#any other tags I can think of which might catch the attention of relevant people!
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YA Vacation Help!
Does anyone have experience of sending YAs on vacation? I feel like it should be possible, but can’t remember if I’ve seen it done.
If you’ve done it: is the semester timer frozen on vacation like it is on non-uni lots? Can you see the vacation timer, or just the frozen semester one?
My plan is to move Max and Lainey out into their own lot and then send them together from there. Presumably they’ll be able to move back into their Greeks when they return?
#sims 2#bon voyage#help#vacation#ya#university#any other tags I can think of which might catch the attention of relevant people!
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Maybe most ineffective no-nuance writing advice is susceptible to the problem of trying to find one or a few "problem items" and thinking like eliminating them in all possible circumstances is the objective forever key to objectively good writing.
Like, for a few examples:
Epithet overuse
No-nuance advice: You're saying your character's name too much. Call them by their hair colour or height so your prose doesn't suck bad forever. Cut out names to be good.
What might help people understand their writing better and what they're trying to accomplish: epithets draw attention to the trait you're pointing out, so if you're going to use one, it might be helpful to pick a relevant trait your narrator or protagonist might notice that means something instead of defaulting to their hair colour every time. Also, most people don't think of their friends through epithets all the time once they know their names, so consider what doing this does to the perceived level of familiarity we have with the cast.
"Mary Sues"
No-nuance advice: if your character is powerful and has weird coloured eyes and hair and is good at things and people like them, that's a Mary Sue and bad forever so don't ever give a character colourful design traits or talents. Cut out 'weird' designs and any skills to be good.
What might help: the trouble with "Mary Sues" is often their tendency to bend an established story, or the story they're in, to serve them when it's not realistic (or endearing to the audience, who might have liked the established world, actually!). Consider the worldbuilding you're using and if your new character fits that without having to sacrifice the characterization of every other character or the physical limits of what are possible in the world for this one extra character. There are ways to make a character Cool without also throwing away the foundations of enjoyable storytelling everywhere else, and it probably has very little to do with their eye colour, really.
(obligatory disclaimer that the term as it is used out of its Star Trek fanfiction context is not particularly helpful at also being meaningful 21st century writing advice especially since people's definitions of it range from "a character whose existence in the narrative bends the story in ways that don't make sense" to "a woman in a story that had a role" depending on which end of the sliding scale of credibility or lack thereof you ask :( obligatory disclaimer that I am using the term because you know what I'm trying to get at in general when I put the name in the post, and it's an effective catch-all term for the type of writing advice I'm trying to make fun of here even if it's not effective as general writing advice itself).
Said is dead
No-nuance advice: said is a bad plain boring word for bad plain boring writers. Use fancy synonyms all the time instead to prove your big vocabulary. Cut out 'said' to be good.
What might help: Too much unintended and prolonged repetition can be unpleasant to read for many, and too much 'said' can contribute to this. Use synonyms sometimes to enhance the meaning you're already trying to convey, but also vary your sentence structure so not every sentence is repetitive enough in form to warrant a dialogue tag, said or otherwise. Varied sentences of different lengths and styles can provide different effects, so using the ones that will get the intended point or pacing across better will make for more effective prose. There is no one magical dialogue tag to use or avoid that will fix the actual stylings of the prose.
Kill Your Darlings
No-nuance: everything you think is good is bad and you should take out the scenes you like. Cut out the parts you love for the sake of it.
What might help: Sometimes a scene you wrote that you thought is cool unfortunately, in retrospect, does not fit the tone, theme, worldbuilding, story, or something else of the book you intended to write. Please do not hesitate to edit or remove a piece just because you love it if it harms your vision for the rest of the book. A little utilitarianism might help you put the good of the whole book over the good of the one scene if the two cannot coexist peacefully.
I think a lot of advice that tries to be a 'life hack' for Objectively Good writing is reductive and lacks substance. If a piece of advice is suggesting you to remove something no matter what, and that's all you have to do to write well, it's no better than clickbait to me. The goal should be to try to understand what effect certain elements have on a story, so you can proceed knowing if the way you would like to utilise it is effective for the story you're trying to tell. But this requires nuance on the part of the advice provider, and maybe for them to concede that sometimes things they hate reading can be used effectively, and it requires the author to know what they're trying to do with the story they're telling. So it's a lot easier, perhaps, for a lot of people, to cut all exclamation points forever, cut all adverbs forever, so on and so forth, without learning how to use them effectively.
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Any tips for getting famous on tumblr?
Ahaha I wouldn't say I'm Tumblr famous, but here are some experience-based
Tips for getting mutuals and engagement and asks:
-Reblog and/or like other people's content often, and also try to create your own content of some kind. The blogs that catch my attention the most and make me want to follow/follow back are the ones that are actively curating a personal aesthetic and/or have some sort of unique or enjoyable content they are creating themselves too. I like following blogs where I can get the content that I'm interested in having on my dash plus a good sense of the personality behind the scenes
-Try to be fairly consistent and frequent about posting, and use some of the relevant popular tags on your original posts like the fandom and the character and ship names to make sure they show up in those tags for people to find (eg. #death note #light yagami #lawlight)
-A great way to get people to notice your blog is simply to notice them and their blog or their content first too. Send some friendly asks off anon to bloggers who are looking for asks, or about whatever topics seem to be their fave thing or their area of expertise. If sending asks feels too intimidating you can also reblog their posts with some thoughtful compliments or jokes in the tags, which will probably flatter them into checking out who was noticing and appreciating them. I recommend sending asks or talking through the comments on posts before sending people private messages until you get to know them a little better though, as that feels a bit less intimate to do
-Once you gather some followers it definitely helps to maintain a fairly steady presence and not disappear for long periods of time, because you mostly only show up on followers' dashes if you're actively posting and reblogging things. They probably aren't intentionally ignoring you or your blog most times, they just don't really know if you're alive otherwise! If you're worried about spamming people's dashes too much or don't want to be chronically online then you can always use the queue feature to post things automatically for you at a slower, steady rate as well
-A good way to get asks once you have some followers is simply to make a post asking for asks about a specific topic or to take and fill requests of some kind. You can also reblog ask memes that invite people to ask you specific sorts of questions too. This helps others know what you're comfortable with before they decide to strike up a conversation with you. Answering asks usually leads to other people sending asks too, so it can become a fairly self-sustaining thing after a little bit
-I think a large part of the reason I've gained a following here over the years is because I have a clear set of boundaries on my page about who I am and what I'm ok with, and because I maintain a pretty organized and broad collection of content from this fandom that is well-tagged and easy to browse. I started out creating the blog I personally would want to find as a new member of the DN fandom and then I went from there. It helps to have a fairly clear idea in mind of the kind of blog you want to host from the beginning, but you can also adjust it as you go just depending on the kind of feedback you get and such. I didn't even expect or plan to get any asks here in the beginning, but after a few months of me sending asks to others and reblogging content and writing posts people started coming to me quite regularly with their thoughts. Maybe because I made a point of being welcoming to new fans and answering the questions about the fandom and the series that they had
-It helps to be patient about stuff like gaining followers and mutuals and not to stress out too much over something like losing a follower or two, too! That happens to absolutely everybody eventually, and you really have no definite idea why your follower count might have dropped most times. So just don't stress yourself over it and try not to take it too personally or check your total numbers super often if you can (I am on here daily, but maybe only intentionally check my own total follower count once or twice a month)
-Overall just creating the blog you yourself might want to find, being consistent with your posting, respectful and appreciative of the other creators and fans, and not being afraid to reach out first or create some content of your own are probably the best things you can do to increase the engagement that you're getting on your blog. Good luck 🤗
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week-long fandom events: some tips from a pro
a while ago someone asked for advice for running week-long fandom events, and I thought my thoughts might be useful for other people too!
disclaimer: I am NOT actually a pro, that was just a catchy turn of phrase, lol. however I have run several events for several years, and I’d love to share some of my tips and tricks!
these are tips for tumblr-based events; if you’re running your event on a different site or on multiple sites, this might not be the most applicable to you.
some of these points will also be useful for events outside of the week-long structure, but some will be specific to that structure, as it is the one I am most familiar with!
here we go:
it's really nice to have an event sideblog to organize things; the events I've seen that run on people's main blogs are a little more confusing / hard to promote & follow
make sure you know the most popular tags in your fandom and get your promo posts into those tags! especially for first time events, tag blogs with lots of followers / influence and/or DM them and ask for them to boost the event, even if they're not participating
visual banners will draw in more eyes than posts that are just plain text, so try adding a header to your promo posts
give people enough time to prep for the event. I usually make the first announcement about 2 months before the event, and then schedule regular reminder posts as I get closer to the event. I make a reminder post 1 month out, 1 week out, and 1 day before, and then make sure I'm posting something every day of the event (at least) - the queue function is extremely useful for this, so you don’t forget to post!
themes for each day give people something to plan around / inspire them, I definitely recommend them. I usually just have one theme per day, but I've also seen events that give different themes for different mediums, or a list of themes each day that creators can pick from
have a pinned post with links to important information! this includes prompts, rules, FAQs, a link to an AO3 collection, etc. since blog pages are not accessible on the mobile app, it might be useful to also have post versions of any pages you make, and link to those in your pinned post.
when it comes to FAQs & etc, feel free to look at the pages on any of my event blogs (listed at the bottom of this post) and borrow concepts/phrasing from those if it's helpful for you. if you do this PLEASE credit me, but you are welcome to do so
off-site promos might not be the most wide-reaching, but Discord especially is a good place to draw attention to your event for people who don't track tumblr tags. I know I also post links to my promo posts on Twitter, and I usually catch a couple people there who are like "oh I didn't know that was happening, cool!"
track your event tag AND frequently check your event blog’s activity - tumblr is rotten about notifications, so it’s important to keep an eye on things and make sure you’re not missing any submissions!
reblog every submission to your event to the event blog. this is why the blog is there! this is how you can bost the content for your event and help other people find it! I recommend tagging those reblogs for organization with at least the url of the OP; I will also tag for relevant characters, sometimes relevant ships, and the medium of the post (art, fic, etc), and sometimes which prompt the submission was inspired by. also, I find it useful to tag which year the event takes place so you can track your event’s growth over time.
finally, make sure to participate in your own event; it doesn't have to be every day, but I think it's a little weird if you aren't creating content yourself, even if it's "just" a text post with headcanons or something!
these are all just things I like to do in organizing my events; there are other ways to run things, and you'll figure out your own system as you go on, but I hope this gives you a starting ground!
if anyone has any questions about running an event, I’m happy to give you further advice! send me an ask or a DM with any questions :)
AND check out my event blogs: @finweanladiesweek @tolkiengenweek @aspecardaweek @kilielweek
happy event planning!
#tumblr#fandom events#tumblr fandom#tumblr fandom events#silm#silmarillion#tolkien#lotr#the hobbit#just tagging the fandoms in my sphere lol#but this is widely applicable to other fandoms too!!#tefain nin
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I know people have already talked about the changes Mal has gone through in his show adaptation vs his book self - most of which are changes people generally agree are for the better, since they’re sanding off some of his less endearing character traits. But something that baffles me are the changes that they didn’t make as a consequence to the changes that they did. And by that, I mean, some key pieces of dialogue.
And even more specifically, this dialogue choice:
And to explain why this line of dialogue doesn’t make sense to me in the show, I need to talk a bit about the original book context for it:
In the books, Alina has been harboring a one-sided crush on Mal for years. And I don’t mean she thought it was a one-sided crush, when really they were both mutually pining for each other. I mean that Mal genuinely didn’t have romantic feelings for her in the beginning. Or at least, not ones he acknowledged:
“Wrong. I was planning how to sneak into the Grisha pavilion and snag myself a cute Corporalnik.”
Mal laughed. I hesitated by the door. This was the hardest part of being around him - other than the way he made my heart do clumsy acrobatics. I hated hiding how much the stupid things he did hurt me, but I hated the idea of him finding out even more.
This is something Alina battles with herself over for most of the beginning of SaB, before she’s taken to the Little Palace. She had a close relationship with Mal in Keramzin, when they were both just two kids in an orphanage. And then they join the second army and Mal is suddenly a popular, capable, respected soldier in people’s eyes, while Alina is stuck battling her own resentment at her inability to fit in, as well as some pretty gnarly feelings of inadequacy.
Feelings of inadequacy that are a reoccuring issue with her - in the beginning, she describes herself as a mapmaker “and not even a very good mapmaker”. With Botkin, she’s unable to keep up with the other Grisha in physical combat, and with Baghra, she’s unable to master her Grisha abilities. It can be summed up nice and tidy in the Siege and Storm quote, when Alina isn’t using her powers because she’s in hiding with Mal:
I was so frail and clumsy that I’d barely managed to keep my job packing jurda at one of the fieldhouses. It brought in mere pennies, but I’d insisted on working, on trying to help. I felt like I had when we were kids: capable Mal and useless Alina.
So at the beginning of the books, Mal gets the chance to gain acceptance and respect from his peers, and Alina is stuck feeling inadequate and ineffectual. The natural progression of this type of rift is that they would begin to grow apart: Mal would make friends and find a sense of belonging, and Alina would remain alienated and isolated from her peers. Which is exactly what happens. It takes less than a year for them to change from being inseparable, to a normal, casual friendship:
“So what are you doing here?” When we’d first started our military service a year ago, Mal had visited me almost every night. But he hadn’t come by in months.
And that’s pretty much how their relationship stays until they’re reunited after the Little Palace. It comes to a head with Mal talking about his jealousy over seeing her with the Darkling, and with Alina admitting she’d been happier at the Little Palace than she’d been in a long time, largely because she’d finally found what Mal had found in the second army: A place she fits in and feels accepted:
“That night at the palace when I saw you on that stage with him, you looked so happy. Like you belonged with him. I can’t get that picture out of my head.”
“I was happy,” I admitted. “In that moment, I was happy. I’m not like you, Mal. I never really fit in the way that you did. I never really belonged anywhere.”
“You belonged with me,” he said quietly.
“No, Mal. Not really. Not for a long time.”
And this is where that “I’m sorry it took me so long to see you” line drops. It’s specifically about Mal acknowledging that he started taking Alina for granted when they joined the second army, because he was so caught up in finally feeling like he could belong somewhere, and feel pride in himself, he stopped prioritizing their friendship. Which is a very understandable thing!
The books don’t really go into this, but at this point in the story, it feels like something Alina might finally be in a place where she could understand how he felt: living a life where you’re taught to be grateful for other people’s charity, and that you’re a burden on other people, and then suddenly being put in a position where your existence isn’t just tolerated, but celebrated and respected, is a very validating and heady experience. It’s easy to get caught up in a new life where you don’t have to think about how ashamed you felt in your past, and can instead be the person you’ve always wanted to be. It’s a shared experience of theirs that I feel like would have been worth exploring. What actually happens is that they seem to play resentment tag around each other throughout the trilogy, with one of them getting the chance to be respected amongst their peers, and the other feeling inadequate and resentful about it, and then something coming along that flips the dynamic, over and over again.
But I digress - so here is the context of that line in the book:
“I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me we don’t belong together,” he said fiercely. He was very close now, and my heart was suddenly hammering in my chest. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.”
Now, when we look at the show... none of this is really relevant? We never get the sense that their relationship has changed from what they were like in Keramzin. Mal doesn’t grow distant from Alina - it’s almost the opposite. The only reason they aren’t together at the beginning of the show is because their units weren’t together. It’s not Mal creating distance, it’s their job. And the second that he gets the chance, he seeks her out. In the flashback, as well, we see him immediately look for her, and he goes so far as to hit someone with a glass, because he was told the guy said something shitty to Alina, just so he can be with her in a cell.
Similarly, instead of them sitting at separate tables in the mess hall, Alina simply doesn’t get served at all (because Racism), and so Mal goes out of his way to steal food from a Grisha tent, just to cheer her up.
He’s present, attentive, loyal, and completely in tune with her emotionally. He is, I would argue, also completely in love with her (which is something I think they flipped from the books - I get the impression that Mal’s been in love with Alina for a long time, and Alina is the one who hasn’t quite made the leap from “best friend” to “romantic interest” in the show, although that’s obviously a personal interpretation). So what, exactly, is he apologizing for in that scene? What about her didn’t he see?
The only way I can try to make sense of the scene now, is that he’s apologizing for perhaps not realizing she was a Grisha? Or maybe for inadvertently “making” her repress her powers for all this time, because she didn’t want to be separated from him? And that works, I guess, except that the lead up to this apology is Alina saying that Mal looked at her “with fear in his eyes” back in Kribirsk, after he finds out she’s Grisha. And that’s, again, a book thing. In the books, Mal apologizes for just standing there as she’s taken away, for not chasing after her. In the show... he does chase after her. He does literally everything in his power to go to her. There’s no pause, there’s no moment of doubt. The last time she sees him, he is afraid for her, as she’s being taken away, but he is not, for one moment, afraid of her. So I just... don’t get where that line comes from.
It seems weird to completely erase all of Mal’s flaws from the books, but then keep the dialogue where he apologizes for how those flaws have negatively impacted their relationship, without recontextualizing the apology into an appropriately impactful moment.
#the show sometimes treats these characters as if they're their book selves#and it's VERY discombobulating because the accusations they fling around don't ring true for these characters AT ALL#alina: yeah i'm sure you wrote to me in between all your exploits with beautiful grisha women#like what? show mal... doesn't... seem to sleep around? (which was a weird choice to remove because that wasn't a negative character trait?)#like they deliberately show us him NOT sleeping with zoya#even though he did in the books (where this line would have been more fitting)#because again#show mal seems VERY hung up on alina and not really interested in other people#so i just. don't understand where alina's accusation is stemming from?#instead of being an understandable insecurity like in the books#it now seems like completely unfounded paranoid jealousy in the show#malina#malyen oretsev#alina starkov#shadow and bone#also low key i'm annoyed they scrubbed mal of all his flaws#like give those back! he needs those to feel like a realistic person!#you don't have to keep ALL of them. or you can make new ones up if you really don't want to go in that direction any more#but damn. let a dude be selfish or hurt or unkind sometimes.#he deserves to have feelings about what happens to him#and they don't have to be 100% happy healthy emotions either! working through and dealing with trauma is messy! show that!
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Kaeya and/or Diluc with the banter prompt "don't tempt me" or "you didn't answer my question"
thank u eternally dear anon for giving me the always-appreciated opportunity to write some kaeluc >:} (send me one of these prompts and a genshin character!)
make me melt again - T - 2k
tags: stranded on a desert island, no i haven’t done the event stuff yet, idk if we even get to that part by the time i post this, but i was inspired, kaeluc reconciliation, canon divergence
[read on ao3]
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“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Which one? You’ve asked an incessant number of them over the past-” Diluc cuts his words off there. Past how long? The sun has set, of course, so he can be relatively certain that some hours have passed, but the exact number is as yet undeterminable.
And Kaeya is doing his best to make it feel eons longer.
“Have you even been paying attention?” Kaeya chides, coughs out a laugh. How he’s finding this amusing, Diluc isn’t entirely certain. This is very far from enjoyable, though he supposes it isn’t the worst situation he’s ever ended up in.
“I tend to tune out when you speak,” Diluc says as he glances over the fire to where Kaeya watches him, brow quirked.
“Hardly an afternoon on a deserted island, and you’re already rather feisty,” Kaeya says with a laugh. “How long until you raise a sword against me again?”
It’s the again that does it, that snaps Diluc’s neutral, unbothered composure. His jaw tics with irritation - of all the people to end up stuck on an island with, it had to be Kaeya, didn’t it? The one person among an entire world who happens to be particularly adept at pushing his buttons.
“You’re welcome to reminisce to your heart’s content,” he grits out, “but I have little interest in rehashing the past.” There is a reason he put all of that behind him, sequestered all his hurt behind an iron wall and locked it away. He does not need it rearing its ugly head now, when they’ve-
Perhaps not reconciled, but they are at an understanding of sorts. They are able to be in each others’ presence without causing problems, though he supposes such a tenuous alliance might crumble under the weight of hours spent on a deserted island.
With nobody to talk to but Kaeya, and nobody to intervene should things turn any less civil.
Not that Diluc will be the one to raise a hand against Kaeya. Never again - he has long passed that place, that dark well of heartache and betrayal. Teyvat moved on, and so Diluc moved on with it. He presumes that Kaeya has moved on as well.
“It was not a particularly pleasant evening,” Kaeya says, his words accented with the crack of a splitting log. Sparks fly up between them, and Diluc catches Kaeya’s eye. Immediately drops his gaze to the dark pit of the burning logs.
“I don’t care to reminisce over it either,” Kaeya adds once the fire has settled. His voice sounds...different. Quieter, less...gods, he can’t believe he’s dredging this word up in relation to Kaeya, but it’s less seductive. So very unlike Kaeya, or at least, the Kaeya that Diluc knows now.
He wasn’t always like that, so inclined to charm every person he meets. So flippant with his flirting that it sets Diluc’s nerves on edge just to be near him.
“We never really talked about it, did we?” Kaeya’s voice carries a hint of humor, and an outright invitation to talk about it now, in spite of his words just a moment ago. Diluc clenches his jaw, fights back the hundred-and-one questions that had burned in his chest after that night. It has taken a very long time to quiet them, and he does not particularly think that they bear any relevance now.
“What is there to discuss,” Diluc says, and means it rhetorically. Kaeya shifts, sticks a leg out and toes his boot off.
“A lot of things, I think.” His other boot joins the first a safe distance from the fire along with his socks, and Kaeya pulls his knees up and leans back on his hands as his toes dig into the sand. “You kissed me the night before that.”
Diluc’s gaze flicks to the side, to the ocean, and he stares hard at the soft flicker of the moon’s reflection on distant waves.
‘And what if I want to?’ Kaeya’d asked. What if he did want to kiss Diluc, then what?
‘Well...I wouldn’t stop you…’ The bravest Diluc could get, even with Kaeya. Far less terrifying to face a horde of hilichurls than to admit how desperately, in that moment, he’d wanted Kaeya to kiss him.
‘But you don’t want me to, do you?’ Bait, he knew it even then, but it didn’t stop him from riding that spark of defiance as far as it would take him. Far enough to lean into Kaeya, push him against the nearest wall and press his lips to Kaeya’s.
“So you do remember,” Kaeya says quietly - this Kaeya, in the present. On a deserted island across a dying fire from Diluc, after so very many years of careful avoidance.
“Of course I do.” How could he forget the rush of heat flooding his veins, the spark in his chest flaring to life at the taste of Kaeya’s lips? The desperate hands at his waist, slipping beneath the hem of his shirt. His own hands searching, too, clinging to Kaeya like he’d dreamed about doing for ages.
No, he might bury it deep in his chest, but moments like those do not disappear entirely.
“But you think that’s not something we need to discuss, is that it?” Kaeya quips easily, and Diluc glances back to find his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, now, his scarf and cape discarded. He looks...lighter, this way. Unburdened, but not by the weight of his excessive accessorizing. More that he seems unburdened by the weight of the persona, the facade.
And out here, who would he have to pretend for? Diluc has certainly never believed the performance.
“I think it happened a very long time ago.” And…
And what? He hears it in his tone, the unfinished nature of his statement. And Diluc fears to even discuss that night, for the fact that it might dredge up feelings he has never quite managed to destroy? He can hardly say that to Kaeya, he’d never hear the end of it.
To Diluc’s surprise, though, Kaeya only hums. Stares into the distance beyond Diluc for a long moment, his gaze unfocused. How does he remember that night? Fondly?
“It must’ve been easy, then.” A pause, intentional, and Diluc refuses to rise to the bait. He waits, and Kaeya continues after another beat of silence. “To cast me out if you never truly felt anything for me.”
The meaning of his words processes slowly, leisurely, a perfect match for the faint breeze that twists through Kaeya’s hair, carries on to brush against Diluc’s cheeks. The soft moment splits in two at the sound of another cracking log, and Diluc grits his teeth.
“Is that what you believe?” His words come out on a harsh breath, low and quiet. Kaeya leans forward, wraps his arms around his knees.
“Is it not true?” Bait, Diluc’s mind supplies unhelpfully, but he will not let Kaeya sit here and tell him that it was easy, that Kaeya meant nothing to him.
That it did not break his heart when Kaeya told the truth of his past.
“It is not,” Diluc says shortly, and he dares to level a stare at Kaeya. Kaeya meets his gaze in turn, and by all accounts, it should be flippant. Should be easy and light, and Kaeya should scoff and dismiss Diluc’s words.
The stare he gives is not any of those things, though. Kaeya watches intensely, with sharp focus and tensed muscles, and Diluc is not entirely prepared to handle the sudden weight of his gaze.
A subtle, faint smile flickers to the edge of Kaeya’s lips, a daring thing for how rigid he looks right now.
“Tell me it hurt,” he says then, quiet. Voice laced with a years-old ache that Diluc feels in his chest, and he’s seventeen again - eighteen, almost, just about. Tomorrow. But right now, he and Kaeya find a hidden alcove in the back of the library, and Kaeya kisses him until he can’t catch his breath.
“It hurt.” The words hurt, too, but he says them. Speaks them to the fire and knows that they pass through the flames to reach Kaeya.
“Did you regret it?” Cautious, probing. Diluc blows out a breath.
“For a very long time, I did not.” His gaze flicks up, just enough to meet Kaeya’s for a brief moment before he turns toward the ocean again. “I feel...differently now.”
The closest he can bear to admitting that he lost not one, but two irreplaceable people in his life that night. And that one loss was entirely his own fault, even if he’s learned to forgive himself for his father’s death.
“Time changes things,” Kaeya agrees, and Diluc watches from the corner of his eye as Kaeya shifts, climbs to his feet. “Care to see if it’s changed anything else?”
Diluc’s heart catches up to the words a moment too late, then redoubles its efforts at the idea of what Kaeya could be implying. He swallows, inhales dying fire smoke and grasps within his mind for anything to steady him.
A hand appears before him, then, the lifeline doomed to drag him under, and Diluc’s gaze drifts up to find Kaeya standing over him, a gentle smile on his lips. Not teasing, not put-upon or overly seductive.
Just Kaeya.
And oh, Diluc’s heart aches, begs him to reach out and take Kaeya’s hand.
“There’s nobody here,” Kaeya says softly. “Just us.”
Diluc lets his gaze fall again, back to Kaeya’s outstretched hand. He shifts carefully, lets his heart guide his hand to take Kaeya’s. And oh, the way his heart races when Kaeya’s smile widens.
He pulls Diluc to his feet, then huffs out an amused breath that puts Diluc immediately on guard.
“Are you not sweltering?” Kaeya’s free hand tugs gently at the lapel of his jacket, though, and Diluc’s brows furrow.
“Trying to undress me?” he asks, entirely deadpan, but it pulls such a sweet laugh from Kaeya’s lips that Diluc has to fight a grin of his own.
“I’m trying to prevent heatstroke, but don’t tempt me.” An amused warning, and Diluc sucks in a sharp breath at the hand that skates across his chest, the thumb that hooks around the inside of his jacket. “May I?”
Diluc holds his breath, finds it impossible to do anything but nod.
He will admit - though not to Kaeya - that he’s grateful for the cool night breeze that his jacket had kept at bay. Kaeya sets it alongside his own discarded accessories, then glances down at Diluc’s feet.
“Fine,” Diluc grumbles as he sets about removing his boots as well. At this rate, Kaeya won’t be satisfied til he’s-
A flush crawls up Diluc’s cheeks, and he rushes to discard his boots and socks alongside Kaeya’s. And, to his relief, Kaeya seems to find Diluc’s state of partial undress satisfactory. Again, he extends a hand, and Diluc does not hesitate to take it this time.
He leads Diluc across the sand, vaguely in the direction of the water, and Diluc takes a moment to- to miss this. The comfort of Kaeya’s presence, when it’s so often been little more than an irritation. He lets his steps waver closer to Kaeya, until they walk with their shoulders brushing. Kaeya does not pull away.
The water is cold when they reach it - or, rather, when it reaches them. It curls its way up the shore to meet them, and Kaeya draws to a stop as it swallows his feet for a moment. Diluc turns to watch him, to watch the sea breeze whip at his hair and pull it back from his face.
His eye remains closed for a long moment, a subtle smile tugging at the corner of his lips, and his hand tightens in Diluc’s in the short second before he opens his eye again, catches Diluc staring. His smile widens.
“What do you think, Luc?” Diluc’s heart stops beating for a breath. “Has anything changed?”
He steps closer, hears his blood rushing in time with the waves, and lifts his hand to Kaeya’s cheek. Thinks that he missed this, that he did not expect to ever have it again. To ever want it again, but here it is. Here he is, and here Kaeya is.
And once again, he does not answer Kaeya’s question. Just leans in, lets his lips brush Kaeya’s, and melts into the feeling of Kaeya pressed against him.
No, he might’ve said. Everything has changed, but not this. Never this.
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It’s Friday! Kick off your weekend with a reread of these five fics from September!
found my thrill by s_t_c_s / @sothischickshe
12 Sep 2020, M, 2.1K, 1/1
The tip toward Mrs. Boland fell delightfully easy into his lap. And yes, he thinks, absently clacking the hard candy against back teeth, the source of this information isn’t what he’d term the most wholesome. Leslie is, to put it mildly, something of a turd. Apparently one with aspirations of playing cops and robbers, quite possibly unstable. But that’s essentially by the by. Jimmy’s allied with worse for less.
His sweet is practically vacant of flavour now. It’s spent too long being sucked upon, dwindling slow. There’s a packet in the cabinet by his head; easy replenishment is on offer. But it’s the action he enjoys, more than the florid taste. There’s no sense to using up supplies ahead of the need.
She’d been squirrelly, this Mrs. Boland, both times he spoke to her. In the presence of her husband, and without his shade. Maybe she’s not aware Jimmy noticed it, might be unused to having her responses attended to; her man doesn’t exactly impress as the observant type. But Stepford sketchiness wouldn’t necessarily translate to anything relevant right now. He’s focused on breaking this case, not poking at lesser fry. Oh, Jimmy’s seen the seedy underbelly to white picket land, is past naïve over that. Has run into a whole host out there: prescription pills; pimpless, primarily, prostitution; pornography production ranging from the shockingly amateur to the really quite advanced.
Suburban problems have a way of sealing themselves inward though. Rarely spill out their box into messy violence and mass ugliness in a manner which requires large amounts of attention. If it’s something of that type, he may not, for now, have a quarrel with her. Well, unless she brings him one.
The Game by BookBearer
08 Sep 2020, M, 4K, 1/?
This most recent hit was one of the biggest they’ve seen in a while. Rio and his group owned – well, “collaborated with” – multiple grocery stores, businesses, and shops throughout the city of Detroit. Each section had its own purpose, but there were a couple of larger, no-named, grocery stores that were their biggest assets.
One of which was robbed yesterday night.
The first time an incident like this happened, Rio was not overly concerned. There were lowlife criminals scattered all across the city of Detroit- sometimes shit happens. Some people are new to the area, so maybe they didn’t get the memo—don’t fuck with Rio’s business.
Usually he would send out a couple of his boys to rough them up a bit. And if he was feeling generous, he would show them the error of their ways, take the full cut of what they took, and then let the go with all their fingers intact. Sometimes.
But this?
This was different.
With each passing day, Rio would continue to hear about how his shit was getting robbed. A barber shop here, a liquor store there, and now yesterday was the grocery store on 3rd. And it only seemed to be his shit getting hit… each store that was robbed had his cash involved somehow.
To say Rio was pissed would be the understatement of the century.
Let's All Get Drunk And Go To Heaven by Fei / @lanafannabanana, @Nice_diva
01 Sep 2020, E, 3.4K, 1/1
Only it’s not one drink for her. Not even two. The whole situation just feels surreal, and she feels so out of place, so restless. Rio is sitting across from her and she could feel his eyes on her even when she is not looking. Beth ends up having double bourbon. Twice. By the moment she finishes her second glass, she feels her mind blissfully fogging, and she knows she should probably slow down a little, but it’s too late now.
And maybe she’s feeling a little too tipsy right now, so what?
Beth is nursing her third drink, when she feels Rio’s knee bump into hers. She raises her eyebrows, turning to him.
“Yo,” he says lazily.
And that he is tonight – awfully lazy and very relaxed. She finds it suspicious and doesn’t even want to think about why he is so relaxed. Is it because it’s Mick’s birthday, so Rio is letting it go for a moment? Or maybe some deal went really fine? And, gosh, what kind of deal, exactly? Maybe he is just in a good mood? Is he ever?
He is always so much trouble even when he is not.
She doesn’t reply, just snorts and rolls her eyes, twirling a lock of her blond hair. He looks so cheeky and genuine right now, she can’t help but smile back.
don't give it a hand, offer it a soul by medievalraven / @medievalraven
08 Sep 2020, M, 14K, 2/3
“You know I did hear something interesting about the event tonight,” Gretchen says.
“What’s that?”
“Apparently Elizabeth Boland was there, caused quite a stir.”
Rio takes a drink, trying to remember seeing anyone out of place tonight or anyone people had been watching, whispering about. But he can’t place anyone outside the normal crowd.
As if sensing his confusion Gretchen exhales sharply before clarifying.
“Her grandfather was the former governor and she had been a regular at these things ever since she could walk. My mother used to love seeing what dresses she’d wear even as a little girl, it was quite the big deal amongst the newspapers apparently. Anyway a couple years ago there was talk that her husband was being tapped for an appointment to the State House of Representatives when he passed away suddenly. She basically disappeared after that.”
“Is that right?”
“So imagine everyone’s surprise when she showed up tonight as the caterer no less,” Gretchen chuckles.
And of fucking course that was her.
Off The Record by Sdktrs12 / @sdktrs12
18 Sep 2020, T, 31K, 5/?
“It’s a ride along, so you’ll be on the road for a few weeks. But compensation is...substantial.” He pauses and Beth lets out an exasperated sigh. “It’s an entertainment piece.” He continues hastily, sensing her impatience. “A series of gallery showings for a photography exhibit.”
She sucks in a sharp breath and she knows Mason catches it because he heaves out a sigh, already knowing he’s losing her. “Absolutely not.” She hisses, her mind immediately transported back seven years.
She can picture herself perfectly, sitting at the hotel bar as she’d tried to drink away her misery. And then he’d been there, materializing by her side, eyes dark and dangerous as they’d scanned over her...
“You didn’t even let me finish.” Mason interrupts her thoughts and she distantly hears the toilet flush down the hall. Then the water is running in the sink and she pushes herself off the island.
She heads toward the door, stopping by the stairs to grab Jane’s overnight bag.
“I don’t need to hear the rest. Honestly, what did you expect? I mean, not only do I refuse to work with him, he refuses to work with me.” Beth scoffs at that—like he had any right or reason to blacklist her.
Not like the reasons she had.
“That’s the thing. His publicist called us and asked for you specifically. Said he doesn’t want the article done under any other publication or written by any other freelancer.”
And just—what? That didn’t make any sense. They hated each other.
If you know of anyone’s tumblr/twitter and we haven’t found it or tagged incorrectly, please send us an ask to let us know.
#good girls nbc#nbc good girls#good girls fanfiction#brio fanfiction#good girls fanfic#fic back friday
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How to: Tag and Summarise your Fic
I’ve toyed with the idea of making this post for a long time but always sort of backed out because I don’t want anyone to feel like i’m being condescending or critical about the information people do or don’t disclose in their fic. At the end of the day fic writing is a hobby, y’know? And no one has to follow any rules when it comes to what they post.
But ultimately I’ve decided to go ahead and make it because I’m hoping whether you’re new to posting fic or have just always struggled with figuring out what your summary will be, this might actually be helpful for some of you. I’ve been posting on ao3 since 2013 for a lot of different fandoms and over the years I feel like I’ve developed a bit of a system for how I approach tagging/summarising my fics so, for anyone that’s interested, here’s a couple of tips on things I do when posting in order to make my fics appeal to the widest audience possible:
Tagging
When tagging fics, I usually keep it brief and informative (the more informative your tags, the less you need to worry about your summary). You don’t want to include a giant wall of tags and commentary bc a lot of people tend to glaze over that but a solid 10-13 tags can provide a lot of information about your fic before anyone even looks at the summary. Likewise, the more commonly used tags you include, the more searches your fic will show up in and the more people will see it!
The general formula I use is as follows: AU/Canon Compliant (and name the type of au eg. college, coworkers etc. or episode/season number if it’s canon), Genre (eg. Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort), Nature of the relationship (Established, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, fake/pretend relationship etc.), Fun tropes that catch people’s interests (eg. pining, obliviousness, bed sharing etc.) and then maybe something like, POV Alternating if it’s relevant
The other thing you need to tag is Trigger Warnings. I know sometimes people hold back because they don’t want to spoil the fic which, fair enough, but speaking as someone who looks to fic as a safe space or when I need comfort, I would feel horrible if I read a fic with major character death or an unhappy ending without any prior warning. And I’m saying that as someone who wouldn’t be triggered by these type of things so please, just give people a heads up so they know what they’re getting into. For the people that want to read the fic regardless I promise it won’t take away from their enjoyment knowing these things in advance.
Kind of off the back of that as well, if my fic is dealing with a particular mental illness or panic attacks or therapy or something of the like, I’ll usually tag that too. Again, both because people might be specifically looking for a fic like that or might like to avoid it for whatever reason.
Summaries
Summaries are a pain in the ass. None of us want to write them, none of us know what to say for them. And let’s be real, a lot of us have probably succumbed to the “I suck at summaries” filler at some stage in our writing lives. But summaries are the hook, they’re the thing that convinces someone to read your fic, so realistically it kind of needs to sound interesting. So, again, here’s a quick little formula I’ve been using for a few years that I think has been fairly effective in catching people’s attention.
Firstly: Include a quote/piece of dialogue from the fic itself. It can be something that showcases the main plot of the fic or, if you’re going for something a little more feelings, a little less plot then it can just be a really nice piece of prose. It’s up to you but two or three lines from the first or second scene of your fic will be more than enough to pique someone’s interest.
Secondly: Following the quote, boil your fic down to one or two sentences. In its simplest form, what’s your fic about? Tell your audience. Sometimes that might just be “An (insert trope here) au.” Sometimes it might be something more. I’ll include a example here from one of my own fics:
“So,” he says, drawing the word out. “I told Even he could stay here.”
Isak blinks, convinced he’s misheard.
“Eskild,” he says flatly. “We don’t have a spare room.”
Eskild straightens his back, expression turning sheepish. “That’s the other part…I was thinking he could stay in your room?”
*
In which Even needs a place to stay, kollektivet gains a new roommate, and Isak just really wants to sleep.
In this summary I’ve included a piece of dialogue that sets up the premise for the fic in a way that (hopefully lol) appeals to the audience. Isak and Even are going to be unwittingly sharing a room - that’s the story. My sentence that follows then just offers that little bit more info, making it clear it’s a roommates au and that sleeping (and bedsharing *cough*) is going to be an important part of the story. In six lines I’ve p much explained the whole fic without actually giving anything major away.
And that’s it really! My little guide to efficiently tagging/summarising your fic! You absolutely don’t have to follow any of these “rules” if you don’t want to. Your fic is yours and you can post it in any format you want. But if you’ve ever found tagging/summarising difficult or felt at a loss for what to type then hopefully this might be useful to some of you and make it a little bit less of a chore while also helping your fics reach a wider audience <333
#writing adventures#fanfiction#what do i tag this as lol#whaticameherefor#i made it!#again i'm hoping i'm not stating the obvious or coming off as like superior or whatever#i just know it's taken me years to figure how best to tag/summarise my fics in order for them to gain any kind of attention#so i was hoping this might do the same for some of you :)#long post#reference
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One Last Chance: Mina x Reader
Request: Hi! your stories are awesome! Is it okay I can request Mina x female reader college life, where Mina is the most popular rich girl, and her friends place a bet that Mina has to go out with you and make you fell in love with her but turns out the time you guys were together Mina eventually fells in love and tries to call off the bet, and you heard the whole thing, heartbroken you avoided her and Mina did anything that she could to bring you back, fluffy ending (: pleas and thank you!
Hi my loves. This is the long Mina scenario I was asking about earlier. This is really REALLY long but you all promised you wouldn’t mind so here it is 🙃
You transferred to Sungkyunkwan University at the beginning of this semester. Originally you attended MIT for Software Engineering, hacking is your specialty. When a professor recommended you for a study abroad, you couldn’t pass it up. You knew Korean well due to growing up in a heavily Korean influenced neighborhood as a child.
Coming to Korea wasn’t that bad because you were able to meet a few other people over social media before you arrived. You met your roommate months before you flew in so you already had one best friend.
Upon your arrival you already drew up quite a bit of attention. Somehow people found out you were from MIT which they couldn’t believe. Your roommate made sure to make you aware of who to avoid and who was friendly. Pretty much everyone was nice but she told you to watch for one group of girls.
Which is why when you were approached by none other than Mina Myoui aka the richest bitch in the whole school you were beyond confused. The raven haired girl asked “Hey. You’re Y/N right?” You had never seen Mina up close, she was ten times more beautiful than you thought.
“Wait do you speak Korean? I’m sorry. Are you Y/N?” She switched to English when you didn’t respond right away. You quickly tried to answer without sounding stupid “I-Uh um yes I am Y/N and I speak Korean yeah sorry I...I uh. I’m sorry...yeah.” You mentally face palmed yourself for not being able to say one simple sentence to her.
She sat down and said “you’re new and from what I know your only friend is Kahei. So meet me at the cafe down the street at 6, I’ll be waiting.” Before you could respond she got up and walked back to her group of friends who seemed to be laughing. You noticed two of the girls from her group. Im Nayeon was in one of your engineering classes while Minatozaki Sana was in a psych class you took to fill an empty slot.
When you got back to your dorm Kahei was on her bed reading a book. She asked “where’d you go?” You responded “the quad to start a project. But something really weird happened.” Kahei sat up on her bed and patted the spot next to her, “come on talk to me I wanna know.”
“That really rich and pretty girl....Mila? She’s friends with Im Nayeon and Minatozaki Sana...she came up to me and told me to meet her at the cafe down the street at 6.” Kahei’s eyes widened and she loudly said “MINA MYOUI ASKED YOU ON A DATE?” You shrugged then nodded. Kahei made you resite every thing that happened leading up to her asking you out for coffee. In the end she said “hmmmm...I don’t trust it. It sounds fake.” You responded “I do admit it’s a little suspicious that the most rich and popular girl in school asked me, the poor foreigner to a date...”
Kahei told you “well even if it is fake you’re gonna go to find out.” You looked at your sweatpants and t shirt you were currently wearing. You hair was in a messy bun and your thick glasses sat lopsided on your face. “Do rich people like girls who look like me?” You asked uncertainly. Kahei responded “only one way to find out!”
When you went to the cafe Kahei decided to tag along but sit at a different table with her girlfriend Haseul.
Mina arrived shortly after you, “oh i honestly didn’t think you’d show up.” She was surprised to see you actually came. You looked at you hands in your lap “I mean I think it’s rude to blow someone off...” Mina sat down across from you “you look really pretty.” You could tell that it was a genuine complement by the way she smiled softly when she said it. I guess rich people do like girls like me you thought to yourself.
For the next hour she asked you about everything there was she should know about you. Kahei told you to make sure not to disclose every detail about yourself because she still didn’t trust Mina. However by the end of the night you were convinced she was genuine.
•
•
•
Weeks passed and you continued to meet up with Mina, you knew Kahei and Haseul warned you about catching feelings too quickly but you couldn’t help it. Mina seemed so sweet and genuine despite her rich bitch demeanor.
You sat in the library working on a project with your classmate Yuqi. “I know we just met like this week but I don’t trust her either, I’m with Kahei on this one.” You don’t know why you decided to spill all of your business to Yuqi but something about her seemed trustworthy. You rolled your eyes “You all are delusional.”
Deep down you believed Kahei and Haseul and now Yuqi but you didn’t want to admit it. Mostly because you caught feelings for Mina. Badly. Yuqi didn’t pull her eyes away from her laptop “I-I’m just saying something here isn’t adding up. This isn’t right.”
“I’m just gonna- give me a minute.” Yuqi furiously typed away on her laptop, occasionally smiling and laughing to herself. After about two minutes passed she flipped her screen around in front of you was a KakaoTalk page. Mina Myoui’s to be specific.
“Yuqi! WHAT DID YOU DO?!” You whisper yelled to the younger girl who sat with a smile on her face. She simply answered “I hacked into her account. See?” You responded “I’m not reading her messages. That’s an invasion of privacy.” Yuqi responded “Ok well if you won’t I will, she has no relevance to me so it can’t hurt the nonexistent relationship between us.”
She scrolled and scrolled her facial expressions changing from surprised to one you couldn’t quite read. “Y-Y/N....um...I don’t know if you should read this yourself or not.” You felt a pit in your stomach form knowing whatever she had in front of her wasnt good news.
Yuqi slid her laptop to you and you read the messages shared between Mina and her friend group:
Sana: you have three days left in this bet Myoui
Chaeyoung: Sana’s right, you need to figure out how to get Y/N to confess to you
Nayeon: yeah if you don’t you can kiss that Maldives trip bye bye and we can say hello to that shopping spree :)
Mina: I dont want this anymore guys
Sana: are you chickening out?
Chaeyoung: shes chickening out
Mina: it’s not that
Nayeon: so what is it
Mina: nevermind
Jeongyeon: i might be in this friend group but this is wrong on every level
Tzuyu: I’m with Jeongyeon unnie
Dahyun: Me too
Momo: what bet? who is Y/N? I WANT A SHOPPING SPREE!
Jihyo: No you dont
Momo: no i do not
Jihyo: but I’m with Jeongyeon and the kids.
You couldn’t believe what you were reading. There was no way in hell Mina could have done this to you. Absolutely no way. Wanting to find some sort of happy ending you scrolled to a different chat with only this Jeongyeon girl. These newer messages brought on a new wave of emotions.
Jeongyeon: why are you trying to call it off now. You were all excited about it and now you want nothing to do with it.
Mina: I don’t know, It just feels wrong now
Jeongyeon: I know you Mina there’s something else
Mina: Theres nothing else
Jeongyeon: dont you dare lie to me
Mina: fine.
Mina: i like her. A lot. And i want to be with her.
Jeongyeon: then make your move
Mina: but if she finds out it was started with a bet....
Jeongyeon: well then come clean and apologize and pray she stays around. But honestly if i was her i wouldnt give you a second chance
Mina: thats not very reassuring
Jeongyeon: i’m disappointed in you, that’s the best you’re getting for now
Mina: ok, thank you unnie
Mina: i’m doing it tomorrow i’ll tell you how it goes
Jeongyeon: mhm
You looked to see when that last message was sent and it read yesterday’s date. So she was planning to confess or come clean today. Immediately you stood up and put your belongings in your bag before leaving Yuqi alone in the library.
You walked across campus to the dance studio where you found Mina dancing with another girl. “Myoui.” You pushed your glasses up to prevent them from sliding down. Mina turned and saw you “Y/N hey I thought we were going to meet la-”
You cut her off “I love you Mina Myoui, with all my heart I do! Is that what yo want to hear? Can you go to the Maldives now? You won. Congratulations bitch.” Mina looked at the other girl who stood in the room, she looked really confused and got uncomfortable and sprinted out, almost falling on her own feet.
“What are you talking about? I won? Maldives?” Mina questioned you. You snapped back “I didn’t stutter did I?” She replied “how did you- Who told you?” You responded “It’s not who told me or how I found out. You placed a stupid bet on me and toyed with my heart as if you were interested and I fell for your bullshit. Stay the fuck away from me. And if I catch you even thinking about talking to Kahei...you’ll wish you didn’t.” You turned around and walked out not giving Mina a chance to talk.
•
•
•
Weeks passed and the semester was coming to a close in 6 weeks. You hadn’t heard a thing from Mina or any of her friends. Sana and Nayeon stayed away from you when they had class with you. Kahei, Haseul, and Yuqi introduced you to their friends instead to make up for the relationship you once had.
Out of all of the girls you met through Kahei and Yuqi, Jinsoul and Miyeon were closest with you. Miyeon walked into your room “Hey. We’re going to a party and you’re coming. All you’ve done is moped around, worked on projects, or went to the boxing gym. It’s been too long you need to go out.” You groaned “don’t you have work today?” Miyeon responded “ok we meant you and Jinsoul but she’s finishing an assignment so she sent me to tell you.” You rolled over on your face knowing there was no getting out of this.  “Ugh fine.” You giving into your friends wishes.
Miyeon left and outfit for you before leaving your dorm to head to work. You looked over your reflection in the mirror. Miyeon definitely tried something with this outfit because you never wore these types of clothes.
You were finishing up your hair when Jinsoul unlocked your door, ready to go. “Woah...You look so good!” She jumped up and down and clapped her hands excitedly. You quickly but in your shoes and grabbed your phone before she yanked you out of the door.
This house party was definitely run by someone rich because this house was really nice. You linked arms with Jinsoul and held her hand so you wouldn’t lose her in the crowd of people. The two of you found your friend groups and stayed together with them for most of the night.
You noticed some of Mina’s friends were there as well but you didn’t see Mina. Jinsoul danced against you as you held her close laughing at her antics. Throughout the night you noticed she was watching one girl in particular, Kim Jungeun. She was in your guys’ friend group but because there’s a total of 19 girls in the group, the two of you weren’t exactly close with everyone. You know she went by Kim Lip, only allowing a few people to call her Jungeun.
“Ooo I see Lip is alone, now’s your chance go go!” You pushed Jinsoul towards the girl. Your best friend responded “no what about you I see Mina’s friends here, what if she arrives?” You pushed her further “i’ll be fine I can handle myself, just keep your phone on!” She nodded and let her hand slip out of yours, running towards Kim Lip.
You danced on a few girls and a few random dudes before getting tired of the environment. Knowing you couldn’t leave Jinsoul, you decided to walk upstairs to see if there was anything to explore. You accidentally walked in on a couple before you realized you should knock on doors before opening them.
You found a door that was open so you walked in, ready to punch of someone came at you unexpectedly. The room was large, like really large, pictures hanging on the walls, stuffed animals lining whoever’s bed it was.
However the most eye catching thing was the gigantic window that overlooked the city. You slid it open and saw there was enough room on the roof for you to safely sit. Taking in deep breaths of cool air you hugged your knees to your chest.
A knock on the shingles is what snapped you out of your trance. You expected Jinsoul but instead you saw Mina. The Japanese girl softly asked “Do you mind?” You responded coldly “no.” She smiled and walked out sitting next to you, “Id hope not, you are sitting on my roof.” You asked “so this is your place? This isn’t the same one I visited those times though.” Mina responded “rich people unnecessarily buy multiple houses.” An awkward silence fell over the two of you.
She looked at you but you stared straight ahead waiting for her to talk. Eventually you grew impatient, “I’m pretty sure you didn’t come out here to look at me, so whatever you have to say just go ahead.” She sighed then said “I’m sorry. I truly am. My friends were being stupid one day and betted me to go ask you out. Originally my intentions weren’t true and I only wanted to win. But after getting to know you...I kind of fell for you and I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry.”
You could tell she was being genuine by the tone in her voice. You hesitated then said “I loved you Mina.” She quickly responded “I love you too.” You were quick to ruin the moment “I said loveD. Past tense. I-I don’t know if i can trust you anymore.
Mina reached for your hand and you allowed her to hold it. “Please Y/N. Give me one last chance and if I mess it up you’ll never have to even think about me. I’ll make sure my friends don’t think about doing anything. Please just one more chance. Please.” Something about seeing her like this made your heart melt and butterflies erupted in your stomach.
You gave in “Fine. One last chance. That’s it.” She smiled and finally you looked at her. Her adorable gummy smile that you once loved so much was back. She placed a hand behind your neck, with her eyes she asked you for permission. You nodded and she kissed you softly. In that moment you remembered every reason why you loved Mina before.

#kpop imagines#kpop scenarios#kpop fluff#twice fluff#twice scenarios#twice imagine#twice mina#myoui mina
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Fate and Fortune
A Lesson in Probability
Part 11.5
Here’s Part 11 but you can read all the previous parts in the fate and fortune tag
So this is not plot relevant at all but this is a pretty explanatory way of understanding Vera’s stand as well as Vera and Polnareff getting to know one another a bit better.
Moots: @fyre23 and @risottoneroo
Basically gambling and rambling, enjoy. (Also no proofreading- today I die like a dumbass)
Vera tapped on Polnareff’s shoulder, slipping on her earrings as she waited for him to wake up. He blinked up sleepily at her in disbelief. His gaze shot over to the alarm clock on the bedside table.
“Come on, we’re going gambling.” Was all she said before she moved to the door where a suit for a particularly large gentlemen was ‘accidentally’ delivered to his door.
“Midnight? Vera, what are you-“
She laid the suit down on the foot of the bed- switching on the bedside table light. “Polnareff, we’re in Dubai- the casinos here are immaculate. Please? I promise I can make you win some SERIOUS cash.”
He looked at her, slack jaw in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow and it’s still a conservative country so I couldn’t go on my own even if my age allowed it- I’m begging you.” She folded her hands in front of her in feigned pleading.
And after he shook himself awake from what she actually guessed was disbelief, he got up. “Alright, alright.”
“Thanks, the taxi will be here in half an hour.” Was all she announced before disappearing into the bathroom where she was putting on make up. The last swipe of red lipsticks on her lips had just been applied when Polnareff’s gentle knock came from the other side of the door.
Her hand wrapped around the door knob and opened to the fully dressed Polnareff. “Oh I do have to applaud myself, I guessed your size pretty well, didn’t I?”
Polnareff fiddled angrily with his loose bow tie, “Why didn’t you take any of the others?”
She moved in, taking over tying his bow tie. “Because the others- as much as Jotaro’s poker face would have been useful- would have snitched on me to Mr Joestar. And Mr Joestar wouldn’t approve of this because well-“ she shrugged. “I’m not done with school yet and already raising hell.”
“Ah I see- you think I’ll keep quiet.”
She only shot him a glance as she was finishing swiping off any lint from his shoulders. “Not necessarily- you’re kind of impulsive and this is impulsive so I figured you’d simply understand.”
With an encouraging pat on the arm she moved past him. “I’m going down for the taxi and a smoke break while you finish freshening up. She was on her way to the door when her feet stopped and she turned back. “Speaking of cigarettes...?”
“Top drawer on the left.”
“Thank you.”
Vera admitted that more than anything, she wished she had a better grip on this guy. Sure, his misadventures gave her a chuckle occasionally but the way he bounced back from grave situations made her ponder if he ever felt anything. If he didn’t- it was somewhat a cause of concern.
She took her ID out about halfway to the casino and used Fortune to change her birthdate.
Polnareff leaned in closer to watch the number blur and reamaterialize like a vision clearing itself. “Now how does luck have the ability to do that?”
“Printing mistake.”
He blinked at her. “You’re going to have to elaborate.”
“Simply put, Polnareff- there’s a small chance that my ID got misprinted, past the quality check and then got sent to me in the mail. The probability was highly unlikely but so is most of the stuff Fortune can make happen.”
The wheels in Polnareff’s head seemed to click and place and he let out a long ohhh.
“So- I’m guessing your stand has always been able to make such specific probabilities come true?”
“Oh not at all-“ she handed the security her clutch purse and her ID, standing to let them pat her down before ‘eagerly’ returning to Polnareff’s side. “There was once a time when I just hoped for the first card from a deck to be a chosen suit. Now, however,” she started leading him towards the chip exchange. “Now I can have Fortune predict and adjust the entire deck.”
She had Polnareff slide in a clip of money- her entire savings- as a total of £3000.
“Starting small, tonight?” The man behind the counter asked as he brought out the chips.
Polnareff seemed appalled at the idea that 3K was a small start but Vera jumped in instead. “It’s just a casual evening for us- we’re traveling in the morning.”
“Are you sure about this?” Polnareff asked, the worry evident on his face. “This is a lot of money you might lose completely.”
“Unlikely- you’ll just have to trust me.” Was all she said as she moved towards the blackjack tables first.
They were offered Champaign by a passing waiter, and just in time for their first deal. “You know how to play, right?” She whispered into his ear.
“Of course I do.”
She smiled down at him, trying to convince the dealer that were at the very least interested in each other’s company. “So you won’t need me, I’ll just be your lucky charm.”
The Roulette wheel was where she knew they’d start making big winnings, it was also where Polnareff started to understand the entertainment aspect of the evening. Gambling was a peculiar art of gathering enough competitors to make your play worthwhile. And Vera using herself as eye candy was exactly what they needed.
“What do you think, my dear? Am I an utter fool for betting that high?” He spoke perhaps a bit too loudly.
“I don’t know- is Lady Luck on your side?” She retorted.
“I can never tell- she looks an awful lot like you sometimes.”
She laughed it off, seeing a crowd gather in their peripherals.
“So- that what it feels likes to have your Fortune changed. Not quite as natural as I thought.” Polnareff had told her as they left the Black Jack table.
She laughed, counting the chips into the little velvet bag. “I suppose it would feel strange to you. I don’t know I’ve always seen it as a bit boring.”
“Boring? Boring how?”
They watched as the little white ball shot of the table master’s hand, running around the edge of the Roulette wheel. Vera couldn’t be bothered, she was focused on the black seventeen on the wheel. Focusing Fortune’s attention on that.
“As strange as it seems- probability and human choice kind of go hand in hand. One can sometimes influence the other...”
The speed of the ball slowed down, everyone around them held their breath as they waited.
“Sometimes it’s some ingrained instinct for us to go for even numbers- other times it’s a rigged game.”
The ball slipped into the black seventeen.
“But it’s not knowing the outcome that makes Fortune an invisible god.”
She and Polnareff leapt up and hugged each other as the crowd around them either cheered with them or sighed in defeat.
“50K for the duo in black.” The table master slid the chips across the board towards them.
Polnareff’s eyes widened as he pulled the chips closer. “Another game?”
Vera drummed her fingers on his shoulder, making him look up at her. “What do you think, Jean? Another game?”
She squeezed his shoulder just to make sure he understood they won’t be leaving the table. He gazed at her a moment and then turned to the table. “Well I suppose another game couldn’t hurt.”
“Why did you let us lose?” Jean groaned as she split the money into 15K each. Their winnings had decreased after the fifth game of Roulette and then got back to 30K at the slots. “I thought you had full control.”
“I do, and I didn’t let us lose, I made us lose.”
They had just left the casino and was walking back to the hotel- which wasn’t that far.
Polnareff spluttered. “Bu- But why? We could have walked out with millions!”
“From just 3K starting point, wouldn’t they find it awfully suspicious?”
She groaned as she bent down and climbed out of the heals she’d been walking around in all night.
“There have been worse cases, haven’t there? What about people winning the lottery and such.”
Vera looked back at him, his wide blue eyes begging for answers. It made he laugh for a moment. “Jean, you don’t actually think casinos are made for you to win in right? They’ll only let you succeed that much, anything more and we’d be in the interrogation rooms right now. Also-“ she started removing her earrings and slipping them into his suit pocket. “Isn’t 15K enough?”
“Don’t I owe you 3K?”
“No? Where’d you get that?”
“Well you gave the starting bet didn’t you.”
She scoffed, walking away from him. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Jean. You do possess that real entertainer’s talk so... thanks for that.”
“Come on- we need to get back to the hoTEL!”
Polnareff sprinted past her, grabbing her clutch in his hand and stuffing his money into her purse.
“I don’t want to hear another word about this- the money is yours!”
It took a moment for her brain to catch up and when it did she was after him. “Jean! Jean, it was a team effort! The guilt is gonna eat me alive!”
He ran ahead of her- getting much faster simply due to his height. “No no no no no! I won’t hear it!”
“Jean! I’m wearing stockings and a dress! This is not fair!”
“Promise you’ll keep the money!”
“Never!”
She phased him back with Fortune just close enough to hop onto his back- clinging on for dear life. “I told you, I don’t want it.”
“So why make me go in the first place?” He panted, resting his hands on his knees, Vera just hanging onto his back for the ride.
Vera’s breath returned to her, but the answer didn’t. Polnareff waited it out, the silence suddenly becoming oppressive.
“Truth is Vera, I don’t know you very well. And from what I can tell is that you’re not a particularly emotional person.” He put a hand over hers on his shoulder. “But Mr Joestar has told me why Avdol’s death hit you harder than me. I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. Especially in Pakistan.”
The mere thought of it made her nauseous, her grip on his shoulders loosening. She slid off his back and stood staring at the pavement- hoping she could stop the tears from coming. “I just wanted to take my mind off things. I didn’t care if I was going to pay for it later.”
The admittance felt like it broke a dam behind her eyes. The tears flowing freely. “I’m just so tired.”
Polnareff let her have a moment, her shoulders quietly jerking as she cried. “Do you want to talk about it? I’d love to get to know you a bit better, and not from what other people tell me about you.”
She sniffed, lifting her head to meet his gaze. “Look what you’ve done to me, Jean! My make up is a mess!”
He only laughed, offering her a handkerchief. “Come on, I’ll abba* you home.”
She accepted after wiping away some snot and black stained tears under her eyes.
“So- where should I start?”
Jean only nodded or hummed in understanding as they walked back, not saying much. Vera speaking freely about her life for the first time in a long time.
“Alright, so to summarize- you’ve discovered Fortune can make any probability of their choice come true, you can heal because you can make some time move forward or back, that same time skip thing is also where your phasing ability comes from, and you’re incapable of effecting anything about Dio specifically. Any idea why?”
“I have a suspicion it’s because he changed his own fate with becoming a vampire. Some curses are too ancient for even me to interfere with.”
“Okay so, you’ll have to explain to me again- how does phasing work exactly?”
“Think of it this way- right now, I hold my shoe in my hand.” She lifted up the black stiletto in her hand over his chest. “Now what I do with this shoe depends on what I decide to do with it. I can decide to drop it, toss it up in the air, put it on, give it to someone jogging by- whatever. Once I decide that is the path I want it to experience, all it needs is time to do so. So I decide I’m going to toss it a few feet ahead of us. It’s going to take a few seconds to get there, yes?”
“Yes.”
“So all Fortune does is skip that time and move it straight to the time it will be laying on the floor ahead of us.”
She proved the point by demonstrating. “Got it?”
“Ahhh so THAT’S also how you heal people.”
“Now you get it.” He picked up the shoe and handed it back to her.
“So uhhh... why is it giving you grey hairs?”
Her head turned to press her ear against his back. “Time, it seems, acts a bit like money. To skip the time I have to pay the time. My body basically makes me pay for the months of healing I spare other people.”
“Are you sure? Why is it only showing now?”
“Because of the shock I suppose. I kind of wonder how many years I’ve shaved off my own life at this point. Besides- I think it’s more for moving time forward. Moving time back just gives me bad luck, I think.”
He hummed in understanding. “I see, by the way, how’s your nose?”
“Getting less blue thanks for asking.” She laughed.
The sight of the hotel lobby was her que to hop off and get back into her heels. They walked along the hallways in the hotel once more- exchanging stories of their childhoods before they were back at their doors. She gave a tired goodnight and a thank you but Polnareff called back from his room door. “Vera, I know what the corpses told you must haunt you but- I think your parents would have been proud to see where you are now.”
“Stop making me cry!”
She gave him the most authentic smile she could manage and said. “I think your family would be proud of you too.”
*abba- I might expose myself here but where I’m from, this is what we say when we piggyback someone. It’s the one local slang I think sounds cuter than piggyback lol.
#jojo's bizarre adventure#jojo no kimyou na bouken#jojo part 3#jean pierre polnareff#OC Vera#OC content#fate and fortune
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I posted 768 times in 2022
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Bucky Barnes and the Girl With Too Much Power: Chapter 4/?
Summary: Nobody knows about your power. You’ve never really wanted to use it, let alone hurt someone with it. But, someone has figured you out, and now they’re following you. There’s only one place you can go for help - The Avengers. Good news is they’re good people. Bad news is your power is entirely relevant to soft, sad, recovering, broody Bucky Barnes. Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3.
Chapter 4: You have to leave behind the life you knew.
Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Reader
Characters: Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker
Additional tags: Bucky needs a hug, recovering Bucky, mostly canon compliant (Infinity War and Endgame didn’t happen, Stark Tower still exists), angst, possible future smut (who knows, not me), mutual pining, reader has powers / enhanced!reader, she/her pronouns, more tags/characters to be added with future chapters
Notes: I haven’t updated this fic in months and monthssss. Let me know if there are any continuity errors, and if this is still a fic worth me plugging away at. Thank you for any and all support! xo Rhi
Bucky Barnes and the Girl With Too Much Power
Chapter 4/?
There was nothing comforting about having Stark-employed agents tailing you. Logically you knew that besides maybe a well-placed and patient sniper, nobody would be able to get close enough to hurt you. Not with spiders and witches and falcons watching over you. Certainly not with the last remaining Howling Commandos on your side.
Although you couldn't see him, even when you tried to covertly spot him, you could feel Bucky. You could feel him watching you and you knew it was him because it wasn't like before. It didn't make you feel sick with dread.
All of that was probably in your head though.
More tangible aspects of the situation were the beads of sweat rolling down your spine and pooling in the small of your back. Very real was the awkward pace you were keeping - definitely faster than a casual walk but a solid attempt to appear calm and normal.
It had been decided that you would walk the entire way home. It was doable, but you'd usually catch the bus. The people who wanted you would have to see the future to know when and where you'd catch a bus, but that wasn't outside the realm of possibility. Not anymore. So, you walked for 40 minutes.
…
Unless he wanted you to see him, Bucky Barnes was invisible. He'd always been good at camouflage, but programming by Hydra included 'how to disappear 101.' And under your power, it was like that again. Not a single soul saw Bucky as he followed you block by block. There wasn't even a gust of wind left in his wake to alert people that someone… something, had gone by.
Entirely focussed and keen eyed, Bucky watched your strange gait. If there was no power clouding his mind, he would have smirked a little; even Hydra couldn't take the sass out of him.
After he climbed through an unlocked bedroom window and landed on the floor behind you, Bucky stood up straight at attention. You were on your hands and knees, pulling things out of the bottom of a closet. There was a duffle bag in there somewhere, you were sure.
"Yes!" you whispered to yourself, standing and spinning around. The yelp that escaped your mouth sounded through Bucky's earpiece to the other Avengers situated in, on, and around your apartment building.
"Buck?" Steve asked, muscles already poised to move.
"Package is safe," Bucky replied, no emotion in his voice. The lack of it went unnoticed by Peter Parker - who was still too new and in awe to know Bucky beyond reputation and limited interaction. He didn't mean to, but Bucky had avoided Peter; he reminded him too much of pre-serum Steve. However, Wanda, Sam, and Steve all heard the tone, and all frowned to themselves from their respective positions. Nobody did anything though.
"You scared me," you said as soon as you yelped. When he didn't move, speak, or even shrug it off, you were reminded of your spell. A small, sad, "Oh," was uttered. "Stop. You can stop your… mission," you ordered him.
It didn't work. Maybe it wasn't specific enough. Without a lot of practice, you really weren't good at using your power when you actually needed to. You realised that you shouldn't have given Bucky a complex and prolonged order in the elevator.
"Ah… Relax. Be yourself…?" you tried. Bucky's blue eyes simply remained fixed on you and he went to speak, but you cut him off. "Oh! Ignore my previous order. Do not… feel compelled… to… Fuck. What did I tell you to do?"
"Make sure I get to my house safely. Help me get what I need, and bring me back here," Bucky said, repeating your command word-for-word. It was unnerving.
"Yeah… Don't… Don't do that. Unless you want to. Only do that if you want to."
When his posture gave (by only the slightest amount), you breathed out. It had worked, but you weren't sure exactly which part.
"Bucky?" you asked gently. Bucky smiled and it felt like rain in a drought. "You okay?"
He nodded, being much more used to giving non-verbal responses. Sam's voice was in his head though, encouraging him to speak, pushing his recovery forward faster than Steve's love alone could do. "Yeah, I'm fine…"
You could hear it in his slow drawl- that slight cognitive lag people sometimes experienced after your power left their minds and they were free again.
"I'm sorry,"
"No, darling', you don't have to keep saying that. It's alright,"
"But-"
"Please," he interrupted. He shook his head slightly, but it was enough for you to see he didn't want to talk about it. "You did good,"
"I just… walked," you replied.
"Yeah, but that isn't easy when you think someone's about to kill ya,"
"Wow. Reassuring. Thanks," you said sarcastically, moving around him to put the bag on the bed.
Bucky chuckled, then sat down next to the bag.
"Aren't you gonna, like, check the cupboards and stuff?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Christ, how unprofessional do you think we are?" From the dresser you were digging through, you looked over at him and shrugged in confusion. "Stark had people in here as soon as he figured out where here was,"
"Guessing that was pretty quick?"
"Yep," Bucky replied, popping the P sound purposefully.
"So, random people have been going through my stuff?" Looking around, nothing seemed out of place. It was unnerving, actually.
"Not random. People Stark trusts,"
"Do you trust them?"
But he hesitated and he saw that you'd seen. He couldn't but smile a little. "I don't not trust them."
Thinking for a couple seconds, you decided on, "Probably fair…"
Bucky nodded, and you continued to pack. He decided it wasn't worth telling you that in the very early hours of the morning, after the city was asleep and just before the sun woke up, he'd gone to your apartment too. Clues in the cupboards. Secrets under the seats. Anything really. Steve had been awake when Bucky slipped out. He'd thought maybe Bucky was checking for Hydra. Or possibly, Steve hoped, his best friend was driven by the fact that you looked a lot like a couple of the girls Bucky had charmed before the war meant anything to them.
Bucky followed you as you went room by room, filling the duffle, then a backpack, then an empty shopping bag.
"You planning on never coming back here?" he asked, mostly joking. When you stopped, moving like a deer in the headlights, Bucky realised. "Oh…"
"Am I? Am I coming back?" you asked, on the cusp of hopeful. The glimmer of it in your eyes killed Bucky.
"I don't know," he answered, voice a little too soft to be comforting.
Looking around your apartment, you tried to look brave. "I guess… it doesn't really matter. Hadn't really built much of a life anyway,"
"Of course it matters, Y/N."
Before you could say anything else, there was a loud knock on your door, followed by the shrill voice of your neighbour. "Y/N?! Did I just hear ya come home?! Where've ya been?!"
You and Bucky turned to each other at the same time, both expecting the other to do something.
"She's not gonna go away," you whispered.
"Make her," Bucky said.
"I don't want to use-"
"No," Bucky interrupted. "Just talk to her…" His tone implied the 'obviously.'
As soon as you swung the door open, Barb went to step in.
"Ah, sorry, Barb. Bit of a mess in here… Did you need… something?" you said, stopping her.
She eyed you suspiciously, tried to look past you. "You didn't come home last night,"
"Stayed at a friend's,"
"That's lovely… Which friend? That nice Lisa girl?"
"No, um, new friend. James."
Bucky almost laughed.
"A boy? I didn't realise you were dating." She emphasised the last word like it was taboo.
Normally, you'd be better at dealing with Barb; she meant well, but was incredibly nosey. Normally, you didn't answer all her rapid-fire questions immediately, but you were nervous.
"It's not like that. He's just a friend,"
"That you spent the night with,"
"Barb, it's 2020. We can be friends with guys now,"
"So defensive, Y/N! Must really like him," she said with a knowing smile.
"I'm just on my way out, actually,"
"Such a social butterfly all of a sudden. I was just coming over to see if you're alright,"
"I'm alright. And I appreciate it. I really do. I'm just… a bit busy right now,"
"Alright, alright," Barb said, holding her hands up in surrender. "I know when I'm not welcome-"
"No, Barb, it's not-"
"No, no, it's fine." She took a step backwards.
"Barb-"
"When will you be home then?"
Fuck.
You tried to look over your shoulder into your apartment as casually as possible. Glancing at Bucky, all he could offer was a shrug. You realised then that you would have to lie, really lie.
"Actually… Might be gone for a while. Got family upstate that need me."
Barb was quiet for a second, searching through everything she knew about you. "I hope everyone's alright," she settled on. She wanted to say that she didn't know you had family upstate… or any family at all, for that matter.
You'd lived in the apartment complex for five or so years. Barb had always looked out for you, especially since her kid went off to college. She'd met a couple of your friends, heard about work, but never once had you spoken about family. Barb hadn't pressed, although she very much wanted to. Something inside her was keeping her from doing so.
"Yeah, yep… They will be," you replied, nodding.
"Okay… Well, you'll have to come over for tea when you get back?"
"I will. Thanks, Barb."
She left.
Bucky watched you close the door, lock it out of habit.
Your eyes were full of tears. "I can't come back here," you whispered to him. "If someone is after me, I can't bring them here,"
"They probably already know where 'here' is," Bucky replied, almost immediately knowing it was the wrong thing to say. "But," he quickly added. "If they were gonna do anything, they'd done that already."
Bucky didn't believe that to be true at all. More likely, the people following you, upon discovering your sudden disappearance, would try to draw you out. If they knew Barb was a friend - it could make her a target.
You watched Bucky's expression. You read the lie. You didn't need to force the truth out though. You let the fact that he was trying to reassure you, reassure you.
"We'll keep surveillance here."
You nodded, moved slowly to continue packing.
Bucky stayed quiet, watched, tried to remember all the details of your apartment. Maybe they'd come in useful at some point.
"Okay, I'm ready," you announced.
"There's a car downstairs waiting for you," Bucky said.
"You're not coming?"
"I'll go out the way I came," he answered. When you didn't move, he added, "You'll be okay… Steve and everyone… they'll look after you." He wasn't lying that time. "Go."
Slinging bags over your shoulder, you nodded and left Bucky Barnes in the apartment you would never return to.
What would happen to the rest of your stuff? Would Stark pay for a storage unit? Pay your rent? What about work?
By the time you got to the car, you were again, on the verge of tears.
Upstairs, from a window of your apartment, Bucky watched you leave. He made a note to tell someone to teach you not to get into cars without checking if it was safe first. You hadn't even asked to see the driver's ID.
"She's aboard," Bucky relayed into coms.
"Copy that," Steve's voice came back. "Buck?"
Bucky was in his head.
For longer than Steve liked.
Chapter 5 is coming soon...
Tag list for this fic (open): @animegirlgeeky @brighteyedmichelle @howthehellisbucky @bitterstar88 @thatweirdwalangpake
Tag list for all my work (open): @bubbabarnes @browngirlmagic @lookalivefrosty @aynaraxas @vibraniumwitch @the--sad--hatter @fairislesheets - still won’t let me tag you?
#mine#Bucky Barnes#Bucky Barnes fanfic#Bucky Barnes imagine#Bucky Barnes x Reader#Bucky Barnes/Reader#Bucky Barnes x You#Bucky Barnes/You#Bucky Barnes x Y/N#Bucky Barnes reader insert#Marvel#Marvel fic#BB and the Girl w Too Much Power
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A (not really) Ode to bucklemming
Last bucklemming episode, and you guys, it was just such a classic example of their stale mediocrity. And yet, at the end of this post, I found myself bizarrely happy with how the episode turned out.
This is the second time I’ve watched it, and while I was planning to just liveblog my thoughts, I realized quickly that would not work, because most of the episode is boring and miserable, (especially the first third or so) and that makes for boring and miserable note-taking. I think I said in a tag of a different post that Dabb assigning this one to bucklemming is just further proof that he hasn’t cared about plot at all this season, and honestly, I don’t know there’s much they COULD have done to make this plot entertaining. Chuck even says at one point that it ... isn’t entertaining.*
The first third or so is basically Sam, Dean, and Jack being miserable with nothing around them break that misery up (except, briefly, a dog). And that makes for a miserable viewing experience. Here are a handful of notes I took that give you the gist:
- Chuck standing there talking about how loneliness and no-people is “deep” and a “page-turner” is such a gratifying little critique of shitty writers who like their gritty stories about permanently miserable protagonists. Like dude, you know there’s a reason nobody rereads “The Road,” right?
- Dean slurring his words because he’s hungover is the first time anything interesting has happened with the dialogue in this whole episode.
- Rob Benedict is the only one who gets to inflect his dialogue this episode. I do think his acting in that last scene is great, where he’s screaming, “Guys, wait!” as they drive off. It’s not a terrible ending scene.
So there’s that. Now here are my notes not-related to how stale and boring everything is:
Beginning:
-The shots of Kyoto and New York City remind me of all the shots in NYT and other major newspapers after COVID shut everything down last spring (except in this case all the traffic would still be in New York, just no people).
- “I couldn’t save anybody.” Poor Sam. (must push down feelings about Sam’s leadership arc and how it always seems to end with people dying, ugh, repress, repress!)
- Also, I wanted to see a shot of a sink running and one of them turning it off. Just a random thing.
Archangel stuff:
- I guess it makes sense to lose Adam if you’re going to kill Michael at the end, but goddamn if Michael isn’t a way more boring character without him.
- Ah, Lucifer, a.k.a bucklemming’s attempt at comic relief. I’m starting to miss the boring dialogue.
- Ooh, awesome, the only female character in the episode shows up bound and gagged and immediately murdered so she can be used and then murdered again. (Also, the first time I watched this scene, I was sure she wouldn’t wake up and was gearing up to laugh at Lucifer for sucking.)
- Jensen stays as far away from her as he can when he unties her, I’m sure that actress appreciates him trying not to give her COVID. Course then she immediately ruins it by head-butting him, which is NOT practicing social distancing.
- Many have commented on whether Lucifer can actually kill Death by snapping his fingers. We don’t know, but the Scythe WAS right there, and if Dean can kill Death with it (twice), I’m sure Lucifer can.
- On the other hand, it IS established lore that God doesn’t have power in the Empty. Presumably he could negotiate with it like Death, and possibly he just took advantage of the loud chaos of Jack exploding, Death dying, the Empty apparently being super pissed, etc. to sneak in and make off with Lucifer.
- Also WHY DO ALL THE ARCHANGEL FIGHTS IN THIS SHOW SUCK ASS????
- “I haven’t been in a battle like that in several centuries,” Michael says, as if he just fought the Battle of the Blackwater in Game of Thrones, and not what appeared to be the archangel equivalent of Mario Kart.
And climax/last scene:
- But the best moment of the episode is when they GET BACK UP BLOODY AND HOLDING ONTO EACH OTHER AND ABSOLUTELY BEAMING BECAUSE THEIR LITTLE BOY IS ABOUT TO BECOME GOD.
- Also, I like the music in this scene. And it seems like it’s the same place they used to film the end of Season 12/beginning of Season 13, which was probably peak Dabb era, ngl. (Jensen as Michael was also great.)
- I also like that Jack and Chuck are both wearing light jackets, but Jack’s is a leeeeeetle whiter.
- Chuck looking at the blank book is that moment in every writer’s life, when they’re like, “NOOOOOO, the computer DELETED EVERYTHING I WROTE.”
- “Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer” You guys, 10 is Chuck’s favorite season.
- Of course it is sweet that Cas’s last words seem to have had an effect on Dean, how he goes from “That’s (killing) all I know how to do” to “That’s not who I am.” I’m far from the first person to point that out though.
- What happened to Amara is THE WORST.
- Also, I am annoyed that Jack isn’t going home with them, because I really wanted him to be God, and a hands-off one, but I also wanted him to drive the Impala and solve crimes, ya know?
- Jared at least seems to understand that this ending is upsetting, because Sam has tears in his eyes, whereas Dean is just kind of like, “ah, he’s leaving.” Which is fine because DEAN AND JACK ARE NOT AS CLOSE AS SAM AND JACK, fight me.
- Him disappearing into light is stupid, though.
- At least Dean and Sam get to sit close to each other at the end. I wonder if that was the first scene shot after they got out of quarantine.
- WHERE ARE THEY DRIVING?
- Maybe to go see Jody.
- WE GOT BELA AND CROWLEY AND ANNA IN THE MONTAGE HELLZ YEAH, ALSO ABBADON AND ELLEN AND RUFUS, but we also got fucking Asmodeus and Ketch and no Benny, what the fuck, Showalter?
So I have questions.
Some of them are unimportant, like how did people in restaurants at the end react when they found themselves looking at food that seems to have undergone days’ worth of rot in the blink of an eye? Also, you got a shot of a full airport at the end, but that begs the question: were there airplanes in the sky at the time Chuck snapped everyone away, and did they crash, and did the people on them get snapped back into crashed airplanes and was that not super confusing for them and did the airlines lose billions of dollars because all their planes crashed right before COVID shut them down anyway and if all that’s the case is it really any wonder they needed a bailout from the federal government?
But some of them are plot-relevant and could have helped an episode in desperate need of it.
For example, I want to know what’s going on with the Empty, and if Mark Pellegrino had talked about it for more than two seconds, I might not have hated every second he was on screen. Also, there are other things happening this episode. Like Jack walking around sucking life and “power” out of plants catches Dean and Sam’s attention immediately. We know that, because we see them noticing it and exchanging confused glances in the flashback at the end of the episode.
Here’s the thing though: Why not have that in the beginning? It’s not a Huge Reveal, and it would have given Jensen and Jared something to do in that stale boring beginning other than Make Sad Face. As pretty as Jensen and Jared are, and as good as they are at making sad faces, you cannot build an entire episode around that.
Related, there isn’t actually much of a beat in the plot where it makes sense for them to figure out Michael will betray them for God. It seems like it will happen in that conversation between Dean and Michael when Michael expresses his hurt that Chuck let Lucifer out of the Empty before even asking for help. But at that point, it seems Sam and Dean have already come up with their plan. The flashback makes it seem as if they began to suspect Michael would betray them when Lucifer called him a cuck, something I think they made a plot point purely to have the word “cuck” in the episode for the third time.**
There are a few hopeful beats that show that bucklemming understand on some level that there needed to be some flow to this episode, such as the dog and Dean thinking he may have gotten Cas back. But I don’t think those are substitutes for showing Sam and Dean come up with their plan to defeat God. Even if you don’t want to reveal that they know Michael will betray them, you can still get one scene in there of them saying something like, “You think this’ll work?” if you just cut two minutes of Michael’s boring monologue in the church and/or Lucifer’s bullshit.
It follows this weird pattern of bucklemming once again seeming to not find Sam and Dean particularly interesting, so they don’t spend any time writing them DOING anything, or at least succeeding at anything, because they’d rather write Lucifer killing women and generally being an asshole.
So ... who cares, right? It’s bucklemming, they were bound to be mediocre-to-bad anyway, it kind of makes sense for Dabb to give them this episode because nepotism definitely makes it a best case scenario. And while I take issue with Dabb as a showrunner, I do think he’s great at standalone episodes and character stuff, so I’m not too terribly worried about next episode. I just think there were things about this episode that could have sucked less.
There ARE things about it that were fine, dare I say even good. It was in my notes, but I just want to emphasize that I LOVED the shot of Sam and Dean getting up bloody and broken, holding onto each other and grinning their asses off knowing that Chuck’s about to lose to Jack, and they get to see it! They may very well have gone into that fight expecting to die -- Chuck nearly just zapped them from existence, which would have still unleashed God-power for Jack to soak up.
The ending scene is pretty good, with Sam and Dean seeming like they’re still pretty beaten down, but trying to get it together. That’s more Jensen and Jared’s acting than anything bucklemming wrote, but it’s still good. The montage is good (although I will say for like the third time, where. the fuck. was Benny?)
Jensen’s acting over the dog was SO SOFT (doesn’t he have a dog?). I half-expected the dog to run to him at the end, which would have been cute.
There are also things that were ... potentially good, if they’d been brought up correctly? I actually really like that Jack is going to be “hands-off” (although I like less that he and Sam will never see each other again, but Dabb did say it was going to be a bittersweet ending, so ....).
I also -- and God, I’m going to get hate mail for saying this -- don’t mind that he didn’t bring Cas back. That highlights the difference between him and Chuck. Chuck brings back Sam and Dean (and, in Season 5 at least, Cas) over and over again, not out of love, but just to throw them back into their exhausting existence. In contrast, Jack NOT bringing anyone back (except the people who’d been snapped out of existence, which I would argue is more about putting the world on its proper course again, as opposed to “violating the natural order,” as Billie would put it). He knows he has to let people go. You could argue that’s always been his arc -- he and Cas even talk about how hard it will be for them to one day lose Sam and Dean back in Season 14 when they think Dean is dying.
But I wish there had been dialogue exploring THAT instead of the weird vague stuff about how he would always be a part of them. It doesn’t have to be anything super analytical like what I just wrote, it just has to be him saying, “I understand that in order to be a just god, I have to let things go and be at peace.”
(However, if the reason they DIDN’T go that direction is they didn’t want Dean to be like, “You know, he’s right,” next episode and not rescue Cas from the Empty, then I’m fine with them leaving that out. Screw the natural order, Dean -- go rescue Cas from the Empty!)
I also really really really want to get some sense that Sam’s faith has been rewarded. We got a tiny glimmer of that this episode in the hushed, awed way Jared delivers the line, “Are you really ... him?” Sam has always been the one with faith in a just and loving God, and one of the things that aggravated me about the end of Season 14 was his faith being so blatantly not rewarded, in favor of promoting Dean’s more cynical take on God.
The show has always, since the very first season, raised questions about where God is, whether his will is just, and how we know we’re following it, and the main characters all have different answers to that -- Sam’s being the more faithful, optimistic view of “God is good”, Dean’s being the more critical “If God is good then why do bad things happen?”, and, most interestingly, Cas’ viewpoint largely fluctuating with his own sense of identity and self-worth. The point is, we had all three of these opinions on God, without the show ever explicitly saying which one was right.
Until very recently, I thought it should have stayed that way. But now I love the idea that Sam’s faith in God was rewarded not by Chuck, but by Jack -- the very boy he took under his wing and raised as his own son, the boy who understands that he is good and that people are good largely because SAM TAUGHT HIM THEY CAN BE. It’s just so beautiful, and I’m getting more and more happy about this ending as I write about it, actually, so maybe I don’t entirely hate Jack’s ending after all.
That was a happier note than I planned on ending this on. I guess that is how you stop worrying and tolerate bucklemming.
Goodbye, bucklemming. I hated many of your episodes, but I will miss you and your weird, inconsistent writing that was so entertaining to pick apart and analyze and make fun of. I hope you find some cop shows where you can churn out more mediocrity and make some money. And in the meantime, stop killing off women.
*Yet another example from this season of the writers intentionally writing a bad episode to highlight the fact that Chuck is a bad writer. NEWSFLASH DABB: Bad writing is still bad writing, I don’t care if the villain of the story is the writer, I still don’t want to watch it if it’s bad.
**Which is such a bizarre insult to use. Isn’t it slang for a guy who’s wife cheats on him? I swear I’m not innocent or sheltered, I have just literally never heard anyone use that insult in a real context in my entire life.
#how i learned to stop worrying and tolerate bucklemming#this is the last time i get to review one of their episodes i'm getting a little choked up#not really#supernatural spoilers#supernatural#supernatural home stretch#this episode was boring and miserable but the end was decent
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Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a Product Manager
A lot of tech people I know say “the best skill a programmer can have is knowing how to look up the right answer on Stack Exchange” It’s one of those websites that people use every day, but perhaps without thinking about how it gets built. Megan Risdal is one of the people who make Stack Overflow happen, as a Product Manager leading Public Q&A. As Megan mentions below, there’s even a Linguistics Stack Exchange (you might just see some old answers from me there). Megan has not only forged a career for herself in tech, she helps demystify the industry for other linguists who might follow in her footsteps, on Twitter (@MeganRisdal) and her blog.
What did you study at university?
My undergraduate degree is in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire where my interests were in individual differences. I also did a minor in French and this is where I first learned about linguistics as a field of study. My combined interests in language and individual differences psychology led me to completing a senior thesis project on variation in attitudes towards linguistic diversity. Just last year this work was published with my then advisor, Dr. Erica Benson, as a chapter in Language Regard: Methods, Variation, and Change.
From here, I did a Master's degree in Sociolinguistics at North Carolina State University. Building on my statistics background from studying psychology, I dove deeper into quantitative methods, learning R along the way, while focusing on sociophonetics and laboratory phonology. For my capstone project, I measured articulatory (ultrasound tongue imaging), aerodynamic, (nasal/oral airflow), and acoustic variation in coarticulatory vowel nasalization strategies among Anglo-American and African American (Vernacular) English speakers.
Finally, I started a PhD at UCLA where I intended to continue studying laboratory phonology. I only ended up finishing one year which was spent on theoretical foundations, articulatory phonetics, and learnability before leaving with a second Master's degree in Linguistics. I ended up deciding to leave academia because I was disillusioned already with the prospect of the job market and the limited potential for my work to have impact beyond academia. I made my mind up when I applied for a job at Google and got an interview. I ultimately failed, but this was enough for me to feel confident my resume was "good enough" (completely incidentally I ended up later getting hired and working at Google for a couple of years prior to my current role).
What is your job?
For the past six months I've been working as a Product Manager at Stack Overflow where I lead the team working on public Q&A. If you're not familiar with Stack Overflow, it's a site where anyone who codes can come to find answers to their programming questions. We also have the Stack Exchange network which has similar Q&A sites for other topics like cooking and anime. There's even a Linguistics Stack Exchange site.
In my day-to-day, as a product manager, I work closely with our developers, designers, researchers, data scientists, community managers, marketing, and leadership. So, it's a lot of meetings and a lot of Google Docs. My job entails taking many, many inputs and synthesizing them into a strategy and product roadmap that the team executes on to make Stack Overflow a more useful, engaging place for all developers. On a given day, you could catch me writing a new feature specification for a developer, reviewing results of an experiment with our data scientists, or dropping in on user interviews. One of the things I love the most about my job is the variety. If a project is slipping or we just don't have the resources for something important, I'm the person who can step in and do what it takes to make sure the work of my collaborators adds up to something successful.
How does your linguistics training help you in your job?
My training in linguistics absolutely helps me.
First, and most importantly I believe, my background in sociolinguistics has taught me the significance of diversity among groups of people (like users of a product) in so many ways. For example, Stack Overflow sees many millions of users every month, but we know that not everyone is equally likely to participate on the site. There are huge, intimidating barriers to participation which disproportionately impact different groups of people depending on things like their background and experience coding. So every day I think about how changes to the product will affect different types of users. Me and my team are constantly striving to better understand the important ways our users vary in their backgrounds, motivations, and pain points and how we can better meet their needs. Especially in a globally diverse online community like ours where users interact and community with each other it's extremely important for me and my colleagues to think about always.
Second, and more concretely, the quantitative methods and experimental best practices I acquired while studying linguistics are highly applicable to my day-to-day job. We make use of a lot of different qualitative and quantitative research methods at Stack Overflow and having training in this area allows me to leverage these resources effectively in my product decision-making. Before I joined Stack Overflow, I had also spent some time as a data scientist, so my background in statistics and R was extremely relevant there. Without this training, I don't think I would be where I am today.
Do you have any advice do you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?
Overall, I'm very happy with my trajectory. I'm extremely grateful to everyone who supported me at every stage and I would not be where I am today without all of these experience (yes including dropping out of a PhD!). That said, some thing that I wish I had encountered sooner are:
Seriously, build a public portfolio. Make your work visible. Curate an online presence. Having even a just a modest Twitter following and some publicly discoverable content with my name on it has helped me immeasurably in my career. Oh, and learn git.
Pay some attention to what's going on outside of your academic bubble. I fully intended to stay in academia when I started my PhD at UCLA. Had I thought somewhat ahead of time about the possibility that I would end up industry, I may have prioritized different classes or perhaps even chosen a different PhD program altogether. For example, if you have a choice between learning OCaml and Python, maybe see what non-academia has to say, too, as an input to your decision. Then again, hindsight is 2020. I would have seriously regretted not taking statistics/research methods under any circumstances, though.
Any other thoughts or comments?
I think every tech company should look to hire people trained in linguistics. There are so, so many ways in which a background in linguistics is relevant to so many careers in tech. From user research to data science to (apparently) product management, a background in linguistics adds a unique and valuable perspective. If you're not sure what you're qualified for, carefully tailor your experience, cast your net wide, and seek out advice!
More from Megan
Twitter @MeganRisdal
LinkedIn
Personal blog
Recently:
Interview with a Communications Specialist
Interview with a Learning Scientist
Interview with a Lexicographer
Interview with a Journalist
Interview with a PR Consultant
Check out the Linguist Jobs Master List and the Linguist Jobs tag for even more interviews
#language#linguistics#lingjobs#linguistics jobs#linguist jobs#careers#job#work#employment#graduating
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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; MUN & MUSE - MEME.
FILL OUT & REPOST ♥ this meme definitely favors canons more, but i hope oc’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. multi-muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.
TAGGED BY: theft.
MY MUSE IS: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated
is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. (this 90s kid won’t die)
is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. (his adult version is according to a lot of people. I think he looks like a dork tho.)
is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. (overpowered.)
are they underrated? YES / NO / IDK. (overrated.)
were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO. (in his game and like 3 other Links’ games because he split the timeline lmao.)
were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.
are they widely known in their world? YES / NO.
how’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL
HOW STRICTLY DO YOU FOLLOW CANON? — Pretty close. I go by the book and fill in headcanons where there’s cracks or grey areas.
In the case of Nintendo retcons, I’ll acknowledge it and try to fit in both “canons” if I can. Like Time’s age I’ve explained before was originally a year older until they decided in the 3DS remake to knock it down a year. Thus, Time’s actually a year older than he says he is because he really doesn’t know his own age!
SELL YOUR MUSE! AKA TRY TO LIST EVERYTHING, WHICH MAKES YOUR MUSE INTERESTING IN YOUR OPINION TO MAKE THEM SPICY FOR YOUR MUTUALS. — Time traveling elf with the power of god and anime on his side. Actually turns into a god. And many other magical creatures. Fought the moon. Refuses to die so he can say hi to his descendant. Sick dance moves.
NOW THE OPPOSITE, LIST EVERYTHING WHY YOUR MUSE COULD NOT BE SO INTERESTING (EVEN IF YOU MAY NOT AGREE, WHAT DOES THE FANDOM PERHAPS THINK?). — Asshole with a bad temper. Became a lich because he didn’t get enough attention in life. Horrible father -- called his own descendant a disgrace and a coward. Forgets everything.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RP YOUR MUSE? — I’ve loved him since I was younger than young him if that says anything.
WHAT KEEPS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING? — Good question. I don’t know.
SOME MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE MUN.
give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.
do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? (when it comes to writing Links there’s almost no wrong?)
do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO / SORT OF?
do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO / ON A RARE OCCASION
do you think a lot about your muse during the day? YES / NO
are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF?
are you confident in your writing? YES / NO. / SORT OF?
are you a sensitive person? YES / NO. / SORT OF? (Generally no but it depends on other factors? Did I have a bad day? probably then.)
DO YOU ACCEPT CRITICISM WELL ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL? —
While I don’t encourage people to police each other on such things, if I do make a discrepancy with canon y’all are ok to point it out bc I want to be as close to it as I can!! :D
Again, there sometimes might be a discrepancy with Nintendo retconning everything lately.
DO YOU LIKE QUESTIONS, WHICH HELP YOU EXPLORE YOUR CHARACTER? —
heck yeah, let ‘em roll. This goes for any muse!
IF SOMEONE DISAGREES TO A HEADCANON OF YOURS, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY? —
Look. I’ve had someone disagree with Minish Cap’s canon (Ezlo’s “Wishing Cap” is too powerful and shouldn’t have the same ability of the Triforce lmao). I really don’t care.
I’ll occasionally write stupid conspiracy theories that are meant to be disagreed with. I don’t agree with those myself! I just think they’re funny because Game Theories are so wild and out there anyway. Example: OCTAVO IS AN ALIEN, PROVE ME WRONG. YOU WON’T.
IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH YOUR PORTRAYAL, HOW WOULD YOU TAKE IT? — Nintendo would disagree with them?? Link’s personality is up to the player, and in this case, up to the writer.
IF SOMEONE REALLY HATES YOUR CHARACTER, HOW DO YOU TAKE IT? —
I mean... he is an asshole.
ARE YOU OKAY WITH PEOPLE POINTING OUT YOUR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS? —
Please do. As I’ve revealed with today’s tumblr update I’m dyslexic and I’ll switch around words and letters without realizing it and sometimes spelling/grammar check won’t catch it. I’m constantly proofreading which means my drafts can take hours to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. If you don’t understand what I typed let me know! ;v;
DO YOU THINK YOU ARE EASY GOING AS A MUN? —
I have a very strong barrier with strangers and can come off as cold, but if I follow someone that means the shields are down with them and I’m p chill otherwise.
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I’ve never spoken about this before but did you guys know that Crow is the one that adds in all the links in these posts? Even when I’m the one hosting, Crow just goes through my paragraphs and adds all the relevant links without ever being asked and without ever even mentioning anything. He just sort of naturally does it. To help me out and give you all a better experience. Some people are like that. They gravitate towards helping whenever they can in any way they can. If the rest of us are lucky enough, we can meet someone like that. There’s a name for it…
Thank you Crow, I do appreciate these little things. I’m sorry it took me so long to say something.
You’re most welcome! I don’t even notice I’m doing it anymore; it’s kinda automatic. In the back of my mind, I worried that I was taking liberties with your text, which wasn’t at all what I intended to do! Glad it came across in the right spirit!
Oh, I’m bold, there will be spoilers, etc…
I’m writing this before Crow reads it but I bet he’s gonna hem and haw and play it down. Of course he is. He isn’t the sort to hoard credit. And he’ll find some excuse to blow it off, like say that I must be in a particularly good mood. And maybe I am, ‘cause this was a fantastic episode! Doesn’t change that I really appreciate what Crow does.
So, do I send the small, unmarked bills to the same address as usual? You were even more kind than usual, so I feel like I should include a bonus or something…
One thing I appreciate is when a series has some reverence for its own lore and history. This is why I love subtle throwbacks. Like the opening scene of this episode which recalled the first moments of the series. Just that already had me in a happy place. But when I saw that Froppy and Uraraka were in fact fighting and holding their own, well I just cheered.
It was fantastic to see the ladies front and center like that. And kicking behind at it! The scene was a short opening tag but it gave me all I needed. The action was fluid and fun to watch. The girls were efficient, powerful and worked very well together. And their mentor, Ryuko, who was on screen for less than a minute, somehow manage to come off as one of the best hero mentors in the series. She gave encouragement and tangible practical advice that was easy to follow and understand. Plus she let the students do the actual work but made sure everything was under control. I am impressed by this agency! One of the best pro heroes, possibly aside from Eraserhead, I’ve seen so far!
It was great to see Froppy and Uraraka again! Froppy was her usual cool, efficient self, and even though she was nervous, Urakaka showed how far she’s come in her training too.
I’d read some Tweets where fans were talking about Ryuko, and I tried not to pay attention because I didn’t want any spoilers. I came away with a vague idea that we should expect great things from her. Based on everything you noticed about how she handled herself and the students that were her responsibility, I think I see signs of greatness.
Or tragedy. They could be setting up a non-core cast member who we grow to love. Just before her final encounter with Overhaul. Seriously, the more I see of that guy, the more worried I become on behalf of our heroes…
That was a lot of text about the little scene before the opening credits. This episode wasn’t about the girls. And normally I might think that’s too bad. The fact that I don’t should clue you in on how this post is about to go.
If you remember, 3 1-A students had been contacted by members of the Big Three. Tsuyu and Uraraka by Neijire (who seems delightful) and Kirishima was contacted by the usually reserved Tamaki. It seemed odd from the start for someone so introverted as to feel the need to constantly hide his face to reach out to someone, and someone as loud and boisterous as Kirishima at that. Only it wasn’t, because as it turns out, Tamaki is smarter than me… But we’ll get back to that.
Tamaki is currently under the tutelage of pro hero and Totoro lookalike, Fat Gum, and he has enlisted Kirishima to join the agency. And what a time to be a professional hero! Behind the scenes Overhaul and Shigaraki seem about ready to strike a deal.
Watching these two together was chilling, but what struck me most was just how calm Shigaraki was. I thought the loss of All for One would have broken him, but it doesn’t even seem to have phased him. In fact he sounded more confident and mature than ever before. I have a feeling that’s a very bad thing…
I think his earlier encounter with Overhaul affected him quite a lot. I got the sense he actually felt responsible for the survivors like Himiko and Mr. Compress. Instead of hurling himself in a despairing fury, he’s regrouped and has begun to exert some self control. As you said, that’s a very bad thing!
In order to secure his place in this wild new world and protect his assets (I have a feeling this guy doesn’t really have allies), Overhaul has devised a plan which would let people considerably boost the power of their own quirks for a short period and also render other incapable of using their quirks for some time. Both through the use of drugs. A devious plan indeed. Super strengthened villains against powerless heroes. I guess we’re about to find out if the quirk makes the man.
Or woman!
But at least the heroes know about this plan now. Now that Fat Gum, Kirishima and Tamaki have been confronted by it. In their first actual chance to work as a trio, our heroes easily catch a group of villains trying to escape after a robbery. Well Fat catches most of them and Tamaki takes care of the one that manages to get through. It’s a very smooth operation, both heroes are obviously quite skilled.
Everything should have ended there. Bright headlines the next day and Kirishima feeling a little bummed he didn’t get to do anything. That was all it should have been really. It was dumb stupid lack of luck that made it so that one of Overhaul’s minions, some guy so far down the line that Overhaul’s probably never even herad of him, happened to be in the crowd of onlookers. Just some guy frustrated by his lack of power, bitter at the display of skill right in front of him, and possessing the one thing that could destroy that power, at least for now. A gun capable of shooting drug capsules. And one manages to hit Tamaki straight on. Of course there are two more Heroes there and Kirishima immediately jumps in to avoid Tamaki getting hit again. Kirishima’s hardening skills makes him ideal as a human shield and the second capsule bounces off him without having the chance to inject anything. This is when I started realizing Tamaki was smarter than me. Kirishima really is a hero, wouldn’t you say?
Yeah, and we see that in all its awesome glory in a few moments. He moved almost like Izuku, before he even received his Quirk, had moved to protect Bakugou. It’s not something he did to look good. It’s something he did simply because of who he is.
At this point the situation isn’t quite clear. The first batch of villains have been handed off to the police. The gunman has run off and Kirishima took to the chase. Tamaki seems unhurt so Fat is about to follow the other two but suddenly it becomes apparent that the boy can’t summon his quirk. It just won’t work.
I’ll give it to Tamaki, he was upset, of course, but he really reacted calmly all things considered. I must say, I like Tamaki a lot. The cast needed an Eeyore to even it out!
Not only that, but did you notice that Fat Gum listened to him instead of continuing to speed off? I’m really glad we got to meet both Fat Gum and Ryuko this episode. They seem like the middle class of heroes — people trying to live up to their calling and pass on their wisdom to the young ‘uns. Just good folk!
It will be nice to have someone like Tamaki to balance the relentless (and sometimes exhausting!) positivity from Izuku and even Mirio and Neijire (or maybe especially those last two!).
The focus changes to Kirishima and this minor villain. He’s just some guy with a weak quirk who saw his team of villains get taken down without being able to do anything. He’s a bad guy, for sure. He’s also just a guy who wants to help his friends and needs to get stronger to do so but doesn’t know how. His fears, and frustration perfectly echo those of every UA student. And Kirishima is a big softie, so his sympathies get immediately engaged.
But there’s a job to do and a confrontation to win, and villains don’t play fair — what would be the point? When Kirishima obviously has the upper hand, the other guy (I should really look up his name – I couldn’t find it; even in the Fandom Wiki, the closest think I could find was a page about Trigger, the drug) decides to play his trump card and injects himself with something that immediately makes him way stronger.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Utena, Crow, but seeing that guy with all the blades through him really reminded me of the symbolic imagery in that show.
It was impressive. Even more impressive with that it cut into Kirishima! I admired how calm he remained, even as the blades were cutting into him. His calm under pressure it going to serve him well!
So this is it. Big decision time. The proper thing for a student hero with no real practical experience would be to fall back and get reinforcements. That sounds reasonable. But there are bystanders around and this guy doesn’t look like he’s about to go peacefully anywhere…
I always liked Kirishima. I like nice guys and he was a bright smiley good natured type. I figured that’s why I liked him. Also I like redheads. That wasn’t it, though. I was a bit slow to pick up on it but, Tamaki knew all along. There are a few general types of heroes in My Hero Academia. The cool and reasoned ones like Eraserhead and Tamaki, the efficient result oriented, slightly power hungry ones like Endeavor and Bakugo, the practical ones like Uraraka and Froppy; and then there are the optimistic idealist dorks like Mirio, All-Might, Deku and… Kirishima.
This kid is a hero to the core and it’s completely unrelated to his ego or circumstances. He’s just an uncomplicated straightforward good guy. The type I scold for their lack of foresight and roll my eyes at their single mindedness; and hold in my heart relieved that there are still heroes out there. Determinators are not a particularly interesting character archetype but I don’t hate them. Not at all. I always liked Kirishima, this little sequence, made me admire him.
He not only stayed put to actively protect the bystanders. He tailored his attack to attract the villain’s blades! Sure, he had just powered up and was reasonably sure the blades couldn’t skewer him, but only for another 30 or 40 seconds. And he had no way to know for sure that his strength was enough. Yes, he was so dedicated to protecting everyone he just did it.
Did you notice the minor flashback we got? The one where he drew inspiration to charge “forward like a horse?” To me, it was the most astonishing thing I saw in this episode, and it ranks right up there in the whole series.
It was Bakugou! He actually inspired someone! I was absolutely astounded.
You what? The very few instances of Bakugo we’ve seen have been mostly positive. His presence also seems to have calmed down Deku and spur on Todoroki. I wonder if the writers are trying to make a tiny character rehabilitation.
Kirishima manages to hold his own but it takes pretty much everything he’s got. At the very end, Fat manages to catch up and cut off the bad guy’s escape. It was an exhausting fight but a very enlightening one. Not only did Kirishima get a chance to figure out what type of hero he wants to be, but it also got everyone a little closer to figuring out the villain’s plan. But is it already too late?
The first step to thwarting a trap is to be aware of the trap… I think I learned that in Dune.
During those last moments of the evening, Kirishima and Tamaki get to chat a bit. Tamaki clearly tells Kirishima how much he reminds him of Mirio. I don’t think Kirishima caught on though. It’s a nice compliment for sure, but coming from Tamaki it takes on a whole new meaning. Tamaki idolizes Mirio and considers him an example of what a hero should be. He didn’t randomly pick some loud first year to help with their internship, he chose someone who he thought worthy. And he is saying as much. Even if Kiri might not understand it just yet. I hope these two can partner up for a while. They make a good odd couple.
They’ve certainly learned that they can rely on each other. There’s nothing like a dangerous fight to learn someone’s character!
This whole quirk nullifying storyline has a lot of very personal implications for Deku. On the one hand he is potential the most experienced and best placed person to fight without a quirk, having grown up quirkless. On the other, gaining One for All is possibly the most important defining moment in his life, and losing it again might break the boy. Either way, it would make sense that having his quirk locked up would hit Deku drastically differently than anyone else. Man! I can’t wait to find out which way he goes!
I’m betting this is how it’d go: His emotional devastation would almost overwhelm him, even as his tactical mind was working out alternate solutions. Plus, there’s that burning desire in his very soul to be a hero. He charged that blob that was attacking Bakugou, after all! He’d end up being less effective but really well organized — while being depressed about it.
I know I was subtle about it but this was my favorite episode so far. I am pumped! What did you think Crow?
I thought it would be hard to beat the exhiliation I felt during Izuku and Mario’s confrontation with Eri and Overhaul, but you know what? Kirishima’s fight was vintage My Hero Academia. Not only that, but seeing some of my other favorite characters back in action was a joy. Outstanding episode over all.
I’m also dying to see what Ryuko’s power is!
me too
My Hero Academia s4 ep68 – I Want to Be Strong I’ve never spoken about this before but did you guys know that Crow is the one that adds in all the links in these posts?
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