#it doesn't take a genius to see how they would exploit that

[morkhan]

It is so buckwild to me what Insomniac did with Harry Osborn and Venom.

In the vast majority of Spider-Media, Venom's defining character trait is his hatred of Spider-Man, and at first, it looks like Insomniac might be going that route. They give Harry ample reason to be absolutely furious with Peter, to resent him, resent the life he gets to live, a beloved superhero with a girlfriend, healthy and strong, a genius of such caliber that even his own father seems to prefer him to Harry. His supposed "best friend" who seems to be withholding lifesaving medical treatment just because he likes how it feels on him, because it's not enough that he be better and stronger and smarter than poor, sickly, doomed Harry, no, he has to be stronger than himself, stronger than the old Spider-Man could ever hope to be. It's not enough for Peter to have his own powers, he has to have Harry's as well, and if that comes at the cost of Harry's life? Well, that's just the cost of doing business. As long as it makes him a better Spider-Man, that's all that matters, right?

It seems like they are going down the route where Harry gives into his anger and resentment, the symbiote whispering in his ear and exacerbating his worst aspects until there is nothing left of the sweet boy that Emily Osborn raised to be so deeply good, only a supervillain hellbent on revenge and world domination.

But that's not what happens.

Instead, almost everything Harry does after the Venom symbiote takes over is framed as helping. As a genuine, if twisted belief that the world he is making is a better world. Instead of seeking revenge against Peter, Harry/Venom wants to convert him. Wants him to stand beside him as they "heal the world" together. And the odd thing is, this only becomes more true with time. At first, Harry/Venom seems almost indifferent to Peter, and angers quickly when Peter calls them a "thing." But we see that the idea of Peter doing this with him, the need for his best friend to be beside him at the end of all things, eventually becomes so important to him that it is ultimately a weakness the heroes exploit.

Think about that; Harry Osborn's love for Peter Parker is so powerful that it almost seems to be corrupting the Venom symbiote, infecting it and twisting its mind as surely as it twisted Peter's, but in the opposite direction. It's so wild to watch the scenes at the end of the game and hear Tony Todd, in his deep-ass Venom voice, read lines like "Thanks for coming, Pete 😊" with the same casual inflection and tone as Harry would. Saying "This is where we became best friends. Now it's where we become brothers!" and sounding so pleased and excited that you'd think he was talking about Pete's mom marrying his dad and not infecting him with alien mind goop.

It's so incredible to me that the defining trait of Insomniac's Venom isn't hate; it's love. A twisted, warped love that doesn't fully understand itself, but a sincere and true love nonetheless, one that holds to the very end.

#insomniac spider man #spider man 2 ps5 #Harry Osborn #venom #peter parker #spider man 2 ps5 spoilers

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

In defense of s5 finale

I hear and see a lot of people expressing dislike of the season finale, some also in the tags and comments of my analysis/speculation posts. So I wanted to further expand on this.

Gabriel's victory -being remembered a hero despite everything wrong he did, especially abuse to Adrien- has left a sour taste in many people's mouth; many blaming the scenarists and not shying away from calling it "bad writing."

But I think that that was exactly what the scenarists wanted to do? The perfect world Gabriel leaves behind is unsettling, unfair, and I think that the creators have done their best to show that implicitly but clearly. I think that we are supposed to be irked by the finale.

Why do I think that? Because there were a lot of small things that gave the message that, as @emsylcatac iconically put it, "this is the bad place." I touched upon some of those in my previous post on how this was a victory for Gabriel and Lila, and a defeat for Ladybug. I'll try to list them more clearly here.

Gabriel a hero

This is the one thing everyone has the most problem with. At the end, Gabriel was declared the hero who gave his life to defeat the Monarch, who was none other than himself. Some artistic choices here are so over the top that I believe they were specifically made to irk us.

If the silver statue itself wasn't enough, the exact quote of Caline Bustier is:

All the rings that have been highjacked by the Monarch have been recycled into a statue in honour of the great Gabriel Agreste.

Then Tsurugi Tomoe goes on to say:

Beyond the visionary entrepreneur and genius creator that he was, we are celebrating a hero today.

See, everything bad about Gabriel has been flipped. If you count literally exploiting people visionary entrepreneurship, sure, he was that. And genius? He couldn't get the miraculouses of two teenagers for an entire year despite having all the resources, and he ended up succeeding only with the help of another extremely powerful person (Tsurugi Tomoe) and even then he ended up dying himself.

As of creator, he was literally a destructor. He destroyed Paris more times than anyone can count, and everything was fixed every time only thanks to Ladybug. Let's not also forget how he destroyed the Miraculouses to exploit their power.

Adrien's comment about his father

This is another thing many people have had problem with. It is so outrageous that I won't believe the creators would expect us to take at face value.

At the end, Adrien acknowledges that his father died to take down the Monarch, and says:

I don't know if one day I'll manage to become like him.

Lo and behold, the man who had emotionally neglected and abused his son to no end has turned into the said son's hero and role model. Adrien not only looks up to him, but also wants to make an active effort to become like him. Hell, he even doubts if he can be as good as him.

No way this line can taken at face value. There are many children's shows with abusive parental figures nowadays (like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, the Owl House) that have all handled the conclusion to that abuse generally well. The watchers' expectations are high in this respect; the scenarists would know that such conclusion, if not ironic, would not satiate the expectations of the spectators.

Lack of accountability: Gabriel and Tomoe

As many many people have pointed out, the general lack of accountability in this season finale is infuriating. So Gabriel mentally tortured THE ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION and not only never faced consequences in life, but also is remembered as a hero in death?

What about Tomoe?

Not only she has not faced any repercussion for being basically a supervillain, but also she is still a respected public figure who can go and make a speech backed by the mayor, in front of the freaking French flag. If that doesn't irk you, I don't know what will.

Worse is that, she goes as far as saying in her speech that:

I'll make sure to continue his legacy.

So she'll continue to be evil. Great hint that she'll continue being an antagonist in season 6.

As you can see, the new world that has been created is extremely unfair and problematic. No way this can be "the good place," an actual "happy ending."

Everything is fixed! No problems anymore!

Also, you'd realise that the world is perfect, a little too perfect. It is like a green utopian dream.

Caline Bustier has been the mayor "only for a few weeks" (direct quote from the episode), and she has already fixed all the problems possible in Paris. Not only that, she has also solved inequality and class struggle (again, mentioned by herself). Let's make Caline the President of the World already.

Funny that LITERALLY ALL THE PROBLEMS of a city could be solved, while the exact same episode showed Majestia, the freaking Supergirl of the ML universe, acknowledged in her nightmare that:

Even with all my superpowers, I'll never manage to solve all the problems of the world.

Well, Bustier says that she has no superpower, that people working together can accomplish that. Kudos to her and her democratic spirit. But like, perfect city in a few weeks? Even Mayor Bourgeois who wanted to send all the trash of Paris to space would realise that that's impossible.

There is no perfect solution, yet the world is perfect

Ladybug acknowledges that there is no perfect solution to Gabriel's situation. Trying to bring back his wife, he has caused irreparable damage to himself and to Nathalie, effectively leaving Adrien an orphan. He still hopes that Ladybug can fix it all. But she can't because of the nature of the wish: for one thing gained, another thing should be lost. In Ladybug's words:

There is no perfect wish. Every time a power is used for personal gain, it causes catastrophes. (...) We'll find a solution, but it will never be as perfect as one would wish.

Interesting, given that the world ends up being completely perfect?

All the problems are solved, literally everyone is happy, Marinette and Adrien are finally together. But the wish was made for personal gain, no? So where are the consequences? Where is equivalent exchange? The catastrophe, the price of the perfect, green, just world? I think we'll see that in season 6.

The dream world

The new world is seriously giving me weird vibes. Like it is a movie set. For those who have watched The Good Place, you'd know how in the town everything feels a bit too bright, artificial, perfect. I get the same vibes from the post-wish world.

The Agreste mansion is covered by green vines?? Way to hide the atrocities that were planned and happened here.

Here is a screengrab I found on the internet from The Good Place (the ladybug is a funny coincidence lol)

I am getting the exact same vibes!

Also, I have expanded on that in my post on "running out of time" theme, but basically in the ML universe usually the "real" stuff are associated with the night and the rain while things that happen in the sun turn out to be fake or erased/forgotten. So the feeling that I get from this finale is that, this new "perfect" world is not genuine; that the seeming happiness it brings will be soon destroyed (I doubt erased), just as it happened in other fake reality episodes like Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, or Jubilation. As I argued before, this is not a permanent victory. Hell, it isn't even a real victory, not with the secret Marinette is left to keep from Adrien.

Not a real victory

Another thing that makes me think that this ending is not genuine is the lack of Chat Noir in the finale. Yes, I am a fervent Ladynoir stan who was hoping for some Ladynoir action (if not reveal) and was hugely disappointed by the lack of Chat's engagement in the final fight, but now that I think of it, this may have been on purpose.

Notice how in Conformation, Ladybug says:

Our only way to win against him is to fight him together.

And yet, soon thereafter, she is catapulted into a fight with the Monarch.

Notice also it wasn't her choice to unify the miraculouses and face the Monarch alone. She had to, because Chat Noir wasn't there.

Let's remember that this show spent the entire season 4 explaining how Ladybug assuming all the responsibility alone leads to disaster, how she needs Chat Noir to share the burden with him.

Let's also remember how in season 5, especially at the beginning of it, we see Ladybug change her behaviour towards Chat Noir: she gives him more responsibilities (the Bunny Miraculous, the identity of certain holders if I am not mistaken), and how at one point she confesses that Chat Noir has been very serious and responsible lately (and then promptly develops a crush on him).

So taking on the Monarch herself is really against everything they have built up in season 4 and the beginning of season 5. That's why I think that this "victory" is so wrong: it was "won" only by Ladybug. Maybe if Chat Noir were there, he would have prevented the Monarch from making the wish (hypothetically, then we would have an entirely different timeline). If his identity were revealed the way Marinette's was, Gabriel could have controlled him through his amok. In any case, their defeat or victory would have looked very different from this.

In the end, we must remember that this world is far from being a victory for Ladybug: she has, after all, LOST. She couldn't stop Gabriel from making the wish. And while this world looks perfect, and we got what seems like a forever happy after ending for Adrinette, their happiness is set in a non-genuine victory and world.

So I think we shouldn't be angry with the show-runners: there is a reason why this ending feels and is wrong. If it were all wonderful, it wouldn't be the season finale. It would be the finale, period. And I believe that everything that has been disturbing us in this season finale will be addressed, if not consist of the core conflict of season 6. Let's all take a deep breath and turn to fan fiction or fan art till we get the new season now :) (at least that's what I'll do lol)

#miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #ml season 5 #from fortuna #ml conformation #ml recreation #ml analysis #ml meta #ladynoir #adrinette #ml speculation

[hauntedwitch04]

Neighbor

Steve Harrington x reader

Words: about 0.8k words

Warnings: smut, possessive!Steve, swearing, kinda voyeurism, not proofreaded

Author’s note: Hi loves! New day new kink, hope you like it, your witch Becky

Requests are open I Ask

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KINKTOBER ...........-..........KINKTOBER TAGLIST 2023

DAY 13: Caught masturbation

-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-

Steve Harrington and you have been neighbors since you were born. When you were younger you spent hours and hours playing in the backyard, and when your parents forced you into the house, you kept playing in your rooms, since your windows were in front of each other. You used to spend hours looking out, imagining adventures and exploits of the older heroes, playing at being big, not knowing that after all, you grow up too fast.

You and Steve remained very good friends until high school, when he decided that you were not popular enough to be seen with him and that he needed to find new, "cooler" friends to really be somebody. This of course had made you feel very bad, but fortunately you had met other people, better than King Steve, who had become your friends, like Robyn, a skinny blond girl who played in the school band and was a real genius as well as being a very good friend. You and Steve didn't even say hello to each other anymore when you walked past each other to go to your rooms Those windows that used to be portals into each other's world were now nothing more than what they really are: cold pieces of glass, allowing each other to peek into the other person's life hoping it would be worse than their own.

Everything had remained that way until this evening.

Steve recently returned from yet another party; he doesn't even know how he managed to get home to tell the truth, since he doesn't even remember getting into the car.

The boy is lying on the bed, still looking at the ceiling and wondering how many drinks he has had, when he realizes that your bedroom window is open, which is not so strange since it is the middle of summer and the muggy heat is unbearable at night, but usually the curtain was always drawn so that no one could see your little piece of heaven.

Steve, confused by alcohol does not realize what he is doing, and so in the dark, he sits on the bed and starts looking at you, trying to figure out what you were doing.

Your room has not changed that much since you were children, but some posters and books now adorn those walls that little you had so insisted on, being your favorite color. The desk is covered with open school books and notes, while on the floor was a pile of clothes, probably dirty, among which Steve could make out some clothing you had worn in the past few days.

The boy's eyes roam all over the room, trying to absorb the details of your life, looking and hoping to recognize deep down the little girl he was in love with as a child. All until he sees you.

You're lying in bed, in semi-darkness, but somehow Steve can see you, wearing a simple tank top and a pair of summer shorts, hoping to fight the heat; but it's not how you're dressed that shocks the boy, but what you're doing.

Your eyes are closed, while your head is resting on the pillow. Your right hand squeezes your right breast, since you are not wearing a bra, from above your shirt, while your left hand is in your shorts. Your mouth is ajar as you let muted moans slip from your lips as you chase your pleasure.

Steve freezes for a second looking at you knowing it is wrong what he is doing, yet he cannot shake his eyes off you. He feels his erection growing in his pants, to the point that it hurts so much that he can no longer avoid touching himself, first from above the fabric, then in desperation, he unzips the zipper of the jeans he is wearing and pulls out his member, beginning to lightly massage it. All this without ever taking his eyes off you, as if you were a magnet.

She watches as your fingers continue to circle your most sensitive spot, faster and faster and hungrier. Your breathing becomes labored and uneven, until a few minutes later you reach orgasm. Slowly your fingers stop moving, and you try to catch your breath. Your eyes are still closed and you can't see in the house in front of you, your neighbor masturbating at the sight of you climax.

Steve also comes to orgasm, a couple of minutes after you do, thus making time to hide well in the shadows, when you open your eyes, looking around as if you have the feeling you are being watched. He watches you settle down for a moment, before getting up to go to the bathroom, and at that moment Steve Harrington, the king of Hawkins High School, decides something.

The next orgasm you have will be at his hands.

TAGLIST

@digitalhearts @samanddeansannoyingsis @minkiles @ash04w3 @123345566 @the-house-of-rose-and-ember @nightfiress @theyluvtrinity21 @supernatural-lvr @starsval @imaraccoon @CaptainsBaby @titinkaaa @newtdumbledoorstarksoot @aunicornmademedoit @AlohaStitch0626

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader smut #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington smut #stranger things x reader #stranger things smut #kinktober 2023 #becky's writing

[stackslip]

chapter 140 thoughts under the cut

fujimoto's goal of rewriting fire punch with a bit more silliness continues (i love the chainsaw pews)

fujimoto said i know writers who do subtlety and they're all cowards

BROBENI CONFIRMED. now to know if he's her younger brother who was gonna be put through college by kobeni's exploited labour (which..... gd damn that parallel with denji and nayuta......). also i've been told nobana is traditionally a female name.......... hm.

real, though in this context it sounds more like anti usamerican imperialism language repurposed for nationalist ends..... it's not fujimoto is uncritical of america either though considering the gun devil in part 1. fascinating to see where this might go and how much that kind of language parallels irl pro-japanese imperialism and nationalists' own discourse.

i find it fascinaing that kids are considered the only acceptable members of the cult only to be introduced to an adult leader several pages later lol. but obviously the cult (because this 200% is a cult) is filling a gap--the first half of part 1 showed us how much it fucking SUCKS to be even an ordinary kid both irl and in this world, the lack of agency and the poverty and being preyed upon by adults or abandoned entirely, and then mocked on national tv when they take the deaths of their classmates and friends seriously..... so of course so many would end up here, being told that adults really ARE dangerous and incapable of seeing the world the way they do. cleverly done, i hope fujimoto expands on this and doesn't fall back on Let Adults Take Care Of This

similarly i hope this doesn't fall into the liberal storytelling trap of "the government is bad, but this new group has appeared that's Even Worse, so the government is actually good now" that also appears in so many shounen tbh. i don't think he will bc even outside of the church public safety is still so fucked up

denji's expressions this chapter are top tier lmao. genius move to make denji the "straight man" in the previous few chapters where he's genuinely flabbergasted by how batshit everyone else is

FUCKING CRYING. yeah the implications are dire but. HOWL

again jokes asides there is SO MUCH to unpack here. you'll get married AND THEN become a member of the church (implying marriage is a requirement or, as said later, strongly encouraged to join the cult at all). sex is consummated immediately in the next room. so far we've mostly seen men and boys in charge of the church, except for fami/kiga......... which...... does not bode well. makes me wonder how many are pressured into marriage/sex both as a way to attract new male followers and as a way to keep control over all

speaking of which. it says student but they mean /high school students/, maybe even middle school students, aka again children! and again the language of Modernity Has Lied To Us, Child Marriage And Ownership Is The Way right there being recited. the appeal to nationalism and what is "natural", kids as property of their parents and the church,.... and yes i AM reminded of behemboth(?), the patriarchal city-cult of fire punch whose entire horrid existence is justified with "it's natural" and "we are saving people by giving them shelter here". the patriarchy is central here!

and of course the part about kids being born and raised into the church themselves...... after shinzo abe's death, japan's having a bit of a reckoning re the influence of cults in political life and vice versa, and particularly the impact on children raised in said cults. there's also been a reactionary backlash to the idea of *foreign* cults (like the unification church, originally from korea) having "too big" an influence on japan, versus the Good National Japanese Cults that are spared some of that backlash. so i find it interesting that fujimoto firmly grounds this as a *japanese* nationalist cult that claims to be trying to save the country from foreign influence. obviously i'd love to know more, bc i'm sure there's a lot of language and references in the original that i'm missing and that mirror irl japanese politics and reactionary tendencies.

denji's backlash in forcing kids to get married.... i do wonder how much of his backlash comes from the idea of forced child marriage (and being forced in general), or if he would have been okay with someone being pressured to have sex with him without marriage, or he wouldn't have thought about it tbh.

i want to see the chainsaw man bathroom............

the hybrids all coming together.... wonder if this means reze and quanxi will be back PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. but also in the context of the church.... the weapon hybrids were used as various governmental projects and living weapons for years--japan, china, the ussr, and i imagine the usa and other western powers had their own as well. then they got controlled by makima, and now they're in the church.... i hope we explore more of the abuse and parallels they have with denji, and see just how and why miri trusts in the church so much as a refuge compared to his previous abuse. ALSO BRING BACK REZE AND QUANXI GD PLEASE......

this is 200% the guy who was in the shadows telling haruka it was all planned. and again the irony of nobana talking about how this is a church by and for children, only to immediately be threatened by someone who is very obviously an adult in charge

his eyes REALLY freak me out btw, fujimoto did a great job at his expressions lol. also really love the detail of the suspenders and the

barem.... the closest i could find for that name's meaning was the hebrew for "son of nation" which. hm! worrisome!

so idk if fujimoto was TRYING to give this dude the vibes of a sexual predator but between the cult's pressuring kids to get married and have sex, his role as one of the sole adult "humans" around, his treatment of nobana, and his general demeanor and manner of speech + the themes of sexual abuse and predation in the series in general........ gd he gives me the absolute creeps lmao, incredible design and tone. also what he says here about asa which gives me SO MANY red flags and makes me think more of the patriarchal aspect of the cult too

the name of the chapter is "scales"..... which is associated with kiga, as the horseman of Famine. and of course during the whole chapter we hear about how the church is necessary and its actions help save lives etc etc etc. just as we heard the yakuza justify their existence to makima, just as public safety justified its own existence in terms of killing devils while really using them as a way to terrorize the population and threaten other nations.

i find it interesting that in a way, kiga gave a similar deal to asa but in far more positive a view. do these things for us, become this weapon for us, and this person you care about (or think you know even if briefly) will live. kiga was just a lot better at presenting it and obsfucating the actual horrors that would follow--denji however is in too deep, and doesn't buy into the bs anymore. so he's given much more stark and open a choice! just as public safety tried to threaten denji to keep quiet lest they kill nayuta and raise her as their own all over again! gd he and asa's lack of agency..... fuck me up so so bad

wondering if we're eventually going to come back to denji's motif of choosing a third choice and refusing the dual choice entirely! wonder if asa herself will only see a single solution in front of her every time......

anyhow. good chapter. there's gotta be a lot that i'm missing here in terms of relations to current japanese political context and i'd love to learn more on it tbh.

#eli talks #csm #chainsaw man #csm musings

[transmutationisms]

this isn’t rly a coherent point just a thought but i feel like the succession audience anon might be getting at the fact that the sociopolitical commentary of the show is lost as its audience increases? imo jesse’s political commentary is very clear but i also have my commie goggles on. but i know for a fact that the show is was not written nor marketed the way i’m consuming it. maybe jesse leans that way a bit but like he’s obviously descriptive and not prescriptive in his art so there’s that, and the constraints of tv are that it has to have broad enough appeal so you can’t be shoving your politics down the people’s throats necessarily. i think it is marketed to the brooklynite class you’re describing and i think they don’t fully get it and i also think as more people watch the more its themes are ignored in favor of stuff like omg who’d make the best successor, despite that not being what the show is about at all (also jesse has told us from day one who would make the “best” successor). idk like the people who get excited abt kendall becoming ceo you know? like omg it’s a win for him! like… are we watching the same show

ok i agree with a lot of this, and i am certainly also a known user of commie goggles lol. i think the fundamental limitation with the show is, like you said, that it's more interested in a descriptive mode than a prescriptive one, which means at its best it can nail character development and political satire, but it isn't really trying to offer any coherent alternative worldview. the portrayal of logan's gender / body politics is not flattering and doesn't flinch away from either the interpersonal trauma he inflicts on those around him or the broader political harm done by liberal capitalism; the show has also always been fairly sharp i think on the fascistic tendencies of capitalism and the way the latter turns into the former—again, shown both through logan's ideology of domination, social darwinist thinking, valorising certain types of bodies, etc, and through waystar's engagement with politics and politicians. however, i'd agree that this is all motivated by a description of the characters' worldviews and by satire of them, and we would probably see more of the cracks in the writers' and showrunners' politics if they tried to put forth some kind of more active alternative political platform.

that said, the fact that people miss these aspects of the show says as much to me about the political consciousness of viewers as it does about the intentionality of the writing. people with certain beliefs about masculinity are always going to watch 'fight club' and think tyler durden rules, no matter how effectively the critique is or isn't being made. similarly, people who think capitalism is a good or necessary system and doesn't derive value from fascism, or that succeeding in business is a matter of skill and mystical genius powers rather than a game of luck and accreting wealth, are always going to watch 'succession' and think that logan rules, or that the point is to identify the person who 'deserves' to take over waystar, or that capitalist electoral politics is a noble exercise in rhetoric that has simply been corrupted by a few evil apples, or what the fuck ever.

like, i'm not saying the writing is perfect or denying that it hits a wall in terms of actual radicalism. but i do think there are certain critiques the writers consistently and clearly make, often specifically via satire, that large swathes of the audience simply don't pick up on because they're approaching the text through their liberal capitalist ideological lens. you can see this, for example, in the journosphere's takes on the cruises storyline, which by and large completely failed to engage with the broader critique of capitalism as inherently producing death, exploiting bodies, and specifically preying on those deemed other or marginal—namely sex workers, migrants, women, etc. these points were very clearly made in the show and the meliorist viewpoint very clearly satirised (eg, in 'argestes'). ultimately, though, you can't rescue viewers from their own liberalism and you can't make them read the text from beyond those parameters. it's an issue of political consciousness, and although it can certainly be exacerbated by bad or milquetoast writing, even an explicitly radical piece of art will be interpreted through that liberal lens by people who are liberals (anyone remember the reviews of 'sorry to bother you'?)

i also would add that, in my opinion, this season has actually been more willing to overtly engage with the political threads than season 3. viewers can no longer hide behind the idea that the problem starts and ends with logan as an individual. matsson and his people have consistently been characterised as staking their own worth on their supposed biological superiority, with specific references to athletic ability, bodily strength, élite education that forms a class barrier, and the general idea of racial and genetic superiority ("nasdaq master race," "shallow end of the gene pool"). i'm aware there are many viewers, including on tumblr, who are not stringing these things together and seeing an overall discourse on capitalist eugenics and racism—but i do actually think that the satire here is being laid out pretty clearly in front of our faces. is this a show interested in exploring imaginative political alternatives? no, and you could convincingly argue on that basis that its fundamental stance is more self-satisfied snark than anything resembling actual leftist politics. i think, though, that this would be pretty evenly true since day 1, and that, at its best, the writing does hit on some key aspects of how capitalist spectacle functions, the power abuses it creates and enables, and how these things are inherent to capitalism writ large rather than being a unique pathology of the roys or waystar.

ultimately i love to see art that is actually communist / leftist in nature, is interested in alternatives to capitalism and ways out of our current political economic arrangement, etc. 'succession' is not that, clearly. part of the reason i do shit like blog about it is because it used to annoy me so much that no one was connecting certain more radical dots (like the obvious path from the show's historicised thinking -> a critique of capitalism as contingent) that are implied or allowed-for by the writing but never unpacked or explicated. so, often what interests me in the show is at least as much the lacunae left in the writing as the things it explicitly says. again, commie goggles. i also would tentatively agree with you that it's primarily marketed to people who are basically liberal and milquetoast, for reasons of profit motive, although again i honestly take in so little television advertising that i don't have much that's cogent to say about this angle of things lol.

i'm certainly not lying to myself that this show is any kind of radical statement of communist party values—i just also think that there are points of actually interesting satirical critique that the writers are very deliberate about, and that the guardian-new yorker-industrial complex is pretty much inherently going to miss these points or ignore them, for reasons that don't necessarily reflect one way or the other on the actual quality of the writing.

anyway, it was maybe goofy to write this out like an hour before the election episode airs, but these are certainly questions i will continue rotating after i see it lol.

#blood sacrifice

[fortunatetragedy]

💔🥩❗ for Royston?

HI JORY :D You picked good ones, thank you!

💔 (broken heart) - Who has your character hurt most? Physically or emotionally? How did it feel? Do they regret it?

The official answer is not "Sullivan," although it ought to be, if I sit down and do the math on how many times they've had to relive certain events due to a time loop.

He has killed so many people, either as a mercenary or as a duelist or in self-defense while gambling, that for my own mental health I haven't cracked that jar open yet. I need to, bc I need to know what is really the hell is wrong with him so I can properly exploit it in Book 3.

When he was younger (18+, he's 45 now) all he was capable of were parasitic relationships where he used the other person for housing and to steal whatever wasn't nailed down. Then he survived an assault when he was in his early 30s and retaliated against the fellow in a manner that I'm sure Buck Yeats, local gossiphound, was telling everyone about for years afterwards.

He doesn't "feel" or "regret" things, because he's physically incapable of remorse or depth of affect. The closest he really gets with Sullivan (see Chapters 1-6) is "I can see with my eyeballs that what I did caused your injury, and I did not want for you to be injured I thought that you, autistic man whom I love, would be fine getting shoved out of a moving train with no warning."

Okay I take it back he made trains a PTSD trigger for Sullivan that's the combo breaker.

🥩 (steak) - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

I'm going to answer through the start of Book 2 for this, in the interests of not giving myself a migraine trying to remember "which" Royston I'm referring to.

Without weighing or judging the coping mechanisms, here are Arthur Royston's Top 10 Ways To Survive An Inescapable Time Loop Because Your Person Lover Boyfriend Husband is a Sentient Location's Genius Loci:

Tobacco!

Whiskey!

Sex!

Get into a fight! [Preferably knife vs gun!]

Scream into a pillow!

Have you considered giving Sullivan a handjob?

Kill a wild animal for protein and crafting materials!

Whine at Melanie Gott that you're bored and miss Sullivan!

Get put to work doing chores!

Opposite action! Don't feel like doing something but you have to do it or the fucking world is going to end? DO IT ANYWAY YOU'RE A CONTRARIAN ;D

❗️(exclamation point) - What was the scariest moment of your character’s life? Does it still affect them?

This is going to be a big old Book 1 spoiler so I'm going to pop it under a read more.

Prior to the real answer, the joke answer is "One time he thought he thought he was dying of something exploding in his head and that was really scary but it turns out he just gets migraines because he needs glasses and refuses to go to the ophthalmologist so he just takes laudanum and avoids bright sunny days now and he's fine."

#Arthur Royston is migraineur rep #lore drop

Sullivan not being able to hang onto the outside of the train (bc he's a normal person and they were going Really Fucking Fast) and then Royston getting poison darted half to death by the woman who he thought was going to flay Sullivan alive if she caught him on the train (see: Chapter 1, September 1872) was, as of June 1873, the scariest thing that had ever happened to Royston.

Seeing as it traps him in a time loop, takes him a year to figure out where Sullivan is due to a combination of illiteracy (Royston can't write, he has to rely on Gott for transcription) and Army red tape (Sullivan was MIA for a while, then he was assumed dead, then he was imprisoned awaiting court martial, then by the time he was released none of Royston's contacts knew where he was, he had to wait to hear from someone that he'd taken another field position, it was a whole fucking mess.) By the time Royston catches up to Sullivan at Fort Cano (this AU's version of Fort Reno, which is in what is today western Oklahoma, along the North Canadian River) it's... they're on the Bad Ending route. Even if they survive, because of how Royston is as a human being, if they survive being on the path they're on here, he retains Villain Protagonist status, and Sullivan is fucking miserable for the rest of his life. This is literally a dead end and I make him do 275 pages of it.

Everything that happens to Royston in 1874 is pretty much the scariest moment of his life. I just kept making it worse for him every chapter lol.

I made that fucker cry, Jory. I made him do the one thing he said he would never do and then I fucking cried and made him do the thing that used to be the scariest thing in the world all the fuck over again because take ownership of the damage you cause other people, Royston, you don't get a do-over.

God he sucks it was so much fun abusing him for an entire novel. I look forward to seeing him on his antihero arc in Book 2 LOL.

Thanks for stopping by, those were good questions!

#ask game #11/10 asks #borisyvain #doom metal love story #c: arthur royston

[thepersona]

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Thoughts on episodes 15-16 (spoilers!)

All good things must come to an end. Now that the dust has settled in my brain after my third watch (lol), let's unpack this week's two-part season finale (spoiler alert!)

First of all, writer Moon Ji-won and her team sure know how to weave metaphors and imagery like it's nothing I've ever seen in a K-drama. Definitely her strong suit. Some are blatant while others are so subtle most people miss it without a rewatch. Seriously, I could name several off the top of my head and I've probably missed twice as much. But let's focus on those present in eps 15-16.

I want to start with the introduction and characterization of Young-woo's half-brother Choi Sang-hyeon. Love her or hate her, I can't wait to see how brilliant Tae Su-mi actually is considering she's 2 for 2 in giving birth to geniuses. In his first scene in ep 15 alone, we are told that Sang-hyeon and Young-woo are alike yet different.

Throughout the show, circles have been associated with Young-woo. The title credits, the little details Young-woo's room, her headphones, the revolving door, Young-woo's name in hangul (우영우), even Dong Geurami (whose name means 'circle')! But what about Sang-hyeon?

It's all squares with this kid, who mirrors the opening credits in ep 16. And they both love gimbap! Perhaps even for the same reason that they like to see every detail of the thing they're dealing with (Young-woo with the law and whales, Sang-hyeon with computers). Better yet, they share a tendency to lean towards what's morally right, socially just and transparent, despite being in fields that are known to exploit people who aren't well-versed in their complexities.

I definitely like how he didn't take his frustrations out on Young-woo, instead assumed that she would understand him better than their mother, and he was right. I wonder what he sees during his Eureka moments, but we'll have to wait for season 2 to hopefully find out.

====

Now let's talk about this case. I can't tell you how much I LOVE that ep 15 started with spear phishing. It brought me back to this moment from ep 6 so fast I could almost feel the wind coming and hear the whales jumping. (Sorry for the noob gif quality)

Once we learn who the baby whale in question is, we're compelled to ask if Tae Su-mi is willing to make the same decision twice. And while she was ready to bury it to save her candidacy, she ultimately lets Sang-hyeon out himself as the hacker and participate in the trial, putting her political ambitions at an end - or more likely on hold.

The hunter/ress throwing the harpoon in this case, you guessed it, is Han Seon-yeong. Throughout the show, CEO Han seemed to be playing a game with CEO Tae, though the latter didn't seem to acknowledge the game at all. Where CEO Han spends most of her jealousy-driven time thinking of how to take her rival down, CEO Tae doesn't pay her as much attention, instead preferring to use her energy on her next professional conquest. Sound familiar?

The result for CEO Han is lukewarm. Tae Su-mi isn't outed (yet) for having a child out of wedlock and manages a relatively graceful exit from her nomination, Young-woo gets to keep her peace, Sang-hyeon is publicly disgraced but keeps his dignity and honor. So far, Han's bark has been louder than her bite. She's never made any significant contribution to the cases she injected herself into. Whereas CEO Tae would have won the Seodok-dong case if it weren't for Young-woo's genius. Maybe she held back because of her humanity towards the innocent parties. On the other hand, she could also be waiting for a bigger scandal to take her rival down for good. In that case, we have reason to expect her to be the antagonist in Season 2, though I would have liked to see more hints scattered prior to ep 16 apart from the deleted scene in ep 8.

With Sang-hyeon now in her orbit, I'm looking forward to more brother-sister interactions in Season 2. Choi Hyun-jin did a great job with his portrayal (am I the only one who likes his eyes?). There was some tightrope walking between sinister and brilliant going on there, his introduction felt like a scene from "Juvenile Justice". Bravo.

====

Last week, I told you (!) that Young-woo and Jun-ho would be endgame. All because it was hinted by the case, the monk, and the dialogue during the breakup, among others, that they were both capable of looking beyond the surface of their problems.

I also said that Young-woo shouldn't be so criticized for letting go of him without a proper explanation at the time because she was trying to be selfless (for a change, or so she thought). So this week, we got another metaphor from Jun-ho this time about unrequited love for a cat, but that it's okay because the owner is happy with the cat just being there no matter how selfish the cat can be sometimes. Message received, and our whale couple is back together.

While I'm very happy that we were not given the 2521 treatment, the execution of this storyline leaves a bit to be desired. It's the same issue I've had with it since ep 11, in that they've been cutting the scenes so abruptly, especially those filmed near Young-woo's house. The scene where Young-woo finally tells Jun-ho her reason for the breakup and then it just holds the pause after she bows then that's it. I know they probably didn't want to cram more progress into ep 15 and focus more on the trial scenes but it resulted in some uneven storytelling.

Btw, I adore that scene where he gets all defensive when the Taesan messenger startles Young-woo but he doesn't pry. Kang Tae-oh was just majestic. Though this was something that Young-woo's dad could have seen so he'd give her a nudge to say Jun-ho may be right for her after all. Another could be the hospital fiasco, where instead of driving off with douchebag Attorney Jang, Jun-ho could have been caught on camera shielding Young-woo from the press, leading her dad to the same conclusion. Although driving off was one way to show that he can also make poor snap judgments and that's ok. I know I'm getting nitpicky but I just wish there was something so their makeup on the way to the trial could have a little more meat. But all is well since we got the result we wanted.

====

Should I even write about (still trash, now compostable) Kwon Min-woo and my girl Choi Su-yeon at this point? They really went the route of "let's introduce a worse character so the guy you hate doesn't look half bad". I mean Attorney Jang is where Min-woo would be if left unchecked after about 15+ years. I'm okay with redemption arcs, I really am. I just hate when they happen overnight or when they're being given out like candy.

And while I don't underestimate nor belittle the things love can make you do, I can't get on the "I can change him" trope. It's so beneath the Su-yeon that we know. And it taints the sincerity of Min-woo's 'change' in that every good deed he does from here on is based on pleasing her and not because it's the right thing to do. He's lucky she has a great moral compass. The attempt at fistbumping Young-woo was just cringe. Would he have done that if Su-yeon hadn't been there? Exactly.

If the writer's intention was to keep his suspiciousness, then mission accomplished. I won't be surprised if they break up and he regresses to his old ways, or he regresses then they break up. If the goal was to transform him into a loveable character, then I just hope he's given a chance in season 2 to make morally sound decisions (at his expense) while he and Su-yeon are apart. It's the only way to get him back on track. I've been very critical, but seeing how things turned out, I'm optimistic we the audience will get the storyline we deserve next season.

====

Lastly, I like how Jung Myeong-seok's reconciliation with his ex-wife was left open-ended and dependent on how ready he would be to leave Hanbada for good. But even if he left the firm, old habits die hard. He may choose to represent less affluent clients like the temple, but his devotion to his work could make him relapse (in more ways than one). It would be interesting to see him slowly shift into someone a little more like Attorney Ryu from ep 12 and even work with her for a change. Better yet, start a firm with his babies and take on social justice cases going head to head with Taesan and Hanbada like David v. Goliath. It's another way to see what both CEOs are really made of once Young-woo takes off with her real family.

And that's where the season ends. Where the first episode only had one floating whale during Young-woo's commute, the conclusion showed several as she no longer feels alone.

Overall, I still think the two-part season finale was more than satisfactory with enough room to elaborate in season 2. I'm excited to see what's in store for Young-woo and co. now that the writer and producers have at least 2 years to figure out the best way to continue this extraordinary saga. Until the next Whoa Whoa Wednesday!

Check out my midseason (episodes 1-8) review, thoughts on episodes 11-12 and 13-14.

#extraordinary attorney woo #eaw ep 15 #eaw ep 16 #kdrama #kdrama review #park eun bin #woo young woo #kang tae oh #lee jun ho #kang ki young #jung myeong seok #ha yoon kyung #choi su yeon #joo hyun young #joo jong hyuk #dong geurami #kwon min woo #jin kyung #tae su mi

[slightlyunconventional]

as a follow-up to my post where i mentioned a modern au/established relationship k/anej setting, i thought i'd make a list of snzcanons based around that 🤭 mostly k/az centric probably but we'll see if i get any i/nej ideas while im making this

ok here we. go

- caretaking between them when they live together is very different from the days in the slat; it's much more open and comfortable, and there's a level of vulnerability that both of them (mainly kaz, though) are able to show because they know there's much more safety and trust there than ever before

- continuing the kaz hayfever agenda purely to exploit it because inej loves to have plants all over their house and fill their garden with flowers. he's usually fine cause antihistamines exist but on the off chance that he forgets to take them, or they've run out cause he's so stupidly sensitive, then basically all hell breaks loose and he is totally unable to catch a break from sneezing his HEAD OFF. obviously from the outside this seems kinda dense of him because why doesn't he just,,, get rid of all the flowers?? but he doesn't want to because he knows how much inej loves them and loves gardening. plus he's fine once he takes his meds so realistically what's the problem

- look i know i keep giving kaz every allergy ever but just hear me out okay. if you hate me for it you can pretend each allergy he has is a separate universe. anyway what if the dreadful combination of dust allergy and detergent/air freshener/surface cleaner/etc allergy (select as applicable). just LISTEN RIGHT. he's sneezy because of the dust, so he and inej decide to CLEAN. but then he's SNEEZY AGAIN because of the cleaning supplies. boom who's a genius? me. (or an idiot. i haven't decided yet)

- maybe as a follow on for The One Above, i thought maybe kaz is only all sneezy and itchy during the cleaning process so once they're done and the scent of it all is out of the air then he's fine. that seems reasonable right

(also yeah ive decided that all these allergy headcanons are probably too much for just one person to deal with. so take them as individual things rather than A Collective. (unless you too hate it when a man isn't sneezing 24/7 in which case yeah let's bombard the poor guy with every allergy known to man ill pick you up at seven.))

- when kaz gets sick he still instinctively tries to shut himself away out of fear of getting inej sick too, and also cause he doesn't want her to "waste her time" taking care of him when he's "absolutely fine" and there's "nothing to worry about it's just cold in here". however every single time he's got a cold inej somehow manages to convince him to let her care for him.

- cats! kaz and inej are definitely both cat people and they definitely both wanted a cat immediately after deciding to live together. i like to think that kaz doesn't know he's allergic to cats (since he never really interacts with any kind of animal during his time with the dregs yk ??) so when they go to actually get a cat he discovers this about himself when he becomes an itchy sneezy allergic MESS. but he still insists that inej gets the cat because again antihistamines exist and he has a massive soft spot for cats so as if he's gonna say no. (thinking that they definitely get a fluffy black cat, maybe a younger one that's SMALL AND SO CUTE (i also have a massive soft spot for cats!! could you tell))

- more on the dust allergy a bit: inej and kaz go on little dates all the time and one time they pay a visit to an old library that inej has been interested in for a while, but obviously seeing as the library is so old, all the books are so so dusty and literally every single one that kaz picks up to flick through makes him sneeze like nobody's business. he'd probably be halfway through trying to quiet an itchy fit in the collar of his coat and inej would just take the book out of his hands and guide him by his shoulders away from the cloud of dust that he wafted into the air. cute

- even more on that kind of a sidenote he'd definitely not have the common sense to move from an allergen while he's in a fit, like he just gets too caught up sneezing to even think about maybe Stepping Away cause he just wants to get it out of his system and for whatever reason distancing himself from the thing IN his system doesn't actually cross his mind until inej just sort of guides him away

- inej's care is always very doting, gentle, and loving. she'll always ask before touching him, for example to feel his forehead and check for fever. often if kaz is especially tired (which happens often when he's sick, bless him) she'll offer to hold a bunch of tissues gently to his face as he sneezes or blows his nose into them. aw also definitely a reassuring hand on his back when he's wracked with fits of coughing during particularly bad colds

- she blesses every single sneeze. i KNOW she does. since kaz usually sneezes in doubles (ARGRGRHHHHH (sorry about that went fucking FERAL for a second)) he'll always get a cute little "bless you, bless you!" from her. she is so. i love you inej

- however if he ends up having fits that's a lot of sneezes to bless all of them so she usually settles for a "bless you!" at the end

- also i feel like she might do that thing where the way she says bless you mimics the sound/pitch of the sneeze do you get me. like for example "heHh'ehHSHHhiew!" from kaz gets a "ble-heh-shiew!" from inej. Do you understand the vision i hope i don't sound stupid. anyway kaz hates when she does this (but not like hate in a mean way he's just embarrassed like pls. i have a reputation)

- Omg and inej definitely loves to tease him and say how adorable his nose is especially when it's all red and he's just STOP PLEASE MY DIGNITY

- sorry im losing the plot

- inej tries not to gift him bouquets because 1. he's allergic and 2. there's probably already enough plants in the house. however. kaz buys HER bouquets because he's a gentleman duh. but obviously the whole time he's walking/driving/i don't know what bloody transport they have he's gonna be such an itchy sneezy mess and by the time he actually gives the flowers to inej his eyes and nose are practically streaming and it's all he can do to fight off sneezing again as inej kisses him on the cheek with a giggle to say thank you

- also i love the age old scenario of sneezing while shopping for scented candles!! inej getting excited about all the pretty floral and seasonal scents while kaz is just behind her sniffling so much and his eyes are watering and he is just praying he doesn't end up sneezing a load cause he doesn't want inej to be sad. when he DOES start sneezing though - starting with near silent stifles of course (but inej notices of Course) - he'll tell inej over and over that he'll be fine if there's just one in the house and he's only sneezing now because there's so many on the shelves in front of him

- a lot of this post is just different iterations of "kaz is very allergic but he wants inej to be happy so he keeps being very allergic"

- inej also buys & makes tea for kaz instead of coffee when he's sick. she also sometimes makes some suli tea recipes that she remembers from her childhood for him cause she is the best

- while a lot of her caretaking is tender and loving and doting inej also knows that kaz likes to have his space, so sometimes she shows her care in the form of a mug of steaming tea, two aspirin, and a sticky note saying "feel better soon" waiting for him at his desk

- kaz also hates getting sick in general just the feel of it is gross to him. it's partly because he doesn't feel in control of himself as much and partly because it just feels so sticky and heavy and generally unpleasant. on the bright side inej thinks his stuffy voice is so cute

- ill list off a few brief ideas for other dates they'd go on and kaz would find himself more than a little sneezy: picnic date!! or just a walk/hike in spring when his hayfever is thriving, a cafe date when he's got a cold! so cute, obviously dusty library date like i said before and probably a lot more but i ran out of ideas

- right i know this is definitely a lot of sneezing for one single person to be doing in their life so honestly take all of these headcanons as separate entities because i do not believe it is RIGHT or FAIR to subject someone to as many allergies as i already have and will continue to do. anyway photic kaz. for some reason i like to think that he always without fail sneezes three times when it's suddenly bright (like when he steps outside from a dimmer room or if something shines in his face) and always without fail also will gear up for a fourth sneeze that never comes. three sneezes, then a gasp, then a sigh. Omg

- his photic sneezes are also softer than usual too idk thought id just add that

- right this is the last allergy ill talk about for him REMEMBER HE DOESNT HAVE ALL THESE ALLERGIES AT THE SAME TIME CAUSE THAT'S MEAN OF ME. (unless you want him to 🤭) but perfume allergies are SO. HOT. he loves the smell of inej's perfume, it's sweet and floral and so distinctly *her* but each time she spritzes it on herself he's sneezing. usually not too much though, upwards of like, five, and then he's okay

- inej also massively chastises kaz for stifling. literally every time he does it it's basically a lecture of why stifling is bad and why it's fine just let it out its only me and kaz is like. ok sorry

- thinking about INEJ. i think that her sneezes are quiet just cause she's sort of taught herself to be stealthy and silent and that's rubbed off on her sneezes. they're cute

- also she sneezes into cupped hands!! idk i just think that's so cute for her AH

- usually only sneezes once at a time (she's not nearly as sensitive to stuff as kaz is) however i do like to think that kaz had a cologne at one point that he used to wear primarily cause he didn't have another one and couldn't be bothered to Get another one and it made her sneeze a lot!! and for a while she had no idea what it was because she just seemed to be sneezing nonstop whenever she was close to him. it wasn't until they were getting ready together one morning that she realised it was his cologne making her sneeze - when he sprayed it as she was stood near him and she just!! did not stop!! kaz probably felt so bad he definitely immediately showered and threw the cologne away and kept apologizing to her even though she repeatedly told him it was fine and how was he supposed to know

- kaz isn't quite as teasy as inej is so he'll only bless her sneezes once (loser) and he doesn't like to make an ordeal out of it so he'll just mirror her sneeze's quietness with a soft mumbled "bless," and possibly a hand squeeze if they're holding hands. JUST thought that maybe if she sneezes a little louder or harsher than normal he'll extend to a "bless you," (you know what i mean right with the emphasis on the you part you get it right)

okay this is all i have for now. i will add more/reblog with more if i think of anything but THANKS FOR READING YAY and thanks for making it the way to the end of the incoherent drivel that i call headcanons i hope you didn't lose too many braincells

#WOOOO k strikes again #this is very heavily k/az centric btw but theres a decent few i/nej thoughts at the end cause shes so cutie and i love her #Sorry if this is very un-canon i might be blorboifying k/az too much but like it makes me happy so #anyway enjoy yay thanks LOVE U ALL #snz #snzblr #snz kink #k talks snz #snz blog #snzario #snzcanons #s/hadow and b/one

[x-authorship-x]

I am SO loving this sudden influx of Shisui/Founders asks they're such interesting pairings

Also, any thought on how Shisui and Kagami would interact if Shisui was yeeted in the past? I just love the idea of Shisui sort-of adopting big-brother-style (or father-style depending on how far back Shisui ends up/how much age difference there is) his own grandfather who is now younger than him and just creating chaos together everywhere lmao

Hey, Anon!

It's a lot of fun, I'm glad you're enjoying the discourse ☺️ I'm not exactly well-versed in Founders Era Canon so everyone should please bear in mind that I'm just playing around and a lot of this will be based on Fanon too 🥹

Okay, so Kagami and Shisui are a truly excellent duo and there are a few reasons why

Let's have a look 👀

Shisui is a sweetheart and he loves his village, notable in a time when the Uchiha are increasingly disenchanted and disenfranchised. Where is this from? Kagami! If not his grandfather directly (who I have as dying young in defence of Uzushio etc) then stories of his exploits with Tobirama and the Team.

Kagami is amazing, he doesn't just tolerate the Senju but he walks right into the lion's den and is taught by Tobirama himself, who had been the Scourge of Uchiha for decades... What a king. Just from the flashes of his expression (😅) that we see, to me he looks emotionally sensitive and very empathetic, he possibly had a Mangekyou which means he was strong enough to survive whatever trauma unlocked that level of his Sharingan (as well as being a student of Tobirama, which says a lot about how good his education was). In my Headcanons, he was savvy enough to be the Ambassador to Uzushio, which is a place stuffed to the brim with creative genius, and he was an inspiration to Mikoto, who I have as his daughter.

If they meet, where they are both adults, then it's like... so much joy? Shisui is so hyped and emotional to meet the man himself and Kagami is breathtakingly delighted to meet! His! Grandson! Omg hi! It is the meeting of two golden retriever puppies, falling over each other and so euphoric to be there. Once the novelty is gone, Kagami is proven to be more politically savvy - "no, argh, take this mess to the other clan heads and form a coalition-" - whereas Shisui is physically quicker and a better fighter. Yeah, Kagami was taught by Tobirama but Shisui would out-fight Tobirama as well. Kagami might have (?) experienced the Warring Clan's, but Shisui was an actual prodigy who has lived through war as well and he's also got the benefit of the innovation of the future! Kagami is sharp and reassuring to Shisui, Shisui is proof that peace works but also that they need to lay better foundations, and they just put their heads together and get so much great stuff done 👍

If Kagami is a kid.... Shisui is gonna protect the SHIT out of him, NO ONE WILL HURT ONE HAIR ON HIS HEAD 😤 ...they will be slightly eerie together 😅 they look so much alike, especially when Kagami is young so you can't see much of his bone structure, and Kid!Kagami brings out Shisui's own joy and hopefulness, so you just get like a Big Me and Mini Me duo. Kagami is extremely excited

If Shisui is a kid and Kagami is older... It's very emotional. Shisui has been strong for so long, Kagami is gonna be like a security blanket and Shisui will trust him with everything, even news of Danzo's treachery, and Kagami will believe him because there is a bond there. Kagami might be Shisui's biological grandfather but from the moment they meet? Dad!Kagami activated. Shisui is gonna be very soft and a little weepy and Kagami's rage will be beautiful ❤️

This was so wholesome, what a great dynamic to ponder, Anon! Have a great weekend 😊

#torship #torship talks #anon #shisui #kagami

[clove-pinks]

Maybe this is my lack of familiarity with steampunk genre media—which I conceive as being the Girl Genius comic strip and uh, Wild Wild West (1999 movie)—but the aesthetic and technology influence seems to be all late 19th century, if not into the early 20th century. It's perpetually 1880 or 1905 or whatever, and there are shirtwaists and celluloid collars and also everyone is wearing goggles for their coal-fired dirigibles.

I long for what I have sometimes called Regency Steampunk—steam-powered printing press in 1814!! Fulton's Demologos launched 1815!!—but more accurately, it should be brought into the 1820s. (Restoration Steampunk? Romantic Steampunk?)

I want to see a blend of real-world technology from the time, which is more advanced than I think some people expect, but move it forward slightly with more "futuristic" elements: railroads, telegraph cables, things developed decades later (due to increased focus on technology and greater egalitarianism, but nothing too futuristic).

There will also be some kind of magic or supernatural elements à la Girl Genius. Who doesn't love alternate history/fantasy in a historical setting? An influence here is the Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman, even though I have only read The Bloody Red Baron, but I was impressed by the careful attention to real historical details and setting (in a world that also has vampires and supernatural elements).

Then there is the matter of, how do you make the 1820s less Problematic™ to a modern audience?

It's dicey, because on the one hand I think a world that deviates too much from (deeply unfortunate) reality would be unrecognisable. There's still a 1619 in this world, so to speak, and the foundations of modern capitalism based on exploitation, colonialism, and enslaved labour. You still have a United States and the East India Company; you still have the Atlantic World and the Napoleonic Wars.

But at some point you have An Event that changes the course of history (the magic, the supernatural elements come into play), and I think you can also take real-world reform movements and amplify them. In this world, the racial equality moments gaining ground in the 18th century don't get crushed in a backlash in the early 19th century; movements for extended suffrage don't meet their Peterloo. Here's where I get crushed under a pile of research over some very difficult subjects—but I don't want to magic away these problems, even in a world that has magic.

Friends, do you know of any historical fantasy along these lines?

#rotating this in my mind #world building #romantic steampunk #1820s #alternate history #steampunk #also i did watch the 'steamboy' anime it was meh #(but beautifully referenced textile mills and other industrial architecture) #also step one: usa loses the war of 1812 even harder and indigenous nations get international recognition and support #i just started dinner time 2 poast this #shaun talks

[a34trgv2]

How I'd Write Robotboy

Step 1: Have Episode 1 Be a 2 part Origin Episode: The intro to the show doesn't do a good job explaining why Robotboy is sent to Tommy of all people. Sure, he's a fan of Dr. Moshimo, but is he responsible? Is he knowledgeable in robotics? Can he fix Robotboy when he's broken? Most importantly, how can an ordinary boy protect Robotboy from falling into the wrong hands? All of these questions and more would be explored in the show, starting with the 2 parter. The first half would be about Tommy fixing up Robotboy with his Mom and fending off Kamikaze and Constantine. The second half will see Robotboy and Tommy bonding before ultimately fighting Kamikaze in a giant tank. This special will also show why Kamikaze wants Robotboy, that being to make an army of Robotboys to take over the world.

Step 2: Make Kamikaze More Competent And A Threat: If this guy's supposed to be an evil genius, he should act like one and not be a bumbling idiot. He should be egotistical, intelligent, merciless and stubborn. He should fail so easily and stupidly at the end of each episode. Tommy has to figure out clever ways to beat him and have Robotboy exploit his weakness. Kamikaze should also be able to put up a fight against Robotboy. Even at his age, Kamikaze should me a master of martial arts, a skilled marksman, and robotic aficionado. His greatest weapon of all, though, is his mind as he's able to come up with master plans and powerful machines to seize Robotboy and take over the world.

Step 3: Make Tommy Close With His Family: I really hate that Tommy's family is so stereotypical. Him Mom is a nag, his Dad's an idiot and his brother's a jerk. If the Turnballs are gonna be Robotboy's new family, they should be better role models. Starting with Debbie, she ought to be a very smart, hard working and caring mother who's a robotics engineer and a student of Dr. Moshimo. Dwight is the easygoing, well-mannered, optimistic, and funny father who knows more about plants and animals than he does robots, but is still willing to help. Donnie is Tommy's fun, protective and caring older brother who makes sure Tommy doesn't hurt himself, especially when battling Kamikaze.

Step 4: Making Tommy and Lola Best Friends And Nothing More: There’s nothing wrong with a boy and a girl being best friends and nothing more. Lola never should have a crush on Tommy, nor Tommy on her. Lola should be the smartest, most skilled and most reliable person he knows outside his family. Also she should be in every episode and the more we see of her, the more we learn about her. In addition to her Dad being an ambassador, we also learn that she has stage fright, hates thunderstorms, loves koeksisters (African doughnuts), and collects shiny rocks.

Step 5: Have Gus And Tommy Be Enemies: Gus has no business being Tommy's friend because all he does is belittle him, embarrass him and fights with him. Not to mention he's rude, selfish, lazy and stupid. If there was an original draft where they weren't friends, that's what we're bring back in this version. Gus this time around is the biggest bully in Tommy's school, and even though he puts Tommy down, he NEVER gets off Scott free. Gus always gets detention, humiliated, pumbled, shot at, wedgied and even sick in some hilarious ways every time he talks to Tommy. I'd even write one scene where Robotboy asks Tommy if Gus is a bad guy, and Tommy tells him, "Not really. Gus is more of a funny punching bag than a bad guy." and they share a laugh as Gus eats a dodgeball to the nuts.

Step 6: Have a Stronger Rogues Gallery: The rogues gallery in the show range from annoying to forgettable. I wanna change that to have them all be varying degrees of sinister and cunning. There could be a Russian scientist who made her own version of Robotboy, a charismatic businessman who wants to make Robotboy into a profitable investment, or even an evil wizard who wants to turn people into puppets and Robotboy has to stop him.

Step 7: End It With A TV Movie: This will be the culmination of (idealy) 3 seasons, each with 13 episodes with a total of 26 segments. This movie would be about Tommy and Robotboy coming face to face with the Robotboy army created by Kamikaze with the help of their friends and family. It would ultimately end by taking a page out of The Iron Giant; with Robotboy giving a heartfelt goodbye to Tommy and sacrificing himself to defeat Kamikaze once and for all.

#reblog #share #like #follow #animation #comedy #action #cartoon #rewrite #robotboy

[jovalencia]

okay im putting the book down for the night but i do have to acknowledge how Weird the whole cress and thorne thing is. like it's bad enough that he's 20 and she's 16 but like. she spent seven years of her life living in a satellite with virtually no social interaction and he's whore. it's all just very gross. and it's not the only weird relationship dynamic you have to overlook in these books. I would actually venture to say that the only not weird main couple is winter and jacin. but I'm old enough and mature enough to just acknowledge that these relationships are fucked up but then still enjoy the characters and the story because at the end of the day they're not Real. but the problem isn’t with me reading these books it's that they're written for a demographic of like. tweens and young teenage girls. and when I was twelve reading these books I didn't see any problems with the power dynamics and the age gaps in these relationships. and it doesn't take a genius to know that if you try to frame these fictional relationship dynamics as healthy that the kids reading these books could fail to realize that they're being exploited or groomed. I don't need to explain all this to you guys I know you get it. i can just hope that no real harm came from the depiction of these relationships and say that it ducks that a series I loved and love has such deep flaws at its core

#tlc lb

[caffeinatedsunbear]

finished mob season 2 a week ago, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

god.

was that a ride!!! needed to freak out about it somewhere and I'm a little too lazy to actually write it down by hand so typing it is :)

finished season one around two before and then season 2 just a week before this. oh man.

wow where do I even start with this??

I guess I can start with how I actually started watching mob? Which isn't actually that difficult to explain. I've heard of the anime as far back as 2016 when season one first aired via Domics (one of his old videos) and I didn't give it much thought at the time. It didn't seem like the kind of anime that I would enjoy (mostly due to the aesthetics, the art style is relatively unconventional for an anime and the character designs weren't traditionally attractive.) I've seen other posts about mob after that, and even seen fanart of it, but like I said I just never got into it.

Once I got into grade 11 and got closer to Victoria I started seeing more mob things but I was still relatively detached from everything. Then I promised her that we would watch it together at some point (I think this was first mentioned during winter break?) But because of the thing that is ib/dp2, we couldn't do so until after may exams were over.

So!! Exams are over, and I end up watching the first 5 episodes of season 1 with Victoria and. They were really good??? Especially the teru arc (and the op is. Insane. I never skipped the op for either season once) but we had to stop at episode 5 because it was getting really late. Then I took a few days break from it and didn't get back to watching it until maybe half a week later(?). And then the Ritsu gaining powers arc happened and I was hooked (because brooding overachiever archetype and the wonderful sibling dynamics???) Seeing how much mob cared for ritsu made me feel so many things. And also made me care for mob as a protagonist that much more. And then he gets kidnapped?? And the Claw infiltration arc???? Was so intense???

And of course I have the mention Reigen's 1000% power up. The way he's just a great father figure to mob despite the fact that he's technically a shit human being for underpaying and exploiting mob for his powers is so interesting?? The way One is able to write characters that I dislike initially (teru, reigen, 7th division members) and make them likeable is actual witchcraft because the turnaround is insane. Also the way that Reigen main priority throughout the entire infiltration arc is to make sure that mob doesn't have to fight because he's just a kid, and shouldn't have to bear the responsibility of saving the world because he has powers made me so emotional. It's so rare to see a functioning adult mentor figure that actively cares for the child and takes responsibility for their well-being. When he got slashed I genuinely thought for a second that he was going to get hurt (silly me) but the way he comes back was so. Fucking badass.

I just want to give mob and all the other kids a big hug man. Watching them get beat up hurt (almost physically???) Which just speaks to the impact of the animation (which is also absolutely stellar?? It's so dynamic and creative and so impactful) I can't help but feel hurt by proxy when mob is hit by the antagonists.

So season one was already absolutely insane and amazing, but oh man I was not ready for season two. I think this is the first anime that I watched where I deliberately chose to avoid consuming media surrounding it to avoid spoilers (which worked for s1/2 but. I am weak and I have a few minor spoilers for s3 and I regret everything) but going into season 2 was an experience.

I like how the way each season is structured kind of mirrors each other as well, starting with 3 episodic episodes before moving into some shorter arcs and then into the big bad of the season. The way that the Emi episode showed mob's growth was genius and really impactful and really set the tone for the season.

So. The mogami arc. Haha. Where do you even start with that??? I took a break after episode 3 and came back a few days later and I was not ready. I was ugly crying through all of the first half of episode 5. Watching mob have to go through the abuse from mogami was so fucking painful because he didn't deserve any of it. And the way the show somehow made me laugh after crying so hard when dimple showed up and the epic fight between mob and mogami happened was. Also a first!!! So many firsts with mob man. The scene where asagiri apologizes to mob was so touching.

By the way the messages of the show are so????? Positive????????? About how regardless of any external factors and how others perceive your identity you can choose to make your own life and have autonomy over your decisions, how children shouldn't fight adult battles, how conflicts should be resolved in a pacifistic manner if possible, but sometimes force is needed, the relationship between power and responsibility, the various relationships formed between people, finding the strength to stand up for yourself, dealing with insecurity and ego, how everyone has the potential to change regardless of their past, the importance of just being a good person at the core. Just. So many good things to watch be presented.

The separation arc!!!!!!! Aka. Reigen is an ass to mob but it turns out to work in both their favours. Seeing Reigen's struggles with his insecurities and loss of identity, and subsequent rebuilding of his self and abilities when apart from mob, and seeing mob grow by acknowledging how Reigen isn't always spouting the gospel and asserting his boundaries was incredibly refreshing. I think the first half of episode 5 and Reigen's tv scenes are two that I cannot watch again (I probably will but.) They were so hard to watch. I got second hand embarrassment when watching Reigen flounder on stage. The final scene where mob tells Reigen that he's a good guy makes me cry lol.

And. The big final boss arc. Was so. ARHDJDHSHSH the stakes felt so high?? And all the fights were so well choreographed and felt so impactful (I cannot think of a different word to use). Watching mob walk off alone to fight the boss and helping serizawa was so sweet and. Once again. Watching mob get beat up hurt. I also find the way that mob is able to take on the boss on his own as opposed to reigen really interesting. Because reigen comes back for mob but isn't able to properly fight (since he isn't an esper) and mob decides to take on the responsibility.

Watching mob lose himself for a moment and start to laugh maniacally while at 100% was really scary. And when he decides to go back for suzuki when he was self-destructing made me cry lol. How he was willing to take on the energy and pain from the explosion and stay with him in his "last moments". Come on. Like. COME ONE HOWNDNDNDJD he's so kind?? And good-hearted???

Anyways mob has since altered my mf brain chemistry. I'm not ready for season 3 (madeline said it will make me cry even more lol) and I can't wait to watch it with jet and colleen.

Also!! I read through "A Breach of Trust" which is this 300k+ mob fic in an au where mob is taken away by mogami as a kid and that made me cry too lol. It was really good and I really hope it wraps up with a satisfying ending.

Tl;dr I really, really like mob psycho 100 :') it's a good show. I think the high will die down after a while but gosh. It is good. I don't think I'll ever love it as much as I love it right now (just like how I'm sad I'll never get to watch it for the first time ever, which in of itself is a first for me) but I hope I'll still be able to love it tons even in the future :')

[smmresellerpanelsworld]

Social Media Rainmakers - Tired of Being Hounded

There is typically a publicity cycle that happens during the early reception period of anything new. Furthermore, in the Virtual Entertainment Showcasing (SMM) space, you will find a wide scope of sellers, specialists and providers who have surged in to exploit the "following enormous thing". While most are decent in their expectations, there is a subset of sellers who will:

ALSO VISIT:-How Social Media Can Help Your Business

Make it sound a lot more troublesome than it is Guarantee unreasonable and over swelled results This happened during the early long periods of Site design improvement (Web optimization) and this publicity is presently happening with online entertainment. Try not to be tricked by the "rainmakers". A great deal of fake relief is being sold today. Assuming you will utilize an external office or merchant to assist you with please ensuring you vet their capabilities completely. The most effective way to not get exploited by the Web-based Entertainment Rainmakers is to get your work done first, foster an arrangement and even consider taking a showcasing benchmark to see what your opposition is doing. You might in any case get dogged, however the force of information can assist with holding you back from burning through your time.

Web 2.0 Advertising: For the last five to a decade, the Internet was generally an instructive channel. Anyway in the beyond couple of years, the Web has become progressively intuitive and social in nature. New types of local area based channels, driven by an adjustment of client conduct, are beginning to develop the scene of the Web. Virtual Entertainment Showcasing (SMM) has now been added to Site design improvement (Web optimization), Web index Advertising (SEM) and other promoting rehearses that contain Web 2.0 Advertising

5 Supportive Online Entertainment Tips: Similarly as with any type of correspondences, on the off chance that you follow sound showcasing basics, utilize great judgment and carve out opportunity to learn best practices, the utilization of Web 2.0 and Virtual Entertainment Promoting doesn't take a scientific genius to carry out. Experienced promoting and corporate interchanges experts can undoubtedly get the right stuff and information to exploit the advantages really. There are a ton of free devices and destinations accessible that you can utilize and gain from. Yet, remember, that while there is critical potential gain to this new media assuming done well, there are likewise archived contextual analyses of organizations treating unfortunately has harmed their image notoriety. Moving toward this new media in the correct way is significant. The following are 5 useful hints:

Not all Online Entertainment Locales Are Made Similarly Making associations with your interest group is significant. Notwithstanding, would you say you are connecting with the right ones that will give you esteem? Every web-based entertainment webpage has a marginally unique brand, part make-up and points they are keen on. Invest energy to comprehend the destinations that are out there and select the ones that draw in the crowds you need to communicate and construct a relationship with. Center around Giving Worth First Web-based entertainment is tied in with providing for the local area. Before you get acknowledged you want to initially give esteem. On the off chance that you are viewed as just there to sell or for your own personal circumstance, individuals won't answer you. It is an extraordinary spot to grandstand to them your thinking initiative. Search for ways of separating yourself by giving significant substance and they will search you out. Individuals Work with Individuals They Like Clients need to purchase from individuals they like and regard. When they have a liking for your aptitude and what your organization/item represents they will remunerate you. It is alright to open up and show your character. Web-based entertainment depends on trust and causing associations that to make a common advantage. Similar contacts will follow you.

Make a Fan Base Web-based entertainment networks are turning into a significant way where individuals exchange stories and give investigates on items, organizations, individuals, and so on. Individuals locally can address the most effective way to promote - by listening in on others' conversations. Make a justification for your contacts to be a fan and to turn into a reference for you. You Can't Assess What You Don't Quantify There are different free devices that permit you to screen the discussions that are occurring on different web-based entertainment and blog locales. You want to screen, assess and pass judgment on the discourse that is occurring in regards to your organization and items. While keeping a nearby watch on the discourse you can cause remedies or change to the way you to connect with your networks to make the best worth. Virtual Entertainment is Unique: While web-based entertainment can be seen as an expansion or a part of Web index Promoting, it truly is very unique. In many regards, it fits under the more extensive classification of verbal exchange showcasing - which can either be on the web or disconnected driven. The key distinction is that it depends on the aggregate idea of gatherings that have comparable interests, as to share data and who need to lay out connections. When incorporated into your general Web 2.0 promoting plans, it very well may be a strong new technique. There are numerous targets feasible through Web 2.0 showcasing and online entertainment:

Drive expanded Web traffic Make significant connections to your Site Increment brand mindfulness Further develop changes Animate discussions Lay out connections and make brand partiality Center around Essential Preparation: While outside organizations can be a major assistance, get your work done first to realize what really matters to web-based entertainment. Invest energy visiting and taking part in web-based networks and doing a little perusing. It truly isn't that hard to accurately execute. Prior to settling on the virtual entertainment way that best accommodates your plan of action, you want to acquire a more profound comprehension of your clients' necessities, needs, issues, interests, concerns, and the networks where they take part in, etc…

Benchmark Your Ongoing Position: As a feature of your essential improvement process you ought to likewise benchmark your ongoing execution level, gain a superior comprehension of what your opposition is doing and foster a guide zeroed in on what you need to achieve through web-based entertainment channels.

Online Entertainment Promoting isn't so difficult as it appears or at times depicted by web-based entertainment rainmakers. Assuming you intend to utilize an external asset, the more you are familiar virtual entertainment yourself the better you can deal with the worth you gain from utilizing organizations that attention on building your organization/local area/following. Virtual entertainment is another channel you can exploit. Get your work done first by fostering an arrangement and you can make progress.

Jim Arnold is an outcomes situated showcasing proficient who has held influential positions with IBM, EDS, Saber/Travelocity and other prominent organizations. He is a ground breaking planner who has an energy for testing inventive thoughts, growing new go-to-showcase techniques and utilizing the most recent Web 2.0 promoting innovations to drive expanded degrees of business esteem. He as of late helped to establish MetricsBoard, another Internet 3.0 execution benchmarking organization that is swarm confirmed and swarm produced.

[bitacrytic]

I posted 2,084 times in 2022

That's 1,658 more posts than 2021!

1,632 posts created (78%)

452 posts reblogged (22%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fanfictionroxs

@negrowhat

@elmindredaniq

@tobeornottotc

@yeetlegay

I tagged 1,670 of my posts in 2022

Only 20% of my posts had no tags

#kinnporsche - 1,536 posts

#vegaspete - 537 posts

#kimchay - 79 posts

#the mansion of men - 46 posts

#the devil judge - 38 posts

#devil judge - 34 posts

#reborn rich - 28 posts

#actor au - 26 posts

#omegaverse - 24 posts

#timetay - 21 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#also i'm going to need porsche to smack vegas across the face for that stunt with the kidnapping and the wanting-to-fram-porsche-as-the-mol

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Korn is a genius

Porsche was his biggest threat.

But now, not only does Porsche have a brother to take care of. He has to think of a disabled mother. He can't just up and run or behave anyhow. He has more people dependent on him.

And because he's the face of the minor family, Porsche's hands are dirtied. He can't march into polite society anymore and he can't disappear.

Kinn and Porsche are more exposed than they've ever been and they don't even knownit.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world thinks Korn is dead.

351 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#4

By the end of that first vegaspete meltdown with the knife, Vegas was begging Pete to stay.

But what gets me is that, when he first let's go of the knife, Vegas isn't begging Pete to stay.

He's begging Pete to not kill himself.

Because that's the threat. That's what Pete was saying he would do. Vegas has heard Pete ask to be killer multiple times and now, he has a tool in his hand.

It's not just about Pete walking away with the possibility of Vegas running into him in the future.

It's about Pete killing himself and turning the thought of a reconciliation into an impossibility.

353 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

#3

Before getting romantically involved with Theerapanyakul boys, Porsche, Pete and Chay were all deeply traumatised children who were holding it together with fake smiles and good behaviour just so their friends and peers wouldn't know how sad they were.

But since they fell in love, their partners exposed and exploited old wounds.

Chay's fear of not being loved

Pete's physical abuse by his dad

Porsche, living under the thumb of people who owned him because of money.

353 notes - Posted July 6, 2022

#2

How to know your favorite toy is broken

1. He doesn't defend himself

2. He's not afraid of death

See the full post

447 notes - Posted July 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Kinn: I could never kiss someone who I'm not in love with.

Pete: Me too. Kissing is for lovers.

Kinn: EXACTLY!

Their whoring boyfriends who kiss everything that moves:

849 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

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

[helloliriels]

Paper Heart

by helloliriels

"Are you trying to peg me as a 'Bad Boy', John? Please," Sherlock interrupted, catching John's eyes and raising his own brows in question, before indicating his posh attire and the salted caramel latte with extra caramel he held in his hand.

John had been leaning across the table at the little coffee shop, describing Sherlock and his traits to Harry. He stopped momentarily to cock his head at Sherlock, "Not trying, Sherlock. I mean, it is what it is." Not deterred in any way, he continued to describe Sherlock's exploits and 'bad' behavior in what he knew Sherlock would call - a rather exaggerated and elaborate fashion.

Harry was eating it up. John sat back, ending with, "and now you get to meet him in person. You agree right?"

"You shouldn't give Harry the wrong impression John."

"Have I?" he asked Harry, conspiratorially.

Harry shook her head, "definitely not! He is all that and more..." she added winking at John. "I totally get it now, you always did have a thing for bad boys in school."

Now it was Watson's turn to jump in, "No, no. Not like that." He sputtered and grabbed for a napkin, "Harry. A word. Please?" And pulling Harry along ‘til they were in the hall near the kitchen and doors to the loos, he started in quietly. "What are you trying to do?" He hissed out. Harry took it all super-conspiratorially, "John." She looked him straight up and down, "seriously, look - John. You aren't fooling anyone. You just spent 10 minutes romanticizing your flatmate in front of him without even blushing. I don't know how. I mean. He knows, right?"

"God, no," Watson placed his hands over her mouth, as if the walls could hear and go back to tell Sherlock, "He doesn't. He can't. I mean, he doesn't go in for that sort of thing."

"You mean he isn't gay? Or he doesn't do boyfriends?" She looked over Watson's shoulder at the man at the booth, and then back at John with confusion and then dropped her eyelids, staring at John, deadpan... "you are kidding right?"

She paused.

"Tell me, you're kidding John."

When John didn’t reply, she shook her head.

"THAT man. OUT THERE. Is NOT gay? Pfft," she started laughing. "Forrest for the trees, I guess bro. Whatever... secret's safe with me. But heck, if I were you. I'd ask him who his boyfriend is then. He looks like a man in a steady relationship. If it ain't you, it's someone." She looked back over at Sherlock sitting content and quiet, "that man is secure. He ain't browsing." And she turned to go into the loos herself, to give John time to make up own mind how to save face in returning. "But word of advice," she threw out, around the door, "don't take too long. He might just marry whomever it is before you've told him how you really feel."

John was left in turmoil. Not even thinking about how he should go back to explain his little "talk" with Harry.

He can't just...No.

But, Sherlock is?

Who?

When?!

Where?

He spent every waking moment (that John knew of, besides a few errands now and then) in John's own company. This was going to kill him. NOT knowing...

He trudged back over to Sherlock. Who perked up immediately to John's shift in attitude.

"Everything O.K.?" he asked John, a touch of concern in his voice. It made John smile a little. And his heart hurt. He looked over the gorgeous man in front of him. All dark curls, and brilliant blue eyes. A man whose depth of character he knew inside and out. Who shined like a prism, reflecting color and changing everything in John's life with his very presence. And John didn't really know him.... did he?

He could go on for hours about the genius and complexity of the man. And still. Not know him. Not on that level. It made him sadder than - he realized - he had any right. To be.

"Are you alright? John?" Sherlock was shifting out of his seat now and standing up. "Is Harry alright?" Sherlock was on high alert, holding onto Watson's shoulders and craning his neck to see past him, in case Harry had was in need of emergency service. Or in trouble. Or anything.

Watson loved how ready the man always was, to dive right into danger. Bad boy. Hmmff. He chuckled to himself a bit. A bad boy with a paper heart.

"S'all right Sherlock, was nothing. Just remembered something personal I needed to discuss with her. It was kind of urgent. She's fine. I'm fine. It's just..." Sherlock grabbed John's coffee and handed it to him.

"Did you want to leave?" He was fussing. John could tell. Trying to read the room, and failing. Watson loved him more for it. How could he get them back to the moment they were having before he?

Harry came bouncing back out. Hands on her hips. "Well, you boys should really invite me out more. Next time, Sherlock - you must promise to tell me EVERYTHING about my brother. Since I haven't SEEN HIM -" She eyed Watson liked a criminal -" in AGES. And he never tells me anything." She looked over at Sherlock who was smiling in reply, 

"Deal??" She asked. 

To which he replied, heartily, "Deal."

"I'm out, you two!" She whistled as she trotted off grabbing her jacket, and punching the door open. "I'm sure you have dinner plans anyways," she called on her way out, "Happy Valentine's!"

John was dumbfounded. And turning bright red.

He felt like the entire coffee shop was looking at them. He counted to ten, before turning to look at Sherlock for his reaction (dreading it).

But Sherlock was kicked back again, enjoying his latte. Seemingly, oblivious. Huh.

John shook it off and sat back down. Clearly what they were STILL ... doing?

Sherlock was not the type to sit still for long. And as far as John knew (he winced, internally) he did not frequent coffee shops much. Maybe he did with his boyfriend?

"So," Watson huffed, trying to kick-start conversation, if only so they wouldn't sit in silence in a public coffee shop. Talking was usually not difficult for them. They seemed to read each other naturally. But John was at a loss. Feeling. Disconnected. At the moment.

"Tonight," Sherlock said. His eyes were twinkling.

Watson shut his mouth. Swallowed.

So the parting shot HAD been heard. And registered. Bollocks.

"Tonight," he tried cheerfully, "Plans?"

"Definitely."

"Good," Watson clipped. "That's um... that's good." He paused, before it slipped out, "Who with?" He licked his lips.

Sherlock looked confused momentarily, but then seemed to parse the question. Sitting up straighter to reply. "Was thinking Angelo's?"

"No, I meant." John tried again, "you know what, nevermind." He went to get up.

"What? Is Angelo's not a good choice?" Sherlock also stood. Grabbing his coat and stretching his long, elegant arms to put it back on. John was watching him, like a man parched, and thirsty for water.

Sherlock grinned. "Place where we first met."

"Oh," John's face dropped, again. So he hadn't been the first (or apparently), the last, whom Sherlock had taken there. With the exception, that this one had actually BEEN a date or, worse yet... TURNED INTO a date.

He huffed. Sucks to be you, Watson! He thought to himself. Hearing Harry's voice in his head.

"Why don't we go, John?" Sherlock was being gentle, and it crushed him further. "You must have a headache. Funny. Caffeine usually helps with those..."

John followed him as he marched out the door. All long strides. Clipped to allow John to keep pace with him.

(continue reading)

#paper heart #happy valentine's day #johnlock fanfic #just started #to be continued? #will post on AO3 #ao3 writer #bbc sherlock #sherlock fanfic #feb challenge #ohlooktheresabee #helloliriels