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imsparky2002 · 1 month

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Barbie in the Nutcracker: First Thoughts

The following is my thoughts while watching this for the first time.

Credits look awful. Still, it’s 2001 and this is the first installment so I’ll give it a pass.

Only know the basic Nutcracker song and theme but nice that it uses an orchestra

Barbie herself doesn’t look too bad but her little sis… yikes.

Kinda weird to see these dolls moving like mocap performers.

Heh! Barbie’s voice actor has the same name as her little sister.

Kelly very clearly sounds like an adult woman trying to do a kiddish voice.

Lipsyncing is odd, looks more like generic flapping.

Surprisingly decent snow effects.

I’m assuming Clara’s parents are either dead or abandoned them. Or they could also just be on vacation.

Is it wrong that I find Grandpa cute? Gives off a very distinguished vibe. Especially that voice.

They call gingerbread houses “christmas boxes”? That’s… interesting.

Kinda wish they gave Clara a different voice from Barbie, or at the very least a different hairstyle.

The lighting is actually pretty good! Nice warm hues, makes me feel like I’m at a cozy inn.

Her little brother looks like the kids who played Fortnite and would tease me in high school. Of course his name is fuckin’ Tommy.

This CGI is reminding me of early PS2 cutscenes.

Aunt Drosselmayer’s got that 90’s Leo DiCaprio/Hugh Grant parting in her hair. Bleh.

Why is Clara the only blonde in the family?

Ooh! We’ve got some family drama between Auntie and Grandpa. This is getting juicy.

Elizabeth is giving me confident bisexual vibes with the voice and manner of movement. Bet you that’s why Grandpa doesn’t trust her.

Looking at the wiki I just found out that Trixie’s VA voices the Aunt, Starlight’s VA is Barbie and Cadence’s VA is one of the kids! Must be a Canadian production.

I will never not find the word “nutcracker” to be hilarious.

Clara, why tf are you fighting over a toy with your lil brother? You’re like… 17? 18? I dunno but it’s way too old.

Seriously they gave Tommy the most punchable face ever. Not that I’d ever punch a kid but I can see why other kids his age would deck him.

Magic shenanigans are ensuing.

I like the medeival look of the rats. The CGI actually fits them well.

Clara wakes up to see an anthropomorphic warrior rat right next to her eating something and is just like “goddamn it, git ya varmint!” I love it.

Oh, she thinks she’s dreaming. That makes sense to why she’s so calm.

Hmm… I feel like the Rat King should look a bit more evil, and larger as well. Still, TIM CURRY! I’m gonna LOVE this.

Woah! We’re getting a fight scene! A swordfighting scene to be exact!

Oooh the Rat King’s magic and can shapeshift his weapon. That’s metal AF.

Tim Curry putting everything into his performance as usual.

I’m kinda surprised we’re already getting a Nutcracker-Rat King battle. I’d have thought they’d save that sorta thing until the third act.

Did they really have to change it to Sugarplum Princess? Fairy just sounds more powerful.

Wow! This snowy cave is beautiful! Something out of a classic painting.

EWWW THESE LIL SNOW FAIRIES LOOK DISGUSTING!

Did this nutfucker not realize that an icy fortress would have ice for the walls?

The fairies doing ballet looks weird because they have nothing to stand on.

Please don’t tell me the small fairy is staying, I hate her.

Dance is currently reminding me of Fantasia.

“The fairies probably went off to make a blizzard somewhere”. The way he said that nonchalantly had me cackling.

The effect of Clara’s footsteps turning into flowers is beautiful.

Pimm sounds like he’s an absolute troll online. Also gives me Psychicpebbles vibes (though I know it’s not him).

Wow the Rat King is a straight up genocider.

Why do all the kids look like Kelly?

OH DEAR GOD THAT LITTLE BOY LOOKS HORRIFYING.

Wait Prince Eric? Are they legally allowed to call him that? We all know how much Disney loves copyrights.

Man these kids are little shits and their outfits are gagworthy.

Major Mint definitely got a big personality, and the voice actor does a good job with it.

Ok Mint is hilarious and is so far the best part of the movie.

Nice to see some Asian rep with Captain Candy.

Wow, Rat King turns his failed employees into stone. Dark!

The zoom in on the Rat King as he says “that’s it?” made me giggle.

Thomas Astruc looked at the Rock Golem and got his first idea for an akuma.

Wait how the hell does Clara know that the Nutcracker is Prince Eric? I mean I already assumed because of the plot of the original ballet, but how does she know?!

The bridge scene gives me the willies, since I’m afraid of heights.

Wow this flower fairy is the only kid-looking character that has a decent design.

Didn’t expect a song to be interrupted by an enemy.

Lol, the Major’s monocle falls off as he sees the giant.

Glad to see the fairies serve a purpose other than dancing. Kick that giant’s ass!

Captain Candy’s a better man than Mint, as he actually makes sure that he gets saved.

Once again, the island is beautiful! Reminds me of Oz with the colored roads.

Ooh clever! At first I thought the castle’s backdrop looked really fake but I just factored it was because it’s 2001 CGI. But it was actually a trap!

Nice we see a test of Clara’s character that she passed.

The invisble hand touching Clara’s hand is actually making me feel kinda teary-eyed internally.

The Rat King definitely has a Napoleon complex.

Loving the character arc for Nutcracker with his final duel.

Ah! So now the Rat King is growing. Fits for the climax.

Huh… Prince Eric looks more like Jimmy Pesto than a prince.

Lol Major Mint realizes he’s been shittalking the prince.

Huh, so Clara’s the princess? I guess it sorta makes sense since it’s her dream.

For those princes out there who are hated by the public, all ya gotta do is fight a giant mouse.

Mint and Candy got the moves! Best dancers of the entire movie.

The final dance between Eric and Clara is absolutely gorgeous.

The villain was taken down by a snowball… I love it.

God Kelly Sheridan and Kirby Morrow really put everything into the scene where Clara disappears.

Lol Kelly’s Canana accent shows up when she says “It’s not a story”.

“What’s all this foolishness about mice kings and bats, Clara? Enough of your womenly hysteria! Time for a lobotomy!” Grandpa, basically.

Actually now that he’s in a suit, Eric looks a lot hotter.

I’m surprised Barbie’s little sister had the attention span to listen to a 1 hour story.

I'll be making a full review of the film soon. Let me know thoughts in the comments and reblogs. @artzychic27 @msweebyness

#barbie movies #barbie #barbie in the nutcracker #nutcracker #barbie blockbuster breakdown #the nutcraker #review

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gravity-barbie · 2 years

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First date with The Sparrows HCs

Request

First date with Allison and Lila hcs

Masterlist

Marcus Hargreeves

-After a few weeks of flirting, and finally figuring you probably like him back, Marcus decides to ask you out in the most special way he knows how, doing it in front of a crowd of cheering fans

-He similarly intends to capitalise on his fame and fortune to plan something spectacular for you on the date itself

-However at the last minute after a very informal conversation with you that reminds him of why he likes you so much, he decides to go for something more intimate

-You two have dinner at a renowned restaurant (which he still rented and reserved for just the two of you)

-And you two talk all night, allowing you to get to know the man behind the superhero and be known by him in kind

Ben Hargreeves

-Ben is deadset on it being the best date anyones ever been on, and he has a lot of funds he can blow to attempt to achieve that

-He’d never admit it but he’s very nervous, he really wants to get this right and impress you, so he’s a real perfectionist while planning the evening

-His conversation is somewhat lacking as his guardedness can get the best of him, he struggles to offer any vulnerability so early on, even just joking around is kind of new territory for him

-But he has his fun side (especially after a few drinks) and you make him happier than he’s ever been which makes it easier for that part of himself to slip out, though on the other hand he’s also extra self-conscious around you so he tries to hold himself back and act more serious and respectable

-If it gets to a point where it looks like he’s losing you, his tough-guy persona will crack and he’s willing to wear his heart on his sleeve to confess to his own nervousness and that he really does like you a lot, but only as a last resort

Fei Hargreeves

-Fei is decently collaborative and gets your preferences and any suggestions before she starts planning the date

-She ends up tailoring an outing you’ll inevitably enjoy, and gets prouder and prouder throughout the night as you keep proving her correct with your awestruck reactions

-She’s keen to get to know even more about you on the date, paying close attention to you

-Initially her conversation is quite measured but she soon becomes more vulnerable once you do and is willing to offer you about as much trust as you offer her

-She’s also surprisingly good to have a laugh with and can be a lot funner than her calculated demeanour would suggest

Alphonso Hargreeves

-Alphonso thinks something casual is the best way to go, since if you two make it work it’s ideally how all your future time together will be

-You both settle on a night in for dinner at your place, which is handy because you won’t get swarmed by fans (or his siblings)

-He was pretty confident in asking you out but right before the date is when his nerves settle in, he changes outfits a couple times, ‘subtly’ asks his sister for advice, and questions if he should bring you flowers or something, settling on a bottle of champagne

-You two gladly talk each other’s ears off, you have great rapport that only gets better throughout the night, by the time you’ve finished your takeout you’ve created at least a dozen inside jokes

-You both keep finding excuses for him to stay over later and later until he just comes out and asks to stay the night

Sloane Hargreeves

-Sloane spent years fantasising about her perfect first date and she soon starts again after meeting you

-She goes all out, setting up a pretty, candle-lit meal for the two of you on the academy’s roof by the greenhouse, that looks like a scene right out of a high-budget romance movie

-Despite her carefully crafted aesthetic elements, it’s just talking to you that’s really her favourite part of the date, she loves learning more about you, lighting up with every new fact, and likewise finally feeling truly seen as you get to know her right back

-She’d love to start planning the next date with you right there before your first one’s even ended

-In fact her feelings advance quite fast and she wouldn’t mind planning a bit further ahead than is actually necessary

Jayme Hargreeves

-Jayme would honestly rather you plan the date (assuming you plan something good), but she’s also cool with taking the reins

-If left in her hands she’ll go a pretty casual route, taking you to a bar or something, where you can grab a couple drinks, shoot some pool and talk at your own pace

-Though she appears extremely relaxed, almost indifferent, she is actually making an effort to bond deeper with you and win you over

-Her getting sidetracked to kick someone’s ass doesn’t seem unlikely, though probably to defend your honour or something, she’s not gonna squander her time with you over nothing

-She’s insistent on walking you home and it’s a good time, you’re talking more, your conversation turning more intimate, really your whole date could of just been walking around the city for hours, and as long as you’re together it would be just as good

#marcus hargreeves x reader #sparrow ben x reader #ben hargreeves x reader #sparrow!ben x reader #fei hargreeves x reader #alphonso hargreeves x reader #sloane hargreeves x reader #jayme hargreeves x reader #tua x reader #tua x you #the sparrow academy #the umbrella academy #tua #the umbrella academy preferences

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the-haunted-star · 6 months

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My humble thoughts on The Marvels

The Marvels is a fun, brisk (perhaps too brisk), light-hearted buddy super-herione adventure. However, the things that Marvel has been struggling with lately are unfortunately still in the play with this sequel. The plot is pretty thin and the villain is another of Marvel's typical shallow, one dimensional type baddies. While we can certainly understand and even sympathize with Dar-Benn's motivations and why she's doing the things she's doing in this film there just isn't enough meat on the script bones for actress, Zawe Ashton to work with although she well with what she's given. The same goes for the plot. The acts that the villain is perpetrating on the planets and its people in this film definitely qualify as high stakes material but the film's pace is so rapid that it ignores any opportunity to show some emotional stakes for the victims of the villain's atrocities.

So while the film downplays these aspects it chooses to focus more on the relationships between the three heroines. In that respect it does a decent job of bonding these three young women along the course of the film into a sisterly dynamic. Each have issues with each other positive and negative and by the end they've been able to work through their issues and understand each other better. Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani have good chemistry together with Iman continuing to charm and delight as Kamala Kahn/Ms. Marvel. Sam Jackson is great as Fury as usual and has some of the funnier lines in the movie. And let's not forget Goose the cat/flerken who kinda stole the show in the first movie. She's back and is involved a lot more this time to equally humorous results.

I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the fights in this film. I thought they were hard hitting, well choreographed and fun to watch. The fight between Monica and Kree soldiers in the Kahn's house was a stand out sequence which I thought made clever use of her powers. The end fight between the trio and Dar-Benn was also equally exciting . The visual effects were very good and consistent throughout which is another area where Marvel has been struggling lately. With this film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Loki Season 2, the VFX quality appears to be back on track.

Honestly my biggest gripe would be with the marketing department for this film. The amount of trailers, tv spots and clips released for this film was ridiculous. I only watched the first two trailers and maybe a couple of the tv spots and I felt like I had seen most of movie already. I watched the rest of the clips afterwards and was shocked at how much more of this movie was spoiled in the clips I hadn't watched beforehand. Even the surprise cameo and part of the fricking post credit scene was shown in a couple of the spots! If you're someone who did watch every bit of footage that was released I can honestly say you saw most of the movie beforehand and that's unfortunate. Given the film's short runtime you can rest assured there was a lot of material cut from the final film. I've already noticed a few things that were in the marketing footage and test screening leaks that were missing from the final cut.

Overall, despite a simplistic story and a forgettable villain this movie is still a lot of fun. While it is mostly standalone in nature, it is also very much a sequel to not only Captain Marvel but WandaVision and Ms. Marvel as well. (Surprisingly there's zero reference to Secret Invasion despite the Skrulls having a role to play in this film but that's probably for the best given how poor that series turned out to be.) The post-credit scene however is a game changer and hints at some exciting possibilities to come. ⭐⭐⭐

#the marvels #captain marvel #ms marvel #photon #brie larson #iman vellani #teyonah parris #zawe ashton #dar benn #marvel cinematic universe #goose the flerken #nick fury

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foxgirlass · 5 months

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Been meaning to put this anon I got about tf games on my main on here for a bit, in case anyone else is interested.

I can't vouch for most of them as I have not played most of them, as a heads up

Heres the anon in its entirety (under a readmore because it's long. Also I fixed a typo in the first paragraph that would have made one of these games harder to find):

I saw you ask about the other games I recommend. I mentioned princess trap because it had recently gotten an update, and it will probably be my favorite game if it gets consistent updates. I didn't mention the other games because the ask was already getting long and I didn't want to overload Roxy. You asked though so the floodgates are open. I mostly use a site called TFgames (dot) Site if you don't already know about it so you can find the games there.

You likely already know magical camp if you're aware of the site, but for completion sake I'll mention it. It's a long running RPG maker game which was unfortunately put on permanent hiatus recently. You play a normal guy who is accidentally transported to a boot camp for magical girls and have to blend in until you can escape. Lots of content, great writing, good art, good worldbuilding, highly recommend. Maybe avoid losing to the bosses. The loss scenes aren't super tasteful. You can get the most recent build in the updates channel on their discord. For some reason it wasn't updated on the site. I was genuinely sad the game went on hiatus.

Little bitch academia takes a lot of inspiration from magical camp, and the developers seem to have been working together in some capacity. RPGmaker, decent combat. A guy ends up in a magical school and is assigned to a class for witches. Lots of ecchi, not much actual porn, I don't think you can even have sex in the game. The story was interesting though. It's overloaded with lolrandom early 2000s type humor which was weirdly enjoyable. Definitely not for everyone.

Between seems promising so far. RPG maker, alright combat. A guy and his coworkers are sent to a mysterious void. Again, the story seems interesting so far but not much actual porn.

Crossdressing in Camelot is alright. RPG maker. Lots of sex scenes, some of them are good. Decent writing.

The last of the kitsune was alright. I didn't get super far. Lots of sex scenes, but honestly too much dialogue.

Timeless Pantheon was amazing. RPG maker game with adequate combat. You play an earth man mistakenly summoned to a technomagical world where houses have to fight in tournaments for money. A rare completed game. Loved the story. Light on sex scenes until the end. Follow the walkthrough for the hidden events, it's worth it.

Better Earth is alright. RPG maker, forgettable combat. People are constantly experiencing full TFs but the player character never has sex. Lots of art scraped from the internet. Surprisingly strong gender binary. Everyone becomes a girl with a vagina, no intersex options at all.

Oathbreaker is pretty cool. It's a tactical RPG like fire emblem, but there's a few slow TFs going on. No sex so far. Made by Icarune. Their games are always interesting. Lots of different styles of gameplay, half decent writing, the art style takes a bit of getting used to. I get good vibes from them but they rarely get super spicy.

Superhuman was pretty fun. A visual novel that's more of a power fantasy than anything. You're a college guy that gets Prototype style shape sifting. Unfortunately the sex change TFs are temporary and only for certain events. Really long, I didn't reach the end after hours.

The rest of these are on itch.io

Unholy Arts wins the award for best world building in a porn game. It's an ongoing sex battle simulation game where you have to dominate your competitors, or choose one you want to win and try to befriend them. Honestly the gameplay kinda sucks, but the characters are all top tier. By default the main cast become futas at the beginning of the story, everyone starts as a female though.

Tales of androgeny by majalis is pretty good. It's sort of an exploration based RPG. The combat system is a little weird. They were an artist and story writer team before doing games so there are lots of good scenes. Really long though. I'm not sure about the story, it's locked behind patreon.

Full service shop has excellent writing and art. It's a visual novel set in the future where cybernetic limb replacement is common place and you're a girl going in for a new thing. I didn't get to the end but I think it's pretty short.

Hardcoded is cool. You play as a trans robot in a cyberpunk dystopia. You explore the city and make friends, and you get a day job. Excellent art, decent writing. Maybe too long, the story was kinda depressing. Lots of coping with oppressive mega corporations controlling the world. The characters were all just trying to get by. I didn't finish it but it didn't seem like there was any hope in the world other than hanging out with your friends.

Mice Tea is pretty good. Visual novel where there's a tea that makes you a furry. I only played the demo, but I was promised gender fuckery. The actual game costs money. I might actually buy it though, which would make it the first time I've spent money on porn.

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stumblngrumbl · 15 days

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i was pretty much commanded to watch Dune 1 because Dune 2 is apparently a must-see in the movie theater and i hadn't seen Dune 1 and Dune 2 will leave the theaters shortly

i'm just kinda gun-shy about seeing movies, they're usually just so fucking disappointing the last number of years i practically see only repeats of safe movies, boring right?

so anyways, yeah, saw Dune 1. considering i had a few years where i mostly read and re-read dune 1/2/3 books (then suffered with 4, then a few years later read 5&6 and said ok this is just getting fluffy, refused to read the other stuff that Frank Herbert didn't write because he was dead), and having suffered through Lynch's disastrous version - i never saw the syfy version - this movie was pretty dang good.

the good: followed the book story line surprisingly closely. really surprising.

also good and surprising: there's a character that was male in the book, they made female. good character; a named one; making the character female didn't change the plot at all, so why not? good deal. in retrospect, you could've done this with a few others, including some of the more badass ones.

the bad: i can't point to anything actually bad about it other than

the ugly: i had the sound up REALLY LOUD with a good sound system. i couldn't understand half of the dialog. i still knew what was going on because of the aforementioned being well-versed in the story... but still, wtf? and the darkness! i turned every light out, i usually have a dim light in the room because my eyes don't like hella contrast, but with true full darkness (there are zero lights outside anywhere here, and no moon last night) some scenes i would've got almost as much out of by turning the TV off. fucking hollywood, yeshua eff christo

specific things under the cut.

further observations and specific complaints:

Thufir was the Duke's master of assassins. In the movie, this guy may've been a mentat but he's not going to assassinate anyone. maybe in his youth he could've but book-Thufir was still a physical badass - not a Gurney or Duncan but still a lethal danger. You could easily imagine him and Piter de Vries circling each other in the arena. Not this guy. This guy was too nice, too.

The ornithopters were AMAZING. Loved them. damn. seriously, i didn't consider damselflies in my imagination before but what a perfect model. Whoever designed that deserves an Oscar, i hope there's a category for that. Does raise a question as to why is it an "orni" thopter if it's more buglike, but I'll let that slide. Also enjoyed the sand compactor which was mentioned in the book but i previously had no good visual on that.

The carryall (spice crawler mover/rescuer) was supposed to be a really big thopter. I think what they had in the movie probably makes more sense, kinda. Though those balloons were probably way too small to help much at all, but maybe spice gas has super intense buoyancy, or maybe those were some special suspensor globe thingy thing idk. Regardless, a thopter big enough to pick up a crawler seems a bit absurd once you see the size of the crawler (which the movie got right, it's a reasonable sized thing - consider that the worms always come and will clean up the spice blow, so you can't just use a small crawler and come back - you need to get all the spice from the blow right now).

Muad'dib is cute. I mean the kangaroo mouse. Not the mousy actor.

I thought Jessica was played a little too weepy, book-Jessica wasn't unfeeling but she was ready for battle pretty much all the time. She was seriously a strong and intense woman, and while she had her "human" moments she wasn't weepy except when they were in the tent after the storm. i don't think this is the fault of the actress and think she did a good job.

I was ready not to like paul in this movie because of the actor, but he did a decent job. i'm not well versed in current young male actors so i can't suggest a better one; there's likely a better one IMO but it wasn't bad

They cut the political dinner in Arrakeen and that's ok. it was interesting in the second or third read of the book but it bogged down the beginning of the first read (gg i almost stopped reading the book because of the slow beginning the first time) and was probably an easy cut making the movie. They also cut the solarium/greenhouse and moved Mapes's confrontation with Jessica forward. Way forward. That should've been completely private without a house guard present, Mapes would not have shown the blade with anyone else around. Are crysknives special or not? Apparently only kinda.

I don't recall there being a fairly big deal about the duke letting Duncan Idaho join Stilgar's sietch as compensation for some of Stilgar's men having been killed when trying to warn the Atriedes of a treachery. We just get duncan dancing around looking happy about whatever instead. It was a major coup getting him in there and having their trust that way, Leto's entire strategy banked on alliance. While Duncan & Gurney & Thufir (haha movie-thufir sorry) had trained a fighting force to within a hair's breadth of sardaukar strength, they couldn't do it large scale, and he knew that the fremen would allow them to take on the sardaukar face-to-face and win - safeguarding the house if not forcing a political marriage.

Speaking of marriage. "I should have married you". wha????? yes us readers understood. Everyone else: the fuck does this mean? They completely glossed over the politics that underpinned the entire story.

Still it seemed to me like they'd just landed on Arrakis when they came under attack; in the book i'm pretty sure there were at least a number of days if not weeks - seemed a bit quick and compressed. they at least needed to wait for the next heighliner, right?

Yueh's conditioning was never brought up so the shock that he was the traitor wasn't there. He had a pretty serious part, and the lengths that the baron went in subverting the conditioning crucial, but yueh was just some guy in the movie. nice to see they kept his symbol in the thopter but there was no reason given why it was even there, how had he left the goodies in the right thopter? in the book - he and specifically called out a desert-prepared thopter to use in disposing of P&J.

Sardaukar - first, salusa secundus was known as the emperor's prison planet, not army planet. nobody knew for certain where the sardaukar came from, though Leto &co strongly suspected it was S.S. surprise that SS is where nazi looking army dudes are from, right? yeah well ok nm. still. Also: the sardaukar were talked about in the book such that you could actually see their faces (remember when thufir was captured? oh wait they cut that from the movie too). why would they fight with this weird ass helmet on that blocks so much vision? are you trying to make pathetic imperial troopers? even under shaddam hussein iv, a sardaukar was still considered a match for seven typical landsraad levies - even if that's down from 10, 7:1 is still really badass.

Ok I mentioned the gender swap character - Liet Kynes - as I said, the character being male didn't matter to the plot so it's cool that they found another slot (in this as-is-typical mostly male movie) for a woman. But, what a stupid way to kill her off. She took like three steps outside the base onto the sand and called the maker and just stood there like a fucking idiot. Big surprise she got stabbed in the back isn't it? I think they could've done it better. Also this ended lost the ability to have the scene from the appendix which gives a lot of backstory about Arrakis (with Pardot Kynes).

Given that they did it to Kynes, why stop there? Thufir could've easily been female. I've never met a male Thufir, so it's not an obviously male name. What about Gurney? Duncan is kinda a male name, so you can keep him male I guess. Do we have to keep the Fremen so patriarchical that a woman can't lead a sietch? They let Kynes be female, and Kynes as pretty much the leader of the Fremen, in fact if not in name, so if they're ok with Kynes being a woman, Stilgar could've just as well. I'm fine with the H being male because they're obviously nazis... but does the Guild have to be all male? Don't forget Dune was written in a different time, but there's no reason we can't swap more.

When Paul & Jessica meet the fremen after the desert crossing, Paul pwning Jamis as he gtfo'd was key to Jamis being a hothead. ok jamis was a hothead all the time anyways but he was particularly pissed off about this little shit getting the drop on him and that's really why the fight happened. What's a sayyadina? i know and you may know, but my movie date didn't have a clue and neither did 90% of the movie watchers; in the book jessica was surprised to hear the word used at this point and realized the opportunity to take advantage of the natives' fremen superstition as a result.

Book-Chani gave Paul some tips about how jamis turns to the (right?left? i don't remember) after a particular attack. Why? Seems like she's already besotted with Paul or something after such a quick time? I liked the movie-Chani's attitude more, no tips or tricks, good luck i'll help jamis drink your water tonight white boy. Definitely more realistic.

Also in the final fight scene, i'm really surprised they didn't take advantage of this - in the book they took off stillsuits for the ritual fight. This is the reason given why the winner of a fight gets the loser's water, because they lose water due to perspiration in the process. As i said, surprised they didn't give the audience a show and have the actors strip to loincloths for the fight. Would it have been the case if one or both contestants was female?

ok that's more than a couple and i'd probably find more if i watch it again but i'll stop here and reiterate that

besides the seemingly long complaint list this was a good movie and overall really well done. i always figured that this book had too much going on in the characters' heads to make a good movie but i guess i was wrong and that's good. could it have been better? sure. i'd like to see a director's cut with the dinner and thufir's capture. oh and gurney shacking up with the smugglers too, that's not there.

#dune #spoilers under the cut

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palaces-in-every-paragraph · 2 years

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Trick or Treat Letter 2022

AO3 Name: LadyReisling

Dear Author,

Oh my gosh, how is it Trick or Treat season already? I’m already looking forward to whatever you will create for me–I know I’m going to love it, whatever it is. I’ve listed below my general likes and dislikes and some prompts for each specific fandom. Follow the prompts or don’t–I’ll still love it. I appreciate your time and effort in the creation and am honored that you would share it with me.

Competency is absolutely my greatest kink. I also have a decent-sized hair kink and love hair-touching/stroking/brushing, etc, as well as any kind of safe touch. I like friendship in love, equal partnerships, ass-kicking females, friends to lovers, grudging respect that becomes not so grudging, fluff and cuteness, light angst, caretaking, hairbrushing, cuddling and tender kissing, blanket/bed-sharing in a totally platonic way, all the non-sexual intimacy and tenderness, late-night talks, letters. Tenderly-described safe touch makes me squee. I don’t mind sex so long as it’s consensual between adults, well-written, driven by emotions, and true to character. My favorite AUs are coffee shop and library.

General Likes: Fluff, angst with a happy or happy-for-now ending, humor, hurt/comfort with comfort emphasis, team bonding, mission fic, casefic, slice of life, missions gone bad, bad missions gone good in unexpected ways. Snowed in, locked in a closet, days off that turn into work days due to unforeseen circumstances, Undercover as a couple, enemies to friends to more, fake dating with sparks flying.

I adore setting detail and good descriptive writing. Fall is absolutely my favorite season--so perfect for walks, crisp air, toasted marshmallows, apple orchard trips, cider and donuts, colorful leaves that crunch underfoot, hay rides, warm drinks, cozy sweaters, knitting, lazy weekends, bonfires (or fires in fireplaces) new pens and notebooks, etc. I also love holidays and celebrations--all of them equally, so whatever feels natural to you and the characters is great. Cultural descriptions and events are fabulous, as well as setting, time period, and seasonal details. I’ve been blessed to grow up and live my entire life in a place with four distinct seasons, and as long as I’m not driving in them, I actually adore blizzards and being snowed in. If you happen to live in a place where you don’t have seasons, I’m sorry! But pull up some Google images and describe away and I’ll love it.

For Treats: Road trips, friends to lovers, friendship in love, non-sexual intimacy, mission debriefing/recovery/unwinding, seasonal outings. It’s My Day Off…Now What? Fake dating, fake fighting, Fake dating that might want to be real dating, however surprisingly. Mutual pining and admiration from afar that becomes admiration up close or more is a bonus. I adore banter. I also like missing scenes and episode tags.

For Tricks: Haunted houses or haunted, abandoned places! Creepy supernatural elements that aren’t super gory! Curses! Locked-room mysteries! Stakeout in a cemetery! Fortune tellers that are more real than they seem!

DNW: Graphic violence or gore, rape/non- or dub-con, sex pollen, watersports, underage, kidfic. Please no A/B/O dynamics (I don’t understand how they work), D/S relationships, or dystopian elements, PWP, character death, depression, suicide, or self-harm.

Specific Fandoms and Prompts:

NCIS: LA:

This show has been my obsession pretty much all summer and my AO3 bookmarks show it. I’m HERE for all the banter and the cases and the little team celebrations at the end of each episode. I’m not particularly shippy about anyone here, other than that Kensi goes with Deeks only, from Day One. I love the brotherly relationship between Sam and Callen and Hetty’s general badassery and Granger’s gruff marshmallowness. How does the team celebrate Halloween? Is there a case that takes them to a “haunted” house or creepy carnival? A serial offender who leaves tarot cards or creepy dolls as their signature? Are there pranks or pranks gone too far, and what is the fallout from that? There HAVE to be ghosts in the mission or the boatshed, right? A paperwork day that gets interrupted by strange happenings? Movie night or game night on the big screen in Ops? Fun or off-the-wall training scenarios where Hetty and/or Granger kicks everyone’s collective ass and then drinks them all under the table after? A routine case involving a “curse” that gets screwed up six ways to Sunday until Callen saves everyone with a surprise bolthole or secret stash of whatever object they might need? Give me the caretaking and team bonding during and after a mission, and banter. All the banter.

Schitt’s Creek:

I’m not done with this show but OMG I adore it. “Grad Night” is the episode I go back to when I’m feeling down because I love the chemistry between these three in particular. I love Steve’s sass and how David and Patrick play off each other and bring out the best in each other. Give me all the seasonal dirt on Rose Apothecary–fun classes, gift boxes that have to be tested, dithering about what kind of treats to hand out, floor picnics by a cheap fake fireplace that someone appropriated from Roland and Jocelyn, that time the heat goes out at home and they cuddle for warmth. The shop needs weatherproofing and Patrick decides he can do it all with the help of YouTube and David freaks out. What kind of Halloween gifts/specials run at Rose Apothecary, Stevie making sure that David and Patrick make the most of their first Halloween as a married couple. Give them a cute couples’ costume, run wild with hauntings at the motel or the shop or at David’s and Patrick’s house, the town’s costume parade or pumpkin carving contest getting crazy competitive or wildly out of hand, or one of Twyla’s murder mystery parties having an actual murder.

West Wing

I loved this show in its first run and recently rediscovered it. I’m really OTEveryone here, so mix up these characters however you want. I adore how everyone is fiercely competent in their own ways and how they banter and argue and stand up for what they believe in and protect each other. I would love some office shenanigans, a campaign trail story, an election watch party, a found-family holiday when no one can get home, the poker game or movie night that an all-night work session devolves into, or some strange goings-on at the White House or some campaign event.

Hawkeye (2021)

Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye run was my intro to comics and since I started, I haven’t looked back. I also thought that the Hawkeye TV show was damn near perfect. I love Clint and Kate together and how even though they are both completely badass, they always seem to be kind of making things up as they go along and can’t believe this is actually their life, for good or for bad. I imagine that there are not many people whom Kate would allow to be a mentor or teacher or even a father figure and I love Clint in that role, even as often as he rolls his eyes and wonders why and how this is life.. I love their chemistry together and the banter, but I’m definitely more friendshippy than shippy about them. If you’re romantic about them, that’s fine, but either include Laura or or pretend she doesn’t exist at all–no cheating, please.

Speaking of banter, I need the banter of Kate/Yelena like I need air to breathe. I would love something where they are grudgingly forced to work together and somehow it becomes more. I love their badassery and would love to see more of them together. Give me mission/casefic, unwinding and debriefing after a mission, Kate roping Clint into celebrating Halloween and the Tracksuits or some other baddies getting in the way, or Kate helping the Barton kids with their costumes and ways to sneak more candy.

#exchange letter #Fanfic Exchange #trick or treat

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favoniuscodex · 3 years

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road trip headcanons [ genshin guys ]

prompt: road trip hcs for the genshin guys characters: albedo, childe, dainsleif, diluc, kaeya, scaramouche, xiao, zhongli w/ gn!reader word count: 2.3k words warnings: none? fluff, modern!au

a/n: for all the guys,,, besides the unreleased ones/ones we haven't met in quests HAHA

albedo

when asked to create a road trip playlist, albedo is the type to queue up scientific podcasts. he says they're relaxing and that being idle in the car is a great time to learn.

if he's not the one driving, he 100% has a blanket and is cozy in the passenger's seat. if there's no conversation, he might as well use the time to sleep, right?

but, if you ask albedo about his current research or begin to tell him about your day, he'll be wide awake and either listening or blabbing away. unlike how he reacts to most people, conversations with you never bore him.

if you do nag him into playing music instead, he'll play classical music. it's mentally stimulating, okay?

he'll have fun telling you species of trees that the two of you pass.

is an excellent driver. he's smart and driving is a piece of cake for him. probably the best driver of all of the guys listed here and he's very quiet with his frustrations as well.

if you let albedo fall asleep, he'll fill the car with soft snores before abruptly shaking his head as he sits up, awake.

if conversation lulls and he's not driving yet can't sleep, he'll pull out his sketchbook and (not-so-secretively) draw pictures of you.

... will likely ask to stop for ice cream. he has a sweet tooth... use it as a chance to steal a kiss with the excuse that he has ice cream on the corner of his mouth!

will plan what hotels you stop at ahead of time because albedo knows you'll get tired and he wants to ensure that you're well-rested, as compared to having to sleep in the car for part of the time.

childe

is a pretty decent driver but takes aggressive drivers as competition, so don't let this man drive in the city.

childe will stop for fast food if you'd like, but also enjoys preparing snacks for the two of you to take. look, he cut you a little bag of strawberries in the shape of hearts! he's kind of a dork about this so hype him up, he'll get flustered but in a good way.

has a playlist of 00's bops that he knows every single word to. WILL make you duet promiscuous with him.

he's pretty noisy, but burns out quickly in energy. after an hour or two of singing, he'll likely suddenly get kind of mellow and go quiet for a few minutes hehe.

will find anything and everything to talk about. he doesn't want you to get bored!

tries to drive the car more than you because he doesn't want you to feel obligated to drive ;;; he just wants you to relax!

will point out weird license plates or bumper stickers he sees on other cars.

whenever you two stop to use the bathroom, he probably ends up kissing you for several minutes in the parking lot lol

inadvertently messes up his sleep schedule by napping too much

definitely dreams of you in his sleep and sleep talks through it. the two of you can have a conversation while he naps in the car, but he won't remember any of it nor will his contributions even be coherent.

dainsleif

naturally, he's just kind of a... quiet presence. you'll have to handle the aux cord or start conversation, otherwise dain will sit there brooding in his own thoughts.

probably hasn't been on a road trip with anyone before, but finds himself really appreciating your company as he drives!

is a good driver but absolutely gets confused by toll roads. forgets his wallet in his luggage, which is packed securely in the trunk, so he's fumbling for spare change whenever the two of you pass one.

probably doesn't like fast food but will begrudgingly eat french fries from mcdonalds if you stop. (get him a happy meal... you can watch him fumble with the toy for a few minutes)

doesn't like to sleep if you're driving. he knows you're capable, he just has a natural tendency to worry that something will happen if you're not awake.

dainsleif will tell you stories of his past if you ask him, but only if you've been on the road for a few hours. there's something about the soft intimacy of being in the car with you for that long that makes him want to share parts of himself with you, but only if you wish to hear them.

if you two pass a truly scenic area, he'll stop to take your picture. he's sentimental, okay? it'll take a bit of coaxing to get him to take a selfie with you, though.

refuses to go above the speed limit. dain says they're there for a reason. however, if you call him a bootlicker for this, he refuses to go no less than 5 over the speed limit from then on.

doesn't recline his chair whatsoever. his legs and torso are perpendicular.

... will want to hold your hand as he's driving. sure, two hands is safer, but he likes the feel of your hand in his!

diluc

offers to just buy the two of you first class plane tickets to wherever you wish to go, even if it's only an hour or two drive away.

doesn't really get the appeal of a road trip at first, yet agrees to go anyways... he can't resist when you look at him with such pleading eyes.

after you explain the appeal to him, diluc nods as if he understands, then offers to pay for a driver so the two of you can sit in the backseat together. he clearly does not understand.

making diluc eat mcdonalds for the first time on a road trip. is baffled by the concept of a bts meal. eats it anyways. is slightly mad you got a happy meal and he didn't because he's jealous of the toy.

probably packs a whole charcuterie board as a snack or whatever lmfao but FRESH GRAPES,,, fresh grapes galore,,,

whips out a clear cup full of grape juice and starts chugging it while driving until you lecture him that a cop will probably think its wine and pull the two of you over.

if you're driving, diluc unabashedly just stares at you when he thinks you're not paying attention. he finds you pretty, okay?

doesn't really know the songs you play on the aux too well, yet hums along to them under his breath if he can pick up on the melody.

doesn't like small talk, but it's not small talk if it's you! diluc... might not be the best conversationalist for the hours you're in the car together, but he'll try, just for you!

will book a really nice hotel for the two of you then immediately just tugs you into bed with him. just because the two of you spent the whole day in the car together doesn't mean he's had enough of you yet -- it's not like he could just reach over and give you a hug in the middle of driving!

kaeya

the best music of all of the guys. easily the most trustworthy with the aux. probably has a pretty decent singing voice, yet won't sing louder than a soft melody.

likes to stop for fast food on the road, but also really tries to find local restaurants in the area for the two of you to eat at. he figures giggling with you in a booth is a nice break from the eyesore of the same repetitive scenes while driving.

whines if you don't hold his hand, whether it be you driving or him driving. you can't sit there looking that cute and not hold his hand.

will snore if he falls asleep so you're probably gonna have to wake him up whenever he dozes off if you want to stay sane.

definitely speeds but then nearly breaks whenever he sees a possible cop car. if you weren't awake before, you certainly are now whenever he abruptly changes the speed.

is really experienced with city driving, so if it makes you anxious, he's your best bet.

will randomly comment on how cute you look while driving and will also curse out anyone on the road who makes you angry while you drive. he's supportive! plus he finds it fun

likes to drive into the night. its especially nice for him if you're in an area with low light pollution. he finds the night sky fascinating and, much to your surprise, knows little constellations and will point them out to you.

likes to play a game when the two of you are on the road. he describes a person that the both of you know in abstract terms and your job is to guess them. whenever kaeya starts off with a negative description, you know he's talking about diluc.

he's often busy with work and kaeya finds that love is stored in the little things, so being able to spend this time with you, even if it's the mundane task of driving, means the world to him.

scaramouche

surprisingly doesn't get road rage. instead, he gets passenger road rage, in which he gets really angry if people seem like they're trying to fuck with you while you're driving.

very knowledgeable about little hole-in-the-wall places to stop on your drive... no, he didn't make an itinerary, stop looking at his phone!

doesn't really like to stop for fast food either. would prefer to stop at a sit-down restaurant, mainly so you can relax.

it's hard for you to irritate him, but you realize you can push his buttons by asking 'are we there yet?'. scaramouche will passive aggressively gesture to the gps and estimated arrival time.

if you ask him again immediately after he does that, he'll start muttering prayers in snezhnayan that you can't understand. if you didn't know him better, you'd be petrified.

this is your ONE CHANCE to smother him in compliments. he has nowhere to run away. instead, he has to sit there while you tell him how lovely and cute he is, all while slowly turning into a tomato in the process.

probably only wears pajamas during the road trip. why look fancy when you could feel comfy?

subtly offering snacks and drinks all the time to you. he just wants to make sure you're well taken care of, even if he can't necessarily communicate it in the nicest way.

you can tell he's about to fall asleep when he starts getting all sappy to you. you're his soft spot and scaramouche just... really wants you to know how much he appreciates you. no, he's not crying. harbingers don't cry. look away. your eyes are deceiving you, just like the stars.

xiao

bounces his legs constantly in the car. he doesn't ride them very often and is unused to the mechanical movements, so bouncing his leg soothes him.

also gets a bit antsy after a while, so he's nearly clawing at the walls by the time the two of you stop to take a break and walk around.

clenches the steering wheel a bit too hard... but you don't comment on it. he looks tense enough while driving.

surprisingly has pretty decent music. it's likely just a generic lo-fi playlist he found on spotify, but its a far cry from what you expected him to actually play.

like diluc, xiao will stare at you while he's driving. he's an admirer, and he finds the way your brow subtly furrows as you see something in the distance to be utterly mesmerizing.

call him out for it and he gets all embarrassed, but will also grumble about how he loves you under his breath.

he's kind of clumsy with a kamera whenever the two of you stop, but he likes to take pictures of everything!

sometimes, when the two of you are sightseeing wherever you decide to stop, you'll suddenly notice that xiao is no longer by your side. look behind you and you'll find xiao stopping to pet and talk to any dog that the two of you pass.

likes to buy you little trinkets from gift shops if they remind him of you. oh, the little sculpture is the same color of your eyes? oh, it's an object that has your birthstone in it? oh, it's a cute stuffed plush of your favorite animal? xiao's secretly buying it while your distracted and giving it to you in the car.

zhongli

music isn't very necessary when you have thousands of years of information stored in one being right next to you!

likes to use the road trip as driving practice... he's still acclimating to living with humanity.

uses a gps just in case roads have changed, but is very familiar with the terrain and tells you stories about different areas you pass through.

isn't too familiar with the human side of things, so it's up to you to figure out where the two of you will stop for lunch and dinner. just... no seafood for him, please.

likes to hold your hand while he's driving and rub his thumb back and forth of your knuckles. he finds it comforting.

you had to explain to him what a road trip consisted of before the two of you set out (as, y'know, he used to be a god and is used to teleporting places) and zhongli is utterly enthralled by the concept.

part of humanity that zhongli is still trying to grasp is how it's okay if results aren't immediate. sometimes the fun is found in the journey, not the destination, and zhongli truly understands that during his road trip with you.

while he has eons of information of his own life to share, zhongli also enjoys sitting back and discussing your own life stories. sure, they might not be as grand as tales of the archon war, but they're you, so zhongli adores them nonetheless.

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miekasa · 3 years

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random boyfriend levi hcs (modern au)

↯ pairing: levi ackerman x (fem) reader

↯ genres and warnings: modern au, fluff, i feel like he would honestly just be a quiet, gentle soul if given the opportunity to relax for once in his life lmao

↯ notes: i was planning to do some levi hcs, and then i got a request for them so yay! here you go, enjoy!

Has a carafe and fills it every morning (because he finishes it every day). He also absolutely does get his 6-8 glasses of water in on the daily thank you very much.

Oh he likes bubble baths. Not into lighting a thousand candles around him (altho he does like candles). Maybe one or two. Doesn’t stay for very long, but does like to get a good soak every once in a while, after he’s already showered of course.

Likes showering with you. A lot. Not necessarily for sexual antics, but he just likes it. Likes it a lot when you get all soapy and then hug him. 10/10. Although shower sex is always a welcome added bonus.

Fluffs your pillows for you in the morning behind your back. Not sure why it’s a secret for him, but it just is.

He’s like a fucking VIP member at SoulCycle or some shit and enjoys taking you with him to the classes just to see you sweat and suffer LMAO

Doesn’t mind doing things late at night with you, actually prefers it to some extent. Just don’t ask him to do anything dumb.

“Do you wanna walk to McDonald’s and get a McFlurry?” “No. I fucking hate McDonald’s and it’s 2am.” ....... “Do you want to drive around and maybe get some chinese food on our way back?” “... I’ll get the keys, let’s go.”

Surprisingly, likes to bake. It’s somewhat relaxing and therapeutic for him. He’s not the best at things like brownies and cakes and icing and decorating and all of that, but is really good at smaller, I suppose more refined desserts.

Think things like little fruit tarts, lemon squares, creme brûlée. Things that might not require a lot of ingredients, but are very particular in technique.

He doesn’t mind cooking though. But he likes cooking for other people best, not to mention he can be picky about his take-out. It can become a chore to him otherwise (and you can miss him with that meal-prepping bullshit), but he doesn’t mind cooking dinner if he knows it’s for you and him to share. And is willing to honor any particular meal request you might have.

Not exactly a wine connoisseur, but he doesn’t mind having a glass with you when you ask. He keeps bottles you and his friends get for him, but he doesn’t know shit about tasting and pairing and all that. If he needs to know or needs a recommendation, he’ll ask Erwin.

Into niche home design things like lighting fixtures, finding the perfect handles for his furniture and drawers, and things of that nature.

Very much a DIY kind of guy, and your fixer-upper. Need to assemble furniture? Fix a broken TV? Re-tile your bathroom floors? Levi’s your guy.

Loves candles. Not super sweet smelling ones like birthday cake and vanilla bean, but loves lighter, fruitier scenes like eucalyptus mixes, lemon, even sage. Always has candles on hand and never misses a single Bath and Body Works sale.

On that note, yes he does coupon. Why wouldn’t he? Capitalism already sucks and everything is so expensive, he’ll take a bargain where he can get it.

Never owned a speaker because he never saw any use for it, but one day, you coerced him into having a mini-karaoke session while you were cooking together and he found out he enjoyed it quite a bit. (The music playing a loud, not the karaoke. Even though he’s a pretty decent singer).

So when you bought him a record player for his birthday, it easily became one of his most valued possessions. And he’s really enjoyed collecting vinyls.

Other than that, he’s open to most kinds of music, and likes it if you make playlists for him—otherwise he’ll just listen to whatever you have made.

Levi and Erwin are presidents of the Beyhive but you didn’t hear that from me. Nothing but respect for THEIR Queen Bey.

Enjoys taking walks and going running when the weather is nice, and likes having you along with him. It’s actually on occasion on which he prefers to hold your hand in public. You don’t always talk much, but it’s still nice and Levi really relishes in it.

Genuinely laughs out fucking loud whenever you put a face mask on and cannot take you seriously for the next 20-35 minutes LMAO

“Hey, Casper, did you want me to get you a glass of water on my way back.” “FUCK YOU MY SKIN IS GLOWING LEVI!! GLOWING!!”

Despite that, he still fucking steals your other skin scare!! Like retinol isn’t expensive as hell!!

Likes getting massages from you, and may or may not have feigned or exaggerated soreness form his workouts a few times to get one.

Fucking hates pumping gas, but doesn’t trust the little brats at the gas station to do it for him, and would rather eat a pair of jeans than let you get out and get gawked at, so he does it himself.

If you’re in public doing something/looking at something and taking too long, Levi will just start nudging you to get you moving. Like if you’ve already spent 10 minutes looking at different pasta shapes in the grocery store, he’ll put a hand on your waist and slowly usher you back to the cart so you can actually finish your shopping (and go the fuck home).

On that note, he pulls you/grabs at you quite a bit, usually to out the way of other people or harms way (or so he claims). For example, pulls you back further onto the sidewalk while you’re waiting at the crosswalk; further away from the lines on the ground near trains and busses; away from Hange.

Really likes kissing you. Not in public, but doesn’t mind having you all over him in private. And honestly, when he wants it, he doesn’t mind being all over you either.

He’s a particularly big cuddle bug in the morning bye.

Likes it when you drive. Mostly because he can just chill in the passenger seat and take a nap.

LMAO he can’t ride a bicycle. If you taught him, he’d probably pick up pretty quickly, but nobody ever taught him so he doesn’t know how yet.

(When you find this out, you’re VERY eager to teach him and Levi feels like he might have finally met his demise). “Do you want some training wheels, Levi? I saw a pretty pink pair in the toy store on the way here.” “No, fuck you, I just need to find my balance—hey, don’t let me go! Do you want me to die???”

Despite not liking having his photo taken, he’s a pretty good photographer and doesn’t mind taking pictures of you.

Keeps a picture of you and him inside his wallet. You don’t know that it’s there.

Despises the dentist with every fiber of his being and would not fucking go if you didn’t force him to. Seriously, you have to book the appointment for him and everything or else he’s just not make one or go.

And it’s not even like he has bad teeth?? They’re fine, maybe just in need of the regular professional cleaning. He just hates people prodding inside his goddamn mouth.

Which is very weird and you tease him very loudly about because he’s fine with the doctor?? And the ophthalmologist?? And everything else but the dentist LMAO

Quite spontaneous with dates in all honesty. Sometimes he just sees shit or has an idea and asks you if you’d be down.

Not one for cliche coupley items, but you do have matching sneakers. (They’re his favorite pair of sneakers).

Picks up things you’ve left laying around and puts them in their proper place. “Levi have you seen my—” “It’s on your desk. Where it belongs.”

Museum dates! Not that he cares for the pompous air of museums, but objectively they’re nice. Quiet, pretty objects, clean. Overall, not so bad. Just don’t take him to a fucking history museum.

Has a habit of kissing the palm of your hand. It’s his silent way of telling you he loves you.

Lays his head on your lap when you’re sitting on the couch. Claims he’s not keeping up with your shows but secretly is. Curls up into a ball and takes a nap halfway through tho.

#aot x reader #snk x reader #levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi x you #aot imagines #snk imagines #levi ackerman smut #levi ackerman fluff #eren x reader

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gotinterest · 2 years

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Actually you know what is criminally under-discussed in the Hannibal fandom? Hannibal's giant wall of herbs.

I want that so bad. But also his set up for it is terrible.

Look there is one source of natural light and judging from the morning light during this breakfast scene with Jack it's a North facing window.

(sun rises in the east, the light source is coming from the right, ergo the window is facing north.)

From a filmmaking perspective this lighting design has a fantastic amount of detail and thought put into it given that this is shot on a set with a fake outdoors backdrop. For lighting purposes they HAD to make it so that any light coming through that window was and diffused so that both the window wasn't completely blown out AND the actors weren't silhouetted.

Where Hannibal lives, northern windows provide that kind of light (whereas southern windows would get a harsher, more direct light). And by making sure to place the light source (which in-universe would be the rising sun) on the right during this breakfast scene, they firmly establish that this is, indeed, a north facing window. And if you think that I'm attributing more thought and intention to a lighting decision than there probably actually was, than I'm pretty sure you've never worked closely with a decent gaffer before (thinking about the movement and placement of the sun is a surprisingly large portion of their jobs).

But anyway, I digress. Northern windows are generally not ideal for growing a bunch of herbs (especially sun lovers like rosemary or basil). Plus, the plant wall is set back quite a bit from the window, so they aren't getting a lot of natural light. Yes, they get some light from some overhead can spotlights, but not a lot. And also those bulbs might not even be good enough to act as grow lights.

Not mention that those plants are so closely packed together. Give me the Hannibal episode where he has to deal with a massive spider mite infestation. Those suckers would rip through that setup so fucking fast. Not to mention that many plants in one space is literally a recipe for fungus gnats and other bugs. Missing from the show are the guests covering their wine and water glasses to make sure the fungus gnats don't drown themselves in their drinks.

Maybe he regularly applies beneficial nematodes to his setup to keep them from breeding. I bet you he does. He'd be into that. Something something "have you ever heard of beneficial nematodes, Will? They are a kind of microscopic roundworm that parasitizes the larvae of pest insects. They borrow inside their bodies and secrete a bacteria that kills the host. A horrible and cruel end that would be called a tragedy were it to happen to a human. But since we villainize the insects they kill as pests, we deem those nematodes 'beneficial'. Tell me Will..." You know how it is.

I do appreciate the platonic ideal of the plant wall though.

#Hannibal #NBC Hannibal

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devilrainbunnie · 3 years

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Midnight Train

Dabi x Fem!Reader

cw: smut 18+ minors DNI, chikan, dubcon/noncon, pet names, pervy dabi

You stood in the train station, feeling a bit out of place. Looking around at your surroundings, and wondering when your train was going to arrive. It was running a little too late for your liking. Not to mention the fact that it was late, and cold, you didn’t even have a coat. You were wearing a long sleeved shirt, a short black skirt, and matching thigh highs with some simple school girl like shoes. Which was kind of ironic for you to wear. At the moment, you were currently in your second year of university. Just coming back from an outing with your friends, and cutting it off early because you had work the next morning. You were always overly cautious anywhere near trains, just due to the nature of pervy men, and the amount of times you’ve had experiences with them. Not even to mention how intense it is around this area. You berated yourself internally for deciding to wear something like this out, but now you had no choice but to just try and deal with it for now.

Absent-mindedly you scrolled on your phone, to give you some sort of distraction from the anxiety you felt beginning to stir in your stomach, tightening your thighs together, and keeping your purse close to your body. Then soon, the sounds of a fast moving vehicle, and wheels breaking to a halt brought you out from beneath your phones gaze. Looking up to greet the train. You patiently waited until it’s gears locked into place, and the doors opened. Waiting until the small crowd of people walked out of the cart, and then following into it. The cart was decently full of people. But to your absolute demise, there was some substance on some of the seats that looked like a spilled milk tea boba. Which was why you had to stand. Opting for the back of the cart that had some people also standing around. One of them meeting your gaze. Hooded, cerulean eyes following behind you, as you reached your spot to stand. He must’ve got on with me, you thought to yourself. The person was a bit of distant from you, staring at you without remorse. It was hard to make out their features with the large hood they wore over their head, and it made you anxious. Holding your body closer to itself.

He was looking at you like a predator stalking prey, hungry, and ready to devour. A look that quite honestly was making your heart absolutely flutter against your rib cage. Then you did something kind of stupid, pulling out your phone again, and trying to focus all of your attention on it. Trying to pay the hooded man no attention, out of your peripherals, you saw him lift his hood back. But again, you were too scared to see what he looked like. No matter how intense your curiosity was. After a short while into the trip following that, you checked again to see if he was there, and surprisingly he wasn’t.

That’s when you froze, instantly recognizing the feeling of someone standing just behind you. Too scared to gaze behind you, and the train suddenly causing the cart to jolt, your body mushed right against his, as your wobbly knees made you unstable on your feet. Perfect timing.

“S-Sorry!” you cried out, lurching yourself forward. His body following yours.

“It’s quite alright, doll face.” a husky voice whispered behind you. “I like your skirt, it��s cute on you.”

You didn’t respond to this, your blood was running cold, and your breath hitched inside of your throat. He made it a point to step closer to you, the heat radiating off of him was almost too much. The stranger was only an inch or so from touching your body, a hand reached to you hair, tucking it to the side as he leaned in. Body flush with yours, as he whispered to you. “It’s not nice to ignore people when they compliment you.”

“I’m s-sorry.”

“Is that all you know how to say?”

“I-I’m sorry I’m not trying to offend you--”

“Oh baby, you already did though. You hurt me real bad. Don’t you think I deserve something for my bleeding heart?” he taunted. Hands traveling in different directions, his large hand groping the flesh of your ass. This stranger just reached under your skirt to grab you, and you to let out a little yelp, and his hand colliding with your mouth forcefully. “I don’t think you want to find out what happens to little girls who are loud, and bratty. I’m not gonna hurt you baby, just be a good girl, an’ let me take care of ya.” he raised the hand from your mouth to show you the tiny blue flame in his palm. Instinctively you shuddered, gulping down the lump in your throat. “Am I understood?”

You nodded, he grabbed your jaw, which forced you took look at him as his head appeared by you shoulder. “Use your words, like a good girl. Remember what we talked about?” he was quite attractive, despite all of the deep scars on his face. His black locks framing his face evenly, and looked quite fluffy. His scars looked painful, and so did all his staples. The piercings on his nostrils were cool though-- despite that, he looked like he had been through hell and back. It made you all the more confused, he was good looking enough to score any girl he wanted. Even with all of the scars and staples, girls probably drooled over it. So why did he bothering harassing you on a train? The man was probably just a full blown predator, and it made you start to panic worse.

“Y-yes, I-I’ll be quiet. I’ll be good.” you said with a wavering voice, tears forming in your eyes at the situation.

“Mmm, such a good girl. Nice an’ sweet, just like I like ‘em.” he murmured against your neck, leaving a wake of wet kisses across it. Taking some experimental bites to try to find your sweet spot, and when he did, you writhed against him. Letting out the cutest little whimper. “Look at you, you’re so fuckin’ sexy.” he was thankful he spotted you initially, he really found a prize that night.

He was walking back from a bar, and he saw you approaching the train station. You looked so sweet, so soft, and so easy to taint. The way your squishy thighs looked in your socks, and how your ass’ curve was more prominent due to the skirts little ruffling drove him to you. Eyes lingering over ever inch of your body, he needed you the second he saw your cute face too. He just knew you were a sweet little girl, and he wanted to taste you before he lost you for good. Honestly, you were such a good girl for him right now he debated on taking you home. Sure, you’d be a lovely little pet to have around the house. He could sure use the company, and you were just so goddamn cute. The man would love to wake up every morning to face fuck you, or violate you a little bit before he started his day. I mean how could he not— just look at the way your pretty e/c eyes leaked tears out, and your plump lips pouted as his fingers dove for your pussy. So pretty.

This sick man decided to lick your face to wipe away the tears from your stained, heated cheeks. His long, calloused fingers rubbing against your clothed slit, making your hips buck at the pleasure of it. Little strangled moans being held down in your throat. Waiting for your slick to seep through the pretty light blue cotton, and keep it for later. “Has anyone ever touched you like this before? Hmm? Does it feel good?”

“N-No, plea-ah, please j-just stop.” you cried out, sniffling after you choked out the words. His fingers began to push your pretty little panties to the side, moving his fingers up and down your cunt. Finally able to feel that you were actually becoming a bit wet, he chuckled behind you. You let out a soft moan, the first one he was able to actually get out of you.

“Mm, you’re getting more wet by the second. You sure?” he teased. His opposing hand sleeping inside of your sweater, pushing a breast out of its cup, and squishing the flesh in his palm. Tweaking the nipple between his fingers, arching your back and wincing at the pleasurable pain. “You’re so sensitive, and I haven’t even put my dick in you.”

“Pl-please. I- just want to g-go home.” you whimpered as he continued to violate you, finding your clit and pinching the bud between his fingers. Watching as your breaths became ragged, and the way your knuckles turned white as you held on to the metal pole. The way his fingers were working against your untouched pussy right now, was making it drool. You hated how much that was turning you on.

“Turn your head.” he commanded, and you did. Meeting once again, his face at your shoulder, this time his hand slipped from your breast. Grabbing the opposing side of your face and slamming your lips against his. Surprisingly, his kiss wasn’t at all overbearing, or forceful as you thought it was going to be. It was slow, and somehow passionate, despite the situation. You kissed him back, just trying to be compliant. His lips were soft, despite his lower lip being badly damaged, and he knew how to use it well. The hand quickly knotted itself in your hair, causing you to gasp, and open your mouth for him. His wet muscle tangling in with yours, and with that, a deep guttural groan left the back of his throat. Combined with your little whimpers, created an odd symphony of pleasure.

With your mouth occupied, two of his fingers began running across your slit. Gathering the arousal between his fingers to act as lubricant. Then plunging the digits straight into your throbbing, and tight hole. Which made your body act on instinct, and you gasped loudly in his mouth. He pulled back, chuckling at how much you were reacting now. Panting like a bitch in heat, biting back a plethora of moans inside of your throat. He really wanted to hear you crying out to him, and moaning, but he didn’t want to cause too much of a scene. Who knows, if he’s really feeling up for risking everyone’s safety, mostly his own for some snatch— he’ll fucking do it.

“Do you feel good?” he asked you, kissing up your jaw again.

“Y-yes.” you whispered, your small hands struggle to stay up against the pole. The pace of his fingers began to speed up, causing a horrid squish-y sound to be heard in the atmosphere around the two of you. He was practically cumming at the sound of your wet sex being violated and how well you were taking him.

“Mm, I wish I could hear all those pretty sounds you’re tryin’ to hold back. God, you are just killin’ me tonight.” he moaned into your ear, taking it upon himself to start feverishly pepping your skin with his kisses as he pumped you closer, and closer to your end.

He began noticing the way you were starting to clench against him, he assumed you were beginning to enjoy yourself fully now. His other hand snaked its way down your body to toy with your clit again as well, without intent, you mewled at the sensation. One of your hands coming you to cover your mouth, you anxiously looked around the cart. For some reason, no one was looking. Either they really didn’t want to look, or they were utterly disturbed by the sight in the far corner of the cart. Since no one was paying attention, you decided to act purely on desire since you were now worked up. Letting go of the pole you were holding on to, which the man behind you was quick to notice, thinking you were about to try to fight him off, the hand toying with your clit put a bruising hold on you midsection. You winced, both at the sudden loss of your breath, but also the fingers now violently crashing into your cunt, his breath ragged in your ear, causing a chill to run down your spine. “C-can I turn around?” you asked him. His movements stopped, you couldn’t see but he was looking at you completely dumbfounded.

“Why?” he said, sounding a little offended.

“Well t-there’s not a-lot of people in here. No one i-is going to care, I... liked uhm, kissing.” you murmured shyly, feeling pathetic and disgusted with yourself for wanting more. But the throbbing inside of your womb was now becoming almost unbearable, you could use something to take the edge off.

“What’s your name, baby?” he asked, his chin now resting against your shoulder.

“F/n, why?”

“F/n... you’re very naughty, you know that? I mean what kind of dirty slut wants to start kissing someone who just grabbed ‘em on the train? Maybe I was right, you are a special girl, huh?” he was quick to turn you around, pulling his hood back over his head, but not all the way. Your bodies were touching, and resting against the pole. So that way you could actually look at him. The fingers that were inside you, stuck straight into his mouth. Cleaning off your natural essence off his fingers like he had eaten the best meal he’d ever had. “At least you taste good. Sweet. Like fuckin’ honey or somethin’. C’mere pretty, I’ll let you try.” he leered down at you, his jagged scars twisting up in a cocky smile. Grabbing you by the back of your head, and crashing his lips against yours, sucking your bottom lip into his mouth immediately, snaking a hand of his into your hair. The other one traveling down south once again, pushing right into your slippery walls. Mewling against his tongue.

The sight must’ve been so erotic, they way you were pulling his face closer to yours by holding the back of his neck. Moaning, and panting into the heated kiss. His fingers inside of your pussy scissoring, and harshly pressing right against your cervix. God his fingers are so long.

He yanked your head back, looking at your features. Drinking in the sight of your half lidded eyes, kiss swollen lips and flushed expression. Your eyes silently begging him to keep at it, removing your arms from his. The man bit his lip, leaning back a tad to put his hand around your neck, reveling at how pretty and soft you looked like this. His hand never stopping it’s assault inside of you. “Sweet, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

“How close are you?” he asked, picking up his pace.

“Mmm, c-close. So close. Nngh.” The hand around your neck squeezed harder at the sides, making your eyes roll back as the thrusts of his hand picked up. The man stood over you once more, watching how your eyes kept rolling back into your skull, and how you biting so hard on your lip he was worried it might split.

“Dabi.” he said, waiting for you to reply, and giving your neck a break from the squeezing.

“H-Huh?”

“My name, I want you to say it. Say it when you’re cummin’, I want you to remember who made you feel this good.” he kissed your cheek. “Will you be a good girl, an’ do that for me?”

“Yes D-Dabi. I’ll- be good.”

“You’re completely falling apart with just my touch.” he chuckled, leaning to your ear again, his hands dropping from your neck, to your thigh. Feeling to flesh of your ass again, this time he tried to hold your thigh to his hip, like he was expecting you to let him carry you. But in all honesty, it’s so he could rut his hips against your thigh and try to pretend for a second he was fucking you. Dabi reveled in the feeling of your soft skin against his fingertips. Bet it would feel even nicer against his dick. “I could fuck you right now, just whip out my cock, and stick it right in. I bet you’d like that huh? Me fucking you in front of all these people? I bet you wouldn’t even try to be quiet. Dirty, dirty girl. Maybe I should, huh-”

“No! No, p-please not here. Not in public. P-please Dabi.”

“I like seeing you beg like that, so I won’t this time ‘round.” he attached his mouth to your neck. Making it a point now to mark his territory, and watch you squirm. Wait-- this time around?! In that moment, you felt you were seconds away from bursting and his words meant nothing. His fingers inside of you continued to curl, and push you in all the right places. Your body quickly beginning to flood with a familiar euphoric sensation, knees growing weak, and the blissful feeling of stomach growing tight was all you could think about.

“D-Dabi.” you mewled out, mouth left to hang open. Your hands quickly clutching the jacket he was wearing, trying to feel like you had some control. “Please d-don’t stop, p-lease- oh!”

He stared into your face as you grew closer. Dabi liked how hard you were tugging at his jacket, it confirmed for him that you were actually growing a lot closer than he thought. Despite the feeling of your gooey walls clenching around his fingers as if it was trying to suck them in. “Cum for me baby, you’re so close.”

“Dabi-- oh God, fuck- Dabi!” you cried out, a little bit louder than you intended. The coil in your stomach finally snapped, releasing the overwhelming feeling of your formerly restrained orgasm. Your tight cunny was clenching vigorously around him as he continued to pump into you, enjoying as you struggled to breathe due to how hard you had just came. Every inch of your body was jolting, trying to adjust to the come down of the feeling, and the man above you was watching with a smile. Dabi brought his free hand up that wasn’t covered in slick, and wiped some sweat, as well with stray hairs from your face.

“Open up.” he said, removing his hand from your aching, and pleased cunt, shoving them into your mouth. Suddenly alarmed by the feeling of tasting your own arousal, and having his fingers try to climb their way down your throat. “Suck.”

So that’s what you did-- suck on his fingers, and he pumped them as well. Watching your pretty mouth try to take all of his abuse, and after he deemed them clean enough, he pulled them out. “You did so well for me tonight. We a couple minutes left of this ride, let’s make out.”

Before you could even respond, his tongue was already in your mouth and silencing you. During the time it took for you guys to get to your train stop, you did exactly that. Passionately making out for all to see, against a pole inside of a train cart. His hands palming your ass under your skirt like before, and your hands running through the tendrils of inky black locks. Honestly, you really should feel more ashamed than you currently are. Making out with the same man who was making you cry not even fifteen minutes ago, and letting him grind his erection against your thigh. But, you needed to fix that ache in your womb. You needed someone, or something, to make that coil snap.

Then soon, the train was beginning to halt to a stop, and the two of you pulled away. Your hands still locked into his hair. Holding his face close to yours. “That was fun, but I oughta head off now. I’ll be lookin’ out for you, so don’t do anything stupid, or run off on me.” you nodded, feeling threatened by his words, but also excited at the opportunity to see him again. Never in a million years would you think this of all things would happen, but it wasn’t anything to complain about. He pulled you in for another kiss, and following it by pressing another one to your cheek. “Get home safe now, ‘kay?”

“Okay.” you said in a hushed voice, as he pulled away from your body. Pulling his hood further over his face. Leaving you a stick, sweaty mess in the now emptying train. Adjusting your skirt, and top, combing through your now horribly messed locks.

Before stepping out, you got a disgusted look from an older woman in the back of the cart. Shaking her head at you. But it made you let out a little laugh, stepping out of the cart on to the platform. Eyes scanning the scene for any sight of your scarred, and disturbed prince charming. But by that time he was long gone. Which kind of made you sad, but also relieved. Your mind was hazy, and clouded with a confused lust. Wondering if his words were true— were you going to see him again? Did you even want to? Why weren’t you freaking out right now? What is going on?

The entire walk home, was filled with your mind being so loud it was drowning out all of your senses.

Including the one that could’ve sensed the man following you home.

Don’t worry though, he just wanted to make sure his pet got home safely.

#dabi smut #dom dabi #tw chikan #tw: dark fics #tw dark fic #dabi x reader #dabi fan fiction #tw dubcon #tw noncon #tw smut

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diegos-butt · 3 years

Text

Electricity Chapter 3

Summary: For the first time in her life, Melody Williams is moving out of her hometown to Minnesota where she got a job as a crime journalist for the Minnesota Daily. But this city does not only have a new job for her to offer. What will happen when she crosses paths with detective Walter Marshall? Heads up, a little electricity is involved ✨

Walter Marshall x Melody Williams (Curvy OFC)

Warnings: mention of murder and dark alleys 👀

Wordcount: 3.4k

A/N: I love every single one of you who read this. This might be my fav chapter so far.. let me know what ya think ✌🏼

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2

•••

In the days after I met Walter Marshall at the bar, he was suddenly everywhere. On Monday, I had to make a quick stop at the pharmacy, and he did too. On Tuesday, Gia and I went to the nearest coffee shop to grab coffee for our department, and guess what? He was there too with his colleague Liam. It doesn’t end there; on Thursday I went to get some take-out from the Greek restaurant near my house. While I parked my car, he drove away. You’d think we would have spoken to each other one of these times, but we didn’t.

Every time something happened to prevent that. It was suddenly my turn at the pharmacy as we were about to talk. Once I was done, he had left. At the coffee shop it was the other way around. Me and Gia just got our order when he walked in with Liam. I was about to say hi when the barista called them to take their order. Since Gia and I only had 5 minutes of our break left, we had to go back. The last time I saw him, we were both in our cars, making it unable to have a conversation. He did wave though. But honestly, I wanted more. I wanted to have a decent conversation with him.

“You know, you can just go over to the police station and see if he’s there,” Carmen said. It was Friday and more and more people were slowing leaving the office. It had been a long week. There had been two murders, and the murderer had not been caught yet. “Just ask if they got a lead.”

We had been covering these murders for the entire week. Unfortunately, the murderer knew what he was doing because he barely left any evidence. The detectives still had no idea who he could be or what his motive was.

“We could use some more information for our articles,” Gia agreed with her. “I think you should go too.” She and Carmen exchanged a look that meant no good.

“You guys are not going to force me to go down there. If I go there, one of you is coming with me.”

Before they could answer the phone rang. Carmen picked up, nodded a few times and before she hung up, she said: “we will check it out.”

“What was that about?” I asked, but I already knew something was wrong.

“They found another body in an alley across town. Stacy wants us to go there to see if we can get some information,” she said while standing up and putting on her jacket.

“I’ll come with you.” I stood up and grabbed my jacket as well.

“Be careful and call me when you guys are back home! I’m going to finish writing this article and then head home.” Gia said.

“We will. I’ll drive Mel,” Carmen nodded and waved with her car keys.

We stepped out of the car and we saw the crime scene was marked with yellow tape that had ‘do not cross’ on it. The alley was dark and empty except for a few dumpsters. I haven’t been in this city for long, but the few times I drove through this neighbourhood, it didn’t really feel safe.

The thought of being murdered here made me shiver. The murderer dumped her body in a dumpster in the middle of the night and just left her there. I looked around and couldn’t see security cameras. This murderer definitely thought this through.

Carmen and I walked towards a few people that were gathering in front of the alley. The police had arrived long before us, and I recognized a detective from that night in a bar. As we got closer, I spotted another detective whom I recognized immediately. Walter crossed his arms and talked to the other detective.

“Look who is here Mel,” Carmen poked my side. “Talk to him, see if you can figure something out. Like his phone number.” She winked and walked away to talk to some bystanders.

Fuck you Carmen. I walked towards the tape, and at the same time Walter turned around and looked at me. I stared into his blue eyes and yet again I felt a shot of electricity going through my spine. Why does he have this effect on me? I wondered and realized I had stopped walking and were glued to the street. I shook my head and start walking again.

“What are you doing here?” he asked once I was near him.

“Doing my job?” I said surprised. “You are aware I am a crime journalist, right?”

He lifted his eyebrow and sighed. “You shouldn’t be here. We haven’t caught the murderer yet, so it is not safe here,” he stated and wanted to walk away but turned back to me. “Also, I’m well aware you are a journalist. Your friends made that very clear.”

He gave me a small smile and walked away. I was caught a little of guard and looked after him surprised.

“Hey, wait!” I yelled. “I need to ask you some questions!”

He obviously sighed and dropped his head, but stopped walking. I quickly walked towards him and grabbed my notebook and pen out of my bag.

“First of all, are there any leads on the murderer yet? Do you guys have a suspect?” I started asking. “Do you think he murdered those other girls earlier this week?”

“No, no and yes,” he answered.

“Anything else you would like to share than yes or no detective Marshall?” I raised my eyebrow and looked at him. To say he looked irritated, was an understatement.

“No further comment, this is all you’re getting,” he responded while avoiding eye contact.

“Seriously?” I looked at him with puppy eyes.

“Look, we are busy with our investigation. I can’t tell you anything right now. Besides, you shouldn’t even be here. Just go home and let us do our jobs. Okay miss?” he replied while looking at me again. He did look annoyed though. Oh boy, why does he look so good when he’s annoyed? That’s just not fair.

I simply nodded. “It’s miss Williams, Melody Williams by the way.” I fiddled with the notepad and pen in my hand.

“Now if you’d excuse me, I’m going to do my job Miss Williams,” he grinned. He did look less annoyed than a second ago.

As he walked away, I watched his perfectly sculpted ass and thighs. Damn, he is so fine. I looked around to see where Carmen was and spotted her next to some bystanders. She looked at me and signalled that she would be done soon. I looked around and noticed how empty the street was. Just a few sketchy looking apartment buildings, but no stores or anything.

“So, did you get anything from him?” Carmen said as she showed up next to me. “It’s creepy here or is it just me?”

“No, he didn’t give me anything useful and yes, it’s really creepy here. Something is not right,” I said and looked into the alley.

“Really? Not even his phone number? I am greatly disappointed in you.” Carmen looked at me in shock before she laughed. “No, seriously, did he say nothing?”

“He looked pretty annoyed honestly,” I said a little disappointed. “Did the bystanders see anything?”

“No one saw of heard anything suspicious,” Carmen answered.

“Well, the police does suspect the one who did this, also committed the other murders this week.”

“Hmm, but why here? He somehow must have lured that poor girl here. How? Someone must have heard something in that case. I don’t think she would have come willingly into this alley,” Carmen thought out loud. “Wait, someone did hear a car in the middle of the night. It came by, stopped, and drove off not long after.”

“That probably has something to do with this,” I replied. “It is the perfect place to dump something. Empty street, no stores, not many people outside.”

“Sure thing. Also, it creeps me out that there are so many empty buildings here. Overall, there are way too many empty buildings in this town.” She shivered and we noticed the few bystanders who were still there leave. “We should go too. I don’t want to be here for another minute.”

During the weekend I couldn’t stop thinking about the murders that happened that week. It creeped me out that the murderer was still out there. I went over all the details known to the public to see if I could find a connection. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I couldn’t.

On Monday I discussed the murders with Gia and Carmen. They also had no other insights and we decided to let it go for the day. We were going to wait until the police would release a statement or more information.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Once I got home I felt restless. I didn’t want to sit around and wait. I wanted to help. It sounded stupid, how on earth could a simple journalist like me help the best detectives in town solve a case?

I finished doing the dishes and looked outside. It was 8pm and it was dark outside. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had made another victim. Fuck it, I’m just going down to the police station and see if Walter is there. Maybe I can help somehow.

Before I could change my mind and realize this was the most stupid thing to do, I stepped in my car and drove to the police station. After a 15-minute drive I parked my car in the parking lot in front of the police station. I hesitated to go out for a second. But what if I can help?

I stepped out and walked, no rushed, inside. It was surprisingly empty in the entrance. I noticed the elevators to my right and remembered Gia and Carmen told me that the detectives were on the sixth floor. Suddenly the elevator door opened, I smiled at the guy who came out and stepped inside. Quickly, I pressed the button with 6 on it and the doors closed. Surprisingly easy to get inside a police station but okay.

Once the elevator reached the sixth floor, and the doors opened I noticed how quiet it was. Uncertain I walked further into the hallway, until I heard someone sigh heavily. It sounded like a familiar sigh and I decided to see where it came from.

A light flickered above me. Shit, I still need to watch the last episode of stranger things. I heard someone sigh again, and I noticed it came from a door just a few feet away from me. I looked towards it and saw it was slightly ajar.

Closing the gap between me and the door, I looked inside. Walter sat at the desk, he leaned forward on his elbows, papers spread across underneath. The computer buzzed lightly.

It felt a little creepy, spying on him like this. I wanted to let him know I was there, but as I want to knock on the door, I bumped my elbow against the door.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. Very smooth Mel, very smooth.

“What are you doing here?” He crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow at me. “And how did you get up here?”

“I wanted to know if there were new developments around the murders. And I got up here surprisingly easy I must say. I basically just walked inside and took the elevator.” I shrugged my shoulders and walked inside his office while taking off my jacket.

“Do you think I’d still be here if we had a breakthrough?” The look in his eyes softened as he yawned.

I looked around his office and my gaze fell on the computer. There were three different profiles from girls on display.

“Are those the girls who got murdered?” I asked.

“Yeah, but you are not supposed to see any of this,” he said with a stern look in his eyes.

“What are you going to do? Stop me? I’d like to see you try,” I said as I walked around the desk and stood next to him. A recognizable scent hung around him. He wore that same musky cologne as the day I met him at the supermarket. I almost closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Focus Mel, now is not the time to fangirl over this man.

As I stood next to him, I couldn’t help but notice how broad he was. He could easily pick me up and toss me around. Oh god, don’t picture that right now or you will not be able to speak ever again.

My gaze shifted from his chest to his face and I saw his blue eyes staring at me. I quickly looked at the screen and started reading the profiles. I stood there a little uncomfortable and looked around for a chair.

“Why don’t you have another chair here? I really have to stand?” I asked once I noticed he had no other chair in his office.

“No chair, no place to sit. Makes people leave faster.” He simply stated and shrugged his shoulders.

Next thing I knew I felt his hand on my hip, and he guided me down to sit on the armrest of his chair. It caught me off guard and I yelped a little.

“You wanted to sit right?” he said while his hand stayed on my hip. I felt the heat coming from it spread throughout my body. He was so close, and it became hard to focus on the screen. I felt his hot breath on my arm, giving me goosebumps. I regained my focus on the screen and noticed they all had last used a dating app.

“This is probably a dumb question, but have you checked the dating profiles of the girls? The last guy they met with has most likely something to do with this.”

“I am a little insulted by this question,” he said with a grin while putting his hand on his heart. His other hand remained on my hip, I felt his fingers dig into my soft skin. “We did obviously, but the last guy they chatted with used fake pictures and we can’t track him.”

“What about the conversations? Nothing suspicious there?” I asked and shimmied a little on the armrest, trying to get up as I started to feel awkward.

“Stay still, and no. The girls were found nowhere near where he wanted to meet them. And there is no connection between any of the places,” he said. “Wait, just read for yourself.”

Before I could comprehend what was happening, he turned around with chair and all to grab some papers from the cupboard behind him. Once he turned back, I was no longer on the armrest but sitting on his lap.

“Oh!” I exclaimed. My behind actually fitted perfect on his lap much to my surprise. “I’m sorry,” I said awkwardly and tried to squirm away.

“Stay,” he simply ordered, and acted like nothing happened.

“I don’t want to hurt-,” I spoke softly before he interrupted me.

“What are you talking about? I said stay.” His fingers dug a little deeper into my skin and I felt my cheeks burning. “Here are the messages between the girls and the guy there were going to meet. Maybe you see something we missed.”

I tried to focus, but feeling his strong chest pressed against my back made that pretty hard. I could smell his cologne even better now. One of his brown curls brushed against my shoulder and I had to fight the urge to not turn around to push it behind his ear.

I focussed on the papers in front of me. I read the messages, around us a comfortable silence. Only the sound of our breaths filled the room.

“You said they were found nowhere near where they were supposed to meet him?” I asked. He nodded in response. “Hang on, this girl was meeting him near my place. He said there’s a new restaurant that just opened, but I am pretty sure there’s nothing there. There are so many empty buildings in that street.”

“You sure? Someone googled it and saw it opened a few days ago,” he said.

“Absolutely. I drove through that street to get here, and there is no restaurant.”

He leaned forward, pressing his chest against me even more. I tensed for a moment. He felt warm, like he’d never get cold. I decided to just enjoy sitting like this with him, since it might never happen again.

He started typing the address into google with one hand. The other hand still remained on my hip. The website for the restaurant popped up and I immediately saw it was fake.

“Well, this is clearly fake,” I chuckled. “Look at the pictures, that is somewhere else. The sunlight does not match the sunlight we have here. Plus, that place is near a lake. Have you seen a lake in this city?”

He looks at me with his eyes wide open. “How can you- never mind. What about the other places?”

As he looked at me, I became aware of how close his face was. I quickly averted my gaze and googled the other places he was supposed to meet the girls. We instantly concluded that they also used a fake website.

“So, what’s next detective?” I asked and look at the clock. It was just past 9.30 pm. Probably too late to do anything right now.

He ran his fingers through his curls and sighed. “I, am going to discuss this with my colleagues tomorrow,” he said with the emphasis on I. “We are probably going to set up some dating accounts on that app. Shouldn’t be too hard to figure that out.”

“Well, if you need help with that you know where to find me,” I smiled. I suddenly felt really tired and realized I hadn’t been sleeping very well lately. I let out a yawn, and he copied me.

“You’re tired. You should go home,” he said after he finished yawning.

“I will go home if you do the same.” I stood up and felt his hand slide away from my hip. I missed the warmth that came from his body immediately.

“Alright, fine,” he groaned. He got up and grabbed his stuff. He walked around his desk and picked up my jacket and held it open for me. I walked towards him and let him help me put it on. His hands rested on my shoulders and I felt his hot breath in my neck. I felt a spark going down my spine and I nearly choke on air.

Focus, now is not the time to faint.

“I should, uh, I should get going,” I stammered. I grabbed my bag and walked out of the door. I looked back at him and I see his eyes quickly moving up. Was he looking at my butt?

He followed me out of his office and together we stepped into the elevator. It slides down smoothly as we stood next to each other in silence. Our hands brushed against each other briefly before the doors opened. We stepped out of the elevator and he waved goodnight to the security guard as we walked outside. That security guard wasn’t there when I got here. Probably the reason I got in so easily.

My car was the only one left in the parking lot. It stood lonely underneath a lamppost.

“Where did you park?” I asked.

“Other side of the building, employees only,” he said. “But I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” I started to protest.

“I’ll walk with you. End of discussion,” he stated sternly. We walked towards my car in silence until I realized I had to ask him a question.

“What’s your phone number?”

He looked at me with a cocked eyebrow.

“What if I find another piece of information? I’d like to reach you if so,” I said and feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“Right,” he smirked. “I would have given it to you either way.”

After we exchange phone numbers I looked into his eyes. He is just a few inches taller, yet it felt like he towered over me. I felt like I was drowning in the bright blue. But then I let out another yawn and the moment was over.

“You’re tired, go home,” he chuckled. I nodded and unlocked my car. He opened the door and I got in and started the car.

“See you around?” I asked.

“I’ll make sure of that,” he answered. I smiled and he closed my door. I drove away, and waved at him one more time. I can’t wait to see you again.

•••

> chapter four

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yamayuandadu · 3 years

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Circe by Madeline Miller: a review

As you might have noticed, a few of my most recent posts were more or less a liveblog of Madeline Miller’s novel Circe. However, as they hardly exhausted the subject, a proper review is also in order. You can find it under the “read more” button. All sorts of content warnings apply because this book takes a number of turns one in theory can expect from Greek mythology but which I’d hardly expect to come up in relation to Circe. I should note that this is my first contact with this author’s work. I am not familiar with Miller’s more famous, earlier novel Song of Achilles - I am not much of an Iliad aficionado, truth to be told. I read the poem itself when my literature class required it, but it left no strong impact on me, unlike, say, the Epic of Gilgamesh or, to stay within the theme of Greek mythology, Homeric Hymn to Demeter, works which I read at a similar point in my life on my own accord.

What motivated me to pick up this novel was the slim possibility that for once I’ll see my two favorite Greek gods in fiction, these being Hecate and Helios (in case you’re curious: #3 is Cybele but I suspect that unless some brave soul will attempt to adapt Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, she’ll forever be stuck with no popcultural presence outside Shin Megami Tensei). After all, it seemed reasonable to expect that Circe’s father will be involved considering their relationship, while rarely discussed in classical sources, seems remarkably close. Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women and Apollonius’ Argonautica describe Circe arriving on her island in her father’s solar chariot, while Ptolemy Hephaestion (as quoted by Photius) notes that Helios protected her home during the Gigantomachy. Helios, for all intents and purposes, seems like a decent dad (and, in Medea’s case, grandpa) in the source material even though his most notable children (and granddaughter) are pretty much all cackling sorcerers, not celebrated heroes. How does Miller’s Helios fare, compared to his mythical self? Not great, to put it lightly, as you’ll see later. As for Hecate… she’s not even in the book. Let me preface the core of the review by saying I don’t think reinterpreting myths, changing relations between figures, etc. is necessarily bad - ancient authors did it all the time, and modern adaptations will inevitably do so too, both to maintain internal coherence and perhaps to adjust the stories to a modern audience, much like ancient authors already did. I simply don’t think this book is successful at that. The purpose of the novel is ostensibly to elevate Circe above the status of a one-dimensional minor antagonist - but to accomplish this, the author mostly demonizes her family and a variety of other figures, so the net result is that there are more one dimensional female villains, not less. I expected the opposite, frankly. The initial section of the novel focuses on Circe’s relationship with her family, chiefly with her father. That’s largely uncharted territory in the source material - to my knowledge no ancient author seemed particularly interested in covering this period in her life. Blank pages of this sort are definitely worth filling. To begin with, Helios is characterized as abusive, neglectful and power-hungry. And also, for some reason, as Zeus’ main titan ally in the Titanomachy - a role which Hesiod attributes to Hecate… To be fair I do not think it’s Hesiod who serves as the primary inspiration here, as it’s hard to see any traces of his account - in which Zeus wins in no small part because he promises the lesser titans higher positions that they had under Cronus - in Miller’s version of events. Only Helios and Oceanus keep their share, and are presented as Zeus’ only titan allies (there’s a small plot hole as Selene appears in the novel and evidently still is the moon…) - contrary to just about any portrayal of the conflict, in which many titans actually side with Zeus and his siblings. Also, worth noting that in Hesiod’s version it’s not Oceanus himself who cements the pact with Zeus, it’s his daughter Styx - yes, -that- Styx. Missed opportunity to put more focus on female mythical figures - first of many in this work, despite many reviews praising it as “feminist.” Of course, it’s not all about Helios. We are quickly introduced to a variety of female characters as well (though, as I noted above, none of these traditionally connected to the Titanomachy despite it being a prominent aspect of the book’s background). They are all somewhat repetitive - to the point of being basically interchangeable. Circe’s mother is vain and cruel; so is Scylla. And Pasiphae. There’s no real indication of any hostility between Circe and any of her siblings in classical sources, as far as I am aware, but here it’s a central theme. The subplots pertaining to it bear an uncanny resemblance to these young adult novels in which the heroine, who is Not Like Other Girls, confronts the Chads and Stacies of the world, and I can’t shake off the feelings that it’s exactly what it is, though with superficial mythical flourish on top. I should note that Pasiphae gets a focus arc of sorts - which to my surprise somehow manages to be more sexist than the primary sources. A pretty famous tidbit repeated by many ancient authors is that Pasiphae cursed her husband Minos, regarded as unfaithful, to kill anyone else he’d have sex with with his… well, bodily fluids. Here she does it entirely because she’s a debased sadist and not because unfaithfulness is something one can be justifiably mad about. You’d think it would be easy to put a sympathetic spin on this. But the book manages to top that in the very same chapter - can’t have Pasiphae without the Minotaur (sadly - I think virtually everything else about Pasiphae and Minos is more fun than that myth but alas) so in a brand new twist on this myth we learn that actually the infamous affair wasn’t a curse placed on Pasiphae by Poseidon or Aphrodite because of some transgression committed by Minos. She’s just wretched like that by nature. I’m frankly speechless, especially taking into account the book often goes out of its way to present deities in the worst light possible otherwise, and which as I noted reviews praise for its feminist approach - I’m not exactly sure if treating Pasiphae worse than Greek and Roman authors did counts as that. I should note this is not the only instance of… weirdly enthusiastic references to carnal relations between gods and cattle in this book, as there’s also a weird offhand mention of Helios being the father of his own cows. This, as far as I can tell, is not present in any classical sources and truth to be told I am not a huge fan of this invention. I won’t try to think about the reason behind this addition to maintain my sanity. Pasiphae aside - the author expands on the vague backstory Circe has in classical texts which I’ve mentioned earlier. You’d expect that her island would be a gift from her father - after all many ancient sources state that he provided his children and grandchildren with extravagant gifts. However, since Helios bears little resemblance to his mythical self, Aeaea is instead a place of exile here, since Helios hates Circe and Zeus is afraid of witchcraft and demands such a solution (the same Zeus who, according to Hesiod, holds Hecate in high esteem and who appeared with her on coins reasonably commonly… but hey, licentia poetica, this idea isn’t necessarily bad in itself). Witchcraft is presented as an art exclusive to Helios’ children here - Hecate is nowhere to be found, it’s basically as if her every role in Greek mythology was surgically removed. A bit of a downer, especially since at least one text - I think Ovid’s Metarphoses? - Circe directly invokes Hecate during her confrontation with king Picus (Surprisingly absent here despite being a much more fitting antagonist for Circe than many of the characters presented as her adversaries in this novel…) Of course, we also learn about the origin of Circe’s signature spell according to ancient sources, changing people into animals. It actually takes the novel a longer while to get there, and the invented backstory boils down to Circe getting raped. Despite ancient Greek authors being rather keen on rape as plot device, to my knowledge this was never a part of any myth about Circe. Rather odd decision to put it lightly but I suppose at least there was no cattle involved this time, perhaps two times was enough for the author. Still, I can’t help but feel like much like many other ideas present in this book it seems a bit like the author’s intent is less elevating the Circe above the role of a one note witch antagonist, but rather punishing her for being that. The fact she keeps self loathing about her origin and about not being human doesn’t exactly help to shake off this feeling. This impression that the author isn’t really fond of Circe being a wacky witch only grows stronger when Odysseus enters the scene. There was already a bit of a problem before with Circe’s life revolving around love interests before - somewhat random ones at that (Dedalus during the Pasiphae arc and Hermes on and off - not sure what the inspiration for either of these was) - but it was less noticeable since it was ultimately in the background and the focus was the conflict between Circe and Helios, Pasiphae, etc. In the case of Odysseus it’s much more notable because these subplots cease to appear for a while. As a result of meeting him, Circe decides she wants to experience the joys of motherhood, which long story short eventually leads to the birth of Telegonus, who does exactly what he was famous for. The final arcs have a variety of truly baffling plot twists which didn’t really appeal to me, but which I suppose at least show a degree of creativity - better than just turning Helios’ attitude towards his children upside down for sure. Circe ends up consulting an oc character who I can only describe as “stingray Cthulhu.” His presence doesn’t really add much, and frankly it feels like yet another wasted opportunity to use Hecate, but I digress. Oh, also in another twist Athena is recast as the villain of the Odyssey. Eventually Circe gets to meet Odysseus’ family, for once interacts with another female character on positive terms (with Penelope, to be specific) and… gets together with Telemachus, which to be fair is something present in many ancient works but which feels weird here since there was a pretty long passage about Odysseus describing him as a child to Circe. I think I could live without it. Honestly having her get together with Penelope would feel considerably less weird, but there are no lesbians in the world of this novel. It would appear that the praise for Song of Achilles is connected to the portrayal of gay relationships in it. Can’t say that this applies to Circe - on this front we have an offhand mention of Hyacinth's death. which seems to serve no real purpose other than establishing otherwise irrelevant wind god is evil, and what feels like an advert for Song of Achilles courtesy of Odysseus, which takes less than one page. Eventually Circe opts to become mortal to live with Telemachus and denounces her father and… that’s it. This concludes the story of Circe. I don’t exactly think the original is the deepest or greatest character in classical literature, but I must admit I’d rather read about her wacky witch adventures than about Miller’s Circe. A few small notes I couldn’t fit elsewhere: something very minor that bothered me a lot but that to be honest I don’t think most readers will notice is the extremely chaotic approach to occasional references to the world outside Greece - Sumer is randomly mentioned… chronologically after Babylon and Assyria, and in relation to Persians (or rather - to Perses living among them). At the time we can speak of “Persians” Sumerian was a dead language at best understood by a few literati in the former great cities of Mesopotamia so this is about the same as if a novel about Mesopotamia mentioned Macedonians and then completely randomly Minoans at a chronologically later point. Miller additionally either confused or conflated Perses, son of Perseus, who was viewed positively and associated with Persia (so positively that Xerxes purportedly tried to use it for propaganda purposes!) with Perses the obscure brother of Circe et. al, who is a villain in an equally obscure myth casting Medea as the heroine, in which he rules over “Tauric Chersonese,” the Greek name of a part of Crimea. I am honestly uncertain why was he even there as he amounts to nothing in the book, and there are more prominent minor children of Helios who get no mention (like Aix or Phaeton) so it’s hard to argue it was for the sake of completion. Medea evidently doesn’t triumph over him offscreen which is his sole mythical purpose. Is there something I liked? Well, I’m pretty happy Selene only spoke twice, considering it’s in all due likeness all that spared her from the fate of receiving similarly “amazing” new characterization as her brother. As is, she was… okay. Overall I am definitely not a fan of the book. As for its purported ideological value? It certainly has a female main character. Said character sure does have many experiences which are associated with women. However, I can’t help but think that the novel isn’t exactly feminist - it certainly focuses on Circe, but does it really try to “rehabilitate” her? And is it really “rehabilitation” and feminist reinterpretation when almost every single female character in the book is the same, and arguably depicted with even less compassion than in the source material? It instead felt like the author’s goal is take away any joy and grandeur present in myths, and to deprive Circe of most of what actually makes her Circe. We don’t need to make myths joyless to make them fit for a new era. It’s okay for female characters to be wacky one off villains and there’s no need to punish them for it. A book which celebrates Circe for who she actually is in the Odyssey and in other Greek sources - an unapologetic and honestly pretty funny character - would feel much more feminist to me that a book where she is a wacky witch not because she feels like it but because she got raped, if you ask me.

Circe evidently having the time of her life, by Edmund Dulac (public domain)

#circe #madeline miller #greek mythology #madeline miller circe

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barbex · 3 years

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@midnightprelude this is all your fault, a dorianders fic. This is for @30daysofdorian

Dorian x Anders, in Skyhold.

Tempted Tevinter

“Have you heard?”

Dorian changes the angle of his head slightly to listen to a former chantry sister and a former circle mage talking behind a column in the garden. They have many “formers” here now, and quite a few unusual friendships have sprouted in this strange hotbed of Skyhold. Dorian has found himself in a disturbingly nice friendship with a dalish mage, a qunari mercenary, and a former knight of the templar order, of all things. A chantry sister and a circle mage sticking their heads together in gentle familiarity is not even that unusual.

“What have I heard?”

“They got him, the rebel.”

“Which one? They’re all apostates now if you listen to the Chantry.” There is a beat of intense silence, for which Dorian can vividly imagine the scrutinizing look the mage gives his friend. “I don’t mean that I listen to the Chantry, you know that.”

The mage clears his throat and holds a dramatic pause before he reveals his knowledge. “It’s Anders, the rebel-mage who blew up the Chantry of Kirkwall.”

“Maker! I thought he was dead. How did they find him?”

“He found us, he came to the Inquisition on his own. Walked up to the gate, said who he is and asked to be let in. They didn’t believe him at first, but they called the Commander over and he recognized him.”

“By Andraste’s heart, he didn’t kill him outright?”

“Welling said the Commander went totally still. His voice was barely more than a whisper when he ordered him to be arrested.”

“When the Commander gets quiet like that —”

“— you know that he’s really angry.”

Dorian closes his book and quietly leaves his secluded corner of the garden. News like these are too interesting to keep working on old tevinter tomes. His steps take him back into the main hall, guided by the cacophony of angry voices yelling over each other. He keeps himself to the shadows, casting a light illusion spell over himself to stay hidden and studies the scene before him.

Inquisitor Lavellan sits on the floor in front of her throne, Varric stands on the step leading up to the throne and Cullen paces around them, stomping up and down the stairs. Josephine leans against the backrest of the throne, frowning at the Commander but keeping quiet. The Commander and Varric are not quite yelling, both of them aware how much Lavellan and Josephine hate yelling, but their tempers are too high to speak reasonably.

Cullen points his finger at Varric, even though he obviously speaks for Lavellan’s benefit. “He doesn’t even deny that he’s guilty, he should be put on trial.”

“And then what?” Varric yells back. “Do you know what kind of figure he is for the mages here? He’s a spirit of guidance by now, they worship him.”

“He still should be punished!” Cullen turns to Lavellan, lowering his voice a little when he catches her frown. “People died, not only in the explosion but also in the aftermath's chaos.” He turns back to Varric. “You should know that.”

Varric pinches the bridge of his nose and then looks up as if he wants to ask for help from the Maker himself. “You know, if you’d asked me maybe six or seven weeks ago, I would have agreed with you. But now, after seeing those templars...”

Tingling under his skin tells Dorian that his illusion spell is running out, and he uses the last bit of stealth to slip past the guard through the door that leads to the dungeon. The air is wet and strangely warm down here from the many hot springs that warm the castle through ingenious plumbing. He steps carefully on the wet stairs; he wouldn’t be the first one to slip here and tumble down.

The guard at the prison cells raises his eyebrow but only nods. Dorian is well known by now as belonging to the so-called inner circle and the days of him being questioned at every step as the evil magister from Tevinter are finally gone. Mostly.

He walks toward the cell with a glowing lock in front. Of course they would use a magic lock for a mage. Looking into the cell through the bars, he sees a slim figure in filthy clothes, leaning back on a stool so that his long, greasy hair sticks to the stones of the cell. Dorian wonders if the man is asleep when he suddenly speaks.

“Well, your’re not a templar.” Dark eyes turn to Dorian, studying him. “Tevinter mage, if I can guess.”

“Guessed correctly, I’m impressed. People usually go for evil magister first.”

Anders grins and Dorian is struck with the impression that all that dirt and greasy hair hides a beautiful man.

Anders touches the metal ring around his throat, a magic suppressing collar. “Can I have another guess? I owe this thing to your expertise.”

Dorian laughs out. “Correct again. I wasn’t convinced that the southern way of lacing food and water with magebane was the best way of going about suppressing magic. Magebane is nasty stuff and poisonous in the long run.”

“And we wouldn’t want to do unhealthy things to mages,” Anders growls bitterly. “I’m sure your fellow mages love you for this.”

Dorian shrugs. “I’m from Tevinter, I’m the first one to tell you of the marvelous and terrible things an angry mage can do. Ask me about time magic sometimes.”

Anders gets up from the stool and walks towards the bars. He is taller than Dorian and despite looking like he hasn’t had a decent meal in weeks, there’s an air of strength and confidence about him that has Dorian take a step back. “Why did you come here? You knew they would arrest you. The Commander seems to know you personally.”

“Curly? Oh, yes.”

Dorian snorts in surprise. “Curly? You call Cullen Curly?”

“Well, Hawke did, and Varric.”

“I must ask Varric why he never told me that.”

“Varric is here too? He just can’t stay out of shit, can he?” Anders wipes the hair from his face, leaving dark streaks on his face. “Cullen, Varric, anybody else here from Kirkwall? Merrill maybe? Dalish elf who knows too much about ancient magic she shouldn’t touch?”

Dorian pulls a handkerchief from his belt and wets it in water that springs from the wall. He hands the cloth to Anders, indicating that he should clean his face. “Never heard of a Merrill, we have Solas for that kind of job.”

Anders cleans his face, revealing a kind face with warm eyes and a cheeky grin in red stubble. “There, pretty enough for you now?”

Dorian lays his head to the side and puts his hand under his chin. “I’m afraid the unwashed hair and coat takes away from the overall effect.”

A smile spreads on Anders’ face and he uses the wet cloth to wipe over his hair, brushing it to the back of his head. The grease keeps it slicked back, and he looks surprisingly serious now, were it not for his smile. The smile makes him look young, daring even, with a livelihood about him that someone in his situation should not even have.

“You are quite beautiful,” Dorian blurts out before he can stop himself.

“Thanks.” Anders turns a bit, draping himself over the bars of his cell as if he’s on display, stretching his arm up and behind him and arching his back.

The whole pose reminds Dorian of body-slaves displaying themselves at one of the many parties he attended. Parties he loved to attend with all their pleasures. Nausea rises in him at the memories. “I would prefer if you didn’t do that,” he presses out between clenched teeth.

Anders looks at him and drops the pose, simply leaning against a bar of the gate. “Can you blame me?”

Dorian steps closer, watching Anders’ brown eyes widen. “Blame you for what?”

“I’ll tell you if you come closer.” Anders looks through the bars, his hands on either side of his face.

Dorian hesitates only a little. He’s one of the best trained mages here and the collar suppresses Anders’ magic, he isn’t a threat. Dorian takes another step closer until he stands right in front of the bars, his nose almost touching Anders’. He studies Anders’ face, the harsh lines carved into it from an equally harsh life, the warm eyes glittering with mischief.

“Closer,” Anders whispers, and when Dorian leans forward, he catches his mouth with his lips, brushing a kiss over it. He suckles on Dorian’s lower lip and then leans back. “Well.” He takes a long breath. “Can you blame me for trying to influence my jailor in my favor?”

Dorian jerks back. “I’m not your jailor.”

Anders laughs out and grabs the collar with both hands. “Certainly looks like it.”

Dorian opens his mouth for a retort when Anders’ hands begin to glow in blue, light traveling up his arms like lightning, and with high pitched noise, the collar snaps in two. Anders throws the pieces through the bars at Dorian’s feet and sits back down on the stool.

“I came here by my own will, I won’t be using magic to fight.” He leans his head back against the wet stone wall and closes his eyes. “I’ve accepted my fate and I’ll accept the judgement.”

“Fasta vass. How did you do that? It should have been impossible.” Dorian steps closer again, regardless of the danger of the unshackled mage in the cell. “Is it that spirit you merged with?”

“Justice is gone.” For the blink of an eye he looks like he is about to cry but he schools his face again. “But he left me with some kind of residue. And I was never...” He trails off, looking into the distance far beyond of his cell’s walls.

Dorian steps right up to the bars. “That’s remarkable. I need to study this, your magic.”

Turning his head, Anders grins at him. “Maybe you should talk to your inquisitor that you need me as a test subject to experiment on.”

“No!” Dorian shouts, his own reaction surprising him, the visceral recoil at this suggestion. “That’s not what I want.” In his imagination, Anders stands by his side as they study the text of an ancient book, flinging spells at each other, laughing, kissing, holding each other. The intense longing in his chest for this idea to become reality has him holding his breath in shock.

Something must have shown on his face because Anders looks at him confused. He shakes his head and leans back again. “Well, pretty jailor, please let me know soon how they’re going to kill me.”

Dorian turns around and storms out of the dungeon. Nobody will kill this man, he'll make sure of that.

#Dorian x Anders #Dorian Pavus #Anders #dragon age fanfiction #dorianders #my writing #30daysofdorian #dorianders fic

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prose-for-hire · 4 years

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Guardian of the lost soul

Pairing: Spike x reader

Request: if what the reader dress as an angel (kinda like Supernatural angels) and she finds the scoobies gang in the haunted house with the costumes magically change them. (you know the episode ^-^) only this time , Spike sees her wings and in angel terms that's a soulmate.

Requested by: @everlastingartist

A/N: Kind of a soulmate au I think? I am not familiar with the Supernatural angels (yet - I plan on actually watching it soon) I did google them and I’m still none the wiser lol. So this is my own interpretation of what was requested! I chose a guardian angel, and twisted it in my own way. It is very made up but that’s what I’m here to do!

Also I mashed up two Halloween episodes together for this one but Spike doesn’t have a chip. Not even a soul. But he finds his soulmate.🖤🦇

You loved Halloween in Sunnydale, it never disappointed. The pumpkins were freshly carved, there was candy everywhere you turned and kids really did love dressing up and making a nuisance of themselves. Even when you were running for your life the mood always picked up somewhere after midnight. And hey, being friends with a very protective Slayer had its benefits.

You were basically skipping around the streets, you were excited about going to the haunted house. You had tried to convince Willow, along with buffy to take the ghost costume off but she flat out refused. Even when you begged all the way to the party. You wanted to get to the end so you could join the party with your friends and you waited briefly for everyone to show up so you could enter together. While you and Willow waited outside, a figure in a dark cloak pushed past you. There was something about them that you recognised but they muttered some insult at you for being in their way so you decided to just ignore them. Eventually, everyone arrived and you were able

You had chosen to dress as an angel. A guardian angel. Not the stereotypical kind, one you had read of in some of Giles’ thick mythology books. You had been bored and the passages had been surprisingly interesting in an I’m-so-bored-I’d-read-the-back-of-a-cereal-packet kind of way. It spoke of the kinds of angels, of the truth about how they operate rather than those spoken of in popular culture. Some of your costume was white however as you wanted people to at least recognise what you had come as (although nobody except Willow had got it).

You went through the various rooms together and had a laugh at some of the more ridiculous spooks in the house. There had been a slight tension a few words exchanged but mostly you were having a nice time. Everyone was squabbling over which way to go next and you had lost interest, managing to break away from the others.

As you did this, you saw the hooded figure again. You were sure you recognised the flashes you had seen of the person’s face. You left your friends for a moment to tap them on the shoulder and who should turn to face you but the big bad of the moment. Spike. You hadn’t faced him alone yet but he had always singled you out when you were with the others. The conversation always turned suggestive, which annoyed Buffy to no end and made you try to hide yourself when you were with the others.

You couldn’t lie and say you didn’t love the attention though. Hope that he would catch your eye. You longed for even a moment alone with him, although you were well aware of the danger. You couldn’t help like him but there was no way you would ever admit that to your friends.

“What’re you doing here?” You asked, trying to suppress a smile.

“Thought I’d drop by… see what tasty… treats Halloween has to offer” He closed the space between you as his voice became a little huskier with every step. His hand was on the wall, palm flat against it. His arm blocking you in as he slowly scanned your body before returning to your face.

“What has the devil got in store for you this Halloween do you reckon pet?” He asked, the smirk audible in his voice, “Somethin’ naughty no doubt…” He added, biting his lip teasingly.

“I’m an angel. Always preferred them anyway” You shrugged. It had been a very low blow and when you saw his expression darkening into anger rather than lust, you backtracked – knowing better than to get him mad, “To the devil, I mean”

“Bollocks – where are the wings? The halo? And you’re not foolin’ anyone wearing that white-” he gestured wildly to the corresponding area where each item should have been with the hand that wasn’t leaning against the wall. You smiled, about to respond when someone interrupted.

“Spike!” Buffy shouted, having turned to find you in the haunted house. She was relieved to see you (as she had lost the others) but she was not pleased to see the vampire that still had you boxed in, pressed pretty close against you.

Buffy made light work of hauling him away and trying to throw him out of the house completely. She tried to find the front door but it had gone. You were now aware you were trapped inside this now truly haunted house. No, it was worse. It had turned into a murder house as half the student body upstairs had started to scare themselves to death almost before the real threat had.

Everyone was rushing past you and as Spike smelled fresh blood, he ran in the opposite direction to where the others were coming from, straight into the carnage. His stomach was rumbling and he was ready for a decent meal.

Everything was going on at once and you wanted it to slow down, or at least give you chance for a breather. There were too many threats at play tonight. As if the powers had requested it this way, a busy scene of threat and revelations for their own personal enjoyment.

As you tried again and again to leave and to help find the others, things started to get worse. You had now lost Buffy and were trying to find her by (you guessed it) calling out her name which was the best way to attract anything other than good luck. You had to fight off some cobwebs and now, your own body it seemed. You were hurting, doubled over. Something was happening. You sunk to your knees, grimacing. Nothing was going your way.

It was a strange night. The strangest Halloween you had experienced. The others were lost and at the same moment, Willow turned into a real ghost. Xander a real soldier and Buffy was now a genuine high society lady from the 1700s. It was spooky and not in a cute way.

You had managed to get to your feet, pulling on the cobwebs as they attacked your head again. As you looked down checking you had removed any stray webbing, you saw that you were glowing. Literally. You appeared human still - no wings or halos but there was a strange feeling that you had aged hundreds of years in just a few seconds. Not in appearance, that was still your skin and your face. But in knowledge. As if you had read every book known to man and then some. You felt powerful. Strange.

You walked around, able to know what was happening in every room. You managed to get places just by thinking about it. Able to protect people before they succumbed to the terrors the house had in store. You didn’t know how this was happening, but you knew better than to question it.

You had hope. You had a purpose and you were getting used to adapting to different people and their needs. That was until it came to something you needed. You turned and saw your friends through a two way mirror. They had all found each other but you couldn’t get to them. They were trying to remember who they were and come up with a plan. You started to panic, banging your fist on the mirror that you could see them through but they didn’t hear you. You hurriedly left through a side door to try and get to them seeing as your previous power wasn’t working. But you never made it to your friends. You had walked straight into someone. The one someone that you always managed to find, no matter what.

Spike had appeared. He seemed the same except... was that a heart beat? You frowned as he stepped towards you, the swagger still in tact.

“You listened to me then, pet? About time” He muttered as you looked at him confused. You didn’t understand. You looked around for some kind of clue until he spoke again, “The wings. You put ‘em on. Knew it would complete the look… not that you need to be wearing any more clothin’ items” He added, the trademark smirk on his face as he almost prowled towards you further.

“I’m not wearing any wings…” You said slowly as he came to stand right in front of you, leaving not so much as room to breath between you. He frowned, and looked behind you before looking back into your eyes. He could see the wings as clear as anything. They had a large wingspan, it was kind of impossible to miss. He reached out the touch them and you felt his fingers. You frowned, checking behind you. There they were, bat-like rather than the feathered kind you had expected and almost translucent whilst appearing closer to your skin tone. He found them aesthetically very appealing. Almost as if it were a part of you. He just stared, almost in awe as he felt they were warm the texture as soft as your skin.

It came to you suddenly. The folklore you had been researching. The mythology. The only one that may see the wings of the angel is their soulmate. Their one eternal love. It was said that every angel had a soulmate and that no matter how long they lived, they should find their soul no matter how seemingly impossible. No matter how many times they were lost, they would always be found. And you had found yours. Your love.

You and Spike had been less than useless during the fight to escape the haunted house and regain your own lives back. You were perfectly happy right here. Locked in each others gaze. A happiness neither of you had felt before until this moment. Until this revelation. You had been sharing. Talking so easily to one another. Him telling you stories of his past, and you surprising yourself with stories of your own. Ones that could match his. You felt an entrenched need to protect him. To hold you into him so that no harm could ever befall him.

The chaos going on around you was now secondary to your story. You holed up in a room together, Spike never looking away from you. The guardian angel in you was screaming for you to help the others again, but your heart was set on him. On relearning of your love. You had faith in your friends abilities anyway.

He leaned in, his thumb trailing your face and lingering near your lips. He had thought about this for so long. His usual crude quips had been founded in truth. Forged to both show how he felt and camouflage them at the same time. He felt for you so deeply his soul had made an unwitting appearance back into his life. Whenever you were around his heart felt as if it may break free from his ribcage in the hopes of greeting yours.

You closed your eyes as he did, the build up to this kiss achingly slow. You could feel his breath on his face he was so close. His touch was warm and familiar, his lips made for yours. You could feel it. The anticipation almost became too much as he finally grazed your lips.

But, just as suddenly as it was cast, the spell broke. The feeling of danger returned to your gut as you were in Spike’s presence. Your kiss never deepening. Your stomach flipping as you snapped opened your eyes. Spike’s vampire instincts kicked back in and it was resoundingly telling him that he was hungry. Your scent was so enticing to him, his face changed of its own accord. His fangs so close to you but you knew he wouldn’t kill you. You knew it as if it were fact. As if it were gravity or the colour of the sky being blue. Spike loved you and wouldn’t harm you. They were each true sentences, you had never been so sure.

Buffy, however, now fresh from being bound in the sensibilities of a woman with no aspirations other than to be pretty was ready for a fight. She had fought to escape the haunted house and now she would fight the nearest big bad in sight. Spike. She wrenched him from your neck.

But when he drew back, he had the same look in his eye as he had only moments before. Your soulmate was still right here in front of you, there was nobody that could convince you otherwise. And believe me, Spike really tried since then.

Buffy and Spike traded blows. Neither became victorious, but you were able to leave the house and Giles had somehow managed to force Ethan Rayne into reversing the curse he had put on your costumes.

After that long Halloween night, your mind barely stopped thinking about him. Sometimes you walked around after dark to see if he would come along and pretend to eat you as an excuse to just talk to you. He often wished to find an excuse to see you. Without knowing what it was, he felt it too. Deep within. Stronger since Halloween night. Sometimes he found himself standing around in places he knew you would frequent just so he could watch you. Catch a glimpse of you. Although, he had been doing this before Halloween as well.

You remembered so much more than that night, however. Memories that should have been long since buried of you and Spike finding each other over and over in other places and times still lingered as you wished his thumb still would along your jaw. You still remembered those memories and you wrote them all down before you could forget. They were like dreams, something you knew so well but struggled to recall in enough detail to satisfy.

You would forever carry a piece of his soul around with you now. That feeling just couldn’t go away, you wouldn’t let it. It was as if his soul were a locket hung around your neck. You would guard it with your life. Keep it close to your heart.

He would come back to you, you were sure of it and you were happy to wait until that day came.

#A very Buffy halloween #Spike btvs #Spike x reader #Spike x you #Spike imagine #btvs #btvs x reader #btvs imagine #btvs x you #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #buffy the vampire slayer imagines #gender neutral #gender neutral reader #gender not mentioned #soulmate au #kind of #Halloween #halloween fic #Halloween request

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charmspoint · 3 years

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how was it ^-^

Let's seee. It was good, perfectly enjoyable, it reads fast and i was never really bored with it. I'd give most chapters like a 7/10 and then chapters 71-82 like 8 or 9/10 and then back to like 7/10 and the ending was weird but also kinda sweet in its own way.

Now to preface anything else: This isn't my type of manga. I can easily see it being a 10/10 for someone who really likes fight scenes and death and gore and what not. I'm not really into that, I'm a character and story driven person which is why the manga as a whole scored as just goodish to me while chapters 71-82 which kinda make a lot of emotional and psychological aspects of the chapters before them come to culmination scored a lot better. You know I don't GET fights. Chainsaw man was very gory but I didn't even really register it. Like because of all the gore I feel I heard people say it has horror aspects but I never really felt scared or off put or anything. It was just kinda like 'oh a lot of people are in pieces rn, okay, that's a thing that's happening'. So yeah that's why the score is the way it is, it simply isn't a manga that focuses on things I like and that's perfectly alright. I couldn't buy into the hype like I did with jjk and I certently didn't feel 'oh this is the best thing ever' like I felt with witch hat atelier.

With all that out of the way let me talk long and hard about Denji and sexual aspects of the series in a surprisingly positive light:

I like Denji as a character. I think he's still a bit rough around the edges but he's not a character made for introspection so that's fine, you really kinda have to take what he says and how he acts and think about it because the author won't do it for you. That being said, I think Denji is probably the most compelling shonen protagonist I've read so far. Like when I read bnha or jjk I see Izuku and Yuji and I'm like 'this is a shonen protagonist'. They are a likable character but they won't be your favorite character. They are largely made for japanese high school boys to project themselves on and I'm not a japanese high school boy. That being said, Denji feels like a character of his own and not something meant to be projected on to. Honestly if anyone projected on to Denji I'd be worried about them. But that makes him probably the most compelling shonen protagonist I've ever read. You just wanna dig a shovel into his skull and go 'man kid ur fucked up'.

I know when you first read csm you were off put by Denji because it felt like a manga put a pervert character as a protag which is naturally off putting and I can 100% see that. Now be it because I was warned about it first or something else, I didn't actually find fanservice jarring at all. It kinda was integrated into the world in a way that made me think 'yeah of course it's like this'. This is a very grim and rough and drty world and things in it would be just like that. It is a story about base desires and sex is one of those. These are people who expect they will die any day now and Denji is a person who's just now getting to experience a somewhat decent standard of living. Here's a thing I noticed though: even as Denji thinks many sexual things (which, he's a teenager, that's normal) he's actually very respectful. I don't think I've ever seen him touch anyone without their permission, in fact i think things like that mostly happen to him. Like example how Power comes in just as Denji is in the middle of his 'i wanna touch some boobs' phase. You would almost expect that what happens next is we see him try to grope Power as she's sleeping or something. But no, he doesn't do a thing until she asks him to help her save her cat and he gets to touch her boobs for it. And it's like this with p much every other sexual encounter through the series. Both partners are consenting and getting something out of the whole thing. Sexual aspects are used as normal bartering chips in a world where your whole body is a bartering chip. It's normal and no one is forced into it. I've told you before that my biggest misgiving with fanservice is that it's often based on embarrassment and unwilling participation of the girls. Like fanservice isn't fanservice because you saw a boob it's fanservice because you saw a boob when you weren't supposed to, when the girl didn't want you, when she's angry or scared or embarrassed because you did. A lot of fanservice feels very much like taking something from the girl, debasing and humiliating her for the sake of watchers/readers satisfaction.

Despite all it's sexual jokes and themes and everything else Chainsaw man never once made me feel like that. It never once made me feel like the author expected me to gain sexual satisfaction out of debasement of female cast. Which is why even though boobs and naked women are literally all over the manga I didn't mind it at all. It stopped being fanservice and became just a natural part of characters lives as sexuality and sex is a natural part of real world.

Back to Denji.

So I mussed a bit about Denji and Maslow before but here it is in total

Denji is 16 years old and at the beginning of the series he's just starting to have his physiological and safety needs met. Like he doesn't live like a human being at the start of the series and Makima recruiting him is A BIG CHANGE for him. Like for a good while Denji is like 'Now I have three meals a day and a place to sleep at so I'm good with whatever'. He's given reliable sources to fulfil his needs and he's given a way to keep those sources stable. He has a job, it's not a good job but he has it. He has a place to live and a theoretical safety net. He's immortal so there's nothing to fear in the death and injury department which means the otherwise unsafe job is perfectly fine for him. Now what Denji gets stuck on through most of the series is Love and Belonging. Because you can't just give someone love like you can give them food (not that Makima doesn't try). People are more complicated. Compromises need to be made and human connections are hard to establish, especially if you are someone like Denji who has no idea how to interact with others aside from obeying orders. This is why his need for love and belonging first manifests as a sexual need (that and he's an allo teenager). Human connections are hard but sexual contact doesn't have to come tied with connections so it's easier (if unsatisfactory as Denji finds out with Power) to achieve. A lot of Denji's personal growth is tied to him finding out that this need can be fulfilled by other things alongside sex. This is why I love chapters 71-82 so much because they are really a culmination of Denji's emotional journey in that category. Along the way along with sexual love he finds romantic one. He wants to spend time with girls he likes, he wants them to like him beyond the sexual. Of course sexuality is always an aspect of it but after that scene with Power it's never the only thing. Human connection, understanding the other person, knowing them, loving them, making them happy. And it all culminates in the familial love he finds with Aki and Power, taking care of someone and being taken care of for no other reason than they are your family and you love them, you care for them, you want them to be well and happy. There's this scene with Power later on when they are taking a bath together and Denji is like 'huh we are both naked but it doesn't feel naughty at all'. He's stopped seeing Power sexually because he started to see her as his sister and it's just really nice, those few chapters we get to see them as a family are really nice.

By the end of the series Denji starts checking off the esteem box too, by people accepting him and loving him and him feeling like he wants to respond to that, but I feel like that aspect and possible self actualization will be more explored in part 2.

There you have it, my essay about why Denji is the most compelling Shonen protagonist I've ever read :)

Also I really liked the girls in this series, it really isn't afraid of letting it's female characters be weird and gross and in Makima's case just plain evil and I appreciate it for that. I just wish Quanxi got more time and things to do but she's a side character and it's not her fault she's cooler than the whole main cast (Power best girl tho).

I feel like I talked a lot already about what was my most important take away from the whole thing but yeah, in general: pretty entertaining read, would probably be a complete blast for someone who's invested in fights, a little thin on psychology and emotion for my tastes but when it delivers them it delivers them good.

Also I like how it basically ended on 'you should give people more hugs' it was cute

Additionally I think the authors idea to basically release manga in seasons like you would an anime is straight up genius I hope that more mangakas start picking this up because it allows them more rest in between big arcs.

Ok now that's it for real this time.

#megacarapa #lucy rants #csm #chainsaw man #character analysis fanservice discussion sex and sexuality dicussion this baby has it all

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