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hells-wasabii · 3 months

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Hi I was hoping if maybe you could do Velvette and Carmilla (poly or separate whichever you want to do) with a fem s/o that had a very abusive ex while she was alive like both physical and verbal abuse. She also has a hard time going out because she is terrified that she might run into them again. No pressure though hope you have a good day!😁

A/N: I'm so sorry i didn't write over the weekend, I got so busy it was ridiculous. Should be back to our regularly scheduled broadcast tomorrow! I'll be honest, this ask resonated with me, I immediately knew that I was gonna enjoy writing this one and you'll see why. Like i did last time, I'll be putting one drabble on one post and the other on a separate one with the ask included!

Character: Velvette

Type: Fic (Velvette x fem!reader who had an abusive ex, Angst, Fluff)

She was going to destroy them. And whatever was left of them when she was done, no one would dare touch, else they also wanted their lives burnt to ash.

Velvette was furious, livid. Needless to say, the influencer was on a war path.

Truly, she was glad that you weren’t here to see her like this. You didn’t need another reminder of that stain of a soul, though she wasn’t just going to lie or keep you in the dark. You knew where she was and what she was planning. You had been in tears when she told you in soft whispers that it was going to be okay, that she was going to ‘take care of it’. She was surprised that she had been able to keep her cool until she had left the flat.

Honestly, the influencer knew that she wasn’t supposed to know about the bastard yet. You had wanted to tell her on your own time and she respected that. But that didn’t mean that she hadn’t already suspected. When you would get nervous out in public, looking out into crowds like you were expecting to see a ghost. The flinching early in your relationship anytime she’d so much as graze your arm.

It figured that they were in hell too. It made sense, all things considered. Plus they were probably slippery enough to stay out of the path of any angels during exterminations

It had been such a peaceful day too. The both of your schedules had aligned, Velvette was between projects and you hadn’t had any real plans until later in the night, which said plans were with the overlord anyways.

It had been so long since the two of you had enjoyed a lazy morning together. Velvette was more than content simply enjoying each other’s company on the couch. You had been entangled with your lover, your arms loosely wrapped around her waist while you rest your chin on her shoulder, watching her scroll through her current feed.

She remembered so clearly how tense you became when she came across the picture. Some club goer that she would have completely ignored other wise, had it not been for the fact that you had started trembling. And then you flinched when the overlord had reached out to cup your cheek. She was quick to assure you that you had nothing to apologize for when you offered a dejected ‘sorry’.

And that was how Velvette found out about your only other serious relationship and the story of your death. Through needless apologies and countless tears.

Now, the influencer found herself storming through the halls of Vee Tower with one destination in mind. Vox’s office.

“Vox I need your help.” These were the first words out of her mouth when she burst in through the doors to the video star’s office

“Velvette, I thought you were taking today off?” The video star startled, quickly closing his current video feed. He seemed more than he would have usually. Whether it was because he hadn’t expected to see her or because of how angry she looked, the influencer didn’t know. And frankly, she didn’t give a shit, either. He could keep watching the radio demon like a creep later.

The video star leaned back in his seat when Velvette didn’t offer an answer. So instead he gesturing for the younger overlord to sit. She did not. Lacing his fingers together, Vox took in the sight that was Velvette. She was angry, that much was obvious, but why? She didn’t have any current projects that he could think of, so what in the literal hell could have her so vexed?

“What’s got you on a war path today my dear?” Though his smile didn’t meet his eyes. No, he knew something was very wrong.

“I need a favor.” This seemed to get his attention. In reality, Velvette rarely asked for favours, instead preferring to get shit done herself. Even rarer still, she was here, asking him in person instead of calling or texting him.

Vox turned to her fully now, a serious expression settling upon his screen. “Of course, what do you need?”

“Your reach is farther than mine,” She admitted, her voice soft, betraying the unbridled rage that dwelled beneath the surface. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a photo of demon who had summoned her ire, sliding a photo across his desk to show him. An eyebrow raise, the older sinner took the photo in his hand.

Mostly uninterested, Vox really wasn’t sure what he was looking at. The picture was ordinary, some demon taking a selfie at a club. Looked like some regular old schmuck to him. Returning his gaze back to his youngest cohort, he found her glaring at the offending photo so hard that he was surprised it didn’t burst into flames right there in his hand. Just to be safe, he put the photo back down on his desk.

“And what exactly did this poor bastard do to piss you off this bad?”

“That’s the fucker who used to beat on my girl.” Velvette all but hissed out, glarring down at the picture. Then, she spoke again, softer, her voice nearly trembling as a more grave expression took to her face. “They killed her, too.”

Vox froze, his screen flickering as his own temper spiked at the revelation. You were good for Velvette. He actually liked you, which was more than he could say about any other demon that the influencer had brought around the tower. Val liked you just as much. He was going to be pissed if he was left out of the fun, the video star noted as he shot the moth demon a quick text to get his ass to his office. Vox’s lips split into a vicious grin, his voice low, practically a growl as he forced out a: “Well, lets get to work then, shall we?”

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin headcanons #hazbin imagine #velvette x reader #hazbin hotel velvette #the vees #hazbin hotel valentino #hazbin hotel vox

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crowsongcaws · 3 months

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Double Life Thoughts with Desert Duo (Grian/Scar) and Tragicomics (Jimmy/Scar): Everyone already knows about the whole thing with Grian essentially cheating on Scar with Big B in Double Life, and I'm not sure if anyone else has thought about this, but I'm far too lazy to go searching for similar posts. So, let's remember that Big B was, before the events of Secret Life, known for Cookie Castle, which he built in 3rd Life. You can see this with all the fanart of him wearing cookie related stuff or holding cookies. Anyways, when Scar "confronts" Grian about the secret soulmate thing, he gives Grian cookies, which has this barely concealed meaning of saying that he knows who Grian's secret soulmate is without explicitly saying so. Even with this sign clear as day, Grian denies even knowing what Scar is talking about and even looks away from him as he says it. So there Grian is, someone who is (at least in fanon) widely accepted to barely blink and stare into people's souls, actually backing down and looking away, and that's all the confession Scar really needs. So now imagine when Scar was baking these cookies. Obviously it's a bit of a stretch, but imagine Scar scavenging for the materials to make those cookies, taking the time to hide away from danger to bake them, rolling the dough so the cookies come out in nice, mostly round shapes rather than edible lumps. He bakes it fresh for Grian, he wraps it up nicely to present it, he gives them to Grian while they're still vaguely warm, and the only thing Grian can seemingly manage to do is to sound mildly annoyed for whatever reason (poor food source/useless to sell/generally just useless item to have in a death game).

So Scar is left to wander off and stew in his hurt, betrayal, grief, denial, and anger. The prior events happen after the water bucket clutch event, so as he's walking around, he realizes he hasn't seen his horse since the night before. He decides to investigate his first suspects, the Ranchers, because it would make sense that they'd be pissed at him after he not only burned down their ranch in episode 2 but also left them to die in episode 4 (again, water bucket clutch event. Jellies got prioritized over Ranchers). He confronts Jimmy and Tango in his usual charismatic way, except it's very clear that he isn't feeling well, and he eventually lets them in on what's been happening between himself and Grian. Jimmy and Tango are quick to empathize with him, and Tango briefly leaves the conversation to retrieve the horse that, as it turns out, he actually did steal from Scar. While Tango's gone, Jimmy asks if Scar still has extra cookies on hand, explaining that he and Tango had been craving something sweet and hadn't really had the time to go looking for the resources to make it themselves. Scar says he does, but he's hesitant to hand them over, reasoning that the cookies have probably gone stale by then, that they're definitely cold, that he had barely found the right ingredients to make them anyways, so they would probably taste off or unpleasant. Jimmy laughs it off and says he barely has room to be picky in a death game anyways, but when he bites into the cookie, his eyes go wide and he immediately starts loudly rambling about how good it is and how Scar clearly has some sort of talent with cooking outside of the games to have made such good cookies with such little resources or opportunity. And, of course, Scar isn't over Grian. He's only barely managed to accept what's happened, but the way that Jimmy looks at him, the way that Jimmy seems absolutely overjoyed over such a miniscule thing that wasn't even meant for him, Scar gets the feeling that his heart isn't going to start and stop beating because of Grian. At least, not after this.

#trafficblr #life series #traffic life series #desert duo #tragicomics #scar/jimmy #jimmy/scar #I decree that their ship name is tragicomics #double life #jimmy solidarity #goodtimeswithscar

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lovelyhan · 1 year

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what are your svt fic recs??? like your holy grail??

took me a while to put this together BUT here it is!

disclaimer that i've been a carat for like . a month so it's a stretch to say i've read a lot of svt content. tho from what i've consumed so far, my favorites are listed under the cut :>

i'll start with the ones i found on ao3 first hehe

push it down (sooner or later it all comes out) by dontflailmenow × tags: s.coups x reader; camboy!cheol, enemies to lovers

the first EVER svt fic i've read, and it was just so WOW!!!! basically, reader recently broke up w her ex, which is seungcheol's best friend. cheol and mc aren't on the best of terms (always arguing etc.) so when she realizes that the camboy she's been lusting over to get over her ex turns out to be cheol, some...problems start to arise i'm pretty sure i saw this one around tumblr but i'm too lazy to find the op's blog i'm so sorry HEUUUHEU but i really loved it to pieces, and it ultimately flung me into svt fanfic tumblr altogether :D

The bore next door by HoneyAteez × tags: wonwoo x reader; blind dates, suffocation via cock LOL

another fic that i am fairly sure is cross-posted on tumblr too, but can't be assed to find -- your mother sets you up with good neighbor jeon wonwoo, and he turns out to be the worst sexual deviant on the face of the earth, fucking the soul out of your body right after the first date.

Walking in Traffic by versigny × tags: mingyu x reader; soulmate au, teens being teens

literally crying as i type this because it's one of the most beautiful coming of age stories i've ever read, and it was written back when i was still in mf HIGH SCHOOL 😭 reader and gyu find out they're soulmates way too early, and pretty much despise each other growing up, but they eventually come to terms with their soul bond along the line.

close proximity by chilligyu × tags: mingyu x reader; roommates, LOTS OF ANGST

there's no explicit smut in this one, but the plot twists and the narration itself threw me in for SUCH a goddamn loop that it would be a hate crime not to include this here. mingyu becomes reader's roommate upon bff!wonwoo's recommendation, and they and up falling for each other, and [gets dragged off stage because spoilers]

now for the tumblr recs!

sapiosexual by @smileysuh × tags: s.coups x reader; sugar daddy au, psych daddy!cheol,,,,

it's a pretty straightforward sugar daddy au, but what makes it different is how it's written, y'know? cheol clearly lays all of the details for he and reader to agree on, making sure all the boundaries are clear and there aren't any blurred lines. seungkwan as your best friend is also a really enjoyable addition (he's the one who coined the term psych daddy LOL), AND i just love the author's humor in general.... quirofilia [bursts out laughing]

A Break by @smileysuh (again bc i'm obsessed w their work) × tags: mingyu x reader x wonwoo; svt as babysitters, budding poly

so op has an entire assortment of meanie poly fics, but this one is probably my most favorite bc it touches on a more endearing and responsible side to mingyu :') he and reader just can't sit down and fuck because he's busy worrying about their child every ten minutes LOL. enter jeon wonwoo, who is not only baby saebyeok's favorite uncle, but has been pining for the reader since time immemorial. of course, gyu has known all along, and asks them if they're both down to have a threesome (this is literally a terrible way to summarize the story, but i suggest you just read it <3) OH OH bonus: hoshi tries to sacrifice the baby to the tiger gods in a summoning circle made of tiger plushies. if that doesn't sell this fic for you, i don't know WHAT will

Love, Actually by @haet-sal × tags: jun x reader; cheating but not really? whipped single dad!jun

aka the fic that catalyzed my jun brain damage. reader works as jun's secretary but she isn't very...good at her job, but he keeps her around anyway bc 1.) his kid likes her, and 2.) HE likes her. problem is: she has a boyfriend-not-boyfriend, but Because that boyfriend-not-boyfriend is an asshole, she kind of uses jun as a constant rebound, poor guy (it has a happy ending tho i promise!!)

an untitled dk friends 2 lovers by @husbandhoshi × tags: dk x reader; idiots in love

this is actually preceded by 2 more drabbles from the op, but i'm linking this one specifically bc it made me physically long for big dick boyfriend lee seokmin. the thing i like most about smut written for dk is that he's ALWAYS so fun and endearing and lovable in bed, and what's more is that this one's a friend to lovers fic, so there's YEARS worth of pining and puppy love to spice up the sex hehehehehehe it really really deserves more recognition !!

right where you left me by @tonicandjins × tags: wonwoo x reader; exes getting back together, ANGST

i have a shitty memory so i can't go into the specifics on what this fic is about. it's one of the first ones i read on tumblr, but it's been a hot minute but i DO remember writhing in bed right after reading it, so it definitely earns a spot on the rec list! reader and wonwoo lived together in their hometown, but had to break up when wonwoo moves to seoul and he just couldn't make any compromises. bonus points for best friend hoshi on this one <;3

that's pretty much it for now! i'm so sorry if any of the authors mentioned didn't want to be tagged 🤒🤒 i just thought i'd share my thoughts abt ur work while sharing them w the rest of my followers UEUEUEUE

#🍵 tea time #anon #📁 kai's fic recs #if you have any recs 4 me just leave an ask HEHE #always down to gobble up gewd content #recs: seventeen 💎

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starsandsins · 3 months

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Sweet Melody

| My second fanfic!! Yay! also I couldn't finish the story line last night so, This was uploaded kind of late! Again, English isn't my first language so please excuse my wrong grammars🙏

| daughter of Aphrodite!Reader x Luke Castellan

| Pronouns: you or y/n

| MUST READ: Just Luke Castellan watching reader from afar, reader also isn't aware Luke likes her 🤷‍♀️

| Warning: VERY short🙏 (bear w me, I ran out of ideas), ALSO a very Weird Logic

THANKS FOR MAKING ME REACH 120+ NOTES ON MY FIRST POST!

go check it out if you haven't!

'My Only Star'

Summary

You were really close with the Apollo kids and they adored you just like you did with them, one peaceful night at the campfire, they started humming a tune that seemed oh-so-familliar with you, you asked them what song it was, and when they told you also started to hum with them, what you didnt know was that the humming would eventually turn into a concert..

It was night and you were sitting next to your sisters and the Apollo kids, your sisters being on your left and the Apollo kids on the right, one of the Apollo kids is braiding your hair beside you while humming a tune with some of the others, while the few other kids were talking to each other.

The longer they were humming, the more it evokes a memory, there was an itch inside your head wanting to know what this song is that's giving you a nostalgia, so you asked,

"Hey, what is that song you guys are humming?" The girl who was braiding your hair partly glanced at you before returning her gaze back to your hair that's currently resting on her palm.

"Oh, I think it was called Ride, I don't really remember much of the lyrics since it's been a long time since I last heard the song. I was humming inside the Apollo cabin and I guess they liked it too" she respond with a shrug

Oh. Ride by twenty one pilots

When It finally clicked, it brought a wave of nostalgia. This song, you used to listen to this whenever you were feeling down.

You didn't even realize it but there was a small smile plastered on your lips, before you knew it you were humming with them, the kids just looked at you and you swear you could see some of them smiling and some were just looking at you with surprise in their eyes, as the screws in your head started working and remembering the lyrics you started singing quietly

Oh, oh, I'm fallin', so I'm taking my time on my ride

Oh-oh-oh-oh

Takin' my time on my ride

Oh-oh-oh-oh

the kids humming started to become louder as your singing also was progressively getting louder,

You think the girl beside you remembered the lyrics, cause she started singing with you, thanks to you.

As the singing gets louder the humming kids started to harmonize with one another, before you knew it, some other people who woke up because of the sound started gathering around the campfire,

This brought a nostalgia and relief you didn't know you needed until it was being done

Because of how carried away you were, you didn't realize the pair of eyes watching you over the crowd, astonishment, adornment, and surprise in the person's eye.

The concert only ended when one of the ares kids started throwing a tantrum of how they couldn't sleep.

"Didn't know she could sing" Percy whispered teasingly to the guy next to him still staring mindlessly at the laughing girl sitting in front of the campfire.

God, I got first-hand embarrassment while writing this 😭😭😭

Anyways it's kind of short since I just thought of this the second I opened tumblr, also because I got lazy last night and couldn't think of a story line.

Also I think I would take some request if y'all want me too🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ if I do take a request I'll try my best to make a longer story of it.

I'm a beginner at making stories so, I'm sorry if it's bad 👁️👄👁️🎀

Please give me writing tips if you have any💋

THAT'S ALL THANKS!!

💋💋💋💋💋

#luke castellan x reader #pjo fanfic #second story addition #new writers on tumblr #tumblr fyp #luke castellan

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ccrisntok · 11 months

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Heathers au part 2 💀

Okay, off the bat, this one is worse. this post is much sadder than the first one.

TW// Blood, Death, Corpses, Suicidal thoughts/actions, Guns, Homophobia, Violence, Eating Disorders (Again, basically anything that happens in Heathers: The Musical.)

Also, spoilers for Heathers, and DRDT!!!

As I said, this post is a bit more serious than the first one. You need to read the first part to really understand this one btw. sorry. I'm too lazy to explain things again hdafkjlds

This post will have the sad parts of the au, since it's basically a story run-down, but imma still try and keep it a little silly at least.

But there will be a part 3, since I literally can't post all of the images (I have over 30.) And part three will be a lot more light-hearted (just fun doodles, and some cut images from this post), so if this ones too intense, just wait for that one <3 or. dont. thats cool too. Btw I'm gonna re-use a few drawings from the last post for story progression <3

Again, credit to @another-danganronpa-fan for the original au concept!

(First off, a better rendition of the Heathers + Xander. I didn't make any other full body refs because I got lazy. Anyway, I wanted to talk about these guys a lil more in this post. Character relationships and whatever.)

I feel like the Heathers as a unit all fucking hate each other. David guilt trips Arei into staying and threatens to reveal that shes queer if she argues with him, Arei makes fun of him for having severe mental health issues, and Arturo belittles both Arei and David, constantly commenting on their appearances, which he considers "Barely acceptable", basically its a cesspool of toxicity.

Xander, your average, emotional totally not British boy, doesn't really see any of this and thinks the Heathers have it so easy, and even idolizes them a little, especially David. Or rather, whatever persona David gives off to others.

This leads to him being recruited, in combo with his forgery skills, and his British accent. Cuz, yk, British accents are hot to some people.

So Xandy gets to be an honorary Heather. This is fine for like, 5 minutes before he is immediately asked to humiliate the shit out of Eden, which he does, begrudgingly. He does this by forging a note to Eden from her crush, Arei, inviting her to a party Ace was hosting that night. Arei doesn't know about this plan until it happens.

at some point between this and the party, Xander sees Teruko beat the ever-loving shit out of Levi and Ace, and he's like "oh wow 😳", which is the first time he ever notices her.

As the party starts, Xander starts getting drunk as hell, and during so, makes some kind of jab at Ace in relation to his ED (I couldn't really find a way to incorporate Heather Duke's bulimia into David, so, sorry Ace.) This leads to Ace fucking hating him with a passion.

this does not end well btw

Xander parties rlly hard, and that ends up escalating to him accidentally publically outing Eden at the party (while wasted & high), which leads to Eden being humiliated by the partygoers. Arei, who does actually like Eden as well, obviously doesn't out herself and helps in Eden's humiliation for the sake of self-preservation.

Eden's like "wha" bc she still thinks the note was real, and is super confused and hurt by Arei's reaction.

I don't believe the two would be childhood friends, like cannon Heathers, I feel like they would just. Like each other. Steal glances occasionally, wave, and smile. Stuff like that from someone like Arei would mean something, at least to Eden. And seeing what she thought was so clear shatter would hurt her a lot.

After this, Xander fucks off because him and the Heathers get in a huge fight, and he finds Teruko like. In the bathroom or something hiding from the party. I didn't really want to make him break into her house so. I didn't :) they uh. hold hands or something, and then they fall in love wooooahhhh whoda guessed

So Xander vents about his imminent death bc Art's mad at him, and Terukos like, "yeah... lets go apologize....." (she does not want to apologize). so they pull up and Xander's like "I'm sowwy Art i wont do it again" or something and then uh.

(why is the family guy death pose so hard to draw) Art drinks some Kool-aid or something that Teruko mixed with drain cleaner and dies.

Xanders like, "NOOOO WAHT THE FUCK" and Teruko, who obviously wanted him to die, is like "oh. we need to cover this up as a suicide". They do just that, and in the wake of his death, Arturo is seen as even more of an icon than he was in life, since the fake note portrayed him as an actually kind, tortured soul.

Arturo's ghost haunts Xander from this point on, basically just calling him stupid the whole time.

so after this, David and Arei are like, "Aye uh. Art's dead. You wanna hang out in the woods with us and Levi and Ace?" And Xander, desperately trying to not seem suspicious, says yes. Arei didn't really want to do this, but David forced her, and brought tons of alcohol with the intention of getting Levi and Ace drunk so they would fight and it'd be funny. He hasn't taken up Art's spot yet, so he's still kinda chill.

they. do fight, and Xander's kinda like "oop", but David's hoping it gets violent, for funnies.

it gets kinda personal..

Then it gets REALLY personal 💀

And Levi ends up beating the shit out of Ace.

Now, not unlike canon, I don't know what circumstances got Levi disowned by his parents. I feel like in this au, he probably moved in with Ace and his folks, which would give him another reason to put up with Ace's shit. Out of literal necessity. And like, they are probably friends to an extent.

Anyway, after this, rumors spread that Xander was actually the one who beat the fuck out of Ace, unprovoked. Since Ace is like 3'2 or some shit, people think Xander just beat him up bc he was an easy target without Levi around or something.

This happens because of a combo of Ace not really remembering what happened, his spite towards Xander, Levi lying about it, and David agreeing with the story (again, for his own amusement.) Arei doesn't really care enough to speak out, and Xander's reputation goes from already dead, to decomposed.

He vents to Teruko about this, cuz that went soo well last time, who makes up a plan. She tells him to tell Ace and Levi that he really wanted to fight them, and she would bring a "fake" gun to scare them with. (btw shirtless levi just to warn you) (and a dead body. and blood.) (prob shoulda put those first)

This goes about how you would expect (can you tell I gave a bit more of a shit about these guy's deaths than I did Art's....sorry homie). Instead of doing what Kurt cannonically does (hauling ass in the opposite direction), Levi actually tries to help Ace, with no luck.

I made a longer version of this but Im trynna stay in the image limit so. Anyway, Teruko is like "look what you diiidd Levi he trusted what you said and now he's dead! Ok bye" and then shoots Levi too.

Xander is losing his fucking mind, and really upset, obviously. But Teruko is like "I did it because I love you...." and manipulates him into really believing they did somewhat the right thing, because Ace and Levi were bullies, and ruining ppls lives.

They frame Levi and Ace's deaths as a double suicide. Teruko convinces Xander to portray Levi and Ace as gay lovers who, "killed themselves to escape an unaccepting world", since they contributed to Eden's harassment over her sexuality.

This leads to Ms. Hu publicly speaking up in support of queerness, which leads to the harassment following Eden, and the fear holding Arei back to subside a little, as the student body is moved by Levi and Ace's super real emotional romance.

Ace and Levi's ghosts join Arturo in haunting Xandy, and Xander regrets like. Every choice he's ever made.

Xander and Teruko's relationship is kinda deteriorating, and David decides to take officially take the mantle in the aftermath of Arturo, Levi, and Ace's deaths.

He gets kinda goofy, and starts harassing Arei more severely. This takes a head at an assembly Ms. Hu throws for teenage mental health, where she encourages the kids to vent their frustrations and grievances, which would "set them free."

Arei finally takes the opportunity, and confesses about her turbulent home life, David and Arturo's harassment, and that she struggles with suicidal thoughts. David takes this as a personal attack on his reputation since she mentioned him, and berates her, until she decides to try and end her own life in the school bathroom.

Xander stops her, and tells David to fuck off.

This ends with Arei and Xander becoming better friends, and they start to bond over their shared care for Eden. This reminds Xander how bad he fucked up with his best friend, and reminds Arei that she really does care a lot about Eden, even if she wishes she didn't.

Speaking of Eden, after everything that had happened, the deaths, the harassment, and what she thinks is the loss of the two most important people in her life (Xander and Arei), she also decides to take her own life, Ace and Levi's suicides nailing it into her head that she didn't belong. She wanted to escape to a world that wouldn't judge her, like Martha, and death was the only way she felt she could do that.

She jumps off of a bridge, but ends up surviving.

Xander, obviously fucking horrified, rushes to her side. After seeing how hurt she was, he kinda realizes how serious death is.

He killed people, all because Teruko felt they needed to. He realizes his relationship is toxic (only took a kill count of 3), and decides he can't do it anymore.

He ends things with Teruko, and goes home. He figures this is the end of it, but the ghosts haunting him tell him that Teruko was coming back, and she was mad. Oh no!

After Teruko breaks into his house, Xander locks himself in his closet and listens to her mad ramblings.

She says she's going to bomb the school, killing everyone inside, and she wants to do it with him. The whole school was basically in the building for a pep-rally, and she wanted to frame it as a school-wide suicide pact, with a signed "suicide note", a fake petition she'd passed around the school during the mental health assembly.

Xander, out of options, ties himself to the ceiling and pretends as if he has hung himself, which he hopes will stop Teruko's rampage.

Instead, Teruko decides even if Xander was dead, she was going to kill everyone anyway.

After Teruko leaves, Xander chases after her, grabbing a kitchen knife as protection, with the intention of killing Teruko, and probably himself, for the sake of the school.

After realizing Xander is alive, Teruko doesn't stop her plan. She's even more dedicated to it, and Xander is dedicated to stopping her.

The two physically fight for the bomb, and in the scuffle, Xander ends up stabbing Teruko in the stomach. He takes the bomb, and begins to leave with it, with the intention of using his body as a shield so that the school wouldn't be damaged if he ran out of time.

Teruko stops him, and in one more act of weird, toxic, love takes the bomb from him, and says she will blow up herself, and only herself.

Xander lets her take the bomb, and Teruko walks out to the front of the school. Xander watches as she lets it go off, killing her instantly, and tells her to say hello to God, having faith that maybe her death could grant her forgiveness, if there was a higher power out there to forgive her at all.

........

annnnndddddd I'll draw the aftermath in part three!

Holy fucking shit, I HAVE BEEN TYPING THIS UP FOR LIKE 5 HOURSS AAHH

I'm proud of it, though! There are quite a few images I had to cut, since Tumblr has an image limit and I made way too much, but that's what part three is for, in combo with a little of the aftermath! I just didn't want to split up the story into two parts, since I wanted it to flow well. I hope I managed to do just that.

Hope you enjoyed this fucking roller coaster, and I hope to see you back again for the DRDT Heathers finale! Which... wont be that epic, or anything, but hopefully fun!

#drdt fanart #drdt #drdt spoilers #ace markey #eden tobisa #xander matthews #teruko tawaki #arturo giles #arei nageishi #david cheim #levi fontana #hu jing #tw blood #tw death #tw violence #tw murder #tw ed #idk what xander and teruko's ship name is dkfasf #heathers the musical

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mean-scarlet-deceiver · 10 months

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I'll bite, if you're still doing the episode write ups: Dunkin Duncan? Was a childhood favorite of mine, though baby me liked Disney Direct to DVD sequels so I do not trust them

Author's note: Here's a throwback to when I was taking asks about opinions on episodes. In total, I received four asks for Dunkin Duncan! That means it was tied for the number of asks for Edward's Exploit... y'all love your alliteration ig...

Sorry for the year-long delay on responding to the DD asks. My birthday's tomorrow so I'm sodding off from my chores tonight to blog, and while I'm here trying to clear out as much of the old stuff as I can. So let's finally wrap this up...

---------

Awww. You needn't have any angst about your taste. Preferences are just preferences; we all have 'em. Anyway, I've liked stupider things, and I've liked them as an adult. Give kid-you a cookie and a juice box, they're fine.

Also, I won't say I think this episode is, like, good? It desperately needed a sharp editor for it to be that. But I also don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be.

Like, I've seen this one get dragged like those trucks did to Duncan over on tttetwt. And, since I posted my epic EtRUE rant, I immediately started getting these requests to tackle DD. As if people think they're on a level? And I've seen a lot of fans point to DD as the low point of the season. Well, it's in the valley, I suppose. But I still think that when you break them down into their components DD never ranks worse than EtRUE and it also has much more substantial good things going on in it.

Here's a link to the episode, as we're going to go pretty much beat by beat.

Let's first discuss the bad and then the good. (Be warned: In the spirit of the last major rant, I'm going to continue to drop generous f-bombs. As a treat.)

The Bad

1. The intro bit. God, the intro bit is so fuckin' uninspired. The "set-up" is Brave Plucky Clever Rusty leading his two pitiful, personalityless old steam engines down the line to "help Duncan with an important job at the incline railway." We did not need to see this unremarkable journey, guys. You plan on showing us the scenery on the line a whole lot in the next two stories; this one should have opened at the quarry. You could even keep the same (uninspired, but very Season 6-y) opening narration, but with, like. Shots of pushing past each other in tight sidings, lots more footage of the incline, etc! It would make this episode feel more distinctive, and reduced the "throat-clearing-ness."

Instead it takes us over 30 seconds just to arrive at the quarry. Just wasting time. Padding the story.

2. An unnecessary beginning also leads to the unforced error of this:

Why does Skarloey look so friggin' pitiful here? The narrator says they like going to the "incline railway." God, why did the show feel the need to just bloody nerf Skarloey and Rheneas after Season 4? Were they too powerful? Fuck me.

Indistinguishable blobs of lukewarm tapioca. I will never forgive this era of the show for reducing them to this.

3. Continuing crimes of characterisation... this is less of a problem than what's going on with the other three engines, but Duncan is subtly off. I mean I get that "we just made Duncan angry and contrary about everything, at all times," is their new strategy, and at least this means he has a characterization (looking again at poor 'Loey and 'Neas), and I can't deny that it was successful. So I'm not going to criticize that, exactly.

But I still really hate the line "I'll show that smelly diesel and those lazy steamers!" It's like they carried on with Duncan's initial diesel antipathy, ignored about the part where he dropped it, and then, in the end, they didn't have the balls to stick with it so they made him one of those "equal-opportunity haters." I think the line is just really bloody awkward and should have been shot down by an editor. (Of course, it's not even in the top 10 lines I think a good editor would have tackled.)

4. Going back to Skarloey and Rheneas, the idea that Duncan could be bitching at them and trying to order them about, and all they do is ineffectually whine back at him, is disgraceful. Their passivity is not canonical, and it's not even interesting. If you weren't going to do anything with S. & R., why have them in this episode at all? You could've just made it a Duncan & Rusty episode. I definitely think the story would have felt cleaner that way.

5. This is a remarkably "busy," squiggley, ill-paced little script, considering how little happens. Like, the one regard in which I think EtRUE was superior to this episode was that its pacing might have been off but it did some stuff. There were loads of characters, who actually all had a personality and were contributing to the plot, and there were different settings (for legitimate reasons, as opposed to the first 30 seconds of DD with its pointless scenery porn). Ultimately I don't think EtRUE's busyness went anywhere, but at least it felt like their problem was that they were cramming in too many ideas, rather than, as DD comes across, desperately trying to massage one decent but unripened idea into a full 5-minute story.

So yeah, DD just has to tell us variations of 'Duncan is impatient' and 'Duncan is rude' and 'Duncan doesn't give a flying fuck about safety precautions' and 'the other engines are sick of his attitude' again and again and again. And they have some good footage to help us swallow all this! But they don't have enough.

Aren't the other engines bitching out Duncan shortly after this that they are only supposed to send up 2 trucks at a time, not 4? But this is the image they use during the 'scene establishing' beat where they describe how the incline works. This is a bit nitpicky coz I guess you can argue it's just showing us how Duncan's been working before the other engines show up to tell him how to do it properly—but it still comes across as confusing TO ME.

7. Something that is NOT nitpicky but back to the real heart of why I think this episode drags (despite the good stuff, of which again see below):

The BEST stuff in the ep is when Duncan's coupling gets tangled and we see him dragged up the incline behind the trucks. Now THIS is a narrow-gauge "rollercoaster" escapade done right! Eat your heart out, 'Neas! (Rheneas: It's literally all I do?) The drama... the suspense...

We should have been able to watch Duncan go up with minimal to no narration. That's how you build suspense when you're filming! In moments like these, shut up and let the visuals and the music score do the work!

Instead we have to listen to this:

"I tried to warn him!" said Rusty. "He never listens," the diesel's driver said.

Sigh.

First of all, though usually anytime a driver gets a line is a plus in a story, we literally just checked off the "engine-driver" interaction box like 20 seconds ago when Duncan and his driver had an exchange. So fuck the samey-ness of this one following right on its heels.

Still, this would be acceptable (though I still think words only detract from the suspense here) EXCEPT WE'VE ALREADY BEEN LISTENING TO TWO SOLID UNEVENTFUL MINUTES OF A) THE NARRATOR TELLING US THAT DUNCAN IS CARELESS AND WON'T LISTEN AND B) RUSTY AND THE OTHERS COMPLAINING ABOUT THESE VERY FACTS.

There is so much repetition in this script. I'm tearing my hair out. WE GET IT.

This is the same flaw that went down in the final minute of EtRUE btw. Between the narrator AND the Fat Controller AND the narrator again we had so much commentary on why our episode's Antagonist was Naughty, Naughty, Naughty.

IT'S SO DULL. This whole series is very much about seeing engines behave poorly and get their comeuppance, but c'mon! We don't need to have the narrator pull a fuckin' Talmudic scholar and interpret the text for us every bloody time!

Compare and contrast to, like, "Middle Engine," where James's comeuppance is shown and felt but very minimally commented on. And it's way more entertaining to me than all these other examples were not only does the story teach a moral, but the narrative has to shove it down our throats at least three separate times to make sure the kiddos get it. Like, fucking chill? If you've done your job right they're gonna make their families rewatch it a hundred times anyway, at some point you have to trust them to interpret the story themselves.

8. Oh, good. Now the Fat Controller's shown up and we have to hear the dressing-down. Again, in case somehow, somewhere, like one kid out there in 2002 somehow missed the ethical thrust of the story.

8b. Bonus: Like EtRUE, the Fat Controller insists on Duncan apologizing to the other engines.

8c. Bonus Bonus: AND THEN, AGAIN, WE HAVE TO FUCKIN *HEAR* IT. It's completely unnecessary, but here we are. In this era of the show, some producer or head writer type really did say "You know what the best part of school was? When the teacher made a kid apologize to another kid. It always lead to these interesting moments that were also so emotionally authentic. I bet it would make for great television! 😇" Look, I don't say anti-worker stuff lightly, but this person should have been docked some pay. Good grief.

Altogether, this episode feels like a combination of AI scraping and regurgitating previous narrow-gauge episodes, mixed in with a wayyyy too generous helping of Moralizing. I can certainly see why there are people who loathe this one.

Nevertheless, it definitely has redeeming qualities, making it just as clear why some people love it:

The Good

1. Duncan! The other three engines' characterizations might be miserable. But (apart from that one small line that jars ME), Duncan is solid. You can complain if you want that his characterization is not quite right re: the RWS, and I won't disagree with you. But they did grasp that Duncan was extremely relatable to bouncy, can't-sit-still, "bad" kids, and they did carry on with that part. Duncan's misadventure here is a good follow-up to "Rock n Roll"—same personality flaw, similarly watchable spectacle. I wish they had characterized the rest of the narrow-gauge engines even half as well as they did Duncan and Rusty, but I will certainly own that they did very well with endearing Duncan to thousands of little hearts in the Oughts.

2. Spectacle! This is the HUGE one. However badly written the script (and I think it unambiguously sucks), the spectacle is great. The incline is fun to watch. The incline with Duncan is even funner to watch. Duncan snapping off and going down the incline is even funner. Him WHOOSHING off it like a half-pipe is even funner. PLOOP into the mud is best yet. The basic plot device here is great, using an actual rail mechanism (it may not be realistic, ofc, but it does utilize its setting, and not in virtually the same way that's been done before, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME ETRUE) to create a unique and engaging situation.

3. The incline/quarry setting. It's good. I still think they should have used it even more and dispensed with the unnecessary railway establishing shots, but anyway. At least we spent most of the running time here.

4. This one may be more idiosyncratic to me. But you know I'm always complaining that one of the big problems with TVS episodes (not based on RWS) is that they are typically so afraid to do multi-part story arcs? Relatedly, that they insist on cramming a happy ending onto everything, no matter how poor a fit it is? Well, I gotta give it up! They didn't do that here. There's some real astringency to this episode. They let us end on a note of disgrace!

It would have been better (better by far, too) if they had followed it up with another Duncan-related episode where he redeems himself, ofc. But, look. Season 6's major weakness is insisting, again and again, that everyone is jolly and happy and "tooting happily" together at the end of every squabble—which is very cute like, one or two times a season, but which gets trite real fast. I'll take the episodes they dispense with that exceedingly well-worn trope when I can get 'em.

5. I went well out of chronological order to save the best for last.

The early montage showing Duncan's Greatest Hits is a scream:

Honestly, every TTTE montage is terrific. This is one of the best ways to film the models. It always hits. They could have afforded to squeeze way more mileage out of this trick before it was in danger of growing stale.

But this one? Short of the legendary "They had to do James's work as well as their own," this one is the most magnificent, character-wise. It's the way Duncan looks so horrified every time. That face—every. time. He's literally the embodiment of the "when I find the mf who's been ruining my life" meme. It's glorious.

So, yeah. I don't think DD succeeded in as many areas as it failed, but its successes were real.

I also wonder if the episode's haters would hate it less if it were called anything but "Dunkin Duncan," lol. (I admit I'd probably despise EtRUE less if it had a better title.)

#ttte #ttte episode talk #ttte season 6 #dunkin duncan #chatter #ttte screenshots

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silverott-chevalier · 8 months

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So at the behest of a couple of friends, I've made this thing for what it's worth.

My name is Cooper Chevalier, and let's just get this out of the way now-- yes, I am, in fact, a Samurott. If you've heard about a Pokemon becoming a Trainer somewhere in the Johto region, that would be me. If you're wondering how or why this is even possible, then I guess I don't mind answering questions, but for now just know that the League had to make a few accommodations for me when I was first starting out and I've managed to take that all the way to the top and become one of the region's champions. Lance is still the guy running the Indigo Plateau, though--I mostly get called on to resolve issues in Kanto-Johto that he'd normally need to step away for. It's a nice little arrangement.

Anyway. I was convinced to make this by a friend in Galar, so I'm hoping this place is as good as they've made it out to be.

I'm also hoping that not having a Rotom won't bite me on the tail later... how the heck did those things become mainstream anyway--

EDIT: Saw a lot of people putting their Pokemon on these, too, and I'm finally sitting down and doing it. I could probably tell you about Shia and Pallas while I'm here but this should show up in the post they reblogged too so I can be lazy.

Anyway, here's my five mainstays-- they've been with me since near the start of my journey.

Mason (Gengar, M): Kind of a shy fella, but he's really loyal. Easily the partner I trust the most, and though I'm a bit sad to admit it, he's definitely gotten me out of a lot of sticky scenarios the painful way... I've been a lot more careful not to let that sort of thing happen since.

Sypha (Ampharos, F): Serious to a fault and speaks to the point. Proud of her power, but aware of her limits, though that doesn't mean she can't throw a mean Thunderbolt.

Juste (Togekiss, M): I raised him from an egg, and he's easily the most optimistic member of my team. He's also my ride around the two regions, usually, so props to him for carrying around a ~220 lb Samurott through the sky, ehehe...

Nora (Umbreon, F): Strong and steadfast, and fiercely devoted to her friends. She's usually serious, but she's got her playful side. Took a bit to warm up to me, though.

Katsuko (Dragonite, F): Hilariously, though I doubt she played any part in her upbringing, Katsuko is like if you took Clair's competitive spirit and put it in a dragon. Most eager to fight out of everyone, and was easily my second ace once she fully evolved.

Feel free to ask about them--I can ask them questions on your behalf if you want me to.

-- OOC BENEATH THE READMORE --

Hey! This is a rotomblr I made using my pokesona after a friend of mine held me at rotarypoint convinced me to try making one. I'm pretty new to this stuff in general, but we'll see how this pans out in the end. I'll be figuring things out as I go for the most part. I'll probably just label my ooc stuff with (ooc) or something of the like. Lemme know if you have any tips, tricks, or whatever that you'd like to share! I'll probably follow you from @kupkastdashboard since I don't have the patience to manually switch over to Cooper's dash anytime I wanna like or rb something--

Also! Any ask memes I rb are technically open forever, since I don't think they deserve to happen just once and then never again. Just be sure to post the question associated with whatever you're referencing so I know what I'm answering! Links to my specific RBs of my favorites are below. I've answered some of these with Cooper, but with Pallas and Shia on the board, they're also open to be asked things. Just specify who you're looking for, otherwise I'll default to Cooper being the subject or pick one of my muses at random if he's already answered something.

Pelipper Mail! (Malice Coming Soon)

Memory Meme (#cooper's memories)

Legendary/Mythical

Thought Bubbles (#cooper's thoughts)

Fossil Ask Game

Headcanon Asks (Answered OOC)

Major Arcana Reversed

Muse In The News

Posts that look directly into Cooper's headspace at any given moment are labeled [#cooper's thoughts], and posts that describe a memory of his that's already happened will be labeled [#cooper's memories]. Neither of these are canonically posted by him, so keep that in mind if you want to make reference to them or leverage them for better or worse!

#rotomblr #pokeblogging intro #pokeblog rp #pokemon irl #pokeblogging #dear arceus i hope these tags are right

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cryiling · 1 year

Note

can we hear more about the hip hip dancers revalink au

(in reference to this post)

OMG OFC 🫶🫶 here's a couple snippets from that au since I'm too lazy to write an actual fic for it 🙏

actually the first year they both auditioned for the hip hop competition team, they were both rejected because they had spent the whole audition side-eying each other and when they were put in the same freestyle group, they got all up in each other's faces and were too focused on trying to outdo each other to really pay attention to the actual audition. so the director rejected both of them, saying they needed to get whatever rivalry they had under control because everyone on the team needs to be able to work together and support one another

(what the director didn't know was that this had been an ongoing rivalry for years. they had first met at a walk-in kpop dance workshop, and when it became clear that the two were the top dancers in the class, revali felt the need to prove that he was the superior dancer, meanwhile link was annoyed at this guy who was obnoxiously bragging about his dancing and his kpop dance cover channel on youtube, so he decided to quietly make passive-aggressive remarks about how people who think kpop dance is real dance are dumb.)

(when they both got home that night, they absolutely googled each other. link found revali's dance account and did NOT subscribe thank you very much (but he did watch all of his covers to privately critique them). revali found link's contemporary dance portfolio and bookmarked it to his browser so he could watch all the videos)

(two months later, link decides to attend a hip hop combo class at the studio near him, and you'll never guess who he sees there: yeah it's revali. in the last 20 minutes of class when everyone gets split into groups to record the dance, surprise surprise: revali and link are in a group together. the two go full out and by the end they're both sweaty, and frustrated at being equally matched at the dance. they both come back to this class every week.)

anyways, revali is super pissed at being rejected from the team and link is frustrated that this self-absorbed idiot cost him the spot on the team. but the words of the director echo in the back of their minds, and by the time auditions roll around again, they manage to keep their cool and are both accepted onto the team. during the competition classes they are professionally cool to one another, but without that outlet to vent their frustrations at each other, their rivalry in the combo classes get much more heated

btw in case you're wondering what type of songs they dance to, check out this playlist of songs I learned dances to in my classes 🤭 esp any given sunday bc the VIBES OF THAT SONG omg peak sexy revalink

we talked a little bit already about them being assigned a duet for competition, and them practicing and falling over each other and spending late nights at the studio freestyling 🤭 I imagine at some point during one of these practice sessions (after they've warmed up to each other a little bit), as they're taking a break, link turns on that that by psy and just starts dancing to it for funsies. and revali looks at him with disbelief but then snorts in amusement, pushes himself off the floor where he had been sitting by the mirror, and joins link in the dance since ofc he knows the dance too ✋

and it turns into a bit of a game, they take turns playing increasingly obscure kpop songs to see if the other knows the dance for it, and if not they just start making up a dance for it. and omg at one point they turn on love dive by ive and they both know it and so at that part right before the chorus with the point and body roll, they even do it in formation facing each other, and it makes link blush and throws revali off beat a little AJDBAKDN

anyways after that link invites revali to go with him to an annual random dance play event that he attends every year, and it's their first date!! 🥺🥺 (not really. revali will adamantly deny that it was a date to anyone that listens. but later when they start dating he'll look back on that time and his eyes will go all soft as he remembers what it was like to share his love of kpop and dancing with someone that understands the level of passion he has for both of them)

after they start dating, they decide to compete in a kpop dance cover competition together! they do guerrilla by ateez which I'm ngl y'all it's an incredibly difficult and tiring dance, which means it's perfect for the two of them 🥰🙏 they win first place ofc, the judges are impressed by their synchrony and stage presence and chemistry with each other! they're so ecstatic, revali picks link up on stage and twirls him around a little as they're both absorbed in their own little world with eyes only for each other (someone records and posts this to tik tok, which immediately goes viral with ppl commenting "me and who??😭✋" and "if I don't have what they do then I don't want it")

this would be hard to do as a duet since there's so many dancers in it, so I would imagine they would try to get their competition team to do this with them, but I NEED revalink to cover btbt by bi because the dance for it is SOO GOOD I'm begging y'all to watch it immediately

this post quickly derailed and I cannot believe I wrote this much ohmygod 💀 anyways hope you enjoyed reading me self projecting my love of dance onto my two favorite blorbos 🫶

#im gonna be honest I didn't proofread this I just kinda blacked out and wrote #1k words of stuff I don't remember anymore😭#amiharana #you are the biggest enabler I know and I love you for it 🫶🫶🫶#revalink #revali #link #botw #breath of the wild #loz #legend of zelda #me being So Normal about this game #cryiling asks #crow's revalinkverse

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rigelmejo · 1 month

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So I haven't posted in a while. Little updates:

I finished arc 1 of Guardian in chinese again. So now I wont feel bad reading the book 1 english translation.

I took a break from chinese for a while then came back to read. And its interesting to me how much is stored like "2nd level down" in my memory. I don't recall words when trying to talk, after a long enough break. But I start reading, and my brain subvocalizes the hanzi and I can recall this Gist General Meaning of the words. Some words I recall their meaning and all, some just an overall general idea. But I havent forgotten much, nothing totally forgotten, and then most of the details of words come back within an hour or reading. Its surprising to me that reading chinese, memory wise, seems a LOT like reading french. I didnt expect it to be quite as similar a process. But it seems that remembering hanzi Words is as permanent as remembering french word stems/endings (or english ones). Reading skills have long staying power, and don't degrade much even with long breaks between usage. This is Excellent news. Since I don't have time to study much for the next several months, so I'm glad reading skills will stay as good as they are Or Improve if I read, without needing maintenance study. I'd like to improve my listening skill too, because being able to understand audiobooks would increase the chinese novels I could get through that I want to read (audiobooks would be faster than reading). But I dont have time yet for listening reading combo study, and time will tell if i do that activity WHEN and IF listening skills also gradually solidify then become reliable so one can study more sporadically and still see improvement.

My french skills are. Fascinating. I havent purposely studied in like over 5 years. I dont get that much French exposure (my google is in french but tbh google email and notifications do not use a big variety of words). But I've noticed a dramatic improvement in listening skills. My french reading skills have been fine for years. Theyre at a level where I can read like a high schooler: so i can read fiction for adults, but some words or literary devices go over my head and I have to just guess, the more in depth text analysis of themes might be a challenge, but just getting the story/information/most details is fine. I havent had to limit what i read in french in ages. Its just a matter of in french i feel like i did in high school where some fiction makes me "think hard" to grasp some points, versus english where i dont run into needing to Think Hard like that unless I'm reading something written pre-1800s. Anyway my point is: reading skills have been stable a while in french. Listening skills have markedly improved despite very little purposeful practice. I think I should probably start listening to podcasts or audiobooks some point soon. Through scattered listening to B1 and B2 comprehensible audio on youtube, and french shows, im to a point where if the audio has visual context i can follow everything going on and learn new words pretty easy. So now its just listening to french when i have no visuals to rely on, that's a struggle. I remember a few years back, i could not listen to french shows id just get confused, i needed the subtitles to follow anything. My ears mustve gotten used to french or just gotten used to Listening Better to things. Anyway, if i start trying and French Listening Only materials ill mention some progress.

Anyone have any french audiobooks or podcasts/fiction story podcasts they enjoy???

Japanese. also in a weird place. ToT. My biggest hurdle isnt even japanese: its being too chicken to challenge myself. I can play Yakuza Ishin in japanese and follow the main idea and objectives and main points in scenes. Yet i have NOT played more cause it feels Draining to grasp all that info from context and im lazy. I know if i watch a show in only japanese, with japanese subtitles, i know enough to grasp the main plot. But im lazy and its a LOT of effort to see the japanese subtitles and match new sounding words with kanji and try to remember the new pronunciation AND pay attention to the brand new plot. So i fall back onto english subs. I KNOW i can read japanese novels with a click dictionary, its just such SLOW reading, and if i just read while listening and Guess all unknown words its mentally exhausting even though its faster. I even have the easy peasy Glossika Japanese audio to listen to, but im still on lesson 36 because i have to Pay Full Attention when i listen to new lessons and im too lazy to listen with full attention ToT. I can watch lets plays in japanese, i understand them, but the effort of focusing is so much MORE than it would take if i just went to watch an english lets play where i can just hear in the background and follow it fine not even looking at it.

I am at a POINT in japanese where I CAN just learn by doing now! Which is huge! Its an incredibly useful milestone to be at! And makes future study, in the long run, much less daunting to plan as it can become just Do Stuff In Japanese to study. But since im at the beginning of this Comprehend Enough to Learn More from Context phase... learning new stuff from context still takes SO MUCH EFFORT. ITS SO DRAINING. Paying enough attention to comprehend things ive studied is exhausting, paying extra attention to new stuff and guessing what it means is draining and requires a Lot of focus. I know this is just how this stage goes but. Im so lazy.

What i need is something in japanese im SO interested in, that it drives me to engage with it even though I'm drained because im so Curious and Interested in understanding, so i push through until comprehending gets easier. Ideally, a game or show, something that plays so i am Forced to frequently proceed to the next sentence. Because with books and manga i will just stop and dwell on a paragraph for 2 hours and not learn much new stuff.

This stage is especially grating because im not in the stage with french or chinese anymore. I can listen to chinese shows in the background, check my phone while listening, not use the chinese subtitles, pay half attention while drawing. Chinese audiobooks require More attention, but i can listen to them walking or driving without subtitles/transcript and still follow the plot. With french Im to that same comfortable point with shows and youtube videos, not audio only stuff yet but i dont Engage with french audio only stuff. My point is Japanese is the only one where Im really feeling that INTENSE FOCUS drain whenever i try to engage with challenging new stuff in japanese. I dont feel an intense drain with chinese unless I read one of my harder reading level Print Novels or a higher vocab audio only material. I dont feel it with french unless Im doing it with audio only material. I feel the drain constantly with japanese.

#rant

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steeklover · 10 months

Text

You guys sleep on their friendship too much 😔

Time-laspe (I tried to download the video and attach it to this post but I think it was too big and my computer is tired because it won't download. That is the link, you can watch it if you'd like too, I know I like to watch art time-laspes. It is around fifteen minutes though, I didn't know how to make it any faster so there's your warning)

(Okay so I'm just now realizing that the part of the video where I used actually colors got cut off 😐And I can't even fix it because I've already deleted the clip off my computer and emptied my recycle bin. I'm so upset now, I'm sorry 😭😭I'm not a tech savy person at all)

You don't have to read this if you don't want to, it's more of an artist's note to myself. If you want to know more of my thought process while doing this then you can read it though.

First, I just want to give credit to the base I used!

Second, I used Krita to draw and Canva to put the video together. I've never really used another drawing app/software thing before (I've used Procreate a few times on my sister's IPad but it's not like I'm going to draw anything South Park on there) so I don't really have anything to compare it too. It's free though so... how much better can you get. The only thing I don't like about it so far is that the fill tool kind of sucks but it's not too bad, you just have to go over the edges to get a solid color (at least from my experience). And I've been using Canva for a while now, I've put together a few videos before but not in a while so I was a little rusty. The only thing I don't like about that is that I have to pay for an upgrade if I want to download a long video.

I started trying to draw seriously in April and now it's July so it's been like two months (?). I haven't posted anything since May I think but I've still been drawing a lot, I just haven't finished anything worth posting up until today.

I started out drawing this thinking it was going to be bad. Then about halfway through I thought it might actually turn out alright. Then I finished it and I kind of hate it. I think it would be much better if I practiced shading and textures but I'm too lazy for that, at least for now.

I hardly know anything about art, whether it be digital or traditional. I don't know anatomy, color theory, perspective, none of it. You can see on the time-lapse that I basically traced the base I used, did the faces and clothes and then colored it and that took me ALL DAY! Granted I had breaks like when I made my lunch and ran over to my grandma's house but other than that, I've been working on this piece (along with Stan but I did most of Stan yesterday, I just colored him this morning).

I have mad respect for every single artist out there because this is so hard... but for some reason I want to keep doing it. I know it's going to be super satisfying to look back on my art work from two years ago and see how much I've improved (hopefully I've improved, please tell me I'll improved)

As you can probably tell, I didn't get everything in the time-laspe. Recording the process was so hard, I tried to do it with Stan yesterday but I barely knew what I was doing and I kept getting called by my mom to do stuff so I had to keep pausing and un-pausing so I gave up and tried again today. I think my computer is worn out by working all day because not only have I been drawing on it all day but I have also been editing the video all day. I really like when artists post time-laspes though because it gives me an idea of their process and it's really nice to watch.

But anyway, I ended up giving Jason eyeliner because one) he's metro, two) I headcanon him wearing eyeliner (same thing with Tweek) and three) he needed a little something MORE to him, if that makes sense. I orginally wasn't going to give him eyeliner because I was afraid he would look too much like Tweek but once the picture was done, I decided they wouldn't look too similar. I also gave Tweek and Jason both freckles because for Jason, it's canon and for Tweek, it's my headcanon for him. You probably can't tell that Tweek has freckles because I made them really faint (on purpose) and I like to think he'd only have a few on his cheeks and nose. I gave Jason a lot though because I'm pretty sure that's how it is in the show. Lastly I forgot to color Jason's shirt in so that's everything that's not on the video.

I think the hardest thing for me was the eyes and the clothes. I have a love-hate relationship drawing eyes. I love looking at how different people draw their eyes but when it comes to drawing my own eyes... yikes 😬Also I think it's the facial proportions that might make this seem off, I think I have a bad habit of making the eyes too big but that's what I've been doing ever since I was a little kid so now if I make the eyes small, it just looks off. And again, I didn't do anything shading so it probably makes the picture look flat. Plus I have no idea what I'm doing.

I also usually have a hard time drawing hair but today I had a pretty easy time doing it. I was really surprised. Also another headcanon of mine for Tweek is that he has platinum blonde hair. I love platinum blonde hair and just blonde hair in general and his hair is SO YELLOW, I feel like if he was older than he'd dye it. Also they are both teens in this picture.

Tweek looks really pasty here, I tried to give him pale skin but I didn't mean for it to be THAT pale.

I think that's all I have to say. If you read this and have any tips for me, I'd love to hear them. I'd love to redraw this in a few months or maybe in a year if I decide to keep drawing, I know there's defiently room for improvement.

Despite all the complaining I just did, I don't HATE this picture per say. I really like my art style, it's simple but cute (imo of course). I feel like if I learned more about shading and learn how to draw faces and clothes better than I'd do a lot better. I think Stan was a lot cuter but this is cute too.

Lastly, ignore the two random dots if you find them, I'm too tired to fix this.

Anyway, if you read all of this, I really appreciate you! Have a great day/night! ❤️❤️

#south park #south park fanart #tweek tweak #jason white #sp tweek #sp jason #sp twason #twason #tweek x jason #jason x tweek #this can be seen as platonic or romantic #metro tweek #metro jason #south park is gay #south park metrosexual #my art

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ronance4everbrainrot · 2 years

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Murray adopting Robin AU

I just started thinking about the fact that it's a bit chaotic because some stuff is not in order i think.

So I made this so it's easier to find the stories. If you're interested, go check it out now.

This will also get updated when a new story or thing is there, so check to see if there is anything new.

First of all the time line (Ignore the 3 month time line in one of my stories, too lazy to delete that)

Now the stories we (Me and Corgi) already have (in order)

Robin and Erica (there is also the fight with the mother before that, so if you want you can just skip it)

[some stuff I wrote after that is not important or true anymore, because I completely forgot I wrote it]

Murray and Robin

[not sure, but the stuff after or before may not be true]

Nancy and Robin (after Jancy break up)

[again, some stuff may not be true anymore, since I'm forgetful and don't know what I wrote lol]

Murray and Robin (Halloween with the kids, Thanksgiving with Murray)

[more recent, but I also don't think I wrote anything important at the end]

Nancy and Robin sus 👀

[honestly just here because I want to make a rainbow lol, but some informaton may not be true again, but this is also more recent so probably more true then the others, idk lol]

Steve and Robin's fight (from Corgi)

[probably still true info at the end]

Robin and her mother's fight

[that's the same as Erica's post, but well if you skipped over it to read it in order, here is another link]

Robin's Protection-Squad looking for Robin

[this was something, sorry it took so long, it wasn't in my drafts anymore so it slipped my mind 😪]

Season Four in the Upisde Down

[Ronancetober is such a beautiful thing]

✨✨✨

Also here are some post about it without stories. Just some more ideas or details.

S4 but this AU (some stuff also gets mentioned again on the post under this)

(you gotta read the Nancy and Robin sus 👀 story first for context)

Ronance dynamic (Robin and Nancy's characters studies a tiny bit ig? But I'm not good at that lol)

post season 4 but this AU

🎶....just us and your 'friend' Robin 🎶

✨✨

Before I forget, there is another AU in this AU it's from Corgi. It's called 'I thought you died' and the the more angsty version from the end of season 4/post season 4. I shall not spoil but you'll read it in the first post anyway... And those were already in order so far if you just go to Corgis post, but I'll still put it here.

I just died in your arms tonight 🎶

[you should read the comments for more information/details also in the others as well]

very hairy situation

[honestly I don't know what to name them so it's now this]

sorry...i just really love backstories

[-Luz Noceda, from The Owl house](not the story, just what I tilted the story here because I thought it was funny) also just want to do the rainbow again]

The way I was laughing should be concerning..

[just gonna continue the rainbow...even tho there is no yellow 😪]

my babies 🥺

[it's all definitely kittens and Rainbows. Or more like puppies and Rainbows? Definitely rainbows tho, if you know what I mean]

my poor babies 😔

[Just gonna continue the rainbow lol, also as said before, read the comments under the posts to get more information/details]

little red

[Just gotta start a new Rainbow]

Better then Steve Harrington

[at what? Well you can find out by reading it]

✨

And her some fun random stuff fitting with the AU

where I got the idea from

Robin and Murray quotes

Robin Protection Squad quotes

The Sinclairs + Robin and Max quotes

Robin + one Adult quotes

Robin+ one Adult quotes #2

#1 Dad Robin Buckley

Robin's Dad Jokes

Robin's Dad Jokes #2

Robin's Dad Jokes #3

Robin's Dad Jokes #4

✨✨✨

Hope it's all correct, not sure.

Lots of Love ✨❤️🙌✨

#Murray adopting Robin #robin buckley #murray bauman #ronance #nancy wheeler #erica sinclair #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #steve harrington #jonathan byers #idk what else to tag #Live Love Robin angst

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everythingsinred · 1 year

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Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Mikan (pt. 7)

It's been a while, I know. I was just sooooo lazy. I was writing this essay, but posting seemed like so much work so I procrastinated. Oh well, I'm posting now and that's all that matters. In a year, when someone reads this, they won't be aware of the posting gap at all! Let's forgive Anya for this little mistake.

AnYWAY, the culture fest has finally arrived at Alice Academy and Mikan is looking forward to having fun with friends. Unfortunately, she's already run into trouble since Natsume got her genie lamp and now she has to fulfill three of his wishes, which are sure to be sadistic and terrible in nature.

<- Prev Next ->

Chapter Twenty

And of course he starts the tormenting right away, deciding to have her follow him around the festival so she can carry his stuff. Because of Ruka’s kindness, Natsume was convinced to give her the afternoon off to spend with her besties Hotaru and Yuu, but for now, she is his gopher.

I love these little panels because they're easily overlooked but do a great job of revealing the characters' basic personalities.

The technical area is amazing, and Mikan is quickly taken with it, oohing and ahhing over everything she sees. Mikan is still an alice newb, new to an exciting world that is pretty normal to the rest of them. Dancing vegetables and singing flowers are a nice touch to any Alice, but to Mikan they’re all magic. Part of what makes Mikan so entrancing is not just her cheerfulness, but the fact that she is Alice in Wonderland (I’ll eventually get tired of saying this, but for now it’s just delightful to me). She is naturally childish, on account of being a child, but she’s also seeing most of these things for the first time, and so everything is sparkly and new. Such excitement can easily be contagious.

But to some people it’s just irritating.

Natsume the impatient jerk flings some biscuit in her mouth that makes her bawk like a chicken whenever she speaks. So Mikan is quiet for a while, dreading the biscuit. That is until she sees Hotaru’s attraction, a special all about her and her amazing robots. Mikan tries to rush to her but is just beaten down. The presentation commences and ends and Hotaru emerges from her creation, instantly surrounded by fans and sponsors.

Mikan is struck with Hotaru’s dazzling future. The technical class is composed of artistic and creative types, people who clearly know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. They all have plans and goals and passions, and Mikan admires that. She assures herself that she too has goals for the future, but her goals are limited to better training her alice and seeing Jii-chan again, so she doesn’t feel that much better. She has no idea what she’d wanna do after graduating.

Whenever Mikan is different from others, she gets self-conscious, no matter what it is she's "lacking."

So she turns to her companions, just to check if maybe she isn’t alone. Sumire quickly responds that she’d want to use her alice for criminal investigations or government work (narc). Ruka has a dream, but he’s uninterested in sharing. But the point is that he has a dream, and that’s more than Mikan can say.

Natsume is her last hope, but he’s not even paying attention!

I love to imagine Natsume and Mikan actually chatting in their teens, two losers who have no plans for what they're gonna do after graduating. And because she's not alone, it won't feel so scary not to know.

Okay, but honestly, I’m gonna derail here because although Mikan certainly isn’t thinking this, I am. Mikan and Natsume may be opposites in many ways, but they have more similarities than differences. All of the people around them have potential and clear futures, but they’re the two kids left in the lurch, though for different reasons. Natsume can’t imagine his future because he’s sure he doesn’t have much time left; Mikan can’t imagine her future because it’s a daunting prospect. But they’re both in the same boat of having nothing but blank pages ahead. I don’t only ship NatsuMikan because they’re marked by the academy and are partners, or because of the “fated pair” thing. It’s not all about Natsume’s ceaseless devotion. They have much in common, and that will end up being a driving force for Mikan’s journey falling in love with him. No, they don’t have a heart-to-heart here where they bond over being lost and future-less losers. But they still are, together and alike in this way. God, I love them.

Anyway, Mikan feels hopeless. They’re just kids but Alices are mature. They know everything about life, it seems, their futures paved out for them already. And Sumire points out that Ruka is a triple star too, just like Hotaru and Yuu, and Mikan is impressed once again. The people around her are so amazing, with so many talents and abilities, and apparently Ruka is too, just like her besties. (She is, in comparison, useless and unimpressive.)

But Ruka dismisses the accomplishment, saying that it had nothing to do with his actual ability, like it was for the other triples in their class. But before Ruka can say more, Natsume shows up again, interrupting rudely to complain about being hungry.

This panel does a great job of establishing that Mikan is actually the weird one for finding this pie entrancing. Not only Natsume and Ruka but the student in the corner are very put off by Anna's bizarre creations. No, it doesn't look edible.

So they move on to the cafe where Anna is working with her senpai Miruku. Anna’s alice is not simply that she can cook or bake, but that whatever she cooks or bakes ends up being a little weird. Mikan, an excitable girl, loves that she’s about to eat something crazy, but the boys are less enthused. Anna brings over a delicious-looking pie unlike anything Mikan has ever seen and she gushes over the colors and textures. Mikan is ready to dig in, until Natsume dumps the pot of tea over the whole table.

Natsume is an insufferable menace. All he ever does is ruin things, wherever he goes.

Mikan is on her feet, already scolding him. When he bluntly states that the pie was terrible, he seems uninterested in the fact that he says it in front of Anna. Mikan demands he apologize to Anna, but he just walks away. Mikan watches him leave as she trembles with rage. This is a whole new low for him. He’s not just a jerk; he’s sadistic, somehow finding pleasure in hurting other people for no reason at all. Good for Anna that Miruku shows up to comfort her. Except that Miruku notices that the flour must have expired because there’s a rotten scoundrel in the filling.

Miruku suggests that Natsume dumped the tea over the pie for this very reason, to keep them from eating the pie themselves.

Mikan and Ruka leave but Mikan is unsatisfied by that explanation. There must have been some other, normal way to keep them from eating the pie. But Ruka--the irritating Natsume apologist--pipes up that Natsume did that so they wouldn’t eat the pie. If Natsume had said something around all those customers, it would have reflected poorly on Anna and she could’ve ended up in trouble. Natsume did what he could to avoid that outcome.

You can't cancel Natsume without cancelling Ruka too. When are Natsume haters going to finally understand that Ruka is his bigGEST defender?

But that sounds like blatant apologism, so Mikan is skeptical, wondering if Natsume would really think that much about other people. After all, what Mikan knows about Natsume is that he may have a sad life, but he’s still a jerk in almost every way. He’s given her very few reasons to believe that other people’s feelings are something he ever considers, let alone prioritizes in such a selfless way. We might know from his POV that even his instances of cruelty are often inspired by selflessness, but from Mikan’s eyes, nothing about his actions suggests a martyr complex or a compassionate person.

But Ruka insists that she’s wrong, that Natsume is actually kind. He’s mysterious, and has done many morally dubious things, but at the end of the day, he would do anything for his friends, and will always quietly help somebody, even if it means he gets hurt.

Natsume is a mystery. He is a confusing mess, a puzzle with a million pieces and half of them are hidden. Nobody seems to be able to shed some insight into what makes him tick. But there is one person who knows him better than anybody: Ruka. And Ruka is telling her now that there’s more to Natsume than what she’s seen so far.

And when she thinks back on what happened with Reo, she understands where he’s coming from too. Natsume was willing to take on Reo’s attention in order to distract him from singling out Mikan or Sumire. He was a hair’s breadth away from blowing himself up to help them get away. So she is starting to see what Ruka is talking about. This conversation is important, not just because it helps us as readers understand Natsume better, but because it helps Mikan get him better. Because of this chat, she will keep Ruka’s words in mind when she evaluates Natsume’s behavior in the future, looking deeper at his actions instead of just assuming the worst, which is what he wants.

The parallels exist but don't fall for the easy propaganda that Mikan and Ruka or Natsume and Hotaru are the same. It makes life (and relationships) super boring.

Mikan still calls Ruka out for his apologist behavior, for defending Natsume so desperately, which means he must love him a lot. Mikan connects Natsume with Hotaru, deducing that they have a lot in common. Hotaru is also cold on the surface, but kind when it matters. Especially after the events of the first chapter, Mikan has appreciated the more subtle parts of Hotaru’s personality. And she shows that off now, smiling and boasting her love. In that way, she and Ruka are similar too, being so devoted to their best friends.

Ruka seems touched, so he finally opens up about what she had asked before, about his dream, which is to be a vet and live with Natsume, somewhere surrounded by animals but not by people, where they can live in peace unbothered. A misanthropic paradise.

Mikan beams. She’s still not happy about her lack of goals, but she can’t be dismayed by his dream because she can see it took him courage to open up about it. So she doesn’t make it about herself. Instead, she smiles and promises him that his dream will come true. Now that she’s calmed down and is in better spirits, and understands her class nemesis a little better, she’s ready to go find Natsume.

I don't like the whole "Mikan has a favorite person" nonsense because real people are capable are loving a lot of people. I don't ship Mikan and Ruka romantically but I will fight you to the death over the fact that she loves him so much, platonically.

Her friendship with Ruka is deeply important on several counts. On a NatsuMikan level, Ruka is the only person who is able to divulge information about Natsume, since the boy himself isn’t about to open up any time soon. Ruka is desperate to defend and protect Natsume, even just in regards to his reputation. More often than not, the important details that Mikan learns about Natsume she learns through Ruka making the choice to share them with her.

But their relationship is deeper than that too. They’re united through their devotion to their friends and through their ability to see deeper into people’s personalities, able to analyze how their loved ones behave to see their motives and intentions, even if they try to hide them. Mikan and Ruka understand each other in a lot of key ways, and this is just the start of a friendship where they will help each other be stronger.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mikan realizes that she hasn’t visited Yuu yet! She manipulates Ruka into letting Natsume take them to the latent area. Again, she gets worked up about the amazing things surrounding her, and again is intimidated into silence by Natsume the jerk before she can run off to random attractions. So they head straight for the haunted mansion.

Reread GA and pay excruciating attention to small things because this is one of my favorite two panels in the whole arc. NatsuMikan are so similar! They get distracted by the same nonsense and have the same reaction! Cute Ruka is focused on his little map, but Natsume and Mikan's attention is easily diverted by Koko's attraction. It's the little things, you know?

Yuu lets them in ahead of the line. Mikan has a complicated relationship with ghosts, so she puts on airs--as she is prone to do--that she is totally fine. She instantly drops those airs when the doors slam. Suddenly it’s all too scary and the boys are leaving her behind, which is unacceptable. She latches onto Ruka--the nicer of the two. After all, Natsume is being very mean about her fear. He for sure wouldn’t let her cling to him. And she’s just had a nice, heartfelt chat with Ruka. He feels safer.

They’re finally chased by a crawling hag and all three of them book it through the maze, and cruel fate sees to it that Yuu passes out and breaks the electricity, leaving Natsume and Mikan stuck in a room, with Ruka chasing after his rabbit.

Mikan is calling for help, but Natsume tells her it’s no use. So they should climb the wall next! But his ankle is twisted. Dang. Well, he could at least make a fire so it’s not so dark--but of course he sets an evil, scary fire. There really is no winning with this guy.

Though Mikan feels guilty because she’s the reason his ankle is twisted, she still gets annoyed when he suggests breaking down the wall in order to escape. That’s also unacceptable, because the latent students worked hard on their attraction and it would be cruel to break it. Natsume’s not really coming off as nice right now, even though Ruka insisted he was capable of it.

But he gives in. Which means they have to sit there. In the dark. Trapped alone. With the ghosts.

Natsume "hugged" Mikan at the SA event. Mikan "hugs" Natsume at the haunted house. It's the little things. uwu

Mikan is very scared of every noise, so she clings to Natsume, the only person around to cling to. And that’s unfortunate because he is using her fear for his own entertainment. He refuses to hold her hand or comfort her and instead lies about seeing the faces on the wall move. She scolds him for being a jerk, which reminds her that he’s always a jerk, except that Ruka told her he’s not always a jerk.

So Mikan apologizes to him about Anna, because she had misunderstood his intentions. But Natsume doesn’t care and doesn’t even seem to know what she’s talking about, which hints that maybe Ruka is insane for being friends with this person.

The text circled says, "Completely forgot about being scared." This chapter introduces two aspects of Mikan's feelings about Natsume: he makes her self-conscious, but he also helps her completely forget about her problems. This is consistent.

Mikan muses on her current unpleasant situation. Natsume is difficult to deal with and to talk to. He isn’t chatty. He isn’t nice. He ignores her most of the time and when he’s not ignoring her, he’s making fun of her. This is the first time she’s alone with him that isn’t a life-or-death situation, and it’s weird. She states clearly--in her mind--that she doesn’t hate Natsume anymore, but that she still doesn’t know how to talk to him, and that she feels self-conscious around him.

Natsume is in fact one of the few people who makes Mikan feel self-conscious. She’s usually confident and bold, but with him, she gets insecure. I’ll talk more about this insecurity and expand on it later on, but it’s not a typical experience for her (with other people, that is), which is why it stands out. He’s different from other people. She’s stuck between wanting to be friends with him and understanding what Ruka sees in him and the facts that he’s clearly presenting her with. She doesn’t know what to think or how to act around him, so it makes her nervous. For now, it’s certainly his fault. Though she has tough skin and fights back just as hard whenever he insults her, there’s also the question of small talk. How is she supposed to talk if he just shoots down every conversation?

Does Natsume even know how to have fun? Because, now that she thinks of it, Natsume doesn’t ever look like he’s having fun. He never laughs or even smiles. She realizes she’d never actually asked him about those rumors she’d heard. People are always talking about him, but she’s never heard anything directly from the horse’s mouth.

While Mikan is sitting here, quietly, she’s figuring things out about him for herself and by herself. He’s not sharing anything. But she’s intuitive and emotionally intelligent enough to come to conclusions on her own. She figures that he’s probably not having fun because his mind is in a different place than the rest of them.

AND OH MY GOD GUYS DYGFHDSFGDHSF

Like I beat to death in my other essay, Natsume is a mystery to most people. He’s not close to people, but he’s surrounded by admirers and fans. Besides Ruka, nobody seems to get that Natsume’s demeanor is a mask. He’s not snarky and cold because he wants to be. And Mikan can see that. She’s been able to see it since the culture fest was first announced, that he’s lying when he says the festival is lame and pathetic. The festival is awesome, actually, and Natsume must agree, because who wouldn’t? But Natsume can’t participate the way the others can. And despite all the fun and excitement of the festival, he’s still not smiling. There must be something else going on, something getting in the way. She figures it out--that he’s lonely and miserable, trapped in turmoil. And she wants to help him, to make him happy for once. If his life is difficult, then he needs something to make him smile.

How else does one combat this sort of problem than with jokes?

Mikan wants to mold her relationship with Natsume into something she's more comfortable with, but eventually the nature of their relationship will develop into something that she gets comfortable with and that will even bring her comfort.

But he doesn’t laugh. Figures that the one second Mikan actually talks to him, he ruins things again. Now he’s a jerk again and they bicker until he kicks up her skirt.

By the time they’re finally rescued, Mikan is attacking Natsume to punish him for what he did to her. The people who have found them are all shocked at what they see, but it takes Mikan a moment to register what exactly they think they saw. She quickly denies that they were doing anything other than fighting, but then stupid Natsume has to open his mouth again, accusing her of jumping him.

Natsume smiles a little, amused by their bickering, but Mikan is no longer interested in making him laugh.

This chapter is huge for Mikan’s musings on Natsume’s character. In the anime, Natsume demonstrates some of the selfless behavior Ruka told her about earlier. She has evidence now and can see that Ruka was right. However, in the manga, Natsume did not shield her with his body. He did not hide his twisted ankle. No, he was open about his injury and did nothing noble. He was just stuck there with her. Mikan doesn’t end the chapter having figured anything out for sure about Natsume. The thing is: Natsume is an enigma to her. He is simply incomprehensible and nothing he does ever makes any sense.

The anime had less time to work out the characters and relationships. Natsume had to be established as selfless and kind both to the audience and to Mikan in a timely manner, which is why he's such a hero in this episode. But here, in the manga, Mikan looks really hard at his behavior because she wants to see what Ruka keeps assuring her is there. But there really isn't any outstanding evidence because Natsume doesn't want her to see it. If there was some beautiful, noble action here, then Mikan would be justified in pursuing this friendship and in getting to know him better. He'd be giving her a reason to like him. Manga!Natsume does not do this. Like I said in the first part of this Mikan essay, she falls in love with him against his will and despite his every flaw. Natsume was, for the most part, insufferable today. She will continue hanging out with him because she has to, because she can't help but feel like he's hiding something.

I just think they're neat.

But she wants to figure him out. And she’s working very hard at it, which is admirable, because he hasn’t really given her a reason to. Ruka told her that there’s kindness there, hidden under a veneer of cruelty. She is sure now that if she looks closer, eventually she will see it too. NatsuMikan wouldn’t work if she wasn’t willing to try, because he has already given up on his end.

And one more thing, we see a glimpse of one of my favorite aspects of NatsuMikan, and that’s Natsume’s tendency to distract Mikan from her problems. To be fair, he’s not really doing that here on purpose. But Mikan is so preoccupied with thinking about Natsume that she forgot entirely about being scared. By the time she’s finally rescued, she hasn’t been scared for a while. I’ll discuss this in more depth later, but for now I’ll reiterate that Natsume and Mikan have way more similarities than differences.

Chapter Twenty-Two

This chapter isn’t really about Mikan at all. I’ll discuss what I can, but it will be pretty limited. Y’all might know that I’m a big fan of Hotaru and Subaru’s sibling bond, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the manga. But this is a Mikan essay, specifically regarding NatsuMikan. I’ll analyze the parts that are about Mikan, but I’ll be brief. Know that this is killing me.

Mikan has her afternoon off and is excited to spend it with her besties and away from Natsume (on Mikan’s end, we haven’t fully vacated the enemies stage of enemies to lovers). But Hotaru is strangely distant for most of their time together. Mikan takes it personally. She’s been looking forward to this part of her day, so how come Hotaru isn’t having as much fun as she is? But Hotaru is distracted by something else.

The scans situation here is tragic. What matters is that Mikan starts the chapter by making Hotaru's distraction about her.

Their little outing is interrupted by an accident at an attraction. They watch the chaos as one of the Principal students--Subaru--arrives to use his healing and pain alices. Mikan is, as always, impressed by this mysterious person, but not nearly as much as Hotaru, who walks right up to him. She is not intimidated. She does not back down when his assistant tells her to. She just stares at him and he stares back.

And Mikan realizes that Hotaru has been keeping a secret from her: Subaru is her older brother. And she never thought to mention it? Mikan is supposed to be Hotaru’s best friend, but there’s parts of her that remain a stubborn mystery. To make matters worse, the Imai siblings don’t even act like siblings. They are cold and detached. They talk more like they’re at a business meeting than that they’re meeting their family member for the first time.

Mikan continues to make Hotaru's issue about her. And I continue to cry about the scans.

When the encounter ends, Mikan doesn’t complain about Hotaru not telling her. So far, she's been very betrayed that Hotaru would, first, be distracted for the short time they actually spend together during the festival, and second, that she would keep such a huge secret from her. She could very easily start complaining and whining. But that’s not important, because Hotaru is clearly upset. She is saddened by the fate of her brother, who has spent so much of his life in this institution that he’s forgotten his humanity. She wonders if she will become like that and Mikan quickly denies it. Hotaru is different! Just like Ruka is desperate to defend Natsume against anybody who says a bad word against him, Mikan will defend Hotaru, especially when the person underestimating her is Hotaru herself. How could Mikan continue to make this about herself when someone is going through something so hard?

The chapter ends happily, with Hotaru realizing she can’t lose her humanity when she has Yuu and especially Mikan by her side.

Mikan wants to comfort Hotaru. She rarely sees Hotaru upset or unhappy. She can figure out for herself that Hotaru didn’t tell her about her brother because of those insecurities she was keeping to herself. She knows that what Hotaru needs now is comfort and she’s willing to give it. Even though she’d initially been hurt that Hotaru would hide something from her, she’s able not just to set the matter aside for later, but to completely dismiss it. She understands, so it doesn’t hurt anymore. What hurts now is that Hotaru is hurt. She’s emotionally intelligent enough to know that this moment isn’t about her, and she shouldn’t try to make it about her. It’s about Hotaru.

Maybe the reason why Mikan and Hotaru feels a little lackluster to me is because people never mention Yuu with them. I LOVE this trio to death but they get so little love as a group! But they all love each other... that keeps me going.

Mikan is such a sweet friend. I love her.

Conclusion

I'd add one more chapter but the next two chapters are a unit so... I'll just have to save that for tomorrow.

"Tomorrow?" you may ask. "But, Anya, you've been so flakkyyy." Yes, I have been. And that's because Mikan's essays are annoying to format. There's no (realistic) limit to how many images I can include in any post anymore which means that I'm including way more. They take me much longer than Natsume's did. And so I decided to change my posting schedule! I need to have a schedule because if I don't, I'll simply never post and that would be terrible. So instead of posting on weekdays, I'll post on the three day weekend, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. That way I have more time to write Mikan's essays (which are harder than Natsume's) as well as more time to format the longer posts.

Also it'll give you guys more time to read these monstrosities. I know they're long and tedious. I'm sorry.

Anyway, today we discussed the second part of the tri-part culture fest. There's one more left, which I will post tomorrow. We can look forward to a shocking development in Mikan's feelings in the next and final part of the culture fest. Very exciting! So stay tuned!

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mxtcha-tea · 1 year

Text

Where I've been and where I am now

Alright, please read the pinned post first. That's more important than this.

WARNING; IMPLICATIONS OF SUICIDE

Anyways, hi

Oh gosh, it's been such a long time since I've step foot in here. It's unbelievable that this was here since 2021. But anyway,,,

Hi, I go by citrus now! Not an exciting or groundbreaking name. I decided to change my name, yet again, and just went with citrus. I think its sounds nice? Idk

Alright, back to what I wanted to talk now. So, after this post I sorta got back to reality?? I mean, since I spend most of my time in tumblr back in uh, 2020 to 2021, it kinda became a little place for me to stay in the internet.

But after my leave, I didn't have anything else to hold onto other than trying to keep my grades alive because believe it or not, my grades plummeted after that!! How sweet!!

While the internet has been one of my worst addiction, it was still a place that I'm (fairly) comfortable to be in since I could talk about my interests whenever I want(believe it or not, I have no one to talk to at school, wow, shocker)

And that's where the storm started, I was thinking of not-so-friendly thoughts and attempted, yknow, forever sleeping. I was lost and I was too scared to tell anyone about it.

It went from me thinking of that, and then denying and then telling myself that I only think that way to make myself be pitied and then forget about it and the cycle continues.

That's until around, maybe August 2022, I started to think straight again and tried (emphasis on tried) to make myself better again. There's time it works and didn't but slowly as October came in, I started to feel better.

I still think about forever sleeping but very rarely. And now that my mind is (slightly more) okay now, I wanted to get back here and apologize for my past behavior and for leaving everyone in the dark.

Alright enough about the depressing stuff, I wanna talk about how I am now. Well, I'm good now! Maybe still a little lazy like I was before but nonetheless, I am a-okay

I managed to socialize a bit at school and got myself a friend that I'm more close to than others (technically best friends, but they still don't know a lot about me like how I don't know a lot about them, so there's still a little gap there)

(And if anyone cared enough to know) my main interest as of now is Twisted Wonderland. After the English translation was announced, I went ham and eating up content about twst like it was my last meal.

Anyways, here are more infos that are more than less interesting;

I got myself in reading more literature, whether it's in English or malay tbh

I also got interested in coding and believe it or not, I'm kinda trying to make a game using renpy

I still write and draw thankfully

....i got myself some cat headphones

I have an exam later in uh, I think January so I've been trying to get myself motivated to at least study

And that's about it. And to conclude it all with a question, actually 2 questions

What are you gonna do with this account now?

Well unlike my old account that I deactivated, I'll keep this one up for obvious reasons

Do you have another account on tumblr? (and maybe accounts on other platforms?)

I do have set a new account on tumblr for my twisted wonderland interest. But i'm still trying to fix the theme and clearing my drafts over there so I won't tell the @ for now

And yeah, I do have other accounts on other platforms (but that's a story for another time)

Thank you for reading this all the way through and have a nice day!

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pangolinheart · 11 months

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(how far did you have to dig to find that post wow lol)

Anyway Lahabrea

[[Actually it wasn't that hard to find! My obsessive tagging system isn't only for forcing my followers to look at huge blocks of text they don't care abou - it's also so I can find posts when I want to go back to them without going through hundreds of pages of reblogs!

Anyway, when I saw this ask I thought this was going to be the hardest pairing to write for... but it was actually one of the easiest. At first I thought the only way to make something work was to do something Hephaistos/Azem, but I still haven't played Endwalker so I wasn't confident in my ability to write for that time period, and based on ambient spoilers it seems like Hephaistos was pretty preoccupied with his wife and child. Then I realized I didn't actually know what Lahabrea really looked like and, well...

I'm not super happy with the way this turned out, but I'm too lazy to edit it again so it's good enough.]]

Send me a character and I'll describe a ship with them and my OC.

Cid | M'zhet | Lahabrea

TW: Dubious consent (implied). Nothing graphic or anything, it's just, um, sketchy as hell.

What are you drinking?” He leaned over the bar, putting his weight on his elbows. He didn’t sit down – not yet. He waited for an invitation.

The miqo’te perched on the next barstool looked him up and down appraisingly. She didn’t even bother to hide it. Not in the mood to play coy tonight, it seemed. Maybe she had had a rough day.

He had waited for her to notice him from across the room. And notice she did. Their eyes met and he fancied he could almost hear her thinking to herself: He’ll do.

“That depends,” She almost purred, “What are you buying?”

She hadn’t asked him to sit down, but she might as well have. He slid onto the plush velvet seat. This was a nicer place than usual, he noted. A classy little place where respectable people came to get less-than-respectably drunk. Was she celebrating something? Or did she just want a change of scenery? Who could say? He beckoned the bartender over. Wine seemed like it would suit the mood. He ordered something red and expensive – it wasn’t as if money meant much to him, anyway.

He was an elezen tonight – dark hair, dark skin, dark eyes. He usually preferred hyur, but this body had been available and seemed like something she might like. Then again, her tastes were wide and varied.

Why was he doing this again?

It was no use asking himself the question. He didn’t have any new answers. He told himself that keeping tabs on this shard’s Warrior of Light was his business, but even he didn’t believe that. This could hardly be called business.

Maybe it was because she made him feel the echo of something he hadn’t felt in a long time: interest. How long had it been since he was really interested in something? Detachment had been second nature to him for so long that he had almost forgotten what it felt like.

And she was interesting for a mortal, at least in some ways. In others she was almost offensively average. And yet there were times she almost seemed… familiar, somehow. Perhaps it was because she was a Warrior of Light. He’d seen plenty of Warriors on plenty of shards; he could hardly be blamed if they all started to blend together. If nothing else, though, she was interesting because of how interested Hydaelyn seemed to be in her. She had expended quite a lot of power to protect her from the might of the Ultima Weapon, after all. With her strength already waning, he couldn’t help but wonder why she had risked exhausting what little of her power remained on this Warrior of Light.

The bartender returned with two glasses of wine, and he offered one to her. She accepted it with thanks and took a sip, though her gaze never left his. His own traced along the features of her face with which he had become so well-acquainted – her dark eyelashes over her mismatched eyes, the swoop of her bangs across her forehead, the gentle curve of her lips. He smiled, and she smiled back.

The first time had been an accident, of course. Entirely improvised. It had been shortly after he had possessed one of her colleagues, Thancred, but before he had been able to manufacture a pretense for the man’s absence. He had, of course, watched his vessel closely enough to confidently impersonate him, at least for a short time. He had planned to slowly withdraw from the Scions, until his presence would no longer be missed. A contingency he had not prepared, however, for was Thancred being seized by the Warrior of Light herself and all-but dragged to a dive bar outside of Ul’dah. He had been caught off guard by this turn of events and he was left with no choice but to humor her, drinking and laughing (or at least pretending to) until the early hours of the morning. Fortunately, he doubted she would be able to remember the night clearly enough to recall if he had said or done anything out of character. His grand plan had also failed to account for being pulled into her sleeping chambers upon their return to the Waking Sands, and into bed with her. He had no way of knowing if this behavior was typical and expected or not. He had never seen it happen before, but that didn’t necessarily mean it hadn’t. He was a busy man, after all. So, he had decided in the moment to just… play along.

It had certainly been a novel experience.

“So,” He said in the elezen’s low, smooth voice. “Are you here waiting for a friend?”

She twirled the stem of her wineglass between her fingers. Always so fidgety. “More like looking for one.”

“Well,” He set his own wine glass back on the bar. “I’d be happy to keep you company while you look.”

The second time had been… less excusable.

After the debacle that was Ultima – curse Hydaelyn for her interference! – he had needed time to formulate a new plan. And while he devised his next strategy, he had had little else to do but keep tabs on the Warrior of Light and her companions.

It was during this time that he had begun to recognize a pattern to her behavior. On a semi-regular basis, usually when she had quarreled with a compatriot or was otherwise upset about something or other, she would seek out an establishment that sold alcohol and spend several hours there, eventually leaving with someone else. A different person each time.

Having been expelled from the body of Thancred, he had been forced to seek out a new host, presumably yet unknown to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and in his idleness he had begun to wonder…

Would she even notice?

She would not, it turned out. At least, she hadn’t yet. And that had been half a dozen times ago, give or take. It had become a fun little game to amuse himself with while he waited for wheels to turn. No round was ever quite the same, and he never used the same guise twice. He tried to vary his selections; different appearances, different origins, different genders. Recently he’d begun branching out into different races, as well (though they might as well all be the same to him). The other unsundered had always nagged him about the frequency with which he discarded his vessels, to which he usually responded that it was hardly his fault these fragments were so breakable and so boring. Not everyone’s scheme could include the industrialized production of clones like Emet-Selch’s did. In the event he hadn’t assumed a new vessel since the last time, though, projecting a different appearance was a small feat for an Ancient of Lahabrea’s caliber.

He tried a different tact in each iteration, partly to avoid arousing her suspicion and partly because it made the game more interesting. He wasn’t always successful – sometimes she was only in the mood for drinking, other times there was another patron than interested her more than he did, which he found annoying. Once he had even said something that offended her for some reason. He couldn’t remember what it was. Did it really matter?

She was watching him thoughtfully over the lip of her wineglass. She had half-emptied the glass already. He wondered if that was all it would take tonight. But when she opened her mouth, it wasn’t to invite him somewhere more private.

“Have we met before? You seem familiar for some reason.”

The question surprised him, but he didn’t lose his cool, didn’t miss a beat.

“I shouldn’t think so. You don’t seem like the sort one would have an easy time forgetting,”

Her grin took on a sly tilt. “Careful. With talk like that one might start to think you’re getting me drunk with ulterior motives,”

Internally, he sighed with relief, though he didn’t let it touch his face. Instead, he gave her a coy smile and picked up his wineglass for another sip. “Perish the thought! I would hate for you to think me so ungentlemanly,”

He probably should have stopped after one of her cohorts killed Nabriales. It was no small feat to kill an Ascian, even a sundered soul like his. In fact, he hadn’t even thought the mortals capable of it. Somehow, though, that only made things more interesting. It added the tiniest hint of danger to his little game, and he found he enjoyed it all the more. He had little real cause to worry, of course. Nabriales had been the architect of his own demise.

Even so, after the last round he had sworn to himself he wouldn’t do it again.

And had known with unshakeable certainty that he would.

She set her now empty wineglass on the bar. She had shifted to face him more fully, and he might have missed the way she leaned ever so slightly inward had he not been looking for it.

“Would you like another glass?”

She considered it for a moment, or at least pretended to. “Please.”

“Of course,” He ordered another glass and waited until the barkeep’s errand had taken him safely out of earshot.

“You know,” he said, surveying her as she had him earlier. “I don’t believe I’ve given you my name.”

Her lips quirked in a way that he found for some reason endearing. “I don’t believe I’ve asked you for it,”

He raised his eyebrows in amusement and opened his mouth to respond with some quip or other when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

He turned in his seat, a bit irritated by the interruption, to see a young Midlander with brooding grey eyes. “May I have a word?”

He had never seen the man before, but he would recognize his brother anywhere.

Oh dear.

How was he going to explain this little caper? He wondered. His previous justifications had barely convinced him, so they certainly wouldn’t convince the Emissary.

Ah, well. He was sure he would think of something.

He was, after all, Lahabrea: Speaker of the Convocation.

Okay in all seriousness this is definitely the most off-the-wall ship I was sent this round. I don't think it would happen, and if it did it would be a total shit-show. It's not necessarily because Lahabrea's a villain - there are of compelling villains ships out there. It's because he's both a villain and not Rhiki's type. He's braggadocios, megalomaniacal, and patronizing (and if there's one connecting thread between all of my characters it's that none of them would up with being condescended to by A Man.) And, for what it's worth, there's not really anything for Lahabrea to like about Rhiki. As an Ascian he's never portrayed as having any interest in or sympathy for mortals. The most any hyur, miqo'te, elezen, etc. could ever aspire to be to Lahabrea is "useful." To be honest, he doesn't really even seem to have any affection for his fellow ascians, though I'm aware there's something of a canonical reason for that. ARR really struggled with creating compelling antagonists, so Lahabrea (and most of the other villains) are painted as just... cartoonishly evil. I'm sure that he's given a lot more pathos in the Pandaemonium raid series, but I haven't played it yet so I can't speak to how well the original Lahabrea would have gotten along with Rhiki/Rhiki's Azem. Really, if you cut out all of the enw backstory, the above is really the only angle I could really see having any legs (as slimy and terrible as those legs are.) In realizing that I didn't know what Lahabrea actually looked like, I also realized that Rhiki has no idea what the real Lahabrea looks like. When I went over all of the times the WoL actually encounters Lahabrea, it dawned on me that the only time Rhiki sees him without his mask... he's Thancred, which is where the idea came from. (TBF to both of them I don't think ARR Rhiki would have had sex with Thancred no matter how shitfaced she was lol. This is just for the sake of exploring the possibilities.) Whether or not Rhiki actually found out about Lahabrea's body-hopping shenanigans is up for debate. I don't necessarily see how she would unless he or Elidibus told her. Lahabrea doesn't seem like he would have any motivation or opportunity to tell her. Elidibus might, if only to make it harder for Lahabrea to do anything stupid that might jeopardize their mission in the future. Obviously, Rhiki would not be pleased to learn this. I don't think any relationship the two of them could have could possibly change the trajectory of the story. The relationship isn't necessarily... romantic in nature. And I doubt there's anything about Rhiki that would make Lahabrea fall so head over heels for her that he would abandon his plans to resurrect Zodiark, which inevitably involves her death. Rhiki has no feelings for Lahabrea (except maybe anger, if she ever found out) but even if she did, she doesn't really have the opportunity to spare his life, since it's Thordan VII that ultimately kills him. BUT this was still a very fun thought experiment! I still apologize for everything that's happened above this point in the post, though. ^^;

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv fic #lahabrea #lahabrea x wol #tw: dubious consent (implied)#asks and answers #ask games #rhiki tag #u know i totally forgot how Lahabrea actually died i had no recollection of it #anyway i hope everyone either enjoyed this or hated it vehemently #sorry thancred #also sorry everyone else who read this #auggie writes

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