#the fact that he was coded for one purpose and was literally ready to die once that was done

[oraclekleo]

Seo Chang Bin (Stray Kids) Relationship Role Analysis based on Tarot Reading

Hello and welcome!

I’m Kleo and I’m here to present some k-pop related tarot readings to you.

Disclaimer:

I would like to state that all these readings have a purely entertainment nature and their purpose is to bring some fun into my and hopefully yours lives. I have never ever met any of the idols / actors / celebrities in my readings, I don’t know them personally. Tarot reading isn’t an exact science and I can never guarantee any of it. Most of it is my intuition mixed with fantasy. Don’t take these readings seriously and don’t base any important decisions on tarot readings only, use your common sense.

If you wish to request a tarot reading, please read the pinned post on my profile first to see the instructions on how to request. I only do readings for idols / actors / celebrities of 18 years of age or older. Requests for readings including younger people will be automatically dismissed. If you feel uncomfortable with these tarot readings, do not engage in reading my posts. Thank you for understanding.

Reading Info:

Rating: 18+

Reading Type: Single - Couple

Requested: Yes - No

Deck: Tarot of the Divine

Spread: Relationship Role

Questions:

Friend

Boyfriend

Lover

Husband

One-Night-Stand

Full Name: Seo Chang Bin

Stage Name: Changbin

Group: Stray Kids

Masterlist: Stray Kids

Seo Chang Bin

Changbin (Stray Kids)

Deck: Tarot of the Divine

Spread: Relationship Role

Friend - 8 of Wands, II The High Priestess

When it comes to friendship, Changbin has two sides to him. On good days he’s chatty, outgoing and ready to participate on any adventure. He’s likely to go to hell and back if his friends want to do that instead of bowling. And then there are days when he likes to be alone and focus on his thoughts and ideas and will not suffer any disturbance. His friends need to respect his personal space and the fact he needs a ‘social detox’ from time to time.

Boyfriend - XX Judgement, Knight of Cups

Changbin is a very serious, chivalrous and romantic boyfriend. He’s absolutely and utterly devoted and faithful when in a relationship. He’s a great romantic and will make bazillion tiny sweet gestures for his love, they will never doubt the depth of his feelings.

Lover - XVI The Tower, X The Wheel of Fortune

It’s a bit more complicated with Changbin when it comes to the physical aspect of love. As said, Changbin is very serious about his relationships and this is a big step for him. He has to be absolutely sure he wants to do this. His lover should give him time and space because if Changbin feels pressured or manipulated into sex, he will panic and run away.

Husband - 2 of Coins, 6 of Swords

It looks like Changbin isn’t really ready for marriage yet. He sees it as an overload of responsibilities and it just feels like too much of a pressure for him at this stage of life. If he were to be married now, he would become a distant and ever-escaping husband trying to stay as little time at home as possible.

One-Night-Stand - IX The Hermit, VI The Lovers

LOL! I have never seen two cards speaking so strongly AGAINST random love affairs. Changbin would literally rather die alone than break his moral romantic code he follows and give himself up for a strange lover. It’s utterly out of question for him, don’t even mention the idea of one-night-stand in front of him, it would break his heart. He’s got such a great respect for love he just can’t cope with an idea as filthy as this.

Thank you for reading!

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#skz smut #changbin smut #seo changbin smut #stray kids #kpop #kpop imagine #kpop smut #stray kids imagines #skz #skz kpop #skz imagines #kpop tarot #skz tarot #stray kids tarot #stray kids changbin #stray kids changbin smut #stray kids changbin scenario #skz changbin #skz changbin smut #stray kids seo changbin #skz seo changbin #changbin fluff #changbin scenarios #changbin imagines #oracle kleo

[pridepages]

Role of Attraction: The Atlas Six

I finished The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. I have thoughts...

Here there be spoilers!

Olivie Blake’s series opener The Atlas Six is an amalgam of several different adventure stories that all broadly fall under the label “dark academia.” On the one hand, we have a motley crew of six unlikely heroes--Libby Rhodes, Nico de Varona, Reina Mori, Callum Nova, Tristan Caine, and Parisa Kamali--all tapped to join a secret society based around the historical tragedy of the lost Library of Alexandria. On the other hand, all of these characters are also supposed to be the most talented magicians, “medeians,” in their world and are, I guess, meant to be developing those powers? The purpose behind protecting the library is rather vague beyond “we’re super special and get to know things others don’t.” The need for such protectors being magical is less clear beyond “it’s cool.” The mission is literally for all of them to...spend two years of research fellows before they can leave and do whatever they want? Oh, except for one unlucky initiate. The chosen one has to die by some kind of ritual sacrifice at the hands of the others.

Then, at the eleventh hour, it gets more complicated. It turns out the leader of the Alexandrian Society, Atlas Blakely, may in fact be a shady character who has recruited this “class” of initiates for his own nefarious purposes. And the people who oppose him have decided to throw a spanner in the works by kidnapping Libby Rhodes in order to prevent a terrible future from unfolding at the hands of Atlas’s chosen six.

Convoluted as hell, right? I may sound super down on it, but I want to clarify: the book is a really enjoyable read. But it’s not about the world-building or the plot. The magic here is the characters.

The story is told through alternating chapters that take us into the point of view of each of the six. We see how they feel about themselves, and we see how they feel about each other. These relationship dynamics are the power source of the novel, and they become a real case study into why people are the way they are. There are many aspects of human nature that are explored in Blake’s novel, but one that I’m still trying to make sense of is what role attraction is meant to play.

On the one hand, we as readers are set up with an easy premise: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona are introduced as rivals with high-octane chemistry and a tendency to bend the laws of nature when they rile each other up. It almost screams sexual tension...but it isn’t. Nico came to the Society a little to annoy Rhodes, but mostly to help someone else: his...roommate, Gideon Drake. In Nico’s most intense moment of vulnerability, he shouts “Haven’t you figured out by now that I want your problems? Your pain is my problem, you idiot prince.” It’s a nickname that we later learn that Libby taught Nico, and Nico uses it to express his frustration with Gideon. But that frustration could not be more clearly coded as at the very least a crush and, whether he’s ready to see it, probably romantic love.

Then we have Parisa Kamali. Parisa is a telepath who can see what the world thinks of her--and it likes what it sees. She’s gorgeous. And she’s unapologetic about using both her mind and her body to get what she wants. She’s also the most explicitly queer, admitting to Libby and Tristan that she’s had affairs with other women. When asked why, Parisa says “Men in particular are draining, they bleed us dry. They demand we carry their burdens, fix their ills. A man is constantly in search of a good woman, but what do they offer us in return?” Having an affair with a woman then becomes a chance to “experience rapture without being someone's other half, and therefore beholden to their weaknesses, to their faults and failures and their many insufferable fractures--then we're free, aren't we?” What’s notable here is that Parisa paints love between women as a rejection of the experience of loving men. Which, it inescapably is. But that isn’t all women can be to each other. There’s also the experience of positive attraction to each other, of sensing that  “You are someone worth knowing well, and fully, and perhaps deeply.”

The need to see and be seen by someone else plays out even more clearly in the will-they-won’t-they of Callum Nova and Tristan Caine. Callum is an empath, able to see and manipulate the emotions of others. And that absolutely has an impact on how he experiences attraction:

“Being desired was Callum's favorite. That was smoky...but more sultry, cloaked and perfumed in precisely what it was. It smelled like tangled bedsheets. It tasted like the flicker of a candle flame. It felt like a sigh, a quiet one; concessionary and pleading. He could always feel it on his skin, sharp as a blade. Piercing, like the groan of a lover in his ear.” 

Callum clearly wants to experience attraction, but because he can feel what others do, for him it’s always going to have a mirror effect: he wants to BE desired more than he cares about desiring the other person.

Tristan, by contrast, is a kind of anti-illusionist. He can see through magic--and even reality--to the absolute essence of nature. Tristan cannot escape the hard truths...including a sense of his own flaws. Caught between what appears to be the cat-and-mouse flirting styles of both Parisa and Callum that are being used on him, Trisan feels drawn to both and resents it: “It was one thing to be understood by someone else, to be exposed by them, and another (however inevitable it was) to be misused by them.” But the person his ability causes him to be hardest on is unquestionably himself. Callum observes: “You are not accustomed to being desired, are you? As a friend...as a person. As anything.” Tristan is used to desiring, but because he’s always waiting on some level for the other shoe to drop he cannot just let himself have someone else entirely, let alone allow himself to want that in peace.

All that said...what is The Atlas Six trying to tell us about the role attraction plays in the human experience? I think the point is that the answer changes depending on who WE are.

For the Nicos who are highly chemical, volatile, physical, attraction is a force--or an uncontrollable passion that drives.

For the Parisas, attraction is a means to an end. They want someone--or someone wants them--and whatever the reason is, they can choose whether or not to act on it as best suits their goals.

For Callums, attraction is both window and mirror on the self. Through inspiring and seeing attraction, they get a clearer picture of who they are...at least in the eyes of the world.

For Tristans, attraction is a weakness. By experiencing something that creates vulnerability, all the other soft and ugly parts of the self come into play and create discomfort.

For Reinas...well, I don’t want to be reductive but Reina is able to identify attraction experienced by or between other people without being moved in any way by it herself. She seems to acknowledge it as a thing that exists and moves on. If Reina comes out as asexual in the next book, I won’t be shocked.

For Libbys...here is an uncertain question. Libby is so caught in her own anxieties and inferiorities that there’s really very little room for real attraction in her mind. Maybe that’s the point: sometimes the noise in people’s heads is so loud that there isn’t room for other people, which attraction requires. I know that’s what I went through, and part of why I was such a late bloomer.

In the end, the most important takeaway is probably this: the world constantly tries to tell us what role attraction should play in our lives. People state definitively what attraction feels like, what it is. But the truth is simply this: there are as many ways to experience desire as there are people to feel it.

#the atlas six #olivie blake #lgbt reads #queer lit

[aquillis-main]

Thank you for responding to my ask it has been rather enlightening! I see now why people hate on IDW. I myself am neither a fan nor a hater but I do keep up with it and I always want to listen to people's opinions.

I actually found myself agreeing with many of your points. I also see Sonic as what he actually is - just a guy who lives in the moment and does whatever he feels like. So him having a moral code and all is rendering him utterly predictable as a character, whereas the Sonic we know is quite the opposite. Him forgiving everyone by default - and not just because he feels like it in the moment - is just too obvious. In the games, or Sonic X for example he would forgive somebody in a random situation just because he felt like it - not because he has to.

I always liked his "oh well shit happens" attitude, especially in Sonic and the Black Knight in which he basically says just live until you die, have no moral codes, don't take yourself too seriously, and don't focus on fleeting things and situations. I always liked Sonic's absurdist view of the world and life in general.

I remember those truce scenes between Sonic and Eggman being so natural in Sonic X for example, just them sitting in cliffs just before they attack each other again, just because they're complex characters, not because they have a moral obligation to each other.

Hell even Sonic Boom Sonic is more accurately written than IDW Sonic at this point, but Boom characters are exaggerations of their games selves for comedic purposes, ironic.

I do enjoy that Sonic and Eggman, despite being flat characters, are pretty nuanced in their goals and motivations - Sonic, as you stated, just wants to enjoy life as much as possible, no matter how long it takes him, nor who says he can't. He's not one to give up when the situation gets tough, and he's certainly not someone who tries to impose things like morality and principles onto other characters. He lives by the wind underneath his quills, and he dies by it, too.

As for Eggman, he's goofy yet vile, michevious yet sadistic, affluent yet cruel, and one of the major things I like about Eggman is that he's got that nice balance between silly and evil. Sure, some of his plans blow up in his face, but all of the causes from there link back to Sonic, so I don't see it as them blowing up organically. And he has managed to get Eggmanland up and working in Unleashed - and nearly had his Interstellar Amusement Park ready to make the patrons brainwashed to love him. There's also the fact that, like Sonic, he's not afraid of getting what he wants, and will literally bulldoze and destroy the earth to get what he wants.

A perfect villainous relationship, to me.

On the topic of Sonic X and BOOM, I'd say that Sonic X and BOOM tend to take a more… ehh? approach to the Sonic and Eggman relationship. But because it's been a while since I've seen Sonic X, and I honestly can't sit through BOOM because of Sticks, I don't have specific examples to showcase my point. I'll leave your point as-is and agree to disagree on it.

#Aquillis Answers #Shady Guy #Sonic the Hedgehog #Dr. Eggman #I was literally baking cookies when I got this ask #Sorry about the wait

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

Thinking about the connections between Frankenstein’s Creature and c!Wilbur and just about ready to burst into tears. 

I’ve talked at length about what I think of the fandom’s general artistic interpretation of Revivebur as having partial zombie/undead features, but with Halloween around the corner, more and more people are dressing him up as Frankenstein’s Creature and … 😭😭😭

The original Frankenstein’s Creature is not the green and bolted silent figure you’re probably more familiar with. He’s a man of letters. He loves words and philosophy. His One Big Thing is trying to connect to other people, to be considered and treated the same as - but being consistently rejected by - everyone who meets him because they refuse to see him as anything but a monster.

He is a living mosaic, built from the people around him both literally and figuratively, and it is this constant rejection and denial of his personhood that eventually drives him to more violent and destructive acts.

Frankenstein builds his Creature because - I mean mainly he builds the Creature because he’s a little bitch with half a semester’s worth of a bachelor’s degree who thinks he knows better than all his professors and God themself - but the Creature is initially built in the blind euphoria of idealism. He builds his Creature to be the most perfect, the most beautiful, being he can. This naive idealism, driven primarily by ambition and hubris, is quickly brought crashing into reality as the consequences of what he’s done, the “catastrophe” that is at the heart of his actions, the living being he has brought to life, stares him down. 

Honestly, there are connections to draw all over the place between L’Manberg, Wilbur, The Creature, and Frankenstein, all with their own delectable nuances and symbolism. They all mesh together in an exploration of identity, creation, and the responsibility we hold for others, ourselves, and what we create, but what I’m particularly drawn to tonight is the idea of a creature, brought into the world beautiful and shining, with all the expectations of success, a creature who grounds their understanding of the world in the books they read and the people they meet, and who eventually, specifically because people refused to acknowledge their humanity - the innate preciousness of the individual life we each possess - that because this creature was not given the right resources, space, or care, to become their truest and best selves, partially through their own stubborness, partially through the neglect and ignorance of others, despite being a fully cognitive, intelligent, and emotionally rich person, so ready to love the world and the people in it, was only ever rejected by that world and called a monster, and eventually gave up, deciding that if the world saw them as a monster, a villain, they would do everything in their power to become worthy of that title. Because what is the use of trying to be a good person if no matter what you do, at every turn, no one will ever acknowledge or see you for who you truly are, and that maybe, if this is how everyone sees you, if this is your true purpose in life, and if you are fulfilling your life’s true purpose, surely, even if you’re not a good person, you can be good at being a person. 

“Tommy are we the bad guys? … Then let’s be the bad guys!”

“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear”

And in the end, because in fact you do have a moral code, and you are a good person, and you have actually been holding yourself accountable for the terrible things you’ve been doing this whole time, your self loathing has reached such a peak that you truly believe the world would have been better off if you had never existed at all.

“My unfinished symphony! Forever unfinished!”

“Kill me, Phil. Phil, kill me. Phil, stab me with the sword. Murder me now.”

"I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds."

#c!wilbur #wilbur soot #dream smp #dsmp #frankenstein #my meta #frankenstein's creature #frankenstein's monster #yes i very specifically only ever referred to the creature as the creature and not the monster because wtf???? #WHY has that become the common lexicon I hate it here #anyway I'm a mess #✌😢

[tobi-smp]

tubbo also said he didn't mean to kill aimsey though, doesn't that make it manslaughter and not murder

Context: [Link]

under Different Circumstances I would agree, but as is that claim would definitely not hold up in court.

1: tubbo set up a stasis chamber with eryn before deliberately seeking out and instigating this conflict. he knew that whatever he was about to do would be violent and never intended for himself to die. so he gave himself a getaway plan in advance. this is premeditated.

2: he then sought out aimsey, who was a pacifist (and unarmored when he approached her with full netherite), with the explicit intent of pushing her into a violent confrontation.

3: during this confrontation he accuses her of using the fact that ranboo was dead to take advantage of both him and tubbo. aimsey is confused and likely has never seen a ghost before, but tubbo doesn't explain the nature of ghosts and instead continues to push the narrative that aimsey had done this on purpose. when aimsey realizes that she was lied to she gets upset because she'd just wanted somewhere to stay outside of death.

4: tubbo then specifically used the daisy he'd stolen from her [that he knew was important to her at this point] to try to goad her into a physical confrontation. he said Explicitly multiple times that he wanted a fight to the death between them, but was Specifically trying to goad her into hitting him first.

lets look at some quotes.

[Link 1, Link 2] Tubbo: “The daisy was obviously important to you. C'mon, armor on, sword out!”

Aimsey: “I’m not fighting you.”

Tubbo: “No, trust me! you kill me, you can take this daisy!” [...] Aimsey: “I’m not going to hurt you or slay you down.”

Tubbo: “Well it’s you die or I die, we don’t get off this path, both of us. I’m giving you the option to go first, you should take it!”

Aimsey: “What happened to you to make you like this? Something Fucked Up must’ve happened for you to be like this! One of us is going to Die?”

Tubbo: “Well, survival of the fittest, one of us is going to die. I have 97 levels, I'm not wanting to die here, but I’m giving you the opportunity. Put on your armor. I am this confident i won’t die. I am indestructible.* [Remember, tubbo has a stasis chamber ready, if aimsey actually started fighting him and looked like she was going to win. he's confident because he has an escape plan.] Armor, sword, try to kill me, you can have the flower back.” [...] Aimsey: “No, if you wanna kill me so bad, do it! But at the end of the day you’re the one resorting to violence, and I’m over here and want peace. I’ve been lied to.. i just wanted a home.” [...] Tubbo: “Alright, just hit me Once.”

Aimsey: “Why?”

Tubbo: “To get your daisy back.”

Aimsey: “That’s not how you Resolve things! I don’t know where you come from where every resolution comes from someone being murdered, but-“

Tubbo: “C'mon!”

Aimsey: “I won’t kill you! Slay me, kill me, that’s fine, that’s blood on your hands, you need to carry that. But i just wanted my daisy back! That’s literally it!” [...] [Aimsey walks up to tubbo and he backs up]

Tubbo: “Hey, hey, hey! i don’t, gimme some space-“

Aimsey: “kill me! you say you want to so bad, do it, just-“ [Tubbo activates the stasis chamber by messaging eryn the code phrase and pushes aimsey off of the bridge. She dies and tubbo teleports away.] AImsey: “-and there we go. my bloods on your hands.”

Tubbo: [Laughs in an exaggerated cartoony manner, with his finger steepled in front of him.] [End transcription]

5: I repeat, Tubbo Activated The Stasis Chamber (that he's set up Before instigating this confrontation with the explicit intent of causing violence) Just Before Pushing AImsey Off Of The Bridge After Minutes Of Trying To Goad Her Into A Lethal Fight. she Refused to hurt him, saying she'd rather die for it, and then he set up his escape plan, killed her, and laughed.

He may have said the words "Admittedly, I didn't mean for her to die just then," but that wasn't an accident. There wasn't a single moment of that confrontation that tubbo wasn't intentionally instigating. And in fact I would say that based on the stream that was Completely Premeditated.

being Extremely Charitable you could argue that he'd intended to just hit her once and run away (for the laughs). but she was pressed against the edge, he hit her Multiple Times until she was off the ledge, and his immediate reaction afterwards was to take in what'd happened and laugh.

so I reiterate from my previous post: This Is In No Way Comparable To What Happened Between Tommy And Jack. the incident between tommy and jack was an Accident, one that tommy had Tried To Prevent before jack died. this was tubbo seeking someone out to hurt them on purpose and killing them.

#dream smp #tubbo #aimsey #c!tubbo critical #denial ain't just a river in egypt

[dinosaurtsukki]

dating the port mafia’s medic

a/n: basically headcanons of port mafia members dating one of the organization’s medics who happen to be you. i just thought this would be cute and i’m craving fluff. also these are,,, really long.

feat. akutagawa, chuuya, and odasaku

akutagawa ryuunosuke:

you were the doctor that mori specifically assigned to him to help with his lung condition

even though akutagawa was supposed to have regular, weekly sessions he’d only come in like,, twice a month and that was after you texted mori that he hasn’t been visiting you

akutagawa isn’t all too comfortable with the fact that he has to take off his shirt so that you could put him in an x-ray gown or when you need to listen to his breathing with a stethoscope

but you’re incredibly patient with him and also the pay is good so you persist

at one point during one of your sessions, akutagawa grumbles about having to come to the clinic when he just wants to live long enough to make dazai proud

and you’re like ‘is that so?’

“personally, i’d feel kind of sad if you had to die so early”

that kind of gets akutagawa thinking. he can tell by the way you said it that you had no ulterior motives behind it

akutagawa: but,,, i'm your most troublesome patient

you: oh my god you think you're troublesome ??

you start to rant abt all the patients you had to treat before who didn't believe in vaccines or got their elbows stuck in weird places

akutagawa finds your stories really entertaining so he ends up enjoying and willingly going to his sessions with you

after that first fight with atsushi, you ended up taking care of akutagawa and patching up his body 

literal days of you just being at his bedside, worrying and hoping that he'll wake up and then you suddenly realize that maybe you have feelings for him

when akutagawa regains consciousness, he finds that he doesn't entirely hate the situation he's in because he gets to see you more often

he likes listening to more of your stories while you sit at his bedside. eventually he opens up with stories of his own (most of them are abt his missions so yeah)

akutagawa begins visiting your clinic more and one day he comes in even though he doesn't have a session and then agonizes over why the heck he did that

good guy senpai chuuya is basically all 'idk are you in love or something?'

to akutagawa it's utterly unacceptable and he hides his feelings for so long until you're the one who decides to confess to him

and to your surprise, he hesitantly asks if maybe you two would like to be in a relationship

you two are awkward about it at first. akutagawa doesn't really know if drinking tea at your clinic could be considered a 'date' but he does like these moments

both of you have pretty hectic schedules since m your patients are also mafia members and you have to be on-call all the time but akutagawa is really understanding

he likes seeing you in casual clothes but he also thinks you look good in a labcoat (he probably borrowed it when you were not looking to try it on)

because akutagawa has grown quite accustomed to your touch and initiates holding hands with you (in private ofc)

he's still not used to the idea of you taking care of him not just as a doctor but as his s/o but it makes a nice change for once

chuuya nakahara:

the first time he met you was after a mission when he was taking one of his subordinates to the emergency room of the infirmary

you were the doctor on-duty that night and the first time chuuya laid his eyes on you he was like 'damn'

who knew the mafia doctors were this hot amirite

ofc you were also kind of starstruck to see mafia executive chuuya nakahara in the emergency room but you had a job to do and a man was losing blood

you: what's his type?

chuuya: uh,, h/c hair, beautiful eyes, labcoat...

you: i mean... his blood type

chuuya's got it bad. after that night he couldn't stop thinking about that cute medic aka you

but he didn't even know what your shifts were so he LOOKS FOR YOUR CASE FILE IN THE RECORDS

it's like he's gonna commit a murder or something but no he's looking for information on you

the guy’s pretty impressed when he looks at your resume and definitely sees why you were hired to be a doctor at the mafia but that only makes him want to see you more

but questions is, how does he make it look like he was just ‘passing by the infirmary’ and not that he’s actively looking for you

tsundere boy is tsundere

because chuuya almost NEVER gets injured in fights and he’s got a reputation for that and now does he get himself injured on purpose just to see you?

well, the opportunity presents itself in the form of him and dazai fighting cthulhu aka lovecraft but we all know its cthulhu 

chuuya wakes up on a hospital bed to you checking in on him and he almost falls off the bed in shock

but then after he gets his bearings he realizes what an IDEAL SITUATION THIS IS

although it’s kind of hard to flirt with someone when you’re in a hospital gown with an IV infusion stuck to his arm

nonetheless, he finally decides to ask you out after his last day of treatment and you’re shocked of course but agree

although your first date ends up being rain-checked because a patient comes in a new mission for chuuya comes up

actually almost all your dates get rain-checked until after a mission, chuuya decides to visit your clinic with a bouquet of flowers just when you get off your shift

chuuya: are... you free?

you: yeah. are... you free?

both of you are too tired for a fancy restaurant date so you two end up at a cozy bar to share a drink

chuuya loves listening to your stories and talking to you. he literally has his chin on his hands listening to how you made a makeshift tourniquet out of your labcoat while you were on the field

both of you are really busy people but chuuya likes to stop by your clinic once in a while

you always have fresh flowers on your table because chuuya brings them for you

sometimes he’ll come home to you already tired and passed out 

oda sakunosuke:

the first time he met you was after a particularly rough mission and you were luckily there at the emergency room to treat him 

this guy had a concussion and needed stitches asap but instead he was asking you to treat his companions first 

you quickly treated him and let him rest and of course the first thing he asks when he wakes up is how everyone else is doing

your intrigued of course because you’ve never met a mafia member who was like him 

the second time you met him, odasaku actually brought someone from the enemy faction along because he didn’t think that leaving him to die was the right choice

he didn’t know if you would treat them because you were loyal to the mafia but you also had your own moral code as a doctor to treat patients no matter who they were

odasaku stuck around the emergency room knowing that it was going to take you hours to treat the man and when you come out, you’re surprised to see him there with a cup of coffee

the two of you end up sitting in the hallway and talking about all sorts of things. you love listening to how odasaku stopped killing so that he can fulfill his dream of being a writer

he on the other hand loves hearing about how you went through the hell that was med school because you were dedicated to saving lives

maybe odasaku doesn’t mind getting injured so much because that means he gets to see you but also you can’t help but feel worried about him

one time, one of the odasaku’s adopted kids gets really sick and the first person he ends up calling is you because he has no idea what to do 

to his relief, you show up right at the curry restaurant and are very much ready to help

odasaku admires how good you are with kids. even though they just met you, they’ve already taken a liking to your calm, sweet presence

you even pull out your stethoscope and let them take turns listening to each other’s heartbeats

until a kid walks up to oda to check his heartbeat and is like ‘uh,,, your heart is beating really fast’

cue all the kids singing “ODA LOVES Y/N, ODA LOVES Y/N”

you look up at oda and he doesn’t look away and now you know

after that day, oda asks if you would like to maybe have a drink with him or visit a cafe and you say that you would love to

odasaku loves to drop by your clinic because he’s such a caring boyfriend and he knows how stressed you are from your work

he even comes by in the morning to bring you your coffee and he memorizes your order

▸ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ◂

taglist (check out my post for details on being part of my taglist): @waitforitillwritemywayout @atsumu-brainrot​ @laure-chan @goodfoodxoxoxo ​ @guardianangelswings @ah-kaashi​

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd x reader #bungou stray dogs x reader #akutagawa ryuunosuke #akutagawa ryuunosuke x reader #akutagawa x reader #akutagawa #chuuya nakahara #chuuya nakahara x reader #chuuya x reader #chuuya #oda sakunosuke #oda sakunosuke x reader #oda x reader #oda #bungou stray dogs fluff #bsd fluff #bungou stray dogs headcanons #bsd headcanons #bungou stray dogs scenarios #bsd scenarios #bungou stray dogs imagines #bsd imagines

[shortiedreams]

Evening lectures

Pairing: Levi x Reader

Synopsis: Basically professor Levi and you’re his student.

CW: None :)

A/N: ARGHRWJIEDHAW I’m sorry I love professor x students plots. Things that break the code of conduct is the trope for me. So you can probably guess why I brain dumped this here instead of doing my work. Please enjoy! If you want a part 2 (which I’ll probably end up doing in the future anyway), you can request for it. Now cue in the fluffy headcanons~

_

So it’s your night class, 7pm, and you’re especially excited for this class.

Why? Well maybe because the professor is Levi Ackerman - your boyfriend - but nobody has to know about that except the both of you.

The students disperse themselves across the halls, none of them are sitting at the front though.

That’s not because Mr Ackerman is someone have a immense course of dislike for, it’s just because he scares the living hell out of them. 

You’d sit at the very front of the class, purposely of course.

He’d be trying to focus on lecturing, but every now and then, curiosity gets the better of him and his eyes trail towards your figure.

You’re writing notes whilst smiling, and he sort of blushes (the heat rising to his cheeks until he’s aware of it) seeing you so interested in his lessons.

You make him feel exceptionally special and he doesn’t know why at first.

Maybe because others have dozed off in his class before? Maybe because he overheard some students saying that he was boring? But it’s strange because he’d never let that get to his head.

If they don’t want to listen to him, it’s their loss.

So yes, the answer is just you and your charm.

During the rest of the time frame, you continue your custom of jotting down notes and smiling at him.

When you make eye contact, you giggle and he furrows his brows to indicate that you’re distracting him.

You both know that he secretly likes it though, so whoops! Maybe not so much of a secret anymore.

Whilst he gives time for other students to write their notes, you lock eyes again and he’s mouthing quips to start up a banter.

“After class?” 

You nod. Obviously.

He mouths something else to you but you can’t seem to make out what he’s saying. So he pulls out his phone and points at it, signalling that he’ll text you whatever he just said instead.

Levi: Let’s head to Tesco later.

Yes, the boomer texts with full punctuation and capitalisation, unlike you.

You: tesco? why tesco? 🤥

You can see the difference.

Levi: To pick up a few things. I’ll be cooking dinner for us tonight.

You: that sounds lovely 😽

You look up to see Levi chuckling a bit.

Levi: Anyone told you that you look pretty today?

You: no not rlly

Actually the dude from your morning session did compliment you - Mark, no it’s something else... Marco! That’s right.

You don’t want to ruin the moment with Levi though, knowing that he gets jealous easily and the fact that you can’t even remember the guy's name.

Levi: You’re really pretty. There you go.

You: hehe… thank you mr ackerman

You then send him a cute blowing kiss chibi gif and how does he react? Duh, obviously he blushes…

The old man loves giddy shit like this. He’d rather die than having to admit it though.

He clicks his phone and tucks it back into his pockets. 

He continues his lecture almost as if nothing happened and you mentally remind yourself how good he is at hiding your relationship.

It’s fine, you can deal without PDA, dating him is already a big honour.

_

After class, the students rushed out of the halls with looks ready to hit the sack any minute.

You stay back, and the students are too tired to even notice that you’re not leaving, like every other night you have Mr Ackerman.

Night classes have their fair share of pluses, you suppose.

You stare at Levi expectantly and he walks over to you when he notices the last of his students leave.

Everyone besides you.

You look up at him next to you with his hand out.

He smiles, “Shall we get going then?”

You grab your notebook and supplies, shoving it into your tote bag.

“Yup!” and you happily take his hand.

You walk together hand in hand, and you swing your hands around like a child, skipping.

You’re really content, really really content with your old man.

Levi doesn’t seem to back down or anything, he lets you carry out your childish acts.

For some reason, that adds to your cuteness. If anyone else did that, he’ll probably scoff in distaste.

You walk the isolated back route that’s technically exclusive for staff but you have that pass due to Levi.

Luckily for you, your university never made explicit rules prohibiting a professor-student relationship so you didn’t have to worry about the few CCTVs nearby either.

You were sure it was discouraged, but it was allowed in the end.

Levi scans his card out to the parking lot and the both of you walk up to his car.

He drives to the grocery store while the both of you talk about your day, mostly you because Levi was much more of a listener.

Also he’s done enough talking for today. Lectures cause his throat to run dry.

He likes seeing you ramble on about how your other classes were not as entertaining as his. The comparison flatters him.

One of his hands rubs your thighs and you don’t even flinch since it’s a norm for you. 

And anyway you’re really passionate about slandering your other professors oddly enough.

“You know it’s rude to say that about Mr Henderson.”

“I don’t care. He’s so- WEDAHEDHEWDU”

Levi chuckles as you eventually break out into gibberish.

_

At the grocery store Levi literally spoils you.

Like he really goes all out.

He’s basically volunteering to be your sugar daddy at this point.

He drops things into his cart that he notices you’ve liked to snack away on when studying.

He also drops the things that you’ve been eyeing without saying a word. 

You see the cart full of ingredients, not only for dinner but the snacks are occupying at least 40% of the space too.

He went ham.

“Mr Ackerman…” you sigh, “now how will we finish all of this?”

“Informal names off hours, Miss.”

“Levi.” you correct yourself, but also to make an assertion that you want an answer.

“It’s no big deal. I’ll treat you tonight.”

You want to argue but you’re also not in the mood. You know Levi takes great pleasure in spoiling you and making you feel like a complete princess. 

It’s not like you mind anyway.

You distract yourself at the counter from the paycheck because you know that you’ll end up butting in if you see the price.

Levi swiftly scans his credit cart and the both of you saunter back to his car.

Your hands are wrapped around his arm as you lean in all giggly.

He’s offered to take the plastic bags for you like he always does.

It’s honestly so cute.

#levi x you #levi x reader #dead #fluffy #like so fluffy #been thinking about this for ages #levi ackerman #levi #aot levi #aot #shingeki no kyojin

[firelxdykatara]

Katara hated Zuko. It was a plot point. Sokka never did--and their "friendship" in the show was close to becoming something more--so they were on equal footing and had hinted romance. Zutara is misogynistic--why are you forcing Katara into a relationship with someone she hates? Choose Toph or Suki if you really believe Zuko isn't gay.

there’s so much to unpack here, and i know i should really throw out the whole suitcase, but i just can’t help myself

and please, i beg of you, picture someone laughing so hard that tears are streaming down their face because that’s me right now, reading this ask. i about choked on my eggnog, so thanks for that!

point the first: sokka hated zuko every bit as much as katara did in the first two books. it was a plot point. sokka wanted to leave zuko to die because saving him wouldn’t have been worth the trouble--he was pragmatic and deeply distrustful of anyone who wasn’t in his immediate circle, and that went especially hard for anyone from the fire nation. including the birds!

point the first part two: sokka’s easy acceptance of zuko into the gaang had less to do with any budding friendship or caring for him (since there was none to speak of until the boiling rock episodes), and more to do with a lack of any personal grudge. aka: there was no tension there. nothing to really dig into--no true development of feelings. because aang needed a firebending teacher, zuko was around and willing to take on that role, and also he was a prime roasting target, so sokka was happy enough to let bygones be after he helped them take down combustion man.

which, of course, isn’t to say shipping them isn’t valid. there are plenty of ships that have little to no canon basis but a lot of fandom support, and that’s usually fine....until the fans start getting uppity about it and insisting that there Is Canon Basis Really, and then insisting that the ‘rival’ ship is misogynistic when their alleged ‘canon basis’ requires stripping everything meaningful from the girl’s relationship to the boy and giving it to her brother instead. which is exactly what you’re doing here, but i digress.

point the second: how on earth was sokka and zuko’s ‘friendship’ in the show (and why the scare quotes? were they not actually friends? are you really sitting in my inbox right now devaluing their platonic relationship because you don’t think it exists outside of your belief that they really wanted to fuck the whole time, despite sokka being in a happy relationship with someone else?) ‘close to becoming something more’? when did they ever have a single, solitary conversation that hinted at any ‘deeper’ feelings? sokka spent most of their buddy cop adventure to boiling rock mooning over his girlfriend (heh, get it? mooning? because he- oh, you get the point), to the point where he had literal hearteyes the instant he saw her--and zuko’s purpose there wasn’t to deepen his relationship with sokka so much as it was to reunite sokka and katara with their father, and to see an example of what a healthy paternal relationship actually looks like.

(one of my favorite shots in the show is zuko’s soft smile when sokka and katara are hugging hakoda)

so already your claim that they ‘had hinted romance’ falls incredibly flat, because there was absolutely nothing in the show that was ‘hinting’ they had romantic feelings for one another--in universe or out of it. sokka was happily in love with suki, and even the one scene that i can imagine might make shippers scream--when zuko popped into sokka’s tent late at night--sokka was about to have sex with his girlfriend, and when he asked zuko ‘what’s on your mind’, the first words out of his mouth were your sister.

(and then, as soon as zuko left, sokka was calling for suki again. the next morning, he was making a flower necklace--or a lei. because he got lei’d. it’s amazing the things you pick up when you rewatch the show as an adult lmfao.)

point the third (and this one is really where your argument blows up in your face): your insistence that zutara requires ‘forcing katara into a relationship with someone she hates’ reveals your own ignorance, because it’s demonstrably not true--unless you’re trying to argue that katara hated zuko all the way through to the end of the show, which??? i suppose makes it make more sense that you think zuko and sokka had a hinted romance in the text, because viewing comprehension clearly isn’t your strongsuit.

why are yall so quick to dismiss katara’s own feelings in the name of calling a fictional, noncanon ship ‘misogynistic’? because katara said, in the text, ‘but I am ready to forgive you’--and then she hugged zuko, called him into a group hug with the gaang later, joked (and even flirted) with him on ember island, helped talk him through his anxiety about facing his uncle, and happily agreed to go with him to face his sister, where she saved his life after watching him take a literal bolt of lightning to save hers.

if any of that had happened with sokka, yall would be calling it demonstrable evidence that zuko and sokka are in love. and yet when we use that canonical buildup and the deep bond of friendship and trust zuko and katara have by the end of the series to imagine them getting into a romantic relationship because of feelings developed during these events......you call us misogynistic? really? because we’re ‘forcing’ her into a relationship with someone she ‘hates’....except she didn’t hate him by the end of the series, they were very close friends and had gotten over and had closure from their personal baggage, and that’s the kind of stuff that provides excellent fuel for envisioning a romantic relationship developing!

so what was your argument again?

ETA: i was so busy deconstructing the bulk of your argument that i forgot to address that laughable last line--toph or suki? who had much, MUCH less relationship development with zuko than katara did?? ‘if you really believe zuko isn’t gay’???? im sorry that you can’t recognize a whole bisexual when you see one, but as a bi myself, i know that zuko’s dual-wielding ass couldn’t ‘pick a side’ if his life depended on it. and he had more romantic coding with both jet and katara than he ever had with sokka--that’s just a fact. sorry if the truth hurts, anon!

#atla #zutara #zuko #katara #zukka salt #zukka fandom salt #just covering my bases #sokka #salt for ts #asked #Anonymous

[cozy-the-overlord]

For the Lobster of Loki

Summary: Exposure to terrigen mist during a mission-gone-wrong results in you developing some newfound aquatic abilities. Unfortunately, this opens the door for your Avengers teammates to make use of the bane of your existence: fish puns. 

Word Count: 2,850

Pairing: Loki x Fem!Reader (first person)

A/N: I can’t believe I actually wrote this.

For those of you wondering what the hell this is: a few weeks ago, I had autocorrect change the word "love" to "lobster" while writing a fic. I found this hilarious and made a joke about it on Tumblr and it kind of turned into a meme on my blog. A couple of my friends told me I needed to turn this into a story and so now I present to you the stupidest thing I have ever spent precious time creating. Also, I usually don't like writing in first person at all, but my go-to third person limited just did not feel right with this nonsense, so I decided to experiment with a different style

Thanks for reading! :)

Tags: @lucywrites02 @gaitwae

If you want to be tagged, feel free to send an ask/message :)

Read it on Ao3!

I was going to murder Tony Stark. I was going to murder all of them, but I was going to murder him first because he was the one who started this nonsense and now it had been going on for two weeks and I was one fucking smirk away from scalping myself.

It all started when I woke up with gills. Waking up with gills is a strange experience. Don’t get me wrong—I realize all things considered, I had it pretty good. I’ve heard about some really horrific transformations since I experienced my own— people who came out of the midst having lost their eyes or their limbs or their minds. There have been people who came out of the mist looking, sounding, and feeling like completely different creatures than when they went in. And there have been people who don’t come out at all.

No, I know damn well I was lucky to come out of the experience with nothing more than a pair of gills stuck in my neck. Still, it was an odd feeling—there was a heightened awareness every time I breathed in, pinprick chills trickling across the newfound ridges as I exhaled. It didn’t feel right, but it didn’t feel wrong either—it was a stiff feeling, a bit like putting on a new pair of shoes for the first time, if that makes sense. I didn’t know what to make of it.

When I woke up, there was about a hundred doctors hovering around me, each with some new sterile terminology to throw my way about my condition, none of which made anything close to sense. I was losing my mind until Bruce showed up. He was able to put it simply: during the mission, I had been exposed to terrigen mist. Instead of killing me, it triggered a transformation in my DNA. I was inhuman.

My inhuman gift, it seemed was the magical blessing from the Black Lagoon. I had gills now—that was the most immediate realization—but there was also the fleshy webbing between my fingers and a weird film over my eyes that I didn’t notice until I tried to rub them with the heel of my palm. All of these wondrously fishy attributes added up to one glorious result: I could swim like a fish.

That was the first thing they tested. As soon as the doctors said I was good to go, SHIELD dumped me in a pool and told me to have fun. And I did. I had never been a fantastic swimmer or anything—the extent of my swimming knowledge came from the lessons my mother had forced me to take as a kindergartener because she was afraid I’d fall into the pond at the park down the street from our house and just die, which … fair. I still hated those classes. But now, now—oh, it was a completely different experience! I cut through that water like a knife, like Michael Phelps who? I was a bullet, shooting back and forth across the pool and just hanging water for as long as I liked.

Because I could breathe underwater now. That’s what gills are for, I guess, although it doesn’t really feel like breathing. Like, I’m not inhaling water while I swim. I’m just … I don’t know, my lungs are still filling with air, my chest is still going up and down, but it’s not through my nose. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s weird. But it’s really fucking awesome.

The team was very supportive of everything. I had only been living at the Tower for a little while, so I had still felt like something of an outsider—I didn’t have powers, and I certainly didn’t have the years long rapport that they had with each other. But they were really cool! Tony designed me a sleek new suit that was able to move well in water while still offering protection, and everyone had the time of their life trying to think up a pithy new code name for my newfound superhero status (we still haven’t quite decided, but I’m leaning towards Torpedo, because isn’t that the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?). Everything was great.

Well, almost everything. There was one thing that was kind of bothering me. Loki hadn’t talked to me since I got hit with the mist. That might sound like a weird thing to get hung up on—oh no, the psychotic extraterrestrial terrorist is ignoring me!— but Loki’s not really like that. He doesn’t really talk about the whole New York thing much, but he’s said enough to make it clear that it’s not something he did of his own volition. If you saw it you’d understand what I meant, the way he tenses up whenever someone brings up the Chitauri and his eyes go all glassy like he’s not really there behind them. You can just tell that whatever had been waiting for him on the other side of that portal, it wasn’t good.

We never talked about New York, but we talked about other things. I’m not really sure how that happened. He does this thing where he acts all annoyed with everyone, like he’s just so over everything, and it irritates everyone so much that they all avoid him like the plague, which of course is what he wants. I guess I just didn’t avoid him when I arrived—I was too busy avoiding all the other superheroes who made me nervous to bother trying with him—and he grew to tolerate my presence.

We started talking about stuff one day, random shit like the purpose of nutritional facts on the side of poptart boxes and the boiling point of water on Earth vs on Asgard because apparently that’s different. And then we’d do things like make fun of the way Steve talks because he’s just so easy to make fun of, and Steve would overhear and tell us to knock it off and that would just make the whole thing funnier and Loki would mimic his voice and say something stupid like “I can feel the righteousness surging!” and Steve would just shake his head and walk away while we laughed like idiots. So yeah. We were friends. Or at least, I thought of him as a friend.

But I was starting to think that maybe he didn’t see me in the same way. We had been partners on the mission where I got hit with the terrigen mist, but he didn’t even come to visit me while I was still in the hospital. And literally everyone came to visit me. Friggin’ Director Fury came to visit me, although I’m pretty sure that was more because he wanted to see what my transformation had entailed and not because he had any particular interest in my wellbeing, but still. And then when I got out, he never said a word to me and everyone else wanted to talk to me so I didn’t say anything to him, but I was worried about him just the same. He was avoiding me too—he wouldn’t ever look at me when I was looking at him, and a lot of times he’d get up and leave the room if I came in. And I didn’t know what was going on.

I probably should’ve asked, but I don’t know … I was afraid, I guess. Like, what if he was really mad at me for something, and just me trying to talk with him would make him upset? So I just didn’t say anything—went through my day pretending everything was normal and ignoring the ache in my chest constantly reminding me that it had been weeks since I got my powers and Loki still hadn’t asked me if I was okay.

But I kind of forgot about all that when Tony started this bullshit. Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t start it sooner, because it was the type of low hanging fruit that had his name written all over it, but once he started it there was no going back.

He started it one day when we were in the kitchen. I had been making a sandwich (tuna fish, because I’m a cannibal) and Tony was leaning over the counter watching me, and we were just talking about my general fishiness.

“I’m jealous, really,” he was saying. “It’s definitely something that would come in handy. You need to get something underwater, you just dive down—no tanks, no masks, no suits. Very sophisticated.” His eyes lit up, which is never a good thing. “Sofishticated!”

I groaned. “Stop it.”

But Tony was cackling. “Sofishticated! That’s rather gilliant, if I do say so myself.”

“Tony …”

“It doesn’t get any betta than this!”

I waved the bread knife in his face. “I will throw this at you.”

“Alright, alright.” Even as he held his hands up in surrender, he was giggling like a child. “I’ll stop.”

He did not stop.

The next morning, it was fish puns. Everywhere you turned, it was fish puns.

“Can you get that report back to me soon, or do you need more time to mullet over?”

“Just let minnow when you’re ready to try on the new suit.”

“Don’t trout your abilities, we all know you’re fintastic.”

It was only breakfast and I was inches away from crushing my face against the china cabinet.

Natasha raised her eyebrows. “What the hell have I walked into?”

Tony grinned. “It’s fish puns!” he said. “Because, you know—” he gestured vaguely in my general direction. “It’s her brand.”

I moaned, face in my hands. “Just kill me now.”

Clint perked up. “Don’t you mean krill me now?”

Laughing, Tony gave him a high five over my head as I writhed in pain. “That’s the spirit.”

I don’t know how he did it, but in the matter of hours Tony had the whole damn tower on the pun train. Natasha was joking about how she was having a whale of a time with this new game. Clint was telling me to clam down and enjoy the fun. Steve asked me if I could get kraken on my o-fish-al business. Even Bruce—Bruce, who always made a point of staying out of Tony’s nonsense—even he was coming up to me with shit like “Cod you come help me with somefin in the lab?”

I glared at him. “Why would you ask me that?”

He hesitated for a moment. “Well …” Bruce inhaled. “Salmon had to.”

I stormed off as Tony roared with laughter from behind the corner.

It was inescapable. Wherever I went there was someone armed with some new fishy atrocity. You’d be surprised at how many fucking fish-related words exist in the English language. JARVIS was so overloaded with the amount of Internet searches for “fish puns” that he started bookmarking lists for easy access. It was an absolute nightmare.

“Don’t play koi, sweetheart,” Tony teased one night while we were waiting for Clint to choose a movie. “We know you lobster it.”

“Lobster?” I scoffed. “That doesn’t even make sense!”

“You just don’t appreciate my ingenui-sea.”

“OH MY—”

“Ignore them, my lady.” Thor smiled gallantly “They are only jesting. You should just relaks.” He grinned, stepping back as he waited for a reaction. We all just blinked at him. He frowned. “You understand, yes? Re-laks? Laks? That’s a fish!”

“Lak is not native to Midgard,” Loki interjected without looking up from the book he was reading. I jumped. He had been so quiet I had forgotten he was in here too. “Their oceans are too warm.”

Thor was surprised. “Truly? But I thought we’ve tasted lak since we’ve been here!”

Loki rolled his eyes, still without looking up. “That’s salmon. It tastes similar, but it’s much smaller.” He turned the page, muttering something that I didn’t quite catch. I was suddenly struck by the fact that it was the closest we had come to talking since before the mist, and that ache came back, gnawing at the edges of my heart. He didn’t look at me. I didn’t say anything.

About a week later, it was my birthday. I don’t really like birthdays in general, but I had really been bracing myself for this one all week because there was no way in hell these morons weren’t going to something infuriatingly stupid to mark the occasion. I guess I didn’t do enough bracing, because when I walked into my bathroom that morning to find a big fat lobster scuttling around in my sink I nearly had a fucking heart attack.

Across the mirror, someone had scrawled a message in red lipstick.

Sending you birthday fishes and lots of lobster!

And that was the moment I decided I was going to murder Tony Stark.

I stormed out into the hallway with no weapon, no plan of action, nothing except the pajamas on my back and the lobster in my hand. Additionally, this was the moment I decided that I hated lobsters more than any other creature on this earth. This thing looked like something from outer space, with its antenna and its bulging eyes and its spindly spider legs—that what it was, an overgrown spider in a slimy red shell. It was disgusting.

I was on my way to Tony’s floor, so engrossed with this half-baked notion of busting down his door and throwing this extraterrestrial arachnid on his face while he snored in bed, that I didn’t even see the Asgardian prince until I walked right into him.

Luckily, Loki grabbed me before I stumbled backwards, because I recoiled so quickly I probably would’ve gone flying. He raised his eyebrows as he took in the sight.

“I assume there’s a reason for the crustacean?” he asked.

There was something ever so slightly condescending about his tone, and I bristled. “They left this thing in my room! I swear, I’ve had it up to here with this fish bullshit—”

He hushed me, pulling the lobster from my grasp. With a wave of his hand, it was gone.

I inhaled. “You didn’t kill it, did you?”

“Oh no. I merely moved it to a more preferable location.” He frowned at the moisture left on his palm, conjuring a handkerchief to wipe it off with. “You know,” he said slowly. “The more visibly upset you allow yourself to become over this, the more encouraged they’ll feel to continue.”

“I know, I know. I just—” I sighed. “It’s so annoying. It’s been going nonstop, for two damn weeks! Puns are the absolute lowest form of humor, it’s just obnoxious.”

Loki only nodded as he turned to make his way down the hall. “I’ll take your word for it.”

And just like that, it was back to ignoring me. I watched his retreating form, the ache in my chest quickly bursting in to flames.

“Why are you avoiding me?” I snapped.

He froze, slowly turning around. “Pardon?”

“Why are you avoiding me?” I repeated. “You won’t talk to me anymore, you barely even look at me— did I do something wrong?” Maybe the fish jokes really had fried my brain, because I was dangerously close to tears. “I don’t get it Loki, I thought we were cool and now you just hate me!”

“I don’t hate you!” he said. “I just—”

“Just what? What is going on with you?”

“You could’ve died!” Loki yelled. I had never heard him speak that loudly before, and guess I was shocked into silence. “With the mist, on the mission. It was only pure chance that you didn’t.”

“I—I don’t understand.”

“I was supposed to cover you. I should’ve realized sooner that they were using terrigen crystals. Instead I miscalculated and you nearly died.” He let out a shaky breath. “I thought you were dead. When I found you, enveloped in that shell …” His voice trailed off and I realized with a start that his eyes were glistening with tears.

“Loki …” My gills tingled on my neck as I reached out for him. Is that what this was all about? Guilt? “Loki, you can’t blame yourself for that. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. And besides, I’m fine now. It all worked out in the end.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. You didn’t see yourself. You were gone, I was certain you were gone—”

I griped his hand. “I’m here now though. I’m here and I’m fine. Stop beating yourself up about it. I want to be friends again. I—” For a moment, the words caught in my throat. “I missed you.”

He gulped. “Truly?”

“Of course! Besides, I need your help getting back at these idiots.”

He smirked. “Oh, I’ve already started on that.”

A high-pitched scream broke out across the floor. “How did the fucking lobster get in my shower?” Tony bellowed from his bedroom.

We exploded into laughter.

“Oh,” I wheezed. “That was fucking perfect!”

Loki grinned, squeezing my hand. “Only the best for you, my lobster.”

#loki (marvel) #loki fanfic #loki x reader #crack fic #for the lobster of loki #cozy writes

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

Teddy Bear Anon has purposed yet another interesting addition to the Immune AU which gives me plot ideas! In particular, a scene that would really help give past Dream a strong push into his character arc. 

I like to image that immune!Dream’s character arc starts with the death of immune!Puffy. Sure, maybe he’s not sad yet, but he feels something for the woman who declared herself his pseudo mother. It’s what helps to crack the shell enough for the rest of the immune gang to start weedling their way into his heart. Immune!Dream after spending enough time watching the group he, starts to realize that yeah, connections to other people isn’t a weakness. It really is a strength. It’s something that takes time for him to come to terms with because Techno seems like a testament to the fact connections are a weakness. He was unbeatable until his horse got kidnapped. His only connection, his only weakness. But then there’s Tommy who seems to represent the complete opposite. 

Where Dream represents strength from caring too little, Tommy represents strength from caring far too much. Now I’m a sucker for bamf Tommy, and I like to personally imagine that maybe the Immunes hold out for a year or two before they cave and try to make the portal. So Tommy has what really boils down to a two year training arc on top of already being a child veteran (I like to canonize SMP Earth as well because personal preference and it gives me even more room to make Tommy suffer. SMP Earth being canon? God, so much fucking trauma considering how the others treated him, a 15 year old child, like an adult.) Anyway Dream slowly realizes connections with one another are what kept the remaining Immunes alive, and he tries to force his younger self to understand that. Tries, but doesn’t really get far. Up until what everyone else calls The Fight.

Tommy’s always just kind of screwed around in fights as long as there’s only a threat to him. We know he has a tendency to throw if MCC is any indicator. But then they time travel and maybe they spend some time in the past trying to get the situation sorted and the past’s Dream maybe just kinda does something to Tubbo. Doesn’t even have to be big, it just needs to clock as a threat to Immune!Tommy who’s already lost his Tubbo and refuses to let his younger self go through that. So Tommy goes completely ape shit on the younger Dream. Sure, it’s only been two years for this Tommy. He’s probably, like, 18 or 19 at most. Still a child as far as a lot of people are concerned. He shouldn’t be stronger than Dream or Technoblade, and in the few cross group sparing sessions they’ve had he isn’t. He’s stronger than his younger self but no where near these two demi gods of combat. But then Dream suddenly registers as a threat to Tubbo in Immune!Tommy’s eyes and he makes the mistake of mocking Tommy while he’s at it. He knows that immune!Tommy lost his Tubbo and maybe the past Dream is lashing out slightly or trying to get some kind of foothold in Tommy’s psyche. He isn’t doing anything near what immune!Dream has done, but it’s enough to piss Tommy off. So immune!Tommy challenges Dream to a fight and Dream immediately realizes the mistake he’s made when Tommy starts to destroy him. 

Say even Techno’s there for some reason or another and he realizes what’s going down so he tries to calm Tommy down, joining the fight just as Dream is loosing it. The situation quickly turns into the first time Techno’s ever gotten his ass thoroughly kicked by Tommy, leaving everyone spectating baffled (Tommy’s younger self partly included). They’re certain this kid is going on some rampage and none of them can stop him but the moment Dream and Techno are both taken care of (wounded, not killed, the older Tommy is always careful about that. He even throws a splash healing on them with some indifferent kind of disgust that hides the fact he does still care to some extent even hurting as he is.) Tommy immediately just switches focus to outright doting on Tubbo, ignoring any muttered Clingyinnits in favor of ensuring Tubbo is fine. Tubbo is completely find and just as confused, but the point stands and neither Tommy ends up leaving Tubbo’s side for the rest of the day. The younger Tommy, after all, is the only one the older Tommy’s told the full story to regarding the future (even when he couldn’t trust his own family he was always able to trust himself with the secrets that mattered, so he prepares his younger self in case the worst comes to pass.)

The older Dream, immune!Dream, he doesn’t get involved. He sit on the side lines and just kinda laughs, the sound drowned out by Sapnap’s loud encouragements and Sam’s half hearted attempts to get Tommy to stop (he could have stopped Tommy immediately if he’d stepped in. Sam is after all the only person on earth Tommy listens to without hesitation, but Sam lets it happen and pretends he tried.) 

Immune!Dream just kinda smirks at his younger self later that night and mentions something about attachments really making you weak. After all, it’s not like the only time Tommy takes a battle seriously is when someone he cares about is in danger. It’s not like Tommy would turn the world into a seared ball for Tubbo, and Tubbo would do the same in return. It’s not like they’ve watched the people they care about temporarily rebuke the Crimson just to give the Immunes those precious extra seconds needed to survive in a fight. Attachments, they’re just a weakness.

The younger Dream doesn’t know how to respond to that. It’s the first time he thinks about his older self maybe being right.

Before I go I wanna leave you with two more ideas for the Immune AU

First up, Wilbur is eight years older than Tommy give or take. Wilbur had Fundy when he was around 16 and Tommy was around 8. Tommy was the best damn uncle he could be and for a while Tommy and Fundy were really stupidly close. They were both apart of the raised by Wilbur club and Wilbur was trying his damn best. Fundy aged/matured (physically and mentally) faster than a regular person for a while. They believed it was because he was a fox hybrid and Wilbur was ready to lose Fundy too soon. When Fundy was equivalent to 18 in human years though his aging process suddenly slowed to a crawl and his tail split into two, at which point the group realized he was actually a kitsune and it was just those first 8 years that passed by quickly (and Wilbur had a lot of questions for the now missing Sally who he’d thought was a salmon hybrid, genuinely, but became exceedingly less sure.) His family knows he’s a kitsune, but Fundy hid it from most of the rest of the server. A good thing considering later events. 

Fundy was part of the Immune group for a while and I like to imagine that he and Tommy had a falling out during the Pogtopia era but after the egg started to take over they started bonding again and acting like, well, family. Unfortunately when it came time for them to activate the portal, Fundy ended up getting separated from the group and getting caught. The eggpire didn’t actually know Fundy was fully immune or a kitsune so he just kinda pretended to get infected, using his illusions to make his fur look crimson. I personally like the idea that Fundy at some point managed to get back to the time machine and being a little code wizard manages to get the thing working and yeets himself in. He shows up a little late but after fixing his appearance manages to catch up with the rest of the group.

Fundy is underrated. Tommy being a good uncle is underrated. Sam would absolutely adopt the traumatized fox baby in Eret’s honor. What’s not to love?

The last concept I wanna bring up that I really like is hybrid Tommy. Tanuki would be good since it’s another reason for the Sam Nook bit. Maybe Sam specifically picked Sam Nook since Tom Nook was Tommy’s favorite character on the grounds he was the only representation Tommy had ever gotten and it made the kiddo happy. However, I also personally really like phoenix Tommy and it would make an interesting plot point. Tommy accidentally losing his third life at some point and realizing he’s an immortal creature of fire would have led to him taking a protector role for his new family. He can’t die, but he can burn anything around him, why not send him out to get supplies when the worst the eggpire could do would be capture him. Even then he just literally cannot hear the egg. Which could lead to both some interesting comedic moments and some really good angst if Sam agonizes over his desire to protect Tommy and let him be a child suddenly being at odds with the fact Tommy is literally the best person for the job so to speak. Not to mention Sapnap, who I headcanon as a Blaze hybrid, would be even more attached the moment he found a new fire proof friend to burn forests with him. Regardless of which hybrid type he is, I could see him hiding it from everyone except for Fundy when he was a child and only ever admitting it later to the other Immunes once they become a found family.

Personally I like the idea of Tommy being part tanuki hybrid and part phoenix hybrid, but is that too mary sue? Is it just a little bit too cheesy to have him be both? I will never not try to incorporate phoenix Tommy into my fics but also tanuki Tommy would be such a mood for this au.

Like image Tommy just builds a den that’s in reality a vault/panic room a la Techno and he hides it under Church Prime since that is The Safe Spot in Tommy’s mind.

~Snapdragon & Firefly

#dream smp #dream smp au #immune au #dream #dreamwastaken #captain puffy #tommyinnit #tubbo #technoblade #wilbur soot #fundy #awesamdude #sapnap #submission #snapdragon & firefly #okay all of these ideas are so good #i really like the idea of tommy being part tanuki and part phoenix hybrid #i like this so much #i like all of these ideas #long post

[stillness-in-green]

Ahistorical, Absurd, and Unsustainable (Introduction and Part One)

An Examination of the Mass Arrest of the Paranormal Liberation Front

INTRODUCTION

The title states my premise here: the breezy way My Hero Academia presents and resolves the mass arrest of the Paranormal Liberation Front is ludicrous. If taken as presented and allowed to stand without being further addressed, it serves as a breaking point from which the series will be incredibly hard-pressed to recover. Why, you ask?

From a logistical standpoint, it strains credulity. From an ethical standpoint, it suggests deeply troubling problems with the state of Hero Society. From a thematic standpoint, it unravels whole portions of the narrative’s spine. I’ll be looking at each of these facets in turn to discuss the questions they raise which My Hero Academia has not yet seen fit to answer. Many in fandom don’t seem to be thinking about it too hard, so I’d like to lay out—in exhaustive detail—all the reasons I find this plot element so wildly out of touch with causal reality.

Please note that while they are discussed when relevant, this essay is not principally about the named characters in the League of Villains or the erstwhile high command of the Metahuman Liberation Army. The sorts of consequences Shigaraki Tomura or Re-Destro would and should be facing in a courtroom are orders of magnitude beyond what Random Liberation Warrior X would be, but it’s the mass numbers of Random Liberation Warrior Xs that this essay is most concerned with, as they are the ones most in danger of being swept under a rug and forgotten by the series in its current state.

Further, be advised that this essay in its full form is both very long (about 21K words excluding Sources and Further Reading) and will contain extensive discussion of real-life Japan—comparisons to historical events, minutiae of its legal and carceral systems, and general cultural views on criminality. This will include references to imprisonment, government oppression, and incidents of terrorism both real and in the context of My Hero Academia.

Being as it is about quite a recent event in the series, it will also contain heavy spoilers all the way up through the most recent chapter as of this writing, Chapter 310. It likewise contains spoilers for the spin-off series My Hero Academia: Vigilantes up through Chapter 95.

The essay will be posted in parts on tumblr and in full on AO3. For the tumblr posting, I will provide links to other tumblr posts as I reference them; however, as I would like this to actually show up in the tags, outside links containing my sources and further reading will be provided in a separate post following the conclusion of the essay.

Lastly, I spent an entire month writing this as a fan who is sympathetic to the villains in general and the MLA in particular. If your response to the very concept of this essay is anything to the tune of, “Who cares what happens to a bunch of disgusting quirk eugenicists?” know that you and I have radically different views on the MLA, and the role of the justice system in general. You are, of course, welcome to read the essay anyway, but, having said my piece about the MLA and their relationship with quirk supremacy elsewhere, I will not be engaging with arguments or gotchas on that subject here.

PART ONE: The Facts at Hand

Before we get too deep into things, let’s lay out the basic facts: how many people are actually involved in the arrest, as well as some comparisons to real-life events to contextualize that number and provide some referents for the issues the arrest raises.

Re-Destro gives the numbers of the Metahuman Liberation Army as 116,516. A lot of people go on to die in Deika, though we’re never given a solid count. The biggest batch we see killed in a single go are the press of sixty or so people Shigaraki decays, then the sixteen-ish Toga drops, though some of those might possibly have had quirks that allowed them to survive. Any number of people certainly died as well simply in the moments we didn’t see, and who even knows how many were caught in the radius of Shigaraki’s last attack.

Further, there may well have been a measure of organization bleed when the MLA became the PLF (though I imagine trying to leave was a very dangerous proposition, giving an additional reason to stick it out on top of the general cult-like mindset the MLA displays); likewise, I find it hard to believe that there wouldn’t have been some deaths at the Gunga Villa, be it from Gigantomachia’s departure, Geten cutting loose, or combatants—be they hero or comrade—overcompensating somewhat in the middle of a chaotic melee.

I suspect it’s overestimating the depletion, but for the purposes of simplicity, let us call it 115,000 remaining members at the time of the raid.[1]

We are told that, in all, 16,929 people were captured at the villa—just about 17,000. 132 escaped in the confusion; this is a fairly negligible number, save for the fact that it includes high-ranking advisors, but not Machia and those of the Front that were with him.

We are further told, and I quote, “Their bases scattered around the country were hit too, and the sympathizers rounded up.” Horikoshi did not provide any solid numbers for this,[2] but if we’re to assume that it is just the rest of the group (more on the logistics of that bit of spycraft later), “the sympathizers” would be 98,000 additional people.

However, 98,000 may be a significant underestimation. It’s based, after all, on a number Re-Destro cites to describe “warriors lying in wait, ready to rise to action.” This begs the question: is Re-Destro quoting the entire membership of the group, or only those who actually are ready to take action? In other words, does his number account for non-combatants? Is he counting young children? I tend to assume the MLA doesn't have a retirement age as such,[3] but if they do, does his number account for the elderly?

How many more people might be “sympathizers” to the PLF insomuch as they are e.g. the six-month-old infant daughter of an MLA couple? What about the ninety-year-old man in the retirement home whose only real act of war these days is tying up the phone line at City Hall to complain about repressive quirk use laws? How about the fired-up fifteen-year-old that was going to get their official code name next month, just in time to join the first wave of attacks? If he’s being literal in his usage of “warrior,” the actual count of the MLA could easily be twice as high as the number he actually gives.

But okay, maybe Re-Destro’s number does include absolutely everyone. Maybe he’s just being rhetorical—maybe, in his mind, even the six-month-old is waiting to rise to action; she’s just going to have to wait a bit longer than the rest, is all. For simplicity’s sake, let’s stick with the numbers we have: a low-end of 17,000, a high-end of 115,000, captured not merely in a single day, but allegedly in the span of a few hours.

I’m sure I don’t need to stress that that is a lot of people. But how many people is it, practically speaking? Is there a precedent? Anything we can look to for guidance on how this kind of thing would go in real life?

Comparative Analogues

The PLF is tricky to categorize for the purposes of real-life comparison, especially compared to how they’re treated in-universe. In some lights, they resemble a protest movement; in others, a terrorist group. Just looking at the way the government reacts to them—and certainly in terms of their combat capabilities—they might as well be an all-out insurrectionist uprising! Below, I’ll examine a handful of historical incidents that cover that spectrum; they will continue to provide useful reference points throughout the rest of this essay.

The March 15 Incident

In the first half of the 20th century, Japan saw a huge uptick in socialist and communist activity, much to the general dismay of the ruling powers. In response, they passed a series of laws commonly referred to as the Peace Preservation Laws, designed to better enable authorities to suppress political dissent and freedom of speech, particularly that of leftists and labor movements.

The Japanese Communist Party was founded in 1922, but outlawed in 1925. This merely drove members underground, however, from which position they pointed supporters towards the numerous other parties with more legally tolerated leftist policies that had cropped up in the wake of the JCP’s dissolution. Following the February 1928 General Election (the first in Japan held with universal male suffrage), those parties supported by the JCP saw enormous gains in representation in Japan’s National Diet. Alarmed, the Prime Minister declared the mass arrest of known communists and suspected communist sympathizers. Accordingly, on March 15, 1,600 people were arrested throughout Japan.

Over the course of twenty years, some 70,000 people would be arrested under the auspices of the Peace Preservation Laws, the majority of them in 1925 through 1936. The laws would eventually be repealed by American occupation forces after WWII, and the JCP allowed to operate openly once again.

The Rice Riots

In 1918, an inflation spiral had driven the price of rice out of control, exacerbating economic insecurity and hardship. Farmers were being paid a pittance of the market value of their crop by rice buyers and government agents, while urban consumers were being charged an exorbitant price for the staple food, as well as a great many other consumer goods, and their own rents. In response, a series of riots ripped across Japan in late July through September. Beginning with peaceful protesting in a small fishing town in Toyama Prefecture, the unrest escalated to involve riots, strikes, looting, even bombing in demonstrations that reached major cities like Tokyo and Osaka. The scope was and remains unprecedented in modern Japanese history, seeing some 25,000 people arrested.

The Sarin Gas Attacks

If you’ve heard of any of them, it’s probably this one. On March 20, 1995, members of the cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas on five different Tokyo Metro trains in the middle of morning rush hour. Thirteen people were killed and over 5500 injured, about a fifth of them moderately to severely so. If not for small errors in the production of the gas and the rudimentary distribution method thereof, loss of life might easily have been catastrophically higher.

Aum Shinrikyo was a doomsday cult, but the motives for that particular attack were much baser than bringing about the Apocalypse: at the time, the organization was under police investigation for its involvement in the kidnapping of a public official. Its leader, Asahara Shoukou, hoped that the attack would divert police’s attention from a planned raid.

It did not do so; police executed raids on numerous of the cult’s compounds, arresting many of its senior members both immediately and over the course of the following months as the investigation unfolded. In all, over 200 members were arrested of an organization that counted its membership prior to the attack as numbering 11,000 people in Japan.[4]

The February 26 Incident

There have been a significant number of uprisings and violent protests in Japan’s modern history; when looking for a representative example, I focused my attention on the military coups of the 1930s and 40s, largely because they took place in what was closest to the modern Japanese legal context.[5] Of that subset, I chose the February 26 Incident for the severity of the government response. The others disintegrated before they could be properly carried out or were met with sympathy for the dissidents despite the obvious illegality of their actions. The February 26 Incident, however, was when they finally became too troublesome to dismiss, and the Emperor himself ran out of patience.

In this period, the Japanese military had become drastically factionalized into two main groups—an ultra-nationalist group, largely powered by a group of young officers, which supported the Emperor and wanted to purge Japan of Western influences, and a more moderate group mainly defined by their opposition to the above faction.[6] Occurring in 1936, the February 26 Incident involved the young officers, believing that they had tacit approval from higher-ranked officers of their own faction, launching assassination attempts against the nationalists’ most prominent enemies in the government (six assorted Ministers and former Ministers in the Emperor’s Privy Council and the Diet) and a bid to seize control of the administrative center of the capital and the Imperial Palace, after which they planned to demand the dismissal of more officers and the selection of a new Cabinet.

The seven ringleaders had convinced eighteen other officers to lend their forces to the attempted coup, a total of around 1,500 men, calling themselves the Righteous Army. Several of their assassination attempts failed, however, and while they succeeded at taking the Prime Minister’s residence and the Ministry of War, they did not manage to secure the Palace. The outraged Cabinet demanded the Emperor take a hard line with the rebels, and by the 29th, the Righteous Army was surrounded by 20,000 government troops and 22 tanks. In this hopeless situation, the officers dismissed their troops; two committed suicide (a third attempted it unsuccessfully) and the remainder were arrested by military police.

International Examples

For obvious reasons, I prefer to limit my examples to events that happened in Japan. However, I will also be briefly referring to a few international incidents of mass arrest, taking place in India, the U.S., and Egypt, respectively.

In the following parts, I'll use these facts and comparative analogues to take a closer look at what readers were told became of the Paranormal Liberation Front.

Part Two

-----------------------------------------------------

Footnotes (Part One)—

[1] Over three months’ time, they likely gained some new blood also, simply in the course of their usual recruitment tactics. You don’t get an underground organization that size by sitting back and waiting for people to come to you, after all. I don’t know a practical way to calculate that, though, so just bear it in mind for when I talk about new members later.

[2] Possibly because he was aware that 17,000 people captured in one fell swoop was difficult enough to swallow without adding on more than five times that number.

[3] We do, after all, see some very aged people fighting in the streets of Deika.

[4] They were considerably more international than you may have heard. They had 50,000 members at the time, some 30,000 of them based in Russia.

[5] The Meiji Constitution was ratified in 1889; universal suffrage (for men) was granted in 1925. The modern constitution was enacted in 1947.

[6] More moderate, mind, in the context of the Imperial Japanese military. Neither of these factions had any time whatsoever for leftist movements, hence all those suppressive crackdowns.

#bnha analysis #bnha meta #paranormal liberation front #meta liberation army #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #bnha spoilers #my writing #plf arrests #stillness has salt

[feysandfeels]

Top five plot points, character developments or literally anything you would change about the acotar series?

Boy my sister and I discuss this daily. I have my changes ready for you to take home so lets do it.

Top five plot points, character developments or literally anything you would change about the acotar series:

I would have made Feyre stay at the Spring Court at the beginning of ACOWAR for six solid months. SIX MOTHS! Something that takes me out of the story is the fact that everybody and their mothers are like "oh noooooo it's been so long Feyre has been gone for weeks now and oh nooo" and I'm like.. dudes it was four solid weeks. In my mind I always change the time of the whole thing. Six Months to bring Tamtam down, six months of worry because she is being drugged slowly, six months without her mate when they are recently mated, six months playing the game. That's how we up the stakes. But for a month?? nah.

It kinda bothered me that for the better part of ACOSF we got updates on Feyre's pregnancy through Rhys... like I missed my girl and sure Feyre and Nesta were not speaking so I understand why we did not see her a lot. But I think it would have been better for the plot to have Cassian hang out with her a tad more and through those interaction. ALSO RELEASE THE FEYSAND CHAPTERS YOU COWARD RELEASE THEM .

During ACOTAR I would have made UtM darker and I would have made Feyre see the horrors for a night or two and then Rhysand starts to drug her. I want a darker ambiance. Not the glamorous debauchery of The Cruel Prince, but something dark and frightening and alluring.

I don't want to offend anybody’s sensibilities but if you have been here long enough and I mean long enough you know that E/riel started as nothing but a crackship. When people ship Lucien and Vassa, that's literally how the other one started. I remember the first post that was like "lol guys what about this?" but it was nothing but a crackship. So like I would have developed their relationship as a friendship because that's how they are golden. In ACOFAS I would have been like "THEY ARE FRIENDS". Because lets be real, in ACOWAR they are not romantically coded really... it was more like "here have my dagger" "yes I'll rescue you... because like i'm the only one who can *points at Cass* he is dying and we need him *points at Rhys*" "here have your dagger back" [silence]. This ship started literally as fan concoction. Lucien and Feyre had more grounds to be a ship in ACOTAR than Elain and Az do in ACOWAR.

I would change the name of the Puca... that's not scary I can't be scared of something that is named like this cartoon .

Bonuuuus:

Again with the pregnancy. I get why Feyre's stance on it changed through ACOFAS. After a war after watching Rhys die I understand why she did a 180 on having babies right now. But still I would have loved for them to be a couple alone for a little longer. I mean it's not the end Nyx will move out eventually and they will get their time.. but I wouldn't have minded another two books without a baby.

Also I am not putting the death pact here because I get it, they had both been scared to death.. and so far this is something that has not been simply dropped. Like Amren was like "you idiots" and I think that in the coming books it will continue to be an issue since they now have a kid... maybe a thing will be then realizing that they have to undo it. Like this was a mistake they made and was made on purpose for the plot so I'm seeing how it pans out

I'm also not adding the Mor and Az situation because I am waiting to see how it pans out. I'm sure Az knows.

Ask me my “Top 5″ anything

#FeysandfeelsAsks #ACOTAR #ACOWAR #ACOSF #ACOFAS #Feysand #Nesta Archeron #Cassian #Nessian #Rhysand #Feyre Archeron #Lucien Vanserra #anti Elriel

[naancypants]

A big, fat Nancy x Ace character analysis

My mind is so blown at how Nancy and Ace are literally just perfectly aligned with each other. In EVERY WAY. It’s soooo subtle and yet it’s not??? Not if you’re looking?

The way his calming, laid-back personality is SO well-suited to her tendency to get worked up; if she’s upset, he will back away and let her figure things out on her own time, which is exactly what she needs. Nancy is the kind of person who needs space to work through things before she can open up about them. Otherwise, if you try to make her talk before she’s ready, the results are usually explosive. It causes her to feel strained and mentally claustrophobic. She is otherwise a very smart and sensible person, so we know that this is simply her emotional process. Emotions can be messy, and I think it’s the one area of intelligence that she isn’t totally comfortable dealing in. If Nancy feels external pressure to talk about her feelings before she even knows what they ARE yet, it’s going to make her uncharacteristically cold. That’s what brings out the worst in her - and it’s something that is bypassed altogether in her relationship with Ace.

Not that we got to see this onscreen, but the fact that she was drawn to him before they even really knew each other in that she felt it was safe to vent to him about her personal problems with college.

Ace’s area of expertise (hacking & technology) is exactly where Nancy’s is not, so they can both contribute equally when they’re on a team. Speaking of which, when you combine ALL of their skills and knowledge there is SO MUCH TALENT between the two of them?! Between Nancy’s bold interrogation skills, ability to crack out a plan of action, fearlessness/fortitude, & of course her brilliant mind and Ace’s knowledge of hacking, ASL, morse code, and his instinctive smarts - like holy cow. They’re covered on all bases. Not to mention they’re both notably skilled in lockpicking.

Nancy is such a high-strung go-getter and Ace is so chill, yet dependable. He’s totally ride or die and will always be there if she wants to do anything, e.g. follow up on a lead. Like Kennedy said in her interview, they’re the ones who are always ready to go, go, go. Nancy’s the instigator, but Ace is along for the ride. Whatever she needs. (even if he originally insists that he won’t go 👀)

I also feel like there is kind of an unspoken understanding between the two of them. It’s not even that they’re super similar, but they’re both perceptive and they just... GET each other. Especially Ace; I think he has this really inherent grasp on who Nancy is, and while he’s been sort of a background player for her up until recently, she’s starting to see that and appreciate it as she spends more time with him. There’s this electric undercurrent of mutual respect between them and I LIVE for it.

I think Nancy needs someone like Ace to keep her grounded. By not asking her to open up, he encourages Nancy to open up to him. When Nancy is all stressed out in her head, Ace is there with sympathy and a relaxing spirit. If she needs to go somewhere or get something done, no matter the reason, he will be there with no questions asked. He serves as a steady guidepost, a rock, a beacon of calm and stability for her.

On the other hand, Ace may not need Nancy in the same way but she’s exactly the kind of person who will ENHANCE his life and make it better. Her presence allows him to explore his sleuthing abilities, something he’s totally adept at, and solving mysteries with her provides him with what feels like a purpose. That was something he said to Laura around mid-season 1; he felt like had a purpose in Horseshoe Bay. He has an opportunity now to care about other people, and to work towards a common goal for the greater good.

Ace is also very protective of Nancy when she has her emotional guard up. Twice in the last two episodes we saw her broach an uncomfortable topic in front of her friends (1x17 Ryan being her biological father, 1x18 “it’s where (Owen) used to.. have guests over...”), and BOTH times Ace immediately did what he could to divert attention away so she wouldn’t have to confront it with anyone before she was ready to. THAT’S LOVE, FAM.

Also, he’s constantly saying or doing things that make her give him that fond, amused little smile like she’s so surprised that someone with his brain could exist. It’s CUTE.

#cw nancy drew #nancy drew cw #nancy drew #nancy x ace #nace #cwnd spoilers #dear GOD i am a mess #1x18 broke me #this is my otp now #straight up #they'RE SOULMATES #it is OBVIOUS #*success

[imagineimaginethat]

can you do a gen z mc that’s in their teens (platonic please!) with hideyoshi and kenshin? thank you so much!

I actually laughed just thinking about this request!

Here we go!

Hideyoshi 

It’s the what for you? What are you saying? 

Please don’t reference TikTok’s or any other social media trend in front of him, he is confused and concerned and trying to figure out what MC is talking about 

He is totally in overprotective big brother mode

Do NOT call almost dying a “mood,” he literally freak out

If MC has a phone still and it can still show downloaded content, Hideyoshi will confiscate it until MC proves it is harmless and only a future entertainment and communication device

Hideyoshi does not approve of MC’s music

“Did they just swear?” “What kind of message is that to sending out?” “No!”

Confiscates phone again after determining it couldn’t be meant for teenagers like MC 

MC is definitely in for some culture shocks from the different time period and it is strange to see how different the expectations are for teenagers

While Hideyoshi thinks MC just came from a strange faraway place he would impress upon MC the importance of understanding how the rules improved their world

Once Hideyoshi finds out MC is actually from the future his perspective changes entirely and he wants to understand how things are done in the future to make MC more comfortable 

Will fact check with Sauske

In his mom voice: “You told me it was customary for teenagers to stay up until morning and sleep half of the day, Sauske told me that is not allowed and in fact you should be at school. Care to explain?”

Definitely trying to be the best big brother ever

Kenshin

Kenshin already has a hard enough time keeping up with Sauske, now MC comes along and he thinks he might just rip off his ears

“What do you mean you have hot tea to spill? Why are you spilling it on purpose?”

When Kenshin finally understands, he starts using that particular phrase himself as code that he has something to tell MC

Will challenge MC to duels and is most pleased with MC’s, “ready to die at any time” attitude, but somewhat concerned 

He will let MC name bunnies after random things

“This one is avocado.... because I love him.”

He tries to be patient as MC adjusts to living in the past, but sometimes neither of you can see eye to eye

He’s like a big brother, but the rebellious distant one who lets you do whatever for better and for worse

Will tech MC how to fight because MC has a lot of energy and a tendency to get into trouble 

If Kenshin finds MC’s modern stuff, he wants an explanation ASAP

He ends up killing MC’s phone by playing offline games, which sad for MC, but also Sauske is passing jdugment for introducing a warlord to the game, “Fruit Ninja”

Kenshin insists since the light box has expired he will practice with real fruit 

MC is getting a kick out of this while Sauske is forced to gather fruit and participate 

Overall Kenshin is vibing with MC and lets MC act like a regular teenager, he still doesn’t understand TikTok or Twitter or even Tumblr, mostly because there was no internet to show him examples, but from what he understands from Sauske and MC’s explanation he is unimpressed and disturbed

“Why fight online when you can fight in person?”

“Kenshin, no pls-”

[gcldenchild]

let it be known that goldie is not okay by any stretch of the imagination. 

as shown in the ask post, he has some serious mental health issues. his most pressing? his suicidal tendencies and thoughts. this covers how those came to be, and how they’ve affected him throughout his life.

to say that he’d always dealt with it is inaccurate, but it certainly has been persistent for a good portion of his life, even before the attempt at transmutation.

at first, it was only the thoughts. they were minor, of course. after his mom died and he and al were truly left orphaned, ed had wondered if it was because he existed that their dad left. hohenheim was crying in that one photo they had together, after all. it always stuck at the back of his mind, and thus began the fantasizing in order to somehow justify what had happened to him and his brother.

he grew a mild fascination with death. constantly envisioning what it would’ve been like if he’d never been born- or died before he could damage his parents relationship somehow- and how al would’ve lived afterwards.

how al would’ve felt having a normal family to take care of him for his whole childhood, instead of it being completely taken away when he was only four. 

part of it stemmed from an inherent longing to see his mother again in some fashion, twisted into childlike fantasies where he’s the one to die first and watches on from whatever kind of heaven he’d go to, reunited when the rest of his family passed on. peacefully.

he didn’t want to deal with grief anymore, but he couldn’t deny his true reality. their mother was gone, their shithead father was nowhere to be seen, and the house was unbearably lonely. things began to get overwhelming. he’d begun to grow slightly delirious in his study of alchemy. 

most of it is masked as enthusiasm. it becomes a subconscious habit to talk about alchemy with a fake sense of determination, in order to fool the people around him into believing he wasn’t losing his mind understanding the greater world of science ahead of him, with every single word he’d read swirling around in his brain as he attached it all to the fading face of his father.

yock island, though instilling a certain lesson, does intense damage to his psyche. it was the first time he’d started to grow uncomfortable with his own fascinations. at this point, it wasn’t his own life at stake- it was al’s, too. he’d already started losing it by studying things for days on end, but nearly starving to death with his brother really put things into perspective. 

he learned the meaning of all is one and one is all, but the cost could not be justifiable. not when a pool of fear stirred in his gut constantly, him finally aware of the true nature behind all his “harmless” fantasies. 

he tried to shut them out. to ignore them. and then izumi had to go and warn them to never commit the taboo of human transmutation. 

something broke in ed the day he even suggested that they try to find a way to crack human transmutation. so much had grown. he’d barely been able to get up that morning. even still, he acted like everything was normal. like he wasn’t struggling to even stand, being crushed under the weight of his spiraling, pent up emotions and thoughts.

he just talks with al, and something in him just... breaks. completely. he can’t bear the weight of it all anymore, and he finally talks, from the darkest recesses of his soul.

“i think we could bring mom back.”

he wishes al could’ve known better. he regrets ever saying those words, ever pushing his brother to help him with it all, ever placing his hands on that transmutation circle. 

for a brief moment, he feels like he dies. it’s almost satisfying, to him. and then he wakes up in the fucking gate, truth taking his leg as payment. and then- the fucking thing they brought to life, for the cost of al’s whole body and his leg. it spits blood, reaches out at him, and he has to literally resist the urge to retch and let himself bleed out.

he only continues for al. to get al back. al didn’t deserve this. he was only ten, damnit. 

it gets worse. he screams during his automail surgery, ranting about anything he can think of, trying to keep himself breathing. trying to push through it all for alphonse. everything is boiling over, and he can’t handle it. 

he slowly begins to develop anger as a protective shield. it’s the only way he’s able to shut everything in his head up. the only time it begins to boil over to a point he can’t control is when he can’t bring himself to be angry.

ed still cared for other people, no matter how much he tried to ignore it. he still does good things out of his own natural moral code. unfortunately, though, being that nice? it actively hurt him, because it lets the chaos spiraling in his stomach return. he’d barely be able to get up the next day without a solid thirty minutes of extra “sleep.”

his naps become ways for him to cope with the hellish cacophony. it’s just so much easier to yell and not acknowledge the fact that people want to help him, no matter how much he may need it. 

when nina happens, the nightmare that follows- although not the first of its kind- is one of the only ones to render him inconsolable upon waking. he can’t just go back to sleep, but he can’t talk, either. he has to sit through it, with his heightened breath, the heavy feeling in his chest practically choking him the entire time.

he shuts people out. he shuts his own brother out. the normal facade serves its purpose well.

when scar almost kills him, he is pained to say that the conflict in his head is wildly disproportionate.

living for al’s sake is outclassed by the want to die.

it’s the first example of his thoughts breaking out from their prison. he was ready to accept death, above all else. and then al punches him for being stupid. with everything having already snapped, he can only respond as if he were a deer in headlights, unable to truly comprehend the situation.

things just get worse. and worse. and worse. he can’t cope with it all. his anger keeps exploding, trying to protect him from himself. to keep him from going through with some of those thoughts and just sacrificing himself to get his own brother’s body back, as if the world would be better off without him.

to an extent, he was convinced it would. he never acted upon it consciously, however.

ed would never make a direct attempt. he’d do stupidly self-sacrificial things sometimes, yes, but he’d never try to kill himself outright. he wouldn’t want al to see- al had already had enough death in his life, and ed didn’t want to burden him with both his own death and the fact he was his own murderer at once.

this doesn’t stop the fantasies from getting worse. though. nor does it stop him from looking at himself in the mirror, hallucinating both the feel and sight of choking himself. (not like that would be the only way, though, of course. he’d imagined so many, over and over, and they played in his head constantly.)

he thinks about it so, so much. al is the only thing to keep him grounded. his little brother is the only being that grounds him.

it doesn’t stop him from doing things to harm himself, though. when he’s alone, he finds himself knocking against the side of his own head hard or pulling on his hair to intentionally cause pain. his head becomes sensitive, but only because hes desperate to do anything to drown everything out.

one could even find scratch marks along his arm from when he gripped onto it too hard during one of his fits, paired with the tips of his automail having a sharper edge. he hates letting people see those, but at least they’re faint. he can play them off as simple wounds from getting into a fight. the bruises are a different story, but its not as if he cant make something else up to explain them.

he panics when people see through his facade, and retaliates with even worse anger. he goes on the attack like a caged animal because deep down, he WANTS help. it’s just hard for him to even receive it before he’s been completely, utterly broken for that day.

being separated from al is debilitating.

even though he knows that alphonse can handle himself, it still does not change the fact that he’s become unhealthily dependent on him. al is his entire reason for living, and being far from that tether eats away at what composure he has left.

when he’s impaled, he wasn’t even sure if what he was going to do would even work. to envision himself as a philosopher’s stone? he’d never had that sort of a handle on his own soul before.

as he’d seen with envy, though, the yelling of everything inside him, screaming to be let out perfectly matched the stones of the homunculi. ed saved his own life, only letting himself live for alphonse, wherever he may have gone.

the months of being separated are fucking torture.

or, at least, they are, for only a while. by the time he was in alenthaal, ed had grown ... unnaturally hopeless. even though he looked fine, almost everyone in town saw through his mask.

luitumi is the one to break him first.

“edward?” “yeah, whats up, luitumi?” “you don’t need to pretend anymore.”

he’s completely dumbfounded. she attacks him right at his core. naturally, he puts up his shield, trying to force her out. to get her away from his problems. and then she fucking takes his normal hand, squeezes it, and looks at him with those unwavering glass eyes, and he breaks. 

it’s all let out at once. every thought swirling around manifests as panicked crying, yelling, whining- really, anything he can verbalize. he says “you don’t know anything,” and she shuts him up completely by saying “i wouldn’t be talking to you if i didn’t, edward.”

she doesn’t destroy his shield. she takes the other route of forcing him to put it down.

ed still doesn’t remember a lot from that day, other than the feeling of being hugged by multiple people at once. the entirety of team lazarus.

emotionally drained, he can barely get up the next day, too. but instead of suffering through it by himself, he can feel a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him through it. 

he’d fallen asleep inside the living room, and lucaun and carson were waiting for him the next morning. luitumi was making food with yularosá, and cobalt was talking with heinkel and darius and greed.

it’s ... sickeningly domestic.

and yet, it wasn’t something he’d experienced since mom died. he hadn’t felt this familial safety since then, not even at the rockbell house. luitumi had broken down his walls in a single night, most likely fueled by whatever emotions charity had been able to pick up on, and now the rest of the people who could be considered “friends” in this fucking town are doing what they can to help.

talking with any of them about his feelings becomes mandatory. they don’t give him a choice, and for some reason, he can’t bring himself to fight it. the better part of him knows that he needs it.

at first, its twice a day. usually luitumi and lucaun handle it. cobalt and carson deal with his constantly presenting daddy issues, though. carson knew the feeling of growing up with a dad who didn’t love him (and, initially, no dad at all), and cobalt knew the feeling of fucking hating his own father. 

his need for a parental figure slowly dies down. cobalt will never be a father to him, just like mustang, but he’s okay with that. cobalt doesn’t have any legal standing over him unlike the colonel, and he’s a lot more fucking comfortable with that.

cobalt doesnt have to pretend like he’s a father in any capacity for ed. what he does is out of his own heart, not because he sees ed as a ward.

at least, that’s what ed believes. and he likes it like that. people not pretending to be things they aren’t helps him shut away that one need.

it moves to once a day. he trails them a lot. his attachment issues come into presence, but they keep reminding him that its okay to need someone. slowly but surely, he’s able to deal with being left alone, though not for very long.

it moves to every other day. his thoughts are a lot less loud than he remembers them being. 

it moves to only twice a week. the first time ed doesn’t artificially smile is for their christmas and new years celebrations, when luitumi drags him into the dancing circle with her. the whole thing reminds him of some of the celebrations they used to have in resembool in the summer. he says he’s not a good dancer, but luitumi doesn’t care. he lets her take the lead for the start, and just like everything else in his life, he learns fast. 

he finally begins smiling, completely free of his thoughts for once. he actually has fun that isn’t tethered to everything he’s been building up for over these many years.

alenthaal becomes his safe place. “whats said in alenthaal, stays in alenthaal.” he genuinely believes it to be true.

when the promised day draws closer and closer, he promises to come back. it’s not just al he’s living for, anymore. he’s living for this town, too, full of people who make him feel safe. 

when al sacrifices himself to bring his arm back, it sets ed back what feels like years. his anger returns, completely unstoppable, and his one focus is to kill father. and then greed dies. 

it just gets worse. even with the bastard gone, his progress is still set back significantly.

he yells at hohenheim. calls him a rotten father. he didnt want to deal with any of that self sacrificial garbage, not because that was the man who left them, but because thats exactly what ed does.

he thinks. thinks so, so hard. finally, he draws out the circle, everything finally becoming clear.

he sacrifices his own alchemy. ed doesn’t need it anymore, not when it’s caused him and his brother so much pain.

he has the town of alenthaal. he has his friends. he has his family.

who needs alchemy, when he’s got them?

and he beats truth, in his own special way. al is brought back. even though they spend months in rehabilitation, ed’s head is so much clearer than its ever been.

he returns home resembool. everything was worth it. 

when he visits alenthaal once again, luitumi’s changed. she’s permanently merged with charity as a result of the promised day. they become two extremes- a complete lack of any alchemy at all, and a newfound power that still has so much unknown alchemy to tap into. even still, they share that hug, ed having kept his promise to not die.

he does his best to be more open. alenthaal is his safe haven, but having more than one isn’t impossible.

in the time before he goes off to the west, he tries to open up, bit by bit. its hard. the thoughts aren’t gone, and he knows they never will be. he’ll still have times where he’s rendered useless by them all, but this time, winry and al are there to help. 

his emotions are genuine. his smiles are genuine. he doesn’t have to fake anymore. 

when decides to study alchemy in the west, he knows every possible risk. he continues, despite the danger, because this would be his way of coming to terms with what happened to hohenheim. he ties alchemy to him, and even in death, that doesn’t change.

his father is gone. his father was one of the greatest alchemists the world had seen.

so ed will just overcome him, even without being able to perform alchemy anymore. he’ll prove that he’s more than just his kid. he’ll make his dad proud, as much as he hates calling him by that name.

luitumi joins him on his journey. they ground eachother. neither will have to deal with their pain alone, not this time. ed knows suffering through it isn’t an option for him anymore.

the thoughts will return, once in a while. 

ed no longer shuts them out at this point. he lets them be, allowing them to stir until the mental soup is done. until his head finally becomes clear.

#tw suicidal thoughts #cw suicidal thoughts #tw suicide mention #cw suicide mention #tw self harm #cw self harm #goldie is seriously fucked this is a general warning #post promised day hes a lot better but before it? he still needs consistent help. things still constantly overwhelm him. #even though he gets a lot better at dealing with it in alenthaal it still very much is all there. #this is also a uhhh super fucking long post HGDJHS #{|❂|} THE GOLDEN CHILD | edward. #{|❂|} HE WHO TRAVELS THE STARS | info.

[grell-writes-stuff]

A Self Indulgent First Chapter

Enjoy...something

Words: 2,549

Genre: Young Adult / Paranormal

---------------------------------------------

Slam!

Gasp!

And then the apathetic yell of “Walk it off, Willow!” from Coach Martin. No stopping the game or running over to make sure I’m not deprived of air or dying or something. Just “Walk it off, Willow!”

I suffer for a second with the wind knocked out of my body. My inhaler finds its way from my pocket to my hand, and while I hold the one breath I force myself into and wait for my crap lungs to jump-start again, I contemplate the most-likely-illegal play that landed me flat on my back in the middle of the field. Quarterback Tom Styles’ outstretched elbow connecting with my neck at full speed in his chase for the checkered ball and high school sports glory, clearly confusing his claim-to-fame varsity moves with a pickup game of soccer since I doubt he has the brain cells to remember the rules to two sports at once. And probably a little bit on purpose. Because he’s a dick.

My chest wheezes a little, but at least it’s something, and the weak inhales finally start to catch as a sun-freckled face appears above me and blocks out the light. Ivy offers me her hand.

“Did th-that look a-as bad as it f-felt?” I sputter.

Ivy tilts her head from side-to-side like it’s the scale measuring how uncool I am. “Worse. Very pathetic. You will die alone.” She yanks me to my feet and acts like a support in spite of the height difference.

“P-Please stop making m-me take gym with y-you.”

“Nah. It’s too funny.” She ignores my scowl. “Come on. Let’s get you some water and wait for those shitty lungs to work again.”

She escorts me – hobbling like some eighty-year-old man with spine problems and not just what will soon be a terrible, ugly bruise – toward the bleachers, empty except for the water bottles of our classmates. I’m happy enough to sit on the sidelines, not just while recovering from having all of the air robbed from my chest, but for the rest of gym class, and also forever. Ivy is equally as happy, but only because it prompts the girls’ teacher, Coach Caruthers, to scream in her booming voice:

“Hammond! Back on the field!”

Without missing a beat, Ivy responds, “In the event of moderate injury, students are allowed to have a friend or fellow student for mental, emotional, or physical support. It’s in the code of conduct.”

I don’t know if that’s actually something in our school’s rule book, but Ivy has read the whole thing cover-to-cover for the sole purpose of seeing how many provisions she can disregard without getting into trouble through malicious acts of over-compliance or sheer dumb luck. So, she’s either following the rules to the letter or lying about them. As I sit, I see that Caruthers does not look impressed when Ivy plops onto the bench next to me. The whole reason our gender-segregated phys. ed classes collaborate so often is because they’re full of athletes – and me, the outlier – so more often than not, it’s just an extra practice for the varsity players. Even though Ivy was born with the “good at physical stuff” gene, and talented enough to be a forward on our girls’ soccer team, she prefers to rely on the natural part of her ability and not the practice part to the vexation of literally everyone.

“Hammond!” Caruthers screams. “On the field, or off the team!”

Ivy squirts a stream of water into her mouth and quickly swallows before passing the bottle on to me. “Cool. Who’s replacing me?” she retorts.

I focus on downing some water and breathing evenly again and not on the vein beginning to pop out of Caruthers’ angry-red neck. She can’t say anything back because, well, Kinross High School isn’t huge. Pretty much everyone who can play sports is already playing sports, and as far as Ivy’s tendency to disrespect anyone of authority can go, she’s also crucial to securing victory over visiting teams. Caruthers just grits her teeth and returns to refereeing the game where Tom Styles has once again stolen the ball that got away from him, this time without incapacitating anybody since the one guy with asthma has left the field. (Asshole.) I watch as Abby Jefferson starts to gain on him, and Tom makes the choice to skillfully send the ball flying across the grass to the next open player, Drew Young, the only person in our gym class who does even less than I do.

That’s not for lack of talent either. I’ve seen Drew actually try on the rare occasion, and he could absolutely score a spot on a boys’ sports team. But most games, like today, he receives the pass and kicks the ball along to the next open player – it’s intercepted by one of the girls – and continues pacing the field leisurely. Coach Martin yells at him to get his head in the game, but Drew doesn’t bother. If the activity doesn’t involve selling the pens that he stole from the cheerleaders to the football team, the little weasel has no interest.

The game continues on.

Ivy reclines until her shoulders are touching the bench behind us, tilting her head back and staring at the sky. I have to wonder how comfortable it is.

“My dear Sid,” she theatrically addresses me. She likes to be dramatic sometimes. She thinks it’s funny. “I have a proposal for you.”

“I told you I’m not training a messenger pigeon with you. We only live three houses apart.”

“I’ll wear you down eventually, but no, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” She looks over at me without breaking her questionable position. “I know what we’re doing tonight. I’ve concocted a perfect plan, you see, for this most All-Hallowed of Eves.”

“You can say ‘Halloween’ like a normal person. It’s okay.”

“Let me bring you back in time,” she continues, ignoring me, “to the Kinross of yore. Just decades after its founding, the Salem Witch Trials came about and our town was no exception to the noose–”

“Salem is two hours away, Ivy,” I interrupt with the fact.

“Shut up. The Salem Witch Trials swept across the state of Massachusetts, migrated into Kinross, and thus the most famous trial of Kinross history was set in motion when one Ann Kelly was accused of being a creature of the occult!”

“Can I get the abridged version of this plan please?” I ask her. “Like, the part that takes place in this century?”

Finally fed up with my interjections, Ivy sighs exaggeratedly and rolls her eyes at me. “Blah, blah, blah, she was hanged, she’s buried in the historical section of Riverview, and we’re going there tonight during the witching hour to see” – she switches to her best spooky voice with elongated, trembling vowels – “her haunted grave.”

“Hard pass.”

That makes her sit upright again with a slouch to her posture. She’s wearing a fabricated pout. “Sid,” she whines.

“Ivy, I’m not sneaking out with you at three in the morning on Halloween to go see a ‘haunted grave.’” She opens her mouth, but I follow up with, “Our parents would kill us. Besides, what’s-her-name probably just angered a bunch of Puritans and got executed because of religious prejudice. That doesn’t mean she was a witch.”

“Well, of course. I think angering Puritans was a mandatory activity back then. But come on, Sid! The legend says she’s a witch, and it’s the perfect Halloween thing! I think we are obligated – if not encouraged by the spirit of Halloween herself – to go see a ghost witch.”

“Does the spirit of Halloween have a gender?”

Ivy pushes past that and waits to catch my eye dead-on. “Bet you a hundred bucks we actually see Ann Kelly’s phantom.”

My lips part to say no just a split second before I register the number. “Wait – a hundred?”

Something cocky has taken up her face, and she recites with inflated confidence, “Ten A-Hams. A Franklin. A thousand Roosevelts.”

“You know what? Fine. I’ll take your money,” I tell her. “You’re on.”

Her grin is smug as we fist-bump on it and close the deal, but I decide that I don’t care so much with the promise of an easy hundred dollars coming my way. Ivy ingests another stream of water, and swallows while her eyes quickly scan the grass to catch up with the game again. Suddenly, a yell flies from her mouth:

“Box him out, Julia! Come on!”

Then she’s up off the bleachers and jogging back out onto the field. As unwilling as Ivy is to make an effort and practice, she’s also equally as competitive, even if this is just a gym class where victory doesn’t really matter. I, on the other hand, take my time on the bench. Struggling to breathe isn’t my idea of fun. I need to stop letting Ivy manipulate me into taking phys. ed. If she keeps it up, she might kill me.

 ***

I can nearly be qualified as a mess by the time Ivy and I reach our lockers after final period, and she’s humming like she’s got live wires for veins despite just spending an hour burning off energy. Meanwhile, I’m still recovering from my last bout of airlessness after I returned to the field and ran for maybe ten minutes. And I feel gross. The benefit of having P.E. last period is that I don’t have to shower here and can wait until I get home or to Ivy’s. The con is the window of time in between. I usually try to keep the gap as short as possible, and therefore, my time at my locker brief. I think Ivy and I took enough time getting changed after gym to avoid most people – at least the non-athletes.

“Hi, Sidney! Hi, Ivy!”

A mixture of feelings suddenly rockets through me and don’t add up in the end. While my chest is beginning to slowly overclock, and the hallway seems a few degrees warmer and rising steadily, I’m ready to play dead as Naomi Park opens the locker right next to mine on the opposite side of Ivy’s. Her shoulder is a fraction of an inch from touching my arm which is probably too close when I’m still drenched in gym sweat. Ivy greets her politely with ease while my brain is trying to catch up with the mundane situation and not think about how she smells like some kind of flowery perfume and I smell like crap.

“Hey, Naomi,” leaves my mouth and sounds too drawn-out and weirdly cheesy, so I just try to smile to make up for it. That feels awkward too, but she thankfully doesn’t seem to react to that, and her glossy pink lips tilt up without much effort into a perfect grin.

She puts some books on the shelf in her locker. “Any exciting Halloween plans?”

“Nope,” Ivy says immediately, likely because our actual idea involves a wager and might not be entirely legal – it’s a misdemeanor at the least. I just take the hint and don’t add anything to refute her answer.

“You? Any plans? For tonight – Halloween?” I wish that had come out differently. It could have at least sounded coherent.

“Nothing tonight,” Naomi responds. “But Heather’s having a ‘Belated Halloween Bash’ on Saturday while her parents are out of town so I’m ‘required’ to be there.”

“Oh, cool. That’s…cool.”

“I guess so. Heather’s parties get a little boring after a while though. I bet your plans for Saturday are much more fun.”

“Yep. Pints of ice cream, horror movies, and making bets on how long it takes Sid to hurl when the blood starts gushing,” Ivy interjects.

“Ivy.” I mutter the snap of her name so it doesn’t sound as harsh as I want it to. The temperature in the hallway rises astronomically.

Naomi giggles, which hurts. Well, it would if her laugh wasn’t so musical and twinkly. It’s like a damn harp quartet. “Sounds like a good time,” she comments. Her locker door shuts. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Yeah, totally – tomorrow. See ya’, Naomi!” She’s nearly out of earshot down the hall, and I wait until I know she definitely can’t hear anything before I say to Ivy without daring a look at her, with the heat of embarrassment and shame boiling me alive from the inside, “Please say nothing.”

I can hear the grin on her face when she speaks. “You realize she’s just another human being, right?”

“Are you kidding? She’s at the right hand of Heather Loch. She’s popular. I’m shocked she still knows my name.”

Ivy shuts her own locker with a characteristic slam. “Dude, you’re ridiculous. She likes you back. If you just talked to her, and told her that you like her, you would have a girlfriend.”

“Ivy, she thinks I’m a loser.”

“I think you’re a loser and I still like you sometimes.”

I roll my eyes and can’t say anything to that. I don’t care if Ivy thinks I’m lame. It’s not the same. We’ve been together for as long as I can remember, so at this point, she’s locked into this friendship, no matter how easy it would be for her to hang out with the people at Kinross High who are actually popular and liked.

I close my locker and we start walking to the main exit of the building and eventually across the school’s student parking lot. Some groups linger, but most people seem to be dispersing and heading home for the day. Ivy and I walk straight through the lot as always, avoiding the cars pulling out.

I want to avoid the Styles’ Ford Everest – which is so bright red that it’s an assault on the eyes – but we have to walk past it and the clump of popular kids loitering next to it: blonde, perfect, popular Heather Loch, Asshole Quarterback Tom and his not-as-terrible twin, Ed, and my locker neighbour and secret crush, Naomi. The girls are under the guys’ arms like they belong there, popular with popular. There’s usually not much interaction between our pair and their group because I’m pretty sure most of the popular kids either don’t know who I am or just hate me for no reason, but today Tom decides to rub in his full-contact plays on the soccer field.

“Nice moves out there, Pussy Willow!” he shouts clear across the lot. It makes me feel the bruise on my back, still fresh, but I’m past the point of being mad about it. Really, Tom’s just an annoying jerk, and that’s all he’ll ever be.

I try to tap into Ivy-like sarcasm and passiveness. “I get it. Because my last name is Willow, and you’re insulting me. That’s really funny. It’s original.”

He yells something back that includes one of Ivy’s favourite swear words, but we disregard it and turn out of the parking lot in the direction of our houses. Ivy states that we’re going to my place because, in her mind, it’s easier to sneak out of a single-parent household. I don’t try to refute it because arguing with Ivy when she has her mind made up is like talking to a brick wall.

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