#its probably a bad idea since all of my pages are in a bad state right now

[karizard-ao3]

My reactions to the End of Evangelion

First, I know I have some asks about romcom Shinji waiting for me, but I felt I must watch this first because I am a little bit freaked out about what's going to happen and I need to just face it and get it out of the way. Also, I have a feeling I'm going to want to think about cute romcom Shinji afterward to aid my recovery. I have been led to believe it's pretty intense.

I am literally sitting here with the remote, avoiding pressing play.

Okay. I did it. It's starting.

I wonder if this is with the new VAs. Did they redub this as well? I'll find out soon.

The world is flooded, it looks like.

Shinji visiting Asuka and asking for help.

This is the new dub.

Ope, he accidentally made her naked.

Jesus Christ, Shinji.

Confirmed that their intent is to force humanity to evolve. They wanted to use Lilith but instead will have to use Unit 1, its only offspring, since the Spear of Longinus is lost.

Yui chose to stay in the Eva. "The human condition lies in how it struggles for survival".

There's Rei.

She finally broke the glasses.

Shinji's music player ran out of battery. He's just been laying there thinking about what a creep he is.

Misato found the real truth behind the second impact. Should I go back and pause to read the page?

Seele's trying to hack NERV HQ.

So was Unit 0 made from Adam, then?

Wait. So, Seele wants to do the forced evolution, yes? What is Gendo's motive in all this?

They're hiding the kids in their Evas. Rei is missing.

Shinji is hiding. Is he jerking off again?

These guys are going through and very efficiently killing everyone in NERV.

No, Shinji is just feeling depressed and hopeless and probably hating himself.

How does Rei feel about all her destroyed bodies?

They were about to kill Shinji and he was going to let them, but here comes Misato to save the day!

"Help, Asuka. Help me." Suicidal Shinji.

Humanity caused the second impact by trying to revert Adam to an egg state before he could awaken any more angels. Humanity came from Lilith and is the 18th Angel. I was not expecting that.

The other Angels were humanity how it could have been.

Shinji needs to destroy the Evas to prevent the third impact and save mankind.

Okay, so the human instrjmentality project is Gendo ans that's the forced evolution. Third impact is Seele's goal. I think.

Asuka has woken up.

They're bombing outside her capsule.

Does that let her sync?

Did she see her mom because she died? Oh no.

Oh, wait, it was the first thing.

The AT field was her mother protecting her? Is her mom also in the Eva? Are they really just farming people's mothers to make Evas?

Go, girl! Kick ass, Asuka.

She's so happy to realize her mother loves her.

There's the other Evas. Are they also crafted from mothers?

It's nice to see Asuka with her confidence back.

Which one got shot?

Misato.

I thought probably given ep. 25 (was it?)

Shinji does bad things to other people to hurt himself.

That's a good message from Misato.

And then she went and did that. Ugh. Misato, I knew you were going to do some shit like this. And promising him the rest when he gets back. What a weirdo. But I guess she's dead now? That's too bad.

Ritsuko is sabotaging Gendo.

But she failed.

The spear of longinus is back and it got her!

I was wondering if they would stay down. She probably has to destroy the S2 drive.

Do these ones have pilots?

Oh, they're eating her. And she is connected by nerve link.

Ohhhhhh no. Asuka...

He couldn't go to the Eva so the Eva is coming to him.

He saw what happened to Asuka and absolutely lost his shit.

Should I take a break to discuss this half of the movie since it's split into episodes, or should I wait? Umm.... I have until the end of this song to decide, I think. Uh... I think I'll just wait until the very end.

Rei's arm fell off.

Gendo wants to reunite with Yui, which is something I had kind of toyed with as an idea because he talks about her a lot and is very partial to everything that relates to Yui except for Shinji (maybe sees too much of himself in the boy), but I hadn't really spent a lot of time thinking about it because I hate Gendo and he keeps hooking up with other scientists.

He has become one with Adam somehow. He needs to unite Adam and Lilith to commence the human instrumentality project and then go to where Yui is (the quantum plane, perhaps?)

Quite honestly, I'm still not completely clear on what Seele wants versus what Gendo wants.

He stuck his whole hand inside her.

Rei senses Shinji screaming.

Were there two spears of Longinus?

Oh, they made a replica.

They are rerutning man and Evas to their true forms.

Several replicas.

They're going to use Unit 1 and therefore Shinji as a sacrifice.

This is the lead up to the third impact.

There is a huge explosion.

Looks like an eye.

They're returning earth to its true form?

Rei decides not to help Gendo. And she regrew her hands. She's going up to help Shinji by going in Lilith.

And with that, Lilith is fixed, with her legs not weird anymore.

That is Lilith, right? That's what Kaworu said?

A giant incorporeal Rei to the rescue!

Shinji screaming at the sight of Rei.

They're syncing with Rei. Once again, that's a lot of fucking Reis.

Shinji is losing his mind.

kaworu appears, coming out of Rei's body. But there's the spear. It's absorbed the spear. Now he's in the tree of life.

"Rei is in your heart. A perfect reflection of your wishes."

"What do you wish for?"

He's alone at the playground because the other kids went home with their mom and he doesn't have one.

His little Mary Janes.

Built the sand castle, knocked it down in a fit of rage, then started trying to put it back together and crying.

Did this stuff Shinji is seeing actually happen or is it happening in his head as part of human instrumentality?

Now he's choking her.

Seeing all the worst of humanity.

Shinji bouncing back and forth between everyone should die because they don't love me, and I should die because I don't matter to anyone.

Rei just sprouted from the atmosphere.

Everyone is truning to jelly. Primordial soup.

"I'd only hurt Shinji. That's why I left him alone." He's just like Shinji fr.

The Eva series are shoving the spears further in.

Rei is vacuuming something into her palms, it looks like. Is that souls?

The tree of life thing just went into the eye hole/ keyhole/ vag in her head.

Now we've got some actual footage from the real world.

"You made a convenient fantasy to get revenge on reality."

Rei and Shinji are kind of fused together. Everyone is merged into one, which is what Rei said Shinji wished for. But he realizes that's not really what he wanted.

AT fields are what keep us separate and cause our pain, but Shinji realizes that he wants to be with others again more than he wants to run away from the pain.

So now Rei is bringing everyone back, I think?

Yui wanted to make the Eva to be a testament that humanity existed even after the universe dies.

Shinji wakes up next to a red sea abd Asuka. Shinji sees Rei for just a moment, and then she'd gone. There is a red ring around the earth. He's trying to choke her and crying, then she touches his face softly and he stops. He cries. She calls him disgusting and the movie ends.

In Conclusion

Well.

Well, well, well.

First off: I am still confused because it seems like Seele and Gendo were trying for the same thing and I am really not sure of the difference. Maybe it was just a matter of how they wanted to carry it out. I feel like I must be dumb as a rock for not getting it, but also maybe it's just mental priorities. I spent more mental energy trying to figure out other stuff.

This movie leaves me with a lot to think about. I'm already googling things about it, but I'm going to stop for now. I want to let it percolate a bit more, I think. Also, I should watch my DVD extras! Probably not today, though. I need to spend some time with my kid.

It seems that the third impact still affected the planet, but Shinji elected to have everyone be individuals so it was an apocalypse but not one that turned everyone into a single, liquid consiousness.

I don't really think everyone's Eva is infused with their mother, but I'm a little perplexed by Asuka saying her mother is why she has an AT field. Maybe she just meant because of how her mother shaped her identity. Not really sure. I mean, I would understand if Shinji had that revelation but not sure on Asuka.

Yeah, this is another one that's going to have to sit for a while in my head, I think. There's a lot to sort through.

I do love that the connection between mother and child seems to be so important in this series. It's kind of sad because Shinji feels so alone and uncared for, but we can see that his mother is always watching him and protecting him, whether it's as Rei or as Unit 1 or as a metaphysical version of herself. But we also see Asuka dealing with a lack of love from her mother. That poor girl.

Also, can we really love anyone when they are mixed together in a soup with us? Shinji could be merged with everyone in the LCL sea but they were no longer separate people, so he still couldn't really be with them, because there was no longer a them to be with.

I do slightly wish the objectives between Seele and Gendo had been slightly clearer. I get that it's all secondary to the real message but I get hung up on this kind of stuff when it's not clicking.

Yeah, I don't think I've got anything really definitive to say right now. This is definitely another thinker and I need time to let my thoughts form.

I am left wanting more. Not of the story, but just of seeing the characters together. I wish we could get an Evangelion slice of life series and just see their day to day lives as Eva pilots with only a very loose plot to tie the series together. I want to see them all existing and coexisting and I think I could happily watch several seasons of that.

Okay, well, I have a couple people to text now that I've finished the movie and I need to sit and think some more. I want to look up more stuff but I feel like maybe I should wrap up this watching experience with a better conclusion post. I think I will try (only try, no promises-I've got a head full of questions) to hold off on looking anything up while I sort through things and maybe look at my notes and then attempt to gather together my thoughts and post them.

I will also think about those Shinji romcom asks.

This was a very good show. I will definitely be watching again, and quite possibly very soon. I confess that I put in a bid for a boxed set of the Perfect collection, which should have the original dub, so if I win it I'm going to buy it and then watch it with the original dub because I'm curious to see the difference.

#ask me things #my asks #answered asks #neon genesis evangelion #evangelion #first watch #concluded #I finished the series! #shinji ikari #rei ayanami #asuka langley soryu #misato katsuragi #ritsuko akagi #gendo ikari #yui ikari

[neogandw]

Apologies for the delay, I got busy with something else yesterday.

Page 5 out of 6, you can read the rest here.

This is technically the last page of the story, with Page 6 being a bonus. And generally this was the punch-line I wanted to lead to from the start.

When I conceptualized this whole idea of peach being incredibly good at splatoon, I wondered what exactly would be the payoff of such an idea, what would be the end goal?

There's many ways I could have gone with the concept. Such as the mario characters partaking in turf wars themselves, peach dominating the squids (which could have been mean) or even just justifying why she's so good at turf wars (I do have an idea there, but it also lumps into another concept I would like to do something with later).

But ultimately, the idea that won out was the one depicted on the comic: Peach teaching an Inkling, and the punchline always being that if she taught one, then the rest would swarm her asking for lessons on all kinds of weapons (I didn't' show said weapons to just save on panel space, but its implied by how many they are as not all of them would suck with the charger specifically).

I do generally like the idea of the older members of the Smash cast looking out for the younger ones that aren't necessarely from their universes (I do have the headcanon that Samus is a hardcore Kirby fan and I've shown that in a few comic pages every now and then, there's also the minor inside joke my friends and I have that Ridley apparently keeps Pichu as a pet), so continuing on from that point I figured that someone caring, warm and loving like peach would contrast rather well with the scrappy, energetic and gremlin-energy-filled young Inklings. I may do more with the pair later as a result.

Anyway, thoughts on the page and the fun jokes I hid on the panels:

I intentionally mixed and matched the UIs and elements from all 3 Splatoon games to make the whole situation ambiguous in WHEN the hell the comic takes place compared to Splatoon as a whole, since Inkling girl is supposed to be Agent 3 right from Splatoon 1, but only using elements from 1 would have been hard.

Off the first two panels alone you have the Splatoon 3 victory screen set with the map of Urchin Underpass (which only showed up in 1), followed up with the results of Splatoon 2 and showing the weapons from Splatoon 3 in it. It's basically a big mix-up of the different games and I'm aware of how none of it really matches together, but that's the fun of it, yes?

Speaking of Urchin Underpass, I drew it to be as close to the map as I could while seen from a topside perspective. I probably could have made the full thing look like the perspective seen in the map results (its actually slightly slanted rather than full on topside) but that would have been too much effort for what would be covered up by effects and Judd/Lil'Judd.

I actually tried looking and mathing out how Splatoon figures out the stats and tried to at least make them seem somewhat sensible, but I couldn't really find an explanation of how the math... well, maths out.

In fact, I only until later noticed that Urchin Underpass has a limited number of points stated on one of the wikis, but I didn't notice until after the results panel was already finished, my bad on that one.

As a fun fact, I kinda wanted to make the "when the hell does this take place" even more ambiguous by not even using the map from Splatoon 1. The original plan was to use the one from Mario Kart 8, which ultimately I couldn't do since the map is significantly smaller.

I also wanted to tell a mini story with the map itself, as there's details put into it that reflect my experiences with splatoon itself:

Obviously Orange won by a landslide (lampshaded with "Protag Side" and "Red(?) Shirts" instead of the usual "Good Guys" / "Bad Guys" labelling on the results), but less obvious is that the mode being played is not actually Anarchy Battle, its Turf Wars.

Essentially, I kinda undermined the whole bit of the training montage by putting the scenario in the more chaotic Turf War where things can swing more wildly at the last second. Our gal is still dominating for sure, but its not a "suddenly you're god at ranked matches", its gonna take a long road to get there.

Part of the lessons taught? Notice that orange side remembered to ink the base while blue didn't.

Blue at least tried to fight back and its not all a complete domination since that would have been boring. I also made a note to show the last-second special usage by throwing an ink strike marking on the map.

There's that one blue inkling that just decided to throw their hands up in the air and just rushed the enemy base alone to see what they could do.

Blue's weapons actually match up with these two factoids as one is using an N-Zap (I believe a weapon that actually had the Inkstrike back in 1) and a Brush (which allows for rushing the enemy base to annoy the enemy).

Originally in the result screen I thought of writting the player names that were dismissive of the other squid kids playing at the turf war ("Some Nerd" is the leftover of that idea) but I thought that would have been mean, so I instead just went with what would have sounded like names I could realistically see on Splatoon itself... and my friends hated me for pointing out that "WoomyInBio" is probably already circulating somewhere on the servers already.

In case you're curious, the japanese player's name is literally just the japanese word for "Squid". As a friend put it...

If you're puzzled at "Panasonic Blu-Ray", don't worry, that one was a random one I came up with since its just a meme I annoy my friends with. Helps that its on the blue team.

To be clear, on the third panel the inkling is supposed to be gleeing about how good of a teacher Peach is, I was admittedly worried people could get the wrong idea if I did this with hearts as the effect (as I realized it could come off as shipping), so I instead used the star glow to downplay that.

The city in the background is actually taken from NEO The World Ends With You (really good game, I recommend it a lot) as both as a bright space filler and a sneaky shout-out to another series I love a lot (you can generally tell its TWEWY's shibuya if the building has a 104 instead of a 109 sign on top).

Peach's kitchen is not just a filler location, I based it off Paper Mario 64's kitchen, the one where she baked a cake for Gourmet Guy.

Its a bit of a small thing but the Yoshi Loops box is actually a Mexican box and the tell is that on the upper right corner of the cereal you can see a black and white mark. Those are hexagons sticker that the mexican gov has regulated into food products that warn of things like excess sugar or calories on a product.

Peach's thoughts of Mario and Bowser are drawn in the style of TerminalMontage and Hotel Mario respectively, very obvious one but I figured I may as well state it.

I eventually realized that I could make a bit of comedy on the squid/octopus crowd by adding Callie in the mix as part of the sudden influx of eager students. Doubly cute since Callie is a Roller main and often times its Marie (an actual Charger main) who has to protect her, so Callie wants to pick up lessons on how to use a Charger as well.

Among the crowd you can see a distressed Waluigi, but its not the only thing I hid in there, its very hard to make out but you can also find a Tako in the middle of the crowd.

So that's it for the major pages. For the next post I'll show overall fun things of the process as well as the sketch version of the final page.

#splatoon #smash bros #super smash bros #ssbu #super mario bros #mario bros #mario #princess peach #princess daisy #waluigi #yoshi #toad #inkling #independent artist #commissions

[sapphyreopal5]

"Guy Talk 'Who you gonna call?'" section from Supernatural Magazine Issue 13 (Dec 2009/Jan 2010)- page 64

"Ghoul getting grouchy? Wendigo worrying you? Siren singing you a song? Whatever your unexplained phenomena, the Winchester brothers are on hand to help…"[x]

"Dear Sam and Dean,

Although my house is well heated and insulated, there's one place in the living room that is always cold, no matter how high I turn up the heat. If you stand in that one spot, you always feel a cold chill running down your spine like something walking over your grave. Reading up, I've seen that cold spots can be a sign of hauntings. Do I need to worry?" - Linda Beaman, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dean says: "You live in Minnesota? I’m surprised your whole house isn't like an icebox - It has to be one of the coldest states we've ever visited!"

Sam says: "In our experience, temperatures can drop in the presence of a spirit. If a particular part of your house is constantly cold with no variation, however, then I don't think that’s the problem in your case, especially as you don't report any other effects. The real reason is more likely to be something as simple as a draft, or bad positioning of heating ducts."

Dean says: "Even if there is a spirit there, if it hasn't done anything else to you, it doesn't mean any harm. We know vengeful spirits, and it doesn't sound loo vengeful. Just hanging around causing a cold spot. Seems more like it's a friendly ghost, like Casper".

Sapphyreopal5 says:

"Dear Sam and Dean,

As I write this, there's a Friday the 13th coming up. and it always scares me. If I can I avoid doing stuff like driving or flying as much as I can on those days because of their reputation. Sometimes I even call In sick or book a day off work just so I can stay home. Am I right to be scared of those days?" Susan Kennedy, Gary, Indiana

Sam says: "The fear of Friday the 13th is known as Paraskavedekatriaphobia, and you're not alone in it Susan. It's estimated up to 21 million people in the US alone share your fear to an extent. Theories about the unluckiness of the day comes from a combination of the number 13 being seen as an unlucky number and Friday being an unlucky day. It's seen as unlucky, for instance, to have 13 people seated at a table, like at The Last Supper- the betrayer Judas is generally seen as the unlucky 13th guest. Friday has often been seen as an unlucky day to start projects in many professions, and according to scripture was the day which Jesus was crucified, which accounts for some of its bad reputation."

Dean says: "There's no conclusive evidence that more accidents happen on Friday the 13th than any other day, so you probably don’t need to worry. In fact, since they say more accidents happen in the time, maybe calling in sick is a bad idea! All Friday the 13th really signifies is a movie about a psycho In a hockey mask."

Sam says: "Didn’t they remake that recently? I keep meaning to go see it…"

Sapphreopal5 says: "Talk about a bit of a nerdy way to say come see my movie Jared and you starting Jared off on that suggestion, Jensen 😂 also a fun fact, in numerology when it comes to breaking down numbers into single digits, 13 is 1 + 3 = 4. In a lot of East Asian countries, it turns out the number 4 is seen as an unlucky number and therefore is avoided in a lot of East Asian countries (ex. China, Japan, Vietnam, North and South Korea), known as tetraphobia. In Cantonese, it is pronounced very similarly to 'death'. In Korea and Japan the symbol for 4 is about identical to the symbol for death. It's why there will either be no 4th floor in buildings or it'll be renamed to 3A or F or something else. Funny enough, the number 13 is seen to be a lucky number in Italy and in China. OH, and in the Tarot the 13th card in the Major Arcana is Death, with the key words for it including endings, change (and resistance to), transformation, letting go, transition, and even inner purging.

Maybe subconsciously people fear both the numbers 4 and 13 because they fear death is the end and not a beginning and also many tend to fear change as it often means the death of something (beliefs, relationships, lifestyle, etc.). Perspective is everything... Also it's quite the irony this question about Friday the 13th is being brought up in issue numbered 13 of this magazine..."

"Dear Sam and Dean,

Is there such a thing as the Witching Hour? My mom always told me It was the time of night when witches and demons and ghosts ate at their most active and powerful. Ever since I was a kid I've always been scared of getting up in the night, even to go to the bathroom. Am I Just being stupid believing in it?"- Lee Dickinson, Norwich, England

Sam says: "That’s a pretty common belief, that there's a point in the night where ghosts and other supernatural beings are more powerful, and black magic at Its most effective. The thing is though, there's not much agreement about when that time is - some say it's midnight while others say it covers the period between midnight and 3AM. That’s a pretty long hour! It’s likely this belief just springs from the fact that what with the darkness, unexplained noises like your house shifting, and the quiet just makes it seem like there are supernatural forces at work. Some things are just scarier at night is all."

Dean says: "Tell me about it - I've seen what your hair looks like when you've slept on it! Truth is, in our experience, spirits, demons, and other monsters can be active at any time of the day. Most of the ones we go up against sure don't seem to need any sleep. I don't know if that makes you feel safer or not. Still, al least you won’t have to hold it in all night anymore!"

Sapphyreopal5: "Then how come so many episodes of Supernatural take place at night, huh?! But in all seriousness, when I've spoken with my guides about dream walking and such, there's many reasons why they call sleeping time/night time '"'Illusion time'..."

#jared padalecki #jensen ackles #Sam winchester #dean winchester #supernatural #spn family #magazine interview 2009 #j2 interview #supernatural magazine issue 13 #sapphyreopal5 #Who you gonna call

[moefling]

ok i’m gonna talk about the RWRB Movie...

SPOILER: i’m gonna be negative and i’m not planning on watching the movie (i guess that means ppl are gonna block me??? idk why ppl are just mass blocking because of this but whatever) (edit: per a suggestion I swapped the tag on this post so it isn't tagged under "rwrb movie")

so i’m gonna start by saying that i’ve watched the trailer a few times and honestly i love the vibes, it makes me smile ever time.

-the kiss is great

-the butt slap is everything

-Henry’s facial expressions *chefs kiss*

-the visible chain around Alex neck. yes

i’m also gonna say that its great that people ARE going to see the movie, we need more queer movies and the only way for that to happen is if ppl watch the ones that are being made now.

so the bad.

honestly i could deal with a lot of the little things.  like they make my eye twitch a little but i do actually understand that you can’t 100% remake a book into a movie.

 BUT

it’s June that i can’t forgive.

if i’m wrong and she is in the movie than amazing and i redact everything but it doesn’t seem to be that way.

removing June makes me SO angry.  its like removing Alice from Twilight or Sam from Lord of the Rings.  if Main Characters are just the romantic leads (Alex and Henry) than June defiantly falls into secondary tier - all the Super Six kinda do (Bea would be the most removable for me but is is also necessary for Henry’s development as much as June is for Alex.

June balances Alex out.  the book even specifically states WHY all of the White House Trio are needed (page 28: “Alex pushes them. June steadies them. Nora keeps them honest.”) She keeps him sane and she put her life on hold to watch out for Alex, and Alex knows this!

the idea of Alex being an only child is terrifying.  he is already kinda selfish (i say that lovingly) and “a little shit” without growing up with an older sibling to shut him up he would be a monster (and Nora doesn’t count because first they don’t actually meet until Ellen is running with Mike as VP and second Nora’s personality is to “go with the flow” to really steady Alex)

June also has some important moments that happen in the book! like it doesn’t really work to have Nora be fake dating Henry for the like 2 days that that happens and no June means no Magazine moment (i know that isn’t really directly in the book but its a fav for everyone).  no June also really changes the tone of the Lake House....

ANWAY, moving away from June here is some other things that i don’t like (because its my rant and i want to, feel free to change my mind)

- the height difference (i did love the lifts comment in the trailer but idk if they’ll be able to keep that up in a way that makes since - that means that if they are every barefoot Alex would have to be shorter *cough* like swimming)

-the actor for Alex is to old.  i know ppl are really split about this but the actor feels put together and like an adult to me (vs. book Alex feels very young - or he honestly acts his age of 21/22).  i think the polo match scene says a lot for me in the postures of the 2 actors, Henry is ok (tho honestly i think he wouldn’t have the loose posture once he rejoined ppl but its cute so pass) but Alex is to stiff, he should be almost bouncing as he walks.

-WFT is Ellen’s accent in the trailer???

-i heard a rumor that Raf and Liam are merged and redone.  Gross and big no.

-King instead of Queen.  i understand why this was done but the tone changes a lot in my head of abusive Grandpa vs. Grandma

-Zahra.  don’t like, the vibe is off with the actress... can’t explain why except the smile in the photos and the bow in the trailer

 -i feel like some of the scenes feel still (this is 100% my opinion and i could be reading this VERY wrong so ignore this if you interpret it differently)

i really wanted to like the movie but realistically i probably wouldn’t watch the movie anyway because i have issues with that so..... i guess it doesn’t matter.

i hope ppl who watch it enjoy it and please separate tags of movie vs book, thanks

#rwrb #RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE #rwrb book #red white and royal blue book #rant #rwrb movie negativity #first prince #books to movies #red white and royal blue

[wc-confessions]

Hi, I don’t usually come to confessions blogs for like mental health reasons but I’m the author of Follow Your Heart and i was told it was being discussed on here so I wanted to come talk about it myself.

I started writing the comic when I was in highschool, so I was a child myself. (I don’t remember my exact age, just that I remember drawing concept art while hanging out in my school’s library) That’s why the original “drama” thing was there between Mouseclaw and Sootpaw. Spottedleafs Heart came out and it was so bad that it made me re-examine that part of the story. Warriors romantizes relationships with age gaps like Soot and Mouse all the time, hence why I probably didn’t think anything of it back then. (See: Dustfern, Bramblesquirrel)

Yes, there are scenes where it’s implied the characters have had sex. There is absolutely nothing explicit however, and I have some bad news for the original anon about how babies were made if they’re that upset about it, because literally every child born in the series implies the characters had sex lol. Its even implied Daisy and Spiderleg had a one night stand! (He specifically says their kits were an accident!)

I also don’t appreciate the implications of what they were saying as someone who was traumatized by actual zooporn w real animals as a young child. That kind of thing is exactly the reason I don’t post or advertise my comic on twitter or tumblr, I knew I’d get accused of that shit. Idk if the original anon is reading this but please think about what you say before you say it :/

I’m a human being and I’m not perfect. But I like to think I’m doing okay, since multiple CSA survivors have shared their stories in my comments and thanked me for making the comic (im not trying to toot my own horn, im simply stating facts- i dont want to pat my own ass or anything) and I also had a CSA survivor as a beta reader of the comic.

I don’t think Spottedleaf experienced actual sexual abuse if that’s what the other anon was implying, I just think that the story was a VERY bad example of grooming and it was what inspired me to do better.

 I’m doing this specifically because if there is the BAREST fucking chance I can educate a kid and keep them out if this situation, I want to take it. I feel incredibly strongly about this topic and that’s why I wanted to do something about it. I said this in a page description, but I was provided very little education on this in school, in fact I can only concretely remember one video and I have a vague idea that there was one other thing I was shown to educate about CSA- compared to the abstinence-only sex education that was drilled in my head from like, 6th to 9th grade. I’m just a blip in the sea of warcats comics on dA, but I can at least try my best to help where I can.

I have a warning page up that talks about the subject matter which is what I’m sure you saw, but I go a little more in depth in the description of chapter 5’s cover.

I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but I genuinely deeply appreciate you not immediately trying to crucify me when that anon came to your inbox. Like I said, there’s a reason I don’t advertise on tumblr. I really really appreciate you taking a neutral stance until you knew more. Thank you, it means a lot. :) sorry for the very long ask, haha.

thank you for your response and its no problem. in these sorts of situations its always best to pretty much get your own info so i took it very seriously. im very sorry about all that and dont hesitate to lmk if youd rather not be spoken about on here i'd completely understand.

#trying my best to minimize talk about creators anyway since lately they get out of hand or people spread misinfo #atp i just think its the right thing since Most ppl cant rlly handle simple discussions #not a confession #text #asks #nitethekitten #really sorry you had to come over here :[

[lgcminseo]

PROJECT ORIGIN ⋮ CHARACTER

Nova's inclusion to Project Origin had delighted her since the day Shinhye had delivered the news to the members. Minseo had been a fan of the universe since its conception, following closely the senior artists' characters development through the musical. In fact, she had been envious of the trainees that took part in the revival of the musical. Hearing the new OST for the webtoon had reignited her interest and had been on repeat for days since it's release, but the opportunity to become a part of the universe was pinch-worthy.

Her mind had been occupied with a myriad of ideas until the hour before she had to meet with her manager. She had gone through different character prototypes and became attached to each version that she had created. How was she supposed to choose one idea over the other? Combining her ideas wouldn't work either for the sake of the project, and she was left with no choice, but to choose a final version to present to Shinhye that she was somewhat satisfied with the characterization.

If only she had more time...

It was good idea that Minseo wasn't hired to write for the webtoon. Otherwise, the webtoon would be left in the drafts for the foreseeable future. She opens her presentation and places the tablet in front of Shinhye, shuffling backwards to stand close to the wall. "I'll try not to ramble, hm?" She states with a playful wink, brushing her hair off her shoulder to begin her spiel. "Ideally, I want my character to be a complete novice, who is too sheltered by her family and unaware of what occurs beyond the horizon. I want her to be curious, full of imagination since she has no choice, but to entertain herself. She has heard of stories portrayed as myths or through music that should be nothing more than catchy songs. A part of her has always been restless in figuring out where the truth lies since from her keen observation at young age, there was always more to these stories, more that meets the eye..."

"I envision the reason for her cluelessness is because she didn't have a clear superpower to master. I believe that even as she ventures out into the real world, she hasn't connected the dots of why or how things happen around her without much explanation." She motions with her hand for her manager to slide to the next presentation page on her colorful powerpoint. "Her superpower would be probability manipulation, but instead of the usual emphasis on bad luck, it'll be good luck! Yes, luck will be on her side and I'd like for her to think that at first it's because she meets the members, but as she figures out who she is as a person, it all comes together for her?"

"I don't think she would rely too much on her power since she won't be able to control it for a long period of time and rather would decide to train as a Knight that focused on long-ranged attacks. I think she would gravitate towards a bow and arrow than say a sword, which requires close proximity to the other person." She lifts her arms, imagining a bowstring in her left hand and pulling her right arm back to 'release' her arrow with a soft noise escaping her lips. "I feel like that is something that she could control, which would make her feel better about being a contributing member of the group. She doesn't want to be useless, or passive—such as how she would perceive her superpower until she figures out how it all works."

#lgc:novamission

[doctor-who-binge]

Elizabeth X is a horrific human being

Here is a list of things shes done:

Trapped a star whale that was offering itself..... because shes dense as fuck. Thats the only way she could have not figured out that it was offering itself

Decides that opening up the cranium to expose the brain and then shoot a laser at it for 300 years was a good idea

Creates a dictatorship with her as the "highest authority"

Creates a surveillance state

Creates robots (smilers) that her citizens are afraid of in order to keep them in line

Creates half human half smiler secret police

Holds pretend elections where there is only one correct option and then pretends that its the will of the people to keep the voyage going

Kills all political dissidents, the "protestors"

Kills, and I am quoting directly from the episode, "citizens of limited value" ... which includes children since children cannot be protestors

Sets up a system where SHE does not have to live with the fact that SHE did all this. She literally built into the system the ability to keep her conscience clean while simultaneously being the disgusting dictator in charge of it all.

Masquerades (quite literally, the mask and cloak) as a brave queen investigating her government because they are plotting behind her back and "feeding my citizens" to the beast.

Forced some people to NOT forget what is happening. Like Hawthorn who knows exactly whats going on. They have to live with the guilt while she doesn't.

Apparently made herself near immortal considering shes 300 and looks 30

Lets take this point by point

1 and 2 have no precedent since well no star whales IRL but I can't imagine her being anything but fucking stupid for not figuring it out.

3 The British Royal Family has no genuine power, so either between the 21st century and Elizabeth X they manage to regain power OR Elizabeth X took back power during the horrendous chaos they were trying to escape from. There is no prime minister or parliament or court system. She rules solo. She even says "I rule" and "I am the highest authority"

4 Every part of the ship is being watched, its why the Doctor was seen by Hawthorn doing the water check and why they knew that Amy was doing Bad Things™. Its also why all the adults were ignoring a little girl crying, they know they are being watched. Its got some East Germany Stasi level surveillance vibes.

5 & 6 Secret police are horrific organizations that have committed some of the worst acts in history. Gestapo a vital tool of Hitler or the NKVD responsible for Stalin's Great Purge etc the writers were also probably taking a page out of 1984's thought police & surveillance. Which 1984 itself is based on criticism of Stalinism

7 Every dictatior's favorite public tool! Elections where the outcome is 97+% in the dictator's favor. There should be no fucking elections it's ridiculous. Its not like the citizens even know what they voted for so why pretend to have elections. My only guess is because the beast needs food.

8 ..... bitch really decided "oh, you disagree with the decisions I've made?... well down a tube you go to your death immediately"

9 Say it with me people: E U G E N I C S. That is what that sentence is. As a permanently disabled person living on disability benefits and public insurance, ya know a "burden to society", this single line gave me a sick stomach. What the fuck. How can anyone like this fucked up character???? Remember SHE decided on these rules. SHE MADE THEM. Which also means SHE set the perimeters for "limited value." Limited value includes a child who got bad grades, is punished by the government (not his parents) for bad grades, the punishment is not being able to use the elevator. When he does use the elevator he is killed. So I'm going to go out on a limb and say people who use wheelchairs are definitely just outright killed. Which again remember the Queen decided who counts as limited value. Also if the whale won't eat children, do all the children that are sentenced to death and then work in the dungeon end up getting eaten when they turn 18? How fucking horrific to work in dungeon for years knowing you are literally on death row.

10 & 11 This has got to he THE WORST fucking thing. The character acts so goddamn righteous in her outraged, pissed that her citizens are being hurt, determined to uncover her evil government. When its all her. She gets to be a badass good queen for 10 years, figure out the mystery and how gross she is, erase her memory, and go back to being the badass masquerading righteous queen. She literally made it so she can live with an actual clear conscience. Not knowing any of this is all her fault and being outraged that it all exists. Also the video to herself doesn't mention anything but 1 & 2 by the way. She doesn't tell herself that she created a disgusting surveillance secret police regime run on crushing political dissidents and perpetuating eugenics in the video. She only mentions how bad conditions on Earth were and therefore they were assholes to a star whale, no mention of how shes evil to her own citizens. Hawthorn tells her that all of it is her but SHE doesn't in her own video to herself. She CAN remember, there is no reason she HAS TO forget. Maybe the public does, to live a semi peaceful life not feeling crushing guilt every moment. But the Queen? If anything she has a duty to know. A duty to carry the burden of knowing what she did to the star whale. And a duty to carry the guilt of knowing what she does to her people.

12 She SHOULD feel guilty every moment of every day, since it seems that "forgetting" is how they all manage to live with themselves. So if this whole system is set up to take the burden of guilt away from her citizens then she should be forced to live with it on their behalf but INSTEAD she forces Hawthorn and the secret police to know the truth. If they can know the truth so can she and she just chooses not to.

13 This surveillance police state built on crushing political dissent and rampant eugenics is 300 years old run by a single dictator. 300 years of this dictatorship and Elizabeth X has made herself believe its been only 10 years so that she doesn't have to feel guilty. She consented to having her body clock stopped/slowed by the way, so she knew she'd be a dictator for a very long time.

AND YET we, the audience, are supposed to like her. Shes portrayed as righteous to start—shooting down smilers and chasing after the Doctor to help her figure out her evil government. Then shes horrified at her own deeds with very good acting showing a horrified expression. Then the video we are shown is suppose to make us sympathize with her decision showing that if she abdicated everyone will die so OF COURSE she did all these horrible things. Then after Amy gives the Doctor the mask she says "Her majesty says no more secrets on starship UK" implying that this fucking disgusting dictator should be left in power after the absolute fucking hell and murder she sanctioned for 300 years against her own citizens. And I know we are supposed to like her because her supposed badassness returns in The Pandorica Opens with "This is the royal collection and I'm the bloody queen" while pointing a gun at River.

We are supposed to like a disgusting dictator because.... ??? Guess the idea of the monarchy lasting that long was supposed to be cool or whatever.

Elizabeth X is a disgusting oppressive eugenicist dictator

that should have been thrown off the ship. Or fed to the beast. Whichever the people she wronged choose.

Also how is the beast fed now? If no more secrets then no more elections, no more forget buttons, and thus no more protestors. But "citizens of limited value" (again I cannot believe that is an actual fucking quote) still exist. Do they become the sole diet? Do they figure out what star whales naturally eat?

#doctor who #nuwho #11th doctor #elizabeth x #elizabeth the tenth #the beast below #series 5 #nu who #starship uk #eugenics #dictatorship #shitty fucking charater #no one should like her #star whale #i could never articulate why i hated this episode #then my wheelchair bound self felt so awful for the kid #and hawthorns line about limited value finally made everything i wrote click into place for me

[jasmine-otome]

Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei Review ⚔️

"Fifteen years after the Heiji Rebellion, the Heike clan has reached the height of its power, while the Genji clan remains devastated by defeat. Hidden deep within the mountains of Kurama lives Shanao, the youngest surviving male heir to the Genji name. However, Shanao harbors a deep secret known by very few.

The youngest heir to the Genji name is no man.

Her adventure leads her to find new cherished relationships, as well as something deeper than the feud between the rivaling clans."

This review will contain marked spoilers, which will be indicated by red text stating "spoiler zone" and will be struck through. The spoiler zones' endings will be denoted by "end spoilers" in green text.

Genre: Historical / Action / Adventure / Romance

Rating: ESRB T

Developer & Publisher: Otomate & Red Entertainment + Idea Factory International

Where to Buy: Nintendo eShop, Amazon

When I first heard about Birushana, I was super excited about the enemies-to-lovers route. Unfortunately, I took a pretty long break from gaming right before it was released, so I only got the chance to play it recently. I’m a massive fan of historical fiction, and this was my first otome series taking place in historical Japan, so I had a lot to expect. I had exceptionally high expectations for Tomomori, and I can confidently say he met all of them :). The game took me a little under 45 hours to complete over the course of a month; however, it’d probably take a little less time if you use walkthroughs most of the time.

I really liked the art, and the music was a perfect addition to immerse you into the time period. I loved how they implemented faceless sprites for most of the extras and how each character had multiple costume changes. Birushana is slightly unconventional in terms of directing, which I absolutely loved. The developers truly took advantage of the ability to move around the character sprites, which definitely ramped up the action.

The fight scenes were action-packed and incredibly immersive, as the sprites were constantly moving to mimic the energy of an actual fight (think piofiore gunfights on steroids). The developers also made excellent use of the perspective and rear sprites of characters, as well, which I don’t see too much. Overall, the art, directing, and music amplified the game’s immersion and made it super visually appealing and entertaining. All in all, *chef’s kiss*. 9/10

*the gif might be a little lossy since I had to really trim it down*

Birushana pretty much checked off all the boxes for my favorite features. It has a heroine portrait, bold and outlined text (making it so much easier to read), a flowchart, a status page, a dictionary, a skip-to-choice button, love catch, and sprite animation. The only thing keeping the system from being a 10/10 is the fact that the game itself was pretty slow and sometimes laggy. It was especially prominent when it came to disengaging the skip feature. Sometimes, I’d have to press twice to disengage, which is incredibly annoying when I accidentally activated "skip all". I typically play games with the second-fastest text speed, but I had to switch to the fastest speed since it sometimes lags between lines.

Instead of simply having points for each love interest, there are measures for strength, knowledge, and kindness. Not going to lie, this made the game kind of hard. Instead of getting as many points with your target love interest as possible, you also have to balance the other three measures…otherwise, you’ll end up on a bad end or the wrong route. When it came to Noritsune, I kept either getting a bad end or ending up on Benkei’s route over and over again until I gave up and decided to use a walkthrough. Benkei’s route was also a struggle since I kept getting bad ends. I can’t even begin to remember how many tries it took before I resorted to a walkthrough. Thankfully, after those two routes, I figured out exactly how to land on the proper route, and my struggle was no more.

Coupled with the fabulous directing I mentioned above, the fact that the sprites were animated served to turn the game into a cinematic masterpiece! It really coupled well to play upon the game’s adventurous nature. I’m not too particular about voice acting, but I think it was pretty good. I was rlly happy to learn that Tomomori's VA voiced Korosensei in Assassination Classroom and also had roles in various other series I really like, such as I’m the Villainess, The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today, Horimiya, High Rise Invasion, Boruto, My Love Story, and about a billion other series. Idk that was a bit random lol. 9/10

Birushana takes place in the Heian era of Japan and revolves around two Samurai clans: the Heike and the Genji. In addition to taking place in a historical setting, the game revolves around the real-life Genpei War and various battles that occurred alongside it. In fact, many of the characters and love interests are based on actual historical figures (although the writers do take various liberties, obviously).

The common route is pretty short (I didn’t track how many hours), and it differs from typical otoge as there are common parts during the individual character routes. Additionally, due to keeping in line with history, the unique character routes tend to be a little repetitive in some aspects, which was a bit annoying at times. Still, once I learned that it actually happened, it made sense why the developers chose to do that. While I usually play whichever character I feel like first, I decided to follow the developer’s recommended route order, and I feel like it really enhanced the gameplay experience. The best way I can describe it is pretty much layers. Each route is pretty much juicier than the previous one and unveils more and more each time. It also plays a lot of dramatic irony. There’s a LOT to be uncovered by the story, so it really encourages you to develop various theories and whatnot regarding the characters. I loved the more subtle touch of fantasy, so it wasn’t overly dramatic but still played an important role.

As for the endings, each route has a “Happy End,” a “Tragic Love End,” “If Ends,” and a couple “Bad Ends”.

*** SLIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

The tragic love ends were a bit like a lite version of Piofiore’s notorious tragic endings, but when it came to the happy endings, I wasn’t particularly satisfied. They felt more like normal endings than “happy” ones, but I guess it just boils down to keeping it realistic.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Something that I absolutely loved were the “If” endings. After completing each route except Noritsune’s, you’ll unlock an ending with one of four side characters earlier on in the route. As a lover of side characters, I was absolutely pumped when I realized it. Their stories apparently continue in the fandisc, which I hope IFI will announce soon. Shigehira was my favorite side character, and I was super happy once I realized that he wouldn’t be limited to an undatable. I really wished other games would employ that practice *cough cough* Dairoku *cough cough*. I think Birushana did a pretty good job of tying up any loose ends in terms of plotline. I had very few lingering questions, none of which were quite pressing or anything. Some elements felt a little band-aidy, but nothing that made me completely roll my eyes. 7/10

When I started the game, my rankings for love interests were Tomomori > Yoritomo > Noritsune > Shungen > Benkei. After I completed it, my rankings surprisingly didn’t change. I didn’t dislike any of the love interests (which is pretty rare for me), and I absolutely loved two of them. 7/10

*the game's route order*

Shanao/Yoshitsune Minamoto is the youngest heir of Genji, who has spent her life living as a boy in the Kurama temple and has been training all her life in hopes of one day standing up to the Heike. Throughout her life, the name of Genji, which she holds dear, has been weighing her down, pushing her towards combat when all she truly wants is to make the world a better place and live in peace. Birushana follows Shanao as she leaves the temple in Kyoto and embarks on a journey to defeat the Heike and achieve her dreams.

I really liked Shanao as a character and found her interesting throughout. She’s strong, resilient, and quick-witted; overall, she is a very admirable heroine. She takes a very active role in the story and isn’t just a damsel. She’s also extremely dedicated to her beliefs and gives her all to reach her dreams. I loved how her strength was showcased throughout and not subjugated once a love interest appeared. I’ve found that in many battle/action series, the FL starts out as some goddess of war, but once she meets the ML, her abilities are pretty much disregarded, and she just becomes the ML’s cheerleader (cough, SAO). Thankfully, Birushana strays away from this and keeps Shanao at the forefront. She’s pretty much one of those characters you can’t help but cheer on.

Noritsune Taira is the nephew of Kiyomori, the Heike’s leader, and the cousin of Shigehira and Tomomori. He’s a bit sheltered when it comes to the real world due to his upbringing, has a hostile attitude, and quite a competitive spirit. Like Shanao, although he feels pride in his clan, he also feels weighed down by it and begins to see her as a rival.

What got me really excited for Birushana initially was the existence of an enemies-to-lovers route, which happens to be Noritsune’s. While they never really seemed like enemies, they were definitely intense rivals. His route was pretty light compared to the following routes, but it was also an excellent way to start off the game. Something I really liked about it was the character dynamic between him and Shanao. He sees her as a rival to overcome and, in turn, is pushed to grow as a person and escape the shell of his family, learning what it’s like to be in the real world. Throughout his route, he pretty much matures from a sheltered, bratty, rich boy to someone who knows how to work hard, respect others, and is self-aware. They pretty much have that iconic battle shounen rivalry that pushes each other to do better despite being on opposing sides (kind of like Sasuke & Naruto) but with a romantic twist (speaking of Naruto, one thing that drew me to his character was the fact that he has the same pink hair and green eyes as my favorite character, Sakura).

One of the great things about Noritsune is that he never disregarded Shanao as a rival, even after finding out she was a woman, and didn’t even care too much for her gender in general. He always saw her as an equal and admired her strength.

*** LIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

I really loved how they could set aside their differences in the middle of the route and pretty much just be together for some time. Seeing them fight together was so power-couple. It absolutely broke my heart when they were separated towards the end.

*** END SPOILERS ***

I will say that getting on his route was an absolute nightmare without knowing how the game works, but I think it was all worth it for him.

Benkei is an exiled monk on a journey to collect either 999 or 1000 swords from the Heike (I forgot ngl). He’s a bit of a gentle giant and somewhat of a himbo. He is also incredibly loyal to Shanao as her “first vassal” despite having a bit of a notorious background. He also happens to be the oldest love interest in the game at 30 years old. Something I found a bit funny is how much older he looks than Yoritomo despite being only a year apart.

Benkei was probably my least favorite LI, but I did like his character. I found his himbo-ness quite funny and liked his route a lot, but I couldn’t really bring myself to see him as a love interest. Benkei takes great pride in being her vassal, and the two develop somewhat of a father-daughter relationship, bonding due to their lack of parentage...which made it hard for me to see them as a couple.

*** LIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

One of the things about Benkei’s route that’s a bit unconventional (but I’m not complaining at all about it) is the lack of Benkei himself. This route pretty much felt like a Shigehira & Tomomori ad and is what turned me into a diehard Shigehira fan and got me super pumped for Tomomori lol. Safe to say, I was pretty satisfied with some of the bad endings. The route delves into the mysteries of Shanao’s origin and serves as a starting point for unpacking the layers of the story. It also really exposes the fantasy element of the story.

I wasn’t a massive fan of the romance in this route, as it felt a bit underdeveloped. Benkei pretty much served as a shoulder to cry on. Still, I will admit he makes a phenomenal side/platonic character.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Benkei's unwaveringly dedicated to Shanao and will do whatever he can in hopes of making things easier on her, even if it comes at his own expense. Overall, I liked the route (mainly due to the villains, lol) and I like Benkei as a character. Still, the chemistry as lovers wasn’t really there, in my opinion (but it was good in a more platonic sense).

Shungen is the son of Shanao’s father’s retainer and has been raised alongside her in Kurama since birth. He’s pretty overprotective when it comes to Shanao and is the pair's brain, while Shanao is the brawn.

I’m not typically a fan of the childhood friend troupe since they usually tend to go sour; however, Shungen exceeded my expectations. While the romance itself wasn’t anything to write home about, I did really like him as a character. He’s a bit nerdy and likes to read a lot, which, looking back, doesn’t seem to be super common. He’s also a talented flute player, which was also a cool addition. He cares a lot for Shanao and profoundly values her due to their close relationship throughout their lives. As opposed to Noritsune, he was more overprotective. He doesn't let her breathe as much, but it kinda makes sense since she's constantly in extreme danger (given the war and all). He’s definitely one of the sweeter LIs and seems quite innocent, lol.

This route was a big one in terms of plot twists, building upon the revelations in previous routes. While playing, I attempted to predict what was going on over and over again and got pretty close. It also unveiled even more questions surrounding Shanao, so it keeps you on your toes.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

My favorite part was probably when he played the flute for Shanao every day, which really tugged on my heartstrings. I laughed a bit at the thought of Shungen being called some player-inputted name, like idk Emily, once the big reveal came out. I liked how this route had a big focus on the emperor as opposed to simply the Heike as well. Something pretty interesting to see was Shungen’s little light-yandere streak, especially since he’s been portrayed as this sweet, intellectual character who doesn’t seem very threatening. The happy ending for this route was a bit surprising since I was scared I did something wrong, but overall, it turned out pretty well. I felt so bad for Shanao in this route, and I can’t even begin to imagine what she must have been feeling after learning the truth. Thankfully, it made Yoritomo’s route feel a lot less wrong.

*** END SPOILERS ***

This route hyped me up for Yoritomo’s route, so I was pretty eager to get through with Shungen’s, which might have limited my enjoyment a little bit. While Shungen was likable, I couldn’t care too much for their romance. This route really tugged on my heartstrings, and I liked Shanao and Shungen’s close relationship as friends. I think Shanao’s role was a bit toned down in this route and that there were a couple of conflicts that could have easily been solved via communication. But overall, it was a really great building block for the rest of the story and ramped up the dramatic irony in the following routes.

Yoritomo Minamoto is Shanao’s older half-brother who has been exiled in Izu for the past 16 or so years. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry, and just ignore it. He’s distant and closed off, and it takes some time for him to open up, but it makes sense given his background.

Having seen him throughout the previous routes, I was just itching to play this route. It’s full of angst, is pretty slow-burn, and really showcases the extent of Shanao’s dedication. She seemed a bit out of character for this route, but it made sense that it highlights how deeply she years for familial love. Being so far into the game, the route has a lot of spoilers, so I'll limit most of my commentary.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

Growing up essentially as an orphan, Shanao's been longing for familial love for years, and upon meeting her only family, she can’t help but be dedicated even if it’s bad for her in the long run. Yoritomo starts off very stoic, but Shanao slowly chips away at his exterior, and they begin to open up to one another. It absolutely broke my heart when Shanao overheard Yoritomo discussing with Kagetoki and ran away. I liked both the happy and tragic endings a lot. The tragic one kinda reminded me of a blend of Dante and Nicola's, who happen to be my two favorite Piofiore characters.

*** END SPOILERS ***

I really, really loved Yoritomo’s character design (his might be my favorite), and his CGs were by far my favorite in the game. His closed-off nature really made me yearn for some scenes from his point of view since I really, really wanted to know what was going on in his head lol. Throughout the routes, I couldn’t really figure out if he was a good or bad character, but that just made it all the more entertaining. The romance felt a little fast, but overall, it was my second favorite route, and I really loved his character.

Tomomori Taira is Kiyomori’s (leader of the Heike) 4th son, Shigehira's brother, and Noritsune's cousin. He’s a highly talented militarist but tends to stay outside of battles unless he holds a personal interest within them. Right off the bat, he discovers Shanao’s secret and pretty much becomes weirdly obsessed with her, hopping on a quest to make her his…or to at least die by her hand.

Tomomori was the individual character I was most excited about both before and during the game, and I can safely say that he did not disappoint at all. Being the game's villain, he plays a much more prominent role than the other love interests in other routes and even takes the stage in some. Since he’s interested in her from the start, it’s almost like the whole game is building up on their relationship.

I absolutely loved the dynamic between Shanao and Tomomori: he’s all flirty while she pretty much can’t stand him (however, she does seem to hold some feelings towards him that she’d like to ignore). After seeing Shanao doing all the heavy lifting in the previous route, it was nice to see the roles being reversed. I finished this route the quickest simply because I was so obsessed with him. Coupled with several plotholes that don’t matter too much, his route connected everything revealed in previous routes and added even more, especially regarding the story’s fantasy side. Some things I predicted pretty well, but others came out of nowhere, so it was quite exhilarating to learn the whole story.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

I really liked how Tomomori’s route seemed to take a break from the war setting and had the two of them travel together. It was one of my favorite parts of Noritsune’s, so I was delighted to see something like that again. I thought the whole hand-holding thing was absolutely adorable, and I was obsessed with everything about Tomomori. I thought the ghost story scene was hilarious and showcased some lighthearted moments between the two despite literally being in the midst of war. You can tell he cares for her by helping her control her powers, which almost connects them as so few people have the same ability. Their banter is excellent, and they just seem like a couple who complement each other perfectly.

Shanao exhibits much character growth by learning about Tomomori’s perspective on things and his real-life experiences after writing him off as some wealthy noble who’s never felt struggle. It showcases the hidden parts of Tomomori, and the fact that he doesn’t care too much about the fairings of his family holds a contrast to Shanao, who cares deeply about hers despite being barely exposed and integrated into it. The whole “I want to see her cry” thing reminded me of Claude from I’m the Villainess, who I also love, which was pretty nice.

When the two separated, I was literally dying for them to get back together omg. When I saw all the “one month” and “several months” later, I was dying inside and felt terrible for Tomomori. First, his dad dies right before him, and then his girl runs off to the enemy on the same night 😭.

The happy ending for this route was probably my favorite since it didn’t seem so…lackluster. The whole Tokuko thing felt a little band-aidy, but what can you do, I guess. He gets a bit cringe-ishly possessive, but it seemed like it meant to play on his funny side, so I didn’t take it too seriously.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Overall, Tomomori takes the cake. The entire game pretty much builds upon the tension between the two, and the route ties together all the prior revelations. Tomomori and Shanao had the best chemistry, in my opinion, and have a great dynamic between their personalities. He’s a little crazy, but in a good way. The route integrates comedy perfectly into the game's setting and takes on some surprising twists. Throughout the route, he develops from a bit of a weird, loving creep to a fleshed-out yet slightly clingy character. All I could possibly want now is another love interest like him, no one compares 😭.

To be honest, I didn’t care too much about the side characters except for Shigehira, Tomomori’s brother, who I absolutely loved. From the moment I saw him, I was lamenting over the fact that he wasn’t an LI, but once I learned that he was one in the fandisc, it was like the world had been saved. I really enjoyed Shigehira’s “If” ending since it showcases their dynamic. It reminded me a bit of Shanao and Noritsune’s relationship, since despite being rivals from opposing sides, they don’t really dislike each other and seem to care for one another in their own way. He’s a little bossy and cocky, but his time with Shanao helps him grow and mature a little bit. I’m really begging for an FD localization just for him because I need moreeeee.

I also really wish we saw more of the sibling dynamic between Tokuko, Shigehira, and Tomomori. Shigehira mentions the three of them playing together as children, but Tokuko seems very branched off from the beginning. She was pretty annoying from the start but a bit of a necessary evil and seemed to redeem herself somewhat.

Two “prominent” side characters were Tadanobu and Tsugunobu, vassals for Lord Hidehira in Oshu. Tadanobu’s the goofy and flirty one, while Tsugunobu’s the more soft-spoken and wise one. In my opinion, they didn’t add too much to the story that a random extra couldn't have…they were kinda just there for some occasional comic relief.

Takatsuna is Yoritomo’s young retainer and probably the game's youngest character. I didn’t care too much about him in the actual game, but I thoroughly enjoyed his “If” route. He seems pretty nice, but that’s it.

One character I wasn’t a fan of was Yasuhira, Lord Hidehira’s son. I’m not really sure why Yasuhira even got a sprite since he was pretty much irrelevant throughout the story. He only seemed to complain for a couple lines about Shanao, and that was the extent of his character. I wish his sprite was used by the emperor instead or something.

Overall, I liked Birushana quite a bit. While Tomomori and Yoritomo really took the spotlight, Benkei and Shungen were a bit lackluster, and Noritsune was kinda neutral. Something that really amped up my impression of the game was the insane directing. The developers exceeded my expectations with the action scenes, which were captivating and full of movement, which doesn’t seem too common in otome games. Everything is super animated, and the fight scenes are incredibly action-packed. The romance aspect varied by love interests, but for the most part, it was more subtle, with war and family ties being the main centers of conflict. My most significant criticism was probably the prevalence of unskippable repetition since each route seems to follow the same course, with some things changed in between. The game is excellent at slowly revealing information and building upon it, giving you just enough information to predict some parts but not enough to predict all aspects of it. To sum it up, a pretty good game. 8/10

*** HEAVY SPOILER ZONE ***

Does Shanao have a random dad, or was she reproduced asexually or something?

If Rengetsu looked like some monster creature, how come Kiyomori recognized Shanao as her?

How’d Tomomori know Rengetsu was Kiyomori’s sister if he hadn’t heard about her before?

Why’d poor Shigehira have to die in like every route 😭?

*** END SPOILERS ***

#birushana #otome #otome game #otome review #video games #video game review #video game recommendations #visual novel #visual novel review #dating sim #nintendo switch #samurai #historical fantasy #manga #anime #romance #tomomori #review #otoge #otomate

[subliminalbo]

When I started writing on the smutty side of the internet, I mostly stuck to third person, past tense. Early chapters of my stories would focus on a single character, framing them as the protagonist for a short time. It wouldn't last more than a chapter or two. Just long enough for the tables to turn, our hero to wind up brainwashed, and our focus to shift to another ill-fated protagonist. Back then I didn't really experiment much with tenses, points of view, or voices. But the more I wrote, I came to realize how important these elements are to telling a compelling mind control story.

First, though, a lot of this starts with my own personal biases on writing. I used to think that first person is the cheapest way to tell a story. Since the narration is essentially dialogue, you don't necessarily have to worry about the quality of the prose. Voice becomes a kind of cheat code, and once you activate it you're free to write as nonsensically as you like.

Take, for example, the voice I used for this unpublished version of Lacey's Story:

I asked are you ready? And Lacey replied I’m ready because neither of us were willing to admit that we were scared and didn’t know what we were doing and probably shouldn’t have been doing this at all but we had agreed at some point when we were freshmen that we wouldn’t go to college virgins and it was a week before graduation and we were starting to get weepy about the what was and what could have been of our teenage years.

In this version the events are told through the eyes of a character who loves the central, brainwashed main character of the series. Eventually I scrapped the voice and moved on with old, reliable third person, past tense.

With first person I personally feel like the voice needs to agree with the story. If first person invites the reader into the world with the characters, then shouldn't it be assumed that the reader already knows everything about that world? This approach limits how much world building you can put directly on the page. Ernest Cline's Ready Player One opens with a long explanation of the novel's world, told in first person by its protagonist. This is bad writing.

I like to create some kind of framing device to justify the narration. It could be a story told through a character's journal, a confession, or even a hypnotized debriefing. My first experiment with first person in the smut world was Alphas. The original run was written in first person past tense, and I used this to play around with Corbin's psyche. Originally I had this idea that the series is a preamble to later events where Corbin is brainwashed while interning at a news publication. In those early chapters of Alphas, I would throw in not-so-subtle hints to her present state of mind:

But I know you're not here for my background as an investigative blogger. You want to hear about my internship with Santiago Cruz, about how she turned me into her brainwashed slave, another loyal fashion blogger who mindlessly dismisses the dubious ethics behind Obedience By Fleur. You want to hear about the pleasure I receive following my Mistress' commands. How she took the champion of social justice that I used to be and molded me into a compliant puppet begging for my next command. But that's not where this story begins. First, let me tell you about Piper.

But limiting the perspective to Corbin made telling a story like Alphas difficult. As much as it's a story about Corbin's investigation to find her missing friend, it's also about Piper's transformation from innocent former churchgirl into a lewd, brainwashed sorority sister. Ultimately the series runs into a similar issue that Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby does, where the narrator has too much access to the internality of other characters. Much of the original story is Piper's experience told through Corbin's eyes.

When approaching the Alphas rewrite, I decided to fix this problem by splitting our perspective between Corbin's and Piper's. I also changed the tense for Piper's narration to the present, and while I haven't finished the second chapter of the rewrite I plan to continue writing Corbin in past tense. There's just something kind of dreadful about present tense, isn't there? Our perspective exists in a present full of false hope. We already know the outcome, but the characters don't. They're trapped fighting against a future that's already written.

It's an idea that I played around with, albeit to a lesser extent, in As Deep As You Can Go. Corbin and Andrea are my two biggest personalities, so their voices are super important to each story that they star in. While Corbin always acts as narrator of her stories, I decided to give Andrea an internal monologue as she spirals deeper under Dr. Fielding's control.

Alright, calm down. Let's piece it together. Fuck. It literally just happened. Why can't I remember? Okay. The interview was going fine, I remember that. I nailed it, even. Huge win after the CVS debacle. The interview was going fine and then...then what? Dr. Fielding says, "This feels like a good fit, Andrea. But I do have one more line of questions for you." And I say...what did I say? "Hit me, doc." "For these questions, Andrea, I need you to go deeper." Ohhhh fuuck! That was it, wasn't it? Some kind of trigger. It didn't take me immediately, but it did something. My shoulders straightened and I started listening. I turned off my smart ass charm and just let her inside my goddamn head.

But in the second half of the story, Andrea's inner monologue disappears as we close out in old fashioned third person, past tense. It's a choice that I wanted to be jarring. The detached, factual voice replaces Andrea's desperate unpacking of events, signaling that Andrea isn't just silent, but no longer here as we know her.

So what's the point? Mostly I just wanted to take an unprompted shot at Ernest Cline. But I do think there's something really cool the way a story's construction can be as effective at conveying its ideas as the narrative itself.

#inside hypnoball #just writing about stuff nobody cares about

[northwest-cryptid]

understandable, given you are infact the manager I think as well I can declare what the move is and why its become my so proclaimed signature.

to preface, I fucking love the funny nuke button in games, but when there's no risk to using the funny nuke button, it's boring. so consider a ruina card with the following effect "on hit: spend 5 charge to recycle this dice"

this would be an interesting mechanic on its own, probably a little strong if on a big dice. and it is on a big dice! roughly on par with crack of dawn or mind whip.

what makes it risky though, on top of the charge cost, is that it's the only dice on the page too, and with a 5 light upfront cost, your theoretical 60-100 damage is at heavy risk of being neutered by another decently rolling dice.

I fucking love it, it's the kind of move you know can and will end a fight if used right, but you also can't just throw it out there and expect big number to win for you. its exactly what I want in a nuke move, and regardless of where I go I try making something similar.

This is the sort of ask that gets stuck in my inbox where I don't really know what to say to it. Since it doesn't really ask a question of me and I often feel like my brand of personality is likely one that would be perceived poorly.

What I mean to say is that while I do always appreciate getting asks, there's a certain level of engagement that I don't know how to respond to. Especially when it comes to anons; and again I totally understand if this is received poorly because the way we as human beings are expected to behave is honestly super weird on the internet.

I'm saying that it's hard for me to gauge how much I should say to an anon that's not really engaging me on a level I can comment on.

For example, here I could go on and on about how I think given the previous ask that people put way too much stock in video games and their own enjoyment of them.

How I think it's objectively an unhealthy obsession we have with identity and how we essentially cling to things we deem "ours" even when they're pretty common.

Or I could simply answer with "okay, cool man" because this doesn't really give me much to answer. However that feels needlessly rude, and I don't want to be rude to anyone.

See with Anon it's difficult for me to understand how to gauge a response, and if you think that it's bad that I'd give a friend more consideration than a random passer-by and that I should "treat everyone the same uwu" that's exactly what I mean when I say it's odd how we're expected to act online.

It's not that I would go out of my way to be rude to an anon simply because they're using anon. Literally see the sentence above where I state I don't wish to be rude to anyone. However I ask you this; genuinely, and I want you to think about this sincerely.

If you were in a conference or something and some random person approached you and essentially monologues at you about something you have a vague interest in, while you're unable to ascertain tone outside of their use of vocabulary that seems to promote the idea they think they're very interesting.

How would you even respond?

Would you respond much better if this person was your friend? Someone you're familiar with? Who you might enjoy the company of, or who's opinions you value?

I'd wager a solid guess, and feel safe betting on the answer being yes. You would.

It's not necessarily wrong to be that way either, but it's viewed as such because we often view ourselves as a victim in the situation.

I was actually talking to some friends about this not too long ago, the idea that we as an internet culture (and don't even get me started on how we're not all one big internet culture because like, that's a whole thing) have this concept of selfishness without realizing it.

What I mean is that if I say "you need to respect my specific needs, boundaries, and culture and if you don't know it you need to learn it so that I can engage with you." This immediately comes across as hostile, selfish, and honestly just unwelcome. The idea that you would need to deal with me wanting to engage with you by having to subscribe to my norms means I'm forcing work onto you and you may not be up for that.

However if I say "I should do my best to understand and respect the boundaries, needs, and culture of those who engage with me via my DMs and inbox." It's suddenly something that seems a lot more agreeable right?

Of course I should do my best to understand and respect the boundaries, needs, and culture of those who interact with me. Except wait a second, those two statements are the exact same thing aren't they? They're just said in a different perspective; specifically one of those puts the fault on me, and one of those puts the fault on those who engage with me. So it's easier to view one in the place of a victim who has been wronged.

I'm not even saying that's the case here. What I'm saying the case is here is that I often get asks like this that I don't know how to respond to, and that feeling of not knowing how to respond is amplified ten fold when I see it's an anon. Because truth be told yea I would react very differently to this information coming from a good friend vs coming from a random follower I don't know. I think that's human, that's understandable; I wouldn't fault anyone for doing the same with me.

It doesn't mean I'm lying or being nicer to one person or another; it just means that if I know a good friend of mine is talking like that, it becomes something almost familiar or understandable. I know how to talk to a friend in a way that won't be seen as rude, I know how to address a friend and how to interact with them.

With an anon, it's entirely up in the air. You could be a very good friend of mine and I may just not know; so now if I say nothing more than "I mean, that's cool man." It could be seen as a rude off-handed remark to just hand-wave your ask.

But also this doesn't give me anything to go off, there's no real way to respond to this outside of just being like "yea." There's no question being asked of me, there's no insight I can give here.

I'd argue that's not inherently a bad thing, it's just one of those things that cause asks to become a sort of a backlog of things left unanswered because they are more like comments than questions.

Comments that I don't know how to really respond to.

Take for example that opening line of like "well since you're the manager" right?

So for those who don't know me or who don't know the background behind that. The title of my blog being "the manager" literally just comes from my love of Lob Corp (from like, way back in the day when I first played it) and the fact I do often work managerial jobs, it's one of the few jobs I feel I'm good at, and that allows me to actually help people.

However to call me "the manager" kinda makes me cringe (not at you just in general) because like, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a silly blog title.

Now if I know you're a good close friend of mine, like if my childhood friend who I've known for decades; Echo said that to me for example; I'd literally just respond with a deadass stoic response of "I'm unemployed." Because this would absolutely be taken for the joke it is, and I can; in good faith understand, that he wouldn't take offense or think I'm ignoring the rest of what he's saying.

But with a complete anon ask saying this; for me to start by saying "First of all, I'm unemployed." Feels again, like it could be taken rudely, or like it would be made out to be a bigger thing than just an odd the cuff comment/joke.

Most of the reason behind that title was from the joke of how often I'd be made to work alone only to be told "I want to speak to the manager" to which I'd often turn around, or go behind a wall; and then take my hair down/put my hair up depending on how it was; and walk back out like "hello I AM the Manager"

Then there's also a matter of like, how people talk. I grew up very proper; too fucking proper. To the point where I was raised around people who had this idea that they were the smartest, most amazing person in the room; and they didn't care about you or what you had to say unless you somehow believed yourself better. It was extremely pretentious bullshit and it's given me an unfortunate dislike for speaking formally when not necessary.

So much so that I often would tell my co-workers "we're not corporate, your jeans are ripped and you're wearing a hoodie, if you're going to dress street we're going to talk street. Don't come in here with all that corporate bullshit and tell me about productivity and shit. You want to talk like that, come back in here with a suit; or at least a damn button up. If you can't afford corporate clothing, it's because you're not being paid enough to warrant corporate worries. Since you get paid more than me, if you want to be all corporate about it; take it up with someone of your pay grade." Because I got really tired of basically being insulted and belittled by people using flowery language that higher ups didn't mind them saying.

My point is once again that with an anon, I don't know how to read the room. If my friends are talking too formally for me I can sort of interject with "hey uh, what's all the suit talk about? We're friends, talking on discord/[website] you don't have to talk like that." However with an anon, again this might come across as rude or unnecessary; since it would come across as though I'm specifically calling someone out as being "pretentious" or "snobby" even if that's not my intention.

I do believe there's a certain level of like, "shit" you gotta be willing to put up with when you talk to people online. However I don't think people should be rude or whatever.

I think it's best that people try to be respectful and understanding of each other; however I also think that it goes both ways. Someone deciding they want to use a certain tone with me is fine; that's their way of speaking but at the same time I should also have the right to say "you sound kinda stuffy and I don't know what to make of it but it kinda makes me feel like we're in some kind of corporate board meeting and not just chatting in my tumblr askbox."

It's one of those things where if that sounds rude then I don't know what to do because while I know everyone and their brother likes to say "I'm autistic" on this website; this is one of those cases where I'm literally very autistic and often have trouble communicating things in ways that don't seem/sound confrontational. Not an excuse mind you; it's something I've been working on for years. However it's why I have always had a hard time answering anon asks of this nature.

Because I don't know how to say "that's cool man but I don't know why you're coming to my inbox about it and sharing all of this with me because it's not really an ask and I don't know how to respond to it and it feels kinda like you could have just made a text post instead of using my inbox as a text post." Without sounding like I don't appreciate the interaction, but am just confused by it.

I honestly think it comes down to what an ask is, it's literally asking the person to respond to something publicly.

I allow anon because I get that some people are shy and ultimately when it comes to questions and the like (such as the previous ask of this anon) I like to give people the ability to just kind of, ask a question without having to "out" themselves.

However I don't get the same luxury of anonymity when answering an ask. Which means if I react poorly in the public eye I get a reputation. I'm being put in a position where I have to figure out a nice way to comment on a comment that I honestly don't really have interest in, without seeming rude.

Which typically results in an ask/response like this one, kind of all over the place; unstructured; and likely going to receive some form of hate.

I don't OFTEN openly talk about it because I don't see much point to, but I get my fair share of anon hate; I do my best to just kinda block people and such but at the same time I still have to see that when I speak my mind on something even something as casual as "I don't know why you're bringing that topic to my inbox" I get a ton of people flooding my ask box with everything from understandable but unnecessary comments like "you should appreciate that anyone even wastes their time on you" and "if you don't want to answer shit just close your ask box" to things like classic anon hate messages.

Hence why I don't want to be rude to anyone who's sending a message like this, you don't mean any harm in it; I assume you're just excited to talk about something like this with someone. That being said I don't ever know how to respond to things like this. Because even if I was significantly more into LoR than I am (like don't get me wrong I like it a lot but I'm not like; super super into it or anything); this doesn't ask anything of me, it's just like asking me to make react content basically? I don't know.

Anyways I don't mean anything bad by any of this; admittedly I'm not in a great mental headspace which is likely not doing me any favors; but I get a good few inbox messages like this that I just don't know how to respond to; and I sort of wanted to say something about it.

That being said I do appreciate you sending me asks and such, it's fun to know people actually read the shit I put out there; it's nice to feel like I'm not just wasting my time or whatever.

Yea I got nothing to say really. Sorry

[ranas-twisted-wonderland]

The aforementioned Creative Writing assignment I somehow got an A on

the whole story is under the cut, please beware of cringy writing :)

Hello, I’m Yurena Lovelace. I’m 17 years old, and a senior in high school. Where my story starts, it was the last few months of school. My friend’s birthday was coming up, and I had been anxiously waiting for any college acceptance letters. I had applied for probably 100 schools, and at that point I had been rejected by 27. 

I was minding my own business, wandering around the library, when suddenly a book had fallen on my head. I briefly searched around to see who had done that to maybe yell at them, but I found no one.

“Might as well see what it’s about…” I whispered to myself, looking down at the book that had fallen on my head. I quickly skimmed through the contents of the book, but there was barely anything of note. That is, until I came across a page that read, “A magical mirror that can take you to other worlds!” 

“How strange…” I thought to myself before quickly snapping a picture of the page out of curiosity. I was sure if I was gonna share it with my friends they would just make fun of me. We didn’t have many interests in common, but we had been friends since we were little. 

I heard a quiet ping and quickly put together that I received a text. “Look what came in the mail!!!” My mother had texted me, sending a picture of a letter from a college. 

The name of the college was blocked by her hand, but I was excited nonetheless. I quickly packed up my things, sending a text to my friends’ group chat about a college letter coming in the mail.

I walked back home with a sort of pep in my step, hoping it was an acceptance letter from our state college. Allegra and Kate had both gotten accepted there, and I didn’t want to have to move away and end up losing touch. They were the only friends I had, and there was no way I was going to give them up that easily. 

Unfortunately, both of my parents had gone to work by the time I got home. It was maybe six or seven, and my younger siblings were probably at my aunt’s house. I had always felt bad whenever I got home late, because my parents would always get on me about how I need to be responsible and take care of my siblings. But now, I would give the world to see them again. 

I dropped my bag and grabbed a snack before reading through the letter my mother was so excited about.

“Congratulations! We are happy to inform you of your acceptance into ___.” My eyes widened as I read through the letter I had received. The college I got accepted into is all the way across the country. I frantically reread it to make sure I had read it correctly and promptly dropped down onto the floor. My mother had made me apply there because of its prestige, but I didn’t actually think I’d actually get in. 

My hands were shaking as I tightly grabbed the letter. It’s not like I could turn them down, it’s one of the best colleges in the country! But, my only friends would end up being hours away. I couldn’t ever stand to lose them, they were everything I had. I decided to take a walk to clear my head. 

“I’m not actually going to accept it, right?” I thought to myself, shoving my hands in my pockets. I absentmindedly passed by the local thrift store and noticed a very familiar mirror in the window. 

I pulled up the picture that I had taken from the book and held it up side-by-side to the mirror. Before I could even think, I had taken a picture and sent it to Allegra. I texted her saying, “Look at this mirror and all the raven decals! Wouldn’t it be funny if we got it for Kate for her birthday, since she’s scared of birds?” I figured that with that wording I could convince her to get it. 

“If this is real… Then I’d never have to lose Allegra and Kate. We could go on adventures forever and never have to part.” I thought to myself. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I swear. 

I quickly received a text from Allegra that was just a laughing face emoji, and soon enough Allegra and Katherine were by my side standing in front of the thrift store. Allegra somehow convinced Kate to steal the mirror after realizing she didn’t have money. We very suspiciously left the shop with the mirror in Kate’s coat. I could see the cashier give us a strange look, but I don’t think they got paid enough to care. 

We walked for a few blocks before Allegra took the mirror out of Kate’s coat. Allegra was playing around with it, acting like she was a supermodel. Kate let out an anxious chuckle before whisper-shouting, “We’re gonna get it trouble! Don’t break it!!” 

Kate quickly took the mirror out of Allegra’s hands and inspected the decor. “Why did you guys want to get this? It’s just a creepy, clouded up, mirror.” She complained, rubbing the glass with her jacket to see if it would help clear it up. “You guys know I’m scared of birds too…”

Kate was barely able to get her sentence out before the mirror started playing a few notes and glowing. I was leaning over her shoulder, trying and failing to hide my excitement. I wasn’t even able to notice their horrified faces as we were sucked into the mirror.

When I woke up, I found myself standing up inside a strangely comfortable coffin and I could hear someone talking outside. 

“I better hurry up and find that uniform before someone spots me…” The voice said in a frantic tone of voice. “Urgggh… This lid weighs a ton! Try this on for size Mya-ha!” Was the last thing I heard before my eyes got assaulted by a sudden burst of light. When my vision finally adjusted, I saw fire all around me. 

The voice I heard apparently belonged to a small, talking, weasel-like creature. “What?! You ain’t supposed to be awake!” The small creature cried out.

#twisted wonderland #twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #twst #twst yuu #creative writing #how on earth did I get an A on this #yurena lovelace #casually drops all my fears of being a senior in high school into silly fanfic

[wutlaikalikes]

🌟lights

just my thoughts on the current state of this fandom... feel free to scroll past...

I used to watch Hololive girls especially Calli and Gura. I just think they are great streamers and singers. But what made me back away from their fanbase was their fans. I think it sucks that its common for gachikoi and unicorns to exist in the vtuber world.

When I discovered Holostars, I was kinda surprised that they look like they are all on the same page even if they have their kamioshi, they would also support the other guys. I will be honest, when it comes to fandoms, I am a but a lurker. But ホロスタ民 (holosutamin) / Starlights got me to interact. It was easy to talk to anyone. And if any of the Stars are being pulled down, Starlights are there to not talk badly but to show support, extra hard. They'll trend but not in the bad way, it'll be flooded with love and support from Starlights.

Recently, we had 2 fallen Stars and although it made me sad. Seeing the orc back made me feel better. I'm still sad mind you but at least I know they are doing great.

I'll be honest when Mayuzumi Kai of Nijisanji and Tsukumo Sana of Hololive Council graduated, I cried quite a lot. I guess its because I don't know what gonna happen to them, like if they are happy and healthy. It sounds crazy but that was me for probably 2-3 days.

So again, when the orc posted that damn spear, I was kinda satisfied. Also Astel singing made me feel at ease. But I still get teary whenever, I see fanarts of them, especially from Vesties and Magmites thanking them.

What surprised me are some of the fans. There are those that openly support Randon and Professor Lando, and those the openly would say that they will mute or block anyone talking about Randon and Professor Lando.

I've read that they feel betrayed from immediately streaming a day or 2 after the announcement. That they didn't even try to have a graduation stream. Here's my 2 cents. They are under an agency, whatever they say on those notices are possibly not all true, it was vague regardless how much I read it. We don't know if they were really given the option to have a goodbye stream and we don't even know why they choose to leave, heck we didn't even know if they had the choice to stay! Will they talk about it? Most likely not. NDAs exists.

Also I don't think it was unfair that they decided to stream right after the announcement. Professor Lando has been streaming for a while but for Randon, he has been inactive for a year. And I couldn't blame them for streaming immediately, regardless of how you look at it, streaming is a job. Its been 7 weeks since they last streamed. And what are they gonna do, wait? For who? When they are essentially has been let go.

People cope differently. My thoughts about this whole situation is still muddy. Sure, I'm distracted by Holostars Rust and next week it'll be the first anniversary celebration of Guild Tempus. But there is still a part of me wanting to know what the F*** happened.

I still feel like Cover / Hololive Production trying to distract the fans and cover this whole situation up. I feel like they urged Temma to start season 2 of Holostars Rust cause they know how the fans will feel after the announcement. They even tried to hype up the event by posting an official Holostars Rust season 1 highlights video. Management even paid for the trophy for this season.

Then they also suddenly announced the Tempus anniversary, why do I think this is another distraction? Shinri found out about the anniversary while he is streaming Rust. Shinri was even planning a long break after Rust.

I can't push my ideas to others, the only thing I can do is write my thoughts. If I have one wish for this whole situation, is that the boys don't feel this divide. Just dont let the boys feel that this is their fault. From the 2 Stars that have talked about this situation, they also know this whole thing is also less than ideal.

My wish for the fans, I just hope this feeling of excluding people for their preference fade. I don't want this fandom to divide merely because of an individual's preference.

And I wish for management to talk to their talents of both branches before any announcements or events. I hate that announcements like this have to overlap with projects that the talents worked hard on. Don't merely let your talents talk about things when it should be management that should be announcing it first. When they feel burdened, even if they don't say it outright, we feel it too. Don't forget, Holostars' fans are mostly women. Women's intuition is crazy.

#blog

[reidingmelodies]

Finders Keepers

A/N:  It’s been ages since I’ve written anything, so I figured it was about time I got back into it!  Hope you enjoy, any feedback is appreciated :) Warnings: None Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader Word Count: 2.7K

“What’s wrong with you, Pretty Boy?” Morgan questioned as Spencer rushed into the BAU Tuesday morning, fingers threading through his curls and a look of pure agitation gracing his features.  As if he didn’t hear the question directed towards him, Spencer continued to storm through the room, nearly stumbling into Morgan in his quest to reach his desk.

Pupils dilating, Morgan looked towards JJ who had taken stock of the scene from her chair, brows already furrowed and legs moving to stand and head towards her fellow colleague.

Taking the lead, JJ swiftly headed to Spencer’s side, moving to place a hand on his shoulder before thinking better of it and placing both hands on the edge of his desk instead, Mama Bear instincts dialed all the way up.  “Everything okay, Spence?  You seem annoyed.”  

Morgan scoffed before thinking better of it, “I’d say he’s a bit more than annoyed, JJ”.  No sooner than the words had left his mouth he was given a swift elbow in his side from JJ and an eye roll from Spencer and all that was left for Morgan to do was raise his hands in defeat.

Sighing, Spencer turned back to his desk before mumbling a response back to them, “I’m fine, guys.  I think I lost my copy of War and Peace on the Metro this morning.  It was in my bag when I left my place, it must have fallen out when I was trying to grab my umbrella.  I thought maybe I just forgot and left it here, but apparently not”.

“You and I both know you don’t forget anything, Pretty Boy,” Morgan chimed in, visibly less tense now that he knew there wasn’t any immediate danger.

“Actually Morgan that’s not entirely true.  I have an eidetic memory which means-”

“There’s the Reid we all know and love,” JJ chuckled, heading back to her desk to get ready for the day ahead of them.  Morgan followed, leaving the bullpen in search of Garcia and Spencer sighed, trying to move past the fact that one of his favorite books was no longer in his possession.  Logically, he knew he could buy a replacement copy after work, but deep down he knew it wasn’t the same.

The words dancing across the page would be the same ones that brought him entertainment and the comfort found in familiarity throughout his life, but the book within his hands wouldn’t hold the same nostalgic memories.  He wouldn’t look down at the tattered cover and reminisce on his first jet ride with the BAU, thinking back on how he brushed his fingers against the book’s familiar spine while trying to calm his stomach filled with nervous jitters at the prospect of working with unfamiliar people.  He wouldn’t look at the dog-eared pages and remember how the words on those exact pages brought him comfort on nights he would escape to his bedroom and try to leave memories of aggressive classmates and whispering peers behind.  

Any thought of potentially buying a new copy of the book after the workday was dispelled though as Garcia called everyone into the conference room to discuss a pending case in Phoenix, no sooner followed by a “wheels up in thirty” announcement from Hotch.  Grabbing his go-bag and leaving the bullpen, Spencer filled his head with thoughts of the case, half of his brain racing ahead to connect victimology and significant locations while the other half was stuck repeating a never-ending mantra of “it’s just a book” in the back of his mind.

***

As Spencer was boarding a jet to head 468 miles north, Y/N was playing with a loose thread on her sweater, thinking about the long day of work ahead of her.  Breaking her trance, she looked up and instead glanced up at the now empty row of seats in front of her.  Her brows furrowed as she saw a book stuck in the crack between the far left seat cushion and the back of the chair, and before she knew it her curiosity overtook her.  Y/N found herself standing from the seat, travel mug and bag in tow, before reaching for the dictionary-like book that was calling to her.  The title War and Peace glared back at her, and a quick turn of the cover revealed faded words written in blue ink proclaiming that the book was the “Property of Spencer Reid”.   With the announcement of her stop blaring over the loudspeaker and the weight of someone else’s book in their hand, Y/N made a split second decision to stuff the book into her bag, leaving the Metro with not only thoughts of the upcoming workday but visions of whom the mysterious Spencer Reid could be.

The workday passed by slowly, each passing second filled with the overwhelming desire to search for Spencer Reid on Google.  By the time Y/N was on the Metro ride home, any and all motivation to search for the book’s rightful owner went out the door as her irritation grew with the rising heat of the increasingly packed subway car.  Needing a distraction, her hand reached into her bag, initially moving for her cell phone but making a last second switch as her hand brushed the spine of the book.  May as well spend my time doing something productive, she thought as she gently pulled the book out of it’s temporary home.  With a final sigh, she turned to the first page and began to read.

As Y/N was tearing through the pages of War and Peace at an alarmingly quicker rate than she anticipated that night, Spencer was filling out a WMTA lost and found form in the hopes that someone had the decency to return his book.  Knowing his luck, he assumed it was long gone and in the trash somewhere, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to make one last ditch effort at finding it.  Groaning, Spencer called it a night and went to bed, silently vowing to find his book the second he stepped foot off the BAU jet again.        

***

Six days later the BAU team landed in Quantico, making plans to head to a bar for a drink before a well deserved day off.  As designated drivers were assigned and phone calls home were made Spencer gathered his things, making a beeline to the door in the hopes of reaching the WMTA’s designated lost and found area before it closed for the night.  He was a foot away from the door before a soft hand grasped his wrist, immediately stopping him in his tracks.

“Skipping out on the bar tonight, Reid?” Emily questioned, head tilted as she noticed how frazzled her friend was.

“I’m just gonna go home and watch a bit of Dr.Who” Spencer began, desperately trying to think of something that would let him out the door without further questions.  “Speaking of Dr. Who, did you know that it was originally created to be an educational show for kids?  It’s actually really interesting-”

“Say no more, Dr. Reid,” Emily laughed, letting go of his wrist and heading back towards the others, “enjoy your night”.  Spencer tightly smiled, leaving the bullpen and making his way to downtown DC in search of his book.  An hour later and he wasn’t any closer to finding his book, ultimately giving up and heading to the bookstore to buy himself another copy.

It was at that same time JJ and Derek found themselves hysterically laughing at a corner booth in the bar, thinking about how Spencer probably missed out on meeting the love of his life that night- a woman sitting in the booth directly across from them, War and Peace open on the table in front of her and a pen and highlighter busy at work marking up post its that were being meticulously placed on the book’s pages.

***

A month and a half went by and Spencer had officially given up hope on finding his lost book.  In the six weeks since he had last seen it he refrained from reading his new copy, not willing to give up the small amount of hope he had that he would be reunited with his original book.  That evening though, as the Metro had yet another delay and the subway car continued to get hotter and hotter, he figured there was no better time than the present and pulled out his new copy of War and Peace.  A few pages in, a sudden jolt of the car made him glance up and almost immediately he locked eyes with the woman across from him.  In the span of ten seconds, his thoughts ranged from she’s beautiful to hold on- she’s holding my book and before his legs fully alerted his brain what was happening he found himself on his feet and sitting in the empty seat directly next to her.

As Spencer’s brain began to register just how bad of an idea it was to sit next to a stranger as abruptly as he just did, the woman next to him gripped her bag slightly tighter, tilting her head to the side as she peaked a look at the man next to her.

Her mouth opened to speak, but before she could do so Spencer interrupted her, desperately trying to save himself from any embarrassment her words could bring.

“That’s my book,” he bluntly stated, mentally hitting himself as he watched her adorably confused features morph into a look of defense.

“No.. that’s your book,” she pointed down to his lap, where his new copy of War and Peace was resting between his palms.

“No it’s not- well, it is but it isn’t really?” Spencer tried to explain, his face growing more and more red with each word that left his mouth.

“So it’s your book, but not your book?” She questioned, lips curling up into a slight smile as she witnessed the sweet agitation of the man in front of her.

“Yes!  I lost my book on the metro almost two months ago.  This is just my replacement copy, and I don’t know how I know, but I’m positive the book in your hands right now is the one that I lost.”  Spencer finished his spiel, watching as the woman’s eyes widened in realization and her mouth formed an “o” shape.

“You’re Spencer Reid?” she asked, and now it was his turn to play the part of the confused companion.

“I- yes? But, how do you know my name?” As soon as the question left his mouth the image of the title page of his book filled his head and all too soon he was practically yelling with joy in the poor woman’s face.  “Wait, that is my book then!  Does it say Property of Spencer Reid on the cover page?”

The woman laughed, and Spencer watched as any traces of tension left her body.  “I’m so sorry!  I found it on the Metro on my way to work, and I meant to look you up- not in a creepy way,” she continued, growing more flustered with each passing second.  “I was gonna try and find you to return it but then I started reading it and I liked it more than I thought I would and I just,” She stooped, taking a breath and giving him the most adorable set of puppy dog eyes he’s ever seen.  “I’m just really sorry, I shouldn’t have held onto it as long as I did”.  She finished, and held the book up, holding it out towards Spencer’s hands.  “I think this belongs to you”.

“It’s not a problem at all, I promise,” Spencer reassured her with a warm smile on his face, “thanks for keeping it safe”.  Something about her filled his stomach with joy, and as he looked at her he saw a similar smile mirrored back at him.  It was at that moment he knew he would do anything to keep that look of happiness on her face, stranger or not.  “You know what,” he continued, “you should keep it- finders keepers and all that”.

Y/N laughed in disbelief, immediately shaking her head and pushing the book closer to its rightful owner.  “It’s bad enough I’ve had it this long,” she admitted.  “It belongs with you”.

“At least take this one then?”  Spencer’s brain continued to be a few steps ahead of him, and before he knew it he was taking the book in the stranger’s outstretched hands and placing his new copy in her grasp.  “It looks like you still have a hundred pages or so left and I wouldn’t want to keep you from finishing it.  Besides, I definitely don’t need two copies”.

The woman smiled and gave him an enthusiastic nod, and Spencer couldn’t help but think he just made the best decision of his life.  The speaker above them announced the next stop, and with a sudden jump she left her seat, discarding the new book into her bag and turning towards Spencer on her way to the door.  “Thanks, Spencer!” she exclaimed, “maybe I’ll see you around sometime”.  Another smile was sent his way, and before he earned up the nerve to ask for her name she was gone, disappearing into a growing crowd of commuters desperate to get back to the comfort of their homes and begin the weekend ahead.

***

The following morning, Spencer found himself in his living room with a mug of coffee in his hand, completely lost in his thoughts.  He was trying to calculate the chances of seeing the mystery woman again, considering it took six weeks after losing his book to see her for the first time at all.  

He groaned, inwardly cursing himself for his lack of courage the day before and wishing he at least had a name to match to the face that wouldn’t leave his mind.  As the coffee cooled, he found his gaze wandering to the coffee table where he had laid the book and his satchel the previous night.  With a sigh, Spencer picked up the book only to notice a bright orange post-it sticking out of one of the pages.

“The strongest of all warriors are these two- time and patience” was written in loopy writing, highlighted in yellow with exactly twelve exclamation points in red ink under it.  He was a man of science, but he couldn’t help but feel as though finding one of his favorite quotes from the novel staring up at him was a sign.

As he continued to skim the pages, he found note after note filled with quotes, reactions, and doodles and he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of admiration for the stranger who put them all there.  It was a book that held countless memories for Spencer, but already he could tell that this was going to be his ultimate favorite.  

Backtracking to the front page, Spencer saw his familiar scrawl had been slightly covered by a light blue post it note.  “If this book gets lost a second time I don’t want to make the same mistake as the first guy… please call Y/N at-” Spencer laughed, immediately grabbing his phone to dial the number before he has time to talk himself out of it.

As the phone began to ring, he thought about how he couldn’t picture her name being anything else.  It was as beautiful as she was, and he longed to properly meet the woman who managed to get his heart racing with just a few post-it notes.

“Hello?” the voice on the other end of his phone answered, and Spencer could immediately tell it was the same woman from the subway.

“Hi, is this Y/N?” he began, fingers nervously twiddling together.  At her hum of acknowledgement he continues, “This is Spencer, the guy who’s book you had?  I was just looking through the post-its you left behind and I love the perspective you have on the book.  Plus, it was so nice of you to even hold onto it in the first place so I was wondering if you’d wanna get coffee, maybe?  So I can say thank you for everything and talk about the book with you?”

The opposite end of the phone was silent and Spencer’s face grew red, his hands moving to his hair because how could he possibly think she wanted to meet him, she didn’t even know him and-

“I was hoping you’d find that post-it note,” she giggled, and with the sound all of Spencer’s worries completely washed away.  “Absolutely”.

***

Link to join my taglist ♡

#Spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid self insert #criminal minds self insert #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid imagine #criminal minds imagine #dr spencer reid #spencer reid fluff #ash writes

[aquamarinescarlet]

The Psychology of Us

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Word count: ~3.5k

Warnings: mentions of smut (nothing explicit)

Summary: It seems like you’ll never get the answers you want, but little did you know…

Author’s note: This is probably my favorite story yet. It got a little steamier than I originally planned, but I think it turned out okay. I hope the explanation makes sense, it’s something I do use in real life so I thought it’d be fun to write about. Anyhow, thank you for everyone who read, and have fun with the last part :D

Taglist: @helloalycia @gingerbreadcookieforlife @xastrydx @trikruismybitch @b0mbdotc0m @ima-gi--na-tion @cristin-rjd @arealearp @1-800-maximoff @zarriaza329

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

“I know, I know, I’ll be at your place at seven.” You said to Angie as soon as she reached you.

The hallway was packed, yet you were still able to notice her presence.

“About that,” she sounded unsure, “I came to tell you about this small gathering Pietro is doing at his place tonight, and I was wondering if you’d come with me?”

“So I can be a third wheel? No thank you.”

“He will have other friends over too, don’t worry.”

“Then why can’t you go by yourself?”

“Because I don’t know any of them and I don’t want to be there all by myself.” She reasoned.

“Just stick by Pietro and you’ll be fine.”

“Please!” She pleaded, giving you her best puppy eyes.

You weren’t opposed to the idea of going to Pietro’s house, a small gathering would be a nice change of pace from your usual Friday night parties. But your mind was in a different place right now and a party wasn’t exactly on your plans. You couldn’t say no to her though, maybe you could sneak out early, who knows.

“Fine, I’ll go.” You gave in.

She cheered, hugging you eagerly, and walked away before you could change your mind.

It was Friday again and you were still stuck on the girl and her puzzle. You’d seen her seven more times in the past two weeks. Now you had compulsively read eight books in the span of one month. Eight books all due to her, it was more than Diego reads in the same time.

Even your family was starting to question this sudden new hobby. Aalways keeping yourself locked in your room or with your nose deep down into a different book wasn’t normal.

Despite that, you were no closer to solving the mystery that was the girl from the library. She refused to give you her name when you asked her for it. She refused to explain the logic behind her recommendations. She just had fun watching you drown in frustration.

You were close to giving up, to start avoiding her until you forgot completely about the whole situation. But you enjoyed these moments. You were excited at the prospect of seeing her, not that you’d ever admit it out loud.

Of course, all this excitment died down the moment she started to mock you for nothing, with that annoying smirk painting those perfect stupid lips of hers, growing your desire to wipe it off of her.

There was something, though, that caught your attention, something about the books she recommended. You enjoyed them, you savoured every story, every plot, every character. Diego always tried to get you to read some of his favourite books and you gave up after a few pages. But not these ones, you liked them, and you had to figure out what kind of spell she used to make you like them so much.

“I think I’m going insane.” You muttered while staring at the ‘map’ you had created on your bedroom wall.

It contained post-its, notes, the title of all eight books and the answers that earned you each recommendation. A pathetic attempt to find a connection between this whole thing.

“You are getting too worked up on this, I mean, look at your wall,” Diego, who had been hanging out with you this afternoon, gestured towards it, “it looks like something right out of a detective movie.”

“It’s not that bad,” you said exasperatedly, “I just need to figure this out.”

“Okay, two things,” he put up both his index and middle finger, “first: it is that bad, it’s just a bunch of books; and second: why are you so desperate to figure this out?”

“I’m not desperate,” you argued.

“Yes, you are.” You heard him mumble.

“And aren’t you even a little bit curious?”

“Not that curious.”

“I just want to prove her wrong,” you explained.

“Because you care about what she thinks?” He seemed genuinely confused.

“No, I-”

“Look,” he interrupted, “I know you. I’ve known you for a long time. You have never been one to care about what other people think of you. So why her?”

“I-,” you were at a loss for words.

Why did you care? It bothered when she insulted you, even though you knew it wasn’t true, and you’ve never been bothered by such things before. It bothered that she knew nothing about you and still had the nerve to deem herself better than you, even though this was all the more reason to not care about her opinion at all.

Was it really a bother though? Or was that just an excuse? And if it is an excuse, then what were you excusing? Why were you still doing this? You’ve been dragging this out for a month. Why were you so keen on proving her wrong after all this time?

You don’t need to prove to her that you’re smart: you get good grades, you’re the captain of the football team, you even have a scholarship in one of the best colleges in the area. Of course she doesn’t know any of this, but that’s not enough motivation for you to spend a month trying to prove her she’s wrong about you.

For all you know that crazy scheme of hers to recommend books could be fake. She could just recommend books she likes and hide the reasons behind those questions. But then why did you enjoy those stories? And why would she put up a whole facade to recommend some books to a random stranger she met in a library?

“Do you like her?” Diego’s voice brought you out of your own thoughts.

The look you gave him was one of disbelief. You almost wanted to laugh at his words.

“Like her? How can I like someone who pisses me off so much?”

“Then why do you keep going back?”

“Why I- because- I- I’m curious.” You didn’t sound as confident as you wished. It wasn’t a lie. You were curious. But curiosity was not the only reason you kept going back, although you couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

“I don’t believe you.”

You didn’t answer. You didn’t know how to answer. Thankfully you didn’t have to when, with a quick glance at the clock, you were able to change the subject.

“We’re late.” You simply stated.

“For what?”

“I told Angie I was going to meet her at her place at seven,” you gestured towards the time, “it’s seven thirty.”

“I didn’t agree to this.”

“C’mon, please,” you pleaded, “it’s going to be a small, like, get together or something, and I know Angie will leave me alone at some point to makeout with her boyfriend.”

“Okay fine,” he gave in and you made a little celebratory dance, dragging him out of the house.

Since this was supposed to be casual and between friends, you didn’t waste any time at Angie’s, where you’d usually spend hours getting dressed and ready.

Pietro’s place wasn’t far, which you were slightly thankful for since Angie wouldn’t stop talking about him the whole ride. He’s such a good kisser. He’s so cute. Did you know he plays soccer? He looks so hot in his uniform… You love your friend, but that’s just too much.

As always you weren’t the first one’s, and by the amount of people it was far from a “small gathering between friends”. The apartment wasn’t small, but sure felt like it with the almost fifty people crammed in there.

You were greeted by Pietro himself, who offered you each a beer before pulling Angie in for a kiss, causing you and Diego to roll your eyes. You gladly took the beer, if you had to endure this, might as well have some alcohol to help.

Two beers later and your mind was no longer fixating on the girl-from-the-library problem. Instead you were having a friendly debate with some of Pietro’s friends about which college was the best, the typical rivalry. Having only Angie to back you up was making the whole thing harder.

“Hey Piet,” a tall blonde boy called out, interrupting the conversation, “is Wanda going to join us?”

“Doubtful, you know how she is…”

“Who’s Wanda?” Angie’s voice was laced with jealousy causing the boy to laugh dramatically, which only seemed to make her madder.

“She’s my sister, don’t worry,” he reassured her. It made sense, he had mentioned he lived with his twin sister.

You watched as he pulled Angie away from the group, probably to makeout, as you had predicted, and you looked at Diego, to stop him from commenting anything, only to find his place empty.

You left the group as well to search for him, and was surprised to find him shoving his tongue down some girl’s throat. You could’ve left them alone? Yes, you could. But did you? Of course not.

“Y’know,” you tapped on his shoulder, earning his attention, “when I bring you to a party so I can have someone when Angie left me, I expect you not to leave me as well.” You teased.

“Shut up.” He tried to sound serious, but the smirk gave it away.

“You owe me one.”

Feeling a sudden need to go to the bathroom, you let them be and went in search of one. You opened a door you thought led to a bathroom, but found yourself in a corridor which had other four doors that probably led to bedrooms, at least one must lead to a bathroom.

“Pietro, I already told you, keep that door closed!” You heard someone scream from one of them.

It wasn’t just anyone though. That was a voice that had been haunting you for a whole month now. Okay, haunting was an exaggeration, but still. You quickly closed the door, muffling the music and chatter.

As you rested your back against the wall, a surge of power took over you. The new information taking over all your thoughts. You had the upper hand now on this little game of hers. It was your turn to play.

Her door was easy to identify, being the only one with light seeping through the cracks, and you made no effort to be quiet or discreet when opening it.

She was sitting in her bed, long red hair loose over her shoulders, a book in hands. Her expression was soft despite the interruption, she hadn’t looked up, so she had no idea it was you who was standing there.

“What do you want Piet?” A mischievous smirk grew on your face.

“Wanda,” you uttered as if trying it on your tongue for the first time, earning the girl’s attention.

The shock that took over her features did wonders to your confidence.

“A beautiful name,” you continued, daring to take a few steps inside her room, “I see you favourite color is red,” you referred to the endless amount of details on her walls, shelves, bedsheets, all a different shade of red.

You walked further into the room, exploring everything in sight. She followed your every move with her eyes, too stunned to say anything. Were you crossing a line? Probably. Should you be invading her personal space like that, without a warning? Probably not. But she has been invading your personal space for weeks, so you couldn’t care less.

“Ah, you play the guitar,” you grazed your fingers over the instrument sitting on the corner of the room, “I didn’t think you had any talents other than insulting me for no reason.”

You were enjoying this too much. Your eyes landed on some pictures and notes clinging to a wall.

“Sokovia,” you said after reading one of the notes, “so you are Sokovian, that’s interesting.” Your gaze fell to her desk, a pile of textbooks stacked there. “Psychology,” you laughed, not because it was funny, but because it was going to piss her off even further, “you are more likely to drive your patients crazy than to actually help them.”

“How…,” you turned towards her, “did you…,”

“Get in here? Learn your name?” You offered some suggestions since she didn’t seem capable of finishing that sentence herself. “Pietro.” You simply stated and watched as her face went from stunned to mad.

“How do you know my brother?”

Was that jealousy you were sensing? Or was she just upset that he had told you stuff about her? You decided to play with it a little bit.

“He is a sweet boy isn’t he? So hot and so nice,” you teased and she advanced towards you, making you a little frightened, but not enough to back down, “it’s hard to believe you two share the same genes.”

Your face was mere inches from hers and you suddenly felt like the air was growing thick, making it hard to breathe. A feeling of warmth taking over your chest and stomach. In spite of all the discomfort, you managed to keep your composure.

“I so want to wipe that pretentious smirk off of your face right now,” she growled. Oh, how the tables have turned.

“Why don’t you?” You challenged.

Football had given you fast reflexes (except for that particular event a few weeks ago), you were ready to catch her hand if she tried anything. Instead of her fist or her palm, you were met with her lips attacking yours furiously.

The kiss was needy, hungry, desperate even. Your hands made their way to her waist, pulling her impossibly closer. It was a battle, a fight neither of you were willing to lose. Tongues fighting for dominance, teeth biting lips, jaw, neck, hands pulling on skin in such a way it would definitely leave marks.

Clothes fell to the floor as you backed her to her bed, pushing her onto the mattress, this feeling, a necessity for her, on the pit of your stomach growing ever more.

Safe to say your plans of leaving early were postponed. At some point during the night you had managed to find Diego and let him know you wouldn’t be needing a ride back home. Your disheveled state and red marks, which were already showing up on your neck, didn’t go unnoticed by him, but he didn’t have time to comment on it. You mentally dreaded the moment he would start with the questioning.

Some shifting on the bed caught your attention. Slowly opening your eyes, you were able to catch Wanda staring at you with a soft smile. Your back was facing her, so she didn’t know you were awake, but you could see her clearly from her bedroom mirror.

And what a sight it was.

“You’re staring.” You called out, and watched her face turn three shades redder out of embarrassment from being caught.

You turned around so you’re now facing her, although she wouldn’t meet your gaze.

“What’s on your mind?” She kept quiet. “Okay, wanna know what’s on my mind?” She nodded lightly. “Well, I’m thinking that I would have never, not in a million years, pegged you as being shy.” She tried to stifle a laugh while bringing her hand up to playfully hit you on the arm. “That’s more like it,” you teased.

“I’m not shy,” she defended.

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

“Because… “ she lost it mid sentence.

“... you’re shy and sweet, just like your brother said,” you recalled from the day you spent together in the arcade.

She hit you, yet again, on the arm, slightly harder this time, but not enough to hurt.

“Tell me this then,” you finally reached the topic that has been bugging you for weeks, “what was all this for? The mystery, the games?”

She fell silent, seemingly in deep thought and you got scared you had killed the moment.

“Okay, so maybe I’m a little shy,” she admitted and you celebrated internally while your face remained unfazed, “and that makes me scared of…”

“Talking to people?” You helped out, but she covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.

“Please, don’t laugh at me, I know it’s stupid-”

“It’s not,” you interrupted, uncovering her face, “go on.”

She took a deep breath before continuing.

“I’m scared of talking to people… especially people that I like.” Although it sounded like a confession, you weren’t exactly sure what it was about.

“So you liked me?” You asked in disbelief. “From the beginning?”

Her already red face was growing darker by the second.

“I had seen you before, with Diego, in the library, always complaining, always stating how boring it was,” she shook her hands in the air for the purpose of drama, “and it was annoying, but it was also cute and- and I always wanted to talk to you, but I never found courage to do it.”

To say you were shocked at the new information was an understatement. She liked you all this time? And you just thought she hated your guts for no reason? Wow, that’s precious.

“Okay, so…” you tried to say in the stunned state you found yourself, “how- why- the- why did you do all that then?”

“Because I had like, this sudden flow of confidence, and since you had this cocky personality I thought you would like someone who was the same, so I said what I said, and I did what I did and-”

“I started to hate you.” The way you acted when you first met must’ve hurt her.

“Exactly, and I thought I had screwed up completely, until you showed up again, and my stupid brain associated that to the idea that the way I had acted worked. So I kept it up. A persona, in a sense.”

“What were you planning to do then? Keep that act up forever?” The question made her slightly frustrated.

“I don’t know, I didn’t think that far, I just enjoyed your presence, even though you still seemed to hate my guts.” You laughed and moved closer to her, wrapping your arms around her waist.

“I did,” you whispered close to her ear, “I hated your guts, but I also enjoyed it, the games, the mystery, that’s why I kept coming back.”

“So it worked,” she said excitedly.

“It sort of did.” You stared into her green eyes, for a few seconds. “There’s something else in my mind too that I’ve been meaning to ask.”

“Ask away.”

“So… about the recommendations-”

“Oh my god,” she didn’t let you finish, “you haven’t figured that out yet?!” She exclaimed in disbelief, when she opened her mouth again you knew what was coming.

“Don’t say it.” You warned.

“You really are slow.” She said it anyways, a mischievous grin painting her lips.

“Damn, I hate you,” you said jokingly, unwrapping yourself from her and making a move to leave the bed.

She stopped you short, wrapping her arms around your shoulders and pulling you back, causing you to fall on the bed laughing hysterically.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I won’t say it anymore.”

She let you go and sat up and across from you.

“Good, so are you going to explain it to me or not?” You questioned and she rolled her eyes playfully. “And don’t you dare tell me there is no logic behind it, there has to be one.”

“Yes, there is a logic,” she mocked, “it’s quite simple actually, the ‘color’ is what sets the mood for the book.”

“How so?”

“Uhm, like, we associate colors with stuff, like black is associated with death and evil and white is associated with peace and purity,” you nodded, “it also works for feelings, associating those with colors, so when a person says a color I can pick a book that has elements that are associated with that color, or that causes a feeling that we associate with that color.” She explained.

“That explains the psychology major thing.” She seemed happy you remembered, even though it was mere hours ago.

“Basically,” she agreed, “so, ‘person’ is what defines the relationships that surround the main character, so either romances, friendships, families, strangers, y’know?”

“Yeah okay,” you tried to follow along.

“And ‘place’ is to decide how far from reality the story should be, if the person says a place that’s close to their home, they tend to prefer stuff closer to their comfort zone, so no fantasy or sci-fi, and vice-versa.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep,” she beamed a smile, “simple isn’t it?”

“Does it always work?”

“No, it’s a really subjective thing, the more I know the person the better, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.” She admitted. “It worked on you like a charm though,” she teased.

“That it did,” you couldn't deny. “Okay, so if I got it right, color sets the mood, right?”

“Right.”

“Then what is red associated with?” You looked around her room, filled with several details in red.

“Anger, love, passion-,” she stopped talking when she met your eyes, a mischievous smirk on your lips.

You slowly rose from your position and crawled forward, never losing her gaze. You quirked an eyebrow suggestively as you got closer. You sat on her lap, faces inches from another.

“Well, I can show you some passion.”

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda x reader #mcu #marvel #fluff #ittle bit of angst #wanda x you

[badboyjuyeon]

me plus you

Pairing: Eric x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 4.6k

Summary: You have to tutor Eric in calculus, but you’re struggling in calculus and Eric doesn’t actually need help.

This was not happening. You rubbed your eyes again as if that was going to change the 0/100 that you received from missing your latest calculus quiz. It didn’t matter how many A’s you got in your past quizzes, a zero would definitely damage your grade. You shoved the test in your bag and made your way towards the teacher’s desk. 

“I missed yesterday’s class so I had no idea that I missed this quiz. Is there any way that I can make this up?” You asked your teacher, hoping that she might spare some pity and excuse this quiz. This was out of character for a straight-A student like yourself and you knew that she had a soft spot towards you. 

“Unfortunately, it was a unit quiz and you missed it. If you read the syllabus, it explicitly states that there are no make-up opportunities...” She began in a stern voice which eventually turned softer when she noticed the panicked look on your face. “...But knowing how you have always done well in this class, I would be willing to offer extra credit if you join the tutoring center.” 

“Consider it done!” You gave your best fake smile as you tried not to think of all the free time you were about to lose. It was your fault, after all, for sleeping in on the day you knew you would have the quiz. Maybe you turned off your alarm because you were struggling in the last few classes and scared to receive a failing grade. Maybe you closed your eyes for “five more minutes” because you didn’t know how to ask for help since you’ve never needed to before. 

As you turned to leave, you noticed Eric Sohn push his way from the back of the classroom. He avoided eye contact with the teacher as if that would make him invisible.

“Eric I would like to meet with you.” Your teacher called out to him as he had one foot out of the doorway. 

“Aww man, I was so close to escaping.” He muttered under his breath. You bit back a smile at his comment and watched him step back into the classroom. You brushed past him as you left to go sign up for the tutoring center. Eric envied you for being able to walk free, while he was going to be stuck getting yelled at. 

“Eric, you’ve been failing all of the recent quizzes. I spoke with your coach and we agreed that you can’t play on the team unless your grades improve.” She shook her head in disappointment. 

Eric could not believe what he was hearing. All his practice would have gone towards nothing. He could feel his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player slip away, all because of this one stupid class. “I promise I’ll do better on the next one, just please let me stay on the team.” 

Your teacher sighed, “You said that the last time. You still haven’t taken up my recommendation of going to the tutoring center. Another peer might be able to help you better. If your next few grades improve after tutoring, then we’ll talk.” 

Eric headed towards the library during his lunch period, which he never would have done under any other circumstance. He preferred to be outside playing basketball with his friends than being cooped up in the library. After signing his name, he sat down on an empty table and waited to be assigned to a tutor. When he tried to look for another familiar name on the tutor list, he noticed yours scribbled neatly with your perfect font-like handwriting. You’ve probably never failed a quiz in your life, let alone the past few quizzes. Eric groaned. How did he let himself slip up in this class? He had a pretty high GPA, but this class was dragging it down from its highest potential. 

He flipped through the notebook he dedicated to calculus and was met with empty pages. If only he didn’t stay up late studying for his other classes, he would have been able to pay attention during this class. But resting his eyes always seemed like a much better option. 

“Eric? Hi, I’ll be your new calc tutor.” Eric looked up to see you pull out the seat across from him. He let out a sigh of relief because you were not a complete stranger and you always got the highest grades. He would be back on the team in no time. He shot you a smile and his eyes formed crescent moons.

You returned his smile but it was only momentary, and it left as quickly as it came. “Can I tell you a secret?” You fidgeted with your fingers. 

Eric was unsure of what to make of your sudden question. He nodded his head to encourage you to continue. 

“I have no idea what’s going on in class.” You admitted to him, though this was not something you told anyone else. 

Eric let out a laugh, you had to be joking. “Don’t you need an A in this class to be a tutor?” 

“Yeah, I just always get my work done on time. My grade doesn’t reflect my understanding of the material but how well I can cheat on all of my assignments.” Upon seeing his confused face, you chose to elaborate. “I usually use photomath, that’s the only way I’ve been passing.” 

Eric’s mouth parted in shock. Why didn’t he think of using that app himself? He also couldn’t believe that you were struggling in that class. “Then I’m not crazy, she just really can’t teach. That’s why I haven’t been understanding anything.” 

“It’s not you, it’s her.” You assured him. “But can I still ‘tutor’ you because that would be the only way to make up for my last quiz?” You hoped that your desperation wasn’t too obvious. 

Eric studied your face, he never had any chance to talk to you this long. Your features were tainted with stress. He could tell that your grades mattered and that he was the only person that could help you. It wouldn’t hurt to spend a little time outside of class with you, it’s not like he had baseball practice to take away his free time. 

“Sure, I’m going to need these lessons to explain why I’m suddenly going to do amazing in this class after I start using photomath.” 

Your face lit up when you heard him accept and it was enough to ensure that he made the right choice. 

“How bad did you do on the last quiz?” Eric still couldn’t believe that you were not the nerd that he thought you were. Teachers always used your work for examples of model work and that was the only impression he had of you prior to this tutor session.

“I got a 0 because I missed class that day.” You looked away in embarrassment. The bright red 0 was still easily visible on your crumpled-up test. 

Eric placed his test marked with 65/100 next to yours. “Well I didn’t pass even though I was in class, so we can try to work on it together.”

You flipped to the chapter that the quiz was on and turned the textbook sideways so that he could also see. The library was mainly empty save for you two because the weather was nice and everyone would much rather go outside for lunch. Your table was positioned right near the window, and Eric had the perfect view of all of his friends playing baseball on the school field. He could have been there if he didn’t slack off this bad. 

No matter how many times you read the page, you still couldn’t quite get the concept down. No other class had you stuck like this one. While you were stuck rereading, Eric started attempting the first problem on his quiz. He finished in a matter of seconds and you took out photomath, a calculator app that solves literally everything, to check if it’s the same answer. 

You couldn’t hide the look of shock on your face when the answer on your screen matched the one on his paper. “Eric I didn’t know that you were a genius. You have to teach me how to do this.” 

Eric’s face also matched yours as he was also surprised at himself. He never even thought to attempt the problems before. 

“I don’t really know what I did.” He confessed but tried to walk you through his thought process. Hearing him explain the steps allowed you to think of the problem in an entirely different way and it was the only thing you needed to understand how to solve it. Your face still expressed the initial shock, but now you felt more impressed than surprised. 

Eric laughed at the irony, here he was tutoring you instead of the other way around. “I’ll have you know that just because I’m a sports guy doesn’t mean that I’m an airhead.” 

“And having A’s doesn’t exactly mean that I’m a nerd. I knew you weren’t an airhead, but sleeping during class didn’t exactly make you look the smartest.” You teased him, before asking him the real question that was plaguing your mind. “You picked it up so quickly, why did you fail the last few quizzes?” 

He switched his gaze from the paper to look straight into your eyes. “Honestly, I didn’t have any motivation to actually do the quizzes. I thought that I was screwed since I kept sleeping during class. And I have to sacrifice some classes to do better in the rest.” He answered, before moving on to the next problem. 

With him facing towards the paper, you took note of his perfect side profile. His eyebrows were furrowed as he thought about how to solve the question. Wow, his jawline was sharp and you were getting sidetracked.

Using his method, you were able to breeze through the problems. You were the type of student to follow the book, word for word, while Eric was the opposite. He was carefree and just did what he felt like, and it worked. You would’ve never thought to experiment like he did but it was exactly what you needed to do. 

“Wait I don’t get how to do these last few problems.” He interrupted you from your thoughts and you leaned closer to get a better view of the problem. You checked the steps to solve the problem from photomath and figured out how to solve it. 

While you were explaining the problem to him, Eric suddenly became aware of the short proximity between the two of you. His eyes traced your features and they subconsciously drifted towards your lips. He wondered whether they felt as soft as they looked, in a totally platonic way, of course. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. 

“That’s why you use this- Eric? Were you even listening?” You turned to face him after he stopped being responsive. Eric felt the blood rush to his cheeks. He quickly scanned the paper and pretended that he was paying attention all along. “Yeah I was listening, I understand it.” 

You spent the rest of the period working together to get through the quiz. You two were in your own world and you wouldn’t have noticed how much time went by if the library didn’t become loud, signaling the end of the period, as students transitioned between classes. The period never felt this short. 

“We are quite the team,” Eric said as you packed up your things. 

“Surprisingly, we are. Let’s meet up again at the same time next week.” You waved at him and rushed to get to your next class. 

“See you in class.” Eric watched as you left the library and looked forward to the next time he would see you.

Upon entering calculus class the next day, Eric searched for your face. He found you sitting in your usual seat near the window. Your head was down on the desk, unaware that he was approaching you. 

“Is this seat taken?” You lifted your head to see Eric gesturing to the seat next to you. You shook your head, confused as to why he decided to sit next to you instead of the back of the classroom. 

You didn’t have to worry about saving a seat for a friend because calculus was the one class that you didn’t share with any friends. You didn’t realize it until now but none of the boys you saw Eric hang out with were in this class either. At least you two would have each other now.

“Isn’t it easier to sleep in the back of the classroom?” You questioned.

“It is, but it's easier to cheat- I mean learn next to you.” He said with a cheeky grin. 

Your teacher walked in, cutting off your small talk. 

You took out your calculus textbook and notebook while you waited for the teacher to begin. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Eric scribble something on the last page of his notebook. When the teacher turned around to write on the chalkboard, he slid his notebook over to you and tapped you. 

i forgot my textbook in my locker, can i look over on yours? 

You pushed your textbook towards him and positioned it in between you two. He mouthed a quick “thanks.” 

Your teacher began explaining the new concept and you almost forgot about Eric’s presence next to you as you copied down everything that was on the board. 

“Wait, is that a four or a nine?” You whispered, trying to decipher the messy handwriting. When you heard no response from Eric, you turned to look at him for the first time since class had started. Eric’s head was resting on the palm of his hand and his eyes were closed shut. He did not just leave you to fend for yourself. You nudged his hand and his head fell onto the desk with a loud thud. 

Your teacher briefly turned around to call out whoever was interrupting her lesson but you resumed writing and Eric pretended to read the textbook page extremely closely. After she faced the board again, Eric raised his eyebrows at you, as if to ask why you disrupted his sleep. Not wanting to draw attention again, you passed him a note.

pay attention if you want the teacher to like you, trust me it works.

easier said than done, teacher’s pet.

Eric waited for you to read his note before he stuck his tongue out at you. 

You were going to deny being the teacher’s pet when you were interrupted by Hyunjae, who sat on your other side. “Can you help me with number 1?”

“Uh sure.” You responded, despite wanting to work with Eric. You glanced back at Eric, but he began working on the new problem set by himself. 

Though Eric’s eyes were focused on the paper in front of him, his ears couldn’t help but listen to your conversation with Hyunjae.  

“You’re a lifesaver, thank you so much. Can I pay you back with bubble tea after school?” Hyunjae gave you a flirtatious smile. 

Eric’s grip on his pen tightened. He convinced himself that he was only annoyed because he didn’t know how to solve the problem.

“I would never say no to free bubble tea.” You checked to see if Eric was listening from your peripheral vision once again, but he seemed to be disinterested. You weren’t sure why you kept looking back at Eric, maybe you wanted to see if he would object. Or maybe you wanted him to object. But he made no such move to stop you. 

Hyunjae beamed. “Great, let’s meet up after class. And maybe we can study for the next test together?”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Were you just trying to bribe me with bubble tea?”

Eric’s head was facing downwards as he tried to hide his feelings of betrayal. The nerve Hyunjae had to steal his study partner. 

“And if I was?” Hyunjae challenged.

“That was a smart way to bribe me, you might not even need to study with how smart you are.” You answered. 

Eric slammed his pen down, causing you and Hyunjae to look at him. 

“Oops, it slipped.” He blurted, feeling satisfied because he interrupted Hyunjae. 

The bell rang and you rushed to copy down the homework into your planner. 

“Do you want to work on the homework together?” Eric suggested while packing up his things. “I didn’t know how to do the third set of problems.” He added in, hoping that it would convince you to work together. 

“I don’t know, I’m in high demand these days. Everyone wants to study with me.” You flaunted. Of course you would study with him, you just wanted to make him work for it. Eric rushed to follow you out of the classroom.

“Pretty please.” He pouted and gave you puppy eyes. You snorted at his attempt of acting cute, which he didn’t even need to do since he was naturally cute. 

“Okay fine, but only if you stop doing that hideous face.” You stopped to open your locker. 

Eric leaned on the locker next to yours and crossed his arms. “No one can resist this sexy face.” 

“Yeah okay.” You replied in a sarcastic tone, though you secretly agreed with him. You took a pen out of your locker and grabbed his hand. Eric held his breath and watched to see what you would do next. You wrote your phone number on the palm of his hand. “Text me. Or facetime me, whatever works for you.” You shut your locker and headed to your next class.

Eric stared at your number on his hand and smiled to himself, his heart still racing from when you touched him. 

While you walked away, you felt proud that you were able to pull that move off. But then the color drained from your face. You never said what time. The power rested entirely on Eric and when he decided to contact you. That means that you would have to wait and possibly be camera-ready all day. 

As soon as Eric got home from school, he entered your phone number and saved your contact. He wondered whether he would seem too eager if he texted you right away. You were probably still studying with Hyunjae. Eric scoffed as he thought about how Hyunjae was there instead of him. 

You stared at the black screen on your phone. Tapping on it for the millionth time, the screen read 8:15 pm. Why didn’t you specify a time? You dived for your phone every time you saw your phone light up with a notification. 

Was he even going to facetime you? You glanced around your room in horror. You weren’t able to fix it when you rushed out of the house this morning. You could not let Eric see this mess. You got to work fixing your room while you waited for him to text you. Hearing the familiar vibration, you reached for your phone, hoping it wasn’t another spam email. 

hey, it’s eric. are you free to ft and work on the hw rn? 

Eric sent the text and threw his phone on the bed. He had spent 15 minutes debating whether his text was too casual. Hugging his pillow, he anxiously waited for you to respond. 

yea i’m free

You checked your room once again to see if anything was out of place. Then you saw your reflection in the mirror. You were so caught up in fixing your room, you forgot to fix your appearance. You quickly applied something on your lips so you wouldn’t look too bad. 

After sitting down in front of a lamp so you would have optimal lighting, you picked up his facetime call. 

“Hey.” You felt your breath hitch in your throat. His hair was still wet from the shower he took just earlier. You didn’t think it was possible for him to get any hotter. 

“So how was your date with Hyunjae.” He didn’t even try to hide the bitterness in his tone. Wow, real smooth Eric. He should’ve waited a bit longer to bring it up, but he couldn’t help it. 

You laughed at his choice of a conversation starter. “It wasn’t a date, and it was actually very fun. Maybe I need to start charging you for my services. I’ll only accept payment with bubble tea from now on.” 

“Spending quality time with me is your payment.” He replied with a smug look on his face.

You shook your head. “That is not enough, I fear.” 

Eric crossed his arms and tried to look offended. “I’ll hang up right now then.” 

“Need I remind you that you were the one that begged me to help you today?” You spoke matter-of-factly. “But if you must leave, go. I’m very busy you know.” 

“Busy studying with other guys? I thought we had something special.” He dramatically clutched his heart. 

“You wish, you are yet another one of my side hoes.” 

“Your main hoe being boba?” He raised an eyebrow.

You paused to think of a witty response. “It seems you are more interested in my love life than those calculus problems you needed help with.” 

“Those problems can wait.” He shrugged his shoulders. 

“Fine, how about this? For every problem you get correct, you can ask me a question and I’ll answer it honestly.” You proposed. 

Eric smiled widely. “I like how you think. And what happens if I get them wrong?” 

“Then I get to ask you a question.” You replied. 

“You won’t be able to ask me any questions.” His cockiness was apparent from how confidently he spoke. “The first solution is 5.” 

Checking the answer to the first problem, you confirmed that it was 5.

“Since this is about your love life, do you have a boyfriend?” He asked, desperately wanting you to say no. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Yes, I do have one.” You watched for Eric’s reaction. Eric’s smile dropped for a split second as he registered what you said. 

“Oh really? Who? Do I know him?” He interrogated, completely dropping his previous act. 

You felt amused watching him squirm. “That’s three other problems you have to get right.” 

To your surprise, Eric continued to get the next three problems correct.

“So who is your boyfriend?” He phrased carefully.

“Hyunjae.” You said with a straight face.

Eric’s eyes grew 10 times the size they were. “Really?”

“Nah, I’m just playing. I don’t have a boyfriend.” You finally revealed the truth. 

That definitely made Eric happier than he’d like to admit. 

“You just made me waste two questions.” He emphasized by holding up two fingers. 

“Did you even need help with those problems Eric?” 

“Yes...but I figured them all out while you were flirting with Hyunjae.” He looked away from the screen. 

“I was not flirting with Hyunjae.” You lied. You did flirt a little, but that was only because you wanted to see if Eric got jealous. 

Eric rolled his eyes, not believing you. “Sure you weren’t.” 

“You have not seen me flirt, believe me, you would know.” You told him honestly. If you were going to flirt with anyone, it would be him. 

Eric’s smile returned once again. “I look forward to seeing that.” 

You and Eric fell into a routine where you met up every week to study calculus. And then facetimed after school. And then texted at night. You would work together during class, and Eric would get annoyed every time Hyunjae tried to join. 

You and Eric were prepared for the next calculus quiz and your efforts paid off. As soon as Eric got his quiz back, his first thought was to see the look on your face when he told you his grade.

At the end of class, Eric proudly dangled his quiz in front of your face, he couldn’t contain the smile on his face. 

You saw a large A on the top of the first page and you pulled him into a hug. Before you could regret acting so spontaneously, Eric hugged you back just as tightly. This was the first time you both hugged, but it felt so comforting and you didn’t want to let go. “Wow I’m so proud of you, I can’t believe you’re scoring higher than me.” You said when you finally pulled away.

“I’m coming for your throne.” Eric winked at you.

After consistently doing well in the classwork, Eric realized that he didn’t need help anymore. The tutoring sessions eventually became an excuse to meet you. 

Eric pointed at a problem, his eyes trained on yours, “Can you explain this to me?” 

“Eric, you literally taught me how to solve this.” You giggled.

“Oh, did I? Um...well I forgot. Explain it to me again?” You could never resist Eric’s puppy-dog eyes. The more time you spent with him, the more you realized how cute he was. 

“Graph this equation.” Eric had randomly said one day while you were studying at the library. 

You stared at the equation he wrote and looked back at him with confusion. “How is this relevant to calculus?”

“Just do it.” He whined. 

You reached for your graphing calculator and entered the equation. 

Staring at the shape the equation produced, you were pleasantly surprised to see that it resembled...“A heart?” 

You looked up to see Eric grinning from ear-to-ear, clearly proud that he was able to find this equation.

“Very cute Eric. This is why you urgently needed to meet up today?” You raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, that and I needed to talk to you about something else. My coach told me that the improvement in my grades is enough for me to rejoin the team.” Eric started, unsure of whether he should tell you that he didn’t need tutoring anymore. 

“Oh really? That’s great news!” You kept your eyes focused on the paper. You knew that him joining the team would mean your tutoring sessions would have to come to an end soon. “I’m guessing you won’t have time to study anymore.”

Eric knew that he wanted to see you every day, but he didn’t want to pretend that he only wanted to meet you under the pretense of studying. He took a deep breath before speaking. You brought your eyes to meet his when you realized that something must have been up. Eric was never quiet for this long. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to continue meeting up outside of school hours, just us two,” Eric asked hesitantly, waiting for your response. 

Your eyes widened. Was he asking you out? It’s not a complete reach because you two have been spending a lot of time “studying.” You were afraid that you were taking his words in the wrong way. “You want to study outside?” 

“Oh...no, no studying. It would just be us meeting up outside, no calculus.” He looked at the floor. 

“Eric Sohn, are you asking me out on a date?” You asked him. 

“Only if you’re comfortable with that. I’ve liked you for a while and I didn’t really need help anymore but I still want to see you often. I understand if you don-”

You cut off his rambling with a kiss. You resisted the urge to laugh at how red his ears were when you pulled away. “I like you too. Finally you can buy me my long-deserved boba.” 

#eric sohn #the boyz eric #tbz eric #eric #the boyz #TBZ #eric x reader #eric scenarios #eric fluff #tbz x reader #the boyz x reader #the boyz drabbles #the boyz soft hours #the boyz fluff #eric imagines #the boyz fanfic #tbz fanfic #eric sohn x reader #the boyz scenarios #tbz scenarios #tbz imagines #the boyz imagines #tbz reactions #kpop imagines #kpop fanfic #kpop scenarios

[mayfieldss]

hey girl! how have you been?🤍

I think your requests are open. If they aren’t you could totally ignore this!

Ok so I read a similar fic a little while ago and I had an idea for a bucky x y/n and I thought you’d do amazing with this.

Tony is throwing a party and Bucky doesn’t want to go since he’ll have to socialize so he stays in his room. Some random girl comes in by mistake since she was trying to escape the party as well and they start talking. Bucky can’t stop thinking about her and then sees her again a couple days after the party and realizes she’s a new agent who’s working at the compound.

Ok that probably sounds so bad🙈 ahaha sorry! you could totally change it and do whatever you want lol

but thank you very very much!❤️✨

I love this idea so much and I just hope I did it half the justice that it deserves. I really hope you like it.

-

On party business - Bucky Barnes

Buckyxfemreader

Warnings: None unless you're Steve Rogers and coarse language is an issue for you.

AN: Don't mind me venting some of my social anxiety issues through this fic...

The party was loud and busy as would be expected at one of Tony Starks infamous get-togethers. You were only here because you didn’t feel like you could refuse the invite, and how many times could a person be invited to a Party by hosted by Tony Stark? So you went along, instantly regretting the decision as soon as you walked into the compound. It was packed with dancing men and women, some holding drinks while others were grinding their bodies together. Many were sitting on couches enveloped in conversations which you doubted you would be invited into. You didn’t know anyone. Finding the clearest route through the people you made your way to the Bar. There was no way you could get through this night without downing a drink first, if not two or three. Taking a seat on one of the stools you glanced around the room hoping the night would go by faster. - Bucky hated Parties. He hated how many people would surround him, ask him questions in their drunk states and caress his Metal arm with their sticky, alcohol covered fingers. There were also the ones that would avoid him completely as well. The ones that were still wary of him despite knowing he was no longer the Winter Solider. Those people were a part of his everyday life however, so he didn't mind them as much, having been accustomed to so many living in fear of him already. This in mind, it still hurt to think nobody trusted him enough to be around him. It made it so the Winter Solider was always with him, people only seeing him as his past. So Bucky didn’t leave his room. Nobody at the Party would want him there anyway, they wouldn’t miss his presence. He sat on his bed and read his books, cleaned his boots, wrote in his journal. This way nothing unexpected could ever happen. - You’d been at the party for no more than two hours and were already aching to leave. There were too many people around for your liking, none of them paying any interest in you as you stood in the corner next to the bar. Most were shitfaced drunk, you managing to stay sober despite the circumstances. You never let yourself over drink at parties after seeing some of your past friends making the most embarrassing mistakes during your high school years. Some got tattoos or had one night stands, others posted videos of themselves on the internet for all to see or sent an embarrassing message to their ex. Making a promise to yourself in high school you told yourself to never let yourself become like them. You planned to keep that promise. Pushing your way to through the crowd you made you way to one of the many staircases attempting to get away from the storm of people surrounding you. Some swore at you as you moved your way past them, holding onto the handrail for security to avoid any drama as people shoved you back. You weren’t trying to be rude but you had to get away. Once at the top you moved quickly down the hallway to the left of you, turning each doorknob you passed, looking desperately for a room that was unlocked to be your place of refuge. Five doors later and a doorknob twisted with ease allowing you entrance. You pushed the door open in a hurry, rushing into the room without so much as a glance around. Closing the door behind you you rested your forehead gently upon its wood with a sigh. You were so relived to find an escape from the over peopled space outside of this room, finally taking a breath only for it to catch in your throat at the sound of another's presence. It was the sound of a closing book, it wasn't being slammed shut but just gently closed and you could hear the pages slap lightly against each other. Your shoulders tensed and you reached for the doorknob readying yourself to leave. "You okay?" It was the voice of a man, deep and steady. Calming somehow. Slowly retracting your hand from the doorknob you turned to face the stranger of that you had walked in on. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here. I was just trying to get away from the crowd". Your back was pressed to the door and you hands itched to reach for the doorknob again, every part of you

wishing to get out of the uncomfortable encounter. The man gave a small awkward smile and shuffled himself to the edge of the bed he was lying on, placing his feet on the ground. He was wearing cat socks and you couldn't stop the smile forming on your lips. He looked at you confused, and followed your gaze to his feet an embarrassed blush forming on his cheeks. "I like them a lot, where'd you get them?" You asked not wanting him to feel self-conscious over something as simple as a pair of socks. He simply shrugged "Can't remember honestly". You could tell he did remember and that he probably had whole draws full of the fuzzy feet warmers but you didn't overstep any more than you already had, having been in his room and all. "I guess I should go" You point behind you to the door you were leaning against, biting the inside of your cheek anxiously. You could taste the blood in your mouth from the harsh grazing of your teeth. "I'm so sorry for bothering you". You reached for the doorknob your fingers wrapping around it tightly as you were so close to your escape. "Wait" Freezing in your place you took his words more seriously than he meant them to be. You had been so close to leaving and you contemplated pulling the door open and making a run for it. He seemed to understand your discomfort "You don't have to but if you want to stay here until the party calms down a little you can". There was a silence and you regarded his proposal before turning back around to face him, keeping a hand pressed firmly to the wood of the door. "Are you sure I wouldn't be bothering you?". The man shook his head, a short laugh escaping his lips "Yeah I'm sure. God knows I need to be more social". This made you frown, not understanding how he could say such a thing when there was a very social party right outside his door. "If you need to be social you shouldn't be out there?" You waved behind you again keeping your eyes on the man in front of you. He had bright blue eyes that seemed to stare into the deepest parts of your soul, but not in the threatening way from which it would seem. They felt safe and trustworthy. He wore a grey T-shirt over a long sleeved black thermal, jeans and of course those wonderful cat socks. He seemed kind enough and you felt your stress fade the smallest bit as you took in his features. The man with the undeniably beautiful eyes shook his head at your question "I'm not fond of crowds". You had to agree with him there. You always felt uncomfortable around masses of people especially in small spaces. You had Your social anxiety to thank for that wonderful fault. It wasn't like you could help it, You tried to but it was difficult to stand being cramped together with a bunch of strangers. "I understand what you mean" You lifted your gaze from his for a second and looked around his room. It was neat and tidy, everything organized and in its own little home where it belonged. "You are very-' you paused, thinking of a word to describe the place, "-Clean". He nodded "I've had issues with people controlling me in the past, this is just one thing I feel l can make my own". The change of tone in his voice startled you, how important this was to him and the hidden pain that appeared behind the blue eyes you had grown to adore within the short minutes of knowing him. Sliding your back down the door you sat on the floor of his room staring back at him on his bed. You couldn't deny that you didn't want to go back out into the bustling hallway filled with drunken fools. So you had made the decision and decided to stay. He looked shocked by your movements and a frown began to form on his face as he shuffled closer to the wall next to his bed. "You can sit up here if you want, I can move if you feel uncomfortable with me up here too, or I can get you a chair" He sounded so sincere and the gentleman in him pleased you. You doubted any other man you had met on this night would have been so kind but you declined his offers, already feeling like a burden in his room. "It's okay, I'm fine here". You could tell he didn't

like your answer, that he wanted to get up so you could sit on the bed or get you the chair that he suggested. You sent him a smile to reassure him you were okay where you were. After a moment of silence he spoke "So you don't like parties?" You let yourself chuckle "You could say that yeah". "Why?". It took a moment to register his question fiddling with your hands, cracking your knuckles. "Same reason as you I guess, Its hard to feel accepted around people you don't know, I feel like their judging me. It makes me uncomfortable". You had no idea why you told him that but once it left your lips you couldn't take it back. It was okay though, it wasn't as embarrassing as you thought it would be when you looked up to see his understanding eyes. "But you know people here right? Friends that know you?" His head was tilted to the side, just a little, and he reminded you of a puppy. A handsome blue eyed puppy. You shook your head "Not here no, and even if I did they wouldn't really know me" Once again you shared more than was needed but it felt so easy to say, it came out before you could think the words over and there was no shame in saying the words like you thought there would be. He didn't seem bothered by them either, more like he knew where you were coming from. "What's your name?" "Bucky". You liked that name a lot. It was a nickname obviously but it suited him so perfectly and you felt so comfortable at hearing it. It was almost indescribable, the way he seemed to be telling himself what his name was as well as you. It made you even more curious, all the unknowns about the person in front of you, Bucky, that you wanted to learn. "What's yours?" You frowned "What's my what?" as soon as the words left your lips you felt stupid, so entranced by him that you were barley thinking of the conversation at hand. A smile formed on his face "What's your name?" You could feel your cheeks burning in embarrassment and you struggled for words through flustered state. "Of course um- it's Y/n" You felt so stupid and looked down at your hands trying to seem unbothered, pretending that what had just happened never did. You had never been good at dealing with embarrassment and you chose to keep your head down whenever something embarrassing happened. That had started in high school as well. How easy it was to be teased for the smallest things had brought upon you the stress and anxiety you held with you to this very day. "I like that name" Bucky's words were gentle, as if they alone, were lifting your head up to look at him, like a gentle hand under your chin. "I like your name too". He smiled again at that and you looked back to your hands squeezing them together tightly. You wanted to ask him so many questions, keep a conversation flowing to stop the awkward silence that would soon settle in but you didn't want to seem weird in any way. You tried to think of something that related to your previous, extremely short, conversation. Something to add onto it, to get to know him better. "What's your full name? I know Bucky's a nickname" You were about to stop there, and you probably should have, but thought it best to clarify some more with what you meant "Not that I don't like the name Bucky, I love it actually, I just wanted to know". Curses flowed through your mind and anxiety followed as your words trailed off into the short silence before his response. You sounded so stupid and you cringed internally at how awkward you always were. "My names James. James Buchanan Barnes". You bit your lip as a smile formed on his, making your stomach do the smallest of flips. "Well It's nice to meet you James Buchanan Barnes". - Bucky hadn't expected someone like you to come through his door and he hadn't expected you to accept his offer to stay. You talked to him like he was a real person and you never said a thing about his arm. It was as though you barely noticed it and after twenty minutes you came to sit with him on the bed, the floor becoming 'unbearably uncomfortable' in your words. He made plenty of room and kept a

respectable distance between you, not wanting to come off like he was just trying to get in your pants, but you seemed to understand that that wasn't the case. You talked for another hour, silences between different conversations as you thought of ways to keep the discussion going. You were both as awkward as each other it seemed, and as time passed you both became more comfortable with the others presence. When you finally checked the time you were surprised to see how long you had stayed and got up fast to leave. Bucky didn't want you to go but it wasn't his place to tell you otherwise. You put your shoes back on, having taken them off earlier and headed toward the door. Turning back to him as you twisted the handle you pursed your lips with a small smile. He thought it was cute. "Thank you Bucky, for letting me stay". Bucky nodded "Maybe I'll see you around, if I'm lucky". You bit your lip one last time, a thing Bucky noticed you did, before you opened the door and left, closing it behind you. Bucky sat back on his bed a grin growing on his face at the thought of you, a complete stranger whose company he had grown to enjoy. He thought over the last thing he had said, 'Maybe I'll see you around, if I'm lucky'. Bucky wasn't ever very lucky but maybe the world would be on his side this time. Maybe he would get to see you again. - A week had passed since the party and Bucky sat with Sam and Steve at the compound. An argument had ensued as a result of this the three never being a stunning trio, mainly referring to Bucky and Sam's constant bickering. "That's not how it works! Come on side with me here Steve!" Sam looked over to their blonde haired friend who simply shrugged as a response. He was smart enough not to get caught up in sides between the two of them. Bucky opened his mouth to respond but someone over Sam's shoulder caught his eye, making him pause. "Cat got your tongue? You know I'm right Buck". Bucky simply ignored Sam's teasing, eyes locked on the newcomer to the room. A woman talking to Natasha. Her back was turned and her hair was down obscuring any possible view of her features from him. But he knew he recognized her. If only she would would turn around. It took another minute and now, curious, both Sam and Steve had moved their gazes to the girl. They didn't seem to know her and soon became bored turning back to each other and starting a whole new conversation from which Bucky ignored entirely. After a period of time that seemed to last forever, Natasha waved Him, Steve and Sam over and the closer Bucky got to the girl the more he recognized her. It was then that she turned, locking eyes with him. He could tell she recognized him just as he did her. It was you. He smiled. "Hey stranger". -

AN: Happy Bucky fic Friday!!!!

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