#and it makes me so conflicted cause On The One Hand !!! that's real cool !

[ouchthathurts]

❝ 𝐁𝐄𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 ❞

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐬) ⋮ Work-Husband! Nanami Kento x Idol! Fem! Reader

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 ⋮ 6.4k 

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ⋮ You’re a team leader of an awful office, and thanks to your boss, you’re now stuck with a man whose exhibits everything you want to be in this office. You hope he’ll be your ally in all of this mess.

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐬 ⋮ Cross-Posted to AO3 | Slow Burn | Slow Build | I Wrote This While Listening To Laufey’s Music | Soft Nanami | Nanami is such a sweet heart | Bewitched By Laufey cause 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 ⋮ I love this man

Nanami Kento

You’ve thought of Nanami for a very long time, honestly, there was something so graceful about the way he handed all conflicts, defended those with such language that left higher ups perplexed, and even inspired those to do their best regardless of his unchanging tone. You find this type of lens to view such a magnificent man that you find yourself often becoming absorbed in all things he does as you find yourself fascinated in his ways.

“Nanami Kento, one of my hardest workers being able work with you! You should be very grateful; he has experience that spans across the many departments!” Both hands on your shoulders like a bicycle as you looked up at the blond with a look of straight-faced man who had been overworked by this company, you were jealous by how he was allowed to look that tired, but you had people in the office comment about the dark circles under your eyes.

You had always hated that about the workplace, the treatment that you had been put through, your boss’s hands on your shoulders made this even more apparent as you tried to handle the disgust you felt as you looked over at the blond.

You watched as Nanami stuck out his hand to you, “I’ll be very grateful to work with you, I’m sure you have experience beyond me.” Nanami said your name with a coolness, you admired his work and ease with situations, “Oh please don’t be so humble! She was just a secretary before I so graciously made her a team worker!” Two pats on your left shoulder almost made your stomach shoot out your throat and onto the blond before you.

Nonetheless, you persevered, “Likewise, Nanami.” You shook his hand with a closed eye smile to not display the glare you wanted to give to everyone in the room.

 You had no real problems with Nanami, until you realized how everyone would favor him compared to you. You told everyone to get to work and while they dragged their feet, once Nanami came in and said something they were doing backflips to their work to impress the man on the same level as you.  

That’s what Nanami told you. 

A humble man indeed, he had more of an effortless way of doing things and with how he did it there was more of a reaction from the members left you standing almost like a doll next to him as if you were nothing but decorative furniture to highlight Nanami’s traits.

As of right now, you were just a nagging old hag that had to make sure your team knew what they were doing.  “...So demanding!” They complained to Nanami, the whispers weren’t so hushed as the childish way they called out to the man was as if they were children not being given the silver platter. It disgusted you, these people who believed they deserved the high-class treatment while you were one who stayed up long nights to help finish projects they decided to procrastinate and then have them take the work you did and slap their names on them without a care in the world.

Your small smile stayed etched in your face, sewn lips that stayed in a curve holding nothing, but the look in your eyes that always had a fog from being lost in what would take place after work. It was what your boss had suggested. “Oh, Nanami, I don’t know how you handle working ‘em!” One of the men complained to him, you remembered every assignment you had completed for him after he sobbed, and snot rocketed your clothes begging for you to help him. 

You only scoffed at his talk about you, you rushed quickly to clock your hours, never working late as you had matters beyond all their comprehension. You never wanted to stay once you heard them talking about you, it felt like you staying to hear it all would make you look like you were some masochist or some welcome mat that waited for the dirt in your mouth happily. You’d never willingly stayed when they talked bad about you to Nanami, you assumed he’d join them anyways in the hate bandwagon. 

While they stayed to get beers, do karaoke, and talk bad about coworkers they would then treat as if they were born from the same womb with a hateful glare under sickly sweet smiles. You were quick to rush out the building, making your way down the street with your heels clacking against the concrete with a brightness in your eyes that competed with the streetlights around your work. You rushed as fast as you could, dropping your train card as you were as eager to leave work as a newly adopted puppy. 

It wouldn’t take you long, with the way you rushed you were surprised if it took you longer than 30 minutes. You found yourself alone on the street only to turn the corner and a long line of people waiting patiently to get inside the underground building. It had a large garage door with a painted girl with bright pink curls, white frilly outfit with a large mic in her hand as she winked to those in line. 

You quickly made your way through the back, definitely late but not in a way where the audience was beginning to lose their marbles over the timing of such an event. You we quick to make your way through and found yourself putting on the makeup that had awaited you. 

“Where have you been!?” Your co-worker shouted, sitting right next to you in the second vanity mirror as he placed the bright pink wig in his head that had two large heart shaped buns with hair draping from them. You spoke softly, a smile that felt perfect on you as you appealed to him, “I was caught up with work, they hired some new guy in the department and now I’m stuck with someone who does my job “better” because he’s more “easygoing”-He doesn’t even talk that much, he just hums and nods and doesn't have anything to offer!”

You ranted to your coworker, Nakanishi Mizuki, who had been working as underground idol way before you had even though they had just turned 19. Mizuki was blessed with smooth dark skin with and two-toned heart shaped lips that made him the most vibrant to the cast as the bright make up your managers had you wear were ones that highlighted his features and brought more attention to him. 

You admired Mizuki as he showed you the ropes and you bought him food whenever you could when college began to get too stressful for him. All Mizuki could do was laugh at your attitude towards your new coworker whilst you waited for the glue on your false lashes to become tacky, the false lashes curled into one another to form hears above your irises, bright red hearts around your eyes that faded into white in the center of them. You were then given contacts that shaped your pupils into hearts. 

“He can’t be that bad, he doesn’t even talk that much?” You scoffed, “Yet he can handle my whole team in seconds whilst I have to help them meet deadlines!” You shouted as you curled the wig now placed on your head, “I feel like an unappreciated mother to my own coworkers.” You hissed; Mizuki only giggled at your words as they applied the gloss on his lips with a soft giggle leaving him. 

“Well, I think we better hurry, Tami is most likely waiting on us.” You sighed but nodded, after applying all your heart themed accessories such as large earrings, bracelets, and a choker. 

You looked at yourself through the large vanity mirror, a dark red headband that was littered with fake chocolate strawberries, red roses, and candied hearts that cover your ears. Your top was a bright crimson corset that ended an inch above your bellybutton, it had the design similar to a large red heart shaped box of chocolates, it had a nice pink lace accent that follow from the ended of your corset to where the top ended at the top of your chest with the center of the corset having cute chocolate design. 

The corset is connected by a bright red ribbon tied into a bow around your neck with a golden heart dangling from the center. You had a bright crimson tiered sleeves, not connected to the corset as they hung off your shoulders and were only on your upper forearm. The skirt you wore was a tulip one, same color as your corset, with a shiny skirt under it that popped out from the opening of the tulip skirt, this under skirt was same color as the nice pink lace design. 

There were some cute chocolate designs on the skirt as well, only they were lightly glittered outlines. You wore chunky crimson heels that have a shiny red ribbon connecting to it, it crosses around your calf and reaches your mid-thigh, so it disappears under the skirt. These heels raise you a couple of inches, it varies on the person in the group it all depends on your placing in the group.

Miyuki wears the same outfit as you, however, she only has the tiered sleeve on his right arm while the other is wrapped in ribbons. It’s the exact same make up and style as his is much brighter to compliment his skin tone. Miyuki was fiddling with his skirt, fixing up the three petticoats that was red, pink, and white layered on each other and complained of their heaviness only for Tami to interrupt him.  

“You guys should’ve been here 20 minutes ago! Stop gossiping like schoolgirls and get in your places!” Tami shouted at the two of you whilst you and Miyuki looked back at the large vanity mirror, Konishi Tamiko was one of the heads as she danced on stage with you and Miyuki, however, she was more in the background since she spent her time managing finances, getting the word out about performances, and working hard with your other manager. 

Tamiko has the most youthful appearance as she is the youngest member. Tamiko is the shortest, she has a tanned complexion due to her gyaru sense of style her hair is often braided and kept under a wig cap or in a bonnet. Taiko loves to wear brightly colored wigs, terrified of bleaching and damaging her hair, she wears these bright colored wigs in all different variations that she keeps in her wig closet. 

Tamiko’s wigs change every time they go to do a theme with your group, the managers don’t mind, and fans adore this type of adoration for her appearance. Tamiko wears the same outfit as you, however, she only has the tiered sleeve on her left arm while the other is wrapped in ribbons. 

You and Miyuki take photos quickly of yourselves in the mirror before posting yourselves to your idol account, a cute caption with kaomojis and hearts litter the text with the image covered in pink hearts. You put @kisskissasako, Miyuki’s stage name, and quickly upload it before making your way towards the stage.

The three of you listened to the crowd chant your names, finding your hands moving in a rhythm to show a wave of hands leading towards Miyuki’s head rolling out from your side and slowly showing themselves to the audience with a hot pink spotlight landing on him.

The crowd cheered, they whistled and shouted as Tamiko slowly made her way from behind you with her left arm crossing her other forearm and slowly dragging down to reveal her outfit to the audience as she spined gracefully. With one more spin, your back still towards the audience as you then extended your leg back to them before dragging your other leg into a spin whilst your back had arched. Your eyes closed with a warm smile on your face before face landed on the audience only for you to put the back of your wrists onto your forehead and gasp dramatically before letting your hand fall from your forehead to the audience, Miyuki and Tamiko followed putting both their hands towards the audience then bringing them to you as you heard them all shout your stage name.

You almost felt your heart explode once the lights hit you and the music started, you, Miyuki, and Tamiko took your place with one leg out you three slowly dragged your hands up your legs before spreading your arms out and bringing them to your body to wrap around your body as you spun your hips down whilst Miyuki and Tamiko spun them up, doing the same thing in reverse before you grabbed the mic from Miyuki hat was behind his back.

It was tired with a red silk ribbon; your lips were soft and glossed under the bright lights of the blackness of the performance area. Your leg bounced, as you connected the mic with the stand decorated with red, gold, and white ribbons. The words slipped from your lips, a roar from the audience as Miyuki and Tamiko had their mics attached to the sides of their faces in order to continue dancing for the audience.

You brought your index, middle, and ring finger into your palm, extending your thumb and pinky out as you brought it to your cheek and sung the chorus with Miyuki and Tamiko joining in as they bounced up and down rolled their hands from their body to the audience as if calling them over.

The beat had begun to kick in and this feeling was more than just euphoric, the sounds of your crowd shouting your name as if you were someone so important to them than what it truly had to be. Your hips rolled against as the chorus’s beat had begun to slow down, you repeated the words with your fingers still in a hand shape as you called out to the audience with your final chorus causing the audience to shout alongside you. 

The lights flew around as you sung different songs didn’t matter as it all blurred together throughout the night, you blew kisses to your audience, shouted alongside them, and cheered for your fellow performers as their solos came and you joined in with all the joy you felt. This night was more than just this one, many nights before, four times a week, and all it took was for you to fully be happy with allowing yourself to feel the moment as sing along towards an audience that treated you like the sun.

After performances were simple, say hello, sign things, take pictures, and listen to your fans tell you how much they loved you. Your heart felt the warmest after shows, once the afterglow of a show had subsided you were now being told by those who loved you and appreciated you that you were someone that mattered to them and they couldn’t wait to see you again. 

You soon got changed and went home, making sure to be escorted just in case of situations of deranged and delusional fans who demanded more of you and your coworkers, you took this time to take Miyuki home since you both took the same train, only getting off a stop earlier than him. As you bid farewell you looked at your phone that vibrated, likes and comments that came rushing in after the show that praised you and Miyuki that you hoped he’d see when he got home. 

You found yourself immediately passing out, waking up the next morning to say job you had been dreading for the longest. You had slowly made your way over towards your job, taking your time since you had awoken earlier than you predicted and now here you were, looking over work that was done without your help. 

The incompetence of your coworkers was astounding as this work was good, but they had never put in that effort before and made you do it by guilting you. You found yourself disgusted by their sudden work ethic, specifically of how much of your coworkers clanged to Nanami whenever they finished their work and hoped he’d critique them only for him to tell him it wasn’t time yet.

You were unfortunately stuck inside, unable to clock out for lunch until you finished your list of critiques and edits for them to make.

“Oh, would you please look at this Nanami?” They cried, the blond man remained stoic, “I apologize, but you need to go check in with other members before–” They cut him off, telling him they only wanted to hear him and not some nagging hag. “She doesn’t need an echo Nanami!” The man chortled. You had heard from your cubicle; it was almost as if forces were testing you today as you knew if you left with the unsubmitted item you wouldn’t hear the end of it from your boss. 

“You shouldn’t refer to her as that, in fact, she’s displayed something that a lot of you are failing to do as a team and that’s help one another out instead of trying to dump the work on others instead of having three of your team members check before I or your other team leader see it.” Your ears perked up at such wording, you listened earnestly to how Nanami talked of you.

“Nanami, come on, don’t be like her.” One of the men spoke up, two of your other workers agreed, “As I’ve said before, I do not want to hear you all speak of your team leader like this.” Nanami’s voice sounded of frustration, maybe no one heard his tone, but you did, his hardened walls were cracking and with the fixing of his tie and the clearing of his voice you found yourself a bit lost in what to feel.

“Woah, Nanami, what’s the matter?” A woman cooed, only for him to brush her off, “Oh come on, there’s no way you’re going to defend her like this when she’s never even gotten to know you or anyone else here. What bond could you possibly have for her when she won’t even talk to you like a friend? Just a coworker?” A woman complained alongside the other woman.

“Because that’s not her job.” Nanami chastised them, “She doesn’t have to be your friend, or know you personally, her job isn’t to be your friend. The whole point of her job is to get told what to inform you, check your work when having gone through three or more members of your work, then submit and display that work towards the higher ups. There is no cold tone, in fact, you all speak ill will when she has never done a thing besides not go out for drinks with you all after work.” 

The workplace was silence, while some members had already left to lunch your group was trying to invite Nanami without with them after getting their papers checked. You noticed how your group were a bit lost for words, Nanami’s sober persona had now become one that displayed a compassionate side towards those in the office that had gained you an ally in a place where you found yourself hating working for such a place.

You watched as your coworkers dispersed, forming the same groups they had before Nanami showed up thus abandoning the man and casting him aside with you. You found yourself a bit warmer inside, the pale white and gray bleakness of your cubicle showing the bits of color through photos you decided to let your eyes linger at for a few moments before finding yourself getting up and looking over to Nanami who's his expression had reverted back to his serene one as he slowly brought his eyes over to you.

It was a knowing exchange of understanding and thoughtful eyes that spoke essays as you found a soft smiling slowly growing on your lips, you know most likely he was keeping up for appearance as he is a team leader, in spite of all of the other workers though, he defended you when he could’ve easily joined in with them.

You thought for a moment about what to say, you looked down at the toes of your heels before looking back at Nanami, “Would you like to accompany me for lunch, Nanami?” You bubbled. Nanami’s eyes widened a bit, only if you truly paid attention to the way his face looked, you could notice the crow's feet in the corners to deepen a bit upon joining this team. 

“Okay.” 

Then you two were off, you both went to a bakery where you two were seldom on talking. You two enjoyed your meal together, amongst those chatting around you and the bustle of people on the street. You both looked at one another as you both thought about what to say to one another.  You looked around nervously at your food before noticing the time, you still had 20 minutes of and yet had not said a single word besides talking about what you two ordered.

Whilst you fiddled with your thumbs underneath the table while Nanami had found himself a bit lost in what to say as well, spending time with coworkers was a rare sighting unless it was one specifically told of a boss that his presence would be one that would impact his workplace environment. 

Nanami admired that about you, how you left when you were supposed to, how no matter how much you heard you kept coming in and doing your work diligently, and how much you did for others once he was told how some staff would guilt you into doing their work for them. Nanami collected this information in order to make the perfect announcement of how he felt about his coworkers and their carelessness for you.

Nanami hadn’t known you were there; he was so scared of you popping up he feared that maybe you found him to little to late for not defending you sooner. Your invitation for lunch shocked him and thus he found himself incapable of making basic conversation without saying the wrong thing. 

“What made you want to work here, Nanami?” You spoke effortlessly, one that Nanami could spot from miles away with how you held yourself in a high regard regardless of how people spoke of you. “Past issues. I was a failure where I was before and thus, I needed to do something I knew I could never fail.” You raised a brow at such an answer, as blunt as Nanami is, you find yourself still lost by such. 

“You most likely weren’t a failure, Nanami, don’t be too hard on yourself.” You comforted the man; you spoke calmly to him a smile on your face that gave off none of the energy from when you two first met over two years ago. A cold and detached smile that felt mandatory and stapled by in by the touch of the shared boss between the two of you, nonetheless, there was something in this smile gave a warmness in his heart. 

“You’re too good at all you do, Nanami.” You praise earnestly, “I’m bad at speaking, I do apologize for being so quiet around you.” You hush him, “Please, Nanami, there’s need to apologize for such a thing!” Nanami’s eyes perked up at such, “I was a bit careless in what I did before, I feel the same way in this conversation.” You found yourself looking at Nanami with the softest eyes, there was this beauty between the two of you that was embedded under the dirt with water to soak and the sun to beam on it with care.

“Don’t run away from me now, Nanami. You can tell me whatever as long as you’re comfortable with it, of course.” There’s a silence that falls between the both of you and now you wonder if you overstepped a boundary, thankfully you didn’t, as Nanami quickly speaks up about the situation beforehand.

“My previous work was draining, I needed to give it up everything for them and once I gave up on a friend, I knew I needed to leave that line of work.” You nodded at this, while you found yourself unable to say anything you still tried to profess your feelings about the situation to him. “I mean, you may have failed once but the pros may outweigh the cons... Just because you failed once doesn’t mean you can’t help people from making those same mistakes you did.” 

Lost in your eyes, your caring gaze, and the way your fingers found the straw of your drink and began to swirl it around. Nanami found himself listening to your words with something in his eyes that began to soften them with a cruelty of reality as you looked towards to the clock and told Nanami that you both needed to head back to the office.

You paid the bill of meal whilst Nanami stood outside, making your way out the two of you began to make your way back over to your office, “I wanted to thank you, Nanami.” You expressed a tender tone with the man as you spoke. “Thank you for defending me today, let me know if you’d like to spend time again.” You say as you make your way out of the elevator and towards your cubicle.

In an instant, you and Nanami began to spend time together. Meeting up at the train station at the morning to go to work with one another, spend lunch together, and Nanami would walk you to your home in the late nights after working those long nights with him. 

When you entered his life, your infectious tone and compassionate nature began to dismantle the carefully constructed walls guarding his heart. Nanami had never been so bewitched by someone like this, once before there was one, whose brightness was one that made him want to do more in life and pushed him to go be a salaryman after their departure. 

Your connection deepened, Nanami found himself experiencing emotions that had long been dormant, stirred by your genuine care and understanding. Nanami speaking of the one he lost, it took him a long time to open up to you of his fears of uselessness and with your constant affirmations that held him tightly in a warm embrace. There was something Nanami could not shake as the months had begun to past.

You guys had done almost everything, such as getting each other Christmas presents, spending birthdays together, going to do after work shenanigans like getting drunk and doing karaoke. Things Nanami had only ever done as one he had done with no choice unless he wanted his bosses to hate him.

You embodied resilience and authenticity contrasted the bleak and draining corporate world. Your zest for life and unwavering commitment to her values resonated deeply with Nanami, causing him to question the path he had chosen. Your inspirational worlds that called to his past being one that didn’t have to be a burden to him but could push him to do more in the future if he so chose.

“What would happen if I left the office?” 

Suddenly, thoughts of returning to Nanami’s true passion in his previous work started to emerge, fueled by the desire to break free from the confines of a soulless job that stifled his want for appreciation and impact those who wanted to do more for those around him who didn't have the capabilities he had as a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

Yet, you didn’t know he was a Jujutsu Sorcerer. 

“I’d support you through it all, I trust what we have will last even if you’re on to bigger and better things.”

Your words were chosen so bewitchingly, he yearned to be on the level of your phrasing and tone. Nanami had thought for a moment, what would you do while he was gone? His job would take up so much time. How could you ever see him? What if one day he was gone forever, and it would seem to you that his new life became more important to him than you were? It was new year's, you two had been close friends for a year and some change now, soon reaching your late 20s that made Nanami stop and think about what he was doing as a salaryman. You two had spent this one together, like you did last year, sitting there on your balcony looking over the city with champagne glasses brought to you by Nanami who you thanked cheerfully. 

As your relationship flourished with Nanami, he couldn't ignore the harsh reality of your situation – trapped in a job that undervalued your worth and failed to recognize your potential. Witnessing you endure the daily grind of a workplace that treated you as expendable ignited a fire within Nanami. 

There was something in your eyes, it glowed under the darkness of the night they couldn’t compare to the city lights near the apartment, that glow he never wanted to lose as he made a firm decision to not only be your pillar of support but also your advocate for change, determined to liberate you from the chains of the workplace.

The countdown had begun, you and him counting down together as you found your arm around his waist and his around yours. You brought each other close, leaning your head on his shoulder as heard the other members of your apartment count together. A strike of midnight that cause screams and shouts from the streets and homes with fireworks shooting around the two of you. 

At a crucial moment, Nanami found himself standing at a crossroads, torn between the familiarity of his corporate world and the beckoning call of a life filled with purpose as a Jujutsu Sorcerer. With you by his side, he realized that true happiness did not lie in the pursuit of material success, but rather in the freedom to follow one's heart. 

It took a while for things to calm down before you and Nanami made your way insides, your laugh lighting up the world and Nanami losing himself as he asks you question. “What do you do on the nights when we don’t spend time together?” The world froze around you both, you hadn’t told him you ere underground Idol, with how things were looking however, you were about to be on a stage that wasn’t underneath a building.

It was nothing big, a venue to host 16000~, that would be above ground this time. You looked up at Nanami, unable to find the words, yet you knew with all this time. You knew you had to tell him though, you cleared your throat and poured another glass. 

“Nanami, I’m an idol.” 

The words slipped from your throat with a smoothness you wouldn’t have had without the alcohol, you smiled at him and couldn’t help it as you looked to him with the brightest of eyes. “I’ve been an idol since I started working at the god-forsaken office.” You sighed passionately, “If I could do it full time I would.”

Nanami was lost for words, he had no idea you did such work and even more he admired you for such, doing a job that required such rigorous work for practice, voice lessons, and so on. Nanami had no idea he could feel more for you in this moment than he had before in the year and months of knowing you.

“Why don’t you do it full time?” You propped your head up with your chin in your palm, “I’m sorry?” You raised a brow at such, “Why don’t you be a full time, Idol?” You thought for a moment, “Is it because of money?” You didn’t let Nanami finish, be grateful you did as Nanami would’ve stayed in the soul sucking job to provide you the life you wanted. “No, Nanami, I love being an Idol. I really do. I love all the people who support me, cheer my name, and make me feel seen in ways life has never.”

A soft crack in Nanami’s heart as he heard of the love you deserve more than all in the world, admiration for you that skyrocketed as he yearned more for you. “I don’t do it full time because I just don’t…” You thought, “I don't…” Why didn’t you do it full time? If you left your job, you would have more time to do more gigs and do more work, however…

“I don’t want to leave you, Nanami…”

The blond’s ears perked up at such wording, you looked into his eyes with a softness that left you feeling crumbled like a wall torn to pieces by a large wave, you couldn’t put your finger on this new desire that had begun to eat you and now you looked towards Nanami with a gaze that bolstered the feelings that had begun to bubble inside around you.

“ I don’t want to leave you either… ”

The warmness of your home, the dim lighting, the faint sounds of few straggling fireworks being lit for the amusement of those around you, and the way you were here with Nanami’s presence. There was something so loving about this moment you felt your heart ready to explode from the beauty of this moment.

Nanami finding himself also lost in what to feel, the way his heart had pounded made him anxious your silence was because you wanted to hear him struggle to hold himself together around you. A yearning in the half-lidded eyes of both you as you both found yourself coming closer and closer to one another.

“It requires me to travel everywhere, I’d be in so many places performing and I don’t know if your job would allow you to be with me everywhere…” You bit your tongue, you wanted him to be there with you and yet, this moment felt as if you were losing yourself in what could be as Nanami felt himself falling apart with the way you began to bewitch him with every word that fell from your lips that were of so soft…

You watched as Nanami’s hands came out to you, larger and hardened from the years of work, they held your hands and cradled you with his thumbs rubbing against the softness of your knuckles that had begun to eat with a loving feeling. You found yourself looking up into his eyes, had you ever been able to see how close he was to you that his cool and minty breath had hit your lips.

“I’ll find a way to travel, my old job made me go everywhere, I’ll go to places with you to watch you perform and I’ll cheer you on the way you’ve done for me.” Nanami’s words cradle you, you feel his hands slowly slide up your arms towards your elbows and slowly cup your lower back, your breath hitches at such a sudden touch as your lips slowly part almost sending Nanami off the rails.

“Is this, okay?” Nanami questions, a softness to his voice that you had never heard come from him before, he must feel what you do and in a swift moment you feel this desire for more of it. “Of course it is…” Your arms snaking around his neck as you brought his lips towards yours with your eyes closing as Nanami brought himself more into the kiss.

There was something about this kiss that brought you to your knees, and Nanami breaking his neck to have more of you gave you more than you ever wanted in a relationship as he coddled you. There was something Nanami gave you, something working in that office and as an Idol. The appreciation from someone so close to you, for someone to get to know you and bring you into an embrace where all that mattered was the comfort you got as he held you tight to himself in order for you to not to fall while twisting his body to just feel your lips against his. There was something about this chaste kiss that enveloped you into this something that could you swallow you whole, and that was the way Nanami pulled away and asked you, “I want a life with you, away from this job…” 

A pause as he took a breath, losing track of time with you was one of the many things that worked as curse against the man who wanted you so dear, “Would you run away with me?” Your lashes fluttered open, looking into Nanami’s eyes that were pained with an expression of rejection as if it wasn’t you then no one else would ever compare to you and be who you were to him in the ways he had you now. 

Your hands pulled from his forearms and two his collared shirt, “I’d love nothing more.” You pulled in him, your noses rubbing against each other as you kissed him as if you’d die without it. Nanami brought you closer as you both kissed into the night, the world being nothing but just a force that gratefully brought you two together, forever.

©ouchthathurts please don't translate, claim as yours, redistribute and/or plagiarize in any way. likes, comments, and reblogs are greatly appreciated!

#ouchlovesthem #ouchlovesnanamikento #nanami fluff #work husband nanami #jjk nanami #nanami kento #nanami x reader #nanami x you #jujustu kaisen #ouchlovesjujutsukaisen

[guzhufuren]

Favourite VegasPete Fics pt.2 (pt.1) (in alphabetical order)

1. Black Velvet by @kerrikins https://archiveofourown.org/series/3158706

Vegas notices Pete watching him during the torture scene. Intrigued and more tempted than he expected to be, he stalks Pete and succeeds in taunting him into coming with Vegas so they can fuck.

It starts off as a cat and mouse game for sex, but when the two of them are finally forced to reckon with the fact that they're on opposite sides, they both find themselves more conflicted and drawn to each other than ever.

2. cause and effect by @sapphicblight https://archiveofourown.org/series/3234285

“Don’t you have better things to do with your time? Other virgins for example,” Pete asks him one time over a guerrilla warfare style lunch date. “Not until next semester,” Vegas laments. “I’ve already exhausted our current student body.” Pete doesn’t even know where to begin unpacking everything wrong with that statement.

Or: the college au in which Vegas is a manwhore with a weird innocence kink and Pete is an inexperienced painslut.

3. Drowning, and other Metaphors https://archiveofourown.org/works/44171761

Vegas has never experienced an afterglow that burns like an oil fire, a sudden and dangerous thing that he can’t quite remember how best to put out past the panic. It doesn’t help that Pete’s smile is like a torrent of cool water on his feverish skin, making the flames jump higher. It makes Vegas want to do something dangerous that he’s never really been good at before – it makes him want to take care of Pete. Problem is, he doesn’t really know how.

4. Holy Palmer's Kiss https://archiveofourown.org/works/41273907

"By the way," says Vegas in English. "Interesting scars you’ve got on your chest." Pete doesn’t tense – he doesn’t – but the leveled manner his gaze slides back up must be enough of a tell because Vegas… "What ? Don’t tell me you thought it wouldn’t come up."

The begining of episode 11 but Vegas zeroes in on Pete's top surgery scars instead of his hip tattoo.

5. i want to wear his initial on a chain round my neck by @dage-mingjue & @stratumgermanitivum https://archiveofourown.org/series/3352987

Pete picks up the chain leash and offers it to Vegas. “So, you never did tell me what you were getting this for.” Vegas takes the chain from Pete’s hands and fixes a dark and sultry look on him. “This? Oh, it’s for bad boys who misbehave.” And with that he gives one last smirk before walking out the front door, leaving Pete an absolute mess behind the counter. *** “Pete,” Porsche says, in a very slow voice, like Pete is a particularly small child. “He was hitting on you.” Pete blinks. “He what now?” — Or; Vegas adopts a puppy.

6. Sharing Different Heartbeats by @raelle-writing https://archiveofourown.org/works/40549581

Of course Vegas noticed Pete. But not with much weight. Sure, Pete was hot. But so were all of the rest of Kinn’s bodyguards. That wasn’t notable. It wasn’t worth more than a passing once-over, or an absent glance at the man’s ass in those suits they insisted on wearing. He had a nice ass, but it didn’t stick in Vegas’ mind. It was passing lust, nothing more. And he certainly wasn’t hotter than the other bodyguards– not Porsche, for example. The only thing notable about Pete was that he had a surprisingly soft, cute face, and a sunny, disarming smile. He looked far too soft for his job. But he was Tankhun’s head bodyguard, and one of the men that Kinn often tapped for important missions. Which meant that the cute, soft face was hiding real talent and skill. So yes, Vegas noticed Pete. But it didn’t mean anything.

OR: a retelling of the story from Vegas' POV, from first impressions until after the hospital.

7. The King Must Die https://archiveofourown.org/works/41144892

“It’s fine,” Macau assures Vegas, whose very soul feels plunged into turmoil. Tear-bright eyes, a faint handprint on his sheltered face, and Macau tries to comfort Vegas. “It’s fine, I promise.” Vegas would kill for his brother, indiscriminately. He’s just now realising quite what that means.

(The queer experience of having an ill-advised one night stand with your cousin's head bodyguard and then ending up in hiding with him while you plot to kill your father.)

8. The Last Thing Left to Break by @blackwatervial https://archiveofourown.org/works/41053809

Hatred ran deep between the Theerapanyakul and the Saengtham family. It was common knowledge that the two leaders, Khun Vegas and Khun Pete, despised each other and used every small excuse to initiate yet another bloody conflict. Only that no one was really aware what happened behind closed doors…

9. the mortifying ordeal of falling in love by @dage-mingjue https://archiveofourown.org/works/41659146

“If I had to rate you?” Pete pauses and tilts his head with a low hum, considering. “I dunno, a six out of ten? I thought you were a sadist, but you didn’t really give that impression. Are you actually kinky? That didn’t feel kinky. It didn’t do it for me.” Vegas looks like someone punched him. Hard. His cock is still out and his hair is rumpled and he looks devastatingly disheveled, like Pete was the one who just took Vegas apart and not the other way around. “I’d worry that it was just a fluke,” Pete continues, ignoring Vegas’s flabbergasted sputters, “but I also don’t think I’d give you a second time to prove me wrong.” Pete shrugs and fixes his shirt, petting back his hair. “Anyway, see you around.” — Or a fic in which Vegas fucks through all of Kinn’s bodyguards and lands on Pete, but Pete uno reverses it on Vegas leaving Vegas wanting so much more. Vegas gets humiliated and has to work for it.

#kinnporsche #vegaspete #vegaspete fic recs #kinnporsche fic recs #kpedit #fic recs #recs #fics #mygifs #mine #userboots #taggingmarion #usertph #kinnporschesource #dailyvegaspete #thank you ficwriters for saving my life i adore these so much #i actually have more fav works already and they will go in the next list

[pencil-peach]

Thinking about Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

Specifically the Persona 3 side of it.

I think it's interesting (and kinda funny) how a lot of the P3 content in this game is built upon the many CD Dramas that released in Japan following Persona 3/FES' releases, specifically the New Moon/Full Moon and Daylight/Moonlight Duologies.

As what's most likely the largest example, Labrys, one of the two major characters introduced in the game, was actually named in the Moonlight CD, which was released back in 2007 (Arena was released in 2012, for reference)

"The 7th Generation, Aigis, was created from all the data we'd obtained from all prior designs up to the 5th Generation, Labrys." (Moonlight)

Aigis' and Labrys' motivation of finding their mother is also building upon the story of Moonlight, where Aigis is able to speak with the girl whose personality was one of the bases used for the Anti-Shadow Weapon development project, and who refers to herself as her mother (but looks more like her younger sister).

"That's right... in human terms, I guess I'm kinda like your mother or something? A-ah, but based on our outward appearances, I guess I look more like your younger sister?" (Moonlight)

(For context, she is forced to forget this meeting at the end of the CD, but resolves to meet with the girl in real life. She isn't named, but we're told she has black hair.)

I think Mitsuru is the most interesting, as her appearance in the game is almost wholly influenced by the story of the New Moon/Full Moon Drama CDs, which are a side story covering her and the broader Kirijo Group's situation immediately following Takeharu's death, released in 2009.

Mitsuru's story opens up with her going public about the bloody past of the Kirijo Group and the existence of the Dark Hour and Shadows. This is following up on her resolution near the end of Full Moon, where she states plainly that this is the path she's going to take.

Ichiro Takadera: "Well then, do you intend to make a public announcement regardless of what follows? About the Shadows and so on?"

Mitsuru: "That is my path in life. I cannot stray from it." (Full Moon)

Kikuno Saikawa, Mitsuru's right hand maid and one of the shadow operatives, also made her debut in New/Full Moon. The two of them met when they were children, and Kikuno vowed to protect Mitsuru after she'd saved her from her despair as a child.

Kikuno: "Six years ago, when I learned my stay at the hospital wasn't because of illness but because I was sold over by my parents, you were the one who saved me from my despair. On that day, I swore I'd devote my life to following this person." (Full Moon)

Ultimax was the first time she was given a design, but she would later appear in the Persona 3 Movie: Winter of Rebirth. Her characterization in Ultimax is pretty faithful to her depiction in the CD.

(A fun fact is that Kikuno was also mentioned in the "Seaside Vacation Before Death's Scythe" Drama CD, which was released in 2013 as a promotion for the then upcoming first Persona 3 Movie, Spring of Birth.)

One of the Kirijo artifacts mentioned in Mitsuru's prologue is a ring that gives its wearer immunity to the effects of the Dark Hour. This too is an object introduced in New/Full Moon.

"Also, there is no need to worry, as everyone who are not in possession of special powers, including me, will wear this ring. While it's on you are able to experience the Dark Hour and even when you take it off your memories of it will remain." (New Moon)

Something that doesn't come up in Ultimax is that if you smash the jewel in the center of the ring, you'll lose all your memories of the Dark Hour. It's an interesting little thing! I mean it's. Useless now cause the Dark Hour is gone but it's pretty cool...

Mitsuru's main internal conflict is her inability to ask others for help for fear of burdening or endangering them. This is something that comes up in Persona 3, but in the Drama CDs this aspect of her character is very deeply explored. It's her main emotional arc and the source of her conflict with Yukari in both the New/Full Moon CDs and Persona 3 Character Drama Vol. 4, which focuses on their relationship.

Yukari: Is your faith in us that weak?

Mitsuru: To be frank, I can't bear it anymore. I don't want others to die for my sake!

Y: And you're gonna sacrifice yourself because of that? Why do you take on so much by yourself? Is that really okay with you? Don't you want to see your friends and family again?! And to survive?! Why can't you just be honest?!

M: Of course I want to! But...that is...what should I say? It's always like that...whenever I get soft or burden others... They might end up dying again. [...] Aragaki, and my Father... What am I supposed to tell you after all that happened? Even if I'm afraid and wish to be saved, what do I say?! What should I say?! (Full Moon)

Yukari even brings up that they've had this talk before. It could be referring to their heart to heart in Kyoto, but I think it could also be read as their conflicts in the CDs too.

When Ken asks Kikuno where she learned to fly a helicopter, she states that she learned it after being involved in an assault operation on a high school dormitory, an incident which Ken says he remembers. (Say it with me now!) This is most likely referencing the climax in Full Moon, where the Kirijo Group led by Takadera attempt to raid Iwatodai Dorm and forcibly apprehend SEES, so as to avoid the possibility of Ikutsuki's plot and the Group's sins from becoming public.

There's definitely more stuff, but I just wanted to point out the things I noticed/particularly liked with Mitsuru's story.

I think Junpei suffers the most from having a lot of his characterization be taken from the CDs. A lot of people were (and still are) confused about P4AU Junpei's seemingly sudden hard pivot to Baseball, as in Persona 3 proper, it's not a very large aspect of his character.

But in the CDs, Junpei being Into Baseball is MUCH more prominent. As in he refers to everyday situations in baseball terms sometimes.

In Persona 3 Character Drama Vol 2., (released in 2008 and centered around Junpei and Chidori) Junpei dreams about taking Chidori out on a date, and eventually settles on asking her to go to a baseball game with him. (She accepts, if you were curious).

He talks with Chidori about baseball so much that she got into it herself and started watching baseball in the hospital.

At the end of Moonlight, the SEES gang talk about what they want to do after they defeat Nyx, and Junpei says he wants to go to a baseball game. They even kind of tacitly explain why he didn't talk about it all that much ingame by saying he'd fallen out of interest in it but that he "feels like it's returned in full force!"

The thing about P4AU's heavy references to the CDs though, especially in Junpei's case, is that they were never officially translated or released outside of Japan. To this day the only way for non-Japanese speaking audiences to experience the CDs is to listen to them with (usually slightly incomplete) fansubs online.

While I kind of appreciate the novelty of that, it's definitely caused some confusion when it comes to characterization. In P3 Reload, for instance, Junpei makes a lot more references to baseball in his dialogue. And for a lot of people, it feels like the purpose of that is to retroactively make Junpei's appearance in P4AU make more sense.

And while that's not incorrect, it misses the fact that Junpei was already established to like baseball in supplementary material before Arena came out. It's more like making his character consistent with the same material that P4AU used when writing Junpei.

But it's not like you can even blame people for thinking that because a lot of people are normal and don't listen to 16 year old fan translated Drama CDs uploaded to youtube. It's just interesting to me I suppose. I wonder how much characterization we miss due to lack of access to supplementary material.

Anyway you should listen to the CDs though they're really good. New Moon/Full Moon especially.

Moonlight is also very good, it's a pseudo-prelude to The Answer, and the character writing is top notch.

But that's all I had to say, really. Just thought it'd be fun to talk about.

Translation Credits: imaginary_numbers (Moonlight) pipeds (New Moon) pipeds (Full Moon)

#if you're a yukamitsu warrior #watch new moon/full moon #character drama cd vol 4 #and moonlight #but the rest are also just really good. the characters feel like their authentic selves #afraid to put this in a persona tag cause i dont want people to yell at me over some perceived inadequacy #they're also very well acted too #like god damn

[starleska]

I just saw on YouTube that MatPat has made a GTLive about Welcome Home.

I’m honestly conflicted. On the one hand, I am genuinely happy that a big YouTuber like MatPat has noticed Welcome Home, as I do love his theories on occasion.

But I’m also worried. After everything Clown has been through with the sudden rush of a massive following, and also me knowing how MatPat’s very large fan base can be VERY zealous, I’m genuinely worried for Clown. I know they’re going through a lot and are currently on a well deserved hiatus, but I do have the sudden thought that the prospect of MatPat’s fan base getting too zealous may end up doing harm in the long term for them. They have done that before on other things.

And that’s not even getting into MatPat potentially making a theory video about Welcome Home when the project hasn’t yet left the Prologue Stage of its story, which may end up again doing harm.

I wonder what your opinion on all of this may be. What do you think of MatPat covering this potentially as a theory and do you worry about his fan base becoming zealous for Welcome Home?

hello sweetheart! thank you so much for sending in this ask, and for putting your thoughts down in such a respectful manner - very well articulated 💖 i'm going to pop my response under a read more, as i feel it deserves a good chunk of text for a reply.

and if you're a new Welcome Home fan - welcome to the fandom! 🥰 here's a simple guide i wrote which explains what Welcome Home is, where the story is taking place, and how you can support the creator.

okay, here we go! ✨

first of all, i understand why you're concerned. this explosive growth has been tough for Clown - and having caught the edge of the tidal wave of attention just for Welcome Home fanworks, i don't blame them for being so stressed! no one could've predicted Welcome Home would blow up so much, although it is a testament to Clown's artistic talent and skill 🔥

here's the thing: fandom isn't something you can control. i feel that even though this concern comes from a good place, we may be sliding a little too close to gatekeeping territory, and that isn't fair. i totally get what you're saying about the overzealous part, but i don't believe there's anything inherent about being a fan of MatPat's content which would cause someone to behave in a disrespectful, boundary-overstepping manner. let's be clear: we are not inherently more deserving of enjoying Welcome Home just because we discovered it earlier, or any other trait that would separate the earlier fandom from a new influx of fans from MatPat.

again, i sympathise with your perspective. i was an old MatPat fan myself: a real creepypasta-obsessed teen who discovered all sorts of cool fandoms through him and other channels! but i don't think Welcome Home being covered by MatPat means there's a higher risk of harm, or that those fans in particular are more likely to exhibit inappropriate behaviour. i worry about fandoms which, when trying to make sure everyone is being respectful, end up creating an us vs. them mentality...and there's nothing i dislike more than fans who believe they're more entitled to enjoy media more for artificial reasons, like if they discovered it earlier, or know more about the property, or engage in fandom the 'correct' way (whatever that means) 😕

i think that just because Clown is (very understandably!) stressed and needs time to adjust, doesn't mean we should try and halt the popularity of Welcome Home - which would be both unfair and impossible. there's no criteria for whether or not someone can be a fan - all that is to be expected is that they are respectful and kind. we should continue as always: being respectful, and echoing Clown's wishes. i think we should welcome all these new fans and show them a great time! and if a fan does do something harmful, we shouldn't attack them; instead, we should let them know why that's not okay, and not assume everyone is out to do harm. ignorance isn't always out of malice, and many of us discussing this issue have the luxury of being older, and having had our younger years in fandom under much less scrutiny. perhaps there's this lingering anxiety due to the claims of fans doxxing/hacking, which Clown has since debunked as being odd fandom rumours.

ultimately, Clown put Welcome Home out into the world for other people to enjoy. MatPat is allowed to make theories on Welcome Home, and his fans are allowed to enjoy it too. this is the same as an unknown video game being covered by Markiplier, or a similar property being picked up by the nerdcore music community. yes, it's likely MatPat's fans may be on the younger side, and perhaps inexperienced with fandom etiquette or boundaries. however, this is a generalisation! i feel perhaps this anxiety with new fans coming in has something to do with our own overzealousness, and how in the early days we began making fanworks/interacting with Clown's content in ways which he's since stated he's not comfortable with 💖

at the end of the day: whether we're 13 or 55; whether we compile large documents full of information about the Welcome Home story or write gushing posts about how cute Wally Darling is; whether we've known Clown's work for years or are just discovering it today - we're all fans, and we all deserve to be here. being zealous is what fandom is all about! the best thing we can do is just keep on putting out positive energy, and encouraging all of that lovely, budding excitement. let's keep helping new fans learn about the amazing story of Welcome Home, and making them feel welcome too 🥰

#i hope this answers your question anon!! 💖 #welcome home #welcome home arg #welcome home discussion #starleskatalks #starleskasks

[writingintheshadowsforever]

Yelena Belova x Reader Steal Your Heart Part 9

Summary: Yelena struggles to process her growing feelings for you while trying a way to avoid betraying you in the future.

Three days.

Its been three days since Yelena untangled herself from your body to crawl out of bed, and disappear into the night. Her phone started buzzing the next morning around eight. She already knew without a doubt it was you asking about her whereabouts. You probably assumed she slipped out to go get breakfast or something. But after an hour went by without her replying your texts were more frequent, and grew a bit more urgent.

She should've saw it coming after all it was the morning after the two of you had just confessed your love for each other. The night before after she rescued you from getting captured, and helped you complete one of the most important jobs in your career as a thief. Of course you weren't just going to let her slip away so easily.

The last thing Yelena wanted to do was up and leave you in the dark. But not too long after the two of you fell asleep in each other's arms. The blonde assassin was ripped from her peaceful slumber in a cold sweat, and a number of emotions swirling around in her heart to the point. Where it overwhelmed her so much Yelena felt like she was being suffocated by them. Being next to you brought her no comfort as she was pretty sure. You were the very thing causing the hurricane going inside of her.

So she did the only thing that came to mind. Yelena ran not even stopping one second to think about. How bad it would make her look in your eyes. Would you assume she went back to report to Valentina? While you might've let yourself fall her no doubt her connection with the woman made you proceed with caution.

Yelena planned to resolve these conflicting feelings in a matter of one day, but one turned into three and now she felt like she had dug herself into a hole. That would be impossible to get out of alone, and with limited options of people to turn too. She went to the only other person in New York City. Who she knew she could trust and might be able to help her.

Kate Bishop.

"So you're in love with her" Kate said repeating the very last words of the story. Yelena had spent the past two hours telling her over breakfast. She just needed to confirm she had really heard those words leave the blonde's mouth.

Yelena nodded sticking a forkful of waffles in her mouth.

"This is great."

"This is horrible."

Both statements were made at the same time, and the two friends stared each other down afterwards. Kate spoke up first "how is this a bad thing Yelena."

"I've never been in a real relationship before Kate, and the first time I find myself in love with someone. She's a target I've been hired to gain information on."

"Okay so this is confusing and I'll help you figure it out. How about that?" Kate suggested.

"There's nothing confusing about it I'm never going to see her again. Problem solved" Yelena said taking another massive bite of her food.

Kate closed her eyes and exhaled a deep breath. Keep your cool and stay patience she reminded herself. Kate knew this was going to be a rollercoaster the second Yelena broke into her apartment three days ago crying about her future broken heart. The assassin had already made up her mind about how all of this was going to end. She was just looking for someone to tell her she was doing the right thing.

"Do you really think y/n is just going to let you disappear from her life? Kate challenged her plan.

Yelena shrugged. "I don't see how she's going to stop me."

"Well from what you told me the girl is one hell of a tracker if you continue to ghost her. Then she'll probably put those skills to good use again to find you."

Her munching on the mac and cheese slowed down as Yelena went into deep thought about her plan. You were an infamous thief and she got to see your work first hand. When the two of went head to head with each other twice. And she was impressed considering she had never seen nor did she think. It was possible for someone to get the drop on Valentina the way you did. No doubt if you wanted to you could turn those skills around on her. If you needed to, but on the other hand Yelena trusted her abilities as a master spy. As long as she didn't leave behind any bread crumbs for you to follow. It would might be difficult, but not impossible to disappear without being able to follow her trail. She could leave behind false clues to lead you astray if need be.

The only card you could play that might work a hundred precent without fail is going to Valentina for info. On her whereabouts the woman would sell out. In a blink of an eye to get you under her thumb, but you wouldn't go that far for her would you? Your freedom was everything to you, and you were so close to your big endgame plan.

Yelena turned the scenario around onto herself coming to the realization. The main reason she chose to distant herself from you for these past couple of days was, because she wanted time to figure a way out of this mission. Before you shared something sacred with her, and she'd be forced to betray you. She chose to come to Kate for advice, over going straight to Valentina to cancel the mission.

Because deep down she knew Valentina wasn't going to make it easy by a long-shot, and Yelena didn't like to think about what she would do. When the powerful woman turned her request down, or worse decided to just send someone else after you. She'd break them in half without thinking about it. Yelena was at the point where she would do anything for you.

Have you fallen this hard for her to?

"I hate to say it but I think you're right." Yelena murmured swallowing the food in her mouth afterwards. She shoved the plate with a small portion of food left away, and proceeded to drop her head onto the table. The action resulted in harsh bang making Kate wince. The blonde seemed unfazed.

"Yelena come on at least you already she feels the same about you. The hard part is over with everything else that happens now is going to be easy." Kate said trying to reassure her friend.

"Don't lie to me I know enough about relationships to know none of them are easy. They're as fragile as glass very easy to break you mean? Yelena shot back not lifting her head from the table.

Kate chose her next words carefully. "Relationships require a lot of work and attention yes, but they're only as hard as you make them. You're making this so much more complicated than it needs to be."

"You don't get it" Yelena whined.

"Then explain it."

"She was just supposed to be a mission nothing more. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with her now I'm screwed when she finds out" Yelena blurted out jumping out of her seat to wonder over to the sink to stare out of the windows. Her eyes glaring into the early morning sky as the sun just began to rise.

Kate's response didn't come fast this time as she contemplated the truth bomb Yelena just dropped on her. She now understood why the blonde ran away from her feelings. "What kind of mission?" she asked trying to gauge the situation.

"Valentina wanted me to get closer to her and make her trust me, so she'd let her guard down enough to maybe tell me all her secrets. Give me something that could be used as leverage against her, so Val could force her to join her ranks." Yelena felt more disgusted with herself as she recounted her duties. She never should've agreed to this. It made her remember the reason why she promised herself she was done with seducing and manipulating after the Red Room was taken down. It never felt good inside instead it made her like more than a crappy person.

"Wait Valentina as in the woman who hired you to kill Clint two years ago?" Kate asked with a frown.

Yelena cursed under her breath as the tone in the archer's voice gave away. She wasn't truly asking but looking for confirmation. "Yes."

"You told me you were done with her Yelena. She lied to you about Clint, and caused you to nearly kill your sister's best friend." Kate exclaimed standing up to throw an accusatory finger at the blonde.

Yelena turned around to face her fuming best friend with nonchalant attitude. "I lied sorry Katie but I knew you would freak, and get all in your feelings about me still working for her. As for the Clint situation we had a nice long chat about the incident." She shrugged her shoulders when Kate raised a suspicious eyebrow at her claim. "She knows not to do it again."

"Then why not just back out of this mission? Has she paid you already?"

Valentina had wanted to send her payment at the start of this mission, and not just because Yelena was just that good. She suspected the payment was going to be a way to seal the deal permanently. Just in case Yelena woke up with a conscious one day and wanted out. So she turned the money down.

"No but if I back out she'll just send someone else to recruit y/n." Yelena said not revealing her true fears. The next person Valentina sent might not be as nice or patient as her. And she already had one falling out with the woman over the Clint situation. The nice long chat was more like Yelena putting over a dozen agents in the hospital. In her haste to get to the dark-haired woman while she was hosting a quite important meeting. None of that mattered to Yelena as she barged in making a beeline for Valentina to shove her down onto the table. Once reaching her and putting a blade to her throat to drive her point home. She wouldn't be played or toyed with anymore.

If it came down to you she might finish the job this time especially to keep you from finding out the truth. Anything to hide her lies.

"You need to come clean with her then" Kate said.

"What? You're joking right?"

Kate shook her head crossing her arms over her chest, and fixed Yelena with a hard stare. "If you can't back out this mission then the truth is going to come out either way. You need it to be on your terms, so you can explain."

The image of you standing a few feet away bristling with a newfound hatred for her, and betrayal in your eyes flashed in her mind. No amount of explaining would get through to you. The trust and bond built between the two of you would crumble just like that.

"She'd hate me" Yelena insisted.

"That's a risk you need to take Yelena because it's the only way. The truth will set you free you know."

A Few Hours Later

After spending another hour or so going back and forth with Kate, because the archer continued to stand her ground. On the truth being the only choice to get out of this mess.

"I'll lose her" Yelena argued.

"Well if she finds out you're lying you'll lose her anyway. Take the chance and be honest with her. You never know she might surprise you."

Kate left her to marinate on those words and Yelena decided it was time for her to return. Before you got too worried or suspicious leading to you taking upon yourself to search for her. She found you grabbing coffee and donuts at your favorite bakery that surprisingly wasn't a Starbucks. You told her the famous coffee chain was overrated and not worth the money. Before introducing her to this one smaller and less known place. She fell in love with it.

"I hope one of those are for me" Yelena said to get your attention.

You were exiting the bakery with a steaming hot cup of mocha in one hand, and a large white bag filled with donuts in the other. A glazed donut stuffed into your mouth your head swiveled in the direction of the familiar voice. There she was your maybe girlfriend Yelena Belova leaning up against the wall dressed in more casual clothes than her usual stylish ones.

"Yelena you're back" You tried to say but your voice was muffled considering the donut.

"Don't talk with your mouth full" she chastised you with a playful grin. Pushing off the wall to walk over and plant a kiss on your forehead. Her hand reaching in the bag and her eyes lit up with glee when she pulled out a chocolate icing donut with sprinkles. Her favorite even when she wasn't around. You still thought about her.

"I always get two just in case" You told now that the donut was devoured. "Come on I know a place we can talk."

It wasn't up for discussion no matter which way she spun it. Yelena had disappeared for days without giving you any type of heads-up. When you left for your mission you gave her a courtesy heads up. She owed you answers.

The spot came to no surprise to her. The same rooftop where the two of you spent the night talking and watching the sun come up. As you waited for the heat to die down after the museum robbery. "No one ever comes up here" You told her digging a blanket out of nowhere.

The two of you settled on it with the bag of donuts, and you didn't even bother to protest when she helped herself to your drink. It was a jumbo size another reason you loved the smaller bakery.

"So I guess I freaked you out huh? Yelena mused knowing you weren't going to tiptoe around the elephant in the room forever.

You nodded. "At first I figured Valentina sent you on a mission or something considering. You're still employed to her and everything." Your voice dropping low with a hint of anger in it when her name left your mouth. You clocked the way Yelena looked away in shame or guilt. It was hard to tell but you figured it stemmed from the fact that. At one point she was trying to get you join up with the woman against your will.

You decided to brush it off since that was the past, and none of it mattered anymore. "But then I realized if that was the case you would've left a note explaining, or at least texted me back you know. Then I figured you needed time and space to process us." You wagged a finger between the two of you.

You were spot on but part of her wished your mind was capable of digging so much deeper to unveil all her dirty secrets. To spare her having to tell them to you out of her own mouth.

"This is new to me and when I woke up that night with you in my arms. It was so different than all those other times I looked at you, and it was like I was really seeing you for the first time. My emotions were everywhere. It was just too much so I ran" Yelena explained drawing figures in the blanket with her finger. Eyes refusing to make contact with yours.

"Oh Yel" You whispered scooting over so your shoulder bumped into hers. That was all you did letting her choose rather or not to initiate any other physical touch. "I knew this was going to be a challenge from day one. I'm okay with that you're worth it I'd risk it all to be with you."

Her head snapped towards your so fast her eyes glistening with tears. She didn't realize it till they started to spill out. "I've never had a real relationship before. Any resemblance to a real relationship I've been in my life was a lie. This the first time I've had a real one, and I'm afraid of screwing it up."

You chuckled throwing your head back with a grin. She frowned but it morphed into a smile when your forehead pushed up against hers. "I'm not expert at this either I just know what I want, and I'm willing to take the time to figure this out. Even if it means taking things slow till we're both comfortable."

"You're really okay with that" Yelena questioned in disbelief.

"Yes I'm all in flaws and all you're stuck with me now Belova. Once I let someone in that's it." You replied bumping your nose into hers.

Tell her the truth. Tell her right now. Its now or never.

In the end instead of following Kate's advice Yelena did the complete opposite. As you were pulling back a hand caught you by the chin. Her grip was firm but gentle and she brought your face back to hers guiding your lips to meet hers in slow and passionate kiss. You followed her pace letting her lead how far this would go. One of your hands cradling the side of her face.

Yelena let herself get lost in the feeling of your lips moving in sync with hers, basking in all the emotions. That came flaring up inside her but the difference this time was she had no intention on running. She was now sure of the lengths you'd go to for her, and wanted to enjoy while it lasted. The truth can wait a little bit longer.

Two Days Later

"I know you're not a fan of my profession, but I'm not going to college." Yelena said leaning back into the car.

You let out a burst of laughter and her lips quirked upward, but she resisted the urge to smile. "I'm a professional thief Yelena I have no room to judge your how you make your living. A dishonest has gotten both of us farther in life than a honest one would've. I just don't like your employer.

"Then why are we here?" She gestured to the college right across the street from where you had her parked.

"I brought you here to meet someone." You revealed pausing when the double doors were pushed open, and a bunch of college students came pouring out. Your eyes scanned the crowd for one familiar face in particular.

A wave of nervousness washed over Yelena as her bright green eyes followed your line of sight once it honed on the target . A warm smile forming on your face as you relaxed. It was a boy slightly younger than both of you around Kate's age. She focused on his features looking for the telltale signs to confirm her suspicions. But you beat her to the punch.

"He's my baby brother."

Tag List: @danveration @yelenabelovasgf @xxromanoffxx @emril-osvigne @be-missed @natashasilverfox @yelena-beloved @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @catswag22 @here4thegayships @jeyramarie @wh0reforwanda @supercorpdanbeau @chloe7076 @ohmy-godyes @lizlil @musicinourlips

#marvel imagine #mcu imagine #yelena belova imagine #yelena x reader #yelena belova x reader #yelena belova #kate bishop

[snapewife-divorce-lawyer]

when i originally made my equestria civil war au as a an edgy teen, one of the primary things that defined the north wind as being evil was their use of animal products. i do think it’s enough that they are militant fascists. that simple fact makes it worthwhile to oppose them. i don’t mind them being evil in other ways, but i want to acknowledge before i continue that they certainly don’t need more evil traits as far as narrative goes. i left the alicorn experiments in because they are cool lol, but the animal products thing i don’t know about. their use of animal products was pervasive, much like our real world, but it was really bad because ponies are herbivores (don’t come at me on this. not interested in arguing the fact that ponies are herbivores) and further at no point in history were ponies reliant on animal products for any reason. so the habitual use of animal products was obviously evil to any observer. purely exploitation for nothing but convince. but further than that, their animal products extended to animals that aren’t exactly animals. i kinda hinted at this with the alicorn experiments, and the implied complete disposability of their pony test subjects for a flimsy misguided cause. they actually see anyone who isn’t a pegasus as an inferior being, and this belief informs actions.

here are some of the things from the original au that i am considering dropping, along with the use of animal products all together. i warn you that they are pretty bad:

the first practice of theirs that i am reconsidering in my remake of this au is that they used dragon hyde as armor. i had decided that it deflected magic and they made armor out of it, and also wrappped their ships in it. in the og story this is actually the thing that deradicalized mistletoe. he had a gradual change from indoctrinated child to aware and remorseful young adult, but the second he found out that the armor he was wearing came from a creature that could talk is when he completely flipped. i’m not sure how much i like that story anymore. also as a not edgy not teen im not sure that that level of depravity is necessary to show.

the somehow worse thing i am also reconsidering, and i have to warn you again if you are going to go forward that this is pretty bad, is that in the original they would take unicorn horns and use them to make weapons out of. sometimes via grave robbing, but sometimes from living unicorns. the unicorns that they would take these from would then often be made to work in factories and stuff. the hornless unicorns were all discolored and sad like when starlight took those ponies’ cutiemarks.

i’ve been open about how star wars was an influencing factor in my pony au being a story about fighting fascism. it bugged me watching star wars that you don’t see the empire being bad. they blow up a planet in the beginning, and then continue based almost solely on that. using aesthetics and exposition to show the evil of their villains. star wars feels less like a galaxy full of people rising up against an empire that is oppressing them, and more like a conflict between a handful of people. the citizens of the galaxy are only props in the story. i don’t think star wars is uniquely guilty of this by any means, and i don’t even necessarily think this is a bad thing about the story, but i think it’s not a coincidence that recent star wars stories have been focusing on the actual material harm of the empire instead of a conflict between a handful of wizards who it turns out are literally related to eachother. that would be the reason to leave things like this in. here is some of the real material harm that the north wind is doing. here are some of their real victims. a reason to oppose them that is more personable than narratively broad concepts like government takeover.

love to her thoughts if you have them

#equestria civil war

[lullaby-for-a-shark]

Hamildaddies Update

I have finished the first two songs

Alexander Hamilton/These Four Dads, yeah

Aaron Burr, Sir/Put Down That Phone, Son

Lyrics under the cut, pray for me :)

(also a TW for suicide, just in relation to Cern, it’s fleeting and unspecific)

These Four Dads, Yeah

ERIN

How would a vegan, rocker, son of a dick

And a coach dad, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot

In the forgotten realms, by some guys in purple robed collars

Get out in time for them to play soccer

CERN

An extreme, green, man who's always oh so very keen

Dad to two whack tweens, who steal all his time to clean

Having to stand between

His kids and a naked tree

His crunchy munchiness is all part of his neat routine 

SCAM LIKELY

And every day he would pray 

his step son wouldn’t cast him away, would this be the day?

He struggled and kept his guard up

Inside he was longing for something to be apart of

The step dad was ready to be, steal, or borrow a father 

RATTICUS FINCH

Then a guitar riff played, the Glenn Close Trio reigned 

Christmas music now rise, rising from the grave

Put a doobie in his face hole, let it ease his brain

Donning an awesome belt chain, to cover up all the pain

PAEDEN

Well, the word got around, they said ‘damn this guy can coach, man’

Good at doing dishes, the kitchen is his main land

He quit his college education 

On tax day he came

These dads, the words gonna know their names

The fuck are they man?

ENSEMBLE

These four dads, yeah

God please help these four dads, yeah

Your heart apart they will quickly tear

If you just wait, if you just wait

WALTER

With their kids they will split, various levels of tear ridden

In a short time they’ll have to find out where they’re hidden

Are they dead? Coping with being sick and brain thick?

And the longer we take the faster time seems to tick

YEET BIGLEY

They make some cool friends

One of which wants to commit suicide

His dead kids left him with broken pride

Nothing new inside

Henry says ‘McStuffins you gotta fend for yourself’

Which led to him retreating

A deck of cards placed placed on the shelf

DOUG

With their kids their conflicts they will have to try to dispute 

Before they’re all dead or destitute

Without a cent of restitution

Dealing with scamming while lamming

Henry and Darryl being ignored

Ron and Glenn mostly enjoying being abroad 

Scamming will become a real issue from now on

Planning seems impossible when you drive on

The issue at hand while in your cool van

ENSEMBLE

In the forgotten realms you can improve as a man

In the forgotten realms you can improve as a man

(If you just wait)

In the forgotten realms you can improve as a man

(If you just wait)

In the forgotten realms you can improve as a man

In the forgotten realms, forgotten realms

PAEDEN

If you just wait

ENSEMBLE

These four dads, yeah

(These four dads, yeah)

Mass destruction followed you

(Destruction followed you)

You never backed down

‘Cause you were running out of time

Oh, these four dads, yeah

(These four dads, yeah)

When all the friends you made sing for you

Will they know what you overcame?

That lives were lost to win the game?

Your world will never be the same, oh

ERIN

The van in in San Dimas now

See if you can spot them

They cannot possibly know 

That they will hit rock bottom

CERN

Their fatherhood destroyed their rep in the world of forgotten

CERN

Me, I fought with them

ERIN

Me, I helped them

PAEDEN

Me, I loved them

SCAM LIKELY

And me?

I'm the awesome guy that scammed ‘em

Your hearts apart they’ll quickly tear

If you just wait

They fuck are they man?

These four dads, yeah!

Put Down That Phone, Son

ENSEMBLE

Two Thousand and Nineteen

San Dimas

DARRYL

Put down that phone once you’ve won, son

GRANT

What is it this time?

DARRYL

Oh well tons, son 

You see I, Darryl Wilson have a task, son

We’ve got a job to do

GRANT

Oh goddamn it

DARRYL

Son, I know you love your soccer and I thought that maybe you could make some more friends

And you could get sorta buddy-buddy with that team of yours

If we carpool it could be fun, son

And look, there’s Glenn over there

GRANT

The weed one?

DARRYL

Yes!

Morning Glenn Close, I’ll have to shake your hand we’re not here for social revolution 

GLENN

I look at him like he’s stupid

DARRYL

I’m not stupid

So, your sons smoking weed, ha, guess they grow up so fast

GLENN

He’s only thirteen, but why wait for more time to pass?

DARRYL

About the smoking weed, of course

I’ve done it, God, back in ninety-four

I smoked more weed than we possibly could have ever

Paid for

GLENN

Can I get in the car?

DARRYL

That would be nice

GLENN

While we’re talking let me offer you some free advice

Care less

DARRYL

What?

GLENN

Chillax more

DARRYL

Ha

GLENN

‘Cause why would you want to live life like that for?

DARRYL

You can’t be serious 

GLENN

You wanna get ahead?

DARRYL

Yes

GLENN

Dads who are too square wind up dead

LARK 

Ah-yuh-yo-yo-yo, yo!

What time is it

SPARROW

Show time!

GLENN

Stop that dread

LARK

Showtime, showtime! Yo!

I’m Lark Oak in the place to be

And I’m punching the absolute shit out of this tree

And even though my dad may frown at me

Violence is the coolest in the world, you see

SPARROW

Yes yes brother, that’s as true as it can get

I Sparrow am one half of the best twin set

My enemies have scars

I make them see spinning stars

We are cool and awesome and et-cet-e-ra

HENRY

Guys Guys, I am the Henry Oak

Just a bloke, don’t choke

I heard your mother say “it’s not a joke”

So I don’t wanna enforce nor endorse

Your energy ‘cause it’s your passions source

So if you could get right into the car, sons

And later you can continue with your little

HENRY, LARK AND SPARROW

Revolution!

HENRY

With my extensive environmental knowledge

I suppose carpooling is fine if it’s acknowledged?

TERRY JR 

Good luck with that, I’m making you walk

Your shit oatmeal spit is even sick of your talk

I still don’t understand why the fuck you are here for

RON

I here ‘cause I’m your step dad

And you’re someone to cheer for 

GRANT

Ugh, are we good, are we good, are we good?

DARRYL

Yes we should be good son, yes we should…

edit: pasting the lyrics in instead of having screenshots

#hamildaddies #dungeons and daddies #dndads #henry oak #Lark oak #sparrow oak #glenn close #nick close #nicky close #darryl wilson #grant wilson #ton stampler #Terry jr #Terry jr stampler

[dballzposting]

do u ever think abt how like trunks was probably raised by the internet growing up. bc yknow his parents werent ever really there. its interesting cause like he probably just kinda had to yet up on his own legs when his parents werent there and kinda worked his way around things, he likely got it from bulma, the problem solving that is. because he definitely didn't from vegeta. i like to imagine when trunks and goten were basically old enough to kinda make friends with eachother, which was when they were probably like 8, goten looked up to trunks a lot because he was older than him and like so cool his mom was really rich and trunks' dad would fight his dad and that was cool. from trunks perspective i feel like he kinda realized that goten was like kinda stupidly smart, trunks was too but he'd rather do other things and was like "yo this kid can do my homework for me" because trunks never really considered people for just being people at first because he wanted to try to live up to his who whenever visted dad would just huff at him and get what he came for. never really paying attention to trunks. i feel like after awhile of getting to knos goten better he kinda started like actually playing with him-- like a real kid, yknow? he let goten on his xbox and they woulc play zombies and goten was always so fascinated because his mom never allowed him any type of electronic devices or access to the internet. all goten had were books and whatever happened outside and sometimes even dvds he could play. i feel like they idolized eachother but never realized the other one felt the same way, and then as they grew up they kinda rubbed off on eachother

Trunks was definitely encouraged to explore and figure things out on his own for sure !! This of course also meant that he went out and found his own culture and place in it outside of the context of his house. Maybe that meant becoming a minecraft youtuber. What of it

Maybe a feeling of culture & connection was absent at home if his dad never wanted to connect with him, just train him. That makes sense that Trunks would inhabit that attitude and treat others like a commodity as well. I definitely see in him a kid who is bumbling through and trying to emulate what he's shown - but underneath that is an energetic and spontaneous child who is just having trouble making sense of conflicting inputs about the world, is all!

Goten's view of the world and his place in it was never that mysterious and contentious however so he's pretty well-adjusted I think. He's comfortable being the baby and looking up to Trunks and trusting that he knows what he's talking about. But he won't hesitate to defend his own mind or skin when it comes down to it. And Goten's authenticity rubs off on Trunks a bit, or rather encourages Trunks to just be himself. On one hand, Trunks lied when he said that he knew what a Majin Buu was because Goten seemed to believe that Trunks would know; but on the other hand, Trunks didn't try to push his competence further when he admitted that he too couldn't make sense of the high power levels they were sensing during their mad-flight over there. Rank matters to Trunks, and Goten is quick to assume his role as the youngest, but they are also quickly approaching an equilibrium.

i feel like they idolized eachother but never realized the other one felt the same way, and then as they grew up they kinda rubbed off on eachother

^ All There is To It Gang . . . . Goten looked up to Trunks becasue he was so skilled and knowledgeable and Trunks looked up to Goten becasue he was so fucking weird I MEAN he was trusting and playful and bold and he adapted fast and wasn't ever ashamed of who he was.

THEY ARE FRIENDS YOUR HONOR.

Trunks comes into a lot of grace to be able to stop the implicit power struggle and admit equals with Goten. It's more rewarding, but it does require a humbling, and perhaps a painful rejection of his nuanceless-because-he's-still-just-a-kid understanding of that all-important pride, which is like a religious doctrine in his home. Of course he could have Saiyan Pride AND a best friend, and actually it does seem like he understands that (in the Kakarot sidequest that these screenshots are from, Trunks and Goten had been of the belief that Vegeta and Goku were friends), but . . . who knows. Worth thinking about.

#dballz posting #dballz asks #goten & trunkz

[scorpiobabylon]

hi! what do you make of ai art? im conflicted cause i see how its great for disabled people in many ways, but then i look back at the work people put into becoming artists and mastering the craft and feel many things lol i wish i could look at it similarly like i look at producers for example, where you have a vision and tools and you know how to use it well so you dont need the musical training background to be creative, but i cant help but feel like its more complicated with visual art? that theres a whole other side besides having a vision and good understanding of a shortcut tool. im very very torn and also sorry for all that on your succession blog but knowing youre a fantastic artist whos recently been dealing with this sort of impossibility to make art i wonder if you have some insight in this area.

sending love!

i appreciate u wanting to know my opinion on a Hot Topic such as this! i dunno man i have an aversion to any definition of art of any kind that requires effort or skill as essential features that make the art “real”. i think a lot of what is happening with AI discourse is that people are appropriately appalled by the way capitalism mangles creative output and even what kind of relationships artists can have with their work and with the rest of the world. i do not have a problem with a machine that digests and reconfigures information — a machine is just a machine. if one copied the way i make texture with colored pencil and produced an approximation of a new original work by me, i would be fascinated by what reactions i might have to it. would i feel threatened by it? would i be flattered? what might it open up for me, to see my work broken into a particular machine’s data? this is just a dream, though. i see many artists understandably frightened by what the exploiter class may choose to do with their new toys (and what they are already doing to us with them). it just sucks to see that very plain class antagonism passed over with arguments about the “purity” of human-made art, how it is somehow apparent to any observer when a work is truly endowed with a “soul” (if these arguments sound eerily like fascist aesthetic principles, it’s because they are fascistic).

and then to see people cheering for their own doom with this thing of mr. game of thrones & co suing chatGPT, complete with condescending explanations of how it’s not going to hurt fanfic writers because the problem these multimillionaires have is actually with people monetizing their work, and the true humble Fan would ne’er ask a but penny. do people really not see how this is making the divide between the “artist” and the “common person” greater? it is so goddamn expensive to survive right now, and the wealthy are using fear of technology as a tool to prevent you from making money, and yes, making art at all. only those with enough capital to protect their intellectual property with the force of the law are allowed to express themselves through art. yes, i think it should be well within your rights to bind and sell (for money, yes, money) your game of thrones fanfiction. so many of us are living in poverty right now, bombarded by entertainment but prevented from ever chewing it up or spitting it out. ed roth’s rat fink character had it right. fuck mickey mouse. like, we’re actually back to saying “fuck mickey mouse” being really cool. put him in a blender full of data, have it put him into a beach scene with BBW anime versions of lara croft and princess peach. intellectual property is a historically recent phenomenon. it is a tool to make the rich richer and get you well and squarely fucked. theoretically, yeah, it sounds good to have your work and livelihood honored and protected, but just like they’re trying to replace artists and actors and writers with AI, every single tool becomes a weapon in the hands of the rich. the hell people are worried they need more punishing copyright law to fix is already here. the woman who designed care bears & strawberry shortcake never saw a penny from it. AI art is only a threat in the hands of the corporations that happily do these things in the first place.

anyways. lol. i’m not very technologically minded in my own art practice — i’m not naturally drawn to new technology as a part of my work, and find many of the results i’ve seen from current AI art tech to be kind of aesthetically unpleasant. artwork contains unpleasantness, though. i’m not really interested in arguments over what artwork “should” contain, only what it does. i think the best AI art i’ve seen (ie: the stuff i’ve enjoyed the most) has been from alan resnick:

it is so terrifically disquieting. it leans into what makes AI-generated BBW lara croft kind of difficult to actually jack off to. the overlapping lines of bodies, the nonsense text. but then, if this work has merit, is that because alan resnick is uniquely special, thus proving the point that the technology is only valid in the hands of a “real artist”? can mr. resnick be said to be the “artist” of these images at all, because he trained a program to his own style and input interesting ides? does he deserve lots of money for his work creating iconic adult swim shorts like this house has people in it? well sure

or would this art only have value if somebody put a tremendous amount of labor into it? you know. my mother used to tell me, “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work”. she said she should nail the phrase to my forehead, like martin luther at the church doors. having very recently become disabled & chronically ill, i don’t believe it anymore. i believe we should be able to use technology to make ourselves more free. we should not be so financially insecure that we are threatened by anyone expressing themselves with something we made. the ultra-wealthy are threatened by infringement because they need everybody else to stay poor, and the poor are threatened because they do not want to be poor any longer. it’s got nothing to do with strange scrambled pictures. if i could take pictures of every work of art i’ve ever loved and put it into a machine that mixes it up and turns it into a monster, i would do it just for a bittersweet laugh at it.

[lurkingteapot]

Last Twilight ภาพนายไม่เคยลืม Ep 2

I apologise in advance for inconsistent name romanisations, I TRY to remember what the official ones are for names I've seen but I also watched this without subs so all new names are a guessing game, and the EXISTING ones aren't consistent within the show, so. idk. I had a point. Reaction log!

is that his technical college/vocational school shirt?

"hunger is the best spice!" can I say Y I K E S

oh, she's a chef?

ooof the music when he asked about the dad

that's like. almost twice a foreign high-school teacher's salary.

asdfasdf Night

oh so Night is using Day's caretaker as his personal … idk, help? too? that'll be the source of zero conflict, I'm sure :grimacing:

แค่ดูแบดๆ อะ THANKS FOR THE SONG STUCK IN MY HEAD NOW, NIGHT

(I'm going to have to comment of how much I love seeing Mark as a member of the main, not just recurring, cast for at least another two episodes. He'll get a lead role eventually.)

oh that looks like he's likely to run into it and make it spill though

>_> awww little prince + badminton? wonder who made that painting

I'd say don't stick your hand in there but that water looks like it BADLY needs changing/cleaning anyway

oof impressive

kinda weird to wander around the room while Day's asleep, think, but -- asdfadsfasd the PLANT

I really love how we get to see Jimmy just act here. NO speaking, we just get to see Mawk Mhok move in space. I love that

ow Mhok you don't just move people's stuff around without their consent

I love Phawjai (also fuck this she's Phawjai and he's Mawk, or she's Porjai and he's Mork, it's the same fucking vowel what in the romanisation hell)

asdfasdf he's such a LOSER I love him

omg Jimmy's skin ACTUALLY looking like a real person's right now? whoa

hey maybe you could ask Day to open the door for you

Onn … heh

adsfasdfasd they're so silly I love it

I like what they're doing with the eyework in the scenes with Onn and Day

YAY assistive technology

I love that that doesn't even seem to have occurred to Mhok here

and I think Mhok is just getting that Omm is not judging him on his looks

yep here we are

adsfasdf I love that Onn told Mhok

I'd just go, honestly, but I love that Mhok seems to think it's a challenge

oh, that's the little prince audiobook?

the music now that he's dropped the eye drops (hah) is like something out of a horror movie

he's gonna have to call for help

asdfasdfadsf oh Mhok that's gonna come to bite you in the ass, it's not your SHIRT that smells

dfasdfsdfsdfadsf oh dear

Mhok you can't just do that just 'cause he can't see

asdfadsf he Khun Nuu'd him

I TOLD YOU THAT TANK NEEDED CLEANING and also all that knocking must've been stressful af for the fish, just saying

Jasmine!

oh that looks good

asdfdsfd the comic timing on "what are you afraid of" here was GOLDEN

horror movies, oh no

well shit

are you telling me they didn't even tell anyone he was in Thailand? what the actual fuck, Day's family

harsh, Day

look this kind of sitch is probably sorta not cool for Mhok

oh fuck poor Phawjai (also: called it)

yeah

oop this is gonna backfire so hard

yeep

oh shit there it is

oh, there's a part 5 for those horror movies?

BUT Day's down in the living room again, I notice

Phawjai, you absolute star

GOLDFISH SLIPPERS omg

oh you'll leave the house with HER

Mhok trying to put himself in Day's shoes, huh. not sure if smart or offensive, but at least he's trying, I guess, which is more than we can say for most folks we've seen around Day so far?

Mhok's "fart proudly - stand behind me" shirt is taking me OUT

yeah, that makes sense

Day, wtf, that's so dangerous, I'm sure you've been on a scooter in Bangkok traffic when you could still see! you must know you can't tell for sure there'll be room for you to do that left and right of you!

a friend for the fish, huh, let's hope they don't kill each other

I hate to be this person but how often, exactly, are you supposed to use these eye drops, Day? I mean I guess his eyesight is going anyway, but …

I'm really enjoying the show so far. Solid. P'Aof material is being P'Aof material and I'm really enjoying that.

#last twilight the series #last twilight #ภาพนายไม่เคยลืม #last twilight ep 2 #bl watch liveblog #my nonsense

[liesmyth]

So I was thinking about this discussion about Moash’s arc vs. Dalinar, specifically the argument by @kunaiman that Moash refuses to take responsibility for his own actions in a series that is all about acknowledging past wrongs and finally growing as a person.

As I said in the other post, I actually agree with the point that it’s not about who did the most evils, but about how you handle it. Like, this is not a war tribunal, we’re discussing character arcs in a fantasy series! But because I’m approaching it as a fantasy series and looking at it doylistically, then I will say that I find Dalinar’s character arc lacking, and at the same time Moash is never given a fair chance in the story.

Dalinar: look, the guy faces basically zero consequences for anything he has done. He waged a war of conquest for purely personal reasons, committed war crimes, and suffered no consequences for it, either politically or personally. He holds a lot of remorse and that IS a good thing about Dalinar (and a core tenet of the series in general) but also: Dalinar is in a position of immense social privilege. It’s pretty easy to be a good person when you are rich and powerful, esteemed by your family and subordinates, chosen one of a demigod entity. As a reader, it made me deeply unsatisfied. Dalinar is the narrative’s designated Leader. Every time his name is brought up, characters clamour to talk about how cool he is. He commands respect. Even the people who dislike him have some grudging praise. His sons worship him even after it comes out that he caused the death of their mother – and the entire thing is swept off the carpet! off-screen! in between books! Dalinar has his big moment of admitting to atrocities and that’s it, all is cleansed. Like, I wasn’t expecting drawn-out emotional conflicts or chapters upon chapters of Dalinar grovelling (inefficient; also boring). I actually really like that the latter books are so fast-paced with so many things happening that we can barely keep track; this is epic-scale fantasy and we’re gearing up for the big show. Real wartime is all about making compromises and just keeping it together… but that is NOT how the books treat Dalinar. No one in his camp is thinking “this guy isn’t great but he's the best we’ve got in this emergency”. His children aren’t just pretending they’re over their mother’s death just to show unity – they genuinely are over it. He’s not a “lesser of two evils” wartime leader, he’s Roshar Jesus. He keeps feeling bad he did bad things, and everyone around him is all “it doesn’t matter! You’re good now!” Everyone forgave him the instant the narrative deemed him forgivable; he carries his burdens but everyone forgot about it. One big moment and then it all fizzles out. It’s not a good redemption arc – and I’m not even sure if the narrative even THINKS Dalinar had to be redeemed. At times I get the impression that his past atrocities are just window dressing for his backstory, old demons he has to defeat, like a superhero with a dead wife in his past who was never a real person to the story. Dalinar’s crimes barely hold weight in the narrative because the big redemption washes them clean – sometimes I don’t get the sense that they mattered.

By contrast, Moash. He does bad things. He was also dealt far, far shittier cards in life that Dalinar ever did. His big evil moment was a crime of passion: wanting to kill a guy who not only represents the apex of the very system that marginalizes him but also personally had a hand in the death of his family (I say this as an Elokhar fan). So yeah. He goes against Kaladin, he fails; he’s left friendless and alone and with very few options beyond falling in further with bad people, doing more bad things etc. but – what were his alternatives? Unlike Dalinar, he didn’t have a princedom or a loving family or an important destiny waiting for him. He has been personally wronged by the justice system multiple times. Pre-Kholinar, literally, how can he know he won’t be killed on the spot if he makes it to the Plains (Kaladin’s words? He saw Kaladin thrown in a cell before). What other options does he have if not the Fused? Post-Kholinar, well. He’s infamous. Even if he redeems, what does he have waiting for him? Again: only Kaladin, but Kaladin cares for Dalinar just as much. It’s not enough. And so Moash keeps digging himself down further.

To make it clear: I’m not absolving Moash of anything he’s done. He absolutely had a choice multiple times and he consistently refused to go back even given many chances. His whole arc is a massive sunk-cost fallacy, but it’s also about alienation and disenfranchisement as much as it’s about rage. Unfortunately, Brandon Sanderson misses the part about disenfranchisement because he doesn’t realize the implications of the social dynamics in the world he created. I don’t say this as a snub: he does some things very well (emotional scenes, pivotal character moments). He also does some things very badly: his focus on the characters as individuals completely fails to engage with the characters as a product of their environment, something that is true in real life and should be true if you want a well-rounded character in a story arc about redemption or lack thereof.

The story doesn’t acknowledge the fact that Moash’s is a direct product of the society he lives in, and treats his morally bad actions as if they came about in a vacuum. It’s a lot easier to say “you can do better and you should, you have the power to change, redeem, and grow” about Dalinar, who’s been metaphorically sitting on a tower in the clouds long before it became factual, than someone like Moash, whose (morally bad!) actions are a direct consequence of his disenfranchised position in society and the (completely justified) bitterness he feels. Neither the characters OR the narrative have at any point acknowledged that maybe, just maybe, there would have been no Moash if the people in power had been a bit more humane. That is a massive blind spot in a character arc that is all about how a man is irredeemable because he refuses to let go of the resentment that corrupted him.

#stormlight archive #moash #dalinar kholin #the stormlight archive #cosmere #long post #narrative themes #at some point this stopped being a response and started being a note from me to me about why that guy deserves a chance #i wrote this for me etc. #sanderson critical #i mean a lil bit

[hail-tim]

The drug thing and diary farming

ohohoh so i'm not as seasoned in the area of crystal meth; I think Gus knows enough about that if we're talking about Gus Fring. I am more knowledgeable in the field of opioids because it's more of a problem where I live and it's a pretty old phenomenon. So not considering the United States, you can trace a lot of mass opium addiction to the appropriately-named Opium Wars that took place mainly between China and the UK. This was because the UK wanted to trade large amounts of tea from China but there were generally conflicts with that cause y'know, imperialism rightfully leaves a bitter taste in some people's mouths. So this ended in a sketchy deal where opium instead ended up being smuggled to China, getting a lot of people hooked. So began a mass addiction to opiates. Another thing that I can trace to modern opioid addiction in the US is OxyContin. This common prescription painkiller was first advertised as a "non-addictive" alternative to many painkillers. Spoiler alert - this was incorrect information and a lot of people, especially people from rural areas, got addicted real fast. This led to an uptick in heroin use as well, I believe. Looking into the cocaine/crack epidemics on another note; cocaine was used a lot by the Hollywood elite/generally rich white people leading up to the 1980s. That is, powder cocaine. When crack was introduced, it was a basic alternative to cocaine that allowed for it to be smoked/shot up meaning quicker and stronger absorption into the blood stream, if that makes sense. This was actually a lot more accessible and affordable. It made its way into the poorer regions of the United States, specifically Black communities, very very quickly because of this. This was essentially because of the US's involvement with Latin American countries that supplied the stuff - the CIA was involved with coups in that area that supported these sketchy groups opposed to democratic uprisings in Latin America. The US disliked this democracy because it meant that theses countries were getting more stable, self-sufficient and independent from countries like the United States that had power in the form of companies based there that could do essentially whatever the hell they liked. The CIA allowed for these anti-democratic groups to funnel their cocaine up into the United States and created a racial disparity. Oh boy. How surprising and uncharacteristic of the CIA (sarcasm). It goes deeper than that but I'll stop there. NOW. On a lighter note - DAIRY FARMING :)))

I am a dairy farmer right now! I milka the cows and all that good stuff. that entails a LOT but I'm going to stick to what I really focus on in the job.

-Milking cows. It's pretty robotic but I enjoy it. We use machines so I don't milk by hand unless I need to test a cow - basically what you do is you sanitize each teat with an iodine-based solution, wipe that off after a couple of seconds, and put on the machine. Once they're all done, you check to see if their udder is firm (which could indicate the presence of a disease like mastitis or that the cow isn't milked all the way) and if they're good, you put another solution on their teats (post-dip. The first solution is called pre-dip). Voila! You've milked a cow, my friend. And what you do to one, you must do to the next two hundred we have coming in.

-DISEASE. very feared amongst farmers. Sanitation is sososososo important and a huge part of the job is washing the parlor (the room where we milk), the equipment, and cleaning the housing area for the animals. These things shit. A lot. it's messy.

-Crop work. My beloved. Love of my life. Everyone loves operating machinery. tractors are cool. Hay season makes me so sentimental it's insane. Been doing that shit since I was five years old. You lug around dry grass all day in the hot sun and it's amazing beyond words.

-Finally, my coworkers. I won't talk too much about them because they're real people who probably would be uncomfortable with getting posted about on tumblr, but they're crazy. You either work with teenage boys or really old guys. I'm the sole female worker right now and it's something to witness for sure.

Sorry for the long post. Hope this answers your questions, Gus!

[departeaaa]

CASSIAN BARAKZAI • DC BIO • 36

i tremble. they're gonna eat me alive...

chara tag ⁂ fic idea tag ⁂ creations tag ⁂ pinterest tag ⁂ ship w/ john c tag

BASICS

Name: Genesis Cassian Barakzai

Nickname(s): Cass, Genesis, Jen

Date of birth: April 1 (She says her life’s a joke from birth)

Star sign: Aries.

Gender/pronouns: Cis-woman, she/her

Orientation: Bisexual, Biromantic

Occupation: former Field Journalist. Currently a ghost-author. Fake psychic who actually knows her shit.

Relationship status: Single, but sometimes seeing J.ohn Co.nstantine. It’s ridiculously complicated.

Playby: V/ita Mi/r

trigger warning before reading further: death, probably other things but idk what exactly.

Tests

INFJ CHAOTIC GOOD

A QUOTE THAT REMINDS ME OF THEM:

“What use is moonlight? I reach into it, fingers open, and my hand is silvered and blessed, and comes back to me holding nothing.”

— Margaret Atwood, from “Sumacs,” in Interlunar

BEGINNINGS

Born In: Unspecified, Russian (Unspecified because Cass' father never told her where) Raised In Location: Unspecified, Ireland (Unspecified because Cass won't tell)

Current Location: Gotham.

Places Lived: Random places. She just lives wherever.

Nationality: American.

Background:

Her biological mother is from Afghanistan and her biological father is from Russia. She never met her biological mother, but her biological father was cool enough to give her her mother’s surname ‘Barakzai’ as a memory to her. Her father was originally going to live in London but he ended up marrying an Irish woman who he loved very much, and during that time, things were alright.

Even with the area in conflict during the 90s, he still made things comfortable and Cass still had a good group of friends to rely on and family she was comfortable with. She also adored her little sister. She was a surprisingly happy-go-lucky girl growing up, to many people’s surprise if they see pictures of her from this time compared to now. During her time in Ireland, she learned magic from her step-mother and was pretty great at it and gifted at predictions.

Thing was, she noticed that magic was a little buggy when her father used it so she always warned him of it. She wasn’t exactly sure why. But when she was seventeen, her parents died performing a spell that they did without thinking of the repercussions and it not only wiped them out but everyone in their small town except for Cass and her sister.

And upon this discovery, Cass and her sister hopped out of town and began new lives. Cass decided not to use magic often, but ended up using ‘fake psychic’ predictions along with real ones in order to make a good amount of money to make it to uni and to afford a place for her little sister to live since they didn’t have any other family to go to. And though she knew her father would roll in his grave, they chose London as the place to stay.

Cass stayed for a while and studied up until a grandma of hers reached out to help take care of her sister, so she could live her life. Cass did not want to leave her sister, but she ended up doing field journalism and occasionally took time off. It was during this time where she met John Constantine and found him to be rather irritating, despite sleeping with him.

The two ended up working together because he noticed some of the fake psychic predictions she made were legit and he also had noticed when she performed street magic for kids she sometimes did actual tricks.

He had warned her to be careful around kids, but then contradicted himself by asking her to help him with something. And she had helped him, and it ended up biting her in the ass and he ended up ditching her. Which led her to be cross with him. The two of them did not meet again, until later on when he’d warned her that her sister had been possessed by a demon. Which caused Cass to not only use magic again, but she was now open to working with John again.

Though she no longer uses magic often, and she uses her party tricks of fake psychic readings for her income and her books, she will occasionally investigate hauntings for people just to make sure what happened to her small neighborhood won’t happen to anyone else’s home or family – though it was not a demon’s doing and her parents’ own foolishness. Cause deep down, despite Cass’ serious façade, she just wants to help people.

#noah's fic shit archive masterlists #cassian barakzai bios #cassian barakzai: dc bio & stats #c: cassian barakzai | blaze it #fic idea: blaze it #blaze it characters bios & stats

[clarencethemouse]

Alphonso Hargreeves Relationship Headcanons

every single one of the Sparrows are severely underrated and I am here to remedy that :)

it gets a wee bit NSFW in the middle, but only for a few bullet points

this man fakes so much confidence

up front he seems so self assured and confident, but it doesn’t take long into knowing him for you to discover just how fake that facade is

he’s incredibly insecure about the way his physical form has deteriorated over the years. If he thinks about it as something borne of saving the city from crime and contributing to the Sparrow Academy, it helps. It helps give him a feeling of purpose

and you aid him through these thoughts, RIGHT ???

all this being said, if you have one micrometer of insecurity about any portion of your body be prepared to be worshipped

be prepared

once he gets going he will not stop unless he can feel it from you

wink 

I’m sorry he wants sex all the time

not so much as to become a nymphomaniac, or to disregard if you have boundaries. But if you’re both good with it, and there is always mutual consent, Alphonso will not hesitate to screw you every damn night

he can’t keep his hands off of you

but this doesn’t mean he’s a big fan of PDA

he would love to constantly be touching you and letting the entire damn world know whose you are

but they stare

it’s better off he feels - one one hand - if these affection is left for private. Once they start staring at him they stare at you

and he will not hesitate to punt anyone who demeans you across the country

but on the other hand, he doesn’t care. He got this lovely person. This one! Anyone who has a problem can answer to Jayme

it’s a never ending internal conflict, one you often times have to decide for him

he loves it when you do such ^^

if you don’t like Jayme, then sorry. He can’t have you anymore

Jayme has to approve of you before anything can happen. It’s a rule

this man loves horror movies

don’t ask me why

but he loves to watch them with you. Ideal date night: on his bed in front of the television, one pepperoni pizza and six pack of beer between the two of you

he is overjoyed when you flinch and curl against him, cause he can protect you from the scary movie psychos, and is reassured that he can do more in the world than inflict damage and pain on others

now ALL of the above being said, I don’t think he states his love very often

you had to pop the big three words first

and the guy probably responded with “cool”

not cause he didn’t care about the confession, but are you gonna sit here and tell me you think he ever received positive affirmations from his father? The people around him? no

so how does he respond immediately? “cool”

this sparks a spat

you’re a little hurt, understandably, and walk away. If you weren’t in a position to simply walk away, you slap him

a fight ensues

it’s simmered down by an explanation on his behalf, and a moment to collect his thoughts and confess his complicated relationship with his feelings for you

but those feelings definitely are real and serious

never doubt it

he will make you believe he loves you one way or another

also be prepared for a lot of spats. Alphonso is a very opinionated individual

---

Robin

#alphonso hargreeves #the umbrella academy #the sparrow academy #alphonso hargreeves x reader #the umbrella academy headcanons

[kitkatopinions]

So, since volume nine is potentially coming out very soon, I've made a list of... Not quite predictions. It's more like a list of best case scenario stuff that I might actually want to see and be excited for, a worst case scenario of stuff that I really really don't want to see and think I'd hate, and then kind of a medium case scenario of things that I think are likely to happen or that would annoy me but wouldn't be the worst.

Best Case

The bizarro stuff (like talking mice and shrinking mains) only lasts for one or two episodes. Then things start getting more serious

Neo actually communicates with someone and gets some progression

One of the main four characters decides they've messed up and need to improve without being treated as wrong or being reassured that they DIDN'T mess up and DON'T need to change

Ruby is allowed to mourn Penny outside of 'obligatory thirty seconds of crying' and 'empowering speechTM'

Jaune is allowed to feel his feelings but is made background support and working through his issues is put on the back burner to give more focus to Team RWBY

Yang and Weiss, Ruby and Blake, Weiss and Blake, and especially Ruby and Yang have meaningful interactions with each other that don't feel super shallow or fake

Blake is allowed to be fiesty, make choices, and argue with the others (bonus points if she's shown caring about the Faunus and their struggles or mentions her parents, Ilia, or Sun!)

Getting rid of the horrible volume seven and eight outfit looks (either by replacing them with something better or deconstructing the Atlas layers to make passable island-weather clothes.)

Blake and/or Yang get SOME sort of queer confirmation (FINALLY) whether it's having an open conversation with each other or others about their feelings or getting together or kissing or just something that's more than coding.

People worry about their families and Team JNOR

Acknowledgement of the Atlas/Mistral people who also fell off the bridge.

At least one character that isn't Jaune has a panic attack or a breakdown (not counting the fake ass gasping Ruby did in the trailer.)

One really good fight scene with a good song

The mains diss the gods without being corrected by each other or the narrative

The mains show sympathy for Ozpin without being corrected by each other or the narrative

There's at least one argument and/or disagreement between the four mains that causes natural tension that doesn't get resolved by one of them completely taking back everything they said. Bonus points if the argument/disagreement isn't actually resolved by the end of the season

There is some progression in the actual storyline such as important knowledge that they needed to learn or something they do that impacts Remnant.

Neo wins a fight against one of the mains

Cool new especially challenging types of Grimm (hopefully with some brightly colored accents)

We get to see the Nora, Ren, Oscar, etc still left in Vacuo so we can see immediate conflicts and consequences in Remnant due to the actions taken in V7 and V8 outside of just the end of the last episode

Ruby gets angry at Jaune for killing Penny, and even when she rationalizes it, she's still angry at him and has a hard time being logical about it

Ruby is the one to figure out how to get back to Remnant without it being handed to her in any way (including Little or anyone else just figuring it out and telling her, or her just happening upon how to do it without any real work or planning.)

The way to get back to Remnant isn't just sprung on us out of the blue and then used pretty much immediately like the Staff of Creation, it actually gets set up.

Haircuts or other type of hair changes (like buns or ponytails)

They get back to Remnant before the last episode of the season

Medium Case

Blake and Weiss barely interact past one or two shallow moments, and/or Yang and Weiss barely interact past one or two shallow moments, and/or Blake and Ruby barely interact past one or two shallow moments.

People worry about those left behind, but Weiss doesn't mention Whitley

They hallucinate their dead friends or their enemies

Two or more jokes about Blake being a cat Faunus (counting the one where Little is afraid when Ruby says Blake has cat ears)

Little's knowledge and what they think is normal shifts all the time and is annoyingly untrackable

They're on the Island for more than a week and when they get back to Remnant, some of the big problems their choices helped cause have just been conveniently solved and can now be ignored

Neo is nerfed in order to give one of the mains a win

They figure out how to defeat Salem and it isn't healing or saving her

The theme song is mostly people standing around making facial expressions

Little has more lines and/or screentime than Jaune

We're stuck with the ugly V7-V-8 looks for the whole season.

Ruby makes an inspiring speech that's pretty much just like her usual inspiring speeches.

Incredibly obvious Wonderland stuff (like running after a rabbit, potions that say drink me,' heart shaped scenery or buildings, croquet, etc) and/or incredibly obvious nods to character allusions (Yang encountering three bears, Weiss seeing a magic mirror, Ruby carrying a basket of goods, etc)

Obvious joke(s) 'ribbing at critics'

Ruby is distressed and upset at how everything in V7-V8 went down, but is assured (either immediately or eventually) that she's fine and has done good.

There's an argument between the four mains where one person is treated as wholly in the wrong and needs to apologize and take back what they said.

Neo officially decides to fight Cinder and Salem and might even team up with the mains, but is still obviously a wildcard who doesn't like or always listen to the mains, and they likewise don't get along with her yet and have justified problems with her and that doesn't just go away by the end of the season

Jaune dies

Little dies

Jaune saves one of the main girls from some perilous situation

One or more of the mains do something morally dubious without any of them reflecting on if they should and it's just treated as normal and fine with no nuance

They find another Relic like the Crown of Choice.

Ozpin manages to contact them from Remnant somehow in ways that complicate the magic system

References to non-canon side material like the Team CFVY books, Arrowfell, etc.

Blake kind of just doesn't do anything significant all season and is just there to encourage Ruby and be romantic with Yang

Worst Case

Timeskip Jaune and/or antagonist Jaune

Little has more lines and/or screentime than Blake

Team RWBYJ meet the gods and are on their side or given some sort of special task

They talk to their dead friends for real and some of them are like 'I'm at peace lol'

They see dead enemies like Ironwood and/or Adam and/or Roman tbh so the writers can pound it into the audience's head that they really suck super badly

WBY are miniaturized for more than one episode

Penny's death isn't brought up at all

Everyone forgets Qrow, Oscar, Nora, or Ren exist

Three or more new central characters that take up time (Little already counts as one.)

Ruby and Yang barely interact past one or two shallow moments and/or moments between Ruby and Yang are interrupted or passed up on favor of Yang and Blake.

The mains get to see the future or an alternate version of what the world would be like without them or something stupid like that

The mains decide Salem is just a victim and that they have to fix and save her, or realize she isn't the actual big bad after all and they have bigger fish to fry

We get rid of the V7-V8 outfits only for them to be replaced with something even worse

Neo (or one of the main four if we get antagonist Jaune) fights Jaune and loses

Neither Blake nor Yang get confirmed as queer and just get more coding

Jaune song about how sad he is after killing Penny and/or another Jaune song about how sad he is that Pyrrha is dead

Pretty much nothing important to the overarching Salem plot happens at all

Neo officially switches to the good guys team and by the time the season ends, they're all friendly and don't seem to have real problems with her anymore

One or more of the mains do something really bad that by all logic should really make them upset and they don't even reflect on it and it's treated as normal and fine (this still counts even if the mains 'have no choice.')

There's an entire episode that's almost all dedicated to either Jaune or someone else that isn't Weiss, Blake, Yang, or Ruby

The main four or Jaune randomly just have knowledge that they have no reason to have, like people who fell before Penny died just knowing she died without being told on screen, or people who should react to Little talking just ignoring it

Weiss and Jaune as a ship gets teased or gets confirmation (bonus points if they get confirmed and Blake and Yang don't!)

Neo, Ruby, Yang, Blake, or Weiss die

They get back to Remnant only to realize there's been a timeskip of a year or more

This is the finale season, and the show ends

#rwde #rwby volume 9 spoilers #Just tagging to be safe!

[lampmanliveblogs]

Conspiracy Corner 3.0

Welcome back once again to The Lampman's Conspiracy Corner! This is where I try to uncover the mysteries of The Owl House!

(A note for any newcomers: I am currently doing a mostly blind watchthrough of The Owl House. The last episode I saw was Edge of the World. No spoilers please!)

Ta-da! Isn't that a lovely sight to behold? I'm really happy with how it turned out. The unicorn light strand was an inspired choice on my end, I feel. Shoutout to a friend of mine who gave me a bunch of awesome stuff that I used to make this new and improved version of the Corner. Including these really cool paperclips that look like lamp bulbs. Because I'm The Lampman!

I've overhauled pretty much the entire thing. The only things that are the same as the previous model are the tile and some of the glyphs. Oh, and two of the notes on the grimwalker section. Let's get a better look at some of the individual pieces, shall we?

Timeline

We begin here with the timeline, expanded now that I know more about the past. As you can see, the past is divided into five eras.

•Distant Past Way back in the distant mists of the past, enormous Titans roamed the world of the Boiling Sea. But everything changed when The Collector attacked. For reasons as of yet unknown to me, The Collector came into conflict with the Titans. He formed the Titan Trappers under the title of the Grand Huntsman and became their god. The Collector and the Titan Trappers hunted the Titans to near extinction. At some point, the Titan I’ve been calling Ymir died and The Collector was trapped beneath its body. The implication seems to be that Ymir sacrificed itself to trap the enemy that could not be defeated.

•1600s The 1600s was a busy time, far too busy for me to include every important event on a single post-it note. To summarize, Gravesfield was founded in 1635 in Connecticut. In the young town lived the Brothers Wittebane. This was during the time of the Connecticut Witch Trials, and so the brothers grew up hearing stories about witches and played game where they fought witches. At some point, they met a real witch from the Demon Realm. One of them was scared, but the other brother was fascinated by the strange woman’s magics.

A bit of conjecture: Philip ran away, while his brother followed the witch back to the Demon Realm. Philip told others of the encounter, resulting in the legend of the brothers meeting the witch and being abducted living on into modern memory as we saw in Yesterday’s Lie. Philip somehow managed to make his way to the Demon Realm and set out to find his brother. On his travels he discovered glyph magic and started consuming palismen… for some reason. He did manage to track down his brother, and to his horror, he found his brother engaged in a sinful union with a witch.

This is likely what caused him to transform into his monstrous form. His brother, ever compassionate, does not run in fear from his horrifically mutated brother, but embraces him. Philip decided to take things into his own hands and attempts to murder the witch… but in the end, he ends up taking his own brother’s life. The witch chases him off, Philip barely escaping with his life.

Whatever sanity was left within Philip’s mind now gone, he sets about crafting a masterplan to eradicate all of demonkind. He begins constructing a portal back to the Human Realm. He also attempts to resurect his brother by creating creatures called grimwalkers. Sometime between 1660 and 1670 he encounters the crab maiden Luzura and her cool aunt Dirtrude, actually Luz the Human and Lilith Clawthorne from the future. They help him retrieve a disk that lets him contact The Collector, a figure that plays an important, if as of yet unknown part in Philip’s plans. He assumed the identity of Belos and began his campaign that would eventually see him as the Emperor of the Boiling Isles.

•1700-1800s Nothing of note happened here.

•1900s Belos declared himself as Emperor sometime during the 1970s and established the Coven system. The 1970s also saw the birth of both Edalyn and Lilith Clawthorne. Later, sometime during the early 1990s Eda became good friends with Raine Whispers, future head witch of the Bard Coven. The day before the tryouts for the Emperor’s Coven, Lilith cursed her sister with the Owlbeast curse to ensure she would win their duel… a duel Eda had already decided to forfeit.

Eda ended up running away from home as a result of her curse. She found the abandoned portal door to the Human Realm. She would go on to become a notorious outlaw and wild witch, known as Eda the Owl Lady. Parallel, Lilith rose through the ranks of the Emperor’s Coven until she became its leader, tasked with capturing Eda.

•2000s The 2000s saw the birth of many of the main characters like Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, as well as the creation of Hunter.* Other important events during the 2000s include the death of Luz’ father and Eda adopting King.**

The present of the story takes place in 2022. This based on the anniversary of Camila’s husband’s death being on 22:nd of August, which was on a Monday in the present year. You can see I circled that year on the timeline with that calendar thing I used to figure it out.

*Note on Hunter: it’s not entirely clear how old he actually is, but Darius believed him to be around sixteen years. So it is likely he’s at least close to that age.

**Much like with Hunter, it’s ambiguous exactly how old King is. He was adopted eight years before the present events (so in 2014). But we don’t know how long he spent alone in the tower, or even how long his egg was incubating before it hatched. 

The Wittebanes

Here is a simple family tree for the messed up Wittebane Family. It starts with Mom and Dad Wittebane who sired Philip Wittebane and his brother.

Philip has remained unmarried and with no known romantic relationships in the past or present. Truly, the aro/ace icon we deserve.

That was a joke.

Ahem.

Brother Wittebane married, or at the very least was romantically involved with a witch whose name is to me unknown at the moment. There is a possibility she gave birth to their child later on, so there’s space left to extend the family tree further.

Hunter is… an interesting case. As the technology does not exist in the real world (yet, I’m working on it), the question of where exactly a clone fits in on a family tree is not a settled question. This particular case is made more complicated by the fact that Philip created Hunter, but Hunter was also based on Brother Wittebane. So in some ways, Hunter (and the other grimwalkers that I couldn’t fit on this page) is the progeny of both Philip and his brother.

Grimwalkers and Hunter

Speaking of Grimwalkers, here is a page dedicated all to them.

Starting with grimwalkers, these sad pedestrians are biomagically engineered clones or replicas of people. More specifically of Philip Wittebane’s brother. The exact process of creating a grimwalker is unknown, but it is implied they grow in the ground like plants and that they can be created as full-grown adults.

It is unknown whether Philip created grimwalkers on his own, or if he got the recipe from some other source.

Speaking of the recipe, the known ingredients include Galdorstone, Palistrom wood, Stonesleeper lungs, Selkidomus scales, and Bone of ORTET.

(sidenote: In botany, an ortet is the original plant from which one or more clones are derived. This indicates that this ”Bones of ORTET” is a vital step in the cloning process)

I’ve also included two possible inspirations for the concept of grimwalkers (from a meta perspective, not Philip’s inspiration). Those are homunculus, artificial humans created via alchemy. A famous example in fiction is the homunculi from Fullmetal Alchemist. Another inspiration is Bakru, unruly children created out of wood by witches and wizards.

Hunter There have been many grimwalkers, at least sixteen prior to Hunter, possibly more. Hunter is special however, because he is a main character.

I talked a little before about some confusion surrounding his actual age in the Timeline segment. For now, his age is marked as 16.

This page includes some basic information. His palisman is Flapjack, he has no inherent magic but is branded with the Emperor’s Coven’s sigil. His alignment is… not entirely clear, but he’s probably going to be on the Owl House Crew’s side once he shows up again. His current location is also a mystery, because our heroes did not feel like going looking for him in Edge of the World.

I also included some notes on important relationships. His friends includes Willow, Gus, Skara, and Viney, all of whom he befriended in Any Sport in A Storm. Under the category of Family I included Belos Darius as a father figure and Luz as a sister… mainly because a certain someone I know will correct me if I call Luz anything but his sister. Under the ??? category we find Eda, King, and Amity. Once he does join up with the crew, they’ll most likely fall under the Friends or Family categories, but at this moment I’m not sure what he would consider them to be. The last time he saw Amity was when the two were fighting, after all.

The Collector

Moving to the other side of the Conspiracy Corner, we find The Collector. I decorated this page with a lot of stars because of their space motif! And also a paperclip that looks like a lamp because stars are kinda like lamps.

The Collector is a very mysterious figure whose origins and motives remain largely a mystery. Even the full extent of their powers have yet to be truly revealed, though it’s safe to say it will be a lot. A lot of what I’m not sure yet, but it will be a lot.

What I do know is that The Collector also goes under the name of the Grand Huntsman, that he founded the Titan Trappers and is considered by them to be a god. The Collector founded the Titan Trappers to aid him in his fight against the massive Titans. At some point, likely several thousand years ago, he was imprisoned beneath the body of the Titan I call Ymir.

One of the many questions surrounding this character is what exactly it is they collect. I’m leaning towards it being strange and exotic beasts or creatures. But it might as well be anything The Collector finds the least bit interesting. It could also be something more nebulous like feelings or something.

Titans

Much like their enemy The Collector, the Titans are shrouded in mystery and questions that will hopefully be answered later. What I do know is that these magnificent beasts once roamed the planet and could grow to enormous proportions, as large as islands. They possessed vast magical potential, their blood even capable of opening up rifts in reality, piercing into other dimensions or different times.

The Titans are today almost extinct, with only one known living individual remaining. Their extinction came as consequence of a war against The Collector, a powerful magical entity. The Collector formed the Titan Trappers, a warrior clan solely dedicated towards finding and killing Titans.

(i decorated this page with whale stickers because whales are big and titans are big!)

Ymir Ymir is the name I’ve given to the Titan whose body make up the Boiling Isles. Ymir is implied to have been the one to imprison The Collector, at the cost of their own life.

Ymir is also the source of magic on the Boiling Isles, leading to the people of the Isles revering it almost as a god, a fact exploited by Belos to further his evil plans.

The last thing I want to mention about Ymir is that there is a slight possibility that it is still, in some way, conscious or alive. The hints are few and far between, with there only ever really being two moments I can think of. The first one is during Adventures in the Elements, when Luz learns her second glyph. The scene, to me, seems to imply that the island itself helped her. Combine this with a comment Philip made in Elsewhere and Elsehwen, where he said that it took him years to find the glyphs, almost as if the world itself was trying to hide them from him.

Based on that, it seems to me like Ymir was, in some way, trying to hinder Philip from finding the glyphs and gaining power because it could sense the evil within him. When Luz came along, Ymir helped her along the way, because it could sense she was good and may be the thing that could stop Belos.

Like I said, there is really nothing else to support this theory other than these two very brief moments. And it may to be so much that Ymir is still conscious as more of an… residual will to protect the people of the Isles. 

Another possibility is that Ymir has nothing to do with it, and it was just to demonstrate the differences between Philip and Luz. Luz, who came into the Demon Realm, fascinated and enamored with the magic and adventure connected with it and was able to find the glyphs easily once she set her mind to it.

Philip on the other hand despised the Demon Realm, seeing it a hellish realm of sin and darkness. His hatred for magic and the world he found himself in made him blind to the wonders of it and is what made it so difficult for him to find the glyphs in nature.

King King is, to my knowledge, the last living Titan. His biological parents are unknown, but he was adopted by Eda eight years ago. So he is at least eight years old, but his egg may have been in the tower for thousands of years as far as I know.

Bat-Queen

Not much is known about this Chiroptera Queen. Her own memories of her past are muddy and unclear. All she can recall is that she once sat on the staff belonging to a giant thousands of years ago. It’s possible this giant was a Titan that fell in battle against The Collector or the Titan Trappers.

She protects broken and damaged palismen in her forest. The fact that Belos has never sent his forces to retrieve the palismen from her means that he either doesn’t know where she resides… or that she is powerful enough to repel any attempts to invade her domain.

Glyphs

Not much to say about this section. These are jus the four basic glyphs as well as every glyph combo we’ve seen in the series so far, unless I missed something. Oh, and Philip’s teleportation array is not included, because ain’t no way I’m drawing that thing.

Of note is that right next to the petrification combo is a combo I created with the intention of reversing the effect.

I also included my Lightning/Thunder glyph combo that I created a while ago.

The Day of Unity

This page is dedicated not to the event itself, but rather to the multiple factions that will play a role during this promised day.

The Empire In short, these are the bad guys. And if not bad, then in some way working for, supporting, or an unwitting pawn in Belos’ plan.

•Emperor Belos/Philip Wittebane The Pumpkin King of the Boiling Isles and the mastermind behind this whole event. He is very skilled with magic and can transform his body into a monstrous form. •6 Coven Head Witches These are the six Coven Head Witches still loyal to Belos. Those are the heads of the Healing Coven, Construction Coven, Potions Coven, Illusion Coven, Oracle Coven, and Plant Coven. They are all very powerful witches and are instrumental for the draining spell to work properly. •Warden Wrath Not sure why I included him on the list, he hasn’t really been a threat since episode one. •Coven Scouts The Coven Scouts comprise the army of the Boiling Isles and act as Belos’ main enforcers. There will be a lot of Scouts standing guard and while the typical guard doesn’t offer much challenge to our heroes, legions of them together could pose a serious problem. •Kikimora I forgot to include her on the list… although is she really a threat? I dunno, she might do something. She’ll probably fail, but still. Maybe she’ll faceplant in front of Eda and make her trip at a vital moment or something. •Abomatons These powerful guardian sentries make for a substantial threat to out heroes, unless they find some way to effectively deal with them. Cough, Alador, cough. •The General Populace Belos has the support of the general populace of the Boiling Isles. Pretty much every witch is going to be present during the Day of Unity.

There is one important factor I want to mention. Nearly every adult witch on the series, with exceedingly few exceptions, are members of a coven. This means that they have a coven sigil. And as we’ve seen, the sigils can be used to incapacitate witches with no real way for them to resist. This means that Belos could potentially render almost anyone and everyone incapable of fighting back. Who says that if the heroes rile the masses against him, that he can’t just flick his finger and have them all rendered unconscious?

The Owl House Crew A ragtag bunch of misfits, including a wild witch, a human, Lord Hooty, the last Titan, and a bunch of kids. These are our heroes that will save the day. Maybe.

•Luz Noceda Skilled with glyph magic and will potentially play an important role in rallying people against Belos. •Eda Clawthorne Though she lacks her magic powers, she has access to a harpy mode, granting her increased strength, speed, durability and flight. She also has some knowledge of glyph magic and potions. •King Clawthorne The last living Titan, he boasts a powerful scream capable of splitting solid rock asunder. •Hooty The mighty Lord Hooty is, of course, a god on Earth… or whatever it is the Demon Realm planet is called. You’d think that’d be more than enough, but keep in mind, The Collector is a god too. •Lilith Clawthorne She lacks magical powers, but has trained to use glyphs. May potentially have some valuable insider information. •Amity Blight A gifted young witch specializing in abomination magic. An awesome girlfriend. •Willow Park A natural when it comes to plant magic, her power has impressed adult witches in the past. •Gus Porter A talented student, his illusion magic is not to be underestimated. •Hunter Should I list his last name as Wittebane? Whatever, even though he’s gone at the moment, I think he’ll join up with the Owl House Crew shortly and help them during the Day of Unity. He may not have any magic of his own, but he is trained in combat and has Flapjack lending him some power. He may also have some valuable insider information. •Gwendolyn Clawthorne My list also includes Gwen, mainly because she said in Keeping Up A-fear-ances that she’d like to give Belos a piece of her mind, and unlike Dell who seems pretty frail, she is strong enough to help out in a fight.

There are some more potential allies, like the various witches and demons Luz and Gang has befriended on the Boiling Isles. Maybe some of their classmates from Hexside will join in on the fight. This could be especially valuable if Belos activates the sigils to put all the adults to sleep like i speculated.

Traitorous Trio These are the three Coven Head Witches that have decided to betray Belos and try to stop his mad scheme. All three of them are powerful and skilled witches, more than capable of holding their own in a fight.

•Raine Whispers The head of the Bard Coven, they’re a skilled musician and witch. Their refusal to involve Eda may become a weakness. •Darius The head of the Abomination Coven. His magics are unorthodox, reflecting how he puts a lot of value on independence and thinking for one self. Hunter’s dad. •Eberwolf This guys here too I guess? Um… probably pretty strong, but doesn’t seem to be much of a planner. •The Bards Against the Throne This lovable trio of bards are included here as they worked for and with Raine. While they were seemingly imprisoned back in Eda’s Requiem, a close examination of the brief scene revealed that they were thrown in an unlocked cell and could potentially just walk out of there. Their current status is unknown, but they might be able to help out.

Wildcards This category is reserved for some people whose role or allegiance I’m not entirely clear on just yet.

•Bat-Queen A pretty obvious ally. Eda still has that whistle and BQ owes her a favor. And I’m sure that once she finds out what Belos does to palismen, she’ll be more than happy to provide some assistance. Having Belos swarmed by a bunch of wounded palismen could be cool. If she doesn’t join the fight, I could see her maybe playing some role in getting the heroes out of a tough spot.

•Alador I’ve talked about this theory several times, but to recap: I think that Alador will see Amity fighting against the Emperor and decide that his family matter more than anything else. He will have some way of turning all the Abomatons against the Emperor’s forces and help turn the tide at an important moment. As for Odalia… she might do the right thing, I’m not saying she’s all evil or something like that, but at the same time… only one of the Blight parents had an important moment in an episode where they realized their treatment of their kids may have been hurtful, and it wasn’t her. Also, I’m not sure there is really much she brings to the table in terms of what she could actually do to help.

•The Titan Trappers I’m not really expecting them to play a role in the Day of Unity, but they could. Sure, their giant teleportation thing was destroyed, but they did have boats, modeled after viking longships. And the vikings made it to the americas And the Titan Trappers have magic, which the vikings didn’t (as far as you know at least). Then again, six days to sail halfway around the world seems a bit… unrealistic. So yeah, I don’t expect them to show up, not unless they’re able to fix their teleporter.

*The Collector The Grand Huntsman’s placement in the wildcard category might be a little puzzling to some. He’s allied with Belos, so shouldn’t that put him in The Empire category?

No. Here’s the thing: The Collector may be allied with Belos, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be on the same side of history once the dust settles. As far as I know, The Collector is just using Belos to break out of his imprisonment and once he’s free, they’ll toss Belos aside like the trash he is. Who knows, they might even go out of their way to stop Belos from exterminating all life in the Demon Realm. After all, that’s where all his prey lives.

So for now, The Collector remains the wildest of all the wildcards.

•Steve If you look closely at the picture, you can see that my sister made an addition to this entry. Steve is her favorite character and husbando. Her waifu is Neo from RWBY. And lets hope she never reads this, or I won’t live long enough to liveblog again.

Anyway, this character has appeared sporadically throughout the season. During the expedition to Eclipse Lake, talking to Hunter in Any Sport in A Storm, and most importantly in Elsewhere and Elsewhe. In that episode, he attended a party in the Owl House celebrating Lilith’s new job. Lilith, who is a known traitor, hanging out in the house of the most infamous wild witch of the modern era.

I actually have an idea for how he might join up with the good guys. Edge of the World ended with the Owl House surrounded by Coven Scouts. What if Steve is one of them, and when he sees his old boss and friend Lilith, he decides turn traitor and helps them fight off the other scouts?

And listen, I’m not saying he has an unrequited crush on Lilith, but-

In Conclusion This became a lot longer than I was expecting it to. But hey, I think it was worth it. I got to talk not just about what I know so far, but also a little about what I think will happen in the coming few episodes. But there is only one way to truly find out and that is to start watching the next episode. I’ll be back tomorrow with a brand new liveblog for you all! Until then, take care of the planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space.

#the owl house #the owl house season 2 #conspiracy corner 3.0