#either him or some really obscure cat from some obscure fandom

[best-fictional-cat]

Round 4 Group 2

Jaspers (Homestuck) vs Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (The Cat Returns)

#Baron should win this entire thing #either him or some really obscure cat from some obscure fandom #anyway #Homestuck #jaspers #baron humbert von gikkingen #the cat returns #ghibli movie

[gunsli-01]

We should unpack the impact the person Kazui actually liked still being implied to be alive is having on his verdict taking his previous written interrogation trial questions into consideration. Especially when it comes to him being guilty.

Answer referring to his childhood friend.

Q.02 Who do you look up to?

Kazui: You won’t know them even if I say, but I have a childhood friend I really respect. Sorry for just answering someone from my personal life.

Q.17 If the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do?

Kazui: Relax and go trawling. The childhood friend I mentioned before has a boat.

Answers referring to an unknow third party.

Q.13 Who do you want to see right now?

Kazui: They won’t see me anymore.

Answers regarding Kazui's feelings.

Q.03 If you were able to get away with anything, what would you want to do?

Kazui: I’d like to try living honestly.

Q.07 Do you like yourself?

Kazui: Well, not especially I suppose.

Answers regarding Kazui's daily life.

Q.14 Do you listen to music?

Kazui: I guess I do from time to time. It’s all super old music though, so I don’t think you’ll know it.

Q.15 What time do you go to sleep and wake up?

Kazui: Since I’m not working I’m able to do whatever I feel like.

I just sleep when I feel tired, and I usually wake up in the morning sometime.

Over the course of Milgram, it's been established that the person Kazui likes is still alive. Unlike with Shidou, whose wife and children have died. Something that made Shidou come off as more sympathetic to most of the audience. Simply because he had lost everything. Kazui, despite having lost two people he cares about, has not actually lost everything.

Only one of those losses is permanent. He states in his written interrogation that there's someone who won't see him anymore at this moment, but that could change. He continually brings up a childhood friend who is implied to still be spending time with him when possible as well. All this may cause people to feel less sympathetic in Kazui's case.

Because unlike the others, he doesn't particularly seem to be suffering. That and he has things to fall back on if he is released from Milgram. Even if his family and this one other person won't see him anymore. This mixed with the implication that the person he does like is very much alive and well even if his wife is not could cause some people to be envious of Kazui.

Despite his situation still being far from ideal. He has the opportunity to have or make a better life if given the chance to something a lot of people may hate. Having someone that he is still canonically interested in also makes him more difficult for people in fandom spaces to sexualize. Especially with other characters or even his wife as his feelings towards her are incredibly complicated.

He's still very much not over the person he did like and his second song just further reiterates that. Then we don't even know that much about who he did like. Their appearance has been obscured multiple ways, either having no face, being a shadow, or being made out of words. Causing it to be even more difficult for people to relate to Kazui's situation as they still don't have a clear idea of what this individual looks like, how they act, or even confirmation on who they are.

All these things, in my opinion, make it easier for people to emotionally distance themselves from Kazui's situation and relate more heavily with the only other person given a face on screen in Cat, his wife. However, that's just my opinion on that.

#milgram #kazui mukuhara

[itwoodbeprefect]

ooh-hoo for wip guessing game: 'star' for H50 and 'beach' for S&H. mixing it up. also 'wolf' for Due South bc I wanna elicit any Dief that might be in there

star (h50)

there's soooo much starting, staring and startling, one "touch-starved" and one (my favorite) "mustard", but turns out the best i can do for star as a word in itself is this:

But he also doesn’t have any money on him and his car is out of gas miles from here and the area is so remote Google Maps doesn’t even work and he hasn’t seen a living soul since it got dark and the clouds obscuring the starry night sky say it’s going to rain any minute now.

which is from a fic (or a snippet, because it's pretty aimless) about nahele getting stranded and calling steve because he has no other options left, and steve driving out there to pick him up like a wet cat, and nahele figuring that he's just used up his one (1) favor he can ask of any adult before they get sick of him, while steve is mostly concerned with telling nahele to brace himself because danny is at home and he's definitely making soup right now.

(but also. secret bonus:

There’s a thump that catches Steve by surprise enough that his ceiling watching is immediately broken off, but it’s just Danny hitting the bedspread with a flat hand like a very good point was just raised. “Exactly! Like Starsky and Hutch. Tango and Cash. Mulder and Scully.”)

-

beach (s&h)

not a single solitary beach for starsky & hutch. 😔 sorry guys, you deserve a nice beach vacation (or some additional dramatic synchronized badge-throwing, at least).

-

wolf (due south)

a very exciting pick! but now i'll tell you a truly terrible thing (worse than no beach vacations) and it's that there are ZERO (0) mentions of "wolf" in my due south document, and there is precisely ONE (1) dief/diefenbaker, and even then he's not actually present:

Ray looks at Fraser. Fraser looks back. Ray blinks and Fraser tilts his head a little, in a way he very well might have picked up from Dief.

it's deeply shameful, but it's also worth noting that the entire document has only just over 7k words, and that's including the two ds fics i've finished in my lifetime. this is a fandom where the canon just has such a specific vibe that i'm always worried i'm not hitting it right (because i don't even really think i did that in either of those two fics i did finish), which is made worse by how much i Like canon. canon is good and my friend and it's very easy to just rewatch it over and over instead of needing to write fic to spend more time in that world.

#thank you!! 💖 #i might need to start doing something about the startling number of times i use the word start. like starkly stare at it until it starves #starsky and hutch #h50 #due south #ask games #*

[viviraptor]

What really is twisted wonderland? I get the idea that it’s like that Disney dependents thing but people actually care about it. What’s the bare bones ass elevator pitch? Also go off about that idia guy his brother looks cool

YOU ARE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE MY FRIEND LET'S GO ALSO SORRY THIS TOOK LIKE 2 HOURS ADHD MOMENT

so in essence twisted wonderland goes along the lines of your average gacha game packed with pretty anime guys, except this time all of the anime guys are inspired by famous disney villains. i say "inspired" to contrast it with descendants or any sort of gen/derband or au situation. in this universe all of the disney villains did exist and are considered legends, and the characters in the game are sort of following in their footsteps and unintentionally repeating history.

of course this means that most of the characters start off flawed, dysfunctional, and just generally have Issues. but that's the appeal i think, because despite their problems every character is sympathetic and likeable in their own way. and in the main story, as soon as a character's "villain of the week" moment is up, they eventually get to team up with the nameless protag and be the good guy for a change. there's no focus on romance either, which i think is a good thing in this case because some really good banter comes from the characters just treating each other like friends/enemies/rivals/what have you. also the protag is gender-neutral, which is always cool.

and as a fan of very obscure disney media and trivia, twst absolutely does NOT skimp on the little references and callbacks to the movies. of course there are the surface-level quotes, but there are also some incredibly deep cuts that only obscure disney freaks such as i will ever pick up on. not to mention there are hidden mickeys in every single background cg and full character art. disney japan does not fuck around.

tl:dr, if you want a story about multidimensional, inherently flawed characters that develop over time, you'll like twst. if you want a game with fun writing and banter, you'll like twst. if you're a fan of disney and want an interesting modern take on the villains, you'll like twst. even if the gameplay isn't your thing, i'd still recommend just reading through the story and getting a load of all the great characters. i literally transcript story chapters and post them on the fandom wiki for that exact reason.

okay that's enough of that let's talk about idia the man whom i love. um i'll keep this sorta short for now because i've wrote enough already aha. but please ask me to elaborate later because i will.

he absolutely checks all my boxes as a character i'd fall head over heels for. introverted loner, check. relatable social anxiety, check. emo with a depressing backstory, check. has a soft spot for his loved ones, check. protective and caring big brother, check. gamer geek check funny check likes cats check etc etc et al. the english version of the game changed my life because they gave him so much funny dialogue and made him reference some very very recent memes (based, f in the chat, galaxy brain, cringe, etc) and i love it so much. i want to meet the person who translated his lines and shake their hand and give them all my money.

i will talk about his brother ortho too. not to get too spoilery but ortho is a ai robot that idia built when he was a bit younger after some. tragic family events. ortho is the complete opposite of idia in terms of personality and outlook, he's very positive and curious and childish. they compliment each other in many ways and want the best for each other and it's just a great sibling relationship. idia essentially gave ortho life, but in turn ortho encourages idia to step out of his comfort zone and have nice experiences. so who, then, is really giving life to who?

okay now i need to stop talking it's midnight. um please feel free to ask me to elaborate on anything or talk about any other characters or obscure twst trivia i LOOVE infodumping but ppl very rarely listen to me when i do so this was very fun!! okay bye goodnight stan idia shroud

#vivi.txt #vivi.ask #twst #idiaposting

[blarfkey]

For the Blorbo etc fandom questions, do Star Wars?

Ok so I meant to do this a long time ago and couldn't find the post with all the questions on it and it showed back up on my dash (lol, dash) so lets do this!

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): PADME AMIDALA. I saw her at nine in TPM and lost my shit and have never been the same. I love everything about her, even though they basically character assassinated her in the last movie. I am very picky about how she is done, though, because I don't think she's this perfect angelic kind soul, I think she more do no harm but take no shit and she's incredibly intelligent and the original idea they kicked around for ROTS where she lured Anakin to Mustafar to kill him bc it needed to be done is more true to her character than what did happen.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Does the Tooka/Loth cat count? bc I have an obsession. If not, currently its Baby Leia in the Obi Wan show bc dear god they did her perfectly. And also grogu but I think grogu is everyone's scrunkly

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): So many! First off, Rose got such a shit end of the stick. I adored her character so much and she would have been so great with Rey if they had been able to share any screen time. I also really love Ahsoka even though a lot of the fandom kind of shit on her, I never felt like she ways a mary sue or boring, she was a greatly developed character and she fit right in with Anakin and Obi-Wan.

I also kind of fell in love with Chirrut in Rogue One and I wish I saw more of him once the hype for that movie died down.

Lastly, Cid from the Bad Batch Show. She's a grumpy, crotchety old lady alien who saves their ass and makes them pay for it and we never see those types in Star Wars. I even based an OC on her as a background character in one of my DA fics.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Riyo Chuchi! She was such a kick ass character in TCW and we barely got to see her. Also love all the handmaidens for Padme, but especially Sabe. I love Captain Tarpals from the Gungans. And weirdly enough I really like Max Rebo and the two headed announcer from the pod race.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): I am an unapologetic villain lover so obviously Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. I think his character is really tragic and the fandom at large either completely demonizes him or they completely woobiefy him and I like it in the middle. He did some really really shitty things that he shouldn't be off the hook for, but neither do I think the fact that Snoke manipulated him since basically birth and he's never been alone with his own thoughts and his own influence in his entire life until TLJ should be swept under the rug.

I really loved Hux in TFA and the vibe of like stepbrothers who hate each other and compete for Dad's approval with Kylo Ren over Snoke was hilarious. He seemed ruthless and cold and calculating and all of that is very sexy and then . . .they ruined it lol. I have my own version of him in my head that I keep and coo over.

DJ from TLJ is also that perfect mix of kind and self serving and chaotic and I desperately need more of him in any capacity, also Benecio Del Toro is unbelievely attractive.

And you know what, I'm gonna say it: I like Jar Jar Binks. I thought he was funny as a kid, I loved him in TCW especially those episodes with him and Mace Windu and I don't think he deserved quite the level of vitriol he got, he was clearly a fun character for children and the adults can fuck off. Also I quote him all the time

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): Probably Hux. I think it's fun to see him lose his cool, like he did with Poe in TLJ. And I am enjoying seeing Obi-Wan a bit of a wreck in his show.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): When I was a kid it was Qui Gon Jinn, haha. If you read the Obi-Wan apprentice books he was such a dickhead, and even in TPM the moment he met Anakin, he just tossed Obi-Wan aside, even his last words were about Anakin, and you could tell it hurt Obi-Wan even though he was supportive of it.

Now it's Bastila Shan from KOTOR, I think she is an incredibly arrogant bitch and I definitely enjoyed turning her to the dark side and then killing her.

#asks #star wars #omg this was so much fun #thank you dash

[hamartian-cathexis]

I posted 6,664 times in 2022

That's 2,180 more posts than 2021!

12 posts created (0%)

6,652 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sgchan

@eunnui

@clockwork-shinobi

@elytrians

@clotpolesonly

I tagged 3,515 of my posts in 2022

Only 47% of my posts had no tags

#fanart - 315 posts

#art - 311 posts

#cat - 261 posts

#taylor swift - 231 posts

#teen wolf - 195 posts

#tiktok - 191 posts

#hannibal - 163 posts

#aesthetic - 155 posts

#gif set - 148 posts

#animals - 111 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#usually when i catch a glimpse of smth that i dont want spoilers of im actually very very very good at scrolling past without looking

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

do people really vet the ops of all the posts they reblog? i see all these posts that are like “whenever i see an xyz post it turns out that it’s from some bad abc blog” and it’s like...sure, yikes, but how did you know that? you...checked? you went through op’s blog? for a reblog? what? bro all i ever do is scroll through my dash and press the silly little buttons, are you telling me there are people out there who investigate the politics of the op behind every post they interact with? really?

3 notes - Posted April 10, 2022

#4

do that blorbo thingy for tmr

I assume u mean this? Lol I rbed that on my sideblog tea FJSKDHSJDHDH but it's okay I'll still do it lmao

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): GALLY.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): idk if I have one of these for tmr? Or any fandom really. My wow they're so cute! reaction is WOW I WANT TO MAKE THEM CRY which I don't think is the point of this category LMAO. Or idk, now that I think about it, I guess maybe frypan?

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): ...still Gally????? Or maybe Brenda 🤔

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Zart. I have so many weird random hcs for him. Know nothing about him canonically. My character now.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): I feel like poor little meow meows are usually men but I actually quite like ava. So I guess her? Janson also makes sense but I don't see him as a fav character so much as a useful plot device I might wield here or there to inflict harm or angst upon other favs *shrugs* tho I don't hate him either.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): either Thomas or Minho. Or, y'know what, fuck it, gally too. I like tormenting characters okay. This could be anyone.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): minho. I think he'd have fun there.

7 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

#3

what IF

that poem was about minho

(this poem)

It totally could be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the question is, who is the speaker tho? 🤔

10 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#2

Okay but "i didn't have it in myself to go with grace / and you're the hero flying around saving face" and "it must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero"

18 notes - Posted October 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

everyone else: *listening to august by taylor swift because it's august*

me: not me. im built different

me: *listens to august by taylor swift but it's the long pond studio sessions version*

20 notes - Posted August 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[airyairyaucontraire]

Thoughts about the first episode of Stranger Things 4:

The whole Dr Brenner prologue doesn't seem to make sense taken with what we saw of Eleven's life in season 1. She wanted to please adults. She was sincerely attached to him and distressed when he was displeased with her. She wasn't angry yet, because she didn't understand that she was being abused and exploited, she was just trying to be a good girl within the situation she knew. The first few times she injured people telekinetically it was in a state of panic, and they were adults who were scaring her, certainly not fellow children who were peacefully playing.

So without drastically (and stupidly) retconning Eleven's history, personality and ethics (she is basically a kind little girl who only uses violence in self-defence or to protect others, without overkill - even to please Dr Brenner, she didn't want to do an experiment that would hurt a cat), it seems like the scene only makes sense if:

a) Eleven didn't attack anyone - they were all attacked by someone/something else and she was the only one who successfully defended herself and survived

b) Eleven didn't intentionally attack anyone - she was being controlled by someone/something else

But in either case, an incident like this seems quite inconsistent with the attitude and degree of caution that Dr Brenner showed towards Eleven in season 1, and given that s4e01 Eleven looks not much younger than she was then, how does this match up with the time that they were just discovering she had clairvoyance and telekinesis and thought she could be a useful asset for espionage? Dr Brenner didn't seem to realise that what Eleven made contact with through the Upside Down could be dangerous, which you'd think a man would consider after a mass death incident seemingly involving the same psychic child.

---

Mike's mom continues to do amazing things with her hair - poor Karen, I hope we see her find some kind of freedom and fulfilment, without it being "betrays her family and wrecks her life by having a ridiculous and tawdry affair with a really creepy teenager."

---

So much time has passed that it's hard to understand Jonathan and Nancy still being high school students, though I guess they are in their senior year (and looking more senior by the day)

---

"Lady Applejack" as a reference felt just slightly off to me, because G1 Applejack does not strike me as the sort of character Erica would admire. I mean absolutely no disrespect, but G1 Applejack was kind of a ditz. I held back from saying bimbo. If we're basing Erica's MLP fandom in Rescue at Midnight Castle (which was all there was outside of the toy line at the time of Stranger Things 4 - it begins in March 1986 and My Little Pony: the Movie woudn't be released until June that year, followed by My Little Pony 'n Friends on TV in September), wouldn't an assertive girl like her be more likely to admire Firefly, the daring pegasus who brings Megan to help the ponies, or indeed Megan herself, who, like Erica, is brought in to handle situations the main cast can't deal with on their own?

Of course, Megan has fallen into obscurity and Firefly isn't as recognisable nowadays as a pony name (Hasbro lost its trademark on the name which is why the character was reworked as Rainbow Dash for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), so from a strictly Doylist angle Applejack is the most effective choice of name to establish that Erica still loves MLP and is incorporating it into her new interests, but from a Watsonian perspective it doesn't quite work for me.

But I hope she has great seats for My Little Pony: the Movie when it comes out.

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #spoilers

[merryfortune]

He was just in the mood to have a pickle, or maybe cause one.

Written for the 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth

Prompt - #94 Pickle

Title: He was just in the mood to have a pickle, or maybe cause one.

Ship: Hotdogshipping | Shoichi/Yusaku

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Word Count: 2,806

Rating: T

Warnings: Underage

Tags: Not Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Secret Relationship, Age Gap, Humour, Set During Season 1

   “So yeah,” Shoichi said, slurping down on some lemonade, “that’s the gist of it.”

   “Is it good money at least?” Yusaku asked idly.

   “Eh, not really.” Shoichi made a vague hand gesture, tilting his drink back and forth making it slosh and Yusaku could hear the ice inside of it clank against each other. “But can’t I do something out of the goodness of my heart? Teenagers are too idealistic these days,” he began to lecture ironically, “they need to know that they can’t all be astronauts and rockstars and footy players. Some of them will become plumbers or like me. A respectable small business owner in the fast food industry.”

   Yusaku did his Yusaku laugh hearing that: a wrinkle of his nose and exhale. He would likely never laugh freely for real but damn if Shoichi didn’t feel like a million bucks whenever he could at least get a snort from Yusaku. He smiled.

   “Now, I don’t know if I’ll be put in with your class for my spiel or whatever but promise me. We’ll be strangers in the classroom, yeah?” Shoichi said.

   “Yeah, totally.” Yusaku lied, thinking about all the times they had made out in the back of the wagon, usually after a talk just like this about how inappropriate their boundaries were but whatever. He glanced down at Ai and Ai immediately picked up what Yusaku was implying in that easy to miss sardonic tone in the two words he had passably grunted.

   “Great, well, hopefully we won’t see each other tomorrow.” Shoichi said.

   “Yeah, hopefully.” Yusaku agreed and again, that blase agreement was a lie.

   “Fantastic, well, talk to you tomorrow afternoon or whenever.” Shoichi said.

   “I’d like that.” Yusaku replied and he let Shoichi kiss him goodbye on the cheek.

   Yusaku smiled. He liked the feeling of Shoichi’s unshaved face on his own. It made his heart flutter but it was getting late and he didn’t want to impose, even though they were boyfriends. So, he got up and he took his school bag with him. But as soon as he stepped out of the truck, the door closed behind him and therefore soundproofed, Ai popped up out of Yusaku’s Duel Disc and craned his head upwards.

   “You have complete intentions of fucking with him tomorrow, don’t you?” Ai asked, gleeful and devious.

   “Absolutely.” Yusaku smirked and he kept walking.

   Ai cackled to himself upon hearing that. Sometimes, he and Yusaku were more alike than either of them gave him credit for. Not that Ai had intentions of telling Yusaku that, but Ai was glowing with pride when Yusaku got home and his first order of business was assuring he would be in all of Kusanagi’s seminars at school tomorrow. The trail of obfuscation to obscure his hacking truly brought a tear to Ai’s eye and Yusaku was having fun with it, too. It was certainly a lot more low stakes and relaxing compared to all the concealing that he had to do for his identity as Playmaker and his crusade against the Knights of Hanoi.

   So, come morning, in his rumpled blazer and crooked tie, Yusaku looked like the cat who got the cream when he sat in the back of the classroom and yet, was still the person that Shoichi made eye contact with as he came in, led by the homeroom teacher. Shoichi swallowed his panic and the way his eyes went wide before he straightened up was all that Yusaku could want. If only Ai could have seen it, he would have been rolling on the floor laughing but on a day like this, it was best to keep the A.I. under lock and key like a prisoner.

   Shoichi cleared his throat and he introduced himself to the class. He made a very blatant point of not looking towards the back left corner of the room as he sputtered through his introduction. The teacher, beside him, thankfully chalking it up to the very understandable jitters of having so many judgemental, adolescent eyes on him. 

   After that, Shoichi segued into bit of his life story and Yusaku felt very included by that. For Shoichi, this was a sea of strangers, they could never possibly dream of what entwined him and Yusaku and so, the half-truths and not quite lies made Yusaku purr as Shoichi explained how his goals had changed over the years. That he had been one of those starry eyed kids who wanted to play soccer on the silver screen, how he had gotten into computers later and why he decided to become a food truck vendor specifically. It was all for his baby brother who was disabled - and traumatised by the very same Incident as Yusaku.

   Keeping that in the back of his mind, Shoichi’s story seemed very saccharine. Yusaku didn’t blame him and so, Shoichi made sure to get really into the thicket of his current occupation in his rambling. It might be a cover for some criminal business but he did, very genuinely, have a passion for food and making good food fast and cheaply. He even chucked in a reference to the hot dogs are sandwiches meme to see if he could get a laugh. (He did but it was only Naoki, he mostly caused cringe and groans but he tried, Yusaku could applaud that.)

   “Yes, that just about does it, I’m a local small business owner and you, too, kids, and it's great. You’re your own boss, don’t have to get up before eight, and you can involve your friends, too, if you like. And you can be just like me one day if you follow these very simple steps.” Shoichi tried to hock himself like a used vacuum cleaner salesman. “You don’t even have to go to college, there are other pathways into the workforce if academia is not your thing, but I do recommend doing supplemental courses, and your local library has plenty of tutorial videos, too. They were a lifesaver when I was your age.”

   Yusaku rolled his eyes. Shoichi was so flustered. His speech was patchy and crackly, he was making big hand gestures and was generally not of his usual laid back demeanour. It was very cute but he was impressing his teacher, somehow. Maybe the other guests were floundering all the same as him or even worse.

   Shoichi finished up his spiel by rubbing his hands together and smiling, “Any questions, folks?”

   “Yes.” Yusaku said and his hand shot straight up.

   The whole class flinched. The Fujiki Yusaku? Raising his hand during class? Unheard of. Completely and utterly unprecedented and unheard of, nigh impossible, too. Even Naoki was sputtering and this was exactly why Yusaku made sure not give Aoi the flick to a different seminar, she would connect the dots but Naoki wouldn’t, even if he tried very hard to.

   “Er, yes, go ahead?” Shoichi said, trying very hard to act like he had never seen this teenager before in his life.

   “Do you need a library card to check out these resources that were - quote - lifesaving to you?” Yusaku asked, he sounded terribly dull but Shoichi could tell the claws were out. He was being teased.

   Meanwhile, the class flinched again. This was also unheard of. Not only had the Fujiki Yusaku put his hand up to ask a question, he had asked the most obvious to answer a question that ought to come with a resounding duh in reply. Even the teacher was bothered by Yusaku’s peculiar behaviour, finding it at least a little odd. 

   “Not always, depends on if you want to take them home, I guess.” Shoichi replied very politely. “But library cards are typically free, it's not that hard to walk up to the help desk and, er, get help.”

   “Thank you.” Yusaku said. He returned his hand down and then turned his head slightly, so he could look out the window. That was more in the style of the facade that he had built up for the classroom, the aberration was gone, all to be forgotten.

   A few more questions followed after Yusaku’s. Actual, proper questions, some of which caught Shoichi off guard but he managed. After this section of his seminar, the teacher congratulated him and made him feel very glad that he had never decided to go into teaching.

   A glad thought that he very much doubled down on during the second part of his seminar. See, Shoichi thought it was very important to make sure the youth had the skills they needed for adulthood, the biggest one being cooking as most of them were very used to having their parents cooking for them, or so he assumed. So, out of his own back pocket, he had bought the ingredients on mass to make hamburgers from scratch and asked to borrow the school’s home economics room for it. He was given full steam ahead but he kind of wished that he hadn’t now.

   At the top of the classroom, Shoichi demonstrated how to make the mince flavouring and other bits of the assembly process of making homemade burgers. It was all pretty easy. No way to go wrong. Oh how Shoichi was wrong.

   It started smoothly enough, he did some supervision here and there but so far no major disasters, the cohort was quite obdenient and even seemed to be enjoying the cooking lessons, and then his luck was tested. All because he couldn’t say no to a pair of gorgeous green eyes. Yusaku called his attention over and batted his eyelashes at Shoichi, all whilst feigning that the lid on a jar of pickles was screwed on too tight for him to do it all by himself. And asking his cooking mate Naoki was obviously out of the question.

   “Thanks so much, sir.” Yusaku said, a slow drawl to his voice.

   “Y-Yeah, no worries.” Shoichi stuttered out. He felt very hot under his collar, feeling as though all eyes were on him as he handed back the jar of now opened pickles back to Yusaku.

   Their fingers brushed against one another during the exchange and Shoichi felt his heart skip a beat because of it. It was so small yet terrifyingly salacious. Exactly how Yusaku wanted it. Of course, it was cruel to tease Shoichi and if he played his cards wrong, his greatest ally - and boyfriend - was probably going to be arrested but he couldn’t help himself. 

   Yusaku then returned to his bay and began cutting up pickles. He was weirdly really in the mood for them. But not quite like this, he was more of a hot dog kind of guy than a burger but whatever, food was food and he didn’t mind sharing with Naoki, either. In fact, felt good to hear that he was pretty good at burger flipping, maybe he should ask for more serious work behind the grill from Shoichi. Maybe later.

   And oh how Yusaku pined for later. It was bit of a slog to get through the afternoon seminar that was with a different muppet from a different faction. Shoichi had likely gone and swapped over to one of the other groups, probably the one that Aoi had been shuffled into. Still no matter how long or droning the hours were, they did eventually progress and the final bell rang and Yusaku couldn’t wait to get back somewhere he could be all alone with the boyfriend that he very much should not have for his age.

   Yusaku didn’t even consider himself the jealous type but what little he had, he apparently cherished. Just look at Roboppy, some out of order mail by week DIY project of a thing for kids and he loved her like a doll or a pet, keeping her in tip top shape so she could chase dust bunnies in his apartment. So it made more sense to him than he wanted to admit that he wouldn’t like having too many eyes on Shoichi. His Shoichi.

   He had seen the occasional flirty customer cross a line or too but brushed it off. Appropriate workplace boundaries and all that, as hypocritical sounding as that was. But that new teacher with pretty red lips and kitten heels got too close at one point during the Q and A section of Shoichi’s seminar, in Yusaku’s opinion. To say nothing of the gaggles of his peers mention just how flattering that goatee was on Shoichi. It was irksome to say the least so Yusaku couldn’t wait to have Shoichi all too himself at his place.

   Shoichi’s apartment was much nicer than Yusaku’s. It was bit of a given since he could work all day and make money to have nice things, he had more flexibility and he wanted to be ready for when Jin was well again, too. Though Yusaku had no present interest in ever moving in with Shoichi, for a multitude of reasons, he had made himself very comfortable there. He even had a key and he relished the look of surprise on Shoichi’s face when he got home slightly later than Yusaku and found him in the living room.

   Really, Shoichi shouldn’t be surprised. Yusaku had been giving him signals all day, as discreet as he could be but still. This was totally out of character for Yusaku. He set down his groceries and rolled his eyes.

   “What’s gotten into you today?” Shoichi asked.

   Yusaku mulled it over for a second as he got up from the lounge he had been flitting through the news on and wandered to the kitchen just over the breakfast bar, “I’m just hungry, I think.” he said.

   “Clingy, more like it.” Shoichi huffed. “Stupid and petty, too.”

   “True.” Yusaku agreed.

   Shoichi grunted. He was happy, if bemused, that Yusaku wasn’t denying it, at the very least. But the fact he was feeling cuddly out of nowhere was to be considered as well. Yusaku threaded his arms around Shoichi’s waist and nuzzled the middle of his back with the side of his face. Shoichi sighed as he felt Yusaku’s arms grow tight around him. His fists were firm on the centre of Shoichi’s sternum.

   “I’ve wanted to do this all day.” Yusaku confessed quietly, his voice muffled by Shoichi’s jacket.

   A smile twitched on Shoichi’s lips, “To be honest, I’ve wanted to touch you all day as well. You can be a real brat at times, flirting so boldly. Really? You couldn’t open the jar of pickles.” Shoichi snorted with sardonic laughter.

   “I really couldn’t.” Yusaku defended himself and he cut off the hug there.

   “Yeah, sure.” Shoichi sarcastically agreed.

   Yusaku tutted to himself and then searched the fridge, “You know, I’m still hungry for them,” he murmured, “a weird craving. Oh good, you still have some here.”

   “Don’t just rummage through my fridge.” Shoichi scolded Yusaku playfully but it was too late.

   His hands were on the jar and what do you know? He managed to open it just fine and fished out a fat pickle from inside it. He shook off some of the juice and crunched down on the end of it. He then screwed the lid back onto the jar and put it back where he found it, still nibbling on part of the jar. Yusaku then turned around and tilted his head up.

   At first, Shoichi wasn’t sure why but he realised quick enough when Yusaku’s expression turned to an impatient frown. Yusaku wanted to be kissed… through the pickle. Shoichi chuckled.

   “Like Lady and the Tramp?” he asked.

   Yusaku nodded, his teeth sinking precariously into the soft flesh of the pickle. His eyes were very serious. It was cute and silly and exactly up Shoichi’s alley. Fine. He bit into the other end of the pickle and had to try very hard not to choke on the pickle as he swallowed more laughter than it. The resulting kiss was salty and a little spiced but not bad. Bits of the pickle remained on their lips and teeth as they kissed with a fair bit of tongue, really trying to savour the snack they had just shared. Yusaku was all too pleased with the end result. He smiled into the finale of the kiss, open eyed and with a sparkle.

   “I liked that.” he whispered smugly, his tangy breath warm on Shoichi’s lips as Shoichi kissed him again.

   “Me too,” Shoichi murmured, kissing him roughly and haphazardly, yet so sweetly despite the salty taste, “just stop enticing me in public, kiddo.”

   “Won’t happen again, I swear.” Yusaku promised but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy himself today. Teasing Shoichi was a lot of fun but he wouldn’t make a habit of it, he didn’t like standing out, after all. He was just in the mood to have a pickle, or maybe cause one.

#hotdogshipping #yugioh vrains #vrains #yugioh #kusanagi shoichi #fujiki yusaku #writing tag #100ships challenge #age gap ships are really making my brain go brrr atm

[the-cat-at-the-theatre-door]

17, 19, 33?

17. What is your favourite sibling/family headcanon?

Tumblebrutus is Asparagus' baby, and that's just how it is, fam. If Asparagus were one for sentimentalities, he'd call him little duck. I would insert those gifs I made of Tumble clinging to his back in Madrid, but I can't find my originals and tumblr doesn't let me save and use gifs anymore, for shame. So imagine they're here.

(And I'm biased, but I am also very partial to Jelly and Asparagus being brother and sister. Not only because I like it a lot, but also I just like the diversification of the relationships between the older cats beyond het mated. Different types of relationships don't just stop beyond a certain age).

19. If there was one commonly accepted fandom headcanon you could get rid of forever, what would it be?

*exhale* Okay, um, there are probably several so I have to solidly think about the others, but Grizabella being an abusive or neglectful mother would be one of those (Can I see her maybe leaving her children prematurely because maybe she never wanted to be a mom in the first place? Yes. But being like...actively and consistently abusive? No absolutely not.) I also don't usually subscribe to the idea that Grizabella is anyone's mother period, unless swayed in a particular way (like I've seen one or two ways that I actually liked).

I also would like to have a word with whoever put forward the words "slinky bastard" in association with Alonzo because I really...*really* hate that. Even for London Alonzos...it does the "boil you down to one or two shallow characteristics consistently and that is the only thing we'll talk about" thing, and I'm not about that. I am a woman of general peace and civility, but, honestly, I am about at the point of throwing hands.

33. Do you have any non-replica ideas?

I would like a semi-Kilworth (i.e. not quite full animal not quite human either) inspired non-replica that takes place during Prohibition in the United States (1920 - 1933); specifically New York because I can. The setting is a speakeasy, and it's heavily implied that maybe some of the attendees know one another from before, but most of them are completely anonymous to one another. They introduce one another as the evening goes on as the joint becomes looser. The "cats" (which if prohibition would have happened just a *little* later that would have been an *excellent jazz pun* but that term didn’t come into fashion until a bit later) are from all walks of life, all sorts of different countries, wearing period appropriate clothing, reflecting the general populous of NYC at the time. And that's why their names still stick out as unique; they're nicknames to keep themselves as obscured as possible in case things go under.

"Macavity" is synonymous for a federal Prohibition agent, and the cats are under fear of a raid rather than a single figure (But the rumour is that there is a particular cop/agent who's crooked anyway - but he'll lean whichever way pays off better. He's been bought off by them and even been a patron of the bar before)

I would also love a very lavish fantasy Masqurade non-replica that is not Brno - where the performers start off in these drab and muted outfits that transform into these beautiful pieces when they put on their elaborate cat masks, with the work of some theatrical magic quick changes (which is *ripe* for wardrobe malfunction but imagine the *fun*)

#EDIT: OH MAN I THOUGHT OF ANOTHER FANDOM ACCEPTED HC THAT I CAN'T STAND but i'm not out here trying to be a party pooper #jellicles ask because jellicles dare #sillybubs #thank u robin <33 #like no offense intended and i get where the bias comes from but like if you say 'slinky bastard' to me about alonzo #i will give you the devil wears prada 'florals in spring' look #i will even just take slinky but for the love of all that is good and holy in the world #literally i randomly deleted my whole previous answer and had to re-write it X_X

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Verboten 15 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary: AU. When Danny was five years old, he went missing for 2 weeks. In the years that follow, his family tried to make sense of what happened, only for the truth to be discovered years later.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, language. Be prepared for some very weird things

Parings: Danny/Sam

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr. This fic is very heavily inspired by folklore surrounding mysterious wilderness disappearances

Chapter 15

It took almost twenty minutes for Danny’s mom to finish her tirade against the police. Watching her flip out on the officers was almost therapeutic, and by the time she was done, he was more amused then terrified. It made the actual interview much easier.

The police were initially skeptical, especially since his dad took the lead on explaining what happened. His childish excitement at getting to chase something made it sound like some made up fantasy, but that changed when Vlad gave his account. With his reputation, they were forced to take it seriously.

The older of the two officers, O’Brian, took the statements as his partner, Kiziah, reviewed the scene for any clues or evidence of how the creature got in the house. Other police offers were on the way to do a proper investigation.

“You’re the one that reported that murder… That was just, I guess it’s two days ago now,” O’Brian mentioned as he glanced at Danny, who nodded. “We chalked up the weirdness of your original statement due to shock, but if you’re telling me this thing is the same perp, I have no idea what we have on our hands.”

“I… I don’t really know if it was the same thing or not, but it looked like it.”

The officer frowned as his partner returned. “No obvious sign of a break in,” Kiziah stated, “but I don’t want to touch anything without an evidence kit. There’s definitely a weird substance in the living room and near the front door that will need analyzed.”

“You didn’t hear anything?” O’Brian looked back towards Danny and his parents.

“To be honest, our family tends to be heavy sleepers,” his mother explained as she gave him a sheepish grin. “Jack can sleep through almost anything, and I tend to wear earplugs.”

“And I am of the opposite,” Vlad stated as he made himself a cup of tea. “However, it wasn’t until I heard Daniel sprint up the stairs and bang on his parents’ door that I awoke.”

“Sorry about that.” Danny winced at he glanced at the man. Vlad didn’t seem as creepy as he had the previous day, but something still seemed off about him.

The man gave him a dismissive wave. “No worries, my dear boy. I believe your actions were more than understandable given the circumstances.”

“Err… I guess you want me to say if I heard anything?” Danny shook his head as the officers stared at him. “I didn’t. It… it was just a feeling, you know? Like when you get a sudden chill.” That statement was true enough. He figured it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to state the more paranormal aspect of it. “I thought I was just being paranoid until I looked down the stairs and that… that thing stared back at me.”

An awkward silence fell as O’Brian took some more notes. It was only broken when Kiziah received some sort of notification and moved to let the investigation team in. They quickly went to work examining the scene and looking for anything out of the ordinary. While they worked, an older man with a scar down the right side of his face took O’Brian and Kiziah aside and spoke with them. Once they finished, the older officer approached Danny and his family.

“I’m Lieutenant Metzger, and I’ve recently been put in charge of the investigation of the recent murders in the city. You’ve probably heard the rumors this is a serial case. Well, that’s true.” A muscle moved in the man’s cheek as he seemed to debate with himself over how much he could tell them. “Due to some of the details, we were under the impression these were ritualistic in nature and called in the FBI for some help.” He sighed before asking, “Is it okay if I sit?”

“Sure,” Danny’s mother shared a confused look with her husband before she asked the officer if he needed some coffee.

When he agreed, he waited until there was a cup in front of him to continue. “Look, I don’t want this being leaked. We don’t need people thinking the police force is wasting money on chasing fairy tales.” Once the Fenton family agreed, he continued, “You aren’t the first one to report something not quite human around the time of the incidences. Due to shock and figuring it was some sort of disguise, we originally disregarded that. However,” he glanced around before he leaned in, “one of my own officers gave a report earlier this week of glancing something inhuman. It actually attacked his patrol car before it vanished. On top of that, I don’t think whatever that thing spilled on your carpet has any sort of mundane explanation behind it.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes, “Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, I’m going to be frank with you. I would like to contract you for some sort of weapon for this thing. From previous experiences, I’m fully aware your… experiments don’t tend to do harm to people, so if… by the off chance, this isn’t something normal, we’ll have a way to stop it.”

Danny’s father immediately lit up in excitement. After rambling some idea, he ran down to the lab to act upon it before anyone could stop him.

“Don’t mind him,” his mother fondly chuckled. “Jack is very enthusiastic about our work.”

“I… uh… take that you’re willing to help us?”

“Oh, absolutely. If this thing is what we think it might possibly be, we were going to do that anyways. But I do need to ask you something. You mentioned you thought the attacks were ritual in nature. I’m not really sure how to ask this, but for those poor people, was there a part of the body missing?”

Metzger’s shoulders tensed at her question as his eyes narrowed. “How did you know about that?”

“Wait… wait, you’re telling me… that thing… what it was holding in its hand…” Danny couldn’t say it. The memory of the blood dripping from that thing’s hand temporarily overwhelmed him. He must have swayed as his mother gently put a hand on his shoulder.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. If you decide to go help your father, I think he’d gladly welcome the help.”

Danny shook his head at the suggestion. He needed to stay put. It just felt safer with her and the officers around. She must have somehow understood as she gave his shoulder a motherly squeeze.

“You didn’t answer my question.” An irritated edge crept into Metzger’s voice.

His mother calmly turned back to him and returned his gaze. “I didn’t until just now. After Danny relayed his story, it struck a chord with me, and I did some digging. There is folklore in different parts of the US which tells of creatures who steal the life of humans and often a part of the body. If… if that’s what’s happening, then we’re in trouble.”

“What do you think this thing is doing?”

“Nothing good. Throughout history, humankind has offered up blood and other bodily sacrifices to gods, spirits, monsters, and everything in between. While usually the Aztecs come to mind, you can find evidence of this around the world. It’s believed those sacrifices would either strengthen or appease whichever entity was the focus.”

“Maddie, are you suggesting this thing is doing something similar?”

She nodded. “I… We aren’t sure if this thing is trying to strengthen itself or if it’s taking its gains to something else.”

A different memory surfaced in Danny’s mind. “That… when we were being rescued… the… the person that helped us get back… he said the A-listers got targeted for their blood,” he stammered before he could stop himself.

Everyone in the room stared at him. He and his friends really hadn’t talked about Frostbite. They mentioned to the police they thought someone helped them, but purposely left it vague. With how disoriented they were when they were found, the police were under the impression the trauma obscured some of their memories. Well, the cat was out of the bag.

Matzger stared at him. “Are you telling me what happened to your classmates may be related to… to this thing?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Like I told my mom before you came, the person who grabbed me and my friends isn’t the same… whatever that thing is. But, I don’t know what Dash and them encountered after we got separated.”

“Hmm… what about the person who helped you?”

Danny shook his head. “Not the same person. He called himself Frostbite, and…” How could he even explain Frostbite? He was a ghostly yeti with an ice arm for God’s sake! “I didn’t think he was real,” he eventually stated as he glanced down at his hands. “He was so friendly and helpful. He was so much different than that thing.”

“Honey, you never really talked about this Frostbite person before.” His mother tried to reach out for his hand, but he pulled away.

“I… I thought he was a dream or hallucination or something for a while.” He hoped he sounded sincere. It was somewhat true after all. The fantastical nature of what happen still didn’t seem real to him, but he knew better. “I think he had helpers… there were other voices besides his.”

“That would line up with some of the evidence we have from your case,” Matzger stated as he rubbed his chin. “The injuries of you and your two friends were vastly different than the others who went missing which suggested multiple perpetrators. One of the other boys did mention that he thought they were rescued by a small group of people. I will have to take a closer look at the injuries of your classmates to determine whether or not they match up with our current victims. That should give us an idea if it’s the same thing or something different.”

“Sir,” officer Kiziah interrupted, “we’ve finished our initial sweep. We did have some trouble trying to keep Mr. Fenton out of the way in the basement area, but he’s promised to stay at the one table while we work. He’s apparently drafting some blueprints. Forensics is here and are working on collecting evidence. They’re hoping to talk to you.”

He sighed. “Thank you, Kiziah. Can you explain to them their options during our investigation progress?” After flashing them an apologetic smile which seemed out of place with his features, he told them he would be in touch and excused himself.

After shaking his head at his superior, Kiziah stated while the family could stay in the house during the investigation process, it had the possibility of accidentally contaminating evidence. He recommended for them to stay at a local hotel for a time.

Although his mother seemed hesitant to leave the house, she eventually agreed to head to a hotel after Vlad made a show of being concerned for the family’s safety. It took a bit of time to get his dad to leave the basement, but by the time seven am hit, Danny found himself in the best hotel in Amity Park, per Vlad’s firm recommendations.

After sending his friends a few texts to let them know what happened, that he was fine, and where he was, he told them he’d call them after he got some sleep. Although he wasn’t exactly happy he shared the room with Vlad, the pristine bed ended up being far more important to him than any worries.

…..

Several hours later, Danny woke up to one hundred and three texts, fifty-four missed calls, and eleven voicemails. Sam and Tucker had only one voicemail and call apiece and only a handful of texts. The rest were from his sister. Groaning, he sent Sam and Tucker messages to let them know he’d call them after he contacted his sister.

He really didn’t want to talk to Jazz at the moment. When she was scared, she became spastic, and a spastic Jazz was the last thing he wanted to deal with at the moment. Okay, the third to last think he wanted to deal with. The creepy thing and Plasmius took the top two places.

After taking several minutes to do everything other than call his sister, he finally buckled down and called her. As predicted, she spastically demanded to know if he was okay while berating him for not contacting her sooner. He just let her talk while making the occasional ‘uh huh’, ‘sorry,’ and ‘yeah.’ From experience, he knew it was better to let her get it out of her system.

He put Jazz on speaker while he attempted to find the hotel’s TV remote. Vlad didn’t seem to be in the room which really didn’t bother him. The man didn’t need to listen to Jazz flipping out after all. Eventually, he found the remote next to a message from Vlad stating he and his parents went to discuss something with the police and would be back with food.

“Danny, are you even listening to me?” Jazz demanded. He must have been quiet for too long.

“Uh? Yeah, I just happened to find a note Vlad left. You were saying something about how it was irresponsible for Dad to go running after the thing?”

“Wait, are you telling me you were left alone after everything that happened?”

“Jazz, I’m seventeen. I think I’m perfectly fine being alone for a few hours.”

“You were kidnapped by a crazy man and then were attacked in your own home! Do you really think it’s safe for you to be alone right now?” With that, she flew into a different tirade.

Knowing it would be a while, he decided the TV would be a preferable alternative to his upset sister. He turned it on only to have it immediately turn off. Thinking he accidentally doubled clicked the button, he tried again only to have the same result. Thinking the remote was damaged, he moved to try the button on the machine. Only, it turned on by itself. It and the lights began to dim and flicker, and his breath began to mist.

Glancing around, he watched as a girl emerged from the wall. At first, it seemed she didn’t notice him as she moved towards the opposite wall, but she stopped midway and faced him. She looked human but her entire body seemed insubstantial and almost wispy. Her skin, if it could be called that, was an unearthly white while her blue hair flickered like a flame.

She smirked at him while moving a little closer. “You shouldn’t be here, Baby Pop.” Her sultry and musical voice seemed far away, almost as if it was being broadcasted over an old radio. “Don’t know what you’re doing on this side of the veil, but you shouldn’t stay here.”

“What… what are you talking about? Who are you?” he stammered while vaguely registering Jazz asking him what was wrong.

“I like to slip to this side for some fun, but I might stick around a little longer this time. It’s already chaotic here, and a little more might do me some good. Besides, it seems I need to make a few people remember I still exist.” After appraising him, she gave another smile and headed back towards the wall. “You might want to get out while you can, Baby Pop. Things might get a little hot, and you new guys often aren’t strong enough to deal with the heat.”

“Hey, wait!” He tried to get her to stop, but she just vanished back into the wall. Unsure what to do, he stood in the center of the room dumbfounded until he realized his phone was still on speaker and his sister was calling for him.

“Hey, Jazz, I’m going to have to call you back,” he stated as he moved towards the door. “Something really weird just happened.” He hung up on her as he ran into the hallway looking for some evidence of the ghost.

He barely made it to the elevators when the fire alarm sounded. Not wanting to stick around, he quickly found the stairs and made his way to the lobby as the rest of the guests started to follow suit. By the time he reached the third floor, he began to smell smoke. There had to be a fire. Is that what that ghost meant? Did she somehow set it?

He really hoped that wasn’t the case. He really only needed on potentially supernatural thing causing problems in his life at a time.

#Verboten #danny phantom #danny phantom au #dp #dp au #fanfic #fanfiction #my writing #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #maddie fenton #jack fenton #supernatural #alternative universe #au #paranormal #fantasy #folklore #so i heard you like folklore #sooooooooo much folklore #vlad plasmius

[basket-of-radiants]

now that you've decided what nightblood is we can finally have the domestic au of ur dreams: two asshole roommates, their preteen children who won't stop bugging them, and their cat. and all those other losers i guess maybe

Oh my god, I was going through my very old asks, and how could I have missed this, this is literally the best thing ever, you’re right this is the domestic au of my dreams. Alright, here we go, a disaster family comprised of Szeth, Nale, Lift, Nightblood, and a cat. Actually a dog and two cats. Everyone’s backstory is basically the same, but they’re all retired now except for Nale. (And yes those other losers definitely all exist in this au, let me know who you care about.) 

If you’ll permit me to crib off of wtnv for a moment, Nale works for a vague yet menacing government agency wherein he has full authority to carry out whatever actions he deems necessary with zero oversight. He still works through legitimate bureaucratic channels whenever the need arises, but he has contacts in pretty much every institution willing to expedite paperwork for him with zero questions asked, and Nale has figured out that he can do pretty much anything legally so long as he knows what forms to ask for. He does. He’s basically memorized the entire legal code and memorized every obscure law and loophole in existence. Some didn’t think it literally possible for a brain to hold that much information, but he impresses. Nale’s actual job description is similarly unknown, but whatever it was before, it has unfortunately morphed into parole officer for a hitman, a thief, and a child with a criminal record that claims he’s a mass-murderer.

Szeth’s story is about what you’d expect. He knows a dozen languages and a hundred ways to kill a man. No one knows anything about him aside from the mysterious “assassin in white” suspected of carrying out multiple terrorist attacks and high-profile assassinations. I dunno, Szeth killed JFK or did 9/11 or some shit, wait no those aren’t modern enough examples, but he’s done some shit with that level of publicity and conspiracy. The kinds of crimes he pulls off are seemingly impossible to both perform and survive all the while escaping without his identity being revealed. He’s probably got a massive following in the serial killer fandom. Szeth lives his life following anonymous instructions sent to him remotely, and he keeps texting back for them to please stop making him do these things, and they don’t stop. He hates himself and wants to die, and he can’t for the life of himself figure out why no one’s stopped him yet. If only he weren’t such a criminal genius. One time he almost died and it was great, but then he woke up in a hospital to see a man and a kid waiting for him. Nale explained that he’d mined the data off of Szeth’s phone and knew everything about him, and complimented his criminal efficiency and his capability to follow orders so precisely. Basically he’d like to offer him a job. Szeth is like “wait seriously” because he’s still a murderer and Nale explains that from his phone history it’s clear that Szeth himself never had bad intentions, and it’s the thought that counts. Nale offers him a deal wherein Szeth will remain in his custody for a duration and work for him in exchange for no other legal recourse. His idea is to eventually make Szeth a field agent for his institution’s mysterious purposes, but for the time being Szeth really isn’t fit for that, so for the time being all he has to do is look after the kid.

Nale had intentionally sought out Szeth. (Everyone had, but he’d gotten to him first.) Lift on the other hand was a pure accident. After her mother died, Lift was resistant to entering the system, and so she hid from the government, surviving off of stealing food and clothes. When she got older, her shoplifting got a bit more bold. On her streets Lift is a legendary skater as well as being a pretty good thief. She and Nale crossed paths by accident, and she tried to steal his wallet without realizing who he was. Unfortunately she didn’t have her board on her at the time to do some sweet moves and then get out of dodge. He arrested her on the spot, but unfortunately his jurisdiction is different from that of normal police, and he had to file additional paperwork before he could hand her off to the local authorities. He took her to one of his local offices and handcuffed her to his desk while he filled out the papers. She kept making a bunch of requests for food and was so annoying about it that he acquiesced. Talking with her mouth full all the while, Lift completely dismantled his current psychological state, reduced him to tears, and hugged him, by which point he was a bit too attached to her to just arrest her. Still, she was a criminal whose whole lifestyle revolved around stealing, so he couldn’t just let her go, but he made her a deal and offered to take her into his personal custody instead of handing her over to the system. Lift was confident that it wouldn’t be too hard to run away from one person, and besides, it’d be funny to see how high she could get his grocery bills.

Nighblood is a pre-teen kid whose record ties him to hundreds of murders, none of which seem to be provable however. Nightblood mostly talks a lot and plays a lot of video games. Nale briefly looked into his past after he found him, but overall was too busy with his vague yet menacing government work to really focus on him. He decided it was best to keep the kid close, however. He didn’t have the time for babysitting either, but he would figure something out. Upon picking up Szeth, he found he was not psychologically fit for field work whatsoever, so he found another way to makes him useful while he was recovering. Nightblood also can’t move very well on his own, so Szeth has to stay with him at all times.

On the streets, there had been a dog that always followed Lift around. It was easily frightened by everything, and it would whine at her whenever she did something dangerous, but it always came back to her. Additionally, there is a cat that is incredibly shy and is pretty much only ever seen from afar, or off in a tree, or under something. For some reason Szeth refers to it as his cat. Nale apparently has a cat too, but no one has ever seen it, and he really doesn’t seem like an animal person, so it’s sort of hard to believe it actually exists.

Nale put up Szeth, Lift, and Nightblood up in his flat. Due to the mysterious nature of his work, he has to travel a lot, so typically it’s just Szeth and the kids. Szeth and Nightblood are always together, of course, because Nale said they had to be. Szeth will talk about his problems and Nightblood will show him the game he’s currently playing and will say “that’s really sad Szeth, but watch me do this cool move and destroy all these evil guys!” They talk a lot, that’s basically all they do these days. They’re both very fond of Lift, but she is understandably creeped out by two murderers, and she sneaks out of the house all the time. For her, yes her housemates are super messed up, but Nale stocks a lot of really good food and is barely ever around, so so long as she seems to be present and to be staying out of trouble, she can actually do as much trouble as she wants so long as she’s clever about it. One time as she’s sneaking out, she notices Szeth staring at her and she panics for a bit, but he’s like “no you can do what you want, I literally don’t care.” That ingratiates him slightly to her, so she does try to have conversations with him. He’s such a mess though. Nightblood offers to show her his video games, Lift is like “you think that’s cool, come outside and watch this” and then she does a flip on her skateboard or something. Nightblood has idolized her ever since.

When Nale is around, Lift bothers the hell out of him while Szeth follows him around doing pretty much whatever he asks of him while Nightblood keeps tugging on Szeth’s clothes and whispering questions to him. Ever since that first time with Lift, Nale has been unflinchingly stoic, but he lets Lift do whatever she wants and gives her anything she asks for. The same is true for Szeth and Nightblood as well, although Szeth tends not to make unreasonable requests, and whenever Nightblood is about to, Szeth whispers to him that maybe he shouldn’t bother Nale about it. So instead Nightblood bothers Szeth to ask Nale about it. Lift is just having fun exploiting this setup for all it’s worth. They’re all incredibly familiar with each other.

Basically this ends up as Nale being a super important government person with an unlimited budget which he ends up using to indefinitely house three criminals. Also in this au, Nale wears a suit, Szeth wears a hoodie, and Lift wears a baseball cap.

#god i can't believe i lost this ask #i love these dumb skybreakers and these kids #i kinda wanna draw something for this au #(groceries picture from forever ago belongs here) #what's it called? #semi domestic au #there i like that #human!nightblood au #szeth #lift #nale #nightblood #god anon i'm so sorry i left this ask for so long #it really got buried #but this is my favorite #Anonymous #asks

[izupie]

11, 12, 20, + 21 what is a/are some really niche/obscure ship(s) that you love? whether a rarepair or just something weird you came up with on your own and don't think anyone else is into. (I have a few of these and I love finding out other people's!)

aaaa thanks for the questions!! ~

11. do you mind sex scenes or do you skip over them?

I really don’t mind them! If it works for the story and the characters in a natural way I’m like whatever. But if the characters are just having sex because the writer just wanted a sex scene in there I can physically feel my eyes roll back into my skull like UGH. REALLY.

There are better ways for your characters to be intimate if it’s just there for like fanservice or to be edgy or whatever. 

BUT if it’s a couple I’ve shipped hard and then they get a sex scene I’m there wiping my eyes and applauding like yes guys I’m so proud of you.

12. if you could change one ending to a book/show/game/etc, what would you change about it?

*cries in everybody lives and nobody dies*

So, I know IT is a horror story and I know that Andy M was just, following the book, but I still think he could have just Tweaked the ending. Make it ambiguous. You don’t even have to say that Eddie definitely did or didn’t die either way - just make it like, MAYBE he did MAYBE he didn’t. Derry magic idk

Ofc I would have LOVED a happy ending. Nobody dies. Even Stan doesn’t die! That would have been the best. (sorry Georgie). But I was given my favourite ideal Found Family dynamic and then it got taken away ;; I just wanted everone to end the film alive, was that too much to ask?!

20. name a song that reminds you heavily of a specific fandom or character.

ahhhh I know this is just because there’s a video of it,, but every single time You & Me by James TW comes on from a shuffle on my playlist I just can’t help but think of Eddie and Richie. It’s sooooooo them.

You & Me by James TW - Reddie video by Casdroid

21. what is a/are some really niche/obscure ship(s) that you love? whether a rarepair or just something weird you came up with on your own and don't think anyone else is into.

omg I have so many but then as soon as I’m asked to shine a light on them they all fly right out of my head! um um um

I still love Lan Fan and Greed from fma - I just think their chemistry would be neat. And I think they only interacted directly maybe once???

Oh and here’s a pretty rare pair -  there’s a film called Pitch Black that I enjoyed (an old sci fi film starring Vin Diesel) but I can’t watch Anything without shipping something so I was all over the characters of Riddick and Carolyn being a great couple (they have a similar chemistry to Greed and Lan Fan actually). I love the whole opposite energy but both badasses thing. Until the curse of my shipping struck and one of them died. (I even wrote a fic about them a few years ago!)

actually thinking about it... Greed dies too. Man, it really is a curse.

Also! In Cardcaptor Sakura, I’ve always shipped Touya and Yukito, because they are ADORABLE, but I also ship Touya and Yue. I love the idea of Touya loving ALL of Yukito, including the other side of him. Touya’s got 2 hands. (even though he could only hold hands with one of them at a time anyway...) Touya’s got two metaphorical hands. (as well as real ones) (damn shipping a characters with two characters who share the same body is complicated)

and another really rare one - there’s an old manga series called Alice in the Country of Hearts that was based on a dating game I think? Based on Alice if she were to date the mad hatter (and the mad hatter was a hot anime guy ofc) and I didn’t like it lmao. But THEN a spin off came out called Alice in the Country of Clover that was if Alice dated the Cheshire Cat (and the Cheshire Cat was a hot anime guy with cat ears) and I did like that one lmaooo. I shipped Alice and Boris so much ;; I love them.

OH! And Madoka and Mami from Madoka Magica! A soft soft soft ship. I just think they’d be cute together. Fighting evil and being supportive of each other ;;

Okay last one, there’s a light novel series I collected avidly over the years it was being published in English called Book Girl - it’s sooooo dark! But I adored the two main characters together. I shipped them SO HARD from the first book. And they were absolute idiots for 8 books. You could tell they had feelings for each other, but god damn they were dumb. I was hooked to see if they would get together.

#holy moly this got long ahaaa #sorry I rambled again #*finger guns* #thank you for these!! #very relaxing to type out #no thoughts head empty just type #izu replies

[ma12s]

Phases/Interests the Arcana characters would have had if they were Gen  Z

Asra:

Naturally, when he was young he’d have a phase for Harry Potter, only the books though, and as he got older he’d re-read them and laugh at the magical inconsistencies.

TAZ. He probably simped at some point for Taako. Perhaps just dnd in general, and he either played a Magick user of some kind or a bard depending on his level of intoxication.

*inhales* PERCY JACKSON. that's it that's the point. He even got the unfulfilling Best Years Of Your Life Depression(tm) from reading exciting, romanticised accounts of teenagehood, only for it to not live up because how could it? its chill though, he finds his own little ways to be adventurous like making pasta in the late dead of night/early void hours of the morning, and eating on the floor. Faust helps him. 

Listens to sleeping at last just to feel again and Saturn is his favourite and he will dance sensually and soulfully to it, somehow.

He watches Midnight gospel because he just loves the concept of podcasts but can sometimes struggle listening when its just audio bc he will vibe himself into a mediative state and have no idea what half the episode was about, so the visuals ironically keep him pretty grounded while he watches it. (He does meditate afterwards, though)

Julian: 

This man DID have a fnaf phase and he IS the MAN behind THE SLAUGHTER. (He also gets a kick outta die in a fire (obviously) but it sends him absolutely, irrevocably feral)

He 100% had an emo phase too, but in a gay way that slowly transitioned into a weird taste for aspects of cottage core but like a Seaside cottage, and jams it to bear ghost now. 

I bet he also got into true crime and has many pieces of paraphernalia with the slogan “Be GAY Do CRIME”. He also knows waaaay too much about how to dispose of bodies from that one reddit thread and worries everyone by bringing it up just a little bit too often. Also! out of morbid curiosity, he's the kinda bitch that would watch autopsy videos at 3:27am and is subscribed to ask a mortician and definitely participates in vulture culture.

Ngl he probably also got roped into a SuperWhoLock phase by Asra and it just added to his trust issues and permanently damaged his Gaydar.

Probably haunted by April 13...

He can't tell whether he wants to BE hozier or if he wants to FUCK him but tbh he's not fussy. He sings his heart out to From Eden, and bops hard to cheer wine (his favourite is the live version) and you better bet he listens to the 8d audios of Hozier but its.... and his YT history is full of them.

Nadia:

She's a bad bitch, but probably didn't get into anything too obscure. She probably has liked something and tried desperately to hide it from her elder sisters, only for them to get into it too. she’d be alright about it at first, but when Nasmira starts getting way more likes on her fandom content, Nadia starts feeling a bit put down and quits the fandom. 

She’s is or has been at some point been knee deep in showtunes. She liked Hamilton but isn't quite trash for it, but will wipe the floor with your ass if Dead Girl Walking comes on.

Probably had a ‘not like other girls phase’ but instead of giving her a weird, kinda toxic relationship with womanhood, she got over it and accepts her femininity and will defend within an inch of her life women's rights and choices. 

She's a proud Barb and would absolutely let Doja cat step on her. She hypes up girls on their OnlyFans and will actively murder people who tries to disrespect sex workers, as she too, respects the grind. 

Also likes Greek and Egytian mythology, and stans Medusa as a victim of Men aint being shit. She also can't decide whether she stans Persephone or Aphrodite more and it is a constant ongoing debate in her head. She probably supports Lore Olympus on patreon.

Lucio:

MLP but he wouldn't ever admit it, and protects Fluttershy from creeps with his liFE. he also actually felt pretty bad for Discord, and kinda related to him. (Legend has it that on cursed, cursed nights of solitude, you can hear the sounds of DiSCOrddd iM hOWLin’ aT ThE MooN~~ drift in the air, accompanied by an actually really good rendition of the lyrics).

Lucio also liked heathers and he and Nadia bond over belting it out together, but his favourite is candy store (but will occasionally bop it to Big Fun).

His experience of Gay Culture was just binge watching drag race while he was still trying to accept his mlm-ness, and gatekeeped it until he learnt eventually how its supposed to be a place of tolerance and support and will now actively encourage All drag monarchs to work it. (He realises belatedly why it felt kinda wrong when RuPaul/the show did the queens dirty and the lack of diverse identites etc). He’s a little off with some things but with a little guidance from a very hesitant Asra, he's slowly getting Woke. (Neither will admit that they bond over these little lessons by the end of it, but everyone knows it and wish they’d just chill abt it)

Liked Voltron, stanned Lotor and his redemption arc and just... does Not want to talk about it.

Felt *weird*~~ when he watched that [one] scene with Levi from attack one titan and it took him a while but Now He Knows...

Muriel:

Got into Buzzfeed Unsolved and is mildly ashamed of himself but he finds Shane and Ryans dynamic really funny so he keeps watching it anyways. For some ~~mysterious~~ reason, he has had mad respect for Shane after the Goatman’s bridge episode, and immediately went to send it to everyone else, but got scared. 

He likes to watch documentaries on cryptids (sometimes with Asra, or with Julian depending on how creepy the cryptid is)

His life was changed on the fateful day of 11/11/11. He has the highest logged hours on steam out of everyone ever and ProtectOrcs2020 could basically be his tagline at this point. He always adopts the kids and makes them the Best House with the hearthfire DLC. He always goes with the stormcloaks and probably simps for at least 5 of the companions.

He got into the Witcher through the Netflix series and started out being a Geralt stan, but jaskier slowly snook his way into his heart and he highkey ships them and Siri IS their child. (he would convince Nadia to cosplay as Yennefer, if he had more confidence). 

Portia:

She liked dan and Phil but wasn't creepy abt it. She swore she could never pick a side but she secretly enjoyed Phil’s content more bc existentialism gives her anxiety. She did ship them but has since learnt quick that irl people ships aren't cute. She probably stays Thomas Sanders too

IF you're looking for a bitch with the nicest island on animal crossing, portia is 100% your bitch. She has Lillies of the valley for days and absolutely died when the special edition AC switch sold out before she could buy one, and compensates by copious amounts of Isabelle and the able sister stickers. Her favourite villagers are Fauna, Goldie, and Nate. 

Portia is also a queen of Stardew and often passes out before she can get to bed because she just wants to get ON with her beautiful FarM dammit! She can never make her mind up what villager she wants to romance and switches faves like every week.

Listens to girl in red to drown her sorrows after 🎨🎻👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏻🔥.

#the arcana #the arcana game #asra alnazar #asra the arcana #julian devorak #julian #count lucio #goatman lucio #nadia #nadia satrivana #muriel #muriel the arcana #the arcana game portia #portia #fandoms #the arcana headcanons #honestly bros I think I must've gotten all? #faust #!!! #aight im gonna stop but like I'm honestly so proud of myself #the things and time I spend on this game #is #astronomial

[anika-222]

Carry On Sparks: Drive Slow

Deep breath. I’m glad I’m posting this at 2am, otherwise I might not be brave enough to do so. This is my first attempt at writing fanfic, and I haven’t written any fiction since high school. Which was like 20 years ago for me. So. Be kind, please. :)

My contribution to @carryonsparks for the prompt Slow is inspired by the song Drive Slow (which I discovered via this fandom, thank you @thehoneyedhufflepuff)

Drive Slow

Baz

The sun went down hours ago, about the time that Bunce’s university mates left, and now we’re heading to the door of her and Shepard’s flat for the final round of goodbyes. I’m reaching my arm into my slate grey overcoat as I hear Snow laugh - again - at something Shepard’s said. Did he ever laugh this much when we were together? I push the thought away. Otherwise, a flood of memories of Snow breaking up with me last April are sure to replay in my mind. In slow motion, no less. It simply wouldn’t be my brain if it didn’t go for the lowest blow, drawing out that pain for as long as possible. When I arrived for Bunce’s birthday dinner, I walked into her flat to see Snow looking relaxed and smiling, chatting with Bunce’s school mates. It took every ounce of practiced vampiric stoicism to push down Snow’s last words to me. I can’t let them bubble up now, not when we’re about to be alone for the first time in months. I button up my coat, willing my face into a cool, calm indifference as I turn and ask, “Ready, Snow?”

Much to my own disappointment, I practically tripped over myself to offer Snow a lift home when mentioned the last bus was heading out a couple hours ago. I’d do anything for more time in his warmth, I’d thought. But what I’d said out loud was some drivel about him staying longer for his best mate’s birthday or some such rot. It must have worked; he accepted after only a few awkward beats while he considered my offer. I had exhaled a breath I hadn’t even known I’d been holding in.

Snow’s wrapping his arms around Bunce in a massive hug, like only he can. “Happy Birthday, Pen. Love you.”

“Love you, too, Simon.” Bunce leans into his warmth and a lick of jealousy rises from deep in my belly. After what feels like minutes, she releases him and Snow turns to say goodbye to Shepard. Shepard had quickly become part of the team with his unique knowledge set, he knew the kinds of things simply not talked about in the world of mages. His obscure creature dossier had gotten us out of dozens of tight scrapes since America, much to the surprise of all of us. 

But perhaps even more surprising was how quickly Bunce and Shepard had gone from reluctant allies to dating to moving in together. I suppose facing death again and again together bonds some people. As soon as Bunce and Snow’s lease came up for renewal, Snow offered to find his own place. Or so Bunce told me in the few instances I could glean any information about Snow from her. She did her best to keep our friendship separate from what had happened with Snow and I. Though for her birthday, she asked to have dinner with all her friends together instead of separate celebrations. How could I say no when Bunce keeps only a few close friends in the first place? And anyway it had been 9 months since Snow ended things. It’s not like I hadn’t years of experience repressing my feelings for Snow while in the same room as him.

“Bunce. I hope you had a lovely birthday.” She grins at me and flings her arms around me.

“I did, Baz, thank you. I’ll see you Saturday to study?” While most of our courses are getting more specialized in our chosen majors, we always compare schedules and manage to find one course to take together. I don’t think either of us need our weekly study sessions to keep up on the material, though. It’s one of the things I look forward to every semester. This semester has been especially enjoyable in Literature of the Victorian Age. I nod at her curtly with a small smile but turn quickly to leave, trying to mask my increasing anxiety about being alone with Snow as we head out into the sharp January air.

Simon

He still drives that posh, deep blue jaguar. My heart hitches with all of the memories with him in this car. I lower myself into the passenger seat. It smells even more like Baz in here than the hints of citrus (bergamot, Baz told me once) and cedar I caught on the air each time he passed by me in Penny’s flat. It tugs at my stomach how much I’ve missed him. When he offered to drive me home, I honestly thought I might be hallucinating. But I was most definitely sober. Have been for 6 months. While I don’t think I would call myself an alcoholic exactly, I didn’t have a very healthy relationship with cider there for a while. It was a good suggestion my therapist had to take a break from drinking. It’s brought life back into sharper focus.

A focus I was cursing when Baz walked in. I knew he was going to be at Penny’s birthday, she asked me weeks ago if it was ok. But fuck if he doesn’t just get more and more fit. I would have given anything to break my focus from Baz, standing there, torturing me in his jeans. He had to have known what he was doing when he selected those trousers for this evening. I couldn’t meet his eye the entire night, so I can’t imagine what would possess him to offer me a lift. I can’t imagine a world where Baz doesn’t hate me after I broke up with him. After everything that led up to me leaving him. I almost turned down his offer, that I’d be fine to catch the bus, but I didn’t want to make a fuss on Penny’s night.

So I stayed. Letting the tension of everything unsaid build. Now we’re alone in his car and not saying anything. Fuck, why haven’t I said anything to him all night? Maybe it wouldn’t be so awkward now. We’re sitting here, letting the silence fill up the car until I feel like I should crack a window like a pressure valve. Baz’s voice cuts through my thoughts, “Where to, Snow?”

“Right, erm, head north,” I say to get him started while I let my brain settle.

Baz

I’m panicking trying to find something to say. Snow can’t live far from Bunce. This contrived opportunity is quickly slipping away from me. He directs me to the main street with loads of shops and traffic lights at every intersection. He really must not be far if we’re not taking the motorway. I slow my speed to hover below the limit just enough that maybe he won’t notice my stalling tactic. 

I force myself to say the only thing I can conjure up, even though it’s painfully banal. “Bunce mentioned you started working at a vet’s office?” I draw on every reserve I have to keep my tone casual, as if the topic came up naturally in conversation with Bunce, and it’s not one of the few bits of information I greedily horde anytime I’m desperate enough to ask after him.

I see Snow sit a bit taller in his seat just mere inches from me. I’d forgotten how heady it is to be in such close quarters with him. I can feel warmth radiating from his arm on the center console and my chest tightens. “Yeah, I really love it. ‘S mostly dogs and cats, but sometimes we get something different. A goat was in just the other day.” His voice is saccharine and quiet with fondness and a tinge of melancholy. I know he’s thinking about the goatherd, Ebb. I realize with a start how … at peace? … he sounds mentioning one of the most traumatic events of his recent past. I’m slowing to a full stop at a red light (bless these main street lights that change every minute, drawing out our drive) and I decide to risk looking over at him. His smile lights up as he meets my gaze. I feel my face soften and the corner of my mouth tilt up ever so slightly before I drag my eyes back to the light, lest I miss the change to green and show my hand.

Simon

Before I knew what I was doing, I started directing Baz the long way to my flat, through town instead of speeding up the motorway. Something deep in my brain is making a plea, drive slow, cause I don’t want to go home. 

“What about you? Have you a major?” I ask, as if I don’t already know. Penny lets information about Baz slip into her long rants and raves about uni every once in a while, and I just save up those little bits and pieces of him. It’s not the same as really knowing how he’s doing, but it’s something.

Baz launches into a long explanation of which majors he’s considered and why, before settling on English Lit. It’s unsurprising, really, that he’d major in literature. I’m looking out the windshield at the dark and wet street scene crawling by while I smile, thinking about Baz being so Baz. I look at him out of the corner of my eye. This feels almost normal. We’ve never just been normal together like this before. After years of hostility, we were thrown directly into the chaos of ending the humdrum. And then… well, then I wasn’t really fully present. I didn’t know how to live without directives from the Mage. They gave me the only purpose I ever knew, the only purpose I thought I’d ever get to have. So after that was all gone, I didn’t know how to go about living life. Me not living was keeping Baz from living. I couldn’t keep holding him back. As long as I was stuck, he was going to be stuck right there with me. Loyal git. What made it harder was I couldn’t get unstuck with the pressure of Baz’s fate being tied to mine. So, there was no choice but to end us. But now... Now, we’re having a normal conversation, like just a couple of normal blokes, catching up. 

If I hadn’t been on a few dates lately to know better, I would have mistaken our conversation for a kind of date-like banter. But since Penny helped me set up a profile on a dating app, I know that most first date conversations don’t make a warm blush spread across my chest and redden my cheeks. They definitely don’t make me give shoddy directions just to draw out the evening. “Take a right at the next light,” I say.

Baz

We’ve crept along mainstreet for miles now, surely Snow isn’t so dense that he doesn’t know a better route from Bunce’s by now? We’re getting closer to where the motorway exits into this neighborhood. It could have taken less than 10 minutes via motorway to get here, which is a bit suspect, honestly. Don’t question it, you got 25 minutes with Simon instead of 10, I chide myself.

As we turn, the new Italian restaurant that’s been getting rave reviews catches my attention. Even though it’s late and their dinner service must be winding down, most of the candlelit tables still have patrons. “Prima - I’ve been hearing about it everywhere. Their chef, Lucien Ngono, supposedly works wonders with his scratch pasta.” I’m looking to say anything to fill the lull in our conversation.

“Yeah, ‘s really good.” Snow remarks, off-handedly.

“You’ve been?” I try not to sound too surprised. Prima is expensive and not exactly easy to get a table with the attention they’ve been receiving. In the pause before Snow responds, reality sinks into place. Snow’s been dating. My stomach drops. What did I expect? That he would sit around, mooning after me like I’ve done him? He broke up with me, after all. Silence creeps back in and fills all the available space, wedging between Snow and me.

“I’m just up here on the left, the brown building near the end of the block.” Snow directs me. I push the stick shift into park as the car comes to a stop near the old building. The click and swish of Snow’s seat belt has me holding my breath, bracing for the pain of his imminent departure. “Baz…” His voice is quiet and tentative. I turn towards him as he shifts, struggling to turn his whole body my direction. Our eyes meet, but I drop my gaze. This is much too close to look directly into his eyes while he’s talking to me in those low, rumbled whispers. “I…”

I hold my tongue and resist the urge to insult him. Instead, I wait for him to continue. 

“I’m sorry, you know. For. Well, for how distant I was.”

I huff. “Snow, I think most exes try to maintain some level of distance.”

“No, Baz. Um, that’s not…” His hand is at the back of his neck, harassing his curls there. He stops suddenly, bringing his hand down to his lap. He closes his eyes, and slowly breathes in. And out. When he opens his eyes he’s looking down at his hands instead of at me. “What I mean to say is, I’m sorry I was distant while we… when we were together.” 

When we were together. His acknowledgement of our history is jarring. I don’t talk about our relationship with anyone. I certainly didn’t think I’d ever talk about me and Snow with Snow, of all people. I open my mouth, hoping I’ll find something, anything, I can say, but no words form. My mounting embarrassment is luckily interrupted by this gorgeous numpty looking back up at me, meeting my eyes. I can’t tear my gaze away this time. I can’t believe I’m watching Simon Snow make amends about the disaster that was our relationship.

“Would you want to get coffee sometime?” His voice is low and warm and full of hope and drawing me nearer to him. I’m leaning closer as he continues rattling on. “We could go to the shop you like, the one that makes your drink just like you like, whatsit, a pumpkin bravo something?” I want to close the short distance between us, but Simon’s eyes flick down to my mouth and back up, and I’m flooded with memories of every kiss of mine he’s pulled away from, every moment of passion he’s stopped short, and I can’t move any closer.

Simon

Baz is leaning across the console and I’m babbling nonsense about coffee drinks. My eyes drop to his lips and my heart squeezes in my chest. There was a time when kissing Baz and being kissed by Baz were two very different things. Back then, when I was the one doing the kissing, it was like sprinting passionately into a fight, greeting it head on. It filled me with a sense of power, of strength. But being kissed was something else entirely. It felt like losing control, being caught off guard; it felt like losing ground in a fight.

But this isn’t any of that. Baz is leaning in and the pull to meet him in the middle is washing through my body. I shift closer to him, leaning across the center console, giving him the permission he needs to press his lips to mine. I feel the rush of letting Baz lead our kiss, fear and excitement truly feel quite similar, don’t they?, and then Baz is tentatively licking a small stripe on my lower lip. I part my lips and before I know it, Baz’s hand is around the back of my neck, pulling me deeper into our kiss, pushing his tongue into my mouth and then drawing my tongue forward as he retreats. My hand reaches up and cards through his hair, grazing past his shoulder and skimming down the side of his body, coming to rest in the notch just above his hip. The warmth that started at the center of my chest shifts lower and I know I need to pull this back before I get carried away. I want to take this second chance with Baz slow, I want to rebuild our trust in each other first. It takes everything I have to pull myself away from Baz, from Baz’s pinkened lips. I pull a couple sharp gulps of air into my lungs, trying to catch my breath.

“So, coffee? Sunday?” I say between the rising and falling of our chests. I look hopefully at Baz. There’s a beautiful blush across his cheeks. 

His lips quirk to the side. “Yes, Sunday would be lovely, Simon.”

Baz

Simon is grinning like it’s the first roast beef dinner of the year at Watford, and there’s sour cherry scones for dessert. I roll my eyes so he can’t tell how chuffed I am at his excitement. He can probably tell anyway.

“Sunday,” he repeats.

“Yes, Snow,” I retort sarcastically. “The day has been established.”

He smiles at me again. “Bye, Baz.”

“Goodbye, Simon.”

He leans across and kisses me once more, strong and sturdy, but much too short. And then he’s out of the car and disappearing into his building. I’m in a stupor after being kissed senseless by Snow. I will my body back into motion so I can drive home. I take side roads and I drive slow, cause I don’t want to go home. If I go home, I might break this spell of whatever feeling this is filling my senses. Sunday will bring something else, but for now, I’m intoxicated by the mere potential of it all.

#carry on sparks #carry on fanfiction #snowbaz fanfiction #snowbaz fic

[scharfkugel]

What your average person who’s favourite Blazblue character is (insert char here) is like:

(Read-more because this is a looooong post)

Ragna: 50% chance of being a Blazblue giga-normie who’s only played cross tag battle and who’s only knowledge of Blazblue comes from abridged Alter Memory parodies on youtube. Other 50% chance of actually being a giant fan of the series since the old days and a chill guy.

Jin: Almost certainly a giant edgelord and if you’re unlucky, a big-time role-player who’s cleaned out the RagJin tag on AO3 and Fanfiction.net dozens of times. Approach with great caution.

Noel: Twitter resident who’s feed is full of pictures of Noel and whatever other half-obscure anime girls they’re obsessed with. Overuses the word ‘waifu’ and likely has a fightstick with a Noel decal on it.

Mu-12: Same as above except with a slight added hint of edge.

Rachel: Similar energy to the Noel fan except probably an even bigger weirdo. Has gotten into countless twitter wars that probably go something like “but she’s actually a thousand years old!!!”.

Taokaka: 50/50 chance of either being a horny furry who doesn’t even know what game Taokaka is from, or a really chill person who likes Tao for her cute and funny personality. Even if they’re the second type, they probably don’t know or care much about the ridiculous story of the series.

Iron Tager: Giant shitposter who’s only here to do epic funnies on netplay as Tager. Spends at least 50x more time labbing obscure tech and combos than actually playing the game. Likely a hardened and punished war veteran of Blazblue if they actually played Tager back in the Calamity Trigger days.

Litchi: An enormous tournament tryhard who’s success in locals half comes from the huge amount of time they spend on the game, and half from the deafening clickety-clackety-ass noise their custom fightstick makes that tilts the opponent to hell and back.

Arakune: They remember what was taken from them since the days of CT and CS. They will still beat your ass anyway. Extremely powerful person you must treat with caution and respect.

Bang: Absolute legend with god-tier taste. Bang fans are the chads of the Blazblue fandom that while small in number, are great in heart and passion. On a side-note, they probably kinda suck at the game.

Carl: An obscure person, but one who knows a lot about the series and only wanted the best for Carl. 50/50 chance of either being a god at the game, or being unable to do a 236 input.

Relius: A bastard but in a sexy way that makes you kind of respect them. They probably just like his aesthetic and playstyle, but that doesn’t stop them from making jokes about his robot wife.

Hakumen: Probably only ever got into Blazblue in the first place because Hakumen looked badass and they wanted to main him. Knows Hakumen’s entire monologue off by heart; doesn’t know when to stop pressing drive.

Nu-13: Highly volatile and dangerous being. I strongly recommend you stay as far away as possible from them, because whether they’re an enormously horny weeb or someone maniacal enough to main her, nothing good can come of interaction with this perilous partitioner.

Lambda-11: An actually normal person unlike the Nu fan, they’re just here for the cute girls and a good time. That said, if they main her then prepare to get your ass beat just the same as if you versed the Nu main.

Tsubaki: An underdog of the Blazblue fandom, they understand and appreciate greatness where the rabble of the fandom cannot. Probably sick to death of everyone saying Tsubaki sucks and is annoying. Probably can’t play Tsubaki.

Izayoi: Same as above except they’re also a giant tryhard. Netplay monster that messages “anyone wanna play cf?” on discord except no one replies because they play Izayoi and have a 80%+ winrate.

Hazama: Horny. They’re so horny. Hazama fans are an extremely dangerous and extremely horny subsection of the Blazblue community that I fear more than anything else.

Terumi: Exact same as above except unlike the Hazama fan who can at least be somewhat tasteful and reserved about their horniness, the Terumi fan is completely shameless and doesn’t care if anyone knows.

Makoto: They’re like the Taokaka fan except they actually play the game. Some are weird, but most are cool people with good taste.

Valkenhayn: idk has anyone ever seen someone who’s favourite character is valkenhayn? please pm me and I’ll add whatever you say here.

Platinum: Doesn’t know what a Blazblue is; just here because Platinum is cute and looks like a magical girl. Either into Pretty Cure, Madoka, or both.

Amane: Extremely respectable person of good taste, but also basically an extinct species. Wishes Amane got into cross tag battle, even though they know it will never happen.

Bullet: Horny. They’re like in a middle-ground of shamelessness between the Hazama and Terumi fan, except their twitter feed can’t be flooded with Bullet images like the Noel fan’s because no one else’s favourite character is Bullet.

Azrael: Extremely powerful and kingly aura, the Azrael fan strikes a primal fear into my heart that no other person can. Whether or not they’re horny for Azrael doesn’t matter, their energy is mighty enough to make all respect them.

Kagura: Horny, but tastefully so. They’re like a toned-down version of the Azrael fan, with another notable difference being that they actually have to use their brain when they play the game.

Kokonoe: 500 IQ Blazblue genius who needs to alt-tab out to a google doc showing them the optimal combo for their current position every time they land a 5B. Also likes catgirls.

Celica: Like the Lambda fan, they’re just here for cute girls and a good time. Was excited about Celica getting into cross tag battle even though they don’t play it.

Nine: I don’t even have to say it. You already know why people like this character. Let’s just go to the next one.

Jubei: Person most likely to like Nine for an actually good reason, they love the ninja grandpa cat because they have good taste and love kitties.

Izanami: No one calls Izanami their favourite character unless they’re REALLY good at her, so if you see the Izanami fan, watch out. Like the Izayoi fan, no one wants to verse them because they’ll get their ass beaten 100-0 and will get a freshly filled salt shaker while they’re at it.

Es: Have they actually played Xblaze? Do they really like Es for non-superficial reasons? Could it be that their love of Es is one deeply rooted in her characterisation and storyline? Yeah probably not.

Mai: See above but replace “played Xblaze” with “read Remix Heart”.

Hibiki: Do not be fooled. Although the Hibiki fan seems innocent enough, that maybe they just like his design and playstyle, these people are horny as HELL. Bonus points if there’s a clear pattern of them being horny for twinks in other media too.

Naoto: Unlike Es and Mai, this person most likely actually DOES know something about Bloodedge Experience and is a big Naoto fan because of it. However they’re sad because no one else does and when they say something like “Spinner Superior is such a cool villain” everyone else says “Who?”.

Susanoo: As if it were an ancient evil uncovered after dozens of millennia, Mori unleashed Susanoo on us. and subsequently, the horniest and scariest form of Blazblue fan to date. I fear them twice as much as I respect them and their complete audaciousness to be horny for Susanoo.

#blazblue #shitpost #long post #if you don't fit any of these #then that's probably a good thing #also don't take this too seriously I'm not trying to offend anyone ksldjf

[countessofbiscuit]

Smothered and Covered, 1, 3, 5 , 9, 11, 14? This fic lives rent-free in my brain btw, thank you for writing it!

<grinch smile> thank you nonnie!! 

Smothered and Covered

or: Boba was all shiny-soft under her hands, with dark eyes that stared past her into the next parsec. Far less innocence than most, yet the theft of his clawed harder at her shame. But one crude kindness deserved another. (Explicit, Boba/Ahsoka, cw: underage) 

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

A combination of factors. 

This fanart, for starters. An anon who likened Aurra Sing to a trashy aunt. The persistent itch to write a grimy Bobasoka one-night-stand. All were catalysed by the bitter angst of the TCW S7 finale. It needed to be lanced and purged, but I couldn’t bring myself to touch Rexsoka directly: the grief was still too near. But I was desperate to play in that post-TCW, pre-Rebels void in a way that remained consistent with canon and my own fanon. 

Then there was my Banned Bingo card, which had a free space that needed filling. Shipping Ahsoka with anyone but a flower crown will get you death threats in this fandom, but in the interest of being “Totally Problematic” and really earning that square, I decided to send her to bed with — le gasp! — a teenager who’d just been raped by a parental figure, and let her yearn the entire time for her estranged boyfriend (who happens to be a genetically-modified version of the dude she’s fucking). 

This was also right at the time when rumours about Boba appearing season two of The Mandalorian went viral. The old disc horse carousel started up again: Boba is either an overrated, pointless, hollow character not worth the effort the sarlacc took to digest him, or he’s the Biggest Bossest Badass to ever make galactic citizens quake in their boots. I was sick to my back teeth of it. This guy is Schrödinger’s Mandalorian and all people seemed to wanna talk about was whether he earned his inclusion in the OT forty years ago. *yawns* Anyway, social media doesn’t thrive on nuance — but fanfic sure does. I wanted a character study of Boba as I (and a lot of excellent fic writers) understand and appreciate him; I wanted to let him be pissed about his traumatic life and act on it in his own way; I wanted him to be half as enigmatic as he thinks he is, while still being very unpredictable, even to someone who has good reason to know him better than most.

Smothered and Covered is the resultant greasy omelette, with lots of chunky bits, some easier to stomach than others. 

3: What's your favorite line of narration?

It was almost too easy, like winning ‘round a sour tusk-cat just knowing where its claws can't reach.

5: What part was hardest to write?

The ending. I’m still not pleased with it. There’s something Extended-Edition RotK about it. Or an essay where you’re super sure you made the point in the body, but that profound, “in conclusion” thought which will earn you top marks eludes you. So you just write a series of semi-profound things and hope that does the job — oh, and throw in a quote a line of dialogue for good measure :p

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Besides the hundred subtly different endings, the original draft didn’t have IC-8994 making an appearance. The exchange was just of information and bodily fluids. But in a ‘verse where Boba and Ahsoka are on texting terms, any intel that required a face-to-face drop seemed above their current paygrade as characters. Having an inconvenient commando in carbonite, however, gives Boba some plausible badass points and forces him to consider who can call to  help bury a body. And besides, every story is better with whole-ass commandos, even if they’re just deadweight plot devices :) 

11: What do you like best about this fic?

The Aurra reveal, by way of her blaster. I was stupidly satisfied with the rhyme it created, and that I got to wield obscure lore like a penknife to the heart. 

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

No one experiences or reacts to trauma in the same way. What one person does to reassure themselves that they still have agency in their life might be anathema to someone else; neither person is wrong. Fanpol/antis’ fetishization and policing of victimhood is fucked up. 

#bobasoka #asks #boba fett #biscuit fic #cw: rape