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aonungslvr · 1 month

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he’s…what? II

pairing ; jealous! ao'nung x f!sully! reader

taggings ; 🪽⭐️

summary; you bring ao'nung back to the forest you grew up in, but he's not exactly getting the hang of things.

notes; this was a request but i lost it.. (you know who you are) i literally kicked my feet and giggled when i saw it. in response, of course you can have a part two! hope this is up to par with what you wanted <3

3k words - part one

after you had finally been reunited with your best friend of many years, you two spent a lot of time together. much to ao‘nungs dismay.

you and txäol had daily ikran rides, went hunting, attended clan gatherings, and explored the forest together. you two had done these things for countless years when you had been younger. however, a more than jealous metkayina had began tagging along from afar.

the point that txäol wasn’t interested in you had finally gotten across his mind, but he still didn’t like the fact you had spent all of your time with this boy when you could be hanging out with him.

he was new to the forest and had no clue what he was doing. he tripped over everything, ran from everything, and got mad at everything. all he wanted was his sweet mate to show him around and spend time with him. instead of him, you spent time with your best friend.

ao’nung understood why you were spending time with him, he had been there for you way longer than teal na’vi himself had. but that didn’t mean it made him any less upset.

he would randomly appear at your side, tugging on your arm or tail to ask you to go do something with him instead. you tried to dismiss him and get him to hang out with txäol but he always shut down the idea. that was until you had had enough of him messing around.

you had brought the metkayina and omatikaya boys together in a small area within the forest and began ordering them around.

“i don’t want to hear from either of you until you get it together, get along, and become friends someway, anyway!”

txäol didn’t mind getting to know your mate, in fact he wanted to! but to ao’nung, this was a punch in the gut. get along? with your boy best friend you spend every second with? he’d rather fend off an akula by himself.

for you, he stayed. he stayed standing in the same space after you left, not attempting to make any moves towards talking with txäol. eventually, he had thought of one thing he’d like to say.

“you need to-“

“if you ever raise a finger towards her or even speak to loud, so help me eywa, i will skin you like the fish you are.”

wow.

ao’nung backed up after that.

txäol was dead serious.

they didn’t end up bonding that day.

. . .

“(y/n) why don’t you come back with me to the reef! there’s too many trees here- it’s so hot! and those viperwolf things are terrifying! come on- you like the ocean!”

clearly, your mate wasn’t adapting like you had. it finally clicked in your brain that you and your family had been mentored by the natives of the reef, ao’nung was the only metkayina here and you weren’t teaching him anything.

that had to change.

you started by simply introducing the sea na’vi to the forest. you would tell ao’nung about different plants and animals that surrounded your childhood home and help him become more accustomed to them.

it started by simply showing him random vegetation such as loreyu, and telling him he needed to feel the forest inside of him just as he felt the ocean. eventually you moved forward, introducing him to a kxaylkxa. they were pretty docile animals and your mate didn’t seem to mind them, aside from the comments about how stupid they looked.

“this is seriously an animal-? this thing isn’t just fake-?” ao’nung commented as he tapped the animals head.

“be nice! she is beautiful, you are just mean.”

“come on (y/n) where are the cool animals-! these things just walk around all day, where’s the interesting th- HOLY SHIT.”

your mother was once named palulukan makto, given she rode a palulukan during one of the earlier battles against humans, before you were born. unfortunately, this creature died, but she left behind a baby of her own, who had now grown to adulthood with a keen liking to the sully’s.

“oh him-? he’s just a big baby.” you replied as you gave the palulukan a few pats to the head.

your mate wasn’t moving. either he was too scared to move and startle the, what he would call, beast, or he physically could not.

eventually, the palulukan went on his way, leaving two na’vi behind, one absolutely terrified and one rethinking her choice of bringing her scaredy cat mate home with her.

“(y/n)- i’m seriously starting to think the forest just isn’t for me. eywa knows i was meant to be in the sea for as long as i live.”

“oh come on- don’t talk like that! you’ll get used to it!”

“i seriously doubt it?? i mean- like look at these! stupid floaty things!” he said as he swatted away some sort of white jellyfish looking things.

“wel- ao’nung! no, no, no, kehe! stop that!”

you grabbed his hands and held them down at his sides, preventing him from hitting anymore as you admired the scene you saw before you.

“okay what’s ha-“

“atokirina!”

you watched as the seeds slowly surrounded ao’nung even though he looked like he was one touch away from throwing a fit. you recalled this scene from somewhere in your memories.

your mother told stories, stories of her and your father. when your dad had arrived from the sky people he was about to be killed by your mother before he was surrounded in atokirina, a sign from eywa.

“eywa speaks!” you yipped.

after getting your mate used to the forest and all it has to offer, it was time you started actually training him. he had been around for a few weeks and still couldn’t climb a tree.

given his body physically isn’t built to climb, you took it easy on him for a while, but if you could learn how to swim, he could learn how to climb.

it took hours out of your days but you still helped him learn. ewya knows no one else would’ve done it. besides, you did love him after all.

you had climbed up a pretty easy to climb tree and got to the midpoint within a few seconds before you paused and looked down, waiting for ao’nung to follow.

“come on! just put your feet on a branch and go up!”

“what..”

you weren’t the best teacher. it seemed like such common sense to you, you couldn’t fathom that a na’vi wouldn’t actually be able to climb. you hopped down from your spot perched on a branch and placed your hands on your mate to guide him along.

“like this- you place your first foot here, the the second higher.”

navi were only blue right? yeah well this one was red.

after doing your best to adapt him to climbing (he climbed up and down a tree in only 2 hours 26 minutes), you switched gears to hunting!

you stood behind ao’nung adjusting his arms ever so carefully as he held a bow and arrow in his four fingered hands.

“close your left eye, focus on your target.”

after you were happy with the position of his hands and arms you let go and instructed him to release. it wasn’t even a full second after he fired that you yipped and ducked while pulling the metkayina down with you as the arrow ricocheted the target and came launching back at you two.

“oops..”

so maybe hunting wasn’t his strong suit, next down on the list was bonding with a pa’li. they weren’t hostile animals and should be pretty easy to make tsaheylu with! ao’nung had bonded with an ilu so what was really the difference?

“ok, now gently mount him. slowly.”

you assisted him a tad and got him on the back of the horse-like animal, before instructing him on how to make tsaheylu without getting thrown off like your father first had when he learned your people’s way.

“when you bond, hold on to his neck tightly, but don’t choke him. he’ll want to run and you must stay on his back. just like an ilu!”

the clarification of it being as easy as ilu taming gave ao‘nung little comfort. the metkayina tame their companions as babies, and the bonds aren’t as strict as forest animals.

“just like an ilu..yeah..”

you held the pa’lis kuru steady as ao’nung brought his own down and the nerves intertwined. the animals pupils dilated and he quickly took off, pushing you behind. you tripped on a tree root sticking out but you were okay.

your mate, only seeing you fall to the ground after the animal he was riding kicked into you, was set off and his focus was instantly switched from the pa’li to you. he turned his body around to look at you and in turn fell off the back of his current lesson.

“(y/n)!”

“ao’nung you skxwang! you had it-!”

he got up and jogged to your side, helping you up as his pa’li ran around in circles before coming back and huffing.

“was worried about you- can you blame me?”

you slapped the back of his neck and yipped for the animal to calm down.

“i was fine. it’s just a little dirt. let’s try that again, yeah?”

after a few times (a lot of times) trying to keep ao’nung from falling off the pa’li he was finally able to ride the horse around in a small part of the forest.

over the next few weeks, you had one on one lessons with him teaching him all the things he needed to know to be successful in the forest. plants he needed to stay away from, herbs with medicinal properties, animals he probably shouldn’t approach, how to properly fire an arrow, climbing, and some traditional omatikayan weaving.

as much as he sucked in the beginning, he was a quick learner and managed to adapt in around the time it took you and your siblings too when you entered the sea.

if not now, it was never.

“ao’nung! time for you to get your ikran- come on!”

the majority of his training was all for this small purpose, tame an ikran and try not to die. naturally you hid this fact from him, given he wouldn’t even step a foot next to your ikran. however, whether he liked it or not, if he was going to learn your ways he had to complete this part of the forests rite of passage.

“yeah uh- what?”

“your ikran! your ready, come with me and i’ll take you to the mountains!”

“(y/n), my mate, my lover, my everything, respectfully, fuck no.”

“you’re going ao’nung te lepay tonowari’itan.”

“oh.”

after dragging a whining teen na’vi up the hallelujah mountains into ikran ridden territory, he looked like he was ready!

“see, they aren’t that bad! and taming them doesn’t even kill a lot of na’vi”

“well that sounds go- NA’VI DIE HERE??”

“well yeah obviously, it’s a rite of passage for a reason.”

“eywa please help me.”

“alright! let’s do this!”

you were putting on a cheerful facade to try and make ao’nung more comfortable but you obviously knew the risks. your brother lo’ak had broken a leg when he had first tried taming his ikran, and some na’vi had met worst fates.

you handed your mate a saddle meant for ikran as well as some rope. it’s easier to tame one once your tie their mouth shut, slide on the saddle, mount, and bond. you had explained how some of this worked before when you told the story of when you first got your own ikran, seyä, who was watching from afar.

“when he chooses you, tie his mouth shut with this as you put on the saddle.”

“chooses me?”

“when an ikran locks eyes with you and screeches, it means he has chosen you.”

“yeah, chosen me to kill.”

you slapped the back of his neck before continuing.

“technically yes- but stop with all that! you are ready and you will do just fine. na’vi younger than you do this all the time.”

ao’nung sighed and looked as if he had accepted his death. he held onto the rope you gave him and entered the open area where all the ikran could clearly see him. the animals cocked their heads at him and were probably confused seeing a metkayina here.

one certain ikran, a teal male with some darker blue stripes, took an interest in him and grunted, before releasing a hellish scream. off on the side, you giggled at the ikran that had chosen him, they had the same coloring!

“alright than…you and me.”

ao’nung lunged first, aiming for the ikrans jaw to latch it shut. the animal played defense and offense at the same time and launched the na’vi back on the rocks using his nose. ao’nung got up and was clearly not happy. he had a cut on his elbow he quickly examined before turning and hissing at the monster.

you observed from the side and debated with yourself. if he couldn’t pull it off should you save him? na’vi are supposed to be left alone during this process. when your brother had gotten injured during his ikran taming your father didn’t even want him going back, which caused an argument with your mother. ‘this is our way’ is what she would say. sure it’s your way, but your way is also love and protection. what kind of mate would you be if you sat here and watched your partner die?

you didn’t have any more time to ponder on the thought because ao’nung fought back and had wrapped the rope around the throat of the ikran, sliding it up its neck to get to the mouth. he was tossed around by the flailing of the animals neck, but he held on and slipped the rope around its jaws, tying it off. the creature could no longer nip or bite, leaving its offense limited. the metkayina slid the saddle on and jumped on the back of the ikran as it shook and flapped its wings to kick him off. as ao’nung finally grabbed its kuru, the beast ran towards the edge of the floating mountains and dived off.

“ao’nung!”

you ran to the edge and looked down to try and find where they were, praying you didn’t see the ikran come back up alone.

“oh my eywa, oh my eywa, i killed my mate- i killed him-!”

just as you were about to call your own ikran over and dive down looking for him while planning your own funeral in your head, the teal ikran shot back up, this time, with a na’vi of the same color on its back.

“(y/n)! i did it-!”

“oh my e- thank you great mother- get down here! now!”

ao’nung tried his best to steer his new ikran back towards the mountains and eventually made it, being greeted with the most breathe-sucking hug from you.

“your hurt- come! we have to go to the tsahík.”

“wha- tsahík-? i don’t know- i think i’m fi-“

“now!”

your mate didn’t have the best ideas about meeting another clans tsahík given how his own mother reacted to the sully’s appearing on her beaches.

what he really wasn’t prepared for, was that tsahík being your grandmother.

mo’at spread healing pastes around the wound and wrapped a large leaf around the bend of ao’nungs elbow, almost creating some sort of cast, and sent him on his way.

“you’ll be fine boy, just don’t bend your elbow to much.”

“thank you mormor!”

“yeah, th- MORMOR?? SHES YOUR GRANDMOTHER?”

“yes? i forgot to mention? my mistake!”

the metkayina turned pink and turned to the tsahík, your grandmother, before thanking her profusely and apologizing if he was rude in any way.

you giggled but contained it to yourself. you knew you didn’t tell him, but it made for a funny interaction.

“yes yes, all is well, just go. out of the tent.”

“YES MA’AM.”

“and (y/n)? i hope to see you at the clan gathering tonight.”

ao’nung could’ve broken his other elbow by how fast he made his way out of the healing tent. he waited as far as he could until you came out before rushing over to you and blaming you for not warning him.

“(y/nnnn)!! you didn’t tell me! that was so embarrassing- she probably hates me now!”

“your so dramatic!”

later that day the teen na’vi was caught on his ikran trying to get him to fly back to the reef. (his ikran refused.)

later that night, your clan had a festival. the welcoming back of the former olo'eyktan and toruk makto, 3 tskarems, and the entire sully family, as well as a farewell to the humans.

during all your time home, you had been teaching ao’nung the way of the hunt, and how to succeed in the clan, but not your cultural values.

the omatikayans dance, songs, weaving, and food was all new to him, and he was quickly exposed to it as you brought him to the celebration.

everything was different than how things happened at the reef, but it wasn’t a bad kind of different.

ao’nung watched as you danced with your friends, txäol included, and you smiled, laughed, and sung along to whatever cultural song the singers had chosen to sing that night.

you were happy with the metkayina but it was nothing like this, being reunited with your childhood friends and the rest of your people.

ao’nung, as your mate, picked up on this. he saw your emotions and there was a chance he even felt them himself.

this was your home, and maybe it could be his too.

#avatar #avatar the way of water #avatar fanfiction #ao’nung #avatar x you #ao’nung x female reader #ao’nung x you #ao’nung x sully!reader #aonung x reader

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akutasoda · 2 months

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hello!! 🐊anon here! I'm greatly excited to see the requests are finally open!! I've waited for this moment since december jiji, can I request bsd men (you can choose them but pls add ranpo and grandpa fukuzawa) with a child!fem! Reader (platonic obv) who's like Lucy from Elfen Lied? I've just re-watched the anime but I didn't remember it so bloody O_o" anyways, if you dont know about her, i quickly explain it to you, she is not human she is a diclonius, this race has vectors, which are invisible and intangible weapons and have the shape of arms with incredible physical strength, although they only reach 2 meters. Female diclonius have pink hair with 2 little horns on each side of their head, while males... They are bald and ugly lol 😭. That would be my 'quick' explanation, ofc you can ignore the blood here blood there part, but i'd like it more if you at least describe her as 'dangerous'.

At the end of the day, Reader is not a villain, just a misunderstood girl who has been through a lot, she just wants a hug and to cry in someone's arms :c. Ah i forgot, angst with some fluff if u want :3 you can ignore this if you consider it out of the rules!! Its fine for me i have more ideas to share!! Have a nuce day ill be waiting patiently, take your time and takd care of yourself!!! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

childhood misunderstandings

synopsis - maybe you really were just a misunderstood child

includes - ranpo, fukuzawa, sigma, oda - all platonic!

warnings - fem!child!reader, angst to comfort, fluff, mentions of blood and violence, wc - 1k

a/n: hii! sorry this took so long but hope you're having a nice day! take care of yourself aswell <3

ranpo edogawa ★↷

↪while ranpo may be outgoing, he doesn't really use that to form many relationships with the people he talks to. however he may realise how much fukuzawa's care has affected him when he finds you.

↪he is by no means an idiot, and so he can immediately understand that you aren't as dangerous as everyone made you out to be. some people really just have to do what they can to survive and so for you that meant you perhaps had to hurt some people.

↪he had no issue with offering to take you in just like fukuzawa did for him - he knew fukuzawa also wouldn't have an issue. mainly because he also knew that not many would have the same confidence to turn a blind eye and understand your situation.

↪he always thought your pink hair reminded him of the kind of pink that was on sweet wrappers - he also thought your little ears on the side of your head were adorable.

↪your combative side to your ability mattered very little to him. sure it was pretty cool and very dangerous in close quarters but he never really cared about what other people's abilities were. most times.

↪ranpo can be rather expressing, more often with people closer to him and it's not really physical contact. but he could sympathise with your situation and understand that one simple comforting hug could open a floodgate.

↪and when he does give you the biggest hug you'd ever receive, you really couldn't help but feel a sense of home in his arms (his hugs are the perfect mix of a comforting weight that doesn't feel overbearing)

yukichi fukuzawa ★↷

↪fukuzawa was no stranger to finding troubled children and taking them under his care even if a few were literal criminals - some may say he had that fatherly instinct. so when he found you in a mess of blood he wouldn't think twice.

↪of course he couldn't completely ignore the fact that he did find you in a rather concerning display of blood that was most definitely not yours, as much as he would like to. however he could happily tell himself that people always had some reason for doing what they did.

↪he thought your appearance, because of you ability, was quite lovely. your pink hair rather sweet and the small little ears on the side of your head really made him melt.

↪because of the fact that his ability helped others, that eventually extended to you. in turn making your vectors that much more controllable and therefore stronger. he could agree that your ability's more combative side was dangerous but he wanted to refrain you from using it in such ways.

↪the first time he ever gave you a hug you cried immediately. he was the first person to realise how you weren't dangerous for villainous reasons - when you realised this you grew that much more attached to him.

↪ fukuzawa practically radiates a maternal instinct and he has no problem in helping troubled children. as a result he has no problem when they view him as the father figure they might so desperately need.

sigma ★↷

↪sigma has barely lived his life. he was created 3 years ago and ever since he's been serving duties for the oda and running the sky casino. therefore, he was left with very little time to do anything else.

↪he wasn't quite as desensitized as his colleagues and so when he found you, he panicked quite a bit. the last thing he'd expect to see would be the sight of a young child surrounded by blood from what he could only assume was someone else's.

↪ although, if there was one thing that he had in common with you would be the search for a home - he barely had a past and you had a past full of unfortunate experiences. you both just wanted somewhere to be safe and feel comfort.

↪your ability with your vectors did make him wary at first, mainly because he couldn't see them. but he thought your pink hair and little ears were beautiful and unique.

↪sigma isn't exactly the most forward with any kinds of physical expression. he has probably never received a hug in his life but he would try his hardest to give you that comfort he never had. a home for the both of you.

sakunosuke oda ★↷

↪it was certainly no secret that oda loved kids - more specifically loved taking after them. even after a long day's work there's nothing more he'd like to do than visit the orphans he regularly visits. but he'd never really adopted one of his own.

↪but that all changed when he met you. finding you in a mess of blood that vaguely reminded him of how he met a certain brunette, but this time it wasn't your own. he could immediately sympathise with your situation despite probably not being in a similar one.

↪he probably had the mafia to thank for his desensitisation to anything violent and so you being classed as 'dangerous' didn't mean anything to him. to him you were a child. a child in need of proper care.

↪your pink hair and small ears were loved by the orphans that he eventually introduced you to when he couldn't let you tag alongside him - he also thought they were quite adorable.

↪your ability was the reason you were seen as 'dangerous' but he didn't care. as long as you learnt to utilise the vectors and have complete control, he wouldn't mind - he would also gladly help you learn how to control them if need be.

↪oda would be quite happy to give you a very much needed hug. if you really needed somewhere to know that you were safe and that nothing bad would happen, his arms were the perfect place.

#🐊 anon↩#x reader #x fem reader #x female reader #x fem!reader #bsd x reader #bungo stray dogs x reader #bungo stray dogs x you #bsd x you #bsd x female reader #bsd ranpo #ranpo x reader #bsd fukuzawa #fukuzawa x reader #bsd sigma #sigma x reader #bsd odasaku #odasaku x reader #oda x reader

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flightyalrighty · 3 months

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IDK if this counts as too spoilery to answer, but do they also use this memory altering to control their hosts? You described Sonic as being stuck in a 'prey animal stuck in a corner' mentality due to his parasite, but is that because she's fucking with his fight-or-flight instinct for the adrenaline or because she's literally gone in and messed with his memory to the point where he genuinely thinks something is out to get him and he's struggling to remember it's not supposed to be like this?

I guess another way to ask is is she just hitting the "Panic right now!!!" button over and over or did she go in a rewire him to the point where he's hitting the button himself? And how much is he able to think for himself right now? (Also that parasite must be in heaven rn. She jumped into Sonic? Adrenaline junky running at the speed of sound Sonic??? She is living the dream and I hate that for him 😭)

Also gonna use this ask to gush about how much I love this comic and concept. It's so well drawn and it feels grounded if that makes any sense. It feels like everyone is acting the way real people would act. I'm actually glad to see you say this is gonna have a bittersweet ending because I genuinely can't see how it could have a perfectly happy one you know? Pop off OP and have fun with this 👏 I'll be here for the years it'll take for this comic and the sequel to be made 👌👌

(Also also can I say the panel that really got me hooked was the one where Shadow was looking at Rouge after taking off the heart monitor? God it felt like it wasn't just him looking at her and then there was the foreboding flatline in the same scene and it's just 💗💗💗💗💗 love that feeling it gave 10/10 would love feeling that horrid sense of dread again)

Okay so first of all can i just say

This is both a very insightful and very nice ask -- Thank you for sending it! Genuinely such a sweet thing to wake up to this morning, and I'm happy to hear you'll be sticking around for more!

And y'know, some years back, when I was still in college, I was told by someone that my art was good but my writing "sucks." While I shouldn't have let that bother me, it's a comment that has haunted me to this day. I'm glad you like my writing, Symbio-Ratio. Makes me believe I've improved since my days of suck-fullness.

My favorite comics tend to be the ones that are, like you said, "grounded," at least in tone. Maybe Spider-Man: Blue and Hellboy rubbed off on me, idk 😜

To answer your question: To a degree, the parasites do use memory altering to control their hosts -- Less to manipulate their emotions and more to ensure they don't believe anything is wrong (and therefore seek help before she's settled in). So she targets memories that are points of major stress for the host and attempts to delete them, since getting a bug inside you would, uh, be a very stressful memory. It's trickier to do on people with PTSD, however.

The parasite does, in fact, hit that button over and over, forcing their host to lose their ability to reason while subjecting them to an overload of panic and anger until they furiously lash out at their "attackers" with a strength they can't normally use under non-panicking circumstances.

And yeah, unfortunately, Sonic is basically the parasite's dream host.

Thank you very much for sending this! :]

#symbio-ratio #asks #long post

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slavic-roots-western-mind · 1 month

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Life in China Observations #4

It's been a while since I last did this, so let's go again!

Identity is complicated The question "where are you from" can be just as complicated as it is simple. For many people, their country of birth is where they're from, which is usually the case here. However, if you happen to be born in country A to parents from cultures B and C, immigrated and became a citizen of country D and now attend university in country E and are now on an exchange program in China, the question "where are you from" is not that easily answered. From what some of my friends told me, where you're from is actually the place where your dad was born in even though you may have been born in a different city which is a pretty interesting concept known as the "ancestral home" - 祖籍 (zǔjí) or 籍贯 (jígùan).

You have to make the first step I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but people are constantly doing something and unless you specifically and intentionally reach out and work on your friendship, you may end up drifting apart. Maybe this is a specific thing, but back home I could go a few weeks without really reaching out to my friends and then someone would suggest grabbing lunch together and it would be like no time had passed at all since we last saw each other. Here? Quite different.

Beauty and pop trends There are all sorts of weird and wonderful trends that you can come across in China. From using bread as a study tactic to decorating your workplace with banana plants, I feel like the more I assimilate here, the bigger the reverse culture shock will be when I go back home, and not just for me. dr.candiselin covers some of these trends on Instagram (not a promo post!), and I recommend checking out her content, it's quite brilliant.

Taobao You can buy anything on taobao. Literally. I saw someone selling a house there. I was previously a little shocked to see animals such as cats and bunnies being sold, but after seeing houses and cars being sold I honestly don't know what else is there to surprise me with.

Prepare in advance (foodwise) for the lunar new year During those 8-12ish days during the holdiays a lot of stores were closed. The convenience store outside my campus was open thank God, because otherwise I would have been living on instant porridge and instant soup which was my main food source 2 weeks prior due to being ill and there is only so much instant oatmeal that you can eat before slightly losing it.

Being ill is a nightmare And I mean the mandatory-bed-rest-no-going-out-for-at-least-5-days ill kind. You need to go to the hospital or a clinic to get a note to give to your school otherwise the day's you're absent will be counted, and once they reach a specific percentage you won't be allowed to take the exam (which can seriously mess with your grades, even more if you're there as an exchange student).

The weather can change at the blink of an eye I remember back in December the weather was in the negative digits and then suddenly the next day it was around 20 celcius?? The very next day it went to 3-4, and even now in March it's very all over the place. The weather forecast is not that useful because I'll leave the dorms wearing my coat in the morning only to return carrying my coat, jumper, long-sleeved shirt and wearing only my t-shirt.

More affordable beauty products I saw some products go for around $80 online?? And here on Taobao they cost under $10? I'm assuming it's the shipping costs that drive up the price so drastically, and now I'm pondering whether it would be cheaper to order online or to travel to China every couple of years just to stock up on beauty products.

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thelunarfairy · 3 months

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Só queria compartilhar meus pensamentos mesmo! Um abraço do Brasil! 😚💞

I really like TBHK because none of the characters are moralists. The main theme of the whole manga is "wishes", and we see the characters going to extremes to get what they want.

Yashiro literally delves into the occult to make Teru fall in love with her. Kou is willing to let a cannibal spirit (likely responsible for killing several students) roam the school. Hanako wants Yashiro to live and even killed her best friend to achieve that. Mitsuba admitted wanting everyone to die just so he wouldn't feel alone. And, to top it off, Sakura wants to destroy the entire planet just to be free.

But, ironically, what I least like about TBHK is definitely the development of these themes. I wish we could delve much more into what the characters think and feel. Despite going through absurd events, everyone just return to their normal life as if nothing happened. (Kou, in particular, bothers me. His brother said terrible things, the Red House messed with his head, and Mitsuba asked to be killed by him, but Kou never properly expresses his feelings.)

TBHK explores allegories between cannibalism and sex, delves into physical and emotional abuse, and even touches on suicidal tendencies. They're all children, and the whole situation is absurd, however, the characters always behave in the most childish way, as if nothing ever fazes them. The series has become overly infantilized over time, much like the art style.

Sometimes it's hard for me to connect with the characters or even believe that certain events would happen in the story due to all the absurdities the characters are exposed to.

I really miss the time when the biggest problem was a tree making people fall in love.

Ahhhh, obrigado por compartilhar seus pensamentos comigo 💞 Hahaha Outro abraço do Brasil para o Brasil XDD 😚

Could we blame the fingers that weave the story of JSHK? What did Aidairo choose to show us first? The mystery we have to unravel little by little, so that we can slowly appreciate it.

We start with a fun story and end up with an intensely emotional and tragic story. And here's what bothers me, I share this sentence with you:

"Despite going through absurd events, everyone just returns to their normal life as if nothing happened."

The silence between them and the events is intensely irritating. "No problem, we won't talk about it, let's pretend nothing happened."

We spend an entire arc watching a new situation arise, develop and conclude, so that at the beginning of another arc, they just let it all go.

JSHK has many themes and subplots, each of which must be developed simultaneously or at a specific time. Now is the time to find out about number seven's past, he wouldn't hide it from us if it was something good, am I wrong?

But as you said, the allegories, the forbidden or taboo themes. The story was shaped to attract and deceive. It's just a light and fun anime that turns into pain in most ways possible.

The story of two children who chose to die for some reason. Heavy theme, cute art style, oh, it's not the first time I've been fooled by this combination.

I believe the trend is getting worse, it's as if there is no going back. And yes, I hope we get to see character development, not just in self, but in relationships as well.

We could spend hours giving examples, but this is not the case. Like you, I hope this development happens for all of them.

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #jshk #tbhk #hanako kun #yugi twins #amane yugi #aidairo #hanakokun #jshk spoilers #jshk hanako #tbhk manga #tbhk analysis #ask

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ack4rwoman · 9 months

Text

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄

: ̗̀➛ word count: 12.4k

: ̗̀➛ pairing: levi ackerman x reader

: ̗̀➛ notes: the new trailer being released scared the ever-living shit out of me. salty that my bbg eren wasn't even shown. not ready for the ending to be animated at ALL.

: ̗̀➛ things were going well for you (can you actually believe it?) this past week. however, that miracle seems to have an expiry date after another encounter with captain levi, in front of all your fellow classmates..

previous chapter :)

next chapter :)

.・��.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

you'd had good days in the training corps, contrary to popular belief (quite literally popular belief, for marco had once informed you that the cadets had had a conversation about how you probably suffered the worst of the wrath of keith). and today was one of them.

you were over the moon after your frequent training sessions with captain levi. it had been a week since the first one, and although sleep was dragging at your eyes, you had never been happier. you could spend a thousand years doing countless laps just to be in the presence of those dazzling, silver-grey eyes --

"oi, are you even listening to me?" a wretched voice distracted you, pulling you out of your partial slumber.

drowsily and groggily, you blinked several times, your vision having been previously blurred, now moving into focus to form the view of jean's scowl in front of you. you averted your gaze to your right where you found marco staring at you fondly -- you were all in the mess hall, eating breakfast before regular training began.

"i'm still half asleep. excuse me for blocking out your dramatic monologue."

before jean could start on you (you had prepared yourself by sitting upright and narrowing your eyes at him defensively) marco had helpfully intervened, calming the usual tension between you all.

"she does more training than the rest of us now," he had informed jean with a shrug. "give her this one, will you?"

jean looked betrayed.

"you're usually the one taking no sides here, what happened to that, huh?" he demanded, clearly offended. he turned his glare to you once more. "it was you, wasn't it? you probably bribed him under the table or something, you devil --"

"and how do you suggest i do that, huh?" you grinned, wriggling your eyebrows suggestively so that jean's initial point had flown out of the opened double doors and his face had paled notably. much to your amusement, marco had turned a pretty shade of pink as well, the poor boy. you concluded that this was all jean's fault, as per usual.

marco coughed, looking uncomfortable. you laughed, pushing your bowl to the side, a silent gesture for sasha to come and down the rest of your porridge like every morning (it was routine by this point).

"calm down, marco. i'm only interested in one man and it's not you," you revealed. you took note of the way marco was scratching the back of his neck. "it was a joke, buddy."

"that is why you should be siding with me," scoffed jean, after gulping down the rest of his water from his cup. "hope you've learned your lesson, marco."

"'hope you've learned your lesson, marco'," you mimicked, in an unusually deep voice. "do you ever shut up?"

instead of jean throwing his spoon at you, which you could see he was contemplating on doing -- judging from the way he aimed it directly at your forehead -- he frowned, brows furrowing and unclenching his jaw.

"what, got something on my face?"

"yeah, a weird smile," he responded with disgust. "why are you doing that? it's creepy."

"her smile never hurt anyone," marco intervened kindly.

"it's scaring me --"

"shut your mouth you donkey --"

jean choked. "i preferred horse."

"yeah? well donkeys are uglier," you stated without a skip of a beat.

"what?"

"guys.."

"you'd be looking at a mirror if you ever came across one --"

"WHAT?"

you stopped, biting your cheek to stop yourself from laughing at jean's face. now, he looked more like a donkey than ever. marco, despite trying to play peacemaker (once again), covered his smile with his cup, bringing it to his lips as if you weren't sitting right next to him, aware of it all.

"you're not the prettiest flower in the field either, l/n --"

"well let's think about this!" you exclaimed, clapping your hands and then resting your chin on them, elbows standing on the wooden table for grip. you faced marco. "would you rather be a flower or a donkey?"

putting marco on the spot seemed to startle him. he glanced over at jean -- who might just have steam shooting out of his ears soon.

"don't answer that," jean ordered bitterly. "leave marco out of it --"

"alright," you nodded, silently agreeing with him for the sake of marco's comfort. you searched the rest of the table. "connie!"

the bald-headed cadet, who had the end of his spoon in his mouth to play a game with his porridge (flicking it up with the spoon and catching it again), looked up at you, alert.

"would you rather be a flower or a donkey?"

he didn't even try masking his confusion, but he answered nonetheless.

"flower, obviously," he answered, as though it were the most apparent thing in the world. and then he went on a tangent. "i think i'd be a lily. they look sick. and it's probably the only flower i know from the top of my head, now that i think about it --"

"no, you'd be a dandelion," you counterargued calmly.

connie looked intrigued. "why's that?"

"one blow and it's got no petals."

everyone on that table had started laughing. it was only mina who attempted to mask her snickering with a hasty cough, bless her.

"what?" connie questioned over the sniggering (the table next to you was now taking part in the laughter too). "what's so funny?"

"back to my original point," you said, turning back to your main two friends with a smile (jean looked too safe for your liking, joining in on the laughter as if he wasn't the root cause of it). "thank you for calling me a flower, jean!"

he gave you a dirty look. "it's a metaphor."

"well mine isn't a metaphor, but i know i look better than you, that's for sure --"

"not true --"

"that's why you can't pull anyone --"

"rich, coming from the girl who thinks she's married to the strongest man within these walls --"

"what's your point?" you demanded sourly.

"you're delusional," retorted jean, drawing out the letters with more length so it sunk in. "no one would listen to a girl that has quite literally lost it when she says that i can't pull --"

"well let's think about this!" you exclaimed for the second time that morning, smiling all too wide with an air of annoyance.

jean groaned, giving a pointed look to marco for assistance; marco shrugged.

you looked down the table again.

"sasha!" you called out. sasha had been finishing off your bowl of porridge when she heard you say her name. "sasha -- do you think jean's good looking?"

"hey!" snapped jean, kicking your shin under the table.

you shrieked, immediately clutching your knee in pain. with a sharp glare at the culprit from across you, you raised your leg and kicked the bench he was sat on harshly. he nearly laughed, perhaps at how you 'missed', but hadn't gotten the chance to, before he found that the bench had slid from right beneath his bottom, and he had crashed harshly to the floor. everyone else on that bench merely moved the slightest inch, and then laughed at jean.

"you won't.. say something embarrassing after, will you?" sasha asked hesitantly. "like you did to connie?"

"yeah, just so you know, i know what you meant!" connie had intervened heatedly, glaring at you with his eyes narrowed.

you barely regarded him. "pipe down, dandelion."

as he attempted to shout at the rest of the table laughing, you glanced back at sasha, shaking your head.

"connie's on my bad side, he knows that," you informed her, remembering how he had made fun of your attempt at a wink. "you're good."

"phew," sighed sasha, chuckling. "anyway, sorry jean, but you're not that good looking to me."

"whatever, potato girl --"

"cut it out!"

the arguing had continued on the table. marco eventually gave up trying to stop it when sasha and connie had gotten involved, and eventually, even reiner and bertholdt found interest in the debate going on. it was almost a surprise, for the two barely interacted with situations like these.

"i don't think looks matter at all that much," hannah diament added softly. as all heads had turned to her (seated at the very end of the table) she blushed. "i think that you have to get to know the person first --"

"ouch, franz, she basically just said that you're ugly," you muttered out from the corner of your mouth, eyes wandering about the ceiling dramatically.

hannah had begun sputtering out protests. "n-no! i didn't and i -- i wasn't even talking about franz!"

franz, who was sitting across from her, had covered his face with a hand. but from what you could see, his ears were pink. the two were way too close with each other on a daily basis. the whole corps knew that they were an item, yet they still felt the need to deny it all the same.

"you were giving him heart eyes across the table!" connie accused her, placing his head in his hands and then forming a face which must've been a re-enactment of what he had seen. "i saw you!"

the rest of the table agreed, and even after the conversation had ended, hannah had found it necessary to still try and convince a few people that she was most definitely not talking about franz ("i swear, it was just my opinion!").

breakfast had ended not long after, and the cadets were called to stand out on the training field and line up accordingly. you position was situated in between armin and eren and across jean. this was not the usual schedule that the cadets had to follow, however, keith had ushered you all out of the mess hall, declaring that he had an announcement to make.

no one was more curious than you, for keith was not a known enemy to them like he was to you. it was good to know your enemy's next move, their ideals, just any info on them. but nothing had prepared you for what you were going to hear today.

as the rest of the cadets were coming out of the hall, taking their places on the field, you made eye contact with jean, who seemed rather annoyed with you. you honestly did not care, you just needed someone to talk to.

"what do you think he's going to say?" you asked, voice an octave lower than usual.

jean did not respond; he chose to glare at you instead, his eyes glinting in a way that practically screamed at you to shut-the-fuck-up. how very impolite.

fine, you supposed armin would be open to having a conversation with you (you refused to start one with eren, the bastard deserved what he got).

"armin, what do you think he's going to --"

"leave him out of it," snarled jean, who had finally decided to speak to you. "don't drag innocent people into your bullshit."

"bullshit?" you repeated, irate. "it's a harmless question!"

"can you guys stop talking?" the devil's spawn asked from your right. his green eyes flashed angrily, and although his question addressed both you and jean, those same eyes focused solely on you instead, as though jean was no longer in the picture.

"why are you getting involved?" you shot back, doing the complete opposite of what eren had asked of you, voice growing louder with every word.

eren's brows had furrowed to the point where there was a deep crease in between them. "shout louder, why don't you?"

"no, no, no, you idiot," jean spat out, eyes narrowing at eren menacingly. "you think she won't do what you just said?"

"wha--"

"'cause she will."

"i will," you agreed. "what, scared of getting in trouble again?" you were attempting to indirectly refer to the last time you and eren had spoken (or barely spoken, in that case, seeing as you had not said a word to him when you had keith reprimand him).

"no," grumbled eren. "but i've got a bone to pick with you --"

"eren, i don't think we should be arguing here of all places," armin whispered from your left. bless him, he's just like marco, you thought to yourself, amused. "just do it later."

eren wanted to argue -- it seemed like it, at least -- but ultimately let out a breath through his nose in frustration, glaring ahead, his eyes being forced to land on poor mina, who looked confused as to why she was being targeted (the con of having been placed opposite the anger-management-child).

you mouthed 'don't worry about it' to her, which eren had seen from the corner of his eye, and you noticed how the fists placed behind his back had clenched notably. what an angry child.

none of you had to wonder where keith was for too long, for his booming voice had penetrated the still air the moment you had begun looking around for him. you had tried to figure out what the hell he was planning through the tone of his voice, but it proved to be more difficult due to the distance between you and him: he was shouting from somewhere far behind you, walking up and down the lines, saying something that barely touched your interest.

until it did.

"this isn't your usual routine, so things will get confusing!" he had said. barely of any relevance to you, clearly. he continued loudly. "but that is no excuse! i expect each and every one of you maggots to know what you're doing -- DO NOT EMBARRASS ME!"

you repressed the urge to scoff aloud. you're literally an embarrassment to yourself.

"now," he went on, undisturbed by you or anyone else who dared to even breathe properly around him, "in preparation for your graduation approaching in a couple of months, you will be trained on everything you've ever known and more with a particular expert! straighten your backs, scums, you look like worms with that awful posture!"

there was movement in the lines, almost like a ripple in water. you hadn't moved an inch. who the hell was he to tell you that your posture was bad? your back was as straight as the wires shot out of the odm gear.

"you will continue to train as normal, only, through the eyes of captain levi, member of the scout regiment!"

now that moved you.

jean's eyes shot over to you as you visibly turned around, standing on your tip-toes to try and get a good look. the captain was shorter than average, of course, and you weren't excelling in the height department much either, making it more difficult for you to see over the heads of those tall bastards behind you. unlucky for you, it was bertholdt who was placed directly behind you. it's as if..

it's as if keith placed you in that line-up position because he knew.

he knew damn well what he was doing, saying his speech at a faraway distance where you knew captain levi probably was.

that bald homewrecker --

you could actually scream in frustration.

"turn around, you fucking dingbat!" jean hissed, voice low but holding every bit of venom it would carry even if he spoke at his usual volume. "oi! listen to me!"

"leave me alone," you squabbled back, waving a hand at him without actually looking at him. "can you see him though? you're tall, jean, where is --"

"i'm not helping you, knucklehead."

"ugh, you're such a chicken."

so when jean did not help you (and you would never swallow down your pride and ask for eren's help) you turned back around and placed your fists against your back again, disappointed. today, you vowed to yourself: you will see him again, and he'll train you specifically.

"you literally saw him this morning."

"shut your mouth, you donkey."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

you saw him.

but he was watching other people. he wasn't watching you, like he should be doing.

is that seriously how it's going to be right now? while you work your butt off with your dear friend marco, he was going to pay attention to other people?

the fake knife in your hand you had disarmed from marco only moments ago was now the centre of your thoughts. if you could just jam it directly into your chest, maybe then he'd pay attention to you, the little shrimp.

"y/n, don't get distracted again," marco told you gently, whilst you threw the knife at him (he caught it easily with one hand). it was his turn, again, to try and stop you from disarming him. "i'm sure he has his reasons."

"you look for the good in anybody," you reminded your friend, bitterly. "there is nothing good about this -- ah!"

marco, the sly devil, used your distracted state to his advantage by jamming the knife forward in an attempt to hit your chest. you bent back into a bridge to dodge, and then flipped yourself backward to straighten yourself up in surprise.

"that was low, marco."

he shrugged, chuckling. "i did what i had to do."

"you're just as bad as him," you told him, as if expecting him to drop down to your feet and kiss them, begging for your forgiveness. "both you and jean."

"i never thought i'd see the day where you put me in the same category as jean," replied marco, smiling that innocent smile.

you raised your brows at him, folding your arms over your chest in disappointment. "neither did i, but people can surprise you."

marco thought for a moment, silent as he gazed at the floor, before surprising you when he looked back up.. not exactly at you, but staring at something behind you, eyes wide.

"what's wrong wi--"

"he's looking!" he alerted you.

you stared at marco, snatching the opportunity to impress captain levi as you straightened up, mouthing a 'what?'. and when marco nodded frantically, you did what you had to do. rapidly, you used your two hands to grab the arm where the knife was held, slid underneath it to pin his arm behind his back as he bent forward in response. you took the time to quickly knee him in the chest, which caused the grip on the knife to fall as he throws it up in the air (presumably for him to catch). you don't let him, releasing him from your grip and kicking him to the ground, hurriedly extending an arm to catch the knife successfully.

you spun on the spot, breath heavy as you eyed the captain..

who wasn't even looking your way.

you glared at the ground, before slowly turning to stare at your friend on the floor, who was gripping onto his side in pain.

"you lied to me?"

"what?" gasped marco, his kind, freckled face now overcome with confusion. "no! he -- he really was looking --"

"don't lie to me!" you snapped, throwing the knife at him and stomping your foot in anger. "i did all of that for nothing."

"traitor," marco had the audacity to say, as he sat upright and reached for the knife.

you shrugged, grinning at him. "i did what i had to do."

marco smiled. "typical."

you and marco continued to train together, occasionally glancing back at the moody captain every few minutes, and you yourself felt as though your husband was starting to rub off on you: no longer were you the bubbly and bright person you were that very morning. now, you were just as grumpy as him, and he was the root cause of your sudden change in mood. in your own mind, you believed that even if you were the same now, you were still made for each other.

less than half of an hour had passed by, and it seemed that keith was now copying you in being aggravated. you grit your teeth together as he shouted for everyone's attention. of course, you thought, eyes narrowed at the bald man making his speech, in order to steal captain levi's heart, you have to become just like his wife. well, you decided, as you listened in, keith was smart for that one, though this was unusual for his game-plan.

you shrugged it off: he could never be you.

"i'm tired of the same old partners!" he called out roughly. "you won't learn if you don't battle with someone different!"

there were murmurs following his comment, but no actual movement. that aggravated him even more.

"well what are you waiting for, you bunch of sloths? SWITCH!"

several people jumped up at his demand, and immediately, all of the pairs began forming one big huddle, people picking different partners obediently. not you, of course. you still wanted to be with marco.

"where the hell do you think you're going?" you snapped at him when you saw him standing up and turning away. "you're my partner."

marco scratched the back of his head, smiling at you. it was a mask, you knew. marco always followed orders to the best of his ability.

"you heard commandant shadis," he said, his voice smooth like water. "he wants us to change partners."

"i still want to be yours!" you remarked, annoyance seeping from your harsh tone.

marco laughed at you. this guy even had a gentle laugh, too. what was not so innocent of him? marco didn't have a single bad bone in his body.

"i want to be your partner too, but we can't, y/n," he told you, gesturing to the movement of people around you. "i'm sure you'll find someone better than me anyway. i've had my ass handed to me multiple times now --"

you tried catching the eyes of people passing by, but it almost seemed as though people were purposefully avoiding you. you rolled your eyes, raising a brow at marco.

"all right, whatever," you said, yielding at last. "i hope someone else beats you up better than me."

marco raised his eyebrows, looking as though that could not be farther from the truth. "you're the best at hand-to-hand, y/n. i doubt that." and then he walked away, finding a new partner, one who you recognised to be milieus zeremski.

you shrugged, turning away. was that the reason why people were avoiding you? it wasn't quite like you to wallow in silence wondering about it. so, naturally, you spoke up, of course.

"hey," you caught mina's arm. she turned to you with a smile, and you hurried to finish off your question. "why's everyone avoiding me?"

mina's eyes widened and you were now swallowed whole by the soft black in her eyes.

"oh," she began, chuckling quietly. "well, it's kind of a good reason, if you ask me. everyone knows you're good at close combat, so no one really wants to bare the brunt of your anger. speaking of, are you all right? i've noticed that you aren't quite as happy as you usually are."

you smiled back at her in an attempt to be polite. mina has never annoyed you, and the two of you usually met up with a couple of other few girls before bed to have a comfortable chat.

"i'm fine, but captain levi is pissing me off," you grumbled.

"i'd ask why, but i'd better find a partner for myself," she responded, looking around. "good luck though!"

and then she walked away, leaving you staring after her, deep in thought. perhaps there was something good out of not having a partner... a plan was forming in your head, and maybe it was obvious, because even as jean walked past you, he made sure to comment on it.

"stop making that thinking face and find a bloody partner!"

he was lucky you were too busy thinking, otherwise you would have marched over to him and given him a black eye to sport for the entire week (and more).

ignoring him, with an even more irate expression on your face, you thought to yourself carefully. if you had no partner, the attention would be on you -- specifically the attention of a certain someone. someone who had been neglecting you lately. the plan was perfect! all you had to do was make sure everyone stayed away from you (not a problem there) and then not only would he have no choice but to pay attention to you, but if you were lucky, you could also manage to be partners with him, captain levi!

part a of the plan was working: people were avoiding you. you waited for a bit, standing in the centre of the huddle, making no movement to search for a partner. it pleased you how, at the same time, this would be defying keith's orders too; a bonus point.

until you heard someone call out to you, the voice distant and far.

"hey, y/n!"

just ignore it, you thought to yourself, the rhythmic beat of your heart speeding up and becoming less in tune with your breathing. it'll go away, it'll go --

"y/n!"

the voice was closer.

"y/n l/n!"

the voice was clearer.

"l/n!"

the voice was masculine.

"i'm talking to you!"

the voice was right behind you.

now you were angry.

you turned around, jaw clenched and brows furrowed deeply, staring up at the culprit. you couldn't believe it. had he still not learned his lesson?

eren jaeger.

you could actually gauge out his eyes in frustration. why wouldn't he just stop being so nosy? stop being so annoying? stop being so bothersome?

"get away from me," you demanded, making a move to walk away.

and the boy.. oh this boy.. he had the nerve to pinch at the sleeve of your jacket to stop you.

the worst possible scenario for your plan, because now it looked as though you were partners. eyes darting to captain levi, your blood boiled when you saw that his attention was elsewhere. slowly but surely, you turned your head to glare daggers at the brunette tugging at your sleeve. you ripped your arm out of his grip and gave him one of the dirtiest looks you could muster.

"don't ever touch me again."

eren did not take this lightly. "you were ignoring me, what did you expect?"

"can you just stay away?" you shouted, indignant. "now's not a good time!"

"i have to ask you something," he continued as if he hadn't heard you.

"go away!" you hollered, almost desperately. "ask me another time, okay? just. go. away."

he followed you like a lost puppy even as you began walking away, hoping to create some distance. you nearly contemplated running.

you stopped walking in annoyance and he nearly bumped into you when you stood your ground. you glared up at him.

"why can't you just listen?" you whispered, voice shaky with spleen. you had now resorted to using hand movements to prove your point. "why do you have to be so nosy? why can't you just bother someone else? WHY?"

eren was persistent despite your anger and your demands. "why did you get me in trouble with the commandant the other day?"

you stared at him in actual disbelief. of all the things he could have asked, it had to be a question as dumb as that? this very question was about to tarnish your plans, and it couldn't have waited? he couldn't have waited for a better time to ask, like you basically promised?

if you were angry before, then lord knows what you were feeling now, because you were seeing red.

"l/n!" keith yelled at you as he drew closer. "who's your partner?"

you took in a deep breath. just in time, you thought to yourself, and then jabbed a finger in eren's chest without even looking at him.

"him," you answered, voice low. "he's my partner."

eren had no time to protest before keith shouted at the two of you to begin the sparring by standing in your starting positions and getting into formation.

and that was how eren found himself on the floor (he put up a good fight, better than most, you must say) with you above him, panting with each punch you gave him.

"why --"

punch.

"-- won't --"

punch.

"-- you --"

punch.

"-- learn --"

punch.

"-- your --"

punch.

"-- lesson?"

when you paused to catch you breath, eren took the moment to fight back, flipping you over with him looming over you. his expression was something that you had never seen before.

all right, perhaps that was a lie. you had seen it before, but it had never actually been directed at you. usually, jean was at the receiving end of that look -- his brows knitting so close together, a deep crease formed in between them; his teeth gritted and jaw clenched to the point where a vein was actually bulging at his neck.

"WHY DID YOU GET ME IN TROUBLE?" he demanded, apparently furious at your ignorance to his question.

you immediately gagged, recoiling back and turning your head sideways.

"god, what the hell did you have for breakfast?" you choked out, your nose abused by the rancid smell that had protruded from his mouth.

he might have been angry, but you were angrier.

without another second to waste (the time in which his anger was slightly masked over with a look of confusion) you brought your hand to the back of his neck and forced his head to clash against yours. he let out a loud yelp and you took over, securing your place over him once more.

your punches resumed, attack after attack, and you did not even think to stop. not even when you noticed, from the corner of your eye, how people were focused on you and your fight (perhaps they had been watching the entire brawl, perhaps only you had noticed them now).

and even when eren barely fought back, you continued.

"i --" he uttered between punches, teeth gritted and jaw clenched, "concede!"

and still you did not stop.

in fact, you gripped onto his short, brown hair and pulled his head up with it, slamming it back down every time you said a new word.

"you --"

slam.

"-- tarnished --"

slam.

"-- my --"

slam.

"plan!"

slam.

"l/n," you heard keith call out, somewhere far back in your mind, perhaps, because his voice sounded low through the ringing in your ears. "did jaeger say he concedes?"

you didn't answer, but eren did.

"i conce--"

"shut up!" you snapped, and placed a hand over his mouth to prevent him from completing his sentence.

"L/N!" keith all but bellowed at you. his voice was clearer now, probably because of how loud he was being. "GET OFF OF THE BOY NOW!"

there was a dull ringing in your ears and all you could focus on was beating the brunette to a pulp. he deserved it for how nosy he had been: perhaps this would teach him a lesson. stop sticking your nose in places where it shouldn't be, otherwise you'd get it beaten into your face by y/n l/n.

well, he could stick his nose in business that did not belong to you, you didn't mind that of course.

but seriously, had it been anyone else, they wouldn't have found the need to actually go up to you and ask you why you did what you did. you thought it was obvious? for example: connie, who you had publicly embarrassed for publicly embarrassing you with your failed attempt at a wink; jean, who you had managed to get sent to the stables as punishment for not helping you when you were in trouble with keith.

eren was no different, he did not get special treatment.

he got you in trouble with keith, so you would get him in trouble with keith in return. there was no genius needed to figure that out, and if he so desperately needed one, armin was practically the leader of geniuses. why did he choose to confront you? you made it crystal clear that he could ask his question another time, that now was not a good time, that he should go and bother someone else for the time-being.

but no. he just had to be so persistent. so stubborn.

when you made no move to get up, the higher ups had taken it upon themselves to stop you. rough hands had slid around your waist and pulled you up, dragging you away from the poor brunette, whose chest was heaving up and down with each breath he took, looking as though he had just survived a bear attack: dishevelled and fatigued.

you, in question, were the bear: your own hands gnawing at the pale ones tightly gripping your abdomen, your eyes practically glinting red, and the hairs at the back of your neck sticking to your skin. you did not know who the person dragging you away was, but whoever they were, they were nex--

"oi, stop fighting," his voice came out harshly against your ear.

you complied.

your eyes met his, lost in the pool of grey that were glinting in a way that made them look almost silver-like.

did you say that he was next?

no, that was a mistake -- you would never say that.

not to him, at least.

even though you had stopped struggling against his iron-like, tight grip, captain levi still found the need to continue to pull you away from the training sight. you were going to question when he was going to stop, until you realised that he already had -- you were the one holding onto his arms now.

he didn't even say anything, but you did not need to look back at him to know that he was probably scowling at your action.

"this is ni--"

"let go of me."

"yes, sir."

you dropped to the ground after releasing your grip. he did not bother helping you up, but you did hear him sigh when you made no move to get up. you looked over your shoulder at him, chin tilted high into the air, a hand hovering over your brows to shield your sensitive eyes from the bright sun.

he was pinching the bridge of his nose, looking stressed. you would murder whoever made your husband so stressed out, you promised this to yourself.

"what's wrong with you?" he demanded out of no where.

when your features only moved to form a look of confusion, he felt the tiring need to clarify.

"when your opponent gives up, you stop anything else you plan on doing."

"oh i know that," you stated with a smile. did the captain really think that you were not aware of that?

"which concerns me even more," he said, rubbing his forehead exasperatedly. he regarded you crossly. "get up."

you did as you were told, even taking care to salute once you stood up. there was, however, one thing that was stirring up in the pit of your stomach. it was an aching feeling, something that you had never felt before.

the time of its arrival was significant, too. you had just noticed that due to eren's actions (the constant pestering, as annoying as it was) captain levi had paid more attention to you, more than he originally would have if eren had just left you alone.. and the poor boy.. you had beaten him to an extent where he actually chose to concede. what made it worse was the fact that eren jaeger barely ever gave up. you had driven him to the point where he just had to.

you snuck a glance at him: he was being comforted by armin and mikasa, both of whom had gotten a scolding from keith for not focusing on their own training. you didn't understand them, for if it had been jean who had gotten quite the beating from one of your classmates, you would have stood there and laughed.

but, arguably, you wouldn't have done that for marco. see, for marco, you'd have done what armin and mikasa were doing for eren. now you understood.

"what, feeling guilty now?" captain levi coldly interrupted your thoughts. you didn't respond, the guilt causing you to be rendered speechless for the first time in a while. "you should. the kid looks like he came out of a war because of you."

"i --" you began, your salute now softer in your hesitation. "i just got a little angry, he was bothering me!"

"you get as good as you give."

"what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"oh, i'm surprised you understood that."

"i didn't."

"never mind then."

you thought about it for a moment and then scowled at him once it clicked. was he insinuating that you were bothersome, and therefore eren (as some form of stupid karma) was being bothersome to you?

"wait --"

"no," said captain levi, firm. "get back on the field."

but really, the whole reason why eren got such a vicious beatdown was because you thought his persistence caused some disturbance in your plan for getting the captain to notice you. so you didn't actually want to leave and return to the training field.

"but who's going to be my partner?" you questioned, trying to sound innocent.

captain levi folded his arms over his chest, but did not respond to your question. after a good ten seconds of him simply staring at you (perhaps the more accurate word would be 'glaring') he caught the attention of the rest of the cadets.

"your combat needs a little work," he called out to everyone, looking mildly disappointed. "but we can't work on it for as long as i initially wanted to. unfortunately, some people can't control themselves."

you almost choked on your own spit. you had been standing behind him, tall and poised, nodding along to everything he had been saying. until, of course, that last line. you stared at the side of his face, outraged and offended. was that a jab at you? publicly, too?

you didn't care that you looked visibly stupefied by what he had said. you didn't care that everyone was now staring at you with amusement. what you cared about was why your husband was acting the way he was. what had gotten into him? was that comment really necessary?

that horrible comment, meant to clearly reference you, might give keith the opportunity to sneak his rancid self into your closed relationship. in fact, he was probably conjuring up some mini plan in his head right now, and it was all because of your soulmate. perhaps you needed to have a chat with him sooner or later about the way he spoke about you. you weren't at all impressed with his behaviour.

"get the odm gear out," captain levi ordered loudly. "we're moving onto the manoeuvring gear training."

he looked over at you, his infamous, neutral expression plastered over his face as he watched you carefully.

"what, are you no good at it?"

perhaps you had been looking rather disappointed -- you felt like it -- otherwise he wouldn't have felt the need to ask such a thing. you raised your brows at him, straightening up immediately and shaking your head.

"'course not," you denied, because it was still true.

you weren't bad at using the gear at all. you were good, just not as good as, say, mikasa. she was an absolute monster with it. you will never forget the time you had suggested playing tag. the memory of it made a shiver run down your spine.

"i just like hand-to-hand better," you answered, trailing along behind him as he walked further on, heading for the trees where the gear is best used. "can't we do more of that?"

"you're bold," he said, voice laced with chagrin, "to even suggest that when you're the reason i had to stop it."

"you didn't have to stop it completely," you said with a frown. "keith usually puts me on a time-out when i do something he doesn't like. everyone else just continued."

"keith?" he repeats, his eyebrow twitching as he looked down at you, stopping before the first tree you guys had been met with.

you almost did not understand what he was getting at, before his gaze hardened and you remembered one of his first orders he had given you. refer to keith as commandant shadis.

"i mean.. commandant shadis."

"right," said captain levi, continuing on with his walk.

you followed on after him, keeping close to him even as more voices and footsteps could be heard somewhere far off behind the two of you. when you turned to see, the rest of the cadets were passing down the gear, securing it on each other as they walked into the woods simultaneously. perhaps it would have been a better idea to do the same, leave the captain on his own to wear the gear and prepare yourself, but you just.. did not want to. and that was a good enough answer for you to continue walking alongside the captain.

"never heard of a time-out being a punishment before," he commented vaguely.

"during the gear training, he usually makes me sit on the tallest tree branch and just watch everyone else," you told him, almost as if you were telling off of your arch-nemesis.

"that's why you don't want to train?"

you shrugged. "call it trauma."

"you're using the gear," the captain told you in a there's-no-argument type of way. he stopped, turned, and looked down at you as everyone began catching up to the both of you. "you'll be the first if you keep protesting."

"what? why? i already used the gear this morning. with you."

"i'm aware," said the captain. and then he walked past you, taking a spare manoeuvring gear out of a large box held by reiner (no surprise, he was, arguably, the strongest out of you all) and held it out to you. "you're up."

people had now surrounded the area you were standing in: deep into the woods, with lots of trees and space to move around simultaneously. it was perfect for the use of odm gear.

you slowly took the gear from his hands, examining it for scratches, dents, or random breakage. the last thing you needed was to fall off the trees and die from the use of a faulty wire or something.

"but i don't have a gas cylinder," you tried reasoning, even as you secured the straps over your chest and the ones behind your knees.

"don't worry," the captain responded, going as far as to even help you with the ones you could not reach: your back. you felt him swat your hair away, tightening even the ones you had done yourself for extra precaution. "i've heard that your own gas is a great substitute, fart girl."

your jaw dropped (as did everyone else's). you were absolutely mortified as you turned your head ever so slightly to look back at him. unlike everyone else (all of whom were now stifling their chuckles and giggles) he remained unfazed. and despite that comment that made heat rise to your cheeks, he still handed you a gas cylinder to attach to your side.

embarrassed, angered, and absolutely petrified, you could not even register the fact that he was expecting you to take the cylinder from him, for you were too shocked to even think straight. this was embarrassment to a point that you had never actually experienced before. everyone knew about the situation where you had been rather confident in releasing your own gas, but you had assumed that they would have forgotten: no one had mentioned it for quite some time.

until now.

and it was all because of your uncontrollable husband.

ex-husband, now, because as much as you loved him, this was crossing the line.

leisurely, you took the cylinder from his extended hand and stared down at it. you could barely concentrate as the laughter from your peers travelled to your ears in a manner that was not very graceful. traitors, they were -- the lot of them.

now you definitely did not want to use the gear. you held the cylinder up as if to hand it back to the captain.

"i can't do it," you told him, your nerves spiralling inside you.

he looked as though he did not believe you, which made sense, of course. if you were him, you wouldn't have believed yourself either, not when he had watched you fly around with glee early that very morning.

i have to lie, you decided in your mind. there was only one issue, however. although lying was your expertise, lying whilst racked with nerves is not. you either stumbled over your words or lied about something that was not relevant to the topic.

"why not?" said captain levi, looking sceptical.

everyone was silent now (save for the occasional snort here and there).

"because i did odm training tomorrow so i don't need to do it yesterday," you answered, barely taking a breath before attempting to undo your front straps.

there was silence. if it hadn't been daytime, you were sure there would have probably been cricket noises here and there.

"what is she even saying?" you heard connie call out, and you had to physically restrain yourself from shooting your wires deep into his chest.

"well don't look at me," shrugged jean, sounding defensive. when you followed the sound of his voice, you saw that he was leaning back against a tree with marco, who was looking startled.

if the earth could just swallow you whole, you'd be extremely grateful. you had to leave. you just had to. there was no way you could ever show your face to these people ever again. maybe you could leave and change your identity: from y/n l/n to n/y n/l, from female to elamef, from 20 years old to 02 years old. whatever it be, you had to leave.

so you tried to.

you took a step forward, but barely made it any further than that before you felt your head being tugged back by some type of force -- captain levi had pulled you back by your hair.

"not so fast," he said, barely moved by your actions. it was almost as if he had predicted it. "fix your straps and attach the damn cylinder. you're up."

you swallowed down on nothing, trying to ease yourself. you could barely register the crunching of twigs and leaves growing closer to you -- marco had taken it upon himself to help you fix the straps you had undone.

as you stared up at the trees, you felt him politely take the gas cylinder out of your own hands and slowly attach them to your gear. his face was right beside your ear, keeping his voice low when he took the opportunity to speak.

"stop scheming," he murmured, and you were certain that nobody but you could hear him. you did not question what he meant, although he felt the need to clarify. "got that look on your face.."

you had no idea what look he was talking about, but you could not deny the fact that (in truth) you really were conjuring up a plan in your head, figuring out the steps and the advantages you'd have with the position of the stagnant trees.

anytime someone would use the gear to fly up and above, they'd move forwards, using their advanced speed and agility to reach the finish line where another higher up would be standing. since keith was not around, you concluded that it would probably be him. but if you wanted to leave, you could just turn the other direction and go backwards instead..

you bit back a smile.

besides, it was not as if anyone could chase you down without the captain's permission: you'll be long gone by then.

as marco tested the strength of the gear for you, rattling and shaking it with all his might, you found that it was secure on you, less likely to break. you smiled at him as he took a step back, whispering out a 'good luck' before taking his place against the tree next to jean again, being so positively encouraging as to give you a thumbs up for extra measure.

"you finally ready?" your ex-husband asked.

you did not bother answering him, and turned away, digging your feet into the ground as you gripped onto your blades.

"hey, why're you facing that way --"

too late. you had already clicked the top trigger, firing your anchors into the nearby trees before you clicked the bottom trigger to fire out your compressed gas.

and up you went, the rest of the captain's sentence trailing off into nothingness the higher up you went from the ground.

the force of the flight against gravity resulted in the wind forcing your hair back as you continued to shoot out your anchors, flying in the opposite direction to make it back to the main base. you could hear people yelling after you, their demands that you return dying out the more you moved. you laughed loudly, which might have been a mistake seeing as the wind you were pushing yourself against flew right into your open mouth.

you closed it immediately, but still found yourself smiling as you flew through the woods. this is what they got for underestimating you, for making fun of you. the thrill of using the gear to defy physics was already feet-tingling as it was. however, adding more thrill to it by opposing the rules made it feel even better, like you were on cloud nine with all the excitement.

exhilaration had never felt better.

until you heard his voice somewhere behind you..

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

the captain watched after you with lazy eyes.

it had shocked him at first, he wouldn't deny it. he genuinely thought that he had you under control at this point.

he was wrong.

though he couldn't say that it surprised him too much, now that he was really thinking about it. he hadn't realised just how sneaky you were, far sneakier than any cadet he had ever encountered. it was clear that you had no shame, which was probably the reason why you were able to do things usual people could not. he could barely tell if you were actually embarrassed by the new nickname he had given you.

and new nickname it was, for your fellow classmates were now addressing you by it.

"look at fart girl go!"

"only fart girl would do shit like this."

"do you think fart girl did that on purpose?"

there was only one place you could be heading for -- back to the main training field, straight to your dorm. captain levi had been so preoccupied with thinking about what the hell he should do about you, that he had not realised the silence that had consumed the rest of the cadets he was no responsible for.

he stared at them, eyes particularly focused on the two boys that he knew you were tight with. both were tall, one significantly taller than the other, with lighter hair and a longer face. the other boy had soft freckles decorating his features, a softer look about him.

the main factor that the captain had caught on to (which made them different to the rest of the cadets staring up at the sky in awe) was how unsurprised they seemed. it was almost as if they had expected nothing less from you.

the boy with the freckles caught the captain's eye, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck with a smile.

"er -- permission to go after her, sir?" he asked, in an almost tentative manner.

captain levi looked back up at the trees. "permission denied," he said, though not unkindly.

he seemed to be thinking to himself. this training session had not gone to plan. and it was all because of you. you were really beginning to become an itch on his side, one that he could not quite seem to reach. a headache, even. and usually, he would be able to cure it with a simple cup of tea. you were proving to be as difficult as keith shadis had mentioned.

"any volunteers to go up next?" he asked, looking around at them all. and then he exhaled through his nose. "and if it's not clear enough already, you move that way." he pointed to his right.

in the end, an enthusiastic, green-eyed boy jumped up at the opportunity to prove himself. it was only after a couple of seconds of light staring did he realise that it was the very boy that you had savagely beaten. the captain thought he had a staring problem, for the boy had an odd sort of attachment to the wings of freedom etched upon his uniform. perhaps he was another one that wanted to join the regiment of literal death.

while the boy adjusted his gear, captain levi addressed the rest of them.

"training's no different. you'll take turns after you hear the commandant's call that he's reached the end. you'll be timed," he instructed, mind half distracted. "and you," he added, talking to the green-eyed boy. "when you get to shadis, let him know that i've got to deal with a rogue cadet."

the boy raised his eyebrows.

"rogue cade--"

"he'll know exactly what i mean."

despite looking slightly confused, the green-eyed boy simply shrugged, planting his feet into the ground. the captain searched his pockets, before sighing in frustration at the realisation of something that (surprise-surprise) you had been the cause of. resisting the urge to simply take off and tackle you, he called out to the rest of the cadets.

"anyone have a pocket watch?" he asked exasperatedly.

if one of them did, perhaps you'll be safe.

if none of them did, however... well it's a good thing that you had a head start.

you got lucky: a girl with pigtails stepped forward with a shaky smile and handed the visibly annoyed captain her own pocket watch. he took it from her, nodding when she saluted and returned to her position in between a tall, dark-haired boy. he stared down at the pocket watch in his hands. how was he supposed to monitor wherever the hell you had flown off to and time the cadets at the same time?

"you," he said suddenly, walking towards a short, blonde, blue-eyed boy who had been looking displeased with the practical training (the captain had eyes everywhere).

the boy immediately perked up, straightening his back and saluting, eyes wide at being addressed by a higher up.

"sir!" he squeaked, seemingly surprised.

"at ease," said captain levi, aware that shadis was probably beginning to get impatient now. he extended his arm, the hand attached to it presenting the other girl's pocket watch. "you look capable. time them like usual. i have business to attend to."

the boy looked hesitant, but did not look as though he would suggest an alternative option as he took the pocket watch and nodded.

"i'll be back soon," he stated loudly, his voice laced with authority. "so don't mess around."

and he took off, trailing after you without another word.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

perhaps you shouldn't have stopped at a tree branch to rest your legs. the adrenaline rush nearly had you lose control in your moment of exhilaration.

you didn't know it yet, but the captain was after you. not that it mattered too much, of course. you were wise enough to go deeper into the woods than to simply go for the main base -- it was merely a resting point. you'd go back to moving soon anyway.

you had taken it upon yourself to rest on the highest tree branch possible, legs outstretched and back flat against the ongoing tree trunk. nobody would find you here unless you wanted to be found, and after that round of embarrassment, you certainly did not want to be found. with not only being higher up than it was actually allowed (unless you were told to sit in time out) your small form was obscured behind several leaves and branches, hidden away like a prized gift.

from that high up, everything looked so small. bushes that you knew were rather wide and difficult to get through looked as though they were nothing more than several obstacles for an ant.

maybe it's time to get a move on now, you had thought to yourself calmly as you secured the straps on your knees and adjusted the gas cylinder on your side. you would never forget the time daz's gas cylinder slipped out of its small case during flight; everyone had been considerably more careful since then, including you, as reckless as you were.

you nearly tumbled out of your standing position on the tree branch when you heard a loud shout of your name. and it wasn't just any shout...

"L/N!" captain levi practically bellowed from somewhere far away.

no... you thought, alarmed. that didn't make sense. he wasn't allowed to leave the cadets unsupervised. was he not supposed to be busy with timing everyone? was he not supposed to alert someone else that you were missing? why had he taken it upon himself to find you?

oh this was bad... this was really, really bad.

the captain was practically a machine of some sort. his hearing was immaculate too, just like a bat. it didn't matter if he would ever go blind one day, his excellent hearing made up for the lost sense.

he was, perhaps, the only person who would be able to seek you out, even with your fabulous choice of hiding.

although, now that you thought about it, sasha had several heightened senses too, but it was not as though you had heard her voice call out your name several seconds ago.

you kept an eye out for any closeness of ruffling leaves, any rough movement, or the sound of gas being pushed out of its cylinder to enable flight against gravity. so far so good, you had almost convinced yourself that you were being paranoid. maybe that had been a sign for you to get back to your dorm. and quickly, at that.

you relaxed your stance against the tree, relieved. perhaps that had been your second mistake in the same minute.

"L/N!"

you actually did fall this time. panicked and alarmed, you had no choice but to hurriedly click the top trigger of your controller grip, your wires shooting out to latch themselves onto the tree branch you had fallen from, leaving you hanging upside down in the air.

it was silent now, only the sound of your blood pounding in your ears as the liquid dived to your brain. your head was beginning to feel heavy with the added weight.

he was listening, you knew. he had heard the sound of your wires and the latch, and he was probably trying to track you down.

you had to make a move. now.

taking a deep breath in, you pulled the lever, reeling the wires back in as you fell several feet. heart pounding against your chest, you clicked the trop trigger again, shooting your wires against a tree to your left and a tree to your right. with great impulse, you pushed your legs over your head to flip yourself, no longer upside down.

"cadet l/n!" you heard him yell, almost as if he had spotted you.

you wasted no time in clicking the bottom trigger, your gas shooting out of its cylinder as you took off, flying through the trees and making it back to main base.

with a short glance over your shoulder, your teeth gritted once you realised that the captain was nearly hot on your trail.

"get back here, that's an order!" he snapped, displeased and unimpressed with this game of cat and mouse.

you clenched your jaw, turning away from him and continuing your trip despite his order, your fingers working in that similar pattern: top trigger, bottom trigger, and then back again.

and then you had been met with another problem.

because your hiding place had been deeper into the woods, going for the main base would take longer, especially now that you needed to be quicker because of the man following after you. you had to think fast, then.

"l/n!"

going for the cadets would be quicker as you could run through the training field and head for the dorms, take the short cut, and be out of sight. men weren't allowed in the girls' barracks after all.

"l/n, turn around and --"

it would be a brilliant plan. other than the fact that you had to face everyone again, but you could tolerate it. just for a bit.

instead of latching your wires onto a tree to your left and a tree to your right, you hooked them both in the same direction, swinging all the way around to change your direction.

and then you head back, using more gas because you knew that the captain, although stumped by your choice, was now closer than before. squinting your eyes, you could see that the area you had escaped from was growing closer and closer, yet the cadets there had grown smaller and smaller. when you were only around twenty trees behind, you could see that the training had continued: armin had been tasked with the job of timing the cadets.

of course. that did make sense, after all.

"l/n!"

the eyes of the remaining cadets had turned to you. you caught marco's eye (jean was no longer there) and gave him a grin, one that he did not know whether to return or not. instead, his eyes merely travelled to the presence behind you, looking worried at the sight.

you flew over your classmates, almost as if it was your turn to be tested (armin had muttered a 'should i time her?') and continued to fly off.

but the captain was still trailing after you.

"oi, fart girl!" he snapped angrily.

now that...

that stopped you.

you were now hanging low in between two trees your wires had gripped on to.

you looked over your shoulder, eyes narrowed and brow twitching. looking down, you could see that you had barely made it away from where the cadets originally were (originally, for they had now come running over to you and the captain, who was standing on a tree branch higher than you, glowering).

"what did you just call me?" you asked lowly. you landed yourself on a different tree branch, looking up at him with an expression of contempt.

captain levi clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

"if i'd known that you would've responded to that rather than your own name, i would've said it sooner, fart girl."

you contemplated ridding yourself of your gear and simply diving head first into the ground. dying and never returning seemed a better option than to stand where you currently were and simply take the degrading lecture. you never got embarrassed. EVER.

so why, now, were you feeling heat rise to your cheeks? why was the hairs on your neck standing up? why were you curling in on yourself and avoiding the gaze of the captain?

the conclusion: you were embarrassed.

and to an extent you had never thought was even possible to reach.

"so you've found her!" a booming voice from below you called out to the captain.

keith shadis.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

you hadn't been let off lightly (that was obvious, special treatment did not exist in the training corps even if you thoroughly believed that you deserved it).

but as you slammed the door to your room with ill-contained anger, you became well aware of what keith and captain levi were going to do.

angry with not only yourself, but with your ex-husband and your arch nemesis, you aggressively pulled open the drawer attached to your bed-side table, strong enough to actually detach it completely. and that only made you more indignant.

you placed the broken drawer on top of the table and pulled out your long forgotten diary. dust had collected on top of it, flying around your eyes when you blew it away and patted at it. it was a silly, old thing. something to just write your thoughts in (one of the villagers in your home town suggested it a long time ago, and that was a different story). it had been neglected for a while, every memory of using it locked in the back of your mind all the way up until now.

it was a journal styled book, with pages incredibly similar to the texture and warm colour of fresh parchment paper. as you opened the book, your eyes merely skimmed over the rough doodles and bad handwriting:

you sighed as you stared at the first couple of pages of your diary. those were easier times, ancient ones, but easier all the same. that version of you, the one that first started the corps, clearly did not know what difficulty she'd be put through later on.

you hurriedly flipped over to the next blank page. your eyebrows raised when you looked at the date of the last time you had written in there: november 29th 848. that was just before your meeting with commander erwin. you hadn't updated your diary on that event, but that was fine. you had other matters to address.

pulling your wooden chair back eagerly, the legs screeching loudly against the floor boards, you sat yourself down and reached for your pen, writing down the date and the events of your dreadful day.

it hadn't been too long before you found yourself completely invested in writing more and more in your diary. but because of the new (and constant) gentle knocking on your door, you had to stop yourself, making a literal note to update the book soon.

after being publicly embarrassed, you were almost one hundred percent certain that the person behind your door was marco. he had seen it all and he was always the type to comfort you when you needed it. right now, though? you needed time to yourself. you needed to vent out your anger. you needed to scream, be put in a room where you could smash things (particularly the heads of your ex-husband and your rival).

surprised, you nearly kicked yourself at how the thought of hitting your ex had even come to mind, even if it did sound enticing.

knock, knock!

your chair squeaked against the floor as you stood up, pushing it away from you absentmindedly as you turned to the door and silently shouted curse words at it. to be fair, your words weren't directly targetted at the person behind the door, more so at keith and captain levi. still, you had taken the anger out on yourself all the same, gripping onto the roots of your hair in a silent threat to pull it off your scalp.

you mimed punching the door, fists clenched as you shook them.

the door had opened.

and it wasn't even marco that had been behind it.

it was mina.

and she had just witnessed your silent tantrum, eyes narrowed as her brows furrowed, hand held up as if she was about to knock again.

you froze, moved back to a normal stance, and stared back at her, blank faced.

"erm," she began, clearing her throat and wiping the palm of her hand on her pants. "you didn't come down for dinner, so i was wondering what you were -- what you were up to..."

you didn't say anything, tilting your head to the side as you awaited for a complete explanation of what she needed now.

"but if you're busy..." she continued, sounding unsure of how to react. her brows rose after the odd look on her face left. "well you looked busy --"

"get out."

"ok."

you had followed her out of your dorm despite the weird encounter.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

captain levi was very irritated.

very.

and who was it all because of?

well you of course! you were, he decided, practically the bane of his existence.

he had spent the last twenty minutes or so having a discussion with shadis about you in the commandant's office. the two had gone through a list of the punishments you had been given for previous misbehaviour (and mind you, there were a lot). captain levi had never seen so many reports in one file.

it only made his stomach flip over on itself when he had reminded himself that he would probably have to deal with this in a couple of months seeing as you were adamant on joining the scout regiment for whatever stupid reason. were you giving him a simple taster of what was to come? was this you preparing him for the trouble you would have him endure once you joined?

shadis had informed the captain that he had inflicted every form of punishment the training corps allowed to be used on its cadets.

every. single. one.

and your behaviour, if anything, had possibly turned over to be at its worst: it seemed that disrespecting the captain of the scout regiment was crossing the line, for shadis had come up with a brand new form of punishment, designed specifically for you... and if the training corps ever encountered another cadet as wild as you in future (though it was clear that both shadis and captain levi doubted it ever would).

and shadis, the actual bastard, had put the job of breaking the news to you to him -- captain levi.

that was what pissed him off.

firstly, you weren't even at dinner where you should have been. each cadet is legally required to be provided three meals a day, and it was crucial that everyone had their foodwith the amount of training and energy needed for a regular day.

secondly, your friends had no idea where you were too. apparently, you hadn't been seen since the cat and mouse game you had played earlier. when he asked them why they hadn't looked for you (were they not supposed to be your friends?) they made it quite clear to the captain that you evoked fear from everyone -- even if they did not voice this.

so you were missing and captain levi had no idea when he was supposed to alert you of your brand new punishment. oh, and did he mention that the punishment was supposed to start from tomorrow, too?

he stood by the double doors of the mess hall, watching as the girl with pigtails -- the one who had handed him her pocket watch earlier -- walked past him, heading towards the dorms.

he was the captain of the scout regiment. scouting did not mean that he had to scout the whole of the training fields in search for you, a regular cadet. this was never mentioned in his contract; he had not signed himself up for this. even escaping the wrath of a titan was easier than the task forcefully handed to him by shadis, the bald coward. the commandant was your mentor, his responsibility. not the captain's -- at least, not yet.

after contemplating his life choices for a few more minutes, he found himself growing more agitated at the realisation that you were probably hiding in your dorm room.

the very area in which men were not allowed to enter.

he huffed, brows furrowing in fury and eyes glinting with annoyance. only you would put him through the shame of walking down the girls' barracks where he was not actually allowed to be.

and that's where he found himself: walking down the girls' barracks in search for your dorm, ignoring the odd glances sent to him by several random female cadets as he plucked up the courage to ask one of them where your room was.

he did not wait for any questions the second the answer was given before darting forwards to find you.

where the hell is hange when you need her? he grumbled to himself in his mind, a black cloud of negativity looming over his head as he neared the door to your room.

he probably would have yelled out in frustration if he wasn't already being watched by several people.

your stupid door was left open.

and that only meant one thing.

he stepped inside, dread filling his stomach: you were absent.

i walked all the way down here for nothing? he questioned silently, repressing the urge to kick the leg of your wooden chair and snap it in half.

he nearly turned away, about to storm off when something had caught his eye. your drawer was broken, left unattended on top of your table. he drew closer, unsure why, but he did, mildly interested.

the drawer was nearly empty, filled with hair ties and a few pens.

but the thing sitting beside it was what peaked his interest more than he would have liked.

curious, he eyed the open book, feeling foolish when he had come under the impression that he had seen the nickname he had given her written down somewhere there.

but he was right.

his eyes scanned the page, pointer finger sliding down the paper when he had seen it:

'he made everyone call me fart girl!'

and he felt even more dotish when he had taken more than a minute to realise that this was your diary.

he flipped the page back, more engrossed than he would have liked to admit as he picked up the thick book and leaned against your table to read.

what the fuck?

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

he was back in his own office, having analysed your diary once more.

it was a good thing that his reaction time had been tested several times on expeditions, for he was equally prepared when the door had open loudly without warning.

he knew it was hange: she was the only one in the entire regiment who had never bothered to knock.

and therefore, there was more haste than he usually had in hiding that book of yours inside his own drawer (much less prone to breaking, might he add).

but perhaps he had been a little more slower than usual, or maybe the look on his face was more neutral than usual, for hange's eyes had narrowed behind the usual glasses she wore, looking at him with that look.

that look, the one where she used her brain to uncover secrets, puzzles and complicated plans.

there were few things in this world that worried captain levi. along with you being one of them, that look hange had settled comfortably on her face was another.

"what?" he snapped, irritated.

maybe his bark had a little more bite to it too, because the section commander's brows rose significantly.

"why do you look like that?" she asked, ask though she were uncovering the most fascinating thing in the world. it was the look she had when trying to discover the nature of titans.

he stared at her, deadpanned.

"like what?"

"like you've just seen a ghost," she answered, stepping inside his office without his permission (as per usual, he had gotten used to it). "like you're hiding something --"

"get out."

"not until you tell me what you're hiding!" sang hange, walking further inside despite the captain's demand that she leave.

"not hiding anything," he lied calmly, picking up his discarded pen and scribbling random notes over his very important papers. he would worry about the damage later, he decided. "now leave."

hange continued as if she hadn't heard his final comment. "no! now, what's your secret, levi?"

"hange --"

"come on, levi!" said hange, standing up straighter than usual and placing a hand over her heart. "i won't tell anyone, scouts honour!"

it didn't take long before levi had finally decided that he had had enough and personally kicked hange out himself.

she found herself standing outside his office, face met with his office door.

she would find out what the secretive shorty is hiding.

she was determined.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・

can anyone guess what her punishment will be? i highly doubt any of the guesses will be right... as mentioned, it's very unique ;)

all characters belong to hajime isayama, apart from y/n, who i've inserted into the story myself.

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next chapter :)

taglist: (send an ask to be added)

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#levi aot #levi x reader #levi x you #levi snk #levi ackerman x reader #levi attack on titan #levi ackerman fluff #levi ackerman oneshot #levi x y/n #levi ackerman #captain levi x you #captain levi #captain levi x reader #attack on titan #start of a new obsession #aot x y/n #aot x you #aot x reader #soano

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spacenintendogs · 6 months

Note

Hi! I love your art and I’m so curious to know what your art process is like!

i've been trying to figure out how to answer this & i've honestly realized that my process is a mess LOLOL i did record myself!!! drawing fishlegs bc he is the fave & easiest for me to draw! i hope everything i explain under the read more makes sense!!

it took me over 44 minutes to draw & the screen recording in the art program i use (autodesk sketchbook) brought it down to about 7 minutes and 25 seconds. i didn't wanna speed it up even more bc it'd be way too fast & jarring i think but!! i've uploaded the video to youtube (with some animal crossing music <3)!! i will still try to explain what i did here tho!!

my initial sketches are EXTREMELY loose! i start with the head by drawing a circle & extending past it for the chin of the character & proceed to do the nose, eyes, & mouth!! hair is next, but if there's a helmet i need to draw, i'll do that before the hair!! then i'll do the body starting from the shoulders & going down!! for the hands i just do circles/a general shape! no details!!

the sketch layer is a layer of black for the brush color with with lower opacity

i immediately do lines on top with the same brush but with black at full opacity on the kayer above!! this time i actually take my time to be more careful with details BUT i am still very sketchy & if smth isn't 100% accurate after i try a few times, i leave it be! hands however...

i almost always end up taking a photo of my hands using the front facing camera set to a 5 second timer on my phone! i also draw using my phone so it's literally having everything i need all in one place lol!! i do trace my own hands but obv i adjust based on what i'm drawing!! fish's hands are def gonna be wider than mine!!

NOW for color i color pick directly from screenshots!! however i use it mostly for flats & then pick my own for shading!! let's focus on the flats for now!! i start with the skin always!! the skin is going to have color layers above and below it, so it's easier for me to see where everything else will go if i've got the skin all settled. here you can see my color layers!! these are ALL flats!!

shading & lighting i don't rlly... focus on being accurate 100% but i try to do it based on where a shadow would absolutely be/to give the appearance of some type of depth (my art is very flat either way tho!) like where his lower hand is cupping i'll shade but leave the top of the upper hand unshaded for the most part! i lay out everything in a multiply layer first (can be any color u want based on the vibe u want!!) & then use a smudge tool to blend it out!! same goes for the lighting layer!!!

my art overall is a lot of scribbling big lines & curves then using the lineart to do the same but slowly make adjustments until it looks acceptable to me. it's SO much erasing & reshaping & i always have sketch lines everywhere but i like how it looks. it looks like i drew it, u know? plus the httyd books art style is a HUGE inspiration to me, at my core. i didn't even realize it was until ppl on here pointed it out :') i also enjoy drawing fast & moving on!! which is just smth i've trained myself to do since my star fox days (the reason i draw in the first place!!)

thank u!!!! i hope this made sense!!

#rose answers #evilwriter37 #httyd #fishlegs ingerman #httyd fanart #🌹 art #i hope this makes sense!!!!!!!#this was rlly fun to do!!!#i'm so unaware of my own process that i feel like it's a lil painful to watch the screenrecording of me #BUT u know what it works!!!!#also: i love drawing freckles LOLOL

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wainwrightjakobshammerlock · 5 months

Text

THE WAINLOCK GUIDE

Preface

Hello! Welcome to the Wainlock guide! I’m Nikolai Jakobslock, your host and number one scholar in the ways of Borderlands old man bara. Today I will be presenting you with my Knowledge of these two silly peepaws, and how to write them; and trust me, I am qualified to speak on this topic. They do not call me the CEO of Wainlock for nothing.

DISCLAIMER 1: Certain aspects of this, especially the symbols sections, are subjective. Like all fictional characters, these two are ultimately up to interpretation. Here, I am just laying down the way I personally interpret these two, and what I can extrapolate from canon.

DISCLAIMER 2: This text assumes you have played BL3 and BL2, and have at least basic familiarity with these two. I am not going to explain the entire Borderlands lore here. Go watch EruptionFang’s timeline for that, or whatever. I tried to be comprehensive, but even I have my limits.

DISCLAIMER 3: This might be a little bit incoherent because I have ADHD, which means I have a crippling addiction to writing walls of text. Also, English is not my first language. Sorry.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Usual Borderlands fare (gore, animal and human death, guns), alcohol, drugs, mentions of sexual assault, abuse, parental neglect.

Sir Alistair Hammerlock(-Jakobs)

Backstory

Hammerlock is from the planet Hermes. Not much is known, but it apparently has a thin, helium-rich atmosphere, and forests. It is ultimately up to you how you interpret this information, as we haven’t visited the place yet.

It’s unclear when he left home, but what is somewhat clear is that he left early and has no intentions of returning. His family is, or at least styles themselves, like a noble house; getting rich off of questionable ventures (they have what he calls “blood money”) and genuinely being shady as all fuck. Additionally, his father was needlessly harsh (sending him to Pandora as a punishment for swearing in a formal environment), and his mother doesn’t seem to be a good person either, considering how even Aurelia is waiting for her to die.

While he is by no means poor, he seems to live (or have lived, until he literally married into a multi trillion dollar megacorporation) in relative squalor compared to his turbo-mansion owning sister, so it’s safe to say he inherited none of his family’s fortune. (Not to mention how rusty and scrappy his prosthetics look.) He represents the trope of the impoverished blue-blood, as well as someone who defected from what we might consider decadence.

Hammerlock is a hunter, adventurer and gentleman. He is described as such in his very intro cards, and this has echoed through his entire character.

He has been all over the Borderlands, perhaps even all over the Six Galaxies, and seems to have a “this reminds me of…” for every situation. He worked in corporate advertising, he’s seen wonders beyond imagining, he’s written at least one book on the myriad creatures of the galaxy. He’s befriended pretty much every Vault Hunter of note. Both Eista (a fellow hunter) and the lore book admit he has a legendary reputation.

That being said, of course, a life of adventure isn’t so glamorous as it seems. He admits to having a large collection of scars from being shot, bitten and mauled so much, and there’s even a line that implies he was once sexually assaulted. And of course, then there’s Old Slappy.

Personality

Despite the trauma mentioned above, Alistair doesn’t seem to budge from his shiny, chipper demeanor. He’s probably the nicest guy on Pandora, in fact.

He’s honest, kind, doesn’t get angry when the player messes up a sidequest and kindly explains what you need to do.

However, he also doesn’t often show explicit (negative OR positive, though mostly negative) emotion. Rarely does his steely gentleman persona - or perhaps, armor - break. The closest it gets is in either his Parting Words echolog, when he seems on the verge of crying as he says what he thinks is his last “farewell”, or in the ending of Guns, Love and Tentacles, where his voice cracks TWICE as his concern for his beloved reaches its apex.

Also in that ending, he admits he “was so afraid”. This is one of the only 2 times he genuinely admits fear (outside of the immensely gentlemanly and polite expression “I’m afraid I…”), and this is understandable. He’s a fearless adventurer! He’s not afraid of anything!

Except he is. He very much is. He just does not admit it to anyone willy nilly.

In fact, he doesn’t admit much of his emotions in general. He is a stoic, the archetypal gentleman with a stiff upper lip. (This is far more pronounced in BL2 than in BL3: I choose to interpret it as Wainwright helping his beloved open up a little.) But it is a facade, and underneath is a tangled bundle of repressed emotions.

What is NOT a facade, however, is his sheer hope. Regardless of the things he’s seen, he does seem to genuinely believe in the inherent goodness and kindness of people. He was willing to give Aurelia one last chance, even after all she’s done.

Keep in mind to not mistake this for naivety or harmlessness, of course. Alistair is intelligent, and as bloodthirsty as you’d expect a seasoned explorer of the Borderlands to be. In fact, his thrill-seeking tendencies sometimes even teeter on the masochistic. I wouldn’t be surprised if his (human) killcount was in the early triple digits.

His passion for and dedication to his life’s work as a zoologist is equally admirable, and personally reminds me of the way an autistic is passionate for their special interest (because I am autistic). This is a man with a zest for life, and enough energy to power a large city for a week.

Dialogue

Alistair speaks with that typical, quintessential Received Pronunciation accent. His voice is crisp, clear, melodic.

His vocabulary is very sizable. Often will he use complex, sophisticated words, and that often ends up with his lines being overly verbose. Like, really long. I recommend picking up a thesaurus to find the fanciest synonyms you can find.

If he does swear, it’s usually something light like “bloody”, or a verbose/fancy version of a preexisting swear, like “fecal matter!” instead of “shit!”.

Despite him talking like the Victorian English gentleman directly stolen from a steampunk novel that he is, he is not above peppering in the occasional hard swear or funny word. “I’m standing right here, dude.” comes to mind. Also, I just think he should be allowed to say fuck in sufficiently emotionally charged situations.

Speaking of those, we don’t really ever see him having a proper breakdown, but if he would, I think he’d just vomit a tide of half-formed word salad.

Associations, Symbols, Motifs, Etc.

This section is subjective.

Air, weather, wind (something something Hermes is the god of messengers)

Lightning, energy

The Sun

Snow (NOT ice, that’s his sister’s thing)

Nature, fauna (obviously), but also human naturalism; awareness of man as an animal with biological functions or as a persistence predator

Animal death: bones, teeth, fossils, leather-bound books, fur coats, taxidermy

Precision, finesse (it’s weapon based characterization: sniper rifles are his preference after all)

The ideal of a medieval knight: chivalry and nobility but also armor and weapons

Swords, rapiers, knives; scissors, needles, razors

Mechanisms, specifically clockwork (steampunk comes to mind again)

Glass & earthenware in general, especially cracked (scarred)

Travel, motion

Metals: silver, copper, brass and bronze; anything molten, polished or scratched

Light

Sugar, particularly sugary baked goods (biscuits), with the exception of certain savory flavors like meat

What NOT to do

DO NOT give out first name privileges to too many characters.

The only people in the series who ever call Alistair by his first name are his sister and his husband. Everyone else calls him Hammerlock. If someone calls him by his first name, it better fucking be someone important to him, like a long-time close friend.

DO NOT fall into racist cliches holy fuck man.

If I have to see one more work where a character of color is described as having chocolate colored skin I will go insane. There’s, like, a 100000 descriptors you can use and you choose the racist cliche.

DO NOT ignore the fact he’s disabled.

Do some research on phantom pains, how prostheses can be both useful and cumbersome (often the latter).

Wainwright Del Frisco Jakobs(-Hammerlock)

Backstory

Wainwright’s homeworld is Eden-6, which is thankfully a location we can visit in game. In fact, we can even visit his ancestral home, the Jakobs Estate.

As far as we know, he has never been offworld until Alistair sort of dragged him out of his house and into the great beyond. He knows the nooks and crannies of the manor like the back of his own hand, and uses that knowledge to outrun and misdirect Troy, among other things. In a way, he is that place, - explicitly being described as a homebody.

We do not know much about his mother Margaret, but he seems to miss her dearly. His father Montgomery however… well. Ol’ monty was quite neglectful. He refused to spend money to maintain certain parts of the estate, or to ensure his son had a good life. When Winny opened up about not feeling strongly about running the family business, Monty seems to have pinned the blame on his son’s boyfriend, and not on his own shitty parenting.

That being said of course, it’s not like Wainwright didn’t go out of the house at all. ECHO logs describe him as going to bars around the basin, mingling with the “common folks”, things like that. For an heir to a megacorporation, he sure is surprisingly down to earth (in stark contrast with Katagawa Jr., another corpo higher-up we meet in BL3).

Additionally, before the CoV killed everyone, the manor was full of staff and relatives and visitors. It was alive, its own microcosm of the world, and young Wainwright definitely made friends with a great many of them.

Now, they’re all gone, and the manor’s empty and largely unused. Decrepit, even. But he could restore it to glory.

Not to mention the mistakes his corporate predecessors have made are waiting for him there, in his office, to be unfortunately discovered…

Personality

Wainwright is a fairly simple, good ol’ boy. Humble, insecure, even anxious - but also painfully stubborn (that last one is a Jakobs family trait, if a certain line is to be believed).

He is far more open about his emotions, and not just when he’s drunk. Sometimes he curses like a witch, yet joyfully exclaims just how much he’s glad that the Vault Hunter saved his life (thank you David Wald, you really put your whole pussy into this performance).

Speaking of drunkenness, this is a crucial part of him, and not just because he drinks whiskey a lot. At best, he’s a social drinker and at worst he’s drowning his sorrows.

He’s somewhat grumpy, with some of that old man crankiness in him, but also not really. Preferring peace and quiet, he himself is fairly peaceful, but heavens fucking help you if you disturb him. In essence, the guy’s a period piece white suit wearin’ southern gentleman: charming, fine, but also fairly “stiff” or “slow”. Except without the shitty parts (i.e. racism), thank god.

Wainwright is fiercely protective of his own, being prepared to sacrifice anything for them - including himself, even (back to that humbleness and insecurity, but with a selfless bent). He’s also not above using underhanded tactics to get what he wants (back to that stubbornness again) from people he doesn’t trust or like. He’s the Wisdom to Alistair’s Intelligence, if that makes any sense; he can be a little bit clueless sometimes (you’re supposed to run AWAY from the glowing pit cultists are sacrificing people to, not towards it!).

For people he does trust, though - he definitely believes in fairness and kindness. Reliance, civility, honor, all that, are qualities he absolutely has even if he doesn’t think so.

He’s not particularly out for blood unless it’s revenge related or self defense, but this being Borderlands his killcount is absolutely above 0.

Personally, I think he also has a slight epicurean or perhaps even hedonist streak, enjoying and savoring life’s pleasures as they come and go, but understanding that suffering is a painful, inevitable part of life.

Dialogue

Wainwright speaks in a typical southern accent, even though Eden-6 being the Space Louisiana that it is, you’d expect a specifically Cajun accent (and to me, this man is 100% Cajun as fuck). If TvTropes is to be believed, then this is something that happens often, but y’know. His voice is warm, soft, flowin’.

Somehow, his speech strikes a perfect balance between crass and classy. He often uses wacky, flowery country metaphors and idioms, but also perfectly enunciates words like “perforate”, knowing what they mean. His vocabulary is as rich as Alistair’s if not more (reading a ton of books will do that, but also Monty says shit like morose ruminations, so.), he just doesn’t use big words as often.

He also swears much, much more frequently. When he’s drunk, or emotionally riled up, he swears up a storm. Unfortunately he never says the f word because Gearbox was too afraid to give him such power, lest his homosexuality evaporate the CoV in 5 seconds (joke).

Associations, Symbols, Motifs, Etc.

This section is subjective.

Earth, soil, mud

Gunpowder, smoke, ash, oil

The Moon

Gardens (something something Eden is garden of paradise, something something the untended gardens of the Jakobs Estate)

Fire: specifically in the context of the hearth, the fireplace, or guns

Guns and gun parts (obviously)

Wood (including woody smells like sandalwood, pine sap and cedar), paper

Cloth, silk, treated leather. Also sewing

Metals: iron, lead, gold (including in the context of gold = money, riches)

Force, strength (again, think of it as weapon-based characterization: he uses a shotgun)

The comforts of home, stillness

Doors and doorways, curtains, hallways, furniture

Time and its passing: people and alcohol aging, rotting wood, heritage and inheritance

The archetype of a king or heir to the throne

Blood, bandages

Repair, mending and maintenance, whether literal or metaphorical

Salt, with the exception of “old fashioned” sweets like syrup or honey

THE HEART STILL BEATS! THE HEART STILL BLEEDS!

What NOT to do

DO NOT assume he’s uneducated just because he’s got a southern accent.

This guy was born into a rich ass corporate family. He can perfectly say “fatal testicular devastation” without falling over his words. He’s a bookworm on levels heretofore unseen. He probably had an expensive university, or perhaps personally tutored education. This man is wise, just in different situations than Alistair is.

DO NOT type out the accent too much.

But also, DO NOT not type it out at all. Typing out those in’s and an’s can actually assist the reader with imagining his voice, recognize when he speaks, AND it’s canon accurate because the in-game subtitles also do that!

Then how much should you DO type it out? See above: around as much as the in-game subtitles would. I personally like to type it out more strongly when Wainwright is tired, and weakly when he’s pissed, but to each their own.

DO NOT ignore the fact that he’s disabled.

Yes I am saying this again. He’s half blind, and it affects him greatly. And it doesn’t look like it can be replaced with an artificial one - though if it could, I doubt he’d want it at this point.

Also he’s old. He’s probably got them creaky joints.

Putting Them Together

General Feel

They’re in love. They’re so painfully, and deeply, and sweetly in love.

They met on a hunting expedition which Monty arranged (and then it bit him in the ass a little LMAO), and it kinda went from there.

Their relationship is already long-term by BL3, based on trust and communication. They are comfortable with one another, willing to be vulnerable. Opening each other up, seeing both the good and the bad, and accepting all of it.

Their loyalty towards one another is unquestionable. If one ordered the other to kill, the other would most likely not hesitate. Speaking of violence, their fighting styles are directly opposite to one another, but would actually synergize really well together.

Of course, they bicker, like any old married couple does. But it’s all in good fun. If they have genuine disagreements, they talk them out like actual fucking adults, and either try to compromise or concede to the other temporarily. There’s no “power dynamic” bullshit involved here (outside of a sexual context, which is not something I will cover here), just two equals.

They’re very different - and both have their insecurities about this, which are explored in GL&T. But in the end, they love each other just as they are.

While the only things we canonically know they find attractive in one another are their accents and facial hair, I think a major point is the other’s personality, mind, outlook on existence. They both appreciate the world and affirm life, but in different ways: Alistair with his zest and energy, Wainwright with his calmness and slow enjoyment. In my friend’s words, they’re each other’s bitches who they pulled by being autistic. (And they definitely find each other hot and badass, let’s be real here.)

Their relationship has genuinely improved their lives, from what we can see: Wainwright gained the courage to stand up to his father, Alistair started being more expressive with their emotions. Doubtlessly this extends to other areas of their lives: Alistair being provided a place to rest from his adventures, Wainwright being dragged out from his home and experiencing the wonders of the world. They even hyphenated eachother’s surnames.

And, of course, Wainwright definitely uses some of his vast wealth to spoil his husband to bits. It’s what he deserves, really.

They say nobody’s funnier than queers, and they also say nobody’s funnier than disabled people. Well these two are both of those, and they crack jokes a lot! Not like your average Borderlands character, no - their domain is actually somewhat funny (in an old person way) dry one liners and silly quips.

Dynamics and Such

Wainwright as a sort of “dame (or rather, gentleman) of the heart”, a source of strength for Alistair, his meaning, which shelters him from fear. (“Give me strength, Winny. All I do, I do for you.”)

Alistair searching for something all his life, Wainwright waiting for something all his life. Obviously, this something is love.

Mutual admiration, almost worshipful reverence towards one another.

Silly little old men sitting on their silly little porch. Together. Gayly perhaps.

Culture shock. They come from two very different environments, and have very different tastes.

Generally just. Opposites attract. That is the core of their dynamic and one should keep that in mind.

Associations, Symbols, Motifs, Etc.

This section is subjective.

Juxtapositions of any kind, stark contrasts

Eclipses, stars

Things that should be complete opposites but actually strengthen one another: salted caramel, alloys of various metals, etc.

“Light” drugs: coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol. As well as different ways of enjoying them

Books

Suits and other finery

Disability

GUNS (again)

Nature, the world, seasons, flora AND fauna

Swordfighting, dueling, consensual & safe sparring

Domesticity in general: literally sleeping together, cooking, tidying the house

Burials, graveyards, memory

Hygiene, care; hair washing and cutting, shaving, bathing; wound mending

Old timey homosexual symbols: green carnations and lavender, outdated terms (even reclaimed slurs), aspects of kink, etc.

What NOT to do

DO NOT apply heteronormative dynamics to them.

No, Alistair is not feminine just because he’s nice or bottoms or whatever the fuck else. He’s not feminine at all, actually.

Speaking of which, I promised not to be too sexual here, but I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS - the top/bottom dichotomy seen in fandom is unrealistic. In general, but especially in this case. Not only does one’s sexual position indicate nothing about personality - position switching is actually an important part of a long term established relationship. So, avoid that shit like wildfire.

They’re both masculine, in the sense a fine gentleman is. Just because that masculinity is “dated” to our modern eyes doesn’t make it any less masculine. Fuck off.

DO NOT tag them if they’re a 5 second cameo. Or if they don’t even appear in the work yet.

Look, I get it. And if you’re reading this guide, you’re probably not the kind of person that would do that. But also, I am not in the Sir Hammerlock (Borderlands) tag to see your perpetually unfinished rewrite fic. Or to see your random ass ship fic that has jack shit to do with them.

“But what else do I use?!” MINOR OR BACKGROUND CHARACTER(S).

It’s fine if you have their wedding or the estate as the setting somehow. But if that’s the case, I hope they’re a BIT more than a 5 second cameo. They’re the hosts for fucks sake.

Sorry if I sound mad about this. It’s because I am.

Additional Resources

Onelook Thesaurus: my online thesaurus of choice. It also searches for synonyms, phrases, and words you can explain but don’t actually remember.

old men yaoi.zip: A .zip file of EVERY BL3 line of these two’s I could find that is not tied to a main quest, sidequest, or ECHO log in convenient .wav form. Ripped straight from the game. VERY useful, as “idle lines” often contain great trivia, but fishing for them in-game is a pain in the ass.

locres14.txt: The BL3 subtitle file, also directly ripped from the game. Incredibly large and not particularly helpful in of itself, but if you open it in Notepad++ for instance and use the search function you can find some good stuff. Particularly useful for writing dialogue, obviously.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this! I hope this will help at least one person write these two a little bit better. They’re my favorite characters in the entire series, and it saddens me to see they get barely any fancontent outside of what I make. (My fics constitute 31% of their AO3 tag, for fucks sake!)

#my post #borderlands #text post #long post #bl3 #alistair hammerlock #wainwright jakobs #wainlock #jakobs manor metas #old man yaoi #old men yaoi #old man bara #old men bara

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knickynoo · 11 months

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Back to the Future: The Animated Series, s01ep11 "Gone Fishin'" Review and Commentary

Previous episodes linked HERE

In this episode: Marty, Jules, and Verne try to undo one of Doc's deep-seated childhood traumas, only to end up sending his life wildly off course.

I shall preface this by letting anyone reading know that Tumblr has been messing up my gifsets and pictures in my previous posts. Gifs and pics that should be side by side end up enlarged and stacked vertically when viewed on the dashboard through a desktop. I've been unable to figure out how to fix it and have no clue why it's doing this to me. It is a source of great frustration and makes me not want to do these reviews anymore. But I'm trudging along. Just wanted to let people know in case it looked wonky. It's not on purpose!

Alrighty, let's dive in.

Okay, so this episode has my favorite live-action opening segment in the series thus far. We begin with black-and-white footage of Doc, accompanied by him doing a voice-over where he explains that he was visiting the 1920s. As he's doing the voice-over, the Doc on screen is just waving at the camera the entire time, and it is delightful. He becomes increasingly frantic as the waving goes on.

Doc goes on to explain that he'd been in the 1920s to meet Thomas Edison and get him to autograph a very large lightbulb, which we then see as we return to the "present day." Doc immediately drops and shatters it as he's showing it to us.

Quickly moving on from the tragedy (he says he'll make a return trip to get extra bulbs autographed) Doc goes on to talk about the '20s—silent films in particular.

"I'm sure you've all heard of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton," he says, "but only the real film historians among you recall Daredevil Brown. Talk about a Hollywood success story."

Hmm...well, that's an intriguing little piece of info, isn't it? Who is this Daredevil Brown?? Doc leads us into the cartoon to hear the full story. "It all began with a fishing trip," he tells us with a haunted expression.

We shall find out the reason for this expression shortly. Into the cartoon, we go!

While working in his lab, Doc is approached by Verne, who hands him a flyer for the upcoming "Father and Son Big Mouth Bass Off." It's apparently an annual Hill Valley event, and Verne really wants to go with his dad. Doc, however, reacts with immediate terror, crumples up the flyer, and quite literally begins convulsing as he tries to tell his son that he can't go. He then stumbles into the living room and collapses on the couch, still in an agitated state.

Jules decides to show Doc his new invention—a helmet that allows you to watch TV without disturbing others in the room with the images/sounds, and Doc figures trying it will be a good way to get his mind off of the terror he just experienced. Unfortunately, it's a rerun of The Andy Griffith Show, which, if you're familiar with it, has an opening sequence of the main character going fishing with his son. Doc rips off the device and runs straight into the wall.

I don't know about all of you, but I think Doc might have experienced some fishing-related trauma?? I mean. Just a guess.

Also, I would like to point out that throughout much of these opening scenes, Doc's eyes randomly turn blue, which is the second instance I've noticed of a character's eye color changing mid-scene (the first was in Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Race). And I'd really like to know why this was happening. Whoever was in charge of character eye color, you dropped the ball here. You probably didn't think anyone would be scrutinizing this series closely enough to notice 30+ years later, but you were wrong.

Getting back on track here, Jules and Verne sneak into their parents' bedroom that night with a plan to figure out what's going on with their father. Jules has invented a device consisting of an in-ear piece connected to a screen that allows someone to view the wearer's thoughts. Y'all, Jules is 10-years-old, and he's incomprehensibly brilliant. He just whipped up an invention to see a person's thoughts. This is something that can be put to horrible use if it falls into the wrong hands.

As they use the device, miniature versions of Jules and Verne appear on the screen and "travel" through Doc's brain. They pass a "brainstorm," a long pathway containing his "library of knowledge," and then come to a huge wall.

Whoever was in charge of spelling, you dropped the ball here, too. Admittance is spelled incorrectly.

I sincerely am curious as to how these mistakes slipped by and made it into the completed versions of the episodes. In a way, though, it kind of adds to the fun.

Jules gets a readout on the screen that says: "Memory block, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1926." With this information, the boys now know that something significant enough happened to their dad on this date that a gigantic wall was erected in his brain to block the whole thing out. The mini versions of Jules and Verne on the screen get out pickaxes and chip away at the block until they break through and can see the memory.

In a show so centered around time travel, I must remind myself to suspend my disbelief in these absolutely absurd and impossible moments.

Anyway, Jules and Verne access the hidden away memory and see their four-year-old father fishing. As he casts his line, he falls into the water, nearly drowns, and is terrorized by various sea creatures.

Nobody is around to run to his aid as he splashes around and calls for help. Jules and Verne feel it's their duty to travel back to that date and stop Doc from having this terrible, scarring experience.

As they sneak the DeLorean out of the garage, they're caught by Marty, who has decided it is of the utmost importance that he make a visit to Doc's house at 11:30 at night to get his hoverboard. Jules explains their plan, to which Marty replies, "Milwaukee? That must have been when Doc stayed with his oddball Uncle Oliver." And I must say that I like that Marty knows this little bit of Doc Brown trivia and that Doc has obviously told Marty at least this one story about his childhood.

Marty agrees to not tattle on the boys if they let him tag along? He tells them he wants to travel to a time when he'll be smarter than Doc. Off they go to 1926.

"How much can a little kid know?" Marty asks as they approach Little Doc, whom I will just refer to as Emmett from here on out. Everybody look at him, please.

As Marty immediately discovers, he is not smarter than this four-year-old version of his friend. After jokingly asking Emmett what he knows, Emmett replies, "Several languages, the Periodic Table, the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere, and the Encyclopedia from 'A' to 'Grrr.'" (He hasn't made his way through the FULL encyclopedia yet, evidently.)

While I know that this cartoon can hardly be considered canon to the world set up in the trilogy, I love that Emmett can speak multiple languages and wouldn't mind at all incorporating that into my general Doc Brown headcanons. I just wish he'd mentioned which ones he spoke. German is likely one, but I'm not sure about the others.

Emmett tells his new friends that he's waiting for his Uncle Oliver to take him fishing "like he promised" and then directs their gazes up to where Uncle Oliver is—wayyy up in the air—attempting to break the record for flagpole-sitting.

We quickly learn that Uncle Oliver is obsessed with trying to set records, perform wild acts, and become famous. Marty tries to persuade him to take his nephew fishing, but Uncle Oliver isn't that interested in Emmett—a trait that seems to be common amongst the Brown men. I am looking at you, Erhardt! >:(

Marty, Jules, and Verne opt to just take Emmett themselves, and Jules is able to get his future father to stand in a spot where he won't fall into the water. Instead, Marty falls in, lol.

While teaching him how to properly cast, Emmett ends up getting his line hooked to the underside of a small biplane and carried away.

The plane is part of a nearby stunt show, and Emmett gets taken along for the ride as it does loops and tricks in the air. Everyone watching from the stands is impressed by this young performer, and he quickly wins lots of adoring fans. When he's approached by a camera man who asks if he wants to be a star, Uncle Oliver's eyes turn into dollar signs, and he jumps at the chance to be Emmett's manager.

"All I wanted was to go fishing," Emmett points out. Too bad, buddy, you're about to be exploited by your uncle for fame and fortune. Uncle Oliver signs a contract with a famous producer who says he'll make Emmett a star. Marty and Verne are psyched by this development, but Jules (the only one with a brain) points out that they've seriously altered their father's life. The boys decide they have to monitor the situation closely.

From there, we go to Hollywood, where Emmett is quickly thrust into stardom. We see a clip of a silent film he's in, which includes a scene of him dangling from a very high clocktower by his suspenders, falling and bouncing around on a building's awnings, and landing in a fountain. He's dubbed "Daredevil Emmett" and quickly garners many fans.

Little Emmett's amazing feats capture the entire country, and he's soon got his own line of comics, a drink named after him, and multiple other products. He's on the radio, in the newspapers, and is being talked about all over.

Emmett is less than enthusiastic about the whole ordeal, but Uncle Oliver doesn't see any issue with it. He's loving living vicariously through his nephew and brushes off Marty's concern that all this daredevil stuff isn't good for Emmett. We then see the very lavish life that Emmett and Uncle Oliver are living.

...how long have Marty and the boys been in the '20s for all of this to be happening?? I mean, this all started with taking Emmett fishing, and now they're living in Hollywood; Emmett has become a movie star, has a line of products named after him, and has moved into a massive mansion with his uncle. Have they been in 1926 for months?

While Marty, Jules, and Verne are having fun in the pool, Emmett asks if he can swim with them, to which Uncle Oliver says no. He doesn't want to risk Emmett getting hurt, which would hurt his career. Emmett storms off angrily. Marty once again voices his concern for Emmett's well-being. This time, Oliver almost listens, but then he receives a phone call with an offer for Emmett to go over a waterfall while he's inside a barrel, and Oliver can't turn it down.

On the day of the stunt, Marty and the boys discover that the man behind the idea is D. W. Tannen. When Emmett expresses concern about the safety of everything, D. W. assures him he won't actually be going over the falls; a dummy will be in the barrel, and people will just think it's Emmett. Except, surprise! D. W. is lying, and he has no intention of switching a dummy into the barrel. He wants this to be real, and that means sending a four-year-old child over the edge of a waterfall. Nice guy.

Thankfully, Marty, Jules, and Verne, overhear D. W. talking, and Jules forms a plan to save his father. Marty's evidently a key part of the plan, and he and Jules have this exchange, which makes me laugh.

Jules's plan is to have Marty serve as a tightrope walker in the opening act—complete with gum stuck to the bottom of his shoes to keep him from slipping. While the crowd is distracted by Marty, Jules will stick a mini, spare flux capacitor to the barrel (which will have Verne in it, not Emmett) and transport the barrel someplace else.

Oliver, who is not in on the plan, actually gets a chance to redeem himself as he sees the barrel start to go toward the waterfall. Thinking his nephew is actually inside, he dives into the water to try to save him, finally coming to his senses about how money-hungry he'd become. Marty pulls Oliver out of the water, the barrel goes over the falls, and it's transported out of harm's way via the flux capacitor.. Back on the dock, Oliver and Emmett are reunited, and Oliver takes his nephew fishing.

With everything set back to normal, the boys return home, where they discover that Doc is now eager to join the father-and-son fishing tournament. The end!

Back in Real Doc's lab, he teaches us about gravity.

He also ends up dropping that bowling ball on his foot.

And that's the end of the episode. This one is a lot of fun, and I LOVED seeing the young version of Doc. He's adorable. I'm glad Uncle Oliver saw the error of his ways, but it took thinking his nephew was about to die going over a waterfall to change him. I wonder if Doc has any male family members who weren't terrible??

Anyway, good episode. Join me next time to watch Doc spiral into an existential crisis after thinking he's used up all his brainpower.

#back to the future #bttf: the animated series

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thegeminisage · 11 days

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ok, it's star trek update time. tonight we watched ds9's "playing god" and tng's "eye of the beholder."

playing god (ds9):

i'm trying. SO SO SO HARD to get into dax and it's just not working

out of the 3 dax episodes we've had so far this one included two of them have been mid and one of them was just slightly better than average mostly for the questions it prompted in my mind palace, not necessarily the questions asked by the episode itself

in s1 dax had basically no personality, but in s2 when she does have a personality it seems to be a different one every time. like in one episode she was very prissy and in others she's just one of the guys! and then at other times she reverts to this very buttoned up bordering on bland science officer from s1 again

and then every once in awhile she'll be like oh yeah i LOVE sex i LOVE being a super hot woman who everyone wants to FUCK!!! i can get whatever i want with my SEX APPEAL even though my hair is WEIRDLY SHAPED. and look i am so happy for her and she should literally get some but it borders on the kind of misogyny that starts genuinely annoying me. it is kind of like that anime trope where the teen boy gets put into a body with tits and he can't stop messing with them. its like. idk reducing her to a body, or reducing her to jadzia's body, which dax is taking for a ride to feel hot and fuckable?? it's very blurry what's jadzia and what's dax

WHICH is the most fascinating part of dax, which is where the trill ends and the symbiant or however you spell it begins, but we don't get into that quite as much as i'd like

anyway i guess a shifting personality is a natural result of living 7 lifetimes but it doesnt FEEL like thats why theyre doing it, it FEELS like they just cant seem to keep her consistent

that said. while i did not like this episode or this little guy dax was showing around i DID like the implication that curzon was actually a huge fucking asshole. i love that he can be loved by many people but was still an asshole. it's complex. and now one of the people he abused (?) or at least was an asshole to is now. his successor. IT'S COMPLEX!!! what are he and jadzia to each other...imagine meeting curzon dax and then just becoming him. that's wild. so, points for that! genuinely. it just feels like the trill thing is fascinating because of trills and not because of jadzia dax in particular. i'm gonna keep trying to like her. maybe once she starts banging worf things will be different

eye of the beholder (tng):

ohhhh i hated this one so much (suicide cw for this one lol)

firstly, i don't trust tng to handle the subject of suicide any more than i trust them to handle multiple personalities, but they tried to very special episode it anyway. all of them were so shocked at the very THOUGHT of it i guess because they eliminated all mental illness in tos?? but it was so funny in the rage-inducing way like "maybe he needed to think of the obstacles in his life as challenges to overcome!" come on.

also lmao picard like ive never had to report a suicide before...........girl you have literally told 2 people to kill themselves

and then they dropped the very special episode plot halfway through for this psychic mystery...

here's the thing. if everyone had been searching for a REASON someone who seemed to be perfectly happy would do this, and in the end the answer was just "nothing was going on, he was just hiding a lot of pain, even if we don't want to believe that" that would have been a STELLAR gutpunch. but there literally was foul play involved

AND NOT ONLY THAT! BUT THEY FAKED ME OUT WITH WORF E DEANNA

my ONLY consolation was that they were finally kissing and then later fucking but NO!!!! all a dream

i was already conflicted because deanna e worf means a temporary breakup from deanna e riker but i wanted it anyway and i was so happy when they gave it to me and then they KILLED IT? maybe the actors hated it because it fucking sucked

like, no wonder everybody let deanna walk around unsupervised when there was a high suicide danger. she was dreaming. no one in real life would ever allow this

i wish also that creepy men would stop coming to deanna's quarters to be creepy to her

final note: was told the creepy man was in spn. clocked him as alistair almost immediately. faceblind WHO

TOMORROW: ds9's "prophet and loss" and tng's "genesis" (dread).

#personal #star trek blogging #ds9 lb #tng lb

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panicked-herb · 1 month

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Critique of Fionna and Cake’s Season Finale

It’s been a good couple months since the Fionna and Cake series finale came out. At first it felt lackluster to me, then it felt extremely disappointing, then gradually I felt more and more meh about it. I could see what they were trying to do, but it kept bothering me how bad the finale was in comparison to the earlier episodes.

Now I finally have time to write out my thoughts about it and make it everyone else's problem.

Important note before I start: All of this is just my opinions on a TV-14 show. If you disagree, that’s great and I’d be interested to hear why. Just please be respectful.

What I Liked

The animation and visual storytelling was great. I liked that at the bus stop, they initially had Simon place Betty on the step below him, but later had him place her next to him. Too bad the writing doesn’t back this up (more on that later).

The voice acting was good. This isn’t my forte, so no comments besides that.

Most of the jokes landed for me. Especially Pawn Swan. He was easily the best part of Cheers for me.

I loved the Lich speech to Glob

Blue Shift is such a feel good song it almost made me like the ending.

What I Didn't Like

Catharsis

My second biggest issue with these episodes is how little catharsis there was. We got to see Fionna get upset and cry, but that was mostly because the Scarab was kicking everybody's ass. I wished we got to see Cake get upset about how people don’t see her for who she is. Or potentially exploring her fears of going back to being a normal cat.

I especially wished we got to see Simon ugly cry. This man has been through an apocalypse, lost his sanity, lost the love of his life, been depressed for years, and is now trying to curse himself. Dude literally said he missed being the Ice King because he was so out of it most of the time he didn’t realize how messed up his life was. He felt like almost everybody preferred him when he was cursed. Then he finally sees GolBetty after years of searching for a way to cure her, only to fail. There should have been some waterworks going on.

Pacing

Generally, the pacing felt too slow for me. It made the episodes feel more like a second or third draft vs a finale result. The biggest offender to me was all the fights against the Scarab. Each individual battle was fine, but there were too many of them. We know the Scarab isn’t going to destroy their world in the end, so all the fights don’t do much besides look cool. Which would be fine, if they weren’t trying to make it emotionally impactful.

This is relatively minor, but it bothers me that Casper and Nova are mostly in the episode Cheers when in basically all of the other episodes, the titular character(s) are the main focus for that episode. I think this could have been fixed, if they just cut back on the number of times they fight the Scarab.

Pay Off

There were a lot of Chekov’s guns that either didn’t get fired or turned out to have only blanks (basically you could remove them from the story and it wouldn’t affect the plot much).

No Pay Off

Simon and Marceline’s phone call/ relationship: I know I wasn’t the only one hoping to see these two reunite after Simon tried to curse himself again.

Dirt beet guys manuscript: This is minor, but I just feel like it would have been easy to fix.

The time core: This is a classic case of Adventure Time world building, where they introduce a cool concept, but don’t do much with it. I don’t know what I wished they did with it. But I would have liked for them to do something.

Disappointing Pay Off

Cosmic entities that the Scarab imprisoned: Cake lets them go and they fight the Scarab. But that fight lasts for like a minute. We also see Kheirosiphon in the ending credits. But besides that, we don’t see much else.

Everything in You song: The song is only used as a segway into the final flash back of Simon’s and Betty’s relationship. I’ll give it credit, the song is good and the scene is cute. However, you could remove it and there would be almost no effect. Considering Glob’s weakness is harmony (music), I really thought they were going to do something with it.

Fionna’s top fantasy: Throughout the series, Fionna makes references to her dream fantasies (EX: castle made out of candy). We learn what her top fantasy is after their universe already becomes canon and they’re in their final (unnecessary) fight against the Scarab. Her top fantasy turns out to be turning into a giant woman. Ignoring the Totally Spies vibes that scene gives me, I think they really missed an opportunity to make this really sweet. In the final scene, instead of Fionna saying “Just a normal world.” She could have said something along the lines of, “This is my top fantasy”

Fionna and Cake turning things normal in other universes: Ignoring the Winter King, this plot point does almost nothing. Sure, Cake accidentally turns BMO into an alarm clock, but BMO was already dead. There’s also the Scarab’s speech, “All the worlds you've visited, all the people you've infected. Your little trip must have shown you the truth. It would be better for everyone if you were just gone.” But they themselves don’t ruin that many worlds. The only reason for them seriously thinking that is the Winter King. But he was a grade A asshole and removing his magic freed Princess Bubblegum from the madness he imposed on her.

Casper and Nova

Before I start this section, there are two important things for me to mention

I should note that I've had over ten years to theorize about Simon and Betty. Naturally, I’ve probably forgotten some of my head cannons and character interpretations aren’t actually canon. Especially since we never really got much screen time for the two before Fionna and Cake. It also doesn’t help that Simon/ Ice King’s character arc hits close to home for personal reasons I’m not sharing in a tumblr post. But, it does mean that I’ve probably projected some of my feelings onto those characters at some point.

I’ve never particularly liked how Betty’s been written. I wished she got more screen time in the original show and I STRONGLY dislike that they introduced the fact that she didn’t go on an expectation she was really excited about for a man she’s known for one day in one of the final episodes of the show. To me, it turned her character from an impulsive, headstrong woman who for all intents and purposes is stuck on an alien planet and the only person she knows who is still alive has magical dementia to a fucking manic pixie dream girl. She doesn’t need to have always been completely obsessed with Simon to explain why she’s going to desperate measures to save him. Once again, he’s the only person she knows in Ooo, but as the Ice King he’s basically a stranger. She also convinced him to give up his only chance to die as himself with the hope that she could save him. Finally, she loves him and doesn’t want him to suffer.

Casper and Nova are pretty explicitly supposed to be narrative parallels to Simon and Betty and help show Simon the issues in their relationship. A lot of defense I’ve seen against criticism about this part of the story comes from a place of assuming the fandom is owo-ing the male character and doesn’t want to admit he has flaws. To be fair, it is a reasonable knee jerk reaction to have. Fandom has a LONG history of doing shit like this and villainizing women. But, at least in my case, this isn’t what's happening.

Casper and Nova aren’t on equal footing because Nova keeps making unseen sacrifices for Casper and they always do things Caspers way. The moral that Simon is supposed to take from them is that he/ Casper should have realized how much Betty/ Nova was sacrificing for him all the time, stopped, and supported her. However, this isn’t the main issue Simon and Betty have.

There are a total of two times where Simon does kind of stand to the side while Betty sacrifices herself:

The first trip planned to study petroglyphs in Australia: Simon jokingly offers Betty to go on his expedition with him. She accepts, which surprises him, and mentions offhandedly that she had another trip planned. Maybe he could have told her she could always go on another trip with him sometime else. But he could have just as easily assumed she wasn’t really interested in her original plan and if he asked if she was sure, it could come off as him telling her not to go.

The second trip planned to study petroglyphs in Australia: Simon stops Betty before she leaves for the bus and in the heat of the moment he says he always wants her by his side always. Betty still could have easily just given him his number and still go on her trip or they just agree to meet up later. Also, the show makes a point that Simon should have gone on the trip with her. I would like to note that Betty was planning to leave the day Simon realizes she has feelings for him. I don’t know how archeological expeditions exactly work, but joining so last second seems really rude to me. Also, he would have either needed to pack really quickly or bring nothing with him for a six month long trip. To add on, he won’t know what type of funding that trip was. For all he knew, it only had funds to send Betty over.

More often than not, we actually see Simon recognizing the sacrifices Betty is making and actively trying to stop her:

Betty time traveling into the future and away from basically everything she knows: Simon originally time travel calls her to apologize and tell her that he forgives her for leaving him as a way to allow her to move on. Betty chooses to jump through the portal.

Dedicating herself to save him: Simon literally begged Betty to let him die rather than turning back into the Ice King. He only changes his mind after she begs him to give her a chance to save him. Everything she does afterwards, he’s either basically passed out or is cursed.

Merging with Glob: Simon begged Betty to forget the crown and escape Golb with him and Finn. Betty pushed him out of there and merged with Golb. Simon spent years trying to find a way to unfuse her with Golb.

Not getting any acknowledgement for helping to find the Enchiridion: Simon wanted both of them to get credit. Betty told him that she wanted him to get all the credit. He awkwardly, but professionally, told her that she deserves the credit just as much as he does. She still turns down any acknowledgement. (I really don’t like this story beat because it could have been such a good chance to comment on how academia often discredits or ignores women)

We also have moments where they do things Betty’s way (or at the very least Betty does things her way) on their expedition together.

When crossing the river: Simon carefully walks across the rocks. Betty takes her shoes off and just walks through the river. Simon follows suit then slips and falls. I would just like to add that crossing a river without shoes on isn’t safe. It decreases trackson and increases your risk of cutting yourself in an open body of water. They should have just either dealt with the wet socks, brought a spare pair, or use water proof shoes.

When crossing an area full of snakes: Simon advises Betty to stick with the tried and true method for dealing with snakes. Betty decides to do the trick her mom taught her and runs through the area screaming. Simon doesn’t stop her. Instead once he sees that it’s working, he smiles.

As we see, with the exception of two instances (which could easily be changed without impacting the plot too much), Simon doesn’t need to learn the lesson that he should have supported Betty more and stopped her from sacrificing herself so much.

I think the bigger issue in Simon and Betty’s relationship is just how obsessed they are with each other. When the crown drives Simon insane and takes all his memories, the last thing Simon can remember is that he wants to marry his Princess. This leads him to literally kidnapping princesses. Betty time traveled 1000 years into the future after hearing Simon say he never saw her again after wearing the crown. In the process of trying to save him, she went mad herself. They’ve both spent years trying to save the other from and were willing to sacrifice themselves to do so (I’m fully convinced Simon didn’t have a plan for how to leave Golb’s dimension. I think the dude was just going to apologize to Betty then die).

Not Part of the Finale, But Still Bothers Me

Having Prismo be the one to actually write Fionna and Cake removes depth from Simon/ Ice King’s character. I liked how surprisingly good Fionna and Cake was and interpreted that as parts of Simon shining through. But they needed to have Fionna and Cake actually be real for the show, so they had Prismo make them. Instead of Prismo making them out of boredom, I think it would have been cool if he made them as a way to grieve Jake. Maybe after Jake died, Prismo turned to reading Fionna and Cake since his favorite person liked it and Cake’s basically a genderbent Jake. But, after reading everything the Ice King wrote he wanted more. Since he lives in the TIME ROOM, I don’t think it would be a stretch to allow him to interact with the timeline in weird ways (in fact I think we already saw this in the episode Is That You?). So, as a temporary solution Prismo made Fionna and Cake real and stores their universe in the Ice King’s head so he could get more stories out of them. Prismo meant to delete their world before the Ice King turned back into Simon, but he didn’t have the heart to. Also, they could have totally had Simon keep writing Fionna and Cake fanfiction like how he sometimes dresses up as Ice King. Except, this time, he writes them in his own modern day AU as a way to cope with how out of place he feels.

Not part of this spin off, but it’s always irked me that Simon got to time travel to the past, but Betty didn’t. I get that Betty wanted to intentionally create a time paradox. But it still feels really hypocritical. Honestly, I think they should have just made Simon accidentally freeze her when he first puts on the crown. After Frost and Fire, when the Ice Kingdom got melted, have her thaw out and start researching ways to cure Simon. Then, during the episode she’s supposed to debut in, have her be the cause of Bella Noche.

Conclusion

The finale had cool concepts, but it doesn't fully match up with everything that came before it.

#adventure time #adventure time critique #Fionna and cake #Fionna and Cake critique #fionna campbell #cake the cat #simon petrikov #betty grof #mine

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