#it's pretty light in terms of motive but another way of looking at it is that it's refreshingly simple

[baldursgate3tempobsessed]

Hey!

Just read „Mirror Mirror“ and I saw that you‘re still taking requests so here’s something! :))

I saw a fanart of Ascended Astarion smoking and blowing the smoke seductively into Tavs mouth, who’s sitting in his lap and I swear, that’s some hot stuff!

So I‘ve been thinking about Astarion sitting in his study, still all dressed up in a fancy outfit, doing some important paperwork (he is such an important politician now after all) and smoking a cigarette or cigar with a nice glass of whiskey, looking so powerful and then Tav comes in and sees him, finding all of this incredibly hot and takes her rightful place in his lap…. ;)

I see your vision and I respect it. One small change is his outfit is fancyish but a lil on the casual side since he's at home. But still scary prettyman!

TW: Graphic smut, spoilers for the game with embellishments, ascended astarion acting like himself, though in a mild form since this is mostly just banging and fluff.

~

Astarion sighed as he set the paper down, rubbing at his temples as he considered his options. The letter from Mizora was tempting, to say the least. A personal assassin that could materialize out of thin air obviously had its perks. But... the terms were concerning, solely for the fact that they were too simple. A year of her services in exchange for a place to stay in Baldur's Gate, at his home.

He was tempted. But the thought of that devil having such clear access to you was non-negotiable. Especially when he had no insight on her motivations. No, he'd have to find another way to get rid of his political rivals, preferably without getting personally involved. He did so love the heroic image he had cultivated amongst the common folk, one that would be hard to maintain if he was caught with his fangs digging in the nape of the Captain of the Guard.

What a headache.

He leaned back in his chair, thoughtful as he took another drag of his cigarette, his drink in his other hand. No one said that regional domination would be easy. He just wished it wasn't so irritating. Maybe they shouldn't have gotten rid of Gortesh after all, he was a backstabbing little weasel but at least then Astarion wouldn't have to deal with pesky things like ethics. But that was too little too late. It's not like he could un-decapitate the man.

Astarion paused his musings when something started to tickle at the back of his mind. A presence, lurking in the darkness. Astarion smiled to himself as he set his whiskey down, calling out into the black hallway, "I see you over there pet."

Astarion grinned as you came into view, already relaxing at the mere sight of you. You leaned against the doorway, clad in nothing but a thin nightdress. Thin enough for him to nearly be able to see through it, your feet bare. You looked delicious, the perfect distraction from his troubled thoughts.

"Am I disturbing you?" You asked coyly, fully aware that you never could. There you were, the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him. His favorite pet, his most precious treasure. How could you ever disturb him?

Astarion chuckled as he leaned back in his chair, "Would you care?"

"Not particularly," You sighed as you waltzed into the room, "Especially considering how I'm the one who has been kept waiting."

Astarion rolled his eyes, ignoring the little dig as he patted his lap, "Come here my love, let me get a better look at you."

You went easily, settling into his lap with a happy sigh. 

"Such a pretty thing," Astarion murmured as he looked you over, his dick already twitching at the sight of you; your nipples pebbling in the cold air, completely visible through the light cloth. You looked divine. 

Astarion let his hand creep up your thigh, playing with the hem of your short slip as he took another drag. One that he decided to share. Astarion gripped you by the chin, a soft order escaping his lips, “Open up darling.”

You popped your mouth right open, so obedient it made his heart sing. He breathed the smoke into your lungs, pressing a barely there kiss against your lips before he pulled back; happy to see the way your pupils were already dilated. 

"What are you doing out of bed my sweet?" Astarion asked, only a touch of discontentment coloring his voice. You knew how he felt about you wandering around at night, even in your own home. He liked to know where you were at all times, no ifs, ands, or buts. Though… looking over you once more, he supposed he could make an exception.

"No reason in particular," You said, an obvious lie. One that Astarion would be able to parse out even if he didn't have full access to your mind. It wasn't helping that you were already squirming in his lap, seemingly trying your best to discreetly arouse him even more.

Astarion set his cigarette down on the ashtray, moving to run his free hand through your hair before gripping it harshly, chuckling at the way it made you gasp.

"We talked about lying pet," Astarion murmured, the hand in your hair tightening, "Unless you're looking for a punishment?"

"Maybe I just missed you," You tried again, your breath already quickening. Astarion wouldn't be surprised if you were already dripping into your panties. You did love it when he got rough.

Besides, at least that was closer to the truth.

Astarion's hand crept further up your leg, caressing your inner thigh as you shuddered, "Have I been neglecting you pet? How inconsiderate of me. But I did warn you that it would be a busy week."

"But you seem tired," You mumbled, leaning in to start kissing up the line of his throat, your hands running up and down his chest, "You've been working so hard lately. Don't you think you've earned a break?"

"Kingdoms don't build themselves darling," Astarion shot back half-heartedly. But you both knew he was already sold. You had won the second you came into view, "But perhaps I could be convinced. Did you have something in mind?"

"Mm, I'm not sure," You said, like you weren't the one grinding your perfect ass against him like a whore, "But I'm sure we can think of something."

That was enough of the coy act. Astraion wretched your head back without warning, sinking his fangs into your neck. Perhaps you could have done with a warning, not that it would have mattered. He had earned the right to do with you as he pleased. You yelped at the unexpected pain but he could taste your arousal on his tongue, spiked through your blood. To this day it continued to be the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted.

Astarion popped off of you with a smirk, near giddy at seeing that hazy look already in your eyes. He trailed bloody kisses up your throat, "Good girls ask for what they want, don't they? Unless you're looking for a punishment."

You were nearly panting as you writhed in his lap, frustrated desperation seeping into your voice when you begged, "Fuck me? Please?"

It was a good start, but Astarion knew that you could do better. He laughed, his voice rough as his fangs scraped against your delicate skin, "I think you can try harder than that, darling."

You were gripping at his shoulders, your nails digging into his skin as you whimpered, "Please my love? I’ve missed you all day. Don’t make me wait any longer."

“Have I been neglecting you, my treasure?” Astarion murmured, his hand trailing down from your hair, moving to slip the thin straps of your dress off of your shoulders. 

“You have,” You whined as he tugged on your dress, watching with rapt attention as he let it fall. He wasted no time in leaning forward to wrap his lips around your nipple; tasting you as you whimpered, “I-please Astarion. I need you inside me. It aches without you, I can’t take it. Please.”

Perfect words from perfect lips. That was the end of his manufactured patience. Astarion was already tearing your nightgown off completely, rendering it to tatters as he feasted on you with his eyes. He could buy you another, one in every color if you wished. But for now it was just in the way. 

He lifted you up onto the desk, ignoring your surprised gasp as you set you on the edge. His eyes were already narrowing downward, your cunt bare and glistening before him. 

Astarion ran his finger up the seam of it, grinning when he realized you were already dripping, “No panties tonight darling? Naughty girl."

"You don't like it?" You coyly asked as you worked to undo his belt, making quick work of getting his cock out, “I figured it was more economical to not let you tear apart everything I own.”

Astarion laughed as he spread your legs further apart, clever fingers working over your clit as you moaned, “Perhaps we should forget about clothing entirely then for you. It certainly would be more convenient.”

A complete bluff, one obvious enough to make you giggle. Though, it was a fun thought, one that Astarion would actually consider entertaining if he wasn’t so self-aware. No, it would take less than a day for him to rip out the eyes of the entire staff for seeing you like this, gorgeous, bare, and his. 

Your hands were shaking as you rubbed the head of him over your folds, your head thrown back as you moaned. He pushed into you hard and fast, groaning at how wonderfully soaked and tight you felt. There truly was nothing better. He gripped your hips, hard enough to bruise as you pulled you on and off his cock; your eyes rolling back into your head at the impressive display of strength. 

“T-Thank you, thank you,” You mewled as you wrapped your arms around his neck, tugging him down closer, “Feels good. So good. Love you so much.”

Astarion couldn’t help but smile at that, feeling just as lovesick and obsessed as the day he made you his. There really was nothing better than this, making love to the brightest part of his soul. You clinging onto him for dear life as he fucked into you, completely uncaring for the books and papers he was spilling onto the floor. Whispering sweet nothings into his ear, your legs wrapped around him; always trying to pull him closer.  

He wasn’t going to last long like this. But he’d be damned if you didn’t reach your peak first. He snaked a hand between the two of you, roughly rubbing circles onto your clit before capturing your lips in a deep kiss. 

You gasped as he played with you, your pussy clenching around him as you came. It felt divine, the perfect sensation to tip him right over the edge, coming deeply inside you while he panted into your mouth.

"I love you," You whispered against his lips, your voice still slurring as your body twitched from the aftershocks, “Love you so much.”

You were running your fingers through his hair as you lazily kissed each other, holding him so closely that it made his heart sing. 

“I love you too pet,” Astarion murmured back, meaning every word, “More than you’ll ever know.”

"Tired now,” You sighed as your nails pleasantly scratched his scalp, “Carry me upstairs?"

Astarion was already hefting you into his arms before you could finish the question, tucking himself back into his pants before lifting you up completely, "Of course my love."

As he walked you upstairs, Astarion was struck with the realization that he could barely remember what he had been worried about in the first place. He smiled to himself as you cuddled against his chest, leaning in to press a light kiss to your hair. 

You always knew just what he needed.

#ascended astarion #baldur's gate 3 #astarion x tav #astarion #astarion x reader #I have a “insert word here” #little thing kink #this one took a minute #the dirty is difficult man

[writingquestionsanswered]

How do you have fun writing instead of taking it too seriously? I'm keeping myself from making progress specifically with nanowrimo

Keeping Writing Fun/Not Taking it Too Seriously

One game changer thing I've learned about writing in the past year is that while goals are a great way to promote productivity, giving yourself a hard time about not reaching them can actually sap motivation and destroy productivity. So, if you want to keep writing fun and not take it too seriously, I would suggest creating reasonable goals--goals that you know you can reach, or that aren't so challenging they'll be difficult to reach. Be honest with yourself about the time you have available for writing, how fast you write, how much time you might spend pausing to think or research. Then, once you have reasonable goals in place, try to reach those goals but be gentle with yourself if you fall short. Give yourself credit for what you did achieve and promise to do better the next day or next writing session.

There are also some fun ways to track your writing goals, such as apps, game boards, rewards meters, etc. For example, during a particular writing session, maybe you give yourself one M&M or Skittle for every 150 words you write. Or, maybe you buy yourself a coffee for every 1500 words you write. Some writers like to spend $20 or so on small items like pens, stickers, cute post-it notes, etc., and then reward themselves with one item for every small goal they reach.

Another thing you can do is have fun with your writing session. Write someplace fun and inspiring if you can. Put on an ambience channel or a soft music playlist. Put on some pretty mood lighting. Wear a pear of soft socks or slippers. Make yourself a cup of your favorite coffee, tea, or other drink.

Last but not least, it helps to really think about your long term goals and what you want to get out of writing now. If you're writing just for fun and a hobby right now, keeping that in mind should help keep it light. If you're writing seriously (for practice and/or toward publication), giving yourself a reasonable timeline for big goals (finishing the first draft, revision, etc.) can help you keep it light while still being serious about it.

Have a look at these posts as well:

Concentrate on Quantity at First, Not Quality Comparing Self to Others, Insecure About Writing Overcoming Embarrassment Over Own Writing Worried About Writing Style Afraid of Looking Back and Seeing Bad Writing

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[unrequitedloveletter]

Hi! Can I request a kenji x fem!reader where kenji is always confident and bold but with the reader he’s always nervous cause he likes her and she’s oblivious, plus a fluffy love confession. Thank you so much!!

Coffee- K.K x fem! reader

hi! I am SO SORRY for how late this is releasing--I had a really shitty august in terms of motivation and then the first day of september devolved into the worst day of the past few months very quickly, but I am determined to write all of my requests and give myself a bit of downtime before the fall event releases three fridays from now!

I did end up doing part of this in the headcanon format because it's just easier on me mentally right now, but I did turn the love confession into a fic because doing that in that way made sense to me where describing the lead up didn't, which I hope makes up for the fact that I chose to write it the way I did! I hope you enjoy and again, I am so sorry for the delay with this.

Fic type- this is just. there is so much fluff.

Warnings- hints at a coffee dependency, a mention of the reader constantly feeling the need to be productive even on days off (the reader says that they need to learn that days off can be used to rest, and says that it's not funny anymore) and a mention of Elton Johns book "Me" if that also counts.

okay, so!

Juliette notices it first

She sees how Kenji becomes around you and then she and Warner compare it to how he is with other people

there's a lot of "he's a dick when he's around everyone else," and "He likes her! That's really sweet! Oh, we should get them together."

Juliette Ferrars would be the ultimate wing woman and you cannot convince me otherwise

Meanwhile, every time someone points out something nice about you Kenjis entire attitude is like: "yeah she's pretty. like really pretty. like effortlessly pretty. and I love the sound of her voice. and the way that her eyes look in the sun. and what of it??"

and then he's like "am I falling in love?? is this what love is??" five or six weeks into the crush

Ten or eleven weeks and he's accepted it but has moved into the "she'll never like me back," stage.

Meanwhile, every damn time he smiles at you your heart starts racing and you just kind of freeze up a little, but you're at the same place he is--you don't think he likes you back and that he never could.

there's even a point where, standing next to you and able to sense your emotions, Warner just goes "hm. You and Kenji are looking at each other and feeling the same lovey-dovey feeling."

to be fair to you, you were a few glasses deep into the white wine and every time you looked at Kenji all you could focus on were the depths of his eyes. we're blaming the drunken haze for your obliviousness in this instance

There comes a point, as there always is with falling in love, where Kenji feels like he'll be single and forever alone unless he tells you how he feels, so he decides to do it.

Kenji finds you in the living room of your townhouse early on a Saturday morning, the townhouse having been a spot you'd coveted as it had belonged to a relative before things took off with the Resistance and everyone was still living within the sectors and under the rule of Aarons father. Juliette and Aaron had insisted you take it with the return of democracy and, selfishly, you had.

You were in a sweater that Kenji had forgotten he'd given to you at one point or another, a pair of sweatpants, and had a throw blanket draped loosely over your legs, a book in hand and the lamp on to allow yourself a bit of light to read.

"Hey," Kenji had greeted, the nerves kicking in before he'd had the chance to stop them. "Catching up on some reading, I see. What's the book?"

"A memoir by a guy who used to sing a lot?" You said, glancing at the cover again. "Elton John. His autobiography. It's a decent read so far, so I'll be sticking with it, which is nice. Loads of books were burned by the Reestablishment but I found this one in the physical library."

"The libraries are being reopened? That's incredible," Kenji said. "Also, how on earth can you be tired right now? It's barely seven in the morning and you're typically up with the sun as it is."

"I am allowed to be tired," you said defensively, throwing a throw pillow at Kenji and letting the book sit, somewhat forgotten in your lap.

"Did Juliette and Warner ask you to look after their dog yesterday?" Kenji asked, catching the pillow and throwing it back at you with a laugh.

"Gardening," you said. "I was gardening during the morning, and then Juliette and I took a walk that ended up being three fucking hours long, and then I offered to walk their dog. I need to learn that days off can be used to rest. It's not funny anymore."

Kenji laughed at you lightly, coming to sit next to you on the couch. "I have something to confess," he said.

"Do all of your confessing," you responded. "As long as you promise to make me coffee and give me a--strictly platonic, as Winston would grudgingly point out if he were here, while Brendan looked at me like I was an oblivious fool--forehead kiss."

Kenji laughed, wrapped an arm around you as you pressed your head against his shoulder.

"I'm in love with you," he said. "I am so in love with you, in fact, that every time I see you I become a bashful idiot, to use Warners words."

You grinned, part of yourself giving way to disbelief as you looked at him.

"And you came here, and you told me this at seven am?" You asked. "I mean, I love you too, Kenji, so much so that thinking of you while I'm meant to be working renders me nearly useless--seven in the morning? When I'm tired and I spent a solid fifteen seconds complaining about how yesterday was, when, aside from the foot pain from all of the walking, it was actually an amazing day?"

"Yep," Kenji said, popping the p with a shrug of his shoulders. "I love you and your complaints."

You grinned a bit more, let your eyes flutter closed as Kenji pressed a kiss to your forehead.

"I'm going to make us coffee," Kenji said, his lips ghosting near your forehead. You decidedly didn't care about the coffee anymore--just wanted to be with him, but you didn't say it. On days like that one, Kenji was typically just as coffee reliant as you were.

You let Kenji go, opening your eyes and going back to your book as you realized that you were still grinning.

You found yourself unsure that you'd ever stop, but when you felt another kiss dropped to the back of your head and an "I love you," whispered near your ear, you found that it was something you didn't mind as long as Kenji was with you.

#kenji kishimoto #kenji kishimoto x reader #shatter me

[terror-slut]

Please write some 001 fanfics!

Change of Heart

Chapter 01/?? Click HERE for this fic’s masterlist!

Reader is a troubled pediatrician at Hawkins lab when she crosses paths with this lovely orderly. Nothing will stand between Peter and his revenge. Not even really pretty distractions.

Pairing: Peter Ballard x f!reader

Word count: 1117

Ratings & warnings: SPOILERS, period typical sexism, violence, blood, NSFW, swearing, no (Y/N), no described defining features for reader. Ratings may change as chapters are added.

A/N: your wish is my wish as well my command!

She doesn’t talk much.

Not to her colleagues, at least. She speaks with dr. Brenner because she answers to him and she speaks to the children when they need her.

But not to the other doctors and nurses, not to the other orderlies. Not to him.

It has never bothered Peter before. He doesn’t need her, has no reason to let her live when his plan eventually comes to fruition. In his mind, she is just like everyone else who works at Hawkins Lab. Another mindless sheep pretending to care for the children, but in reality only interested in prodding their supernatural brains in the name of science and a paycheck at the end of the month.

Eat. Sleep. Work. Reproduce. Die.

It was stupid of him to let her become a distraction. He should have killed her when he had the chance.

“Peter,” one of the kids in the rainbow room groans to him, tugging on the spotless white sleeve of his uniform.

He crosses eyes with little 015 when he looks down, the boy looks paler than usual and his lips are chapped. The kid’s eyes are watery and his nose runny.

“I don’t feel so good, Peter.”

Alec locks eyes with him and then nods, signaling that it’s fine, under the illusion that he can handle these kids on their own while Peter is away.

“Come with me, 015. The doctor will make you all better.”

A disheveled mess greets the pair when he and 015 arrive at the sick bay, something that he’s not used to from the Hawkin’s lab pediatrician.

Though usually neatly put in a tight bun, her locks now tumble in unkempt tresses down her face and deep, purple circles have appeared under her eyes. It is out of the ordinary and bound to capture Peter’s attention.

“015 is not feeling good,” he states the obvious, expecting her to ignore him as she usually does. When her eyes find his deep blue ones before they wander off to 015, his interest is piqued once again.

Something is off, which meant the puzzle pieces could change and be rearranged. Peter always keeps his eyes open for little shifts in the matrix that could mean he has to change his initial plan. Has the doctor’s obvious distracted state any real meaning to him? Could and would she form a problem?

Peter watches as she sits the kid down in her office, producing a penlight and has him follow the light for her.

“Does it hurt anywhere, 015? Do you remember when it started?” She asks him, squatting in front of the kid so that they’re at eye level.

“I’ll come back later to pick him up,” Peter says, but before he can make his way out of her office and back to the rainbow room, she calls after him. Knitting his brows together in amusement, he turns around on his heels to look at the doctor.

“Yes?” His hands are folded neatly behind his back, ever the friendly, harmless orderly. She’s at least a head smaller than he is.

“I know we’re not supposed to intervene with the kids. And I’m not asking you to,” her eyes dart around the hallway. He wonders what she has to hide. “But tell dr. Brenner if you see any of the bigger kids picking on the smaller ones. I’ve had too many kids in here with nosebleeds that didn’t stem from their powers.”

“Why?” He asks. Not why should he tell dr. Brenner. He understands her motivation behind that. But why him? Why can’t she tell Brenner herself? Unlike Brenner and himself, she has always been on good terms with the man. What happened?

“I…” she hesitates, worrying her lip between her teeth as he looks down upon her. “You seem like a good guy, Peter. You’re here every day, you spend every waking moments with these kids. I know you care for them. Please?”

Please.

Please? Fuck.

If Peter was the person she assumed he was, good and kind, maybe he would fulfill her request. But he is far from that person and she must surely be delusional to think he cared. The only person Peter looks out for is number 001, and that meant that drawing attention to himself would only make dr. Brenner suspicious of him. He could and would not risk it, not even when she asks him so prettily.

“I’ll be back for him. After dinner,” she looks dejected, but it doesn’t matter to Peter. The clicking of his shoes on the tiles announce his retreat.

With a disappointing huff she watches the lean orderly go before turning back to 015 with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Alright, kid. Let’s get you all better.”

It’s long after dinner when Peter makes his nightly rounds around the lab, enjoying the peace and quiet, free of the chatter between doctors that could be heard during the day. It’s moments like these Peter enjoys most. The deathly quiet where he can take a moment and think.

Back when he had just been assigned the job of an orderly, he used to take these moments and try as he might to rekindle his power. Every night for days, weeks, months he tried, until he had no choice but to accept that the blocker in his neck did it’s job. There was no way around it.

Later, he took these moments to order his thoughts and form a plan. An escape plan that not even dr. Brenner could see coming. He would be sure to make them all pay, Martin Brenner the first to atone and the last to die.

Nowadays, he saw these quiet moments as the calm before the storm. Much like a spider, he shakes his long limbs loose and his mind wanders off to a place he’d be able to call home. Somewhere he could be well and truly alone.

“For fuck’s sake!” Peter’s head snaps up at the muffled cussing coming from behind a closed door. His body stiffens and his breathing becomes steady like an animal ready to pounce on it’s prey.

Seconds pass like rain droplets joining a winded river as he waits for another sound.

Suddenly, a door on his left flies open and he has his hand halfway lifted before cursing dr. Brenner and his idiotic power blocker.

To his surprise, it’s not one of the other staff members on duty, or even one of the kids.

It’s the pediatrician.

And she’s not wearing her lab coat or her white pants, either. She’s wearing a pastel nightgown. His hand falls, in sync with her face when she notices him.

“Peter?!”

“Doctor.”

A/N: well, that’s the end of chapter 01! If people enjoy it, I’ll definitely continue. I have a bunch of ideas for this pair and I love getting in Peter’s head to discover his motivations etc. Also lmk if you want to be tagged for future chapters!

#mind the tags <3 #happy reading! #would you look at that #i finally wrote again #and it’s shit! #but I love him so you will suffer by my hands #peter ballard x reader #001 x reader #henry creel x reader #vecna x reader #stranger things #stranger fics #st spoilers #stranger things season 4 #st4 #change of heart #change of heart fiction #dr brenner #horror #period typical sexism #swearing #no (y/n) #no described defining features for reader #not beta read we die like papa

[willesworld]

angst! angst! angst! fic recs

Okay, so as I was curating my kinky fic recs, I came across a bunch of angsty fics in my bookmarks. So, of course, I decided to create another rec list just for some of my favorite angsty fics. Enjoy!!

Can We Just Pretend? by Scissorsandstone (E, 9.1k)

Summary: He knows that should he be able to keep functioning once this is done, he needs his head to stop. He needs to be rid of this uncontrollable, traitorous emotion that welled up within him that he knew he shouldn't be allowing himself to feel. He tries, futilely, to push it away, all the while knowing deep down that addiction is a disease and right now, the last thing he's looking for is a cure. He wants to be sick. If this is a sickness he would infect himself over and over just for the feeling of letting his body succumb.

A reimagining of the scene where Simon goes to see Wille in his room in S2Ep5 except Simon is a lot more conflicted in this version and things are much less resolved between the two of them.

R/N: Oh my god this fic is SO angsty. I know this is an angst rec list, but this one is epic. My stomach hurt the entire time I read it. It HURTS.

create a storm and bury it deep by paintersong (M, 9.7k)

Summary: The phantom touches haunt him as he tosses and turns, torn apart by the twin flames of grief and anger. Simon’s fingers curled around his waist, tracing trails of light onto his scalp, trembling from his temple down to his neck. The memories burn at the once-holy places on his skin, dragging matches in the wake of Simon’s touch until it’s red and blistered with the pain of what he’s lost.

Wilhelm knows he needs to change. He just needs to figure out how.

R/N: This is such a brilliant, masterful, and heartbreaking character study of Wilhelm over the winter break. I mean, it is so perfect. It perfectly encapsulates how he changes, his motives, and feelings. It is so tragically sad, but also so incredibly beautiful.

a palm to my mouth, I said it, almost by MyArtificalFlowers (M, 35.5k)

Summary: What if August never told Wilhelm he knew Simon was going to the police? In doing so things changed enough that Simon never ended up pulling Wilhelm aside to tell him he loved him. And Wilhelm never changed the speech.

R/N: When I tell you this is one of my favorite fics, I truly mean that this is one of my FAVORITE fics. I adore it. It is so, so angsty. I mean, so angsty. Please read the tags before diving into this one. But it is absolutely incredible and so worth reading.

The Thing in the Mirror by fandom_commitment_issues @zee-has-commitment-issues (G, 3.4k)

Summary: Wilhelm stares at himself in the mirror on the morning of his twenty-second birthday and fights every thought that comes into his head in a losing war. None of them are particularly helpful. None of them make him feel good. He’s pretty damn sure nothing would. Not at this point. They collect in his head and tighten his throat and make him feel sick. - - - Wilhelm turns twenty-two.

R/N: Gah!! The feelings! The love! The hurt! This fic is a delightful exploration of grief years down the road after Erik's death, and how Wille deals with it with Simon at his side. So beautiful.

losing a friend is the hardest part by pysanky (M, 34.6k)

Summary: “Wilhelm, we’re fighting because you won’t listen to me. Everything still has to be on your terms; you haven’t learned how to compromise. And I can’t, I won’t, keep killing myself trying to do everything the way you think it should be done just to keep us together.”

Wilhelm said nothing, just stared at him with a lost expression as the rims of his eyes began to redden. He sniffed quietly and Simon felt his heart break even more, but he didn’t take back any of what he had said. He wouldn’t allow himself to.

(or: in which Simon suggests that he and Wilhelm “take a break”)

R/N: I would not suggest reading this if you're not ready to bawl your eyes out throughout the entirety of the fic. It is GORGEOUS. It is HEARTBREAKING. Simon and Wilhelm have so much development in this fic, and it is truly hard to read and also truly and devastatingly beautiful.

my twisted knife, my sleepless night by paintersong (M, 11.4k)

Summary: Wilhelm was filled with so many things, fear and helplessness, and something new: electric, twisty and dark like an eel, a slithering, sparking anger burning the lining of his stomach, anger that he had never felt on his own behalf, because how fucking DARE they do this to Simon.

Wilhelm hasn’t spoken to Simon in nine months when Simon shows up outside his window in the middle of the night.

R/N: Um, yes, this is such a gorgeous version of what could have happened after season 1. It's actually so good and realistic. Possibly even more realistic than what happened in canon season 2 bahahah?!?!?! Soooo wonderful and ouchy.

Make Me Feel Something by photographer_of_thoughts (M, 25.7k)

Summary: After losing Erik, Simon and his mother - all in various ways - Wilhelm falls into a deep depression. He goes to school. He performs his Crown Prince duties. He breathes and sleeps. But he’s numb. And the possibility that Simon might be falling in love with someone else makes everything worse.

Or, the boys have to go through a whole lot of hurt and healing before they can find their way back to each other.

R/N: Another one of my ABSOLUTE favorite fics. I reread this constantly. Simon and Wilhelm care so much about each other in this fic that it hurts, but it's not enough to save either one of them. And just, the whole story and the relationship between the two of them hurts so good.

she didn't tell me to stop. by fishscalesky (M, 1.6k)

Summary: “I didn’t mean to,” he said quietly, so quietly, after his mother left. “It was an accident.”

The words weren’t for her.

R/N: Sigh. So ouchy good. Is it terrible that I love reading depressed Wille??

-

Eh... YES. I love angst. I hope you find something on this list to enjoy!

#angst #hurt/comfort #hurt #comfort #wilmon #simon x wilhelm #prince wilhelm #wilhelm x simon #wilhelm young royals #wilhelm and simon #wilhelm yr #wille x simon #simon eriksson #fic #fanfic #rec list #fic rec #yr fic #fr fanfic #young royals #fanfiction #young royals fanfiction #young royals fanfic #young royals fandom #angst rec list

[thewritingginger]

;) Alphabet - Takashi Mitsuya pt. 2

My post poll came in and Mitsuya HCs won 🎉

Fandom: Tokyo Revengers Letters: C, E, J, M, O Warnings: 18+, Mentions of sex, Dirty talk, GN!

[Part 1]

Enjoy ~

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

Mitsuya doesn’t produce a whole lot of semen when he ejaculates  & its usually pretty thin

He’ll cum inside you if that’s what you want but he really likes seeing his seed spread across your body

He likes pulling out and cumming on your belly and rubbing it on your skin

Also enjoys the view of his load spurting across your face, white lines dripping on your cheeks and down your chin into your lap

“You look so pretty with me all over your face.”

“I love seeing my mark on you.”

“You’re mine, aren’t you?”

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Takashi knows what he’s doing

He only had a handful of partners prior to you, most of which where long-ish term (6+ months)

He doesn’t strike me as a guy that has a lot of casual sex, he’ll kiss and maybe do a bit of fondling and dry humping but he really likes being with a partner even if it’s a fling

Learning his partners body and what makes them tick is one of his favorite things about sex, the more you do it the more he learns how to best please his s/o

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Takashi jerks off an average amount i think, depends each week

He likes an early morning wank, especially in the shower—& that's not just to take care of morning wood

If you live apart or have to be away from each other for one reason or another he enjoys mutual masturbation & phone sex

Also might steal a pair or two of your panties to have either wrapped around his cock or pressed against his nose—but you didn’t hear that from me 🤫

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Takashi likes it when you wear pieces he has made, especially the more scandalous ones 😉

And surprising him with new lingerie/ sexy outfits and giving him a little ✨ show ✨ while he’s relaxing

Also if you’re lounging in his clothes, one of his shirts or a big sweatshirt w/o pants that will catch his eye

Being a playful brat

Bug him while he’s working he might have to take a break to teach you lesson in patience oop

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

He likes both equally

Loves giving his partner pleasure with his mouth & their taste filling his mouth

His favorite way to prep his partner & he is not stranger to some light teasing

“Stop? Why would I when you sound so cute.”

“Just a little longer, Baby.”

“Won’t you cum on my tongue again?”

But he also enjoys when his s/o goes down on him

He’ll stroke your hair & praise you as he moans

“Good girl/boy”

“You’re so good to me, making my cock feel good.”

“Gonna make me cum in that pretty mouth of yours.”

Hope you enjoyed that!

💛 ~

~ Masterlist ~

#tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers headcanons #tokyo revengers smut #tokyorev #tokyorev smut #tokyorev x reader #tokyorev mitsuya #takashi mitsuya #takashi mitsuya headcanons #takashi mitsuya x reader #alphabet headcanons #*nsfw alphabet #*nsfw #x gn!reader

[siflshonen]

Sequencing My Hero Academia’s “Manga DNA” II: A Breakdown of Izuku Midoriya

Link to the Bakugo presentation 2.0: Part 1 | Part 2

Link to the Bakugo presentation 1.0: Part 1 | Part 2

Link to the Kirishima (and Mina) presentation

Link to the Todoroki presentation

Link to the Uraraka, Bakugo, (and Toga) presentation

Where do I start? 

No, really. Where do I start?

I’ve never not been talking about Deku. Not once throughout any of these presentations. He’s always been there like a deep shadow that might shrink or lengthen in the changing light, but never goes away.

That’s overly poetic of me, but it’s a pretty good approximation of what Midoriya and Bakugo are to one another when they aren’t outright orbiting one another as “twin stars” or whatever the fandom term of the day is. Or maybe it’s not overly poetic of me at all: as Shigaraki/All for One pointed out in the later chapters, the opposite can also be said about Bakugo in relation to Izuku. He’s always in his shadow (or is his hanging-on string of fish poop.)

Read more under the cut.

For those who found it surprising that Shigaraki/AfO would frame Bakugo’s greatest insecurity and fear in that way in chapter 360, well, I’m not sure what to tell you. Deku and Bakugo are individuals with their own arcs, but their identities, experiences, and stories are deeply enmeshed. It’s how they were designed. That Bakugo would fear such a thing from the story’s start speaks to his self-awareness as well as the paradoxical nature of their relationship. It is profound, all-consuming, wonderful, and terrible, depending on what aspects are the focus.

Like a mask in Noh theater, the appearance, mood, and message of their relationship changes depending on the angle of the light upon its surface.

Midoriya and Bakugo are foils, rivals, enemies, frenemies, childhood friends, and one anothers’ mutual inspiration and major motivator. They are individuals, but also a cohesive unit that is not complete without the influence of the other. Together, they’re gonna surpass All Might. They are also stupid as shit.

Let’s just focus on Midoriya by himself first.

Midoriya Izuku Overview

Midoriya is a lot of things. Initially, he’s a plain everyman. He’s a background character suddenly made into the main character, or a main character that forgets that he even impacts his own story outside of the legacy of his quirk. No, I’m serious. He never takes himself into account. Never. He mimics All Might, Bakugo, his classmates, Gran Torino… he never looks inward until the end, and even then, he doesn’t look that deeply. It never occurred to him that he might have something special to offer innate to himself, nor that he might be of equal value to others even without the One for All quirk. He believes Mirio is a more worthy successor for One for All than he is without considering what he can offer as an individual successor.

In fact, when Deku splits from the class in the War arc and subsequently leaves UA immediately following it, he places the All for One quirk and legacy above everyone else and above himself.

This is not the same as saying that Midoriya actively loathes himself. He doesn’t. He’s not even looked closely enough at himself to ascribe that kind of negative or positive thought. He’s oblivious and he is empty.

From the Fertile Valley, a Tree Slowly Sprouts

Izu - come out; exit

Ku - long time

Midori - green

Ya - valley

The bonus pun is that the “ku” can also be read as “nine”, much like he is the ninth user of One for all.

Izuku Midoriya is an empty field waiting for something to sprout. He is untold potential and slow but undeniable progress. Midoriya is literally an empty vessel looking to be filled but not actively aware of what he’s been filled with. That’s the essence of his quirklessness and how it informs his sense of individuality. 

While Bakugo spends the series having his own fragile sense self brought to the story forefront, attacked, criticized, demolished, and ultimately rebuilt into something true to the original but better, Deku has been pushing it down deeper, deeper, deeper. Like a seed being pressed into the earth. Like a piece of hair he’s swallowed going deeper and deeper down his esophagus and into his body. Slowly, he’s coming to learn the type of hero he is, the kind he wants to be, and what that even means.

I know he wants to be “like All Might”. I know you know he wants to be “like All Might”. But at the start of the series, and perhaps even into the last act, he doesn’t quite understand what that means or what that entails. Early in the series, he believes “being like All Might” is limited to saving people with a smile. He doesn’t think about who constitutes “people” from a social definition (society doesn’t want Heroes to save Villains like Toga or Shigaraki!) nor does he consider that those would-be victims he wants to save might not want to be saved (Bakugo, Kota before Muscular) or are in a situation where his idea of saving would actively make their situation worse (Eri).

Deku is coming to learn the type of hero he is, the kind he wants to be, and what that even means. The rest of the class, including Bakugo, are learning the same thing, but since Deku is our principal character, his journey to this conclusion is longer.

So, yes, Deku is introduced to us as a blank slate everyman whose sole desire is to become a Hero despite his lack of a quirk superpower. But even that is surprisingly deceptive for Western audiences considering that his character and desires are indicative of assumptions made by an Eastern audience.

Japan’s Culture of Obligation

Japan is a collectivist society and that impacts every single character in the My Hero Academia world. It also impacts what a majority of the native audience may assume Deku, our initial everyman, wants. But these intended assumptions, I think, are also difficult to understand from a Western perspective. We don’t intuitively understand today’s Japanese values as they apply to the social culture.

I will try to express a significant part of the differences as best I can through a series of general statements. Some of them will seem familiar and universal to many cultures, but please bear with me as I try to make this shift in framing with baby steps first.

In Japan, it is rude to refuse a gift. It is rude not to bring a gift to most meetings. It is rude to refuse hospitality. It is rude not to offer hospitality. It is rude to refuse hospitality or gifts. It is rude to not offer a gift upon many formal introductions or visits to a home, including some casual visits. It is rude to refuse and it is rude not to provide. In Japan, it is rude to refuse help to someone asking for it or who “does not know better” (such as a foreigner). It is rude to not help them to the best of your ability. It is rude to not allow them to be obligated to you in kind. It is improper and rude not to fit in and conform to the collective.

And by “improper and rude”, I mean “a massive fucking no-no”.

While one could argue that all societies everywhere operate on the inherent obligations of a social contract, the point I am trying to make is that the Japanese culture of obligation is vastly more intense than that of the West. In Japan you are obligated to be reliant on others, sometimes to the point of what Westerners might find absurd, and you are obligated for them to rely on you in kind. It is a cycle that is never meant to be broken. You are obligated to be obligated to them and they are obligated to be obligated to you for the rest of your lives and the lives of your children and your children’s children. 

Speaking as a Westerner with a notable independent streak, this is the stuff of my nightmares. But my perspective is not reflective of the conventional wisdom of the Japanese majority: in Japan, this reciprocal net of obligations is seen as a desirable thing of which to be a part. If one doesn’t participate or their inclusion is seen as undesirable by others in the social circle, they are shunned. Why? Because for a group of people to decide that an individual sucks enough to be excluded from the expected social web of obligation, then it indicates to others that there is something deeply wrong with the ostracized individual.

Hey, fellow Westerners: do I hear you saying that this sounds like any given school experience? I suppose there’s a similarity there in the base concept. But take that experience, magnify it, and then make it a lifelong constant in all contexts of your life. Make it explicitly understood from birth that fitting in is the only socially correct way to be—and “fitting in” usually means being a high performer (or at least adequate performer) physically, academically, or through sheer likeability. If an individual doesn’t show promise or at least “keep up with” the pack, well, it is seen as their own fault for whatever reason. “Average” in Japan is already an incredibly high standard to reach in terms of performance.

“But that’s just like any kind of clique culture in—!” Magnitude, reader. Magnitude. The key difference is in the magnitude of it as well as which party the cultural conventional wisdom will likely side with in utter sincerity. 

This is also why MHA’s hero society is framed as the socially accepted in-group Heroes and Villains are shunned and hated individuals. That Shigaraki created a League of Villains that imparts a culture of obligation (he calls the members his friends, even) among its members (though still gives them the freedom to leave at any time) while still maintaining the name “Villains” is significant.

Deku Wants What Everyone Else In His Japan-Analogous Society Is Supposed to Want

Anyway, if you haven’t figured it out, I’m blatantly calling Deku a normie sheep. I am also blatantly saying there is nothing inherently wrong with Deku supporting convention or maintaining conventional desires and attitudes. It’s part of his charm. 

Let’s review Deku’s motives.

Deku wants to be a Hero much like every other kid in MHA’s Japan.

Deku wants to be a Hero worthy of his respected elder predecessor and uphold what he perceives as society’s status quo.

Deku wants a quirk (for the purposes of points one and two. In the background, one can hear fellow quirkless cast member Yuga Aoyama saying, “Mama, Papa, I just want [a quirk so I can] be like everyone else!”)

Ergo, Deku wants to be accepted into quirk (and Hero) society and therefore be like everyone else.

Deku wants the autographs and merchandise of socially approved role models and media darlings (Heroes).

Deku wants to talk to a girl as per the social norms of being an assumed cishet dude.

Deku wants friends as per fitting into his society of obligations.

Deku wants to maintain his existing relationship with his childhood friend as per the social norm of wanting to preserve existing childhood friends' relationships.

Deku wants to be a kind, considerate, reassuring Hero as per what is seen as good and approachable by society.

I could go on, but I feel I have touched on the most important parts. Deku is, using conventional Japanese desires and socially accepted motives as a meter stick, basic as hell. I’m not saying that people who don’t hold values in-step with this culture can’t project on him—anyone can project onto anything they want for any reason. What I am saying is that these are the Japanese-specific everyman attributes Deku holds and they reflect what the audience is meant to intuit about his character.

Understanding these desires are also key to understanding how Deku views the rest of his world and how the unfolding narrative will elucidate him regarding why his society works the way it does—and how it is often unjust by design!

In case I haven’t made it clear enough, one of MHA‘s crucial worldbuilding concepts is that, to the in-world civilians and early-series main characters, “Hero” is synonymous with “someone who fits into and represents mainstream society” and “Villain” is synonymous with “social outcast we just don’t accept because they don’t fit in”.

Deku wants to be like All Might because he wants to be “like everyone else” who is part of quirk and Hero society—and he sees everyone else as, perhaps naively, innately amazing and incredible.

As a quirkless boy, Deku occupies a novel space between these camps despite sharing the ideals of his society at large: he doesn’t fit in with the collective, but he also isn’t breaking the social contract with a superpower like the “Villains” do. He’s just kinda… there. He doesn’t fit in but he also isn’t causing massive disruptions—except when it comes to his desire to be a Hero.

Quirklessness in MHA and an East-West Discussion of Intelligence and Conformity

I’m going to come right out and say it: I think Deku’s suffering due to his quirklessness is overblown by the Western fandom. While I do think some quirkless discrimination exists in the MHA world, I think this post by @haptronym​ sums up the observed social impact of quirklessness and why it is relevant in light of Deku’s “professional Hero” career choice very nicely.

What makes Deku’s quirklessness a contentious thing in MHA as presented isn’t necessarily that it is a disability, but something that makes him “not like everyone else” and therefore unable to fit into the collective of his classmates. I actually think his quirkless status and ridiculed or ignored social role versus Bakugo’s quirk status and begrudgingly given social respect is analogous to a discussion of the social perception of “talent” and “intelligence” as something that is accumulated over time versus an innate quality within a person. 

Which, by the way, Japan and many Eastern cultures view intelligence as an accumulation over time through hard work. Endeavor’s monologue regarding his choice of Hero name, and how it stands as a counterpoint to “Western superhero coded All Might who seems like he was born with it” discusses this explicitly. Describing intelligence and “talent” as an innate quality is a distinctly Western notion. How fitting that Bakugo, the boy trying to be like a rude “born winner” Westerner, initially hides behind this interpretation and uses Deku’s quirklessness as a reason to bully him. (In truth, Bakugo is afraid that he is, in fact, worthless and weak and that Deku will outshine him and leave him behind. That’s why All for One/Shigaraki rubs the prospect in his face.)

Paradoxically, Deku’s quirklessness is also sort of like a quirk in that it allows him to hold One for All without dying, so the collective’s initial assertion that Deku can’t be a hero “like All Might'' is hilariously funny in retrospect since his quirklessness is EXACTLY what makes him able to be “like All Might” in the first place. Just goes to show that, sometimes, the collective doesn’t know shit about shit. But then again, Deku, the individual, also doesn’t know shit about shit half the time, either.

Anyway, the point is that Deku’s quirklessness is a problem for him because it can’t be reconciled with the collective. It’s more ambiguous than something like a disability, economic class placement, or even race but is still outside of his control.

The Ideals of a Collectivist Society

If an individual in a collectivist society is seen as “not socially acceptable”, this reflects poorly on whatever groups one is associated with, such as a high school class. Remember how in the Kirishima presentation I noted that yearbooks do not contain individual photos, but class photos? An individual is seen as a representative of whatever groups to which they belong. This is a motivating factor for why, in Japan, it is sometimes seen as socially acceptable for a group to bully someone into “doing/being better”. It is meant to be for the benefit of everyone in the group, including the individuals doing the bullying and the individual being bullied.

Of course, this is a double-edged sword. Sometimes, the collective is being too selfish and uncaring towards the individual. However, sometimes the individual is being too inconsiderate towards the needs of the group!

Th unbalanced application of bullying for the benefit of the class’ collectivism is put in practice at the start of MHA: Deku wants to “keep up” (and conform) with everyone else so he can participate with everyone else and be a “great hero (like society-approved paragon All Might)” and “save people” however he sees fit whenever he sees fit. Meanwhile, everyone else wants Deku to “keep up” (and conform) so he doesn’t make them look like useless, untalented, reckless losers that are too far in denial to “know their place” by association. It is selfish from all sides of the equation. (Meanwhile, early-series Bakugo doesn’t want Deku to keep up, but for the totally individual-specific left-field reason of his own feelings of inadequacy. But Deku and the rest of their middle school classmates don’t know that, so Bakugo hides it like a needle in a haystack within the desires of the collective.)

This is how it should work in an ideal world (and the ideal world that the MHA story seems to be pitching): Deku should want to “keep up” (and conform) with the collective for the good of the collective and in the interest of the collective (not just at his whims! Not just as he sees fit given the nature of his power!) because he is reflective of the collective. Meanwhile, the collective should want Deku to “keep up” (and conform) for Deku’s own benefit so that he does not get left behind. The individual and collective should both act in consideration of one another and put the other first. 1-A’s confrontation of Deku on the streets of Kamino illustrates the cast’s switch to the ideal way the philosophy of a collective society should apply (with Deku “keeping up” and conforming to 1-A’s ideals and way of operating by working together with them to save Japan from AfO), where everyone is working together for the benefit of one another rather than from the selfishness of the individual.

Black Sheep and Lone Wolf Part I

The only thing close to a “cool bad boy loner outcast who doesn’t fit in but sees themselves as better for it (or tells themselves that they see themselves as better for it)” in Japanese schools and society are delinquent subcultures—in other words, the thing Bakugo positions himself as—and usually even those groups have a strong sense of community within themselves. One does not successfully exist as a lone wolf in Japan. At least, not for long. MHA society stomachs Bakugo because he’s talented, but people don’t generally like him or meaningfully involve him in the larger collective web of obligations.

All of this is to say that Deku starts the series as an understood total outcast loser. He has nobody who will be obligated to him or that he is obligated to with the exception of his one baked-in-through-circumstance connection: his childhood friend Katsuki Bakugo, who at the beginning of the series can’t seem to fit into their collectivist society, either. 

The Cultural Value of a Childhood Friend

I discussed in the Bakugo presentation that osana najimi, or childhood friends, are specific types of relationships that are highly valued in Japan. As such, Deku’s attachment to Bakugo is more readily understood by that audience. While Deku’s longing for reparations to his and Bakugo’s relationship despite their history may illustrate his benevolent nature and kind heart to Westerners at face value, the basic idea is not particularly strange, even given their unpleasant initial dynamic, when viewed from an Eastern perspective. In fact, in some ways it is downright conventional.

Because Japanese childhood friends are meant to be close relationships valued for an entire lifetime, it is generally understood that childhood friends are entitled to know intimate and personal details about one another. Conventionally speaking, this obligation is also something both parties are supposed to want. I’m not saying every Japanese person who has ever been bullied by their childhood friend always wants to make amends with them, but it isn’t a viewpoint only Deku would have.

This socially understood want is part of the underlying reasoning behind Deku’s desire to tell Bakugo that he “got his quirk from someone else” near the beginning of the series despite it not being Bakugo’s concern. It is generally understood that Deku feels obligated to tell these major life details (“hey, I wasn’t lying to you, my childhood friend, all these years! I really was quirkless before and I am not betraying our one mutual social obligation!”) to his childhood friend. Conversely, Bakugo cannot bring himself to totally sever ties with Deku because, despite his best efforts, he has within himself the very conventional desire to want a mutual relationship of obligation (and intimacy) with his childhood friend.

Basically, the reconciliation between Bakugo and Deku is understood by the Japanese audience as the very conventional outcome they are meant to root for. So, knowing that, any perceived “This story is about Deku getting his revenge against Bakugo for bullying him because such a narrative would be just and balanced in their retribution” angles by (primarily) Western viewers are HILARIOUSLY off-base.

Folks that may dislike MHA’s story because it doesn’t follow the path of “nerd gets revenge on his bully” have the freedom to feel however they like about it, but that isn’t in any way, shape, or form the message the story intends regarding Bakugo and Deku.

Narrative Foils: Bakugo Sees the Reality and Deku Sees the Ideal

While Bakugo’s shattered ego happens in tandem to his disillusionment to what “good”, “evil”, “power” and “weakness” are in their Hero society, Deku remains mostly oblivious for much of the series. He mulls over the events of the story for much longer before coming to any definitive conclusions. While he suffered in his society because of his quirklessness, he is slow to question the larger objectives of the social system in which he lives.

Deku is slow to question the validity of an existing power structure even when he is the one screwed over by it. He is slow to question whether or not Heroes in his society really do prioritize saving. He is also slow to question whether or not All Might really is the ultimate paragon with unbeatable power or if what he does is the ultimate good. He is slow to question whether or not people who do have quirks encounter obstacles in their life when chasing their dreams. He is slow to understand that quirks are not only a potential danger, but a burden.

Meanwhile, Bakugo is quick to talk shit about a power structure even when the existing power structure directly benefits him. In fact, he does it even because it benefits him. At the series’ beginning, he is pushing the social boundaries by being openly nasty to everyone around him and making their world’s open secret plain fact: the existing social power of the MHA world exists in its current form because the “Heroes” always win and the winner controls the narrative. He is also very aware that having a quirk does not make someone special. In fact, his awareness of this fact is core to what makes him act like such a huge asshole at the start of the manga in compensation for this information.

It follows that Deku and Bakugo would have these similar-but-opposite viewpoints because they are foils. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. But what does any of that mean in terms of a Japanese shonen action manga? More importantly, how does Deku fit into the landscape of existing media?

Deku’s Manga DNA

In the Bakugo presentation, I established that Deku takes many thematic cues from Western comic book characters, particularly Spider-Man. But Spider-Man isn’t the only influence Deku’s character takes cues from. 

I don’t have any Horikoshi interviews cited to point out specifics, but I do have eyes and I have watched enough classic anime of all genres and read enough big shonen titles (and in some cases read about enough big shonen titles!) to see the writing on the wall.

Black Sheep and Lone Wolf Part II: Chirin no Suzu

Chirin no Suzu, or Ringing Bell, is an anime rather than a manga, but you get the picture. It is meant to teach children not to pursue the path of revenge and also warn them of the dangers of failing to conform. I’m serious. This movie came out in 1970s Japan and was made to reflect the values of the time and country.

To my knowledge, Horikoshi has never cited this series as an inspiration, but his illustrations of Deku as a sheep and then a sort of wild animal that suggests some sort of horned, malicious creature or even a ragged wolf during his solo arc suggest the role of Chirin in this movie.

Chirin is a little lamb who lives happily on a farm until the Wolf kills his entire flock in the night. Chirin swears revenge, follows the wolf, realizes he is too weak to do anything, and then convinces the wolf to teach him to be a killer. The wolf, who knows Chirin wishes for revenge, agrees! He teaches Chirin to become a killer and Chirin begins to see him as a father figure and discards his desire for revenge. When the wolf takes him to go kill another flock of sheep, Chirin remembers his past, refuses to go through with it, and then gores the wolf with his horns in their ensuing conflict born from disagreement. Chirin mourns his father figure, who expresses pride in Chirin for becoming a “lone wolf” like he was. Then, Chirin tries to start his life over by joining the sheep he’d saved, and is promptly rejected because the sheep are too frightened of him.

If Deku is our Chirin, One for All—specifically Toshinori and the Second User—is our wolf. What MHA does differently is invert the expectations placed by Suzu no Chirin. Toshinori, while not driven by revenge per se but very much driven by the singular goal of stopping All for One, regrets that he is unable to make Deku see the folly of being “a lone wolf” on his quest. Meanwhile, the Second User continues to guide Deku in his isolated quest but likewise acknowledges the need to have others around to “bolster” him. 

That Bakugo shares the Second User’s face and is the one to lead “the flock” to Deku to convince him that, yes, unlike in Chirin’s situation, he can come back, is a notable inversion. (And yes, this interpretation goes hand in hand with the interpretation of Bakugo as a proxy for an older shonen protagonist flush with postwar values and suspicions apologizing to the generation that came after.)

Softhearted and optimistic, isn’t it? Well, MHA is somewhat softhearted and optimistic too, I think. It is a shonen, after all, and it doesn’t seem to want its story to be completely doused in gloom and doom. The theme behind it is positive societal change.

This talk of shonen manga formulas reminds me: while Bakugo is emblematic of one iconic type of shonen protagonist, Deku follows the model of another type.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Full disclosure: I am not deeply familiar with Katekyo Hitman Reborn! but I know it was a thing Horikoshi is a fan of and I know the broad strokes of the series’ concept: An assassin in the form of a baby time-travels to the past because he was hired by the Vongolas, a mafia family, to find and train the new head of said mafia family.

No-good Tsuna, a mild mannered, loser-average, sweet-natured Japanese high school student, is apparently the future head of this mafia family. Tsuna is the main character of Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and a fantastic example of the other type of shonen protagonist archetype that stands counter to the ones ensconced in Bakugo’s inspirations.

In other words, if Bakugo is a Goku Son, Deku is a Tsuna. He’s also a Yugi Mutoh.

Yugioh

While Horikoshi has never mentioned Yugioh as a major influence, it is another example featuring the type of shonen protagonist archetype Deku follows as well as a major title with an unmistakable footprint left on the shonen genre.

Yugioh means, basically, “Game King”. The series is about a boy, Yugi Mutoh, who loves to play games of all kinds (and is absolutely fantastic at them) and wants to fit in and make friends but cannot due to his nerdy eccentricities and short, unathletic stature. He gets bullied regularly (because he doesn’t fit in with the collective.) However, things start to turn around for him when he completes an ancient Egyptian puzzle and the spirit sleeping within it possesses him in his moments of need. (Oh, and the puzzle has magic powers that he uses to turn games of all kinds into high-stakes karmic punishments.) In addition to having a brilliant mind, Yugi’s main ingredient for success in his journey to have fun playing games with friends (and not letting some terrible game-related punishment befall them) while uncovering the mystery of the magic Millenium Puzzle and the spirit inside of it is quite literally the power of friendship.

Also, spoiler, the spirit living in the puzzle is named Atem. The reveal of his name is a big deal in Yugioh, not unlike how the reveal of Bakugo’s Hero name is of extreme significance to the story.

“Gee, Yugi, Your Mangaka Let You Have Four Kacchans?!”

While Yugioh is beloved for its striking visuals, high camp, and eponymous card game, it also features a cast of textbook shonen tropes. Its cast makeup readily illustrates how many roles Bakugo occupies in relation to Deku as well as how many shonen manga staples he occupies.

I am not bringing this up to say, “Look! Look how versatile my favorite boy is!”. I am trying to illustrate how much of the series’ emotional real estate Bakugo occupies as well as how many things he is to main character Deku specifically.

Tea Gardner/Anzu Masaki’s role is straightforward. She is the childhood friend figure and Yugi’s oldest acquaintance. She is a bastion of emotional support and acceptance. While Bakugo is not that for Deku (at least, not openly or straightforwardly) at all times during the series, he sure becomes one during MHA’s war arc. Anzu also has some overlap with Ochako Uraraka, too, and for many of the same qualities and narrative functions that Bakugo serves. Both of them lend sentimentality and meaning to Deku’s Hero name and given name!

Joey Wheeler/Katsuya Jonouchi (recognize the “Katsu” of “victory”? It’s the same as in “Katsuki”!) is also rather obvious—he starts the series as a delinquent bully but transitions to Yugi’s closest friend who would do anything for him. Like, literally an I-would-die-for-you-I-love-you relationship. 

Also, arguably, what Jonouchi is to Yugi is what Seto Kaiba is to Atem.

Seto Kaiba is the cold and antagonistic rival who thinks himself better than everybody else. Despite not believing in magic or destiny or any of that stuff, he is the reincarnated high priest of the pharaoh in Yugi’s damn puzzle and therefore a major figure to Yugi and all of his reincarnations. Like, their relationship is shaped by destiny to be a thing. Literally the “fated battle between men”, as Uraraka would put it. Anyway, Seto and Yugi are not friends, but their rivalry and respect for one another is profound.

Seto is also not friends with Atem, exactly, but whatever the hell it is they have going on is even more profound than what he has going on with Yugi. His attachment to Atem very literally bridges dimensions (by the way, I loved The Dark Side of Dimensions. It was dumb as hell.)

Yami Yugi/Atem is Yugi’s past reincarnation. He is introduced into the series as Yugi’s edgier alter ego and foil, but transitions into his own person as he discovers his own identity and uncovers the memories of his past life. Whenever Yugi is in danger or knocked unconscious, Atem appears to use his magic and next level gaming wiles to get Yugi(‘s body and soul) and his friends out of a scrape. Eventually, they become aware of one another and work together in one body united in one purpose. The series ends when Yugi finally frees Atem’s spirit from the Millenium puzzle and allows him to go to the afterlife by beating him in a magic card game and proving himself the true, erm, King of Games.

“But Bakugo and Deku are two separate—!” Bro. “But Bakugo and Deku aren’t reincarnations of one ano—!” Bro. Bro.

I need you to sit down. Literally speaking, yes, you are correct. Bakugo and Deku are two separate people and they are not direct reincarnations of one another. But I need you to sit down and take a deep breath before we continue.

Deku and Bakugo are two separate people. Yugi and Atem are also two separate people who just happened to share a body. The profound thing about them is that they were united in spirit, or mind, or even heart, if you prefer. They were, in many ways, one anothers’ true shonen power in tandem with whatever the Millenium Puzzle granted in terms of shadow magic.

“Heart” in Japanese

This is a little bit of a disambiguation. The notion of “heart” in Japanese is different from that in English. There is the literal organ and there is the more, uh, abstract concept—shinso (like Hitoshi Shinso’s name, yes.) This word could be justifiably interpreted as “mind”, “soul”, “spirit”, “heart”, “essence of being”, “core”, or maybe even “identity” in some cases. If I seem like I’m struggling with the language whenever I say “heart” or “spirit” or the like, please understand that I am trying to condense something bigger than words into, well, words.

Henshin: Transforming into the Other Self

You know what the broadest swath of magical girl (maho shojo) series and shonen have in common? Magic transformations. Sailor Moon, Dragonball, Devilman, Cutie Honey (considered the first magical girl series, by the way!), BLEACH, Princess Tutu… Be it into a frilly and incredible costume with magic powers or a cool alter ego with a nerve one does not ordinarily possess (or both), Japanese animanga are all about those transformations and unlocking of the inner (true) self through them.

Here’s an application of the concept to Katekyo Hitman Reborn!: Tsuna is kind, benevolent, gentle, friendly, and wants to protect his friends. However, whenever his assassin mentor Reborn reveals his inner power (and later when Tsuna does it himself), Tsuna becomes an aggressive wild card with abilities to match. He is still the same person, but another side of himself is unlocked.

And again in Yugioh: When possessed, Yugi becomes “Yami” Yugi (Atem)—a figure who is flashier (aka more masculine), more assertive, more poised, more cutthroat, and just generally cooler in every way. While Yugi does become “another person” unlike Tsuna, technically speaking, Atem still functions as a mirror of Yugi. That’s what narrative foils do: highlight the similarities between themselves and their foil characters by showing off their differences.

Unlike Tsuna or Yugi, Deku doesn’t exactly transform physically (at least, not rapidly. He works out on the beach for a year and gets buff) even after he gains One for All, but in some of his most, erm, “victory-oriented heroic” moments, he does transform mentally. Specifically, he transforms into Bakugo—or at the very least, the parts of Bakugo that he wants to emulate about Bakugo. Which turns out to be pretty much everything about Bakugo, if we’re being honest here.

While they don’t share a body, Bakugo is the Atem to Izuku’s Yugi Mutoh. But the reverse is also true! Bakugo begins to speak like Deku whenever he is at his most “saving-oriented heroic”.

Whatever Bakugo and Deku are made of, it’s the same thing at heart. Under duress, they transform into one another; they switch between honne and tatemae; they switch between their id and superego; they are unified at heart.

Honne and Tatemae; Id and Superego; Win and Save; Selfishness and Selflessness

Honne is the private face and true feelings. Tatemae is the public face one upholds towards society. For the sake of exploration, let’s give ‘em a new application. What do you know about the Freudian Model of id, ego, and superego?

Honne is analogous to the id—the base desires, instincts, and true feelings of a person with no filter. Tatemae is analogous to the superego—the conscience that reflects morality as defined by the social standards in which one is surrounded.

Early in the series, Bakugo (Atem) is very in touch with his id and thinks the superego, which reflects his society’s advertised values, is full of hypocritical shit. Likewise, Deku (Yugi) has a very well-developed superego and either downplays, suppresses, or acts oblivious to his id except in do-or-die moments.

Id and superego are two extremes, but they both exist (okay, well, theoretically they exist. I think Freud is full of shit, personally, but these concepts are used often in literature and art) in one entity. What the hell is making them connect into a cohesive whole?

The thing that connects the (usually opposing) id and the superego is the ego, or the conscious sense of self. Atem and Yugi work in tandem with one another to form one unified being that balances both of them—in other words, they form one ego. Likewise, Bakugo and Deku may not be in the same body, but if they can work together—can combine their drives to win and save; can understand the purposes and intent of their honne and tatemae; can negotiate between their id and superego—they can become the greatest Heroes. 

In other words, they will be unified in heart and spirit.

It’s not totally unlike Goku and Vegeta fusing to defeat Buu, or even Goten and Trunks (another set of childhood friends and foils!) fusing successfully to increase their strength. Bakugo and Deku may be individuals, but they are also two halves of a whole. Much like Yugi and Atem.

Yugi and Atem are also, from a literary perspective, narrative foils as well as the main protagonist and deuteragonist. What this means is that, in order to conclude, Yugi’s arc requires a resolution of the secondary protagonist (aka Atem, the deuteragonist and narrative foil)’s arc in order to come to a conclusion. Read that last sentence again.

Read it again. Now apply it to Katsuki and Izuku.

In order to conclude, Deku’s arc requires a resolution of Katsuki’s.

Compatibility Takes Effort and a Willing Heart

Yugioh and MHA have this in common, too: they make it clear that this union of two to become one must be an equal partnership and come from a willing heart. It is a profound and special thing! All for One tried to create “another self” from his brother and then Tenko/Shigaraki, but he did it by force and suppression of the other’s id, ego, superego, honne, tatemae heart, soul, spirit, identity, individuality…everything.

Yugioh’s equivalents to this All for One-Shigaraki situation are Thief King Bakura, arguably, but Yami Marik is perhaps more appropriate. The theme of forceful possession versus willing cooperation is not a new concept in this genre. It lends itself pretty well to the meta-textual reading of MHA being about one kind of social order (or even world power) trying to impose its will on an existing society, huh?

The Heart Wants What it Wants

To further drive this conflation of words like “heart”, “identity”, “honne”, “truth”, and “essence of self” when it comes to possession and unification home as it applies to MHA, I bring Himiko Toga to your attention. The bird she exsanguinates as a child appears in her dreams as an entity pecking open her stomach to be free. I’m pretty sure the appearance of the bird is an allusion to a short story where someone’s heart, personified by a bird, pecks at that someone’s insides as if the person is a cage and it is trying to escape. Even if it isn’t, the “caged bird longing to be free” narrative is pretty straightforward in most cultures.

In the case of All for One and Shigaraki, the struggle between the “bird” (Tenko/Shigaraki and his true desires) and the “cage” (All for One’s desires and the conditioning he inflicted upon Tenko before fully possessing his body) is a brutal and unfortunate one. In the case of Deku and Bakugo, the two of them are learning to balance their wants for themselves as well as one another in a way that is symbiotic rather than parasitic or destructive.

Your Name

Kotodama; the belief that power dwells in words. Seimei-handan; fortune-telling through how a name is written. The importance of honorifics in Japanese; the structured and understood hierarchy of respect inherent in Japanese family and given name order and construction. The importance of the meaning and selection of Japanese given names as outlined in this academic paper from Georgia Southern.

These are not all directly related, but they all center around the power and significance of words in a general sense, and then names in particular. Names hold significance in Japanese culture and mythology, so it follows that they hold significance in manga storylines, too. 

In Yugioh, the mystery of Atem’s name is a crucial one to unlocking his identity and memories.

In MHA, the characters’ Hero names are of emphasized importance. The character’s given names often are, too. Bakugo’s name is a multilayered blueprint of who he is, his narrative struggle, and what his aspirations are. I already outlined the meaning of “Izuku Midoriya” at the start of this writeup, but I haven’t talked about the origins of the name “Deku”.

The Meaning Behind Deku: Dekunobou

“Deku” means useless. Bakugo gave Deku this nickname to show off that he knew how to read as well as be a little snot. Ochako changes the meaning to be closer to “Dekiru”, or basically “you (or I) can do it!” but the nickname as given to him by Bakugo draws its roots from “[useless] wooden puppet” or “wooden doll”.

I walked in the MHA doors knowing that, ‘cause I’m also a Legend of Zelda fan and the word “deku” pops up a lot, but Horikoshi had to clue me (and most of the rest of the world) in on the source of the name as it is intended within MHA.

“Deku” comes from “dekunobou”, which appeared in the poem “Ame ni mo makezu”, or “Be Not Defeated by the Rain” or even “Be Strong in the Rain”, if you prefer. If you click that link, you can read the poem and its translation as well as a blurb about the author.

Anyway, the line in question is “Minna ni dekunobou to yobare/homerare mo sezu/ku ni mo sarezu”, or, when localized, “To be called useless by everyone/Is better than being flattered as a “great man””. Please note that there are many other translations of this line, and personally, I think “I am called a wooden doll by everyone/and not praised/nor dropped” is the most powerful and applicable choice in regards to Deku specifically, but I am going to use several localizations of the same line to make my points because I feel they lend themselves to the English language more readily in the contexts in which I am about to use them. For example, the slides use the Wikipedia translation of “Called useless by all/Neither praised/Nor a bother/Such is the person I wish to be” because of how I can arrange the words. Still, the main idea remains consistent.

Regardless, the poem extols the virtues of living a humble life existing in the moment and in service to others without the need for recognition. It’s well known among the Japanese, apparently. I’ll be honest: I don’t like poetry in my own language at the best of times, so interpreting it in another one certainly isn’t my strength, but the inherent Buddhist philosophy of existing humbly in this world in service to others sure shines through to me. It’s, well, it sounds very much like the sort of selfless aspiration to which someone like Izuku Midoriya would aspire.

This presentation is long enough, so I’m not going to go into great detail regarding the highly-Googleable topic of Buddhist philosophy. However, here’s the first thing you need to know to read this: individuals are not a product of their innate sense of self, but rather a result of their experiences and environment as it impacts the individual. Basically, ego serves no constructive purpose, so it is best to live life in service to others rather than the self.

Ame ni mo Makezu and Bakugo

While I am not well-versed in poetry, I have extensive experience in being a rude Westerner from a self-centered individualist culture and a wealth of experience in being a Bakugo fan. Please be aware that the interpretation I’m about to give of this poem is one made, intentionally, on somewhat bad faith using the intentionally narrowed scope of my cultural background (and language barrier, in my case). I feel it is relevant to give it not because it’s “right” or “good”, but because if Bakugo is following the logic of someone driven by a Western viewpoint as it applies to individualism, it’s useful for our purposes that I leverage my background in my initial interpretation of this poem.

“Ame ni mo makezu” isn’t just about Deku. “To be called useless by everyone is better than being flattered as a “great man”. It’s about Bakugo, too. It’s expressing something suspiciously close to pity towards those flattered by the people and culture around them and put in the position of having an overinflated ego. Pretentious, holier-than-thou bullshit. The poem is saying, “I may be seen as a nobody, but at least I’m not an overstuffed blowhard who isn’t really hot shit”. Wow. Cat calling the monkey a long-tailed bastard, here. Tell me how much better you are than me as you humble-brag at the same time, why don’t you?

The interpretation I have just given is not unlike how Bakugo interpreted Deku’s acts of altruism and kindness in the past.

There is an inherent immaturity to that view of the poem born from my assertion that the speaker must be comparing themselves to me, specifically. It alludes to my own fragility that I would immediately perceive this statement as an attack made to me. However, it is completely possible, depending on the intentions and delivery of the poet, that they meant for me to take those words in the way that I did. It can’t be proven or disproven. The possibility always exists that this poem is expressing nothing but passive-aggression towards those “flattered” as “great”.

But it is the ego, or self-centered lens, that will imbue words with these meanings.

Does that help put Bakugo’s childhood perspective on Deku make more sense? Does it make more sense why Bakugo would think Deku was “looking down on him” whenever Deku did something heroic or called him amazing? By the end of Deku vs Kacchan 2, Deku begins to understand how Bakugo has come to this kind of conclusion… a little. His understanding becomes more complete as the story continues.

Anyway, what the poem is actually trying to express is a more matter-of-fact position that living in service to others is more conducive to showing others how to do the same and reach enlightenment and finding peace in this duty and humble comforts are enough. When read in this manner, the poem also acknowledges that the conditions that lead someone to have a big head are, in many ways, not in their control. It is something thrust upon them by other people.

By the end of his arc, Bakugo understands this more, though he, along with his class, realizes that having a true balance also requires respect given to the self and not always deferring to others’ needs to the point of self-detriment. Having a sustainable society based on serving others also requires everyone to do the same rather than just rely on a few key people to do all the work. 

Buddhist philosophy is applicable to the situation in this way: Buddhist practitioners seek to eschew self-indulgence, but also not to engage in self-denial, either. Following a “middle way” between the two is the point. MHA is taking this philosophy and applying it to the story’s entire society.

This is the same discussion of balance as contained in my explanation of the ideals of a collectivist society earlier in this writeup, but as applied by this poem.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: The Shonen Protagonist’s Curse of Obligation Applied to Buddhist Philosophy

Spider-Man’s main thesis, “with great power comes great responsibility”, dovetails nicely into the long-standing shonen tradition of a series’ superpower having a dark side or dark implications.  I discussed this in-depth regarding the genre baggage of nuclear power and how it inherently haunts Bakugo’s shonen protagonist Hero persona archetype.

Given that context, it isn’t surprising that Bakugo, who is modeled after a “classic” shonen protagonist, describes One for All, Midoriya’s special shonen power, as “a cursed power”. This is how Bakugo sees such power and how he sees the obligations that come with it: as a curse.

It’s the curse of others saddling Deku with an obligation too large for any single person as alluded to in “Ame ni no makezu”’s assertion that “To be called useless by everyone/is better than being flattered as a “great man””.

Remember: In my very watered-down Buddhism model, a person is not made through something inherent within themselves, but as a result of their previous experiences and outside forces acting upon them. Their context can be a blessing, but also a burden.

It is Deku’s “curse” to learn how to navigate his obligation with his own wellbeing and reach a middle way between the two—in other words, it is his narrative prerogative to reach a personal enlightenment.

The most relevant figure that comes to mind when I think of other famous narratives that involve an innocent and conventionally lauded character reaching enlightenment through this struggle is Xuanzang, or the Tripitaka monk that the Monkey King is obligated by the gods to guard in Journey to the West. Huh. How ‘bout that.

Enlightenment

I mentioned the word “enlightenment” as it relates to Buddhism. For the purposes of MHA, you could make it analogous to “maturity” or “coming of age” or “surpassing All Might” or “realizing a balance between selfishness and selflessness”. Or even “balancing the value of winning and saving” or even “becoming one with Bakugo”, in a certain sense. But in order to reach that stage, Deku had to become aware of his world first.

Through the power given to him by All Might, Deku becomes aware of more and more obligations he feels he must support or uphold until he is crushed by them. Without the power, he never would have become aware of these obligations or how unforgiving the world of Heroes is, nor would he be able to understand what it is to be labeled a Villain due to the burden of a natural-born quirk.

He also wouldn’t have the opportunity to understand when he is being the most selfish little putz in the cast. 

Hm? Are you saying this is an odd thing to say considering I have associated Deku with “selflessness” throughout this writeup? Well, yes. Deku is selfless, in a sense. But if looked at from another angle, he’s not selfless at all. He’s extremely selfish.

Let’s take another look at him.

Deku’s Selfishness: The Hero Does Not Get to Decide What the Victim Wants

Deku’s selfishness is best illustrated by how doggedly he acts on his desire to save without regard for anyone or anything else. Gran Torino tells him as much point-blank. Mr. Compress implies it during the infamous “GIVE HIM BACK!” scene during Bakugo’s kidnapping. Deku puts his own selfishness in this respect on display throughout the series, actually. Repeatedly.

Deku’s going to save everyone because he’s decided to save everyone. If you had an opinion about it, too bad. It’s happening because Deku wants it to happen. Forget what you want.

Deku has a moment of angst over not being the one to reach out to Bakugo in the Kamino rescue and instead must use Kirishima as a proxy, and, oh! How fitting that the next chunk of the story is the Overhaul arc–you know. The part with Eri. The part where Deku has to learn that he can’t just throw out his hand and expect every perceived victim to accept it without question or that it’s even the best move to make. It’s not the first lesson that could maybe help him understand why Bakugo thinks he’s a selfish, sanctimonious, and self-destructive little dumbass and why Kirishima and Bakugo’s relationship has something Deku’s relationship with Bakugo lacked at the time, but it certainly had the highest stakes up until that point.

Eri’s story in the subsequent Overhaul arc is about showing that a victim must take the initiative to not just allow themselves to be saved, but actively want to be saved–aka they have to want to take the hand outstretched to them. This isn’t something Deku gets to decide on his own based on his feelings alone. He must take the feelings of the other party into account.

He struggles with this lesson. Mightily.

Going back to Deku’s moment of angst regarding reaching out to Bakugo–he wanted to be the one to reach out and was actively upset that it had to be Kirishima instead. If Ochako hadn’t pointed out that maybe Bakugo didn’t want to be saved, he would have done whatever he wanted. Deku had never really thought about Bakugo’s feelings and desires before, not really. Over time, he comes to realize he’d not thought about the Villains’ feelings, particularly Shigaraki’s, before, either.

During his stint as a vigilante, Deku is following the path of self-denial by pushing everyone away and running himself ragged. But, you know, he is doing this selfishly. He’s too afraid of his friends getting hurt somehow, so he selfishly keeps his problems from them and tries to refuse their involvement. It’s the same thing he did to Tenya Iida when Iida prompted Deku to rely on him. He just blew everyone off.

One would think Deku might have learned his lesson after Kota’s initial rejection of him during the Summer Training Camp, but alas. Deku continued to do whatever he thought was best without regard for anyone else’s feelings. And Deku is particularly selfish when it comes to, as he put it in his outburst to Mr. Compress, his Kacchan.

Bakugo may be his childhood friend, bully, and later rival, but that’s a bit much to assume without ever really communicating with the other party, isn’t it? And while the audience knows (or should know) that Deku and Bakugo will repair their relationship by series’ end, the two of them must first go through the journey of understanding one another, their past, and their desires for the future.

About Shonen Rivalries

This is something I feel I need to point out. A “rival” isn’t meant to be a negative relationship, really. Particularly not in Japan. I know when I was a kid I always thought it was, particularly thanks to the Pokemon anime’s Gary Oak and his juvenile, contentious relationship with Ash Ketchum/Satoshi, but that’s not the case. As it turns out, a rival is its own special kind of relationship with its own connotations. As such, it’s often one of the central—if not the central—relationships to many shonen series and often outshines whatever the intended romantic love plot relationship. (Remember how, in the initial Bakugo presentation, I said girls are only allowed to do so much in shonen? This is loosely related to that.)

The point is, when you read a shonen manga with a notable rival dynamic, do yourself a favor and think of that work as a “rival friendship love story” because that’s generally what they are or what they set out to become. If you’d like a list of big, influential shonen titles that highlight the profundity of their main rival duo’s relationship as the core drama of their series, here’s a few: 

Devilman

Yugioh (Fascinatingly, this series in particular has more than one figure in this situation)

HunterxHunter

Deathnote

Prince of Tennis

Dragon Ball (Much like Yugioh, there is more than one rival that fills this role but Piccolo and Vegeta are the most prominent)

Naruto (tch... Sasuke…)

A rival is, as Guy Maito from Naruto puts it, a character’s “man of destiny”.

I’m going to come right out and say this so you have some background on me: besides making stupid jokes about shonen rival pairs acting super duper fruity (I am usually the first to make these jokes whenever applicable), I don’t usually fall into shipping rivals as in, like, love love with one another. But there is something to it. 

I’m going to link you to this goofy commentary I saw highlighting the dynamic of Naruto’s core rivalry and Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World because it made me laugh. I am in no way saying Rene Girard has anything substantial to do with why so many shonen rivals are portrayed the way that they are (and nor is the op, I don’t think–and if we were to try and make everything about every shonen rivalry fit into the framework of this book’s ideology, that would be a HELL of a thing to unpack regarding the Westernization of relationships in manga), but it is a nice little bite-sized goof encapsulating the, like, flavors of exploration involved in rival relationships that are bonkers complicated. The relationship between Bakugo and Midoriya is applicable to this joke post for much the same reasons.

In my Bakugo presentation, I refrained from going into detail about Naruto for this reason: I hate Sasuke Uchiha so much. I hate him so much. But I must talk about him.

Naruto, Showa Politics, Shinso Abe Memes, and Nanshoku

MHA creator Horikoshi is a known Naruto fan and has expressed disappointment with the ending of the Naruto anime series—when Sasuke leaves the village and Naruto does not convince him to return. You know, the part of the anime not including Shippuden. We can surmise that the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke was obviously a major draw of the series for him.

It would be presumptuous of me to say that, based on the context of his comment, Horikoshi had any strong opinions about Naruto and Sasuke marrying women at the end of the series and having children, but I can tell you this: I don’t give a rat’s ass about Sasuke, SNS (“Shippuden NaruSasu�� or even “SasuNaruSasu” which means their feelings are requited and, like, in a sexual dynamic they’re both switches. Or something? Ask someone who cares more), or the Naruto fandom (okay, okay, fine, the Naruto fandom is very funny and I like them a lot), but I also think that the epilogue of “and they were all married with children and maintained the status quo!” ending fucking sucked. 

If you would like to call me a bitter old fandom queen about this issue, well, first of all, I’m honored because I’m just barely old enough to qualify for the title, I think, but in spirit you’re right.

But I am also not alone in hating that ending by any stretch of the imagination. And I’m not even touching on the amount of baggage much of the Western fandom carries regarding watching these heteronormative everyone-is-paired-off-at-the-end-of-the-series endings unfold. (The same could be said of BLEACH though arguably because it was so, so rushed rather than for the content itself). I just mean that, generally, worldwide, lots of fans HATE those endings. Sure, there are fans that love those endings, but there is a not-small amount that absolutely loathe them.

There are several “old shonen wounds” that remain in shonen fandom (thanks @pikahlua for the term), and having to sit through Naruto, BLEACH, and even Dragonball’s heteronormative family dynamics at the end is one of ‘em. Why? The reasons are many, but I am going to focus on the ones specific to me: it’s boring as hell and also because it is similar to the idea of Peter Pan leaving Neverland forever. Why the hell would I want that to happen?! They’re action shonen characters! Their powers are built from friendship, effort, and victory as they act out the childish fantasies (sometimes power fantasies) of youth when possibilities are endless, even in the darkest of situations! I don’t want to see them grow up and have real jobs and angst over their relationships with their kids. I don’t want to see their wings clipped by something so asinine, especially when it is not something built up as what these characters explicitly want.

Do you remember in the Kirishima presentation how I talked about Japan’s declining birthrate and the cultural expectation of people to start a family and have children? It is a social obligation. I don’t want to see the shonen characters I have come to love shackled to that. I’m too Western, too queer, too disillusioned, and too attached to let them go without viscerally understanding that they really want such a situation.

Deku might marry Uraraka; Naruto married Hinata; Sasuke married Sakura. Sure. But in the case of the last two, they were—and I mean this with as much channeled inherited sexism as I can possibly convey—just their wives. In shonen and other historically patriarchal spaces, they’re just there.

And even when viewed from a kinder vantage point than mine where they aren’t relegated to “just” wives, they do represent one kind of close and loving relationship. But “married couple” isn’t the end-all-be-all. People have room for many different kinds of loving relationships in their lives, and they should have them.

Whatever. It is what it is. Regardless of ships or endings, I can also tell you as fact that Sasuke and Naruto love each other the most and best in a profound way that is unique from their other relationships—and that this is the point of the majority of the manga’s drama. Do you remember the discussion from the Kirishima presentation about nanshoku and the tradition of it in Samurai and warrior culture? In Bushido? Can you see how that information would apply to, in the case of Naruto, ninja with a deeply nationalistic streak in-series that were created in a culture that was, in-story and in-meta, rooted in rigid conceptions of masculinity and nationalism? The cultural remains of nanshoku’s social function and assumptions apply to Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship and portrayal. They love each other. Their love is nebulously not-exactly-gay by Japanese standards, but that doesn’t make it any less profound.

And if they weren’t two characters of a shonen manga produced in a homophobic country by a publisher with well-known stances on how two men in love are to be portrayed, hell, they might’ve kissed and hugged and had sex, too, I guess? They definitely would have held hands. 

Yugi and Atem–and then Atem and Seto and Yugi and Jonouchi–from Yugioh also love each other most and best in a similar, unique way. This isn’t something that should need to be debated.

But here’s the point: despite the cultural “no homo” surrounding it, Naruto is a case where the SasuNaruSasu shipping community as a monolith probably has the best understanding of the characters’ motives regarding one another even if their fanwork takes it to a more flowery (or pornographic) extreme. The same principle of theme digestion and character motivation present in SasuNaruSasu applies to BakuDeku(Baku). 

I’m not saying that Bakugo and Deku are gay and are going to get married or even kiss (or, god forbid, hold hands, but Horikoshi is going to do whatever the hell he’s gonna do with that), but a main sticking point of My Hero Academia is that Katsuki loves Izuku and Izuku loves Katsuki. Period. If you can’t see and accept that as fact in the current manga, you’re willfully not paying attention. Don’t send me and asks about this because if you dare to do so after reading everything I have written, I will call you stupid and ignorant to your face.

BakuDeku as a Fandom Ship

At its best, nothing changes from their canon dynamic except they might, like, kiss or something. Other than that, it’s the same. It SHOULD be the same. Fandom flanderizes Deku into being a saint and sometimes makes Bakugo a true delinquent bad boy and slob and smokes and knows what he is doing in terms of seducing “sweet innocent Izuku”, but fandom does that to any set of characters, honestly.

Parting Words: Eschewing Self-Denial

In Buddhism, followers are meant to neither self-indulge nor self-deny. This is for the good of themselves as well as the good of those around them.

Deku is, amazingly, both indulging and denying himself when it comes to Bakugo. He gets to keep his feelings to himself and admire Bakugo all he wants and Bakugo is none the wiser. At the same time, he denies himself the chance to get closer and have the close relationship that he wants with his childhood friend, his rival, his bully, his, well, his Kacchan.

Bakugo is “his Kacchan” without actually being “his Kacchan”. It’s a paradox.

But even so, Katsuki is still the closest star in Izuku’s sky.

#bnha meta #izuku midoriya #deku #bnha #katsuki bakugo #bakudeku #deku presentation #bakudeku presentation #bnha manga spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha #heroaca #heroaca meta

[quigonswife8]

Comfort: Qui-gon jinn x reader

You’ve been feeling down and Qui comforts you

Thought i'd just delete this from my other account and post it here :) When I wrote this it was for me cause of my depression, but if you find comfort in this too then that's great :)

Warnings: talks of depression, sadness, but Qui being a sweetheart and comforting.

gif creds: @smokahuntis

Also if you ever need to talk, I’m here💕

----

Night falls upon the busy Coruscant. People hurry through the busy streets getting home, or going to the many bars that fill the city.

The Jedi are either busy with jedi business, or residing to their quarters; your husband is busy on a mission- he’s been gone for a few days and will be back that night.

You, on the other hand, lean against the window with your knees pulled up to your chest. Your head rests against the window, and you look out on the city- at the lights- and a sigh falls from your lips. You don’t pull your eyes away though, you just continue to stare out trying to pull yourself from the thoughts that fill your head with dread.

Depression. It’s not a term that most people are familiar with, but you’re not ‘most people’. You found out that you had depression when you were ten. yep, that young. after losing a close friend you fell into depression. It’s gotten better, if you can say that, over the years, but there are times much like now that it hits hard;

With your husband being gone for days you’ve missed him [more than you usually do when he goes away] you have worried he’d be badly hurt and because of the thoughts you have worried he won’t return. You’ve kept contact with him and you know he’s okay but because of your thoughts...

You have become withdrawn from everyone- from everything- You have resided in the room for most of these days and despite the questions as to why you won’t really leave you’ll just say you haven’t been feeling well which isn't a lie. You just haven’t been feeling well mentally.

You let out another sigh. Qui will be home soon, i’ll finally be able to see him. You know he’ll want to sleep pretty much straightaway since he’s been gone days and will be exhausted- and will be wanting to sleep in his own bed. You should probably make him something to eat and get ready to welcome him back with open arms...but you don’t want to move. That’s selfish you know but you have barely any energy or motivation and you’d rather stay there.

what if he gets annoyed?  Qui-Gon is the calmest person you know but what if he does get annoyed? Find you...pathetic. that you weren’t even welcoming him back after he’s been gone for days, and that you don’t...love him. None of this would happen but again it’s your thoughts- they betray you- and so you can’t help but fall into this mind-state.

Pushing a hand through your hair you let out another sigh but this time it’s uneven. shaky. not wanting to cry you focus your attention on something outside, which often helps when you feel you’re gonna cry, or simply break down.

----

The door creaks open. Qui-Gon enters the room and once the door is shut, he immedietly focuses on looking for you.

“My love...”

He sounds tired exhausted, more like it.

“...i’m back...”

Qui-Gon stops mid-sentence. He notices you leaning against the window but he can just sense that you’re not okay. He notices that you hadn’t noticed him enter the room or even say hello which means you’re focused on something but not because you want to be.

His heart sinks because he just knows what this is. He has experienced you going through it before- he helped you through it- but to see you going through it again hurts him. Not your fault. it hurts that there’s no way to prevent this thing known as depression, something you’ve struggled with since you were ten years old.

Qui-Gon slips off his shoes and then he makes his way towards you, soon kneeling behind you;

“My love..”

Qui puts a hand on your back softly. His voice is so soft but so full of love- he’s exhausted and needs to sleep but you’re more important to him. You turn around having heard him now, your eyes meeting his blue ones and he can see how much the depression is having a toll on you.

Your eyes have dark circles under them, and you look like you haven’t slept in days [which isn’t fully a lie]. Your happiness is barely there and instead you look...defeated.

He wants to ask you if you’re okay but he knows that asking might make things worse. So instead he wraps his arms around you catching you off guard, and then he picks you up. He doesn’t say anything but he carries you over to the bed and out of habit you hold onto him, settling into his hold.

Qui places you on your side of the bed, and then he climbs in next to you. No words are said but you can tell that he knows what you’re going through. you can see a look of worry and a look of pain in his eyes, but mostly a look of love. He loves you so much and he would do anything for you, so much so that if your relationship was revealed and Qui was given the choice between you and the council, he would choose you in a heart beat.

Qui-Gon motions for you snuggle up close to him, so you do. You rest your head against his chest, and he wraps an arm around you in a sort of comforting/protective way. Qui-Gon uses the force to bring the blankets up over the two of you [this is something I would do], and then he rests his head on top of yours.

You don’t even need to say thank you, because he knows. he can just tell. you don’t say anything, and neither does Qui-Gon. The two of you just lay there in one-another’s embrace;

You happy to finally be back in your lover’s arms even if everything was such an effort leading up to that point, your little bit of happiness being Qui-Gon.

Qui-gon wanting to take away how you feel. wanting to take away what you’re going through. wanting to shield you from everything because you don’t deserve any of it.

#star wars #qui-gon jinn x reader #qui-gon jinn #best boi #liam neeson #star wars prequels

[fayoftheforest]

Kyle Stan and Kenny for the ask game? :3

(ask is in reference to this post. thank you for the ask!!)

Sexuality Headcanon:

Stan: flip flops between labels but eventually settles on "queer" because he likes the ambiguity

Kyle: my god, this bitch is gay! good for him, good for him.

Kenny: doesn't deal in labels. if you ask him to define his sexuality he'll just laugh. if you keep pressing he'll be like "my type is hot people. so dont worry, I'm not going to hit on you."

Gender Headcanon:

Stan: this fella is a walking identity crisis! he uses he/they pronouns but if you ask him to define his gender he will break down into garbled screaming and run away to go shake and sob in a corner :)

Kyle: cis man, comfortable with his gender identity and aware of where he sits on the spectrum thanks to countless conversations about it with stan. he thinks he's only interested in presenting and being perceived in a masculine way until someone calls him "pretty boy" and then kyle.exe stops working 🥴

Kenny: no label, any pronouns, whatever whatever whatever. "gender? no thanks, I just ate."

A ship I have with said character: okay firstly I must state my affinity for STYLENNY SUPREMACY 🛐 but in terms of non-poly ships:

Stan: Style (shocker), Stutters, Stolkien, Stary, Stenny, Staig, t4t Stendy

Kyle: Style, K2, Cryle

Kenny: Bunny, Crenny, K2, Twenny, Stenny

A BROTP I have with said character:

Stan: Stan & Craig. they openly loath each other, but they secretly see a part of themselves in the other and so are motivated to help each other out in their problems in a fucked up egocentric kinda way >:D

Kyle: Kyle & Tolkien & Wendy form an unlikely friendship because they enjoy doing hobbies together that their friends find boring, like reading and being sensible. they're also the go-to group when one of them needs to rant and rave whilst the other two nod their heads sympathetically

Kenny: Kenny & Bebe as unstoppable beings of sheer power

A NOTP I have with said character: (no hate to people who ship this, it can be cute but it's just not my cup of tea;

Stan: Stendy, when it's basic bland and cishet

Kyle: Mutual Kyman makes me deeply uncomfortable for reasons that I don't need to get into because I'm sure you can all guess. Once sided Kyman (from Eric) can be interesting though, but it's gotta be done Just Right for it to pass my personal vibe test

Kenny: I don't love Kenny ships where he's written with predatory/rapey undertones (this was more prominent in the early fandom days I think). write him however you want but at the end of the day we all know he's a consent king with so much love to give <3

A random headcanon:

Stan: he has acne!! he's self conscious about it but tbh it's cute on him

Kyle: loathes the summer with a passion because of his hayfever. loathes the winter with a passion because he just gets one cold after another. this guy loathes the weather 24/7 and he will make it EVERYONE'S problem >:(

Kenny: my guy can fall asleep anywhere. on a bus? lights out. in class? snoozing. right in the middle of a conversation? zzzzz. his go to response to any problem or crisis is a nap. it drives his friends up the wall but what are they gonna do, whake him? when he looks so sweet and peaceful curled up like that? you'd have to be a monster to distrupt that bliss

General Opinion over said character: good god I love these guys 🥹

#ask #ask game #south park #sp stan #sp kyle #sp kenny #stan marsh #kyle broflovski #kenny mccormick #stylenny #headcanons

[orange-orchard-system]

This is a general observation on discourse (not about anything in particular, don't start accusing me of commenting on some drama or other), but I think people use "support" in a way that is... maybe too vague.

Like, when people use it for celebrities like JKR and the Harry Potter franchise, you know what they mean. If you're buying HP merch, you're financially supporting her. If you talk positively about HP (even if you don't "support" her in the form of personally approving of what she does), she sees that as support for her actions, and uses it as motivation to continue harming others. So, if someone engages with HP in this day and age (with the exception of critiques, which I'm decently sure cannot be misconstrued as support even by the bitch herself), it's understandable that people would see that as supporting JKR, especially with how knowledge of these actions counts as supporting her is spreading – it's not often something one can do unintentionally, not on Tumblr at least. In other spaces, one may be more likely to be out of the loop, but I've still seen information spread on other social medias and even irl about what exactly people mean by "supporting JKR", and what that entails.

This does not really translate to online discourse, with bloggers instead of celebrities. Unless a person is remarkably horrible, you're not going to know all their bad takes and behavior unless you dig for them. And most people don't dig for them! Why would they?! There's no obvious reason they should! A lot of people barely check DNIs!! Add to that the fact that when it comes to many strands of discourse, people will have tags or words filtered out, and will thus see only that someone is speaking on a topic, but not their actual opinions, and have no reason or desire to look at discussion on something they've purposefully tried to avoid just to find out what that someone is saying. So you've got a situation where people will accuse others of "supporting" someone they would have no good reason to know the bad takes or behavior of, and it's a miracle if the person making the accusation actually elaborates.

Moreover, "showing support" for bloggers isn't the same as famous people. Reblogging a post on one topic does not mean showing support for the OP's opinion on a separate topic (assuming the reblogger even knows of it, which can be very unlikely, given how posts can spread far from their blog of origin). And you can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I don't think many bloggers assume support based on things like that. When you've seen people follow your blog even though they have a label or community you're part of in their DNI, you learn quick that engagement with your blog means shit all when it comes to people's opinions of you. I have no reason to see likes or reblogs as support for every word out of my mouth, only the specific ones that people are leaving notes on.

Circling back around to an earlier point I made, "support" in and of itself is a very vague concept. I think many folks using this term actually mean "approve", as in, "Do you approve of X's problematic actions?", but this hidden meaning makes such accusations even more ridiculous, especially when they're being leveled at a person just for a reblog or comment on another's post. Must you personally approve of everything a person has ever done in life to interact with them or treat them civilly? Must a person offer up for critique everything they have ever done in life so strangers can decide whether they deserve to be interacted with or treated civilly? This is a ridiculous demand to make of either side of an interaction, online or offline.

I know there's situations where this kind of questioning is warranted. I'm pretty sure a lot of users on here have found out they reblogged some innocuous looking post from someone they later found out was an asshole, and that put the reblogged post in a new light. But I don't see a lot of that with these accusations of "support". Instead, I often see people who others have simply decided are Bad, for one reason or another, and thus anyone who interacts with them must either denounce that interaction as soon as possible or be labeled as Bad too, even if they're not told why the OP is Bad. There's a difference between "hey, that person you reblogged from is an active asshole and bigot, just thought you might want to know" and "why do you personally approve of all these problematic actions that I will not elaborate on but assume you know about and support the continuation of (never mind if they were one-off occurrences or actually continued offenses) because you reblogged a post on the reblogging posts website. Answer quickly."

Even when you do get an explanation, it's often either a bunch of little things that aren't a big deal (which is like. Congrats, you found proof this person wasn't born perfect. Do you want a medal for your service?), or something blown out of proportion. Sometimes, yes, these little things piss me off enough to block the blog in question, but that's on a case-by-case basis based on my own feelings on the matter, not some kind of "three strikes you're out" policy. There's not a limit to how many times you can fuck up before people decide you no longer get to grow as a person. That's – and I'm not exaggerating, since I've seen similar concepts in actual books about this – something dystopian. "Yeah but they did A and B and C and D and –" and?? Are people never allowed to make mistakes or have unpopular opinions?? Do you think everything in the world must line up with how you personally feel it should?? Who the fuck are you to decide they've worded one post too many poorly and are thus A Bad Person??

And like. What's the point of it? What's the point of asking if someone "supports x blogger"? So you can label them as Bad By Association? So you can shame more and more people for interacting with people you've decided to other? That's called being an asshole at best and a bully (abuser, really, since bullying is also known as peer abuse) trying to make sure their victim has no positive relationships at worst. "I've decided I don't like this person and that they are Bad Now And Forever, so I'm going to tell everyone that they should never talk to this person ever, framing these actions in the worst possible light as I do so. And if they continue talking to this person and don't immediately accept my demands, they are also Bad Now And Forever, and all of them deserve to be othered, possibly even harassed depending on my feelings on the matter." That's fucking ridiculous.

All of this to say; accusing someone of "supporting x blogger", especially for something like reblogging a post from them, is ridiculous, and just reads as bait. You're not spreading awareness, you're not helping people keep themselves safe, you're just stirring up drama.

#front soup.txt #discourse mention #long post

[saorsay]

Idk how to put this down in words exactly but I'm gonna try anyway. 2023 was a rlly bad year for me in terms of creating art lol. Ive been working through probably the worst case of art block/burnout ive experienced in a long long time. The workload from college last year was so immense and unwieldy, by the time deadlines came and went I was beyond running on fumes (a feeling I can guarantee my friends and peers also know rip). And looking back at the work I did produce I mainly just feel. Annoyed. Apart from Master Phiast and the lifedrawing sketchbooks I kept, The amount of pressure (in part due to my own indecisiveness and work ethic, another part due to unrealistic assignment briefs) to put out the largest quantity of work as I possibly could is reflective in what I ended up turning in. Most of which will never see the light of day (not on any public platforms of mine anyway lmao). Aside from a few paintings here and there, I spent most of my year working, picking up crocheting and spending time w friends and family whenever I can. I'm still trying to shake the feeling of guilt I get whenever I'm not actively creating or working on anything that can be posted online or put in a portfolio, but I'm getting there.

Only now do I feel like I'm starting to build up the motivation to draw again, mostly working on final year stuff. While I'm still pretty miffed about the wasted time spent on work I'm not proud of, I'm actively trying to reframe thinking about it in a way that Is helpful going forward. I'm learning from the fuck-ups I made and applying what I've picked up in the meantime.

I'm sick atm so idk how intelligible this is but I hope it makes sense. Basically what I'm trying to say is Don't Beat Yourself Up for Taking A Break, you're not a Content-Making Machine.

Tl:Dr 2023 was kinda shite, bring on 2024🕺

#my art #my face too #art vs artist #art vs artist 2023 #sea yaps #idk if this articulates everything i feel but im tired and gonna go take a nape in 5 seconds so

[witch-of-snow-and-stars]

Tarot Notes & Musings Part 2: What doing a tarot reading is like as a reader

*This is more about my experiences as a reader vs part 1 being more about how I card read. These are just my experience and other readers have different processes.*

Part 1 of Tarot Musings is here

🔮In terms of my process, when I sit down to do a reading I prefer to be in a quiet-ish space with a decent amount of room to lay cards out. Then I try to focus on what/who I'm reading for and start constructing the layout of the reading, with cards signifying the people/situations involved first and then getting cards for specifics or connections (tbh most of my readings look like concept webs by the time I'm done- it's just easier to visualize and remember what I'm looking at). After that web gets constructed, I then have to condense all of the linked interpretations down into a write-up/explanation that's actually usable for someone else. I might ask about some things I'm seeing on my end, but if I know who I'm reading for I'm expecting to see certain things (ie I get an oracle that signifies ancestors and the person I'm reading for does ancestor veneration/worship? I'm not going to be surprised).

✨Usually I'm just looking for anything big whoever I'm reading for may not be aware of and what they were asking after. I might throw in my own advice and assurances, but what people do after a reading is up to them. It's their choice and they known what's going to be best for them.

🔮Something I've noticed about doing readings for other people is that when I'm reading for multiple people I can get a real understanding for people's reasoning/motivation in the situation (an example being if I'm reading for a potential couple or reading for an interpersonal conflict).

✨Having said that, I do try to get a few signifier cards for the person/people I'm reading for just so I can get a good idea of where they are in their life/how they move through the world/personality/major life aspects/etc (I really love using my oracle cards for that). Multiple signifier cards tend to be for bigger card readings, but I still like to get at least one. I use multiple decks for this with my oracle cards representing specific manifestations about who I'm reading for and what's going on with them overall. An in-depth explanation needs it's own write up though.

🔮Similarly, I use my different tarot and oracle decks in specific ways and they each have roles/jobs that they perform in the readings they're in. Because oracle decks tend to be designed around certain themes or functions, they're usually not great for full spreads like tarot (there are exceptions but I'm speaking generally). Oracles are however amazing at acting as specialists that give nuance to what I'm reading for, so I like to use tarot to paint the picture of what I'm looking at and the oracles to give light and shading to that picture.

✨For example, maybe something/someone I'm suspicious of pops up in a reading unexpectedly, so I pull cards from one of my oracle decks that's good for knowing the underlying motivations for that something (probably my Dark Mirror deck or Faerie oracle). The behavior is in the reading regardless but seeing the motivation behind it can help me see if it's something to actually be worried about.

✨Decks can also lean more towards one meaning of the cards over another, so understanding how the decks I'm using are usually lean is pretty crucial too.

🔮I'm not personally the type of reader that really 'feels' what the person I'm reading for feels, if I get emotions they're like brief flashes of color or feeling. Sometimes I'll get phrases or songs popping into my head.

✨It typically feels more like connecting dots with strings. I tend to look for cards that mirror and 'sing' with each other well. As I pull cards to clarify other parts of the reading, I'm looking for the cards to start referring back to each other and supporting what cards are already there (basically I'm looking for the cards to connect together into a story that I can look at).

🔮Honestly the things that I tap into the most energetically are my card decks. I'm not sure how to describe it other than sometimes the decks pull or push really hard in readings. Doing a reading (for me) can kind of feel like if you talk to a friend about someone else's situation so that you get a neutral party's take/advice about the situation. I can fill in the main information usually, but any intricacies I don't know about can really only be assumed or reasoned out to a reasonable extent.

#tarot notes #tarot musings #tarot #cartomancy #divination #also please vote/send in what you want to see next

[sketching-shark]

What do you think of Lego monkey kid so far?

Also I really love how, in season 1-3, they built up lady bone demon as the final villain/antagonist and conveyed her motives as the mastermind and manipulator of the series, especially her power hungry nature and obsession for a perfect world, she kinda reminds me of white diamond and especially the kind controlling/possssion part of her character. I also loved the final fight between her and wukong and when she made him get possessed by evil spirits from the mayor, gave me legit chills.

SIDE RANT: I also hate how they butchered wukong especially since he’s my favourite character even in journey to the west, besides xiaojiao/Mei and lady bone demon. They kinda made him a colossal incompetent goofy idiot instead of adding any complexity to him and how the plot makes him look bad and most of the characters blame him for everything happening in lmk, especially macaque and azure.

I also despise what happened with macaque’s character since in season 1 as he’s shown to be a complete psychopath since he manipulated xiaotian/mk in order to steel wukongs power. Then we get a glimpse of his backstory in the shadow play of the hero and the warrior. It goes like this:

“The Hero and the Warrior were like Sun and Moon. Their light, a protective glow, shining upon the world. Together, there was nothing that could stop the two of them. Either in the Celestial Realms or on Earth. As time went on, the Hero attained power beyond comprehension. As the Hero’s light grew, so too did his shadow. And soon, the Warrior was cast in that shadow. In the darkness, the Warrior was forgotten by the Hero.”

The whole play shows that the two monkeys had history together as they were once been on good terms so they may have like brothers, as they were both inseparable by the celestial realms or earth. But however, “As time went on, the Hero attained power beyond comprehension.

As the Hero’s light grew, so too did his shadow”, so as time went wukong become stronger than macaque as he learnt the 72 transformations and became a much skilled fighter, so macaque’s jealousy grew as he was already weaker than him as the two were like “sun and moon”.

“And soon, the Warrior was cast in that shadow. In the darkness, the Warrior was forgotten by the Hero.” Something made the two monkeys get into a brutal clash as the show hints that one of macaques eyes are damaged by wukong from said clash.

The problem is that the show doesn’t further elaborate on what made the two monkeys hate each other. It would have been nice if there were more flashbacks about their relationship before they became enemies, instead of just trying to make wukong look bad and try to make macaque look as pitiful and pathetic as possible for the sake of blaming wukong for everything like most of the characters do.

It would have been nice if the creators made their relationship similar to vi and powder from arcane it probably would make sense and showed a flashback of the war between heaven and wukong and the other monkeys, including the burning of huaguoshan by erlang, it would give a much better reason of the conflict/resentment between wukong and macaque.

But I’m not where they are trying to get at here. But I’ve kinda given up on the series as the plot is kinda all over the place with the latest season with azure, the other sworn brothers of wukong, including the ink demons.

Yeaugh this pretty much covers a lot of my own thoughts about Monkie Kid. It had a really fun & silly & goofy beginning but definitely has shifted in a lot of ways to being the "and here's yet another way in which MK gets horrifically traumatized specifically because of his relation to Sun Wukong & in which Sun Wukong himself continues to run for the worst friend, leader, and teacher of the ever award" lol. But yeah looking across all the iterations of the Monkey King it is kind of morbidly funny just how awful lego show Sun Wukong has become. Like you KNOW you've beefed it when you're making og classic "was a literal warlord & feels no remorse over smashing people into meat patties" Sun Wukong look pretty good by comparison lmao.

#anon answered #monkey critical #comparison here being that no matter how violent he got #og classic sun wukong didn't do anything even close to having a big hand in almost destroying all of reality #I know flying bark always shys away from this at the last possible second #but lego show sun wukong really seems to be a case study in the reality #that at the end of the day it really doesn't matter how much you love people if all your actions just result in them getting hurt #:(

[syntiment]

hello you've got me very interested in edancy, i love a good rarepair ;) im very curious, was there any specific thing that made you ship them, like a moment in s4 or something you read or saw that reminded you? im interested how you came to this ship, its intriguing to me and i'd like to hear your perspective on it!

also LOVE your art it's so beautiful and pretty and so warm and makes me have the warm fuzzies, i love it!!

AWW THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Welcome to Edancy hell, we have matching jackets. I also call the ship Seven Miles with my friend so if you ever see me refer to that, I'm talking about Edancy.

They have a lot of very subtle moments on screen that really made me interested in their character dynamic. The fact that Eddie just knows that the Wheeler residence is seven miles from his trailer THAT quickly- the ways he's very touchy with her, Nancy's interaction with Wayne and not buying people saying he's a killer immediately. They share a lot of looks that give me a vibe. And also the entire scene with Eddie pep talking Steve "if it were me I would get her back" and then making Steve cover up can both be read as a bit of jealousy which is a fun take on it.

They very much fulfill that opposites attract quota in terms of aesthetics with Nancy being mostly dressed in pastels and seeming very put together and organized while Eddie is in a lot of dark grungier clothing with a more laidback and laissez faire attitude. And yet they have a lot of the same core values with both of them being fiercely protective of whoever they consider "their" people, they have a distinct lack of respect for authority because of being failed by those in power around them often, they both have rather niche interests and are sort of loners even despite the initial appearance (ie: Nancy has enough friends to be counted on one hand, none of whom are very close to her. And despite the Corroded Coffin boys being Eddie's group at school, none of them went looking for him when shit hit the fan). They're both extremely passionate and stubborn people, the perfect types to uplift and encourage one another through the pursuits of their interests and who are both independent and reliant in equal parts to make the balance of their relationship work very, very well.

In short, they have the perfect personality types to make a romance between them really work out long term. Plus, they both can understand and relate to a lot of what the other has gone through. Survivors guilt is a huge aspect in both of their stories.

Eddie needs someone who won't back down and will help him stand his ground and who's motivated and dedicated enough to be able to give him the fire to follow his dreams and stand against the tide. And Nancy needs someone emotionally available and light enough to remind her that there's more to life then the isolation and expectations she lets people press upon her, and someone who will put the wind under her wings when she's getting weighed down by her own self doubt and fears of failure.

And the other is quite literally the exact archetype to achieve those points.

I came into liking Edancy because they had a cute dynamic on screen but I'm also a collaborative creative writer in my free time (which is a fancy way of saying I roleplay really huge DnD scale elaborate storytelling venture epics with friends where we write canon and oc characters in a show/game/movie setting, in this case we're writing our take on Stranger Things Season Five) and my friend and I jokingly talked about them as a romantic relationship, quickly realizing just how good for each other they are. And the more we looked the more we discovered a really strong chemistry and it was all downhill from there basically. We're hooked. Edancy is by far my OTP right now, I'll die on this hill honestly. My friend is here with me, also dying on this hill LMAO.

ANYWAY THIS IS VERY LONG- but yeah, there's a lot about them that just... work very well.

#Edancy #seven miles #thank you for the message!! #In case you're wondering I write for Nancy and my oc Clementine #And my friend writes Eddie

[controversialbatfamilytakes]

I once saw someone complain about the color of Cassandra’s eyes in Wayne Family Adventures, and blamed it on “colorism.” And that just annoyed me because one, her eyes were colored dark gray, I thought they were meant to be black, and two, Cass is half-white. She’s mixed. And as a mixed guy who looks more white than Asian it annoys me when people decry having ANY features from the white parent as “colorism” or “racism” on the part of artists. Cass is already pretty obviously Asian. Mixed kids exist too!

This also goes for some of the discourse on Damian. Yes, he should get features from his mom. Yes, lots of artists are weird about drawing him. Yes, he can still be lighter than Talia and it’s not racist.

Since a big chunk of the "Batfamily" fanbase is in the USA (or since the comics originate from the USA) a lot of the ways race is dealt with (or simply ignored) is through how race is perceived in USA society.

A lot of the time, people simply refuse to acknowledge that it's possible to hold features from multiple ethnic backgrounds because they want to lean hard on just a single one of those identities.

In terms of eye color and skin color, that is definitely variable in many ways. You can have an epicanthic fold and still have "colored" eyes. You can be of Arab-Chinese (like Damian is from his mother's side) descent and have an overall light skin-tone. The opposite is also true. You can still be mixed, and have features that people would consider average or normal for certain ethnic backgrounds.

Considering how popular Cass and Damian are, it is understandable that people want them to have certain ethnic features because the representation for those ethnic backgrounds are typically negative, stereotyped or nonexistent (at least in perspective of the USA).

I think with Damian's character specifically, it has more to do with the negative, racist and stereotypical ways Talia is often portrayed. Talia in many of her appearances is the definition of The Dragon Lady stereotype. A femme fatale, self-centered and motivated only by her own goals. Damian's character in that way, is perhaps meant to somehow remedy these faults. Either way, since he's a comic character and not real, there is no set depiction of him that fully confirms what physical genes he's inherited from either parents.

As for Cass, a lot of Eurasians in the USA with a parent whose ethnic background is Anglo-Saxon or Germanic (like David Cain whose nationality is American and thus, most likely of either of those descents) tend to inherit less color based characteristics from their (usually western) European descent parent and more physiognomical features (such as eye shape, usually having a weaker epicanthic fold or nose shape, having a higher nose bridge). Inheriting "colored" eyes is less likely but DEFINITELY not impossible. It all depends on where your parents are ethnically from and how your genes end up recombining.

Now, all that being said, positive representation in the USA of Asian people is still hard to come by, so it is natural for a lot of folks to want characters to have features more typical of fully ethnic Asians. However, everyone deserves to see themselves in a character and the dynamics of mixed features shouldn't be ignored. Unfortunately, the balancing act is difficult to manage and no matter what you do, you'll still have people made at you one way or another.

This was way more detailed than probably intended the stupidly expensive education I paid for was begging to be used at least a little.

-Jun

#cassandra cain #cass cain #damian wayne #batgirl #black bat #orphan #robin #actually now that I think about it how often is it acknowledged that Talia isn't just Arab? shes also Chinese #Arab-Chinese culture is distinct in its own right #also arent Cass's eyes black or dark grey in the wfa adaptation? or am I mistaken? idk I don't read it 😅 #not really at least

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/4-5/2023: THE FRIENDSHIP GAME, BODIES BODIES BODIES

So look, usually when I write one of these things I wind up watching the movie at least twice to make sure I really got what was going on and I don't misquote anything. My dark secret is that I'm not very good at following even moderately complicated plotlines; I tend to judge movies based on psychological, tonal, and aesthetic coherence above all else, not only because it doesn't matter to me whether a story is "realistic", but because I'm actually pretty bad at tracking anything with a lot of moving parts. So, when I do see something that makes so little sense that it reaches the point of offending me, I often worry that maybe it was just over my head--but I'm pretty sure that's not the case with THE FRIENDSHIP GAME, even though this year's Blogtober is a speed run and I didn't double check anything. If I'm deeply wrong about this nonsense, talk to my lawyer.

In this movie, some teen BFFs find this HELLRAISER-ass thing at a fucking yard sale (?!) that they are told is "a friendship game". To play this game, you and your best friends sit in a circle around the torturous-looking object and you touch it and you all say whatever your deepest desire is, and if your friendship doesn't survive these confessions, NEITHER WILL YOU! I immediately had a lot of questions about this basic premise. This is kind of a trope, right: A bunch of people who think they're friends find out that they're really not when some form of pressure forces all of their secret disloyalty and hypocrisy and selfishness out into the open. I don't know if there's a name for this device, another example that comes to mind is VERY BAD THINGS, or BODIES BODIES BODIES which I watched the following day. In the latter case, it's pretty obvious that they're all a bunch of frenemies with terminal character flaws, and their toxic dynamic is basically a ticking time bomb. This is really easy to grasp, and it may even feel familiar if you've been cursed with crummy friends at any time of your life. But the thing is, if you knew that you had a lot of thoughts and desires that could harm your so-called friends, and you were faced with a "Friendship Game" that's supposed to like curse you or kill you or something if you're insincere--or just if you don't love your friends enough? or something?--then wouldn't you just, like, not play the Friendship Game? The frenemies in BODIES BODIES BODIES would definitely know not to play the Friendship Game. Like it's one thing to hope for the voyeuristic thrill of seeing people get humiliated in a game of Truth or Dare, but if you don't REALLY want to express your legitimate heart's desire in front of your social circle, what's the motivation for playing the game? If you think it's going to kill you for being disloyal, then you won't play it, and if you DIDN'T think it would do anything, then what's the point of it anyway? What is anyone going to get out of this?

Huh?

The "game" doesn't do anything when you're playing it, by the way, it doesn't shift around like the Lament Configuration or light up like Simon. It does some stuff much later on after it turns out you're a shitty friend, but in the short term, one of the friends reasonably asks, "So how do you win?" and the answer is, "By staying friends!", which is obviously an indefinite concept and not really like a satisfying climactic event that takes place at the end of the sitting-around-touching-the-thing game. (I mean how are you even supposed to know when you're DONE and you guys can all get up and do something else? Do you just assume that when you touch the thing and say your piece, some silent invisible mechanism inside it goes "Yeah, that checks out, bye"? Or are you actually playing the Friendship Game for the rest of your life just because you touched the thing?) But I also don't really get the existential functioning of the game; I guess it's kind of a monkey's paw type thing? Where the wording of your desire gets twisted into some kind of ironic, alternate timeline result that exposes how infirm your friendships are. There's also some kind of like...I don't know how to say this, like a demonic contagion that travels through the internet and surveillance devices, which is connects itself to the (basically inconsequential) local lonely autistic hacker kid who doesn't even have friends to play the Friendship Game with. But as you can probably tell from this description, this element didn't add a lot of meaning for me, and it really just made a confusing movie even more confusing.

Another question I have is, like...who made the Friendship Game? Who would make it?There's a lot of lore around the Lament Configuration and you totally get the point of it: It lures to their doom people who feel they have exhausted all of life's possibilities and who will do literally anything just to feel something again. And it's connected to Hell, which is always in need of corrupted souls. Great, got it, no notes. But what person or entity or belief system would create the Friendship Game? The kids in this movie are flawed, obviously, or there would be no story to tell, but none of them are like evil maniacs who really need to be punished--and the punishment in this case seems to be death, which like, is it really worth shredding some teenager's reality just because they're predictably shallow and immature? Who is gaining what in the Friendship Game? I completely do not get this. Spoiler alert or whatever but at the end of the movie all the kids who haven't died or dematerialized or something touch the thing and say their new collective heart's desire, which amounts to "we wish this never happened", and even though the set up is NOT "make a WISH"--the setup is "tell the TRUTH", but the Friendship Game still kind of works like a genie for some reason--all the friends get sent back in time and they wind up not buying the Friendship Game in the first place, and they're all saved. But it's not like they remember this, so it doesn't count as a lesson learned... I don't even know if that matters, but it seems like it's supposed to, which makes the whole misadventure feel really pointless.

Also I should say that the ordinariness of the kids raises another problem for me, which is: Why is this movie founded on the principle that ANYbody's heart's desire would be something that would seriously harm everyone around them? Like I think that's just called being a psychopath. I mean yes, everyone has secret thoughts and feelings that are not so nice, and sometimes you wish you could be more selfish or mean because it would feel good in the moment, but it's not like a universal truth that any random human being's most basic desires are necessarily detrimental to other people, meaning that all friendships are predicated on never going after what you truly, profoundly want. Certainly there are some relationships like that, as represented by BODIES BODIES BODIES (and every single Brett Easton Ellis product, to which I am not always immune!), but that movie is more of a specific type of character study, not a generalization about humanity. It's not trying to like make a statement about the fundamental nature of friendship.

By now it may seem obvious that while BODIES BODIES BODIES is a better movie that gave me less to complain about, I also didn't find it remotely as provocative as the basically-awful FRIENDSHIP GAME. When BODIES decided to open with a long, extreme closeup of lesbian face-sucking, it probably didn't expect me to become immediately distracted and wander away from my TV. Minutes later I was gazing mindlessly into the fridge thinking, "Wait a minute, did I just start a movie? Am I missing the setup right now?" I forgot I was watching that poor movie continuously throughout its running time; if it was 90 minutes long, I probably really only saw about 70 minutes of it, optimistically. A big part of the problem is that on paper, BODIES BODIES BODIES is clearly supposed to be a black comedy, but in practice it's just sort of an empty style piece and it is not remotely funny enough, often enough to make its point effectively. The only people who seem to know that they're in a satire are Pete Davidson and Chase Sui Wonders, who I thought were both pretty good, but the whole rest of the production really abandons what those two actors are valiantly trying to do with the script, and the end result is just very low impact. I was way less frustrated with that movie than I was with THE FRIENDSHIP GAME, but it also gave me a lot less to think about, whatever that's worth. The End.

#blogtober #2023 #horror #science fiction #fantasy #thriller #satire #black comedy #teen horror #slasher #the friendship game #scooter corkle #damien ober #bodies bodies bodies #halina reijn #sarah delappe