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uwuwriting · 3 years

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My OCs

Okay okay so these are my OCs, I’m sorry if their names aren’t really Japanese I googled most of their names back when I started creating them. I hope you enjoy them and well let's get started. I didn’t include Sky aka Shirakumos daughter even though technically she is one of my OCs, I felt that since I have introduced her in my fics *by name* I’ll leave her a rather blank slate for yall *I can describe her as well if yall want that though*. Hope you like them and yes some of the quirks were inspired by Avatar. Love ya💖💖💖

Kenushima Akane

Akane is in her mid 20s, her birthday is on 30th of December making her a Capricorn and is part of our favorite villain group, the LoV. She was the eldest child of two pro heroes who married because it would satisfy the media and boost their careers. She had two younger siblings, the twins Annya and Arakan. She is around 5’7 (170cm) with fairly long auburn hair which are always braided so they don’t get in her way, amber eyes and a burn mark on her right shoulder from a small scuffle with our favorite fire user. Her hair and eyes become a dark red when she uses her quirk making her even more menacing. She wears a black mask over her eyes, keeping that way her identity a secret and a rather tight uniform consisting of black leather overall-shorts matched with a black-red plaid shirt and thigh highs with black military boots. Her weapon of choice is anything you can swing. Her quirk is a powerful blood bending type which she inherited from her mothers’ side. She can control the blood in someones’ system to the point of a heart attack or a stroke. Once the blood is out of the persons’ system she can still wield it, sharpening it into a blade like shape and cut through both flesh and bone, the new blood adding to the power of her makeshift blade. Her limits begin when she gets a nose bleed followed by either her eyes or ears starting to bleed as well; the final stage is giving herself a heart attack but she has never reached that point thankfully. It’s a self-destructive quirk since she pushes her body’s boundaries everytime she activates it, making her vulnerable to diseases after a particularly hard fight. She is a master of many forms of martial arts, kicking anyone's ass without even having to use her quirk. Her family is wreck *lmao*. Since her parents married out of convenience the kids were results of moments of weakness between the two adults. Her household wasn’t very affectionate, partnered with her fathers’ constant absence and negligence and her mothers overly obsessive quirk demands, her relationships soon turned abusive. Excessive training and brutal punishments were her mothers’ tactics to ensure a picture perfect quirk state which she could boast about in the media. Her father was a decent figure during the sparse moments when he was actually in the house. He treated his kids with some trace of humanity and not like objects but he too didn’t really care. Everything went downhill when rumours of affairs surfaced and her mother lost her senses, killing their father on the kitchen floor before getting to the children. Akane tried to protect her siblings but was easily tossed aside by her mother and she doesn’t remember what actually happened that night. The only thing she knows for sure is that she was now an orphan and one sibling short, losing both her home and her brother that night. She didn’t stay in foster care for long since she dipped, joining a group of castaways called the Deck. Due to her quirk she was named the Queen of Hearts and became one of the most feared and powerful villains in Japan. Soon she joined the LoV after Shiggy approached her, officially meeting Dabi *who is her s/o btw lol*. She’s still close with her little sister Annya and owns a bookstore so she won’t have to steal. She has morals *shocker*, killing only those who have comitted crimes varying from abuse to murder or fraud. She is against useless killing and would prefer to clear the streets from scum rather than litter it with herself. She’s kinda like an anti-hero. She joined the LoV so she could have easier access to the insights of the hero industry and slowly help take out those hero frauds. She likes cooking Mexican food, her favorite animal is the fox and she is deathly afraid of spiders to the point she once burned her table using a lighter and hairspray because she had seen a spider on it. All in all she is a lovely person *I think*.

Kenushima Annya

Annya is 15 and part of class 1-A, her birthday is on the 3rd of January *like me heh* making her a Capricorn. She is the youngest of a twin set and has an older sister, while her parents were pros. She is around 5’7 (170cm) with shoulder length dark brown hair, amber eyes and faint lightning like scars scaling down both of her arms. Dark lavender streaks appear in her hair when she over uses her quirk and her scars shine the same color many times pulsating along with the surges of her blasts. Her uniform consists of a tight black crop top with azure and magenta details alongside black pants, black boots which are specially designed to give her extreme jumping power helping her also levitate for a short period so she can unleash her attacks and lastly gloves that cover almost all of her scars *also black with the same patterns as the top*. Has basic combat skills but she mostly prefers to rely on her quirk. Speaking of her quirk, she has a combo of a water and a lightning quirk making her able to easily electrocute others without short circuiting like Kami. She can control any form of water, making her easily overpowered in seaside missions but she can also control any liquid which has some water in it. However she cannot create water from thin air, like Shoto can make ice, and she can’t freeze it. Much like her sister she uses water mostly as a whip or a blade. Lightning is used mainly as one of her ultimate moves since she doesn’t have full control over it and it tends to hurt her scars when she does use it. She can let the purple strings of light course through her and hit her target with incredible force making her excellent for range attacks. Just like her sister she reaches her limits when her nose starts to bleed and she can pass out from dehydration due to her quirk using up some of the water inside of her body with each attack. Now for her family life. She was a late bloomer and that was unacceptable according to her mother. She didn’t showcase signs of having a quirk until the age of 9 when her mother attacked her and her siblings. In a fit of rage and despair her mother tried killing her for ruining the familys’ image with her quirklessness. Her twin brother tried to save her from her mother *just like Akane did* only to be tossed aside as well, hitting the back of his head on a nearby table. Seeing both of her siblings on the ground *and almost being choked to death by her abuser* Annya activated her quirk, losing complete control over her powers resulting in her scars and the death of her mother. Arakan was pronounced dead on arrival leaving the two girls the only surviving members of the Kenushima family. After Akane’s disappearance, Annya was moved from home to home for about a year before being adopted by a couple and living as much of a normal life as she could. Her mental health isn’t the best as one can imagine, suffering from PTSD from the incident and having self hating tendencies. Becoming a hero is her way of proving to herself that she’s not a monster and that she can indeed help others. In class 1-A she tends to hang out with the Dekusquad and two other girls who I’ll introduce down the line. Her hero name is Electra and her s/o is Shoto *lol siblings are dating siblings tf*. She likes Autumn and Winter, loves going ice skating, has many plants in her room and loves watching horror movies with her friends.

Aizawa Kaiya

Kaiya is 15 and part of class 1-A despite her father being the homeroom teacher. Her birthday is on the 19th of June making her a Gemini. She sports the legendary jet black hair, her hair is also pretty long so she always has to braid it or put it up in a ponytail and she has egirl bangs *I don’t know how else to describe them*. Her eyes are a striking azure and she has dyed the tips of her hair the same color. Ya girl is shorter than the Kenushimas, barely reaching 5’2 (160cm). Her hero costume consists of black cargo pants with multiple pockets, a black turtleneck and chest straps(?) around her waist and collarbone finishing the look with black military boots. Sometimes she might wear a gas mask which helps her control her breathing. Now for her quirk. It’s some type of psychic power, she can hear people’s thoughts making it easy for her to know what they are about to do, giving her the upper hand almost every time, but she can aslo channel her own and others thoughts and make dark shards out of them. These shards can be thrown with amazing speed or create a protective wall in front and above her. Her quirk ,though drains her very easily, making it hard to breath and walk in a straight line. She gets light headed while the voices inside her head get overly loud. Through practice she can push her boundaries and use more of her quirks’ power. Lastly in order for her to hear your thoughts she needs to see you. Once she sees you for even a quarter of a second, she can see into your head even long after you have left her line of sight. Her family life is very calm compared to the Kenushimas. She is the daughter of Aizawa’s sister who vanished when Kaiya was five. Having no one else to care for her since her real father wasn’t in the picture, Aizawa took his niece in and raised her as his own. She was too little to remember her mother and for years she believed that Shouta was her actual dad but Dadzawa did tell her the truth. Nothing really changed, she still calls him dad and they have a lovely father-daughter relationship. She loves Eri and loves being her older sister, playing with her, doing her hair and taking her to the dorms to meet her friends. She has a pet cat named Majesty who she uses to bribe Aizawa to buy snacks. She likes rainy days, beating Shinsou’s ass during training, being pinned by Shinsou while training, Halloween, cats and fluffy blankets. She is friends with mostly Annya, Shinsou and Sky but she doesn’t mind hanging out with the Deku or the Baku squads. Her hero name is Calypso. Her s/o is Shinsou much to Aizawa’s dismay. He is salty because this happened right under his nose, Dadzawa was too busy looking out for the 1-A boys that he completely ignored his trainee pinning his daughter down during training *he is really glad that she likes Shinsou bc he knows that he is a good kid*.

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#bnha #bnha oc #my oc #oc #since i cant draw #take these poorly written descriptions #im sorry #i tried #why are clothing so hard to write?#bnha x oc #dabi x oc #shoto x oc #todoroki x oc #shinsou x oc

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pkmnjesus · 4 years

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The 2010s Decade of PokéAni (An overview - Part 2 of 2)

← Continuing on from the first half of this PokéAni 2010s overview....

2015: Serena cuts her hair to chase a dream

February 12, 2015 Serena’s character arc had a rocky start with her not really sure what to do after becoming a Pokémon trainer meeting her Fennekin for the first time. I was really excited when her character was first announced, but I wanted to like her more than just being “that pretty girl who has a crush on Ash”. Maybe it’s because I’m not that shippy of a person, nor a romantic type of guy whatsoever but I didn’t want a main character to just be defined as a potential love interest. With her development slowly leaning towards a clear goal on wanting to become a top Pokémon Performer, I was happy she was finally carving her own path. However it was this specific episode that marked a major turning point for her ambitions, and made me truly invest in the new and improved Serena.

It was finally Serena’s debut as a Pokémon performer competing in her first Pokémon Showcase in Coumarine City, along with her friend, rival, and fellow-performer, Shauna. The performers in this showcase are divided into groups, and only one from each group gets to move on to the next round. Going into the first round, Serena was nervous yet confident. It was a Pokémon styling contest, and Serena put a lot of care and effort into making Fennekin look as cute and gorgeous as possible. But maybe it was a bit too much...

As they walk down the runway showcasing Fennekin’s fashion, everything went well and both were having a great experience in their first showcase...until something terribly went wrong. Fennekin accidentally trips over its ribbon while walking the runway which ends up scattering all the decorations Serena had styled over her. She made a crucial mistake in making the ends of the ribbon too long, thus costing them the round and ultimately eliminated her from the competition. Shauna was able to advance from her her group easily, and all Serena could do now was watch the rest of the competition from the stands. Shauna ended up winning the Showcase and her first Princess Key. It was devastating defeat going into your first performance having to lose like that. On the outside, she tried to put up a good face for her friends comforting Fennekin and even congratulating Shauna on her first victory.

But in the inside, she was grieving and blames herself for not realizing the error she made while styling Fennekin. Even Ash knew that she would be alright all along knowing her strength. The following early morning when no once was watching her besides her Pokémon, she decides to let it all out and break down in front of the ocean. It really broke my heart seeing her crying like that knowing that she really did care about pursuing a performer career. Fennekin and Pancham immediately try and cheer her up as they engaged in a lovely group hug. After understanding the disappointment in defeat, she knew that this was a part of every dream. You can’t be successful without making a couple of mistakes and that it’s okay to cry sometimes to let the bad stress out. No one is perfect, and that same goes for some of Ash’s gym battles or what happened to some of May and Dawn’s contests in the past. It was all part of the process of chasing her newly found dream and Serena finally realized that. It was just the beginning, and she wants to keep going until she gets to Aria. She decides that going forward in this new chapter, there needs to be a change. She got her big scissors out and starts trimming her own hair (for her to do that on the spot without a mirror, she was pretty darn impressive to properly cut her hair like wow lol) as Palermo watches in the distance from her limo. She knew that was the same performer with the tripping Fennekin. It’s possible she saw potential in her that early. Serena rejoins her friends and surprises them with a new look!

If you ask me, I like this new outfit of hers way better (and I think girls with shorter hair cuter ^///^). Also you can’t forget about the blue ribbon Ash gave her prior to this, it was a really cute touch knowing that he helped her get stronger through her personal journey as a trainer. Now that’s fitting ;) You know even though it was spoiled early on that she was going to have a redesign, I’m really happy on how they did it and it wasn’t just random day where Serena decides she wanted to cut her hair. I’m no girl, but apparently (I researched this) when a woman cuts her hair shorter, it symbolizes a change or a major life event that has happened. To Serena, it was a major shift in her character after the embarrassing loss. She eventually went on to win future performances evolving her Braxien, and even got to be friends with Aria! Remember, Serena is MORE than just AmourShipping...she is our Kalos Queen <3

Honorable mentions from this year: There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to 2015 PokéAni. Ash had 4 gym battles that year, including his battle with Clemont which I was very hyped about. To the point of him temporarily leaving the group to prepare himself at the Lumiose gym, that’s how much he cared about being in the best battling shape for Ash. There was that infamous “date” episode that Ash & Serena had, Meowth & Bonnie being stuck together, Cosplay Pikachu everywhere, Trevor trying to get a picture of a Moltres, and the debut of Sawyer, the Treeko trainer who was fascinated by Ash. One of my personal favorites too was when Bonnie wanted to ‘keep’ a Tyrunt/Tyrantrum (matched her pajamas too :3) she helped and befriended but unfortunately already had a trainer </3 It was a year of a couple of catches like Ash’s Noibat, Serena’s Eevee, Clemont reminiscing the time he caught a Bunnelby, and of course the lost Goomy. Within months after Ash caring for the Goomy, he was able to evolve it to a Goodra but had to leave it behind when they finally found its homeland it had to watch over with a Floette. We got two more Mega Evolution Specials before it merges with the main anime the following year, but we did get start of the XY&Z arc where Ash’s (then) Frogadier would fulfill a prophecy to save Kalos from a great danger. When they met up with Sanpei in the Ninja Village, Frogadier would finally evolve into Greninja. It would be the year when Team Flare would initiate their plans, attempting to capture all the Zygarde cores. There was one specific Zygarde core that Bonnie was able to befriend and bring it along with them naming it Squishy/Puni-chan. If you thought 2015 was awesome, wait until what PokéAni does in 2016!

2016: Gym Leaders assemble - the last line of defense

September 15, 2016 The fallout following the Kalos League took a dark turn when Lysandre broadcasts Team Flare’s manifesto to create a new world order, where only the “chosen ones” will join them. Alain, feeling betrayed with Lysandre’s true nature, decides to team up with Ash and the others to take down Team Flare. Lysandre’s gone mad, and even Malva thinks that this is too much. On other side of the story, Mairin with Serena, Professor Sycamore, and Hoenn League Champion Steven, rescued Chespie/Hari-san from Lysandre Labs.

While all the chaos is going on outside, Clemont reclaims the Lumiose Gym from Xerosic at the cost of terminating his good ol’ Clembot/Citroid assistant he invented for the Gym. I can’t remember how sad I was on robot’s death and nearly cried on it...they really made this scene heartbreaking for Clemont to push that shut down button. You can see the bot’s loyalty towards him volunteering to sacrifice himself for the greater good. But thanks to their bravery, Team Flare no longer controls one of their Zygarde (Z2). Squishy was also able to show its true form (50% so far) when it called upon the other Zygarde cells under Team Flare’s control, but thanks to Bonnie’s bond with it, she was able to breakthrough that mind control by singing Puni-chan’s song (don’t think the dub has an actual name for their version) she often sings when they’re together. The development Bonnie had with Squishy throughout this whole arc was fantastic, because it gave her more responsibility and sense of friendship even after Squishy was under the control of Team Flare destroying every thing. This was her own trial to prepare her for what’s to come when she eventually becomes an official Pokémon trainer and own an overpowered Zygarde in the future xD. Squishy also trusted Bonnie as a human it can rely on.

With Team Flare looking to be defeated, there was one more threat looming over Kalos. What was that threat? A ROCK. But no ordinary rock, it was The Giant Rock (Meaglith) that Lysandre created based off Primal energy form a beast like creature similar to Zygarde’s 50% forme. It was his last ditch effort in creating a new world, and we have never seen anything this catastrophic from an evil boss since probably Cryus. The Zygarde-like rock beast even absorbed Mairin’s Chespie which makes it even more difficult for them to stop it. It’s destination was the Anistar City Sundial to trigger a massive explosion that could destroy Kalos and the world! Everyone joins up to stop this calamity from happening, but is their strength with Mega Evolution enough to bring it down?

Then, the epic back-up finally arrives! The whole Kalos crew is here with Champion Diantha uniting all the Gym Leaders (minus Clemont/Clembot) within the region. They even got their own solo introductions. This never happened in the previous regions of the anime, where the Gym Leader would just appear once battling with Ash, but in here they interjected themselves to the Zygarde’s story arc. This really reminded me of what happened during the climax of the Black & White games, where the Gym Leaders joined forces to stop Team Plasma. But this isn’t Unova, this is Kalos, and this is their last line of heavy defense against Lysandre! With 2 League Champions, a Blaziken Mask, Ash-Greninja, Z2′s army of cores, and 7 Gym Leaders, this Giant Rock wont stand a chance! When Zygrade finally reached its 100% forme, it uses Core Enforcer to end Lysandre’s evil plot once and for all (RIP him btw). From Steven Stone’s assistance, to Clembot’s sacrifice, to Team Rocket’s aide, and Diantha leading the region’s top gym leaders, this was an epic way to end the XY&Z saga with. For them saving Chespie, and bring back peace to Kalos.

Honorable mentions from this year: The closing year for the Kalos ended in epic fashion before taking flight to Alola. Who could forget the episode where Serena wore or should I say cosplayed as Ash? She even almost got to a dance with him during Monsieur Pierre’s party. She wasn’t able to, but at least got to evolve her Eevee into a Sylveon! Clemont also had a new bride that Bonnie wasn’t too fond of (despite her asking multiple ladies to ‘keep’ for him) when her jealousy kicks in. Ash’s Noibat also evolved into Noivern, and briefly reunited with Goodra. Serena got all her Princess Keys needed to compete in the Pokémon Showcase Master Class, and even went head to head with Kalos Queen Aria for her title! She was unsuccessful, but it still won’t stop her from getting better. It was also the official birth of Ash-Greninja when he had a battle with the Kalos Champion, Diantha! Ash finally meets our Mega Evolution protagonist Alain and gained a new rival for the League. Before the Kalos League, he struggled a bit with getting his final badge from Wulfric eventually perfecting Ash-Greninja. In the Kalos League, he had a great battle with Sawyer (who can now use Mega Evolution), but came up short against Alain in the finals. It was a loss everybody was bummed about, and it would take another 3 years for him to compete in another league...we’ll get to that :> But the farewells were unforgettable. Greninja had to be let go in order to destroy the reappearing roots with Squishy and Z2 protecting Kalos from further calamity. And I know y’all can’t forget about the ‘kiss’ heard around the world when Serena leaned in for her parting gift to Ash <3 Him and Clemont have one final battle (just like how the XY series started) before heading back to Pallet Town...”And to our own way”. But 2016 had to end on a happy note, where we see Ash finding a new home in Alola enrolling in their Pokémon School program. Upon arriving, he was blessed with a Z-ring from Tapu Koko, an Alola deity, because he saw something in our boy. Through his class he made 5 new friends, got a Rotom Dex, a little Rowlet birb chilling in his backpack, and meeting a feisty Litten. WHAT. A. YEAR. !!!

2017: Stoutland’s final days with Litten

April 6, 2017 In possibly one of the most depressing and emotional episodes the Pokémon anime has to offer, the wild Litten that always stole Ash’s food finally gets to be apart of his team. But what made this little kitty finally gave Ash a chance to train it after escaping him so many times when he tried to reach out to it?

Ash tried to help the loyal Stoutland Litten was living with after following it from stealing his groceries, but due to Stoutland’s old age and declining health, there wasn’t much Nurse Joy could do. The tree shots with the falling leaves throughout the episode pretty symbolize the time Stoutland has left.

Litten, bringing back his mentor to their old spot after spending the night at the Pokémon Center, still wanted to spend as much time with Stoutland and master the Fire Fang move it was trying to learn. Then the leaves were out, and the finals days of this Stoutland were up. Litten slept with his friend one last time, and even had a dream of Stoutland attempting to chase after it going off in the distance. This symbolizes Stoutland’s departure from being under its care.

It wasn’t directly shown, nor mentioned, but it is clear to me that the Stoudland had passed away. *sobs* The gloomy rainy weather, and the dark tone shown during this part of the episode signifies the sadness and mourning every character that was involved during Litten’s struggle to find help for its good ol’ friend, not immediately realizing that Stoutland was gone for good. Meowth tried to communicate with his fellow feline to understand what it was feeling, while Ash even spends the entire duration of the rainfall with Litten even though it refused his food offer many times and didn’t want his help. This definitely took me into a feels trip because it is rare for this anime to even do an episode about a death of a Pokémon, even though it was indirect with how they presented it. Not mention, every time I was on my Stoutland ride Pokémon when playing Pokémon Moon (to help detect hidden items), ridding the big doggo always made me think about this particular episode. ;_;

Eventually the rain stopped, and a rainbow bloomed in a distance that made Litten feel better remembering the good memories it had with Stoutland. Finally, Litten decides to give Ash a chance, but didn’t want his pity over what happened. Litten was a tough little cat and wanted Ash to earn its respect through battle. Litten finally joins Ash’s team after battling with Pikachu and successfully catching it. Ash was also able to feed Litten after accepting it as its trainer. This was probably what Stoutland would have wanted for Litten.

Stoutland knew what kind of trainer he was and wanted Litten to go with Ash to finish the training they started. Besides mastering Fire Fang, they did a lot more in the future to come. When Litten saw the rainbow and familiar cloud formation, both smiled in peace. Stoutland knew that Litten was in very good hands. The memories learning and training with Stoutland are never forgotten, as Litten embarks on a new journey with brand new friends and a caring trainer.

Honorable mentions from this year: The first fully fledge year of Alola! Ash owning the first discovered Dusk Lycanroc in the anime verse, Lana getting her own Z-ring and how can I not forget Brock and Misty’s (especially MISTY) big return to the anime when the class went to Kanto! We had new Pokémon caught added to the main cast such as the birth of Lillie’s Snowy/Shiron, James’s touchy Mareanie and Kiawe’s Alolan Marowak. It was Gladion’s debut year becoming Ash’s new rival. Ash’s Z-Crystal collection kept on growing bigger through his adventures in Melemele and Akala Islands, and even clears its respective grand trials. We were also introduced to a little Cosmog turned Solgaleo, Nebby. The bad guy in Faba to steals Nebby however to summon, an Ultra Beast (Nihilego) that would eventually consume Lusamine (just like in the games, only she is less obsessed here). Thus, a Z-Powered ganbaLilie was born to save her mom! With the help of her brother and friends of course. We had family matters like Sophocles thought he was moving a way for good, and fun little fillers like the pancake and Charjabug races, or raving with an Alolan Dugtrio blonde wig. A personal favorite of mine was when Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio had mini-adventure of their own, and outsmarted Team Rocket nasty schemes. Speaking of Team Rocket, we got a short glimpse of them versus a trio of Team Skull members. Kukui’s class activities like the baseball teams, camping outdoors, switching Pokémon partners with fellow classmates for the weekend, and sleeping over at the professor’s house were awesome too! Their field trip seeing the beautiful white-colored Aether Paradise, and traveling through the mysterious Ultra Space were treat as well. We got to see the development of Kukui and Burnet’s pre-married relationship, which wasn’t featured in the games…AND WE GOT A PROPOSAL AND WEDDING OUT OF IT! There’s a reason for the animation change, and to be honest I’m happy that they did! The art style definitely fits the tone and theme of the jolly Alola region. In conclusion, 2017 was a pretty cool year if you ask me!

2018: The People of Alola vs. Necrozma

September 13, 2018 The conclusion to the Poipole/Necrozma arc is probably the biggest highlight for this year. In Japan, this marked a major end of an era because this was also the final episode on a Thursday night (for 20 years!) since the series was officially moving to Sundays starting with the episode after this (~pika ;3).

From Gladion joining the Ultra Guardians, to Team Rocket’s Matori Matrix attempting catch a fused Necrozma, to Nebby returning to assist with the mission, to rescuing and healing a weakened Lunala, to visiting Poipole’s home world and hear a Naganadel talk in their minds…I’m at the edge of my seat! The Masked Royal’s identity was first exposed here too when Faba fought alongside Kukui to ward off the Matori Matrix. Luckily Faba can keep a secret. The whole time this arc felt like it could be one Pokémon movie. This should probably make-up for why there really isn’t an Alola region based Pokémon movie for this series specifically. But going back on topic, the entire region of Alola was still in crisis as Necrozma absorbs all the Z-Power the Ultra Guardians tried to strike back with. At this point, Nebby was already fused with the Necrozma and they knew that they had to separate them just like what happened with Lunala. So what does everyone do in a time like this? UNITE! Not just the Guardian deities, not just the Ultra Guardians, not just the Aether Foundation, not just the Kahunas participating in the Manalo Festival, but Alola as a whole teamed up in various locations where citizens swarmed together and gave their “light” by doing Tapu Koko’s pose to bring Necrozma back to its original form, The Blinding/Radiant One! Nebby has been freed, and rejoins the Ultra Guardians.

In one last Ultra stand, Nebby (with Ash holding Solganium Z) and Lunala (with Gladion holding Lunalium Z) gave one final blow to Necrozma with some Ultra Aura. After unleashing the combination of Z-moves, Ultra Necrozma rises from the light and uses its power to restore all the damage that has been done to Alola, thus ending the chaos ensuing in the region. The Matori Matrix did try to go to Ultra Space when an Ultra Wormhole opened, but Tapu Koko was like “not so fast!” eventually forcing this Team Rocket unit to retreat.

Not only did they save Alola, but also brings back light to the Poipole home world. Of course the most emotional thing out of all this was saying goodbye to our little sticky Poipole friend who had remain in its home world. It left its home world to find a better home, and it did when Ash gave Poipole a spot in his team and is even an official member of the Ultra Guardians squad. Now that the home world has been restored, Poipole knew it needed to stay and protect its original home from further threats. As the Ultra Wormhole closes with Nebby and Lunala accompanying the Ultra Guardians back to Alola, Poipole painted Ash & Pikachu’s face as a sweet goodbye gesture. The flashback scenes, and the music in the end was absolutely magnificent to top it all off! This teary goodbye even had me tears. We’ll forever “like, like, love” you, Poipole <3 Maybe Ash will see it again one day...oh who am I kidding xD If you’re up to date with the anime, you know already what happens in the future ;]

Honorable mentions from this year: The year of Ultra Guardians! They’ve had multiple missions in bringing back the Ultra Beasts to where they came from. Anime debuts of Ilima, Mina, and the long-awaited Hau make their respective appearances. We also got to see James “fighting” a Toxapex, Lana & Mallow’s childhood past, Lillie getting her first Z-Crystal and even Rotom Dex joining the set of Detective Laki. There were significant evolutions like Ash’s Litten evolving to Torracat starting its rivalry with Masked Royal’s Incineroar (while Burnet fangirls over them) and Mallow’s Steenee evolving to a Tsareena. And how can I forget Sandy/Nagisa? Those Eevee mini-specials ultimately led it to Alola for our great Lana to catch! The Ula’ula trials were highly significant too when Ash trained with Acerola and tested his strength against Kahuna Nanu. Specials include Mallow’s big brother visiting home, and the 2-parter with Dia and his Zeraora in the mysterious Ultra Ruin. For Team Rocket, they temporarily get an Alolan Meowth, but got a permanent family member with a Stufful later on (Bewear’s child!). I’ve gotta mention the fun ones too like Ash dressing up as a female nurse the class helping Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center, the class making their own school play, and Faba accidentally shrinking Ash, Lillie & Sophocles. Finally, in another emotional themed episode, Molayne showed everyone the beauty and sad reality of the Minior Pokémon at the Hokulani Observatory. Such a strong theme of having precious memories with a sad outcome due to the nature of that certain Pokémon :( Just look at the variety! I could still go on, but in summary was 2018 one heck of an ULTRA year!

2019: Ash wins the Alola Pokémon League 🏆

September 15, 2019 In the last highlight of this 2010s decade, it may probably be the biggest one. Ash vs. Gladion. Pokémon League finals to determine the first ever champion of Alola. I’ve already made several posts about this (maybe one too many) in my blog, so let me quickly reiterate the significance of this special event one last time. First thing I have to mention, is that Ash’s rivalry with Gladion has been amazing from the get-go. From their first meeting at the beach by Kukui’s place with a feisty Rockruff that wanted to battle, to the Manalo Stadium battling for a prestigious championship title with Ash’s Lycanroc fully controlled over its rage with dirt. It wasn’t a traditional full 6-on-6 battle, but the 3-on-3 showdown still gave us one heck of battle! It may not be considered the best battle of all time, but it was still an amazing and fun match between two trainers who promised each other to meet in the finals of the big stage since the start of the League.

The laugh they shared, the flashbacks that was shown to us (with the awesome Type: Wild! music playing in the background), and their storytelling on who wants the W more makes you invested, and cheering for Ash all the way to finally win a major Pokémon League. Ash’s newly evolved Melmetal showcased it’s new strength but still wasn’t able to beat Gladion’s Silvally. Then, when Zoroark and Pikachu knocked each other out, it was the 1v1 Lycanroc battle that really put this friendly and competitive rivalry full circle.

Ash has NEVER defeated Gladion…until this moment. He’s been training for this, and it finally paid off. The two Lycanroc’s took no prisoners and went back and forth with one another. In the final blow of that match, Gladion’s Lycanroc used Counter against Ash’s Lycanroc that was charging towards it, but then our big brained hero fights back with their own Counter attack.

Never have I heard of countering a Counter in the Pokémon universe, but using it in this one moment nobody expected, was a perfect opportunity to swerve fans with Ash almost losing the match but ultimately gave the hypest and sickest counterattack ever that would knock out Gladion’s Lycanroc to the wall. And for the first time since the Orange League, Ash is a Champion. Only this time it is a way bigger deal! Mostly because this is a game-based series which has more meaning when it comes to the Pokémon League. He proved non-believers wrong thinking that the Kalos League was the closest he’ll ever get to victory, but I always knew he would win this one since this League started. If you look at my Twitter, I predicted it since last July and this is speaking from a person that DIDN’T believe he would have won at Kalos (I must be good at League predictions then lol). But even Ash himself couldn’t believe it. The moment his named was announced the victor and everyone cheering him, it took a moment for him to process it all until he realized he won the whole shabang. Old fans, new fans, and casual viewers a like were buzzing within 24 hours after this episode released in Japan that caught mainstream media attention. People who have never seen a Pokémon anime episode in their life (or a subbed episode for that matter) past the original series, wanted to see how this episode went down to see a childhood hero achieve a major trophy.

This is how big of a pop-culture icon Ash & Pikachu was among many generations of fans since the show’s launch internationally. To me personally, it was the reason why I’ve always watched this anime for years since 1998 as a kid and NEVER stopped watching (took a few breaks here and there growing up but still have been consistent and up to date! Never grew out of it whatsoever ...why would I even made this decade post?). I was waiting all that time for him to win the big one and he finally did it in 2019. The long journey was worth watching all those episodes (NEVER skipped a “filler”). I doubted at times, but deep down I know I always believed. I grew up with Ash and he feels like an imaginary brother. Seeing him hold that trophy felt like my childhood had closure. He became the FIRST EVER champion in the Alola anime-verse and no one can take that away from him. BUT, the journey isn’t over yet. Remember, his dream is to become Pokémon MASTER, NOT a CHAMPION which people often treat the two as the same. He probably still wants to go to more places, so he can get stronger and be friends with even more Pokémon. Finally, I’m glad that it was Gladion who was Ash’s opponent in order to get the title. The boys and the doggos shake hands in the end as sign of respect for one another. Unfortunately, Guzzlord had to ruin the closing ceremony afterparty…but our Alola Champion and his friends were able to take care of that properly :)

Honorable mentions from this year: Another marked an end of an era, but a start of a new one too! From overcoming his final Grand Trial and gathering his Z-Crystals, Ash was ready for the League. If you ask me, this was one of the best Pokémon Leagues ever because of how much importance each competitor played a role in that tournament, and the match-ups were good. It wasn’t just filler characters or last minute rivals. Alola had a lot of great characters! I couldn’t stress that enough. But besides the historic Alola League, we also saw the continuation of Brock & Misty’s trip to Alola, the class’ crash-course golf lessons with none other than Kahili! Ash catching a rare Meltan that appeared out of nowhere, Guzma’s debut that EVERYONE was excited about, Ash challenging Ryuki’s Kantonian Gym, Lana’s fully evolving Primarina (thanks to hooking a Kyogre mind you!), Mallow’s meal for Tapu Koko, and Matori’s unexpected visit to the Team Rocket base in Alola. Ash even time-traveled to the past and met Kukui when he was little. It would ultimately build up to the actual final full 6-on-6 battle between Ash faces Kukui (just like in the original Sun & Moon games), and it was a 5-STAR BATTLE in my book for this 5-PARTER battle. Seriously, they didn’t had to make an exhibition match that good but they did, and Ash WON that too! Ash’s Incineroar evolved and Pikachu finally defeats Tapu Koko in a battle. For the feels portion of this year, Mallow briefly reunited with her mom and getting a Shaymin to care for in the process. The whole side-arc with Lillie, Magearna and a missing Mohn had a huge impact on our young miss. She got a Z-Ring out of it, just like everyone else in the class with their respective focus. And, the final episode of Sun & Moon was probably the most emotional farewell episodes in the anime’s history similar (or even greater) than Brock & Misty’s goodbye in Johto for you nostalgia fans out there. Everyone in the Alola crew knew what to do post-League, but for Ash, he wanted to explore the Pokémon world more, which transitions to the new on-going series today. 2019 of the Pokémon anime will never be forgotten!

LET’S GO to the 2020s and beyond!

We already got a taste of what the new series brought us late 2019, from Pikachu’s pre-series background story to our newly appointed research fellows, Ash & Go. It is was Lugia brought these two together, and are now living under the same roof. And with Go having his newly caught Scorbunny by his side after that Gigantamax Snorlax incident, it shows us a little taste of the cool new adventures await them when traveling in the Galar region. It’s also refreshing to see updated animation within Kanto where they’re home base is at, and I absolutely cannot wait for them to go back to other past regions with this fresh new art style. With Go’s goal to catch every Pokémon there is for him to index, he’s bound to meet Mew again one day! He’s literally every Pokémon games’ protagonist and I’m glad we have a main character like him who actually focuses on catching them all. As for Ash, he’s still our Ash carving his own unique path on his continuing journey to become a Pokémon Master because it’s more than being the strongest trainer and more than just catching Pokémon.

Some people may not be invested in this series yet, but it’s okay as it is still new! Everyone has that “pacing is slow” excuse from EVERY anime series, or it may not just be your cup of tea. But, I’m sure it will definitely pick up the pace sooner or later especially with the upcoming episodes announced (as of this posting) getting a Koharu-focus episode and the debut of Galar Champion Leon facing off against another League Champion...the return of Lance! Now that’s hype...and that’s what I’m looking forward to in this series more returns and cameo appearances hopefully. They gotta make it special of course and not just some fan-service to please series-specific fans. Oh, and Ash competing in the Galar gym challenge too of course! In addition to that, we can look forward to the new movies in the 2020s! We already got a preview of the 23rd PokéAni film, Pokémon the Movie - Coco...so we Tarzan now?! and it looks like they’re still continuing the AU-verse Ash instead of using the canon series’ universe. I mean if The Power of Us was great, you gotta give this movie a watch too! This is what I love about the anime because it separates itself from their game counterparts. The anime is doing its own thing with their original stories to tell.

WOW! What a decade. I’ve put in a lot of time reminiscing my experience watching the anime this past decade on these 2-part posts, and I had a lot of fun. From being a high school student all the way to being a full-time working adult...time truly flies by quickly. If you’ve read everything I had to say (I’m sure there are a few typos I probably missed), then thank you for your time (and sorry for the dash spam lol)! Feel free share your own favorite PokéAni moment decade in the replies if you choose to do so. Also, check out the strawpolls I made for what you think the best Pokémon anime battle and movie is in the 2010s. Now, it’s time for us to GO to 2020 and the next decade of PokéAni to witness multiple generations of new Pokémon series to come (hopefully they’ll still be making them by the end of 2029...and your boy P J will still be watching as a 30+ year old adult, heh). Alrighty, let’s have some fun! ϞϞ(๑⚈ ․̫ ⚈๑)∩

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catsafarithewriter · 5 years

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From the resent promt list (if you feel up to it): 15 (“I’ve come to the conclusion that I can no longer rely on you to make any rational decisions.") for Baron and Haru. Have fun! :)

Day 4: Prank War

A/N: So I am definitely cheating and re-purposing a half-written prompt I got sent ages ago (sorry, nalua!) for Day 4: Prank War of the TCR Birthday Bash. This is a human AU ficlet.

Based on this post.

Having Louise for a sister meant that Baron wasn’t entirely unaccustomed to strange messages at stranger times of day.

Like the time she had texted that there was an intruder making noises in her bathroom, and only later sent a photo of a ROOMBA hover trapped behind the door that her landlord had set to automatic.

(Baron had been halfway to her house armed with a crowbar before the situation had been resolved.)

Or the week that she communicated solely in memes.

(She sent him the entirety of the Bee movie. Twice.)

Or the 11pm text demanded to know which Greek philosopher followed Plato.

(Aristotle. It was Aristotle. And she was cheating in a pub quiz.)

(She won.)

So he wasn’t completely shocked when he received the frustratingly contextless text stipulating the urgent need for him to send a photo of a shaved leg.

He scanned the message for signs of any obvious typos and, when he came to the reluctant conclusion that Louise had meant what she’d said, sent back, “Why?”

“it’ll be funny”

“You already have shaved legs. Take your own picture”

“a guy accidentally messaged me and he wants a pic”

“There are easier ways to pick up guys. Also. You already have a girlfriend??”

“I KNOW. god. okay but he’s being creepy and needs to be taken down like a 100 pegs you’re my big brother aren’t you meant to protect me?”

“We’re twins, Louise”

“an even better reason why you should be helping me twinkie”

“*twinnie damn autocorrect”

Baron ignored the mistake. “You were born first”

“taller = big brother”

“You’ve been calling yourself the ‘alpha twin’ for years”

“your point is?”

Baron didn’t reply.

Eventually, Louise sent, “Humbeeeeeeerrt”

“Do you know how much effort it takes to shave a leg?”

“try shaving two on a regular basis. it sucks. okay but seriously H this guy has obviously pressured some girl into giving him her number and the fake one she gave just happens to be mine I’m not going to throw this chance away come on he’s an absolute Creep he asked for a shower pic I NEED to troll him”

Baron stared at the almost incomprehensible mess of run-on sentences, weighing up the options as if he wasn’t already mentally commited to the cause.

“How much leg do you need?”

“!!! Thank you!! also as much as you can convincingly pass for a lady”

“How long is this going to take?”

“lol like no time at all”

There was no answer at Baron’s door when Haru knocked, so she let herself in with her spare key and found the beginnings of dinner in the works. It looked like Baron had at least selected out the food - pots and pans arranged and the vegetables ready to be prepared - but that was where it ended. Which was a pretty long way off completion, considering that she had been promised a meal. The radio was faintly playing and the lights were still on.

So. A tad horror movie-esque.

She knocked hesitantly on a wall and called up, “Uh, is anyone home?”

There was a noise from the floor above, and she cautiously took to the stairs. If this was a horror movie, she considered, she’d probably be the first to die. Curiosity and the cat and all.

The sounds of life - or, at least, movement - lead her to the bathroom door and she gently nudged it open.

She stared.

Baron stared back.

He flashed a nervous grin. “Hello, Haru.”

“We were going to have dinner, remember?” she asked, latching onto the sole remnant of logic she had left. “You invited me over, remember?”

Baron looked at her, and then at the single, hairless leg sticking out of the bathtub. “Ah.”

“Yes,” Haru agreed. “Ah.”

She swept her gaze over the scene before her: her boyfriend predominantly hidden beneath a layer of bubbles save for his head, his phone in one hand, and that immaculately shaved leg tipped with hot pink nail polish.

“I like the toes,” she eventually settled on.

Baron wiggled his foot. “A bit brighter than my usual shade, I’ll admit, but I think it suits me.”

“Is it mine?”

“To be fair, I didn’t have any other to use.”

A beat went by. Haru had exhausted all other possible lines of conversation and Baron seemed unusually taciturn. She inhaled and then sighed heavily into her facepalming hand. “Alright. Alright. Now I’ve come to the conclusion that I can no longer rely on you to make any rational decisions, can you tell me what the hell is going on?”

He looked at her, and then his phone, his leg, and then back to her. “A favour for my sister?” he offered.

“Oh god, is she blackmailing you again?”

“No!” Baron dropped his gaze. “Anyway, she doesn’t have anything to blackmail me with since I asked you out.”

“Sure. And what kind of favour-not-blackmail requires you to pose so prettily for the world’s most misleading selfie when we’re meant to be having dinner?”

“She’s trolling a guy.”

A flicker of understanding - far faster than Baron had pegged Louise’s plan - flashed across Haru’s face. “Oh. Ohhh.”

Baron raised an eyebrow. “The speed at which you accepted that alarms me.”

“Then you’ve never been chatted up by a guy who won’t leave you alone,” Haru answered and, fair enough, Baron conceded, she had a point. “Have you sent Louise the picture?”

He nodded, and she motioned for him to hand her the phone. “Now, dry yourself off and get some clothes on so we can have dinner. I’m starving.”

It was just as they were moving onto pudding that there was a ring at the door and Louise arrived in a flurry of chaos and dramatics. She flounced to the spare seat at the table with, “I got a reply from leg guy!”

Baron paused in sharing out the tiramisu to give his sister a withering look. “Hello to you too, Louise.”

“Leg guy?” Haru echoed. “Is that what we’re calling him now?”

“Well, there are other things I could call him that would be far less suitable for the dinner table. Hi Haru.”

Haru couldn’t help it. She grinned. “Heya, Louise. Baron’s told me all about your trolling plan.”

“I take it you approve?”

“I love it. So, what did he say?”

“He wants to see the rest of me.”

Both ladies looked to Baron.

“I’m not shaving my other leg,” he immediately said.

Louise’s phone beeped, and she pulled it up. “Oh wow, I leave him on ‘read’ for five minutes and he’s already getting lewd. Trust me, guys, I’m saving you by not showing that pic. Whoever Yuki is, she dodged a bullet.”

Haru suddenly went very quiet. “He thinks he’s talking to a Yuki?” she eventually asked.

“Yeah… why…?”

“I told a guy who was hitting on me last night that my name was Yuki,” Haru said, her voice getting progressively lowering with every admission. “And gave him a fake number.”

“You gave him my number,” Louise corrected.

“I thought it was random!” Haru cried. “I was picking numbers out of my head, I didn’t mean to pick an actual number I knew!”

“You told him your name was Yuki?”

“It was the name of the cat I had as a kid,” Haru admitted miserably. “I did tell him I was taken. And, even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have been interested. He was a creep.”

Louise elbowed her brother. “See? I told you he was a creep.”

“Yes, yes, your intuition is very smart,” Baron dutifully replied. “Now, hand me this phone so I can teach this creep a lesson.”

Louise hesitated. “Baron, I love you, but I am not burying a body for you.”

“The only thing I’m going to be killing today is this snivelling brat’s ego.”

Louise raised an eyebrow and, after sharing a shrug with Haru, passed across her phone. Baron set to taking a selfie.

“What if he’s bi?” Haru asked suddenly.

“Or pan?” Louise added.

Baron sent the photo and hesitated. “Then I guess I have a date.”

Louise flicked a piece of tiramisu at him. “You also have a girlfriend.”

“The offer of a date,” Baron quickly amended. There was a ping from Louise’s phone, and the two ladies watched as his eyebrows rose. “Or not.” The eyebrows rose a little further. “I’m vaguely impressed by how many times he manages to repeat the same word in various forms. That is a one-word vocabulary and no mistake.”

“Give,” Louise commanded.

“Hang on, I have an idea.” He quickly took another photo, this one highlighting the stark comparison between the shaved and non-shaved parts of his leg, his face visible just to make his identity abundantly clear. “I don’t want him getting any ideas about my first photo being anything but mine.”

Following that, Louise’s phone beeped several more times in rapid succession, each one shorter than the previous. Louise finally managed to snatch back her phone. “Are you quite done?”

“It looks like he’s had enough for today.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Louise’s eyes widened as she scrolled through the waves of swearing she’d received. Haru leant over her shoulder and gave an appreciative whistle.

“You weren’t kidding about the vocab thing,” Haru said. “Oh, wait, he got inventive - there’s a ‘mother’ in front of that one. And... he’s finished.” She gave an impish grin. “Well. On to dessert.”

Baron had almost forgotten about the incident until a week later, when Louise texted him again.

“message from leg guy’s number again” she sent.

Baron paused in his book to answer back. “Is it an apology?”

“not from him”

“?”

“from his flatmate. he apologises for his ex-friend and wants to know if you’re single. name’s Toto”

“You know I’m taken??”

“that’ll be a no then”

#nalua93 #replies #tcr birthday bash 2019 #tcr birthday bash #the cat returns #cat writes #day 4 prank war #fun times after the previous prompt

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crxpeek · 4 years

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im so sorry for your family being shitty :((( some of your favourite christmas movies maybe ? fave books ? OH also you've probably gotten asked this before but how did you learn to make gifs ??

Yeah... I should really learn to expect less from them yet I’m somehow still disappointed. May the food of the gods (stuffing) restore my faith in humanity somewhere.

Alright...

Favorite Christmas Movies:

Now I’ll be honest, my favorite is the original animated Grinch. Like I love that special so much. I haven’t watched it this year but I feel like that’s because this year part of my brain has decided to be the Grinch itself so whoops. Not like the mean ruin Christmas parts but like the “Christmas kinda stinks” parts.

Let’s Peanuts. I have a Charlie Brown tree, have for the past... idk 5 years now? Usually it sits in my room but I didn’t put it in here this year, nor did I uhhh assemble it. Tells you how ready for the holidays I have been.

Does any one remember the Good Luck Charlie Christmas movie because I really like that one too. Actually have a bit of a fond memory of my mother and I watching it just the two of us, laughing our asses off, having a good time.

Fave Books:

Well I’m not really much of a reader anymore. I say anymore because in like 4th grade I was holding that 12th grade level reading shit and it made me really hate reading for the most part because we could only pick from like certain grade levels and I found the majority of books to be boring as shit. One trip to detention also may have helped me despise reading a bit more. So honestly i read like a lot more comic books than I do books. And the only real book I’ve picked up in the past who knows how many years I’ve talked about a lot so today I’m gonna talk about my favorite comic books.

I’m gonna start on Shade, The Changing Girl/Woman. So Shade was one of the first ones I really picked up. I mostly got it because it was under the DC’s Young Animal imprint and my mind said “Hey if Gerard Way (since he was leader of the uhhh imprint, I guess that’s how to phrase it) thinks this is fucking amazing maybe I will too.” And honestly it was one hell of a trip where I loved every minute of it . There’s a lot of themes of being lost and trying to figure yourself out (I mean that’s my takeaway from it at least) and I connected with that. Also I found it to be really artsy there’s these insane panels that are just gorgeous and take up like 2 whole pages and tell a story alone with everything. And the colors! They’re super vivid and I just got lost in this wondrous world of the series itself.

Speaking of Gerard & the Young Animal imprint... Doom Patrol. What a beautiful series in both comic and TV show form. Many dynamic characters and a sense of comfort. I remember this one interview, they’re asking Gerard about comics, specifically Doom Patrol, and they ask him about what really brought him to it and I could be remembering this wrong but he said something along the lines of “It was the first comic book I knew of that showed a therapy session, it showed that it was okay to not be okay”. It’s been a while since I’ve either read or heard that interview but like... That kinda stuck with me. And I feel like that can still apply to the comic today. Like it’s a very well driven comic and it does have those moments where it’s like “Hey, we all have problems and that’s okay.” It’s almost reassuring to me. Because you can watch these characters be in their own little problems and they try to work through them the best they can. And that’s important to me. That’s how I feel also currently. I have my own problems, trying to work through them. I think the only complaint I’d ever give you about Doom Patrol would be focused in on issue 8 because fucking cat sex. But like... it’s a weird comic I’m gonna allow it to do that.

How I learned to make GIFs:

Long story short. I used to use like EZGIF to make GIFs on my own and.. they fucking sucked. So I downloaded Photoshop and was like “Fuck it I’ll learn to make a GIF on my own.” So I started playing around with things and at one point in time I look up a tutorial from a big name GIFmaker on the site and I try following it. And I was like “Well this doesn’t seem to bad” (Also didn’t help that there’s an action line that does the majority of my work for me. I just have to select frames, crop/resize, and maybe fuck around with colors if I want to lol) And then I was like “Hey what if I posted these to tumblr.” Enter my uhhh Ways To Fake It GIFset. That was the first one I did. I cherrypicked some scenes and was like “I think these will look good” Played around with colors a lil (I really don’t do that much anymore I think the last set I played around with colors on was Falling) and I was like “Okay these look great”. Of course I also had to make sure they fit that 3mb limit. (I know it’s like 5 now but I prefer keeping it to 3mb to keep it as uncompressed as possible... with lossy already usually lol, so it’s a lil compressed but not like YouTube video compression fucking you over compression. If that even somehow makes sense.) And yeah then I just kinda started playing around with some more videos and stuff. Like I have some old GIF tests hanging around including some text tests. And then I just started making some ones at random. Like I have a shitton from like random Strokes videos & so. And then I just kinda fell into making sets I was like “fuck it these videos/artists are cool they get sets because it’s my blog and I say so” (Also how I ended up with that whole Saturday series as I call it.) Another thing too was I was discovering these videos and stuff that I didn’t know existed and I was like “Hmm yeah I’ve never seen GIFs of this in my life let me fix it.” (This is how I accidentally because #1 CRX/Nick V. content provider, because turns out there’s a lot of stuff out there) so yeah. That’s that I guess. That really did not answer that question much but longer story way shorter: a tutorial and photoshop experimentation.

#I'm a rambling madman and this is PROOF #Long Post #You know I have to tag it like that because this is gonna be a BITCH on mobile #Thanks for these Nina #Mail Time #ninasinthebedroom

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skammovistarplus · 5 years

Text

Culture and Translation - S01E08

If you read all of this, congratulations. I think this is by far the longest culture and translation post I’ve done yet.

CLIP 1: Hit Me With Your Best Shot / One Way or Another

I didn’t get to this part last episode, but as some people have mentioned, Nora lives with her parents. Spanish grammar has a feature called “masculine generics.” I’ll quote Wikipedia: “Grammatical gender in Spanish refers to how Spanish nouns are categorized as either masculine (often ending in -o) or feminine (often ending in -a). As in other Romance languages—such as Portuguese, to which Spanish is very similar—a group of both males and females, or someone of unknown gender, is usually referred to by the masculine form of a nouns and or pronoun.” Because of this, we can infer that one of Nora’s parents is a man, but we don’t know whether the other parent is a man or a woman. Twitter likes the idea of making the Eskild expy her parent, and Linn his husband, but I don’t think it’s caught on in here.

Buah, ¿sabéis quién triunfó también en la fiesta? (“Hey, you know who also triumphed at the party?”): I have never seen “to triumph” being used this way in English, but that is the verb Amira uses and I really wanted to keep the idea of hooking up with people as a victory, something you win at.

Es que me parece súper fuerte, ¿no? (“I just think it’s too much, no?): “Fuerte” (literally “strong”) is Spanish slang for something that crosses a line or is “extra” in some way.

Hombre, pues no sé cómo lo veréis (“Man, I don’t know about you”): What Viri says would be literally translated as, “Man, I don’t know how you’re going to see it.”

Ya, y a ésta le van a llegar los cuernos hasta el techo del gimnasio (“Yeah, and the side girls are going to reach the gym ceiling all standing on top of each other”): Okay, so here is a line where I took liberties in order to get the most out of the line and the visual. In Spanish, when someone cheats on their significant other, we say that the person being cheated on has “cuernos” (horns) or is a “cornudo” (horned). So, Cris says that Cristian is cheating on Lara so often and so much that her horns are going to grow as high as to reach the gym ceiling. In English, the closest translation is “cuckold,” which comes from the Old French word for the cuckoo bird. Since I couldn’t work with the actual translation, I reworked the line to say that the side girls could reach the gym ceiling if they stood on top of each other. Sort of like that factoid that says if we stacked every human up on one another, we’d be 1/4th of the way to Venus.

I think Nora means that it’s better if she doesn’t flash a UV light over her room, but it’s not clear in Spanish either.

I really can’t remember whether we ever played dodgeball in high school P.E., but the whole premise just sounds like a pair of broken glasses waiting to happen.

CLIP 2: Skam España didn’t come to play

Fun fact: like Lucas, I hadn’t had anything to eat all day when this clip dropped, and a kebab sounded amazing, lol. Another fun fact! When I realized what Lucas was doing, I had to stop the clip and take like 5 minutes to regroup, I was that shook. I was really late recapping this clip on Twitter because I couldn’t deal with the enormity of it all.

Mis padres se pelean como cada mes, mes y medio (“My parents fight every four to six weeks”): Lucas says, “every month, month and a half.” “4 to 6 weeks” was shorter and, I felt, closer to the way English speakers talk about time. But really, Skam España is basically hell to sub because they talk quicker than any other Skam, including the French. If a sentence can be made shorter, but still keep the exact same meaning, we as a team feel blessed, lol.

Just in case it wasn’t immediately obvious, they literally just bought the kebabs and Eva didn’t spend the whole morning fixing them. And, also, that Lucas comes out to Eva over kebabs is an intentional homage to the og. In fact, in Spain, we eat kebabs like sandwiches, we don’t pick at them with forks/tongs, so Lucas and Eva are eating them like Jonas and Isak did.

I thought this would be as good a place as any to link to the Wikipedia article on LGBT rights in Spain. I’ll quote from the article: “Spain has been recognised as one of the most culturally liberal and LGBT-friendly countries in the world and LGBT culture has had a significant role in Spanish literature, music, cinema and other forms of entertainment as well as social issues and politics. Public opinion on homosexuality is noted by pollsters as being overwhelmingly positive, with a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2013 indicating that more than 88 percent of Spanish citizens accept homosexuality, making it the most LGBT-friendly of the 39 countries Pew polled. LGBT visibility has also increased in several layers of society such as the Guardia Civil, army, judicial, and clergy. However, in other areas such as sports, the LGBT community remains marginalised. Spanish film directors such as Pedro Almodóvar have increased awareness regarding LGBT tolerance in Spain among international audiences. In 2007, Madrid hosted the annual Europride celebration and hosted World Pride in 2017. The cities of Madrid and Barcelona also have a reputation as two of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world. Gran Canaria is also known worldwide as an LGBT tourist destination.”

CLIP 3: Making his way downtown

Tampoco es para tanto (“it’s not that serious”): Another translation would be, “it’s not as bad as all that.” I think the line I went with was clearer and more specific.

Yo creo que ha mejorado (“I think it looks better”): Eva says, “I think it’s gotten better,” but I reworked it. Lol sometimes I wonder if people read these and wonder why I just do whatever the fuck I like, but I promise I try to stick to what sounds more natural to me in English.

Te está durando mucho (“It’s taking too long to heal”): Cris actually says that the cold sore is lasting too long (presumably lasting too long on Viri’s face, lol).

Okay, so my experience with Spanish guys is that they initiate cunnilingus on their own and without prodding (i.e. will eat girls out), in the hopes that the woman will return the favor. I have surveyed my friends and they have reported similar experiences. Girls have said that guys have never not gone down on them, and guys have reported having no issues doing it. Og Skam actually backs me up, as Chris says that a guy did it to her, once, in Gran Canaria. So, while the girls are pleased for Viri that Alejandro went down on her, they’re not about to give him the King of the School slo-mo treatment Jonas received for doing the same. (I do have to note that the girls were impressed that Jonas not only went down on an older girl, but that he actually got her to come with oral only.) Given what we later learn about Viri and Alejandro’s encounter, I’d bet money on Alejandro hoping Viri would take the hint and suck him off in return, but since she doesn’t mention doing so, I think she just didn’t.

I think Viri did allow Alejandro to go down on her when his cold sore was already visible, and I’m legit appalled, tbh.

I learned of the Callao youth center through Skam España, because I’ve never needed to go. That said, it is a real youth center and they were pleased and touched about being featured on the show. Honestly, if even one teenager in need learned of their services through the show, I’ll consider Skam España a resounding success.

I love that Amira has seemingly gone with Cris to that youth center sometime before the show. Tangent, but I love the way the Amira/Cris friendship (and relationship, if you wanted to read into them that way) has been developed through the season. I remember having discussions early in the season about why Cris would join the losers, when Viri referred to her as “that pretty girl over there” and Cris was surrounded by a group of people when she was first introduced. In my opinion, Amira and Cris are best friends, and before the girl squad, everyone else was just along for the ride. But I’m looking forward to what we could learn about Amira and Cris’ friendship (and relationship) in further seasons.

CLIP 4: 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Spanish Daughter

Dating in Spain! The concept of “a date” exists in Spain, it’s called “una cita.” But we rarely, if ever, use this word. In fact, I don’t think it’s been used at all through the season. What we do is “quedar,” i.e. arrange to meet at a specific place and time. But it’s important to note that you can “quedar” with your friends, a hookup or a boyfriend/girlfriend. Since this arrangement isn’t exclusive to romantic relationships, I’ve translated it as “hanging out.” Again, the word “cita” (date) exists in Spanish, so if it’s ever used, I want to make sure it has the proper impact for the audience. Other dating vocab:

“Salir juntos” (to go out together): If two people “salen juntos,” they’re a couple.

“Salir conmigo” (to go out with me): If you ask someone to “sal conmigo,” you’re asking them to hang out as a couple.

“¿Quieres ser mi novio/novia?” (Do you want to be my boyfriend/girlfriend?): This is how you’d make a relationship official, beyond just arranging to hook up.

Pillado (“hung up on her”): Lit. “caught.”

Cris says “bye!” in English. Jorge then says, “Really?”

Y parecía tonto (“And he seemed dumb”): This is a truncated, common Spanish idiom. The full idiom is, “y parecía tonto cuando lo compramos” (and he seemed dumb when we bought him). It is used when a person who is frequently timid or a wallflower does something assertive or takes charge.

Pero que andar quedando es de novios (“but that to have standing dates is a couple thing”): As I mentioned earlier, we don’t use the word “cita” all that often, and, as Hugo tells it, Cris didn’t use it to turn him down. Here’s what Cris meant: Cris thinks she and Hugo had a good time at Nora’s party, but she doesn’t want to make a thing out of it. She doesn’t want to hang out one-on-one. That includes hanging out together at each other’s houses, like Eva and Jorge sometimes do, or go do something together, like going to the movies or to get something to eat.

A veces Cris se pasa un poco de directa (“sometimes Cris is a bit savage”): I reworked this because “directa” means “straight-forward,” but “se pasa” is slangy. “Se pasa” would mean “to go too far,” so a literal translation would be, “sometimes Cris goes a little too far with the straight-forwardness.”

A mí me parece guay que haya ido con la verdad por delante (“I think it’s cool she was straight up”): Okay, so the literal translation is, “I think it’s cool she was honest upfront.” But… It’s Jorge. He’s the Jonas expy. And I just could not and didn’t want not to use “straight up,” i.e. Jonas’ catchphrase.

El sábado ¡a las nueve, tío! (“Saturday… at 9pm, dude!”): This is another underrated moment. I don’t know if people remember, but Jorge’s excuse for not attending Nora’s party was that he was playing football at 9pm on a Saturday. Here he actually gets a text to play a game at 9pm on a Saturday, and he’s like, “who the fuck are these people?”

As I explained on Twitter at the time, Jorge mimics calling the cops over Eva being hungry. The joke is that Jorge would consider it an emergency that necessitates police involvement. This is a really common (and corny, natch) joke in Spain. We’re very dramatic, so obviously any situation, no matter how mundane, is on the verge of needing police intervention.

We all know that when Jorge asked Eva what she wanted to eat, her answer was pizza. Right? Just checking we’re all on the same page.

CLIP 5: Vaginas and languages

Note about the message in Arabic: I was the one who originated the translation, after I asked a Middle Eastern friend if she could translate it for me. She translated the note as saying, “Equality between women and men – Rashid Alfadhili.” I thought it might be a direct quote from a writer or an activist, but if you search for the name online, all the references are to my Twitter. So, who is the mysterious Rashid Alfadhili?

The obgyn is singing Havana D’Primera’s Me dicen Cuba. The actor is indeed Cuban, and the character speaks in a noticeable Cuban accent.

If you have further questions about The Herpes Thing, I reblogged a post by @niteskycs and added my own commentary, including quotes from this scene.

There’s one more thing I want to mention wrt candidiasis/thrush/yeast infection. Candidiasis is an opportunistic infection and so, it’s an infection that takes advantage of an opportunity not normally available, such as a host with a weakened immune system. Because of this, and before antiretroviral drugs, people with AIDS often suffered from candidiasis and could die from it. Thus, it is notable that the obgyn thinks Viri may have candidiasis (which, again, gets ruled out). It makes it really obvious that he suspects Viri’s actual problem might be that she has a weakened immune system.

If you have further questions or commentary about this scene, feel free to hit up my inbox, reblog, reply, etc.

The positions of the girls behind Viri are a reference to og Skam.

CLIP 6: It always comes back to dicks

Cris is playing a game which consists of pulling the tab on a can back and forth as she recites the alphabet, until the tab breaks apart. The letter that she was saying out loud when the tab broke apart is the initial of her crush/loved one/person she’s fated to be with. Which in this case is H!

Alguien que haga que, sabes, te entre aquí una cosilla en el estómago (“someone who makes it so… you know, that makes you feel butterflies in your stomach”): The literal translation is, “someone who, you know, makes you feel a little thing in your stomach,” but Eva is referring to the “butterflies in your stomach” metaphor. The metaphor exists in Spanish as well (that’s what Bely Basarte’s Mariposas is about), but I think it’s been adopted after the English idiom became well-known in Spanish.

Un gilipollas integral (“an unadulterated asshole”): Viri says “integral,” which is a word we’d normally use to refer, like, to whole-grain bread or rice. While I think Viri calling Alejandro a “whole-grain asshole” would’ve been hilarious, I thought “unadulterated” would also be just as funny. As in, Alejandro’s assholishness has not been contaminated with any niceness. He’s 100% pure asshole.

Unos colegas y yo hemos alquilado un local (“Some buddies and I have rented a place”): This is a very Spanish way of putting things, I think. “Un local” is basically any business premises or shop unit (such as, for instance, at a mall). It can be as sparse as four walls and a water outlet, or a fully furnished club, or even factory premises on the outskirts of a city. Alejandro wasn’t very forthcoming with details, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the “local” when this clip dropped. But, we’ve since come to learn that, in the universe of Skam España, there’s a Kose Club, which can be rented for private parties. And this is the place Alejandro and his buddies rented.

Capullo (“Prick”): “Capullo” is yet another word for penis. Its non-penis meaning is “flower bud” and, when talking about dicks, makes reference to the head of the penis. “Capullo,” in the dick sense, is pejorative.

CLIP 7: Doing recon

I’m assuming that, for this specific party, Alejandro and his buddies hired people who would serve alcohol to minors. Or just had some friends play the part of bartenders unofficially. Because this is some illegal ass shit.

De puta madre / De fruta madre (“That’s fucking great” / “That’s ducking great”): It looks as if Amira has renounced swearing, as well. I seem to recall that Sana Bakkoush would swear, but I can’t think of any example off the top of my head. Anyway, Amira accidentally swears when she compliments Cris’ pumpkin accessory. The girls call her on it, and she says a clean version. I’ve seen it subbed as “fruiting great,” which is the literal translation (“fruta” is fruit), but I looked into the ways Americans censor their speech, and went with “ducking,” myself.

Either way, I was really proud of myself when this clip dropped. There were several instances where I could’ve gone for a swear word while subbing Amira, but I had the feeling the character was intentionally keeping it clean. It felt great to have that feeling confirmed within the show.

Edward Scissorhands is really iconic, but Sweeney Todd came out in 2007. And, you know, it’s Tim Burton, not Benh Zeitlin. Hardly an obscure director. I guess Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane wasn’t specific enough?

Is one of the second years dressed as Inu Yasha, or is it just me?

Que son súper chungas (“those girls are bad news”): I’d say “chunga” is most closely translated as being “ghetto.” These girls are bad news, girls you don’t want to fuck with, because they will fuck back with you ten times as hard. You know how in 90s sitcoms there are always older girls hanging in the school bathrooms teaching the underclasswomen to smoke? A girl who is “chunga” is that older girl.

Putivuelta (“slut round”): I’m pretty sure the concept doesn’t exist in English and, if it does, I haven’t come across it yet. When you arrive at a club, you and your friends check out the whole place, scoping out hot singles. As far as I’m aware, “putivueltas” are only ever performed by women and queer men, and the targets can be of any gender. I’m sure straight dudes have a name for what is essentially scoping out the place for chicks to hit on, but straight Spanish men, at least, do not call it “putivueltas.”

Uh, what is that awkward Hugo and Amira’s conversation about? Amira lets Hugo know that Cris is scoping out the place for singles, so she’s both letting him know Cris will be back and that Cris has moved on from Hugo onto newer pursuits. And then there’s a medium close up on Amira’s expression, and she looks Over It. Is Amira jealous of Cris because she wants Hugo? Or jealous of Hugo because she wants to be able to pine for Cris openly??????? (By the way, I assume saying “slut round” doesn’t count as swearing, Amira?)

The song in this clip is Brisa Fenoy’s Free. Brisa Fenoy also wrote Lo Malo, which the characters make references to and eventually shows up later in the season. Here’s Free, in English:

Baby, I am free I am free

Baby, I am free I’m ready for me I go out in what I want to go out I’m better without you I like everything

Without additives Without artificial flavoring, without lies Without regrets Without giving everything and lose it afterwards Without baggage to travel lighter

Without terms that put a brake in my progress Without modifying us with so much augmentation Let’s be flesh and bone people With a lot of virtues and few flaws

Let’s get together already Through transformation we have to demolish What we were will last me the day before The future is today, what are you going to be?

Baby, I am free I’m ready for me I go out in what I want to go out I’m better without you I like everything

Without tricks like those that hurt us Without losing those pounds that fool us My body is mine, and if I want I eat what I like, I’m the one in charge

We’re what we do to change what we are No more sexism, together with each other We’re not sex symbols, there’s a bit of everything here Let’s be so authentic that they can’t prevail over us

Respect and freedom We have to demand it Let’s be a unit They won’t be able to create us Respect and freedom We have to demand it Let’s be a unit They won’t be able to shut us up

Baby, I am free I’m ready for me I go out in what I want to go out I’m better without you I like everything about me

Respect and freedom We have to demand it They won’t be able to shut us up

Here and now let’s all shout Baby I am free

CLIP 8: Moments before tragedy strikes

Si nos hubieran cobrado la entrada, se hubieran sacado un pastizal (“if they charged for admission, they’d have made out like bandits”): The literal translation would be, “If they’d charged us for admission, they’d have made a pasture.” Much like in English, you can say “dough” to refer to money, in Spain you can say “pasta” to do the same. A “pastizal” is a word with its own meaning (“pasture”), but it sounds like it could be large amounts of “pasta.”

Satanasa (“Lady Satan”): What Amira says can be literally translated as “Lady Satan.” I’ve never it before, but I think she’s going for a Halloween version of “Cheese!” 😂

Se le ha ido la pinza a Lara (“Lara lost her mind”): This idiom, which Jorge used all the way back in episode 1 to say something slipped off his mind, can also mean that Lara just lost her shit entirely!

It’s worth noting that the song playing when Lara slaps Eva, is actually playing in Eva’s mind. As you can see if you check the social media for the episode, Post Malone’s Better Now is still playing when Lara is pulled back from Eva. Here are the lyrics for the song playing in Eva’s mind (Jorge Marazu’s Simulacro), in English:

If this was a drill I bought it to the end It’s not going to be cheap to climb back up I have lost the measure And even though I had a taste I forget it’s a two-way street

The star lights went out Their circuit breaker tripped It hasn’t stopped snowing all day And even though they’re hurt My hopes and dreams I forget it’s a two-way street

The whims that get in the way Of instinct and reason, don’t know a goodbye without pain

Let’s not wait until tomorrow I wish you the best Now we’re getting to the end…

Social media:

This episode had a lot of references to og Skam. I’ve noted the references in the clips where they happened. There were also references to og Skam on social media though. Most notably, the club where Alejandro hosts the Halloween party is called Kose Club, after Kosegruppe. Die Antwoord’s Baby on Fire, which is the song that plays when Iben’s squad fights the girl squad, is playing on the background of a couple ig stories.

It took me a while to notice that the kitty in the background of Cris’ pics switches from being Viri, to the second year girl Cris hooks up with.

Other:

Halloween has only become a thing in Spain in recent times, and mostly as an excuse for young people to host parties or clubs to host Halloween-themed nights. Kids don’t go trick and treating, although their parents may buy them Halloween-themed candy in grocery stores. As such, I’m not too bothered about Alejandro hosting a Halloween party in Saturday.

That said, if he wanted to host the party on Halloween proper, he could’ve done so. The 1st of November is a national holiday, All Saints’ Day. Traditionally, religious people visit family graves on this day, and leave flowers or candles. Since the 1st of November fell on a Thursday, schools were also out on Friday.

#culture and translation #skam españa #skam spain #skamesp #skames

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waterstar2016 · 6 years

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I recently saw a post about someone asking why some of us find the TMNT characters attractive. I’m sorry, I can’t remember who it was.

For me it’s Raphael. 99% holy fucking shit he floats my boat. Sure, he’s a mutant, he’s a turtle, and yes he has green skin. Don’t forget that he’s absolutely fucking huge. Swoon.

The reason I say 99% is because there is a part of me that is drawn to Leo. The control he exudes, those blue eyes, how each of his movements seem perfectly executed, and that strut! He looks like he is as almost as strong as Raph, just in a more compact form. And talk about kinky vibe, yum. The submissive part of me screams “YES!” to his persona. The scene in the first movie when he yells “Enough!” Leo flips in the air and tells Raph to back off after landing on the buildings edge, Katana singing and dust and rubble exploding away from his impact (Woah). April is backing up, hell, I would too with that gaze focussed on me. But part of me would be tempted to not move. Anyways…

I found myself wondering why I was attracted to fictional characters that weren’t even human (I eluded to this in my first post “Why?”) I’ll expand on that post. I’ve always been drawn to the big, strong and or burly type. The ones that you know could pick you up and carry you away. Vin Diesel makes my heart pound and I really wouldn’t mind ending up in a dark corner with him. I am not afraid of the dark. *grin*

So, here’s my explanation as to why my body sings at the thought of Raphael. Leo, I summed up above because this is going to already be a long enough post.

Raphael:

1. His size. I’m pretty tall for a woman and I am not delicate. Being 5’11 and not small statured (have a curvy figure and a little bit of extra weight that I am working my ass off trying to lose), I have a 36” inseam (impossible to find jeans at a reasonable price) I have always, ALWAYS felt like the “big” girl. I tower over all of my girlfriends, have been called an Amazon by friends and boyfriends (hence the idea for my OC Immogene) and have found that the majority of my relationships have been with guys that were shorter than me. I have confidence in myself most of the time, I just feel awkward in certain situations. I would be rich if I’d gotten a dollar for every time a guy would come up to me, compliment me, and then walk away. There were a few guys that I was with that I felt like that if I went on top, there was a small chance that I could crush them (yes I know, probably not gonna happen, but my head would go there) I love doggy style, but if the guys a little short, I’d have to kneel on the edge of the bed while more time is spent adjusting the height that my ass is at, than the actual fucking (“Shit, hun lower your ass, I can’t stand on my tip toes this long.”) Meanwhile, I’m waiting to be pounded into the mattress… I’m pretty strong. I lift weights a few times a week and do not shy away from heavy work.

I’m the one in the grocery store with the little old lady beside me who looks at me and then looks at the top shelf. I know she wants to ask me to grab something up there, but she’s afraid. Sighing, I will turn and gently ask “Is there something I can grab for you mam?” Crisis averted, she realizes I won’t pounce and I finally get a smile “O yes dear, could you grab me the olive oil? Thank you. Wow, such a tall girl, pretty though.” I’m the girl that guys get intimidated by. Have you read my fanfic “Two Shades of Green”? Immogene resembles me in so many ways and Brian’s character is actually based upon a few guys that I dated.

With Raphael, well lol, there would be NO worries about me crushing him. In fact, it would be the opposite. I would love the feeling of being utterly surrounded by his massive form. Don’t get me started on his thick fingers. Mmmm. Not many people can manhandle me (one guy I dated was 6’5” and could lift me with one arm…for the first time in my life, my mouth actually went dry. Too bad I found out he already had a fiancee *rolls eyes*…asshole) and the thought of being swept up and held by those gorgeous biceps draws an interesting tingle. For me to have to reach up to kiss him, for him to be able to put me where he wanted me to be? Bring. It. On.

2. His personality. Raph is so passionate. He has an internal fire. He has an attitude. He’s full of testosterone. He’s protective of April. He love’s his brothers. Raph and Leo may fight (a lot) but there are scenes in the where you can see the brotherly love. Like most Raph fans out there, I feel he is the type that is hard as nails on the exterior, but on the interior he’s a big pile of goo. I would love to be the one that could cool his jets (and then heat them up in different ways ;)). I get the feeling that if Raph’s character found someone, she would be his entire world (yes I know I am a romantic and a sap, but I try to let slowly ooze out, not flow over you like Niagara Falls).

Raphael speaks from the heart. The expressions on his face convey such raw emotion (thank you movie magic!). He’s a rebel. One of my favourite lines in the 2016 movie was “Normal, what fun is that?” Total high three for that one. I went to University and did two degrees at the same time. I target shoot, I can rough it in the bush for a few days (as long as there is a nearby water source), I fish, I can throw a baseball further than most guys I know, I love getting my hands dirty and am not afraid to open up a DIY book when my fridge stops working. I also love star gazing, wearing makeup occasionally to make my eyes pop and wearing skirts. Don’t get me wrong I know there are other woman that do these things…it just seems to be rare where I come from. Or, at least I’ve been told it’s rare. In the past those hobbies, skills and habits made me intimidating. I actually had one guy take me camping and who broke up with me shortly after (I found out the reason why from a mutual friend) because I could actually do what I said I could - start a fire, paddle a canoe for hours (I actually dragged him and that damn canoe over a beaver dam because he was scared), set up a tent, etc. He didn’t believe me when I told him I was ok to go camping a little off the beaten path (yes, I know, good riddance). I was raised by my father. He brought me up to believe that a woman could do anything she wanted to (my dad was actually a mentor for young woman in his field who were just starting their careers. He helped so many gain confidence and be proud in a male dominated career choice) I feel that Raph’s (and have personal experience with “Raph” types) personality would be drawn to someone who was sweet, caring and kind, but had a backbone. He would be the type to encourage you to be who you were (girlfriend or not). Reading a fair number of blogs I am not the only one that feels this way about this characters personality. I can see him really shy and afraid of rejection at first but not being able to resist testing the waters with an occasional dirty comment just to see the reaction. When he finds out that she’s interested. There would be no going back.

Referring to the quote about “Normal” again, Raph himself realizes he likes who he is at the end of the movie. Love that ending.

A violent teddy bear suits Raph to the T. Yes he can crush you, yes he would enjoy it (if you were the bad guy), but if you were someone he loved…those same actions would be expressed in an ENTIRELY different way. He would crush you to him and enjoy it just as much. Even though I don’t think he would admit it, Raph wants acceptance. Most of the time he expects the worst from someone. I often ended up in a not so great relationship because the guy accepted most of me (that didn’t take long to piss me off. I would move on to try again). I still struggle some days, but most of the time I am good with who I am now.

3. His voice. The timbre of it, the batman voice, the accent, and that chuckle. He can convey so much emotion in that voice. Good choice on the actor they chose to play him! One Raph Imagine even mentioned him singing to you! I can totally see that. I could listen to that voice for hours.

4. How he moves. Raph has a rolling walk. Shoulders moving with each step. It’s predatory. It’s fucking delicious. Combine how he moves with his never failing focus on his target makes me want to run and hide, but, in a place I know he will find me. The sit-ups on the pipes in the 2016 TMNT movie. His Sai piercing the metal in front of Casey’s face, when Raph doesn’t want him getting any closer to April. The motorcycle scene. I could go on. He moves instinctively. He doesn’t have to plan his next move, his body just does it. Imagining him doing that rolling walk, with me as his target. Hella yes.

For these reasons and a few more I haven’t listed here are why I found myself thinking of a mutant turtle as a partner to bump in the night with. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you or me for feeling this way. We each have things that turn us on, grind our gears, lift us up or put us down. The creators of TMNT just happened to be very good in making Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo each exhibit a typical male stereotype. We are bound to find one (or more than one, or even bits and pieces of each) of those personalities striking a chord with our own.

There are so many fandoms out there. If you find one that rubs you the right way. Close your eyes and let your imagination run wild. Your thoughts are yours and yours alone.

Thanks for reading.

#why?#tmnt #tmnt raphael #tmnt leonardo #fantasizing over fictional characters

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supergirlimaginesfic-blog · 7 years

Text

Lena Luthor x reader (Preventative measures, and one welcome threat)

a/n: no one asked for this one either but... I’m gonna do the thing anyway just because, and I thought about how absolutely dumb it would be if you were this cool, unflappable bodyguard but you’d become profoundly useless the moment you saw Lena put her hair down or like, do something vaguely hot and you’d just... become totally non-functioning LOL

Anyway I’m a trash person and I have trash ideas so here’s the trash thing! It’s not all that serious, I wanted it to be all fun and giggles lmao. This is really indulgent and like, six different levels of unprofessional but then I realized THIS IS FIC WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT Y’ALL!!! YAY!! it’s a little shorter and I think I can get away with making another part for it. Moreover though, I think Lena has had too many bouts with death and TBH I think she should just get a break dammit! Don’t we deserve better than that? Maybe we do... ;)

- - - - -

You would never really consider yourself a storyteller, but you’re beginning to understand that’s just what you’ve become. For all the questions people ask about your job, you have just as many anecdotes that for some reason, people find just absolutely fascinating.

Yours is a humble beginning - no, you didn’t always want to be a personal bodyguard. No, you didn’t go to school for it. Yes, like most things that have occurred in your life, opportunities presented themselves and you took the chance.

In fact, when you were five years old you were convinced you were going to be an astronaut when you grew up... or a dog-walker. You certainly did not think you’d be someone who was hired for the sole purpose of protecting vaguely important people you really had no idea about, nor could care to know about.

The job, you’ve realized in your own personal experiences, is a whole lot of rich people travelling around to gamble or to partake in other high-risk trade-offs, and still, you always think no one should have any right to carry around that much money, let alone own that much at all to warrant needing personal security in the form of another human being.

Still, it pays itself, and you couldn’t find yourself complaining heartily about the injustices of the wealthy elite and their various extravagances when you’ve made a comfortable life for yourself out of their paranoia.

As it was, you find yourself waking up at 5 in the morning for some ungodly reason you will never get used to - you know a good portion of your colleagues live for the thrill of going for a run in the early hours of the morning, rising before the sun and riding the high of productivity that a mere mortal civilian could never appreciate.

Perhaps, you think, that this logic made a mere mortal civilian out of you since you’ve pressed the snooze on your alarm five times and you’ve finally, but forcefully, shoved yourself out of your bed and onto your floor a good hour and a half later than you were ideally supposed to get up.

Still, even with your eternal vexation of having to be an early riser, you wake up significantly quicker than you think you would, and you give yourself credit for it everyday.

Your next assignment, you’ve been informed, is not necessarily a direct request - rather, you’ve been hired on behalf of someone else, which isn’t uncommon. You’ve yet to find out if your presence will be a surprise to your actual client in question, but that’s a problem for later, and that’s what your superiors are for.

You’re an armed bodyguard, and you’ll be working full-time which means you’ll be with your client for however long you’re required, and you’ll be sticking around them 24/7.

With your duffle bag already packed and your suits cleaned and pressed, you make your way into your Range Rover after you’ve made sure that your gun and your knife are both in their holsters hidden under your suit before you set off for the address that’s been sent to your phone.

For someone with rather impressive credentials and an even more eclectic resume of personalities you’ve been hired for, you’re still a little bit shocked when you discover yet another secret branch of the government - this time, you’ve been hired by an organization called the “DEO”, and you wonder just who exactly you’re supposed to be watching if every one of these agents is allegedly specially trained.

You’ve already been screened, processed, and vetted by the organization before they even considered hiring you through your company, who in their part were rather amenable to whatever the DEO wanted to do with you considering the hefty paycheck they were offering for your services.

Even still, you brandish your ID, your driver’s licence, and even your passport to the guards standing at the door, and watch as four guards examine your weapons, and two separate guards frisk your person for any other hidden contraband.

You take all your IDs out again for the people at the desk, and finally you’re escorted into a conference room lined with what you’re sure is a one-way mirror on all the walls where you’re sat across a tall black man with an inscrutable face.

He’s got your file on the table in front of him and he only glances down for a moment before he stares at you silently.

You stare back sitting perfectly still and relaxed in your chair and recognize the tactic for what it is. You don’t break eye contact with him as you wait for him to say something.

After what is seemingly a mildly uncomfortable amount of time to be silently staring at a stranger, the man speaks up and addresses you by name.

You nod your head in recognition and then he says, “Welcome to the DEO.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’m sure you understand, the entire process is lengthy but it is to ensure the utmost safety not just for our client but for yourself as well.”

“That’s understandable.”

“You may have also noted we’ve plenty of adequately trained agents here who would be more than qualified to do your job, but this is a matter of subtlety and we’ve thought it best to outsource a security detail rather than risk one of our agents for this particular duty.”

You nod again in acknowledgement - in its own variably twisted way, you’ve become used to being expendable, but that’s where the matter of you having to be good at your job comes in, so that you’re not expended.

After the brief conversation, if you would even call it that, the man stands up and approaches you with a hand outstretched, and you meet him halfway. He gives you a firm handshake and he passes a small, folded up piece of paper into your hand as he does so, and you ball your hand into a fist, not blinking at the exchange.

He sends you off and you realize you don’t know his name, but you suppose you don’t really need to know, and this time you don’t need to be escorted and you retrieve your belongings as you leave.

When you get back to your car, you unfold the paper and see just a singular thing written on it and you raise your eyebrows slightly at the sight. You rarely allow yourself personal opinions regarding your jobs, but you can’t help the anticipation and the wonder in your mind as you consider your new client.

You’re not exactly surprised, but your curiosity is getting the better of you gradually. You drive towards downtown with the tune of some Little Mix song stuck in your head for absolutely no definitive reason at all that you can think of apart from it just being a really damn catchy song, and you hum Black Magic quietly to yourself until you see the infamous “L” on your target building.

You grab your own files and make your way inside the building once you’ve parked in their lot, your eyes squinting minutely in scrutiny at the evident lack of security in the lobby, and the only person around to question you is a guard doubling as a receptionist.

You sign your name on the list and hand the guard your ID as she examines your signature before allowing you to go through, not at all bothering to check anything else of you.

You figure you have to go to the top floor, so you wait in the elevator as it takes you up. When you get out, you scan the floor quickly before you make your way toward the desk.

The secretary glances up at you and double-takes as if trying to determine your face. She furrows her eyebrows and you take the distraction to read the gold-plated name plate on her desk that says “Jessica”.

You look back to her and you watch as her eyes blatantly trail up and down your figure, not once but twice, and her expression is otherwise unreadable apart from the slight quirk of her eyebrow when her gaze lands back on your face.

She’s silent for a moment before she speaks up, “Ms. Luthor requires an appointment ahead of time, which is usually within a week or two depending on the urgency of the matter.”

You feel the scrutiny of her gaze again as her eyes trail over you again, and you clear your throat when you remember you’re supposed to say something.

“Right, of course. I guess it should be expected that my arrival is a bit of a surprise, sorry, here-” you say, as you reach for your business card, your official letter from your company, as well as your contract with redacted names of the DEO’s involvement and your ID.

You place them all onto her desk and she regards them with a look you know is pretty much universal of and who do you think you are exactly?, which is usually only ever present at the tail end of the sentiment that begs the question what nerve?

Her eyes never leave yours as she reaches for your papers, her eagle-eyed watch on you shifting with expressions of doubt and disbelief as she finally looks down and reads for a moment, taking note of the official stamps and signatures on your papers as she looks at your ID. Eventually, she puts it on her photocopier and waits.

“These mean nothing,” she says.

Despite yourself, you smile widely at the observation as she continues.

“These could all be fake, but at least I’ll have a copy of your alleged identity.”

You reply, still grinning, “I assure you, that’s the least of my intentions, but I commend your diligence.”

She squints her eyes at you and the printer continues humming, obtrusively loud given the near dead-silence of the room apart from the printer. You see her jaw tick and she tilts her head imperceptibly, you know this as a slight act of defense.

“I’m not paid to trust anyone.”

You almost laugh, catching yourself before you do, and you just smile at her show of tenacity.

“I guess you and I have that in common then,” is all you say.

For what it’s worth, you think this secretary, Jess, is more than enough to make up for the lack of security downstairs. If you were a weaker person, you knew you’d crumble under her interrogative stare.

She merely hums in dissent as the copying finally finishes and she hands back your original, not before demanding you to sign and date her copy of your ID.

“Don’t think you can just walk in here and pretend to be some third-party hire, I’m not stupid and Ms. Luthor certainly isn’t either - you’re not the only person with the lame, trite idea to do so,” she stares you down meaningfully and waits a moment to see that you’re still following.

She gestures vaguely to the space around her, “there are cameras in every nook and cranny of these offices you’re not aware of, and they will be used as proof to corroborate any shenanigans you think you can pull, and I will personally build a case against you myself if you think to try anything out of line here.”

She shoots a hardened stare at you and you just feel the unspoken don’t test me that pierces through you, and you really think you’re beginning to respect this secretary under all your amusement.

You nod your agreement and still try to assuage her aggression, but you know it might be for naught.

All she gives you is an unimpressed, “mhm,” before she’s picking up her phone and looks at you disinterestedly as if to convey that your abrupt interruption has inconvenienced an entire empire’s worth of productivity.

“Ms. Luthor, you have a guest just before your next meeting, I’ve deemed six minutes to be enough for this brief appointment,” she pauses, and then, “of course, Ms. Luthor.”

She hangs up and gives you the go ahead to walk into the office, but not before she sends you a final warning look and you nod in acknowledgement.

“Thank you,” you say when you collect your things and make your way to the door.

You knock before a muffled “come in” is heard from the office, and you wait a moment before you open the door and go through.

Lena Luthor sits at her desk and types momentarily before finishing up whatever it was she was doing and she looks up at you, smiling pleasantly as she stands.

You know you don’t show it, but your breath hitches just the slightest when you get a look of her face and her pale blue-green eyes take you in.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asks you.

“The pleasure is mine, Ms. Luthor. My name is (Y/N), I’m not at liberty to disclose anything at this very moment, but I do have several documents you can read to inform yourself of your new arrangement, and after then we can discuss any questions you have, should there be any outstanding,” you say as you hand the file folder to her, taking your cue as she motions for you to sit in the chair across her desk.

She looks at the folder questioningly and glances back up at you, an expression of total confusion on her face which tells you enough of her knowledge of the real reason for your presence.

Apparently, all it’s taken for her is one glance at your company’s letterhead as well as the non-redacted version of the DEO’s contract for you before she sighs in recognition.

“I suppose this isn’t totally out of left field. I’ve insisted this isn’t required but it looks like they’ve deemed otherwise,” she says with a bit of a wry smile.

“I understand,” you say, and you do.

You don’t really know what it’d be like to have other people making decisions for you, and now that you think about it, it is just a little bit messed up when other people get involved and make you do things without your prior knowledge.

You think you feel for her a little bit then.

“Well, now that you’re here, I don’t intend on making this any more uncomfortable or unpleasant than it needs to be - this isn’t exactly my first song and dance. If we’re going to be around each other for as long as we will be, we can skip the formalities, if you’re okay with that, that is.”

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.”

She cocks her eyebrow and smiles expectantly, you blink and clear your throat when you have to snap yourself out of your little daze.

“Right... Lena.”

She regards you a moment longer than necessary and smiles again, softer this time, and remembers herself.

“Now, I suppose I should let my secretary know I’m still alive - though there is always that slim window of opportunity in which you severely harm me in the moment between now and when I walk towards my boardroom, but if you do spare me that, you’ll see I’ll be dealing with an equivalent small death in the form of an unsavoury businessman,” she tells you as she moves to collect her belongings and your file which she places at the bottom of her pile.

You smile at her admission, “I could be wrong, but it seems as though aggressive vigilance is a trait shared between you and your secretary.”

Still, you take a mental of the alleged businessman and you wonder if you have to step in at all, but you figure that’s not the type of tussle you need to get into.

You follow Lena as she walks through her door and she smiles at Jess as she passes by, Jess smiling back and instantaneously reverting to a neutral expression when her glance falls on you, and your mouth quirks slightly into a small smile.

She stops abruptly and you’re just several paces behind her when she sighs deeply, bracing herself for whatever this meeting holds and your day officially begins.

“Mr. Heaton,” Lena greets the man in the room.

“Lena,” he all but grunts back.

You take your place by the side of the door and you already feel mild irritation at the man.

You watch as Lena takes the man’s verbal pestering in stride and he’s practically hounding her, using poorly disguised intimidation tactics that you’re sure she can see through, and she continues to smile and correct the man when necessary.

Sometimes, and there are many instances, you’ve seen a threat of a challenge rise across Lena’s face, but it’s gone as quickly as you could spot it, and she merely leans further back into her chair which apparently only aggravates the man further.

You watch as he leers and begins to fall into taunts, downright refusing to entertain pleasantries as he presses harder and continues to push Lena’s buttons in some low blow attempt at undoing her.

You realize then just how differently the businessmen you’ve protected act around each other and how they act when they’re around a woman who is not only their equal but could in fact be a superior.

You can only watch in growing distaste as you watch Lena duck and dodge each thinly veiled accusation and every unsolicited comment, and you know very well your job doesn’t involve saving people from heckling in the form of business matters, but objectively, you wish you could knock this guy out into a sleep.

Still, you’re silent as you keep your post by the door, only able to watch the ordeal and you can only imagine how Lena must feel - she must be used to it by now, and somehow, the thought makes you more repugnant about the state of the world which really, is a bit of an impressive thing to do to you, as your being jaded of the current state of affairs leaves little room for surprise cynicism.

Before you can even contemplate the blatant injustices of corporatism and the workplace and society, Lena can probably detect your growing enmity radiating toward the other two occupants of the room and she cuts the meeting’s end, graciously thanking Mr. Heaton for his time and she will be in contact with him within the next month or so.

You watch as he gets up slowly, ogling Lena’s figure shamelessly and the tension gets heavier when neither refuse to extend a hand for a handshake.

He merely moves to leave after he’s done eyeing her, and then he looks at you, but you’ve already moved your gaze politely toward a spot on the wall ahead of you.

He moves in a way that will force your look, you pull your gaze to meet his and your jaw involuntarily clenches at the sight of him and his unwarranted arrogance.

You tilt your head slightly in challenge and in question, wordlessly beckoning him both to walk away but also to try something on you, just so you can feel some satisfaction of roughing him up just a little bit.

He opts for the smarter option and moves on without further fuss, and seemingly both you and Lena relax at his departure.

“Never again, please,” Lena says to no one in particular as she rubs at her temples.

She turns her chair to face you, and then she’s got her face in her hands as she inhales deeply. The rattling from your suit jacket makes her look up and you hold out a small migraine pill bottle to her and she smiles.

“Do you honestly carry that around everywhere or is that just for me?”

“Not necessarily, I could benefit from them too.”

She huffs a small laugh at your remark, “strange, I thought you were all supposed to be elite super-soldiers with no ailments, or without ties to the human condition.”

You smile easily, “that might be easier, but then that’d take away the basic human element of compassion, and I think that’s a pretty integral part they don’t teach you when you’re meant to be protecting people’s lives with your own.”

“You make it sound like it’s not about the money,” Lena says cheekily.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, the money is so great,” you say as you smirk conspiratorially. “But it’s easy to get jaded and lose track of yourself and the big picture - the difference between me and a machine is that I choose to do this.”

“Don’t you ever think what you do isn’t worth it?” she asks.

“Often... more than I’d willingly admit. Majority of the time, my presence isn’t ‘worth it’ or really necessary. I’m usually just for peace of mind, and I think that’s well worth it to be safe than to err on the side of risk.”

She looks at you and is silent as she thinks of your observation, before she smiles again.

“Right, of course,” she says dubiously.

“And I mean, usually I’m hired by people to protect them or their things or whatever else you could think of. You start to see a pattern if you do this enough times, you get to see what really matters to people when they think they’re in danger.”

You pause, realizing you might be speaking just a little out of line, but you can’t really go back on it now.

“I think, in this case, if nothing else comes from me being around you, I think one thing you can take from this is that there are people out there who care a lot about you and want the best for you.”

Lena looks at you and searches your face, her expression significantly softer than you’d seen it throughout the entire meeting.

“And you’re saying you’re the best?” she finally asks jokingly.

“That would be your words, not mine,” you grin at the jest. “I can only try to be better than I am at this moment.”

She hums in consideration, smiles at you again.

“Alright, poet, how about we get through the rest of this day and you can tell me all of your ruminations of life after.”

Before you know it, she’s stood up and gathered her belongings, walking swiftly past you and you fall in step behind her.

The remainder of the day is spent with no more aggravations, the rest of her company and her tasks are much more agreeable than the one unruly man you unfortunately had to witness that morning.

Lena insists that you sit on the couch, or at the very least pull up a chair beside the door if you really ought to be right there, but you decline and instead opt to switch up your posts in a way that is still in a good proximity to the door and with your eye to her balcony.

You begin to get the idea that perhaps you’re making her a bit nervous, and you concede and feel guilty about distracting her when you glance towards her, but she’s still typing away steadily at her computer, occasionally pausing to write notes.

Sometimes, you catch her gaze, and sometimes she catches yours, and more and more often you’re both just glancing at each other and the day passes with the cyclical give and take.

Eventually, it’s time to go home, and you’re rather surprised the infamous CEO Lena Luthor is going home at a decent time, but you decide to keep your presumptions to yourself.

When you reach the parking lot, you look up at the sky under the guise of taking in the night, taking note that there is very minimal possibility of some aerial attack.

You look around the parking lot and feel mildly uneasy about the vastness of space where you can just see all the possibilities of an ambush and how they would pan out.

Still, it remains quiet and Lena walks wordlessly beside you, the light rhythmic tapping of her heels the only sound that you can distinguish.

You scan your surroundings only moving your eyes, using the most of your peripherals and not bothering to turn your head as you walk calmly to your SUV.

You raise a hand to gesture Lena to stop - you’re alone on this task, and you figure if something were to happen to your car at this moment, having Lena in such a close proximity is a bit of a moot point, but you figure at least you’ll have her in your sights.

You turn your back on her briefly, wanting to make this quick - you get to the ground swiftly and check under your car with a flashlight, searching for some telltale flashing or anything out of place behind your tires, in the rims, anywhere else something can be hidden.

You glance to see her heels still near you, and when you get up she looks at you with perplexity and vague amusement, but she thanks you nonetheless when you open the car door for her.

She gets into the backseat and you lock the door briefly - you know that the habit is a bit pedantic but you also know if there are people who are as equally skilled as you are, all they need is just a few seconds of opportunity for everything to go haywire.

Still content that you’re alone in the lot, you unlock your car again and get in quickly, locking the door again and turning on the ignition in one fluid motion before you’re driving away from the lot.

Seemingly instinctively, you start humming to yourself again, and it’s still the same song you’ve had stuck in your head all day and you wonder if you’ll go to sleep with that as your final thought.

You drive around several blocks to see if anyone could be following you, but when you’re satisfied that no one is going to spontaneously tail you, Lena finally fills the silence.

“You’re not lost, are you?”

“No, I’ve memorized several different routes to take in varying emergencies, and I have a few back up plans for several worst case scenarios.”

“There can be more than one worst cast scenario?” Lena asks.

You take a very brief moment to glance in the rearview mirror at Lena and give her a small, tight-lipped smile. You look away again and scan the streets and the sidewalks, looking for something you might not find - and you hope you wouldn’t.

“Have you ever had to kill someone?”

You smile and shake your head. Her small talk really gets straight to the point, but you entertain her.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve drawn my weapon a handful of times though, can count the instances on one hand. That’s like the last thing you should do, and shoot only when our lives are in immediate danger.”

Lena hums, and then, “that must be quite scary for you. I don’t know how you’d deal with that.”

Involuntarily, you recall the ordeal with Lena and the Venture explosion, and the whole debacle of her brother’s attempts on her life and how she’d shot an assassin in a police uniform.

You look up into the mirror and see her gaze fixed outside her window.

“Well, you do what you have to do to survive. It’s not just self-preservation, it’s going against every instinct of your being that’s telling you to be fearful and to be at the mercy of your peril. Surviving against the odds means having to be your own hero in your most dire moment.”

Lena’s quiet for a moment, and you start to wonder if you’ve said too much.

“Is that how you manage your feelings with your job?”

“I just convince myself the money is worth it,” you say jokingly.

“I don’t believe you do it because of that though,” Lena says, and you glance into the mirror again and catch her gaze.

“You may think you do it because of the money, and you think your mask of selfishness can safeguard you, but personally, I think what you do is one of the most selfless acts of service.”

You’re quiet for a moment and you ponder Lena’s remarks. You appreciate it, and you understand it, but you don’t want to admit what it might really be - you haven’t wanted to admit it aloud for a long while.

“Or it’s just the reckless disregard of my life,” you mutter softly.

You don’t think Lena’s heard you when she says nothing, and it’s quiet for another moment before she speaks again.

“Whatever it is, you still do it because you choose to and not because you’ve been programmed to. The difference between you and a machine is that you can fathom gratitude, and the reward, and the risk and consequence of doing what you do. However way you twist it, that seems like the markings of a hero, don’t you think?”

You continue driving, your eyes still scanning your surroundings and even without the distraction of vigilance, you don’t think you have anything of substance to reply to Lena.

There’s a lull in the conversation and you hum the song that’s been stuck in your head all day, the steady rise and fall of your chest as you breathe putting you in a calm state of mind - you’re close to Lena’s loft.

“I didn’t take you for a Little Mix fan,” she says suddenly, and you’re overcome with the sudden, overwhelming desire to punch yourself in the face for how instantly you blush at her comment.

“I didn’t take you for one to recognize a song,” you retort, hoping you don’t sound too defensive.

You don’t need to look up in the mirror to hear Lena’s smile when she replies.

“Not me, no. It’s my friend, Kara. She has such an affinity for pop music and boy bands and girl groups.”

You huff in laughter and clear your throat, more than relieved to be pulling up to the private parking entrance below the building.

When you park in the lot she points out, you do your routine of getting out first and locking the door, checking around you, and unlocking the door and letting Lena out when your evaluation of the place is to your standards, and she thanks you again as she gets out.

She leads the way as you get into an elevator that will take her directly to the loft level, and you wait with your suits and your duffle bag in hand.

When she stands in front of her door with her key in hand, she waits expectantly and with great humour, watches as you acknowledge her silently.

You put the hangers for your suits in your mouth and bite down to hold them, your duffle bag hangs on your shoulder as you brace with your one hand hovering just near your concealed gun and the other in the ready position for an attack.

You look ridiculous, refusing to let her carry any of your belongings, and when she unlocks the door, you make quick work of going through without busting her door and you inspect the immediate area because you just never know.

You can’t ever get out of work mode, but Lena practically forces you to be casual when she walks past you with a smirk on her face and moves to take her coat off and shuck her heels off in one motion.

You decide it’s finally time to stop looking dumb and you take the hangers from your mouth. You look around the loft most definitely by virtue of having to know the space well and not at all to take in whatever personal stories you can parse from Lena’s home.

Lena’s voice comes from somewhere down the hall, “I wasn’t expecting a sleepover tonight, you can go ahead and order whatever food you’d like, I’ll foot all the expenses.”

You feel yourself flush again and you wonder if it was just absolutely necessary for her to word it like that, but you still linger around the space and wait for something to do.

“You’re like a vampire, aren’t you? Am I to invite you to do everything? You can put your belongings away, you know,” she says as her head pops up from around the corner, her eyes teasing as she watches.

“Of course,” you say, but you still don’t move.

You’re quickly becoming aware of how really useless you are not only when pretty girls are concerned, but when pretty girls are concerned and you’re meant to be around them in a job setting, but the entirety of you is wishing for circumstances that were anything but a job setting.

You ought to reel yourself back in; you know quite well how your superiors would react if they caught wind of your current misgivings.

You stand up straighter and fix yourself in an attempt to snap out of whatever inappropriate reverie you’re in, and you’re still standing awkwardly near the front door when you see Lena again in sleeping shorts and a loosely hanging shirt.

She looks at you quizzically when she sees your stare, an amalgamation of question and realization when she seems to figure out your expression.

“Darling, don’t tell me you thought I slept in business attire?” she says teasingly.

You’re slowly losing most of your senses and you’re reeling at her term of endearment, and you don’t even realize she’s come up to you until she’s just under your gaze - she’s a bit shorter now without her high heels.

“Not all of us sleep in our formal suits,” she says as she pats you on your chest. Your eyes widen even more and you don’t realize you’re holding your breath until she saunters away, smirking at your apparent uselessness.

“And please at least set your things down, you’re making me nervous just standing there for as long as you have.”

Finally, you concede and you find the least intrusive place to put your duffle bag and your suits. Lena gives you a slightly admonishing look when you let your suits crinkle on their place in a chair, and she takes them wordlessly and hangs them in her coat closet and eyes you meaningfully to make sure you don’t take them back.

After a round of polite, but suspiciously playful bickering about delivery choices that feels too familiarly domestic, Lena’s finally convinced you to sit on her sofa and you’re eating pizza on the farthest end of the couch as she looks on at you amused between commercial breaks of whatever TV show she’s left on.

She’s allowed herself one glass of wine tonight, to which you’ve adamantly declined for yourself and she doesn’t give too much of an argument.

At some point in the night, Lena’s fallen asleep curled up on the couch and you saw the progression of it but still didn’t say anything. Now, you can’t exactly suggest for her to transfer to her bed, and you most definitely will not carry her there, but you contemplate the pros and cons and even you know rather well how inconvenient a sore neck is from an uncomfortable sleeping position.

You’re a coward, however, and instead of waking up a peaceful slumbering woman you opt to just take the blanket that’s draped over the couch behind you and put it onto her sleeping form, and you suppose it’s safe enough to just stand up to get her a glass of water.

When you come back with the water and have shut off the rest of the lights in her loft, she’s murmuring in her sleep and breathing slightly erratically.

You merely watch and wait for it to subside, but she only gets louder and more distressed, and you realize she’s having some sort of bad dream and you move to rouse her from it when she wakes fully and sits up roughly to get her bearings.

Her breaths come fragmented and hollow when she looks around her, and she startles before realizing who you are and you suspect that your hovering presence is probably not the most comforting sight in a dark room after having a nightmare.

“Sorry,” you murmur quietly, “I was just getting you water, I guess you were having a bad dream.”

Lena just rubs a hand over her face, and you can see the exhaustion in her eyes illuminated by the TV light. You hand her the glass without another word as you take your place beside her.

She thanks you softly before setting it on the coffee table after she’s taken a sip.

She moves to lay down on the couch again and you’re just a little late in remembering to use your voice, but you think you know better than to appeal to a sleepy woman and you just let her fall asleep beside you.

You’ve left your gun and knife stuffed into your side of the sofa in between the cushion and the couch.

You took off your jacket and dress shirt some time in the evening and it left you in a white tank top. You know better than to sleep in your suit pants, but you just can’t bring yourself to change into something else - not when you’re fine as you are anyway and it’s not totally imperative to sleep in something comfortable.

You suppose you’re not going to do much sleeping anyway, which is a bit of a bad idea especially on your second day of the job, but there’s a plethora of reasons why you can’t sleep and these reasons will keep you up for an undetermined amount of time.

Eventually, somewhere between 4am and 5am you suspect, you finally fall asleep sitting up with your arms crossed and your head leaning back against the couch.

At 6am, you open your eyes just briefly to find Lena’s changed positions in the night and her head is pressed up against your leg, and you grin sleepily as you fall back to sleep.

About an hour or so later, you wake up to some commotion and your eyes snap open, you stand up quickly and realize that was probably not the best thing to do the very first thing in the morning.

Lena’s gone, but you smell something coming from the kitchen and you turn around and see her working around the space, coffee and a plate of food in hand and she finally notices your figure.

“I suppose one con of working for me is having to get up when I do,” she says in jest.

“There’s coffee, I don’t think I’m complaining,” you say hoarsely, your voice still rough with sleep.

You watch as she works easily, her hair tied up in a messy bun and her shirt just a little lopsided as it hangs off a shoulder. You know you’re staring, but you’re waiting for her to tell you to come over and sit.

She feels your gaze on her and smirks when she looks up, raising her eyebrows slightly in expectation as she tilts her head to beckon you to get over here.

You decide you’re a little bit too sleep deprived to deal with whatever hold Lena’s apparently got on you, and the whole point of you is to make sure nothing surprises you, but this is a fight you’re willing to concede.

You sit down tentatively and she smiles, her gaze lingering on you unabashedly and she nudges a cup of coffee to you.

You regard her soft, pale eyes trailing over you. You’re captivated by how objectively beautiful she looks, a total juxtaposition of the sharp, cultivated lines of power and grace you’ve seen of her business look.

You can merely sit there wordlessly and watch her taking you in.

“How do you like it?”

“What?” your eyes widen and you try to ignore the blush that’s rushing to your face - somehow, you’ve successfully managed to trip over one simple word.

Lena smiles widely, an eyebrow raised in what you realize is a look you’ve seen too often and one that could very well cause trouble for you.

“Your coffee, how do you like it?” she elaborates.

You blink owlishly at her and then your eyes snap down at the cup.

“Right, uh, just two cream one sugar.”

Lena still hovers near you, leaning closer as she reaches for the cream and sugar containers and your eyes widen again with bated breath.

You know for certain Lena’s aware of your inner turmoil, what with her hyper-focused attentiveness on you, and you thank her feebly as you take a drink and try to make you burning your tongue on it look gracefully intentional.

You’re a mess and you both know that.

“Are you ready for another day with me?” she asks innocently enough when she’s finally sat down near you.

No, this is more difficult than I’d thought, and for entirely different reasons, you think.

“Of course, hopefully it’s as smooth sailing as yesterday,” you manage to say.

You think you should pat yourself on the back for your great effort of composure, and you’ve got this. You’re finally getting back into the swing of things and doing your job like you were meant to.

Just then, Lena winks at you and smiles behind her coffee cup, and the crashing revelation of you don’t got this comes falling all at once and you inhale sharply at her teasing.

You smile back - perhaps it’s more of a grimace, in reassurance and Lena’s eyes dance with mirth.

She picks up a piece of french toast with her fork and you demand your entire body to ignore the elegant fluidity of her motion - however, that requires physically moving your entire self away which is more work than you care to do at this time of the morning, so you concede to watch, fixated and entranced.

You have to tear your eyes away when your gaze lands on her lips. Frankly, you’re quite impressed by how close you are to falling off your chair even when you’ve been completely still, but it’s when her tongue comes out and licks the maple syrup from her lips that makes you feel like the entire Earth is shaking.

You understand, then, that you have only two options to deal with this arrangement, and it goes as such: you can make things difficult for yourself and deny every blatant reaction you feel to literally anything Lena does, or you can go along for the ride and fight worthier battles.

You concede to the latter and watch as Lena still misses the drip of syrup that’s fallen a little below her lip, and you wordlessly get a napkin and reach over to her slowly, her eyes widening imperceptibly as she watches you approach.

You bring your hand close to her mouth and linger, making eye contact with her and grinning slightly before you wipe the errant syrup away.

Lena looks at you, her jaw slightly slack, as you lean back and continue to work through your breakfast, smirking at your own apparent hold on her, and you really wonder just how much more interesting this job will get.

#lena luthor x reader #lena luthor #lena luthor imagine #lena luthor fic #katie mcgrath #lena luthor fanfic #dating lena luthor #supercorp #supercorp fic #supercorp fanfic #supergirl imagine #lena luthor x you #supergirl imagines

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lady-proudmoore · 6 years

Note

ALL shipping questions for dragon dad (≧ω≦)

Lol anon I respect this tbh.

Meme: Shippy Questions (accepting for all but Kalec lol)

1- Who is the most affectionate? Ooo, goodness it’s close. Kalec, just barely. And the only reason for this is bc Jaina’s moods still get to her and she will go through bouts of pushing away affection. These episodes don’t last too long, but they happen.2-Big spoon/Little spoon? - Jaina is always the little spoon :33-Most common argument? - Jaina’s healing progress. She’s not healing fast enough for Kalec. As a dragon, an exceptionally wise being with higher level conciousness - Kalec fails to understand/relate to how humans feel, experience and work through trauma. Kalec loses patience with Jaina, Jaina loses patience with Kalec. It isn’t either of their faults - but it’s a complication in the relationship.4-Favorite non-sexual activity? - For Kalec, it’s learning more about the “amusing traits” of humans, which he learns through Jaina. Jaina shares her human world with him and he soaks up this knowledge and experience like a sponge. For Jaina - she loves their intellectual discussions on magic and magical theory. Kalec is a well of ancient knowledge on the subject. She also enjoys learning about dragon culture as well.5-Who is most likely to carry the other? - Kalec. He’s playful and this may happen from time to time.6-What is their favorite feature of their partner’s? - Kalec loves Jaina’s eyes. He could stare into them for hours, even if they’re often sad. Jaina loves his dragon form. It isn’t sexual for her - she’s not sexually attracted to this form, it’s just that it’s so fascinating to her that a creature that looks on the outside so predatory could be so wise and gentle. The magic of the dragons - all the dragon flights - is something she holds a lot of respect for. And the sapphire blue hues of Kalec’s dragon form is beautiful to her. He’s just a beautiful creature through and through.7-What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other? For both of them it would be intimacy. Not just physical intimacy but emotional as well. They begin to get *closer* to one another in all ways. They hold hands, walk close together bumping into each other they’re so close. They share personal feelings and stories. They allow themselves to become vulnerable with one another. They begin to build intimate trust.8-Nicknames? & if so, how did they originate? No nicknames.9-Who worries the most? Jaina. She still suffers from a lot of anxiety and fear based emotional problems.10-Who remembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant? Kalec. As observant as Jaina can be, there are some things about her loved ones that her brain just doesn’t feel is important enough to retain to memory lol. Kalec’s dragon brain however….remembers all about his love Jaina. :311-Who tops? They switch pretty equally. Both enjoy this position. This pairing is very ‘balanced’ in many ways.12-Who initiates kisses? Oh please, both equally. :313-Who reaches for the other’s hand first? - Kalec. This is another area where Kalec leads bc of Jaina’s tendency to push away affection when her moods are sour.14-Who kisses the hardest? - Jaina. She can be very passionate. Kalec is as well, but he tends to hold back bc he’s afraid he may hurt her. I headcanon that even in his human form, as a dragon Kalec is very physically powerful.15-Who wakes up first? Jaina, actually. She’s always been a morning person, and sometimes she simply cannot sleep due to nightmares and may already have been up through the night. Kalec can be a bit harder to get out of bed if he’s with Jaina or at Jaina’s. He enjoys the feeling of being there in her bed and especially with her in the bed with him.16-Who wants to stay in bed just a little longer? Kalec, see above lol. Jaina is very prone to this as well if she’s feeling intimate and/or generally affectionate. Both of them are prone to pulling the other back to bed should one try to leave before the other is ready for them to.17-Who says I love you first? Kalec. Since Theramore Jaina is now even more guarded in her emotional vulnerability.18-Who leaves little notes in the other’s one lunch? (Bonus: what does it usually say?) Kalec is more prone to doing so that Jaina, but both these dorks would do this. Jaina’s note would say “I Love You.” Kalec would flip back and forth between “I Love You”, “Have a Great Day!” or both “I Love You & I Hope You Have a Great Day!” 19-Who tells their family/friends about their relationship first? Kalec. Jaina tends to be very private about her love life since Arthas, and she doesn’t communicate with her mother anymore. Kalec may mention it to the dragons or others would find out and confront him about and he’d be open about it. I don’t think it’s something he’d hide whereas I feel like Jaina is more inclined to do so.20-What do their family/friends think of their relationship? Jaina doesn’t tell her mother, but if she did, I think Katherine would be…..less than pleased. But she hasn’t been fond of her daughter’s decision making skills in quite some time. Kalec’s dragonflight would also probably not be pleased. But more than anything I think they would consider him more odd than they already do.21-Who is more likely to start dancing with the other? Kalec with Jaina. But once he’s got her dancing, she typically gets into it pretty quick as she’s always enjoyed dancing with her lover.22-Who cooks more/who is better at cooking? Kalec. Jaina doesn’t cook but she’s amazing at ordering take-out :D23-Who comes up with cheesy pick up lines? Kalec but he’s such a dork about it that it just makes her laugh rather than annoy her. But he’s funny bc he hears things like this and takes it as a serious thing. He tosses her a cheesy line thinking it’s going to seduce her and she laughs and he’s like “What.....is this not the proper courtship ritual??” like legit confused why it’s not working lol24-Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear during inappropriate times? Jaina but she’s more careful about it with Kalec than she would be with other ship partners bc she knows that Kalec is so new to human culture that he could take this from Jaina as being ‘normal’ and say inappropriate things at inappropriate times within earshot of others lol.25-Who needs more assurance? Jaina. She’s been a bit insecure ever since Arthas, but even more-so after Theramore. It’s still Arthas, plus overall trauma/emotional problems that does it. 26-What would be their theme song? So many. I like “My Love” by Blackmill27-Who would sing to their child back to sleep? Either would do this :)28-What do they do when they’re away from each other? They aren’t clingy, despite their affection for one another. When they’re apart they focus on their tasks, although they would think of each other and miss them.29-one headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart. They break up after Jaina leaves Dalaran. It is a mutual decision. Jaina has often felt a bit insecure under the shadow of Kalec’s judgments on her emotional healing progress, and she feels like it’s inevitible as she knows her pain and anger has become worse after the incidents on the Broken Shore. Kalec doesn’t understand why Jaina “holds onto her pain” and he doesn’t like to see her suffer. For him, working through and healing trauma like this isn’t as difficult. It’s hard for him to understand how someone like Jaina could struggle with it so. To him, she must want to hang on to it, which isn’t the case - but again, hard to explain. Neither want to break up. They love each other. But sometimes that isn’t enough. “It’s complicated.” lol30-one headcanon about this OTP that mends it. After spending time apart, Jaina does heal enough to a point where she can love and be loved again. They get back together, it still has some complications (as a relationship like this would) but overall it’s extremely loving and heart centered. Jaina knows love again and she isn’t insecure in it - she’s at peace. They’re together until Jaina’s much shorter lifetime is over. She never leaves Kalec’s heart and he uses what knowledge/wisdom he gained from his experiences with her to better dragon/human relations (or what’s left of it as the dragons are dying out). Standard “happily ever after” story as much as it could be in a situation like this

#💕 Never Temper Your Passion 💕 (Fluffy February)#Jaina x kalec #jaina x kalecgos #woooo that was a lot anon but ty lol <3

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getoffthesoapbox · 7 years

Note

Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I was wondering if you could help me understand the science/biology in VK and the logic behind a cure. I understand it from a pacifist perspective, but it doesn't make sense to me in terms of classifications and genetics. Considering that Yori's grandkids attend her funeral, aren't vampires a subspecies to humans? I'm also surprised vampire-born is treated as a disease instead of human-turned-vampire. Plus, how would they go about treatment for all vampires? (O_O)

(Anon who asked about VK science) I didn’t have enough room to finish, sorry… But thinking about what I just said… I guess the cure would treat both naturally born vampires and human-turned, but I thought in the beginning there was a clear divide between the two. And in the case of just vampires, you would be looking at their DNA? Anyway, I just want to add that I just recently got back into the series, so I might be misunderstanding A LOT, but I love your (and everyone else’s) analyses :)

Oh, what a fun ask, my friend! Thanks for bringing it my way. ;)

I think a portion of the problem we have here is that…Hino is a lazy writer who knows her audience probably isn’t a bunch of scientists who can point out how crap her science is. Unfortunately, I’m a creative type myself, so I can’t point out whether her internal logic works or not on a scientific level, but I think I can help piece together what we do know, and then speculate further based on where I think she’s going with this. ;) You can let me know if I miss anything from where you’re standing.

Okay so, here’s what we know for sure:

Purebloods existed before 10,000 years ago, but they were scattered–a great climate change erupted and they suddenly realized there were more of them. (It’s kinda implied Kaname might be Dracula, since he forgot his name, lol.)

These first Purebloods are what we’d call the “Progenitors.” They are all born to human parents and were probably created by some sort of viral infection or it’s some kind of viral mutation that had permanent effects on the initial subjects (at least as far as I can tell within Hino’s worldbuilding), and something (never specified) happened to either “switch” certain people’s Pureblood genetics from “off” to “on” or it distorted an already existing gene into a Pureblood gene. Either way, the effect’s the same–something in the DNA got warped.

In other words, Purebloods are likely a species mutation or evolution, depending on how positively or negatively you want to view the genetic switch. This would make vampirism less of a disease (which would require an external parasite or bacteria) and more of an issue with the genes themselves (probably more akin to a spontaneous cancer, only one that actually effects more than just the internal organs)

Okay, so then you have the vampire “types” that spawn from Purebloods. Purebloods are the eternally lived types who can actually activate or give the vampire gene in/to other people (but this “enslaves” the new vampire to the sire thanks to the sire’s blood being in the new vampire’s bloodstream–Kaname calls this “poison” in the story, and it allows Purebloods to exert their will within other vampires). Purebloods, of course can’t be killed by anything before the invention of the anti-vampire weapons. Next up are nobles, who are probably the offspring of Purebloods and other vampires with the least amount of “human” in them. Nobles age faster, aren’t as long lived, and can’t make servants, giving them more “human” qualities (likely another mutation of the gene). Then there are Level Cs, who are likely the offspring of, say, humans and nobles (such as Aidou and Yori), who would also have shorter lifespans than nobles and be susceptible to regular weapons. Then there are Level Ds, who are the “turned” former-human vampires such as Zero. Then at last there are Level Es, who are Level Ds who go rabid because their formerly human bodies can’t deal with the vampire gene being switched on.

We can assume vampires lower than Pureblood can be killed by normal means (the literature is a little…contradictory on this; Kaname’s past implies people needed the weapons to deal with the massive army of Level D servants, but since only hunters can wield anti-v weapons, and since Takuma kills a Level E back in arc 1, at some point it must have been discovered that Level Es–who are really just insane Level Ds–can be killed by regular weapons). Ruka worries about Kain in VKM 12 after a bomb going off, which means Hino’s probably establishing that anything less than a Pureblood can be killed by normal human means. Plus, nobles and lower are no real threat to humanity since they can’t turn humans–they can only be a parasitic nuisance by stealing blood. No biggie, you can deal with them like regular criminals. The problem, as Kaname and the Hooded Woman note, is the Purebloods.

Ultimately the “cure” is mostly necessary for the Purebloods, but once it’s created, it should be able to take care of any lesser form of the vampiric gene, because all vampires come from the same “source” generally speaking–the Progenitors who had the genes switched on in the first place.

In the past, Kaname begins performing experiments to see if he can do something about the Purebloods’ ability to regenerate and turn humans. His research takes him into two directions: 1.) a weapon to destroy the Purebloods period, and 2.) a potential cure for vampirism. His research on #2 goes nowhere during the Ancestor period, and he leaves his records in the Kuran Manor basement. Instead, he manages to get a breakthrough on the weapons. The breakthrough on the weapons requires the sacrifice of the blood and heart of the person who will become them.

The Hooded Woman steals the march on Kaname, throws her heart in the forge, and feeds the remainder of her blood to the Hunters (thus creating a line of men and women who carry her genetics within their bodies, although they’re still human). This Hunter line is what eventually takes us to the future where Kaien, Zero and Ichiru are born.

We know that the Hooded Woman’s genetics screw up the human birth process in women who carry hunter babies (whether the woman is hunter herself or human doesn’t matter). If that woman has twins, one twin will “eat” the other (this likely happens for vampires too). This is what is known as the “cursed twins.” Kaien is a completed one of these–a.k.a., a twin who ate his twin in the womb.

Zero on the other hand is different from Kaien. Zero is the “first” twin to not eat his twin in the womb. Ichiru is born, and the fragment is not completed. Kaname takes a canon interest in this during the course of the story. The stated “reason” for this is that he just wanted to create a weapon against the Purebloods–but uh, if that was the case, any hunter should do for that purpose. =P What was unique about Zero was that his genetics defeated the vampiric genes within the womb. That meant there was “something special about Zero.”

Obviously something backfired during the course of the original series, and probably with Zero turning vampire Kaname gave up on his research since he felt Zero would be useless if he wasn’t human. Instead he switched to just using Zero as a shield for Yuuki and a potential monster against the Purebloods later on. However, it’s important to note that Kaname had the Night Class (and Aidou) creating the first tablets that could curb vampires’ thirst, so he was still experimenting with ways to fix the vampire problem.

Last, and this is also relevant, we know that any vampire can be turned human again by a Pureblood’s sacrificing their life. Isaya’s wife did this to their child, Juri did this to Yuuki, Yuuki does this to Kaname. Hino’s world science is settled that you can “flip off” the gene, and you can also flip it back on via another Pureblood biting and feeding the formerly-vampire human and turning them back. The narrative basically is solidly established that this gene can be flipped on and off with the right sacrifice. Unfortunately, this only works on a one-to-one basis (Isaya’s wife can only turn one child, Juri can only turn Yuuki, Yuuki can only turn Kaname, etc.) It doesn’t work for a universal cure. This is where Zero, or a Zero/Yuuki combination, or Ren will come in. ;)

At the end of the original series, we have it confirmed that Aidou was able to complete Kaname’s research and create a drug that turns vampires human, which could not be used on Kaname due to his heart being too scorched from the forge. So we know for sure that some way, somehow, Aidou was able to complete the cure. The only question is “how.”

Cue events of the story, and here we are in the present time with Aidou’s research picking up where Kaname left off.

What we know about the current state of the research:

Aidou discovers that there was a “missing component” that wasn’t found during Kaname’s Ancestor experimentation days (because Kaname’s notes are from before the sacrifice of the Hooded Woman.

This “missing component” is Kaien’s special genetics. We know Kaien is a completed twin with the Hooded Woman’s genetics in him.

Now, here’s where Hino gets kinda vague–we don’t know exactly what Aidou needs from Kaien. Is it a blood sample? Is it a bone sample? Is it a heart sample? Who knows! Likely a blood sample will do for now, so we’ll just “assume” for the sake of simplicity that’s what Aidou’s working with.

We know Aidou’s research is currently failing to accomplish what he wants, which means likely whatever’s going in Kaien’s blood is a step in the right direction, but it’s not the key to the cure. This brings us back to Zero, remember, who in the womb was able to defeat the twin curse. This means Zero’s genetics likely were able to “switch off” the vampiric genes within him. Kind of like people who are born to HIV+ parents who end up immune to HIV. (Yay evolution!)

What are the potential ways the cure might come about and be created, based on what Hino’s set up?

Okay the first way is the easiest–we just need blood donations! This variant requires no sacrifice on anyone’s part; Aidou just needs the requisite amount of blood from Zero (or Ren, or Zero and Yuuki together, or Kaien), and mix it in the right quantity with whatever else he’s got in his experiment, and presto chango, we have a pill vampires can take that can switch “off” the vampiric genes.

However, we know from the forge business that most of Kaname’s research required some kind of magic “sacrifice” on the part of the person providing the solution. The “cure” may also require some sort of sacrifice, such as a specific organ like a heart or the brain in addition to the blood. Or it may require that the subject be dead so that the gene can’t be “switched back” once it’s in the body of the cured subjects. Hino has a bit of magic in this story, so this is where the science gets a little fuzzy. ;)

I had a very old theory (a long time ago, back when I thought Kaname was doing the cure solution in the original series) that you would need Zero to drink all the bloodlines of all the Purebloods in order to create the cure. (This was all based on an offhand comment Kaname makes in the 70s about feeling bad he has to “let” Zero drink from Sara). If this is the case, the cure may not be possible unless all “strains” of the genetic defect are accounted for within it–basically kind of like counteracting a bunch of viral mutations. If Zero’s blood only has, say Kurans and Toumas in it, his “cure” will only cure people who have Kuran and Touma blood in them–it won’t cure people with Shirabuki or Hiou or Shoutou blood in them. This would require Zero to have to drink from all the bloodlines, and then (probably) either sacrificed or just a blood bag for the cure.

So as far as I can tell, there are a couple routes to the cure which either lead to a full on sacrifice on the part of the person who’s the solution or to just a significant blood donation.

Phew that was long. I hope that was somewhat helpful, and that I didn’t confuse you even more. =) If not, I’m sorry! To be fair, there really isn’t too much to go on for how the cure would work; these are mostly just my speculations at this point based on Hino drawing Kaien into the fold for the cure solution. ;)

Feel free to drop by any time!

#vampire knight #vampire knight memories #vk cure theory #zero cure theory #vk science anon #guess i need a tag for the cure theory now

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ais-n · 7 years

Note

Hello! I love love love ICOS and was wondering if I could ask a few questions. Namely, what were yours & Santino's inspirations for the series? For example, the Neo-Tokyo setting in Akira strongly reminded me of ICOS, but that could be my own perception of the world in ICOS. Were there any books, movies, anime, manga, etc, that helped to inspire ICOS?

Aww, thank you! I’m happy you like it!

As for inspiration... hmm, I’m trying to think. Honestly, we didn’t really have a specific inspiration from what I can recall. I think a lot of things were just what made sense to us or sounded like fun, and then otherwise inspiration or ideas leached together from lots of sources or everyday living and we put it in from there. Sometimes it was real life stuff, sometimes it was maybe just watching shows and thinking, “That could be cool.”

I have examples beneath the cut of things that either inspired us in parts or else ended up having some cool similarities even if we thought of them separately, but one thing I did want to mention is I’m always on the lookout for characters in shows or movies who could be a nice media representation of ICoS characters. I had started compiling some ideas of that a few years ago and found the link in case you are curious or bored:

ICoS character inspirations: (note, not that the ICoS characters were inspired by these characters, but that these characters seem like cool representations of ICoS characters -- i probably should have said ICoS character representations instead of inspirations, come to think of it...) Anyway that’s here: https://aisness.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/icos-character-inspirations/

And here are some adorable baby Boyd representations from Criminal Minds: https://aisness.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/baby-boyd/

Inspiration examples below!

For example, I used to love the hell out of Fringe and I watched it every week. One episode they had this whole thing about how this one character was kidnapped and the way they found out where they were held or where stuff was happening was by finding out that there was an excessive amount of electricity that was being used in a seemingly abandoned warehouse. Also, that character wasn’t content to just sit there waiting to be rescued; they tried to escape but couldn’t due to reasons, but that came up later in the episode. I liked that it didn’t diminish the character’s strength even in being captured but it also didn’t make it like suddenly they were superhuman and could do anything. Then, completely separately from that and probably years apart, I was doing research on human experimentation and watched things like the documentary Philosophy of a Knife and did a lot of research on Unit 731, and I got some ideas from that. Also completely separately from that and years apart, I’ve always been interested in psychology and psychiatry and I’d also read the book Rape of the Mind by Dr. Joost A.M. Meerloo which is a book from 1956 that talks about brainwashing of POWs and also whether or not brainwashing actually exists in reality or if it’s something else that’s happening with similar results. Plus I’ve done lots of research totally separately from all of that for trafficking etc.

All those things coalesced and then changed into inspiration for a particular situation that shows up later in the series that I don’t want to go into specifics of for spoilers for people who are earlier in the series, but you might know immediately what I’m thinking about. And if not and if you want me to specify with spoilers just let me know and I can do so behind a cut :)

(PS: Philosophy of a Knife is violent as fucking hell--seriously, seriously graphic. Do not watch it if you are faint of heart. I say this so no poor soul is like “Oh yeah Ais mentioned something about this maybe I’ll watch it! :D” and then is traumatized for life. They went all out on it. It’s actually kind of controversial because of that...)

Then there was other inspiration like sometimes I would dream about something and then wake up and be like, “Oh hey, cool plot idea!” or we would just think through what is likely to happen for that character based on their story line or their personality or human nature or etc and it developed from there.

I would say probably the closest thing to ICoS I know of for a series is La Femme Nikita, specifically the TV show that was on 1997-2001. I had actually never seen it or possibly even heard of it when we started writing ICoS -- I didn’t see the first couple of seasons until years into us writing ICoS. Santino had seen it years prior, iirc, but he hadn’t thought of it for a while. Anyway there are some interesting similarities between ICoS and LFN, a lot of which developed separately and was not inspired by LFN because I hadn’t even seen it so I knew nothing of it and I don’t know Santino’s inspiration or not but we decided things together so I know there are definitely a number of things I suggested with no knowledge of LFN.

The one thing I know that was inspired by LFN was the term ‘valentine’ which Santino suggested and which I think he got from LFN, but I think everything else is pretty coincidental, which makes sense because they’re such similar themes that there’s bound to be overlap in ideas. What was really interesting to me was when I did finally watch it, I was like, “Hey!! Michael is how I imagine early Boyd to be!!” in terms of his seeming lack of emotion, the way he has such minimal facial expressions and intonation, the way he seems so cold and sometimes a bit ruthless but then other times is bad ass. But Michael is like what Fade-level Agent Boyd would be in skills but with early Evenfall Boyd personality. Anyway, that was super exciting finding someone who represented that minimal emotion I imagined. (Also there’s a character in an anime who fights like how I imagined Fade Agent Boyd fights... I forgot the anime but I can track it down if you want)

You should totally watch that TV show if you haven’t. I never finished it but I need to ^^;; I think I saw through Season 2, maaaaybe s3?, but I never watched all of it and always meant to. I liked what I saw of it from what I recall but I have no idea about how it ended. (I’m a spoilerphobe) I also haven’t seen the original movie it was based on (I don’t think? uggh can’t remember) and I definitely haven’t seen the reboot they did more recently. No idea how much ICoS and those LFNs are similar but the 1997 tv show might be fun for ICoS fans to watch, just keeping in mind it has all the cheesiness of late 90′s/early 2000′s shows lol

I guess the last thing I’d say is I’m generally always inspired in terms of storytelling by my absolute favorite series ever, One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. The layering of his storytelling is masterfully done, and I also really love as a reader/viewer the way he can make me fucking bawl my eyes out and then a page or two later burst out laughing. I’ve always really valued the depth and range of emotions he elicits in his story, and the way he layers super minute details that have massive impact later on the plot, interwoven with the usual character development and on-page normal plot development, so that when you’re reading the first time there’s plenty of interest but that series also makes a phenomenal 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 20 billionth reread, because I swear every time I reread I notice new things I never noticed before because I didn’t have enough information about that plot.

I love to do the same thing in writing anything I have a hand in--for any sort of significant story at all, I don’t like to write for the first read; I like to write for the second, third, fourth reread. I mean obviously it needs to be interesting enough the first time around, but I personally like to add little details or character development or whatever which is more evident the second or more time of reading when you know everything you need to know, so when you go back to the start you can be like “OHHH! So THAT’S why--!” I got to do that a bit in ICoS but I’m going even more crazy with that in the book I’m working on now independently, because I am a nerd and it’s super fun to me. But anyway that way of writing a story over the course of the entire series rather than writing it solely book by book is something that definitely inspired me in writing Boyd for all of ICoS and all of my characters in it, and I don’t know what inspirations Santino has but whatever has inspired him also complements that inspiration of mine nicely, so that we both ended up being interested in writing that longer-form story built by shorters stories in between, rather than doing stories book by book with transitions in between but less of an overarching arc. If that makes sense? Hopefully it does.

Also we had made Sin and Boyd and some other characters as RPG characters in separate RPGs so I think we pulled some of that stuff over too, so in a way the original characters they were in those original other worlds probably gave some inspiration for their initial personalities.

btw, Neo-Tokyo in Akira is really interesting as a connection you made in your mind! I haven’t watched Akira in foreverrrrr so I can’t recall it well enough to be able to say either way but my memory of it makes sense for why you thought of that, so that’s cool! I should watch Akira again, or maybe it read it this time... Thinking of Akira is making me nostalgic for all those series that are older but still great, like now I want to watch again Cowboy Bebop, or Trigun, or even Yami no Matsuei, or... Oh actually! Totally unrelated but speaking of! Recently I found the whole series for Kare Kano (Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou/His and Her Circumstances) and omggggg having that sitting on my shelf without me watching it all over again is making me diiiiieeeeeee I’m dyingggggggg but I know I’ll get super into it again for nostalgia’s sake so I’m trying to make myself hold off until I can devote time to it.

Wow I rambled like fuck in this, sorry XD I guess the tl;dr is it was getting bits of ideas or inspiration from random or various places and then other things just kind of developing naturally in our minds, and it all came together into the monster that is ICoS XD

#ask ais #icos #in the company of shadows #rambling like fuck #jfc #carneliane

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