#and i never want to base my writing off of fanon. never ever ever. that's fatal writing error number One.

[orcelito]

Also remembering that I get to write wolfwood next chapter and I'm a widdle nervous bc this is a Big Moment and I only wrote him a little bit with Sentido and it's been 8 months since then

But im also REALLY excited bc I get to finally (FINALLY) start executing the vashwood concepts I'd thought up at the damned START of this fic

So much relationship development to get to. So much Wolfwood to get to. Very exciting things.

#speculation nation #itnl shit #ive got a pretty solid grasp on wolfwood I Think but also #i think i wanna do some more research into him before i write hin #im gonna need to read more of the manga Anyways. #i need to study his mannerisms and speech patterns and the ways he interacts with the world #because i have a good idea of it already but a lot of my concept of him does exist in fanon #because it's been A Bit since ive actually read the manga. #and i never want to base my writing off of fanon. never ever ever. that's fatal writing error number One. #i pride myself on my rock solid characterizations. for side characters it doesnt matter as much #but the 2nd person in the main pairing? ostensibly the 2nd most important character to the fic? #yeah im not gonna fuckin base him off of what i have in my mind from however much fanfiction. #it's like the difference between accuracy and precision. by following fanon characterizations #someone might be able to be Precise about his characterization. in that they write him consistently and according to common perception. #but fanon very often exists Just to the left of what canon actually is. so it may be precise but not accurate #at least with regard to canon characterizations. #i want my characterization to be both precise And accurate. i want people to read my fic and go 'yeah thats trimax wolfwood' #with vash i do sprinkle in a few of my favorite things from the other versions too. same with the girls. #and maybe i'll do that a bit with wolfwood. but also hes so very different between the 3 iterations #that he might as well be different characters in all of them. #this is first and foremost a trimax fic. so i WILL have trimax wolfwood in it. #i may look up general guides for writing him if theyre around. but tbh i will rely more on my own research probably. #i have my own system for writing anyways. the sliding scales of different qualities that guides my general word choices for dialog #ive explained it before. dont really wanna get into it again. #i need to solidify in my mind where ww exists on the axes of intelligence politeness kindness and formality #among others. while also paying attention for any kind of repeat words or phrases that he likes to use #that i can pepper in to make it Sound Like Him. #thats the key to how i do general dialog lol. it's of course guided by who they are as a person #but word choice is done through the general perception of them along a set of axes. this is how it goes for All my writing. #im. rambling. whoops. anyways im excited for wolfwood. Soon...

[this-acuteneurosis]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the fact you don't stray much from the movies?

It's just so refreshing to see a fic that is built on a clear, unbiased and simple canon base. This way, as you demonstrated, a writer not only has the ability to further explore the main themes and ideas introduced in the source material, but they can also go ahead and naturally develop their own by branching out on those fundamentals. They can offer their perspective by using the source material to their advantage, instead of working against it or even worse, trying to include all contradicting canon aspects. Part of writing a fic is kind of like offering your input in a conversation/disagreement. You have to listen carefully to what the other person is saying in order to form your answer...If you're listening to a thousand different people who are all saying a different thing (in this case, The clone wars, legends, novels, comics ect), you won't be able to give an answer that makes sense, much less give a structured and stable opinion.

I love how you were like "I know star wars is entering an era of a shit ton of spin off content with seemingly no end and most star wars fans know shit like who chewie lost his virginity to and what the kessel run is but screw this. The movies and maybe some late night wiki research is enough."

And you were right.

It's so funny, because I feel like I do ultimately stray pretty far from the movies. Not in terms of events I guess, but especially the prequels, I reject some of the underlying assumptions of what is said on screen and just treat it like fallible people strongly asserting opinions that no one calls them on. See: everything I ever assert about the Force/Anakin's "destiny."

I do think it helped me to stick with limited material. And it wasn't even because I saw all of this new SW content coming. I've mentioned this before, but when I started writing Don't Look Back (when it was just Like Fire and I naively believed I was gonna be done in 200k words, lol, rip past me) I hesitated a lot because as far as I was concerned, I wasn't a Star Wars Fan.

I'd watched the OT and PT multiple times. I knew that novels and games and cartoons existed, I knew people had consumed them all. I had been reading some SW fic because @mylongsufferingroommate had been sending me stuff they were enjoying and I was having fun with it. But like, I would never have called myself a Fan. I got goaded into writing this fic by people who knew me too well and really wanted a political thriller. I wouldn't have called them Star Wars Fans either.

Limiting myself to the six movies I had watched was a preemptive defense mechanism against a fan base I wasn't sure would want to accept me. My thin skin is my own problem, but every time I think about writing in a new fandom the same sort of nerves take me: what if my fanon is "wrong" and people are mean?

I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you so much to everyone who gave me a chance and encouraged me and were excited and shared that excitement.

And please, for the love of all the sky and stars DON'T GATEKEEP FANDOMS.

Don't tell people their canon is too big (@blue-sunshine-mauve-morning and @chancecraz have amazing fics that are much more compliant than mine to the broader canon, as a quick example), and definitely don't tell people their canon is too small. Walk away if you aren't enjoying something. Give compliments when you like something that is unique in a fandom you're familiar with. Be patient with people, be kind.

I could easily have given this story up if people hadn't been patient with me. I got comments as early as my first chapter from people who were angry with a single thing that I said and felt the need to tell me I was wrong. I could have left. I could have stopped.

I'm glad I didn't. But I wonder how many other people have.

#writing #people are so kind #fandom #stop gatekeeping #please #canon what canon #me just playing around in my own little sandbox #hoping you all are enjoying the show #anxious someone might steal my toys #or knock over my castle #yes I'm still like this #my thin skin problem

[sherifftillman]

busy streets and busy lives • ralph penbury x reader

A strange day at work gets even stranger when you meet a man who claims he's from 1926. With no certainty as to when he can get back, you decide to take him in until that time arrives.

masterlist | prev. | next

Tags: Timewasters (series), modern!au, slow burn, mutual pining, idiots in love™, fluff, some angst, swearing and mentions of adult themes throughout, eventual adult content, alcohol content, penbury is a fanon surname

Word count: 9.2k

A/N: Thanks for being patient! I know this one took longer than the other two, but yeah. Back pain is no joke, and also, as you can see, this became somewhat of a monolith lol. This whole fic is my most favourite thing to write. I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3

Also, apologies for the horrific photoshop job I did trying to recreate a certain social media layout, lol.

The first few weeks of living with Ralph are certainly… An experience. You’re able to teach him how to cook basic freezer meals, how to use a hob and the importance of never taking your attention away from food when you’re preparing it. He’s got his favourite TV shows, especially now that you’ve trusted him with access to your streaming services, too - though you did have to make him a separate profile on your account when your current obsession had been drowned out in your Continue Watching queue by Ralph watching half an hour of whatever was showing up first, giving up and moving onto the next thing. He’s got a rapport as “that eccentric young man who lives in flat 912”, who befriends all the local outdoor cats and bows to everyone he makes eye contact with. Plus, with all the extra attention Ralph gives them while you’re not there, your plants have been thriving more than ever.

Another morning of waking up on the sofa. You reach blindly for the pain relief and water bottle you now keep close to you and chug them down before peeling yourself away. At least today is a day off. Except it isn’t really, as you’re reminded when you hear the shower going. You’re still a full-time Ralph-sitter. You decide to treat the pair of you to a full breakfast, something that your new housemate had considered “grotesque” as “grease is not a food group”, but you’d acclimated him to it eventually. As long as you cut him some bread soldiers to dip into the yolks of his eggs. That’s his favourite part.

You scroll through Spotify on your phone to see what playlist you’ll ask your Echo to play for you. It recommends, based on your recent listening (by which it obviously means the battle your algorithm faces trying to find common ground between your music taste and Ralph’s), an electro-swing playlist. Excited, you ask Alexa to play the playlist as it’s titled, and start bouncing along to it as you get everything out to start cooking.

Ralph emerges, hair still wet, with a smile on his face. “Good morning!” You understand and appreciate his efforts to try and blend in a little more aesthetically, but arguably the worst thing your friends have convinced Ralph is that he looks better with a bit of facial hair. Which, of course, is true, but that’s what makes it so terrible for you. “What is this?!”

You shrug, “Dunno, it said electro-swing and I figured that sounds like the perfect mix of both of us. You like it?”

Ralph nods, “I mean, it’s certainly not the classics, but I could definitely get used to this!” He starts moving his feet in very deliberate ways, and you smirk at him.

“Did you ever learn how to swing dance, by any chance?”

“Guilty!” he lilts, rolling his eyes up. No matter how much he may try to look like a 21st century man, he’s still unmistakably Ralph. “Yes, Mother got Victoria and I enrolled in a school to get us out of the house. Father wanted me to join some new-fangled group, the Scouts?” You’d think you’d be used to all the culture shocks by now, but hearing that Ralph could have been one of the first ever Scouts still knocks the wind out of you a little. Ralph, completely unaware, continues rambling, “Yes, but it was all… Swimming and climbing and… Outdoor survival,” he shudders. “So, Mother sent me away with Victoria to her dance classes.”

“Were you any good? Or did you enjoy it, at least?” you ask.

Ralph smiles as his head bobs with excitement, “I was rather exemplary, yes! Ms Lillian often paired Victoria and I together, knowing we could practise at home as well, though when we got to a… Certain age, Victoria decided she would rather have other male partners.” You can tell from the sadness in Ralph’s tone what he’s about to say next. “And, well, she was on such good terms with the other girls in the group that… Well, none of them wanted to be paired with little brother Ralph, so the teacher was my partner. ‘Little brother’, I ask you, only by twelve minutes!” he starts to mutter under his breath.

An urge swells within you to find Homeless Pete, insist he find a way to fix that time machine up as soon as possible, and travel back to that time just to shove every one of those rich little brats. Instead, you focus that energy on comforting Ralph, reaching your arms around his shoulders in a quick hug. “I’m sorry, mate. Though, I don’t suppose you remember those moves you learned?”

His eyes light up. “I certainly do! Did you want to learn how to? The teacher did say I was quite the natural, I could teach you if you wanted!”

You grin, “I’d love nothing more.”

You spend the best part of an hour learning how to do things like the Charleston Step, the bow tie and the one that Ralph calls one turns, two turns, which you can tell is his favourite based on the smile he gets when it’s his turn to get twirled around.

Eventually, you heave with exhaustion. “Well, that’s worked up the old appetite, though I dunno how I’m gonna cook when I can barely feel my legs!”

Ralph giggles, “Oh, please, that was nothing! Ms Lillian would have you in tatters.” You give him a death stare and he stops laughing immediately. “Would you like me to get us something from the baker’s? I could get you some of those doughed nuts that you enjoy.”

“For the last time, Ralph, doughnuts don’t actually contain nuts and you can have some yourself, too!” you groan as you start replacing everything you’d taken out of the fridge.

Ralph tuts, shaking his head. “I have no interest in your nuts, thank you.” That’s one to send to Scott and Connor later, you think to yourself as you open up your phone and add to the note “Ralph Quotes”. “Perhaps the nice old lady who calls me chap will be there,” he muses with a small smile, “I like her.”

“Hop to it, then, old sport,” you say in a mock-posh voice, earning you a glare from Ralph, which only makes you laugh as you make your own way to the shower.

When you’re out and dressed for the day - in the clothes Ralph had worn on his first night with you, but only because they’re your go-to comfort clothes anyway and you don’t exactly plan on leaving the flat - you go through your usual routine of checking the news app for the headlines, and then the trending topics on Twitter, just to see if there’s anything your friends will be talking about. 

You giggle at the fact that the name Ralph is trending, screenshotting it to send to the group chat later. Out of curiosity as to which Ralph the internet is obsessing over today, you tap it and scroll through. It’s mostly people in fandoms, making threads called ‘[series] as ralph tweets’. The “ralph tweets” in question seem to be of someone tweeting as though they think Twitter works in the same way as Google.

Your stomach drops as you realise some of them look a little too familiar. Almost as though you know a Ralph who’d be this far out of touch with the modern world. Almost as though you could track the very conversations that would lead to some of these to that particular Ralph.

You click through to the profile @RalphOnTwitter and scroll all the way down to see exactly when he must have gotten an account:

You send a single message in the group chat: GROUP MEETING, MY FLAT, ASAP. ALL MUST ATTEND.

Your friends all arrive relatively quickly after that. You simply herd them all onto the sofa one by one until the last of them has arrived, but just as you’re about to lay into them, the man of the hour arrives, having fumbled with the lock for a good minute with his arms full of baked goods.

“Ah, good morning, all! It’s a good job you’re all here, it was that young woman serving today and she always gives me extra food even though I don’t ask for it or pay for it, I don’t know why -”

“It’s ‘cause she fancies you, mate,” Connor grins, causing Ralph’s ears to turn a vibrant shade of red.

“Can we please discuss Ralph’s love life another time?!” you interrupt. “I need to know which of you is responsible for giving him access to a Twitter account.”

You know Anna’s in the clear, you’d been helping her in the kitchen, but the other three look at each other shiftily. “Well, it was sort of all of us? We just thought it might be fun to teach him,” Grace explains. “It’s not often you meet someone who’s never heard of social media.”

You pinch the bridge of your nose, squeezing your eyes shut. “Ralph,” you call out, eyes still closed, “what do you do when you need to know the answer to something?”

“I do what you taught me when you first gave me my phone,” Ralph answers, perplexed. “I tap the very last square, I type in my question and I wait for an answer. A lot of them are just people being rude, but eventually someone will be helpful.”

“Sounds about right,” you groan, rubbing your face.

“Wait, you mean, you still do that even after we put - you didn’t think to just move one to the -” Scott’s eyes widen. “Oh, god.”

“Why would it move?!” Ralph asks, taking a bite out of his favourite pastry and chewing anxiously.

Anna starts giggling as she scrolls through his account, “Aww, but it’s so funny! And it’s not hurting anyone, what’s the damage in it?”

The fact he’s not supposed to be alive and yet he’s suddenly very much perceived, maybe? The fact he could accidentally tweet something that would give him away? The fact he could tweet something vastly inappropriate at any moment?

“Yeah, you could really capitalise on him while he’s here,” Connor smirks. “Get him on Instagram, too, get those brand deals coming.”

“Yeah! Ralph On Twitter’s face reveal, make it a whole thing,” Grace grins.

You sigh. “I dunno. It feels like a really bad idea.” You look at Ralph, who looks blankly back at you. “But… Maybe we could make something of you. As long as I’m your PR manager, obviously, and you don’t go talking directly to anyone.”

“I don’t think I know how,” Ralph shakes his head, “I thought it was the searching thing that you’d told me about.”

“Good. Never learn,” you point at him, “and give me your phone.” Your friends all cheer as they crowd around you, watching you download Instagram onto his phone, as well. You give him the handle @ralphoninsta “to keep the brand alive,” you explain as you set up his profile.

“Now we need a good first photo,” Scott holds his fingers and thumbs up in a rectangle shape to frame Ralph in his own field of vision. “Let’s get him into some good lighting.”

Sitting him in the best-lit corner of the flat, Scott insists on playing photographer, telling Ralph to sit and smile. However, Ralph does not seem to do well in front of the camera. He sits bolt upright, every part of him looking stiff and uncomfortable, and his smile isn’t right. It’s far too forced, it shows all his teeth and yet somehow the smile itself stretches beyond them. “Maybe we should take him out and about, get some candid shots of him,” Anna suggests.

You groan, having just started on your second doughnut. “Fine! I’ll leave the house today, but I won’t be pleased about it!” You shake your half-eaten breakfast at your friends, who laugh. “And you guys better come eat these, too, Ralph wasn’t kidding about these freebies.” You hold out another doughnut and wave it in Ralph’s direction, “Sure I can’t tempt you with one?”

He leaps onto his feet and backs away from you, “How many times must I ask you to keep your doughed nuts out of my face, please!” As expected, Scott and Connor crease up in laughter.

“You’ll love ‘em when you try ‘em, Ralphie,” you grin, taking another bite of your own, but Ralph isn’t as amused by it all.

Once you’re all adequately full, you begrudgingly throw on a hoodie and go out with everyone else, trying to find the right lighting, the right backdrop. Even with everything, Ralph just doesn’t seem to pose very well. His posture becomes so much more awkward and his facial expressions just aren’t… Ralph.

When he starts to express his apathy for the whole thing, you think of one more thing that might help. Standing him in front of a brick wall, you position Scott and set his phone camera to video, earning you an, “Ahh, good shout.”

Scott starts recording as Ralph stands in place, looking over at all of you. “So, what is it I’m supposed to do, now? Do I have to pose again? How?”

You shrug, “I dunno, just… Be Ralph. Stand however you want. Look however you want. Just, keep it moving around, yeah?”

He may still look a little awkward but you’re able to get him to do plenty, at least. Getting him comfortable is easy enough, you start getting him talking about his new favourite TV programmes and he very vaguely - and mostly not entirely correctly - describes the plots of them, with all the excited sincerity of a lifelong fan. Grace also asks him about his favourite local cats he’s befriended whenever he’s been out and about, which he lists happily and extensively. 

When Scott feels as though he’s got some good angles, he stops recording and you all crowd around him to review the footage together. While you all have different opinions on which angles are best, you can all agree on one thing - Ralph certainly photographs far, far better candidly. You all eventually settle on pausing and screenshotting at two specific moments, though Ralph is still perplexed. “But I’m not posed for either of those pictures, doesn’t that make them bad? I mean, I’m not even looking in that second one!” He points to a shot where he’s looking down, itching his jaw.

“No, trust me, it’s fine, they’re great,” you insist, maybe a little too quickly. Nobody seems to have noticed, though. Thankfully.

“And in this one, the sun is in my eyes! I’m all squinty!” He frowns, swiping to the previous shot.

“That’s called a smoulder, babes, everyone loves a smoulder.” You watch in amusement as Ralph’s ears turn pink at Grace’s words. No matter how many times you’ve told him that Grace calls everyone by that name, it still gets Ralph all nervous to be referred to by it himself. “You’re a natural, when you’re not actually trying.”

“Is that a good thing?” Ralph asks, his eyes darting around the group to gauge everyone’s reactions.

Anna nods, “It shows promise, right, Scott? Scott’s big into his photography shit, he’s got a proper camera and everything, don’t you?”

Scott nods. “If you ever wanted to try and get more comfortable with it, we could definitely shoot together sometime.”

Ralph shuffles over to you to whisper in your ear, “What do guns have to do with -”

You interrupt him to quietly explain, “You shoot photos on a camera.”

“Ah. Thank you.” Addressing Scott, he smiles and claps, bouncing on the balls of his feet, “If I am still around, I should rather enjoy that!”

“Fuck, I forgot we’ve only got you on borrowed time,” Anna complains, before gasping and clapping her hands, addressing you. “This is your weekend off, right?!” You nod, and she squeals, holding her face in her hands. “So, we have to show Ralph what a good night out is, right?!”

Excited reactions from the entire group, except one, obviously, but the others seem too keen on planning tonight now to respond to any of his reactions. “So, do we just take him out, or out-out?” Connor asks.

You look over at Ralph’s face, trying not to laugh too loudly at him looking as though he’s been asked to solve quantum equations in his head. “You trying to figure out the difference there, mate?” you ask, and he nods. “Right, so going out usually means just to the local pub, pretty casual attire, you say you’re only going for a couple of beers but then it’s approaching midnight, the poor sod behind the bar is calling last orders and you’re five deep, trying to gather everyone for the walk home where you drop them all off one by one. Going out-out is dressing up, it’s going into the city itself, it’s going to bars and nightclubs and getting super overpriced cocktails until it’s 3am and you’re sat outside a McDonald’s waiting for a taxi home with whichever stragglers you’ve managed to hold onto by the end of the night.”

“Dressing up, you say?!” Ralph lights up at the idea, but you put a hand on his arm.

“Not in the suit and tie way, I’m afraid.” You frown, “I don’t actually know if we’ve got any out-out clothes for you at home, you know. I haven’t had a chance to get you to any shops where you can try nice clothes on yourself.”

With a collective gasp, Grace and Anna each loop an arm around each of Ralph’s, with Scott joining in their chorus of, “Shopping trip?!”

You groan, “Can I at least go back and get changed if you’re gonna keep making me leave the house?”

“I mean, you don’t have to come with us, if you want a break,” Anna suggests. “You trust us with Ralph, right?”

“So what, just the four of you will be going, then?” Connor asks, to the others’ groans. “Oh, come off it, what use would I be?!”

“Connor,” Anna starts. “How often are we ever likely to ask you for your opinion as a straight man again? You need to come with, for your people.”

Connor sighs in resignation, though he can’t fight his own smile. “Alright, fine, but you lot are buying all the coffees I’m gonna need to get through this.”

You slip Ralph your bank card, mutter to him that the others will teach him how to use it, and salute the others as they all make their way to the high street before turning on your heel and heading back to the sanctuary of an empty flat.

Straight away, it feels too empty. Too quiet. Sure, you’ve trusted Ralph to just pop across the road and back, but you’ve got way more alone time now. You ask your Echo to play your favourite playlist as you make a start on the chores you normally can’t do with Ralph around.

Though you expect that to take up until they return, you’re done before the hour is up. You let out a long exhale, tutting through it as you look around your little living space and wonder what on earth to do with yourself. You start watching the next episode of the show you’d been watching, but even that didn’t feel right without the constant interjections, feeling as though you have to explain who characters are, what plots have already happened and why certain scenes are especially important.

You text the group chat a few times, but only Connor ever responds, and as is on brand for him, it’s always a sarcastic comment about how Ralph is obviously going to show up in the most garish outfits known to man. You take comfort in Connor being the one to make those jokes, at least, as if anyone else were to, you might be more inclined to worry that Ralph’s own tastes might just be a little too eclectic for the South London nightlife. At least Connor will be there to talk him down into dressing somewhat appropriately.

You also ask Scott to send you the photos for Ralph’s Instagram profile, telling him you’re happy to edit them to pass the time before eventually getting them onto Ralph’s phone to upload them. He sends you the screenshots, along with the video itself. One little watch, you tell yourself. Then to editing.

An indeterminable amount of time later, you’re replaying a part where you’re constantly correcting Ralph on the actual plot of Gilmore Girls versus what he seems to have retained that it’s about, where you’ve reached the point of uncontrollable laughter and he’s laughing at your laughter. His smile is so pure when he’s genuinely happy, and yet it’s so rare to see it that way. Even without his manufactured pose, when he’s smiling amongst you and your friends it still feels stilted. You often wonder whether he misses the familiarity of home, whether you’re doing a good enough job at helping Ralph to fit in. But seeing that look on his face, it fills you with an overwhelming sense of relief. It’s the first time you’ve been able to really notice him looking comfortable. You take a screenshot of that moment, but not necessarily to add to Ralph’s profile. Maybe this one stays as a memento of Ralph’s time here, just for you.

When you get the text in the group chat letting you know that a) they’re finished, and b) everyone’s getting ready at Grace’s since her housemates are all out for the evening, you hurriedly edit those two photos Scott sent, empty your wardrobe of all your “out-out” clothes into a duffel bag, throw in whatever toiletries and cosmetics you can find and make your way over there.

Scott, Anna and Ralph are nowhere to be found, at first, but Grace assures you that they’re simply helping him “look the part”. You’re more worried about checking in with Ralph, seeing if he’s overwhelmed at all, and most importantly, making sure he hasn’t blown his cover.

Grace is more than happy to help you pick out your outfit for the night, while Connor’s input remains a constant and totally helpful series of grunts without even looking up from his phone. Grace helps you get your face and hair ready, too, though not without scolding Connor for not participating either way, despite his constant rebuttals that he is taking care of “the most important thing”. You quickly shoot him a text thanking him for helping to take Ralph off your hands for an afternoon, and reassuring him you’ll buy him a drink to show your appreciation. The absolute wordsmith that he is, Connor sends a thumbs-up emoji in response.

There’s a ring at the doorbell, which even Grace is puzzled at. That fills you with a sense of concern, too - if Grace isn’t expecting someone at her door, who could it be? Connor seems pretty confident at going to open it, though, and you see why when he eventually shows up with the pizzas that he clearly ordered. “You didn’t have to be so cryptic about it!” You shake your head at him as you make sure everyone has drinks made up as well.

Scott’s head pokes out of a door to ask, “Everything okay? Who was at the door?” You and Connor both point to the food and Scott grins, “Ah, nice! Right on time! Okay, folks, are you ready to meet The New Ralph?”

The three of you clap and cheer as Scott and Anna make a big show of revealing Ralph, and thankfully you weren’t holding any of the glasses you were making drinks in, or you’d have surely dropped them. Wearing a dark fitted polo, very well-fitting jeans and some crisp new Adidas trainers, Ralph stands between your friends, looking around at the three of you. When he catches your eye, he only makes very fleeting eye contact before looking your own outfit up and down and then hastily looking back at the others. He rubs at the tops of his ears - you can’t quite see from this distance, but you wonder if he’s blushing, and whether he’s doing it over everyone’s reaction, or just yours.

You set everyone’s drinks up around the living room, deliberately seating you and Ralph together. “I wasn’t sure what kind of fancy-schmancy drinks you’re used to, and none of us exactly have champagne on tap, but I thought you might like a martini?” You say to him as he takes his seat on the sofa next to you.

Ralph’s eyes light up. “I do rather enjoy a martini!”

“That’s my guy!” Connor cheers from his corner, raising a slice of pizza in a toast of sorts. Ralph tentatively takes a slice and does the same, but you hurriedly follow it up by grabbing a plate and holding it beneath Ralph’s slice for him.

“Don’t want to ruin your nice outfit before you’ve even been seen out in it, do you?” You fuss, and Ralph nods, taking the plate from you and holding it directly under his chin as he eats, which makes you laugh. He could literally look like anyone in the world, but little mannerisms like that will always tell you that that’s your Ralph.

When he’s had enough to eat, you take the plate from him to take it out to the kitchen, though Grace is quick to whip it out of your hands, too. That’s when you notice the plate seems to have moved something underneath the collar of Ralph’s shirt. You move it aside slightly and, with all the might of keeping any kind of flustering behaviour at bay, you ask, “Is that a neck chain you’re wearing?” Is this what manifesting is?

“Yes! Do you like it?” Ralph scoops it out into view with his finger. “Just a plain one, but Anna said it really brought the whole outfit together, didn’t you?” He asks her excitedly, and she nods back.

“She’s got a good eye, that one,” you grin. “You look so good, Ralph.”

“As do you,” he mutters, gesturing quickly to your outfit. “I see what you mean about dressing to the nines, now. It’s nice to see this side of you, too. All of you, really,” he stammers, looking around.

“Right, last minute hair and make-up touches and then I want photos of all of us!” Grace announces.

Ralph’s face falls as he asks you quietly, “Would you like to teach me how to take them, since I’m not good at being in them?”

“Don’t be silly,” you nudge him. “We’ll get some good ones of you tonight, trust me. And if you wanna see a bad photo, wait until you see the atrocities this lot take by the end of the night.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. We’ll prepare a slideshow of your finest moments for him, shall we?” Scott retorts, to both yours and Ralph’s laughter.

“Maybe we should save that for a special occasion. A birthday, perhaps?” Ralph asks with amusement.

“Yes, Ralph!” Connor and Scott cheer in unison, both slapping his shoulders excitedly as you gasp in mock offence.

“The betrayal!” You can’t actually be mad at Ralph, though, not with how good he looks when he’s this happy. It’s even more captivating in person.

You shake your head as you go to make sure you’re all freshened up after your meal. You can’t keep thinking these things when you’re sober, or else who knows how that’ll manifest when you’re less so.

Your friends all love learning how to get Ralph distracted enough that he doesn’t even realise half the time that his photo is being taken. Scott, being the photography setup genius that he is, even gets his phone out, sets it on a timer, and manages to get Ralph laughing while looking at the camera, in the middle of the group, all while successfully running into the shot himself. Everyone’s in love with that photo, even Ralph, and when Scott sends it in the group chat, you promise him you’ll print one for the flat, and an extra one just for his room. 

“What about the other ones that everyone else took?” Ralph asks. “Could I get those ones on my phone, too?”

“I’ll do that tomorrow. Ooh, speaking of! Before we go! Gimme, gimme,” you make a grabby hand at Ralph, who eventually takes the hint that you want his phone as he hands it to you. You send over the two edited shots - and that’s all - and, on his phone, successfully upload them:

“No caption?” Anna asks, looking over your shoulder.

“Well, it’d look a bit dodge if he’s tweeting to ask his phone to stop changing his words for him, but then he’s a total whiz at Instagram, wouldn’t it?” You explain, to everyone’s agreement.

Finally, you’re all piled into an Uber and on your way to your favourite bar. It’s in the car, cramped between you and the door, that Ralph realises something in a panic. Frantically tapping your arm, he whispers, “Won’t they ask me to prove I’m of age to drink there?”

You shake your head. “Don’t sweat it. The staff know us like the backs of their hands, they’ll trust us that we’re not bringing in some teenager. Besides, you look far less baby-faced now,” you wrestle your arm out enough to ruffle the beard he’s starting to grow with your fingertips. “So we’ll be fine. Promise.”

Ralph, too, wrangles a hand out to hold his little finger towards you. “Promise?”

With a small laugh, you link your own with his. “Yes, but less of that around the people we have to convince that you’re not a kid, okay?” Ralph nods with a very serious expression, and you copy him before settling back into conversation with your friends.

It takes a few bats of the group’s eyelids and some convincing c’mon, mates but the bouncer soon lets Ralph in with you all, to which he enthusiastically thanks them over and over again. You hurriedly rush him in ahead of you before he arouses too much suspicion.

Connor makes a point of letting Ralph know where the toilets are, and Ralph immediately disappears off into that direction. You ask the boys if one of them should make sure he’s okay getting there, but everyone scolds you for fussing over him too much and moves you along with the rest of them to order everyone’s drinks. You want to hold onto Ralph’s for him but, as Scott reminds you, it’s safer for him to, so that you can look after your own. Just in case.

Soon enough, as with every night out, the group starts to scatter. Scott is happily chatting between Connor and a girl you don’t recognise, most likely playing wingman. You can spot Anna and Grace in amidst a small group of people whose heads are turned away from you. Still no sign of Ralph for a while. Ringing his phone does nothing, but the music is quite loud, he might not be able to hear. The bar is small enough, you tell yourself. He’ll find you eventually.

As you’re craning your head around the bar one more time, you don’t realise anyone is in your immediate vicinity until you almost trip over someone behind you. They catch you with a, “Whoa, easy there! How many have you had?!”

“Barely any, that’s the scary thing!” You laugh.

The man smiles at you. “Sounds like I ought to buy you one then, eh?”

You shrug, “Sure, what’s a free drink?” You gesture that you’ll walk up to the bar with him and order your drink. He tries to make small conversation, and you start to get into it a little, until he starts trying to flirt. He’s not exactly your type, anyway, and his total lack of game really doesn’t help matters. You try and get away with a simple thank you, a promise that you’ll find him later to buy him one back but you really must get back to your friends.

“Ah, what’s the rush? Surely it’s easier for them to come and find you if we stay here, right?” He asks. You look around desperately, trying with all your might to use some of that manifesting power you seemed to have earlier to will one of the boys back, both to rescue you and salvage Ralph.

~~~

Ralph was having quite the experience. Having heard the other boys talk of the bathroom, he assumed that was a prompt for everyone to go, but only once he could see the door to it did Ralph turn around and realise he was completely on his own. Suddenly, the atmosphere changes. What seemed dimly lit now appears almost pitch black. There are lights of all colours shining everywhere. Music that doesn’t quite sound like music thumps in the background. Twenty conversations happening around him turn into white noise, until someone approaches him. A total stranger. Two of them, actually.

 “Alright, mate? Do me a favour?” One asks, despite Ralph’s expression clearly being one that should let anyone know that he is in no position to be giving out any favours. They continue anyway, “Look, I have to draw something, and you have to guess what it is, okay?” Ralph, still bewildered, does not respond in the slightest, but before he knows it, the other person has turned around so that their back can be used as a surface. The original asker now splays a napkin of sorts against their friend’s back as they try and draw something.

Ralph tries his absolute hardest, but as no amount of squinting and focusing can help him, he tells them, “Oh bother, I’m terribly sorry, chaps, I’m honestly trying but I’m really coming up trumps, I do apologise.”

They give him looks of confusion and concern. “Are you on something?”

“Why does everybody assume that of me, just because I’m ever so slightly more well spoken than the average resident here?!” Ralph complains with a frown. “Can this not just be how I talk?”

“Oh my days, you’re a right laugh,” the other grins. “Here, come and do a shot with us, you have to!”

“I- Do I?” Ralph asks, and they nod. “Well, I really should get back to my friends -”

“Oh, c’mon, one shot and we’ll help you find them. Deal?” They ask.

“Well… Alright,” Ralph sighs in defeat. If he can’t find you, he can at least find a constant to anchor onto in the meantime.

“Oi, lads!” The two call out as they approach the table they’re leading Ralph to. “Time out on that game for a minute, we’re doing shots with this legend!” They both look at Ralph expectantly, waiting for him to introduce himself.

“Oh! Yes! Hello, everyone. My name is Ralph. Fabulous to meet you all,” he smiles as he looks around the table.

“Isn’t he sick?!” The artist of the pair grins at his friends.

“Quite the picture of health, actually,” Ralph retorts with a side glance.

“Oh, isn’t he a cutie,” a girl coos from the table. The other of the pair starts to clench his jaw.

“Oi, come off it,” another comforts from around the table. “Any bloke that uses the word fabulous isn’t exactly stealing your girlfriend, is he.”

Ralph’s not even sure how to answer to that, but he isn’t given much time to, either, before being whisked away to the bar with this new group. They hand him a tiny glass filled with clear liquid. Ralph wonders if a shot is perhaps some sort of palate cleanser, a mouthful of water between drinks.

The fiery sensation that travels down his throat as he drinks teaches him that it certainly is not. But once the unpleasantness clears, the strange comfort of alcohol starts to fill Ralph with warmth. It’s certainly happening a lot faster than he’s used to, but then these drinks are far stronger than Ralph’s usual tastes.

Briefly forgetting his own arrangement, he returns from the bar with his new acquaintances - and another martini in hand - and sits back at the table with them as they continue playing their game. It’s played on one of their phones. Someone taps through prompts and reads them aloud. Sometimes it’s challenging a player to do something themselves, sometimes it’s challenging them to approach a stranger, as they had done with Ralph. Sometimes it’s asking them completely arbitrary questions to vote upon amongst the group. They all certainly seem to be having a great time playing, anyway.

Once they declare a round over, they ask Ralph if he wants to join in the next one. “Oh, I’m rather… Old-fashioned, I don’t think I’d be a good fit for this, but I’m sure my friends would love it! Shall I go and find them?”

“More the merrier,” one shrugs.

Ralph excitedly jumps up and starts patrolling the bar to find a familiar face amongst the crowd. He’s yet to see any at all, until one makes his heart drop. He sees you, in the arms of another man. Ralph had really been priding himself on repressing his feelings around you. He wasn’t going to repeat what happened with Lauren. He wasn’t going to scare you off too soon. He was going to keep it to himself. He had tried so hard. And yet, this sight is truly unbearable.

Biting at his quivering lower lip, he storms back into the direction of the bathrooms and keeps going, shoving the first door he finds open as he tries not to cry.

His sorrow is quickly replaced with horror as he finds several women all standing in various places around the room. Some just standing and chatting, some calling to friends in the stalls, some checking themselves in the mirror. After the scene finally sets in for Ralph, he lets out an ultimately high-pitched shriek, swivels around and immediately starts scolding himself. “Oh, bother and blast! Please, forgive me, girls, oh, what an absolute cad I am, I’ve truly disgraced myself, just when it couldn’t get any worse!” His voice gets shakier with every word, and he flinches when a hand appears on his shoulder.

“Sorry!��� One of the girls apologises hurriedly. “I just wanted to let you know it’s okay. Are you alright?”

“Please do not ask me if I have taken any sort of drug just because I am well-spoken!” Ralph half-cries, and the hand squeezes him comfortingly.

“We won’t, promise. Did you need a wee, or just a wind down?”

“I’m not sure, I just… Ran. I’m terribly sorry,” Ralph sighs.

“It’s fine,” the voice reassures. “Wanna turn around and talk to us? I promise, there’s no better therapy than a night in the girls’ loos. Right?” A chorus of agreement fills the room.

Ralph slowly turns around to see an awful lot of smiling faces. He sniffs harshly and nods, “Good evening.”

“Hi!” The one who had approached him smiles. “I’m Lauren!” 

Of all the names! “L-Lauren?” Ralph practically squeaks out as he feels himself start to well up, and her own face falls in some kind of realisation as she shakes her head. 

“Or Loz! Just call me Loz! All my friends do! Forget the other name entirely. Sound good?”

Ralph nods. “I’m Ralph. A pleasure to meet you, despite it being under my most horrific actions.”

The other girls introduce themselves, as well. “So, Ralph, this, uh… Girl With The Forbidden Name, is she why you’re all upset?”

“Is she?” One pipes up from the very back. “Because you point her out and I’ll sort her out, no holds barred.”

“See, this is what I tell you, you get like two vodka red bulls down you and you’re ready to throw hands at any inconvenience,” her friend groans next to her. Ralph very quickly taps the square with the bird on it and types a message out to ask the internet “why do people throw hands at each other”, quickly followed by “what sort of hands do people throw”. He decides he’ll check people’s answers later, so as not to appear rude.

“Look at him, though!” The more hot-headed one gestures to Ralph as he wipes away the tears that had been threatening to fall. “Look at those eyes! Like melted chocolate, they are. What kinda sadist would possibly make that happen?!”

“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s all futile,” Ralph shakes his head, but his new friend Loz points at him.

“Oi. Nothing’s futile here. This is a safe space. Let it out.”

Ralph starts to explain that he had fallen for a Lauren, dove in headfirst, had his heart broken and vowed not to let it happen again, but that seeing the housemate he cared so deeply for in the arms of another just brought all of that sadness back up again. The girls are all very sympathetic, and very good at knowing exactly what to say to make Ralph feel better. The rather boisterous one keeps trying to speak negatively of you, but Ralph won’t have any of that. You’re your own person, and it’s up to Ralph to get over his own feelings. The girls commend him on his emotional maturity. Apparently not a lot of men have that.

They ask if he wants to talk it through with you, but he shakes his head, telling them that he isn’t certain how long it is before he can go home again, and so he doesn’t want to commit to anything or risk either staying with you with such an emotionally charged elephant in the room at all times, or being turfed out indefinitely.

"That's quite the predicament you've got yourself in, Ralphie, babes," Loz hugs him arm, and he allows himself the comfort of leaning against her.

Suddenly, a stall door swings open violently, and a whole new girl appears, holding her phone up to her face. Before anyone else can ask if she's okay, she gasps loudly, "I bloody knew it!"

Everyone looks at her quizzically, including Ralph, and she continues. "Well, I thought, guy called Ralph who sounds really old-fashioned, I wonder if… And then some of the things he's said kind of sounded like those tweets, have any of you seen that Ralph On Twitter guy?"

A few more gasps of realisation dot about the room. Ralph's ears turn pink as he recognises the word Twitter from the conversation you’d had with the other four this morning. Loz frowns, "Are you sure it's -"

"Is this your insta?" She turns her phone around to show Ralph her screen. It says Instagram on the top, so Ralph takes out his phone and presses the square that also says that, showing it around to see if that's right. Excitedly, all the girls crowd around to make sure they get Ralph's handle right so they can follow him.

One girl - Ralph's already lost track of them, honestly - announces, "So what I'm hearing is, girls' room photoshoot with Ralph from Twitter?!"

Ralph laughs nervously, "Oh goodness, I'm flattered, but those are all taken candidly, would you believe! I am certainly no poser, I have been told this enough times today already."

"Bollocks to that!" The loud one shouts. "We'll teach you how, won't we, girls?"

Before Ralph knows it, he's squatting amongst all his new friends who are trying to teach him how to do the smoulder look he was doing in his photo on purpose when the main door opens to reveal you standing there, looking absolutely bewildered. "Oh my god, Ralph! You're okay! Thank fuck for that!"

As you frantically update the group chat that you’ve found Ralph safe and well, Loz reaches for his hand to squeeze it. The loud girl starts to tense up behind him but Loz waves her down from behind his back. “Yeah, he’s just been having some drunk girl therapy,” she explains calmly.

“God, I could do with some of that right now,” you groan. “Honestly, you trip and fall onto a guy one time and he thinks you’re soulmates, it’s horrendous!”

Ralph’s face lights up all of a sudden. “You’d… You’d fallen on him?” Concern falls back onto his expression. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, physically, I’m fine, but I don’t know how I’m going to mentally recover from listening to one man talk about himself so much,” you groan into your hands as you hold your face. “I forgot why I stopped dating in London.” You notice that one of the girls puts her arm down after having held her phone up at a particular angle. “Oh my god, wait, you guys were taking photos together?” A few of them nod. “Would you like me to take them for you? Rather than one of you trying to fit everyone in at arm’s length.”

“Oh my god, would you?” one of them sighs with relief.

You nod, gesturing to Ralph to hand you his phone again.

Maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe it’s the presence of so many other people in the photo with him, but Ralph blends in so much more naturally in the photos you take now, even when you suggest different poses and expressions. One of them - Ralph quickly introduces her as Loz, and no other name - asks around for phone numbers of the girls that, you assume, had all just met and bonded over whatever Ralph was in here for. You take over the role of adding everyone’s numbers into Ralph’s phone, and see that Loz adds him to a group chat that she names “Ralphie’s Angels”. You laugh at the name, and send all the photos you’ve taken into the group chat.

“Right, I can feel myself sobering up now, and we can’t have that,” one of them calls out, making the rest of you laugh. “Shall we all go and face the music?”

You pull a face, “Ugh, that means I have to go back and face… Him.”

“Nah, you stick with us, hun,” the one who seemed hostile with you at first suddenly seems to be fighting your corner now. “He even looks in your direction when I’m around, I’ll make him wish he didn’t.” You give her a comforted smile in response and the whole horde starts making its way out of the bathroom.

Your friends also catch up with you at the bar, grateful to see Ralph’s face again, too. Grace is hanging off some new guy’s arm, Anna is half-present in the whole conversation but also half-texting somebody, and Scott is catching up with Ralph. You spot that Connor isn’t talking to anyone and head over to him, “What are you drinking?” you ask loudly over all the music. “I still owe you, remember!”

Connor shakes his head, “Nah, don’t sweat it. Ralph’s a good’un, it was no bother.” Speak of the devil, Ralph excitedly hands you and Connor drinks that one of his new friends insists on buying for everyone, then grabs his own glass from Scott who’s followed him to clink against yours and Connor’s before hurriedly rejoining his group. You and your friends laugh in unison before Connor downs his martini, gives you a quick hug and heads home for the night. Grace and her new friend are the next to leave - you never did catch his name, and you’re not sure you’ll have a reason to remember it anyway.

You dismiss Anna and Scott, telling them that Ralph will probably be a while yet, and that they don’t have to wait up for him just because you do. At first they insist on staying with you, but eventually tiredness consumes them both and they bid you goodnight.

As though preying from afar - because that’s most likely what he was doing - your admirer from earlier appears as soon as your friends are out of the door. “Well, well, we meet again.”

Your eyes narrow as you groan out a breath. “Yeah, hi -”

“I can’t believe your friends would leave you alone like that,” he shakes his head.

“Oh, they haven’t, I’m still waiting on -” Your knight in 21st century armour, Ralph, walks over to the pair of you. “Ah, there he is! Are we going home now?”

“Would you like to?” Ralph asks, concern in his eyes, and you nod with fervour. “Then yes!”

The other man pulls a face. “Wait, sorry, you’re going home with - who the fuck is this?!” He gestures at Ralph, a nasty expression on his face.

Thankfully, Ralph’s cavalry come to your defence, led by none other than an incredibly loud, “Oi, dickhead! Who the fuck are you?! Fucking look at my friend like that again, see what happens, yeah?” Despite being perhaps half a foot shorter, Ralph’s most fiery friend easily squares up against him.

You tap her shoulder in thanks, take Ralph’s hand and guide him out of the bar. The cool air outside hits your face, but the alcohol in your system acts as a blanket around the rest of you. “You good?” You ask Ralph, and he nods. “Good. I’ll call for an Uber.”

Ralph frowns, “But aren’t those taxis, parked up over there?”

“Well remembered! Yeah, but a drunk girl once told me that those charge extra for all the time they’ve spent sitting there, and I’ve never felt bougie enough to spend the money to find out if it is true, so I like to play it safe.” You book an Uber that says it’s four minutes away and sit on the edge of the path. Ralph joins you. “Sorry we lost you, earlier, by the way. I did keep trying to look for you.”

“Pah! My own fault, really. I got all frazzled, you know,” Ralph’s eyes widen as he gestures wildly, making you laugh. “I still feel a tad so now!”

“It helps to kind of start resting your head for a bit. Here,” you pat your shoulder and Ralph takes the hint, tucking himself inwards to rest his head on your shoulder. Yours head falls onto his instinctively, and you set your phone to the front camera. You see Ralph’s small, contented smile, quickly plaster one of your own on and snap a photo.

Ralph then frowns, “Oh, no! I wasn’t prepared!”

“Exactly. Look,” you say fondly as you show him the photo. Both of you looking happy and comfortable, despite some bumps in the road. A perfectly normal first night out for Ralph.

“Can you put that one on my phone too, please?” he asks sleepily.

Reluctantly, you push his head away from you. “Yes, but c’mon, sleepyhead. We still have to get home.”

Ralph doesn’t make it the whole journey home, his head once again flopping against yours in the back seat of the taxi as he sleeps. You manage to prod him awake once you’re back outside your block of flats, though, and he trudges along behind you into the lift and along the hallway until you’re back in the safety of the flat again. “Gimme a minute to grab some PJs for the night, yeah?” 

“Of course. I think I should use the bathroom properly now,” he nods.

You pull a face, “Yeah, the fact you’ve gone the whole night without it is honestly impressive!” You hear Ralph chuckle under his breath as you go back into your room, blindly head to your pyjama drawer, take out the first top and bottoms that you can feel, regardless of whether or not they match, and head back into the front room, opting to duck beneath the kitchen counter to change.

Ralph re-emerges a few minutes later, his voice drawling wearily as he asks, “Would you like the bed for tonight? I can’t imagine the morning should be pleasant for either of us.”

You walk over to him and put your hand on his shoulder as you chuckle, “It’ll be fine. You probably need it more than I do, that was probably heavier than what you’re used to.”

“I had a shot tonight, you know,” Ralph tells you with intrigue.

Your eyebrows shoot up, “Oh, yeah? And how did that go for you?”

“Absolutely awful,” he replies simply, pulling a face of disgust, and you both laugh.

“Yeah, you’ll definitely need the bed, then,” you nod. “Did you have a good time, though?”

“Oh, most certainly!” he grins. “I’ve made so many new friends! And I really rather think I’ve made a good impression on your friends, as well.”

“You know they’re your friends too, right?” you ask, cocking your head. Ralph tries to wave you off, and you pull a face of disbelief. “Come off it, they love you! I bet you had a great time with them earlier, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yes, absolutely! Um, but… I did… Um… It wasn’t quite the same without your presence there,” he mumbles.

You frown, “Did you say anything about your past?”

“Oh, no, that never came up! Just… Oh, ignore me, I’m dreadfully tired,” Ralph rubs his face wearily.

“Yeah, you’ll be thanking me for the greasy-ass breakfast I’ll be making us in the morning, so get ready for that,” you grin at him before pulling him in for a goodnight hug. He may smell like a fragrance store with all the proximity he’s had to several perfumed people, but there’s still something comforting about being able to bury your face into his shoulder and taking a deep breath in. Ralph’s arms tighten around you as you do so, as he allows himself the luxury of squeezing his eyes shut and just enjoying the moment.

You eventually pull away with a yawn, “Alright, I think we’re both about to fall asleep standing up, so… Night, Ralph.”

“Y-yes. Of course. Goodnight. Pleasant dreams,” Ralph smiles awkwardly at you before walking quickly to the bedroom.

You set yourself up on the sofa and start looking through the day’s photos. Ralph’s little instagram photoshoot doesn’t feel like it was only this morning, and you can’t help but let yourself fall into the trap of looking at the photo of him laughing again. Shaking your head again, as though that’ll do anything at this point, you scroll through to the photo of all six of you in Grace’s house and set it as your lock screen. You keep scrolling through hurriedly to your other favourite photo of the night, and, while it may be a little delusional, you set the photo of the two of you at the end of the night as your home screen. You’re used to being into people who you can’t have, be it from their disinterest or other reasons, so what’s the harm in indulging yourself a little by imagining a world where the two of you could always be like that?

That’s what Ralph tells himself too as he stares at the photo on his own phone screen until the need for sleep finally takes over.

next chapter

#ralph timewasters #ralph timewasters x reader #ralph timewasters x you #ralph timewasters fanfic #ralph timewasters imagine #ralph penbury #ralph penbury x reader #ralph penbury x you #ralph penbury fanfic #ralph penbury imagine #ralph timewasters fluff #ralph penbury fluff #bsbl #fic: bsbl #*myfics

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

You're forgetting that Eraser is an enabler. Yes, Bakugo should be held fully accountable for his own actions, I completely agree with you there. But Eraser is his homeroom teacher. It's his job to discipline Bakugo when he does something wrong and not allow him to continue that behavior. Instead he does nothing as Bakugo repeatedly attacks a fellow classmate. He assumes that Midoriya is just as responsible for them not being able to get along. He has CONSISTENTLY treated Midoriya unfairly, especially as opposed to Bakugo.

Who's the one always defending Bakugo? Eraser. Who's the one who paired them together for the final despite Bakugo repeatedly being violent toward Midoriya? Eraser. Who's the one who did nothing to correct Bakugo's behavior despite promising to? Eraser.

Either Eraser is an idiot who genuinely doesn't believe that there's a power imbalance between Midoriya and Bakugo, or he's aware of it and sees no problem with it and doesn't deign to do anything about it. You can understand how neither of these options do him any favors

I'm not saying he isn't an enabler.

I'll acknowledge that my preferred version of Aizawa is mostly fanon because I like him better when he's a good man and a good father figure to the kids. But I know that he enabled Bakugou.

It's why in every five I write the backstory is that Aizawa doesn't read teacher comments and he assumes based on Bakugou’s attitude that he was treated like a villain. Because it gives us a reason why Aizawa does defend Bakugou. As for Izuku: I think Nezu never included the activation date or even Izuku kept it quiet out of fear. He never tells ANYONE when he got his Quirk for a long time. So I can actually understand why Aizawa would think Izuku is lazy in that situation. I think Aizawa is a fucking idiot for not looking into it further, but that's me.

However I can't remember Aizawa ever blaming Izuku for the fights with Bakugou. I literally can't. He blames them BOTH for the after curfew fight which is highly unfair but it's not solely Izuku. I've rewritten enough of the series that I can see how unfair Aizawa is BUT with his personality I can't understand why. It feels incredibly out of character to me that a guy who hates when people coast on their Quirks and acts like a bunch of entitled dicks would give Bakugou a pass. Hence my headcanon.

Aizawa does enable Bakugou: and it's WILDLY out of character even early on. This is why I think Horikoshi either: a) wants Bakuhou around the most and will make everyone OOC to do it or b) is being forced to keep the guy in due to popularity.

But to say he ONLY blames Izuku is wrong. He's just never punishing Bakugou which isn't good. I won't deny Aizawa is a dick the first while before becoming more open. However: he's not the one at fault for Bakugou’s actions. Bakugou would have figured a way out to bully Izuku no matter what. He'd have gotten sneaker and meaner over time. That's what abusers do. He'd have hit Izuku in places people can't see and he'd have done things to mess with him.

Aizawa did enable Bakugou. But to have him receive a horrible punishment when Bakugou gets off Scott free is my issue. If Aizawa is fired for not doing anything, Bakugou should be expelled. If Bakugou just needs anger management, Aizawa just needs therapy.

To me, Aizawa honestly thought Bakugou just needed guidance. He never threatens Izuku with expelling him after the first day. He pulls logical ruses, does train Shinsou over them and isn't a great teacher but NO teacher at UA is a good one. Vlad King certainly the hell isn't given he hasn't cracked down on Kendo or Monoma for their shit. Power Loader isn't for not stopping Mei from her antics. Present Mic and Midnight could have done something to. All Might isn't a great teacher either.

Aizawa is an idiot who got blinded by his own beliefs. Bakugou is a child who was hurt by society and needs guidence while Izuku is the old version of Kirishima: a well meaning guy who pushes to much. That's what Aizawa thinks I believe. That's what he is to me. Someone who honestly has the best intentions but fucks up.

But again: the issue will always be the unequal punishment for Bakugou when he is the sole person at fault. He didn't need an enabler the very first day: he attacked Izuku no matter what. His actions are his own.

#bnha #bnha critical #bakugou critical #anti bakugou #aizawa critical

[koreposion]

Thoughts on canon and fanon Blue?

Okay let me start off with this

AUUUYGHHHHHHRRRFHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHH RAHHHHHHHHH

Now my actual thoughts are....I don't really care, they both have their strengths and weaknesses but both of them are used to tear the other down. Not only that but purity culture is pathetic so when "Blueberry" is made to be Aroace because "He's such a cute and sweet childlike bean!"

It's grosser than the fact that you think of him as "childlike" like adults don't love puzzles, colors, and keep stuffed animals. Not only are you making it out to seem like it's bad to enjoy "childish" things as an adult but that wanting joy means that you haven't grown up which is :[

I feel like Blueberry is a wonderful way to explore different aspects of adulthood and how it affects people differently. Childlike wonderment and joy shouldn't be limited to just your childhood, and some children are just forced to grow up fast but then that leaves them wanting the things they should have had during their childhood years. However this part of storytelling for Blueberry isn't EVER SEEN BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON PEOPLE ARE FIGHTING OVER ECHO CHAMBER THOUGHTS????

Not only that but the MOMENT someone EVER headcannons something and it becomes popular it becomes "fanon" which??? SO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO WRITE THE CHARACTERS BASED ON HEADCANNONS MADE FUCKIN FOREVER AGO???

Like okay, example the food thing where each Sans was given a favorite condiment, and the swap versions were different dishes. This was okay but like...what do you mean Blueberry's defining traits are that he loves tacos and wants what's best for everyone....like are you sure you don't want anything else? Please. Please oh my God please.

It's like when people make Papyrus' traits "love spaghetti and the guard" and NOTHING ELSE. Even though he loves collecting action figures, studying puzzles, making costumes, building, and he is a very caring person but is only ever used as a plot point in fics??? Like when something needs to go wrong he's there, or when something needs to go right he's there. It's not written in naturally and thus has also affected the way people write Blueberry.

When something needs to go right or wrong Blueberry is there but oh no! He's too sweet and kind to want anything EVER and only wants what's best for you but it's never in a cool manipulative way? Fics that make him a bit of an ass are a breath of fresh air.

I think people forget that he's Sans too a lot. And I think he should be more quick witted and smart mouthed. He should keep his love of puns and ketchup, he should also keep his smarts. Like puzzle wise he's actually really good and puts a lot of effort into it but he's not really good at the science aspect of smart. It's like people forget that you can still keep these traits and "swap" him.

I have SO MUCH MORE to say but the basic fundamentals are this.

People need to stop holding onto the past version of Blueberry but also not tear down the past version as much as they do. You can give him different traits and he'd still be "Sans", making him less of a "Papyrus" would be helpful. Have fun with new ideas and possibly explore the idea of having different types of childhood and how that affects a person as an adult. Liking childish things doesn't mean someone is an innocent person, but that they find comfort in those things and nothing more. Growing up happens, and it's apart of life and it's hard to come to terms with sometimes.

To have him stay a flat character with no possiblity of change is a waste of potential and people have the right to do more. Overall, do what you think is most fun when it comes to story telling but don't forget that he's a character who needs devolvement just like any other "Sans"

Man I had so much to say I'm sorry

#ask #underswap sans

[ryzies-ralley]

YOU HAVE AUS?!?! THAT'S SO COOL!!!! WHAT ARE THEY!!!!!

IM SO GLAD SOMEONE FINALLY ASKED HOLY SHIT YES

I have one for about every Fandom i join, so it'd be hard to talk about all of them. but here's like 2/14(?)of my most worked on AUs (That don't have an Ask blog).

(AU's Undercut this got super long im so sorry-)

UNDERTALE: 2 PLAYER MODE

The 2 Player AU is one of my OLDEST AU's I've had, dating back to at least 2017? note, Its changed a lot over time and still might so.

The Concept is Essentially After Frisk plays threw a version of Undertale that is at their own fingertips & eventually, gets bored. Deciding to change course of the timeline & create a new starting point they share power over the Timeline with Flowey (this doesn't mean they share a soul, more so Determination & Stats), Which Sparing the lore dump eventually creates a new starting point/Save file & a new timeline with code to decompile.

this has probably been done to death but pbbtbgfncn I like writing depth to Flowey & giving Frisk their own personality

It features a lot more than just that including many personal head cannons, Theories & Continuing Arc interpretations. It's probably my second favorite AU I have (First is a We Bare Bears AU), despite being very simple with its arcs.

Hence why as much as I want to make this now, it'll have to wait so I can grow more as a creator & make it as best as it can be.

It may however be getting a short comic eventually that is the context behind this ^ drawing. Anyway ask me more about this AU though pleas-

MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS FRANTIC

th-this was an au.. that started out with such a simple concept.

then it got so fucking Long & Complex with its lore- to the point i accidentally rewrote the entire show. I don't even dislike the show the only major story flaw I hated was the Grogar Twi-

Basically the Concept of this AU is about 2 things now; Everyone is based off Different Fan Works/Fandom Ideas within the MLP Fandom & it acts as a In between from the show - The last Problem (Also sometimes i joke that this au is just MLP but 13+)

Examples:

Flutter shy has a Shed for y'know. venting aggressions

Pinkie Has The Same Backstory as in Friendship is Witchcraft

That's all I'm going to say about this au, it's never getting an ask blog/Public lore dumps ever aside from this cause I don't want to deal with All the lore I made for this. I might post art i do for it though.

Twilight's Based Off the common fanon Idea of her not coming to terms with her immortality & Alicorn hood

Starlight Glimmer wasn't fucking reformed in one epis-

I was going to talk about a third Clone High AU but I talk too much so-

#pineart🍍 #frisk undertale #flowey the flower #river person #undertale #Undertale AU #undertale fanart #mlp fim #Twilight Sparkle #rarity #fluttershy #applejack #rainbow dash #pinkie Pie #spike #sunset shimmer #starlight glimmer

[weekend-whip]

Hi! I wanted to say I LOVE your fic, and how you characterise the ninja - they’re so realistic in how they act and they have such unique ways of thinking! I also love the way they all interact with one another - the shenanigans never fail to make me laugh. I’m trying to write something myself atm, and I was wondering if you have any tips on how to do consistent characterisation/character arcs? It’s something I struggle with lots and I think you do it really well! Tysm

Thank you!!

I've gone into a few details on my approach to writing overall right here, but for specifics relating to your question:

Characterization:

Revisit the source material often! It can be easy to forget some of the more nuanced aspects of a character the longer you go without directly experiencing it (and being influenced by ~fanon~ which is not always a bad thing), but that right there is the foundation for consistency and for finding ways to expand on the character too!

A few examples of things to pay attention to when doing so are a character's dialogue/infliction (what phrases they say, how they say things, etc), how they react in average situations vs extreme ones vs personal ones, the ways they act/stand/look when not saying anything or aren't the focus, or trying to imagine what might be going through their heads, whether they're speaking or not!

Plus, it can even serve just as a quick refresher! Even I still go back and do that once it a while, especially when I need to figure out how to write a fresh character's voice (totally not as an excuse to rewatch ninja pfft what)

Read fanfiction! Yes, I know I just said we can get a little too buried in ~fanon~ sometimes, but something that can help your understanding of a character is to study how other people understand a character! Maybe they do things with Kai you agree with! Maybe they handle Cole in a way you disagree with! Either way, that does help sort out what you want to do when you write, and help you come up with idea you might not have considered otherwise!

It can also help you with the "filling in the blanks", for stuff like character dynamics for people that haven't ever spoken/interacted at all, or how a character would react in a situation they've never been forced into in canon and you're not sure where'd you start with it otherwise. If nothing else, it gives you a nice place to jump off from! And something to talk about with other fellow writers!

I just personally think it's important to remember a character's base foundation before pushing them outside of their establish box—bending without breaking, so to speak

Character Arcs:

Sometimes development can happened within a single chapter. Sometimes it's something that is contested across the entire story! One of the first things to determine is how big of an impact a character's arc is going to have on the overall plot. Is their development the plot itself? It is developing at the same time as the plot, or because of it? Is it something that happens on the side but works in service to the plot? Or does it happen independent of the plot entirely?

After asking these questions, you can then determine how important the character arc is going to be, and from there sort out how much focus you want/need to put into it. Does it all happen throughout the story as whole, just when the timing is right, or do they get a subplot dedicated to it? Those types of questions can help you decide how you want this development to unfold too.

The way I generally do it (primarily in my rewrite) is to block out the main events of the overall plot, and then detail where each character would be at in their growth corresponding to the event and/or the point in time, that way I can pace things a little easier, and figure out how potential changes can/will ripple effect down the line. Of course, this may not work for everyone or for every story, but it could be something to try!

Always!! Write!! It!! Down!! Maybe you've got it so well planted in your head and you'll only ever glance at it once, or maybe you'll make a bunch of changes to it in the future, but write out your overall plan(s) for the character(s) at least once, and then go from there. It's just good to have for a reference, and having it all in front fo you can help you visualize some of the finer details down the line (since you don't have to waste brain power constantly recalling the order of events or whatever—you can start digging deeper into the fun stuff!)

Remember it's okay if a character is static too! Depending on the plot/setting, there's going to be characters more situated for the plot at hand than others, and it's okay if everyone isn't going through something at the same time. A character might not need to undergo some astounding personal revelation; but whatever they can contribute can still be important!

So, if some of your struggle is that you can't figure something out for a character to do/learn, it's okay to put them in the backseat until they are needed, or give them smaller, less dramatic goals to overcome! That way there's not as much pressure to cram everyone into the spotlight, and gives you more breathing room to write their moments more naturally, rather than forcing something that might not even be necessary!

Anyway, hope that helps somewhat! ^-^)/

#ninjago #writing thoughts #writing tips #writing help #asks from nice people

[usamamoweek2024]

Meet the Creators - RiverLethe

What username(s) and platform(s) can folx find you on? (Please include links!)

@riverlethe - I am on Tumblr and Ao3!

(Fun Fact) What is your favorite kind of potato?

Yes. If it is a potato, I will eat it (except for mayo-based potato salads - no thanks), and my preference absolutely depends on mood, but if I had to pick one.... Have you ever tried Chef John's Potatoes Romanoff? If the answer is no, go fix that right now! (add in crisped up pancetta before baking - you're welcome)

How long have you been creating works in fandom spaces? How long have you been active in the SM fandom?

If reading fanfic counts as being active in the fandom, I've been active, on and off, for a little over 20 years, but I didn't actually start writing fanfic until 2 years ago.

What type(s) of creative works do you usually make? (fanfics, digital art, cosplay)

Fanfics are my #1 contribution, but I also crochet. I made @linlamont's Sailor Rex plush based on her amazing artwork for her adorable story "Treasures", and I am currently working on a custom Sailor Rex for my 6 yo daughter. There are plans for a Tuxedo Rex and Tuxedo Kamen

What do you enjoy about creating for the SM fandom?

I love the sense of community and making friends within the fandom. Discussing and theorizing all things Sailor Moon is one of my favorite things! Plus, there is just so much to explore, both in canon and fanon

Are you strictly UsaMamo or do you create for other pairings as well?

I wrote a Kunz/Venus fic for Heavenly Pearl's/@kaleidodreams' first ever Rare Pair week, but I otherwise exclusively write for UsaMamo. Who knows, maybe I'll be inspired to create for another ship in the future. Never say never!

What inspires you to create works for Usagi and Mamoru?

The emotions! Everything these kids go through is dark, scary, intense, etc etc, and I love to explore how it affected them, how they're feeling in the moment, and how Usagi and Mamoru support each other through it.

Do you tend to work on multiple projects (WIPs) simultaneously or try to finish one at a time?

Ideally, I would work on one WIP at a time, but with my ongoing story Once More, with Feeling!, I always have multiple going on. While I normally don't mind putting OMwF aside for a OS or two, I haven't updated it in almost a year, which I feel really bad about, so I am trying to put any new ideas on hold right now so I can get Chapter 13 done. OMwF will eventually update, I promise!

Do you prefer large projects (chaptered fics, webtoons/zines, highly detailed art) or small projects (one-shots or simple art)?

I love how much of a story can be explored and fleshed out in a chaptered fic, but, for fans, they can be daunting to start reading if you aren't there from the very beginning (depending on length), and there is always that ever present nemesis: time. As a writer, I like the regular engagement with the community that posting new chapters allows, but writing as I go can be very stressful, especially when motivation just isn't striking. For OSs, I love that ability to focus on one small part of the characters' lives without needing to generate a lot of backstory or lore. Will I do another Chaptered fic once OMwF is finished? Probably, I do want to continue into R, but I will hopefully take everything I've learned working on OMwF (it's my very first ever fanfic!) into the sequel so I'm a little more prepared.

Are there any common themes, situations, tropes, or mediums in your work?

Angst and Romance are probably the most common as I love the emotional impact the angst imparts and how Usagi and Mamoru support each other through it. Honestly, I find the original anime (and the manga to a lesser extent) a bit emotionally stunted, so I absolutely love fics that elicit emotions, in me, either happy, sad or anything in between!, and I strive to do that for my readers. With any luck, I succeeded!

Is there anything you haven’t explored artistically and would like to try?

If I could draw, I would totally do art. I am in awe of what artists can create through their medium and would love to be able to visually see what so many of us use words to describe, but, alas, I'll stick to crocheted dinosaurs with odangos! Regarding writing, I have more OSs in mind for stories and ideas I haven't explored yet, and maybe I'll actually learn some restraint and create chaptered fics that aren't 12+ chapters long at 5k-12k words each. Anything is possible! (Except for me and art. Not gonna happen)

#usamamoweek2023 #meet the creators #sailor moon #usagi x mamoru #usamamo

[fiadorable]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @curator-on-ao3 🫶

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 46 works, but if you parse the three drabble collections and a ficlet collection it jumps up to 96.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 142,888

3. What fandoms do you write for? Star Trek Strange New Worlds, The Librarians, Once Upon a Tme, Star Trek Voyager, The X-Files (none on ao3), Harry Potter, and King & Maxwell

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Where Flowers Bloom: The F*ck You Bouquet Once Upon a Time, SwanQueen, Rated T, 2.8k words Prom season is keeping Regina Mills, proprietor of Fairytale Flowers, busy, but when Emma Swan storms into her store one day with a unique request and a hidden connection, her day shifts from busy to odd to (dare she say it) hopeful.

revelation in the light of gray Star Trek Strange New Worlds, PikeUna, Rated G, 2.8k words Ensign Uhura stumbles into sickbay late one night and discovers something new about Captain Pike and Number One.

love is a ghost you can't control Star Trek Strange New Worlds, PikeUna, Rated T, 4.3k words One or two times Christopher Pike, uh, asked Una Chin-Riley about romance while they were both serving on the Antares. (This fic was inspired by and based on a scenario referenced in @curator-on-ao3's fic The Haze!)

Of Paperwork, Knots, and Warm Glowy Things, or, Roland Registers for Kindergarten Once Upon a Time, OutlawQueen, Rated G, 10.5k words Sometimes, Henry lets him sit on his bed with his old textbooks splayed open on his lap, the large tomes covering his legs as he runs his hands across the shiny paper, drinking in the bright pictures breaking up the dark columns of text. The older boy warned him he might not have hardbacked books like that until first grade, but Roland doesn't care. He's going to carry his own backpack and learn how to write and memorize all the names of all the bugs in this realm.

Trekalicious Drabbles Star Trek Strange New Worlds, PikeUna + La'an & Chapel + La'an & Una + Sir Adya/Z'ymria, Rated T, 2.1k words A collection of 100 word drabbles for the #Wednesday100 challenge

5. Do you respond to comments? I'm trying to! I'm very bad about doing it in a timely manner 🙈

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oh, definitely the scorch. That piece is pure, distilled angst.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Of Paperwork, Knots, and Warm Glowy Things is pretty saccharine

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yeah, I attracted a few trolls with So Are We Alright Then?. Luckily they were no match for the almighty "delete comment" function. Most people are nice.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Eh? Kind of? Most of my stuff stays M or below.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I've done one: an ending unforseen, which is a crossover between Strange New Worlds and Voyager. I threw Christopher Pike into the Delta Quadrant on Voyager so he could have a chat with Kathryn Janeway.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yep!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I can't pick a favorite, but I will say that Mulder/Scully, fanon Janeway/Chakotay, OutlawQueen, and Pike/Una have all been formative ships that I've enjoyed watching/reading/writing for over the years.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? First Day (Once Upon a Time OQ). 1 chapter published as a one shot that was received so well I turned it into a novel-length fic that was never published (19 chapters, 8 alternate universes visited, 40k words written with barely the surface scratched). I love it. It's my white whale. I open it up and marvel at the audacity and ambition of my younger self every now and then.

16. What are your writing strengths? Characterization, dialogue. Sometimes I concentrate hard and pull off some nifty minimalist prose.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Details and self doubt.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I'm not bilingual, so if I did, I would 100% run it by a native speaker if someone was available to spot check.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Either Voyager or X-Files, I can't remember which

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? I love writing the drabbles, they're little puzzleboxes of happy.

tagging: @enterprise-come-in and @meddow with apologies if y'all've been there done that

#fic meme

[amaya-writes]

Can you plz do problem child 2?

The first one was amazing 👏 it was also one of the first Tumblr I read.

Problem Child Part One

Notes: thank you I actually really loved writing problem child and am happy to do a part two. I don't read the manga so keep in mind that the themes of this story are based off of everything I know about Bonten from fanfics (so it could be fanon).

Warnings: sort of suggestive, mentions of gang themes and things normally seen in tokrev, Mikey gets injured, usage of motherly terms towards reader (NON sexual)

Characters involved: Manjiro Sano (Mikey), mentions of other characters

Female reader, you/yours

The sun's final rays cast an orange glow across the conference room as you watched it begin to sink past the horizon.

Normally, the beautiful sight of the sunset would have made your heart leap with joy as you reached for your phone to capture the moment, yet today you found yourself sinking solemnly into your seat as your anxiety grew tenfold.

Over the past few months of your job as Manjiro Sano's PA you had become accustomed to taking care of your boss's son whenever he was indispensable.

However, Mikey had always made sure to return to the office before sunset so you had enough time to make it home without having to deal with creeps lurking around in the dark.

That, paired with the raise you had been given ever since you were unofficially appointed as his son's caretaker, made it easy to simply focus on taking care of the little blond boy and forget about the more gruesome aspects of Bonten.

Yet today you couldn't help but sigh in worry and subconsciously roll your chair closer to the small body snoring away on the black couch at the back of the office.

Something had been off all day at the office but as a private assistant, you weren't exactly allowed to know what.

Manjiro had made the extent of your duties very clear the day he hired you, and while you were more than happy to be kept far away from the illegal side of Bonten, today you couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of anxiety because of your ignorance.

It wasn't the blood, guns, or violence that scared you, in fact, you never seemed to be phased by the higher ups and their tendencies to hurt others, but it was the thought of him getting hurt that had your skin crawling.

You could lie to yourself and pretend you were simply a concerned employee all you wanted, yet deep down, you knew that your fear had to do with more than just common courtesy.

Thankfully, you weren't given much time to come to terms with your thoughts, with the sound of rushed footsteps and loud slam of the conference door being thrown open giving you something new to focus on.

Or rather, two things.

Firstly, the rude intruder who had nearly disrupted your peace and awoken your boss's son was in fact the father of the little gremlin you had been forced to take care of.

And secondly, the only reason Manjiro was as rude as to tumble into the room unannounced was because he was very prominently bleeding.

The sight had your eyes widening and mouth slipping open slightly as you leaned back in your seat and watched a dishevelled, almost crazed, Manjiro wildly scan the room, with his frame only seeming to relax once he spotted the two of you.

"You were supposed to keep him in my office."

The worry poorly concealed behind his angry tone had you gulping back any retort you could have formed, instead letting out a small smile as you watched Mikey rush across the room to kneel in front of the couch and run a hand through his son's hair.

However, he was quick to retract his hand in panic the second he noticed the blood his touch accidentally smeared onto the small boy.

You didn't know why you did it, yet as you watched Manjiro stare at his son's stained forehead as if he had seen a ghost you couldn't help but reach forward and wipe the small red mark away.

You didn't bother to say anything as you walked towards the cabinet on the other side of the room, fetching the first aid kit and gesturing for Manjiro to take a seat and lift his shirt so that you could observe the reason why his white button-up was stained a deep red.

"He was messing with your papers and pretending to be you so I thought the conference room would be a better option."

You should have known that a majority of the blood wasn't actually his, yet as you wordlessly cleared away the dried-up blood on his abdomen you couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh at the single cut laying in the centre.

Maybe it was the exhaustion of having to take care of a toddler for almost half of the day, or maybe the countless times you had tended to Mikey's wounds made the moment feel more normal than it was, yet as you reached forward to clean the cut you found yourself speaking far more than necessary.

"It isn't my place to say this but-"

You made a point to lock eyes with his tired dull eyes as you spoke, ensuring his anger from before had faded away before continuing.

"-he misses you. Perhaps that is why he's trying to be like you."

Mikey's eyes crinkled in dismay almost as if he was getting ready to yell at you, even going as far as to suck in a breath to prepare himself, however, he was quick to calm down and let out a sigh as he too saw reason in your words.

"You're right, it isn't your place. But you're right about him too."

He turned away from you then, allowing you to go about swiping away at the bloodstains and cleaning his wounds while Mikey watched his son sleep.

It was only when you reached for the disinfectant bottle and began to swipe at the cut that his attention finally returned to you, this time with his tone holding a tint of curiosity.

"Why do you take care of him?"

"What?"

Mikey leaned back in the seat as he spoke, forcing you to get closer until your face was all but hovering before his neck/

"It started off as just work, I know that, but why do you continue to take care of him? Why haven't you left and found a job at some other company as a normal PA yet?"

You took a moment to reply, genuinely mulling over your response and only speaking once you had finished disinfecting the wound.

"I care for him. At first it was just normal affection towards a child but now- now I somehow can't go about my weekends without thinking about him and feeling a need to make sure he's okay."

He hummed at your words, with the sound making you force back a small smile as you reached for the gauze.

"You love him."

"I- I do."

Manjiro leaned forward at your confession, swiftly catching your wrist just as you were about to wrap his wound, with his sudden proximity making you suck in a shaky gasp.

"But you're lying. Or rather, not saying the complete truth. Why do you really care so much?"

This was it, the moment you were forced to be true to yourself. The moment you couldn't hide behind the excuse of troublesome toddlers and work to try and deny your true feelings.

The moment you had to face your heart, and in turn, face the person who didn't even know he had stolen it from you.

"I- I think that I have fallen for you, sir."

You internally cursed yourself for how breathless you sounded, but if anything your tone seemed to heighten his amusement.

"Is that so?"

A small smirk tugged on his lips as Manjiro's grip on your wrist tightened, ensuring that you couldn't try and run away in embarrassment even if you wanted to.

"Well, guess what?"

He didn't give you a moment to reply, instead leaning closer until your foreheads were touching.

"I think I've fallen for you too."

The sun's rays flashed across the city of Tokyo for a final time as it completely sunk past the horizon, yet as your eyes slipped shut and lips moulded against his, you found that for once you didn't quite care about the beautiful way it painted the city.

For mere rays of sun were nothing compared to the way Manjiro Sano made you feel.

You were just grateful to know that he felt the same too.

#mikey imagine #mikey fluff #mikey headcanon #mikey x reader #mikey x you #mikey tokrev #bonten mikey #dilf mikey #sano manjiro x reader #manjiro sano fluff #manjiro sano x reader #manjiro x reader #manjiro fluff #manjiro sano #manjiro x you #manjiro x y/n #tokrev scenarios #tokrev x reader #tokrev mikey #tokrev headcanons #tokrev drabbles

[aeternallis]

the nice thing about having friends who have faith in you, having a twin brother you can rant to and not be judged poorly (considering he himself has also been in some hot water with our extended family before, lol), having a sister-in-law you can talk to about the technicalities of things, is that it grounds you to reality. it gives you perspective, and just outright reminds you that you shouldn't let what people say online get to you, because at the end of the day, all this will pass, yknow?

i'm excited for the day i can look back on all of this and laugh about it; it'll make for a neat conversation starter with my friends. lol there's no regret in what happened. i only regret the way i let it get to me, and how i'd forgotten one of my other personal rules when i engage in fandom. but having talked to my loved ones now (and listening to bollywood music), i'm on solid, firmer ground again, so i think it's a lot safer for me now to think and talk about it, to get all my thoughts out onto paper and onto the same solid ground with me.

usually i'd write about this sort of thing on my journal, but i gotta keep the carpal tunnel at bay, so onto this blog it goes.

what happened this week was a double-whammy for me: individuals called me out for a post I'd reblogged on here with some tags I wrote on there, and a meta post that garnered some controversy about a generally accepted fanon take on a character (said take being fanon is my opinion, just so we're clear, future me).

i have hurt a number of individuals with the tags i wrote in that post, and i do feel remorseful for the way i came off, but ultimately, i do stand by them. my reasons were not stated in that post, because i spoke only in the tags; we have a limit of 30 tags, y'all. i'm not able to give all my justifications onto those tags because i'm limited (30!), and i never thought i'd have to (despite the fact that i understood that i had no obligation to), in the first place.

whether or not people choose to discern and draw conclusions about my character based on those tags alone, or if they want to reach out to me to get further clarification, that's entirely up to them. i can't control how people perceive me online, so why expend the energy to giving their opinions about me any weight, when i can use said energy for other things (like smutty kimchay art--//hits)?

the way i see it, the people who choose to discern my character and jump to conclusions about it based on those tags alone says a lot more about them than it ever will about me.

having said that...

cat!kim, bottom!kim, submissive!kim...I don't like any of these headcanons (that hasn't stopped me from reading some amazing bottom!kim fics though, lemme just say XD) because in my mind, they're heavily influenced by jeff satur's media personality and disregards the boundary between actor and character. no one has to agree with me on this, nor should anyone feel the need to explain themselves to me about why they may think the opposite, because at the end of the day, these are just my opinions. anyone else is more than welcome to think the contrary. i cannot control what people think of me through these opinions any more than i can control people giving weight to them in the first place.

autistic!kim and basically any headcanon that applies a medical diagnosis onto a fictional character...is an idea i choose not to engage in, or entertain in any capacity. that's all there is to it. am i stopping others from engaging in this idea? not at all; explore this idea as much as you want in the capacity it makes you happy. that's one of the purposes of fandom, after all. but for my part, i cannot engage in it whatsoever; i'd much rather people in this fandom just think the worst of me, call me all types of names and labels in the book, and live in ignorance about my character, than to compromise on this. i can explain myself in limited capacity in a private chat, but otherwise, i won't share any more of myself than what i feel i can or should in this public space, yknow?

as for my meta posts...i'm very glad they do encourage conversation, even if others disagree with me, but just please be nice about it. i don't mind engaging in friendly debate in private, but i will also admit that debate about character interpretation in public gives me hella anxiety, alas. it's harder to discern people's tones online, and what was once originally a debate can quickly spiral into yelling matches because of this loss of context.

but yeah, i think now i can safely say i've made a little bit of peace with this incident(s), even if i'm still processing a lot of emotions!

and with that, back to my metas and kimchay art, i've kept them waiting long enough~

#personal

[silenthillmutual]

For the violence 🔥: 8, 12, 22, and 25 (concerning either Pathologic or the Souls games)

8: common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

daniil is not a wild partyboy. like that interpretation makes 0 sense for his character. all he does is hyperfocus on defeating death to the detriment of all else. i have literally never understood this vision of him as a hedonist. i get that it's wish fulfillment to make characters wild and provocative but that is just a different character altogether. and it's so bizarre that people will do this when andrey is literally right there. genuinely wondering what fucking game everyone else played.

also do fanon designs count here because i am sick to bastard death of seeing young thin dainty white eileen the crow. actually just sick to bastard death of seeing thin interpretations of characters in any media ever but as of late i'm like would y'all stop de-beefing alfred and solaire. at least with artemy people have the excuse of his model looking thin despite textual evidence supporting him being built like a bear but what is the fucking excuse with the other two. everyone is a coward.

12: the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

something i love actually about patho is that pretty much every character has a lover out there, so even if i don't like them i know someone else does. personally i'm a fan of victor kain, especially in classic where andrey says that victor actually wants to leave town and get an education. i think that's why he is the closest to daniil of the family, but despite seeming like the normalest Kain he is absolutely still deranged. he's just kind of polite about it. i don't know that i have a reason people should like him, though, because generally with my faves i understand why people don't.

closer to the goal here would be specifically classic aglaya, i love her. she's so wordy. it's easy to get lost in her manipulations because she seems so straightfoward. there is truth in what she says, of course, and we as the player know that, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have her own objectives. i think she's fascinating, especially as the routes go on, seeing her lose her patience by the time you get to the changeling route. people always say they want morally gray woman characters and she's one of them!! which is a big reason to like her. she's ruthless but sympathetic. and i think that's very neat.

22: your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

so many people are in a rush to characterize daniil as The Worst Person Ever that they miss my favorite type of daniil quest which is "these kids are doing something dangerous and i must intervene" aka, dadkovsy moments. i'm especially fond of him running off to find these kids' missing dads on day ???? (sometime after the army arrives) because they're crying about it and know he'll help them. i see so many people (cough cough reddit) characterizing daniil as hating children based on a line that as far as i know he never even says in pathologic 2, which he would theoretically say to clara, about not liking children. and it's just people taking that statement at face value while ignoring what actually happens in the game and it's so frustrating to watch people fall for that over and over.

25: common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

i have. so many. i have rewritten this answer like three times now. but i think the thing that really bugs me is when people are like, "no one is talking about / writing fic about / drawing x character because they're too busy talking about / writing about / drawing y character who is boring / evil / morally inferior because they are popular." like i get it. being a fan of a side character sucks. being a fan of a rare pairing sucks. but like. as someone who has in the past and sometimes does still write for side characters and rare pairings, where are you all when it comes to interacting with the content that is being made? people will complain to the ends of the earth about the lack of gen fic. so why the hell aren't any of you commenting on it or sharing it? i have written it. my friends have written it. i know how little interaction it gets. if you want to see it you have to nurture it. like the concept of fandom is built around interaction, if you're not willing to interact then like as a fic author i cannot fucking help you. idk that whole attitude just. grates on me.

#go-go-devil

[raayllum]

Hi I was the anon the asked about parallels. If you didn’t get that ask just forget about I wanted to add a question about how do separate fictional relationships romantic or otherwise with real life ones. I’m asking how to take your fandom glasses off( for lack of a better term?

I know this is probably obvious but it’s healthy to outgrow a show right and realize it was holding you back

Re: this ask a little while ago

Well, fanon/canon romantic relationships vs real ones are very different things (I am assuming that some of those are like, celebrity based, but that is an assumption so it may not make all my advice/thoughts accordingly accurate to what you're looking for, depending on your circumstances).

Characters in a story do not have legitimate agency, as they are not real. They cannot decide to have feelings for another character, nor can they decide to be with them. The writer(s) or fans must realize the potential and, by virtue of being real while the characters are not, can engage with said potential in a variety of ways. This is especially true when it comes to ascribing/projecting versus recognizing our experiences in characters. For example, I very much read and interpret Rayllum as an aspec dynamic (Callum as demiromantic, Rayla as demisexual) and Ezran (among various other characters in TDP) as Autistic as an aspec and Autistic person, but those are ultimately headcanons. At most I might argue there's coding, whether intentionally on behalf of the creative team or not, not is anyone else Wrong for not headcanoning those characters the same way. They're not real, and the wellbeing of real people always takes priority over the wellbeing of fictional characters.

Secondly, there's a wide range of shipping and what it means out there. This is because shipping doesn't always mean "these two characters live happily ever after with babies" (or even if that is the end goal, is not where the root of interest lies). I have characters I ship as in "they didn't even really date and are now longstanding divorced from one another" (Viren/Harrow), "this would never be canon but I like it anyway, and possibly ship either or both halves with other characters in canon anyway" (Terry/Corvus), or "I only ship this 10-15+ years later when they're in very different stages of their lives" (aged up Soren/Opeli or Claudia/Ezran, for example).

This also means learning to read shipping signs even if 1) the ship isn't your cup of tea and 2) how to recognize a lack of shipping signs even if the ship is your cup of tea. Just because I like a ship doesn't mean I think it is, or should be, canon, and just because a ship doesn't work for me as much personally doesn't mean it's 1) a bad ship or 2) isn't happening.

Now, in real life, most of us don't necessarily choose who we develop feelings for (although I know that can vary for people who are on the aromantic spectrum sometimes, myself included) but like

In a fic, or a book, or a show, often times we are privy to characters' direct thought processes. We'll see scenes where they are alone or not with each other. This allows us often to get a very personalized peek inside their head, to really definitively know what they're thinking (and why).

There is no real world equivalent to that; all we have is taking people at their word or at their writing, and trusting that they mean what they say. And maybe we trust that because of consistency, or time frame, or said words being supported by actions, but it is trust. It takes a long, long time for trust to turn into knowledge, in relationships.

A good example of keeping heads screwed on straight (ironically for a queer couple) might be me and my partner. We're both big Rayllum fans and ended up seeing a lot of ourselves in them as people and as a couple. I relate most heavily to Callum but Rayla is my favourite; they relate most heavily to Rayla and Callum is their favourite. And while the similarities are sometimes useful and often times funny, we are decidedly not Rayllum and they are decidedly not us.

More than out growing a show, I think (although that can happen too) it might be more useful to frame it as outgrowing a mindset. If we make any given thing - particularly fictional concepts we do not own and thereby don't have any ultimate control over, and that going a certain way - or anything, really, too much a part of our self-perception/identity, we will undoubtedly have a very hard time if/when those things don't go our way, and inevitably at least one of them. Self hood needs to be grounded in meaningful relationships with art, hobbies, trusted people, and selfhood. Ships and shows can be reflections of that, but probably shouldn't be much more - and never taken that personally

#thanks for asking #anonymous #shipping #life advice #non tdp

[egg-emperor]

I wish I could say the same about Frontiers!Eggman, but... I'm sorry, I still don't like it. The Villain's Precious Child trope is one that I largely roll my eyes at regardless of how it's done, which naturally applies double to a villain that it doesn't even work for IMO, and no matter how the Sage stuff is portrayed, the fandom's already made its mind up on his character, and we know I rarely trust what Flynn claims. Top that off with him still being upstaged by a purple testicle, and... yeah.

That's fine. Coming from someone who's now been on both sides of hating and loving it, and contrary to the beliefs of those that made me their enemy when I was bitter on it too, I have a lot more respect, understanding, and acceptance for those with different opinions to me than they do. :P In fact, I'm even more mellowed out and chill about it than ever because I want to make sure I'm never like those that turned so hostile on me, though I was never close to that in the first place.

I personally think it can work for Eggman but not in the way a big majority of fandom has taken the dynamic from Frontiers and sanitized and simplified it for wholesomeness factor, it's complicated, shallow, and toxic instead. So I still can't engage in fandom the same I could before as fanon is far from it, plus people still see my analysis and writings as criminal for presenting the dynamic as unhealthy, despite how it's canon accurate based on both official word and actual in game content.

I think the "Eggman genuinely accepting creations as being like his kids" thing is fine in itself as he is close to being their father just by being their creator. I've never had a huge problem with him calling himself Metal's father in comics as it was presented as casual and not as deeper, selfless, sincere care. Looking back at Frontiers made me realize it's quite similar with Sage, he accepts the dynamic based on the fact of being her maker and for selfish benefits he states multiple times.

I think it works as being in casual joking manner from Eggman, as a way to butter up his creations and keep them loyal (I can't imagine him referring to them affectionately/praising or showing them affection outside of this), and as his reasonings behind it actually being really shallow, self-centered, and conditional and ultimately only for what he gets out of it with his own pride as creator and benefit in being served by them. I just think all of that is pretty interesting to explore.

The mass majority of fandom definitely isn't going to change its mind on the Eggman portrayal and the dynamic until canon shows them what it really intended much more clearly than Frontiers though, so it doesn't allow for the chance for people to mistake it and put down those who see it for what it is and was even described as by Ian Flynn himself (which I'm half surprised they didn't listen to him but also half not because they always reject canon official stuff in the games they dislike that disprove their theories too)

I can actually see what Flynn means with his explanation of the dynamic and Eggman's "unsettling" side of it and the assertion that he's a "BAD person" warming up to the idea "for all of the wrong reasons", as he emphasized in his Bumblekast answer though. It's definitely actually there in the game. But I still think it's a problem that it's only so clear through certain memos, as it being in a few lines of optional audio over it being shown in actual scenes wasn't the best place to put it with how the dynamic is being misinterpreted for wholesomeness.

And of course I'm still not ever going to be a fan of him being upstaged by the sexy purple testicle when I obviously think him actually getting to control and use the newest powerful evil thing will always be way cooler but my biggest problem this time was the fear he was OOC and I'm just happy it's not the case upon closer evaluation. Of course he deserves way more respect and spotlight too but I'm happy for the bare minimum of his character still being the same in these dark desperate times ngl lol

#dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #sonic frontiers #my post #asks

[derekscorner]

KH Fandom Miscommunication

Come, sit, let’s have a serious look over this. Don’t you find it jarring that a series based in Disney magic only ever spawns talks of echoed opinions or fierce talks of hate?

We all have fell pray to it and I’d go as far as to say I’ve had a very bad stint in it in previous years. You can’t say you like something without a swarm of hate on why you’re wrong nor can you criticize it’s writing without being told you’re wrong.

And before someone takes time to screenshot an old post of me during my awful faze or one of my meme/jokey posts let’s just take a moment to sit and really think about this conundrum.

I criticize KH all the time yet I keep posting things because most of my longer posts are a critical talk about why I dislike something. I don’t generally expect responses but I still throw them into the void to get them off my mind. (like this one)

When I do this I rarely get responses and when I do it’s just short echoed replies or just simple replies about why I am wrong. Which some topics dont really leave room for longer responses but the point is I dont usually see people on any site give a genuine answer from critical thought.

For example, if I asked you why you liked KH Days or it’s leads I’ll usually get a response of some sort of head-canon. If I’m lucky, a short response like “I find them cute and/or tragic”.

To some extent that simple feeling is fine as an answer but if someone is going to debate with me (because subjective does not seem to exist in the fandom vocabulary) don’t tell me you think they’re expertly written because of what ideals you push onto that character.

The most recent example was someone trying to discuss with me what sexuality they put on Xion which baffled me. I wont name the person, they were just being nice, but this idea still baffled me. Why? Because:

1) Xion has the body of a 14 year old with the mental experience of one year.

Her initial body didn’t even have a true face. So it’s very hard for me to imagine she’d have any semblance of that aspect of life figured out. One day she might but I highly doubt she does at this moment in time.

She’s lucky she even got a body back to experience life beyond her initial year.

2) When I ask what you like about so and so from Kingdom Hearts I want to know what, within the written story, that this character experienced, made you think that way.

Head-canon, lord forbid fanon, is something we all have but what you saw online or added in your head isn’t from the actual story. It’s not a factor when giving critical thought to the writing.

Even I will reblog Xion fan art or manga panels despite hating the DS game Days because the manga and artists add something the games do not. It’s drawn/done well and I’ll reblog it but that won’t be a positive point I add to my view of the game itself.

3) And the final issue this causes is admission. You’re telling me that you only liked this thing after adding ideas you liked to that thing.

That’s an indirect admission on your part, to me, that your initial take on the story wasn’t as positive as you remember it. You’re having to support your opinion with added fluff not found in that story to begin with.

The best example of this is Terra. I’ll make jokes but at the end of the day Terra and the BBS cast is given writing that makes their intelligence questionable.

Yes, you can infer or speculate that Terra’s trusting nature is due to his sheltered life but Terra himself never hints this. The writing doesn’t have to tell me verbatim that he is too trusting. If anything show is better than telling but do keep in mind that the story lacking this nuance is what adds to the “terra is stupid” view.

His initial mistake with Maleficent is understandable. That’s the first mission. It’s entirely possible he’s naïve but I won’t get that impression when Terra rarely feels like he learns from his misadventures.

And this is me giving a realistic look at Terra. I can’t speak highly of his middle story but his initial mistake and the death of Eraqus are two aspects in his story that’s actually done decent and makes his actions shortly after believable.

The Issue

If you’re still reading then you likely think I’ve rambled into a tangent but no. I mentioned these things because that’s something I expect to see when I hear someone telling me why they love or hate something KH related.

You think I’m wrong about Terra? Okay then tell me why based on what you saw in BBS. I may not agree but I’ll respect critical thinking. 

You think I’m right about Xion? Fine, tell me why you agree. Don’t just respond with “lol Nomura sucks ass remove him from office”. I may not necessarily disagree with your sentiment but I will not accept that as a point about why you, or me, are right about Xion compared to someone who likes her character.

Saying “nomura sucks” doesn’t tell me why you disliked Xion. I can tell you why I didn’t in long or short form but it’ll be based on the Days game I experienced. I will also always end any Xion criticism (a serious one mind you) with the undertone that I liked the manga.

I genuinely love the personality and humor the Kh manga gives the cast because I feel the games and their writing do not add the same level of humanity to them. This does not make my issues with the game writing better but rather gives me an example of how good it could be.

And I expect this civil thought in turn. If you want to joke I’ll shoot the shit with you all day but if you’re wanting a serious talk you’ll find yourself muted or losing my participation the moment you drop some tribalism like “it sucks and you’re wrong because Nomura sucks” or “you’re wrong. you’re just a hater that should quit playing the game if you hate it”.

Such responses aren’t responses. What they are is childish anger because you feel personally slighted. Acting this way doesn’t fix anything and it’ll only pollute the area you hoped to discuss it with others in.

You can’t even say “Kingdom Hearts” on twitter or a forum without a flood of why Kh3 was written by God himself or why it was so bad it should cost an old Japanese man his job.

Worse, you risk the chance of running away everyone but the five who agree with every word you say which doesn’t help you grow as a person. That just builds a bucket that you’re shouting into and hearing your echo shout back.

It’s all sad to watch and it’s even sadder knowing I was no better for it ages back. I even risk it now because I genuinely get annoyed when any level of thought is brushed off by someone just saying I hate so and so and replying constantly hoping for a conflict.

We all fall victim to it and it is just so very sad....it also makes me wonder if our generation and later is losing the capacity for critical thought thanks to social media and the internet but that’s a topic all it’s own.

Bye now. 8D

#kingdom hearts #kh3 #kh4 #kingdom hearts missing link #khtangent

[thornquillthefiendish]

oohh how bout,,

ashfur for the opinion thing?

We’re starting with a b i g one for me. Since you like this dood (which is perfectly fine!) I wanna be nicer than I usually am about him as to not seem like a huge dickhead- (sorry if I still do I’m just another dumbass on the internet man)

Sexuality headcanon

bisexual

Gender/pronouns headcanon

Cis male he/him/they

Rate them out of ten

God that’s hard. On a writing standard 7/10 he’s probably one of the most consistently written characters in the books. Based on how much I like him (not as a villain just in general) 2/10

Favorite thing about them

Best villain in the series hands down. I’m sorry nobody else comes close in what ashfur makes me feel when he’s on screen/in the pages and it’s this intense unease and distaste that comes from his actions and character and not poor writing which. I’m not sure how they did it??? He’s a great villain and genuinely intimidating later on. I’m constantly brought back to thinking about him while rewriting because of how interesting he is, how honestly? Good he is as an antagonist. Like, I show off my hawkfrost love a lot, but I think he is overshadowed by hawkfrost when they’re out side by side. Hawk did some shit — but, ashfur was harboring the manipulative tactics to make all of the clans run amok trying to figure something out. Let’s be honest, ashfur was the better antagonist of the two.

Least favorite thing about him

I’m sorry it’s the whole guy he’s not a good guy he’s. He’s too foul. Ashfur is a character who if he were a protagonist you wouldn’t like being in his shoes, but you cannot lie and say it wasn’t interesting or pulling to be there.

Why I first started liking/disliking them

Ohhhh boy. Ok so. To keep this kind of short, I used to be a really big ashfur fan, but it stopped around 14 and around 15-16, I was getting back into the books and kinda having wisened up a little rereading ashfur was. Idk it was unnerving especially after being able to clearly look at my own experiences. I think it definitely hits different because I was really interested in ashfur when I was younger, now I feel like slight tinges of annoyance when thinking of him — clarity wise this is just me, he’s a cat in a fictional series of books and I definitely get why people still like him! It’s just this weird case of — I don’t hold any sympathy for his character nor any like, I think he’s interesting and I try to detach my own biases while working on rewrite stuff with him, but tbh? A double death well deserved.

Do I relate/project onto/kin them?

Nope.

Favorite quote/moment

The utterly terrifying moment where he drags squirrelflight to fucking hell what the fuck

My fav ship

Hawkash

My fav platonic friendship

I can’t see him with many friends tbh…idk, maybe Cloudtail, but he is his brother-

A ship I hate

Legit hate? Ashsquirrel it freaks me out

Funny hate? Hawkash I’ve got a love hate relationship with it for reasons previously stated (hawkfrost deserves a better boyfriend, but he has shit taste in men)

Do I prefer canon or fanon?

Tbh, canon? I guess when compared to most fandom rep that is. Personally I’ve never really loved emo ashfur. I’ve made him up in my head (so I guess my version of fanon) to be vindictive of course, but a lot more adept in planning a course of action while also remaining solidly unhinged. I kinda like the idea that he was kind of a well regarded warrior at the time, I like the idea that he was notably muscular - I like how on the surface he might’ve been nice, but underneath it all he was dangerous it was just nobody ever considered he could do harm because he’s ashfur, of course he couldn’t, we know ashfur. I like how up front you can see signs of how this can go wrong, but you ignore it for whatever reason, and then it does go wrong. Makes him a bit more real as an antagonist.

Random headcanon

Ashfur has a control problem, largely the reason he can’t let squirrelflight go. He doesn’t want to give her up, he doesn’t want to lose - he cannot lose, he won’t let himself.

What color do I picture them as?

Desaturated, muddy blue

Cat breed headcanon

Oriental likely? I’m not fully sure — likely a breed with a really defined face

Unpopular opinion

Likely that ashfurs the best written villain, but also. Out of all of them the most pathetic, but? Most intimidating. Because he got more done than half of our villains because of an obsessive fixation over his ex. Tigerstar should be rolling in his grave.

Things I associate with them

Leeches, every sad love song/breakup song at one point has reminded me of him, Dennis from always sunny (they are. The same person), there’s a lot of different poetic esc imagery that makes me think of him, but if I had to think of something really poetic and jazz I’d say the story of Apollo and Daphne, whom Apollo, by Eros was struck with such an insatiable desire for while in turn, Daphne had grown disgusted with romance. He’d chase her until Daphne, too tired, pleaded for her father to help her, and thus he turned her into a laurel tree. Even in this form, though, Apollo never halted, decorating himself in laurels and proclaiming them his icon.

Song I associate with them

Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria. I actually have a smol playlist for him that helps when I’m writing for him.

Favorite MAP/PMV/AMV with them

The Rory map (the part where he’s screaming is perfect)

#warrior cats #wc #ashfur #the cat ever