#with a sort of 'haha i was kinda silly back then' attitude because it was a coping mechanism

[cemeterything]

i do want to say that i honestly think kinning is good harmless fun for the most part and that it gets a bad rep it doesn't deserve because people go out of their way to dig up "insane kin drama" because... people being mad online is funny i guess? and they're ~cringe~ so it's okay to subject them to public humiliation (combined with the general online attitude of making callout posts and airing your drama on public social media instead of resolving your interpersonal issues through more private communication making people's disagreements an easy target for ridicule). like if you think that being fictionkin or otherkin or w/e is inherently bad and stupid then i think you should probably mind your own business better. who cares. whether it's a coping mechanism or just somebody enjoying life by living it as their favorite fictional character, it really doesn't matter that much. get a real hobby if it bothers you.

#🐉 #my own personal experience with kinning is something i look back on #with a sort of 'haha i was kinda silly back then' attitude because it was a coping mechanism #that i no longer rely on but like. its a fond memory. i think its neat.

[minxiiwrites]

Wouldn't it be funny if Yoru, a grumpy, angry, gtfo of my face typa guy, literally dating an ADHD s/o...haha.....so funny....(not self indulgent slash es ar es)

PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!

: Yoru(Valorant) x gn!reader 💮 Fluff, Headcanons

: Yoru who has an s/o that had ADHD and is super hyper

: Light swearing if you squint

Opposites attract cliche (barf /j)

If Yoru is crushing on you then it's super obvious because he plays favorites

You can barge into his room, wake him up at 3 am because you wanted to eat his noodles and he'd just sigh, call you stupid, and get out of his bed to get you noodles as you jump around in giddiness

Yet whenever Jett teases him about his not so hidden crush for you, he gives her the most nastiest glare that screams bloody murder

"You're lucky we're on the same team, otherwise you'd be dead."

Yk I don't even know how yall got dating but oh well it happened and Yoru is kinda loving it (he won't admit it and call you stupid though)

Whenever you have any sort of hyperfixation on anything he'd definitely sit quiet and listen

He has that face where it seems that he's just trying your words pass through the other ear which kinda made you insecure and just stop talking so that you wouldn't be a bother

but in reality, he's just socially awkward since he's not used to talking a lot and is actually listening to every word you say. He just doesn't know how to act

"I was about to check my phone for new messages from Brim but found this TikTok that made the most cutest cat crochet plush and then I saw this huge bee plush so I maybe wanna try crochet one day and.."

".."

"..."

"...and? When are you gonna start crocheting?"

"!!! Oh my gosh okay so—!"

He can find himself smiling just by observing your random antics and silly actions but immediately cuts himself off cause he's in public (and Jett's teasing exists)

Probably has a specific drawer in his room that has all of the random stuff you give him

A rock you found on the street which you drew a :P face on it. A small yellow balloon filled with water that can be used as a stress ball. A shiny candy wrapper you randomly found in your pocket yesterday. And yes, you named all of them.

He's always >:( and you're always >:)

One time the both of you were on the same mission which required you to go to Japan and once you got there you immediately started running around staring at everything you found pretty

And he's just walking, trailing behind you from a close distance, sighing an amused smile

His way of speaking is also different between you and literally everyone else

He's more chill, quiet when he's with you since he likes it more when you initiate the conversations (and he likes your voice AYIE)

And when he does talk, it's mostly joking and teasing you for literally anything

Compared to others though, he's super snarky and has a cocky attitude. A huge difference to his more soft approach with you

Phoenix calls this out once which made Yoru roll his eyes, called him a dumbass, flipped him off, and walked off like nothing happened all while looking like a grumpy cat

He loves it when you fight back with his teasing

When you playfully roll your eyes at his jab and retort back with your own tease makes his heart beat hard at the fact that you're willing to play along with him

Definitely is smug and smirking all the way whenever you talk back with your own playful grin

He seems like a bitter food liker, probably downs black coffee and plain solid matcha like it's the most normal thing ever

Or maybe he has a hidden sweet tooth :/

Some times whenever you forget to eat because of hyperfixation, he drags you by the ear and forces you to eat </3

Even though you insist you aren't hungry he'll still call you a dumbass and force food down you're throat

When you walk into a room and suddenly forget what the hell you were doing in the first place, he always manages to understand your mannerisms to remind you what your objective was

It's cause he stares at you a lot hehehe

This was like...two years ago idfk why I didn't post it LMAO

#(⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧.minxwrites #valorant x reader #yoru #yoru x reader #valorant yoru #valorant yoru x reader #valorant

[punkitt-is-here]

It's fascinating to me to encounter people on the internet who choose explicitly not to say what their pronouns are.

To be clear, I respect your decision and applaud the firmness of your stance. I think that overall there should be less personal information on the internet and restricting pronouns is simply another step on the way to taking back internet privacy. The thing is, I have spent enough time, effort, money, and grief on the project that is myself that I am having difficulty grokking the desire not to have one's gender be known at all. I am totally disarmed by the attitude, and I attribute this entirely to my own experience growing up on the internet. I can no longer abide resigning myself to the perceived genericized maleness of the average internet user. I deliberately make my pronouns available I go on the internet, and I correct people in conversation when appropriate.

This is because, in my past experience (middle 2000s ongoing), if one did not have clear gender they got the masculine pronouns. Assigned Male By Forum Users wasn't just the default, it was the practice, the de facto, the un-inspected habit of the english speaking internet user. There Are No Girls On The Internet was then and to a degree still is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even though it was obviously never the case, and that women have always been on the internet, sometimes it is easier to just go along with the flow to avoid the inevitable misogyny.

Keep it up, you funky little internet person. I like your horse comix! They are good.

Haha, I totally get it! When you work so hard on yourself, you want to make sure people see it right. I'm all for pronouns being readily available and stuff.

That being said, I like keeping em a secret for a couple reasons! They'll come out eventually, obviously, I'm a film student with a job and eventually someone from online is gonna meet me in-person and I'll be happy to let them know then and when I (IDEALLY) have a career that'll be public knowledge. I've got a perfectly good gender I'm very happy and comfortable with. For now, tho, since I've seen it a million times with artists online that i really love, I've found out that people tend to weaponize your gender/pronouns a lot. No matter what they are, too! I think I just get less weird comments and mail by just keepin' that shit a secret. Folks don't gotta know cuz it aint really that important. I like being able to speak online and not having one trillion internet strangers who think they know me because of some words in my bio cross-examine me every time I talk.

Also, it's fun! I've had people think I'm a cis girl, a trans guy, a trans girl, a cis guy, a nonbinary no-gender something or other, a neopronoun user, genderfluid...basically everything under the sun! And I think it's fun to see how people perceive me since I don't think you get that option a lot. It's honestly really fun to know that my online presence doesn't have any...like, gender coding to it, if that makes any sense? Because I've seen NO consistency in the guesses and I find that incredibly entertaining. Even some people who've known me for years passively online still use the incorrect pronouns cuz I've never clarified and I think that's just silly and fun. I'm glad to know that I'm very much not explicitly in any sort of "box" with the way I present myself, because I think gender is kinda silly in the first place.

So, uh, yeah! That's mostly my reasoning for not clarifying anywhere, hehe. :3c

#my posts #asks #mrs-edgewick #pronouns...

[shizuchansmilk]

heyyyyyy i’ve seen your heiwajima parents art, and i really love your designs! <3 i wanted to ask, do you perhaps have any headcanons that you might like to share? o.o the novels BARELY mention them at all :( i’m scraping for content

DO I!? OH HONEY... DO I 💔💔💔

here's a quick doodle of them as well as a thank u for this ask bc uGH i adore them too (they are barely mentioned and basically everything i like about them i came up with in my own silly little head). this is a pretty long post so do continue reading under the cut if you'd like! ^^

gosh idk where to even begin okok. unironically girlboss and malewife. in my mind kichirou is kinda goofy, the more laid-back parent while namiko's the stricter one despite generally being a pretty quiet person in general.

shizuo definitely gets his temper from namiko i think, and while arguments wouldn't at all be frequent it'd basically be up to kichirou or kasuka to calm them both down whenever they happened ToT

i think namiko has an artistic sort of hobby like painting. don't ask me for any reasonings i just feel like she does, and this passtime eventually rubbed off on kasuka a little since i recall he likes painting too? she'd specifically paint landscapes, her favourites being beaches and the sea. because of this though she tends to spend a lot of her free time a little secluded. sometimes, especially as children, she'd let kasuka and shizuo watch her paint and let them try out their own stuff too, but since shizuo's immense strength became apparent he sort of began to feel like he wasn't as welcome as he once was in a studio full of her fragile hard work so he harbours a sort of reluctance doing any of that anymore.

speaking of, namiko would worry about shizuo. a lot. maybe TOO much in fact. she'd frequently scold him for getting into fights and things like that, and because she's his mother i don't imagine he'd really retaliate. he'd be real pissed off and slam his bedroom door (off it's hinges😭) in a huff, sure, but there's no way in HELL he's pulling a stunt like almost throwing an entire fridge at *her*. she'd be the one dragging him to the neighbours houses and making him apologise for kicking the entire bonnet of their car in or meeting with the head of school because shizuo threw a chair into the wall. idk i kinda get the impression that their relationship is a liiittle strained because their personalities kinda clash but they love each other really. whenever something's bothering shizuo i feel like namiko picks up on it pretty quickly and does little things like make him his favourite dinner or grab a cake from the store on her commute to cheer him up.

kichirou on the other hand is big on sports i think, and listen he DEFINITELY taught his boys how to play baseball. only narita can tell me otherwise like until it's outright disproven this'll always be canon to me. i feel like he's the golden retriever to namiko's black cat in the sense he's a lot more outgoing and talkative and relaxed than her, albeit maybe a little more oblivious. i imagine he was really impressed and boastful about how strong, like a real athlete, his eldest was until the property damage and hospital bills were on the rise.

i feel like kichirou would be pretty attentive to kasuka. like oh he's kinda quiet is he making any friends at school? that kind of thing. where namiko stresses over dealing with shizuo i think kichirou would kind of overthink anything going on with kasuka.

despite namiko being the more temperamental of the two i think kichirou still gets really defensive whenever he catches wind of people talking smack about his family. like you can make fun of him all you want but the moment you get a bad word in about his boys or god FORBID his wife i feel like it's on sight. i don't think he'd go as far as getting into a fight about it but the sudden drop in light-hearted attitude to a very cold and dead serious "haha the hell did you just say?" would be enough to shut most people up. perhaps kasuka gets his acting skills from him, as in being able to switch up at the drop of a hat. otherwise i feel like kichirou's really friendly, though again maybe a little oblivious, probably has met shinra's dad before and thought he was a cool guy but maybe just a tad strange (a sizeable understatement).

in essence, think like phil and claire from modern family or mr and mrs fox from fantastic mr fox. that's basically the dynamic of them i have in my head =w= i might have more HCs but this is all that's coming to me rn. again, thanks so much for the ask!!!! ToT💕

#durarara #drrr #kichirou heiwajima #namiko heiwajima #shizuo heiwajima #kasuka heiwajima

[writingonesdreams]

If you're interested here's my thoughts on how Laila would view the rest of the gang

Zephyr - Would definitely admire how kind and self-sacrificing he is. I can actually imagine these two being good friends because they have a lot of the same core values. They both love people and want to make them happy at their own expense. The difference is Laila lacks a Badger model and often knows when to pull back to keep from stretching herself too thin and she would probably want to encourage Zephyr to do the same. Also if she ever found out about his injury and his worries about how Skye would react she would tell him he's really silly for thinking Skye would leave him over it and she's lucky to have him 🤣

Leander - Ngl she'd probably have a crush on this dude. He's just her type. Arrogant, snarky, charismatic, a risk-taker? Yeah, she'd definitely crush on him LMAO. I can see her casually flirting with him for fun if they ever crossed paths. She wouldn't be off-put by his bluntness but would probably return with her own snarky comments. I can see her playing it cool with Skye like "hey you seen Leander around lately?" and Skye being really confused at what she sees in him. 🤣

Hal - She'd find him fascinating and would probably want to try and get to know him better. She'd be SO curious about his immortality and his opinions on the world and things he's seen and been through. I can see Hal probably being very resistant to how nosy she is LOL but she would be perfectly polite about it.

Kieran - These two have similar desires as Lion primaries who want to make a mark on the world and be powerful and famous and special. With how angry he is I can imagine he would probably appeal to Laila's empathy since she's often drawn to wounded individuals and wants to show them kindness and understanding. How the relationship evolves would depend on how Kieran responded to it I guess 🤣

This is such a cool summary of their dynamics I wanted to keep it in my ask box longer😂 so cute to read.

I didn't realize Zephyr and Laila were so similar. But they totally are and I love that haha. Also looks like you have read my sorting for him, cause this is very accurate with Zephyr not knowing when he is stretching himself too thin (or why that is a mistake or why that shouldn't be an obligation for him).

Someone tell him how silly that fear is lol.

Haha okay that is very cute and exciting she would have a crush on Leander 🤣. I didn't know I was allowed to say that haha, cause Skye would tototally have crash on Darius (though he is very Laila's in my eyes) for that cultured intillegent driven researcher attitude + excited how kinda scary he is (even in my verse with the dragon dissection lmao).

Hal followed by both of them lol. He would be annoyed, but if she was patient she would get to him. He is shy and awkward with people, but intimidates most, so if she could stand that...🤣

Haha Laila being drawn to wounded individuals, that's the same thing that draws Zephyr to Kieran as well. Kieran would be resistant and angry on the outside, but the boy yearns to be taken care off lol. Plus he is younger than the rest of the cast and he subconsciously looks for role models and mentors around himself (since he doesn't get along with his parents much).

Thank you for sending this 😍❤ this was so cool and fitting and fun to read and I love Laila for being so nice to them all.💖

#ask #nectar #laila #tears of iron au #character crossover #characters meeting

[your--isgayrights]

4, 19&22 (the wall will change)?

exeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee hi :D

my answers ended up kinda long so imma put them under a read more haha

4: Tell me about one of your abandoned WIPs. Why did you abandon it?

Aaslkfjsfdsf, I don't remember how much I've told u about this before, but u know like the last fandom i was into i had like a 40+ chapter fic I was doing that I realized i just like... didn't have the skill to write the way that I wanted to lol. I think I also just didn't get a lot of engagement with the community out of it, so it was like a disproportionate amount of work being put into it to the response I was getting. It was really fun though! I wrote a lot of heists for it haha. It gave me a lot of practice trying to make a and b plots run together concurrently, and setting stuff up in the first act to come back later and stuff... Also just experience writing and planning longer fic in general asflsjf.

I like writing for orv a lot better! I think maybe my tastes just changed towards focusing more purely on character dynamics, or maybe I just like that I made friends in the fandom so im not just shouting into the void all the time. (this is about u exe ty for beta reading my fic for me and letting me talk about it with you because i'm very silly about it mwah <3)

19: 15 words to describe the aesthetic of [insert fic].

Oh nooo this is hard umm. Umm.

"Black, white, snow, city, sky. Our warm hands meet across a barrier of cold glass."

^ that's fifteen words!! but yeah most imagery i take the time to describe is like. specifically to affect the boundaries you are supposed to feel between the characters. If that makes sense?

22: Have you used any symbolism in [insert fic]? What does it represent?

Hmmm yes, a little bit? It always makes me feel a bit silly to like, talk about what I think things represent in a thing I've written because like if a reader didn't get that then their interpretation is way more valid than mine.

Like obviously in the first chapter the pens I described are like, supposed to evoke the different sort of economic and family situations kdj is in in different times of his life and compared to yjh.

And in the second chapter the crickets represent to lgy a fragment of his old life that he tried to bring with him and maintain after his 'world' ended.

Things like the kimbap he gives bihyung cat and the stuffed chimera he gives sys in ch 3 are symbols of the 'kindness' in his personality, in that he sees the flaws and selfishness behind it and cant tell whether that is more real than the joy an act of kindness elicits or not.

Watermelon from ch 3 is also like. to put down the fact that it's summer and there's sort of a summer vibe. It was important to me to show the changing of the season to winter, to show that kdj really has been taking care of these kids for a long while before yjh ends up being impressed by it. It was also important to showing how his attitude changes slightly from the way his character would be in the start of the actual novel.

Chapter 4 had more of like, what I think you could really call symbolic imagery, because it's like... Hmm I'm thinking about it and there's just a lot of stuff. Like a lot of times I give hsy a lemon candy to help her emote in between dialogue, and there was some stuff like kdj catching a lemon candy and her trusting him with her car that was showing how much more comfortable they are with each other than in the beginning of the chapter.

Then there's like doorways. The door of yjh's apartment kdj won't go through, both going through the car doors to be in the same space all of a sudden, door to hsy's office, the door that kdj sort of 'takes' with him into meeting the rest of yjh's team... its all about like the safety of distance and stuff lol.

also some stuff about 'reflections' that I put some intent behind.

But yeah it's weird to say all that stuff are 'symbols' because it's like yeah you kind of get that from the rest of the actions and emotions the characters are having so idk if you'd call them symbols.

#long post #ask #xcnsfr #hiiii exe i really liked these questions thanks for asking :))

[warmau]

Detective!AU x NCT DREAM

renjun: *opens a powerpoint titled: why nancy drew is the best fictional detective and the hardy boys aint sh-* | other dream aus

Haechan

overzealous and flashy 

refuses to take on any case that isn’t “high-profile” 

no finding neighborhood lost pets or who stole your lunch money, haechan wants to be on a nationwide case - he wants the news to follow his every step 

“huh? what? you want me to find your stolen watch? do you not understand that your watch is not a korean national treasure and therefore who cares if it gets stolen?”

looks well put together, but his desk is a mess of papers and candy wrappers

has an ongoing rivalry with local policeman mark lee 

not that mark lee even knows about this rivalry, for the most part he’s nice to haechan but haechan is just like “im onto you markus” and mark is like ,,,,,,huh?

you’re a reporter who has (on many occasions) covered haechan’s cases

to be fair, you’re probably the only person whose on the same level of sarcastic as him 

so when he makes some kind of comment or quip you either blankly stare at him unamused or shoot one right back

your conversations are actually quite fun to watch

you’ll show up at his agency, with your camera and notepad

and he’ll be like 

“took you long enough”

“oh - were you counting down the seconds to see me?”

“in your dreams~”

“i don’t dream. anyway - tell us about this murder, who are your suspects?”

other reporters find haechan a bit hard to work with and mumble that his attitude really needs to be fixed

but you disagree - in this kind of work you have to be sort of dry-humored and unattached

but you could do without his bragging when he does indeed solve the case

like today, when you and a bunch of other reporters have gathered outside of a large building in downtown seoul

haechan standing proudly at the front with a disgruntled looking businessman in handcuffs

haechan snaps his fingers and exclaims

“only i was smart enough to guess that the company’s own treasurer was embezzling money! the police and citizens assumed it was the ceo, but - as always my wits have proved everyone wrong!”

a wave of groans passes through the reporters, but you take it as a chance to ask haechan some questions

“how did you know it was him?”

“the evidence was in his text messages with foreign advisers.”

“how did you get access to them?”

“well as you know you can call a cellphone pro-”

as haechan is answering you hear some muttering behind you, nasty and mean words sprouting up about how haechan should stop acting like he did all the work

how he probably got tipped off

you’re a journalist, so the juicier the story - the better the paycheck

but you’re not one to just smear people - and what makes it worse is that you can tell haechan heard it

but he’s answering your question - trying to focus on you

so you decide to take it upon yourself to shut the reports behind you up

you clear your throat, pulling the mic back a bit hastily - nearly elbowing the asshole behind you

“and i heard, you did, in fact, work this alone - as reported weeks ago - the police had the wrong lead?”

haechan’s eyes spark up when he realizes you’re setting him up to dispell all the festering rumors starting to spread behind your backs

he grins and nods, “yes - most journalists even said that it was uncanny for me and the police to be on such different paths. i guess you can say, i have my own genius.”

you want to roll your eyes - as haechan continues to lay it on thick about his victory

but with every word - the lesser reporters behind you crumble under their own words

when the press conference ends, the culprit is wheeled off in a cop car, and you’re left on the sidewalk - checking over your notes

you feel haechan hang his chin over your shoulder

“i thought you hated it when i bragged?”

you look a little to your side and see his beautiful, big smile

“not when you’re telling the truth.”

“oh c’mon, just admit it - you kinda like my confidence?”

he taps a hand on your shoulder and grins as you playfully jab at his cheek with your pen

but you think, maybe he is right 

confidence really does look so good on him,,,,,,,,,,,

Jaemin

tipsy, topsy, turvy - mad scientist like detective 

with an abundance of weird jokes only he understands and absolutely unexplainable solutions to headscratcher cases

if it can’t be solved, no matter how you shake it, you have to call jaemin

who enjoys not only dressing the part - i.e. ridiculous hats and oversized trench coats

as much as he enjoys getting himself in trouble while trying to solve a crime

“how did you know the criminal took this back alley detective na?!”

“well simple, i climbed on through an open window and took it myself!”

“,,,,,,,,, detective - are you admitting to trespassing?!?!”

the conundrums he finds himself far overshadow silly sherlock holmes stories

and unlike fiction, sometimes - he gets in over his head

which is where you come in

you’re a young, brand new, fresh-outta-law-school attorney

who jaemin never really hired - you just happened to be around when he needed some “legal representation”

[he had maybe, kinda, illegally ‘borrowed’ a civilians car in a chase after a notorious murderer and that ‘borrowed’ car ended up kind of ,,,,,,,,,, on fire? haha does it really matter? the murderer was caught!]

you had saved his butt from a lawsuit with a lot of buttering up and finesse

and jaemin had appointed you his “guardian angel!”

“lawyer, im your lawyer jaemin”

“same thing! now let me solve the mystery of where your halo went~”

he looooooooooves to tease you

if he can take a moment out of his day to say something flirty and fun to you - he will

regardless of the circumstances

im talking you’re in front of a judge in a courtroom and jaemin leans his lanky body over you to be like

“ooo is this a new necklace, who's giving you these gifts?~ i thought you were mine!”

the judge, the other attorneys, the guards: um do yall need a room

you, tomato red: NO

jaemin: we shall take one! :)

you end up at the scene of one of jaemin’s infamous “i caught the killer, but i had to kinda do a bad thing!” situations

you stroll in, shaking your head already

am i going to have to defend him from another angry car owner? did he forget that impersonating a police officer is against the law - again?

but instead, you find sirens of an ambulance blaring and medics 

you look around, trying to find jaemin in the crowd of uniforms 

he always sticks out, and sometimes he finds you first

but no one calls out your name 

so you ask a nearby EMT where jaemin is, and he points you to the back of an ambulance

your blood goes cold and you rush toward it, seeing a familiar long body laid out on the white gurney

“jaemin?!” 

you drop your bag - hands shaking 

“a-are you - did- did you - did you get yourself kill-”

his eyes spark open and he sits up, a bandaged cut on his cheek, but otherwise nothing else as he smiles at you 

“you’re here! did you see - i caught the stranger of daeg-”

“you scared me! for real this time!”

he stops, blinking and tilting his head, “for real?”

“what would i do if your antics actually got you kill-kill -”

you can’t even say it, tears welling up in your eyes just at the thought of having run into this ambulance to see him laying there

cold, unmoving

you can’t imagine it, your shoulders shaking now and jaemin leans out - hand on yours

“i would never be stupid enough to die without your permission, i promise.”

speechless, throwing your arms around him without really thinking about it

jaemin feels his heart swell, unsure of where to put his own hands

when someone knocks on the ambulance door

it opens, and you see the familiar grimace of the chief of police

“hello detective na, would you like to explain to your attorney why someone is accusing you of another act of thievery?”

you let go of jaemin and try to wipe back your tears, the police chief is about to say another word but you put your hand up

“my client will only answer questions after his hospital visit.”

jaemin nods from behind you, big pearly grin on his face

the police - used to this - back off for now and you turn to jaemin

“how am i going to get you out of this now?”

“you always find a way! that’s why i love you.”

Renjun

studious, scrutinizing, and some would even say a little scary

he’s got a reputation as a ‘mind breaker’, twisting and pressing criminals with his words until they crack

on the outside, he looks rather adorable - slim and always in his sunday best 

neat notebooks for notes, color-coded folders for cases

he’s a joy to work with - if you only have to work with him briefly

if you end up on a case with him for a long time, you come to realize you cannot keep up with his level of perfection

and sometimes, it does feel like he’s looking down on others for it

but he’s not, he was just trained to always see every detail through 

you find yourself at the center of a huge investigation, the cause of renjun’s obsession for the past couple of months

you aren’t even sure how you’re involved 

just that the cafe you worked at had in one way or another been a meetup between famous city mobsters

renjun stops by, like clockwork, an hour before closing - waiting and hoping that the mobsters show themselves

that he can pick up another clue, nitpick from the coffee cups and the napkins 

you don’t mind him, even if he does meddle, and never finishes the coffee you bring him

at some point, you aren’t really sure what he’s looking for anymore - because it’s been weeks 

weeks and you’re pretty sure this case was closed

you stare down at the newspaper that gets thrown at the foot of the cafe’s doorstep

you pick it up - the headlines read how the trial of those mobsters has come to an end

so why is detective renjun still always stopping by? it isn’t for the coffee - afterall he doesn’t seem to enjoy it all that much,,,,,,,,,

one day - just as he gets up to leave after spending an hour doing whatever it is he does in the corner table by the window

you stop him before he can bound out the door

“detective renjun-”

“renjun is just fine, im not on the job.”

you pause - never noticing that up close, when he’s not always nose deep in a book - he is rather handsome

“ah - well, renjun - i was just wondering,,,,,and i don’t mean to be rude! but is there a new case you’re working in the cafe or-”

he seems to catch onto what you’re asking and he straightens up a little

“you could call it that. im just doing some observation.”

“oh! on what?”

you look around, the cafe empty now that closing time is approaching in a few minutes

the loaves of bread, the muffins and coffee presses don’t seem all that worthy of observation

“on you.”

you almost don’t catch it, with the quiet voice he uses

but when your eyes meet his again, you waiver

“on - me? am i suspect in a -”

he laughs, “not everything is about solving cases to me. i just,,,,,”

for the first time he stumbles over the right words

always careful, put together, and otherwise beyond perfect - renjun wants to make sure he says the right thing

but there’s only really one thing to say.

“i just like you.”

Jeno

newbie sleuth of the local neighborhood!

don’t get him wrong, finding lost pets and hunting down the towns vandal are just as important as stopping bank robbers and kidnappers

sorta

a lot of the “cases” he solves are brought to him by local kids, holding scribbled doodles of their missing toys or from parents who just want to know WHO is blasting that music at 3 am? 

(this was fairly easy to solve, as jeno had walked down the street to the local college house and knocked - asking if there was a party last week. a tall, happy-go-lucky guy named johnny had answered - and confirmed! there was a party last week, did you hear his friend mark’s mixtape from down the block? did he dig it? did he want mark’s soundcloud link?)

really, he calls himself a detective for fun

he’s just always loved puzzles and thrillers since he was young so he thought if he ever had some free time he could,,,,,,,you know,,,,,,help figure out solutions to life’s little puzzles and thrills instead

but - low and behold - he is not ready for the puzzle that is YOU

you move into his neighborhood and on day one you get yourself into trouble

running down the block with stolen goods from the local shop, an apple between your teeth and hands full of various fruits and baked goods

the next time jeno sees you, you’re twirling three sets of keys around your fingers

for cars,,,,,,,,,,jeno is pretty sure cost way more than either you or him can even imagine

he keeps seeing you everywhere, doing this absolutely ridiculous things 

and then finally - he bumps into you when crossing the street

and minutes later he can’t find his wallet

he turns - chasing you down the block, accusing you all the way of being the towns illustrious thief 

but you just turn and shrug, emptying your pockets

“i dont have your wallet - did you check your back pocket?”

to his surprise, and utter embarrassment, that’s exactly where his wallet is

but there’s something sticking out of it now - a piece of paper

he opens it and scribbled on it are the words

‘i thought you were a detective?’

he looks up at your smile and furrows his eyebrows

“i-what does this mean?”

“well, i thought you were a detective - so why haven’t you solved the biggest mystery yet.”

he doesn’t seem to catch on, a cute look of confusion spreading across his face

“what biggest mystery?”

“well - that would be who stole your heart!”

he flusters, “m-my heart?”

“yeah! your heart! who stole it lee jeno, c’mon - you’re a detective!”

he looks beyond dumbfounded 

and then he straightens up 

you tilt your head a little, and jeno feels something in his chest flutter

oh

“you?”

“did i?”

your voice sing songs and jeno can’t be sure, but the way your eyes spark up with delight makes a feeling he can’t explain wash over him

am i going crazy, or did they just figure out i had a crush on them before i did?!?

Chenle & Jisung

ones fearless but clumsy, the other is easily terrified and somehow,,,,,,,even more clumsy

but hey they’re just best friends who decided that instead of going to the academy 

they’d just start their own private investigation business

too bad none of them really understand how to run a business, so the only way they’re kept afloat is by tireless accountant mark lee’s efforts

either way, they both bring strengths to their problem solving

chenle will take on ANY case, ANY place, ANY time

and would probably fall down a trapdoor 

while jisung is slightly more reserved about stepping into old, haunted houses or listening to tall tales from random people on the street

though he would also fall down a trapdoor

and although other people wouldn't take on cases that involve the paranormal 

and jisung is not a big fan  

when you come to the agency with a request about a presumed ghost encounter

chenle insists you came to the right place, jisung looks a little pale

and thats how you end up beside both of them - the dead of the night - in front of your old middle school

chenle asks if you’re a teacher here now, but you shake your head - actually you were just visiting because it had been the yearly reunion in honor of a young boy who had died tragically at the school when you were a student

“creepy!” chenle says, eyes sparkling

“creepy,,,,,,,” jisung agrees, swallowing

the three of you venture inside, you’d managed to convince an old teacher for the keys, and begin down the long and dark hallway

chenle peeks into classrooms and stops to read bulletin boards

jisung just sticks shoulder to you

“so how did he die?” chenle asks and you’re about to answer

when a creaking of the floorboard takes all the attention

an outlined figure appears, face shadowed but body small - leg limping

“it’s him!” you whisper “the limp, it’s from the crash-”

you turn and look at-

chenle, who fearlessly moves toward the child

you join in behind him as jisung stays stuck in place with fear

“are you a ghost? did something about your death leave you scornful toward the school? come here, i just want to talk-”

chenle begins as you cautiously warn that being so upfront could come of rude

the child, whose face is still hidden, lifts his hand slowly and extends one finger 

chenle follows the trajectory and gasps, “he’s pointing at you!”

your blood turns cold and you want to ask - why, you hardly even knew him when you were both students here so -

but then just as chenle is about to put a hand on your shoulder, something heaves below you two and the floorboards below your feet moan

“they’re going to give!”

“wh-”

chenle’s hand takes a hold of your waist now, pushing you into him as he teeters back until he himself falls through the figure that disappears in a cloud of smoke

the floorboard where you’d been standing collapses down and you cling to the front of chenle’s jacket as you watch

“i-i think that ghost has it out for you-”

he starts, but his voice softens as he sees your shoulders trembling

for the first time, and believe me he’s seen freaked out people a lot, he stops himself mid sentence and just lets you curl up into his side

jisung’s voice is the one thing that breaks you two from the moment as he yells you guys need to get out of here. NOW.

chenle agrees, but you’re wobbly on your feet up and so he takes your hand in his and smiles

“c’mon - even im not crazy enough to provoke an angry ghost. we can solve this mystery when we’re safe.”

you nod, letting him lead you back outside where your hands never leave each other and thank god jisung doesn’t care (or is scared out of his mind) to notice

jisung, whose eyes have gone large 

“chenle don’t go near it!”

he shouts, turning his attention to you

“and if that really is the ghost we should-”

“it’s pointing at you!”

you whip your head back around to see that the figure has raised one, thin finger in your direction

your body feels rigid and you take a step back

chenle just ventures forward, asking the spirit question after question, but it ignores him

instead - in what seems like a second - the figure has moved halfway down the hall toward you and jisung

you scream and jisung can’t believe it but he realizes fast that he’s going to have to be the fearless one in this situation

instead of booking it himself, which is usually the way these things go, he grabs you and yanks you behind him

you guys make a dash for the front door, and when you turn around you can see the ghost is still dauntingly coming closer

jisung does the mistake of looking too, and just as you’re about to get to the door - the ghosts face comes to life a little in the moonlight tricking through the window

you and jisung both scream at the bloody mess - jisung tripping over his own feet as you fall right behind him

the door is still open so you two are a tumble of arms and legs as you roll out into the night air

but as you get up - you find your blow was cushioned by jisung

“so-sorr-”

“no time for apologies, ghost trying to kill you.”

you nod and both of you get up and continue running

chenle is behind you guys, but he’s laughing and shouting about how it was a GHOST - a REAL GHOST - 

you’re frankly too terrified to think about it and thats when you feel jisung’s palm squeeze yours

‘don’t be scared, we’ll get you somewhere safe.”

you feel something in your chest warm and you agree - jisung feels it too, the bashful look of embarrassment that comes over you is almost enough to make him feel like your hero

but the truth is 

he’s still very scared and protecting you is one thing, but making sure he also doesnt get caught by a vengeful ghost is also pretty high up there

and chenle’s insolent “we have to go back sometime!” is NOT helping

#this was what i wanted to finish in time for renjun day but F #nct dream scenarios #nct dream au #nct dream imagines #nct dream #haechan scenarios #renjun scenarios #jaemin scenarios #jeno scenarios #chenle scenarios #jisung scenarios #sfw #jaemin au #jeno au #renjun au #chenle au #jisung au #haechan au

[atopearth]

Kissed by the Baddest Bidder Part 1 - Eisuke Ichinomiya Route (up to Proposal Epilogue)

This is my next guilty pleasure game lolol. Honestly, the premise of the heroine getting sold in an auction and being bought/saved by one of the dodgy rich guys makes it a dubious premise, but I love this kinda "trash"🤣 Eisuke seems like one of the most popular Voltage guys so I do want to see him in sequels haha, and yes, I already played the main story since it was free on the app, but I've kinda forgotten it, so I'll refresh my memory by playing it on the Switch again haha. I also bought My Forged Wedding and Our Two Bedroom Story so yay, more to come~ hahaha. I hope to also buy Scandal in the Spotlight and Kings of Paradise (when it comes out and goes on sale XD) when I'm done with others so yep, lots of Voltage stuff coming I guess hahaha.

I always feel sorry for the heroine that Eisuke makes her run to him within 5 minutes when he calls her, like dudeee, that's ridiculous. Anyway, it's nice that he's teaching her stuff so she's not just his toy to use. I remember finding it hilarious how Eisuke planned to use Soryu as the next "sacrifice" from the beginning and have Carolina fall in love with him instead🤣 She's very tame and silly for an Italian mafia boss' daughter but I guess we should feel blessed about that lol. Even though a lot of the things Eisuke does is questionable, it's nice to know that his reason for being involved in all this underground stuff is because he's searching for his little sister that he got separated from when their parents passed away and they were adopted by different families. It's interesting to think that Eisuke wasn't born a rich boy and actually worked very hard to get where he is now in repayment to the Ichinomiya family but also because I'm sure all this power helps him get more connections to hopefully find his sister one day. I think it's really cute how much he's opening up to the heroine now, but I kinda feel sorry for her in a sense that when Takahiro (her boss) and her finally have a nice thing going on, she's falling for Eisuke.

To be honest, their "love" is rather questionable considering how it's mostly just the heroine listening to everything he says, caring about him, whilst he uses her for what he needs to do and then kinda warms up to the idea of her staying with him and enjoys it. I mean, he barely let her go out and always called her back for trivial things lol. So yeah, even though he's "nice", I find it difficult to accept him, but I guess hopefully the sequels might change that since there's so many haha. I appreciate him trying to protect her though, it's nice to see those rare moments he shows how much he cares about her. I have to say though, that dramatic ending where the heroine picks between Takahiro and Eisuke is so... weird lol, kinda cringy loll. Anyway, let's see His PoV! Honestly, His PoV was nice but doesn't really add that much to what we already knew tbh, like I guess you can see his thought process for the important events, but yeah doesn't really feel like I read anything haha. The epilogue was nice mainly because he FINALLY got rid of all his groupies, like geez, took him a while considering his intolerance for such women who follow him around all the time lol, but the highlight was definitely the heroine getting him to honestly tell her that he loves her. I think it really helps how she always voices to Eisuke what is important to her, and he in turn understands that it's important to her so he listens and reciprocates, it's pretty sweet.

I'm glad Eisuke found his sister in the Season 1 Sequel. Yukari is so cute. I thought it was really nice how the heroine understood how much Eisuke cherished the possibility of meeting his sister again, so if he's rejecting meeting her then there must be a good reason for it. It's pretty dramatic how Eisuke ended up having to save Yukari's husband's father and their wedding in order to have the father have a better opinion of him lol. I'm just happy that Eisuke doesn't have to force himself and lie about his feelings towards finding his sister again and stuff tbh, but it was kinda sad how Eisuke really didn't look for the heroine for days when she "left" him due to not being able to understand his attitude towards Yukari before everything was resolved. I have to agree with the heroine though, Eisuke is just really stubborn about not showing his feelings, but I guess he's getting better at it with the heroine so it's all good lol. I kinda find it cute how Baba was the one to tell the heroine how much Eisuke cares for her, I guess all the guys will get a chance to cheer her up and tell her different sides of him?🥲 It was cute how they visited Yukari's new home and thought about marriage~ Lmao at Eisuke just building a hotel in Dubai because her dart fell on it.

Ooh so, S2 revolves around Dubai~ Gotta feel sorry for the heroine that she nearly got killed for trespassing when it wasn't even her fault. But now she's forced to work at the Dubai hotel as a sort of "punishment" and to let her go from her crime lol. Gotta love how Eisuke just bought an island to live on here lol. Aww, it took a long time, but it's actually really cute how soft Eisuke is with the heroine. I also really like how he's pretty open with their relationship to the others. Do a lot of Japanese people really hate green peas?? I find it so funny that a lot of characters hate green peas, but I guess it's more seen as a "childish" thing haha. So yeah, seeing Eisuke try to say he hates green peas in a prideful way was adorable to say the least. Anyway, Hishikura is quiteeee dodgy and weird lol, why does he want to be an auction manager though, does that help him become the future prime minister?🤔 And I found it so silly the way the heroine "won" Hishikura and left him, like shouldn't the first thing Eisuke and them thought of was the fact that this was an illegitimate auction bid when the product (heroine) was obviously not the dancing girl that was supposed to be sold?? Why did we have to waste so much time on something so simply solved just like that?? Honestly though, I'm sure Hishikura could have made some other excuse though, but still, could they have not resolved it better and had a better reason to allow Hishikura be a part of the gang? Lol.

Sometimes I think I underestimate how much Eisuke likes the heroine, because wow, to protect her, he's willing to let people think he's "running away" from Dubai and all the troubles there, and I guess last time with Hishikura, he made it pretty obvious how important she was to him. Like, Kishi and Soryu being bodyguards for the heroine are understandable (but honestly a waste of their time lol) but I'm not sure if Hishikura, Ota and Baba are very good lol. Anyway, trust Eisuke to propose in such an unromantic way loll. Full just gave her the papers and told her to sign it loll. Anyway, I'm surprised they never had a hotel branch in London, but it doesn't matter since Eisuke can build wherever he likes lol. Wow, like I know Eisuke is selfish and the heroine is very accommodating, but I'm surprised she wasn't mad or even annoyed at all that Eisuke just took back the "proposal" and said nah, not getting married anymore since it's unnecessary. Like excuse me??? And the way the heroine knows he loves her is always just through sex lol, like c'mon heroine, sure he shows his love in many ways, but his attitude still annoys me a lot lol, it really is as if marriage is nothing to him and the heroine hasn't even told him that it's special to her because she'll become his wife. Honestly, he probably said it so she wouldn't feel pressured about it anymore (since she was undecided) but still.

Well, I was going to say Frank and his butler are kinda cute but dang lol, getting revenge for something that happened in middle school that was your own fault is pretty petty of Frank. I'll admit that Eisuke being up for auction and the heroine being auctioneer was pretty fun and interesting haha. Especially when she just started revealing everything about him to the crowd lol, but I guess that way she was able to show how deep her feelings were for him and how much she wanted them to be family instead of him just distancing himself from others and her. I'm so happy Eisuke finally proposed properly and said she'll be his family~~ Anyway, I'm disappointed that they didn't allude anything about Eisuke and London (aside from this Frank guy) when I think it would have been fun to see more about Eisuke's life back in the day instead of a random villain. For once, it was nice to see Eisuke's PoV to the marriage thing. So he suggested marriage to the heroine because he wanted to give her financial security just in case anything happened to him, and he wanted to do it in a way where she wouldn't be scrutinised by the public eye, and that's why he wanted her to be his wife so that everything would "look proper" to others. I guess I can see why he was so shocked and sad when she didn't immediately accept him haha. It was nice seeing Eisuke realise his mistake in saying he wanted to the marry the heroine but in the same breath say he didn't need a family, and understand that this was why the heroine was so hesitant. It was really nice to see Eisuke grow and straightforwardly ask Akira (his dad) why did he adopt him and whether he only cares about him because he has a talent for business. Seeing Eisuke face things he usually avoids because of the heroine's support and love makes me happy for him.

Okay, the DLCs (Scattered Cards onwards) on the Switch are too expensive so I'm not going to buy them right now hahaha😅 Overall, I'm not a fan of Eisuke tbh. He definitely got much better over the course of the seasons, but from the heroine's perspective alone, he is a bit frustrating lol, but at the same time, I'd say the same for the heroine for how silly she is lol so I guess they fit well. I think what I'm most disappointed in though is that the premise itself is really just the premise and nothing really "evolves" from it, because the following stories are really just the guys expanding the hotel and dealing with people trying to wreck that rather than stuff about auctions and bidding? I did enjoy Eisuke reuniting with his sister and learning more about how he views family, and then having the heroine make him realise that he does crave family warmth and other things, he just tries to hide it with his bad attitude lol. But yeah, otherwise Eisuke is not bad, just not my type lol, and the stories are rather cliche and bad at some points so yeah, I'd say the plot suffers more than his attitude does for me.

#kissed by the baddest bidder

[twiststreet]

As a fan of manga (mostly everything Tezuka), I'm intrigued by your comments about One Piece, but my assumption is it HAS to be at least PRETTY GOOD to be as popular as it is and to have run as long as it has. I'd be interested in more detailed posts about it, as well as how you recommend reading it, if you do. On a somewhat related note, today I started reading all of Batman. Planning to go from 1939 to 1999, when I first picked up the comics.

Whoops I wrote a lot; sorry:

I’m 615 chapters in out of 1000 (and in the middle of the Fish-Man Island saga which I think fans rank as either the worst or second-worst arc)(the other worst one, this bad tournament arc, I’ve already gotten past)... so I guess I have a lot to say, but you know, nothing especially original, just...

There’s a stretch (namely, the Water 7 arc all the way through Marineford) that is a hall of fame stretch.  He drops like 5-6 arcs that just land perfect right in row (though it’s hard to imagine it ever reaching the heights of the second arc in that series, Ennies Lobby ever again).  But that being said, it’s a little funny to tell anyone “Oh it takes 150 chapters to get really good” (that’s at least 2000+ pages of comics) let alone, that the A+ stuff starts 300 chapters in.  A chapter of One Piece only takes a minutes or so to read, if that, but it’s still a big ask.  People used to get angry if you told them that Deadwood only gets good after 3-4 hours, so... 

But that stretch is ... not “life-affirming” but... it touches a very old part of my brain in a very satisfying way.  

I had a whole long post I deleted because I thought it was boring, but... when I was into classical American superhero comics, the thing I’d constantly be nerdiest about is that there was this Great Possibility, to do something truly epic in that space which I didn’t think had been done.  There’s been a few novels (Watchmen, the Enigma) but not that many.  And American superhero comics don’t really have a Lord of the Rings or a Star Wars or, an example for me as a kid even though I hadn’t read all the books was the Gunslinger books (or sure, The Stand if The Stand had maybe a different ending?  I don’t know-- I’m not watching the TV show but I don’t really remember that ending fondly).  The epic driven by a creator who is creating his own personal mythology, basically.  Most of the genre is tied to pre-existing universes which foreclose that as a possibility and people who work outside those universes tend to just make shit like that Peter Cannon thing or Supreme or whatever that comments back on those universes...

Maybe you could argue the Hickman X-Men thing but for me, everyone after Claremont on X-Men is just inheriting so much from Claremont that... It means very little to me. It’s not a personal mythology. Same with Crisis.  The closest to me comics came was Kirby with the 4th World, but... Carmine Infantino shut that down. And the Claremont run itself is ... an interesting discussion, but again, Bob Harras.  But back before Watchmen 2, back when I thought comics could be this thing that improve over time (haha), I’d look for that (or for any ambition!  any!) and just gave up as time went on.  The careerist generation came in; the ambitions shrank even further; etc., to where I’m at now where my attitude generally with comics is “that’s nice; who care; so, is your wife dating anyone right now, what’s her story?”  

But then One Piece ... One Piece, of all things, becomes this epic thing!  And it’s great!  I was right that it would be great!!!  I was right! (My favorite thing to be!).  

Not at first-- at first the formula is “Wacky Pirates go to an Island, they find out something sad is going on in the Island, a character acting extremely emotional causes the biggest fight possible which goes on for 50 chapters, and then they leave the island and maybe take someone with them.”  And that’s a lot of big arcs... until little by little, tiny bit by tiny bit, Oda’s built up this world.  And then that world starts to become the story.  And that’s still kind of the formula but... but then they’re stakes.

The archetypal shonen cliche story is “a boy wants to be the best in the world at something”, right, but what One Piece does (and I haven’t read as much as other people so I don’t know how common this is, I haven’t read Naruto or Bleach, neither of which I’m too excited to check out, though i think david brothers vouches for Bleach heavy so I’ll probably give that one a shot), what One Piece does is sees how that would necessarily become a political struggle eventually.  Because what does it mean to be the best in the world at something when there’s an entire world out there already in operation, and built around you not being the best in the world, built around someone else being that...

And then there’s just this amount of worldbuilding that goes on, that is so slowly fed out over those first 300 episodes that you don’t even notice it... Until suddenly around Water 7, these bigger forces have now noticed our wacky pirates, and are shifting around them and getting upset about them.  Culminating in this arc called Marineford that ... again not as good as Ennies Lobby but... I don’t think there’s a comparable arc in American comics to Marineford.  The scale of that one... The fact he managed to draw that on a weekly basis!

While still being a goofy kid’s pirate comic.  It’s funny.  The power sets are all really silly, but in a way that reminds of how kids play more than a Dragonball thing.  (He takes like 400-500 chapters to even get to a Dragonball-style levelling up concept, which I thought was pretty patient of him).  But within that, I’m enjoying it now in a very Claremont way of... there now not just being these scrappy outcast heroes I’m rooting for, but an entire universe of people around them, with their own agendas, that I have varying levels of investment in.

There’s this saying that the Golden Age of science fiction is 12 years old, the idea being that’s the age where stuff lands with you the hardest because it’s all NEW for you.  But the thing is if you’re really immature (lifts hand)... I think part of things is you run out of the Good Stuff.  I go back and look at old Chris Claremont X-Mens and if I somehow find one I’ve never read before (and this was the lesson of Dazzler in Hollywood for me), I’m still right there, it still lands with me, there just aren’t that many people who can actually land that plane.  Once Scorcese is gone, what gangster movies are people going to be watching?  Blow?  Savages?  Kubrick only made the movies he made.  People add a little every year, but the really good stuff is rare.  

And so when I’m looking at One Piece and I’m enjoying it the way I’d enjoy a Claremont X-men comic (even if aesthetically it’s a VERY different thing-- sexless and not as weirdo-operatic and less violent and more childish and definitely younger-skewing)... but that I’m getting that same thrill of “oh this comic is a portal to this entire fictional universe this guy made up and that kind of exists now thanks to this (kinda disturbing I guess it turns out) guy” to me is...  Not “life affirming” that’s not the right word but... It feels good on my brain to know.  Because then being sour and grouchy isn’t just me getting older and the inevitability of age-- then it’s just... People need to make better shit!!!  Or I need to do a better job not wasting my time on, you know, an industry that’s not built to deliver what I need as a reader...

I mean, I’ve been saying for more than 10 years, I should just quit American comics and just be one of those guys to switch to manga.  And I’m not 100% there because... I mean, because of Copra and because of like an extremely small list of things that aren’t Copra.  (I just signed for Kate Beaton’s Patreon).  But... I’m 95% there, and it’s been great, and I just feel dumb for not having done it earlier.  

One Piece has big problems, too.  (There’s a whole “Sanji meets drag queens” thing that’s very much not landing with me right now).   I don’t think you can ever top Ennies Lobby because Ennies Lobby is about convincing a suicidal person whose been betrayed their whole life that life’s worth fighting for-- there’s never going to be an emotional engine to the story that’s as good as that one.  It’s trying to work its way back to a “normal One Piece story” in this Fish arc and it’s... I want to see it level up again!  The core cast is just a little too big (it really didn’t need Bones).  I think the shonen model generally creates a sort of “power arms race” where it’s like constantly “oh you learned how to crush mountains with your dick in the last arc?  Well, too bad our mountains are made of diamonds now” escalations that ... feel a little like a treadmill as opposed to a story.  I feel like it needs to kick into a Second Act, after the big ending of that first Act at Marineford.  And just... I don’t know how it can keep topping some of these fights, and think it’d get to be diminishing returns to find out. But... 

A “team of buddies versus the world” is already a great thing for a story to be about, and it’s just really satisfying having One Piece having the “the world” part of that equation being so complicated and varied and colorful.  It’s like if the Ocean’s 11 gang had to rob an overwhelming-more-powerful global crime syndicate, with multiple competing factions, while still convincing Julia Roberts to love them-- they just robbed Andy Garcia and I watch that movie like once a year.

(And thematically, the comic-- it’s not deep, but it’s basically got an anti-authoritarian streak to it, which I think is important for a kid comic to have.  It’s a pirate comic and you can’t really do a pirate comic without being like “fuck the cops” at least a little bit.  The pirate thing is interesting because it basically means that there’s always a discussion going on about what it means to be free, though I think sometimes the comic doesn’t really reckon with that-- it sometimes falls back into “well if there was a good monarch though” thinking... but there being good pirates and bad pirates and good government characters and bad ones, I like that... and the very worst characters just being rich assholes... yeah, good lessons in One Piece for the kids!!). 

That and I just like how that dude draws.  He’s not doing some dreary realism thing-- the layouts are fun without being showy or confusing-- he really improves as the series goes on (though some of the recent stuff I’ve seen hasn’t looked as good, but I’m not sure if I’m seeing low-quality scans or he’s been thrown a loop cause of COVID or what).  I’ll always put up with a boring stretch in a comic if someone, like, crosshatches an arm in a way that I find interesting, so that probably distorts how I read One Piece too...

I could go on and on, basically because ... goddamn, what else do I have to talk about, ughhh.  But yeah: that’s why I think it’s popular-- it’s the worldbuilding.  It’s 100% the worldbuilding.  (By which I’d include that it has this massive cast, that i can keep kinda clear in my head, not all of whom want the same things, etc.)(though also geographically-- there are maps and everything)... But recommend it?  I don’t know-- I mean... It’s a little kid’s pirate comic.  There’s a THOUSAND of them.  It’s more modern than a Tezuka thing-- it’s jumping off more from Toriyama than Tezuka, and that’s a different vibe. It’s like not something you can just “recommend”-- it’s a major time sink.  I’d recommend Chainsaw Man first to someone with my age and background because even though it has its own flaws, it’s more “age appropriate” and there are only 90 chapters, and it’s got that rad stretch about 20 chapters in so you see the “good part” faster... 

#one piece #Worst Hobby or Worstest Hobby?

[wherearemyglassesbro]

Ok ok how about an incredibles AU with the FACES fam?~ :D

Bruh there is a very very very good fic out there somewhere that I read a loooong time ago with this exact scenario so if someone’s got the link to that bad boy PLEASE send it in cause it was so good!! Anywho-

Fran and Art were heroes in Europe but when the Big Bag Hero Lawsuit thing happened and they had to go into hiding, they were sent to the USA where they could be more...lowkey...in the suburbs. Gross.

Artie is ‘Mr. Incredible’ because he is the exact opposite of flexible. He’s solid and stubborn like a hunk of cement. Francis is the graceful one that stretches his arm all the way across their house to pinch his arse which is NOT funny >:( maybe just a little

They were great heroes! They didn’t really work together but they crossed paths occasionally and really got to know eachother when they got to attend public events for charity and such. Their rivalry runs deep because ‘haha stinky French people’ ‘haha your foods bland’ and then their bickering escalated and it was just fun to argue! They’d kiss and make up later away from the cameras

Once they were forced to retire, they got married in America and out of all of the states they could have been relocated to fuckin Arizona. Arthur couldn’t take the heat for more than a week and caused a disturbance on purpose so they’d have to be relocated again. The government didn’t like that but Art was NOT going to spend the rest of his life sunburnt. They finally settled in Michigan haha my state ayeeee and made their cheap, 80s house into a refurbished home. It took awhile but they did it

^^both of them were put in jobs they didn’t like. Arthur was forced into insurance work and Francis has prior restraunt experience back home so he was stuck in a greasy Italian place that was very far from being actually Italian. Both were miserable for a loooong time until they were able to finally pay off debts, get a nice car and renovate their kitchen. They weren’t feeling on edge all the time now so they settled into a routine and worked on communicating better as well as bringing a more positive attitude home with them

And a year later they decided they wanted kids. So naturally they contacted the government to see what they could do. Since they were supers they couldn’t be trusted with real human babies. There were plenty of super babies that needed families! So first, they took in Mattheiu. A Canadian baby that was taken away from his mum since she didn’t know anything about supers. Matt was a very easy baby, he didn’t cry much but his disappearing act gave Francis grey hairs from stress.

Then they got Michelle, a super fast little girl!! Arthur always wanted a girl :’) Michelle is always nice but her temper gets in the way sometimes “I don’t understand! I want to run! Why can’t I show off at school!” “Because you can’t, Chelly” “I want to! I want to prove I’m faster than all of the boys!” “We went over this, poppet, no powers outside of the house” “UGH!!!!!!!”

And finally they get baby Alfred. His powers are unknown since he’s so young but oooooh jeez he’s a cutie. Fran and Art have a bet to see what powers he gets “I bet he’ll have super strength like me, it’s probably the most common super gene out there” “Tsk, no I think he’s going to be a fire baby!” “A fire baby!?!” “It isn’t unheard of to have fire powers! That would be so cool, wouldn’t it?” “It’s al fun and games til he burns the damn house down...” “Language!!”

Fran and Art dont talk about their past much with the kids cause they don’t want to encourage them to break the law. Being a super is against the law all around the world. They don’t want their kids taken away or arrested or sued the way Arthur was for saving the man who didn’t want to be saved

Art hoards old news papers, costumes and everything he can from his ‘glory days’ and even makes a shrine of sorts in the basement where he goes to relax and relive old times

Francis’s old super gear is buried away in boxes somewhere in the basement...Little does he know that Arthur goes through his memorabilia too, reading old French articles and holding that faded red mask in his hands again and remembering the way his husbands blue eyes contrasted the red

The kids know about their parents past but very little about it. Their parents weren’t popular in America so there isn’t much here about them. They aren’t really inclined to dig into their dads stuff though so they kinda just let it be. They always look forward to the rare occasion that one of them gets nostalgic and tells a story or when they show them a veeeeery old, rare tape of them fighting on the streets. To the kids it’s kinda crazy to think of their old boring dads like that lmao

The kids are kinda salty since their powers prevent them from being ‘normal’. Michelle can’t be on any sports team cause despite her saying she won’t, she will outrun everyone. She’ll run 75 miles per hour and make a tornado on the feild or something equally horrific. Matthew disappears without a trace and his peers make fun of him for being strange. No one knows they’re supers. It’s a secret that’s very hard to keep

Arthurs insurance work finally makes enough that Francis can quit his waiter job to stay home with Alfred. As much as they want to out him in a normal baby daycare, Alfred hasn’t shown signs of powers yet which is unsettling...they can’t take risks...

Can Gilbert be frozone please...I like the idea of him being the goofy uncle type that swings by to be silly and fun for the kids while still being responsible yknooooowwwwww

#aph #hetalia #headcanons #aph france #aph england #aph america #fruk #aph canada #aph seychelles #faces family #aph faces family #aph face family #hetalia headcanons #always up for hc requests #ask away #ask away! #aph prussia

[roc-thoughtblog]

Sense and Sensibility Readthrough Part 22

Chapter 25, Pages 131-137

Oooh new text editor - oh dear lord it’s broken right now. I can’t paste everything in and it just ate my the rest of my post when I tried to delete the readmore. Needs more time in the oven. Anyway.

Previously, Elinor and Lucy have A Polite Talk. About Edward. Sort of more like a standoff really, no real shots were fired but somehow I still feel like blood was drawn. Actually no, the more I think about it, shots were fired and Elinor has been gravely wounded.

Summary of Elinor and Lucy's pianoside pistols-at-dusk: Elinor is the faster shot, and clips Lucy early, but Oh! 'Tis but a flesh wound! But Elinor needs to reload, she's now wide open! Lucy takes aim and fires back! Oh! Straight through the HEART! Elinor can't recover from this! Lucy Steele emerges victorious, and her prize is conviction of Elinor's intent to surrender of Edward Ferrars.

Lucy Steele: Silk hiding Steele - Okay I should stop that thought before I let TvTropes devour my soul - though a casual scan says that page doesn't list any direct Austen entries - there is a Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries though - actually this is fascinating - but there's no mention of my girl Anne Elliot here - aaaaand TvTropes is devouring my soul again even as I update what I'm doing as I type.

I'm going to assume this extra level of meta-awareness did prevent me from going even further down the rabbit hole.

Anyway!

Readthrough below.

Chapter 25

We're entering an entirely new segment of the story. Last chapter seemed to have wrapped up the Edward saga with a sort of two paragraph conclusion glossing over the aftermath. This chapter we're starting over fresh talking about Mrs. Jennings' personal life.

She insists on inviting the older Miss Dashwoods to her actual home near Portman Square. The Miss Dashwoods of course refuse, but I'm pretty sure this is where the next stage of the story will be set so something is almost certainly going to send them.

"I have had such good luck getting my own children off my hands [...] if I don't get one of you at least well married before I have done with you, it shall not be my fault."

Oh, I think that's the chief motivator of Mrs. Jennings' invitation. And she's very confident too. :'D

"I thought it would be more comfortable for them to be together; because, if they got tired of me, they might talk to one another, and laugh at my old ways behind my back."

Aww, is this chapter going to be a "Mrs. Jennings is a just a sweet lady really" showcase? ... I still wouldn't want to live with her though, I dunno if she'd let me have my social cooldown time.

"Lord bless me! how do you think I can live poking by myself, I who have been always used till this winter to have Charlotte with me."

... oh... she's just going to be lonely... :(

Also, my does she get along well with her son-in-law. She really ribs with Sir John like he is her own son.

Oh! It's London that Mrs. Jennings is taking them too. I was wondering what physical locale "near Portman Square" actually meant. Well, this is the most convenient location for having run-ins with the lads then. Willoughby and Brandon were both called to town on mysterious business weren't they? And Edward might be here too, that February visit with the Steeles that Lucy was so excited for.

Elinor was half-heartedly appealing to the cause of keeping their mother company as reason to turn down the invitation. Mama Dashwood ain't having it though, so they have no reason not to go. Peace and quiet to educate Margaret with everyone gone, and ample time to renovate rooms without disrupting people. Also, Marianne seemed like she kinda wanted to see town, possibly for Willoughby-related reasons. Yep, the Miss Dashwoods aren't getting outta this one.

Oh actually, Marianne really wants to go. Her countenance sunk as soon as Elinor tried to voice one last objection. My mind has immediately drifted to sudden onset of sad puppy look.

Marianne would like to go alone if Elinor won't go; Elinor is... not going to let that happen because as much as Marianne claims to be able to endure Mrs. Jennings' personality right now, in Mrs. Jennings' company it will probably be a bad time for all parties without Elinor also there reigning her in. Well, it doesn't matter anyway because Mama has made up her mind and they are both going.

Mama brings up Edward in a semi-romantic context again, which Elinor has been trying to wean her from for Reasons. Yeah, I get that. Elinor comments that she's perfectly indifferent to everyone else in Eddie's family besides himself. Apparently that's cause for astonishment in the other two? Not sure what that's about. Is she supposed to like the rest of Edward's family such that being indifferent to them is some kind of admittance? Or is it just a very impolite, un-Elinor statement to make?

With any luck, she won't run into Eddie because the trip will be over before February. Haha, this is narrative, there's no chance of that.

Oh no the Miss Steeles are still around. Welp.

Marianne's joy was almost a degree beyond happiness, so great was the perturbation of her spirits and her impatience to be gone.

Oh wow, I seriously underestimated how excited Marianne was to be on this trip. I think the narration was downplaying it earlier in the chapter, so I guess she was really bottling it in while Elinor was still disapproving of the idea. But now that Mama has commanded them to Go Have Fun, the stopper is unstopped. Pure unadulterated Marianne is out to play again! :D

It'll be good to have excited Marianne back! As much as I tend to disapprove of her general thoughts and attitudes, Elinor-style, I do enjoy her silly rom-antics. See what I did there? Haha, actually that simple dumb thought-slash-joke has put me in a more chipper mood than when I started.

Also, sorry this took a while again. I wish I could say that I've been busy, but it's more like I've had trouble managing myself/motivation for the past week. Also, I keep skipping out medication because I get up too late. Isn't it crazy how I get more things I want to do done when I take it, like today. ;>.>

Semester starts again on Monday, so I may start to get actually busier, but provided I don't manage to "lock" myself again the added routine will probably be a positive change.

#grumpy because i had to re-edit post #happy because i read book #1100 words #Jane Austen #Sense and Sensibility #readthrough #novels

[burnt-tomato]

The Red String of Fate

The Red String of Fate links two soulmates together signifying that they are made for each other. This certain string can appear when you are born or when you and your soulmate finally meet. Though this string can be broken, whether because of arguments, long distance, any of the two meeting someone else they like, taking the two too long to meet, or when intentionally cut. If the string was accidentally cut, it would come back. But the string can be fixed if and only if one of the soulmates has enough energy or power to revive it.

warning: curse words, boy x boy

pairing: IwaOi ( Iwaizumi x Oikawa )

anime: Haikyuu!!

this is my first fanfic so I apologize for any grammar errors. it may also seem rushed and might not be pleasant to read and I also apologize for that. even if english is my second language, my vocab isn't as good as other writers

- - s n a p - - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !!

That sound. The sound that sounds so painful yet so relieving. The sound that I can't decide whether if I like it or not. The sound that just might decide things for me. The sound that would me you feel ill and 'empty'. I t h u r t s b a d l y .

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

Crap. What time is it?

"Hajime! Are you awake yet? Get ready for school already. At this rate you'll be late for the first period. Tooru's waiting for you outside."

Oh. Shit. I overslept again. And how the fuck is that Shittykawa waiting for me? Most of the time he's the one who's late. Too late for that then.

I quickly got dressed and went downstairs. I didn't even bother eating breakfast. I dashed out of the door just to be greeted by Oikawa.

"Why isn't this a surprise, Iwa-chan! For the first time I'm the one waiting for you."

"Haha very funny Crappykawa"

"Can't you call me anything else other than Crappykawa?"

"So which do you prefer? Shittykawa or Trashykawa?"

"E-eh?? I'd go for Crappykawa then!" Oikawa pouted afterwards.

We both rushed to school and barely made it just in time. Teacher got mad at us though for arriving last minute.

Oikawa Tooru. He's been my best friend for as long as I can remember, although to this day I'm still wondering why I even agreed to being with him. It was more like a forced friendship because we were the only kids in the neighborhood of the same age. He's also the reason I got into volleyball. Well, sort of. He kinda forced me into learning how to play just so someone can spike his tosses. Actually, eversince he came, something's been going on with my life differently.

10 years ago, there was this family that has just moved in into our neighborhood. I was 7 or 8 at the time. Mom called me to come downstairs to greet the new people. When we opened the door, it revealed a tall woman with shoulder length brown hair with dark brown eyes. Beside her was a kid a few centimeters taller than me with brown hair and an ahoge, and seemed to he right at my age. After our greetings, mom invited them inside and in just a few seconds, this random kid was in my room.

"Uh... Tooru, do you want to do or play anything?"

He didn't answer, but he did go out and returned with a volleyball in his hands. He tugged my shoulder sleeve and took me outside. And then I just found myself playing with a kid I just met, although I didn't know how, but he did teach me.

When the sun came down, they said that they were going home.

"Bye Iwa-chan! See you tomorrow"

"Bye Tooru."

Just as he said, the next day we found ourselves playing with each other again. This has been going on for awhile now.

On a normal day, I woke up with a red string tied unto my pinky.

"W-why i-is there a r-red string tied unto m-me??" In panic, I fell down my bed. I debated in my head on whether mom should know about this or not, and came to the conclusion that I would tell her if she noticed. While eating breakfast, even if I tried giving her hints and putting my hand in the most open and obvious spot, she didn't seem to notice at all. Was this just my imagination? Maybe it doesn't actually exist.

I tried my best to just ignore it and just enjoy the rest of the day (Even if having this stupid red string tied unto me. And the fact that it's even going through the walls! Holy crap that's frikin weird.)

I stepped outside to play with Tooru again. Maybe if mom couldn't see it, maybe he can't too. Or should I confirm it with him and ask? Is this string even real? Is it even solid? Why does it look like it's just floating through air? Why is it-

"Iwa-chan! Do you want to play again?"

Why. Why is the damn string attached to him, to the same finger as mine. Why is it connecting the two of us. Should I just ignore it?

"Yeah sure"

I guess I decided to ignore it.

Ever since this string appeared, we seemed closer than usual. There are even times that I forgot it existed. Every time I woke up, it would just be there. It looks like it doesn't have a specific or permanent length, in fact whenever me and Tooru separate, it just extends.

So I decided that I'd cut it. I mean.. what's the harm?

- - s n i p - - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ! !

"*cough* *c-cough*...!!! I-I c-can't b-breathe...!! M-mom! H-help m-me..!!"

.

.

.

.

.

Bzzzt Bzzzt Bzzzt!!!

H-huh? Why am I on the floor? Did I fall asleep here? I don't remember much from last night... What happened??

I took a glance at my hand. Oh. It's gone.

Honestly though. I don't know if I feel relieved or... something else. My chest feels heavy, actually. Maybe if I go out and play with Tooru I'd feel better-

"Sorry. Tooru's not feeling well today. Just this morning when he woke up, he was sobbing and refused to tell me the reason. I'm sorry Hajime-kun. Maybe tomorrow."

What. Why? Does this have something to do with the string? Ah, don't be stupid Hajime, he probably felt ill. That's all.

I hope so.

When that string appeared, it reminded me of my friendship with Tooru. When we finally started playing as actual friends, that string appeared. It almost felt like a reminder or sign of our connection. Geez Hajime, when did you become so cheesy. Haha yeah I know. And when I cut that string, it felt like I cut my ties with him or in other words, broke away.

That's probably just my imagination though. I really have to stop overthinking things. Despite my arrogance and cold attitude, I do sometimes think about this thoroughly, even if it sounds cheesy and cliche.

.

.

.

"Hey Iwa-chan. Sorry I haven't gotten to play with you for a week. I know it was sudden, but I actually got a high fever, although before that I didn't even feel ill. But I'm okay now! We can finally play agai-! ... Iwa-chan?"

Oh. I didn't even notice that he was talking to me, or even that he was ok now. Eversince he got sick, I've been spacing out more frequently and felt really lonely.

"Ah. Sorry 'bout that Tooru. I'm fine. Are you sure you're not ill anymore? If not, sure let's play some volleyball."

We did. When he got better, even I felt better.

And just when I thought things were finally going to go smoothly...

Ah. It appeared again. The stupid red string. And without a doubt it's tied unto Tooru too. Sigh. What am I gonna do about this...

.

.

.

.

.

"Toor- I mean Oikawa. Can you set to me some of your tosses? I want to practice spiking."

From the benches, I could hear Matsukawa and Hanamaki snickering about how I almost called Shittykawa by his first name.

...

Up to this day this string is still tied unto our hands, mine and Oikawa's. Up until now, I've been constantly cutting that string, but it's not like I cut it because we had arguments or misunderstandings, it's just really... uncomfortable. And the fact that only we can see it, or perhaps, only I can. Oikawa's been spending more time in my house nowadays. We've been getting closer during these years of growing up together. Still, I wonder what this string means. Every time I cut it, after me and Oikawa hangout again, it just comes back. Freaky honestly.

.

.

"Alright everyone!! Practice is over! Go home already, it's getting late. Don't forget that next week we have a practice match, ok?"

We all separate ways, and me and Oikawa walk home together.

"Goodnight Iwa-chan. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See you too."

. . .

Huhhhhhhhhhh. Oikawa just texted me.

"Hey Iwa-chan, some fangirl asked me to go out with her. You think I should??" Sent 8:52 PM

Huh...? Why did he ask me? And why do I feel like I got rejected...? Seriously, whenever he gets requests or confessions he always asks me first. It's not like I control him.. But honestly a part of me wants him to not go..

I wonder why...

"Idk. Do u even like her?" Sent 8:54 PM

"Mmm. Not rlly...." Sent 8:54 PM

"Then don't. Bye." Sent 8:55 PM

"Eh? Are you mad? Iwa-chan???" Sent 8:55 PM

"Iwa-chan??"

"IwA-cHan??"

I ignored him. He should just do what he wants.

.

.

.

Fuckkk. Why alarm clock's been ringing for 20 minutes already. It's past 7 AM already. First period starts at 7. Why am I still here..? Is it because I didn't want to see Oikawa hangout with that girl? Haha don't be silly Hajime. I just didn't feel like going.

.

.

.

Hmmm..? It's 5PM already? Fuck how long have I been here? Was I just staring into nothing. I'm hungry. I went down and ate. Then went back to my room.

I stopped. The scissors. The scissors I use to cut the string.. should I?

I grabbed the scissors then-

.

.

"IWA-CHAN!!! WHY didn't you go to school today??? Are you ill? I brought you your homewo-"

I stopped. When did he get here? Did my mom literally just let him in without letting me know? Well, this is just fucking awkward. I'm standing, a bit bent down, holding a pair of scissors against this red string that I don't know if he could see. Up 'till now, I don't know if he could see the string, nd I've been carelessly cutting it.

He dropped everything.

"I-iwa-c-chan... w-why...?? So you've b-been cutting t-he string? It was y-you?..."

Oikawa started sobbing and dropped to the floor. I dropped the scissors, causing a loud thud on the floor, and rushed to him.

"What do you mean? You could see it this entire time? Why didn't you tell me?

"Why have you been CUTTING IT?"

Fuck. I've never heard Oikawa raise his voice. Ever. His voice overlapped his sobs.

"Do y-you not want to be with me? I rejected the girl b-because..."

His voice softened. It got softer right after he shouted.

"W-what? What do you mean? Of course I-I d-do.."

I looked away, hiding my embarrassment.

"Then why have you been cutting it?"

I didn't even notice that we've been on the floor this entire time. His face I held on my chest, my shirt's wet from his tears. After his question, I was dead silent. It's true. Why did I cut the string?

"Iwa-chan, do you not even know what the string means?"

Oikawa muttered softly, his voice being overlapped by the broken sobs echoing in the room.

"Ah... No."

Right after I answered, Oikawa's hands gripped the back part of my shirt tighter. His sobbing got quieter, his face still buried on my chest.

"Iwa... It meant that we were soulmates. The red string signifies that we were meant to stay together, to be there for each other. Eversince I moved into this neighborhood, I had a strong feeling when I first saw you. And I was right. The string appeared after we settled with eachother."

"I... I didn't know that..... Tooru im-!"

"I like you Hajime... I always have... but honestly I never thought about how I could tell you... I was scared that you'd reject me and find it weird that a guy likes a guy..."

He looked down, gripping tighter unto my back.

How could I have been so stupid. I've been cutting that string without a reason, and worst, I never even told him. If I had told him sooner, maybe I could've at least prevented hurting him...

"Hajime...I like you... I love you..."

"Tooru I-"

He gripped my shirt tighther, burying his face deeper unto my chest. He breathed softly, and I could hear his heart beats thumping fast.

"Hajime..."

Oikawa jolted as i wrapped one arm around him and pulled his body closer to mine.

I'm sure he got my answer.

.

.

.

.

.

"EH?? Are you serious, Iwaizumi-san???!!!"

"IWAIZUMI SENPAIIII!!!"

"Why tho"

I held Shittykawa's hand tighter.

"Haha... yeah. We are."

A

Im sososososo sorry this looks sooo bad. I tried to make it as good as I can and literally failed lmao. If you have request, u can ask away <3333

-♤

#haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu fanfic #iwaoi #iwaizumi #Oikawa #ship fanfic #lmao what is this garbage #♤

[mautadite]

february book round up

13 books this month. (haha, half of what i read in january, but i knew i wasn’t going to duplicate that, no way.) a pretty mixed bag.

in praise of shadows - junichiro tanizaki ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a really really interesting non fiction work on japanese versus western aesthetics, the use of shadows and light, darkness and exposure. talks about architecture, art, people, culture, theatre... i enjoyed this a lot.

beneath a scarlet sky - mark sullivan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a good story, extremely badly told. it’s a novel of italy in wwii, following a young man who falls in love, guides jews to switzerland, becomes a spy... a lot happens. it’s heavily based the true story of pino lella’s life but man the author should have stuck to bare facts (even if there weren’t many) because his writing is... not good. not structurally, or narratively, or just his prose.

the fever king - victoria lee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this book gave me the always frustrating horror of showing kids being manipulated by adults and the kids don’t know it but you the reader do know it and it’s AGONY. queer teen scifi in a dystopian future where magic manifests as a sickness and those who overcome it develop powers. the world-building was really really interesting, the writing was tight, the characters were amazing. THEY’RE MY KIDS NOW. really looking forward to the sequel.

yellow crocus - laila benjamin ⭐️⭐️⭐️ another well meaning book, lovingly told, but badly told. a novel about an enslaved black wet nurse and her charge, the white daughter of her master, with whom she develops a deep motherly bond. the novel follows them from lisbeth’s (the child) birth to the birth of her own child.you can tell that a lot of research and care and love went into this book, and it didn’t skeeve me off in the usual ways that books about slavery written by non-black people usually do... but it just wasn’t very well written.

boystown 2 - marshall thornton ⭐️⭐️⭐️ second set of stories about a gay private eye solving mysteries in the 80s. in this instalment, nick juggles things with his sort-of-not-really boyfriend, gets complicated feelings about his ex-boyfriend, and has bunch of sex with a bunch of guys who aren’t either of those men. interesting mysteries once again, though one of them kinda ticked me off.

no two ways - chi yu rodriguez ⭐️⭐️⭐️ contemporary f/f romance about a bi girl who hooks up with a lesbian and starts falling for her pretty quickly... but then finds out she’s a huge biphobe. this was good...? but the leads had almost no chemistry, it took too long for jackie to get an attitude change, and when she did, she got off way too easily.

northanger abbey - jane austen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ fun stuff, very enjoyable. i really like how austen does humour, and there’s some good stuff in here about sexist microaggressions and the art of novels. and i really liked the hero.

proper english - k.j. charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ AHHHHHH. i really like k.j. charles, and i was SO EXCITED when i found out she’d dipped her toes into f/f romance. this was wonderful. a very satisfying mystery, the kind that gives all the right hints and clues and allows the reader to figure it out if they’re paying attention, but introduces just enough doubt that you’re not sure. and the characters! the romance! i loved these two women in their first appearance in ‘think of england’ I LOVED THEM EVEN MORE HERE. pat’s assertiveness, fen’s flirtiness... gah.

perfect rhythm - jae ⭐️⭐️⭐️ contemporary f/f/ romance with an ace protag. very cute, if a bit... idk wooden at times? in the writing, the way asexuality was talked about, some of the delivery of the jokes. it definitely wasn’t bad; the characters were complicated and flawed in real ways, and i feel like their romance progressed very naturally, and it was super fulfilling in the end. it just needed a little something more, writing-wise. also, did not enjoy the way it treated the closeted side character. :/

the gentleman and the rogue - bonnie dee & summer devon ⭐️⭐️ this book made me realise... i don’t think i’ve ever read a fiction book written by two authors that i thoroughly enjoyed? i just don’t gel with most people’s approaches to co-writing. not that that was the only thing wrong with this book. historical m/m romance between a veteran lord and the guttersnipe he hires as his new valet. i don’t like rich/poor romance where the rich person doesn’t buy a clue, i don’t like structural inequality played straight, i don’t like plots that are so thin it seems like the author didn’t want to write one. and the writing itself left much to be desired.

scrap metal - harper fox ⭐️⭐️⭐️ really sweet contemporary m/m romance set on a small scottish island, between a phd student who has suddenly been called back to work on the farm he grew up on, and the mysterious man who shows up on the farm in the middle of the night. i really like harper fox’s writing; she can sometimes have the loveliest way with words. and the romance was super well done. my nitpicks with this book are kinda silly but i had them all the same. it hit some squicks of mine and also i really don’t like when harper fox slips in the paranormal as a side-element int he books. why? i don’t know! but i don’t like it.

switchback - s.w. andersen ⭐️⭐️ i only got this audiobook because i really like nicol zanzarella, the narrator. and i mean it’s lesbian romance featuring a mountain bike rider and a chiropractor? neat right? wrong, it was boring and badly written. alas! man i hate omniscient pov, especially for romance.

mama black widow - iceberg slim ⭐️⭐️⭐️ semi-biographical novel of a black drag queen living in the ghettos of 1960s chicago. follows him from childhood to his prime to his decline, with a heavy focus on his childhood and relationship with his mother and the many tragedies that befell him and this family. heavy focus on race, sexuality, and violence. (don’t go into this without hella warnings.) i enjoyed it, mostly, though i felt that doylist misogyny coming through hard. it was written in the 1960s and it shows lol.

and that’s it for february. i started a new job today and probably won’t have a lot of reading time, but i’ll continue to do as much audiobooking as i can on public transportation. currently doing a reread of the hobbit, which i 100% started as a self comfort thing, and will probably be ready very sparsely throughout the month. going to start a hundred little lies. 

#book talk #long post

[ua-aizawa-returns]

Don’t Threaten My Students

#aizawa #aizawa shouta #vlad #vlad king #orca #gang orca #ua rp #bnha #mha #my hero academy #my hero academia #boku no hero #boku no hero academy #boku no hero academia #tea #pro heroes #pro hero discourse #bakugou #bakugou katsuki #kamakiri #yuuma #kaminari #shinsou #mine #izuku #Momo #Kuroiro #Harmony #chat.arc

[itssanamana]

Ink

Ink

- Starring Sana

Word Count: 921

- For chrismma626

“I’m right in front of your house. Come out, Sana.” You said through your smartphone.

On the other side, you could hear Sana stumbling around, and the frantic sound of her trying to zip up her jacket.

“I’ll be right there!” Sana replied happily.

You chuckled, releasing a breath of hot air that remained visible in the evening air for a few moments. Although winter wasn’t here yet, fall had made its presence known; the leaves curled up and lit up with all sorts of shades of yellow and orange. You closed your eyes and inhaled deeply through your nose, then you heard the front door gently slam. Sana was dressed in a long trench coat with the tips of her hood lined with black and white fur, there was also a white silk scarf that hugged her neck closely. She had her purse in one hand, while the other was tucked away in a side pocket. Wherever she went, she looked like a model.

“Sorry for the long wait! I couldn’t pick out what I wanted to wear…” Sana apologized.

“Uh, you do know that you look good in everything right? I’m just saying.”

Sana lightly pushed you with her free hand and giggled, then she opened the door to your SUV and jumped in.

“So where are you taking me tonight?” Sana chirped as she buckled her seatbelt.

“I didn’t really come with a plan… I was actually hoping that you had an idea or two.”

“Well, did you eat yet?”

“I had a light snack, how about you?”

“I already ate dinner. Oh, that’s right! I just remembered that I have to go pick up some clothes that Momo and Mina ordered. So… do you wanna go to the mall? Hehe.” Sana shyly suggested.

“Haha, sure, we can do that.”

After fifteen minutes of driving and singing along to all of the hit songs that played on the radio, you and Sana arrived at your destination. Sana knew the exact location of the store so the two of you took your sweet time getting there.

“Hey, let’s go see if they have anything nice!” Sana pointed at a nearby clothing store and pulled you by your arm. Sana managed to pick out three outfits in only five minutes, she handed them all to you for you to try on.

“I’ll be right back, Sana.” You said as you found your way to a changing room.

“Okay!”

“Wait, why are you in here with me?”

Sana had followed you into the changing room.

“I’m saving us time! You can change here and then you won’t even have to go back out!” Sana whispered loudly.

“Sureee, you just want to see me semi naked!” You laughed.

“Yea, well, maybe I do. I’m not leaving.” Sana folded her arms cutely.

You laughed again, and began to undress. During this time, Sana saw a small but noticeable tattoo on the back of your left shoulder. She couldn’t make it out the picture because you were moving, but she automatically assumed that it was for someone significant. Someone like an ex-girlfriend.

“So, how do I look? I think this looks rather nice, don’t you?” You asked Sana as you looked at yourself in the mirror. Sana didn’t respond, instead you found her staring into thin air.

“Hello? Anyone home?” You questioned, lightly poking Sana’s soft cheek.

“Huh? Oh yea, I think it looks good.” Sana said dryly.

“You okay? You don’t look so good, kinda pale. Are you not feeling well?”

“No, no. I’m completely fine. Trust me, let’s go pay! We should probably pick up the clothes before they close for the day.”

You nodded in agreement as Sana slipped out of the room quickly. You stood there in the changing room, thinking to yourself. Why the sudden change in attitude? Hmm… what was she thinking? Maybe she saw my tattoo? Oh, that silly girl. You rushed out of the room with your new clothes and joined Sana at the checkout.

“Pst.” You said, as you waited for the cashier to scan the clothes.

“Hm?” Sana replied slowly.

“Did you see my tattoo?”

“...”

“I don’t know what’s going on in your little head, but it’s actually for my mom. I’ve never told anyone about it, since, you know, it’s kind of embarrassing, getting a tattoo for your mom.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes. Really. What did you think it was for? An ex?”

“Yeah…”

“Hahaha, really? Well, it’s not. And if you don’t believe me then… excuse me? Can I borrow a pen real quick?” You asked politely to the cashier, she handed you a pen as she bagged your clothes.

“What’s that for?” Sana asked.

“Here, draw a tattoo on me. Go for it.”

“Nooo… what if I lose you after drawing a tattoo? Like…”

“Like my mom? Hahaha. Alright then, well I’m gonna draw something on you then. Hand please?”

Sana reluctantly gave you her hand.

“No peeking.” You said as she turned her head away.

After a couple of seconds, you were finished, you handed back the pen to the cashier and picked up your bags. With a great big smirk on your face, you walked out of the store, leaving Sana to see what you had drawn.

“It’s upside down, sigh, it says…” Sana grunted.

“Sana is a big dummy.” You and Sana both said in unison. Sana tilted her head rigidly and came running after you, the two of you causing a commotion in the middle of the mall.

- itssanamana

#sana #minatozaki sana #twice #twice scenarios #sana scenarios #twice imagines #sana imagines #short fanfic #kpop fanfiction

[oddcontent]

The sisters and the Boys

This is relatively old. About a year old? It’s unfinished and my thoughts have since been updated since, but i’ll still put this up because our blog is lonely :P

Maybe I’ll do a revised post later, but for now here are some relationship headcanons as well as personality details on my twins, Yin and Yang!

Yin - Green Heart, Kindness

Yin is the more introverted one of the two sisters. Yin grew up reading with the Nancy Drew books and children’s mystery books and loves the idea of solving crime and catching bad guys. Yin is often quiet among company, often found reading on her phone or at the side of Yang, the more outgoing sister than with anyone else. Her more snarky, silly personality is let out by the encouragement of Yang and friends. Yin is fierce with her love and protective of her loved ones, when befriended Yin will be friendly and polite but keep you at a distance until finally she’ll love you before she likes you if you’re willing to stick around. She’ll run to your side in a time of crisis to help you, save you and maybe give cuff to the head or punch to the shoulder for the trouble but she’s with you all the way. Yin enjoys giving commentary to movies and overjoyed when encouraged instead of shushed by present company, orange juice, disney movies and visual novels.

Yang - Red Heart, Determination

Unlike Yin, Yang was much more readily into befriending others. Yang is charming and affectionate, often wrapping her arms around shoulders of friends, linking arms to drag her sister away on an adventure, or just to obnoxiously give you a poke on the nose with a ‘boop’. She’s a bit of a flirt, and is quick to fall into love and often out of it. Craves commitment but also fearful of it which often leads to a string of break ups. High school was a terror. (Yin had a lot of assholes to punch) Is fierce when wronged, but a bit more bark and little bite when in a confrontation. Is just as silly and goofy as her sister and enjoys raunchy pick up lines. No, not to be used. To laugh at. (“If you're feeling down, I can feel you up. “ “That’s worse than the last one, sis. And stop sending me shitposts, we’re literally sitting right next to each other!” “Haaahaha!”) Yin LOVES rpg games. She likes the heavy emphasis on storytelling. (If this was real life and she played Undertale, you bet your ass she’d throw herself into the fandom faster than Frisk fell Underground)

Both sisters enjoy horror movies. To be accurate, Yang is eager to watch, Yin more hesitant but curious. By the end of the night, Yang is clutching onto her sister with a death grip and both sisters are screeching at the screen. Yang to warn the humans of the coming danger, and Yin out of anger for the stupidity of the protagonists. Yang loves Korean dramas. Loves them. Yin is forced to watch alongside her and provides commentary. Both girls play otome games, but Yin is a completionist and wants to get all the endings and Yang squeals and rants about her favorite characters. Anime is argued and debated about constantly between the twins.

Note: Yin and Yang aren’t actually their real names. They just started calling each other that because both are better at things the other aren’t and they decided that they would balance each other out better if they could keep themselves in check. Especially when insecurities and anxiety rises.

Undertale

Sans

I see an easy friendship to develop, Sans could watch movies with Yin and he won’t tell her to be quiet when she gets fired up and throws popcorn at the screen, they both make fun of actors and predict what happens next. Yin would be exasperated with Sans’ joke but she’ll smile, and maybe snort if it’s a very clever one, which would mean Sans would have to make MORE so she could do it again. Yin asks questions. A lot. She asks about the underground, Sans’ various jobs, the sock in the living room, the trash tornado and...probably figure out Sans’ scientific background from his various physics books. Sans is secretive and Yin is curious enough and smart enough to realize that and try to poke or ask questions which would probably cause Sans to withdraw. Yin wouldn’t pry out of any malicious intent, simply a desire to know but this would put a strain on their friendship and anything more if Yin were to push. Luckily, Yin wouldn’t want to make Sans’ uncomfortable to pursue it and respects his privacy. But if say someone blabbed a bit, like Papyrus or Alphys...it doesn’t hurt to peep a question or two, right?

Yang enjoys corny jokes, bad jokes, simply for the sake that they’re obviously bad, so she’d enjoy Sans’ company. Yang might be a bit much for Sans who isn’t a physically affectionate dude in general, but Yang is just as content to communicate with Sans over the phone as she is in person. It’d do the bone boy good to have someone spoil him though, Yang would happily do so. Yang could probably fall for Sans...it’s staying that’s the problem. She won’t cheat, or have wandering eyes, Yang’s a good girl but she doesn’t have much experience with long term relationships past the ‘honeymoon phase’ and she’s a bit of a romantic and likes little gestures while Sans is more of a casual sort of guy. If they end up in a romantic relationship it’ll have to depend on them both if it stays that way.

Papyrus

Papyrus finds Yin’s detective habits fascinating! It’s sort of like puzzles. You have to solve things! Yin finds Papyrus’ enthusiasm endearing and, like with Yang, lets herself be dragged along on whatever adventure Papyrus would take her on. She’d easily be spurred along by his energy and would be right along with him, cooking spaghetti together or driving around in his race car and looking out for ‘CRIMINALS AND HOOLIGANS!’. But, she’ll probably tire out a lot faster than Papyrus would so he’ll have to carry her around on his back while Papyrus tells her stories about his achievements, Sans, the Royal guard, Fluffy Bunny, anything that comes to mind. Yin has never dated anyone or even fooled around but gets the biggest crush on Papyrus during their friendship. But who wouldn’t really? She wouldn’t know what to do about it and she wouldn’t act on it so they’ll just continue on with their shenanigans until Papyrus finally turns to her and goes “YIN! HUMAN, I FIND I ENJOY YOUR COMPANY VERY MUCH! SO MUCH THAT WE’VE BECOME GREAT FRIENDS! BEST FRIENDS AND I! WOULD VERY MUCH...LIKE TO BE MORE. I WOULD BE HONORED IF YOU WENT ON A DATE WITH ME!”

How could Yin possibly say no?

Besties!!! Such enthusiasm! And Papyrus likes platonic cuddling, Yang can hug him whenever she wants! Yang’s already in love. Well, until Papyrus turns her down. “I’M VERY FLATTERED YANG, BUT I JUST DON’T FEEL LIKE THAT FOR YOU! PLUS I KNOW YOU LIKE KISSING AND I DON’T HAVE LIPS!” Yang isn’t that heartbroken, she wasn’t actually in love but she did consider dating him. She accepts and they’re the best of buds. ...Until she develops feelings for real. And then the insecurity hits. What was she thinking before? She can’t date Pap! Pap needs someone who can keep at his own pace (not literally, most people can’t keep up with Papyrus at his pace) someone who doesn’t go through relationships like they do with soap. Yang moves pretty fast and Papyrus is...so good. Oh boy. If Pap and Yang date, Papyrus is gonna have to have a talk with Yang. Despite how Yang feels about herself, she would never rush Papyrus through their relationship and in fact would be a good relationship starter, should they ever break up. Papyrus gives Yang encouragement and positive reinforcement. A good noodle, Papyrus is.

Underfell

Red

Haha well shit. A flirty, bold skeleton with anxiety and self esteem issues? It’s like Yang if Yang was a dude. And a skeleton. Not that Red completely reminds Yin of her sister because that’d be weird but there’s some...pings going off in her head. If Red tried putting the moves on Yin, Yin’s super awkward and blustery about it. Give her time, she’ll get to know Red as they hang out together. Red isn’t much of an outgoer and neither is she, they can spend indoors together hanging out on the couch and watching horror movies. Yin screams and gets angry and Red can laugh at her. Yin miiiight get a bit...curious and take up Red’s semi-serious flirtations. though if Red ends up chickening out, Yin would end up a little hurt that Red might’ve just been messing with her but brush it off because she was ONLY curious obviously and it’s easier like this because they can just stay friends like normal, right? ...Yeah, these two nerds need to talk things out.

Yang and Red would probably hit it off at like a bar at first. If Yang starred in the choose your own tale with Red, she’d get the Sinner’s ending. ...Well, maybe after a round of beanboozled. They have a bit of a whirlwind romance that could end a blast or disaster. They’re similar in some ways that might mean they’ll mesh really well and in some ways might mean they’ll spark out as fast as they came together (hehe). Yang doesn’t mind if Red gets jealous or possessive, she’d be thrilled, it means she’s wanted. But Yang being affectionate might mean Red would take offense to her being close with...probably everyone. Not Yin though. Red gets kinda drool-y seeing them together. Which would make Yang take offense a bit because why is Red alright with a threesome when it’s them (Red you gross) but Yang can’t just hug people like normal. Eventually she might find it stifling and their insecurities would throw each other off. These two ALSO would need to talk things out.

Edge

Haha double shit. Yin is...not impressed. Who is this big, edgy, shouty asshole? Yin would probably end up picking a fight with Edge. Yin tries to be polite but this guy. Wowie. The twins can be fierce but Yin’s the protector, the fighter. She wouldn’t stand for his rude, I-AM-ABOVE-YOU-LITERALLY-AND-FIGURATIVELY attitude. And Edge finds this puny, squishy little human trying to mess with him laughable, because??? Puny, squishy human. Things might escalate and wherever they are, they’ll probably be told to leave because they’re disturbing the peace. After...they just keep bumping into each other. (“YOU!!!” “Ugh, no.”) If Yin REALLY wants to fight Edge, somehow she convinces him to spar with her. Yeah, you heard that right. If they can’t talk it out, they’ll fight it out and then they’ll be square, at least Yin figures. Yin’s punched her fair share of jerks she can handle this guy. ...Yeah no, she gets her ass handed to her. But, Edge is…-whispers- impressed. Just a little. But you didn’t hear that from him, no sir. She put up a good fight and Yin asks where Edge learned how to fight which leads to Edge bragging about being the CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, and talking about his accomplishments and exploits and so on and so forth. (“Huh. Fine then, big guy, color me impressed.”)

Yang also, is not the least bit impressed. ...Okay, maybe she thought Edge was sort of handsome even with the scars, until he opened his mouth. Still, whatever remarks he might make her way, Yang turns it right around and flirts back, because what better way to piss someone off than to brush off angry remarks with a casual air. But somehow this leads to shenanigans and Edge calls Yang a admirer of his and figures, if she’s so incensed to get close to him, he is ‘GRACIOUS ENOUGH TO TAKE YOU UNDER MY WING THEN!” ...Yeah, what? Yang figures she can make the best of it and hey this would probably make a good story to tell later, right? Edge is still a bit of a jerk but Yang isn’t so down on herself that she’s going to let someone get away bullying her without a fight. (“What makes you so Great and Terrible, anyway?” “WELL IF YOU INSIST ON KNOWING, MY MINION…!”)

Underswap

Blueberry

What more is there to say, Yin thinks the little dude is cute. But more in a kid brother kind of way than dating way. Yin would happily follow Blueberry on the greatest adventure, she’s content to be a sidekick.

Stretch

Swapfell

Raspberry

Rus

#Whisper