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themadlostgirl · 2 years

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The Birds & The Bees

*Been a while since I’ve gotten any requests. I’ve been focused on other stuff so it was nice to be back to basics!*

Prompt: David and Snow attempt to give Reader and Felix the talk about the birds and the bees.

~~~

Snow and David could honestly say that fighting ogres and witches and dragons was far easier than what they had recently taken on, raising not one but two teenagers. Not just any teenagers either. Former Lost Boys, well, Lost Boy and Lost Girl.

After the defeat of Peter Pan and the town of Storybrooke was restored to its normal self they were left with an entire gang of preteens and teenagers without a home. Unable to return to their island the town took them in. The kids got parceled out to different families based on willingness. Most of the younger crowd gladly went to their new families with ease, the older teens were not so easy. Most of them actually ended up taking in with the nuns since it allowed them more independence.

There were three problem children that needed special care though. The three being you, Felix, and Devin. Three of the most loyal of Pan’s followers and by proxy, the most deadly. The three of you tried to make a run for the forest to rough it out there but with all the magical emergencies and the incoming winter, it was obvious you would not survive long. So, begrudgingly the three of you got taken in by the people in town best suited to deal with dagger wielding teenagers. You and Felix went to Snow White and Prince Charming while Devin got pawned off on the Evil Queen.

You counted yourself lucky that you were able to stick with Felix at least. Living with the Charmings was not so bad. There was not enough room in the apartment for the addition of you and Felix with Emma and Henry also living there. So, the pair of you were given the apartment across the hall to live in. The Charmings also thought it a good test to get you used to living on your own in your new setting. As if you had not spent hundreds of years living on your own having to forage for your own food. Learning how to use a microwave and remembering to sweep the floors was child’s play.

That did not mean that you had made it easy for Snow and David at all. Oh no! For the first couple of weeks it was nothing but argument after argument and a few times you had runaway just to be back the next day. They were annoyingly patient though. Eventually you hit a compromise and things started getting better.

Yes, it was all going so well! Until David and Snow sat you down for a talk.

Before they even started David and Snow were flustered. In the weeks since they had taken you in they came to the realization that you would need to be taught certain things. Not just the basics about home care and education and laws but more…personal activities. You were both at an age where you would probably want to start getting into relationships. And with relationships came intimacy and with intimacy came the dreaded talk of the birds and the bees.

They did their research, figured out what they were going to say, and one afternoon sat you and Felix down to talk. “So,” Snow said, fidgeting in her seat across from you, “it has been some time since you left Neverland and we realized that we needed to talk to you two about something?”

“What?” you asked, cautiously.

“Well,” Snow closed her eyes, trying to summon the courage to say what needed said, “You two are teenagers and at this age you may start feeling certain feelings.”

“Feelings?” Felix arched an eyebrow.

“Yes, um, you see, these feelings can get pretty intense and overwhelming and confusing when you first start feeling them. And as your sort of guardians we thought it best if we informed you about what you needed to know so that you can be informed and safe moving forward from this point.”

“Alright,” you nodded, “So are you going to tell us what these feelings are exactly?”

“Yes, uh, David?” Snow looked to her husband.

“Right uh…” David wiped his sweaty palms against the fabric of his jeans. He really would like to be fighting a dragon instead right now. “There comes a time in every adolescent’s life when they get older and start feeling attraction towards other people. You may want to start dating and become curious of things like kissing and…uh…and uh…”

“Are you giving us a talk about sex?” you said. David and Snow’s eyes snapped to you. “You do realize that we are hundreds of years old, right? You don’t need to treat us like we’re little babies. We know what sex is.”

“Yes, yes, it’s just that we also know that you have been on an island which has kept you as teenagers for hundreds of years so you are probably not as informed about sexual intimacy as you should be.” Snow said quickly. “So we thought we would give you quick rundown over everything so that when you’re a little older and find someone who you may want to participate in that sort of thing with, you’ll be well informed.”

“Gotcha,” Felix said, barely repressing a smile. “Continue, if you would.”

The next hour was a stuttering, blushing, lecture about STDs, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth, virginity, relationships, and consent. By the end it was a miracle that David and Snow were able to look you and Felix in the eye. After making sure neither of you had questions they left and informed you that you would be welcome to come over later that night for dinner.

David was glad to have it over and done with but Snow seemed less sure. There was something about the way you two acted during the whole thing that concerned her. Sure you two knew, fundamentally, what sex was but they had dumped a lot of new information on you. All of that information and neither of you had asked any questions. None at all.

Was it really that awkward? Were you cursing them for making you sit through that? Had any of what they said even gotten through to you?

Later that night you and Felix showed up for dinner and again, neither of you said anything. That wasn’t the strange part. Neither of you were particularly chatty people but this night it was dead silent. Then, as soon as you had cleared your plates you were gone without a word.

Snow couldn’t take it and tried going over to your room across the hall to talk but the door was locked and neither of you were answering. She chalked it up to it being late and you guys not wanting to talk anymore and left it at that. Still, the thoughts wouldn’t leave her.

What if…what if instead of being informing to help ease the both of you it was actually traumatizing? What if they had scared you into never wanting to explore this aspect of your lives? Had they completely botched it? Snow was an elementary school teacher, she hadn’t had to come up with a sex-ed lesson plan before. Now she was worried that she had ruined everything.

David was concerned too. In the days following the talk he was usually able to get Felix to talk but now he was silent and didn’t say much other than what was strictly necessary. If David tried approaching the subject about their talk and assuring Felix that he could talk to him about anything he got brushed off. The same happened to Snow when she spent time with you.

Not knowing what else to do they started considering that maybe the kids would need professional help. It was a lot asking these sheltered teenagers from an eternal youth island to take in all this new information at once. Their whole way of living had changed and now they had thrust this on them. If they didn’t need help for Snow and David traumatizing them with their sex-ed talk then perhaps they needed it for something else.

Snow and David stopped by Regina’s house to discuss something about the town and to get an update on how her and Devin were getting along. While you and Felix would often butt heads with Snow and David, Devin and Regina had been on a whole other level. There had been a point where several windows ended up broken and a small fire started on the lawn. Now the two were as thick as thieves. There was actually a lot of Regina in Devin and that was terrifying.

“Anything else you two needed to discuss?” Regina asked as she shuffled some papers back into order.

“Actually, you may be able to give us some input on something.” David said. “You’ve been raising kids longer than us and we have hit a little snag.”

“What sort of snag?” Regina asked, regarding the sickeningly perfect couple before her with wonder. What could these two want to know about childrearing? Last she heard, you and Felix were doing well.

“The thing is…we uh…we kinda--”

“We gave them the sex talk.” Snow blurted out.

“Oh.” Regina stopped and leaned forward. “And how did that go?”

“The talk itself was fine but they’re acting weird now.” Snow said, “They barely talk to us now and any time we try to talk to them about it they dodge us. Is it normal for teenagers to just not want to talk to you about anything? Especially something as new and confusing as sex? I mean, they had absolutely no questions! None at all! Is that normal?”

The creak of a door behind them alerted the adults that they were being watched. With a flick of her hand Regina opened the door and Devin was standing on the other side. “What have I told you about skulking?”

“If you’re going to skulk then make sure no one knows you’re doing it.” Devin nodded, “These damn squeaky hinges gave me away is all.”

There was a rebuke on Snow’s tongue for what she was teaching Devin but she never got it out.

“I couldn’t help but overhear what you were talking about.” Devin walked into the room. “Gave old scarface and princess the talk huh? Why would you do that?”

“Cause they need to be well informed. It’s new and--”

“I’m gonna stop you right there, princey.” Devin held up a hand, “I always thought you two were thick but now I can see that you are a special kind of oblivious.”

“Hey!” the couple snapped.

“Devin, explain.” Regina sighed.

“I mean, they live right across the hall from you, right?” Devin asked.

“Yeah.”

“And they have access to money?”

“We give them an allowance to buy their own food and necessities?”

“And do you ever check the receipts?”

“No. Why would we?”

Devin began laughing. “Oh you poor, naive idiots!” he cackled, “They are five feet from your apartment and you didn’t know!”

“Know what!” David and Snow fumed.

“That those two became a couple when we still lived on Neverland. They’ve been a couple for decades and they are obviously not pure little angels that don’t know what a condom is.” Devin continued laughing, wiping tears from his eyes, “I mean, you set them up in their own apartment with absolutely no supervision. It’s no wonder they aren’t asking questions! They probably know more positions than you do!”

“They--they--” Snow felt her face overheating. “All this time they have been--”

“Having copious amounts of sex. Yes. Probably not as much as when they lived on Neverland but still doing it often enough.” Devin shrugged. “So trust me, you didn’t traumatize them. If anything, you made for a laugh riot after you left.”

“Okay then…” Regina looked like she was holding back her own laughter. The crimson red faces of Snow and David was something she would keep in her mind forever.

“And you had better not tell them that I told you.” Devin warned, “They will kill me.”

David stood up. “We are never discussing this again. This conversation never happened.” then walked out the door. Snow quickly followed after him.

Regina waited until they were out of the house to laugh. Then she looked over at Devin. “Its a good thing that’s not something I have to worry about with you. Couldn’t get a girl into this house even if you tried.”

“Hey!”

The next morning you and Felix woke up to an envelope full of money and a business card for a gynecologist slipped under your apartment door and a note that simply read, “Stay safe”

“Babe,” you called back to Felix, “Get dressed! We need to go kick Devin’s snitch ass!”

#felix imagine #felix x reader #ouat #neverland #request #peter pan ouat

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dramaism · 2 years

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re your tags on your year in review, what are your favourite dramas and sets of this year? ♡

hi, dear anonnie! sorry for the long answer tumblr somehow messed up my notifications again (i swear i'm gonna throw up this app out of the window someday....). i put everything under the cut because it's long

about the dramas - hometown cha cha cha and doom at your service are both on the list of my faves. but the true beauty wasn't my favorite this year.

if we're talking about my most loved dramas of 2021 - here's the list (it is particular order): 1. happiness 11/10 - perfect from head to toe, zombies, fake marriage, powerful main leads, the true meaning of humanity and, well, happiness 1. beyond evil 11/10 - again perfect from head to toe, spider-man meme, extremely gorgeous bromance, the crime show when you cry not because of the crimes but because of the human relationships, very suspenseful you're on the edge of your seat every minute 3. run on 10/10 - the life as it is, absolutely amazing main leads, this drama encourages you, tells you that being different is okay and shows you what friendship and love should be like 4. hometown cha cha cha 9/10 - gongjin found family, tells you to not struggle alone and to show your feelings, very heartwarming it's like a cup of the very hot tea in the middle of the winter, healthy relationships, healthy second lead in the love triangle, make you feel good 5. bad buddy 9/10 (only because it's not finished yet and i'm scared they will mess up everything. it's too good to be true tbh) - it's thai, might be the best bl drama in the world, perfect amazing flawless chemistry, natural personalities and feelings, not that unusual plot but the crew created something magical out of it, your casual enemies to lovers kind of thing with a lot of teasing and bickering and competitions (dudes that love each other literally compete on who's gonna confess first.......) 6. vincenzo 8/10 - HONG CHA YOUNG SUPREMACY (khm, sorry), your casual scary italian mafia lawyer who's actually smitten because of one quirky korean lawyer, corn salad gang, a lot of big brain moments, really good story but i deducted 2 points because it was too long for me and because they killed the himbo (how dare they...) aka the cutest character in the show 7. law school 8/10 - this is really something else, university drama but the plot is mostly about several cases, nonlinear storytelling, very suspenseful, very hot very clever professor, heart eyes main lead badass but confused female lead - we were freindzoned here (never forget never forgive), found family of group of classmates, deducted 2 points because of that friendzone and a little bit rushed ending 8. the devil judge 7/10 - your casual au where the world is very cruel, THE BROMANCE, again big brain moments, the law and the fairness at their best implied by one man and one man only, a little bit flirty and full of emotions, never forgive this show for how they threated the women and kim ga on -3 points 9. the uncanny counter 7/10 (technically it ended in 2021) - found family, amazing super powers, makes you cry makes you laugh makes you think about life, grim reapers but not really, deducted 3 points because of the writing - it was very slow in the middle of the drama, thanks god they changed the writer 10. doom at your service 6/10 - main couple is 10/10 anything else is not really that good, fantasy drama with the god of the doom and ordinary girl, very romantic with amazing chemistry, BICKERING, a little bit cliché with an ordinary ending but still good

as you can see i still can't decide which of two top dramas i should put on the first place. also this list is based solely on my feelings towards dramas because they're all very different and it's impossible to decide for sure which one is better than the other.

sadly hospital playlist 2 is not on the list because this season just didn't clicked well with me and it came to the point that i was watching only because of one couple.

and about gifsets. this year i have enjoyed making funny compilations and characters sets the most. here's my favs per dramas:

happiness (but really love all the sets) - emojies! (probably my fav set ever), noona set, yi hyun to the rescue set run on - this letterbox review set (perfect from head to toe), characters set with very cool fonts (i'm proud of it), funniest sh*t ever, blending turned right for one time and one time only vincenzo - all my hong cha young sets - one, two, three, this one compilation set, parallels!, the man who loves quirkiness the most law school - we were robbed of their future careers set (again flawless), this lyrics set! (the best of the best the love of my life), funny sets with emojis - one and two doom at your service (oh boy i've made over 60 sets wait a minute) - bickering at its best (i made a lot of it but this one is my favorite among them), a special place set, i want to live dialogue (i'm proud of it), #married, fav episode set of them, very simple very domestic set nevertheless - simply second couple sets - one and two hospital playlist 2 - this friendship goals set, ik jun making song hwa laugh set, this flawless compilation set the devil judge - be parallel set (well.... again one of my most fav sets of the year), yo han's soft spot, just this dialogue set, defending ga on hometown cha cha cha (i now realized that i really love all the sets here) - drank hye jin set (cuuuute), this compilation set (this is the only one that is on my wrapped), their backs set, #whipped, parents' day set, bickering! bad buddy - this quote set (i finally come up with my usual style for the sets like that) special mention - this the day of becoming you set (excuse me??? best confession scene ever!)

and to narrow it done just to 10 sets (which was very hard): 1. happiness with emojies! 2. run on characters set with very cool fonts 3. vinchenzo hong cha young set number two 4. law school this lyrics set! 5. days bickering at its best 6. hospital playlist 2 this flawless compilation set 7. the devil judge be parallel set 8. law school we were robbed of their future careers set 9. hometown cha cha cha drank hye jin set 10. this the day of becoming you set (no particular order of course)

i believe that you surely won't read for that long, but if you did then thank you so much!

#ask #anonnie #thank you so much for this i enjoyed going through my own sets a lot!!!#and sorry this is so long

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derireo · 4 years

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be mine, valentine! (all troupes)

ok but fr this took me way too long to finish lol. sorry for being super extra duper slow! happy late valentines day bbs!

With Valentine's Day coming up, the boys from the Spring Troupe were getting restless with excitement, save for Itaru and Tsuzuru. Despite Masumi being excited to give Izumi chocolates for the romantic holiday, Sakuya was practically vibrating.

Valentine's Day was such a sweet holiday, and he loved seeing couples walk around during this time of year. Citron was merely excited to experience Japanese Valentine's Day for the first time.

"What are you planning on doing this holiday, Izumi?" Citron had asked curiously as the director was putting a small stack of papers into a file at the dinner table. Unknowingly, Citron had piqued the interest of Sakuya and Masumi who were studying together in the lounge room, and even Tsuzuru who was reading over his most recent script to see if there was any changes he needed to make.

When reminded of the upcoming holiday, Izumi pinched the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb as a habit of stress and held her head in her free hand, sighing in defeat.

She'd been single ever since she was born, never experienced a happy Valentine's day full of chocolates or laughter, and was too cowardly to ever give any of her past crushes a gift or even a letter.

She's probably planning on doing nothing this year too.

"Think I'm just gonna work. There's no reason for me to do anything for Valentine's Day." She comforted herself by patting her cheek then leaned back into her chair to smile at Citron who was frowning at her from the kitchen counter.

"Well ain't that sad." Itaru yawned lazily when he popped out of nowhere, effectively startling Izumi who was silently sulking. The business man rummaged through the fridge until he found a water bottle and shut the door, leaning against the kitchen appliance to stare at Izumi, a bored expression on his face.

"I'm getting the holiday off. I hate bringing gifts home from work," Itaru sighed and shrugged a shoulder. "My room's open if you need company that day."

Masumi quickly protested. "I should be the one saying that."

"Uhm, no." Tsuzuru shut down Masumi before the teenager could continue to be possessive over Izumi and held an arm over his chest to prevent him from standing up from the chair, his face slightly worried.

Citron pursed his lips as he leaned against the counter and watched as Izumi put her attention back on him, his hands excitedly clapping together when an idea popped in his head.

"I shall personally take you to the Cherry Blossom Festival!" He exclaimed.

A frown made its way onto Sakuya's features and he couldn't help but shake his head at Citron, who was understandably happy for the great idea, and had to regrettably break the news to him.

"The Cherry Blossom Festival is in the Spring. Valentine's Day is in the Winter."

Citron slumped and held his cheek in his hand, the frown coming back to decorate his face. "That is too bad."

Sakuya suddenly jumped up to his feet right then and ended up startling both Tsuzuru and Masumi who were huffing and puffing at each other. The sweet redhead reached out for Izumi's hands and stared at her with bright eyes, his teeth showing as he smiled.

"Why not bring the whole Spring Troupe out on an excursion?" The young boy bounced on his feet as Izumi looked at him with an unsure expression, her smile turning into a grimace.

"Depends on what kind of excursion we're talking about."

"A picnic!" Sakuya quickly exclaimed, this time startling Izumi while she was in the middle of releasing his hands, her eyes blinking rapidly when her body unwillingly jolted while sitting in her chair.

Itaru groaned and hit his head against the fridge door. "My games."

Izumi scoffed at the grown man amongst the younger members of the group and crossed her arms over her chest with a reprimanding glare, standing up from her chair to wrap an arm around Sakuya's shoulders.

"It's only a few hours outside, Itaru. I'm sure it'll be just like how you don't play video games at work."

His bright eyes glowered right back at Izumi when he pushed himself off of the fridge and trudged to where she stood, looking down at her as he squinted while she stared right back with a challenging look in her eyes.

When she wouldn't look away, Itaru sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before reaching out to hold the back of Izumi's head, fingers tangled in her messy hair. He leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead to soothe the furrow there and deliberately ignored the betrayed sound Masumi made from the couch.

"Whatever. I'll think about it the day of." He murmured and ruffled Izumi's hair before moving to go back to his room, playfully sticking his tongue out at the student who was staring at him with evil intent.

Sakuya was already excited as Izumi rested her cheek against his and he curled his arm around her waist to squeeze her close to him.

"Awesome! I don't think any of the others are against this idea so let's start planning now!"

Citron nodded enthusiastically in agreement while Masumi pouted as Tsuzuru scolded him for being so hostile towards Itaru who had already gone into his room, Izumi also managing to get a small word in while she patted Masumi's head when her and Sakuya moved to the living room.

"Spending Valentine's with the director is a dream come true." Sakuya sighed dreamily to Citron as they both watched Izumi laugh at Tsuzuru and Masumi who were arguing over something and leaned against Citron who made a noise of agreement.

"Most definitely. I am sure Itaru wouldn't miss the picnic!"

On the day of, Izumi was pretty sure Itaru was the most clingiest to her out of all troupe members. Despite turning his phone on and off multiple times during the outing, he would only curl himself against Izumi and bury his face into her neck like a sulking child; itching to do something he's not supposed to do.

Masumi was irked that she fed that old, grown man his lunch while she didn't do the same to him, but he has to be understanding. Izumi is the nurturer.

Sakuya, Tsuzuru, and Citron were just happy to have a successful excursion with everyone, and the chocolates that Izumi surprised all of them with definitely made them glad that they planned this whole thing.

"Don't make me go to school today, I beg of you." Tenma pleaded with Izumi as she stared down at the young boy who was kneeling down in front of her in the living room. The boy was obviously dishevelled, with his uniform shirt buttoned incorrectly and pants wrinkled.

Tenma did not want to go to school.

"Yeah, me too." Yuki said impassively as he walked past Tenma and into the kitchen to grab a water bottle from the fridge, still in his pajamas. He plopped onto a chair at the dinner table and let out a sigh, slumping in the uncomfortable wooden seat.

Muku ran into the living room with wide eyes and tripped onto the couch with a surprised shout, already managing to crumple up his middle school uniform.

"It's Valentine's Day, Yuki! We have to go!"

The other middle school student grimaced and waved his hand at Muku who was pouting and whining like a puppy as Tenma continued to beg for Izumi's lenience just this once.

"Whoa, the gang's all here!" Kazunari cheered gleefully and plopped onto the other couch that wasn't taken up by Muku, with Misumi clattering against the walls as he scaled them excitedly.

Izumi internally groaned at the sudden commotion that the Summer Troupe brought along with them as they gathered in the commons, and she placed her hands on her hips to calm herself down.

"Kazu said it was Yummy Triangle Day!" Misumi hollered happily as he tackled Izumi's side and didn't let go, his eyes sparkling with excitement as the promise of triangles from Kazunari had him buzzing with joy.

The director quickly whipped her head to stare at Kazunari who playfully poked his tongue out at her, his smile unashamed as he rubbed the back of his head to say 'oopsie!'.

Inhaling, Izumi plastered on a sweet smile and curled an arm around Misumi's shoulders to make sure he had his attention on her, his eyes still wide as he looked down at her with a tilted head. She raised a hand to pet his cheek and couldn't help but laugh when the young man leaned into her touch, letting her know that she had his attention now.

"It is. Why don't you sit down with Kazunari and I'll give you something to eat after I've dealt with Tenma and Yuki?"

Yuki scoffed while Misumi listened and plopped down beside Kazunari who was scrolling through something on his phone.

"Me?"

"Yes, you too." Izumi groaned and crouched down on the floor to stop Tenma from kneeling down, gently chiding him by slapping the back of his hands with light palms.

"I get it, you don't want to go to school," she rubbed her forehead, making a disgusted sound when she saw the fat, fake tears that were rolling down Tenma's face (crying was his strength, of course). She gently pushed Tenma away with a hand on his chest and scooted backwards on her knees. "But I don't think any of your parents would like it if they heard I let you skip."

It was Tenma's turn to groan and as dramatic as he could, flopped onto the floor in front of Izumi.

"My parents won't even bat an eyelash." He reasoned with the director who wasn't even looking at him anymore. Izumi was busy telling Kazunari that there was still some leftover triangle onigiri left in the fridge that she managed to hide from Masumi, and told him to feed Misumi that for breakfast.

Immediately after, she turned back to Tenma with a deadpan look and harmlessly snarled at him.

"Doesn't mean you should skip school just because you hate getting chocolates from girls. If anything, give them to Juza; last year all he got was dark chocolate and he looked like he was going to break something in the dorm.

And you, Yuki. Just because you hate seeing your classmates do 'dumb things' like handing each other love confessions doesn't give you enough of a valid reason to skip."

"Plus, I think it's really sweet when they do those things!" Muku chimed in, making Izumi nod in approval as she stood up from the floor to let Tenma roll around in his fake tears, walking over to the pink haired St. Flora High student to run her fingers through his hair.

"Muku's a good boy." The director spoke in an endearing tone and smiled down at the young teenager when he turned around with glittering eyes. She carefully fixed his uniform and did the tie that was loosely wrapped around his neck with skilled fingers, squishing Muku's cheeks when she was done.

The young boy stood up tall from the couch and put on his backpack that he had dropped earlier when he was stumbling into the living room. Izumi did a few final checks of his uniform and made sure he had everything he needed for school, including a small chocolate treat that he was going to give to a friend today.

"Alright, come home safe." She cooed and slightly dipped her head down to place a light good luck kiss to the boy's forehead, causing Muku to flush at the action that he should be getting used to by now. He quickly bowed to Tenma and waved at Izumi and the rest of the boys in the kitchen before scurrying down the stairs to get to school.

"Tenma, please get off of the ground." Izumi sighed in exasperation and went back to crouching, her hands gently tugging at the crinkled uniform shirt that belonged to Ouka Public High. The young boy let his body go ragdoll like, and by the time Izumi managed to get a strong hold on him, he lay lifeless in her arms.

The director groaned in annoyance and sat down on the floor instead with Tenma's head resting comfortably in her lap. The Ouka High student managed to keep a smile from showing on his face when she combed her fingers through his bedhead, and Izumi started pointing at the boys who were in the kitchen.

"Kazunari! Don't you have a festival at school today?" She questioned when the young man popped his head out from behind the fridge door with a small piece of onigiri hanging from his mouth, Misumi already at the dinner table with his own plate in front of him.

"I do, but I've got no date." He pouted. "Can you be mine for the day?"

Yuki gagged at how casual Kazunari managed to say that line and threw his now empty water bottle at the university student who was giggling to himself. Misumi was happily jittering as he handed Yuki some of his onigiri to make the student feel better, and he took it with a low grumble under his breath.

Izumi grimaced at the greasy line that was delivered towards her and sighed as she watched Kazunari playfully wave his hand at her to tell her that he was joking. The university student skipped towards where both Tenma and the director sat and patted her head.

"I was joking, but the offer still stands! I gotta get ready now!" He shouted after squishing Izumi's cheek between his fingers and scurried to his room with excited footsteps pounding on the floor.

Tenma groaned next and the director quickly redirected her attention to him, her fingers gently slapping at his cheek to reprimand him.

"Still not gonna go to school, huh?" She taunted him as he whined when she continued to pester him with little slaps to his face, his hands coming up to protect himself from the assault. Izumi did her best to make the teenage celebrity get up from her lap by bouncing her legs next.

Yuki stood up from his chair after he helped Misumi finish his breakfast and began to stride back in the direction of his room with Izumi calling after him with a pout.

"I know you're not gonna go to school, Yuki!" She started desperately, "But I'll at least take you shopping after I'm done helping Kazunari out."

"Whatever. Come by my room when you get home." Yuki sighed and entered his shared room with Tenma, shutting the door closed so that he could go back to sleep.

Izumi pinched Tenma's nose much to his dismay.

"And as for you, you don't want to go out because you'll attract attention everywhere." She gritted out while Tenma whined and swatted at her hand, wriggling around in her lap as he got his uniform shirt even more wrinkled.

"I can't bring you to Kazunari's festival, nor can I bring you to the mall with Yuki." Izumi frowned and gave Tenma a break, her hands coming up to hold his face in her palms as he stared up at her, upside down, with squinted eyes. His lips were pouted because he knew she wouldn't be able to hang out with him in public due to his status as a celebrity, but he still wanted to do something fun with Izumi!

The director glared right back at him and rubbed the spot between his eyebrows to remove the furrow there, her mouth twitching as she tried not to smile.

"We can go somewhere late at night and eat a snack? Food tastes better when you're not supposed to be eating."

Tenma frowned. "Clearly, that's a bad idea "

Then he smiled. "I'm in."

"Thank goodness." With a big sigh of relief Izumi finally pushed Tenma's head off her lap causing the student to groan when his head met the rug on the floor. Standing up from the floor, Izumi smoothed down her pants and motioned to Misumi who was doing whatever in the kitchen.

"Come, Misumi. You have to change clothes if you want to see some triangles at the Valentine's Festival today!"

Cutlery began clattering where the young man was before Izumi saw him begin to bound towards her, his body agile as he jumped over the sofas and the coffee table until he collided with the director. He laughed happily when she let out an oof! and dragged her down the hall.

Kazunari left his room first once he was ready, and both Tenma and the university student whistled; impressed when Izumi left her room with Misumi in tow.

She wore a simple pale blue sundress that flowed prettily at mid-thigh while Misumi wore a subtle triangle patterned button down with his usual pair of jeans.

"You guys are looking totally awesome! I can't wait until we can take photos at the fest!" He cheered and threw a casual arm around Izumi's shoulders as the director firmly held Misumi's hand in hers to keep him from wandering away.

Before they descended the stairs, Izumi turned her head to look at Tenma who was waving goodbye.

"Make sure you're ready for tonight!"

"I can't wait for Valentine's Day tomorrow!" Taichi all of a sudden crowed once the Autumn Troupe's session in the practice room was over. His booming voice startled Izumi, who was going over a few things on a camera with Sakyo listening to her concerns.

She nearly dropped the device when Taichi jumped on his feet, but the camera was quickly caught by Juza who was sitting down on the floor beside her with a towel wrapped around his neck. She crouched beside the high schooler and thanked him in a flustered panic, already feeling the judgemental gaze of Sakyo burning into the back of her head.

"Keep your voice down, Taichi." Omi gently scolded the boy beside him and aggressively ruffled his hair to make him apologise.

Juza stared unblinkingly at Izumi who was still fumbling around with her camera while all of this was happening, but merely went to drying his hair with his towel as Sakyo lifted their director back up to her feet with his hands on her waist.

"Dummy." He grumbled and knocked his knuckles gently against her temple to reprimand her clumsiness.

Banri could only yawn in mock boredom.

"Valentine's Day sucks. I hate being nice to girls when they give me their crappy chocolates." He sighed, pulling his hair tie from it's place in his hair to let the sweaty locks dry.

"Same." Juza mumbled sadly. Whenever he received gifts from girls, the chocolates wouldn't be sweet enough, and most of the time they'd always assume that he was a dark chocolate kind of guy. The gifts always somehow ruined his mood and he'd always have an uneaten pile of sweets spilling from his locker and shoe cubby.

"Oh, shut it. As if a girl would give you chocolate." Banri waved his hand at Juza dismissively, causing the latter's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.

Taichi quickly cut in after Omi released his unrelenting grip on his head, invisible tail wagging.

"So lucky! The girls always give me pity chocolates, but I bet you guys get the real deal!"

Just the slightest bit agitated, Sakyo lifted an arm to rest heavily on Izumi's head causing the woman to falter for a brief second before she curled an arm around his waist to keep herself up, the pout on her face charming the boys and men in the room.

"I'm sure you guys have better things to do than worry about a holiday that only makes you complain."

Omi nodded in agreement and pushed over Taichi who was sulking to the side. "And anyways, I can make sweets for you guys at home."

"It's not the same!" Taichi wailed once he hit the floor, and Banri rolled his eyes, gently kicking the boy in the side to keep him quiet.

"A lil' weird getting chocolate from you on Valentine's Day, Omi, but sure."

Juza stayed silent, but somewhat agreed with Banri.

Izumi frowned alongside Sakyo when the conversation about Valentine's Day continued and she sighed, shaking her childhood friend (or babysitter?) off of her to fix her messy hair. Sakyo was only a little disappointed when she removed her arm from his waist, but covered it up by crossing his own pair over his chest.

"I can make sweets for Juza. Last year, he looked so pissed off when all he received were boxes of dark chocolate." Izumi quietly mused to herself and ruffled the top of the boy's head as if to coddle him, and only smiled cutely when Juza wrinkled his nose at her touch but leaned into her hand nonetheless.

Last Valentine's Day, Izumi was greeted with a sulking Juza who had an extra bag on his shoulder that held all of the chocolates he was given for the holiday. His expression was cranky, and Izumi did her best not set him off by greeting him normally, and didn't bother saying anything when he dumped the chocolate filled bag on the floor with a glare.

He had plopped onto the couch beside Izumi while she took a peek inside, and was delighted to see the bundles of chocolate he had brought home. None of them seemed to be touched, and with Juza's current attitude, it looked to Izumi that he wasn't going to eat those anytime soon.

She pursed her lips and looked at the coffee table where her untouched piece of cake lay, then looked back at Juza who was staring up at the ceiling; slightly dazed.

"Hey, Kid." Juza turned his head.

"You can have my cake. You look like you had an awful day." Izumi cooed and reached out to pet the boy's messy hair, causing him to nod stiffly in agreement and scoot closer to where the director sat, politely waiting to be handed the plate.

"If you want, I can give these chocolates to the adults." She offered, only to be met with a mumbling Juza who was already eating the cake she gave him. By the time Izumi was finishing whatever she was reading, Juza had finished eating and was napping on the sofa with his head in her lap.

Banri had bumbled into the dorm not too long after and when he witnessed a knocked out Juza on Izumi's lap, he almost screamed in shock.

"Um! Talk about unfair?" He whisper shouted as he dropped his own bag full of candies and sweets onto the floor, not so surprisingly shocking the director and causing her to drop a few papers on Juza's sleeping face. He did not wake up.

"You playin' favourites, Izumi?" Banri had accused the director all of a sudden and didn't even wait for an answer before he had snatched up the spot beside her that wasn't occupied by Juza, his arm casually wrapping around her shoulders. She grimaced at the sudden addition of body heat that Banri shared with her and couldn't reprimand him when the boy happily cuddled himself into her side.

"Brats, both of you." Izumi complained when Banri hummed a jovial tune into the cut of her jaw, his nose lightly pressed to her cheek as he decided to be a bit risqué and pulled one of her legs over his knee to curl his hand around, almost bursting into a fit of giggles when she punched him in the chest.

"Sakyo's gonna kill me." She weeped when Banri wouldn't let her go.

And she was somewhat correct, because Izumi fell asleep a few minutes after Banri coaxed her into resting her eyes and when Sakyo came home to the sight of two young boys sandwiching their precious, sleeping director, he had automatically slapped the back of Banri's head and lifted Juza's upper half from her lap with just a fist holding onto the boy's shirt.

The trio were startled awake by the threatening voice that whispered creepily into their ears, and Izumi almost cried when Sakyo gently scolded her for not being stricter with the boys; still half asleep.

The man quickly shut up when sleepy tears welled in the young woman's eyes, and with a cutting glare that was directed to both a groggy Banri and Juza, Sakyo had carried Izumi back to her room to give her some more time to sleep until dinner.

Omi frowned once the director was done recounting the story of last year's Valentine's Day and leaned back against the wall with a pondering expression, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Wish I had come home earlier that day. Would've been cute to see a weepy, lil' Izumi. Sakyo probably didn't even kiss her tears away."

An offended gasp escaped her when Omi suddenly winked, silently suggesting that he would have done so instead.

"What were you doing that kept you so busy?" Taichi asked from the floor he was still lying on, causing Omi and Banri to look down at him with squinted eyes. With the towel that was wrapped around his neck, Omi blinded Taichi by dropping the soft fabric on his face, sighing.

"I was helping out at a Valentine's party. Took photos and all." He shrugged.

"I was really hoping it would end sooner, though. I wanted to make something special for Izumi, considering she told me earlier that morning that she had no plans." Omi pouted, and Sakyo couldn't help but scoff as he unconsciously wrapped a protective arm around the director.

"At least I got my goodnight kiss." He casually tacked on.

Every other troupe members in the room sputtered in surprise, their eyes wide as they all looked between Izumi and the university student.

"Excuse me?" Taichi shouted, sitting up from the floor.

"It was a kiss on the cheek to keep his nightmares away! Goodness gracious." Izumi groaned when Sakyo glared at her for the unsatisfactory explanation while Omi smiled behind his water bottle, watching as Taichi and Juza fell into a silent frenzy.

"That's it," Banri dropped his towel on the floor. "I got dibs on her bed then."

"I don't think that's how it works, Kid." Sakyo quickly interjected and glowered at Banri who was snarling right back at him. Izumi had to hold Sakyo back by his wrist while pushing away Banri by the chest when he tried to square up; the two men sandwiching her body in an uncomfortable position. They towered over her as she tried to keep them apart with an annoyed groan escaping her lips, and the other boys in the room only reacted to keep the situation from escalating when she clumsily stumbled into Banri's chest from a loss of balance.

Juza silently pulled Sakyo back as Omi tried to laugh the tension off while roughly smacking Sakyo between the shoulders, his eye smile slightly threatening to make the older man back off and cool down.

Taichi made sure to get Izumi away from Banri to keep the young man from tightening his hold on her and stuck his tongue out when the Hanasaki student barked at him.

"How about we all have a sleepover on the living room floor tonight? Just me and the Autumn Troupe." Izumi begged while she ignored how Taichi protectively curled his arms around his waist, his chin resting on her shoulder as he looked wide eyed at everyone in the room.

Somehow, that offer got everyone to calm down and the boys and men were nodding their heads in silent agreement.

And the next morning on Valentine's Day, Izumi woke up with her head in a dozing Sakyo's lap while Banri and Juza were on either side of her. The former's hand was mischievously placed underneath her sleep shirt with his fingertips just barely grazing her bra while Juza's head rested on her splayed out arm.

Taichi was plastered to her side as his arms were wound tight around her waist, his nose pressed into her ribcage while Omi on the opposite side had his own head comfortably resting on the spot where her hip and thigh met, his nose dangerously pressing into the waistband of her shorts while he cradled her leg between his arms.

Sakyo may or may not have kicked everyone in the stomach (save for Izumi) once he awoke.

It was Valentine's Day.

Izumi had a cup of black, bitter coffee in her hand.

Homare was somewhere in the courtyard spewing whatever romantic ridiculousness he had conjured from the top of his head while the director was aimlessly stirring her coffee with a spoon, the silence of having no students in the dorm a bit too lonely for her.

"It's odd, seeing you awake so early." A voice came from behind where she was standing at the kitchen counter, barely startling her as she was still half asleep and in a daze when the deep voice addressed her.

Izumi turned her head to see who was talking and was met with a sweaty Tasuku who was holding a cold water bottle in his hand, having just come back from his morning run. He must've left the dorm in the early morning if he had come back in a sweat.

The director shrugged her shoulders lazily and went back to staring at the centre of her cup of coffee, her body sulking as if she was going to melt and fuse with the counter she was leaning against.

"I know. My body automatically woke up today." She murmured before taking a sip of her acrid beverage, her face not even moving an inch as the disgusting taste of bitterness swept through her mouth.

Tasuku let out a 'hm' and greeted Tsumugi who seemed to be wide awake and happy. The young man walked into the kitchen with a curious smile and thanked his friend when he was given a cold water bottle of his own.

"Mornin', you two." The troupe leader chirped after he took a refreshing swig of water, not minding that Izumi only responded with a wave of her hand as Tasuku went to make a plate of toast for the three of them.

"Not happy it's Valentine's, huh?" Tsumugi gently teased Izumi who was chugging her coffee down like it was juice, and much to his amusement, Tasuku was heard making a confused noise.

"Totally forgot about that." He murmured in the midst of slicing bananas onto a plate.

"Wouldn't put it past you, Tachan." Tsumugi rolled his eyes and sidled up to Izumi with a kind smile, his hand coming up to soothe the pouting woman by combing her hair with his fingers and giggling when she responded by leaning into his side with her eyes falling shut.

"Tasuku, come join." Izumi waved her free hand at the man who was sliding plates of honeyed toast with bananas across the counter and hummed a faint sound of approval when her own plate was presented to her. She bumped her shoulder against Tasuku's when he sidled up to the spot that wasn't occupied and lifted an arm to wrap around her shoulders while Tsumugi lifted a piece of toast to her mouth.

She gratefully chomped at the toast she was being fed and slumped against the counter again, feeling a little better about the day as she was squished between the best friend duo, their warmth gradually seeping into her bones and making he toes feel tingly.

Azuma strode into the kitchen next, looking lovely as always as the sun rays filtering in through the blinds made him look like he was glowing. His long hair was silky and shiny in the sunlight, and Izumi couldn't help but stare in amazement with how ethereal he managed to look so early in the morning.

"Good morning, Honeypie." The older man cooed from the other side of the counter and held out a hand to brush his fingers through Izumi's already messy hair, leaning over to press a chaste kiss to her forehead with a sweet smile. The director let out a small sigh and let herself be pampered this quiet morning, her eyes falling shut once more when a comforting arm slung itself around her waist.

"Any idea if Hisoka's awake yet?" Izumi murmured with sleep still riddling her voice, and finished the last bite of her toast that Tsumugi offered to her, his cheek gently pressed to the side of her head as it seemed it was his arm around her midriff.

Azuma chuckled faintly and took Izumi's plate to eat the bananas she wasn't touching, nodding as he motioned towards the sofa.

"He followed me down the hall and fell asleep in the living room. Homare is still reciting his poems in the courtyard."

Tasuku scoffed at the mention of the word poem and rolled his eyes, popping a piece of sliced banana into his mouth as Azuma took a high stool and sat on it comfortably, the man of the night resting his cheek in his palm as he adoringly watched Izumi get cuddled by the duo.

"I need to feed Hisoka." She murmured, but was quickly caught by Tasuku when she slipped away from Tsumugi's casual grip on her waist, the former God Troupe member staring down at her with sharp, but curious eyes.

"What are you planning on making for him?"

"The omelette soufflé Omi always cooks." She pouted when she was crowded back into the counter by Tasuku, the edge gently digging into her spine as he uncharacteristically kissed her temple, Tsumugi already moving around the stove to get the pan and bowl ready.

"How about you just stick to your curry while one of us makes breakfast for Hisoka?" Azuma kindly offered Izumi, but the director knew deep down that with the tone he was using, they were not going to let her cook such a difficult meal and ruin it for one of the pickiest eaters in the dorm.

"Now up you go." Tasuku crooned and held Izumi's hips with firm hands, effortlessly lifting her up onto the counter without so much of a grunt as the sound of eggs cracking distracted her. With a pout, Izumi pushed Tasuku away while she set down her empty coffee mug and turned her body slightly to face Azuma, the man already gazing at her with warm eyes as he held out the last piece of banana for her to take from his fingers.

A small ah left her when she leaned in, picking off the banana from Azuma with a thankful grin. Almost as fast as it came, Izumi's grin fell in shock when the former professional cuddler proceeded to lick the fingertips that her lips touched to get the honey off his skin.

He winked.

"Azuma! Oh Go–" She gasped, but was interrupted by a half asleep Hisoka who was tightly wounding his arms around her waist to snuggle up against her, his body sulking as he rest his head against her chest.

"So warm.." Hisoka sighed when Izumi immediately responded by wrapping a comforting arm around his shoulders, her free hand coming up to brush through his bedhead as he decided to go back to snoozing.

The sound of Tsumugi and Tasuku quietly bickering over how to properly flip the omelette was background noise to Izumi as she pet Hisoka's head, the gentle lull of his calm breathing slowly seeping into her body as she relaxed again in the sweet embrace of a friend, her legs curled around his torso to make sure he wouldn't fall to the floor in his sleep.

Just then, Homare came back inside the dorm, but was quiet as he tiptoed back up the stairs. He curiously looked around the corner when he reached the top, and was relieved to see that everyone else in the troupe was awake.

He was reciting his poems out loud in the courtyard rather than in his room because he finally understood why Hisoka always had a difficult time sleeping in there. Plus, it was best to not disturb the other members in the dorm as well.

"Good morning, everyone." He greeted jovially and somewhat skipped towards the kitchen where everyone was with his indoor slippers sliding across the floor, a small bundle of light red and pink carnations in his hands.

He handed the flowers to Izumi who was still holding Hisoka as he slept, but didn't seem to care as he lifted his hand to hold the back of her head and carefully pull her a few centimetres down to print a kiss to her forehead, his smile near blinding when he ruffled her hair and kissed her cheek next.

"And Happy Valentine's to you, Izumi."

"Thanks, Homare." She laughed bashfully and removed her hand from Hisoka's hair to affectionately rub her palm against the poet's cheek in gratitude.

Tsumugi turned around after giving up arguing with Tasuku and let the fitness junkie do whatever he wanted with the omelette. He was surprised to see the flowers that were held in Izumi's hand and looked up at the director who seemed to be happy to be surrounded by his troupe members.

His heart slightly swelled at the smile she so shyly hid by ducking her head and sighed, his shoulders loosening up as he reached out for the carnations that were cradled by shaking, caffeinated fingers.

"Great choice, Homare." He complimented the poet who was now sitting at the dinner table with Azuma. Homare smiled proudly before going back to explaining his latest unpublished work to Azuma, who was nodding along with half lidded eyes.

Tsumugi took the carnations from Izumi so she could go back to holding Hisoka and went to find a vase in one of the low cabinets in the kitchen, a nostalgic melody escaping him as he found a little pot for the flowers to sit in.

He filled the glass with a bit of water then gently sunk the flowers' thin stems into the vase, pushing it into the corner of a separate counter that had the most sunlight.

The carnations wouldn't last very long, but they still deserved the utmost care.

"I think dark red carnations would've been a nice addition." Tsumugi commented as Tasuku helped Hisoka sit down on a chair so that he could eat his breakfast. Izumi turned to look at the troupe leader with a curious gaze, but the man could only laugh and shake his head to dismiss the thought, only making Izumi more curious to know why.

"You can find out on your own when you're feeling better." He spoke ominously, but with a gentle expression as he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, his warm fingertips lightly tickling her skin while she pouted.

Tsumugi brushed his knuckles against her cheek and grinned.

"Happy Valentine's Day."

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retrocontinuity · 3 years

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rev, rev, fight the power: thoughts on the first half of chainsaw man

Spoilers through the end of the Bomb Girl Arc.

Devil Hunting in the Age of Fascism

As one of the cohosts of a podcast on Gundam Wing in 2020/2021, I've been thinking a lot about how authoritarian regimes and the concept of societal control is treated in anime. Which is to say: usually in a very limited sense, and based on the actions of a few bad actors, as demonstrated with its effects on a few unfortunate protagonists. It's not that creators don't care about the issue, but rather a sign that the genre (and yes, I do consider manga/anime to be a genre more than just a medium, but that's for another time) and its conventions are not particularly well-suited to showing you those effects.

So, Chainsaw Man. On an individual character level, Fujimoto has some stuff to say about the choice between death and life, and I do want to talk about that and what it says about the characters and what life means in CSM. But it's hard to tell whether or not he meant to create a world with some really fucked up institutions too.

For instance, the civilian, non-public sector Devil Hunters. These appear to be explicitly authorized by the Japanese government, to the point where it is a crime for the Public Safety division's hunters to kill a devil that a civilian is in the process of capturing. They don't have guns (this is Japan!) and I imagine they are only allowed to kill Devils, but just, like, think about this. What if you kill someone else in the process of trying to kill a Devil? What if you suspect someone is a Fiend but actually they're just acting weird? What if you kill someone, then claim later it's because you thought they were a Devil?

This is likely the American in me talking, but I can’t help thinking about how badly this would be abused and how horrible an idea that would be. And I can’t help but think about how the Devils allow the world of CSM to separate fears from human nature. By which I mean, in the world of CSM, evil is otherized in a very specific way; they’re represented by very individual, very distinct, and very monstrous representations. Here is the fear of scissors, the fear of sharks, the fear of the future, and so on. But in the real world, we know it isn’t just fear itself that is the problem; it’s people, well-meaning or otherwise, animated by those fears that create the most evil, or people harnessing those fears to gain power. This may be unfair—I don’t know what Fujimoto has planned for Makima, whose mythos and power seems very much wrapped up in the idea of using Devils to her own advantage. But there’s an assumption here that all actions taken towards eradication of the Devils, or maybe just one Gun Devil, is a de facto good. And in 2021, that’s a very unnerving position to take.

Death in Chainsaw Man is a sacrifice. In these early arcs of the series, death is a "contract," an expending of activation energy to achieve something else. So Pochita gives Denji life (which is really a contract repaid, for when Denji gave him life), so the Devil Hunters "trade" something in a contract with a Devil for power (like Aki giving away literal years of his life to his curse sword), so Denji dying to the Eternity Devil would have freed the rest of the team. But there are plenty of deaths in the series where nothing is traded, nothing is given. These tend to be nameless victims or, in one harrowing scene, convicted felons who die at the hands of Makima as she chases down Katana Devil.

What did they gain? What was the contract formed by the deaths of these 雑魚?

Makima says at some point when she's attacking the gangs that are affiliated with the Katana Devil that "the truly necessary evils are always kept collared and controlled by the state." Which I think is at its face about the fiends and Devils kept “collared” by the Public Safety Bureau. But maybe it’s also about the idea of sacrifice, about giving yourself over to the state, in order to control a world thrown into chaos. The contracts formed by the deaths of those ordinary citizens is meant to bring about an eradication of fear. It gives birth to the Public Safety Devil Hunters, to Devil Hunters in general, to the use of whatever means necessary to achieve an end. But whatever those consequences are, we only see them in the fates of Denji, Chainsaw Man, and the impossible characters around him.

A state under threat, a state that feels like it must collar evil in order to survive, will have ruinous consequences. I just hope we get to see what those are.

Just A Teenage Dirtbag, (Bomb) Baby

I read some reviews about Denji being the anti-shounen shounen manga hero which I can presume were written by people whose only frame of reference is Bleach, Naruto, or One Piece. Sure, the Big Three were, in their most simplistic forms, feel-good series, and CSM's first half is basically a feel-bad series, but that hardly makes it unusual. It's really not dissimilar from other manga like Homunculus, Freesia, and Oyasumi Punpun. Of course, only old fogies like me, who still remember getting scanlations of these series off of IRC, and query, of course, whether or not those series are shounen at all, or more like seinen. If it were up to me to name the genre, and of course it is not, I would call it “simply another line of stories about fucked up things happen to fucked up people.”

Many fucked up things have happened to Denji. I’d call it traumatic, but I don’t think “trauma” covers what this poor man has been through. The effect, though, has been to make Denji less than human, even in his human form.

Denji and Power's nonchalance towards the fate of their human coworkers who die to Katana Devil and Sawatari is framed by the manga through Denji as a potential sign of callousness. Kishibe notes it as a sign that they are "insane," in other words, "not like other humans," and thus capable of bringing down something like the Gun Devil, which would otherwise drive "normal humans" insane.

But like, huh? Denji and Power's reactions are, on the contrary, extremely human, because there’s no reason for them to extend feeling towards other humans. Simply put, they’ve never been human to the humans around them. They seem to be bonded most closely to each other, and in fact almost all the Fiends are, because the wider Public Safety employees treat them so poorly. Remember how the Infinity Devil Arc starts? Basically, they're told to be the advance guard, and threatened to be killed if they ever act out. Denji is kept on a short leash, and is so proud (in front of Reze) that he's allowed to go places on his own now.

Which, I'm not saying that that's wrong. Denji is incredibly dumb, holds monstrous power that could easily be tricked into using for horrible purposes, and appears to be the target of a number of Gun Devil's allies. Power is... well. I wouldn't let her out of sight either. But what Makima does that makes Denji feel so loyal, so utterly tied to her, is simply treating him as a human. She convinces him he has a heart, just like any other human. She tells him about all the love experiences he'll have in the future, because he's just a human teenager. And just like Makima, Reze is able to bond with Denji by treating him like an ordinary 16-year-old horny boy. Is it because as a Devil she knows what he wants the most? What he is craving, and never had? It doesn't matter that Denji had been just an ordinary human before fusing with Pochita or before he began his life as a Devil Hunter; as an orphan growing up on the street, unwanted and unloved, he was no more human than a Devil.

The ending of the Bomb Girl Arc—with Denji asking Reze to run away with him, only to be stood up—reminded me so very much of Aku no Hana. There's the classroom scenes between Reze and Denji, of course, but mostly I think about how Denji—betrayed, injured, manipulated Denji—still asks Reze to run away with him. I'd written about Aku no Hana before, how one of the saddest things about Nakamura is that she cannot imagine a world beyond her current circumstance (and, in fact, the manga ends up dooming her to stagnation). Denji and Reze are Nakamura and Kasuga's perverse mirror. It is because Denji doesn't have the capacity to imagine a larger world beyond his immediate now, three meals a day and a job and this woman who taught him how to swim, that he asks her to do this impossible thing, to run away with him knowing that to do would mean both of them betraying their masters. It is because Reze knows that it is impossible that she does not meet Denji at the cafe. Reze is more human than Denji, because she is capable of dreams, and because she is capable of dreaming, she knows she cannot afford their luxury. She knows too much about the world and its cruelty. And, so, she walks straight into its open maw, and straight into her death.

I don't think we can take Reze at her word that she wanted to be a town mouse, or rather we should say instead that Reze proves that the division between the town mouse and the country mouse is immaterial. The issue is that both, in the end, are only mice, dreaming of a safety they can never achieve. Safety, in the world of CSM, is neither town mouse nor country mouse. It is to not be mice at all. It is to be the dog that digs them out from the cold winter dirt.

It is, in fact, to be Makima, the person who orders the dogs to kill the mice.

Denji, aim for the top! Transcend the town mouse/country mouse divide! Or else you will constantly be hunted and used!

(Side note: CSM goes at a break-neck pace, and I think the speed through which Fujimoto rushes through these early storylines has made it very difficult for me to actually connect with the characters. Reze and Denji’s relationship is one of the victims to this pacing. Do I believe that Denji could fall for a girl and be willing to risk it all for her after about 3 chapters worth of interaction? Sure, he’s that kind of guy. But does it work for me? Not particularly. We’ve hardly had time to linger with Reze before she swears she’ll protect Denji forever, as long as he’ll run away with her. Though the reader at that point knows there’s something off about Reze, it’s still just not believable. Reze’s actions seem like someone trying to bulldoze her way into Denji’s affections, and though she herself is a bittersweet character, I just really feel like CSM could have spent less time with Bomb Devil vs Chainsaw Man and more time with Reze and Denji.)

No Ethical Women Under Capitalism

The Eternity Devil arc, for all its mini-boss game feel (it wouldn’t be out of place as one of the floors in Tower of God), struck a nerve with me, if only because it felt, however unintentionally, to be a story about working under modern capitalism. A floor you can never leave, that loops endless, where the only way to escape is to destroy it, literally, from the inside, by making it so painful, an eternal feedback loop of destroying ourselves and destroying it, before it opens its heart to us. The Capitalism Devil threatens us, tries to tear us apart. Asks us to sacrifice the strongest, the weakest, anybody among us, as if by climbing over the bodies of our friends and coworkers, we can come out ahead. It makes us suspicious of each other, ready to tear into any weakness for an advantage.

No wonder this is the chapter where Kobeni lays bare her reasons for joining the Public Safety bureau. She needed to work, to make money. Her options were to be a sex worker or a Devil Hunter. Either way, she was selling her body to the system. Kobeni is a victim of capitalism, which forces her to do what she hates, for goal that are not hers, and then gaslights us into thinking that she’s wrong for being crazy, she’s wrong for losing her shit, for not being able to handle it.

But... that's an asspull for me, even if it's my ass and I'm the one pulling. I'm truly not sure how to feel about Kobeni. Like, what is her deal?! I’m not sure what to make of her appearance in Chapter 20 in her sister’s hand-me-down. Are we supposed to pity her? See ourselves in her? Even in what I think was intended to be a mic-drop-ish line (at least for her), telling Aki that she didn’t quit because she was waiting on her bonus, landed flat for me, too deadpan to be pathetic and not sharp enough to be actually funny. Part of it may be because she is a character very much shaped by her circumstances as opposed to her personality or any interaction/action she does onscreen, but we don’t actually see her family situation in these chapters. We’re left with a painfully shy and cowardly woman who can’t seem to form any human connections with any of the other characters, who in multiple scenes is shown caving to the slightest pressure or threat.

Do the rest of the women fare any better? I’m not sure. Kobeni is unique in that she does not use her gender/sex appeal to manipulate the men around her and/or Denji (even Power lets Denji cop a feel to get her cat back!). Himeno, Makima, and Reze all hide their intentions for Denji behind the veil of his attraction to them (weak or strong) and are either unable or unwilling to be forthright in their desires and ambitions (Himeno to care for Aki; Reze, to accomplish whatever mission Gun Devil had her set out to do; and Makima, for fuck do I know at this point, but she’s up to something!!). Meanwhile, the men are straightforward to a fault. Did Fujimoto intend this? Is this just a subconscious reveal of his own conceptions of gender and Bitches Be Weird?

I’m not a person who needs to have a strong female narrative in a story, but when you start a story with a protagonist whose life ambition for many chapters was just to feel a boob, you better be careful, you know? CSM doesn’t lack for women; Makima and Power are both formidable characters in their own rights, self-assured and unbeholden to anyone but themselves. But so far almost every arc has featured a woman offering herself to Denji sexually in order to get him to do what they want. It’s getting real old real fast.

#chainsaw man #reading too deeply into the text

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atlasifyllm · 3 years

Note

Tell me about Ventus?

You're really gonna drop this on me when I'm doing homework huh ;u; Get ready for an absolute ride mate

(VENTUS IS MY OC)

DEV Thoughts:

Ventus is a character in another story of mine, AuAg. He started off as a side character but honestly? I might switch him to the main protagonist.

Originally, he was inspired by the guitar solo in You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison. His whole character was that song, to be honest. He was originally this arrogant, well known fighter who gambled on switchblade fights. He was known as the King of Switchblade Fights.

Until I watched a Buzzfeed Unsolved episode, where the Ghoul Boys talked about how terrible a prison was to its inmates. And a Vsauce: Mind Field episode, showcasing him mentally deteriorating under solitary confinement.

Then, I just started just whumping him. He was a little bit of a masochist, trying to cause grave injuries to himself in order to escape prison.

Then, I listened to the song Partners in Crime by Set It Off. That's when his character started getting pulled together.

Ventus became a character involved in criminal activity, though is honestly one of the more innocent of the group. No one in that group was more precious to him than his girlfriend, Vepris. They were pretty much:

VUntil one day, Ventus and Vepris got involved in a scuffle with... honestly it's changed so much over the years but their group was NOT on good ties with them. Vepris got shot, but Ventus went off on the enemies, fearing that they've taken away his beloved.

And so Ventus was captured and imprisoned for 4 years. He just wanted to be with Vepris, feeling guilty he may have just led her to being killed.

On the flipside, his younger brother Nimbus, struggled with losing his brother. He would vent to another man, Caligo (originally a vigilante), who then rescued Ventus from prison.

However, Caligo would find this to be a mistake.

Ventus hated being weak in front of Nimbus, and would try and be the "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" bastard that he used to be, both in-universe and out-universe. Caligo hated how arrogant he was, and the two would clash until Caligo makes an attempt on Ventus' life. Caligo goes through a villain arc, wondering whether or not killing Ventus would be a moral option. He's a criminal, right? You have to get rid of the "bad guys", right?

Ventus would then seek comfort from his old crime buddy, Jack. But all Jack wants is to gamble on the "King of Switchblade Fights" again. Ventus eventually sees that he's nothing more than cash to him, but Jack tries killing him now that he knows he has no control over his little dog fighter.

But the last thing he sees is Vepris.

Even when Ven fades away, he can't help but admire the angel right in front of him.

Eventually, Ventus, Vepris, and Nimbus would go after Jack and Caligo.

But that was then.

Now here's now ;>

Character thoughts:

Ventus Fulmen was born out of a simple family, living normally. Until an interaction with criminals led to him being shot as a young kid. Ven would struggle with his mental health for awhile, but he'd meet Vepris. The two of them were inseparable, and both shared a love for punk rock music <3. Ventus would also form an interest in switchblades, a gift from his parents.

Somewhere along the way, Vepris became involved with Argentum's most infamous masquerade-inspired casino, run by a gang of nefarious criminals. Ventus, willing to follow Vepris anywhere, ended up hanging out at this casino often. It's here that Ventus would make a name for himself in poker games and unbeknowst to the innocent public, switchblade fights. Ven would be a huge moneymaker for the gang and its casino through his excellence at switchblade fights, and he and Pris would eventually join the gang as their most elite fighters, the King and Queen. Alongside Ven and Vep, the gang included:

Lucius, the Spade, who was a bartender

Jack, the Joker, who was the mastermind

"Ace", the Aces, who also worked with his brother at the bar

(The rest of these are more vague, Lucius, Jack, and Ace already have designs)

Adamas, the Diamond, a circus master ("Artistic, but Crazy?")

Trifolium, the Club, a security guard ("Sporty, but Violent?")

Cordis, the Heart... hot girls?? ("Lusty, but Manipulative?")

And so, the "Card Suit Gang" (name may change later) would continue to run the casino, getting into trouble along the way due to criminal activity

One day, the casino gets raided by an "enemy gang", causing chaos along the way.

Diamond, Club, and Heart face hardship after this raid, not wanting to be involved with the casino's antics and the target they've painted on their heads.

Jack stays at the casino, trying to keep it afloat after the incident.

Ace disappears.

Lucius faces a traumatic brain injury to the point of needing heavy rehabilitation.

And to Ventus, Vepris dies of after getting shot.

Which terrifies him, after being shot so many years before.

Wanting to protect her, he attacks; and gets captured.

Once again, he's imprisoned and forced to fulfill everyone's wishes as the "King of Switchblade Fights", forced to duel others in hopes that his captors can gamble on him

Four years later, Caligo becomes a vigilante. His main target?

The former members of the Card Suit Gang.

He gets involved with a young pilot, Nimbus, and his mechanic, Aurora. Throughout transporting Caligo, Nimbus begins to open up about his missing brother: Ventus.

Caligo realizes he's a former member of the Card Suit Gang, and aims to break him out of his captivity in hopes he can aid him in his quest against the Card Suit Gang. Once again, this turns out to be a great mistake... to Caligo only.

Ventus isn't the "King of Switchblade Fights".

He's a kind older brother. His main interest is punk rock. He yearns for his "past love". All he really wants to do is get treatment for his mental trauma; unlike a lot of my other characters (hehe Winter Boys), Ventus knows when he's sick and is willing to seek treatment for himself.

Caligo doesn't like this.

How can he justify leaving Lucius to die, if the Card Suit Gang was never inherently evil?

Once again, Caligo attempts to murder Ventus.

If he can't track the entire Card Suit Gang, he can at least get rid of one of the members permanently.

Ventus is still alive, though left behind by Caligo. Of course, Nimbus and Rora are scolding Caligo elsewhere.

Feeling as if Cal's goals are immoral, he seeks the one person he knows how to track: Jack, still at the casino.

Of course, Jack has always been a sleazy guy. He ratted out the Card Suit Gang for easy cash, only to be faced with the casino getting a bad reputation through the raid. Even now, he tries to convince Ventus to become the King of Switchblade Fights again, just to gamble for cash.

Ventus, good old caring, kind Ventus, hates this.

He betrayed them for money? He betrayed HIM for money? He lost Vepris, because of money??

The two get into a scuffle, which Ventus loses.

But he's not alone.

Vepris, also hunting down the Card Suit Gang, saves him.

Vepris isn't violent like Caligo; she only hopes to seek salvation and rehabilitation for its former members. It was her who found Lucius at the brink of death, rescuing him and joining her on her quest.

(Vepris becomes known as the Phantom Queen, while Lucius joins in as "Grandma Lucy"; his head injury has made him significantly weaker, but he still is grateful for Vepris and scouts out information under the guise of his weakened state)

Now that the Demolition Lovers are back, they're gonna make sure Jack and Caligo pay.

Ventus gets to prove that he's the good person Caligo rejected in favor of the idea that the Card Suit Gang must be eliminated for their crimes.

Vepris gets to take back the life that Jack took away from her.

#mana speaks;#mana answers;#whumpymirages #auag text;#auag got a HUGE overhaul but i'm not actively working on it in favor of dots #i'm kinda struggling with the themes of auag still tbh. its always been a hard one to plot for #some stuff that's up in the air is whether or not club diamond and heart are bad people still or if they're just traumatized by the raid #which would cause ventus to clash against caligo because they're not actively hurting anyone #especially since ventus understands trauma and knows how self destructive it would be #tldr ventus was an arrogant rat bastard in/out-universe that turned into a kind bastard that was just put in a bad situation #he does have the arrogance/power of the king of switchblade fights but he uses it to be a good person #he's just a really iconic OC of mine. i reference the king of switchblade fights HEAVILY in other stories #auag may be a difficult story to write but i will always be down to respect ventus <3

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all-hail-the-witcher · 3 years

Note

yeah i followed you back when you posted newsies stuff and i don't know anything about the witcher but ur still a cool person even if i don't understand most of your content lol

okay okay here's a crash course in the witcher:

geralt

needs a nap

the so called witcher the show is named after

hasn't felt an emotion in at least 100 years

horse girl at heart

tired of getting mixed up in peoples bullshit after he killed a bunch of people and got a bad rap for it

kills monsters for a living

vocabulary consists entirely of “fuck” “shit” and “hmm”

yennefer

a sorceress

wants to be a mom but cannot

shoots fire at some assholes

has sexy times with geralt

does not like the ridiculous bard

was born a hunchback with severe scoliosis that got fixed when she became a sorceress

ciri

a princess of a kingdom that no longer exists

does a lot of running from evil dudes trying to kill her

is geralts like sort of adopted kid kind of

magical screams

pretty much every one shes ever loved is dead

a literal child

renfri

another princess

has like some knives and stuff

shames geralt for talking to his horse

has like a fun little gang

gets killed with her fun little gang by geralt

literally only in one ep

roach

geralts horse and best friend

the secret star of the show

best good girl

has all the brain cells

gives geralt boops with her long snoot

puts up with a lot of bullshit

triss

another sorceress

geralts friend

also zaps some bad guys with yennefer

specializes in healing magic

heals geralt once or twice or maybe a bunch of times

generally is slept on and deserves better

dara

an elf

one of the few surviving ones from the elf genocides

has a funky little hat to hide his ears

meets ciri in the woods and they wander around together

saves ciris life a few times

ends up abandoning her to protect himself

calanthe

a queen (like a literal one)

ciris grandma

is also dead

generally kind of a badass

is feared by everyone

invites geralt to sit at her table of honor once

the ridiculous bard jaskier

a bard with a lute and too much to say

follows geralt around like a lost puppy and sings embellished songs about him to fix his reputation

dresses geralt up like a sad silk trader once

gets zapped by a djinn and is therefore disliked by yennefer

wears very bright clothes that are not conducive for travel

is not allowed to touch roach

okay there are like a billion other side characters in the show but im too lazy to list all of them and most of them are villains. but. theres some other fun important people from the games/books that are coming in s2 that are important and they are:

eskel

another witcher

got his training with geralt and they are Bros (or more depending on how you look at it)

has a big ol face scar from a kid he sort of adopted

has a goat (or several)

banged a succubi once for clout

thicc

lambert

yet another witcher

younger than eskel and gerald but still bros

an asshole

friends with another witcher from a different school named aiden who was mentioned once in the games and aparently died but no one can prove that so as far as were all concerned he's alive and theyre dating

generally just a prick

has brain cells but doesnt use them

vesemir

the dad witcher

eskel, geralt and lamberts father figure

kinda like well known and sort of a legend

old as shit

makes sure none of his kids succumb to stupidity

has the braincells

coen

another witcher but from a different school than vesemir, geralt, lambert and eskel

spends winters with all the witcher gang tho

had the chicken pox as a kid

helped to train ciri

died in the books

aparently looks unusual for a witchier

there is also: valdo marx (jaskiers rival), lil bleater (eskels goat), and aiden (lamberts boyfriend even though thats not canon)

#the witcher #the witcher crash course

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werezmastarbucks · 4 years

Text

Whitmore Guy - the light switch

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

Part Six

Kai Parker x fem!Reader slowburn

word count: 3696 + 358

warnings: mentions of suicide. this one is big and there’s a lot of chatting, sorry!

music: blink-182 - shut up

“Best songs about escaping the law. Go!”

Mal was a natural. Or seemed like one. He took up the maintenance guy, Flip, who volunteered to help them decorate the gathering hall for the party. It was almost the thirty-first, and, thanks to hard work and Mal’s disgust for sleep, they were done with the playlist. Not that it was very difficult. Caroline had said, nostalgia flick. Well, they knew exactly what people would feel nostalgic to. And even if they didn’t, who cares. They had the filthiest of Bloodhound Gang and a sick lamp that changed flickering from orange to blue.

Currently he was guiding Flip through Styx’s discography, explaining why it was literally the best rock band of the middle of seventies. Every little thing Mal enjoyed was literally the best for him. He had a mind of a twelve year old teenager, and a scary look of a snake. Ever since Y/N learned why he’s the way he was, she saw everything he did in a much more ominous way. Yet, he seemed friendly enough, turning his back to her, which meant he trusted her. Just in case she has to take him out. After the gaping hole grew in her over the winter and spring, she felt there wasn’t a single thing she wasn’t capable of.

Y/N was opening boxes with plastic cups and napkins, tons of waste five hours after the party. Caroline arrived exactly at noon, just like she’d promised, and started helping her.

“Is that him?” she asked quietly, eyeing Mal from the other side of the hall. Y/N stood up and nodded. The two girls were watching as he and Flip unfolded a big knot of wiring.

“He’s cute”.

“Uh-huh”.

“And you said he was… odd?”

Y/N nodded.

“I’m quite fine with that, though. I found the reason for it. I’m not sure he’s completely honest about everything, but earlier I thought he was like a demon, or a vampire undercover”.

Caroline looked at him closely, putting away her curly strands of hair to hear better.

“And what’s the reason?”

“Caroline, you’re lifting two boxed with the projectors. Put them down”, Y/N hissed, grabbing her by the hands. The blonde vampire formed an O with her mouth and grimaced awkwardly.

“Gee, I just wanna do it all as quick as possible. Sorry. You were saying?”

“Well, he has… some… he’s like…”

On the one hand, a bit of sociopathic energy won’t surprise anyone here. But then again, this stuff is personal.

She leaned to Caroline and whispered into her ear, really quietly.

“Oh! Has he killed anybody yet?”

“I thought the same!”

Her shriek made the boys turn their heads. Mal waved his hand at Forbes, and she nodded.

“About that, by the way…” Caroline followed him with her eyes, and then looked back at her friend.

“Those bodies at Stefan’s house”, Y/N always wondered at how all the people in the town are divided between the two Salvatore brothers. “Damon found their heads. You will not believe where they were”.

Y/N rubbed her palms. Please, don’t let it be too spooky.

“They were all packed under Damon’s bed. He couldn’t sniff them out right away because of all the smell on the lawn and inside... ”.

“What was it like, exactly?”

“They were just outside the house. Butchered”. Caroline shivered under her silk blouse.

“So, that was about Damon”.

“For sure”, Caroline shook her head lightly, letting her bangs swing. Y/N noticed a clear trace of indignation in her voice. “I wonder what he has done this time to piss Rebekah this time”.

“Rebekah? You already know she did it?”

The dead weight clutching her heart and lungs for three days let go. She thought it would be something way more evil, or threatening.

“I mean, who else has such a cracked up mind to do such a thing? And a grudge against Damon? She really outdid herself this time though”.

“Right, she’s bitchy, but not completely insane, for sure?”

Forbes just shrugged, her eyes big and blue.

“Don’t stop unpacking, Y/N. Yeah, and plus, that’s a lot of work”.

“This is atrocious. We gotta find out for sure”.

Y/N was unable to work, puzzled. A sudden burst of music, bashing with the sound of drums, exploded the silence in the hall, and she jumped, nearly screaming. Mal rushed to his laptop.

“My bad!” he waved his hand, smiling.

Caroline let out a tired sighed. So, Mal conquered her, too, without even talking to her.

“When did she do it? I can’t seem to make up the time line”.

“I’ve no idea. Maybe while Damon was napping”.

“Ridiculous”.

“Look, I don’t know. Klaus is talking to her, but she’s being all defensive… she denies everything”.

“Why are you so sure it was her though? I mean, they’ve slept a thousand years ago, and then I don’t remember them contacting afterwards”.

Caroline sat on the box and started to unpack the shuffling packs of packs of napkins. She lifted her sky-blue eyes to Y/N with the expression of sorrow.

“Y/N, honey… he… they’ve been in and out, for months. He just doesn’t tell you because he knows you’re still kind of into him”.

That made her wonder.

“Weird. I fell out of love with him years ago. You guys still think there’s something?”

Caroline shrugged impassively.

“I don’t know. It better be over. Damon is not the man of your dreams, I bet”.

“Well, he used to be”.

“Ladies”, Mal appeared out of thin air like a freaking ghost, startling her yet again. Even Caroline looked at him, surprised, her hands stopping for a second.

“We’re ready for the sound check. You wanna put in a song? Care, can I call you Care? Y/N’s been talking about you lots, I feel like I’ve known you for years”.

Caroline was dead silent, looking at him like she was about to hit him. Y/N felt an urge to put her arm on the guy’s shoulder and shield him from all the world and everything he didn’t get about it.

“You’re the boss here, right? Or is it Y/N? Um, anyway, she mentioned you wanted to see the transitions?”

Forbes stood up, still unimpressed, but put on a polite face.

“Oh. Sure. You’re Mal, right?”

She outstretched her hand in a challenging gesture. Mal shook it like it didn’t matter, and Caroline was seemingly left satisfied.

“Right. Mal Osbourne”.

“Mal’s short for…”

He tilted his head.

“Mal”.

“Oh. That’s the full name?”

“Yeah, it’s very short. Just like my patience”, he smiled widely, showing teeth. His eyes stayed the usual frozen navy color. “So, you wanna check it out? I’ll wrap the equipment until Friday and won’t get it out, so all the tech stuff should be checked beforehand. Y/N’s completely useless in it. The other day she failed to upgrade AdBlock, I was pissed”, he let out a laugh. Caroline gave Y/N a stunned look, not about her impotence in computers, which never surprised anyone who knew her. Y/N nodded, and the two of them walked to Mal’s laptop. He started explaining to Caroline the queue of songs and how they all formed patterns. This seemed to finally get to her, as she saw the organizational side to the whole mess that was happening. Y/N returned to her boxes.

When the lion share of preparations was done for the day, Mal suggested they grabbed a beer at the closest bar, to reward themselves.

“She’s a bit slow, eh, Caroline? I thought you said she was brilliant”.

“She is, and that’s mean. You just talk very much, and all my friends need to acclimatize to you at first”.

“Didn’t seem to have those problems with the others at Whitmore”, he thought out loud.

“Well, these ones are Mystic Falls people”, Y/N said. “Ric still avoids you, doesn’t he?”

“Big time”.

“They’re more cautious. You see the kind of shit happening with us”.

“Oh, right”.

They left the building, and headed for Y/N’s car. Mail never drove and usually walked from college to his place which was around ten minutes away. Sometimes Y/N gave him a lift on her way home as it was the same direction. The road from the campus to her house on the Oak street normally took not more than twenty minutes.

“Does that happen often? I read about all these ‘animal attacks’. What’s up with that? What kind of animal kills people and leaves them in the parking lot?”

“Wolves”.

“They’re that hungry?”

“In the cold season, yeah”, Y/N marveled at the amount of bullshit the normal folk had to consume here on a daily basis.

“And you’re all fine with that. And they’re gonna tell that pile of bodies was wolves as well? Is that true that they didn’t have heads?”

“How did you even know about it?”

“Twitter”.

Y/N shook her head. They got into the car, and she started the engine. Mal never put on seatbelt, no matter how many times she’s asked him to. The car itself seemed to have given up because now it didn’t beep when Mal was inside.

“I don’t know what kind of animal does that”, she confessed. She still wasn’t sure Rebekah was to blame for that. But she wished it was her, very much.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“Let me tell you a story”.

“Oh, story”, Mal gasped excitedly, turning his whole body to her. He loved stories.

“One morning I wake up and the body of my dad lies there on my carpet. His upper half was in my room, and his legs were in the corridor. His throat was cut and there was a big, black pool of blood under him, soaking into the wood. Awful. I couldn’t move for about five minutes. I was afraid he would get up and attack me. And I was asking myself, who would’ve done it, why they never hurt me, how come I didn’t hear anything, and why they positioned him that way”.

Mal listened with his pretty mouth slightly agape, eyes flickering. To him, it was a retelling of a movie, a piece of fiction he loved so much.

“You think there was something special about the way they left him?”

“It looked like when a cat drags you a dead rat”.

He smirked.

“You don’t seem too upset the whole thing”.

“My father was an awful man”.

“What about the whole family talk you gave me the other day?”

“First, I don’t know Martha’s folks. I only heard your side of story. Second, we never found out who killed my father. So I can’t tell how I feel about that human”.

“Human?” Mal caught her off guards. “Why did you say ‘human’?”

She imagined banging her head on the steering wheel. Because someone got inside her house in the night without being invited, and never bit him, that’s why. It was important while they were trying to figure out the murderer, that he was human. It was a habit.

“I… don’t know”, she offered, without trying too much. “Anyway, I have little to no feelings about that. The picture of his body, though, lying there, waiting for me to wake up and discover him, still haunts me sometimes”.

“Okay, imagine you found who did this. Imagine you met that human”.

Y/N didn’t like the way Mal said that word.

“Imagine you knew the motive”.

“Which would be..?”

“Well, what do you mean when you say he was awful?”

“Ah, okay. You think they killed him to rid me of him”.

“Something like that, maybe. Imagine you met him. What would you say?”

“I wouldn’t like to meet him. He’s clearly crazy”.

Mal chewed on his lower lip. They drove up to The Craze and left the car.

“You’re driving me home in the evening”, she announced, throwing Mal the keys. He managed to catch them at the last moment. “I need to drink”.

_____________________________________________________________

“Tell me”, Mal frowned with a hidden smile, “why do we always have to make everybody listen to your millennial pop rock playlist?”

“You love it”.

“I do”, he confirmed and made himself comfortable in his chair. “But I just wonder about the reason you’re so hooked up on it”.

“I don’t think about it much”.

There was the song he put in to the DJ, who actually approved it, probably due to Mal’s natural charm. Being wrapped in the music she chose herself, and organized in a way she enjoyed, made her feel comfortable in the times of distress. Maybe now was the time like this, because she physically needed it.

Shut the fuck up, she said,

I’m going fucking deaf

“Let it be the snippet of the party then”, Mal agreed. People at the bar were swinging their heads, sniffing the familiar lyrics they probably last heard ten years ago, or even more.

They said cheers and started getting wasted.

“You remember you promised me something?” Mal cooed conspiratorially, pierced her with a look, and made her forget all about Martha for a second. She swallowed hard.

“What?”

“A sad story in exchange for mine. Or was it a trick to make me talk?”

Y/N went silent, amazed at the fact he remembered.

“You forgot, right? So typical of you. You’re ultra irresponsible. Sometimes I feel like you’re the one without any conscience”.

“Ugh”.

He drank his beer and licked his lips.

“You’ve seen my tattoo on the forearm?”

“It’s big, hard not to see. I reckoned, Alex is dead?”

She nodded. She looked at Mal’s forearms with the grey sleeves of his hoodie rolled up.

“It’s been five years now. He was my childhood friend. He taught me everything my bastard of the father was meant to teach me. Riding a bike, watching movies, making jokes, LEGO assembling, crashing my knees as we were rollerblading”.

“Did you have a crush on him?”

“At one point, when I was ten, maybe. It wasn’t serious. He was always like a big brother to me”.

“What happened?”

She tasted her bitten lip with the tip of her tongue. It was salty and rough.

“When we grew up, he lost interest in me. We went different ways, I guess. I haven’t talked to him since I was sixteen. I mean, sometimes I messaged him, I tried to see him, but he moved on far away, and he wasn’t really interested. Like none of what we did when we were children mattered. Made me feel it didn’t count. What am I supposed to do with all the memories now? He was the only friend I had growing up, and when a person feels insecure, they touch their past and it makes them feel good. But when I remember the happiest days, Alex is in all of them. And at the same time, there was another Alex, who just forgot about me, like, people just… I mean, Mal, everybody had a childhood, right? We are not born adults”.

“My childhood sucked”.

“Yeah, I know. But it still existed”.

“Unfortunately”.

“He pretended I meant nothing to him. He had a new life, moved away from Washington, and – the funniest part – nothing had actually happened, there wasn’t a clear reason. That’s just how it happens sometimes. But then, couple of years after, his fiancée called and said he had hanged himself”.

Mal was thinking, playing with the bottle cap.

“And you still got his name tattooed”.

“He still taught me how to ride a bike. No matter what else he’s done, you can’t take it away now. You can’t erase my memory”.

Mal’s face went hard. That was his judging look. He didn’t say anything, but only sipped on his beer. The waitress brought his cheese fingers, and he attacked them like a hungry bear. Y/N marveled yet again at his teen-like appetite for bad stuff. It’s amazing he was lean, and his skin was so clear, given every time she saw him eat, it was complete trash.

“Alright, but I think I win”, he said after a pause.

“You mean the saddest story?”

“Yeah. Martha’s still alive, which means I get to be rejected for the second time”.

“You think she’ll reject you? It’s kinda sweet you’re being such a creep about her”.

“You’re a specific type of chick, Y/N. She’s more normal than you. She’ll think I’m a horrible person”.

“Do you think you’re a horrible person?”

He grinned to himself.

“I used to, but not anymore. I’m on my own in this world, and the only person that ever cared about me for real doesn’t know I’m feet away from her. There’s no use beating yourself about your qualities when you’re my age”.

“You’re like, a year older than me”.

Mal smiled at her like at a child that’s talking nonsense, but you gotta be nice because one day they’ll figure it out.

“You want some?” he always shared his food with her.

“No, thanks”.

“Oh, you know what else was bugging me?”

Y/N raised her brows.

“Something bugs you, sweet boy?”

Mal giggled charismatically.

“What are the Salvatores like? I saw one of them the other day, Steven? With Prof Saltzman. They seem to be good buddies, but he looks strange”.

“Stefan. Yeah, well, we all went to the same school. Ric, too. He used to be our history teacher”.

“So, you know them well? You keep mentioning the second one”.

“Go on”.

Mal pursed his lips, concentrating really hard.

“Go on, remember”.

“I can’t, you know I can’t. I don’t remember names. Be thankful I call you right”.

“Go on”, she nudged him, entertained. It was a thing about him, Mal, not considering others important enough to remember people’s names.

“Da- Dan?”

“Nope”.

Mal crossed his arms on his chest, his eyes wondering all over Y/N’s face like the answer was there.

“Daniel. Dasher. Denmark. Dunder Mifflin”.

She laughed.

“Go on. Mars’ moons”.

“Deimos. Damon!”

Y/N felt amused when he was around. She felt entertained, light, he was taking away the weight from her. The tilt of his head, the stupid quote from Gordon Flash, and she felt like she was a different kind of person. A memory would come back to her, that she wasn’t born here. That she didn’t belong to Mystic Falls and could actually go if she decided, one day. That, in theory, she was free.

Mal watched her.

“You like him?”

“How come?”

“Your face does that thing when you talk about him”.

“What thing?”

“Like now. Like you’re missing something”.

“I don’t get why everybody thinks I still have a crush on him. I used to love him back when I was at school”.

“Whoa, love?”

“Yes. It’s that thing when you want to be with somebody, you know that”, she pressed. She still was looking for an opportunity to test just how much Mal actually felt about Martha. That he cared about her, was not a question – but how did it actually work, with his brain? Did he desire to possess her? Or felt incomplete without her? Did she make him better, more human?

“And what happened to that?”

“I grew up”.

“And?”

“You’re pushing me”.

“I’m being curious”, Mal was chewing again, “how does it die? You say you loved him. I only really loved one person in my life – and that’s rich for me to say that. Given, you know”, he motioned with his hand, “But I really think I love her. Like, when I look at her, my eyes melt. You ever get that? And my heart goes ba-dum, and sometimes I forget and think, oh no, I’m finally having a stroke”.

Y/N couldn’t hold back a chuckle.

“And when I think about her, sometimes it feels like I’m dying”, Mal said, and suddenly, it wasn’t as funny anymore.

“Oh, my poor boy Mal”, Y/N held out her hand and touched his wrist in an instinctive gesture.

“What are you doing?” he asked curiously.

“I’m comforting you”.

“Ah. Thanks. And so, I used to wait for it to go away, but it didn’t, so I decided, if I can’t get over her, I’ll just get her back. You know?”

“That actually makes perfect logical sense”.

“So, how do you fall out of love? If it’s real?”

“Maybe with Damon, it wasn’t real. But it sure felt that at some point. Boy, the things we did together back then”, Y/N snickered, raising Mal’s eyebrows high.

“What?”

“We…”

She realized she couldn’t tell Mal about one of the coolest things that ever happened to her in her life. The one person she really wanted to share, because she knew exactly the kind of reaction she would get, and it would be perfect. And yet, to tell him how she, a sixteen year old, was a bait for a bunch of vampires and how Damon ripped a heart out one of them in front of her? How he was standing there, all soaked in rain, with his black hair and silver eyes, tall and strong, like a statue, holding a bleeding heart in his palm, like an epitome of safety.

“We had the maddest parties. I was big on vodka when I was a teenager”, she lied. “We would gather all school at their huge house and party all night. And get into all kinds of trouble”.

“How old is he, exactly?” Mal asked, suspicious.

“He’s seven years older than Stefan”.

“So, you partied with that man while being underage. And you let him get into your pants?”

A wave of frozen air hit her in the face. Y/N was taken aback, at the same time feeling blood flush to her eyes and cheeks. Mal’s severity sometimes blew her off.

“I- no. Not that it’s any of your business, man, Jesus. He never liked me back”.

“Damien sounds like trash”, Mal concluded gravely, looking away. “No wonder someone’s threatening him. Is he a criminal?”

“Not that I know of. Mal, stop it”.

“What?” he shook his shoulders, as if brushing off all the thoughts of Damon.

“You’re freaking me out a little”.

“You’ve had one bottle, weakling”, he smiled warmly. It didn’t work. His eyes were worse than weapons sometimes.

“Moorning!” Mal announced loudly as he stopped the car, with a swing, on her driveway. Y/N had almost fallen asleep while looking at the window. When he turned off the music, silence rang in the car for a moment.

“You still walking?”

“How are you not drunk?” she demanded slowly, getting out of her car and pushing the door a little bit too hard.

His hand found its way to her shoulder blade. Mal seemed to move like a cat, and her being completely wasted didn’t add to her circumspection.

“I have high tolerance”, he responded. “You need a tea or whatever? Are you gonna puke?”

Y/N stood up and looked at her house. It swayed just a little.

“Nah, I’m fine”.

Together, they walked to the porch. Y/N decided to be double careful and thought of luring him inside for a minute without inviting him, just to be sure.

“Actually, would be cool if you helped me, uh, find the switch”.

Mal got slightly surprised but said nothing. Y/N opened the door, and he held it with his hand, as she stepped inside. She stood in the dark for a moment, looking at him, just outside the doorframe. The streetlights were out, again. The faint moonlight made his face look waxy. He studied her with curious look.

“You want me to come in?”

She wouldn’t budge.

Mal put his palm on the door jamb and took a step, letting himself in the house. Y/N exhaled, blood thumping inside her head, like an empty gunshot.

“There it is”, he outstretched his hand and flickered the lights, getting the switch unmistakably. How did he know? Y/N closed her eyes for two seconds and opened them again. Light was burning her eyeballs.

Mal stepped up to her, and took her head with his hands. He promptly kissed her on the forehead, his lips warm and quick.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll call a taxi”, he said nonchalantly, an amused smirk, like he was playing with her, stretched his mouth. He left the house without saying goodbye, and closed the door after himself.

How did he know where the switch was?

#kai parker #kai parker imagine #kai parker x reader #vampire diaries #tvd imagine #legacies #imagine #whitmore guy

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multipikblog · 3 years

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Diary Of A Wimpy Child, Book Evaluate And Ratings By Youngsters

How can Greg, with his attractive reputation, get on the way to this new 12 - month school? If you want your child to be exposed to inappropriate things, let your children teach them. Cartoon crazy. On the plus side, AULA’s story is very funny with its beautiful digital graphics and great character - the story stays strong in the guide. Only three sentences describe such books. I started this collection in my fourth year and now I am in my 5th year. I HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER. The e-book traces the lives of Gregory Heffley, his brother, Rodrick, and his younger brother, Manny.

The children's book Wimpy tells the story of several children named Graham Helle who are in high school. The horrors of his life, the taunts of milk, were well received in high school. He talked about everything that happened and what happened from the point of view and discussion.

They may seem reserved for young children, but every time you learn and understand books, they are really adults. They talk about the real living conditions that a typical child botanist usually experiences. I had a lot of fun taking mom the same way. He will wear 6-inch alpine shoes when he is closest. Tom understands the academic content of the grades he taught aloud. I read to children under English in Spanish and Spanish, so I like to think they took them later.

You have overcome many challenges while entering the world of fiction. Readers will have more experience of VDPK skills, but the animations are the same. Zita isn’t Greg Heffley, a friend most kidnapped by an obscure foreign culture - but a collection of science fiction novels that have become students ’favorites. This book is really fun and enjoys cartoons. Laugh, joke, this e-book will make you want more.

Move closer - sit or stand; Bowing to death means curiosity and interest. These courses require at least b2 fluency in German. Public speaking is as important as the phonetics of discernment, the knowledge of visible conflict, and the understanding of what one is learning. This girls-built catalog is available for every boy. Primorska University is implementing high-level teaching techniques and strategies that can be used in the classroom, making the university more focused on high school teachers.

When the ice closes at Greg Heffley Middle College, he and his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, face a struggle for survival as war gangs transform the neighborhood into winter. Greg tries to cope with the dangers of high school, loves women, avoids talented college performances, and most importantly, keeps his secrets. Greg records his experience in high school, where he and his best friend are located

Rowley, simply in the hope of life, but as Rowley's style grows, Greg must take serious steps to save a great friendship. When the snow fell on Greg Hefley High School, the area turned into a winter battlefield. Competing teams fight in the field, build huge ice rinks, and create spectacular snowballs. In the region, Greg and his best friend are Rawley Jefferson.

I'm going to read every e-book in the Wimpy Kid Diary series. They go well with the e-book theme and are not where you get tired and want to stop reading. The meaning of this story is also great and shows you how to stand, and in some books it can give you information.

Do not lie and take care of your father and mother. Writer Jeff Kinney actually touches on the strings of phenomena in the characters he creates in Wimpy Kid's stories. There are naughty, stupid, intelligent, soccer girls and beautiful women.

He did not endanger him and was constantly accused of what was going on in his e-book. Four of them are my favorite yellow books, "Dog Day." Although my favorite time is my favorite time. I know a lot of people have already learned these books.

It's not exactly a pure journey as Jeff Kinney is taught in the fifth series. Greg suddenly deals with an unknown event in the child, the obligations imposed and all the problems between them. Greg could use his best friend to guide him - unfortunately Greg and Rowley had a lot of problems.

Struggling, Greg himself suggested that he must face the 'ugly truth'. You are about to order two Rodrick's rules and this guide includes one of the biggest secrets of Greg's summer trips. But hey, it's the beginning of a new faculty year, Greg has a new notebook and the past is all right (right?). But Greg's brother Rodrick knows everything and has no desire to keep his younger brother a secret

The majority of those events are linked to Greg’s efforts to enhance his social standing at college. By submitting my e-mail, I acknowledge that I have read and complied with Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Get book recommendations, tips & recommendations, and more tailor-made to your kid's age. By submitting my e-mail, I acknowledge that I even have learned and conformed to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Because of the worm factor, Greg and Rowley are not usually friends. This worm factor broke his friendship with Gregin Rowley. Sometimes we fight with friends and we never share. For a long time, Raleigh and Greg were not friends.

We all received collectively in June 2016 for the Mother's Monument. As the final issue is about a detail, the two-ace heroes are left-handed speaks to most of their legacy, and the estimate of what a battery acid-stamped gripper, Batman and a lady wonder would look like. I'm on the fifth and final guide to the Mississippi capital serial edition, then I go to the third world of the potter. The eight-volume Wimpy Kid collection now brings together readers of nature-speaking nature books.

I also chose Greg Scholar’s good examples and didn’t say bad sentences to students. Greg and his tem wrote bad sentences on a piece of paper and the teacher went crazy but didn’t say bad words. Teachers never say bad words to college students. Some scientists are evil and right readmore…….

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neptunevasilias · 4 years

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So I watched h/bomber/guy’s rwby video a few days ago, and I’ve had some time to sit on it. And while most of his video is pretty good, there were some smaller parts that I thought were.... off? Like they were leaving things out or were painting something in the wrong picture. One of those things is where he compares everything to avatar: the last airbender. Now, yes, rwby does pay some homages to shows/other stories, or take inspiration from shows/other stories(in fact the latter is like. The whole point of rwby but I’ll get to that), and he’s right that some of the things probably do take inspiration from avatar, but only leaving it at that does rwby such a discredit because it leaves out how rwby takes inspiration from so many things, from recent stories like avatar and from older stories like beauty and the beast and journey to the west, and makes it something new and original. Also, some of those parallels between rwby and avatar that he made I thought were just him grasping for straws, like the one where he compares the entire basis of rwby which is everything being based on legends and fairy tales and saying it was based on one line in a version of the avatar opening that’s only seen in the first episode(“my grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days”). Like, dude.

But anyway, these comparisons really bothered me, because it’s not like avatar owns the idea of “the rule of 4.” Hell, just to come up with another story that uses it off(heh, get it) the top of my head, look at the indie rpg OFF. And to be honest, I think rwby uses the rule of four better than avatar. In avatar, you’ve got the four nations, the four elements, the four mentors/members of the gang and that’s... it, unless I’m forgetting something. But rwby uses it religiously. You’ve got the four kingdoms, four members of a team, four schools and four headmasters, four maidens, four relics, four base types of dust, four subordinates of cinder, four subordinates of salem, four members of ozpin’s inner circle, I could go on and on. The rule of four is so prevalent that whenever it’s broken, it’s clear that something is off or even suspicious. For example, the ace ops, where the fact that there’s five of them is the biggest hint that something’s not right with them(aside from, you know, everything else).

The other things he compares to avatar that don’t have to do with the rule of four just made me go... “so what?” For example, he compared the maidens, ozpin, and silver eyed warriors to the avatar(ozpin reincarnating, maiden powers transferring to someone else, and eyes glowing). Even if those were all inspired by the avatar, none of them are carbon copies of it. None of them can be compared to the avatar much beyond one, maybe two similar traits. And they all use different traits of the avatar, and not only that but are their own separate things. With the avatar’s glowing eyes in the avatar state, that’s hardly similar to SEWs at all. Silver eyes are a genetic trait that came from the god of light(the brothers are another thing that might have been inspired by avatar, but if you ask me the gods of light and darkness were handled WAY better than raava and vaatu), coming from his own eyes of light, which means they’re handy against grimm and magic(the god of darkness’ creations) but not much else. Or Ozpin, probably the most likely to have actually been inspired by the avatar? Sure, he reincarnates into another person whenever he dies, and is an important political figure in keeping the world at peace, but he reincarnates into an already living person and has to fuse with them over time. His reincarnation is also not a widely-known thing, in fact it’s a secret. He’s also not very successful at his job, and views it as a curse because he retains the same consciousness in every reincarnation. So really, trying to critique rwby by comparing it to ways it was possibly inspired by avatar and then implying it didn’t do as well as “the original” is a useless critique because rwby’s not trying to be a carbon copy of anything. Maybe it took inspiration from some things from avatar, but it took that inspiration and made its own unique story. Oh, and I’m not even going to touch on that “books” and “volumes” thing. That’s just nitpicking.

Other stories are the basis of rwby, but that’s not a bad thing. You wouldn’t critique one upon a time for being unoriginal, so you certainly can’t do it for rwby. Rwby even goes one step past shows like ouat(or at least what I understand it to be since I haven’t watched it), because it’s not a literal mashup of legend and fairy tale characters. It’s its own world with its own story, it just makes strong allusions to these other stories. It does this in many different ways. It does it by taking the surface plot of a fairy tale and translating that into a personal character arc, like with blake being both beauty and the beast being representative of how she needs to learn to love herself after years of abuse(YES blake’s allusion is genius, I am so mad at h/bomber/guy for spending so much time acting like it’s terrible and then not even explaining that opinion once in his two and a half hour video). It might also do this by having characters be a “failed” version of their allusion, doing this especially for villains or morally gray characters, for example leonardo lionheart being the cowardly lion who lost his bravery. There’s also of course the fact that some characters will have multiple allusions, for example adam being both gaston and the cursed rose, or summer rose being both “the last rose of summer” and dorothy from the wizard of oz(a failed version of dorothy - the girl who never came home), or as mentioned earlier blake being both beauty and the beast. Jacques technically has three: jack frost, the snow queen, and snow white’s evil stepmother.

Lastly, and this can sometimes tie in with the last method if the character has their own allusions, but (usually main) characters will sometimes have their story’s allusion bleed into the other characters around them. Blake is the best example of this - she is beauty and the beast, but with yang has her love interest(fite me) she also becomes both beauty and the beast. And adam becomes gaston and the cursed rose, sun becomes chip, etcetera. Or weiss and her family, she is snow white(AND prince charming, she saves herself), her dad is the evil stepmom, her mom the king, winter the huntsman, whitley the magic mirror, and klein the seven dwarves. It even applies to villains, like cinder, who is based on cinderella. Salem is her fairy godmother, ironwood the prince charming(cinder leaves behind a glass chess piece so he knows who she is), the rest of cinder’s faction are arguably her stepsisters, and probably atlas as a whole is her evil stepmother.

My point is, while most of what he says in his video is right, I thought some of his critique was, uh, wrong. And this time I wanted to talk about the section of his video where he compared things to avatar, because I don’t think that’s a critique at all, and he wasn’t accounting for how rwby as a whole operates, which is taking inspiration from other stories and making their own intricate world out of it.

#meta #ok gonna get ready for angry anons in my inbox bc that happened on my main when I critiqued this video

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meloncholor · 4 years

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Writing Masterlist (1/4-1/10)

Blog Exclusive

Trevor, You’re an Idiot - Trevor and Sypha try and name their first child.

Christmas Memories (Part 1) - (Prompt) A fluffy story about Trevor, Adrian, and my Bloodborne character name Ezio giving each other simple presents for Christmas and talking about their lonely past.

Reading - Trevor Reading over Sypha’s shoulder to annoy her.

Come to Bed - Sypha is an early riser and Trevor is a lazy boi; Sypha snores and it sounds like purring

Please Put Me Down - Trevor can speak french; Sypha gets injured and Trevor has to carry her

Remembrance - Trevor opens up to Sypha emotionally.

Mi Oso - Sypha tries to teach Trevor Spanish

Dog Days - Sypha brings in a stray German Shepard because it’s scruffy and soft and it reminds her of Trevor.

Magic Spider - Trevor and Sypha have to decide who kills the spider.

Birthday With the Dirty Boy - Trevor’s birthday.

Star Children - Sypha and Trevor looking at the stars.

Winter’s Bounty - Trevor makes a cloak like his for Sypha.

Your Laugh is Funny - Sypha is ticklish.

Goodbye, I Guess - Trevor visits his parents’ graves with Alucard and Sypha.

Castlevania Mafia AU - Just what the title says.

Osito - Trevor asks why Sypha calls him that.

Birthday Girl - Trevor celebrates Sypha’s Birthday

Finish - Carmilla and Godbrand hate s*x. (Lemon)

In Bed Alone - Trevor isn’t feeling great.

A First - Elinore’s first words.

Singer - Trevor asks Sypha to sing for him.

Destino - Trevor likes Sypha’s singing.

Echo: Undaunted Warmup #1 - Echo is a bit touch starved.

Castlevania Warmup #1 - Elinore goes hunting.

House Call - Lisa treats a young Trevor.

I Would Prefer If You Shut Up - Vlad gets defensive of Echo

How Lovely to See You Again - Vlad greets his wife (reader) when she gets home.

It’s Alright, I’m Here - You wake from a nightmare and Trevor comforts you.

People Watching - Reader gets jealous and upset, and so does Vlad.

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Training Pains - The Belmont kids train together

No Matter the Cost - Vlad would do anything for you.

An Afternoon Together - Echo and Vlad together one afternoon.

All for You - Reader and Vlad spend some quality time together.

Archive of Our Own

General

Warm - Trevor and Sypha share a moment by the fire. (Lemon)

A Snowy Relief - Sypha and Trevor have fun in the snow

Thunderstorm Blues - Sypha gets hurt by a night creature, Trevor is left to watch over her

An Unexpected Fortune - Trevor and Sypha have to share one bed at an inn. (Lemon)

A Few Drinks Together - Sypha insists on coming with Trevor to the bar. (Lemon)

A Cottage In The Woods - Alucard pays a visit to the Belmonts after a long time away.

You’re a Mean One, Ms. Carmilla - Carmilla calls on Hector when she’s bored (Lemon) (TW: R*pe/Non-con)

One Lie -Trevor nearly drinks himself into a coma

Old Friends - Trefor visits the new home of Leon Belmont

Castlevania 2185 - The gang breaks into Vlad Inc.

The Hanged Man’s Prize - You are hired by the famous crime lord Vlad Tepes, and his interests start to reach far beyond the scope of your duties. (Lemon)(Incomplete)

Echo: Undaunted - Isaac’s biological sister struggles in undoing the evil Carmilla has wrought. (Incomplete)

Hidden Charms - Alucard likes SOME things about Trevor. (Incomplete)

Grace - Trevor saves you from a witch-burning and you are left with the aftermath of what you’ve seen.

Indulgences - Trevor is a filthy dirt man who only functions on spite, even when it’s to his detriment. Alucard fixes this.

Fifty Shades of Carmilla - Hector and Carmilla have a tit for tat relationship

Belinda and Leandra Belmont - Exploring Trevor’s parentage

Light Reading - Sypha finds a book on vagina spells.

Mother Dearest - Sypha finds a journal on Trevor’s Grandmother.

Blog Exclusives

Tone Deaf - Kyoka/Bakugo AU where they’re musicians

Seeing Stars - BNHA boys smoking weed and girls dropping acid.

Dancing Queen - Todomomo trying to learn to salsa dance.

I Didn’t Know - All Might forces Endeavor to reconnect with his family.

Torment - Students find a bottle of Aizawa’s scotch.

An Early Morning - Emi and Aizawa’s morning with Kiwa.

Please Stop Asking Me - Emi is the first to push for kids.

Bakugo’s Lament - Bakugo explains why he didn’t become a villain.

Unpolished Kiribaku Warmup - The family goes shopping.

BNHA Kyoka/Kaminari Warmup - They’re hanging out.

Little Wonders - Ochako and Izuku in their home.

Parent-Teacher Conference - Emi and Aizawa are asked to come to Kiwa’s school.

Save Me - All Might almost drowning, based on the scene from Aladdin.

A Forgotten Memory - Enji and Yagi before everything changed.

Archive of Our Own

Two Bros in a Hot Tub and They’re Definitely Gay - Kirishima visits the number 2 hero Bakugo in his expensive home (Lemon)

Mom Swap - Katsuki and Izuku switch moms, that’s it.

Mom - Mitsuki visits her son in the hospital

Tired - She hasn’t seen Shoto in a while

Is this a Porno? - Izuku doesn’t think Mei has a medical degree… (Lemon)

Holding a Vigil - Momo waits for Shoto

Alice in Wonderland - Izuku has conflicted feelings when he sees Hitoshi at a strip club. (Lemon)

A Memory Preserved - Toshinori and Enji have passed their times in the limelight, it’s time for them to finally talk about what happened.

A Knight’s Honor - Fantasy AU; Bakugo and Midoriya spar.

Blog Exclusives

Spoken through Pen Strokes - Charthur fluff.

Just a Little Bit Longer - Jovier Fluff.

Sunny Days (Part One) - Charthur Fluff

Happy Valentine’s Day Arthur - Albert pays a visit.

What Once Was - Arthur finding out about his ex-wife and son.

Dance With Me - Dutch asks Hosea to Dance.

Charthur Warmup - Pure Fluff.

Wasted Opportunity - John is an idiot.

Again? - John can’t sleep.

You’re Always A Party - Sean and Karen go on a date.

Archive of Our Own

Two Sides of the Same Coin - Albert Mason is a fool.

She’s All I’ve Got - Hosea has to save Dutch from her brothers.

Soaked to the Bone - John takes Javier fishing.

Starry-Eyed - Arthur gets distracted while Charles is tracking animals.

Blog Exclusives

Anwar and Nadia Warmup - Nadia tries serving traditional Haitian food.

Muriel and Lillian Short - She likes playing in his hair.

Trouble in Paradise - Lucio isn’t paying enough attention to Ophelia.

Noise - Lillian has a panic attack.

Another Warmup - Avina has trinkets Asra’s never seen.

Dandelion Bouquet - Julian gets an idea.

Archive of our Own

General

Mala - Lillian takes Muriel to her favorite shop, and then she meets a new friend.

A Short Reprieve - Lucio and Ophelia are late for a banquet.

Here in the Garden - Julian has to walk through the woods to get home, and on his way intrigues the interest of the woman who makes her home there.

Arcana Thirst (Complete)

Let My Love Adorn You - Ophelia’s sanctuary is invaded. (Lemon)

Greeting the Sun - Anwar and Nadia spend the morning together. (Lemon)

Deviating Divination - Avina gets home late with her supplies. (Lemon)

Sanctuary - Lillian wants to give something to Muriel. (Lemon)

Be My Muse - Donovan is having an art block, Julian helps. (Lemon)

I Missed Your Warmth - Monica comes to visit Portia during a snowstorm. (Lemon)

Archive of Our Own

A Lone Sword - Alistair and Leliana have a short conversation about their leader. (Dragon Age)

Sharing - Sten wants to give the Warden a small gift for returning his sword. (Dragon Age)

Gift of a Sword - Valmiro finds out what Kadan means (Incomplete)(Dragon Age)

Romantic Philistine - Catria and Lukas sneak away from camp (Fire Emblem: Echoes)

Shhh… - Python and Forsyth forgot to be quiet. (Fire Emblem: Echoes)(Lemon)

Apples - Catria and Lukas share breakfast. (Fire Emblem: Echoes)

Black Wine and Good Times - Genji is escaping the mansion for at least a little while, he meets a stranger in a bar. (Overwatch)

Missing You - Genji finds out Jesse is coming home. (Overwatch)

Sickness - Carol is a bit unsettled when she couldn’t grant wishes for a period of time, she goes to Strange for help. (MCU)

The Entrance - Grim is waiting in jail, he gets saved by an elf and he really likes what he sees (Kingdoms of Amalur)

It Was You All Along - Geralt has to rediscover feelings after the jinn takes some away. (The Witcher)

Blog Exclusives

Another Geralt/Dandelion Warmup - Shameless fluff (The Witcher)

Final Defiance - Geralt fights a crudok. (The Witcher)

Spookfest 2019

Halloween Prompt #1 - Ophelia and Lucio go for a walk.

Halloween Prompt #2 - Donovan gives an autumn gift to Julian.

Halloween Prompt #3 - Symone and Elinore freak out over losing a grimoire.

Halloween Prompt #4 - Lillian has a bad habit of bringing home animals.

Halloween Prompt #5 - Izuku and Bakugo go to a haunted location.

Halloween Prompt #6 - Emi surprises Kiwa

Halloween Prompt #7 - Avina gets flustered.

Halloween Prompt #8 - Charles and Arthur go hunting.

Halloween Prompt #9 - Sam tricks Dean and Cas

Halloween Prompt #10 - Dean doesn’t realize what he’s done. (TW: Gore).

Dire Discomfort - Echo braids Trevor’s hair.

Thanksgiving 2019

Thanksgiving Prompt #1 - Anwar and Nadia Short

Thanksgiving Prompt #2 - Trevor and his Mother

Thanksgiving Prompt #3 - Elinore, Elias, and Symone Belmont

Thanksgiving Prompt #4 - Avina and Asra

Thanksgiving Prompt #5 - Clair doesn’t like eating flour.

Thanksgiving Prompt #6 - Ophelia and Lucio

Thanksgiving Prompt #7 - Echo and Vlad

Thanksgiving Prompt #8 - Leandra and Belinda

Thanksgiving Prompt #9 - Dean and Cas

Thanksgiving Prompt #10 - Geralt and Dandelion

Christmas 2019

Feliz Navidad a Los Muertos - Javier is missing what used to be his home.

Looking For a Dance? - Vlad and Echo at the winter ball.

Winterfest Prompt #1 - Jaskier has a habit of predicting things.

Winterfest Prompt #2 - Nadia and Anwar curl up in front of the fireplace.

Winterfest Prompt #3 - Lillian brings gifts for everyone.

Winterfest Prompt #4 - Bakugo returns home to a surprise.

Winterfest Prompt #5 - Arthur is running from bounty hunters.

Winterfest Prompt #6 - Emi and Shouta are just trying to take a picture

Winterfest Prompt #7 - Monica and Portia are baking some cookies.

Winterfest Prompt #8 - Trevor is doing something a little out of the ordinary.

Winterfest Prompt #9 - Alm has an idea to take Celica away.

Winterfest Prompt #10 - Geralt doesn’t want to ice skate with Jaskier.

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trimaplenut · 5 years

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hey maple! I was wondering, do you have any book/fic/story recommendations? ❤️

Hoo boy, I can certainly offer some! I’m more well-versed in fanfics than actual books but I think I’ve stumbled across my fair share of good fics over the years.

Also I’ll warn you this’ll be long.

Cycle by RoseGarden

Hot. Damn.

If you’re a Fire Emblem Awakening fan there is not a fic I can recommend to you more than this one. Cycle is easily in my top 5, no top 3, heck my absolute favourite story ever. The updates are slow - I started following it in 2016 summer at Ch 44, and the latest chapter was (at posting) 55 in 2018 winter - but this is not a complaint. This delay is understandably so because these chapters fucking deliver. Each chapter averages about 10,000-25,000 words (by my rough estimate - chapters tend to include a lot of reviewer replies from the author). This is honestly my current inspiration, and has been since I found it. I dream of writing like this one day. I cannot express how much I love this goddamn story.

Okay enough fangirling, time to buckle down to the content. From the beginning, it seems like your average but well-written insert - Robin is an FE fan and baker from the real world who wakes up to find Blue-Haired McGee and his motley crew with no idea how she ended up in the field in Ylisse. But you find out pretty quick that things aren’t quite what they seem. Mysterious unfamiliar characters are popping up, some people know more about events than they’re letting on, and Robin’s gotta figure out all this shit while dealing with her own missing memory and the responsibilities that come with playing tactician for a nation going to war.

It’s amazing. It follows along Awakening’s plot, but honestly I’m on edge the entire time, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. The worldbuilding is hefty and incredible and really brings the world to life. The character interactions are gorgeous. The characters themselves are gold. One of my favourite things is that each character has a clear and defined voice - even if there’s no narration to say who’s speaking, you can work it out by their words and tone. The character interactions are charming and even if the ships aren’t your favourite or usual cup of tea, they’re all so genuine and they work. Robin is different from what I think is the general depiction of canon Robin in fics, she’s pretty crass and blunt and the Earth culture she and the readers know shows, but she certainly stands out as her own personality and still fits in well with the Shepards. She’s also got her own issues and problems and she makes mistakes so that’s fun.

Oh, that reminds me, also be prepared for a heck ton of feels. Laughter and heartbreak in equal helpings. Always a good time.

Queen of Hearts by Circuit

One of the first, and one of my favourite, Persona 5 fanfics that I’ve come across so far. Queen of Hearts retells Persona 5 but with Makoto Niijima playing the role of Wild Card. The change in protagonist brings a few new interesting changes, the big one being the Confidants Makoto hangs out with, including people such as Shiho and original characters in the Student Council. It’s cool to see the changes caused by a Makoto-led Phantom Thieves and also the struggles she herself has with being in that position of leader.

This feels small in comparison to the wall of text for Cycle, so I’m just gonna throw in another P5 fanfic, Crimson. This one’s closer to a retelling of P5′s canon than Queen of Hearts but tackles it with a lot more realism of kids messing with the law and the big bads of P5 and includes quite a bit of Questionable And Morally Ambiguous Choices:tm:. It’s one I’m honestly losing a little interest in, hence why it’s only got this small section here, but it’s still a good fic. I remember liking the beginning and certain scenes that are thrown around here and there, but this fic starts off pretty depressing and gets even more morally ambiguous in more recent chapters. Still a good read. Queen of Hearts is just a lot lighter in comparison and that’s why I recommend it a little more.

Worm by Wildbow

Okay this one’s a little different but hear me out. Technically a web serial, Worm is an original story written on Wordpress. I found it when I read a crossover between it and Okami (also a good fanfic in and of itself, has a pretty different tone from Worm but it’s very entertaining. I’d recommend reading Worm first though since I read the crossover first and, it’s fine to read through itself, but I understood some of the details and nods only after reading Worm). Honestly, I’m still not done with Worm. There’s a lot of story to get through. But what I’ve seen so far is pretty interesting.

The story follows Taylor, a teenaged girl with superpowers, called parahumans in this universe. It starts off pretty dark, though, and honestly it stays that way. Taylor’s bullied at school and feels pretty shitty, but she wants to be a hero. So one night she tries her hand at some vigilantism. Result? Nearly gets killed by a superpowered gang leader, gets saved by a small group of supervillains her age, they think she’s actually a supervillain too. They offer Taylor to join them and she figures it’s a way to go undercover, but over time she faces an internal dilemna since she finds herself actually enjoying their company.

There’s more to the story beyond that. Like I said, I’m not actually done reading it. There’s like 30 arcs, with each arc having about 8-10 chapters, each chapter about 5000 words?? and I’ve only read up to Arc 11. It’s an interesting take on a superpowered world, though, where villains aren’t so evil, good guys aren’t so good, and there’s a whole lot of morality and gritty details that come with it.

Through Her Eyes by Peroth

A RWBY fic that actually has a remastered version currently being written. The story’s about a Ruby that actually has a different semblance than the one we’re used to. This Ruby has the power to summon Grimm - and that’s it. She can’t control them whatsoever. This leads to Ruby being stuck at home for most of her childhood and gives us quite a different personality than canon Ruby - she’s a lot more shy and nervous around people and usually speaks with a stammer. Still the badass little scythe-wielding Grimm slayer we love though. Ruby’s also got eyes pretty similar to Salem’s, which also come with a fear factor, inciting primal fear in anyone who looks at her eyes, which means she has to wear big goggles.

So there’s a lot of changes, but it still mostly follows Volume 1. Ruby goes to Beacon because she still wants to help people - with some focus on the catchup work Ruby has to do as a result of her missing school as a kid - teams up with WBY, makes friends with JNPR, usual kind of stuff. The original fic ends where Volume 1 ends, but I can’t say what changes the remastered version will bring. It seems to mostly be following the original with a few details changed or added, though.

The Shrouded Throne by Iburtide

Okay yes it’s another FE Awakening fic, sue me I’ve been through a massive FE faze. Chrobin is near and dear to my heart. Iburtide has actually written more Chrobin fics, both male and female, but I admit I’ve only read this one, The Heart of the Moon which is also a good one, and Crown of Shadows which is almost the same as Shrouded Throne but told with Male Robin (and also explicit so u18′s don’t look at it you hear me).

So Shrouded Throne (and Crown of Shadows) tells the story of a Robin who fled from a Plegian civil war to request aid from Ylisse. By the time the story starts, they’re in the employment of the Shepards, and after some words shared during a battle, Chrom offers to get Robin an audience with Emmeryn, which pretty much kicks off the story. Kinda follows Awakening’s plot but Robin knows they’re from Plegia and the civil war is between Gangrel and Validar.

I guess I’ll talk briefly about Heart of the Moon too since I mentioned it already. The Shepards get sent out to a village where a monster is stalking the woods. When they meet the creature, Chrom gets challenged to a hunt, one-on-one, with the beast. In the middle of this, Chrom comes across an old abandoned castle - or not quite so abandoned, as a young woman lives there, one who claims to be prisoner to the beast.

Both fics include fun new things like Henry being Robin’s little brother - not by blood but their relationship is cute and precious and gives me new life - and a normal Grimleal religion practiced by normal people and Validar just takes it to an extreme.

Those are a handful of ones I can recommend. I read a lot of fics though so I have skipped over some of the ones I wouldn’t say are my favourites but are still quite high on my list. These are all also multi-chaptered fics, a few of them being unfinished as well. There are more fics I wanted to talk about but they’re either one-shots or don’t have enough chapters for me to definitively recommend them. I dunno, if people want more recommendations or recs from specific fandoms like DR (which surprisingly I haven’t touched upon at all, wow it’s been a while since I’ve read a dr fic), I could do another post or something. One covering a lot of one-shots or short stories, but not speaking in as much detail as I have here oops somebody gets distracted and goes on tangents

OH AND BOOKS. Quick book recs are Percy Jackson and How to Train Your Dragon. I’ll be honest, I don’t read a lot of books these days. And I think these are popular enough that they don’t really need a big ol’ explanation from me.

#I spent like three hours writing this #which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact it's now 2am #oops #I read a lot of fics bc I generally go and look for fics once I finish a piece of media #also I kinda jumped at the opportunity to yell about cycle #look I'm really passionate about it #and fe awakening and chrobin in general #gosh it's good

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bucksnatalia · 7 years

Text

a not-so-brief history of buckynat (post-widow hunt)

So a lot has happened with our favorite spy couple in the last few years, so I thought it might be helpful for some shippers who haven’t completely kept up to make a list of everything they’ve been through in that time. So without further ado, here’s a quick guide that no one asked for, starting with:

Black Widow Hunt

This was the unfortunate end of their relationship, not by choice. A fellow ex-Soviet spy, Leo Novokov, grew jealous of Bucky’s success and angry that he never looked for the other agents, so he set out to ruin his life by stealing his girl... pretty literally. He kidnapped and brainwashed Natasha into thinking she was a double agent, sending Bucky and co. on a wild goose chase trying to get her back. They eventually do -- but Natasha’s lost all her memories of Bucky, and he makes the difficult decision not to force her to undergo experimental methods to have her memories regained. (This decision sometimes draws criticism because on the one hand, that isn’t his choice to make -- however, he did not want the doctors to mess with her head on his account, and so here we are.)

The Electric Ghost

After their separation, Bucky kind of goes off the deep end. Really, he basically quit working for SHIELD and he’s going into bars and beating the crap out of everyone. He’s trying to make peace with his past when Nick Fury comes to him with a mission and pretty much tricks him into helping SHIELD again. From there he ends up fighting Tesla Tarasova, the Electric Ghost, who is using a type of Cosmic Cube she calls the Tarasova Tesseract to try and change her past. She ends up taking Bucky with her, and even tempts him with the ability to stop Leo Novokov, but he convinces her she’s wrong (”You can’t fix the past, Tesla. You can only search for the strength to change the future.”), and he takes just one moment with the Cube for himself -- and goes back to kiss Natasha one last time.

The Tightly Tangled Web & Last Days

This is quite the reunion. Bucky’s mission is a gang -- Natasha’s mission is a case. They end up on the same train, at the same time, fighting the same bad guys, but Natasha only knows Bucky as the Winter Soldier (Black Widow #8). After this, Bucky keeps an eye on her from afar, and ends up getting her out of a couple sticky situations. Their final interaction in this run involves Bucky promising that he will always be there for her. It’s probably around this time she begins to suspect that he isn’t just the Winter Soldier to her -- although nothing is certain. (It’s worth noting that by this point, Bucky has become the Man on the Wall -- an agent whose purpose is to protect the planet from threats -- a job which he inherited from Nick Fury.)

No More Secrets

Another Black Widow story, this time Bucky is the one who gets kidnapped -- after he’s caught by Natasha’s childhood rival, Recluse, watching out for her. He spends the entire run acting as a guardian angel, but inevitably Natasha has to save his ass from Recluse who enjoys taunting him by telling Natasha about his feelings for her and beating him over the head with a rifle. It turns out that Nick Fury sent him to collect Natasha, however, and after their trip gets a little rocky (a guy’s head explodes and a tiny murder child tries to hijack their spaceship), Bucky and Nat save each other -- first, Natasha empties her oxygen tank into Bucky’s so he’ll have enough air to get to the ship, and then Bucky revives her with CPR. They share a kiss, and it’s implied that Natasha now at least knows about their past together. She has a job to finish, however, so they part ways on their return to Earth.

Civil War II & Thunderbolts

Here’s where timelines get a little weird. Somewhere in here, Bucky hears the prophecy that Steve Rogers is going to be killed by Miles Morales, so being the rational person he is he attempts to capture Miles so that this can’t happen. Except at this time, he’s a fugitive from SHIELD for hiding Kobik. He ends up captured and in a jail cell, where he is confronted by Steve Rogers himself, who tries to get him to give Kobik’s location. The Thunderbolts rescue him, and it’s made clear he doesn’t trust Steve with this information. This is when Steve -- who is actually the Hydra version (who will be referred to as Stevil from now on) -- decides he has to kill Bucky. (EDIT: At some point after the rescue, Bucky and Nat’s adventure on the Moon occurs. This can be confusing due to the inconsistent symbol on his arm.) Zemo, who is Stevil’s best buddy, and his Masters of Evil attack the Thunderbolts’ hideout and nearly beat Bucky to death. Kobik saves him by sending him back in time and trying to get him to join HYDRA -- this is when he learns the truth about Stevil, though he refuses to believe it (this is apparently a trend with him -- stay tuned). Upon refusing to join HYDRA, Kobik has massively destructive temper tantrum and is shattered and Bucky is carried away to be strapped to yet another rocket and, supposedly, blown to smithereens. In Thunderbolts #5 features a flashback to Bucky and Natasha’s Red Room days (seen above), and there’s another reference to Nat later on as well -- but I promise that’s not the only reason all of this is relevant, because right around the time Bucky is believed dead, Stevil makes his allegiances public, and thus begins....

Secret Empire

The part we all hate and no one wants to talk about but an unfortunate amount of SHIT occurred in. Let’s start from the beginning -- Bucky is, to the world, a dead man. Super dead. Murdered good. This has seriously fucked Nat up. At some point, she enters a casual relationship with Clint Barton -- who... quite obviously takes it more seriously than she does. But they both acknowledge the fact that Natasha has not been the same since Bucky died.

So you can read that however you want (although, I personally don’t think very highly of Clint for getting involved with her while she’s grieving another man). Basically, Natasha wants to kill Stevil, Clint thinks she’s wrong, so she decks him and goes on the run. From there, she starts the new Red Room (which is all kinds of ridiculous since her previous run was all about ending the new Dark Room, but I digress) with a team that includes Miles Morales. Remember that prophecy? Well, he’s pretty convinced its true, but Natasha tries to save him from the fate of becoming a murderer -- and takes Stevil’s shield to the neck/jaw. It seemingly kills her and the rest of us spend the next several issues wondering whether or not she’s going to come back. But in the meantime, someone else comes back --

Bucky, back from the dead he never was because his old pal Namor fished him out of the ocean because apparently Zemo is really bad at tying people to rockets. Bucky has been hiding out this whole time -- surprise! -- and he’s hatched a plan for stopping Stevil that involves, and I truly cannot make this shit up folks, 1) giving Stevil the last missing piece of the Cosmic Cube, 2) shrinking to ant-size and shooting into the Cube which is embedded in Stevil’s Hydra armor, 3) becoming a Mufasa-like entity inside the Cube and pulling the real Steve and Kobik out, and 4) watching the two Steve’s go at it. Once Stevil is defeated, Kobik fixes pretty much nothing. Everyone, including Natasha, is still dead.

Rather than attending her funeral, Bucky goes on a mission to Madripoor -- where he watches the funeral live on TV before following a lead in a super mysterious case. He then watches the assassination of a general who had come to power in the US along with HYDRA, looks up to the window the shot came from, and immediately monologues:

Which leads us right into --

Tales of Suspense

Bucky teams up with Clint in an effort to discover who this mystery assassin is. In the time between Secret Empire's epilogue and the beginning of this story, Bucky has switched his point of view. He now believes Natasha is dead and someone is impersonating her. Clint thinks she is still alive. While chasing her down, they run into each other, and an uneasy alliance is formed.

The two work together following clues and leads. There are a couple pretty close calls, including a battle which leaves Yelena Belova dead in a subway and someone who looks an awful lot like Natasha speeding away on the back of a truck. Their clues lead them to the home of a Red Room operative, whose murder Bucky has been framed for. Finally, while following the lead of the Red Room, they run into Natasha herself, apparently alive.

Natasha traps them in a bunker where she takes Bucky's arm and Clint's bow and seemingly blows them up. It turns out that she wanted those things as proof she had killed them to gain the Red Room's trust -- but how did she survive Secret Empire? She didn't. This Natasha is a clone, engineered by the Red Room and given her consciousness by a psychic agent. The bear mutant Ursa Major, who you may remember from the Gulag, convinces the psychic to give Natasha all of her memories so that she may take the Red Room down from within.

Bucky and Clint escape from the bunker and track her down. A battle ensues. Clint is distraught by Natasha's violence. He and Bucky help her win the battle, but as they leave the building she goes back in just in time for it to explode. An officer finds a note for each of them on a tree nearby. Natasha tells Clint that though she cares deeply for him, he can't follow her where she is going and urges him to learn not to care for people who only ever hurt him. Bucky suggests that his note is the same, when in reality Natasha has asked for his help in a secret mission.

Clint and Bucky go their separate ways. Meanwhile, Logan has left Natasha a present in Madripoor: the Space Stone.

Natasha will return in Infinity Countdown: Black Widow in June 2018. She is also expected to appear with Bucky in Ta-Nehisi Coates's upcoming Captain America series beginning in July 2018.

#buckynat #this is really more for myself than anything but it might be useful for other people too #so there you go #reference

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gdfalksen · 6 years

Photo

Books that I’ve spent years writing just for you

You get fun things and I get to eat. https://www.patreon.com/gdfalksen

The Ouroboros Cycle on going series

You can get all five books in the series so far on ebooks for less than twenty dollars, but if you are someone who needs the physical book it's also available.

The Ouroboros Cycle, Book 1: A Monster's Coming of Age Story

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B1TIUBU/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

How far would you go to avenge the one you love? Would you go beyond death? Born into the stifling confines of French upper society, Babette Varanus never thought that she would have to answer that question. Surrounded by wealth yet ostracized by her peers, Babette had little interest in love until she met Korbinian, a scandalous German baron with the audacity to regard her as his equal. But when the intrigues of her grandfather's enemies conspire to tear them apart, Varanus will embark upon a journey of vengeance, love, and redemption that will take her beyond the limitations of mortality and reveal to her the dark forces that command humanity from the shadows. Faced with madness, murder, hidden cults, and erudite vampires, does she have the strength to withstand the storm that rises against her?

The Ouroboros Cycle, Book Two: A Cautionary Tale for Young Vampires

https://www.amazon.com/Cautionary-Young-Vampires-Ouroboros-Cycle-ebook/dp/B00JVA07P8

The year is 1888 and a madman is terrorizing the East End of London. But Doctor Varanus Shashavani has far more pressing concerns to worry about than a lunatic in Whitechapel. Her charitable hospital is under siege by gang lords, her English cousins are threatening to steal her inheritance, and her best friend has become obsessed with Gothic novels. To make matters worse, her son Friedrich is associating with an American who talks endlessly of wellness and yoghurt, while her bodyguard is pestering her to return home to Georgia, half a world away. It seems that everyone--friends, enemies, and “Saucy Jack” alike--have conspired to interrupt her work.

But Varanus did not obtain immortality just to have mad killers and distant relations get in the way of scientific progress. Though supernatural conspiracies and all-too-human monsters confront her at every turn, Varanus will stand firm against all odds. After all, she is accustomed to fighting for what is rightfully hers.

The Ouroboros Cycle, Book Three: A Long-Awaited Treachery

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VAYSWM8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

For a thousand years, the immortal Shashavani have hidden from the world in the halls of their mountain fortress, amassing great stores of knowledge in a haven of academic tranquility. And while Doctor Varanus has never found tranquility much to her taste, even she cannot deny that the peace and quiet make for a pleasant diversion following the chaos of her recent adventures in London. Having left the horrors of bloodshed and wellness behind her, Varanus has thrown herself headlong into the study of the Shashavani condition, determined to learn the secrets of their undying power.

But all is not as it seems in the House of Shashava. As winter snow covers the Shashavani valley and chokes the mountain passes, sinister events are unfolding in the shadows. Whispers of conspiracy echo through the halls. Soon loyalties will be tested and friendships betrayed. Blood will flow. For upon the frozen steppe, an ancient evil stirs and turns its gaze toward the House of Shashava, hungering for power and revenge.

As darkness descends, one question remains:

Do you serve the Winter King?

The Ouroboros Cycle, Book 4: A Sojourn in Bohemia

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERX8QGK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

It is 1899, and Doctor Varanus is in Prague with her mentor Iosef, both still recovering from the scars of the Shashavani civil war. Iosef has found a reprieve from grief in the study of the so-called “Black Goat” cults, aided by a charming Prussian nobleman and a mysterious bookseller. Under other circumstances, Varanus might regard Iosef’s fascination with occult philosophies as troublingly superstitious, but she has greater concerns. Her wayward son Friedrich has taken up residence in Prague as well, and in the company of artists, revolutionaries, and other such rabble-rousers.

As Varanus endeavors to carry on her research and drag Friedrich back into respectable society, she discovers something sinister may be at work in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Could there be more to Iosef’s occult studies than he or his new friends realize?

Truth or fantasy, a shadow looms over Prague, threatening to drag Varanus and all she holds dear into the darkness of an unending night . . .

The Ouroboros Cycle, Book 5: House of the Far Earth

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074R6GFLB/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

For the past year, Doctor Varanus has languished in the desert, tormented by heat and inactivity, while her mentor Iosef searches for evidence of his so-called "Black Goat cults" in the ruins of Sumeria, aided by an ambitious banker and an incompetent archaeologist. Their purpose: to unearth the lost city of Ekizu, a place only whispered of amid tales of blood sacrifice and dark gods.

But as Varanus's patience wears thin, intrigues within the camp begin to surface, threatening everything she holds dear. An evil watches from the desert, eager to claim Ekizu for itself, while old enemies lurk in the darkness, plotting revenge. And as the great temple is uncovered, they will learn too late the truth behind an ancient warning.

Better that dead things had been left buried, lest all the world fall under the shadow of the Far Earth.

The Transatlantic Conspiracy

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015MA7RQW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

At the dawn of a reimagined 20th century, one girl must become the reluctant symbol of a new world. The year is 1908. Seventeen-year-old Rosalind Wallace’s blissful stay in England with her best friend, Cecily de Vere, ends abruptly when her father books Rosalind on the maiden voyage of his fabulous Transatlantic Express, the world’s first railroad to travel under the sea. Rosalind is furious. But lucky for her, Cecily and her handsome older brother, Charles, volunteer to accompany her home. But when Charles disappears and Cecily and her housemaid, Doris, are found stabbed to death in their state room, Rosalind finds herself trapped undersea, in a deadly fight to clear herself of her friend’s murder and to thwart a sinister enemy.

The Hellfire Chronicles: Blood in the Skies

http://wildsidepress.com/the-hellfire-chronicles-blood-in-the-skies-by-g-d-falksen-trade-pb/

In 1908, the world ended in fire.

Humanity, always bad at following orders, refused to die. Now, two hundred years later, what remains is divided between civilized order and lawless frontier. For the citizens of the Commonwealth, the brave pilots of the Air Force are all that stand between them and the dreaded pirate lords of the Badlands. For generations, the two forces have struggled back and forth in an endless cycle of invasion and reprisal. Now that is about to change, and flying ace Elizabeth Steele is about to find herself dragged into a web of intrigue aimed at the downfall of the civilized world.

Nothing that a clever girl with a trusty aeroplane and a charming spy at her side can't handle.

The first book of The Hellfire Chronicles, Blood In The Skies by G. D. Falksen is a fast-paced and gorgeously illustrated steampunk adventure story set in a world of excitement, danger, and aviation. Join Wing Commander Steele of the Commonwealth Air Force as she battles mysterious assassins and bloodthirsty pirates bent on delivering a doomsday weapon into the hands of a madman.

A Cats Steampunk Alphabet

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007W7BSPU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

A is for Airship, for flying is keen. B is for Boiler, turning water to steam. A Cats Steampunk Alphabet is for the velocipede lover in all of us ... seen through cunning feline eyes!

Short Stories

Cthulhu Fhtagn!

https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Fhtagn-Laird-Barron-ebook/dp/B0127TCT8C

The Curious Death of Sir Arthur Turnbridge, by G. D. Falksen

Eternal Frankenstein

http://wordhorde.com/books/eternal-frankenstein/

The New Soviet Man, by G. D. Falksen

The Steampunk Modern and Classic Steampunk Stories

https://www.amazon.com/Steampunk-MEGAPACK%C2%AE-Modern-Classic-Stories-ebook/dp/B00B1M129O

THE CASE OF THE PECULIAR SAFECRACKER, by G. D. Falksen

Altered States Of The Union

http://www.crazy8press.com/books/altered-states-of-the-union/

Red Harbor, by G. D. Falksen

Mine! : a comics collection to benefit Planned Parenthood

https://minecomic.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Legacy by G.D.Falksen art of Marc Hempel

#writing #supernatural #vintage #art #gd falksen

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