#Accidental 3rd wheel? More like intentional 3rd wheel | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

halcyon-girls · 2 years

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Prompt: I was thinking something like, the Winx accidentally started this thing where all their S.Os meet them at their dorm/suite before class (to walk them or smg idk) and one day Beatrix just shows up. Either 1. that’s how the group finds out about Stellatrix or 2. they just assume they are dating bc of how they act and one day one of them asks how long they’ve been together and they are like ‘what??? we’re not!’

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This is a prompt from ao3 by A! I went with the second idea. Stella thinks they’re really just friends. She holds Beatrix’s hand and cuddles her on occasion but it’s entirely platonic. At least that’s what she tells herself. Beatrix is happy to prove her wrong. Really, it should have ended there, they tell Stella’s suitemates that they are now together. Beatrix, however, thinks turning it into a bet would be much more fun.

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Stella pulls on one sleeve of her button-down shirt, letting it hang loosely on her body when her phone pings. She walks across her room, away from her dresser and to her nightstand, checking the message.

‘Do you want to walk together today? It’ll be easier than trying to find each other in that dismal library,’ Beatrix texts.

Stella laughs, pulling on the other sleeve of her shirt. She walks back to the dresser, looking into the mirror above it to touch up her makeup as she responds. ‘One might think you actually want to walk with me.’

She watches the familiar ‘Beatrix is typing,’ bounce across her screen. ‘Perish the thought.’

Stella shakes her head and buttons up her shirt. She tucks it into her pants and takes one last glance at herself to make sure everything was in place exactly the way she wanted it to be.

She sends Beatrix a quick text in response as she pushes open her door and sits down on the couch with Bloom. ‘I’ll see you soon.’

She talks idly with her suitemates and doesn’t put much thought into why they were still here. She supposes since it was a study period this morning, perhaps they planned to spend it here. She rests her elbow against the armrest of the couch and waits.

A knock at the door, and Sky enters.

She really hopes he was the only one arriving and she wouldn’t be trapped in some sort of group study date here.

Her hopes are thoroughly crushed as the next knock brings in Riven, and again, Kat. If she sees Grey next she might just return to her room and beg for it to be over soon. She wasn’t necessarily against them all being happy with their partner but as someone who is still very much partnerless, she had no intention of being a 3rd, or rather, however many, wheel.

The next knock on the door is thankfully Beatrix.

Beatrix enters the room with a raised brow. ‘Is this some sort of group date session?’ She looks around the room, her eyes settling on Stella’s, ‘How painfully awkward of you all.’

Stella will admit that she had been entirely focused on Beatrix, and by extension, her ability to leave the room before it actually turned into a group date. She should have spent a moment looking around at her friends. If she had, she would have noticed their widened eyes and splutters of words. She would have been prepared for Bloom.

‘You two are dating? How long have you been together?’ Bloom exclaims, one of her hands gripping Stella’s arm and pulling her to face them all.

Stella feels her cheeks flush involuntarily. Her? Dating Beatrix? Preposterous. Out of all of Bloom's wild theories, this was most certainly the wildest of them all.

‘What?’ She blurts out.

‘We’re, uh, not dating,’ Beatrix tacks on, her gaze shifting to look at the bookcase lining the far-most wall.

Stella watches Aisha smirk, her eyes flicking between the two of them. ‘Alright, so, you just happened to invite Beatrix to the suite knowing that we all invite our partners to the suite to walk to class?’

It’s Stella’s turn to splutter. ‘How was I supposed to know that?’

Terra laughs, a smile on her face. ‘We’ve been doing it for weeks, Stella.’

Stella blinks. Weeks? She’s sure she would have noticed. She thinks back to each morning and where she was. Her cheeks flush a little brighter. She’d either be in her room texting until they left or she’d have left before them, seeking Beatrix out.

Oh.

‘Well, I have been occupied on the times you have done it, clearly.’ She glances over at Beatrix, who stands there awkwardly biting her lip as her suitemates stare at her intently.

Stella rises from the chair and reaches for Beatrix’s hand. Just so it would be easier to leave. Not because they often hold hands or are dating. It’s a friendship handhold. Plenty of girls do it. She passes them often in the halls. Unless they were dating… No, no. Stella would have noticed. She is the Princess of Solaria, and knowledge of the relations of those around her should be second-nature.

‘Going on a date?’ Musa teases.

Stella rolls her eyes as she listens to Riven chuckle beside Musa, clearly amused by the whole thing.

‘To study. We’re going to study,’ Stella huffs, reaching for the door handle and promptly pulling Beatrix through it.

Once they’re further down the hall and away from the teasing of her suitemates, Stella takes the time to apologise. ‘I’m sorry for that. If I had known, I wouldn’t have subjected you to,

she waves vaguely in the direction of her suite, ‘all of that.’

Beatrix hums. ‘You’re still holding my hand.’

If Stella flushes again, she fears she’ll just combust. She’s not sure if she could handle another dose of embarrassment in her day. She moves to release Beatrix’s hand but just as her hand begins to fall, Beatrix catches it again.

Beatrix squeezes her hand. ‘I didn’t say I was opposed to it.’

Stella gulps and forces her cheeks back to a normal colour. ‘Friends do this, right? Hold hands, walk to class, and all of that?’

Beatrix laughs, nudging Stella around the corner she almost walks past. ‘If you say so.’

Stella bites her lip. Does she? She thinks back on their interactions as they walk. They’d shared whiskey… A bed, platonically, of course. But, thinking about it, she’d spent more time with Beatrix in the past term than she had with Sky in their entire relationship. Beatrix also knew far more about her than him. Because she cared to. Not because they were dating. She just listened to Stella speak. It was a friendly thing to do.

She had been telling herself that but now she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Beatrix pushes open the door to the library and leads Stella down a few rows to the quiet corner they’d found on the second visit. There was more laughter than studying occurring here most of the time. Stella didn’t mind.

She pulls out one of her textbooks on light magic and starts to read. Once she’s re-read the same paragraph at least three times, she gives in. She places a hand on top of the pages and looks up at Beatrix, who was already looking at her.

She thumbs the corner of the pages. ‘Are we?’ She questions before realising she couldn’t just ask that. ‘What did you mean by if you say so?’

Beatrix closes her book at reaches for Stella’s hand. ‘It’s as I said. You are allowed to perceive it as you wish, princess.’

Stella frowns. She’d been perceiving it as friendship because that’s what it is. Her mother’s words stir around in her head. Appearances are everything. She’d find another boy. A boy just like Beatrix. Why hadn’t Sky been like her? Someone who listens to her rant, ramble, and everything in between.

‘If you were a boy then-’ Stella finds herself saying. Then what? She didn’t truly want Beatrix to be a boy.

Beatrix squeezes her hand. ‘Then, what, Stella?’

Stella runs her tongue over her lips. ‘Well, I’d, um, maybe I’d reconsider my stance.’

Beatrix pulls Stella’s hand across the small desk, lifting Stella’s hand so that her lips were almost touching it. Her eyes intently look into Stella’s. ‘What stance?’

Stella takes a shaky breath. Her eyes lock on the way Beatrix lifted up Stella’s hand that bit higher, her lips ghosting over it. ‘On friendship,’ she gasps, her lips shaking as Beatrix places a kiss on the top of her hand.

Beatrix smirks, placing another kiss on her hand. ‘Do you really want me to be a boy?’

Stella looks down at the desk. ‘No. But my mother would.’

She feels kiss after kiss pressed on her hand. Eventually, it’s enough to get her to look back up at Beatrix.

‘Screw your mother, princess.’

Stella laughs, rubbing the corner of her eyes with the palm of her hand. ‘Easier said than done.’

Beatrix’s smile shifts from a smirk to a gentler smile. She rises from her chair and pulls Stella out of her own, leading her deeper into the rows of books. ‘She’s not here, right now, Stella. Tell me what you’d rather do than be friends.’

Stella swallows sharply, her eyes looking down at Beatrix’s lips.

‘I think I can work out what that means,’ Beatrix whispers.

Stella takes a step back, feeling her back press against the bookcase. Beatrix draws closer and closer, her lips reaching for Stella’s own.

Stella stops trying to make excuses. She places her hands on Beatrix’s cheeks and pulls her in for a kiss. Beatrix makes a startled sound. It quickly vanishes. Stella smiles against Beatrix’s lips, feeling the way the other girl immediately responds to the action, following Stella’s lips with her own.

The bookcase rattles and a few books fall from the shelf when Beatrix presses harder against her, her hands sliding through Stella’s hair. She knows she’s going to look like an absolute mess after this but can hardly bring herself to care.

She hums against Beatrix’s lips and places a few quick pecks against them before pulling away. ‘That was-’ she whispers, not wanting to break out of the moment.

‘Definitely more than friendship,’ Beatrix responds, her hands falling from Stella’s hair and resting against her shoulders.

‘Yeah,’ Stella sighs. She tilts Beatrix’s chin up and pulls her into another kiss, and another, and another. Until she’s absolutely certain that the feelings she has for Beatrix and far more than friendship.

When they pull apart, Beatrix smirks, reaching down to place the fallen books back onto the shelves. ‘Do you want to use this?’

‘Use this?’ Stella questions, her thumb brushing over Beatrix’s cheek.

Beatrix leans into her touch. ‘Invite me to walk you tomorrow. Let’s get your suitemates to be positively conspiratory about us.’

Stella laughs, still Beatrix’s cheek. ‘Or we could just tell them.’

Beatrix pulls away, tucking her hands behind her back. ‘Oh, but where’s the fun in that?’

Normally, Stella would refuse it. She’d say it’s ridiculous and she has no reason to hide her feelings anymore. But right now, when she looks at Beatrix’s playful smile and the excitement in her eyes and the idea of messing with Stella’s suitemates? She can’t help but agree to it.

After a day of classes and many stolen kisses, Stella retires to her suite with a little more certainty that she and Beatrix were some sort of ‘together,’ even if that together had yet to be defined into something tangible.

She wakes up the next morning sending a quick text to Beatrix to ‘walk her’ to class. Sure enough, the partners of her suitemates and there waiting. Grey shows up first this time, his arms wrapped around Aisha’s waist.

‘Going alone, Stella?’ Flora questions, learning against a boy she’d started to bring along. Though they’d yet to define their relationship, the way he looked at her gave away plenty of insight.

Stella shrugs, a smile on her face.

Beatrix enters the room a few minutes later, a smile on her face. ‘Ready?’

Stella nods, rising from her chair and moving over to Beatrix’s side.

Terra rises from her chair, leaving Kat behind. ‘Okay, okay.’ She points at the two of them. ‘You’re telling me, that now two days in a row, you’re not together.’

Beatrix crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. ‘We’re friends, plant girl, you’re really reading into something that isn’t there.’

Terra purses her lips. ‘Or you two are hiding something from us.’

Musa nods her head. ‘I might not be using my mind fairy magic but I can see there’s something between you two.’

Stella bites her lip, trying to contain her laughter. ‘Really guys? Am I not allowed to just have a friendship with Beatrix?’

Bloom leans against Sky, squinting at the two of them. ‘We’re happy you’ve made a friend, Stella, but you can also, you know, date your friends too.’

Stella shakes her head. ‘We’re just friends.’

Beatrix waves her hand, ‘Exactly. A friendship between two girls who enjoy studying together.’

The suite, including their partners, all groan.

Bloom smiles at them. ‘I bet you’re going to realise just how in love with each other you are.’ She looks around the room and points at each girl. ‘No, fully. I bet on this. With money. A week maximum.’

Beatrix smirks. ‘I bet we won’t, then.’ She places a note on the table. ‘I look forward to my winnings.’

Bloom narrows her eyes, placing her own money on top of Beatrix’s. ‘No, I do.’

The rest of the girls follow. Even Riven seems to enjoy the bet and throws his own money into the mix.

Beatrix reaches for Stella’s hand and pulls her out of the room. ‘See you all in a week. A week that I get significantly richer.’

Once they’re certain they’re out of earshot, Stella finds herself laughing loudly with Beatrix. They bump into each other as they walk, using the other for support when their laughter has them stumbling.

They turn down the hall and Stella speaks up. ‘Richer in a week, huh?’

Beatrix squeezes Stella’s hand. ‘I’ll use the winnings for our first date.’

Stella flushes brightly at the words. A date? With Beatrix? She looks down at the air fairy. Yes, she’d very much like that.

They part for classes and so begins the betting.

Each day, Stella and Beatrix sneak between bookcases, behind trees, and into empty classrooms to show just how much they were together. Stella sighs into Beatrix’s lips, and Beatrix groans into hers. It’s perfect. It’s everything Stella had wanted from Sky and more.

She can’t wait for this week of betting to end so that she can declare proudly that they’re together.

Eventually, the week does pass them by. Stella finds herself wearing a loose-fitting shirt with the top buttons open that Beatrix had very much claimed she loved. Her lips had explained just how much. Her tighter slacks rest just above her hips. When she walks out of her room, Beatrix is already there waiting.

‘It looks like I’ve won the bet,’ Beatrix smirks, holding out her hand for the money.

Bloom crosses her arms. ‘You’re definitely together, I know it.’

Stella walks out and stands beside Beatrix. ‘It’s it so hard to believe in the power of female friendship, Bloom?’

Bloom huffs, ‘You with all of us? I believe. But you with Beatrix? Absolutely not.’

Beatrix walks over to the group, reaching for the money. ‘I won fair and square, we’re not together at all.’

Stella tries to not let those words sting. She has the money in her hands. They hardly need to keep up the ruse.

Beatrix turns around, tucking the money into her pocket. She reaches for Stella’s hands. ‘We’re not together.’ Stella feels her eyes well at the words. Please don’t let it end.

Beatrix releases one of her hands, her own hand resting against Stella’s cheeks. ‘We’re not together because there’s just one part that hasn’t been declared.’

Stella frowns, trying to work out where Beatrix was going with this.

Beatrix smiles, gently tugging Stella’s face down to be level with hers. ‘Stella, will you be my girlfriend?’

Stella drowns out the sound of her friends cheering about the declaration and shouting about their slightly emptier bank accounts. Stella smiles widely and presses her lips against Beatrix’s. When she pulls back, she only has one word. ‘Yes.’

Beatrix kisses her again, pulling out a gasp from Stella when she tugs at her lip. ‘Good. I was getting tired of sneaking around.’

‘Okay,’ Aisha huffs. ‘Okay this is actually ridiculously cute, but, you totally played us. You were together the whole time.’

Beatrix smirks, facing the group. ‘See, that’s where you’re wrong. We were together but unofficially. It doesn’t count.’

‘It totally does!’ Bloom whines.

Beatrix shrugs. ‘I won fair and square. Thanks for paying for our date.’

Stella’s suitemates groan but she can tell they’re not actually mad. There are matching smiles on each of their faces.

Musa confirms it. ‘I’m happy for you, Stella. But I’m never raising a bet against the two of you again.’

Stella laughs. ‘Probably for the best.’

There share a few more congratulations before Flora speaks. ‘Well, looks like you’re joining our walks to class.’

Beatrix pulls at Stella’s hand, placing a quick kiss on Stella’s cheek. ‘Now that’s a bet I’m definitely not taking part in. Enjoy your relationship walks together.’

Stella waves at them all with a smile as Beatrix pulls them out the door.

They begin the same walk they’d been doing for the past week together with something different. Their fingers intertwine, and they walk that bit closer, their sides brushing against the other.

Girlfriends. Stella could firmly say that she liked that word a lot more than friends.

#fate: the winx saga #stella of solaria #stella #beatrix daniels #beatrix #stella x beatrix #stellatrix #ftws #fate the winx saga #myfics

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hisokas-long-toenails · 4 years

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HELLO✨✨ I hope this finds you well! If you’re doing requests atm, I wanted to ask: how would Hisoka, Illumi, Chrollo and Paristan react to their crush or interest trying to woo them first? Like the whole wine and dine thing, odd attempts at flirting or something? However you would woo them lmao is this a weird ask?!?! 😩 Please don’t answer if you don’t want to!! Thank you 💗🌚 I absolutely adore everything you’ve written 👀👌🏼

Sorry this took forever, I’ve been trying to hit the gym after work again. Aaaah, thank you so much. And thank you for including my beloved rat man. I assume you mean like “they already sort of like you, but how would one even TRY to woo them first in that context” First of all, as much as I love all of these characters, I feel so bad for you if any of these dudes had a crush on you. I don’t know what you did in life to deserve this misery but here we go. Hisoka: You know, there’s the obvious, “hey, wanna fight” but honestly he might/will probably end up killing you if that’s how you flirt. Then again, wanting to date Hisoka is basically admitting to having a death wish, in which case good job! You did it! But to like, date him date him? That’s tough. It’d probably have to involve inviting him to join you on some mission or adventure thats dangerous and promises a good time. Maybe it’ll involve a strong individual for him to fight, but we know it doesn’t have to. He did play a game of high stakes dodgeball just for the hell of it because he was bored and had time to kill. And you know what? He’d love being pursued. He might make it hard for you for the hell of it, but he doesn’t seem to have a lot of people on his side for very obvious reasons, and having a crush who just pops in sometimes with a “hey, wanna fuck some shit up? But like, romantically. As a date” would be a welcome presence to him. Illumi WILL 3rd wheel, and you WILL have to deal with/enjoy it because you’re in a triad now. You don’t have a say in it. It’s what Hisoka would want. Illumi: Okay, so Illumi is odd, right? If he had a crush on you I feel like he’d just… show up and be around when he was free. He probably wouldn’t even know why he was doing it. I’m not sure he’d initially even realize you were trying to woo him regardless of how you were doing it, if we’re being honest. I don’t think he really has an idea of what love or affection look like, hence the tendency to sort of loiter around you when not busy instead of flirting with you or trying to date. Because of this, I actually feel like you’d have to make the first move. This is all on you unless his parents were trying to arrange it. So, you’d ask him to dinner. He’d think it was just dinner. You’d ask him to go kill or fight someone. He’d think it was just work. You’d flirt and try to make physical contact with him to make your intentions clear and he’d wonder why you kept touching his arm (and get mad if you’re accidentally tickling him). You’d probably have to literally say “hey, I want you to help me train so that we know I’m a suitable romantic partner for you” and then I think he’d get it, and immediate start your torture training because he’s been meaning to tell you that your pain tolerance isn’t enough. I don’t think there’d be a true romancing stage to dating him, just a work partner or a romantic partner. He’d be elated, though, but have that same expressionless face that you’ll have to live with. Maybe you’ll get a very brief smile and I’m so sorry if you do because he’s terrifying when he expresses emotions on his face with those big dead empty ass eyes. Sometimes Hisoka will be there but probably less than Illumi would be there in the opposite situation. Hell, Hisoka might play a big part in helping you two get together. Who knows Illumi better?

Chrollo: You know, I actually think he’d be the easiest to try to woo. He’s clearly got some identity issues and sort of uses others to find and define himself. If he was already finding himself infatuated with you, you just have to try to give him a sense of purpose or help him question life. He’d probably like and understand the romantic intent behind dinner and a movie. He’d enjoying normal dating stuff way more than any of the others, even if I think his way of flirting back would be very different and probably involve a lot of weird stolen shit he likes. It’s as if he’s a crow or a magpie or something. But the way to actually flirt with him? Just talk about philosophy. It doesn’t even have to be that deep. Do you remember being a teen or young adult and desperately wanting to figure yourself, filling the void you felt with objects, and massively consuming ANYTHING about the meaning of life in an attempt to finding yourself. (no? Just me?) Well, that’s just his permanent state. The troupe gives him a lot of purpose but that’s still something he needs to constantly feed off of. You can throw out some quote about life from a book you’re reading (because being well read is sort of a requirement to get into his heart romantically, I think) and he’ll just fucking swoon. Read a YA novel, because I doubt those are on his “to read” list, and say some John Green ass shit about being alive and in love and he’s instantly going to be putty because that’s so far out of the realm of what he reads in literature. And yeah, he’d love the attention.

Pariston: Only partially related, but I sort of have this HC that Pariston could actually become (at least temporarily) infatuated with someone if they kept catching him off guard with self deprecating humor and actually enjoyed being roasted. Like, You’d get a backhanded compliment from him so you meet the insult with a laugh and saying something worse about yourself all while seeming completely unphased. I’m sure most hunters have some sort of ego and the lack of one might be a surprising and fun change. ANYWAY. I’m not sure Pariston would actually let someone pursue him. You might think that you’re going to wine and dine him, but he’s just pretending to play along. Dude has some control issues, to the point where even when he doesn’t care about something he’s going to mess with shit to see if he can. Add that into him actually kind of caring for you? Yikes. He’d like nice things, but if you tried to take him to a 5 star restaurant that he isn’t feeling that night, something bad will happen and you’ll end up where he wants to go. If he doesn’t like your attempt at a classy or sexy outfit that outfit will get ruined. He’d probably turn the whole thing around to look like prince charming by getting you something twice as nice, but he’ll probably also hold it over your head that he did so. He’d probably love the fact that someone was trying, though. Which obviously means he’d also be trying extra hard to make the whole thing bad, but quite frankly that’s just what you’re signing up for. You’d probably have to catch on to him and start playing his game to keep him interested, or at the very least react in ways he enjoys, or be interesting for other reasons than your ability to manipulate situations. If you somehow managed to get him on a date to some kinda cheesy themed restaurant (think rainforest cafe) he’ll be impressed and infuriated. He’d be plotting how to ruin the rest of your week, which would conveniently require him to spend all of his time with you and him giving you a lot of attention. You know, for a punishment.

#hxh #cupcakes thoughts #pariston #pariston hill #hisoka morow #hisoka #illumi zoldyck #illumi #hxh hc #chrollo lucilfer #chrollo #hxh ask

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bond-villains-are-winning · 4 years

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Every day. Every year. In the USA and only the USA.

Every other country in the world has hunting, skeet and trap, pentathlon & biathlon competitors. The Swiss have access to military grade weapons the NRA would balk at.

Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal have scads of beautiful artistic lethal blades. But you don’t hear of kids killing each other playing with real swords or knives.

American do a good job controlling car keys preventing tweeners getting behind the wheel of the family sedan. But. Toddlers and guns - not so good

Some cultural mental quirk blinds Americans to the necessity of gun safety (Swiss never forget). As with drinking and driving (Japanese don’t). Or throwing lighted cigarettes out of car windows onto dry brush (spend the rest of your life in jail in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd worlds).

Responsible gun ownership requires responsibility. Owning a gun, leaving it unattended ready to discharge is

NOT AN ACCIDENT. NOT AN ACT OF GOD.

No child somehow “died” because they found a loaded unsecured gun.

Some adult failed to be responsible. Death by Adult Negligence.

To address death by Adult Ignorance - where perhaps a restraining order is being ignored and one is a novice.

BASIC SAFETY

1. If one possesses a semi-automatic pistol (like James Bond, John Wick) then one has a weapon with a magazine. Once the magazine is removed most pistols will not discharge even if the safety is off and a round remains the breech.

In a home, purse, or car simply separating the magazine would END TODDLER shootings. With forethought, magazines can be accessibly stored, quickly retrieved and reinserted if a self defense situation arises.

If faster response time is likely to be required, the weapon has to on one’s person? Therefore inaccessible to a toddler.

Parenthetically, ARs and some shotguns have magazines. Same applies as a general safety measure.

2. If one is a novice, can’t relocate away from the immediate danger and has the option - it is better to have a revolver (John Wayne) for a raft of technical reasons.

So, one possesses a revolver, there is a toddler about, and there is an acute threat. For when the gun is not on your person - empty the gun of the shells. For quick reload get a speed loader (less than $20) stored separately like the pistol magazine.

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PSAs

A. Along with blindness to gun safety, we have an unrealistic belief in the efficacy of pistols. TV and the movies.

If you haven’t put at least a thousand rounds through handguns on the firing range, you won’t shoot worth a damn. To hit an attacker who is standing still, you will have to be close enough for them to grab the gun.

So to hold off or discourage an tattacker with the threat of shooting a fire arm, the attacker has to BELIEVE you will fire AND are likely to hit them. If they grew up in a tough environment, you have to convince them that if you miss with your first shot you can realign and fire a second time - in a fraction of a second.

Accuracy is difficult even for the police. They have to pass yearly proficiency tests. Police discharge their firearms only when their life or someone else’s life is threatened - so the intent is to kill.

Despite their training only 3 out of 100 bullets fired actually kill. Even then not until in the ambulance or the hospital. So very few will stop an attacker even if fired point blank.

A lot of the ‘just 3%’stoppage were haccurately placed shots by police snipers or SWAT team ARs with five shot bursts.

B. Military voluntary questionnaires of combat veterans indicates that one in three soldiers in combat fire to deliberately miss attacking enemy. Even those who had stalked and killed an animal hunting.

Convincing an experienced attacker that you will shoot involves more, a lot more, than pointing a gun. Particularly as in many/most incidences a novice is pointing the gun at someone who know them.

C. Consider whether for home a system that is always listening for approaching threats. The system that announces that it has teeth that it can get to any door or window in the residence in three seconds max. That intends to the attacker onto the street looking for a crotch. A rescue dog with some training will voluntarily choose dying in agony to prevent any harm to the toddler.

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hello-beautiful-blue-eyes · 7 years

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~Feeling Insightful~ Character Development in Furi Fura

I’ve been following Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare since the first chapter came out. As it was predictable from the beginning, the end ships will 100% be Yuna x Rio and Akari x Kazu (because of course all the main characters need to have a happy ending). Before the first chapter came out, Sakisaka-sensei painted each of these confused, but lovable teenagers who had differing views of love: Yuna, the introverted surrealist who dreams of a true love; Akari, the popular and precocious, but somewhat of a serial dater who thinks feelings of love will only come from actually having a relationship first; Rio, the solemn, yet popular and immature playboy who mostly just has interest in dating cute girls; Kazu, the naive airhead who has the mentality of an elementary/middle school kid when it comes to love.

At first, since there were already 4 main characters to begin with (instead of 2 in Ao Haru Ride) I was concerned that Sakisaka-sensei might follow Ikeyamada’s plot with Suki Desu Suzuki-kun, which devolved into a mess of a fandom that absolutely despised the main couple while only reading the story for the secondary couple. I found my experience with reading that series to be unenjoyable to say the least, and I was praying to God to not make that happen in Furi Fura. I am very glad it did not become like that.

If you looked at the characters from the beginning of the series to now, you’ll see how much each of them has changed and matured through their interactions with each other and see that both their behaviors and perspectives on love have shifted. I’m impressed that all four of them have maintained a close friendship bond throughout the entire course of the series so far (especially between Yuna and Akari, and between Rio and Kazu) despite misunderstandings and complications. Even so, despite Agatsuma entering into the picture as the 3rd wheel of Rio x Yuna, and Rio feeling uneasy about liking the same girl as his friend, he came clean with him, and Agatsuma reciprocated and developed a very friendly rivalry, which is really refreshing to see in shoujo manga (because God knows how many times two boys will quarrel and fight over the main girl damaging their friendships). It gives me the feeling and impression that Agatsuma, while almost certainly will not be together with Yuna, he won’t feel as heartbroken and will support both Rio x Yuna with all his heart (Touma’s rejection in Ao Haru Ride was painful to see … even though Kou x Futaba is eternal OTP).

All the characters have shown significant character development to now. In my opinion, Rio has definitely matured the most out of all four of them (although Kazu had less time for development compared to Rio). Rio’s original philosophy on love was mostly infatuation and obsession. He claims that he fell in love with Akari at first sight, which is almost certainly because she looked really pretty and cute in his eyes. But with his family situation, his ‘feelings’ became trapped and fixated on the fact that he won’t ever be able to confess, which irritates and frustrates him to no end. You could see from the beginning that despite Rio’s playful attitude towards girls, he was a very solemn and isolated character who selfishly thinks he is the only person suffering. Although Rio treated Yuna poorly in the beginning, Rio finally opens up to Yuna with Akari’s influence and Yuna’s accidental discovery of their sibling relationship. With his feelings finally open, he acts rashly and hurts Akari by kissing her but does not even think about Akari’s position until Yuna yells at him. Rio’s focus from multiple girls to one girl with Yuna’s influence, and he actually was thinking about how Agatsuma will treat Yuna very nicely if they went out, and how he was concerned that he might end up hurting Yuna (like the way he had hurt Akari), shows that Rio had become a much more compassionate, selfless person who isn’t fixated on an unattainable love or trying to get a new girlfriend as soon as possible.

Although I love both Akari and Yuna, if I had to pick a favorite among the two, it would probably be Yuna (although Akari’s moments with Kazu are adorable) because I relate to her the most. Yuna does fall into the typical shoujo heroine role and characteristics, but has become such a strong character. Having almost zero confidence and always looking down from the beginning, thinking that she will magically get a true love without interacting with boys, she has changed so much and shows compassion towards everyone. Yuna becomes brave enough to interact more naturally with Agatsuma and other people, which is very lovely to see, and goes as far as baking cookies for Rio (and to others) to repay for a bunny mask. With Akari’s influence and Rio’s constant presence, she has become a lot more proactive in getting to know others and taking diligent steps to get closer to Rio.

Akari, on the other hand, is not really your typical shoujo heroine, as she is confident to some extent, experienced in relationships and has developed a bit of a soured reputation because of her beauty and outgoing behavior towards boys. Like Rio, despite her popularity, she is shown to be very solemn as well, trying to please and make her family and everyone else happy even if she is suffering. While Akari has dated a lot of boys (only after they have confessed) and can see through most people’s motives, she is completely stumped and unable to get Kazu’s attention, and falls completely head over heels in love with him even though he showed no obvious interest at first. Her views on love become a lot more idealistic and frequently consults to Yuna for help on getting another person’s attention, which is something she has never done before.

Although I love Kazu to death and think he is fucking adorable, he is probably still the least developed character in the series so far (although he’s gotten the least screen time out of the 4 so can’t blame him lol). Kazu has pretty much no awareness or clues on girls who are interested in him, and acts like a typical happy-go-lucky middle schooler who says some extraordinary things so naturally. He doesn’t feel conscious of Akari at all until the time she collapsed from the marathon and had to princess carry her and assist her, but this sudden awareness of her makes him feel very uncomfortable and is completely foreign to him, and upon seeing Akari and Rio kiss in the rain, his immediate instinct is to maintain his friendship with Rio and completely reject his feelings for Akari, thinking Akari’s presence will harm his friendship with Rio. Even so, Akari persistently comes back. He doesn’t know how to act since he has never liked a girl before. Kazu lies himself that he does not like her, yet his heart pounds for her, which ends up hurting her and himself in the process. The main progression for Kazu from here is to see how he will have a heart-to-heart talk with Rio and finally figure out (the right way - acceptance!) how to deal with his feelings without hurting and pushing Akari away, and know what love means to him. Although Kazu hurts Akari, his actions were more or less out of confusion and stress over how to deal with these new feelings, while Kou, on the other hand, hurts Futaba with intention to help Narumi feel better and comfort her.

This is probably the first series I am reading where there isn’t a single character that I dislike (even if some people are complete airheads or are being assholes to the main characters). I had high expectations for this series after Ao Haru Ride, which I still consider my favorite shoujo series of all time (despite some lacking of character development in even the main characters), and felt that nothing else could match up to that. But with Sakisaka-sensei’s current direction with Furi Fura, I might actually end up liking this series even more than Ao Haru Ride, which is a very bold statement from me.

What are your thoughts?

#feeling insightful #wow if you read this entire thing you deserve brownie points #just my stupid ramblings #i need sleep #omoi omoware furi furare #furi fura #furi fura spoilers #MY PRECIOUS BABIES #ALL OF THEM #can they all be mine #rio yamamoto #kazuomi inui #yuna ichihara #yamamoto akari #rio x yuna #kazu x akari

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