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#and i literally would not be where i am today without this series
aamaryst · 4 months
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"The night has a scent...my mouth remembers... Yato."
it's been over two years since i last did a manga coloring but i had to do this one to celebrate noragami's final chapter. thank you again Adachitoka for such a special series 🤍
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chuluoyi · 2 months
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✎ wedding anniversary
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- gojo satoru x reader
seven years of dating, two years of wedded bliss, and gojo is having his greatest existential crisis yet... all because this year, you apparently have forgotten the most important day of your lives
genre: 18+ suggestive content—minors do not interact!—heavy smut, fingering, cunnilingus, p in v sex, slight breeding kink, crack, drunk, lovesick and possessive gojo (nanami is so very done with him), also fluff !!
note: back to chu's thirsting hour :') based on a fellow gojo fucker's very helpful brainrot (chiyo if you see this, hii!😗) pls give it some love bc this has gone through not showing up in the tags 5x already *sobs*
a part of gojo's love entries
series masterlist | oneshot masterlist
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To this day, it was still beyond Nanami why you, his very sensible former classmate, would have Gojo Satoru as your husband.
“She... doesn't—hic!—care about m-me... anymore!”
But well, to each their own.
“Gojo—”
“Today is our—hic!—anniversary!”
This is exhausting. It had been 30 minutes ever since the blindfolded shithead started rambling his sorrows. “She is probably just busy, you don't have to—”
“I r-really thought—hic!—she would at least n-not forget it l-like that!”
“Please, stop this nonse—”
Satoru snapped his head so swiftly that Nanami was startled, pointing out an accusatory finger at his face. “You stop!—you don't understand, Nanami!”
The said man flinched, taken aback, before feeling the surge of irritation coursing through his veins.
Sure, Nanami would gladly admit that he didn't understand. He neither had the time nor energy to. It was beyond him that he was even entertaining this blubbering idiot at this time of the day, in a bar no less. How did he get roped into this in the first place?
Actually, he had minus interest in your marital affairs, but Gojo was latching onto him all day, rambling about how excited he was for this day for weeks now, until you gave him a call, saying you would be home late and disregarded his very open anticipation. You broke his heart to pieces, apparently.
Amidst his heartbroken musings, Gojo followed him to his frequented bar, where he proceeded to down multiple glasses without any supervision.
“Am I really t-that lousy? Can’t be it… I’m s-strong, d-dashing… rich—”
Nanami released a guttural sigh, messaging his temples. How could this idiot have no shame while spouting all of this?
“Will s-she… divorce me next…?” he abruptly blurted, eyes widening as saucers and full of clarity all of a sudden. Satoru firmly tugged at his suit and forced him to face him. “Nanamin…! S-she won’t divorce me, r-right?!”
Oh, to hell with it. Nanami couldn’t take this anymore. He was done and he had no patience to tolerate it any longer.
He shrugged him off, and pulled out his phone to dial your number. “Hello? Please, come pick your husband. He’s a public nuisance!”
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In fact, you didn’t forget your anniversary.
How could you? Satoru made it his point to drop hints about it almost every day, and you actually struggled to be indifferent about it because you also had things planned out.
A present—already taken care of thanks to your mail order of Rolex’s newest collection watch, and a treat—a two-tier mochi cake he had been staring at with literal stars in his eyes on your last date.
Which has become the problem. The bakery had mishandled your delivery and you had to wait for them to remake it. It was 8pm already and you couldn't help but worry. Satoru must be feeling utterly despondent by now, thinking you had forgotten a day that meant so much for both of you.
And so when you got a call from Nanami, you dropped everything to get him and told the bakery to arrange for the delivery tomorrow, because you knew... nothing good ever came out of Satoru getting drunk.
"I missed youuuu~! Dearest, darling— my universe!"
To Satoru, the everything around him was a blur of lights and hiccups when you came to retrieve him. Nanami was so eager to wash his hands off him, leaving you with a pointed grimace as if pitying you.
. . .
"A-are you going to—hic!—leave m-me?" Satoru slurred for the nth time now, stumbling inside your house with you propping him.
"For the last time, no, but I'm tempted to," you hissed, throwing him a glare. Your husband was a very unpleasant drunk because he wasn't even a drinker in the first place. "Satoru—walk properly!"
You managed to get him into your bedroom, where Satoru flopped onto the bed, dissolving into groans. You exhaled deeply and plucked the buttons of his shirt open, trying to get him change into his sleepwear.
"Ah... haaah," suddenly he caught your hand and placed it on his bare chest, his eyes blazing into yours, rambling, "Sweetheart—please. I c-can't live without you now... I'm sorry—I'm sorry for anything, or everything, I don't even know but—please don't hate me—"
"Satoru..." Your eyes widened slightly in surprise. Why was he this spooked? "I'm not leaving you, okay?"
"I promise you, I'll do better—" his voice was watery, as if his throat was clogged up. "I'll be better..." His voice then reduced into a whisper. The alcohol had stripped away his facade, leaving his raw emotions exposed.
Something inside you lurched. Throughout the nine years you have been with him, Gojo Satoru was always irritatingly self-assured, and so seeing him like this— so openly fragile, it did more than just churn your insides; it made you realize the depth of his feelings.
In that moment, you knew your reassurance meant everything.
"I'm not going anywhere, yeah?" you placed your other hand over his, offering him a genuine, soft smile. “Satoru, I’ve put up with your ass for more than nine years. So…” you shifted your eyes away, suddenly feeling embarrassed, before looking at him again. “I'm here... for you, always.”
His grip on your hand loosened slightly, but the intensity in his gaze didn't wane, and you would've laughed when he hiccupped next if you weren't feeling the overwhelming warmth in your chest.
But oh you wouldn't have expected it, because one heartbeat later, he yanked you down to the bed— crashing his lips against yours.
“Mmmph!”
He tangled his nimble fingers on your hair, and his other hand slipped inside your blouse, unclasping your bra in one flick. You let out a gasp, "Satoru—! "
Before you could even gasp, in the next second, he flipped you over— seizing your puffy lips once more. His hands now moved with more urgency, squeezing your breasts rather roughly, flicking your nipples with the pads on his thumbs.
And soon, far sooner than you thought...
"Who else gets to see you like this?" Satoru inquired darkly after you were naked under him, his voice low and deep. He was no longer that stupid husband of yours, rather the wanton man of your nightly wonders.
Without warning, he slid one of his fingers into your folds, probing your walls, and a gasp escaped you as you arched your back, throwing your head back on the sheets.
"No— one," your voice came in a breathless moan, still reeling. "H-how can y-you ask me—" Stretching you out even further, he entered another finger and you wailed, "Mmgh!"
He had always loved the sounds you made and how you were so pretty squirming under him like this. And before you knew it, his face was inches from your cunt, blowing hot air into your sensitive flesh.
"Tell me, who is the only person who gets to see you like this?"
Your eyes rolled back, words died on your tongue as his skilled tongue ran down on your drenched pussy. You instinctively tried to close your legs around his head, but he firmly held them apart.
"You." Panting, your mind racing to form coherent thoughts. You managed to mutter, "Only you... No one else—hah—just y-you...!"
He suckled on your clit hungrily then, rewarding you for your honesty. Squelching noises echoed around your marital bed as your arousal pooled around his fingers— you being so incredibly, irrevocably close to your release.
"Haaah, ngh—mmph!—Satoru, I'm a-about to—!" but then, in one cruel twist, he withdrew his digits, and your pussy throbbed at the loss.
You muffled your whines, feeling betrayed and irritable. "What—why—!?"
"Don't think that I'll let you cum anywhere else but my cock," he stated gallantly with an unusually stern expression, blue eyes narrowing as he assessed your wetness. Right in front of your eyes, his cock sprung after he let it out of his pants.
"Soon, you'll feel me..." Your eyes shamelessly followed his long length as he placed it on your lower belly. "...there."
Everything about him using that taunting tone turned you on, and true to his words, he soon slid himself inside you. He let out a low grunt at the feeling of how your walls clenching around him and you whined, the pain of being stretched making you almost sob.
"Shit, hold still," Satoru groaned, pushing down on your belly. "You're so tight— relax for me a bit, sweetheart? You're doing so, so fucking well."
His words went through you, and you could feel yourself opening more to ease his intrusion. Next thing you knew, he was buried deep inside you, and his gaze met you once again.
"Are you okay?" he asked between breaths, voice softening. When you nodded in response, he planted a kiss on your chest.
"I love you," he said in a rasp, eyes piercing your soul. "I’ll give you anything. My body, heart, soul—you can have it all. In return, you just have to promise one thing." His eyes, now clearer, deprived of the earlier haze, boring straight into you like an arrow.
"Don't ever leave me."
"I won't," you replied resolutely, catching your breath. Your own eyes shone with your love for him, making it even. "For as long as I live, it's going to always be you."
Satoru gazed at you as if you were his skies and stars, and before he started pounding into you, he vowed—
"Then I'm yours."
And soon, you were a nothing more than a frenzy, hot mess. You couldn’t help the nasty moans flying out of your lips as he kept barreling into you. His grunts reverberated throughout the room, rutting you through your hazed mind.
And the way he was whispering provocations into your ear, pushing you further into ecstasy at the mere thought of—
"What if... I get you pregnant this time?" A thrust. "Just imagine—" Another. "My wife, all round—" Another. "—just because I—am doing this to her—!"
You were barely registering his rambles at this point. Your walls clenching around his girth impossibly tight and you let him claim you as his thoroughly, your legs locking around his waist.
"Ah—ngh, mmrgh! Satoru—more!"
This wasn't you, the usual you wouldn't be this daring— but even you'll be more than forgiven tonight.
Satoru's jaw tightened at the sheer pleasure you brought him, his ego stroked, and his heavenly eyes darkened as you begged and dug your nails into him. He was so close, he could feel it. Your moans was enough to lead him to cum right here and there.
But before that, he was determined to show you, to whom you truly belong.
“My wife.” He growled. A thrust.
“Mine.” You gasped. Harder.
“All mine.” Deeper.
"Yes," you cried. "Yours— all yours, so please—!"
And three deep thrusts later, Satoru finally busted his load inside you, spurts after spurts painting your wall white— filling you up so hard it was spilling out. And your orgasm followed in immediate effect along with your hitched screams of pleasure, before the two of you collapsed on each other, a mix of groans and sweat, entwined in cum, bliss and exhaustion.
"Love you, sweetheart," you heard him murmuring in your ears, enveloping you in a warm embrace as you drifted into sleep.
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Next morning, you were awoken to soft hums in your ears.
"Oh, the sleeping beauty awakens." The first sight you saw was Satoru's cheeky grin, and him pecking you on the lips. "How are you?"
"Mmm..." you winced, feeling the slight twinge between your legs. He noticed it and gently untangled himself from you, fingers tracing your waist. "Don't move around too much, you're going to bother my little swimmers, you know."
It took you a few seconds to realize what he meant and you glared at him. "You horny weirdo. I just woke up."
“Heh heh heh~ Don't take it too seriously! I was just trying to get you to smile.” He pinched your cheeks and then mused, “Well, I'd actually be surprised if we made it last night...”
"You're not funny," you retorted. You had been feeling weird and that was when you saw it.
The dazzling, massive diamond ring. On your finger. Wait, is that Graff's Tribal Collection?
"Satoru..." you mumbled, lifting your hand in shock, your eyes fixed on the piece that likely cost more than your monthly wage. "You..."
"Do you like it?" his smile was so easy and light, adoring the sight of you. You were so adorable, marveling at the little gift he got you.
"What do you mean—" you stuttered, turning to him. "Are you crazy?! I can't wear something this expensive—!"
"But that's exactly my point. It's a gift, meant to spoil my wife."
"You are mad," warmth flooded your cheeks, your heart fluttering with joy. You were unbelievably giddy because your husband really knew the way to your heart, yet you'd be damned if you let the excitement show in front of him.
He raised an eyebrow, his expression souring, and with a mocking tone, he accused you, "Actually, you're the one who's gone mad. I can't believe you forgot our anniversary!"
"I didn't, you dummy. I was out picking up your favorite mochi cake before you got yourself wasted." You turned away from him, shyly. "And I got a gift for you too."
"Oh? Oooh! Really!? What is it?!"
He was back to his silly self again, and you could only shake your head, wondering how the sex god from last night and this fool was the same person.
Yet, you felt nothing but love. Your heart couldn't help but melt for him when you saw that carefree grin.
And you couldn't be more grateful to the stars for bringing him into your life.
. . .
Oh, and little did you know that his little swimmers also made the goal last night— as three weeks later, you found yourself clutching the first of your pregnancy tests, which was showing a positive.
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river-taxbird · 7 months
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There is no such thing as AI.
How to help the non technical and less online people in your life navigate the latest techbro grift.
I've seen other people say stuff to this effect but it's worth reiterating. Today in class, my professor was talking about a news article where a celebrity's likeness was used in an ai image without their permission. Then she mentioned a guest lecture about how AI is going to help finance professionals. Then I pointed out, those two things aren't really related.
The term AI is being used to obfuscate details about multiple semi-related technologies.
Traditionally in sci-fi, AI means artificial general intelligence like Data from star trek, or the terminator. This, I shouldn't need to say, doesn't exist. Techbros use the term AI to trick investors into funding their projects. It's largely a grift.
What is the term AI being used to obfuscate?
If you want to help the less online and less tech literate people in your life navigate the hype around AI, the best way to do it is to encourage them to change their language around AI topics.
By calling these technologies what they really are, and encouraging the people around us to know the real names, we can help lift the veil, kill the hype, and keep people safe from scams. Here are some starting points, which I am just pulling from Wikipedia. I'd highly encourage you to do your own research.
Machine learning (ML): is an umbrella term for solving problems for which development of algorithms by human programmers would be cost-prohibitive, and instead the problems are solved by helping machines "discover" their "own" algorithms, without needing to be explicitly told what to do by any human-developed algorithms. (This is the basis of most technologically people call AI)
Language model: (LM or LLM) is a probabilistic model of a natural language that can generate probabilities of a series of words, based on text corpora in one or multiple languages it was trained on. (This would be your ChatGPT.)
Generative adversarial network (GAN): is a class of machine learning framework and a prominent framework for approaching generative AI. In a GAN, two neural networks contest with each other in the form of a zero-sum game, where one agent's gain is another agent's loss. (This is the source of some AI images and deepfakes.)
Diffusion Models: Models that generate the probability distribution of a given dataset. In image generation, a neural network is trained to denoise images with added gaussian noise by learning to remove the noise. After the training is complete, it can then be used for image generation by starting with a random noise image and denoise that. (This is the more common technology behind AI images, including Dall-E and Stable Diffusion. I added this one to the post after as it was brought to my attention it is now more common than GANs.)
I know these terms are more technical, but they are also more accurate, and they can easily be explained in a way non-technical people can understand. The grifters are using language to give this technology its power, so we can use language to take it's power away and let people see it for what it really is.
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cryptotheism · 10 months
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My success? I owe it to hard work, grit, and the funnel of human suffering that is generational wealth. I came from humble beginnings. I was born in seventeen cities at once as my dead eyed sow of a mother extruded me into the belly of a moving private jet. From there, I was raised in what could only be described as a series of private compounds where I was given literally everything my pudding-soft raw meatball of a brain could cogeal into a coherent sentence.
My family was always important to me. I would not be the man I am today without my family's proud history of owning plantations. Yes, I am so horrifically out of touch that I will proudly point to the pallid and incestuous ghouls in my hula-hoop of a family tree, slack-jawed and unaware of how utterly ashamed I should be. In fact, I may even imply that this is aspirational.
When I discovered the petrochemical extraction industry, I knew I had found my dream. My parents bribed me into the best colleges in the country, where I spent the next 20 years of my life pureeing my brain with paychoactives in a hollow attempt to squeeze even a single emotion from the bowl of pureed cauliflower that my brain has become. I graduated top of my class because my parents donated a parking lot.
When I saw my first oil derrick, I experienced something deeper than sexual arousal; a nigh-prophetic sub-primal sensation beating like a drum against my limbic system. I knew it was my destiny to combine the unfathomable violence of my predecessors with the sterile efficiency of late-capitalism. I experienced a waking dream of tar sands packed with writhing human bodies, the turning spear of the derrick thrust into them like the hungry ovipositor of a tarantula hawk wasp.
In order to realize my dream, I knew that I would have to produce neoconservative propaganda videos for children, and post them on YouTube. It is for this reason that I am PROUD to present: Why The Demonic Left Wants To Take Your Sweets And Cakes.
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emphistic · 1 month
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Alexithymia
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Things Reader Should Acknowledge: this is part of my Boy Nextdoor Series, reader and sukuna are in highschool, and they have yet to start dating,
Synopsis: When someone just won't leave you alone, Sukuna decides to take matters into his own hands.
A/N: I'm trying something new: writing from Sukuna's pov, this took me way longer than it should have
Taglist: @starlets-things
Please REFRAIN from REPOSTING MY WORK (REBLOGS ARE EXEMPTED FROM THIS RULE)
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Sukuna couldn't stand this new guy — Luke.
Luke has been following you around campus all day, like a lost puppy. Sukuna knew better; Sukuna knew that this was all just an act — that sooner or later, Luke would try to get in your pants.
He's seen this happen to you before. It resulted in his shirt being stained with your tears as you cried in his arms.
Sukuna wondered why this made him so mad, why the ache in his heart increased, why you — the smartest in the class — couldn't even realize what you were doing to him.
Usually, you and Sukuna walk to class together. Actually, scratch that. You and Sukuna always walk to class together. But that almost changed today.
Sukuna told you that he had to use the bathroom, and to just wait outside for him — which is what you did. But when Sukuna finished his business and came outside, expecting to see you — which he he did; he did see you — but he didn't see just you. A blonde boy; Luke, was also there, attempting to look cool by leaning against the locker, and he was talking to you.
The pink-haired teen could've sworn that smoke came out from his ears at the sight before him. That Luke boy was taking up all of your attention that you didn't even notice that Sukuna had finished up in the restroom.
Sukuna approached you from behind, and put a firm hand on your shoulder, making you jolt in surprise before realizing it was just Sukuna.
"Oh, hey, 'Kuna! We were just talking about you," your cheery voice lightened Sukuna's mood just a bit, "this is Luke. He's new — just moved here from [insert city]. That's where you lived before moving here, right?"
Sukuna grunted in reply.
"See, you guys already have something in common."
Bless your sweet heart for trying.
Luke avoided Sukuna's eyes, "Uh, haha, yeah. Anyways, about what I asked you earlier—"
"What did you ask her about?" Sukuna asked, raising a brow.
"He was offering to walk me to class. Um, so about that—"
"Sorry, Kid. I'm already walking her to class. Besides, it's better that way. We have Chemistry together. Wouldn't wanna be late to your first class, Bud."
"Sorry, what? I'm in the same year as you. I am not a kid."
"Oh, my bad. I just assumed your age there. I was going off of your short stature."
You turned around to swat at Sukuna's arm, "Don't be mean. He's not even short, you're just a giant compared to everyone else."
Sukuna rolled his eyes, and took your arm, dragging you off to class and away from this wannabe.
"Hey, what's your problem? He was literally trying to be nice, like, I know we walk together but you could've at least told him that in a nicer way."
"My problem, is that that boy won't leave you alone. Can't he just take the hint that we're busy, and he's wasting our time?" Sukuna tightened his grip on your arm, and picked up his pace, you had to practically sprint to match his speed.
"Are you serious right now, Sukuna? He is not wasting my time. He's just being nice."
Nice? Were you that oblivious? Sukuna would show you what being nice really was.
The pink-haired teen groaned, "Again with that word, huh?"
And with that, the two of you guys enter the lab without another word.
You were fuming, why was Sukuna making this a whole ordeal? What does he have against Luke? (These questions were better left unanswered.)
Lunch wasn't any better. Sukuna sat across from you, as per usual, with your guys' friend groups as well. Only difference was a fly buzzing in your ear. Not literally, of course. But someone very much like it.
"So," Luke began — with his mouth full of food (to which you mentally gagged), "you free, this afternoon? I have this assignment and I'm sorta confused about it. I heard you're quite the smartie pants." You cringed at his words, again.
"I . . . actually—"
"If you're confused, just ask your teacher. It's really not that difficult," Sukuna quipped.
This time, you didn't scold Sukuna. After all, Luke was being an absolute pain in your ass.
Luke frowned, finally closing his mouth.
Thank the heavens, you sighed.
Sukuna noticed your relief, and smirked. He was glad you finally saw past Luke's façade.
Eventually, the bell rang, and most people started to throw away their trash and exit the cafeteria, you and Sukuna included.
You stood on your tippy toes in order to whisper in his ear, "I see why you were annoyed earlier. Hopefully Luke doesn't have the same class as us."
Today the universe was on your side, because guess who came waltzing into your English class? That's right, the annoying fly from earlier.
Sukuna facepalmed in disbelief, while you shrunk in your seat — hoping that Luke wouldn't notice you and the pink-haired boy sitting in the back, nonetheless, the empty desk right beside you.
Spoiler alert, none of your wishes were granted. Nada.
Luke practically skipped to his seat, and sat down on your right. All the while, your teacher droned on with her lesson.
You messily jotted down notes, and daydreamed for the majority of class.
Sukuna seethed with anger as he watched Luke slowly — but surely — edge his chair closer and closer to yours. You, on the other hand, seemed to not even notice the blonde's actions.
"—so, kids, I will be assigning a group project worth 35% of your grade. It will be due—"
Luke immediately put his arm around your shoulder, "Let's work together. It'll be super fun, you can come over to my house, tonight!"
Something in Sukuna snapped, he saw red. If he was a volcano, he would surely be erupting right now, "That's just too bad, Blondie. 'Cause she's working with me." Sukuna put his arm around your shoulder, pulling you to his chest.
Luke's expression twisted into looking utterly appalled by Sukuna. However, the pink-haired teen remained stoic.
"Whatever." He muttered, under his breath, before storming off to elsewhere.
Luke turned to you, to see how you would react, but you avoided his gaze. "Sorry, Luke. I'm sure there's someone else you can work with?"
Luke scoffed.
You turned to Sukuna and gently rubbed his arm in a coaxing manner, "Don't hurt him. Please."
Sukuna sighed — a long, deep sigh.
The rest of the day went by quickly, you and Sukuna forgot about Luke — almost as if he never even happened. You packed up your stuff and began the usual walk home.
You laughed, "Well, I'm friends with you. So I guess you could say I like ugly things."
Sukuna made small talk with you, his hands were stuffed in his pockets.
Jazz music played from nearby cafes, and bookstores. He noticed your gaze lingering on some windows. You stared especially long at a plushie of a hideous beast (Sukuna's way of saying animal).
Sukuna scoffed, "You seriously into that ugly shit?"
Sukuna rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. You made a mental note of him not denying the word "friends".
A fortnight had passed — since your meeting with Luke, and as you liked to call it; 'twas the season of love.
Unlike you, Sukuna frowned when he saw what day it was — the 14th of February. He groaned, and fell back asleep with an arm over his eyes.
The only reason Sukuna even made it to school was that you wouldn't stop spamming his phone with calls.
You had to practically drag him onto campus.
It was funny though, every class you entered, there was at least someone who gave you chocolates, or flowers, or both! Sukuna stifled many sneezes on that day, poor baby. Actually — not really.
You weren't the only one with many admirers, you see. Sukuna had many girls (guys as well) come up to him during class, during break, even when he was in the bathroom there were people trying to barge in.
Your day was going really well, well . . . until the end of school. Sukuna was about to head out through the school gates, when he noticed you weren't by his side anymore. His head whipped around to see none other than that blondie by your side.
Sukuna sighed, loudly. He thought he was finally free from this annoyance, but guess not.
"—I got you these chocolates, Y/N. Happy Valentine's Day!" Luke smiled.
You took the heart shaped box into your arms, "Thanks, Luke. I . . . appreciate it!" You struggled to find the words.
"Of course. I mean, a girl as beautiful as you deserves only the best, right?" Luke saw Sukuna standing just a few feet away from you, and sped up his speech, "A-anyways, bye, Y/N." The blonde boy sprinted away, almost tripping every few steps.
You sighed, and walked back towards Sukuna. He recognized the chocolates as a cheap brand from some drug store he visited to buy his grandpa's meds.
He looked at the box and rolled his eyes.
"Haven't we tried these chocolates before already? I thought you hated them," Sukuna scoffed.
You nodded, "It's not his fault. He just didn't know."
"Sure."
That same evening, you came over to Sukuna's house for your guys' weekly movie night. You had brought the chocolates you received at school and you shared them with Sukuna — he also had the chocolates he received.
A rom com played on the TV in Sukuna's room, the both of you were comfortably seated on his bed. You had your knees up to your chest, and a blanket wrapped around your whole body. Sukuna was different; he sat cross-legged, with only a pillow on his lap.
Then, he remembered.
"I'll be right back." The pink-haired teen abruptly stood up, temporarily blocking the screen with his tall figure, and stalked away to his closet. He slid the doors open and took out an Amazon box.
He presented it to you, and you asked, cocking your head to the side, "What's this?"
"Ignore the box, I had nothing else to put it in." He gestured for you to hurry up and open it. And that's what you did. Sukuna remained standing, near the bed.
"I love it! Thanks a bunch!" You got up to your knees to reach Sukuna's face — you were still a little too short, so you pulled him down — and kissed him on the cheek, right as the couple on the screen kissed as well.
Your eyes instantly lit up, a wide smile on your face.
"Aww, 'Kuna! You didn't have to." Inside the Amazon box was a pack of chocolates — that you actually liked — and the plushie you were staring at while walking home from school one day.
Sukuna looked taken aback, shocked, but not displeased — quite the opposite, really. He didn't know having a girl kiss him would feel so, so . . . what? He didn't know the right word for it. He didn't have the right word for it.
He turned around, concealing his reddening face, "It was no big deal, I just wanted to use you to get me something back for White Day."
You giggled, seeing the tips of his ears turning pink. He was lying, and you knew that.
When Sukuna finally calmed his pounding heart, he turned back around and sat on the bed next to you.
You could clearly see a stamp of your lip gloss stained onto his pale cheek, and you giggled again.
God, since when was your laughter like music from Heaven? Sukuna thought.
His heart was racing, again.
The night ended with you showering Sukuna with kisses all over his face, except for his lips. The movie was long forgotten.
Sukuna loved it. He loved the feeling of your lips all over him. He loved the ecstasy, the bliss, after it all. He loved you.
You set one of the shots as your wallpaper and another as your profile for Sukuna on your phone.
It's safe to say that you could not stop laughing at seeing his stained face. Seeing him covered in your kiss marks made you kiss him even more.
You took a picture of him, pictures actually. Enough pictures to fill up a 365 paged book. And you even got to capture a picture of him smiling, very different from the usual scowl on his face.
"Anyways," you started, after ceasing your attacks, "wanna get lunch some time? Heard there's a new place that just opened up."
Sukuna nodded, without a beat of hesitation.
Because if this was how he died, — you as the cause, with your kisses littered all over him — he wouldn't pull away from your grasps for even a second.
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demilypyro · 1 month
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#RenewStevenUniverse is trending on Twitter right now.
Steven Universe is my favorite TV series of all time. I first found my audience by incessantly posting about the show on this site, so I literally would not be where I am today without it. It gave me so much. I'd love for new people to experience it.
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tothepointofinsanity · 6 months
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Observation Log Series: Sayaka [III]
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Today on: Visual metaphors for depression and the actual “magic of friendship”.
Images are taken from this Magia Record game video on YouTube.
I am pretty sure someone else in the ages past had already covered this bit, so I suppose I will add this to the archives for my own documentation purpose. Or for just anyone who feels like reading it, really.
Sayaka’s magical girl transformation in this sequence is very interesting. There are a lot of jokes about how she’s yeeted everywhere by the Holy Quintet in her own transformation, so here are the notes:
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The beginning of her transformation is shot in the sequence of a downward spiral. Sayaka falls through the hoops and into the ocean as her opening, a reference to her descent into madness (keep in mind: the sea as a metaphor for an inescapable expanse of darkness; the abyss) in the main show, as well as her deteriorating mental health. The spiral drawn to resemble piano keys (🎹) is also no coincidence, but they break apart when Sayaka plummets past them, much like music becoming discordant and incoherent.
Right after that, she gets thrown around respectively by her friends, each of whom gets her to the destination of being fully transformed. What is important to notice is that for the majority of this part, you cannot see Sayaka’s face, and she appears completely indifferent and motionless as others pass her around without hassle. You would think someone like Sayaka, who typically exhibits stubborn tendencies, would be resistant to being literally thrown around, but I feel that there are reasons for this:
• Sayaka being shown not as weightless, but rather as something heavy that makes an impact wherever she goes. She’s literally dead weight in the water despite her Witch being a mermaid. There is no attempt whatsoever we see from her where she tries to swim gracefully or float naturally in the sea. She just seems to be…there, being moved rather than performing her transformation by herself like all the other magical girls.
• The Holy Quintet are the essence of friendship that help Sayaka not necessarily out of her depression, but rather giving her a massive boost by flinging her to the next appropriate person. Given she is portrayed as dead weight, she doesn’t transform manually and do fancy dances, instead heavily reliant on the support of the crew to help her get changed. The sequence where she’s thrown onto the bed and lies there before being flung out again is very reminiscent of the tragedy that individuals struggling with mental health problems can barely get out of bed on their own at times, even to the point where it seems they might never leave said bed. Homura has to pick up Sayaka in a bag before tossing her to Kyoko, where it unfurls and it becomes her cape.
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It is also interesting to note that the bed is surrounded by mirrors of all sizes and shapes that don’t reflect Sayaka at all, but rather the oceanic creatures and environment. Her self image is nonexistent and replaced by the sea. When she’s thrown to Kyoko, it is only then she is “stopped”, and we finally get to see her face. Her hair is long, unlike the appearance of her short hair that we are used to. Kyoko helps her with the last part of her transformation by putting on the gold hair pin.
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Kyoko being the one to not throw Sayaka but rather casually stop said impact is likely symbolic of their relationship. The ocean is stopped by the unmovable rock.
• In the very last part, Sayaka appears standing on a platform that arises from the sea, and only then she seems fully refreshed and ready to go. Once again, instead of swirling out of the water or something, she needs something solid to stand on and raise her to the surface as she is incapable of doing so herself. Her entire transformation seems to highlight that others need to be on standby to support her, or else she will likely just dwindle and sink motionlessly to the bottom of the ocean. By the way she’s posed, it also seems to imply that she has complete trust in her friends, who were there at every turn to assist her transformation.
Something else I thought about as well is the irony that despite being mermaid coded in terms of her own Witch and backstory, Sayaka is almost always portrayed as a sinking vessel the moment she hits the water. A finless mermaid, yet frustratingly a mermaid that cannot even swim or float. I find that this interpretation would fit into the existing narrative that Sayaka and the Incubators view her as useless or inadequate. What good a mermaid who sinks in the sea? What good a magical girl who needs others to help her transform proper? Noting that Sayaka’s transformation always involves her emerging out of water seems to tell us that she has always pulled her weight out of the abyss by herself.
TLDR: It wouldn’t hurt to show that Sayaka requires support from everyone in order to do her best.
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dinner dates ! jjk x reader series pt. 2/4
by @cinnamon-girl-writes
featuring: nanami, toji, yuuta, geto | see: part 1
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kento nanami:
(we’ll say you guys live together and are dating/engaged)
ok so nanami mostly just wants to spend time with you so he’d choose somewhere that’s more private
he thought a lot about where to take you because he wanted somewhere you’d like
but he’d never be caught dead asking gojo for advice so 😭 he had to come up with something on his own
i think he’d pick a nice quiant little ramen place 🥰
y’all haven’t been there before but you see it one the way to work and you’re always mentioning it
when he tells you where you’re going, you’re obviously super excited 💜
he’d dress up all nice in a white button up and blue slacks and brown dress shoes and-
i’m sorry i could go on about him forever. anyways
you’re wearing an adorable frilly yellow sundress he bought you a few weeks ago and has been silently praying that you’ll wear (nanami, you horny bastard)
NO BUT Y’ALL LOOK SO GOOD TOGETHER WITH Y’ALLS COORDINATING OUTFITS I-
the ramen place is so cute 😌 the chefs and waiters are so sweet and treat you like family it’s adorable
you order miso ramen and nanami orders spicy tonkotsu ramen and it’s delicious! :)
he loves seeing his girl happy and where would you be happier than at a ramen restaurant??
he’s not the type to take pictures of his food but he absolutely sneaks in plenty of pictures of you (both with and without your knowledge😉)
he also orders edamame to share but ends up letting you eat all of it
afterwards, he drives you back to your shared apartment and the two of you shower together and then get ready for bed
once y’all are in bed you cuddle for the rest of the night, just enjoying eachother’s presence 🥺
bonus: he lets you pick the movie you fall asleep to that night; you pick notting hill *cut to nanami crying at 2 am because he stayed up to watch it*
toji fushiguro:
toji may seem like a tough guy on the outside but he’s soft for his girl 🥰
it’s your four year marriage anniversary so he wants his princess to feel special ✨
he decides to take you out to a fancy michelin star resetaurant that you’ve had your eye on for a few months
you’ve quite literally been stalking their instagram account because the food looks that good
the two of you get ready together in your shared apartment (stop because I could write a whole drabble about domestic!toji- I have to stop myself-)
anyways, you’re wearing a dark blue bodycon mini dress with gorgeous silver heels and your wedding band shimmering on your finger ✨
toji doesn’t usually dress up much, but for his girl he will, especially on an important day like today !! he’s wearing a white button up shirt (that you can see his muscles through 👀) and black slacks with a brown belt (!!!) and brown dress shoes
he wears a dark gray wool coat over his clothes because it’s very cold outside (hey, it was his idea to have a winter wedding 🤷🏼♀️)
but you know it’s gonna be super cold outside !! so you  attempt to force him to wear a scarf (mostly because it’s cold, but also- imagine that big huge scary man wearing a cute lil scarf 🥺)
after a good deal of complaining, he finally consents and puts the scarf on 🤭 it’s dark red and it compliments his hair and skin tone so well and-
anyways, he drives y’all to the restaurant for your reservation at 8:30
when you walk in, the waitress greets you and leads you to your table
a different man comes after her to pour champagne into fancy glass cups for you
the two of you converse idly, selecting several items from the menu to try: spicy edamame, pork gyoza, crab rangoon, and tempura shrimp for starters
y’all decide to share several sushi platters along with miso soup and tonkatsu that toji insisted you order because it's your favorite 💜
somehow, the two of you finish all of the food on your combined platters (toji ate some of your leftovers after you decided you were done) but not before also selecting a fair selection of lavish desserts that were served with exquisite decorations on the plates
after your meal, toji surprises you with a diamond studded necklace that matches your wedding band almost perfectly. of course you love it and tell him that he shouldn't have, but he doesn't care about money, he'll do anything to make his girl happy 🥰
on the drive back home, toji tells you how much he loved you before carrying you inside your shared apartment since you fell asleep on the ride home 💜
tucking you into bed, he plants a kiss on your forehead, brushing your hair out of your face and wishing you sweet dreams 💞
yuuta okkotsu:
when i tell you that yuuta is SO WHIPPED for his girl-
he’d quite literally give you the world if you asked 😌
anyways, he told you the two of you were going out to dinner that night and asked you where you wanted to go
you guys looked up restaurants for a while and then you found a cool anime-themed sushi restaurant
you guys decided to keep it casual tonight; you’re wearing a sweatshirt (yuuta’s sweatshirt) and a black skirt and he’s wearing blue jeans and a forest green crochet sweater that you made him last winter (that he absolutely ADORES and CHERISHES btw)
you guys really like it there !!
it’s decorated really cool with anime posters all over the walls
you order a couple platters of sushi to share (his favorite is spicy tuna don’t ask why but I know)
he asks you a bunch of random would-you-rather questions during your date because he thinks it’s so cute to see your thinking face or you all flustered 🥰
of course, he already knows what your response is gonna be because y’all know each other so well 🥺
once y’all have eaten half the restaurant and are super full, he takes you out to walk around the city
you’re in a shopping square that’s full of cute little shops
you drag yuuta into one store in particular because you saw a stunning dress hanging in the shop’s glass window that you desperatly wanted to look at
it was a gorgeous lavender color with silky ribbons for sleaves and pleated fabric that practically made you drool
until you got inside and checked the price tag to reveal that it was $80 😞
you happily continued your date anyways, strolling the rest of the stops and even picking up some yummy street food for dessert 🍡
you get home later that night, tucking into bed with yuuta to watch some tv before you fell asleep (i can 1000% see yuuta being a true crime fanatic so you watch a documentary about unsolved mysteries)
bonus: three days later, you find a certain pleated lavender dress hanging on your door with a note that reads: -from yuuta with love <3
suguru geto:
(this is gonna be set when they’re students at jujutsu tech and geto isn’t a curse user yet because i didn’t feel like writing evil geto today ✨)
so you and geto (both jujutsu sorcerers) have been dating for about a year now! 💗
you two had planned to spend some time together today and just wanted some chill one-on-one time
so when satoru invited the you guys to go out, he was pretty disappointed to find out that you already had plans (you can just hear him muttering about ‘damn lovebirds…’)
y’all decide to order take out and watch anime
you decide on watching blue lock, which is one of geto’s favorites
you just started watching the show recently but you really like it! your favorite character (so far) is isagi
your food getes there eventually; you both ordered pan fried noodles (though you ordered chicken and geto ordered and beef) and a plate of tempura shrimp to share 😈
after you finish eating, geto sits against the wall in his bead and pulls you onto his lap between his legs to stroke your hair while you watch the show
you love spending time like this with him where there’s no pressure from the world or threat of imminent death over your heads
you wished that you could create a world that was perfect just for him 💞
due to the food you just ate and your comfortable position, you fall asleep, geto adjusting your head since it started to lull to the side slightly
he absolutely cherishes you and wants his girl to be comfy and get some good sleep 🥺 he plants little chaste kisses on the top of your head every once in a while, starting to get tired himself
eventually, he turned the tv off and transferred you to a more comfortable position: laying down on your side with your back against his chest. he dozed off, wondering how on earth he had ever deserved someone like you
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zepskies · 3 months
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Being Human - Part 4 (Finale)
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Pairing: Alec McDowell x F. Reader
Summary: Your life made sense before Alec slipped his way in. He unravels your threads without even trying. He frustrates you as easily as he weasels back into your good graces. But you soon realize that this man is worth the challenge.
AN: (I decided to release this a bit early.) Here we are, friends! The final chapter...
Chapter Summary: Ames White captures you, forcing Alec to his knees.
Word Count: 4,300
Tags/Warnings: Peril and violence, angst, major hurt/comfort, but also major fluff...
💜 Series Masterlist
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Part 4: Reckoning
Terminal City is a region on the edge of the city. The chemical and biohazardous waste that was dumped there after the Pulse makes ordinary humans sick, but for the immune transgenics, it’s the perfect spot to carve out a sanctuary.
Alec has been visiting the sector frequently, working with Max, Joshua, and other Manticore escapees to build up its infrastructure. Joshua lives here full-time now, as it’s safer for the half-canine transgenic and others like him, who don’t “look” human.
Today, Alec’s working with Mole and Joshua on ammunitions. Regardless of what any of them look like, they are all soldiers, in one way or another built and trained for warfare.
As much as Alec doesn’t want to see it, the tensions between “ordinaries” and transgenics are mounting, especially in Seattle. 
He checks his watch and realizes that he’s late to meet you. 
“Shit. I gotta go,” he says.
“Where’re you going?” Max asks. She has a perceptive eye, but Alec doesn’t reveal anything.  He revs up his motorcycle and dons his helmet.
“Just going to meet someone,” he says, purposely vague. He doesn’t want another lecture from her. 
The truth is, he’s dreading this. He knows when he sees you, it’ll be damn near impossible to maintain his distance. He should’ve just met you at your apartment, but surrounded by your things, your familiar scent etched into every fiber of your place…it would buckle his resolve. 
So he heads back on his motorcycle all the way home. 
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Something’s off.
He instinctively knows after he climbs up the stairs to his apartment. He tests the door, and it opens without him having to unlock it.
You would know better than to leave the door open.
He pushes inside the apartment, and he’s greeted to a scene that drops his heart into his stomach. 
His apartment is empty, but a table near the kitchen is knocked over. Glass liters the ground where it’s overturned, and on further inspection, he finds drying bloodstains on the glass and on the floor.
His heart beats faster as he takes in everything with wide eyes. He doesn’t smell gunpowder, or find anything else that would tell him what happened here. 
He does find your purse, tossed by the couch in the living room. 
Alec whips out his phone and calls your cell.
“Hello, 494.” A man’s voice—one that Alec would know anywhere. It prickles his skin with unease and makes his blood boil all at once.
“Ames White.” Alec’s teeth grind. “What game are you playing now?”
“This isn’t a game. It’s business,” White claims. “I have something you want. How much are you willing to pay to make sure she stays alive?”
Alec forces himself to calm down, even though his pulse is racing.
“What do you want?”
“You. And 452. With no bullshit on your end,” the agent replies. “Or this girl is going to pay that price for you.”
Alec’s breath becomes unsteady. “And if I comply, you’ll let her go. I’m supposed to believe that?”
“Oh, I won’t lie to you. She’s on her way to the lab as we speak. You see, they’re gonna want to analyze that abomination she’s carrying,” White says. 
That steals the breath from Alec’s lungs.
His eyes grow wide as he puts together what the man is saying. 
“But if you do comply,” he says, “I’ll make sure they let her deliver to term, at least.”
Alec’s throat tightens. Oh, God… 
“You let her go, you son of a bitch!” he grinds out. His white-knuckle grip pops a few springs in the couch. He releases it and covers his face, pressing hard between his eyes. “She’s not part of this!” 
“It seems she is, 494. I’ll send you the time and the place. Be there with 452.”
The line clicks. Alec’s breathing is harsh. He grips his phone so hard it nearly shatters, but he tosses it onto the couch and pushes his palms against the burn in his eyes. His jaw locks with the strain of clenched teeth. No, no, no, NO! 
His phone chimes with a voicemail message. Alec grabs the phone and listens. It details coordinates and a meeting time: tonight, at midnight.
Alec makes another call with what remains of his phone.
“Max,” he says shakily. “I need your help.”  
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Alec barely resists pacing throughout Logan’s apartment while the latter types away, researching the coordinates Ames White provided for the meeting point. Their forced surrender. 
Max perches on the corner of the couch with her arms crossed. She’s concerned for you as well, but she gazes at him with sympathy.
“We’ll find her, Alec,” she says. 
Alec shakes his head.
“He could have her anywhere,” he gestures widely. “He could’ve already handed her off to whatever shady government agency he works for. Or with that damn cult, that in case you’ve forgotten, hates us. Like everyone else in this city.”
“Not everyone,” Max reminds him pointedly. 
“Yeah, and look where we are now,” Alec retorts. “I told you this would happen!”
“Do you want to be right, or do you want to save her?” Max shoots back. “Now think. We’ve found bases of White’s operations before. Both for the agency, and the breeding cult.”
“I’m cross-referencing old locations,” Logan says. He’s been typing away at his computer for several minutes. “I can ask Asha and her people to join the search. And I can do an Eyes Only broadcast, encourage people to keep an eye out.” 
Alec nods, but any outcomes of those plans will take time. Time you might not have. 
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They’ve been following anonymous tips for hours. Joshua and a few X5s and X6s joined the search for Ames White, and more importantly, for you. 
Alec and Max have been working together without stopping even for a breath throughout the night. They only have one hour before they’re meant to be at the agreed meeting point: an abandoned building near the edge of the city. No doubt for their easy extraction. 
Logan eventually calls Alec to tell him about a lab within a mile of the scheduled rendezvous point. There have been reports of late-night transports—locals calling in about strange noises, and in one case, what someone thought was a muffled gunshot.
Alec and Max agree to check it out, but they’re going to cut it close with the meeting time.
“Josh. Where are you, buddy?” Alec asks after calling his friend’s cell.
“I’m here.”
“Where’s here?”
“Here,” Joshua replies. He’s turned the corner and found his friends on the crossing of Avalon St. and Broadway, via his elite sense of smell.
“Good,” Alec smiles in relief. He pats his taller friend’s arm. “You’ve been a big help so far, but I need you for this. Wanna be part of the rescue party?”
“Yes,” Joshua nods, but his tone suggests he’s offended that Alec has to ask. “Help save your mate.”
Alec’s smile weakens. He doubts you’ll ever want to be that with him, ever again. But he’ll be damned if the government, or some damn breeding cult, is going to lay a hand on you.
Logan agrees to meet them there in his van for backup, while Josh hitches a ride on the back of Alec’s motorcycle. The three of them haul ass to the location of the suspected lab.
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They approach a large, three-story dilapidated building. According to Logan, it used to be a mental health asylum. When the government bought it out, the facility was turned into a private lab.
Great, comes Alec’s sardonic thought. Hopefully the ghosts of whoever was tortured here won’t cause them any problems.
He and Max communicate silently through the militaristic hand motions they learned in their training to scope the place’s security, its entry points, and the best way for them to infiltrate the building. Although Manticore made Joshua, he hasn’t gone through the same training as most transgenics have.
He’s fortunate for it, but it means that Max has to direct him more carefully. He covers her and Alec as they approach the back entrance, which seems to be where they most often transport both cargo and people. Right now, there’s a large van waiting on standby.
Alec rips out the driver first, while Max and Joshua take on the other guards who start shooting. Alec comes around the back of the van, and when the first guard opens the back door, Alec tears the gun out of his hands and yanks him out. Alec uses the man’s body like a Kevlar vest as his two companies unload a clip or two. He punches them both out hard enough to hear the crack of bone.
The van inside is empty, but he sees a cot and several machines already ready and waiting to transport someone. He grits his teeth and slams the door shut on his way out.  
“She’s not in there,” he tells Max. “If she’s here, she’s gotta be inside.”
Max and Joshua have taken out the outside guards, no problem, but he’s sure there’ll be more where that came from.
The three of them enter the building and race through the long hallways, slipping by lab technicians, doctors, and other staff. Anyone who attempts to stop them soon regrets it.
Alec is especially brutal and efficient with the federal security guards. Max watches him out of the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t yet warn him to pull his punches. The stakes are high, and she understands his anger and stress.
“There’s a file room,” Alec points to a door that’s labeled: RECORDS.
“I doubt they’ll have a file on her yet, especially if White’s trying to keep this under wraps,” Max says.
Joshua looks around and points across the hall. “Cameras?”
The other two look in the direction he’s pointing to, and they see what he sees—a room labeled: SECURITY.
Alec slaps a companionable hand on Joshua’s back, and they head for the security room. The guards are dealt with swiftly, being knocked out and piled against the back wall. While Joshua keeps a lookout, Max and Alec scan the many different camera feeds: focused on various hallways and lab subjects.
Alec scans each of them rapidly. He’s always been good with TV.
He finds you on one of the camera feeds and he points to it. “There she is! Room 204.”
You’re in a small, cell-like room, sleeping on what almost looks like a hospital bed. Except there’s a breathing mask held over your face, probably keeping you unconscious, and you’re attached to several monitors. It makes his heart sink and his spine tighten with rage, simultaneously.
“Let’s go,” Max says, but it’s not necessary. Alec is already halfway out the door.
They’re stopped at a four-way crossroads in the hall. In the center is Ames White.
“You’re smart, I’ll give you that,” he grants with an incline of his head. He takes a radio clipped to his belt and clicks it on, speaking into it. “Transport the girl. Make sure she’s sedated.”
Alec seethes. Before he can sprint headlong into a fight, Joshua stops him. Alec looks up at him in askance.
“You go. Find her. Leave him with me,” Joshua says. His blue eyes are sharp with predatory anger at the man who killed Annie Fisher.
Alec softens a fraction and nods in understanding. He shoots Max a look.
“Go, I’ll catch up with you,” she says.
Alec nods and races on ahead. He dodges bullets with the help of superior speed and crashes into each guard, taking them out with brutal force. He steals a gun off of one of them, and that saves him a lot of time and energy. He tries not to kill anyone, but he can’t think about holding back. He just needs to get to you.
He reaches the second floor, and finally to Room 204.
Two men are already in the room. He doesn’t want to open fire—the room is too small, the risk of ricochet too high. He grabs a knife from his belt and hurls it at the first man, who was poised to inject something into your arm. The second guard turns with his gun, but Alec is already moving too fast for human eyes to follow.
He breaks the man’s arm, followed by a swift uppercut. He takes the gun and hurls the man into the far wall, knocking him clean out as he slumps to the floor.
Alec breathes hard in the aftermath, but he begins to soften after his attention turns to you. He sets down the gun and takes in the sight of you, still dressed in jeans and a blood-stained shirt.
You’re heavily sedated and restrained by your wrists and ankles. You have a bandage wrapped around your forearm, along with brain and heart monitors attached to your forehead and chest, and an IV drip in your other arm. 
Alec takes a breath, and he starts with the wires, removing the small suction cups from your body and disconnecting all the monitors. He takes off the mask and unclips the leather restraints. 
The fury builds back up inside him at what they’ve already done to you. He doesn’t want to think any more on what they’d planned to do.
You must’ve been terrified, he thinks. He touches your cheek tenderly. His free hand hesitates, before it rests gently on your belly. He calls your name. 
You don’t stir just yet. Your body is still under the effects of the sedation. So he carefully lifts you into his arms. He hears Max approach, and she’s there in the doorway by the time he turns around. 
“Let’s go,” Alec says. His face is hard and angry while he carries you out. 
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They regroup with Joshua in the lobby, though even Alec stops short when he sees the carnage. Ames White’s body lays on the floor with unseeing eyes. His throat is torn out. 
Joshua has blood in his teeth. He wipes at his face with the back of his arm, his eyes veering away from Max and Alec. Max blinks through her shock and tries to keep her mouth from falling open.
“Time to go,” Joshua says. His voice is heavy, but matter of fact.
“We’ll need to take his body, get rid of it later,” Max says, when she recovers. “We can’t let the police find him.”
They’ll blame us, is understood by them all. The police won’t have the full story, but it won’t matter. Appearances are everything. 
Max finds a black body bag in a nearby storage closet and Joshua collects White, later hefting the full body bag over his shoulder.
They make their escape out the back of the building, where Logan is waiting with his van. Joshua deposits the body in the back, where he also climbs in. Max takes the front passenger seat while Alec carries you into the middle seat bed. 
Nothing else feels right but to hold you in his arms. To stroke your cheek and wait, both desperate for, and yet dreading the moment you’ll open your eyes. 
Because when you do, there’s a good chance that he’ll find your fear. Or worse. 
“She’s going to be okay,” Max says to him, quietly. She’s twisted towards him in her seat.
“Maybe physically,” Alec counters. “I don’t know, Max. How did being held up in a lab affect your mental health?” 
Her lips purse. “One step at a time, okay?”
Alec shakes his head and looks down at you. He tries to commit your peaceful face to memory, because he doubts that he’ll ever see it again after tonight. 
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Slowly, you start to wake.
At first, all you see is shadows and shapes of someone looming over you. Unconsciously you whimper and push at whatever holds you down, but the hold is gentle, the voice soothing. 
“Shh, it’s okay. Sweetheart, it’s me,” he says. 
Your eyes clear and focus as you blink…though they soon flood with tears. Relief takes over your fear. You see his concerned, handsome face, and your lower lip trembles. 
“Alec,” is all you manage to say. You still have some trouble moving your heavy body, but you grab a fistful of his shirt and wince as you pull yourself up, just enough to bury your face into his chest. Your body shakes with the force of your sobs. 
Alec gathers you up against him and shushes you gently, even as his heart clenches. He soothes a hand over your hair and your back. 
“I’ve gotcha. It’s okay, you’re safe,” he says in your ear. He meets Max’s concerned gaze, then Joshua’s in the shrouded end of the car. Even Logan glances back through the rearview mirror as he drives. 
Alec tries to block them out and focus on you. He holds you and comforts you for as long as you let him.
Eventually, you pull away to look at his face. You still have tears in your eyes, but now, it’s with a hue of uncertainty. 
“The man…the agent who took me. He was looking for you,” you say. Your voice is weak and a bit coarse. You try to clear it.
Alec wishes he had some water for you.
“He’s gone. You don’t have to worry about him,” he says. 
You let out a shaky breath, but you meet his gaze. “He said that you’re not…Alec, are you…”
He sighs; he understands the question you’re trying to ask. 
“Yeah. Those freaks you hear people talking about on the news?” he says. “I’m one of ‘em.”
Your eyes widen as your breathing becomes more labored.
“I was made in a lab,” Alec confesses. “At Manticore, bred and trained to be a soldier.”
A transgenic.
Your hand falls away from his chest, and you take that in with an unblinking stare. He can see you trying to process all this.
You glance over at Max, who had been facing the front to give you and Alec the semblance of privacy. Feeling your gaze on her, she turns around and gives you a half-hearted smile. 
“Hey, girl,” she greets. “Glad you’re okay.”
“You’re like him too?” you ask. Max nods.
Suddenly, everything makes so much sense. Why she and Alec have always seemed to share history and bickered like siblings. Why Max was friendly, but never truly your family. Why Alec had been so much of a mystery to you. Why he’d broken your heart. 
“Joshua too,” says a deep voice from the back. 
You turn your head and gasp as your eyes fly open wide again. Alec gives his friend a look over your head, but he tries to reassure you with a warm hand on your lower back. He hopes you can’t see the dried blood on Joshua’s snout. 
Joshua breaks into a sheepish smile. 
“Sorry,” he says, gesturing to his wolf-like face. “Bit of dog in my cocktail.”
You shake your head slowly. Your mouth opens and closes, but you try your best to get through your shock (and a lance of fear). Your head tilts as you consider his kind, very human blue eyes.
“You, um, your name is Joshua?” you say at last.
“Yes, Joshua,” he nods. “Rescue party.”
You blink at that. “You…helped get me out of there?”
He nods again, with a smile that flashes a few canine pointed teeth. You rest a hand over your wildly beating heart. 
“Thank…you,” you manage. 
Joshua bobs his head. “No problem. Saved Alec’s mate.”
If possible, your eyes widen further at that one. You turn back to Alec with raised brows. He offers a wan smile and a nervous chuckle. You notice, however, that he hasn’t let go of you. You’re also still sitting across his lap. 
“This is what you were hiding from me,” you say, perhaps stating the obvious. Your heart clenches with pain. “Why you…”
He brushes his hand along your arm. 
“I was trying to protect you,” Alec says. His brows furrow as his green-eyed gaze veers away from your face, with shame. “But I failed, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. None of this was supposed to happen—”
Some instinct has you reaching out to sooth your hand along his cheek, stopping his lips with your thumb. You stare up into his eyes, and they’re no longer guarded or distant. They’re the eyes you remember. 
Whatever you are, you’re mine.
You lean up and press your lips to his.
After a beat, Alec’s eyes close, and he answers you in kind. His fingers sink into your knotted hair. You grip his shirt by the collar, and he wraps his arm securely around you. 
With each new kiss, you feel more relieved. You don’t realize you’re trembling until he clasps your shaking hand against his cheek, to steady you. 
Alec gives you one more searing kiss before he pulls you into his arms. It’s a hug you both need.
His eyes shut tight as he buries his face in your neck, inhaling your scent. His lips find the mark he’d left weeks ago on your skin. It’s faint by now, but it’s still there. He takes deep breaths to calm himself, and you rub his back through it. 
He realizes you’re comforting him now; a fact that makes him smile.
You’re mine, instinct tells him. And this time, he just can’t fight it. 
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Logan houses you and Alec for the night (or the morning, since dawn breaks by the time you all get back). 
You’re exhausted, but you still force yourself to shower. You’ll have to remind yourself to thank Logan for the spare clothing, though you don’t bother with the sweatpants just opt for the large shirt as you roll into bed. 
Alec isn’t far behind after he takes a quick shower. You force yourself to stay awake, waiting for him to come out of the bathroom. His skin glistens when he eventually leaves the bathroom, and you watch him cross the bedroom with just a towel low on his hips. He shoots you a smile before he starts getting dressed.
“Logan says he’s help us find a new place to live,” he says. 
You slowly smile at that. “Us?”
“Well, you know, both of our apartments are compromised.”
“Yeah, I get that,” you reply. When he slides into bed next to you, you swim through the covers and inch closer to him. “I’m just glad it’s a together thing.”
Alec gives you an amused look, but there’s warmth in his eyes. He thumbs at your lower lip. Soon, his smile begins to fall.
“I didn’t want to get you caught up in this. In my crazy fucked up life,” he says. 
“I know,” you sigh. “But I’m in it now. I’m in this with you. You realize that, right?”
He nods, though he doesn’t think he deserves it. Or you, for that matter. 
He slips his arm around you, just the same. You rest your head against his shoulder and tap his chin. 
“Alec, I don’t care what you are,” you say. “Transgenic or not, you’re the man I’ve always known.”
He lets out a subtle breath at that, chuckling. 
“For better or worse, right?” he asks.
You smile. “I have something to tell you…though I’m pretty sure you already know.”
Despite a tremor of nerves, a slow grin spreads across his face. 
“Tell me anyway,” he says. “I love surprises where I know the answer.”
You giggle. “You sure about that?”
“Yes,” he nods with a smirk. “Just tell me, woman.”
Your hand drifts down to rest against his chest, and you tilt up your face so you can meet his dancing eyes. The fact that he seems genuine gives you enough courage to just…say it.
“Alec, I’m pregnant,” you tell him.
His smile grows.
“…Really?” he teases. “You sure it’s mine?”
You gasp, laughing, and you shove against his chest. You twist away from the cage of his arms, but he laughs and doesn’t let you so easily escape. You realize then how truly strong he is when he rolls you under him on the bed. 
He dips down and claims you with a kiss. He shakes his head, because he never thought this would be his life. His hand sneaks under the sheets to rest over your lower belly, through the shirt. In turn, you cover his hand. You bite your lip with slight anxiety.  
“You’re really okay with this?” you ask. “Even after everything we…this is a lot for us. Really soon.”
Alec gradually sobers, and he acknowledges that with a nod.
“Yeah,” he agrees. “Honestly, I didn’t see this coming.”
You have to laugh a little at that. His lips tug at the corners, but as he squeezes your hand back, he stares directly into your eyes.  
“But I’m not letting you do this alone. I… I love you,” he admits. “Sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”
Tears burn in your eyes, but only one finds its way down your cheek. You take in a tremulous breath and nod. 
“I love you too,” you reply. Though you can’t hide a different uncertainty when you look at him. “But if you leave me again…Alec, I can’t.”
He looks more vehement than you’ve ever seen him when he shakes his head, meeting your gaze. 
“That’s not happening. I promise,” he says. “You’re stuck with me, baby. So much that you might just get sick of me.”
You utter a laugh through your tears, and you nod in acceptance. Alec smiles and wipes your cheek dry before he gathers you tighter into his arms, and presses a kiss to your forehead. 
You relax against his chest with a sigh. His heartbeat thrums steadily under your cheek.
And you finally rest.
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AN: And there we have it. 🥹 I truly hope you enjoyed Being Human.
I might come back to add bonus one-shots to this, if you guys are interested in seeing more of their story. 💜 But I hope you'll let me know what you think about how it all shook out here!
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Series Masterlist
Alec McDowell Masterlist
Main Masterlist
Ko-Fi Me ☕
Alec M. Tag List:
@kazsrm67 @letheatheodore @agothwithheavysetmakeup @jacklesbrainworms @foxyjwls007 @wincastifer @ades106 @iamsapphine @simpforbuckyb @roseblue373 @brianochka @branj19 @hazel-eye-coffee-shop-girl-blog
@globetrotter28 @charmed-asylum @waywardxwords @deanwinchestersgirl87 @this-is-me19 @rachiem4-blog @sweettimelady @leigh70 @clinicallydepresso @emily-winchester @xiphoidbones @skoveu @nyotamalfoy @kmc1989
@waters-2567 @iwishiwas-sleeping @jessjad @pieandmonsters @akshi8278 @honeybabycherry @deans-spinster-witch @angelbabyyy99 @jackles010378 @nancymcl @idiotdyslexic @heartlessdelusions @longlostx11
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dazzlinghazefics · 8 months
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Derek Hale x Reader : Hale and Mikaelson.
(part 1)
guess this is gonna be a series.
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Derek Hale x Reader ( fem!mikaelson, Elijah's daughter)
Part 1! ~
Being an Original's daughter, and a witch with little control on powers had a lot of perks, so it was no surprise that Y/N Mikaelson, the miracle child of Elijah Mikaelson had to be under strict observation of her father and huge af family, especially her Hybrid uncle, Nik.
Y/N came into existence due to a procreation spell done on her mother, the love of Elijah's life, who had died at childbirth.
If anything that she inherited from her mother, was her witch powers ( a lil bit from her grandma Esther too lol ) and sense of humor ( well, her Uncle Kol says she has the humor from him) and rest is all from her father ( expect sense of fashion, thankfully. Who the heck wears suits in the summer heat?)
Elijah taught her values and virtues and literature, Klaus taught her art and how to kick someone's ass, Freya did her best to help with magic, Kol would often help her pull pranks, sneak around and have her share of fun, Rebekah would doll her up in the latest fashion and Marcel helped her to get relief from the family drama.
Beacon Hills. It's where her father decided to keep her safe. Throughout their existence, the Originals have made numerous enemies. And he couldn't afford to lose his child, his baby, to them.
And she fell in love.
With none other than her father's old ally, Talia Hale's son, the current Alpha of the renowned wolf family, Derek Samuel Hale.
Elijah, for the first time had found her interested in something other than books, music and magic, so was lenient in letting her meet him and letting him court her (much to Klaus's annoyance and possessiveness) .
But he absolutely hated it when his little one would sneak out and run into dangers just to help the pack. He couldn't stop her though, because she was fiercely loyal and stubborn and knew how to save herself.
Elijah knew Derek's the one for his princess, for his young one. His ample knowledge on the supernatural had told him his daughter and Derek had been destined to be together.
She had triggered her magic in the Beacon Hills preserve, while playing with Derek, as a child and one look of Talia had told him everything.
Derek Hale is her trigger and anchor, both.
She gained control on her magic while helping the werewolf in a faceoff with Gerard Argent, the one whom all the supernaturals loathe.
Elijah had to leave this daughter back in BH, for the safety and run to NOLA for handling his family's stupidity, warning her ( read literally pleading her ) to not get in trouble.
But things are never normal in Beacon Hills too.
That f*cking protection broke and here she is, pregnant. At 21, thankfully ( or her father and uncles would have straight ripped out Derek's heart, instead of going for a slightly less painful way)
" Derek Samuel Hale, istg, am gonna castrate you and then kill (pls, their baby is not going to grow up without their father.)"
" Calm down, sweetheart! We'll go through this together."
" Don't sweetheart me, Derek! We're going to be parents fgs!"
" I love you, and I love our child too."
" I know and I love you too, Der, but am scared."
" Our child had the Mikaelson-Hale gene. And we won't let anything happen to our child. Come here."
Later, they both visited the hospital for a checkup, completely unaware that they were being watched upon.
" Y/N, love, I think we owe an explanation of your presence at the hospital earlier today with your boyfriend."
Shoot. Her whole family.
Klaus's voice boomed in the house as soon as Y/N had stepped in, followed by Derek, who immediately felt he is in front of the hungry lion lions.
Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Marcel.
Guess he won't live to see the next day.
" What's wrong, princess? Are you sick?" Elijah asked worried and panicked, walking toward her.
" Uhm..ermm..."
Derek didn't know from were he got the courage, but he did.
Softly taking his girl's fingers in his, he said, as calmly as he could, "We're expecting a child. Y/N's pregnant."
The room was silent until Derek was shoved against the wall both by Elijah and Klaus.
"Dad! Uncle Nik!" Y/N cried out, dread and panic filling her face, as Kol hugged her, to calm her.
"Leave him, Dad!"
Kol humored, " It takes two to have a baby, brothers."
Klaus and Elijah's glare shut him up though.
"Dad, leave Derek please!"
Derek was coughing due to the choking.
All of a sudden, Elijah loosened his grip and started laughing.
Marcel rolled his eyes, " The news has sent him into a shock I think."
"Brother?"
"Dad?"
" Mr. Mikaelson?"
Rest were left shocked.
PART TWO?
sometime later if there's response on this one, (joking lol).
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bloomvalyria · 3 months
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So, 20 years ago (yikes) my mom let me go into the toy aisle of our local supermarket and I happened to stumble across one of these:
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On the back of it was the name of a local channel and a time to watch the premiere of this new, mysterious series about fairies. Ever since, I’ve been enchanted by its magic.
Thank you, Winx Club for taking me on the journey of a literal lifetime. You’ve become such an integral part of my life. And despite how much it’s pissed me off over the last several years, I am willing to admit that I would not be where I am today without this show. I wouldn’t have met my best friend. I wouldn’t be editing. And I certainly would not be writing. I am, and forever will be, eternally grateful.
Happy 20th, Winx Club.
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welcometothejianghu · 3 months
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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 民国奇探/My Roommate is a Detective.
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My Roommate is a Detective is a 2020 drama about the Jazz Age shenanigans of a terrible OT3: a useless noodle boy, a spoiled journalist girl, and a handsome thug-turned-cop, who together solve Agatha Christie mysteries in 1920s Shanghai.
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I mean, seriously, have you ever wondered what Hercule Poirot would be like if he were a 6'2" Chinese rubber man? If he had a long-suffering sugar daddy from the wrong side of the tracks and a spunky sugar mommy who owned their shared apartment? The answer is, it would be a laugh-out-loud-funny series about a ridiculous and charming assortment of weirdos solving only slightly believable murder mysteries in charming period clothing.
This is another one of those shows where I'm kind of shocked at how not well-known it is, except I'm not, because I can see exactly the problems that keep fandom from descending on it like horny little vultures. Nonetheless, I think it's a good time that more people would enjoy if they gave it the chance. Here's five reasons why you should:
1. Equal parts smart as heck and dumb as butts
On the one hand, especially given its tone and tenor, this show has many surprisingly clever turns and thoughtful moments, carried along by some talented actors. On the other hand, [.gif of a guinea pig in a rollerskate being pushed merrily down a hallway]
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This show is not a complicated intellectual exercise. It's an action comedy about a goofy sleuth, a rich-girl reporter, and the cop who should be the straight man in this trio, except he's as much of a goober as the other two are. If the promotional tableaus are giving you real "cover of a Clue box" vibes, you've understood the kind of pastiche it's pulling off.
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The mysteries are preposterous. They're all the kind of thing that exemplify the Doyle line about how, when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left has got to be the answer, no matter how ding-dang improbable it may be. You know the type: tons of overly elaborate setups, unbelievably perfect timing, coincidental long-lost relatives, people hallucinating right and left. They're also very short -- most full cases take only 2-3 episodes to introduce, investigate, and resolve, even when interspersed with the larger goings-on in these weirdos' lives. The DramaWiki page for the show lists 23 separate arcs over 36 episodes, so you do the math.
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And yet, it's way more thoughtful and clever than its doofy little setup would indicate. Its attention to detail surprised me on more than one occasion. Add to that a bunch of solid performances from an ensemble of real characters, and what you get is definitely more substantive than a junk-food waste of time. You can't turn your brain off while watching it, but you sure can turn it down, and that's great.
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It also doesn't hurt that everyone is super attractive and wearing great outfits. The whole show's worth it for the wardrobes.
2. THE GIRL
Fuck the haters, fuck everyone, I am going to climb right up on my little soapbox and tell you all why Bai Youning is awesome.
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She is insane. She's a troll. She's a clever little monster. Every other character's response to her is, oh my god, you are literally the worst. And she is! She has been spoiled beyond belief by her incredibly rich Crime Dad, and she has learned to leverage her uwu just a widdle girl status to get her whatever the hell she wants. She simply cannot hear it when someone says the word "no." She will look her future sister-in-law in the eye and point a loaded gun at her own head without blinking. Every ball she has is made of brass.
She's hardly perfect. During the course of the show, there are some times where her entitlement runs face-first into the brick wall of reality. She's not nearly as good at her chosen career path as she's been told (mostly by the people who get paid to tell her she's good). She's rarely prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions, especially when she can't just throw money at the problem.
So she learns, and grows, and changes. She's always going to be a stubborn bitch, but she can become a stubborn bitch with a more accurate conception of her relationship to the world around her.
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She's actually a really good romantic foil for Lu Yao, who is equally stubborn and spoiled and obnoxious as hell. It is a pure brat4brat relationship, where each one thrives on comically enraging the other. What this means, though, is that when they actually start showing one another some vulnerability, it's really sweet.
Now: I'm pretty sure that you could not have made a female character in her position that everyone did not hate, no matter how cool you made her, because that is the fate of all girls who theoretically keep the two boys from kissing. (More on that next point.) If she were less outgoing and friendly, she would've been hated for being too cold. If she were less headstrong, she would've been hated for being a pushover. If she weren't as into the boy, she would've been hated for being frigid. I know the "god forbid a woman do anything" meme is a joke, but ... man, god forbid this girl do anything. She gets a level of hate entirely disproportionate to what she's actually like. As I said with Eom Dada, it's not always sexism, but sometimes, yeah, it's sexism.
(Real talk: Her character is also fighting both how she's definitely not written as well as the boys are and how the plot sometimes needs her to be artificially stupid and jealous for Straightness Drama Reasons, so that's a legit problem on a structural level. Also, she's dubbed by someone else and the boys aren't, which gives her voice an annoying not-quite-there quality that's hard to ignore. The deck is stacked against her real hard even before she steps onscreen.)
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So here's my advice: Go into this show wanting to like her. Embrace her terribleness as a positive, intentional quality. Don't be mad at her for straightening up an endgame that was never going to be gay, even without her. Welcome her contributions to the chaos. Realize that she is exactly as entertainingly irritating as her boys are.
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Truly, this is a story of three terrible people in love. They're all just awful, and you wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them for longer than you had to. Left to right up there, Bai Youning is spoiled and self-absorbed, Lu Yao is arrogant and lazy, and Qiao Chusheng is suuuuuch a fucking cop. If you're into the kind of dynamic that can only be described OT3: You All Deserve One Another, then this one's perfect for you.
3. Do you really miss '00s queerbaiting?
Like, really? Are you just super-nostalgic for being able to see the showrunners go, ha ha, girls, we know you're watching and we know you want these cute boys to kiss, which they never will -- but what if we pretended for just this one scene??? Do you just carnally ache for that with every fiber of your being?
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Yep.
Now, why am I calling the occasional really gay moments between these two gentlemen "queerbaiting" and not "bromance"? Because these moments are a) obviously intentional, b) completely sporadic, and c) never spoken of again.
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For example: There's a scene (which you can see a gifset of here) where the two of them are at a restaurant frequented by the cop, who brings a lot of ladies there on dates. When the waiter points this out, useless noodle boy says, I'm his date. The waiter looks mildly surprised by this, the cop says not to listen to his bullshit, and that's the end of it. The scene moves on. There is no further discussion of this comment. It does not affect their relationship.
That's the essence of queerbaiting: that little on-purpose nod to the homoerotic tension between the two, in a way that isn't a joke but also isn't not a joke, and either way is never going to happen. (In fact, the show is going to go out of its way to make sure that ship gets sunk, so, uh, get your fanfiction lifeboats ready for that.)
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A true queerbaiting move is something that should make a difference in a relationship, but doesn't. It should make a difference that our cop is so comfortable in the noodle boy's personal space that he invades it at will. It doesn't. It should make a difference that noodle boy keeps getting real weird every time the cop has a date with a girl. It doesn't. Those are some real romantic moves the two of them keep pulling, and then nothing comes of them.
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I had this show sold to me as being incredibly shippy, to the point of being even more so than its censored-BL contemporaries. And ... well, it is and it isn't. It has textually gayer individual moments, but it is much less pervasively gay. It's clear from the start that it's going to throw all its actual relationship points into its canon het romance. When it comes to these boys, the show is toying with you. It knows you want to see those boys smooch, just as much as it knows (and it knows you know) they're never gonna.
How you feel about this is entirely up to you -- and indeed, it may be a dealbreaker on the whole drama for you. If you are inclined to pitch a fit when your ship does not become canon, you'll be happier somewhere else. If, however, you see this as a delightful opportunity to do whatever the hell you want with the situation as it is presented, all the while enjoying little moments of startlingly blatant homoeroticism between two handsome dudes, well, here you are!
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(I mean, if you want my take on it, what needs to happen is that the cop and the girl need to fuck while the useless noodle boy watches with asexual bisexual interest, and then they all need to snuggle with the noodle boy in the middle so they can both annoy him appropriately, but your mileage may vary.)
4. The multicultural extravaganza!
1920s Shanghai had a lot going on in terms of cultures and languages, and this show actually does a fair job of representing that.
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By now, I've seen a number of shows set during this era, and they all at least acknowledge the international nature of the city -- usually by mentioning the French Concession and having a handful of evil Japanese characters. However, this is the first time I've seen a show go to such lengths to actually show so many non-Chinese characters onscreen, even to the point of making one a recurring character supporting the main squad.
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Salim is the best. Whatever he is being paid, it's not enough. He's Qiao Chusheng's right-hand man, which means he is also the dude who most often has to put up the main trio's bullshit. (The actor himself is also a dude with a pretty cool backstory, which is another great layer.) He's sharp, he's loyal, he's patient, and he looks great with his shirt off. He's got it all!
Other non-Chinese characters include a white Jewish art collector (I'd issue a warning for period-typical antisemitism, except … honestly, it's mostly just confused), a sadistic priest who maybe is supposed to be Italian, a completely different priest who [last episode spoiler], and three whole sinister white dudes behind it all.
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It's not just the world coming to China, though! A large number of the Chinese characters are said to have spent significant time outside of China, whether for business or for schooling. Near the end, when some characters are discussing moving away from Shanghai, they consider a number of foreign cities as potential destinations.
Here's a delightful detail: When Lu Yao and his sister speak English, they're dubbed by actors with posh British accents who sound like native (or near-native) English-speakers. This makes perfect sense, because both of the siblings did a lot of their schooling in the UK. When Bai Youning speaks English, she's dubbed by someone who speaks English very well but also has a noticeable Chinese accent, which makes perfect sense for her character's background. And Qiao Chusheng never speaks English at all, because he's a street tough who has no reason to know more than three words.
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...This is also kind of weird to say about something literally made in China, but go with me on it: Everything's kind of got that Art Deco Orientalist vibe to it. It looks like China's idea of what Britain's idea of China during that period would have looked like. The result comes across less like what 1920s Shanghai would actually have looked like, and more what an ad for 1920s Shanghai would have looked like. It's a fascinating aesthetic, and more so for how it's mostly pretty subtle. The show isn't some visual extravaganza, but it's always very nice to look at, and I appreciate that in a show.
5. A wonderful horrible protagonist
A lot of mystery-themed prestige television involves an asshole genius detective who gets away with being a dick to everyone because he's sooooo smart, while all his long-suffering friends and colleagues spend a lot of time doing damage control for him because, sigh, he's an asshole but we need him, genius excuses all dickhead behavior, we'll always make exceptions for him because he's just ever so special. (Watch histrionic sage hbomberguy's video on Sherlock if you're unfamiliar with the trope.)
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Lu Yao is an asshole genius detective, but one who winds up spending most of his time being an asshole to a) people who deserve it, or b) his horrible friends who will be assholes right back at him. When he is awful to the people who don't deserve it, the show smacks him pretty hard on the nose for it and makes him apologize.
This is a show where you'll figure out pretty quckly if you'll love it or hate it, because if you love Lu Yao, you'll love it, and vice versa. He carries most of the show himself, with his goofy charm and his incredibly bendy slenderman body and his ability to make the one competent person he knows both protect him and give him money.
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Like so.
For my own part, I find him intensely charming, and I think a lot of this has to do with Hu Yitian's ability to play him as an affectionately bullyable weenie who needs to get shoved in a locker for his own good. He's the worst, and it's comically endearing instead of offputting because at the end of the day, he really does have a good heart. He's just also lazy as heck and disinclined to do anything that he does not want to be doing, and really, aren't we all?
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As I alluded to in point 3, he comes across as real asexual. He's just not that interested in sex, and he is in fact pretty uncomfortable in situations where he finds himself the subject of someone else's sexual desires. He's perfectly capable of romantic feelings! I mean, not only does he get Bai Youning as a love interest, we actually meet one of his ex-girlfriends. He's just not partciularly horny about them -- which is even more noticeable as a sharp contrast to how extremely horny Qiao Chusheng is for just about everyone, but this exasperating little dork in particular.
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(Like seriously, 90% of the time, Chusheng is about to explode with sexual frustration at Lu Yao's skinny oblivious ass.)
This isn't to say you couldn't get Lu Yao into bed, because you absolutely could, and he'd probably have a good time. You'd just have to remove all distractions from the room, lest his ADHD ass wind up running off to solve a crime mid-coitus.
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Twiggy little nightmare man. Garbage-animal boy. Love him.
sidebar: A word about the ending
I'm going to be vague and talk about general vibes instead of specific events, but you should still skip this section if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Jump to the picture of Chusheng holding the sledgehammer.
Okay, so, a lot of people do not like the ending, and I'm including myself in that number. I honestly don't know if they got rushed and had to wrap everything pretty last-minute, or if they thought they might get a second season out of it and were leaving things open-ended accordingly. Either way, it's incredibly unsatisfying.
I think there's a clue that the show didn't actually want to end this way, and it's not actually in the text of the show itself. Every episode, between the last scene and the start of the credits, you get to see a couple still frames from the episode (usually some of the queerbaity ones). After the very final shot of the series, you get two images: the boys hugging goodbye, and Chusheng's upset face. That's not a resolution! That is at best a "to be continued..." ending!
But no, that's it. That's all, folks.
It's not quite an ending so bad it ruins the rest of the show, mostly because it doesn't feel finished, so it's less like you're watching a car being deliberately driven into a wall because someone thought that was the best route to take, and more like you're watching someone leave a car on the railroad tracks because they figured they'd have time to move it later.
As far as I know, there has been no noise made about a second season. These 36 episodes are the entirety of the narrative. It had the distinct misfortune to start airing in March 2020, which wasn't exactly prime time for planning sequels, and that seems to have been that. (There is a 2022 show called Checkmate that stars the two main guys in extremely similar roles, also adapting Agatha Christie stories, but it's apparently pretty meh? Somebody else who's actually seen it, go ahead and weigh in here.)
I'll say that if you turn off the episode right after Lu Yao gets out the handcuffs, you'll save yourself the worst of it the awkward and unsatisfying moments (though I'm impressed at your willpower to stop watching something five minutes from the end). That's not all of it, though. Structurally, there are several situations rushed to a resolution and loose threads left flapping untied in the breeze. I guess stopping before the last five minutes simply saves you the hope that it'll pull a good ending out of the fire, because it won't.
And let's be real: The more you hate Bai Youning and her romance with Lu Yao, the more you'll hate the ending. (Not that liking those elements will necessarily make you like the ending, of course, because I'm a fan of hers and I still think the ending is butts.) The ending is already like a pair of uncomfortable shoes; if the het romance especially makes you grind your teeth, the ending becomes a pair of uncomfortable shoes that also have a rock in them. A lot of the comments online indicate plenty of people dropped the show when they learned the het romance would be endgame. It's a pretty common dealbreaker.
Oh well. Bring on the fanfic, I say! Those of us who are used to taking a sledgehammer to canon are unafraid.
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Smash it, baby.
Still want to see some of these mysteries?
Both iQiyi and Viki have the answer to your sleuthing!
It's not a perfect show -- as evidenced by my digression about the ending -- but it's a lot of fun. If you can handle the occasional foible and some eyebrow-raising moments, you're in for a good time with some attractive people that occasionally tastes very gay.
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Every roommate crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man
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oneshotnewbie · 3 months
Note
Now this one isn’t the character but for the shoe station-19 in general, what if Carina and Maya have a daughter that’s older in the show, and you’re at the emmys irl. And Y/N won the award for best supporting actress and she thanks stephina and Danielle in her speech cause it’s her first acting gig ever and they took her under her wing and really made her feel like a daughter??? Thoughts?
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Authors note: It's very short because at the time I wrote this I was sick and my head wasn't working as well as I would have liked. I hope you still like what I wrote. Have a nice day ♥
ᕚ---ᕘ
The glamorous ballroom was filled with a sea of sparkling gowns and elegant suits, which showed their full splendor in the festive, warm spotlights. At the center of the stage was a shiny podium with a glowing Emmy Award just waiting to be won.
A strong and unrestrained applause from the audience echoed through the majestic walls and the lights in the hall flickered wildly as the presenter stepped to the microphone with a solemn voice and an enthusiastic smile and announced the highlight of the evening. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's the time we've all been eagerly awaiting! We're here to present the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Are you ready?"
He drummed his hands enthusiastically on the stand in front of him, largely elevating the mood of the celebrities in the room. The camera panned from him to the excited faces of the nominees as they sat tensely in their seats. The tension was literally palpable. "And the Emmy goes to.." he opened the red envelope in his hands and continued with the famous words as he excitedly announced them. "Y/n y/l/n!"
A deafening round of applause erupted and the room shook with applause and cheers as you stood up from your seat, eyes wide and heart pounding. Your hands were shaking with excitement as you walked onto the stage with tears in your eyes and a bright smile, the audience watching you intently as the camera captured the emotionally charged reaction. In that moment, feelings of joy, pride and surprise flooded through you.
You reached the shining podium where the Emmy waited for you, shiny and golden like a symbol of all the hard work and dedication you had put into your art, feeling the warmth of the golden metal in your cold hands. There was a moment of silence before you cleared your throat and looked up at the crowd. "Wow, I can't believe it. This is really surreal," you began, your voice shaking slightly as you were overwhelmed by the thoughts and feelings flooding your mind.
The bright lights from the cameras almost blinded you as the host presented you with the Emmy. The crowd continued to cheer and you could feel the excitement crackling in the air. Standing in front of the microphone, you felt the weight of the moment on your shoulders and took a deep breath, your eyes immediately scanning the beaming audience until you spotted the familiar faces of the people who had made you who you were today - Danielle and Stefania. A smile spread across your face and your eyes filled with deep gratitude. "I can hardly express how grateful I am for this moment. For me this is not just a trophy, but a symbol of the journey I have taken with so many wonderful people."
Applause broke out again and you took a deep breath, visibly moved as you tried to continue your speech with a big smile and tears of joy in your eyes. "It's my first role and I'm standing here with this incredible award in my hands. I couldn't have done it without the support of some really special people."
You turned your gaze again to Danielle and Stefanie, who beamed with emotion and looked at you with proud eyes. "Dani, Stef, you are the cornerstones of my success. When I was unsure and the world of acting seemed so foreign to me, you took me under your wing. You not only taught me how to play a role, but you made me feel like a real daughter who was truly loved."
The eyes of the two women in question shone with pure emotion, and a hint of it was in the air as they sent several air kisses your way, encouraging you to continue. The room listened reverently as you continued to try to put your thoughts into words. "You saw my fears and helped me to grow beyond myself. Danielle, you were and still are like a anchor in the surf. You saw my fears and helped me overcome them. Stefania, you nurtured my dreams and gave me the wings to fly."
A gentle round of applause accompanied your words as you turned your attention back to the Emmy you were holding tightly in your hands. "This Emmy doesn't just belong to me. It belongs above all to you two because you are not only extraordinary actors, but also extraordinary people. Thank you for being my family. Thanks also to the entire team at Station 19 - Jaina, Gray, Jason, Jay, Barrett... here's to many more years with you as a series family by my side!"
“We love you, y/n/n!” the latina shouted and the crowd cheered once more while you couldn´t help but smile at the call in of Jaina. Danielle and Stefania clapped with proud and emotional faces as you left the stage. The cameras captured the moment, where you fell into the arms of your friends and they celebrated you with happiness. Tears of joy in Danielle and Stefania's eyes in this magical moment could be seen, while the music slowly began to play and the hall celebrated the triumph of this special and successful evening.
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queenvidal · 1 year
Text
The Queen For A King
Negan x Reader (Rick's Daughter)
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Chapter 1: The Only One
Chapter Summary: Rick want's to protect his daughter, but there is only so much he can do. What Negan wants, Negan gets.
Wordcount: 2741
Era: Season 7
- Part 4 of the The One And Only Series -
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Chapter Index:
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3
Masterlist / Negan x Rick's Daughter Series
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“Oh, fuck.” You grumble, as your tired eyes try to focus on the alarm clock on your nightstand. Groaning, you quickly crawl out of your bed. It’s already late in the morning and you were scheduled for a few hours of guardshift on the wall, you’re way too late. Within moments you get ready for the day, jumping around the room, trying to get into your pants while simultaneously brushing your teeth. 
You need to hurry, the Saviors are most likely already in town and you really need to talk to Negan before something happens. He still has no idea Alexandria knows about you two and that you know about his wives. You stop involuntarily at the thought. It still hurts to think about it.
You weren’t so naive to believe there wasn’t someone waiting for him in his own community. He’s a handsome man with a lot of power, he just had to be with someone at home. But with five other women? That really hurts like hell, but you have to ignore that ugly feeling that's tightening your chest for now. You take a quick glance into the mirror, adjusting your hair and once you feel presentable, you head downstairs.
Rick is sitting at the kitchen table, checking what seems to be today's inventory of the pantry. You’ve got half a mind, to just run past him without a word, but decide to quickly greet him with a rushed, “Morning,” before dashing to the front door.
Rick's head snaps up and he calls after you, “Hey, where are you going?” 
While hopping into your boots, you answer, “Late for my shift!”
“Uh-uh” Rick’s shaking his head. “Back in here.”
With quick fingers you secure your knife belt around your waist and turn around towards the kitchen. You’re looking at your father expectantly, waiting for him to talk.
“No shifts for you today.” He states, folding his arms on the table. “You'll stay in the house ‘till they’re gone.”
“Did you turn off the alarm?” You ask, but your father doesn't answer. Annoyed, you roll your eyes. “Dad-”
“No!” He shuts your protest down immediately. “I want you out of their reach.”
Now it’s your time to fold your arms. “With theirs you mean his and if you really wanted that, you would have sent me out to another pointless run already.” 
Rick narrows his eyes at you. “You stay here, end of discussion.” 
Or so he wished. 
You mirror his stern expression before starting to argue, “First of all, I am an adult and I’ll be damned if I let you ground me in my mid-twenties. Secondly, you can’t hide me forever, Dad. Why won't you just let me talk to him?”
Rick stands up from the table, picking up his hatchet from the counter. "Because you two have nothing to talk about." He insists while securing his weapon to his belt. 
You’re about to reply to that, but in the end decide to save your breath. Negan will come see you, regardless, like he always has. And if he doesn’t, you will seek him out yourself. You two really need to talk about all of this.
“Where is your brother?” Rick suddenly asks you.
“Haven’t seen him, literally just rolled out of bed.” You lean against the door frame of the kitchen. “If he’s not in his room, I’d guess he’s strolling through town.”
Rick's shaking his head. “I want you and him here at home during the pickup."
You suppress the urge to roll your eyes at him again. "Carl’s old enough. He doesn’t need a babysitter." 
Rick casts you a warning glare, he is more than annoyed and done with your arguing. You just shrug your shoulders before pushing yourself off the door frame again and while going back up the stairs, you say. "Guess you'll have to fetch him yourself then. I've just been told not to leave the house."
Rick looks after his daughter. That girl can be infuriating at times. After a long sigh he decides to head outside. At the door he looks back up the stairs one final time before closing the door behind him.
People are already swarming around town, ready to face today's pickup. Rick’s nerves are slowly getting the better of him as he’s walking down the street. All kinds of emotions are swirling through his mind. Anger, Sadness, Fear. The Saviors are already a handful to deal with, the last thing he needs right now is the wrath of his own daughter. 
She is angry, he gets that. He can’t blame her for not seeing reason at the moment and he knows she’ll come around eventually. Under different circumstances Rick would have laughed at the absurdity of having to lock up his adult daughter, but not today and not with the situation they are all in right now. 
She wasn't wrong about the pointless runs. If he could, Rick would have sent her away again like he did before. But Negan made himself very clear last time. Someone would have to pay if she was absent again today. In this regard his hands were tied. But that doesn’t mean he’d let that scum close to his daughter. If Negan wants her, he has to go through him first.
Rick speeds up his steps a bit. The Saviors are not here yet, but they should arrive at any moment now.
Negan’s eyes wander to the side mirror to get a look of the convoy behind him. Six trucks are following him, way more than he needs for a pickup, but he wanted the man power today, just in case Rick didn’t get the message. 
When Alexandria's tall walls come into view, Negan quickly scans the guards on top. Just like in the weeks before he misses his Sunshine on her post and it's immediately souring his mood. I don’t like how this is looking, Rick.
The gate opens when the trucks are getting closer and the Saviors drive inside. Already irritated, Negan jumps out of his truck. Where the fuck is she, he wonders, looking for her among the guards down at the gate. And again she’s nowhere to be seen. Now he is really pissed. After a quick breath through his nose, in an attempt to keep himself calm, Negan slams the door shut and starts walking towards town when he sees Rick approaching.
Simon orders their men with a sharp whistle to start swarming out, taking up all of the parking lot. Rick’s meeting them in the middle, together with the woman with dreads and a few others Negan doesn’t care to learn the name of. 
“Good morning, Rick!” Negan calls. His eyes quickly wander around the gathering people around them, still looking for Rick's daughter, before he hands his beloved Lucille to Simon for him to exchange her with a little gift he brought.
“You see, Rick”, Negan starts, loud enough so everyone around can hear their little heart to heart. “Last time we talked you gave me the impression that you are doubting my intentions with your daughter. As it was kinda tradition for courting before the apocalypse, I brought the woman in question flowers.” Disgust and anger reflect off Rick’s features, bringing a large smile onto Negan’s face. He takes a few steps closer and stops right in front of Rick’s face. “So, where is she?”
Rick narrows his eyes at him, not stepping down. “She’s here,” he quietly admits. “But you’ll stay away from her.”
He’s still not cooperating? Negan has to huff a laugh at that. “I’m sorry, I think I've misheard you. Sounded like you-”
“You’ll stay away from Y/N.” Rick interrupts harshly. “I won’t tell you again.” Negan’s smile disappears quickly, instead he is scowling at Rick, his mouth forming a firm line as his anger is starting to show. “Let me make this clear,” Rick hisses, staring Negan dead in the eye, “Over my dead body.”
That daring asshole. Negan's scowl slowly eases into a small smirk. “That can be arranged.” Without breaking eye contact, Negan calls over his shoulder. “Simon!”
And the Right Hand raises his revolver, aiming for Michonne. The other Saviors quickly turn and take aim on Rick's people as well. 
Negan moves another step forward, towering over Rick, who seems to be completely unaffected by the threat. Both men stare each other down. “And I won’t ask you again.” But Rick is not backing down, angering Negan even more, who’s patience is slowly running out. Fed up with Rick’s disobedience, Negan raises his free hand but before he can utter an order, he suddenly can see defeat growing in Rick's eyes. 
Rick's body slightly deflates at the realization that he is not in control of this situation, knowing there is nothing he can do but to cause more bloodshed. Eventually he steps down, letting his head fall a bit, with a small voice, barely over a whisper, he finally says. “In our house.”
A bright smile splits Negan's face. “See?” He asks, his voice turning teasing. “Was that so hard, Prick?” Rick glares back at him, which makes this small victory taste so much sweeter. “Simon!” Negan calls while turning towards his men. “Take a look at what these fine people found me this week. I-” He turns around to face Rick again, grinning from ear to ear. “I will pay my favorite Alexandrain a visit.”
While whistling his usual tune, Negan makes his way to Rick's house. The Saviors follow suit, walking past Rick's people to get to the pantry. Rick can't do anything but to watch Negan and his men go. Rage and adrenaline are flooding his system, causing his hands to tremble. He’s about to follow Negan, when Michone lays her hand on his shoulder. “She’ll manage,” She tells him, trying to calm him down, “You know she will.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Even his shoulders are shaking now, “If forces her to-” Rick stops himself from speaking it out loud. The thought of the atrocity Negan's done to Y/N is so revolting, he can feel his stomach rebelling, like he'd throw up at any moment. “I’m gonna kill him.” He all growls. Michonne tries to reach for him again, but he won’t let her. He's too upset. 
Once on the porch, Negan looks back down the street. Rick’s still glaring at him. Good. While keeping eye contact, Negan knocks at the door, grinning at Rick.
You jump down the last few steps when going for the door before opening it without a second thought. When you lay eyes onto the visitor, though, you’re taken aback. Negan enters without waiting for you to let him in, handing you a small bouquet of wildflowers. Almost hesitantly do you take them, looking at Negan with an arched brow. “The hell is that about?", you ask in complete bewilderment.
“It’s just flowers.” He states nonchalantly. “People used to do that kind of thing, when they were dating.”
You want to scoff but manage to move past him without a sound, not sparing him a glance as you go to the kitchen. “So that’s what we’re doing - dating?”
"Sure," Negan follows you behind. "What the hell were you thinking?”
You open a cabinet to grab a large glass. When you fill it up under the sink, you just shrug your shoulders. “Dunno. Screwing? We never put a name on… this.” You arrange the flowers in the glass and put it down onto the counter in front of the window. “Also, I don’t date married men.”
You can hear Negan chuckle behind you, before his arms sling around your middle. “Jealousy doesn’t look good on you.” When he’s about to kiss your neck, you quickly release yourself from his grip and move out of his arms.
"Don't!” You snap before pushing past him. “Touch me.” You quickly walk around the kitchen table to get away from him, to have some distance. “This has to stop, Negan.” You tell him in a strict voice. His smile quickly turned into a frown in response to your sudden outburst, but before he can say anything, you continue. “Everyone knows about us and they’re all assuming you're forcing me to be with you. I really don’t want to give them another reason to hate you.”
Negan's just looking at you in confusion. Eventually he asks, “What exactly is the issue here? My wives or your people?”
After a quick moment of consideration, you tell him “Both. I don’t want there to be even more bad blood and I won’t be your plaything.”
Negan can see how upset you are, even though you are somewhat trying to conceal the extent of your anger. With a bit more caution, he tries again, “Sweet thing, come on. You know you’re my one and only-”
“But I’m not the only one.”
Negan lets a breath through his teeth. Leaning down on the table, he speaks again. “Okay, listen. If you wanna break this off, say so and I will take my leave. But I offer you something. Let me make it up to you, let me convince them that I am dead serious about you-”
Now you really can’t help but to scoff, “Are you, though, Negan?” You look at him with an raised eyebrow. “Are you serious?”
“You know I am, doll.” He sighs, pushing himself off the table again. “Thing is, it’s getting quite lonely at The Sanctuary, when I have nothing but the memories of you to go by.”
A bitter laugh escapes your lips and your head tilts to the ground as you take in what he’s just said. "Uh-huh. And of course you’re only thinking of me when screwing them.”
“Believe it or not, but I do.” He admits with a grin on his face. “The fire in your eyes, that fine ass of yours, your very skilled tongue and your damn hot moaning. The thought alone has me rock hard for you already.”
You just shake your head in disbelief. “You really could not have said anything more atrocious.” It’s unbelievable that it was a compliment in his head. That he thought, you’d feel better knowing he was thinking of you while being with other women.
“But it’s the truth, Y/N,” Negan assures you, “We have a deal, nothing more. They wanted something, so I got something - that’s it.” You keep looking at him. Dispite how hurt you are about all of this, you still find yourself waiting to believe him, although you have a hard time doing so. “The deals were made before Alexandria,” Negan rounds the table that is still separating you two. “The wives don’t mean shit, Y/N.”
You bite your cheek, looking anywhere but him. “Even if that was the true, people still believe-”
“And I’ll make them believe otherwise,” he claims with confidence, coming to stand right in front of you, “Promised." With one hand on your waist, he reaches with the other one under your chin, turning your head so you look back at him, “If you let me.”
Your eyes stay locked with his, while you make up your mind. You’re still angry like all hell, but there's something about him that makes him irresistible and you hate him for that. When he slowly leans down to kiss you, you let it happen. His hands move to the small of your back and you fold your arms around his neck. 
You can deny it all you want, but deep down you know you’re already too deep into this. 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Carl watches in disbelief that no one stopping Negan from disappearing into the house. Why is no one doing something?
Although everyone tried to shield him from what’s going on, he still learned about what that monster is doing to his sister and Carl swore to himself to never let that happen again.
Quickly the young boy sneaks through town, careful not to be seen by Saviors and Alexandrians alike on his way to the parking lot. How can everyone know about this but not do anything!? He is so angry at everyone, at Daryl, Michonne, but especially his father.
Finally at the gate, Carl looks around, making sure no one saw him. When he's certain the coast is clear, he climbs onto one of the trucks. It's already packend with goods from their latest runs. He rearranges the crates and boxes, making himself a little hiding spot. With a rifle he stole from Rositas secret stash, he buries himself in, waiting for his moment, for the Saviors to leave.
If his own father won't stop this then he will!
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Chapter Index:
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3
Masterlist / Negan x Rick's Daughter Series
Taglist: @starry-night-20 / @joceymoo / @srhxpci / @ladykxxx08 / @sunneeflower / @frombloodandflesh
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wen-kexing-apologist · 9 months
Note
Hello.....How are you? Thanks so much for sharing your analysis in your blog. I'm new to BL. I felt really helped in finding your blog. I lived in a country where LGBTQ+ is considered taboo and my own family saw it as something sinful. Until I found mlm fanfics (I know it's a ridicilous reason for why now I'm interested in BL & GL media).
Can I ask, what are your top 7 (or top 5) favorite BL media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series) ? Why do you love them? And your top 5 (or top 3) favorite GL media? Sorry for asking similar question like from someone before (hope you don't mind).
Thanks again, @wen-kexing-apologist 💐🌻🌷
Hello! So sorry this took so long to respond to, I have been really busy and this write up took me a bit of time to get together. 
Thanks for reaching out, I’m sorry that your family sees queerness as sinful. I’m sure we come from different countries, and different cultures, but I hope I can give you some comfort by saying I am proud of who I am and I love being queer. I love my queer friends, they are without a doubt the kindest and most caring people I have ever met. And you do not need to apologize at all for asking a similar question to a previous ask. I also hope you know that it is not ridiculous at all to have your eyes opened by mlm fanfiction, I promise. 
So my list of (some) of my favorite BLs are:
ITSAY/IPYTM
180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us 
Moonlight Chicken
The Eclipse 
Our Dining Table
La Pluie
He’s Coming to Me 
What Did You Eat Yesterday? (adding this as a special #8 because it is one of my favorites but may be hard to find)
You’re My Sky
Gameboys
Because this is a similar ask to one I recently got I am going to direct you to that for my explanations on 180 Degrees Longitude Passes Through Us (available on Gagaoolala), I Told Sunset About You and I Promise You The Moon (available on Viki), and Moonlight Chicken (available on YouTube) and add three other shows: What Did You Eat Yesterday?, You’re My Sky, and Gameboys.
If you stick around in this fandom long enough you will start to see that Bad Buddy (available on YouTube) is one of most beloved shows on tumblr. I love love love that show, but it is not in my favorites the way these other shows are. However, I would HIGHLY recommend you watch it if you haven’t already. It is incredible, and a very important piece of BL history both for the level of popularity it gained and the way it subverted BL as a genre. 
That said, let’s get in to my favorite BLs and why I love them, again in alphabetical order: 
Gameboys
(Pinoy BL- Season 1: Available on YouTube or Netflix, Season 2: Available on Gagaoolala in Asia or with a VPN that can make it seem like you are in Asia)
Contains Themes of: Quarantine, COVID, death, queer character being outed against their will
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I literally just finished the first season of this show today, but have to thank @bengiyo for telling me this is what I should watch next because I absolutely loved it. It is the story of two boys, stuck in quarantine in the Phillipines during the COVID pandemic that meet over an online game and fall in love. I agree with Ben that this is an incredibly well handled pandemic story, the actors are fantastic, their chemistry is believable and natural, and I appreciate that they let these boys be horny for each other. I loved watching the highs and lows of their blossoming relationship and I am so looking forward to watching Season 2 when they are together in person and seeing if and how that changes their dynamic. 
He’s Coming to Me
(Thai BL- Available on YouTube) 
Contains Themes of: death of a teenager (related to heart problems), murder
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I talked about this show in one of my tag games as my pick for most underrated series in Thai QL. Which I stand by because this show did not have the distribution it should have due to fan interference because they were upset about Singto being moved from a match up with Krist to instead star opposite Ohm. 
This is a show that I have labeled as By, For, and About Queer people. This is an Aof Noppharnach piece that is just absolutely beautiful in the way it explores the growing realization about your own queerness as Ohm’s character (Thun) starts to develop feelings for Singto’s character (Med). I love the additional layer to this show that comes with Med being a ghost who can only be seen by Thun, and how we don’t just get an explicitly queer character in an explicitly queer relationship, but that we also get a metaphor for queerness in the fact that Thun has to keep himself and his abilities private. When he hangs out with Med in public, no one can see him, and Thun often ends up talking to air, which results in people constantly staring at him in confusion, concern, or disgust. This show will remind you that Ohm has always been The Actor of All Time, the way his voice creaks in this show still haunts me to this day. I liked the mystery element in this show, I loved the rooftop confessions and the coming out scene. I loved all the ways this show was just so so so queer. Now that it has been released to the general public, I think every person who watches Thai BL should watch this show. 
La Pluie 
(Thai BL- Available on IQIYI) 
Contains Themes of: lying to a romantic partner
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God this show is an incredible, brilliant, perfectly executed subversion of the soulmates trope. A theme I am generally sensing in the content I am sharing is that queer characters are allowed to be flawed human beings. Tai needs to learn how to use his words, Patts is perfect but does have a temper that he is managing extremely well, Tien is perfect but does constantly undermine and underplay his own emotions to support the other people in his life, Lomfon is rude. This show has a lot of very smart things to say, and allows its characters to both experience desire, and sexual frustration, it uses giving sexual pleasure as a way for a character to maintain control over new forms of intimacy. Myself and my fellow clowns on this website (especially @bengiyo and @lurkingshan) have fought for this show tooth and nail for weeks upon weeks to make sure that as many people as possible were watching this absolutely beautiful show. 
Our Dining Table
(Japanese BL- Available on Gagaoolala)
Contains Themes of: death, child neglect, grief
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This is a very short, very sweet, wonderful spot of comfort and warmth. Its main themes are found family and navigating grief. It has the cutest little boy in the world who is just a bouncing ball of sunshine, and he and this show won my entire heart. I love this show for what it says about family, about care and love, sacrifice and healing. Even for the parts of the show that center around pain, this show is just so full of joy. I loved watching Yutaka open up, loved watching Minoru have a chance to relax, I loved Ueda-san getting to watch his son fall in love to become happier by way of existing around his sons’ happiness. I love that Minoru is very much an older brother to Tane, not a parent, despite how much care he gives him, and I love that Yutaka and Tane are genuinely friends. 
The Eclipse
(Thai BL- Available on YouTube)
Contains Themes of: threats against protestors (including cars rolling in to crowds), suicide, grief, internalized homophobia, homophobia, authoritarianism, emotional manipulation, thoughts of suicide, queer character being outed against their will
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This is absolutely one of my favorite BLs, beyond the fact that the acting is incredible, the characters are allowed to be very flawed, very complex, and very morally gray the story itself is incredibly layered and is a huge social commentary on rebelling against authoritarianism, the ways in which identities and oppression are leveraged against marginalized people to get them to commit heinous acts against the people they should be standing with and not against. This show touches on so many different things: justice, hypocrisy, manipulation, love, fear, internalized homophobia, rebellion, activism. This show gave me both my favorite war criminal and his rat bastard boyfriend. It has some of my favorite kisses and favorite crying scenes. And it introduced me to the powerhouse duo of First and Khaotung. 
What Did You Eat Yesterday?
(I am honestly not sure where you can find this easily, outside of @kinounaniresource. there is one season, a special, and a movie. There is a Season 2 on the way, and I am also not sure when it is going to be released or if it is going to be released on any particular platform)
Contains Themes of: internalized homophobia, homophobia, character with history of child abuse
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I am honestly not sure if this technically qualifies as a BL, but it is certainly a show that centers around an already established, older gay couple. This is a story about a couple staying together, and there is an undercurrent of long carried pain that is tucked so neatly between the layers of cooking, and eating, and love for one another. I do not really know how to explain this show beyond it just being one of the best things out there. We are so so lacking in elder queer content, honestly this is the only show I have seen out of 60+ QLs I have watched in the last year that has a main queer couple over the age of probably 25. I love the dynamic between Shiro and Kenji so much because who doesn’t love couples comprised of one puppy dog of a man and one man with the energy of a very annoyed cat? 
You’re My Sky
(Thai BL- available on Viki) 
Contains Themes of: betrayal, cheating, sports related injury
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This show has some of the most beautiful, saturated coloring of any show I have ever seen, the influence of I Told Sunset About You is incredibly clear (which makes sense because a screenwriter and director on You’re My Sky was a Screenwriter on ITSAY/IPYTM). I am not a huge sports person, but I do love a sports drama, and this one does a stellar job with the way it shoots it’s basketball games. It has Suar, who I was first introduced to as Tien in La Pluie as the main character and he is just SO. GOOD. This dude has been in three shows TOTAL and he just absolutely DEMOLISHES this role, and his role in La Pluie. Seriously, even if you could not give two shits about basketball (as a sport I do not, in this show I care very much) you should watch this show just to see Suar run a masterclass in acting. 
Girl Loves 
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of girl love shows that exist, the only one I have even seen coming out of Asia is GAP the series (a handful more exist, but they either seem to not be popular and/or are hard to access). It is an unfortunate reality that we are still fighting for more WLW content, especially GL content where the romance is the main and central plot. So, I don’t have a strong list to give you, because what does exist is limited and often gets canceled, but I will give you what information I do have:
Carmilla 
GAP the Series 
Carmilla 
(Canada- Available on YouTube)
Contains Themes of: student disappearances, death, undeath 
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This is an 8 year old Western webseries based on the book of the same name. I watched this around the time it came out and loved it a lot. There are a couple seasons and a movie, all of it is really really good, and was some of the earliest queer representation I had, including having the first non-binary character I had ever seen on screen (does not mean there weren’t others, this is just the first one that I found). This is a webseries so it takes place almost exclusively in one room. 
GAP the Series
(Thai GL- Available on YouTube) 
Contains Themes of: severe homophobia, suicide, emotional abuse, death of a sibling
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GAP was fun, it started out really strong, but it did lose me a little bit at the end. But that is mostly because I am not the biggest fan of boss and employee stories where an equal power balance is not established. I think it s a really solid attempt at kickstarting GL into an industry rather than just an occasional one off. This is required viewing in my opinion because of how it was funded, and because it has some of the highest view rates out there for queer Thai shows, and really helped prove that GLs were stories that people really really wanted to see (read: production companies started to realize they could make a lot of money). 
I can offer you a suggestion from other people: 
She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat 
(Japanese GL- I have not seen this yet and I am not sure where you can find this show. But I do know that everyone who has seen it loves it, and I plan to watch it soon. A Season 2 was announced recently but is not out yet)
Non GL shows that either have a lesbian or bisexual character and/or have a GL pairing as a side plot: 
Bad Buddy (the second couple, but still has limited screen time)
Secret Crush on You (very minor couple, but has been in a relationship from the beginning)
La Pluie (A very small part of the story)
Lovely Writer (I have not seen this show, I do not know exactly what the plot is, or what purpose this character serves, but I know there is a bisexual character named Tiffy, who won the BL Bisexual Swag 
The Warp Effect (one of the shows with a pretty strong lesbian couple)
Gameboys and Pearl Next Door
A book I really love with a WLW couple in it and a gay character is The Priory of the Orange Tree
GMMTV has started filming their first GL, which we hope will air late this year (or maybe early next year), it’s called 23.5 Degrees and I am very much looking forward to it!
Queer Shows 
I’ll give you some bonus suggestions that are very queer shows, but aren’t defined as BL or GL
The Warp Effect
Gay OK Bangkok
3 Will Be Free
The Owl House 
Deadend Paranormal Park 
The Warp Effect
(Thai- available on YouTube) 
Contains Themes of: abortion, sexual assault, physical assault, internalized homophobia, transphobia, religious trauma, bodyshaming, slut shaming, kink shaming, workplace sexual harassment, homophobia
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If it is queer and from Thailand and I love it, odds are extremely high that Jojo Tichakorn wrote and directed it. Despite some very heavy themes this was a very very fun watch, it is one of the most kink positive, sex positive, and queer shows that I have seen. I have a friend who is a sex educator and I want them to watch this show for it’s public speech announcements about getting HPV vaccines and how pelvic exams work. This is not a show I can explain super well, but it is one that I highly recommend, and if you are planning on watching Only Friends, then it is something I consider a required viewing. 
Gay OK Bangkok 
(Thai- available on YouTube)
Contains Themes of: cheating, HIV
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This is a very real look at the existence of gay men in Bangkok, I love it so much. This is a pair up between Jojo and Aof, two of my favorite directors. It is not a feel good show, it is an honest one. I think everyone should watch it. 
3 Will Be Free
(Thai- available on YouTube)
Contains Themes of: cheating, manslaughter, murder, murder of a spouse, kidnapping, domestic abuse, sexual assault, strangulation, transphobia, death, gun violence
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Once again, a Jojo show, and once again, despite the list of themes within the show, a very fun watch. This is one of, if not the only GMMTV show with a throuple, and is honestly very hilarious by way of three idiots on the run from the mafia, accidentally through mostly shit dumb luck and the fact that everyone is stupid, taking down a criminal empire. 
The Owl House 
(United States- available on Disney+, season 3 available on YouTube) 
Contains Themes of: white supremacy, child abuse, child neglect, heavy trauma, mind and body control, death, possible world destruction
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This is an animated show that I love dearly and one I find incredibly important for the next generation of queer people to see. The main character is neurodivergent, she is bisexual and gets a girlfriend, there is a non-binary side character, and there is also just a lot of casual queer representation. This show has a lot to say, and says it well, it is adorable and heartbreaking and everything in between and the fact that it got canceled is honestly a tragedy. 
Dead End: Paranormal Park
(United States- available on Netflix) 
Contains Themes of: possession, murder, death, undeath, paranormal activity, religious infighting, amnesia, animal death, kidnapping, child death, implied transphobia
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This is also an animated show that I love dearly and one I find incredibly important for the next generation of queer people to see. The main character is trans, the other main character is neurodivergent and bisexual, there is a lot of casual queer representation. Like The Owl House this show has a lot to say, and says it well, it is adorable and heartbreaking and everything in between and the fact that it got canceled is also a tragedy. 
[I realize for The Owl House and Deadend Paranormal Park that my descriptions are very similar, but I cannot stress enough that these two shows have very different premises and tell very different stories. They are just animated shows that are able to contain a lot more queer representation that the stories that came before them, because of the stories that came before them] 
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myaoiboy · 4 months
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Can you try explain what you mean about Ocelot looking like a drag king in mgsv? I feel like your boyfriend in that I just. Don't see it? I'm trying to understand why Ocelot would even have that applied when he's always been just A Guy™
Okay so I'm going to try to do this without getting into Grad-Level 5D Queer Theory Media Criticism, but I also fully realize that in doing that, a lot of this is going to sound very much like I'm saying "Source: Just Trust Me Bro".
(anon i am SO sorry that you happen to be the first person to directly adress me about gender in MGS)
I also wanna be straight up front here and say that I'm not trying to imply that Ocelot is anything other than a guy, he's just also a guy who's playing a million roles (this is important) and lying to damn near everyone, including himself. He has some of the worst identity issues I've ever seen in a character, and that comes to a head in 4 where he literally isn't even *Ocelot* until the final moments of his life. So yes, for the sake of not writing War and Peace, I'm going to assume Ocelot is "just a guy" and come at this from a pure queer theory/media analysis standpoint, not a headcanon one.
So first it's really important to point out the order in which we see Ocelot through the series. In the timeline, the last time we see Ocelot before V is 3 (or PO which I haven't played due to its placement in canon-limbo, but Ocelot looks basically the same). So we see him go from A to B here.
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I am going to say something potentially controversial: even before saw V ocelot, I thought 3 Ocelot looked like he was wearing drag *queen* makeup. I don't know whether it's intentional, or an attempt to circumvent the lower poly models and lower definition textures of the PS2, but the first image looks like someone who is going for a highly exaggerated, feminine cheek contour. Here's a few drag queens who, imo, do a very similar contour look:
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Whether the color filter or the texturing of the PS2 or something else, the MGS3 version of Ocelot also has a look of mascara and frosted lipgloss (frosted lips being much more popular at the time of MGS3's original release than today, but alas).
So from that I was already very much primed to look for femininity in Ocelot's whole vibe. It was actually kind of jarring how much more rugged he is in V than in any of the previous games, to the extent that it sent up alarm bells in my head that something was going on.
I don't remember the moment that I went "hey, wait a minute," but it was certainly pretty early on. As someone who's been on tumblr a hella long time and remembers when we used to swap passing tips, the specific combination of facial features remind me of a very specific genre of "ftm makeup tutorials" that were also pretty contemporarily popular on tumblr. A very quick summary being mascara on the eyelashes and specific peach fuzz to give the impression of a squarer jaw and having more facial hair, as well as specific contouring to give a "masculine cheekbone." Most of these tips basically came directly from drag king makeup.
Gonna include some drag kings as well, some things to notice include the tendency towards using stubble as contouring and vice versa, the shaping of cheek contouring, and the tendency to accentuate mustache and sideburns.
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I'm pretty bad at wording descriptions of hair and makeup so you'll have to forgive me for not going ham on explaining the similarities bc now we actually get to the interesting part which is: so fucking what? If this is true, if you take my word for it, what does it say about the text? If I want to make this argument to someone else, what can I say that will convince them that, even if it's not *intentional,* it's a valid and meaningful view of his character?
Like, you can make a character based on anything you want, but why does it matter whether Ocelot is based on drag either direction?
Ocelot's "drag"iness is multipurpose. One: he's queer. Like, I grant that he never comes out and says "I love 'Big "Naked 'John' Snake" Boss'" but we get a hell of a lot more confirmation that he's gay than we get straight confirmation for a lot of presumed-straight characters. I feel comfortable saying he's canon queer.
Two: it's a visual metaphor for being a double/triple agent. While he's literally performing several roles (KGB/GRU/CIA, or MSF/Real BB/US, or US/Patriots/BB, or anything in between), he's also visually playing two (or more) gender roles, a feminine man, a mannish woman, something neither or in-between. The implication of drag specifically is pretending to be something that he isn't (which he literally always is, holy shit, again, does he even know who he realiy is?).
And before anyone says "Well, if it's so important to his character, why did they wait until 3 to start doing it?" They didn't!!
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This is THE most classically masculine that Ocelot ever looks. But there's still precious polygons invested into giving him long hair and a flowing coat. Working with sprites and low-poly models means having to very carefully select traits that you want to display on your character, and Ocelot's go into making him a cringefail cowboy.
The fact that he's a cowboy in itself is also pretty important to the whole gender/sexuality situation. I mean, Brokeback Mountain might not have been out yet, but the male-to-female ratio in the west meant a lot of men cozied up together on the frontier. Hell, hankey code comes from cowboy culture, with men wearing certain colors to announce who would take the "man" or "woman" role while square dancing.
I could go a lot into gender and how it works on a social/societal level in general and why that matters, but OOPS I have been writing this for a WHILE.
I was actually going to go a lot more into queer theory and gender in MGS in general but ngl, I could write a whole doctoral thesis on gender and how different characters perform or subvert gender. Because holy shit when you start peeling back the very thin macho facade of Kojima's work to do a feminist reading of it, boy howdy do you get. A whole lot to talk about. (ask me about death stranding sometime i dare you)
Basically what I'm trying to get across is that Ocelot has a lot of roles that he's playing and NOT playing, and more than a few of those are gender roles, which is very much visually symbolic of his character.
I am so sorry anon I have been thinking about him nonstop for a full year </3 I hope at least the first part of this answered your question about what features I see that scream drag to me.
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