#i only talk about the one comparison that really disappointed me but i do think the other comparisons to v-tamer i could make

[skydigiblogs]

i totally forgot to even mention that i read through all of digimon next, i think bfhjsdbfjhsdbfs

i mean i also didn't mention reading through all of v-tamer but i feel much less negatively about v-tamer than i did about digimon next

i can go into more detail if people want i guess but at the end of the day i think you're gonna need to go into next with more critical thinking pants than v-tamer (which i would argue requires maybe only critical thinking shorts), and that has to do in main part with two very large parts of their plot.

this is gonna be long (but i mean, that's what you come to this blog for lol), and, unfortunately, i have a lot of not-so-fun gripes with digimon next.

characters with disability (and how that disability is portrayed or discussed)

train kid yuu's disability is functionally cured in the digital world, and a large part of his arc has to do with him getting the courage to have heart surgery. i don't think this was handled with the kind of nuance that could have made him more interesting to me, especially with yuu calling himself a "weakling" at one point (internalized ableism is a thing, but i don't think it was written well with yuu).

folks familiar with v-tamer might ask me what i think about rei, and i feel similarly that it's a little weird to have a disabled character lose their disability in the digital world. however, i at least like that rei seemed to acknowledge it beyond mentioning surgery to get rid of it, and multiple times it was mentioned that despite being able to use her legs, she had no feeling at all in them while in the digital world.

neither of these portrayals are particularly good pieces of representation, and signify to me that the authors really didn't know how to fit someone with disabilities into their story without it being for the purpose of angst.

barbamon

barbamon just. is a whole essay i don't want to write at the moment because of how extremely antis*mitic its design is. if you don't know what i mean, look at barbamon's mask. guess what? look at barbamon's concept art, too. that huge nose is a mask in the final design, but the fact that at one point the demon lord of greed was considered to have that be its actual nose is uhhhh.

bandai what can i say but yiiiikes.

digimon next had an uphill battle the entire time almost entirely thanks to picking barbamon as its antagonist. when you use an antis*mitic caricature as your antagonist, it's going to be really hard not to pull on antis*mitic tropes, too! or at least, that's what it really felt like with next, considering barbamon's whole plan is literally some great r*placement theory "kill all non-aligned digimon and control birth itself" bullshit.

while destroying/conquering the digital world is textbook digimon antagonist bullshit (every series has one), the elements and aesthetic of barbamon in next particularly bothered me because they really do not reflect well when paired together.

i'll remind you too that barbamon in next has a notably militaristic army in "the commandments." this also isn't foreign in digimon--- a few years after next, we would see troopmon in bagramon's army, as an example. but like, again, one of these antagonist leader digimon is a caricature.

i am assigning homework for anyone who read(s) next, and that is some literature on antis*mitism and what it looks like in media.

"sky, if you hated next so much, why are you posting about it?"

first off: because it's my blog and i can, lol

second off: because i wanted that sweet sweet yggy lore

as much as i have my issues with digimon next, i think it introduced some very fun tools that could be built upon. yggdrasil, and the fact it just sent its girlsona to the human world because it was worried humans didn't like digimon enough? EXTREMELY funny on paper, yes, but also a fascinating idea!

in next, we see that yggy is able to detach its consciousness from its core, and i think it would be fun to see that explored further. what if, instead of someone external taking control of the core, we see something similar to, say, a split (yes i'm bringing plurality into this). that's to say, yggy mitosises off its girlsona or something, cloning its consciousness to assess the situation beyond its core's reach. yggy core and yggysona, however, are split up because yggysona needs to go collect data. what if there was conflict between yggy core and yggysona because the data retrieved just doesn't make sense with the data yggy core started with?

furthermore, we see some interesting ideas with yggy's kernel, where it's guarded by a magnaangemon (who we see both fall and quite easily reclaim their status as magnaangemon). the implications of this are that yggy can sometimes be the god that angel digimon serve, and that it is possible for fallen angel digimon to become unfallen.

and then next drops NEO on us, calls it "a power beyond yggy" AND REFUSES TO ELABORATE? NO, GET THE FUCK BACK HERE, WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOD IS MADE OUT OF THE COLLECTED MEMORIES OF DIGIMON SPECIES? that's such a cool concept to me (and i am also a sucker for chimera characters, so uhhh), especially read with a metaphorical lens. like. the idea of god being our experiences has endless thematic storytelling potential in a series that is all about its characters Having Emotional Experiences.

anyways uh

digimon next, huh?

#sky talks #digimon #digimon next #digimon v-tamer #(the latter is mostly just mentioned in comparison to next) #fair warning this is really long even for me #i jokingly described digimon next as diet v-tamer to a friend and even after finishing i still think it isn't wholly inaccurate #they're both distinct enough but there are some plot elements that are just strikingly familiar fresh off of reading v-tamer #i only talk about the one comparison that really disappointed me but i do think the other comparisons to v-tamer i could make #are actually kind of cute and charming #next is very much a manga i wanted to enjoy more than i did #but i at least didn't dislike it enough to DNF it entirely

[mariasont]

Date Night - A.H

a/n: i have been so obsessed with the nanny recently so this is kind of based off that

masterlist

‧₊˚ ✩°｡⋆♡ ⋆˙⟡♡ ⋆˙⟡♡⋆｡°✩˚₊‧

pairings: aaron hotchner x nanny!reader

summary: you get home from the world's worst date

warnings: none i think, IDK IM SO BAD AT THESE

wc: 0.9k

To put it quite frankly your date sucked. He was disrespectful to the waiter, made really unsettling noises while eating, talked incessantly about his ex, and worst of all, he didn't let you get a word in edge wise (a major issue because you really like to talk).

Saying you were disappointed would barely scratch the surface. The rarity of your dates, thanks to your demanding role as a live-in nanny for Viriginia's most occupied FBI agent, made your free time all too precious. Mr. Hotchner was home this weekend, which granted you some time off, well-deserved you might add, but you had wasted it on some sad excuse of a man who made you believe that chivalry really was dead.

You had a clear mission when you entered the house: to drown the evening's disappointment in a generous pour of red, slip into your comfiest pajamas, and indulge in trashy reality TV, which, by comparison, casted your night in a much more flattering light. You were beginning to accept that maybe, you were meant to be alone, only because men sucked.

You all but threw your jacket into the closet, kicking off the pumps that had spent the night punishing your heels, and bent to rub the throbbing pain, releasing a sigh steeped in disappointment.

"You're home early."

Your heart leapt to your throat, hand flying to your chest on reflex as you whirled around to face the sight of Mr. Hotchner lounging in the armchair, a whiskey glass cradled in his hand. The light from the lamp beside him served to accentuate the shadows beneath his eyes, no doubt caused by his job. So, what he was doing up was beyond you.

"Geez, Mr. Hotchner, are you trying to give me a heart attack here?"

A mock frown creased your face, and you sauntered over to his chair. You settled on the armrest beside him and smoothly relieved him of the glass, taking a small, savoring sip. Annoying him was one of your favorite pastimes, one that was all too rare with his usual absence.

"So, what's the occasion? Waiting up for me?"

He wasn't amused, clearly, his face unchanging. With a deliberate motion, he took the glass back, taking another casual drink, and despite his stern look he didn't move away from you. His eyes shot you a sharp glance, withholding any spoken response.

With a light tap on his shoulder, you hopped down from the arm of the chair.

"It's okay, you don't have to say it. I can read you like a book," you tossed him a wink, your dress flirting with the edge of modesty at the quick action. His eyes briefly betrayed him, moving towards the expanse of flesh now on display. "Ahem, Mr. Hotchner, my face is a little higher."

You gently nudged his chin upward with your finger, guiding his attention to your eyes. You loved his eyes, a cocoa brown color that reminded you of rich, velvety chocolate truffles, a comparison you were pretty sure had slipped out when he interviewed you.

"Careful," he cautioned in a low murmur, easing himself from the chair and setting his glass aside. "As your employer, it's reasonable for me to be concerned about your well-being, you are the woman who raises my child."

"Oh, absolutely, sir. Your concern is most reasonable and duly noted," you replied with an exaggerated formality, lightly tapping his cheek before neatly tucking your hands behind your back.

He traced his brow with his fingertips, as if to smooth away the beginnings of a headache, undoubtedly brought on by you. A sigh of exhaustion followed. "I trust I don't need to remind you of who signs your paycheck."

With a beaming smile, you sing out, hands moving to rest on your hips. "Totally clear on that, sir!" You turn and head up the stairs, your mumble just loud enough for him to catch, "A little raise wouldn't hurt though, just saying!"

He's close behind as he warns in a low voice, "Don't push your luck."

You stop so suddenly he almost stumbles into you and you feel his hands steady you on your hips, dangerously close to the curve of your ass as you glance back at him.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare, sir."

A slight shake of his head and those perceptive eyes convey all he doesn't say as his hands fall away, the space they leave behind feeling oddly empty. 

"So, the date didn't go well?" he asks as you reach the top of the stairs.

"No, I didn't say that. It was wonderful, perfect actually." You'd always been a terrible liar, and naive for thinking he'd fall for it. "He might just be the man of my dreams."

He gives you a look that tells you he sees right through your bullshit. "Let me guess, he probably ordered for you without asking, talked over you, and didn't even bother to walk you to your door."

"Uh, no, that's not--," you start, voice squeaking slightly. His unimpressed look makes you fold--something you found yourself doing way too often around him. "Okay, fine. But really, using those weird FBI skills on me? That's playing dirty, Mr. Hotchner."

"No 'weird FBI skills' required," he replies, the slightest smirk gracing his stupidly handsome face. "Your taste in men is just... consistently interesting."

"Interesting is better than non-existent, which I believe is the current state of your dating life, Mister."

He moves closer, the narrowing space nudging you against the wall. "Well, considering my days are filled with work, parenting, and apparently, babysitting you, dating isn't exactly a priority."

He was kind of hot when he was mad. His eyes narrowed at you. Okay, not kind of, definitely hot when mad.

"Oh, Mr. Hotchner, it sounds like you need a night off from all that babysitting," you purr, placing your hands on his shoulders as you grace him with a smile. "Why don't we discuss your options over dinner? My treat?"

A sigh of exasperation escapes him, a telltale sign that he's done with the conversation, which actually is how a lot of your discussions end. He steps back and opens the door to your room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mr. Hotchner, see you in the morning," you say, your hand pausing on his arm just a beat too long. "Sweet dreams--though I'm sure I'll be in them."

taglist: @hotchhner

#aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x fem!reader #aaron hotchner x nanny!reader #criminal minds x reader #Spotify

[lovelybrooke]

So, book 7 just released for the English Server, and it really made me want to write for Twisted Wonderland. When going through the chapters that were released, I couldn't help but think about the different reactions to reader leaving. Since there's a lot of characters, I'll only be talking about the Yandere first-years, but if you like this, I'll write for the other characters.

Ace:

Ace and Deuce both fight for the spot as your best friend. Ace always uses the argument that he met you first so he's obviously your best friend. It's why he gets so peeved whenever you mention going home. He honestly forgot about you going home around the time that you saved him and Deuce from Azul and his goons. He hasn't really thought about it, more has he wanted to think about it. It's childish, but any thought he has about the future involves you.

When it's brought up in the lunchroom that you could possibly go home through that mirror in your room, he's surprised. Like I mentioned, he forgot that you wanted to go home. He get's kinda mean when you bring it up, like it's the dumbest thing in the world. Why would you want to go home? There are so many people here so care about you and would be devastated if you left. Honestly, you're being kinda selfish, you're just going to abandon everyone who's done so much for you? That seems like a pretty dumb decision, don't bring it up again.

Deuce:

Deuce is the opposite of Ace. Unlike his friend, he's thought about you leaving many times, it keeps him awake at night some times. It's not all that bad, wondering what your world is like, what your fiends were like, what you were like. Other times, it's terrible, mind racing with thoughts of you leaving. What would you do if you could actually leave, would you hesitate, would you think of them? Or would you leave without a second thought, abandoning all the ones who love you behind. It's a scary thought.

After Ace is done berating you, Deuce is there to pick up the pieces. He reminds you that it's your choice, but that he would very much hate it if you went. Unlike Ace, who's just mean, Deuce presents himself with false sympathy, claiming to understand what you're feeling, even though that could never be possible. He tries to comfort you, but it's less of comforting and more attempting to make you forget about your home, reminding you all the great things this world has to offer. He'll go on and on, as long a it make you stay.

Jack

Jack is much more clam and understanding in comparison to the rest. He knew this would come one day. You'd eventually travel back home, leaving them behind, and the world would keep on moving. Before he was closer to you, he didn't really mind it. But as he got to know you, and as he grew closer to you, he began to hate the idea of you leaving. He's somewhat embarrassed by how close he's grown to you, but that's not really his fault, is it? You're the reason he's so messed up now, and I'd be kinda messed up of you to leave.

Jack is the one who actually comforts you. He rubs your back as he reprimands Ace for his harsh words. He'll whisper in your ear and remind you that you have all the right in the world to want to go home. He'll promise to help you find a way home, ignoring the pain in his heart when you thank him for all the help. He knows it's wrong, but a part of him wishes you never find a way back home, and you stay here, safe, with him.

Epel:

Epel wants so badly to be upset, he wants to yell and scream, get mad at you. But when you mention leaving, all that comes is this deep sense of loneliness. He doesn't react like the others, doesn't get angry or defensive, he doesn't try to comfort you. He keeps everything deep within him until he gets back to his dorm, where he cries for hours. He knowns you'd be disappointed in him, bottling everything in, but he can't help it. When he finally does come out of his room, his hair is messy and is face is red and stained with tears.

Epel does confront you later, at Ramshackle. He does finally blow up at you this time, but instead of anger, he begs you not to leave him. He hugs you and holds you tight until you promise him you won't leave. He needs you here, everyone needs you here. If you don't forget about leaving he'll hold you tighter, digging his nails into your back, not caring If it hurt. He'll remind you that at any point, he can break that mirror. So just promise him that you'll never leave.

Ortho:

Ortho just adores you. After helping his brother and seeing how far you'd go for him, he can't help but adore you. He wants to be your best friend, and sometimes he fears that will never happen. He met you so late, so many people got close to you before him. That's why he's kinda worried when you mention leaving. He barely knows you, at least not compared to the others and he doesn't want you to leave just yet.

Ortho starts spending a lot of time with you after you mention leaving. He's walking you to classes, eating lunch with you, and even studying with you. You often have to remind him to go back to his dorm, if you don't he'll never leave you alone. His behavior isn't that strange to you, but for Ortho, he's doing everything he can to insure you stay with him and his brother. He doesn't really see anything wrong with it, after all you are his best friend.

Sebek (I know he technically isn't apart of the gang yet but whatever):

Sebek is conflicted. On one hand, he thinks you're a stupid human, and getting upset at you leaving it a waste of time. On the other hand, he fills with rage whenever you mention going home. He doesn't understand why'd you want to leave. You are weak, magicless, and you want to travel back to a world far away from them when they could protect you instead? It just didn't make sense.

Sebek flat out refuses you leaving. Like it doesn't matter what you want, you are not leaving. His duty is to ensure Malleus's happiness, and you leaving would greatly upset him so no, you're not leaving. He won't mention that he doesn't want you t leave, that will never come from his mouth. But you know something is wrong with him when he demands more of your time, and refuses to let you out of his sight.

#yandere x reader #soft yandere #platonic yandere #twisted wonderland #twst #yandere twst #yandere twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader

[crystallinestars]

This was inspired by a conversation I had with an Aventurine AI. If Aventurine seems a bit OOC, I apologize. I wrote this all in one go while sleep-deprived.

Aventurine lays his head on your lap and you pet his hair and give him kisses. That’s pretty much it.

Contains: Established relationship, lots of fluff, and self-indulgence.

After returning from Penacony, Aventurine asked you to play a game of cards with him. He said he missed you and wanted to spend some quality time over a casual game.

Of course, Aventurine wouldn’t be Aventurine if a bet wasn’t involved.

“If I win, you have to give me a kiss,” he said while keeping his violet eyes trained on your face, a cat-like smile tugging at his lips. Without looking, he placed a card on the table and then waited for your move.

“A kiss?” you parrot, a bit surprised that Aventurine chose a rather simple bet this time. Usually, he liked to ask you out on long dates or get you to wear designer-brand clothing he picked out specially for you. A kiss seemed suspiciously simple by comparison.

“Yes, just a kiss. On the lips, of course,” he smirked and pointed at his lips for emphasis. “But what do you want if you win?”

You hesitated to answer, a bit self-conscious about what Aventurine would think of your request. Whether because you’ve missed him, or because the dark bags under his eyes hinted at Aventurine’s exhaustion, you just wanted to take care of him by doing something nice.

“If I win, I want you to lay your head on my lap and let me pet your hair,” you finally say, voice tinged with embarrassment.

The cat-like grin fell from Aventurine’s lips as he stared at you in wide-eyed surprise, before bursting out laughing.

“That’s the most adorable bet I’ve ever heard!” he grinned, his tired eyes lighting up with amusement. “It almost makes me want to throw the game so I can spend the evening being pampered by you.”

Your cheeks flushed from embarrassment and annoyance as Aventurine laughed at your choice for a bet. Your intentions were pure and genuine, so it hurt a little that he laughed at it.

Seeing the annoyed glare you sent his way, Aventurine quickly quieted down and tried to do damage control. “I admit, I quite like your idea. Whether I win and get a kiss, or lose and get pampered, both scenarios are a win-win in my books,” he said, his gaze warm.

“…Would you really throw the game just for some pampering?” you asked, looking at him with poorly disguised curiosity.

Aventurine only chuckled in response and leaned back in his chair, exuding an air of confidence.

“I’ll play seriously, of course. I still want that kiss, you know,” he replied with a smirk. “Let’s play and see who luck favors more.’”

The game of cards continued. While it wasn’t your first time playing with Aventurine, you sported a hefty 100% losing streak against him. The chances of that changing now were slim, you figured.

However, luck seemed to be on your side this time. You amassed some good cards, and even managed to push through tough plays where you were on the verge of losing. The game progressed unusually smoothly, and before you knew it, victory was in your hands.

“Ah, looks like I lost. Lady Luck was on your side today,” Aventurine sighed. Though he sounded disappointed, the smug smile painted across his face hinted at the opposite.

“You let me win, didn’t you?” you stated and crossed your arms, not buying his little act.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aventurine casually brushed your accusation aside as he stood from the table. “Well then, as the losing party, I must fulfill my end of the bargain,” he drawled, giving you an expectant look.

You wanted to retort and call him out on his bluff some more but thought better of it. It truly had been a while since you saw Aventurine, and you were looking forward to doing something nice for him, even if it meant accepting a rigged victory.

Conceding to his expectant gaze, you led Aventurine over to a nearby sofa and took a seat on one side. You patted your lap, and Aventurine needed no further invitation to lay across the sofa with his head resting on your thighs.

He let out a quiet purr when your fingers carded through his blond locks, gently threading through the strands. Aventurine’s hair was soft and silky—all thanks to the expensive hair products he used.

“I could get used to this,” he murmured, looking up at you with a playful glint in his eye. “It feels quite nice to be pampered like this.”

“Sure, I could do this for you every day,” you quip back, playing along.

“Really? I’ll hold you to your word, then,” Aventurine chuckled.

“It will cost you, of course.”

“Ah, you drive a hard bargain.”

The playful banter between you continued for a while longer until it petered off into a peaceful silence. Your fingers never paused in their gentle and slow strokes through his hair, and you saw Aventurine gradually relax under your touch. The weight of Aventurine’s head grew heavier in your lap as he relaxed and lowered his guard. He closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh, basking in the tranquil moment.

The dark bags under his eyes were proof that Aventurine had not been sleeping well lately, which made you worry a bit. Your tender touches seemed to do the trick, however. Aventurine’s breathing deepened and slowed, while his expression softened into something more vulnerable and innocent as he succumbed to sleep. It was an expression you seldom witnessed, but one you knew was proof of Aventurine’s trust in you.

The sight of Aventurine so vulnerable and relaxed was simply too cute for you to resist. Overcome with a surge of affection, you tenderly brushed his bangs out of his face, before slowly leaning down and touching your lips to his in a feather-light kiss.

The blond tensed under you, and you pulled back slightly only to be met with an even more adorable sight. Aventurine looked up at you with surprise, his cheeks flushed a rosy, red hue. You had caught him unaware with that kiss and were now privy to a rare sight of him acting flustered.

You did your best to stifle the laugh that threatened to bubble out, but a snort still made it through. Aventurine’s momentary surprise turned into a sullen pout at your obvious attempts not to laugh at him.

“Sorry, you were just—so cute, you know? I couldn’t hold back—” you stammered, trying and failing to completely reign in your laughter.

Aventurine’s expression melted into something softer as he reached an arm up, placing his palm on the back of your head.

“I’m cute? The cute one here is you,” he murmured, voice almost a whisper as if he were saying it to himself. It didn’t sound like his usual playful flirting. This time, his tone was serious.

Stunned, you fall quiet and look down at the blond. Despite his serious expression, it still held a note of vulnerability and sincerity that you only saw during private moments with him.

The hand behind your head applied gentle pressure, a silent request for you to come closer to his face. However, there was no force behind it. If you wanted to, you could easily pull away and reject his wordless plea, and Aventurine would let you go. He always did.

This time, you felt like indulging him, so you complied and lowered your head until your faces were mere inches apart.

Your eyes met.

“If you want to fulfill my bet, then that kiss wasn’t nearly enough. But you’re welcome to try again, darling,” he said, voice breathy and soft. In classic Aventurine fashion, he left the decision up to you. He clearly wanted more, but he was still too hesitant to ask outright for it.

“All right. I’ll try as many times as you want until you’re satisfied,” you whisper back, before leaning in and closing the distance between your lips.

This kiss was firm yet sweet, and the first in a series of tender kisses that will leave their mark across Aventurine’s face.

Perhaps one day he’ll be comfortable with asking for what he wants from you without resorting to games of chance. For now, you will pamper your tired boyfriend and give him the affection he so desperately craves, even if it means giving him a hundred kisses every day.

#honkai star rail x reader #star rail x reader #hsr x reader #aventurine x reader #hsr aventurine x reader #I don't know what title to give this

[nitw]

one thing i really like about the fionna and cake series - which also applies to the original episodes but obviously not with as much weight or relevance - is how the au characters aren't all just the same copy-pasted personalities of their ooo counterparts. this also goes for all the other dimensions they visit of course, but i wanna talk about our fionna's world in comparison to our simon's world specifically.

fionna is NOT finn. even though they're around the same age at this point they're different people shaped by different experiences and struggles. they're both sorta absent-minded thrillseekers prone to escapism, but while finn is hyper optimistic and has an innate desire to help/cheer up those around him (even if he doesn't always do it right), fionna seems a bit more reluctant on sympathizing with other people's problems, or at least it doesn't come as naturally to her, and even when she's focused her own goals she doesn't have the same drive. this is clearly a big part of her arc, but it takes a lot to motivate her to put genuine effort into things - even those that matter to her.

similarly, gary is NOT bonnie and marshall is NOT marceline.

like bonnie, gary is a huge nerd and a workaholic with attention to detail, but he's shown to have a lot less confidence in himself. he gets easily crushed by the disappointment of others, it embarrasses him to talk about his dreams and interests, and he's generally not very confrontational - in contrast to bonnie who's not only a monarch with a huge amount of responsibility on her shoulders, but also takes way more pride in her intellect and her work, and isn't afraid of voicing her opinions.

and like marceline, marshall is an extroverted smooth talker who uses art to express himself, and clearly has more baggage than he likes to admit, but i feel like the way he avoids his problems is noticeably different from marceline. while marceline tends to bottle everything up until she explodes (and isn't that good at hiding it), marshall seems more prone to distance himself completely from negative thoughts, as long as he can get away with it. like more of a "this is a problem for another day, i'll just ignore it and focus on what makes me happy right now" attitude. he also just seems to be more patient overall.

it's just really neat! like they've always tried to make the f&c counterparts feel different and fun in their own ways, but now that it's Their Show they obviously have to give even more depth to their identities, and i think it's been doing a great job of making us care about them for who they are.

#leo.txt #at #fionna and cake #adventure time

[izohing]

I think about toxic Ellie all the time

Warnings: toxicity, taking advantage of reader, drinking, degradation kinda, hitting

It’s been months since Ellie and Dina broke up and she still can’t get over it. Ellie genuinely believes that she will never be able to get over it. Going through girl after girl just to find the right girl that can give her even a semblance of the bliss she got from Dina. Ellie is so tired, she is ready to give up. Ready to face that no one could replace Dina.

Until she saw you. You might not look exactly like Dina but something in your guy’s nature was the same. The way you two talked, the way you smiled, the way you both would look at Ellie. Maybe, just for a moment, Ellie thinks she could look past wanting a replacement and actually love you. Until Ellie learns of your naivety.

You have no experience in relationships, clearly, don’t know your wrongs from rights. Even from the first time Ellie had met you, she could see that you let anyone treat you how they please.

Ellie found you at a coffee shop. She watched you get screamed at by some lady for not making her drink right. Ellie could see your polite demeanor even after being soaking in the pink drink. Your voice was still so sweet as you called next. Something about you was just so familiar, she scrabbles her number down on her receipt, giving it to you before leaving.

You get to texting the moment you’re on break. Ellie took you out to dinner the next night. She tells you how she ‘just’ got out of a relationship and felt a little lonely. And god, you looked so eager to help her in anyway that you could. Letting her complain to you about Dina, and you giving her pretty terrible inexperienced advice about moving on with a comforting smile. Eventually you feel comfortable enough to open up about your inexperience, not just in dating but in relationships all around. By the end of the date, you really think you two hit it off.

When Ellie convinces you to come home with her she is met with a bit of hesitance before you agree. She thinks how it’s a shame that you’re so sweet, how any girl would be so lucky to have you. But you’re sitting, waiting for Ellie in her living room; Ellie who only wants you because you’re the closest comparison to a girl who wants nothing to do with her anymore.

Ellie returns with a bottle and two shot glasses. She tells you how to play some drinking game and once you both start to get a bit loopy she makes her move. It moves from small pecks on the lips to awkward tongue to Ellie pushing you to lay flat on the cushions. With the alcohol and the gaze you give her, Ellie could really enjoy this. Maybe love you like Dina for a bit, except… you’re so new and bad at all of this that it keeps pulling Ellie out of her fantasy. Working through it, Ellie grabs the bottle and takes a swig before pulling your pants down.

Ellie starts kissing farther and farther down your body until she reaches your panties. Taking a long lick over them. Instinctively, your legs squeeze Ellies head and yet again, she out of it. She lifts herself from between your legs and sighs.

“You want to be helpful don’t you?”

“Mhm”

“Then let me show you how Dina would do it”

Clearly you weren’t expecting a response like that, but Ellie gave you no time to back out before yanking your panties down and threading your hand in her hair. Anytime she even feels your legs jerk towards her head, they were met with a hard smack.

By the time Ellie pulls away, you’re shaking a bit. She looks away from your face and her attention goes to your tits. Ellie unbuttons your shirt with a purpose and once she pulls your bra away, you can feel her disappointment

“Dinas were bigger…”

Ellie Williams really must have some way of making you feel bad about yourself in a way that nobody else can. Shes so fast paced, leaving you no time to dwell on her insult, yanking you into her room.

Ellie was ruthless in the way she shoved you on the bed and climbed on top of you. She unbuttons her pants and pulls them down her ankles and off, leaving no time to take off her shirt.

The girl in front of you keeps her eyes shut as she slots her legs between yours. She lifts your leg over her shoulder. The rolls of her hips are so smooth and wet, you can’t help but moan. Just as quick as it slipped out, it was hidden by Ellies hand.

“Shh sh shh I- I just need you to be quiet right now babe”

It only takes a few more thrusts for Ellies wetness to start rolling down your thighs and tummy. She rolls off of you, leaving you high and dry.

Ellie leans over a pulls a cigarette out of her dresser. She seems to suddenly remember you were there as she takes a glance at you. She lights her cigarette, takes a puff, and then pulls it away.

“Oh and by the way, next time don’t shave. She never shaved.”

(Also I feel like I read something with the same idea a long time ago, if someone can find their blog please comment their @)

#ellie williams x you #ellie williams fic #ellie williams imagine #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams smut #ellie williams x y/n #tlou x reader #tlou fics

[matan4il]

Buddie 618 meta

Since this could have been the show finale, not just this season’s, I hope you allow me to do a small overview of the ep as a whole with this in mind.

I’m gonna be honest, I want to send ABC a bouquet of flowers, because if this would have been the show’s last ep, it would have been an incredibly disappointing one. Not that it didn’t have merit. 911 has always been about the importance of the good that we do - for ourselves, for our loved ones and for strangers. That’s why the significance of this ep’s emergency was actually great. We got to see the 118 saving themselves, each other and be saved by a complete stranger, who wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for the 118 saving him four seasons earlier. My issue with it is that it would have been better IMO to spread out this emergency over two eps, really give it room to resonate emotionally, in much the same way that Buck’s lightning strike did. That would have also left more airtime for the team’s personal lives to get closure.

When looking at the personal resolution to the 118’s stories, I did like the return to Henren’s adoption via foster care storyline, it needed closure and I’m so happy this is the one it got. I have talked in more than one fandom about the importance of showing how same sex couples ACTUALLY go about becoming parents, so I think this is extra significant. I can’t wait to see this not just being a wink at the end of a show finale, but an actually developed storyline in s7. I also think “Here’s to more chaos and more love” is my fave line in this ep and a perfect summary of the best of 911. I also loved Bathena getting to go on their honeymoon, getting to live carefree for a moment. They absolutely deserve this, and it felt even better thanks to being a callback moment. I also enjoyed seeing Madney seal the details of their wedding. I have loved and enjoyed them since Maddie called Chim cute in 206, they deserve all the happiness and joy, and to me, having to see her twice this season bracing herself for the possibility of losing Buck and / or Chim (in 611 and now) made it even more meaningful to see Madney happy by the end of the ep. Again, I can’t wait to see the actual wedding in s7. It’s gonna melt all of our hearts. Still, all of these resolutions felt a bit rushed and I believe they could have had more of an impact if they were more than blink and you miss it moments during the final montage.

But if those felt underdeveloped, that’s nothing in comparison with Buck and Eddie’s personal lives’ resolutions. Was 911 really going to leave them with the “endgame” of women who literally only showed up as Love Interests in the last couple of eps of the show? If I weren’t a part of fandom, as a casual viewer, I would sincerely not have even remembered Marisol from her emergency, so I would have been confused by her and Eddie’s conversation. In fact, I found it funny that when Eddie wants to text her, it’s presented as a disruption to Bobby’s talk, just like Buck’s call with Kameron. I also thought it was wild that we discover Marisol and Eddie exchanged numbers, because that most certainly wasn’t even hinted at during 617. We clearly saw him walking away, they exchanged a last look, and that was it. Eddie and Marisol are so underdeveloped, we don’t even know how they happened! Did Marisol rush after Eddie? Did he come back to ask her for her number? Did they both decide to take the leap? How did the conversation go? Why was their phone call in 618 so awkward if they had already made their intentions clear when they exchanged numbers? We have zero answers to these questions. This was so forced, so unearned, so underdeveloped, it makes it painfully obvious that it was done just to not leave Eddie heterosexually single. Because I’m sorry, homosubtextually, he’s been married for years.

Which brings me to Buck and Natalia. I gotta roll my eyes at my own 615 meta, where I talked about the meaning of her name connecting her to birth, now we literally had her at the birth of Buck’s bio kid. What a piece of ironic foreshadowing. And yet, despite Natalia being a bit more developed than Marisol, despite the fact that Buck had what was maybe the most invested in personal resolution in the finale, it was still a let down for me. We have mostly seen why Natalia doesn’t suit him in eps 615 and 617. She did come back in the finale, but then so did Taylor in 414. That doesn’t mean either woman fits Buck as a partner. I’m left with the uneasy feeling that we have here a rerun of that s4 finale in terms of the ep shoving both men into relationships with underdeveloped LIs. TBH, the juxtaposition makes 618 worse IMO. Because the comparison with Marisol and Natalia actually makes Ana and Taylor look slightly more invested in! That says a lot about how little 911 cares about the 618 LIs. But it also gives me this bad sense of stepping in place with Buck and Eddie in terms of their romantic development. For example, the fact that Buck ends up tying yet another one of his couches to yet another gf at a way too early stage of their r/s (too much time couldn’t have passed between Kameron giving birth, ruining Buck’s couch, and his conversation about getting a couch together with Natalia since he was just getting around to having the old one looked at to see if it could be saved. He’s once again rushing into commitment with a girl he doesn’t yet know well enough, and who we saw in 615 he was idolizing as truly seeing him, when the truth was very different or she wouldn’t have run out on him in 617. I also can’t tell you why Natalia came back based on the few interactions we’ve seen between them, we haven’t had a single meaningful moment between them so far to explain it, making it clear he’s going in circles. I do suspect Buck doesn’t realize this is him repeating past mistakes, he thinks this is progress given his ability to let go of the baby, which could be an interesting angle to explore in s7. But probably what makes giving Buddie rushed heterosexual “endgame” LIs worse is that every bit of development either man made that isn’t about their love life got sidelined in this ep...

I think in a sense, the underdevelopment of all of Buck and Eddie’s LIs, even the “endgame” ones in what could have been the show’s finale, might actually be a testament to the power of Buddie. If a showrunner knows they could never hope to develop any LI to have with either Buck or Eddie even a tenth of what they have with each other, that can explain not even trying. In fact, we got a reminder of the strong bond between these two men during the call. Buck saved Eddie, just as Eddie saved Buck during the lightning strike. The way they looked at each other, the zoom in on their hands grasping one another, was very emotionally poignant exactly because we have seen these two losing their whole damn minds trying to save the other man on more than one occasion. And Buck used the words “I got you,” a reminder that they will ALWAYS have each other’s back, on and off the field. 

The good news is that ABC has a chance to correct the course of where this finale left off. I do believe the move is being done knowing they would have to rejuvenate 911 if they want it to fare better than on Fox, and I think that giving Buddie the room to become canon would be exactly that. But I have said in more than one of my ask replies that to me, no matter what, this show has been telling the epic love story of Buck and Eddie, with the little family they built. Whether TPTB go through with that canonically or not, this is what they gave us. And nothing will take that away from me. If 911 ends with Buddie being single, I’ll just assume their feelings realization and confessions happen after the end of the show. If 911 ends with “endgame” heterosexual LIs, I’ll just know that those couples eventually break up at some point during the 118’s post-show future, and then Buddie finally get together. Because that’s the story we got over the course of the last 5 seasons, one that only has a single possible resolution, whether the show itself gives it to us or whether it forces us to have to imagine and write it down in fix-it fics ourselves. We ALL know what we saw. We ALL get what Buddie have. We ALL see how that inevitably would lead to them getting together sooner or later, and if it doesn’t happen during the show, then later it is, but it WILL happen. That’s how I look at the show, and that’s why even if this were the last ep of it, it still wouldn’t have destroyed Buddie for me. I hope this POV can help others, too.

~~ I’m gonna be here during the hiatus, if anyone wants to be here with me. Thank you so much to all of you who made s6 a lovelier ride by taking it with me! I’m endlessly grateful for every single one of you. xoxox

~~ (my weekly meta posts) (my Buddie gifs) (all of my content)

~~ My tag list will follow in the reblog, please let me know if you wanna be added/removed here.

~~ Thank you to the amazing @whosoldherout​​ for making this season so much better with your gifs, for these meta posts and in general!

#buddie #911meta #911 on abc #911 abc #buddie meta #911 meta #911abc #9-1-1 #evan buckley #eddie diaz #911onabc #911 #evanbuckleyedit #eddiediazedit #buddieedit #wm #911 spoilers #buddie gifs #911 gifs #911edit

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

"The Bad Batch" Series Review

Now that this show is over and I've had some time to think about it, I'll give my overall thoughts, its strengths, weaknesses, and how it compares to other two main popular animated shows. In general, TBB is a solid show with fun characters, beautiful animation/music, and moments of truly peak Star Wars. Is it perfect? Definitely not, but I love it all the same. It's probably a solid 8/10 for me. In many ways, TBB is the type of show I absolutely love. It's dark, character driven, and touches on mature themes. I love seeing how different characters came to terms with Order 66 and the birth of the Empire. At a time when hope seemed at its bleakest, seeing characters try and find it again is very compelling.

Tbh, I think one of the reasons why I love this show so much is because it really hits home for me. A lot of the themes and ideas that are explored by the characters are also things I've been exploring at the same time. TBB has been a comfort show for me as the world becomes even scarier and I grow as a person. It was the show I needed right now. Also, the Batch remind me of my own friend group. So, I might be a bit biased here.

In comparison to the other shows, I think I love TBB about the same as much as the others. Some days, I'll prefer TBB, other days, I might prefer Rebels or CW. Each show has something I truly love and something that frustrates me. For example, Rebels has a lot of emotional moments I enjoy, but Zeb was really slept on after S2. CW had an amazing scale and scope, but some arcs were just awful. You know which one I'm talking about. TBB is the same. It really depends on the vibe though. At the end of the day though, I truly love all 3 shows and all the joy (and tears) they give me.

Alright, let's get into the nitty gritty.

Weakness:

I'll start off with the flaws just to get them out of the way. I think TBB's biggest flaws are regarding balancing the character dynamics and arcs. I understand that Omega is more or less the main character since she really changes the Batch's life, but they needed to do more. I wanted to learn more about the Batch. However, sometimes it felt like characters could only grow when Omega was with them. Granted, this wasn't the case 100% of the time. Crosshair is the most notable example of this and I loved Tech's interactions with Romar and Phee. Unfortunately, it does affect the characters if they only get characterization with one character. Echo is the biggest victim of this imo. They had a goldmine to explore how he felt in the aftermath of Skako Minor, but they didn't. Crosshair wound up being the Batcher who would've understood him most, except they only exchange two lines of dialogue together in S3. That's it. Imagine how impactful it would've been for Cross if he talked to him. Echo truly understands the horrors of being turned into a lifeless machine. It was an opportunity that was practically gift wrapped for the writers. Sadly, it did not come to pass. Overall, this show just needed more Echo.

Btw, TBB wasn't the only show with this problem. As mentioned above, Zeb didn't get much to do after S2 and I'm disappointed in that. Even Rex and Kallus also got sidelined after S3. CW's format was more forgiving with this, but certain characters like Savage became more irrelevant once more popular characters showed up. Additionally, Echo not learning about Fives was a massive missed opportunity.

Branching off of that, having Omega as the centerpiece also means that the emotional moments tend to happen with her. Now, that's not a bad thing, except it only seems to happen with her. In S1, it really felt like no one cared that Crosshair was gone. This is their brother who they've known forever. Why is Crosshair the only one who seems to be really emotional about the whole thing? Since the Batch have only ever had each other, I would've expected them to be more upset/bothered when one of their own suddenly does a 180 in personality. And again, it's not like it's not there, it is, but it really needs more. I'll be honest, I really didn't like S1 Hunter at all. The man tunnel visioned on Omega.

I'm more forgiving about the rough start since both CW and Rebels were also kinda rough. However, I think the lack of clear focus did hurt the show a bit. Rebels and CW had a greater scope: fighting in a war/revolution. TBB doesn't have this since everything just got uprooted. Had the show been a bit more focused, I think it really would've helped a lot. S2 and 3 both established what the overall focus was pretty quickly. But with S1, it seemed to jump from the inhibitor chips to whatever Omega's purpose was to Project War Mantle and I was like: so, what was the Batch's goal other than survival?

There are other things that bugged me as well. Tech's death should've been handled better. I get that the Batch are soldiers so they aren't expected to cry in each others arms. Except the closure for Tech's death wasn't enough. What wound up happening was half the fandom questioning if he was really dead and searching for hints that he was alive. I covered this in my S3 review, but to summarize: the writers needed more time and more deep character moments. TBB thrived on those deep, mature conversations.

I know I just went off, but I truly love this show with all my heart. I know it's capable of so much more as shows in its strengths. It just frustrates me when it falls short.

Strengths:

Crosshair. Looking back at his overall journey, Crosshair is easily the most compelling character. I'm linking my study of him because his arc is just that good.

https://www.tumblr.com/marvel-starwarsfangirl/750696139213471744/crosshairs-character-in-tbb-a-study?source=share

What's so impressive to me about Cross is that he doesn't need to be in a lot of episodes in order to tell his story in a satisfactory way. Everything he's in is so well written that I can easily tell how he's feeling, why he feels that way, and why he makes the choices he does. In S2, not once did I have to wonder why he decided to betray the Empire or befriend Mayday despite that arc being only 2 episodes. The subtext really said it all perfectly. TBB does such a good job with his character, but I won't go on any further because we'd be here forever. Anyways, I love Crosshair and he has the best redemption arc in Star Wars. You can't change my mind.

TBB also touches on mature themes and I love that they are explored in a thoughtful way. Tech's conversation with Omega is really beautiful. It speaks to a lot of people and I love that the writers chose to take a thoughtful route instead of just having Tech say something nerdy and calling it at that. The same thing with Crosshair's PTSD. It was a genuine issue that affected him and not just when the plot needed it. I also appreciated that he was given time to actually try healing. Letting the characters sit down and have deep moments is what really connects the audiences to them because we see what makes them vulnerable. Light-hearted action is fun and all, but there is so much more to these characters than "blaster go pew." I really resonated with Crosshair's story and I know many people did the same with Tech's. I also loved how the show showed Omega adapting to the change around her; it can be very difficult sometimes and I appreciated that it wasn't still sunshine and rainbows after. Echo had a role within the Batch and his absence definitely shook the dynamics.

The animation and music are just perfection. It speaks for itself, but it's perfect imo. (yes, I'm aware of the errors, but it doesn't impact the actual quality).

The Empire was really freaking scary. TBB did a great job showing how the Empire started encroaching on the entire galaxy and began phasing out the clones. Occupations started, Rampart began his chain code system, and any form of dissent was immediately silenced. There was no question as to how ruthless they were. And there were genuine consequences to the actions of characters. Rampart was thrown under the bus for something he was ordered to do. The Empire doesn't protect anyone except Palpatine. "The Outpost" is so brutal and raw, but it perfectly shows how the Empire can drain a person until they break. Both Rampart and Hemlock are two fantastic villains that capture the true horrors of humanity. Rampart is a cold and greedy man. We all know people like him and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Not even humble juice in prison could make him reevaluate his views. Hemlock is a monster that only cares for his experiments. He was such a different villain compared to the Sith and greedy imperials we tend to see and I appreciated that. Even Crosshair was a good example of how misguided beliefs can turn people against one another. Like with Rampart, we all know people like Crosshair. It grounds TBB that much more.

I also loved the main focus on family in this show. It's a value that I hold dearly because of my beliefs and how I was raised. At the end of the day, the Batch's greatest strength comes from the bonds they have with each other. In times so dark, it's the people they love the most that will help them get through their struggles. I honestly love that. Whether it's friends, siblings, or parents, those bonds are so important. People aren't meant to tackle the world alone. TBB does a great job showing how hard it is when you're stuck in a dark place and how impactful it can be to have people who love and support you. Overall, I really loved it.

At the end of the day, I just really love the Batch. They mean a lot to me, especially Crosshair and Omega. Omega herself is such a sweet bean and her light truly is beautiful. I've loved watching her journey over the last several years. She's a wonderful character and I love her dearly. I love Crosshair (he's really hot, ok). I love Tech's charm and quips. I love Echo's strong drive for justice. I love Wrecker's big heart. I love Hunter's... fatherly instincts.

Ok, I know that was long, but I am so grateful for this show. I love TBB with all my heart and there's so much more to say. For now though, I'll just say that TBB has truly made an impact on my life. It gave me something to enjoy when times got rough and it gave me Crosshair. I will always be thankful for him.

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb crosshair #tbb omega #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #tbb tech #tbb echo

[nanomooselet]

Little but Fierce

Now, I might be mistaken, but judging by the number of bare pectoral muscles strewn over my dash at any given moment, I'm gonna say Wolfwood is pretty popular? And that's understandable (he's a loser <3) but it's a genuinely terrible shame that Meryl gets overlooked. Especially in Stampede. Orange have done some really amazingly cool things with Meryl.

And it makes me a little nervous to say so, but I think they only could have done them by detaching her from Milly, at least for a time. Milly's still going to show up and I'm confident from this precedent they'll treat her well, so I'm at peace with her absence for now.

Nightow is unexpectedly good in many ways. He treats sex workers as human, which is a low bar that many nevertheless fail to clear, and my only serious disappointment in Maximum was in how the girls vanished for long periods. I recall an interview where he said something to the effect of being reluctant to put them in harm's way, and while I'm disinclined to take anything Nightow says entirely at face value (I don't think he's a liar, but I do think he has a sense of humour that inclines him to kindly trolling, which I respect), that would line up, I think.

I think Orange are taking the opportunity to remedy this disappointment.

It's exciting. It's the kind of writing for female characters in genre media I've always craved. I will not be silenced on how extremely gay I am for Meryl Stryfe.

Unfortunately that means for this first entry, I'll have to talk about Knives. (Whom I also love, but not in a gay way. More an affectionate revulsion. He's fascinatingly horrible, this man.)

So. I've noticed a distressing tendency for Knives's... really almost anything that ever comes out of his mouth (seriously) to be taken as the honest, objective truth. After all, they didn't call him a villain.

And what an honest face he has!

As Knives has it:

Vash is pretty, but he's useless without his brother. He's a powerless, weak, pathetically naïve, blubberingly sentimental little baby who doesn't care about the Plants, too busy enabling humanity's abuse via performing his cringing, grasping abasement before them to notice how his brethren suffer. Knives himself is the more powerful (and much less human-like) of the twins; the strongest and most righteous activist for necessary change now that, sadly despite all good faith attempts at communication, non-violent solutions have failed. He truly has only the best and most altruistic intentions: the freedom of his people, and the happiness of his brother.

Here's the problem. This has always been the problem. Every one of the statements in the paragraph above is false. Except the one about Vash being pretty.

Once more with feeling: They are completely untrue. They are supported by literally nothing. All we have is his word that they're true and there's so much existing evidence to disprove his claims that even the thought of compiling it exhausts me.

However, I did say that Zazie is a truth-teller in this story, didn't I? So let's examine some of Zazie's conclusions.

Now, I've seen reference to the surviving human communities on No Man's Land as "colonisers", and that their treatment of the Plants even before the Fall is analogous to slavery. (My strong suspicion is that Knives is purposefully invoking those comparisons, in fact.) Those are both extremely loaded analogies, culturally and emotionally, and I just want to gently, respectfully caution those who make them against overlooking the more nuanced and purposeful analogies being made. Or maybe should I say, the actual individuals to whom they apply.

Zazie is very careful to say this: Knives told them humans can't be trusted to learn from consuming their home planet. Knives was the one who said humans will have Zazie's planet next, and that only Knives will "use" the Plants correctly - so Zazie should ally with Knives.

Here's what Knives meant by "using the Plants correctly":

I, uh, think Zazie may have made the wrong call on this one! And that Zazie thinks the same.

This is what makes the interaction with Wolfwood so funny and sad - the all-knowing, ostensibly unkillable Zazie is freaking the hell out, staggering under the weight of realising just how apocalyptically badly they have fucked up. Wolfwood, who also directly instigated this disaster but under duress, is grimly amused - he did everything he did fulfilling the contract to protect the kids, even as his conviction failed, even though he would rather have died, even after Livio... and thus he personally rendered all his own efforts and sacrifices moot.

And he's just like, "Heh, yeah. That tracks." This poor boy.

Afterwards, Zazie is confused and even a little saddened that Vash was demonised in the wake of July's destruction. Never let it be said the bug fails to learn from experience: Vash is the one everyone blames? Ah, so he was in fact spectacularly heroic and clever and it's entirely Knives's fault it turned out so badly.

Also, crashing on this specific planet wasn't exactly humanity's choice. Guess whose choice it was.

Go on, guess. Better yet, guess why.

Yeah. It was also Knives who said to Zazie that both he and Vash crashed the ships... trying to stop us. From doing exactly what Knives tried to do the very instant he got the chance.

The thing is, Knives does everything he can to look like he's right by positioning himself as the most authoritative source, but he isn't ever backed up by like... facts. Or evidence. Or reality. Or anything. Ever. He crowned himself king of the Plants. He speaks and acts for them by divine right, apparently. He didn't take a vote or anything - in his mind it's self-evident only he understands the world, and Vash, and the correct way to use the Plants. Because remember that it's not using Plants he gives a damn about, even using them to death in the Last Run, as long it's him doing it. It's being dependent upon humans; he views providing for our basic survival needs as wasteful and inherently, exclusively parasitic, even if we're helping the Plants to survive in turn. Because it's humans that he's frightened of, and he wants the yucky things gone.

The thing is, when he's not being purposefully manipulative (though Vash is the only one he manipulates in person, probably because Vash is the only one he pays enough attention to for his tactics to be effective) he's being a dense fucking idiot. At very few points do his delusions intersect with reality.

The thing is, Knives is a known, proven, and entirely unrepentant liar. It's the logical extension of the way he gaslights Vash. He is in no way a trustworthy source of information.

All that he says is part of a heroic narrative about being the specialest boy evar that he came up with to avoid taking any blame or responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Knives considers himself perfect, but he's made plenty of mistakes, which I do think he would consider mistakes - among them Rem's death, alienating Vash, cutting off his arm and rendering him disabled, and what I suspect to be the large number of Plants killed in the Fall, along with the ones consumed by the Last Run in the desperation that followed.

So he tells himself... little stories. Inside his head. It's how he reconciles it. It's how he copes.

Basically, if you want to find any truth in anything Knives ever says, look closely at what he says, and believe the opposite.

Now, onto my girl and how completely fantastic she is.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

#trigun stampede #trigun meta #tristampparty #millions knives #meryl stryfe #i was about to say “liar pants on fire” and then i remembered #...literally tho #meta: little but fierce #terrible terrible plant man

[carawenfiction]

Will we have an update soon?

Tumblr won't let me make normal posts for some reason, so the update will have to be in form of an answer to this ask smh. Anyway:

Hey everyone!

This post is long overdue, I know. I’m really sorry to those who have been worried about my wellbeing, as well as those who have been waiting around for an update for so long.

I’ve put off writing here because this “update” is something I’ve been wrestling with for a long time. But I can’t keep going back and forth on it forever, which is why I’m now letting you all know that the Shadow Society is officially discontinued.

I know that this might not come as much of a surprise to anyone at this point. I’ve tried to salvage the story by remaking it into something I’m happy with through a rewrite. But I’ve rewritten the rewrite itself more than once, and no matter what I do, I’m just not happy with the result. Rewriting something that’s already published with all the coding it involves is a lot more tricky than I initially thought it would be.

This is not a case of me being needlessly harsh on myself, however; it’s simply a truth I’ve come to realize after struggling to find a way to keep going with the story. I’ll never be fully content with it, or even content enough, unless I’d be able to completely remake and rewrite everything from scratch – and consequentially, I will never find enough motivation to continue because of how unhappy I am with it.

I’ve seen some speculation about my reason for rewriting the story and my long absence, and that they’ve had to do with comparisons to other IFs (well, you know which one). This isn’t entirely the case. While the comparisons did happen and probably still do, and while they were discouraging in the beginning, I can definitely understand where people have been coming from when making them. I talked about this more in-depth in the forums right after the release of TSS.

The main reason for why I can’t continue is that it’s not a series I feel passionate enough about to work on. My tastes have changed, and so has my writing to some degree. I’ve tried to convince myself that I am passionate about it. It’s hard to admit that you’re not when it’s been in your head for so long, when you’ve tried for so long to make this work and when you know that one part is published and that some people are anticipating a continuation. But it had to be done sooner or later.

Other reasons:

-While I don’t think that my writing style has changed drastically, I feel like it is somewhat different from how I wrote back in 2018 (which is a GOOD thing). Whenever I tried working on the rewrite or second book and attempted to emulate the writing of TSS, it just didn’t sound right anymore, and that took a lot of fun out of it.

-With everything that has happened with CoG over the past few years, they are no longer a company I want to write for.

Please know that none of this has discouraged me from writing in general. I still love doing it. If anything, this has taught me a lot about what I actually want to write and the writing process in general. Whether I end up publishing anything else in the future or will simply do so for my own enjoyment we’ll just have to see, though.

I still have the idea of a shadow-like world in my head, and maybe it’s one I will revisit at some point. Maybe there will be another version of TSS someday, albeit very different from the original one.

But for now, I can only thank you all for the overwhelming love and support over the years, and apologize for any disappointment this has caused. If people are interested, I’d be happy to share parts of the rewrite and unused ideas. The Tumblr page will still stay up at least for some time, but I will probably not be answering any asks from here on out.

EDIT: Forgot to add, but if anyone wants a genuinely amazing IF read you should check out my friend's wip here: https://uroboros-if.tumblr.com/ ❤️ Play the demo here: https://mistyriousness.itch.io/uroboros

#the shadow society #tss #carawenfiction #interactive fiction

[bengiyo]

Ossan's Love Returns Ep 6 Stray Thoughts

Last week, the main gays went on a trip! Kurosawa and Izumi independently won trips. Kurosawa gave his to Haruta and Maki and joined them on the trip. It was very fun, and we got create Chief vs Maki moments. Izumi is still into Haruta, but he was able to bond with Maki when Maki was looking for his missing ring. Kiku shared more insights about Izumi and his history with Akito. Eventually we had a big brawl in the hotel dining room as everyone’s jealousy and issues came to the fore. Maki almost shot Kurosawa with an arrow. It was incredible. Haruta reaffirmed that he only wants to be with Maki, and that other disappointments (including losing the ring) pale in comparison to the fear of losing Maki. Anyway, we found the ring!

Kiku, I really hope you move on from this man.

I’m glad that Haruta is engaged with the wedding planning, but I’m worried about how sleepy Maki is.

I like that this show, which probably has way more reach than WDYEY, is also pointing out that this ceremony is entirely symbolic and confers no economic or social benefits to their partnership.

Haruta is always dealing with so much romantic attention that he barely registers that Izumi is staring at him like the second chance at his great love while Haruta is literally planning a wedding with Maki.

I am so amazed that the Genius group is still active.

Episode 6: Deep Crimson Valentine’s Wedding

This feels weird if the Chief is going to help Haruta with the wedding meeting because he almost married Haruta in the first season. Haruta left him at the altar!

Choko and her mom mostly planned the Chief’s first wedding, and now he’s here with Haruta. I love the commitment to the mother-in-law bit.

Haruta, you don’t always have to say yes to everyone!! Do not help Kiku this way!

This ghost bit is way over the line! Haruta, please!!

I hope they revert their wedding plan for Maki’s sake.

Why is Takegawa the one doing the counseling???

Haruta, you really should not be trying on tuxedos with the Chief.

I like the chief and Kiku commiserating together. I like Haruta talking about finding shared values in marriage. I don’t like Maki working on decorations by himself even though he’s exhausted.

Maki not making his own wedding because his chariman is going to upset me.

This situation with the pickles is ridiculous. If they don’t have these two fuck I will be so disappointed.

FUCK YEAH, MARO, COME THROUGH!!!

The season 1 montage has me in my feelings.

I like this little scene with the different chocolate shapes.

They took the step together!

I’m gonna need all these people sour in romance to leave!

NOOOOO!!!! NOT THE CHIEF!!!!

Oh, I am curious how Haruta and Maki handle caring for a kid next week.

I am so relieved that Haruta and Maki actually got married. There’s been so much drama getting to this moment for so many years that I fully expected there to be some sort of last-minute mishap keeping them apart. Overall, I don’t think all of the active elements worked together very well this week, and that feels bad to say on the wedding episode. I was hoping it would be a triumphant moment in and of itself, but it feels like there’s so much of other people’s unhappiness pushing in at the edge of the whole affair. Then we end on the chief’s health in jeopardy? I’m happy for Haruta and Maki, and hope we start to clean up all this other sadness in the show.

#Ben watches #ossan's love #ossan's love returns #japanese bl #bl series

[elionwriter]

Sherlock Holmes the Awakened: a Review

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Sorry, sorry, sorry, but I just NEED to talk about this game! I have been a Frogwares Holmes fan since the very beginning and 'The Awakened' was always among my favourite titles. Not to mention one of the games that had scared the wits out of me. So I have to speak about the Remake now.

First and foremost, I think it needs to be reiterated that this game was made DURING THE FU****G INVASION OF UKRAINE! During such dark times, the team kept working on this. I would have supported this game even just for this reason alone.

Now, let's be honest: Frogwares never had the most marvelous graphics nor the most polished of gameplays and this entry is not an exception. I still feel the map system is a bit difficult to navigate (I may be an idiot, but I had the same issue with Chapter 1) but I really appreciated the added help the game gives you when you're recreating a scene, letting you know which passage you got wrong. Last game I found myself changing everything trying to hit the right combination so I really liked this fix.

This needs to be said: the game doesn't feel under any shape or form a product for a new fan. Everything from dialogues to game mechanics sort of take for granted that you've at least played 'chapter one'. Honestly? I'm ok with this, I hate having to always go through nearly identical tutorial stages for games I know inside out (like Pokémon) and I believe that most of not all people who are going to get this game ARE old fans!

I wasn't originally a big fan of the new Holmes and Watson models when the last game came out but....I dunno, they have grown on me. I find myself liking them now for, I suppose, no other reason than 'they are very expressive' and 'I've gotten used to them'. I think it's gotten to the point that these might be my favourite models of the two to date. Please ignore how fickle I am! (In honesty, just to draw a similar parallel, when Roger Craig Smith was first announced as Sonic's voice I hated it and now he's my fav Sonic v. actor)

This game has something.....compared to its predecessor, that makes it less scary. I can't really put my finger on it, but I distinctly remember the feeling of claustrophobia building in me when I was in the Black Edelweiss. Or the sheer jumpscare I got when the sacrificed American detective on the altar had tentacles coming out of it and severing his head making it roll to the ground. I remember almost not wanting to paddle the rowboat under the tree of hanging men in the Bayou. I remember how viscerally sick I felt at the lighthouse by all the gore and blood depicted. This time round.....I just didn't. I'm honestly not sure why this didn't hit me nearly as hard as its 2006 predecessor did!

And talking about comparisons, one thing I'm a bit disappointed they didn't grab the chance to do in this remake was fix the loose ends that were left hanging in the 2006 version. I mean....they still abandoned completely the search for that one Maori servant, what happened to all the people they managed to rescue? Who hired the private American detective that was killed? Why give out the cheap pendants? I know I'm a bit dumb and need extra explaining than what is necessarily needed but...I can't be the only one right? Sometimes you want to be told just a bit more.

Now, getting into the really good bits, that make all of it worth it!

'Chapter One' acted as a 'de facto' reboot of the Frogwares Holmes series, and I honestly think that was for the best. I don't really see where they could have gone with things after 'Devil's Daughter' and their Holmes had changed too much to be the same guy from 'The Silver Earring'...let alone Watson. But like this? They have a fresh, clean slate to start off from and they can rebuild the two mains' relashionship and lore from the ground up in a more strictly consequential manner. And the way they are doing it? I think it's state of the art!

The fact that they poke fun at themselves on certain points like Watson stating: "What about when you used to roll up only one of your sleeves? Did you get bored halfway through?!" I think the Devs themselves realized this was a cringe design choice and I like that they said so out loud.

The meta-conversation they wrote in towards the end, 'because yes, this HAS Happened before and the story still has the same outcome', is brilliant. I don't think I've ever seen another remake that acknowledges that it is a remake, and in the general madness that is mounting in the narrative this makes perfect sense! It adds one more layer of horror and inexplicable to the tale. The villain's warning 'that the Final Problem is coming and Sherlock will fall in the abyss too' is such a powerful way to use Canon. The prophecy is only made more real and dreadful by the fact that this person is aware of what has already happen in a similar but different scenario!

Also, not them using that one quote from 'The Valley of Fear' novel which happens to be one of my all time favourites!

I say, Watson,’ he whispered, ‘would you be afraid to sleep in the same room as a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip?’ ‘Not in the least,’ I answered in astonishment. 'Ah, that’s lucky,’ he said, and not another word would he utter.

I think the thing that has most benefited from the Remake is Watson's character. Compared to the 2006 version, this Watson is a truly compelling character in his own right and this time round he's not just along for the ride. In this version, you simply cannot imagine how Holmes would have done it on his own. Watson was in every way a key component to the solution of the problem and the reason why Holmes didn't drown in madness. That point is driven home by Rochester asking 'How did you defeat me?' and Holmes answering 'I made a friend!'

Much of the narrative in the game was focused on Holmes truly learning to accept Watson's friendship and him as a person when he was still clinging so much to his old imaginary friend. You can see how, at first, Holmes refuses to be honest with the Doctor about what he thinks and feels and it's only as they move forward in the adventure that they both open up to each other. You can see as the adventure progresses that Holmes shifts his desperate cries from 'Jon' to 'Watson' to 'John' and the Doctor goes more and more often from 'Holmes' to 'Sherlock'. Mycroft also points this out when he says that Sherlock 'went from one Jon to another'. But this one, John Watson, is real and there to stay. In the context of a story that happens mostly in the detective's mind, Watson's friendship is really what turns the situation around!

I could add of little tid bits which were so random and on the nose that somehow worked, like the possessed 'Heidi' doll or the fact that you had to actually 'Kill Holmes' with the booby traps instead of avoiding them.

Also, "The director Guygax was randomly killed.....by a doll?!????!?!?! Yeah, let's just walk out of here no questions asked. That's too deep a wormhole even for this f***d up Adventure to go down. I'm sure nobody is gonna ask us questions, suspect or stop us as we go out the main doors!" 😃 -Holmes, probably.

So, yeah, I loved this game despite it not being perfect and my love and support goes to Frogwares more that ever!

#sherlock Holmes the awakened #sherlock holmes chapter one #sherlock holmes #john watson #frogwares holmes #sherlock holmes devil's daughter #holmes x watson #sherlock x john #sherlock and jon #jon #mycroft holmes #chtulhu #eldrich horror #lovecrafian

[peachesofteal]

How many followers have you've gained since posting COD fandiction because I've feel like you're work is amongst the most popular here in COD tumblr?

First, let me preface this by saying: I was born in the 90s and I've been on Tumblr since 2011.

This feels awkward to me (no hate to you anon) and I think it's just because I don't usually discuss this stuff. It's not really of interest to me but I will answer this because you're not the first person to ask something along these lines, and I’ve consistently ignored these types of questions, which is not entirely fair to the askers.

I've had this Tumblr since October of last year (it's not my only one) and I started out originally posting Sandman and TLOU fic. I posted my first Simon Riley fic in early December on AO3, and didn't even bring it to Tumblr until February. Since then, my follower count has grown pretty steadily, and as of today it sits at just over five thousand. I don't really like talking about this because I've seen so many people get down about themselves in the name of the comparison game and I don't enjoy feeling like I am contributing to that. Not comparing myself to others is something that I have consciously worked at doing in all aspects of my life, for my own mental health and happiness, and I don't do it here. I don't like to contribute to it either. This is why (among other reasons) I've never done a follower celebration. I feel guilt about it because I love you all so much and I'm so grateful to our little community that we've built on this blog, I think we've really cultivated a nice space for each other here where we can indulge in the things we enjoy without judgement (ahem) and take comfort in stories, but I have performance/deadline/life in general anxiety and doing follower celebrations have always intimidated me because I would hate to disappoint any of you, and like I said, I don't play the comparison game.

As far as my work being popular on Tumblr, I think my writing can be an acquired taste that is not always for everyone (which is completely okay, as I have said before, I support everyone creating their own experiences and using the block button liberally) and I would disagree with your opinion (respectfully)

At the end of the day: I care more about writing my silly little stories and having a good time with all of you over the amount of notes on my posts or how many people know I exist.

#peaches asks #I really debated answering this and I hope it makes sense

[saibug1022]

Bleeding Me Dry

Word Count: 1.7k

Astarion x Durge, Gale x Tav (background)

Kieran is my Drow Durge, he/him and romancing Astarion. He also shares a universe with one of my Tavs, a tiefling bard named Idris, they/them, who is romancing Gale.

AO3 Link

“I don't know what insults me more.”

Idris cried out as Cazador’s boot slammed down onto their chest, pinning them to the stone floor. Kieran heard something snap but through the pain coating their every nerve he couldn't tell if it was their ribs or the violin on their back. Kieran snarled as he clawed at Cazador's hand around his throat. Idris's eyes kept darting to him, but Kieran was more focused on Cazador. His nails, more like talons, bit into his skin. He was squeezing Kieran’s neck just tight enough he could manage to breathe and holding him just high enough his toes brushed the floor.

“That to defeat me you bring these wretches, worth less than the worms in their heads,” Cazador continued, ignoring the siblings’ attempts to free themselves. Kieran's strength failed him. He may as well have been a gnat for all Cazador seemed to notice him. All the vampire’s attention was on Astarion. “Or that your very presence proves my methods flawed. You would still disobey my rules, again and again.”

The sound that came from Astarion was completely animalistic as he tried to leap forward only to be held back by the gnolls restraining him. Kieran searched the chamber for their other party members, having lost track of them in the fight. They'd charged in here like fools, not once considering Cazador would have minions and monsters with him they'd have to contend with. 

Astarion had been forced to his knees a few meters away, his bow broken on the ground and sword nowhere to be seen. Shadowheart was unconscious and surely fading fast where she lay unconscious near the stairs. Lae'zel crouched at her side, sword gone but clearly surveying the battlefield still. Gale was pinned to a column by a werewolf’s claw around his throat. Idris couldn't even see Karlach, just the tips of her fingers as she clung to the edge of the platform and tried to pull herself back up. Wyll's leg was broken and kept giving out from under him.

“I will never obey your rules again,” Astarion spat. He thrashed hard enough against his captors Kieran idly worried he'd dislocate his shoulder or break his arm. “Do your worst you slimy piece of shit.” 

“Disappointing,” Cazador sighed, as if Astarion was nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum. “I'll have to rectify these errors. I need to find what exactly went wrong with you and fix it.”

“Are you so pathetic you'll postpone your ascension because you don't have total control over one man?” Idris snickered. Cazador gave him a look of such disdain it should make them shiver but instead they smirked up at him through their bloodied teeth. 

“These creatures are the ones you've chosen to travel with?” Cazador sneered. “Such a naive, weak thing. Surrounding yourself with feeble powerless things so you feel more powerful in comparison?”

“If you really think that's why he surrounds himself with people who actually care about him then you're more sick than I could've imagined,” Idris scoffed. 

“And if you think we're powerless then you're also more stupid than I could have imagined,” Kieran snarled, just desperate to turn Cazador's attention from Idris. “And I’ve heard plenty of stories.”

Cazador finally looked at him and when he did he grinned . Something about it made Kieran regret every snide word that had ever crossed his lips. It was sharper than any blade, more dangerous than any monster, and colder than death. He didn't even want to call it a smile, but there was no denying it. It was like he'd finally understood something as he slowly turned back to Astarion.

“You sweet thing, you don't truly think anyone else could care for you as I have, do you?” Cazador cooed, speaking slowly like he was talking to a child or a fool. For the first time, Astarion's face dropped. For just a moment his eyes dropped from staring into Cazador's with loathing and instead looked to Kieran's with worry and for strength. Kieran even managed a small smile. He didn’t know how they were going to all get out of this, but they were going to. He was going to figure something out.

“You never cared for me,” Astarion said. “You used me, tortured me, and made every single day of my life a living hell! I'd rather die than be subjected to your bullshit again, and I will die before I help you ascend.”

“I can see you've made your choice,” Cazador sighed. Astarion's eyebrows shot up as Kieran and Idris exchanged a look. He'd never give up Ascension just because Astarion didn't want to help him. “I suppose I'll simply use another.”

Cazador lifted his staff and Idris was launched off the platform, only a panicked spell from Gale pulled them back and sent them tumbling onto the floor. Their attention was drawn away, no one reacted in time to stop Cazador from pulling Kieran in and sinking his fangs into Kieran's neck.

He may have cried out. Someone may have screamed. He may have even heard his name. But he couldn't be sure.

Cazador's bite was nothing like Astarion’s. When Astarion bit him it stung only for a moment and then he'd feel a bit woozy after but comfortable in his lover’s arms. After weeks of feeding him the bite barely even stung anymore.

When Cazador's fangs pierced flesh right next to the mark Astarion had made, it was worse than a sting. It was like ice and fire all at once. His blood was boiling, burning him from the inside out. His neck was on fire. But as Cazador continued to drain him his limbs grew heavy. He started to shiver from a cold he couldn't feel. He was hardly aware of his surroundings anymore. The fight bled from him until he couldn't even stand. His head lulled and fell unwillingly onto Cazador's shoulder. Still, the vampire didn't stop. 

He imagined it couldn't take long to drain a person of their blood, but what should have been a few moments instead felt like ages. 

He thought of Idris, who took him in and was kind to him no matter what Kieran's Urges screamed at them in the night. Idris, who found them frantic and devastated behind Elfsong and brought him upstairs to tell him that they were his sibling now, no matter his blood. 

He thought of Astarion, his Star. The man who valued freedom and his own life above all else yet stayed by Kieran's side no matter the danger it put him in. The man who was the first to swear to him he was his own person, not Bhaal's, and that he could beat this. The man who was now watching as his tormentor tortured Kieran instead. 

He thought of Orin, not who she became but who she was. The little girl following at Kieran’s heels who delighted in everything about him only for his stupidity to turn her against him. It was too late to save her, but he still wished he'd gotten the chance to try. 

At least now she'll get what she wanted , Kieran thought as his vision turned black. And what better way to spite my father than for his spawn to become the spawn of someone else?

As his vision darkened he felt himself fall weightless. This was it, either he'd die or he'd awaken as one of Cazador's Spawn. As selfish as it was, he wished for the former.

Arms encircled him as he fell into someone's lap. He still shivered, even as he leaned into the warmth of the person's chest. For all he knew it was Cazador but he was just so cold he no longer cared.

“Come now, darling, look at me.”

Astarion.

“Kieran, look at me,” Astarion demanded. More of a plead actually. He could vaguely make out Shadowheart's voice next to him muttering healing spells. “Stay awake, do you hear me? You will not be his, I won't let him have you, I won't .”

“I'm here,” Kieran murmured.

He forced his eyes open, a feat that somehow seemed harder than fighting Cazador's grip. The platform was coated in blood and the bodies of the undead. Astarion's ‘siblings’ were still suspended in the air around them but at least their party was alive. 

It was Astarion's arms he'd fallen into. He was still shirtless, covered in blood and sweat and dirt. He stared down at Kieran with wide eyes. There were so many emotions contained in that one look, but at the front was utter terror and devastation. He searched Kieran’s face while tears fell down his own.

“I'm here,” Kieran whispered and brushed away the tears gathering at his jaw. “I'm here.”

Astarion’s shoulders shook as he inhaled. He still stared, like he expected to find a tell on his face. But of course, there was nothing to be found. Astarion exhaled sharply and curled inward, leaning his forehead against Kieran’s just for a moment. In that moment nothing and no one else mattered. The whole world faded away and its dangers ceased. It was just the feeling of Astarion’s cheeks beneath Kieran’s palm and the feeling of Kieran’s breathing chest in Astarion’s arms.

“What happened to Cazador?” Kieran finally wondered. “Is he dead?”

“Not yet,” Astarion growled and looked to the standing coffin in the middle of the chamber, now surrounded by that same blood-red light. Kieran nodded and forced his feet underneath him. Before Astarion could even protest, Idris appeared at Kieran’s side to hold him up.

“I'll be fine, just need a really really long nap,” Kieran insisted. He nodded toward the coffin. “Finish this.”

Astarion stalked forward and ripped Cazador from the coffin, tossing him carelessly onto the floor. When he picked up the dagger Kieran knew exactly what he was thinking. All he had to do was carve the runes on his back onto Cazador’s and he could take Astarion’s place in the ritual, exactly what Cazador had planned to do to Kieran. Kieran took a deep breath, ready to protest, but Astarion looked to him first. As soon as their eyes met that greed fell as his eyes darted to the blood coating Kieran’s neck.

“No,” Astarion decided. “I can, will , be better than you. But I'm not above enjoying this.”

And when he finally dropped the knife, freed the spawn, and was left broken to stare at his old master’s corpse Kieran still stumbled forward and took his blood-soaked hands.

“Come on, Star,” Kieran said. “Let's go home.”

#baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion x durge #astarion x tav #astarion bg3 #the dark urge #durge #bg3 durge #bg3 tav

[animehouse-moe]

Welcome To Demon School, Iruma-Kun! Volume 2: Into The Fire

I can't give Kodansha enough praise for (specifically) how they're handling Iruma-kun. I was worried when they announced it as single volumes, but the breakneck release schedule of every 2 months is great. There's a massive backlog of volumes, which means English readers get Iruma at an incredibly fast pace! Either way, it means the second volume's released and there's plenty to talk about with it!

Right away, NIshi's malleable style pulls me right back into Iruma-Kun. I love how fluid and expressive these designs are, how different a character can look from one page to the next. It feels so right with how all over the place Iruma-Kun is.

Similarly, the approach to "action", if you can really call it action, appears early on and works great with the overall style of the manga. Typically speaking, I'm more a fan of storyboarded action (where you see its progression and movement through paneling), but there's a good few exceptions like Iruma-kun, where I do enjoy the more pose based appeal. For it to work though, you need to be really good at expressing entire scenes with a single panel, and I'd say Nishi pulls it off quite well.

Now, you'd think when you're reading content you've already watched (at least once), and from almost 4 years ago now, that some of the comedy might wear thin. Nope. In fact, it's almost the opposite, as plenty of these moments end up feeling nostalgic, like Iruma's appearance by carriage (graciously announced by Opera). It's a bit challenging to explain, but with the unique life only found in the manga, and the differences due to restrictions and approach, the humor doesn't feel worn or thin in any spots.

Of course, it's not all comedy, this is still an impactful shounen for younger audiences, so they throw in pieces like this here and there. I really enjoy how wildly characters are able to swing between their more demonic side, and the more human one. Also, I'm a sucker for negative space with emotional realizations like this. Iruma's worried about being outed as a human, but his friends are worried about why he's feeling down. It's really endearing, and I like that they're able to so easily alleviate Iruma's worries. Anyways, the purpose of the negative space here is to show what Iruma's focused/centered on in this moment, that being Azz-Kun and Clara. But yeah, Iruma-Kun vol. 2 is still, unsurprisingly, checking every possible box it can.

I know I already said that the humor was well received in this volume, but it just works so well with Nishi's approach to movement. The posing and character design and the perceived delay between the two actions is just perfect. It's such great humor.

It takes quite a while, but there's also things in the manga that are inferior to the anime. Truthfully though, what can you do? The manga does nothing wrong with it's wonderful art, but the absence of color really hinders it in comparison. And that's mostly where the anime succeeds. Where there's set limitations, such as not having access to color or movement and the like, the anime picks up on what the manga wants, and brings out the best in it.

Also, it's in this volume that we get our first look at Ameri! I'm a massive fan of her character in the anime, so I was super excited to get a glance at her in the manga, and I wasn't disappointed. Her character design in the manga is super interesting, and actually leaves me somewhat disappointed with the anime's interpretation. Here, Ameri's design has something more.... well almost sultry to it, and it all comes from the eyes. I was super surprised to see how different it makes Ameri feel, but I'm completely for it.

Of course, our cute and Shoujo-obsessed Ameri still exists and is absolutely adorable, but first, this page. Nishi's posing and sense of movement through single panels is just something else, and I love how creative they get with perspective and field of view to really bring out the most in these panels.

Anyways, cute Ameri! I can never get enough of her like this.

I just love how responsive Nishi's character designs and art style are, I can't get enough. How the shading and line art change based on mood or appeal for example with this panel of Ameri. Her hair is usually shaded much darker, and her eyes much sharper, but here they're both the inverse of that to draw the cuteness out of her design. I just love it, I love how fluid Iruma-Kun is as a manga so, so much. (regular shaded Ameri below to show the difference as well)

And just to end it off, Azz-Kun and Clara sneaking around following Iruma.

I'm not exactly the target demographic for a shounen manga that focuses on friendship, doing well in school, respecting adults, and so on and so forth, but I hold it very dear nonetheless. Maybe because it's something that makes me feel younger than I am while reading it, maybe because it's just simply well done on all fronts, maybe something else entirely. But whatever it is, I'm so incredibly happy to be able to have and own each and every volume of this story now that it's been licensed.

#mairimashita! iruma kun #welcome to demon school iruma kun #iruma kun #iruma suzuki #魔入りました！入間くん #mairuma #asmodeus alice #clara valac #sabnock sabro #naberius kalego #anime and manga #manga #manga review #manga recommendation #shounen manga #shonen manga

[hollowwrites]

Garreth Headcanons

GARRETH ERA. I love him so much. I blame him entirely for me slowing down on my Ominis content

Maeve is my HufflePuff MC and who I ship with Garreth the most.

🔞 MINORS DNI 🔞

-

General HCs

I love love love the idea of Sebastian, Ominis and Garreth.

Sebastian and Garreth are different sides of the same coin and would 100% encourage each others shit. Sebastian would always be eager to try his brews and Ominis would be left to pick up the pieces.

I think originally Garreth hated Ominis. He’d grown up hearing about the Gaunts and what they’re like so when he starts school with one he’s initially quite scared of him. Eventually, Garreth confronts him and realised that they’re both soft bois.

Garreth would 10000% slip Ominis potions when Sharp wasn’t looking so he could pass class.

Also why I think him and Anne are perfect. We know she likes Potions so much she’s continued brewing at home because of her Potions set in the Sallow Household. He would’ve also spent a lot of time with her hanging out with the bois.

Perhaps he knows about the Undercroft(?) haven’t made my mind up about that but if he did Anne showed him. Probably why Ominis forgives Sebastian for showing MC so quickly because he forgave Anne.

Has a way with faculty like Ominis cause he can just go to his Aunt. The only downside is she will scold him to get him out of trouble and will sulk for the rest of the day. Sebastian is practically untouchable with the combo of Ominis and Garreth

Player Quidditch in third year as a beater but never really cared for it. His mother bought bigger sizes in all his gear because she expected him to continue through till seventh year. Wanted to save money but he ended up giving it all to Maeve so wasn’t really a waste.

He’s an inch taller than Sebastian, Does Not Let Him Forget It. I do think he’s the most muscular of the bois. Some of those cauldrons are huge…he’s bound to have built some sort of build from hurling them around.

Favourite Subject: Obviously Potions…Him and Sharp have an interesting relationship. Sharp knows he’s intelligent and is messing up on purpose for a laugh. Can’t scold him because although the walls are covered in Liquid Luck it is correctly brewed…has to remind himself not to laugh in class when Garreth pulls obscene stunts…A reluctant 10 points to Gryffindor

When he looks into the Mirror of Erised he sees himself looking back but covered soot. His apron is filthy, he’s missing a finger but he still has that sparkle of mischief in his eye, despite being much much older.

I’ve already spoke about his Boggart but I think he might have two(?) depending on how he’s feeling. His first is being a disappointment that I talk about here but I also think his other is being alone. I don’t know there’s something about the fact we don’t see him with anyone in game and everyone walking away from him in the Common Room after offering his brew makes me think he’s lonely. He has the Slytherin bois but no one in Gryffindor.

Family

Maybe it’s because I did a CharacterAI where Garreth said he didn’t like his mother but I don’t think they have a good relationship. She loves him to bits but he always just feels like a little bit of a disappointment. Could be because his Aunt tell the family everything he does so his brother and sisters tease him whenever he’s home, and he feels like they just mock him when he’s not there. Explains my Boggart HC

Speaking of, I think he has a much older brother and twin baby sisters. Our boi is classic middle child

His older brother (Garrett) and him don’t get on. Much like Percy, he’s a stuffy know it all and, most importantly, doesn’t enjoy potions. Thinks they’re a waste of time. Initially, Garreth took an interest in potions to spite him but found he really enjoyed it.

His mother calls him Garrett on occasion and it doesn’t help with the comparison and feeling of inadequacy.

He’s very protective of his twin sisters (Gracie and Gloria) . He leaves Hogwarts as they start and he takes a job at JPippins just to be close to the school and keep an eye on them.

Him and his Aunt actually have a very good relationship. She lets him get away with a lot more than he lets on. That little ‘Ugh’ in the Potions Class is so forced please…

Patronus

I found his patronus to be the hardest to pin down so here goes:

Hyena - Okay I won’t lie I just chose this because they laugh and he’s a goofy boi BUT I was doing research and it’s PERFECT. Theyre, apparently, Witty, Courageous and Clever with strong family ties. Despite what I say about his family I still think he cares for them and he’s a Weasley he’ll have a huge family I just know it

Fox - Going into my theory that he’s lonely, foxes are solitary creatures that have been known to have rather silly personality traits. Also ginger…

Golden Retriever - …I don’t need to explain this. At all. Big Golden Retriever energy. Still clever but a total dumb dumb that everyone loves.

How he summons a Patronus is equally difficult for me:

First I imagine is when he successfully brews a Wiggenweld for the first time. He’d earned a detention earlier in the day and he’s sat with Sharp scrubbing the Cauldrons. Eventually Sharp re teaches him the lesson in an attempt to scold him but he does it perfectly. Sharp ends up getting uncharacteristically hype for him and it’s the first time Garreth feels like he’s actually good at the thing he loves doing.

I hate making these things revolve around MC like we’re the centre of the Universe but I think his second would be when he takes our character to Hogsmeade. He loved just her awe and delight at everything in the Wizarding World and he felt an overwhelming pride that he was the one who showed it to her.

Nicknames

Already spoke about how he would never call anyone by their name here but these are specific for Maeve and Anne:

For Maeve

Mae, V, Maevey, Maevinchi, any variant of her name you can think of…he’s said it

He also refers to her as his Partner in Crime

As a more term of endearment type thing he’s the only one who can get away with calling anyone baby…mainly because everything he says is a joke so he can get away with it. Also Maevey Baby is so cute I die…

I have a fondness for Princess just because Maeve is so un-princess like it’s perfect.

But he’s just such a goofball he can say anything. Plus his voice helps even the most disgusting of nicknames sound acceptable…

“How are doing today, Pumpkin?”

“I like watching you squirm, Princess”

For Anne

Anything to annoy Sebastian. His favourite is ‘The better Sallow’, ‘My favourite Sallow’ etc

I think Trouble suits her really well for the same reason as Princess suits Maeve. Cause let’s face it Anne is definitely the calmer of the two.

“Well, Well, Well, if it isn’t My Favourite Sallow…And Sebastian”

Relationshipy Stuff

He’s so touchy it gets them in trouble a lot. Just in the hallways or in class if he sees her…he’s touching her.

Not a big hand holder, prefers to either loop his arm around her shoulder and hers around his waist or he’ll just pick her up and carry her around everywhere.

Loves a piggyback ride or throwing her over his shoulder. Light smacks to her backside as they’re walking. He loves the little squeaky laughs she makes.

He’ll defiantly want kids. He’s been around them his whole life with his own sisters and cousins etc. and he’s so good with them too. I don’t think his family will be as big as typical Weasley families maybe just two or three kids.

🔞 NSFW Headcanons 🔞

The most disgusting of the three, will do literally anything with her.

Choking, Spanking, Dominiating, being dominated, just likes being with her

Likes doing things semi publicly.

Already said he’s touchy but in the worst way. Your in the library? His hand is up her skirt. Quidditch game? He’s pressing himself into her back and copping a feel. But he’ll only do it if there’s no one around because he’s really possessive. Doesn’t actually want anyone to see anything.

Gets a scolded for it and plays dumb with a dark look in his eye.

“I’m not doing anything, Sweetheart”

He’s an ass man so loves doggy. So naturally loves spanking.

Loves that Maeve looks so innocent and will let him do whatever.

She really plays into it. Looking at him with big brown eyes and acting like butter wouldn’t melt. Drives him insane.

Play fights turning saucy

Absolutely the most dominant of the three. He gets away with because he’s just so sweet outside of the bedroom.

Demands things and just watches:

“I’m busy, play with yourself for me”

“I can’t let you finish yet, my love”

“Why don’t you taste yourself on me, baby?”

Masterlist

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