not just perfectly content and happy forever, but it also gives them opportunities to lift one another up.

ASSORTED SCENARIOS

Within Grounded!, I have a line I like that may or may not wind up fitting in when (if) Rangiku goes to confront Yoruichi on what’s happening during the snowstorm, so I thought I’d include it here:

Rangiku: Kuchiki Rukia could decapitate a man with a meal tray’s plastic knife, and I just watched her giggle and pirouette up and down the shopping mall. What did you do, Yoruichi?

In the post-Grounded! era of the Modern Continuity, the vacation which Rukia and Ichigo invite Yoruichi on, which she assents to, is to the South Pacific, perhaps Tahiti. I can imagine the sand is hot and Ichigo has to carry Rukia and Yoruichi out onto the beach under each arm, like how he held Rukia at the Soukyoku in Bleach; Yoruichi acts indignant at being carried and deliberately makes it difficult by pouting like a kitty. (Maybe on a different day he takes Rukia in a bridal carry while Yoruichi rides piggyback, or vice-versa.) The three of them would have fun putting sun tan lotion or sun screen on each other. Yoruichi might casually strip off her swimsuit, making the other two blush only for her to chide them with, “What? We're the only people here, live a little.” They have a midday nap together on their bleach blanket under a big parasol. Yoruichi teases Ichigo and Rukia by poking them with cold ice pops, saying something like, “Ah, you're all sticky now, somebody will have to clean you off!” only for them to start returning the favor. Clouds roll in in the afternoon and they beat a hasty retreat through the brush to their rented bungalow, laughing in the warm rain that comes down before they make it. They wash off together and the power goes out, so they assemble in a sort of cabana area and listen to the steady rain and surf and thunder together, bundled up with one another. Things like that.

I think that Yoruichi’s lifestyle in the Modern Continuity is relatively austere given her history and background, but still very comfortable. Once Ichigo and Rukia decide they want to move in with her (which would probably happen sometime relatively soon after their post-Grounded! vacation together) Yoruichi would probably set about trying to get them a house, which would be quite nice but not palatial or opulent. 

I think her one eccentric and rich hobby, given her background as a naval aviator, would be having bought and maintained a surplus F-14 Tomcat (probably the unproduced-in-our-reality F-14 Super Tomcat 21) like she flew in the Navy. She’d keep it at a local airport, probably have a mechanic to help her maintain it (could be something Tessai does in his spare time?) and take it up now and then to have fun. I imagine it’d be heavily customized and have a lightning paint job. Anyway, I can imagine her getting really excited to show it off to Ichigo and Rukia and to take them up in it for the first time. (She would probably get a special safety harness and air supply splitter made so Rukia could safely sit on Ichigo’s lap in the rear RIO seat, rather than make them ride separately.) Anyway, I imagine that Yoruichi’s aviator call sign would have been either Flash or Flash Goddess (probably originally earned for her nonchalant and risqué behavior rather than her piloting ability), and she’d have a customized flight helmet. For their first visit, I imagine she’d have gotten them helmets made and would give them their own call signs. A short list I came up with, with @rukia-kuchiki-divided​​, were Glacier, Aurora, Ice Queen, Snow White, or Blizzard for Rukia (although the 3rd is normally an insult, I think it’d be taken as kind of endearing here, like how in “canon” Ichigo at one point thinks of Rukia as “bitch” and Rukia openly calls Ichigo a “brat”), and Anarchy, Mayhem, Skyscraper, Havoc, or Riot for Ichigo (with the 3rd being a reference to both “canon” Getsuga Tenshō and a dig at his height relative to them), with their own custom designs. (There could be a whole fic of Yoruichi just writing out different names and talking to herself about them; I imagine her laughing at Snowpiercer for Ichigo and Snowjob for Rukia.)

(These would probably also be used as their call signs in the BattleTech Continuity.)

I watched Top Gun a lot as a kid and the karaoke scene of The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” has always been in my head as a result, and I can picture Yoruichi hooking Rukia up with a spare Navy uniform and insignia so they could surprise Ichigo at a local bar by replicating it. (Which of them takes whose role is up for debate; I headcanon Rukia as being fantastic at singing and Yoruichi as pretty good, but the idea of Rukia in aviators tickles me more. They could mix it up and both wear sunglasses and treat it as a genuine duet.) Ichigo would be mortified (but enchanted), especially if other people recognized what was happening and joined in on the song.

I like the idea that, although Yoruichi and Rukia start out with their “canonical” haircuts (long and either of Rukia’s shoulder-length haircuts, respectively) that they might eventually decide to synchronize their styles; Yoruichi might cut hers short again (like in Turn Back the Pendulum) to match Rukia’s, or Rukia might grow hers out to match Yoruichi’s, or back and forth. I get these images of Ichigo and Rukia helping Yoruichi with her hair and maybe playfully braiding it too. I feel like Rukia would be sorta fascinated by Yoruichi's hair, just its length and the feel of it. The weight and texture of it would be different from her own (I imagine it’s a little thicker than Rukia’s) and she likes the feel of it spilled over her. This could also be an interesting reason for Rukia to later grow her own out. (Ichigo likes the hair of both and is often touching it or putting his face into it, especially since they’re shorter than him. The scent of it is one of the ways he thinks of home.)

I have this scene in mind of them going out fishing, which is something I feel Yoruichi would’ve picked up at some point before meeting them. I picture all of them out on a dock or in a rowboat real early in the morning, wearing personal flotation devices; the sun's not even come up fully yet, and there’s mist over this pond or little lake they’re on. Rukia is just conked out asleep between the other two, her head on one of their laps and feet and legs on the other’s. Yoruichi looks perfectly content and is just beaming. Ichigo is tired-looking and clearly wondering why he’s there, but he still is because Yoruichi thought it was important they had the experience and, as he thinks about it, it isn’t really so bad. Eventually he smiles despite himself.  

Sometimes I think Yoruichi would be resistant to Ichigo being sappy; their personalities are sort of similar in that they put on a tough exterior, but I think they would break each other down in interesting ways:

Yoruichi crossed her arms and looked aside dubiously. “Oi! I know I’m not her, and you miss her, but you don't have to be so sullen all the—” She stopped as his palms came to rest against her cheeks. Her gaze snapped toward him right as his fingers came to rest against and behind her ears.

Ichigo gently cradled her face and leaned in, studying her.

Her focal point swung from one of his eyes to the other as she searched. His look smoldered but what she saw was cryptic and it gave her pause. She wasn’t worried—she was never worried with him—but something about it made the difference in their sizes abundantly clear, made it obvious just how large and strong his hands were.

A beat passed before he irritably whispered, “I love you too.” He never felt that it needed to be said, but apparently he was wrong.

Yoruichi blinked.

Ichigo moved in closer and dropped his eyelids fractionally. “I’m in love with you too,” he added, with a quieter and almost-not-vexed delivery.

Her lips parted slightly before her eyes swung to one side again and she scoffed. She tried to follow suit with her whole head but found herself gently restrained. A furtive glance back at him had her eyes going wide as he kissed her. She resisted for a moment before leaning into it, reaching up to grasp his shirt with both hands.

He brought a hand around and slid his fingers into her hair, moving the other down to rest on one of her shoulders.

Yoruichi pushed closer and turned her head more to one side, taking in handfuls of his shirt.

I had this idea of the three of them going somewhere cold (Alaska? Hokkaido? Russia? Swiss Alps? Canada?) and having to wait around in a space that’s not really heated. Yoruichi’s wearing a round ushanka, while Rukia has on a flappy-eared one that’s just a touch too big. Ichigo takes off his coat and drapes it over both of them, who huddle up under it (as it’s big enough to fit them both), and:

Rukia: Idiot, you’ll catch a cold. Yoruichi: We're not babying you if you get sick. Ichigo: Shut up!

Maybe later they wind up in front of a fireplace together, curled into one another. Rukia has long since started calling Yoruichi “fool” as well, it being one of her signs of affection and care. They continue their gentle backbiting:

Yoruichi: Brings back memories, huh? Rukia: Fool. Ichigo: You know she has a thing for us tying her up, she just wants us to do it again. Yoruichi: I do not!

The three of them regularly alternate who is being spooned and who faces who. Yoruichi and Rukia take turns in the middle and change up who they face; Ichigo is usually only in the middle when he’s on his back and they can cuddle into his sides. Both Yoruichi and Rukia steal some of Ichigo’s t-shirts and boxers to use as pajamas and start to share them interchangeably. Whenever one of them has to go off for a couple of days, somehow one of his shirts is always mysteriously packed into their bags, and Ichigo never says anything about it. (They get him back by sometimes smuggling pairs of their underwear into his luggage with cheeky little notes.)

Ichigo is a t-shirt and boxers kind of guy when it comes to lounging or sleeping clothes, although he’ll swap out for long-sleeves and plaid lounging pants when it’s cold enough. Rukia has several sets of cute pajamas that she uses, in addition to items stolen from Ichigo. Yoruichi is highly variable, and sometimes can be found in odd combinations like a turtleneck, her panties, and long fluffy socks. In the winter she's prone to sprawling out in beams of sunlight filtering in through the windows and disrobing to catch the same; in the summer she might be found laying around in just her panties or Ichigo's boxers, fanning herself and complaining about the heat until they turn on the AC (both are very distracting).

Their soaking tub is spacious but isn't really properly big enough to hold all of them, so sometimes they share lap space, and both Rukia and Yoruichi are always glaring at Ichigo and warning him about funny business (as if they don't sometimes do things in the tub).

Rukia: There’s a time and a place, Ichigo. Ichigo: Watch those hands, Yoruichi. Yoruichi: Maybe watch where you've got your feet, Rukia.

In the Samurai Continuity, I can imagine them running out of food to eat like Mugen, Jin, and Fuu do, and Yoruichi's like, "Ichigo, you're the biggest, you have to eat more," and he's all, "No, shut up, I'm fine, there's enough here for you two." Yoruichi falls silent. Rukia continues protesting instead, only for Yoruichi to touch her arm to get her to stop because she knows what he's doing. Ichigo can take it better than they can precisely because he is bigger, and he’s always going to try and protect them first.

A little scene about comforting and snuggling together:

Ichigo cinched his arms a little tighter around Yoruichi's waist. There was a long silence. “Are you cold?”

She shook her head faintly against his chest. “No.” He was putting out enough warmth for two.

He shifted and brought his face down into her hair and inhaled. The orange and saffron scent underlying the spice and musk of her aroma made it smell bright and sunny despite its indigo hue. It was different but... right. “You smell good,” he eventually whispered.

A small chuckle escaped her. “You're such a sap, but you're not so bad yourself.”

“I mean it.”

A pause passed. “I know.”

“Yoruichi—”

“You're tired, get some rest.”

He gently squeezed her sides. “Hey.”

He used his grasp to draw her up while shifting down so they were face to face on the pillow they were sharing.

She studied him curiously.

Ichigo did the same before looking aside. “You shouldn’t need any more convincing that I’m a man, not a boy, so don’t treat me like one.”

Yoruichi blinked before smirking slightly. “Is that right?”

He locked eyes with her again. “I’m glad you're here.”

There was a pause before she looked down.

He started to rub her back and neck to assure her through touch. “And not because Rukia isn't.”

She just quietly pressed in a bit closer.

I feel like Yoruichi would have the least personal sense of “ownership” of the relationship, since she would have lingering doubts about her place in it, and Rukia would have the most. Ichigo thinks of them as “his girls,” but Rukia... Rukia views herself as theirs after a time, and accordingly, they’re hers. Not in some transactional or proprietary way, but just... it’s like her with that soul ribbon in the first ED of Bleach: it just is. And i think that’s where her knowing what to say often comes in, because she does have that perspective. She can ferret out when, say, Yoruichi is feeling like maybe she doesn't belong to them as much as they belong to each other, and Rukia is the one who brings her back, who reminds her that they are three—that two was nice, but three is best.

You might imagine her curling into Yoruichi and quietly stating, “I love you,” and Yoruichi's just kind of at a loss for words, so Rukia repeats herself and waits for Yoruichi to say it back. Yoruichi would feel... maybe a little overwhelmed at the quiet declaration, because it would never be a big or loud thing with Rukia, just firm and quiet and brooking no argument. And this is also why, for as much as Yoruichi and Ichigo wind up curled around Rukia, sometimes Rukia conspires with him to just snuggle Yoruichi between them:

“She's got better ‘pillows’ anyway,” Rukia stated.

Ichigo blinked and flushed, looking away. “There's nothing wrong with yours.”

She glanced to him dubiously but still cracked a thin smirk.

Yoruichi is often physical in showing her concern;  sometimes she plays it up and hugs Rukia’s head to her chest, and other times it's just very natural. Ichigo she can only really tease properly when he's sitting in some fashion; neither ever really objects much, no matter how ridiculous they think she's being.

They all drink coffee and tea alike. Yoruichi likes her coffee with sugar and cream, and her favorite tea is a heavily spiced chai. Ichigo likes his coffee black, and his favorite tea is Earl Grey. Rukia likes fancy dessert coffees (like Starbucks Frappuccinos) and likes white and green teas. Yoruichi is the one who actually makes coffee, while Rukia tends to make the tea.

Yoruichi is probably the only one who is really even remotely a morning person, although by habit rather than by choice. Making coffee is like her early morning ritual and meditation to start the day, and including their favorites into that routine just gives her more time to wake up naturally. On work days she likes to let them sleep in—she slides out of bed, careful not to jostle them, but sometimes Ichigo will wake up anyway and reach out for her before settling back when she pats at his hand. It also gives her a chance to have a bit of quiet in the morning and think about things. The sounds and smells of breakfast are often what wake Ichigo and Rukia.

They make an effort to bathe together whenever possible; although they wake up with breakfast, the shower and bath is when they really start their days. It’s a bonding thing for them. (They probably shower both morning and night, but bathe whenever they have the time.)

I sorta like the idea that Yoruichi is a loud and kind of angry gamer, which Ichigo and Rukia regard as kind of an endearing quirk given how put together she is most of the rest of the time. I can see her being really mean on mic to annoying pre-teens. “Yes, I’m a girl, you prepubescent brat! What’s your excuse for sounding like one other than that your balls haven’t dropped yet?!” Ichigo and Rukia just kinda look at each other when she really starts popping off; Ichigo goes over to start to massage her and she sinks into the couch, grumbling and focusing up on whatever she’s doing.

Ichigo is kinda ticklish, Rukia is not all that ticklish, and Yoruichi is very ticklish and she absolutely hates it.

SEXUALITY & PHYSICALITY

My personal read of these characters, which I invoke in these scenarios, is that Yoruichi is pansexual, and Ichigo and Rukia are both something approximating demisexual, with at least Rukia (and possibly Ichigo) being bisexual. (I think in “canon” a strong case could be made for them both being closer to but not necessarily purely at asexual, while Yoruichi could be read numerous ways, but that is neither here nor there.) These are, of course, only my interpretations. 

At any rate, Yoruichi is usually experienced (somewhere between fairly and quite so depending on the scenario; I imagine she and Kuukaku could have fooled around when they were younger, and that in more recent times she has had Kisuke as a lover, but that the two of them are an off-again, on-again thing) and views sex as a fun, normal, and healthy way of physical and/or emotional bonding; Ichigo is uniformly a virgin but is old enough to not be a stammering fool about it; and Rukia is either a virgin or may have had a sexual relationship previously (if so, with Renji) but is not very in tune with her sexuality or sexual desires to begin with.

It might initially seem like Yoruichi trains both Ichigo and Rukia, being the one who moves first physically and the one who’s got more experience, but I don’t think she herself or either of them think of it that way. Yoruichi would always be more interested in coaxing the other two, in helping them to figure out what they like and want, and encouraging them to explore it. That would quickly get turned back around on her as they grew more confident, as they would start to return the favor to her. Personally, I think that Ichigo is often physically dominant, but loves to serve and please. Rukia and Yoruichi can both be dominant themselves (with him or with each other) but also like being submissive; Rukia enjoys the comfort and safety of the headspace it puts her in, while for Yoruichi it heightens her pleasure more than she could imagine. I think this would be a surprise to Yoruichi, and eventually she’d come to realize that she had always still been keeping up walls in her past relationships to try and maintain some control. Ichigo and Rukia would be the first to really break through those, which would give her all kinds of feels and open her up more to trying things she had only rarely explored with partners before. (As examples, I think Yoruichi would have a thing for light bondage and anal sex, but only have tried them with other people a scant handful of times.) Their process of discovery would not at all be a one-sided thing, and I think they’d be very sexually active (probably having orgasms only every other day at the longest stretch).

If I had to pick words to describe what sex is like for each of the pairs, for Ichigo and Rukia it’d be cosmic (powerful and beautiful, breathtaking) for Yoruichi and Rukia it’d be oceanic (constant motion and energy, unifying) and for Ichigo and Yoruichi it’d be tectonic (earth-shattering and resonant, awesome). Just like with the rest of their behaviors, when they were all together, it would vary and oscillate among the three. However, sex between them wouldn’t necessarily always be a big production or need to go both ways either. I think they wouldn’t think much of pulling clothes down (or dipping their hands into them) and using their digits and mouths on each other, depending on the mood. I think they’d all just be very invested in making one another feel good, and that could be quick and servicing or slow and mutual as the case might be.

The three would always wind up appreciative of one another in states of undress, although Rukia and Yoruichi would be more circumspect and covert about it. Ichigo doesn’t hide his admiration, sometimes earning him rebukes, but those incidents really only tee him up to say something sappy and adoring, which usually result in the other two getting annoyed at how gooey it makes them feel. Sometimes they reward him by showing off, Rukia usually emphasizing her ass, and Yoruichi her chest. Yoruichi might turn quick so she swayed and bounced, put her hands on her hips and lean forward, say something like, “If you want to have a look you can always just ask, you know. I don't mind,” then lift her arms up and stretch. Rukia might lean forward or bend over to show off more, use a hand to pull a cheek aside and waggle her eyebrows, say something like, “If you see something you like, you should give a compliment.”

Something that would melt Ichigo and Yoruichi's hearts would be having Rukia between the two of them, arched and trembling, weakly clutching at them and moaning out, "Yoru... Ichi... go..." Hearing their names co-mingled like that, they'd be filled with thoughts of how they've got to protect her, they've got to deliver her, they've got to give her everything and be one with her. And afterward Ichigo would pull Yoruichi tight to gently squish Rukia between them, Yoruichi not much less spacey than Rukia would be. Rukia might be gathered between them, face buried in Ichigo's neck and Yoruichi pressed up against her back, the pair of them grounding her to the earth.

Yoruichi and Rukia sometimes pair off together while Ichigo is left in the dust recovering from his refractory period, and they make him watch. He'd always be astonished at seeing them together, how they can keep on and on, and always be kind of struck by, Why... do they need me...? and I don't think he'd ever fully get over it, but it would inspire him to always try and be worthy of them, and sometimes give them cause to reassure him.

“Fool. You think we'd just... always be doing this without you?” Rukia asked.

He turned and stayed silent. Why not?

Yoruichi maneuvered around so he she was in front of him, cupping his jaw. “We need you too.”

Ichigo's eyes widened as they met hers.

Rukia pressed against him from behind. “Who else is going to make us feel safe, idiot?”

Yoruichi tapped a finger above his heart. “And it's not like you're bad...” she purred.

“Not bad at all,” Rukia added quietly.

"There's some things toys just can't do,” Yoruichi mused, looking deep into him.

Ichigo's face heated. “Well. I...”

Rukia grinned, pressing against him. “Fingers and tongues and toys are good and all, but...”

"Nothing like a man who knows how to use what he's got,” Yoruichi finished, and she and Rukia shared a meaningful look.

Ichigo cleared his throat.

“A toy doesn't feel warm like sunlight.”

“It doesn't tangle fingers in your hair and smoothly pull your head back.”

“It doesn't clutch at your hips.”

“It doesn't tremble between your thighs.”

“It doesn't curl up with you after and tell you it loves you.”

And he quietly thought, But, you can do that to each other... And yet, even so, his cheeks went red and he just kind of sank between them as they petted and stroked at him and whispered sweet nothings that eventually became soft kisses here and there.

When they’re separated due to travel, I think they would remember each other in different ways. Much of it would be domestic and fluffy, but when their thoughts turned to intimacy, the focus would be a little different for each of them. I think that Ichigo would remember sights and feelings: Yoruichi on her back and Rukia atop her, their legs interlocked so as to spread each other and both of them looking back over their shoulders at him expectantly and hungrily, and how that made his chest clench around his heart. Yoruichi would recall images and physical sensations: Ichigo and Rukia moving together, Rukia spread under her, the feeling of Ichigo’s hands tangled in her hair, the tastes and smells of them. Rukia would focus on emotional memories, of what it felt like in the afterglow and during aftercare: Yoruichi and Ichigo curling around her and the way she felt safe and warm in their arms, the way it felt like they built a boundary between her and the world. (Rukia would still sometimes think of particular things though; things like images of Yoruichi between her thighs, while Ichigo held her from behind—his voice in her ear, a low rumble of all the things he was going to do to her when Yoruichi was finished...)

I think, when they were paired off with Ichigo due to the absence of the other, Yoruichi and Rukia would be intrigued with how he treated the other. I imagine they'd watch each other often when they were all together; sometimes it might be all three of them at once, but other times they'd take turns. Rukia might be fascinated by the contrast in Ichigo and Yoruichi's skin and the difference in the way they moved, the power of them. Yoruichi might be bewitched by the tenderness Ichigo showed Rukia, the softness of them even when they were rough together. So you might have, with Ichigo and Rukia:

Rukia ended the kiss and dipped her head, bringing the fringe of her hair to rest against Ichigo’s chin. She gently squeezed his shoulders and pressed closer.

His fingers dug into the sides of her waist appreciatively.

She let out a small sound and pressed her face down against his neck, getting secure against him. Being so close seemed to distort things, as if she was in a deep gravity well. She closed her eyes. “Ichigo...?”

“Hmm?”

She spiraled her pointer fingers against his collarbones with a touch of uncertainty. “Um...”

He began to massage her sides in reassurance. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing’s... wrong, I just—” She broke off and pulled her head back, looking up at him.

Ichigo met her gaze.

Rukia looked between his eyes, wondering at how soft they were—always so soft for her. She looked down again. “I want you to treat me like you do Yoruichi,” she whispered.

He blinked.

“I’m... not made of glass, Ichigo,” she murmured. She loved how tender he was with her, but... He was always powerful with Yoruichi, even when he was slow with her, and the two of them always looked... so damn sexy! The more she’d seen of it, the more she wanted it for herself. She wanted to feel that power, that strength, that energy.

Ichigo soon reached a hand up to brush her hair. “No, you’re not.”

Something about his tone made Rukia bite her lip, and she pressed her head toward his hand, appreciating the contact for a short time. She then released his shoulders and carefully turned around, getting her legs astride his and pushing back firmly against him before slowly starting to roll her rear suggestively against his hips.

He gripped her sides firmly. “Rukia...”

She turned her head fractionally to look at him out of the corner of her eyes, asking with them. She needed to know what it was like.

And with Ichigo and Yoruichi:

Yoruichi softly bit Ichigo’s tongue to signal an end to the kiss, wrenching her lips away from his and sliding her head forward so they were cheek to cheek.

He turned his head toward her neck to follow on as he pushing her up against the fridge more firmly, squeezing handfuls of her ass.

She let out a needy moan and pressed her cheek to his, drawing her arms tighter around his neck and tangling her fingers in his hair. “Ichigo.”

“What?” he whispered, his impatience hanging from every letter of the word.

“Wait.” It was a soft instruction, but an instruction nonetheless.

Ichigo paused and blinked, very deliberately focusing on her. She’d never been one for delays. A little silence rolled out between them before his eyelids slid halfway shut again. “What's wrong?”

“Don't assume something is wrong,” Yoruichi chided mildly, slowly arching a little to push her rear into his hands. She waited a few breaths, beginning to brush through his hair. “I want to try something different,” she eventually conceded.

He started to rub his cheek against hers as a memory returned to him of something very much like this. “Different? How...?”

Yoruichi lowered her head a little. “Treat me like Rukia?” He was so caring and patient with Rukia—always making love to her in the most passionate yet considerate way. She loved what she had with him—it was always fun and satisfying—but she’d seen them so many times and she increasingly found herself wondering...

Ichigo looked askew at the side of her head for long seconds before lowering his face, snuggling her against the refrigerator door. “You know... Last time, she asked me to treat her like you.”

She blinked in surprise.

A little smile curved his lips and he gave her neck a soft kiss, musing on the irony. “Did you two plan this?”

“No!” she denied in a sharp whisper, only for her eyes to widen as he squeezed her ass again, very differently. The motion was smooth, celebratory, and made her shiver—something about it made her soul ache with recognition.

“Okay,” Ichigo promised, standing up and pulling her away from the appliance. He held onto her securely as he bore her to the bedroom.

Yoruichi faintly bit her lower lip at the sudden change in his attitude but clung to him, offering no resistance or further comment.

All three of them quite like one another’s scents and flavors (although Ichigo and Yoruichi regard Rukia as primus inter pares and think she’s the best) and they’re not shy about it. You can imagine Yoruichi mocking the old Tootsie-Rolls commercial line while she and Rukia are holding Ichigo, whose cock is covered in magic shell topping: “How many licks does it take to get to the creamy center...?”

CONCLUSION

There is even more (as there are a dozen or so little in-progress fics and ficlets scattered around, mostly for Modern Continuity) but that’s the end of all the notes I have on hand for now. If you made it this far, thank you, and I hope you found this charming or persuasive, or at least entertaining! If you did, please leave me your thoughts! 

#YoruIchiRuki #OT3: Neapolitan Ice Cream #yes this is about #13000 words of meta #on my favorite OT3 #and i am so hoping #that at least a few people #might like it #but i had to write it regardless

[chrisbbaegopayo]

Hold Your Breath (Stray Kids: Stalker AU) ➻ Chapter 3 (part 1)

....

Genre: Thriller, Angst, Gore, Mystery, Suspense Characters: All of Stray Kids, reader, OCs. Word Count: 1.2k Warning: This story will contain elements of gore, on- and off-screen abuse, torture, mental illness, and stalking. It will feature themes that are not suitable for all ages, readers discretion is advised. Each chapter will have its own specific warning.

Sorry for the short post. I’ve managed to hit a very bad case of writer’s block, as well as other things, more on that below. (updates will now be once every two weeks)

Chapters: Premise | 01 Prologue | 02 Chapter one | 03 Chapter two | Chapter three (part 1) | Chapter three (part 2)

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She and Hyunjin ended up getting along really well in class, as they introduced themselves in the timeframe that the professor had given them. She learned that he had been here to earn himself a bachelor’s degree in literature, much like his parents wanted. He had been a pretty hardworking student and liked to participate in extra-curricular activities, although he didn’t really elaborate on which clubs he had joined since attending the university.

It had come to a surprise, then, that he knew who she was. It was kind of strange for her to introduce herself to someone who had already know of her—he did say that he knew of her and knew who she was, but never made an attempt to say anything to her, which, to her, was understandable. University could be somewhat of an intimidating place. And Hyunjin, who kept to himself during classes unless he was asked to participate in group work or class discussions, was naturally relatively inside his head. 

He had a small circle of friends, she learned, of which he had dropped after coming to this university. He told her that he stayed in touch with most of them through social media and that he had missed them. 

They didn’t manage to get too deep into their conversation, although he did tell her that he was in a few of her classes back in first and second year, and much of the reason of keeping to himself most of the time didn’t say anything to her, as they were practically strangers.

Professor Lee stopped the discussion then and then began his first lecture. Much of it had to do with what goals to set at the beginning of the semester, what they would be covering throughout the semester, as well as the many assignments they were expected to do and their due dates that accompanied these assignments. Much to her displeasure, every week, there would be a test that summarized the terms they learned the week before, just to keep them on their toes, apparently. This was probably the most for her, as her memorization skills weren’t the best…

…this would also mean that she would have to do a lot of reading. And note-taking. As much as she enjoyed reading, the mind-numbing technical terms might just defeat her.

However, the silver lining was that there would be some hands-on case studies and there might be field trips planned in the course, although the professor did not specifically say if they were definitely included. As for these field trips, they were still in the process of negotiating some plan, of which professor Lee did not specify.

They also had to write two essays throughout the semester. Great.

As the professor started lecturing, he covered what the meaning of crime was, what each term meant, and how it integrated into society on a very base level. As for the rest of the two-hour lecture, Professor Lee merely just taught through most of the time with interesting examples and various experiences that he had encountered. He made things interesting, and the majority of the class was completely engrossed. The mid-lecture break had gone by and soon, had buzzed by without much of a fuss. 

“All right, remember, class, make sure to read up on chapter 2, pages 60 through to 90! You will be expected to go through it with your teaching assistant in your tutorial later,” Professor Lee said. “Feel free to visit during my office hours should you have any questions or problems regarding class! See you next week!”

She placed her notebook in her bag and looked over at Hyunjin, who looked rather pleased with the class. “Tutorial, huh?”

He nodded and leaned back against his chair. “Yeah, it should be exciting. At least the professor was interesting, hopefully, the teacher assistant will be just as interesting. When do you have yours?”

She pulled up her schedule, and scanned it, trying to figure out which day she had her tutorial. Turned out that she had her tutorial at 11:30 a.m. in two days with a person named F. Lee. And upon showing it to Hyunjin, she was surprised to learn that he also shared the same tutorial. It seemed like a pretty pleasant surprise, she thought. To be in the same class and tutorial—it was as though something was being conveyed to her through this strange arrangement. Or not. It just seemed like a pretty interesting coincidence. 

But life didn’t have coincidences, did they? 

Regardless, the two left the lecture room and went their separate ways after swapping numbers. 

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She had never been so glad to be home. After that stalker fiasco earlier on in the day, she was ready to retire to bed. However, she cracked open the textbook she was required to read for the class and sat at her desk, trying to make some from sense from the lectures. She got a few paragraphs into the reading when her phone buzzed with a text message.

>> Hey I’ve got food Open up OMG bless thank you <<

Jisung seemed to know exactly when was hungry because her stomach grumbled a bit. She went downstairs, and as soon as she got to the door, the doorbell rang, and she opened the door, letting her best friend in.

“You always come at the best time, ever,” she said, ushering him into the house. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. Seriously.”

He laughed. “That’s why I’m your best friend, right?”

The two of them ate and chatted about their day and by the time they finished their food, Jisung had gotten up to toss the containers into the recycling bin. 

She stared at her phone for the time being and sighed. She should go back to reading, but she really didn’t want to do any reading that night. It seemed like a great time to just lay back and chill for a little longer until it was time for her to go to bed.

It was still relatively early in the evening—or late afternoon, and perhaps she could just put her feet up and catch up later on.

But then her mind wandered off to the letter she got—it was unsettling.

“Jisung?” 

He made a noise of acknowledgment, while still staring at his phone. 

“I got another letter.”

His fingers that were once tapping away, seemingly mid-text stopped. He placed his phone down and faced her. “What did it say?”

“It was...something like ‘a new semester will start new things’ or something...and then something about more gifts to come,” she recalled.

Something about Jisung’s expression worried her. 

“Did you file the complaint to the school like I said?” He asked.

She shook her head, but then upon seeing his concerned expression deepen, she held up her hands and reassured him that she was going to file it in the upcoming days.

“I haven’t exactly had time, you know, I promise I will—I’ll even let you know! I promise!” 

He sighed, and with a heavy tone, he said, “fine, as long as you know.”

She was about to say something when he leaned over and put his hand atop her head, almost in a maternal gesture.

“I’m just really worried about you, you know? These are just some precautions that you have to take, okay?” 

She nodded. “Yeah, thank you, Jisung, you’re always looking out for me...”

He chuckled, “that’s what I’m here for, remember?”

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Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I’ve managed to land myself in a really deep ditch called writer’s block, and it’s honestly really draining to write when my motivation is zero most of the time. Sorry, it’s been pretty hard most of the time, especially balancing both work and creative writing at the same time. I do writing for my day job too, and every day I’ve pretty much felt like I’ve exhausted most of my writing into work, and the creative juices are NOT flowing into what should belong to creative writing. Hashtag excuses lol.

However, I did find a good way to keep my motivation up—the story is planned out, I know what’s going to happen in the bigger picture, but the details aren’t exactly set. Sometimes if I see an opportunity to implement new ideas, I will, such as relationships between certain characters and their history and such. I do have several pages of notes of the character’s relationships and backstories.

I will be publishing their backstories starting with Hyunjin, and I think it will make for interesting future plot segments. 

As well, I will be changing the updates to every two weeks until I can get out of this really bad writer’s block. 

Whether or not people like to read it or not, I’ll just keep on writing anyway because I genuinely do love creative writing. As well, I have been planning this story for wayyyy too long and even though my execution of the story might be slow and not what my mind wants me to write, I think I want to continue regardless. I’m just really grateful for the readers that I do have, and appreciate the time you invest in my story. Please feel free to poke me/talk to me about the story and let me know what you think of it. I know I haven’t advanced enough into the story for people have a true understanding or grasp of it, but I will be publishing the character’s relationships with each other and how they’re all connected. Because they are.

If I have any jumping tense problem—I’m sorry, I do try my best to catch them while writing, and I will improve and do my best not to disappoint too much.

Thank you! c:

#stray kids #stray kids au #stray kids scenarios #yandere au #thriller #fanfiction #kpop scenarios #han jisung #original character #bang chan #kim woojin #kim Seungmin #jisung #ChangBin #seo changbin #Lee Minho #minho #Felix #lee felix #yang jeongin #suspense #might contain gore #stalker AU #alternate universe #kpop

[homiegeesus]

The Year of Magical Thinking, Ch. 4

Summary:  Francis Sinclair believed Arthur Morgan had not finished living. In a second chance at life, Arthur discovers what it means to love himself.

At the edge of a precipice and nowhere to run, Arthur concedes defeat. In an extraordinary turn of events, he is sent through the ether to another time where his path crosses with a group not too unlike his own family. After discovering the fate of those he loved before, he races to find a way back. But what if he realizes that there is something worth staying for in this new world? Can two people separated by nearly a hundred and twenty years of living find their happily ever after?

AO3 Link

Author’s Note: First of all, thank you TheTiniestTortoise AKA @shallow-gravy for betaing this mess of a story! Your insight has been invaluable! 

So sorry for the wait. I got sick last week then had to play makeup at work so life has been busy. Things should start slowing down during the holidays, and I'll have more time to post. I already started the next chapter and should have it up very soon. The chapters should be longer in the future as I start to get into the nitty-gritty of the plot. 

Thank y'all so much for reading. Constructive criticism welcomed and appreciated.

The Year of Magical Thinking

Chapter 4 - Pace Post Bellum

“I loved you when I saw you today and I loved you always but I never saw you before.” - Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

In the serenity of a quiet meadow, a buck dips his massive twelve-point head into the calmly moving spring. The early morning sun casts an ethereal glow on its surroundings. A branch breaks in the distance causing the buck to lift his head in an abrupt movement.

 A rifle shot resounds.

Arthur’s eyes opened as he took a deep, unsteady breath. The fog of sleep leaving him, he sat up straighter as he remembered where he was. A faint melody wafted through the air, a sad-sounding duo singing about a girl from the north country. This was more to his taste, if he had one, than the ear-killing music that had assaulted him earlier.

Cool air flowed over Arthur’s face and arms, a nice contrast from the heat outside. He felt grimy and so tired, the old wound in his shoulder irritated from sitting in one position unmoved. He glanced at his traveling companion. Steven, head leaning back against the seat, hummed the tune quietly, seemingly unaware he was being observed.

Good-looking enough, Arthur admitted, with a strong jaw and dimples when he smiled. The man had a kind face. Too trusting in the eyes, the outlaw noticed, inadvertently looking for any crack in the young doctor’s façade that he could exploit. Inwardly chastising himself he thought,  not this man; he’s been kind to you, ya fool . Looking away from Steven in self-disgust, he took in the surrounding environs outside the vehicle. Tall pines had given way to flat, mostly empty fields smattered with oak trees dotting the landscape. Random buildings, some large, passed by in a blur before he could describe their features. A lake that Arthur remembered well came into view along the horizon. Steven finally noticed the other man was awake.

“Hey, you get any rest?” He asked.

Arthur nodded, “Yeah. ‘M fine.”

Looking towards the fast-approaching Flat Iron Lake, Arthur glanced at the other man.

“We gonna catch a ferry, or –,” he trailed off.

Steven just shook his head. “Nah, they built a bridge a while back.”

“’Cross the whole lake?” The outlaw replied, a little amazed at the ingenuity of such a feat.

The other man shrugged, “At least the fork part of it, or whatever.”

Silence eclipsed the cabin as both men looked across the lake. Arthur, lost in thought and a little mesmerized by the passing water, didn’t hear when Steven began speaking again.

He turned his head, “What’s that?”

“I said that I spoke with that friend of mine, while you were sleeping.”

“Okay,” Arthur nodded. “And?”

Glancing between the road and his passenger, Steven elaborated, “she said to come on over.” He huffed out a small laugh. “Ada’s like that, ya know, taking in strays and such.”

What an apt description of himself, Arthur thought. The only thing close to a home he’d ever found was with his people, and even that had sometimes seemed alien. 

“She’s a sweet girl,” Steven continued. “Quick-tempered if you rile her, but a good person.” He regarded Arthur with a look the outlaw knew well.  Distrust and wariness. “She’s like a sister to me, more family than my own blood.”

The tone and intent was loud and clear:  don’t you think about hurting her . Holding his stare for a moment, Steven finally looked back to the road. Silence once again descended. Arthur had only a few minutes to wallow in shame before they crossed the long bridge. That’s when a sight that would stick with him for a long while came into view.

In the distance, buildings even taller than those he had seen in Chicago once upon a time. Standing upon the horizon like eerie monoliths, they were a testament to progress.

Arthur leaned forward in his seat. He exhaled a breath, “What the –”

Steven looked over at him. “Yeah. They’re somethin’, aren’t they?” Receiving no response, he continued, “That’s downtown Blackwater.” 

Peeling his eyes from the skyline, Arthur turned his head to the other man. “Yer kiddin’,” he replied, unbelieving.

One corner of Steven’s mouth ticked up, but he said nothing.

             ____________________________________________________

Arthur could hardly believe the sheer amount of people that now populated Blackwater. Steven had explained that an oil boom in the early to mid-1900s had caused rapid economic growth in the area. With all that money came all the people. And good God, there were a lot of them. Blackwater had become a veritable center of industry in the midst of the otherwise empty Midwest. 

Feeling out of his depth and overwhelmed by all the visual stimuli, he breathed a silent sigh of relief when they drove away from downtown to a calmer, tree-filled neighborhood. Great big old-growth live oaks and pecans littered each oversized front lawn, while a mix of attractive Victorian and newer build homes sat far from the curb of the street.

“It’s a really old neighborhood,” Steven said. “A lot of the houses are from your time, some early twentieth century.”

He explained that this Ada woman had inherited her house from her now-deceased grandmother. When Steven spoke of this girl that would take him in, Arthur could not help but imagine her as a well-to-do heiress, riding the coattails of previous generations’ success. Dutch’s populist ideals had been ingrained into him from a young age, and despite all his good intentions, Arthur could not shake them.

They stopped in front of a pretty little house with a small balustraded stairway that led up to a semi-wrap-around porch and a stark red door. The porch started in the center of the house and continued to wrap around to the left. To the right was a bay of double-pane windows with the upper halves decorated in a simple stained glass. Unadorned brackets dotted the eaves of the house, with two high-peaked gables holding small single-paned windows. Light beige siding with white trim made the blood-red entry stand out all the more. Looking familiar to any city house he would have encountered in his time, Arthur felt an iota of comfort.

He glanced at Steven, waiting for an indication that they should exit the car. The other man turned the vehicle off, removed the key and leaned slightly back in the seat. He looked over to Arthur and asked, “You ready?”

No, he wanted to say, I ain’t ready for any of this. False courage won out. “Sure.”

Apparently reading Arthur’s mind, Steven gave him an encouraging smile. 

“Trust me when I say she’s a good person. I mean, she’s been through shit of her own. You should get along famously.” Steven was obviously trying to reassure him, but Arthur took no comfort in his words; he wondered if trust would ever come easy to someone like him. Still, the young doctor pressed on. “How ‘bout this? You have any reservations when you go in, I’ll take you to get a room at a hotel. I just really think you should have someone with you, ya know?”

Embarrassed and feeling like a child, Arthur grumbled, “Nah. This is fine.”

Steven nodded, “Good.” He waved a hand, “Come on, let’s go then.”

Exiting the vehicle, Arthur followed the other man down the walkway towards the stairs. Before they could reach the door, it opened. If the old outlaw had been drinking at that moment, he would have unceremoniously spewed it all over this nice porch. He immediately recognized the girl from his would-be memories seen during his journey to this place. She had painted nearly every frame, with her long blonde hair, bright smile and apple cheeks. Though the visions had not done her justice. Even from a distance, her moss-colored eyes stood out underneath fine brows. Plump lips thinned with her toothy smile below a button nose, all encased in an attractive oval face. 

Arthur distantly heard someone say his name. Realizing he was staring at the poor woman like a degenerate, he cleared his throat and looked to his boots. He felt a slight annoyance at Steven’s light chuckle.

“Did y’all stop at the Stockyards in Cowtown on the way here, or is it already Halloween?” The girl joked in obvious sarcasm. 

Arthur lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at her. I ain’t no cowboy, he wanted to say. Well, not really.

Steven motioned between the outlaw and the girl. “Ada, this is Arthur. Arthur, Ada.”

“Ma’am,” was all Arthur said with a slight nod. 

The blonde smirked. “You can call me Ada,” she laughed lightly, making Arthur feel a fool before pointing over her shoulder. “Come on in.”

Following the pair, Arthur crossed the entry into a narrow foyer. He was immediately hit with the scent of baking bread. Nearly salivating at the smell, he’d only realized in this moment that he was starving. Passing by stairs to the left and a cozy sitting room to the right, they stopped near the rear of the house. A large open kitchen, with different strange-looking metal contraptions, sat next to a living room full of drape-covered floor-to-ceiling windows. A single door seemed to lead to a porch out back.

“Dinner’s about ready if you’re hungry.” 

Arthur stopped his observance of his surroundings and looked to Ada. Realizing she was staring expectantly at him, he gave her a small nod. 

She turned to Steven, “You sure you can’t stay? I made plenty.”

Steven gave her a reproachful smile, “Nah, sorry I can’t. Nick would kill me if I stood him up.” He then tilted his head towards the back door. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Ada glanced between the two men, “Sure. Arthur, make yourself at home.” She gestured to the open living room before walking out the door onto the back porch outside.

Steven paused for a moment before addressing Arthur, “We’ll just be a minute.” 

The outlaw nodded, and the other man walked out and closed the door behind him. 

Itching for a cigarette to calm his nerves, his hand once again went to his side and found nothing. Looking for another outlet for his anxiety, he decided to look around. Forgoing the couch, Arthur spotted some photographs on the mantle of a fireplace sat between windows facing the backyard. He walked over to get a better look, boots sounding heavy on the dark wood floors in the quietness of the room. Photographs of all shapes and sizes crowded the shelf, but a solitary unframed picture caught his eye. Picking it up carefully as not to disturb the others, he looked closer. An older woman with long silver hair and a kind, cheeky smile sat wrapped in the arms of a younger version of the girl he had just met. Ada had that same look that Arthur had seen in his visions and had haunted him since; in brilliant color a smile so bright, he hardly believed anybody could be that happy. 

He flipped the photograph over. Written in a distinctly feminine script: Gramma Signy & Adeline, ’08. It took his mind a moment to register that it meant 2008, not 1908.

Eyes automatically going to the girl in question through the window, he found her looking right back. Feeling as if he’d been caught doing something nefarious, he immediately returned the photograph to its place. He turned and marched straight to the plush couch and took a seat to wait for the two friends to finish their talk.

About ten minutes later, Steven and Ada walked back into the house. Standing up from his spot on the couch, Arthur looked to the other man for a clue on how the talk went but found only a dimpled smile.

“Well, I’m gonna head out. Have to get to Uptown in, like, an hour.”

“That far away?” Arthur had no sense of direction in this place.

Steven shook his head. “Nah, ‘bout thirty minutes in traffic.”

Arthur nodded and then turned his attention to Ada. It seemed in the last fifteen minutes she had developed a semi-permanent furrow in her brow. She looked at him like he was alien, and maybe he was. Made uncomfortable by her stare, Arthur averted his gaze. 

Steven cleared his throat. “Uh – well – if everything’s all set here, I’m gonna head out,” he repeated.

Arthur remembered his gun belt. “I’m gonna need to get my – er –  things  outta yer automobile.”

“Oh, yeah. Just, uh, follow me out then,” Steven replied.

They stepped outside, Ada only following to the doorstep. Steven had given her a tight hug, and Arthur had barely heard her whisper “I trust you” into the other man’s ear. Feeling like he was intruding on a private moment, he continued the walk towards the vehicle. 

Steven appeared beside him a moment later. The younger man took a deep breath and placed his hands on his hips. Staring straight ahead, Steven addressed the man to his right. “Ada’s like a sister to me.” He finally turned to look at the outlaw, “I don’t know what I’d do without her.” 

Understanding where this conversation was going, Arthur's gaze lowered to his boots. 

Steven continued, “I’m trusting that you’re a decent man – considering.”

“Not gonna lie to ya. I ain’t a good man.” He looked up at Steven. “But, I don’t bite the hand that feeds me if ya get my meanin’. And I sure as hell ain’t gonna hurt no woman.”

Steven smirked and nodded. “Well, you might think differently after a day or two,” he said with a small laugh as he lightly slapped Arthur’s shoulder. “Let’s get your stuff.”

After retrieving his gun belt and shaking hands in that ancient show of masculinity, Steven was off. Looking up at the darkening cloudless sky, Arthur could not see any stars. Just as he had imagined, the developed world had blotted out the heavens and replaced it with a colorless haze. An unconscious yearning for belonging came over him, and Arthur felt his gaze being pulled towards the house. Ada stood in the doorway, waiting for him. Watching each other for a moment longer, a small smile pulled at her lips. With a motion of her hand, she beckoned him inside and he followed.

#Red Dead Redemption #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #rdr2 fandom #rdr2 fanfic #rdr2 fic #The Year of Magical Thinking #arthur morgan #arthur x oc #arthur morgan x oc