#she's in the parallels. she's in the brief but important mentions. she's in the “your sister was lucky she had you”.

[corfisers]

i really need to finish this one day

#one of my fave ideas but i keep getting stuck or starting over. third time's the charm hopefully #anyways. posting it as an excuse to rant because i'm losing my mind over this rn for no reason #incoherent but i just need to Talk or my brain won't shut up #you ever think about how fucked up it is that aoi feels guilty over what happened. i do. i think about her a lot #he can't even look at me. we aren't even blood related but he still had to go to jail because of me. i still love him #in reality none of it is her fault. it shouldn't be about doumeki in the first place. baby girl you were 15 when it happened. #you can say that yashiro is cruel in his dismissiveness (on the surface) of doumeki's trauma but you can see where he's coming from #you got a glimpse of what your sister was going through? of what i went through? and now you're sooo guilty over it? and who does it help? #doumeki's so focused on his own feelings that he ignored aoi when they were living together. “saves” her by pure chance #proceeds to focus on his guilt and ignore her again. if yashiro didn't get involved she'd be sitting in the rain for god knows how long #yet she still loves and to some degree idolizes him #yashiro and aoi both saying that doumeki isn't the type of person to be a yakuza too. doumeki's good doumeki's better than that #and then ch 24 happens. where yashiro says that he's going to throw up and doumeki's response is “i probably won't stop even if you do” #“guess i am like my father after all” and yashiro still goes “you're not. you're pure and im the problem” #(touches doumeki's face. rare gentle gesture. he's gentle afterwards too before leaving. man.) #he's not cruel enough to repeat what he said in the earlier conversation and he doesn't actually believe it anyway #but i wish yashiro was cruel there. it shouldn't have been about doumeki and his feelings. again. #something about yashiro throwing a knife at another person and it flying back at him huh #for all the talk about how doumeki supposedly romanticizes yashiro it really is the other way around. always has been #which is a whole other conversation but yeah. everything about aoi and yashiro in relation to doumeki makes me so fucking sad #but this is also what i mean when i say that aoi doesn't haunt the narrative per se but still has this weird presence? #she's in the parallels. she's in the brief but important mentions. she's in the “your sister was lucky she had you”. #wips tag

[tabithatwo]

it's yellowjackets / jennifer's body parallels time!

hi hello keep reading if you would like to hear about shauna/jennifer and jackie/needy, here's my totally noncomprehensive, very much off the cuff thoughts on this very complex and interesting dynamic!!

(i'm not getting into the basic parallels, i'm gonna assume you know the karyn kusama of it all, the heart necklace, the homoerotic female friendship, the death)

yellowjackets is so brilliant because it feeds you stereotypes and absolutely does not deliver on them. there could be an entire paper on each girl and how this is true for them specifically, but walk quickly with me because i want to get into the nitty gritty gory fun stuff! a brief oversimplified example: nat is referred to as a burnout, some would assume she's a loner based on that, but she cares about the team as a unit more than arguably anyone else. (this is common in real life too, our stereotypes often don't hold water in reality and yj reflects that beautifully!)

now to the jackie/shauna of it all. it would be oh so incredibly easy to look at jackie and think she's the jennifer of the duo. we are set up to see her as prettier, more popular, more demanding. but that illusion falls apart QUICKLY if you pay attention to the things that jackie actually says and does. she's not a mean girl. she's actually one of the kindest on the team. she doesn't pick on shauna, she clings. there are plenty of takes on this on tumblr so i won't exhaust it, my adhd loves to digress and meander but i'm forcing myself back onto the trodden path to this point: people look at the first few minutes of the pilot and they immediately decide that they know who these girls are. the audience typecasts jackie as a jennifer and shauna as a needy. the popular, bubbly girl and her shy, bookworm best friend.

a lot of people, especially casual viewers who don't study this show like its their job (god, wonder what that would be like lol) understandably stop here. but to me the BRILLIANCE of yj is that they don't actually make it HARD for you to undo your initial impressions. the material is there. it isn't hidden. it isn't some deeper self of each character that is unraveled throughout seasons. they push, push, push to see just how far they can carry our deeply held stereotypes/expectations. how forward and violent can shauna be, with viewers still clinging to a shy and sweet girl, who was really their own creation? how kind and honestly pathetic kicked-puppy can jackie be, with viewers still clinging to a mean girl, who was really their own creation? how far will we go to warp the characters intentions, so that we can keep them in the box we understand them in? they ask this of the viewer and of other characters, but AGAIN i digress.

so, while this might sit strangely with some, yes i think that jackie is very much aligned with needy if you peel back just one layer. but far above and beyond that, shauna is so very fucking jennifer.

the overall veneer is thinned immediately in yj. there isn't one girl in the stands and one on center stage. jackie and shauna are both on the team. they go to the same parties, they play the same sport, i would argue that shauna isn't even coded as "less pretty" (please note the word coded, because i'm not saying needy is literally less pretty than jennifer, i am simply saying that we have hair, makeup, clothing, glasses trends that we use to stereotype characters, are you with me?)

so now what? now these girls are both and neither. shauna thinks that she is the needy to jackie's jennifer. jackie wears the necklace and the introductory shots frame her as important. but we're already diverting from that set-up.

our absolute clearest common denominator here is one that i rarely see people mention funnily enough: JENNIFER IS A SUCCUBUS. she CONSUMES. she KILLS. she WANTS and she TAKES.

now before you get TOO EXCITED!!! i see some of you getting ready to say i'm a shauna shipman hater, put the pitchforks down!! shauna is one of my favorite characters of all time. i love her crazy ass so deeply that it's alarming. (i don't hate jennifer, either, for the record.) i love her largely for WHAT she is. i think sanitizing or sweetening her is a disservice. she's amazing and complex and wounded and capable of deep love. but she also, quite LITERALLY, consumes.

her character is sex and desire and violence and obsession and consumption. and it's AMAZING. she's POWERFUL. she's our main framing character (in this dynamic), rather than needy. the scripts are switched. jennifer dies and needy lives, and that's one story. that's clearer cut, simpler, made for a horror film. but here, jackie dies and shauna lives, and that story is deep and rich and goes on to include a whole lot more death and destruction and chaos.

shauna tells us herself that it excites her. she likes it. she is this girl. this woman. she reminisces and she recreates and she covets.

jennifer tries to consume needy, shauna literally consumes jackie.

there's more to this story, obviously. you could deep dive and mine for the intricacies of the set up and fall of stereotype and expectation, or collect all of the exact parallels. but i'll stick with a few, because this is a quick outburst of thought.

a huge one, who is taking whose boyfriend?

here's another personal favorite of mine, just for kicks

is it too complex to neatly tuck away? absolutely. they're different stories with different themes. shauna isn't simply a teenager possessed by a demon. it runs far deeper. as is the essence of this show.

but if you want to look at parallels, look at the one who has been holding the knife the whole time.

#can you tell both of these stories make me crazy #i love shauna this is not shauna hate this is shauna LOVE do not misinterpret pls #you guys she EATS people!! #anon who just messaged me about this YES I see you I’m with you here are my thoughts lol #yellowjackets #yellowjackets meta #jennifer's body #shauna shipman #jennifer check #jackie taylor #anita needy lesnicki #karyn kusama #shauna x jackie #jackie x shauna #jackieshauna #shaunajackie

[damianbugs]

would love to see u talk about the parallels in bruce’s dynamic with steph versus any of the other kids like emotionally and all that <3

i think the best way to start this is to highlight that stephanie and bruce's dynamic is quite literally "never meet your heroes" —

— and that bruce had the opportunity to truly take her under his wing and help her sharpen her skills while also teaching her why being a hero can be important to her personally without trying to be her father (which is the biggest difference between her and any of his other children).

it is also important to note that bruce did none of these things the way he should've.

in a meta reading, it was 100% misogynistic writing, ESPECIALLY her robin run. bruce, as the only grown up man in her life now that her father couldn't be used, was the person who was then used to bring her down at every possible chance. but in a storytelling perspective, i think bruce and stephanie's dynamic has many layers and is absolutely fascinating and incredibly tragic.

Batman: One Bad Day — Two Face

young stephanie watching batman fight her father, cluemaster.

batman meant something far more personal to stephanie than it did to anyone else. although characters like tim and damian had predispositions of what batman meant to people, or characters like jason and duke grew up with the idea of batman being normal in the places they grew up — to stephanie batman was genuinely just a hero.

another thing that really separates stephanie from bruce's other kids is that she is not his kid. bruce was never in a position to try and be her father, and that is not something she was actively seeking out either. to her, batman was always a hero who was kept at arms length. when they did form a more emotional relationship, it was still never familial in the same way the other kids eventually became to bruce.

this is not to say stephanie didn't become immensely important to bruce, but it was always different with her. this is why bruce could share things with stephanie in a way he couldn't with the others.

Robin #92

after a night of training/patrolling together, bruce and stephanie have a heart to heart conversation about the future of batman.

i know a very popular idea is that stephanie reminds bruce of jason, and that is why he was so hard on her, and while there is some truth in that i think there are a lot of moments that can give an entirely different impression;

and that is stephanie reminding bruce of himself.

there is no one who hates batman more than batman himself, as he is his biggest critic. bruce is startlingly self aware of his flaws and mistakes, but has accepted that he can't change them because it would mean putting gotham as risk.

Detective Comics 796

after a brief argument in which bruce heavily criticises stephanie, she asks if bruce is firing her. he responds "No, I'm teaching you."

it makes sense, in a terrible way, that bruce's own stubborn and headstrong desire to wear the cape to save people, to make sure their families don't end up like his did, is reflected in stephanie. this 'tough love' attitude which is more tough than love is nothing but bruce projecting his own desire to 'fix' his faults by doubling down on stephanie, in hope that maybe she'll turn out better than him.

whether or not stephanie is actually like bruce is an entirely separate conversation, but it doesn't change the fact that bruce ruined every opportunity to train stephanie in a way that didn't hurt her self esteem or confidence in being a hero.

but stephanie is one of the most emotionally strong characters. the inevitable tragedy and cruel ending to bruce and stephanie's mentor-student dynamic wasn't completely a loss, because she bounced back twice as skilled.

(and maybe that's just another thing bruce expected from her. to roll with the punches and keep standing back up.)

obviously there is a lot i haven't mentioned about their dynamic and how she was treated in general, and that's just glossing over the shitshow that was war games and her three month run as robin. but this is already way too long and i am not even on topic anymore.

tldr; stephanie and bruce truly were a wasted opportunity to showcase a deep and emotional bond as teacher and student, helping her find her role as a hero and bruce's chance as a mentor. despite it all, they care deeply about each other and stephanie deserved a better version of bruce.

i love them a lot. i wish dc would see the potential and treat them both with the respect they deserve and give their duo another chance. i think they can both teach each other very important lessons.

#bruce wayne #stephanie brown #my favourite duo ever they r so complicated and terrible for my mental health #also i dont think i actually answered ur ask my apologies friend #FUCK U BATMAN #okay sorry. the real enemy is (male) dc writers #dc meta #character study #saki asks

[aihoshiino]

Hi! I really love hearing your thoughts about Ai *^* It makes me appreciate her character a lot more <33 Can I ask what you think about the special Chapter 100.1?

thank you so much anon! ‪‪❤︎‬‪‪❤︎‬‪‪❤︎‬ Ai really is such a special character to me that anytime I hear people say my rambles have made them enjoy her more, I go hogwild lol...

For folks who aren't familiar, this special chapter is a little four-page story Mengo wrote and drew for volume 10 called Artificial Girl! As it was a volume extra we don't currently have an official English release of it yet, but Ai's Fanclub included it in their TL of the series back before we had an official release and you can read it here!

To answer your question tho, anon: I really like it a lot! It's just a little snippet of a story - actually in hindsight, it's kind of a prototype of Mengo's Interlude stories, huh? - but there's a surprising amount of meat to chew on if you take a moment to think about it.

The first thing I really enjoy about it is that we get an outsider perspective on Ai in a way we very rarely do in the main series. Almost all the characters we see having Thoughts and Opinions about Ai are part of her private life and while they might still be infatuated with her public image, they're people who see her outside of work and have enough insight into her off the clock to start empathizing with her as a regular person.

Artificial Girl, by contrast, is a bit more akin to 45510 in that it's from the POV of a person entirely beguiled by 'Ai of B-Komachi'. I mentioned it previously in the context of the Da Vinci interview, but we so rarely get looks at Ai in 100% work mode, so getting a peek at that through the eyes of a character who only knows her as the inhumanly perfect idol was really fascinating.

I also think the brief exchange Ai and the cameraman have is very telling. It highlights an important part of the 'lie' that is Ai of B-Komachi; in many ways, she is a performance put on specifically to respond to the desires and expectations of the people around her. When someone places a new one onto her, she incorporates it into the whole as easily and smoothly as if it were always there, because that's what people want to see.

It's also probably totally accidental, but reading it in hindsight, I was struck really strongly by some Ai/Hikaru parallels I wasn't expecting. Ai's "Then, let's make this the 'correct' answer." vs Hikaru's "Is this right? Is this the right lie to tell?" - it just had a bit of Resonance, yanno? Something about the way that the two of them were, at the end of the day, just two hurt people desperately trying everything they could think of to perform versions of themselves that could be 'worthy' of love.

This is also totally off topic but because of the title, every time I read it I think of the IOSYS song Artificial Children… I'm not into Touhou at all but the song kept popping up in my fandoms when I was younger and to this day I'm still really fond of it… looking at the translated lyrics, you could probably wrangle some really tasty Ai & Hikaru connections out of it :9

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk asks #ai hoshino #onk spoilers

[pistachi0art]

Just saying I would lowkey love to read more about the CMY siblings + Gordons' involvement in it mentioned in one of the last answers if you're up for it. You've got me hooked on your interpretation of these characters/your ocs omfg

YEAHHH ok so this is a brief idea of how the cmy story was gonna go:

Evie goes to Arden and hires him to kill her brother in exchange for less time imprisoned + letting him take out his own brother.

MEANWHILE 👇

Kell wants to reconnect with Gordon a bit more so Gordo decides to introduce him to the science team. Shenanigans ensue and SURPRISE! Evie sends a message to Tommy for a family reunion @ where she lives. The team + Benny + Kell decides to take this meet n’ greet to Evie.

They eventually get to where Evie is and she isn’t anticipating other ppl so she attempts to split Tommy from the rest of the group. However! Arden is wayy too giddy at the opportunity to catch his own brother off guard which ruins Evie’s initial plan.

So now the team is on the run- Arden’s on their tail alongside whoever else who was hired by Evie.

Eventually the group is forced into a divide, with Kell Bubby and Benrey off from the main group.

(Now this is where James importance would be established) turns out Benny n’ Kell where both caught. Arden is free to do whatever with his brother while Kell and Bubby are handed off to James to fuck around with as humans are so easy to experiment on 😚

Gordo, Dr. C, n’ Tommy are elsewhere recovering and eventually meet one of Ben’s siblings (Dune? probably)

The group somehow finds out the other half’s whereabouts and plans to get em’ back.

(This is where things are vague)

They get to James lab??? and get both Ben and Bubby back but are unsure where Kell is.

They are eventually pursued by Arden and some masked robot guy with a sword. Dramatic reveal! It’s Kell (parallel to Gordon’s HEV suit but he’s the one being piloted by the armor) not in control, he lobs off Gordon’s arm and catches Tommy 😬

-

ANNNNDDD THATS ALL I GOT. yeah lol. But that’s what I wanted to do with the CYM story- Kell’s involvement is more as a reluctant villian is something I’ve thought about a lot heehee ^^

But yeah!! Kinda cheesy ik but this was still a huge work in progress and is sorta old (Evie was still Amira. James’ existence was still solid and Arden’s involvement with capturing Tommy was on and off)

#ask reply? #and maybe Josh is there #idk #maybe I’ll revisit it one day #cmy siblings #benrey fam #oc #kell castillo

[snowangeldotmp3]

because i can't escape the brainrot, here's a post comparing wednesday (2022) and wicked (2003) but it's mostly just wenclair and gelphie

(also, tagging @lionydoorin !! hope u enjoy this!)

obviously, the most blatant, in-your-face comparison is when wednesday and enid first become acquainted with one another in the first episode. the song 'what is this feeling' from the wicked musical is when galinda (who will later become glinda) and elphaba meet, and are forced to room with one another. the song is supposed to be funny, a sort of parody of the old musicals from the rodgers and hammerstein days, where, instead of love at first song, it's "loathe" at first sight. (the article "Queer Conventions in the Musical Wicked" is where this analysis comes from, and it's a wonderful analysis!) but ultimately the song lists all of the traits that they hate about each other without really getting to know one another so it's all superficial things. i think this can be used in wednesday and enid's first meeting as well as the fight they have later on. the one where enid leaves to yoko's room. (there's not really a moment here that parallels the two, so this will have to do for both.)

as a brief side tangent (but also still keeping with the theme); it's hard to not see the parallels and comparisons between wednesday addams and elphaba thropp. (enid and glinda share some parallels but not as much as these two) elphaba is a witch, who has incredibly powerful abilities, and she's incredibly blunt, very outspoken about what she's passionate about, which is usually justice. she's awkward, and she's not a very good people person (mostly because people fear her or mock her,) and, funnily enough, elphaba does mention that she has a "vision almost like a prophecy," but this vision of course is about the people of Oz celebrating her death. it's all very reminiscent of wednesday's character as a whole. this is not even mentioning the fact that in the number 'dancing through life,' elphaba goes to the dance, and she has a very...peculiar dance. one that is distinctly her own, and one that her fellow classmates make fun of. glinda, who suddenly has a change of heart, dances with elphaba, not caring if it's not what she's supposed to do. now i know that enid and wednesday didnt share a dance or anything at the Rave'N, but, i can't help but find similarities between elphaba's dance and wednesday's dance that further solidifies their similarities as characters, too.

back to the main point. there's also the obvious visual similarities, enid and wednesday have opposing color schemes as do elphaba and glinda. but i think the main point, or i guess, main part of the musical that i think has the most significant parallels to enid and wednesday is the final duet between elphaba and glinda. just for reference, at this point in the musical, glinda and elphaba have reconciled completely, and elphaba knows that she must take the blame, and she will. she'll take the fall for everything, but before she does, she has to tell glinda how important their friendship was (and is!) to her. the song, 'for good' is a touching song between the two, and phrases like, "you'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart," and, "i do believe i have been changed for the better," and of course, "i have been changed, for good." have an incredibly similar tone to wednesday's comment to enid, "the mark you have left on me is indelible." and even though they didn't spend as much time together as elphaba and glinda, wednesday and enid have both been changed by each other and by the presence and friendship of each other. wednesday even says after her initial comment to enid that, "...I always believed relying on other people to be a sign of weakness. That inevitably, they would lead to disappointment. Turns out I've been the disappointment." wednesday admits that her friendship with enid has completely changed her, and that it's changed the views that she once had about herself. (this does not include the hug that wednesday and enid share at the end of the series. this hug alone shows us that enid's friendship has changed wednesday, and that it is, ultimately, for the better.)

this isn't the best analysis, and if i had properly marked this out it would've probably been better (and longer lol) but the point of this was to at least highlight the parallels to these characters, because it was almost glaringly obvious to me. there are also some moments that i may have missed in this list, so if anyone has anything to add, please feel free to! these are just the moments from the top of my head from both the wednesday show and the wicked musical, but like i said, if i've missed anything or if there's anything anyone would like to add to this, please feel free to!

#wednesday addams #wenclair #enid sinclair #wednesday 2022 #wednesday netflix #wednesday #not gonna tag as wicked bc i don't think it really applies here but! #like i said i know i've missed things and there are probably a few things that i could've fleshed out more but i just didn't have the time #sorry abt that!! #anyways #hope y'all enjoy #for your imagination #lemme leave u with this #the 'popular' scene from wicked but with wednesday and enid. that is all. #analysis #sorry this is kinda cringe but i can't help it and also i don't care abt cringe.

[faintingheroine]

What are your favorite Nigar scenes?

In chronological order

1- Her advice to Hürrem in Episode 1

2- Her proud look after Hürrem learns her lesson, her comeback to Hürrem pretending to be naive about sex, both in Episode 1. Episode 1 in general.

3- Her and Hürrem’s hug in Episode 5.

4- Her bragging to the Harem folk about Hürrem’s pregnancy in Episode 5. It is just the way she looks at Gülşah and pronounces the words. It is something that would be lost in a dub. It is Peak Sexiness. Step on me.

Edit: I forgot: Her chiding Hürrem about what she did to Gülnihal in Episode 8.

5- Her mentioning she is from Sulina in Episode 9.

6- Her rolling her eyes and grinning at Hürrem asking her whether she loves her. And then she admitting that she loves Hürrem. Episode 10.

7- Her convincing Hürrem that having a daughter isn’t a tragedy in Episode 11. All the more poignant in hindsight.

8- Sadıka visiting her at night in Episode 16. It is actually a terrible moment for Nigar since she victim-blames Sadıka about the rape attempt on her, but her night look is everything. Again, she is sexy.

9- Ibrahim consoling her in Episode 21. It causes Nigar to attempt to kiss him which is Peak Cringe, but it is a rare moment of someone Appreciating the Greatness of Nigar and it is Ibrahim of all people.

10- Her threatening Mahidevran in Episode 23.

11- The last scene of Episode 23 where Ibrahim gets Leo’s letter from her. Peak sexiness. Better than porn.

12- Her begging Hürrem to forgive her in Episode 25.

13- Her arriving at Ibrahim’s palace to work there from now on. I like the look Ibrahim gives her. It is in Episode 27.

14- I don’t remember the exact episode, but her burying Leo’s notebook.

15- Her sexy sexy evil self in Hatice’s dream from Episode 34.

16- Her first night with Ibrahim in Episode 35.

17- Her begging Ibrahim to let her stay in Episode 36. (This doubles as one of my least favorite scenes)

18- The talk Gül Ağa gives her in Episode 37.

19- Ibrahim saving her from suicide in early Episode 41. (Again, a miserable scene).

20- The talk Daye Hatun gives her in Episode 44.

21- Her official first night with Ibrahim in early Episode 45 (disgusting but sexy nevertheless).

22- The massage scene from Episode 46.

23- I like her look in Episode 47 when the cariyes tried to burn Hürrem. Besides I like her still kind of being at Hürrem’s side despite being Ibrahim’s mistress.

24- Ibrahim visiting her while she is sick in Episode 50.

25- Hürrem consoling her when she thinks Nigar attempted suicide in Episode 50.

26- A brief scene in Episode 53 where Ibrahim again calls her intelligent.

27- Her scene with Ibrahim in Episode 54. One of my favorite scenes in the entire show.

28- The scene in Episode 56 where Ibrahim wishes a daughter like her. A miserable scene in its implications but important nevertheless.

29- I like her scenes with Gülşah in Episode 62.

30- I like the scene where Ibrahim confesses the affair in Episode 63 solely because of the parallel with Leo.

And none for Season 3 bye

Just kidding I got some

31- This is not a specific episode but I like her brazenness and shamelessness about what she did in general. Her interactions with Afife Hatun are lowkey iconic.

32- Her attempting to escape with Esmanur in Episode 77 was hard to watch but deserves respect.

33- Her last encounter with Ibrahim in Episode 81.

34- Her praising Şah’s intelligence somewhere in Episode 90-somethings, after the Venetian debt intrigue.

35- Her leaving Istanbul and informing Şah and Hatice of how she cheated Rüstem out of his money and the look Hatice gives her in Episode 98.

Yes, that’s all. Some of these scenes double as cringe, but she is nevertheless a sexy, iconic, intelligent character and I wouldn’t love the show half as much if it weren’t for her.

#magnificent century #muhteşem yüzyıl #nigar kalfa #mc asks #asks

[lady-phasma]

Do you think Daemon really spared Rhaenyra in that brothel scene? Did he really stop himself then? Or he really found her enthusiasm unattractive and got limp?

I think I have an unpopular opinion about this scene but you asked what I thought so here goes. I really love the nuances of this scene and it's important to note that the editor for this episode is Crispin Green (IMDb).

I'm going to answer this with both a brief scene analysis and my opinions. I really wanted to make a ton more gifs because this might be one of my favorite scenes of the first season but I'm not doing a full scene analysis so I'm going to save myself the extra work. I did make a couple that I think are crucial to this question.

I'm going to link my post about my theoretical approach here because I know that a show runner has made statements about Daemon's potential performance issues and I don't factor those statements into my analysis.

Yes, Daemon "spared" Rhaenyra but that's not entirely accurate. I have watched this scene more times than I would like to admit. However, repeated viewings of any scene allow me to look at different parts of the composition each time. I mentioned the editor of this episode because his stylistic choices are important. We see the gif sets and forget that almost a third of Daemon's words are overlaid on a contrasting sex scene between Viserys and Alicent.

The contrast of the two teaches us something very important about these brothers. We learn just as much about the women in the scene but the question was about Daemon so I'm going to focus on the man paralleled with him and not Rhaenyra and Alicent. The two men are pitted against one another in these shots. When Daemon speaks of duty we are shown Alicent's face, the back of Viserys's head barely in the left portion of the medium close shot. By forcing the viewer to perceive Alicent's expression (of sadness, disgust, resignation, many interpretations) as a result of duty and the dramatic cut from consenting, passionate images to one of dubious consent, the viewer is encouraged to regard Daemon as superior to his brother in this moment.

The editing doesn't make a moral judgement, only a contrast that one brother is seeking pleasure with a woman who is consenting while the other might not be. This then informs how the viewer interprets the subsequent shots when Alicent and Viserys are no longer cut into the scene. Consent has been established.

To your specific question about Rhaenyra's enthusiasm, I do not see that as motivation for Daemon to stop nor for him to have a moment of impotance. The gif I made for this is a medium close shot and both characters' faces are in focus. Something happens in Daemon's face and we are given the actual moment he makes his decision. It is a conscious decision. A few frames before the end of the gif he looks down. They have maintained eye contact after she turned back to face him and he searches her face for something, makes a decision, then looks away.

It is after this that Daemon pulls away and rebuffs Rhaenyra's attempts to kiss him. I'm citing this moment because film is a visual medium and performance requires understanding of body language for interpretation. Some body language is ambiguous or can be interpreted multiple ways. This expression, this looking away, conveys a meaning that, to me, suggests he has realized exactly how disgusting his behavior is. Daemon is self-centered. He hasn't thought about anyone but himself up to this exact moment. Only after she turns back from facing the wall (and we might assume this is the moment when they would have had sex if it had happened that way) does he realize what he is doing. Daemon isn't a kind person, viewers are only given the smallest glimpses at moments when he is self-aware and realizes his actions affect others negatively.

So why not impotence? Because we have seen his reaction to impotence explicitly. Not only was his reaction evidence of it but it was discussed on screen. We know from his scene with Mysaria in episode one exactly how Daemon would react were he to have performance problems.

His reaction is disgust and frustration. Compared to the scene with Rhaenyra, it becomes obvious he doesn't feel those emotions. No, humans do not react the same every time we encounter a situation, but they are strikingly different expressions. The latter is softer, more internalized. (Episode one was edited by Time Porter, IMDb.) The conflict in the scene with Mysaria is a physical one. Daemon's conflict in this moment with Rhaenyra is an internal one. Daemon changes his mind and ends the situation with Rhaenyra as selfish as it was begun. He abandons her and although I maintain part of his moment of self-awareness as a result of her reaction it is not his full motivation for cutting this short. He does handle self-awareness well and instead of making emotionally healthy choices flees the situation altogether.

I assume if people send me asks they know my answers will most likely be long. Thanks for sticking with it if you made it this far!

#asked and answered #film studies #daemon targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #hotd #house of the dragon

[sweet-star-cookie]

a thought popped into my brain while i was reading your loooong post about filler episodes in media, and it is unfortunately quite a long thought >:D

whenever i'm writing out my SGZ! x TZE! fanfic, this thought is always at the forefront of my mind while writing:

Cassie: this Astral Plane is so cool! wow, there's so many things that are so similar to mine yet so different!

Ciara: what the FUCK why is everything in this Astral Plane trying to KILL ME????

you mentioned that characterization is really important in every story, ESPECIALLY in filler arcs, and that if you make a compelling character, they will make the story much much better, regardless of the action happening around them. whether it be plot related or not, good characterization will always make a good scene and be interesting to watch/read.

i tried to showcase characterization of the characters as much as possible; cassie is awestruck and eager to learn everything about another world, while ciara is constantly on survival mode, viewing everything as a potential threat. and yet, both of them display a sense of wonder towards each others' astral planes, both of them allowing their guards to come down and let their curiosity take hold. i try to showcase this multiple times; cassie attending capricorn's ball and wanting to learn more about how the TZE! Astral Plane functions and ciara briefly losing her survival instincts to observe the skymirror circus.

i think a lot about the plot structure of the SGZ! x TZE! fanfic, mainly because it's way different from the other fanfics i've written in the past. it is in fact mostly comprised of filler, because i really wanted to showcase how cassie and ciara behaved in scenarios that aren't life-or-death threats, which i imagine is what they're in most of the time!

lore and plot points are indeed sprinkled throughout these fillers, in the form of cassie and ciara finding out snippets of the history behind each others' Astral Planes. but they are mainly filler, simply because i think it would be fun to watch these characters that normally have a shitload of burdens weighing upon them get to experience a brief respite from those responsibilities and just enjoy themselves.

and i think it's also fun to see how they react to being put into completely out of the ordinary scenarios. how would cassie react to being threatened by a gang of pirates? how would ciara react to being forced into a dance-off with a group of birds? (definitely not spoilers for future chapters of SLM lmfaooo)

plot-driven fanfic is amazing, of course it is, but i think there's definitely some untapped potential in domestic/fluff fanfic. it's fun to see these characters sad or going through tough shit, but isn't it also fun to see these characters just have a good time?

anyway that's my ramble and my thoughts on filler arcs specifically on fanfic, i now need to go work on my english project :DD

Ah, the consequences of my actions! (I'm kidding, thank you for reading my long ramble about filler :D I hope it was useful or at least interesting!) Apologies in advance for the length of this response in turn though lol

I can definitely see the parallels! I do find it funny that both thoughts you've described for Cassie and Ciara here are also two thoughts that Cassie has had about her Astral Plane, especially at the start. She definitely has curiosity about the world and wants to know more, but she has quite a few near-death experiences and many of the residents seem to be after her in one way or another. It's not that Cassie lacks a survival instinct, but she has to learn the "rules" of the Astral Plane rather quickly to survive at all, or have others bail her out in that moment. Some aspects of her naivety in relation to the Astral Plane are directly challenged as well.

In turn, I can definitely see how Ciara's survival mode comes into play. I'd imagine that if she and Cassie were in an equally unfamiliar place together, they'd approach the unknown in different ways just based on their past experiences. Cassie might be able to help Ciara not be as fearful of some things, but Ciara might be able to help Cassie exercise more caution than she might have otherwise. And then, eventually, they'd both be able to tap into each other's sense of curiosity and wonder once the fear of danger has subsided a bit.

That's an interesting note about fanfic too, I don't write it myself but I can see how writing this particular one would be different from how you'd write others, especially more action-based ones. This crossover specifically explores a lot of stuff that DOESN'T happen in their respective stories, or at least not as much comparatively, and highlights similarities and differences with it instead. Neat stuff!

And I absolutely agree, simply exploring characters outside of action or plot relevance (in fanfic or otherwise) is not only fun, but can be really refreshing for both the author and the audience. Recently I "haha just kidding...unless?"ed myself into making a what-if scenario canon in my current draft of Starglass Zodiac, and I think the script is far better for it. There's a lot of fun moments between characters that previously wouldn't have interacted otherwise, and also it ties a lot of stuff together in a way that I really like.

How would Cassie react to being threatened by a gang of pirates? Well I'll have to see what Columba's crew has to say about that in my story, but I am very curious to see how you write it with your pirate gang! Looking forward to it :D Same for Ciara's dance-off, that sounds hilarious.

Ciara: Yeah I like to dance- The Southern Birds:

#thanks for the ask! <333 #asks #tabsters #Starglass Zodiac #SGZ #The Zodiac Experiment #TZE #crossover #fanfic #long post

[birlwrites]

Oh my God Orion in the newest chapter????? I actually laughed out loud. You're not allowed to make me like him!! But so far I do and I can't even be that mad about it.

I really liked that he actually has a personality when you write him. So many people focus so much on Walburga and Orion is only a brief mention or he's there but he's a doormat. So the way you write him is a good change from what I normally see. I also like seeing the pieces of Regulus and Sirius' personalities that they picked up from their parents!

Thank you for the chapter and enjoy your break from posting!

AJFLSHGLSKGJDF im gonna make everyone like orion he sucks but damn he's fun sometimes

i think one of the reasons that we hear SOOOO much about walburga is because she is far more present in canon, and she's really easy to caricature as a villain (all you really need to do is. follow canon), so writing a canon-compliant walburga is... not difficult? and then it's logical to balance her out a little with an orion who is the opposite - he's uninvolved, uninterested, apathetic, spineless, et cetera. and he fades into the background as this abstract other half who doesn't really do anything, so he doesn't need to be treated as an important character with screen time/fully developed goals/motivations/conflicts, which can simplify your story if you want to minimize important characters

so like - i understand why that's such a common dynamic and portrayal, but it's not as satisfying to me as a more active orion is - which i guess is also how i feel about more canon-compliant portrayals of regulus, lmao. i love sirius/walburga parallels, and regulus/orion parallels are the natural mirror to that

thank you!! <3

#orion and walburga are not nice people #their best moments are when they are Not Nice to people we hate #like voldemort and amycus carrow #should i make an inbox tag #dark lord wip

[redrobemerle]

hey what if i made an ffvii au based around a very niche musical i enjoy. woe dolls of ffvii be upon ye

the narrator : the Planet itself (tells the story, also tries to warn people about the consequences of their actions but cannot be heard by the rest of the cast) the gambler and the monk : JENOVA and a cetra (maybe ifalna, maybe just a random one. its not like theyre mentioned by name anyway) jasper : grimoire valentine (this is mainly bc annabel had to be lucrecia) annabel : lucrecia (she canonically sort of brought vincent back from the dead. sort of. she probably wouldve brought grimoire back if she could have. its also lowkey implied that she may have had a crush on grimoire?)

((now heres where the roles go off the rails in regards to what their original relationships were))

edgar : hojo fay : vincent (THATS RIGHT BAY BEE IF JASPER IS GRIMOIRE VINCENT HAS TO BE FAY. whos the guy vincent leaves hojo for when he realizes Oh This Guys Fucked Up Actually? probably cid or reeve. i dont really ship vincent with anyone so like. as long as its not one of the Kids. anyway also thinks about how grimoires last words in canon are "tell vincent im sorry". thinks about "i took the liberty of bringing your dear old dad back. you can talk to him again! but only if you come back and marry me". thinks) byron : sephiroth (let sephiroth be an anarchist lmao) amelia : angeal ("amelia"s shitty dad is hollander obvs) priscilla : aerith (the obvious choice, but also im always thinking about the similarities between aerith and vincent (vincents similarities with cloud are far more obvious, but listen to me. aerith and vincent have their parallels too). priscilla reminding jasper of fay (aerith reminding grimoire of vincent)) soldier 7285 : theres so many people it could be but im leaning towards zack or cloud? everyone else gets to be voodoopunks

BUT TUMBLR USER REDROBEMERLE NONE OF US IN THE FF7 FANDOM HAVE ANY CLUE WHAT DOLLS OF NEW ALBION IS! YOU ADMITTED IT'S NICHE AS HELL!

fear not, for i have typed up a summary of the musical under the cut! if you read the summary and get upset about the way ive fucked with the relationships from the game for the sake of this au, please refer to this post <3

CONTENT WARNINGS: offstage but explicitly mentioned suicide, also very brief but explicitly mentioned parental abuse, immolation mentions (sort of), execution by a militaristic police state (near the end)

The Dolls of New Albion: a Steampunk Opera is a folk opera by Paul Shapera

the opera is split up into four acts, each following a generation of a single family. each act has a narrator telling you about the world as time passes. while not all of it is directly relevant to the story at hand, it tells you something interesting about the world. however, there is a recurring motif of a gambler and a monk who played a never-ending card game. this is important later. the city of new albion was built around them by the people who came to watch them play. but more importantly, in the Now, annabel(/annabelle/annabella. the script cant decide how its spelled) mcalistair is raising up the dead

okay so basically. annabel had a big ol crush on a guy in school. they had never talked until one day they talked and kissed and they became friends for a little bit. but then annabel was expelled for stealing cadavers for her own research. and she became a shut-in and he got married then died young. and she's figured out how to call his soul down into a doll she has built!

the doll is very lifelike but cant really move and cannot talk but he can play the radio! isnt he great? look at annabels doll everyone! she can go anywhere now bc hes proof that shes brilliant! shes conquered life and death! but not everything you love loves you in return. and when she realizes that he cannot, will not ever love her back or speak to her, he doesnt want to be back, she destroys the doll. and throws all of her notes in an old trunk in the attic.

and so passes the first generation.

the narrator informs us that annabel gets married and has a son named edgar at some point. edgar grows up and falls in love, as people often do, with a woman named fay, and on the night he was planning to propose to her, she tells him that while she loves him and she really tried to make the relationship work, hes got Issues and so she leaves him for another man.

in his anger, when edgar goes through the old trunk in the attic and finds annabels notes on necromancy, he makes a business out of it! he summons back the souls of the dead for anyone who asks and pays, and when his business becomes successful enough he uses the money and influence he has to run the business of fays new partner into the ground.

he goes and finds fay and is like. "look. i have a very successful business. the man that you say you love is ruined and poor and I know you cant live like that. and whats more than that, you know your dead dad who you loved so dearly? yeah i brought him back for you, but the only way you can talk to him is if you come back and get married to me. :)" and fay does but shes also like "what the fuck. i actually loved you once why did you end up like this this is why i left you in the first place" also the person whose soul edgar brought back is jasper, the same man annabel brought back originally.

and so passes the second generation.

edgar and fay have a son named byron. now, byron becomes a voodoopunk. voodoopunk is one part religious movement, one part political party, one part punk subculture. yes i know voodoo is a closed practice i dont know that the person who wrote this does and yeah.

so basically his whole plan is to run jasper for mayor? and theres this girl named amelia whos also running with the voodoopunks. it is unclear how old she is, but she is referred to as "a girl" rather than "a woman", so it is likely she's either a teenager or a young adult.

but jasper has figured something out. jasper has figured out how to string together songs on the radio to finally speak for himself. and byron is like "here listen to our doll give you a speech and prove that the dead can run this country better than any of the vultures that are politicians in any part of the political spectrum!"

and jasper sings.

and he sings about how he did not want to be brought back. death was peaceful and he did not want to be here.

and amelia heard this. and she had no friends. and she lived only with her father who was abusive (presumably both verbally and physically? it is never elaborated upon but we do know its at least verbal.)

and she kills herself with only the words of the song jasper sang as her note.

at which point theres public outcry bc ALL the dolls have been singing this song. in the publics eyes, the dolls killed amelia. and so people start rounding up the dolls -- who there are more of than living people in new albion by now -- and burning them alive (for a given definition of alive? its really more of releasing their souls again but really violently) byron manages to "save" jasper though.

and so ends the third generation.

we revisit the card game. the gambler died of a heart attack during the final hand, and cursed with his dying breath that the game was not yet finished, promising the two would come back to finish it one day.

and so begins the fourth generation.

New Albion has become a military police state, killing anyone with any sort of memorabilia of the dead. we see priscilla, byrons daughter, hiding in a basement and playing a never-ending game of cards with jasper. (YEP THATS RIGHT ITS KINDA IMPLIED THAT JASPER AND PRISCILLA ARE THE REINCARNATIONS OF THE MONK AND THE GAMBLER, and even if theyre not, theyre still the ones continuing the game they started).

we also see soldier 7285 join the police.

priscilla loves her great grandfather jasper dearly -- and he loves her back. she reminds him of fay, when fay was younger and more innocent, and jasper lets slip during their card game that he still wants to die but he is willing to stay because he wants priscilla to live even more. because if theyre found, they both die.

priscilla is like what the fuck thats not? fair??? why should you have to sacrifice your death for my life??? and she thinks about it. and decides that a life of hiding isnt much of a life at all.

and she calls the cops on herself.

a firing squad happens, despite jasper doing all he can to prevent it because her life for his death isnt fair to her, either.

but soldier 7285 doesnt fire.

he is court martialled and stripped of his duties/rank for it. soldier 7285 thinks about how priscilla loved jasper so much she was willing to die if it meant his freedom, and goes. hey what the fuck sort of country do i serve that thinks caring about the people we loved past their deaths is punishable by death??? im going to tear this country down and rebuild it on the graves of the people who decided this, and if i die in the process, at least i can be a martyr and inspire people to finish what i started the way she inspired me.

and thats the dolls of new albion!

#rrm.txt #the dolls of ffvii #not maintagging this bc this post is not like. polished at all and i am FULLY aware im butchering character dynamics for this #but also if i dont post it it wont leave me alone #also lmao this au does mean both hojo and vincent are sephiroths dad #sticking my middle finger up both at canon AND the ppl who try insisting vincent is actually sephs dad despite it being confirmed otherwise

[amplifyme]

Read the first of your fics! :DDDDDDDD

The Sticking Place

Loved reading this! Your voice was so soothing and intriguing; and it was fun to look at all the parts you wove in from BATB and potentially nodded at from Nan’s work-- or that the two of you drew from the characters so clearly that it feels as natural as breathing to switch from her stories to yours. The fic was intense, engaging, and gave me a few more thoughts to deeply reflect on. All in all, felt more wrinkly brained afterward when all the pieces were tied together.

The theme of trying out new skills, scaling buildings, and finally escalating to murder was an excellent parallel between Vincent and the killer; and pragmatic Cullen chastising Vincent’s measures only to eventually sink to them himself in “Fever” was a fun little layer to add to the overall experience. 

One other thing: I see why you drew my attention so much to Cullen in BATB-- he plays a very key role in a lot of fic; so much so, that I wish he had been more in the series. Another funny thing, to me at least: he seems to just appear over, behind, or near Vincent in his unguarded moments; and that is levity almost bordering on comedy to me because of V’s reactions. 

The threads you drew post S3 and preS1 are making me tug on the tiny little threads woven throughout Vincent’s character arc, so I am a very happy reader~. ;)))) 

And now, for a live react from Sis:

Sis was delighted with the pinky toe hole in Diana’s sock. (I was reading, heard her delighted chuff of breath, asked her if she liked it; and she gave a very amusing “Yeah. Maybe. Heehee.” that left no gray area about her level of interest.)

I’ve been trying to poke more out of sis as we read; and she comes up short while being completely unfazed: “I wish I could provide [content/commentary] all the time”, she says, tapping spacebar with her thumb (while simultaneously researching a German film-- “Seine Beste Role” specifically.) Wouldn't have it any other way, because her nonreactions get me to ask her directly which unfolds into other hilarious sidebars.

Father mention-- Sis hilariously bangs a fist against the wall: “Every time Father is mentioned, I keep thinking ‘okay, what information ya gonna drop’?” She looks upon him as the coveted DLC character. 

Sis loved the mouse catching reference-- “the artists’ crossover!”--- and really likes the touches the tie into your fic and Nan’s AWTN. (I’ve been filling her in on what is canon vs. implied/invented with canon.)

““It’s good. Better than good. In, out. Up, down. Those. No good. You know, Vincent?”/“No, I’m sorry, Mouse, I don’t know what you mean. Can you use the name?”” Sis: “Exactly.” She laughs with me. “Sorry, Mouse.” 

Every time Mouse speaks: Sis “Ohmyword” with an indulgent tone (she describes her reactions as “keyboard jam”, a.k.a. akdfasdhfjsahfjksf.) 

““It hadn’t exactly been hot when he’d ladled it out of the enormous stock pot in the kitchen and would surely be cold by the time Cullen left him in peace. He sighed unhappily.”” Sis snorted in relatability. 

““Cullen said, “You got a good heart, Vincent. And I think you’ve gotten it stomped on a time or two because of that.”” I agree; and Sis snorted her agreement. 

““And Father? Father simply wrote off--”” Sis: “OHMYWORD Father’s back.” ””--wrote off his pensiveness as an acute case of spring restlessness and matter-of-factly prescribed a late-night trip Above and a brisk stroll in the park.”” Sis (not derogatory): “I’m disappointed in you, Father.” 

While reading through Cullen and Vincent’s dialogue, I had to prod sis for comments because she was enjoying simply soaking it in: “I’m really enjoying the incidental dialogue…. I know it’s important-- about Vincent’s mental health-- but it feels like a casual conversation... it’s [meaning the tone] Cullen, it’s Cullen.” 

We got in a brief discussion about Kant-- I’m more for, sis is more against. Both agree it’s so Father to believe external authority is needed, and Vincent is the opposite. (We derailed into Moomins temporarily-- something something Kant-- but we’re back on topic now~.) 

““I don’t want to worry him. He has more urgent matters to attend to.”” Sis: “Yeah just don’t make Father worry-- he’ll worry about anything. And you want to make him sit down and say ‘Father, please’. …I’m the most disloyal Father stan ever” (she says while ardently looking forward to Father whenever he pops up.) “EXCUSE ME.” (I told her what I wrote.) 

Sis is vibing with your writing on Cullen vs. Father’s methods with Vincent. 

Asked sis if she had comments after Vincent took off to deal with the threat. “Nooooo, keep reading” (said in a mildly tense tone.)  

Sis while Vincent is murdering a man: “UM, OHMYWORD.” 

““...Father’s swift but ungainly descent from the balcony down the spiral staircase.”” Sis and I loved that part. 

““The kettle took that moment to begin whistling and Father wheeled away and got busy with the work of dropping the infuser into it and gathering mugs and spoons and the honey pot and putting them on the table.”” Sis is so happy for the cozy vibes. 

““Surely not with Father, who had circumspection down to a science.”” I have to put my own thought here-- I’ve been nodding along, drinking in, soaking up your story so haven’t much so that I didn't have much to write; but on my second reread (to sis), this line stuck out, and I had to highlight it. 

““Now, you gonna help me finish this up or you just going to sit there like a bump on a log?”” Sis voted for bump on a log; and we had a spirited faux debate over why bumps and logs would not work in all situations (I against, she in favor.) 

All in all, a wonderful read! Sis gave your writing style a thumbs up emoji; and loved the comfy, cozy touches (and told me she wants to read more cozy BATB fics with less drama so she can completely soak up “the vibes.”)  

Okay, I had to sit with this for a while before I could respond. That's a good thing, by the way.

Your voice was so soothing and intriguing; and it was fun to look at all the parts you wove in from BATB and potentially nodded at from Nan’s work-- or that the two of you drew from the characters so clearly that it feels as natural as breathing to switch from her stories to yours. 

Seriously, this is the best feedback I could ever hope for. Because every BATB fic I've written has been a tribute to - and for - Nan. I think I had all the necessary tools to write good fiction before I started corresponding with her, but it was Nan who showed me how to use them effectively. And she inspired me so much - still does. I'm going to quote a section of her preface from the first edition of Phoenix, the 4th season anthology zine she edited and published.

"In Fourth Season, writers are on their own to invent, extend, and interpret what we've been given of the possibilities of Vincent, Diana, and the other characters of Beauty and the Beast. So it's surprising how similar the guesses and extrapolations are, of the writers of the stories and poetry that follow.

Ideas are nobody's exclusive property. If some speculation or insight in anything you read here sparks your own imagination, feel free to use it. We're all opening and exploring new ground, here. Usual markers that clearly point out some important feature of the landscape are, once established, common to us all."

These are the sorts of things she would tell me when we would discuss (primarily) AWTN. She would be like, "Oh, you like that line I wrote there? Go ahead and use it." "Does that idea intrigue you? Feel free to expand on it." She was infinitely generous - with everything she had.

I think you'll find when you read The Possibility of Being, that I took her at her word, all those years ago. TPOB is nothing more than a tribute to Nan, her writing, and the scope of understanding I gained from picking at her brain. It's littered with little touchstones from AWTN and her other writings. It's very much my gift to her for everything she gave me. And I think it may be the best thing I've ever written. Anyway...

I'm beyond thrilled that both you and Sis liked The Sticking Place, and I treasure your commentary. Honestly, I was terrified you might not like it. I'm going to copy and past this entire thing into a work doc so I can go back to it any time I'm feeling less than competent in my writing. You and your sister have also given me a wonderful gift. Thank you. ❤️

#beauty and the beast 1987 #fanfic #the sticking place #discussion

[litchilalitchi]

Hi there 👋 Your post about Jaibo being a parallel to Zera’s mother showed me an interesting aspect of Jaibo and Zera’s relationship that I hadn’t really noticed before, so thanks! I also wanted to ask: do you think there’s any specific moral or theme that’s meant to be taken away from LHC? If so, what do you think it is? Sorry if that’s a vague question haha, I’m just curious to hear your thoughts

hello!!! thank you so much for enjoying our posts < 3

i think part of the beauty of litchi hikari club is the fact it can have such a different personal meaning to different people; there's so much in there that's ultimately human despite the bizarre happenings that it's hard not to relate. however i think, personally, that the most important and ubiquitous theme in litchi hikari club is that everything comes back to the trauma of poverty.

the fact they were even allowed to form such a radical group, and then their actions continued to fall under the radar to their parents no matter how harmful i think ultimately stems from the fact their families are struggling to survive in keikou, so they don't necessarily have as watchful of an eye over their children as they likely should. it's something they all have in common, too - tamiya and jaibo couldn't be less alike, but there's one incredibly brief moment where they connect, where jaibo acnkowledges that 'i know, it's the same for all our houses [that they're small].' they're all victims of the same unfortunate living conditions, even though the individual levels of neglect differ. tamiya loves his family and is loved in return, but it doesn't change the fact the prospects in keikou are bleak enough to allow the hikari club to fly under the radar; jaibo is neglected entirely and left to his own devices.

even kanon, who doesn't seem in a hurry to go back to anything, and knows that 'unhappy times go by faster when [she's] sleeping', seems to be affected by this whether she hails from keikou or not. i think the ugliest truth of all of this is that perhaps this would have been stopped much earlier, and perhaps with less tragedy, if the grind to scramble to survive in a squalid industrial town had not been as grueling for their families.

i also think that the quest to gain and keep love and struggles with purpose is a very important part of all of this as well, mainly for the weight it has with what happens between jaibo and zera, but it also extends to the other members as well. jaibo ultimately destroys the club out of an attempt to keep what he felt was a 'failing' love (which had really never existed at all). nico's search to be wanted and to have a purpose, which he finds in zera, destroys what could have been a healing, healthy friendship with tamiya, it takes his eye, and ultimately kills him as well; neither nico nor jaibo understand that they're being used, and that the purpose and meaning they take from their roles isn't something that extends to zera.

it's highlighted through zera's obsession with chess, as well - even though he states on multiple occasions, even going so far as to make it one of their commandments, that they're nothing but pawns, all of them struggle to reconcile this with their lives. nico and jaibo for the reasons mentioned above, and tamiya, kaneda and dafu because they believe their lives have worth outside of being chess pieces - due to having bonds with each other that they're fortunate to have in the first place. real love allowed them all to die resisting zera, whereas the ersatz 'love' and purpose zera offers to those who haven't experienced any takes over and drives them to their deaths.

i could talk forever but im going to end it here, i hope this scratches the itch of your question < 33 thank you SO MUCH for your ask i cant tell you how excited i am and we are to have received it !!!!

- molly ♡

#asks #litchi hikari club #litchi light club #essays

[sullustangin]

Forged Alliances Part 2: Manaan

Continuing on my replay of SoR with my latest smug...

Part I here

So, it’s been awhile since Tython and Korriban.  Originally, in game, T3-G2 reaches out to the player to send them to Manaan.  Alas and alack, 7.0 killed the breadcrumb quest, so now you just get a direct “go to Manaan” pass from Fleet.  I have the video saved on a previous smug playthough and the text commemorated in my fic series. 

I recently played KOTOR, and the music on Manaan comes from that game; the game map is a clear tribute too.  It’s more pronounced here than it was on Taris.  I can see why people were getting super hyped for Shadow of Revan to drop, with all of these references and planets to revisit. 

Once the player arrives on Manaan, Theron talks about his favorite thing: intel (like father, like son).  Or, in this case, why he does not have intel:  Darok isn’t sharing with SIS as promised.  This goes beyond SpecForce tensions with SIS however.

Even as Theron is dealing with the potential traitors in SpecForce, we also have some potential zany activities going on.  Although Eva is seeing credits as they speak about infiltrating a lab (hello, kolto!), there’s also a few ghosts coming back from the dead: namely, Rakata technology.

If one played the planetary quests on Tatooine and on Belsavis Pubside or Impside, they encountered the remnants of world-ending machines and/or prisons built by the Rakata.  Now, Darok and Arkous seem to moving this stuff around for unknown reasons.  Nice and creepy. 

At the end of the briefing, Theron mentions meeting a contact and seeing if the information she has is worth the hype.

Eva disapproves.

“She?” could convey surprise, but what’s so weird about a female contact?  Do only men play spy games in the Old Republic?  We know that not to be the case based upon planetary missions for SIS Pubside.  Maybe “she?” is meant to represent the player wanting to know who this person is.

Me personally,  I interpret this as sort of a hard push by developers for the Theron romance; this could be read as jealousy.  And indeed, the developers did push both the Theron romance and the Lana romance throughout Forged Alliances and SoR, especially in the finale of Rishi.  (Are you sure you REALLY want to go to Yavin NOW instead of talking to a SPY?!)  There are some opportunities to play on the rivalry and/or potential for a love triangle.

While poking around the scientific horror show (and stealing kolto), Eva runs into Jakarro.  This leads to one of the better comedic set-ups in the game:

Theron:  Their story checks out (....)  Charges against them both for smuggling, disorderly conduct, assault...

Eva:  Even the droid?

Theron:  Yeah, why do you ask?

(screenshot out of order...but you see the ‘problem’ with C2-D4 being charged with assault....)

The gag here is somewhat representative of the stronger writing on Pubside Forged Alliances and SoR, honestly.  The Imperial side has no parallel to this interaction.  Throughout Forged Alliances and SoR, Impside, there are more plotholes and less neat incorporation of prior content -- and more ‘forced’ funny bits rather than the well-played visual gag here. 

Honestly, the writing in Forged Alliances/SOR for the Republic feels like compensation for the Dreadmasters and Oricon.  In that case, the Pub sort of just gets plopped into Oricon, while the entire planetary plotline of Belsavis for the Empire was dedicated to the set-up.  “Here, it’s your turn for crappy writing,” essentially.  Although the Empire has more breadcrumb planets that lead up to this point (Dromund Kaas for the Revanites, Nar Shaddaa for the Starforge, as well as Tatooine and Belsavis for the Rakata tech), it’s nowhere near as well-integrated and well-written out as the Republic’s end of the content; the Republic side clearly conveys the danger of the Revanites, Revan, and even the Emperor -- it makes the player feel how important this operation is.  I did not feel that sense of urgency as I played through on my Impside character.  It just felt ‘lighter’ and less serious/significant.  

We also encounter Lana Beniko, an exceedingly polite Sith Lord.  What’s interesting here is how the writers handle Jakarro and the player’s opposing faction operative.  If you play Pubside, it’s implied that Lana and Jakarro & D4 team up while Theron continues to be your handler.  If you are Imperial, Jakarro & D4 and Theron become bros while you and Lana remain a team.  This results in different dialogue and some different dynamics throughout SoR.  Still, the five of you are fighting for the same cause, and Lana, as ever, is pragmatic:

We leave off Manaan aware of the potential of an Infinite Army:  the Revanites are using Rakata tech to make self-repairing soldiers that could be unstoppable.  We’ve thwarted them here, but what’s not to say they’ve already started exporting this stuff to manufacturing sites around the galaxy?  Darok was shopping for smugglers who could handle such merchandise (including Jakarro), and we leave our intrepid friends wondering where the traitors-- and their Rakata tech -- are off to next. 

#Swtor #forged alliances #Theron Shan #Lana beniko #Manaan #jakarro #c2-d4 #Theron Shan x smuggler #rakata #oc: eva corolastor

[haseleywildere]

what does your tav do after the events of the game?

I think it goes a little something like this:

"You're an absolute fucking fool of a man, Haseley Wildere. You know that, right?"

The ranger simply chuckled quietly, shaking his head. "How could I forget? You remind me of this nearly every day, even when I've stopped disagreeing with you."

"And I'm going to keep reminding you of it until you smarten up and crawl back up that hole that you dragged us both into," the red-skinned tiefling woman to his right answered, jabbing her finger forcefully into his shoulder.

"You think that's ever actually going to work, Karlach?" he asked, casting her a side-eyed glance, a knowing smirk plastered across his lips. "You think I can be gotten rid of that easily?"

"Hmmmm..." Karlach pondered. "Well, considering you knowingly fell in love with a girl with a bomb in her chest, stayed with her even as you begged her not to just let herself die, and went ahead and saved her life right at the last possible moment when you could've just let her turn to ash, I'd say sticking around even as she tells you what an idiot you are is pretty on brand for you."

"You flatter me," Haseley deadpanned.

Silence fell over the couple as they both stared out over the wastelands of Avernus from the balcony of the House of Hope. Haseley was surprised and how many parallels could be drawn between the scorched ranges of the first of the Hells and the rolling hills of the western Heartlands of Faerun that he had roamed for nearly two decades. The colour palettes the natural environments used to paint their respective landscapes were so widely different, but many of the shapes and forms were easily recognisable to the seasoned ranger. As much as it still did not feel like home to him, Haseley felt that perhaps one day, it would.

"I never did say thank you," she murmured quietly. "For, you know...saving my life."

"Of course, darling," he said with a small wave of his hand, giving her a gentle smile, even as a lump formed in his throat. For the first time since he had brought Karlach to Avernus, she was showing some form of gratitude to still be alive, and it stirred his heart with a subdued joy. "No need to mention it."

"I have to, though," she replied, her voice a little stronger this time. "I think it's important that you know that I am so, so grateful that you carried me to safety instead of letting me blow to pieces on those docks."

Karlach paused again for a brief moment, and Haseley could tell she was struggling to get the next words out.

"Especially since..." she stammered. "This...this is the first time that...that I would mean it."

Haseley's head fell gently, his gaze drifting off to nowhere. It had been several weeks since the Grand Design had been undone, and the Elder Brain had been defeated. And not a moment too soon, it turned out; Karlach's defective infernal engine had begun to break down almost immediately after the war against the Absolute had been won. What happened next was still a blur in his mind. He remembered running through the streets of the Lower City, carrying a broiling tiefling in his arms, Wyll running alongside him, conjuring an Armour of Agathys to keep him from bursting into flames along with Karlach. He remembered busting into the Devil's Fee, and, despite Helsik the Diabolist's protestations, sprinting up the stairs into the Ritual Room, finding the portal to Avernus still open.

And then just as quickly as the fiery maelstrom began, it was over. The flames engulfing Karlach ceased, and he collapsed to the floor of the grand foyer of the House of Hope, clutching the tiefling close to his chest.

There were tears, from all three of them. Mostly of relief, but Haseley knew then, just as he did now, that Karlach's tears were borne of fear as well. That to come as close as she had to death, only to be pulled away from it and given another chance, with the caveat that it came in the place of a decade of torment, was an existential quandary that she knew could not simply be resolved by leaping back into the Material Plane and letting the flames take her for good.

Since then, she had been distinctly not herself, almost as if she were afraid to be. There was no half-mumbled arguments with herself as she shuffled from place to place, no little dance moves, no shadow boxing, nothing of the sort. She was quiet, reserved, alternating between clinging to Haseley as if she feared letting him go would cause him to disappear in a puff of infernal smoke, lost to Avernus forever, and keeping her distance from him, the man who had condemned her to a lifetime of fear by daring to save her from an untimely demise.

So for her to say thank you, and to mean it...the silence that gripped the ranger was a stunned one. He was prepared for Karlach to eventually decide that a chance at life wasn't worth the pain of being confined to Hell for the rest of her days, and he was prepared for her to die, as best as one could be prepared for that. But gratitude, sincere gratitude...his heart warmed in his chest, and a wave of hopeful relief washed over him.

"...Do you think you'll ever feel at home here?" he finally asked, breaking the silence that held only the rising and falling whistles of the wind across the burning sky above them.

"Heh...you would think the answer to that would be obvious, but..." Karlach trailed off, the breezy silence filling Haseley's ears once more. The touch of her palm against the back of his hands made butterflies in his stomach jump just the slightest bit, a feeling he hoped he would never get used to.

"My decade of...service to Zariel was the loneliest part of my life," Karlach continued somberly. "No one to talk to, not in any meaningful way at least; no one to touch, no one to hold, certainly no one to love within that detestable crowd. I was worried that feeling was going to take over again; as brutal of a mistress Zariel could be, and as much as her cronies loved to make me suffer, the sheer loneliness of it all was the worst part."

The tiefling turned her head towards him, and Haseley's gaze drifted over to meet hers. Her amber eyes shone brightly, a safe refuge of warm comfort amongst the wild, unrelenting burning light that surrounded the whole of Avernus.

"But...I'm not really alone anymore, am I?" she said, smiling softly at the ranger. Wyll is still around, doing his heroic "Blade of Avernus" thing. Our other friends still visit us from time to time. And, most importantly..."

She looked away for just a moment, enough to let out a contented sigh, one that he'd heard from her so many times during their innumerable conversations about their relationship.

"You're there every night when I close my eyes, and you're still there every morning when I wake. In my quietest moments, my most vulnerable moments, you're there by my side; watching over me, protecting me." She giggled softly. "Loving me."

Slowly, she turned to face him, leaning gently against the bannister that lined the whole of the balcony, and he turned as well, mirroring her movements. His other hand reached out and lay on top of hers, gently squeezing her warm, scarlet fingers with his own.

"I know I was ready to just let it all end," she said, her voice darkened by regret. "I thought it was the right thing to do, I thought it was the only thing I could do, given the circumstances. I thought I was being courageous by accepting that I just had to die instead of having to try and live out a life in a place I was deathly terrified of. I thought I was sticking to my guns, going out on my own terms."

"These weren't your terms though, Karlach," Haseley interjected. "That was a fate that was drawn up for you by a man who betrayed you to the devil. They decided your choices; either serve Zariel and fight in the Blood War, or die in the world they stole you from."

He stepped closer, clasping her hand firmly in between his own, his glimmering amethyst and icy blue eyes locked on hers.

"But this, to live here in Avernus, free from Zariel, with people you love, in a place that you helped make into a safe haven within Hell itself, that's the option they never realised was open to you, and that's the option that so many of us wanted you to realise was there. Myself, Wyll, Dammon, all of us knew that there was a life that could be had where you could live freely, and I can only speak for myself, but I wanted that for you so, so badly, and I desperately wanted to be a part of that life."

"Haseley..." she whispered, her eyes trailing downward. She fell silent, but for the few shaky breaths that wafted in and out of her lips.

"What if Zariel comes for me?" she asked fearfully. "What if she comes for us?"

"Then we put an axe to her throat and an arrow between her fucking eyes, or we die trying," Haseley said confidently, squeezing her hand just a bit tighter.

"You can't, though," she said, her eyes locking back on his again. There was terror rippling through those amber orbs. "This isn't your fight, and I'm not about to let you die on my behalf."

"Karlach, I just fought a battle that wasn't mine for the fate of an entire plane of people I don't know and will likely never meet," responded the ranger. "I just went toe to toe with possibly the scariest creature I could ever face, not because I wanted to, but because I knew I had the means and the opportunity to save myself, my friends, and the world. An opportunity that very obviously was not going to present itself to anyone else."

"And you know all this; you were there," he finished with a gentle smirk.

"I know, I just..." The tiefling's face twisted as she scrunched up her nose and grimaced; he could tell she was holding back tears. "I don't want to lose you."

"Karlach, listen to me." He reached out one of his hands and placed it gently on her cheek. The warmth radiating from her face was almost painful to the touch; he knew she must have been fraught with all sorts of different emotions on the inside.

"We live in the House of Hope, the domain of Mephistopheles' heir that we took from him by force after we slew him in combat," he said with a chuckle. "The way I see it, if Zariel dares to challenge us, her grave has already been dug right next to Raphael's, and I'd be more than happy to throw her lifeless corpse right in there whenever she wishes to try."

"...And if we don't win?" Karlach asked hesitantly.

"Then we die fighting to take back the freedom that was stolen from you," he said firmly. "We die fighting for the choice that you can create for yourself, not just the ones that were previously made for you."

Haseley took another step forward, the gap between them nearly closed.

"I love you, Karlach. That doesn't change, no matter what."

The tiefling sniffled, and her cheek slowly melted into the ranger's hand. Her eyes raised up to his once more; the tears she had been fighting back had bubbled their way to the surface all the same, a small trail of wet tracing down from each eye. But she was smiling; a gentle smile of relief.

"I love you too, Haseley."

#baldur's gate 3 #haseley #tav #karlch #karlach/tav #epilogue #writing #bg3 fanfiction #fanfic #i don't care if this is lore accurate or not i just wanted to write some cute shit

[99liners]

the sniper and her spotter — a. daiki;

pairings: aomine daiki x female reader

genre: so!much!angst, smidge of fluff, angsty messy smut, slow burn.

words: 7.182 (i write too much plot, i am sorry)

warnings: blood and gore (they are yakuza, what do you expect), daiki is a rude asshole, more like a manchild who makes sly jokes to stroke his own ego, they kill some people (unnamed characters), daiki smokes occasionally, sexual tension, angsty sex (hey you can’t back out now, y’all handed me a yakuza!daiki), pussy eating, virgin reader, slow unprotected seggs (bls observe safe sexual practices), missionary position, orgasms (m / f), morning seggs, cowgirl position, ambiguous relationship status.

request: Anonymous asked : Is the askbox open? If yes, may I get mafia!Aomine fall in love with a girl (who's good with gun and martial art) they always bickering every time they met (not to mention the sexual tension have build, because she's hot as hell). One day, their boss make this duo as team to get revenge on someone who've killed Kuroko's(their best friend) father? A little smut if that's okay? Thankss

taglist: @seijoharlot​ | @carinacassiopeiae​ | 

a/n: i just knew that the reader has to be a sniper because she is the calm person and aomine is the hotheaded egoistic asshole lol. the rest of the plot, i winged it as i wrote.

four years ago:

you were standing by the bookshelf of the sub-group leader akashi, who had summoned you for a briefing on your third assignment with his group. you took out a book from the self, a directory on various kinds of poisons when the door opened shortly to let in the main muscle man of the group; aomine daiki. it was drizzling since morning and your eyes flicked from the navy-haired guy to the pattering sound of the rain outside. you let a sigh, you absolutely hate rainy days.

your father is head of one of the main three clans of the sumiyoshi-kai yakuza family and you had just turned of age which meant that it was time for you to join a sub-group, nepotism does not really work in the yakuza families. akashi’s group was the only one who needed a hitman, so naturally you had no choice but to join their group. it was not like you wanted to join some other group, you had no such preferences. akashi had showed you around the first day to introduce you to the group starting with kise ryota who dealt with mostly the drug related operations, midorima shintaro and kuroko tetsuya the computer experts, i.e., the eyes and ears of the group, kagami taiga handled the day-to-day business and murasakibara atsushi along with aomine daiki were the muscles of the group whereas akashi seijuro was the leader and brains of the group. you filled in the group with the final position of a hitman.

you can fight too, you are trained in two forms of martial arts; taekwondo and krav maga but your specialty comes out when you are aiming at a person through the scope of your sniper from 800 yards away. your skill is like an art, one gentle press of your index finger is enough to take away a life. it is difficult to be a sniper and not have a bit of a God complex.

akashi looked up from the bunch of papers in his hand when daiki walked in, “we got the lead on the shibuya druglord. take y/n and finish the job.”

“why do i need to take a kid with me for an important assignment?” daiki retorted, his figure slacking near his hips, his hands tightly jammed inside his trouser pockets.

“because it’s an important assignment and i don’t want drama this time and i certainly don’t want media up my ass.”

you chuckled as you slid the book back in its place. daiki’s jaw tightened on the offhanded insult in front of a literal junior.

“she will only hold me back.”

you rolled your eyes, “i don’t really need him to come with me, i can get the job done alone,” you turned to akashi finally and stood parallel to daiki.

“i know you can but we need someone on the ground just in case.”

“can’t murasakibara come with me?” you knew better than to make it work with someone who is unwilling to work with you. daiki has always rubbed off the wrong way against you.

“he is gone with kagami. you get each other only, now before the druglord finishes his lunch appointment and goes back into hiding in his bunker, get to work.”

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

you were too busy loading your duffle bag in the trunk of the car when daiki came out and got in the driver’s seat, slamming shut the door behind him. it broke you out of your trance and caused you to flinch when the car vibrated from the slam.

daiki noticed how your small figure shook and chuckled loudly, “scaredy cat.”

“asshole,” you mumbled slamming down the trunk too after you were finished and got inside the passenger seat, “what’s your problem mister?”

daiki chose not to reply and ignited the car. annoyed at his callousness you leaned over and pulled out the car keys from the ignition.

“what the fuck is your problem?” daiki turned to you glaring, “did you not hear akashi? we are on the clock.”

“i don’t care, i can’t work with someone who does not have my back.”

“oh get off your high horse princess, i don’t have to be nice to you to have your back,” daiki snatched the keys back from you and started driving, “pull one more stunt and i will throw out of the moving car.”

“you have never even worked with me before, hell you don’t even know. what the fuck are you so rude for?”

daiki only scoffed in reply and you have never wanted to kill someone more but kept quiet for the rest of the ride.

the car came to a stop ten blocks away in a gas station, daiki parked the car close to the exit and stepped out. you fixed the hem of your jeans which hid your hand pistol strapped to your ankle, before stepping out of the car too. not paying a glance to daiki you walked to the other end of the car to retrieve your duffle bag. you opened the trunk and leaned down to get the bag when daiki appeared and picked out the bag before you could.

“what now?” you groaned at him and stepped aside from the car when daiki pushed down the trunk while you were still leaning in.

whenever daiki show you walking with your sniper stashed inside your precious little duffle bag, he always assumed that the bag would be light but in reality it weighed at least 8-9 kgs, considering it contains your sniper, day optical scope and a fully loaded magazine. he won’t admit it but in his eyes, respect for you increased by like point five percent. 

“what? just being the chivalrous boyfriend,” daiki smirked as he started walking in the direction of a nearby motel.

“you are not my boyfriend!” you almost screeched as you followed behind him, the very vile thought made you want to puke.

“baby, now that’s hurtful,” daiki feigned a frown wrapping an arm around your waist, “we are just a sweet couple, new to the town, headed to a motel to rest before hitting the road again.”

you hit his chest annoyed, “i will shoot myself before i ever become your girlfriend.”

daiki snorted a laugh, “you won’t have to, i will gladly shoot myself before that happens.”

you kept hitting him, either in the chest or his pecs but his secure hold against your waist never let loose. he was not hurting you nor was he trying anything risque but you just disliked the fact that he was the one who was touching you. to a third person walking on the streets it looked like a couple bickering amongst each other and being endearing.

the neighborhood was a mix between normal citizens and yakuza, the restaurant was not some hotel marriott either, more like a suburban eatery where the druglord was meeting another yakuza to discuss some business.

daiki came to stop in front of the motel, nine blocks from the restaurant.

“go ahead baby, you can go and change, i will get us something to eat till then.”

“ass,” you mumbled snatching the duffle bag from him but before you could away, daiki pulled you back against his chest.

“give a kiss before you go!” he whined in a sappy tone, putting up a show in front of the elderly couple running the small store adjacent to the motel who were staring at you two. anyone would mistake them for a sweet elderly couple but both daiki and you know better to see that they are some yakuza clan’s informants. 

to be honest, daiki was behaving like that more to annoy you than allay suspicions.

you stared at him in shock and tried to get away but he kept his cheek extended to you. you felt the gaze of the elderly couple too, daiki was not letting you walk away without the kiss.

“i am so shooting you today,” you spoke through gritted teeth.

“of course baby, shoot me with all your love,” daiki grinned leaning down to your height.

you took a few deep breaths before placing a chaste kiss on his cheek.

“good girl,” daiki smiled, immediately releasing you.

you rushed inside the motel entrance at the speed of flash, at that moment your sniper weighed less than air for you as you ran up the shabby old stairs of the motel to get to the roof.

daiki laughed to himself before heading towards the restaurant.

after calming yourself from the rush of adrenaline, you started setting up the sniper at the edge of the roof, facing the direction of the restaurant. taking out the tripod stand from the duffel bag, you set it up before mounting the sniper on it, your march x day optical scope was already affixed on the barrel. you sat down on your knees, your slender fingers rotated the knob on top of the scope to change the focus of the lens before you leaned down to look in the eye of the sniper again. making sure it was on the window of the restaurant, you put on the intercom kuroko had handed you.

“i am in position.”

“so fast? did you run up?” daiki chuckled, he was about two blocks away from the restaurant.

“shut up,” you replied, watching the restaurant from the eye of the sniper, “the druglord is here. hurry up.” 

daiki was going to reply with some stupid joke but on hearing that, he kept quiet and jogged the rest of the way.

you pulled out your hand pistol, loaded it and kept it in front of you for backup.

“fuck i hate the rain,” you mumbled in the intercom when the rain which had stopped for a while restarted.

daiki entered the restaurant patting his clothes off the water droplets, “what are you waiting for? take the shot. he is literally sitting by the window.”

“keep quiet for a minute, the rain changes everything.” you replied pulling away from the eye of the sniper to move your tripod, “the sniper fires at 0.5 minute of arc which is approximately 0.5 inch center to center of the two holes furthest apart, so 5-round group at 100 yards will theoretically fire a 12.5 inch group at 2,500 yards so 0.5 × 2,500/100 = 12.5, but it’s raining which will affect the bullet as it travels downrange to the target bu-”

“what the fuck are you on about?” daiki asked you confused.

you had not realized that you were making the calculations out loud but ignored daiki and continued with making the necessary changes.

daiki kept standing near the counter to place an order for a coffee when he noticed that the drug lord shook hands with his businessmen and stood up.

“shit,” daiki sighed and walked to their table where a waiter was collecting the bill, “hey, shinzou right?” daiki read the name off the name tag of the waiter and kept his hand on his shoulder, his other hand holding the gun in his jacket pocket, his finger on the trigger as he positioned the gun to face the druglord. 

after making sure your 5-round group is centered perfectly on the target at 100 yards, you looked into the eye of the sniper and realized you had taken too much time and the druglord was leaving. daiki’s back was directly in front of your field of vision through the window, the druglord standing in front of him taking cash out from his pocket to pay the waiter. you knew daiki could easily kill the target but it was a crowded place, everyone probably already had seen daiki, there was no escape after he would take the shot.

“aomine move,” you kept your finger on the trigger, the scope focused on daiki’s back.

daiki did not reply and kept trying to talk to the waiter, to make it seem that the waiter was his school friend, all the while pointing the nuzzle of his own gun higher up to take a shot at the target’s chest for a clean death.

“aomine i have the shot, fucking move or i am shooting you.”

the next thing daiki heard was the intercom disconnecting, he knew what was coming and instinctively moved about a mere few inches to the side. approximately ten seconds later, the druglord had a bullet right inside his heart, the blood spluttering out all over the floor as he succumbed to his death. chaos ensued in the restaurant as people started running. 

daiki just stared at the corpse for a few moments because that could have easily been him before breaking out of his reverie and evacuating the place at once. 

after taking the shot, you packed up your sniper back into the duffle bag, strapped the hand pistol to your ankle again and headed downstairs. you took off your jacket, untucked your tank top and let your hair loose from the pony tail because the elderly informant couple clearly heard daiki that you went to the motel to change. you already had to kiss daiki of all the people in this world to not invite suspicions, might as well take all the precautions.

after reaching the ground floor, you casually walked out of the motel and headed back to the car.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

you were leaning back on the hood of the car in the gas station when daiki finally made it back and threw the car keys at you. catching them, you wordlessly went to the trunk and packed your sniper before coming to the front and boarding the car.

“are you seriously going to light that in a gas station?” you asked when you noticed the cigarette held tightly between his lips.

daiki snatched the keys from you and ignited the car to drive out of the gas station. once the car was back on the main road, he reached inside his jacket pocket and brought out his lighter.

you heard the metallic flick of the lighter, “someone’s bitchy,” commenting, you looked out the window.

daiki lit his cigarette and after taking a puff, he turned to you clearly pissed, “maybe you forgot but you almost fucking shot me.”

“and yet, here you are, still breathing,” you sighed, shaking your head.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

two years ago:

it already had been two years since that day and daiki will not let you live it down. he will twist the story to make it seem like you missed the shot and accidentally injured him and whatnot. you don’t think that there is any variation of that story that has not reached back to your ears, nothing could possibly surprise you anymore.

boy were you wrong.

it was kuroko’s father’s 50th birthday, another important clan head and the whole clan was celebrating including you. you were not part of their clan but since you have been working with him since the past two years, inviting you was a no-brainer.

you were sitting by the bar, having a shirley temple* when a random girl came and sat by you, by the looks of it, you concluded she was a hooker. she kept looking back at someone so you followed her gaze till your eyes fell on daiki who noticed you as well and raised his beer bottle to which you gave him a curt nod in return and went back to your drink. the girl beside you noticed that wordless exchange and interrupted your state of solitude.

[*it is a non alcoholic drink cause reader is technically 20 in this scene]

“oh my god, do you know aomine?!” the girl started, her voice going like an octave higher with each word.

you let out a sigh before turning to her with a small smile, “yeah i do, i work with him.”

“ooooh! you must be that sniper who went with him to kill the shibuya druglord. you are his ex, right?”

“i am his what?” you turned towards her, your back now facing the bar. the poker smile never leaving your lips.

“yeah, he said you were his girlfriend at the time and you were so scared about him that you could not take the shot and were shaking on the rooftop alone so aomine had to take the shot himself.”

“oh? i was incapable of taking the shot?!” you almost raised your voice at that and turned your face to daiki this time who was talking to murasakibara.

“yeah and then he said because of his scary look, no one really stopped him when he walked away. like a total boss,” the girl gushed.

your mouth almost fell open at that. seriously? his fragile ego cannot handle the fact that you took the shot instead of him, which you did just so he could walk away easily unharmed but guess you should just have left him to die, or better yet, actually shot him when you had the chance.

while the scenarios played on your mind of you pulling the trigger on daiki, daiki himself appeared in front of you. you almost dropped your drink when your eyes fell on him.

“dude, stop scaring me,” you gulped down your drink and kept the glass back on the bar countertop.

daiki shrugged, “thought you might need someone to bail you out,” he leaned in awfully close to you and whispered into your ear, “she is one chatty cathy.”

you realized he was talking about the girl sitting beside you. keeping a hand on his chest, you pushed him away, “i am fine.”

“come, we will dance,” discarding what you said, daiki got a hold of your hand and easily dragged you to the dance floor where kuroko’s dad was dancing with his mom in the middle of the crowd and some other couples of the clan were dancing around them.

“i am not dancing with you, remember i am a scaredy cat who just starts shaking because i am so worried about you!” you feigned a pout, sarcasm dripping from your words.

daiki let a laugh, his hand that was holding your arm pulled it towards his body and placed your palm on his shoulder.

“well it’s true. i did take the shot,” daiki offered his signature shit-eating grin, his hands smoothly wrapping themselves around your waist.

you had not realized it either but you had stepped closer to his warm body, your hands on his shoulder, “anything else i should know about so i can play along too next time?”

daiki looked up as if he was thinking, “mhm, let’s see... oh we are broken up but you still want me back and won’t leave me alone.”

this was ridiculously self-centered, even for daiki so you could not help but let a laugh at that. daiki joined you.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

over the past two years, other than him making up newer and newer variations of the actual incident, you two have gone from biting at each other’s mere presence to sharing glances at each other. neither of you have ever tried anything but you did not miss the way daiki’s eyes lingered at you. every mission you guys had together, duo or as a group, he would always have your back. sometimes he would even volunteer to be your spotter and guard you while you were busy taking the shot some seven - eight hundred yards away. he is still arrogant, rude and his usual self but there is also a smidge of respect behind his rude words.

on the other hand, daiki has not missed how you look at him, either. in a room full of people, he will always find your eyes at him. if you were just another person, he would have been elated at that, feeding into his inflated ego and maybe even add you to his list of one night stands but you are not just another person.

you are the daughter of one of the top three clan heads’ and daiki would be spitting on his mother’s grave if he fell for you. his dad was one of the top yakuza in kabukicho, his mom was just some civilian he met on a mission. daiki was born out of wedlock which was highly looked down upon among the yakuza. he was labelled a bastard from the day he took his first breath in. 

but that was far from the end of his sufferings, when daiki was in his early teen years, his mom was murdered by another yakuza group to get back at his father but at the news of his girlfriend’s death, daiki’s father outright laughed at how she never really meant anything to him so her death contributes to nothing. daiki was a mere fourteen year old boy at the time, he knew his father was lying but the yakuza pride meant more to his dad than his mom’s life. after his mom’s death, no one really cared about him, he was thrown into the underground of the yakuza where he fought his way back to the top. he knows how to fight because if he had not learnt to, he would be dead by now. which is highly in contrast from your life where you were trained from your childhood by an instructor.

when his dad died, the aomine family had no other heir but daiki and boy was that ironic. he had laughed through the entire funeral service. daiki never took help of his ‘aomine’ title and joined akashi’s group which had the least connections with the clan. when kuroko joined their group, he had a hard time to accept him as their own but he came around and he is going through a similar process with you. he is only afraid that he might just fall in love with you.

you came to know about his life one night when kagami gulped down a drink too much and narrated the whole thing to you. after that, you stopped seeing daiki as the self-entitled asshole, you even found yourself understanding his brash attitude towards you.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

the song had turned to a very slow tune, from the jazzy beat to a slow beat, daiki and your movements slow down too. you were the first to lean in, daiki followed but all you could think was that you might hurt him just like his dad might have hurt his mom. the gap between you two was only getting smaller, you were almost breathing in his air, it smelled like the beer he was chugging down earlier, the cigarettes he smoke before arriving at the party but you did not find it repulsive, not even a bit. your hands had slid down from his shoulders to the bulge of his biceps, your fingers caressing the fabric of his full sleeve shirt, the sleeves were folded up to his elbow. 

at the moment daiki did not care that he might have fallen for you, he leaned in to kiss you, your lips almost touching but instead of kissing him you leaned into his chest and rested your head against his beating heart. daiki stopped swaying for a second at your actions but respected it and resumed his gentle movements, closing his eyes as he rest his chin on your forehead. 

you quietly kept listening to his heartbeat, your face was towards the window side and the lights from the street kept blinding your vision. you closed your eyes to enjoy the moment while it lasted.

the moment did not last till the end of the song as your entire environment went into absolute chaos. there was sound of the window cracking, one moment later, kuroko’s dad was lying into his own blood of blood; dead.

your eyes snapped open when you recognized the familiar sound of a sniper shot. if you had not closed your eyes to enjoy a fleeting moment, you might have seen the reflection from the scope of the sniper, or maybe even the person, or something but you saw nothing. just a woman, splattered over with her husband’s blood, kuroko at his mother’s side trying to get her away to safety, his own composure breaking.

daiki felt the same way as he watched his friend lose his entire world in the matter of a few moments. he stepped away from you, avoided your gaze at all costs and joined kuroko to help the family get to somewhere safe.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

present day:

it has been two years of relentless search for the group responsible for kuroko’s father’s death. you had the bullet retrieved from the body and after recognizing the sniper rifle from which it was fired, midorima and you worked day in and out to procure the list of every person who owned the sniper in this entire country. obviously, normal people do not buy sniper rifles, some people do buy guns for their safety but no civilian buys a sniper rifle, it is illegal to buy one unless you are a military personnel. it took a lot of work, time and patience to gather the list which consisted of every single person who might have bought that particular model of sniper rifle illegally. it took another eight months to go through each name on that list, crossing them off one by one after checking the name out thoroughly to find out any link to kuroko’s family. the group even went on countless number of missions to investigate the names, obviously that only ever added to their existing daily tasks.

finally the day came when a name towards the end of the list showed a very distant but still a connection to kuroko’s family. the name was obviously an alias and was directly linked with the druglord that you had killed four years ago, on your first mission with daiki.

daiki. you wonder how long has it been since you two saw each other. your guilt has made sure that you never shared a room together after that incident, let alone look each other in the eye. even for the missions, you mostly worked with midorima and murasakibara while he was adamant on working alone and at most, would only allow kuroko to join him. he can never say no to kuroko, he really adores the light blue haired boy.

on discovering the link, akashi summoned you, “it’s your mess, take your partner and fix it.”

you know very well what he meant when he said partner but you could not bring yourself to nod, you have no idea how you are going to even talk to daiki, let alone be in a room with him. your eyes flicked to kuroko who was also present in the room, the way he looked at you with so much expectations that you along with daiki could somehow bring him some piece of mind by getting revenge.

“i will not let you down,” you offered kuroko a smile before heading out.

you informed daiki about the new information and he wordlessly packed his guns and stood up from where he was sitting.

the next thing you know, you found yourself in the passenger seat beside him. daiki was busy driving, his hands gripping the steering wheel. he moved his left hand to change the gears when his finger touched your thigh. you were looking out the window and immediately turned to him thinking he wanted to say something to you.

“sorry,” daiki spoke out briskly and the atmosphere turned quiet again.

you kept staring at him, wanting to say something so you could hear his voice again, maybe a little longer this time but you could not bring yourself to say anything and decided against it.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

“looks like akashi only got one room for us,” daiki spoke after getting the room key at the reception of the motel in kyoto.

“i am fine with it,” you dismissed the thought of being alone with him and headed up to the room with the key.

daiki stayed back in the reception area as you went ahead to the room and set up your tripod on the window of the motel, pointed in the direction of the address of the person who had bought the sniper rifle. the motel was, of course, located way too far from where you could take a clean shot but it was close enough for you to spy on them through your scope.

when daiki came to the room, he saw you sitting on a chair behind the sniper rifle, your gaze focused on the sniper eye.

“i talked to the guy in reception, he will have the dinner sent to the room shortly.”

you turned to him and nodded before going back to surveillance.

“you can take a break now, we have found the guy, by tomorrow he will be dead.”

you turned back to him again before getting up, letting your body slack a bit, “your right. that was a long ride, i really need a shower.”

“go ahead,” daiki shrugged letting you space.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

yes it’s cliché that you forgot to bring your clothes in the shower but you did forget to bring them and kept standing by the door of the washroom debating between going out in your towel or asking daiki to hand your clothes but the former would mean you would be literally going out in front of him naked whereas the latter would mean that daiki would have to go through your luggage which contains your undergarments in addition to your clothes, naturally.

you are not scared that he would jump you, far from it because you feel extremely safe with him. you are scared that you would only end up complicating matters more than they already are.

while you kept debating what to do, you heard the bell of the motel room going off. it must be the food daiki had ordered, means he will go to the door to receive it and while he will pay the guy, you can just rush out and grab your clothes and rush back. yes, that can actually work.

when you heard the door opening and daiki thanking the guy, you immediately rushed out but no longer had you touched your luggage, than daiki came back with the food. your hand kept holding the towel to your chest tightly. 

ironically, daiki was shirtless too.

daiki had already paid for the food down in the reception. he came to the room and after you went to shower he picked up the sealed water bottle to take a sip but while opening it, he put too much pressure on the body of the bottle so when the cap came off, the water spilled all over him. daiki took off his shirt and let it on the chair to dry. he had meant to put on a fresh shirt but akashi called him and he got busy updating the leader. and then we all know what transpired.

daiki kept the food containers on the coffee table, his eyes never leaving your frozen body. his eyes noted that you were staring at his heavily tattooed chest, particularly on his upper chest.

“it’s my mom’s name,” daiki answered the question which you stopped yourself from asking at least three times.

“such a pretty name,” you let your own limbs relax a bit.

“yeah, she was pretty,” daiki nodded.

you nodded, “i-uh, i know what happened, kagami told me.”

“he got too drunk?” daiki’s serious gaze broke into a smile.

you let out a breathing chuckle, nodding, “yeah, he kept on rambling,” your expressions changed when you looked into his eyes after two long years, “i am sorry for your loss.”

daiki maintained the eye contact and took steps towards you, the first two steps timid, the next couple ones were more hurried as he grabbed your gentle cheeks in the warmth of his rough beaten up hands. the next breath that you took, you exhaled it in his mouth as his lips engulfed yours in a passionate kiss.

you craned your neck upwards to allow him better access into your mouth, he did not have to ask twice for permission to slide his tongue into the hot cavern of your mouth. your hands struggled between holding the towel to your body and touching him, you just really wanted to touch him. 

daiki felt your constraint actions and slid down his hands, wrapping them around your balled up ones and slowly helped to un-fist your hands. the towel wrapped around your figure fell down and pooled near your feet. daiki pulled back from the kiss, his eyes not leaving yours for a second as he brought your hands around your neck, his shoulders leaning down so you can clasp your hands around his neck. he wrapped his arms around your waist and tapped at your legs, gesturing you to wrap his legs around his torso so he could pick you up.

you followed his actions blindly and wrapped your legs around his torso, allowing daiki to hold you up. he flicked off all the lights in the room and walked to the bed.

setting you down in the middle of the bed, he got on top of you, situating himself between your legs. you raised your upper body to meet catch his lips back into a deep kiss. your teeth almost clashed against each other from just how eager you both were. he held your jaw, his tongue making its way back into your mouth. the soft wet muscle played with yours, the exchange of saliva and breathless exhales - a given. his forehead rested against yours, his nose resting against yours like a missing puzzle piece while his tongue sucked on yours like there was no tomorrow, like you will leave him the moment he stops, like he won’t see you ever again.

his hand holding your jaw slid down to your collarbones and through the valley of your breasts, the nail grazing against your skin raised every hair on your body. his hand cupped your right breast and squeezed gently causing you to let out a gasp into his mouth, your own hands squeezing his arms.

you pulled away for air, your head resting back on the pillow letting your neck muscles to relax after straining up to keep kissing him.

daiki kissed your neck, his tongue darting out to lick at your skin, he left an invisible trail of saliva down to your breasts. he looked up for a second and noticed that your hooded eyes were trained at him, he held your gaze as his mouth opened and closed against your nipple.

“hm,” you exhaled at that feeling, his wet tongue flicking against your nipple, swirling around the hard nub. his mouth closed tightly against your breast, his lips sucking on it. his free hand doing the same to your left breast with his fingers. his fingers twisted the nub, almost in sync with his mouth. a moan tore out of your neck, your hands at the back of neck, leaving soothing touches.

he pulled back only to continue the same ministrations alternately. you did not know it was possible to get wet from just having your breasts sucked but it certainly was an erogenous feeling that had you rubbing your legs together.

daiki’s hand travelled down to finger you, his skin coming in contact against your bare clit let him know that you were starting to get wet. he pulled away from your breasts and looked at you, “can i?”

you nodded in reply, not missing a beat. 

daiki kissed your naval, your hips and travelled down one kiss after another. the further down he went, the more ticklish you felt and you realized it was from the sensitivity.

you held your breath when his face hovered near the pointy nub of your sex. daiki brought his fingers near your entrance only to massage his index finger against your folds. your lubricative juices soon emerged out, glistening on his finger which he used as lubrication before teasing the finger against your entrance.

his finger easily slid in the initial tract before it reached the closed off tight virgin walls. daiki leaned his head down and licked on your outer folds.

you let a whimper at the sudden assault on all your senses, your legs trying to close up but daiki used his free hand to hold them apart. his finger at your entrance kept opening up the tract with every trust, his tongue flicking against your sensitive clit only aiding his finger further in. a few more thrusts and daiki’s finger disappeared inside your folds, rubbing against your walls. your hands got a hold on his hair again and twisted it into fists, tugging at it when he added another finger to the mix. he let his lips wrap against your folds and sucked while his fingers bent at the upper joints and tapped against your upper walls, in sync with his thrusts.

the room was eclipsed with a musky atmosphere, the smell of sex evident in the air, other than the sound of your rugged breathing, it was masked with silence.

“fuck fuck fuck,” you moaned out loud breaking the poetic silence, your fingers tugging at his hair harder when you felt your legs shaking followed by an unexpected orgasm.

your chest heaved down, trying to catch all air while daiki licked at every last drop of your cum. it made you gasp every now and then when his touch overstimulated your bundle of nerves.

finishing up, daiki came up to you, his back stretching, letting his hard on dangle between your legs.

“you sure?” he asked you when he felt your hands wrapping around his length.

you nodded again, not missing a beat, “i want all of you.”

daiki kissed your forehead, his hand removing yours from his length. he pumped his dick against your entrance, every time the tip of his dick touched your folds, you squirmed.

“look at me,” daiki used his free hand to touch your cheek, holding your gaze when you felt that initial intrusion. you did not expect it to hurt as bad as it did. tears pooled up in your eyes causing you to look away.

“no, keep looking at me,” daiki held your cheek, forcing you to keep your eyes at him.

you started exhaling through your mouth, trying pace your breaths.

“i know, i know,” daiki kissed the tears that skipped past your lower eyelids.

his hips coaxed further in, making its way into your innermost walls. his hips angled up and thrust once breaking your hymen effectively.

you let a wince and felt your stomach relaxing, your diaphragm going back to its original place from where you kept it squeezed up in your chest. the hymen break was painful but as he entered the rest of the way, it felt easier. daiki stopped all motions at once when he filled you up.

you kept staring at him, your slightly shaky hands caressed his cheeks when a bead of sweat from his forehead fell on your forehead. you chuckled, using the back of your hand to wipe away the sweat from his forehead. he laughed with you but made sure to not move too much, he was really trying hard to hold back.

“you can move,” you informed him, bringing his face down to your level.

daiki pecked your lips, his upper body caging your upper body in, while his lower body retracted his length only to thrust back in again. his chest connected to yours, he used his dominant hand to get a hold of the headboard, using it as leverage to thrust in deeper.

“ah fuck,” daiki mumbled when your tight walls kept clamping against his invading length.

the feeling of discomfort near your lower pelvis was gone when his thrusts fell into a rhythm, his length getting familiarized with your inner walls, rewriting the same path again and again with each thrust.

it did not take him long to reach his climax, he really wanted to go gentle on you for your first time so even at the near peak of his climax, he made sure to not raise his pace too higher. he did not want to scar you, he did not want to fuck you, he only wanted to make love to you.

reaching his climax, he pulled out at once, his hand pumping his length, giving it the final thrusts till he came undone on your stomach.

both of you froze into your respective positions, trying to catch your breaths. you noticed a tissue box on the nightstand and stretched your hand to grab at it but even the slightest movement caused a wince to escape your lips.

daiki was sitting on his knees, his head held low when he heard you and reached over to bring the tissue box closer.

“let me,” he spoke up pulling out a couple of tissues as he laid down beside you, his head coming to level with yours, his hand lazily cleaning against your stomach while his face gently nuzzled into yours. 

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

the next day, you woke up around six in the morning. the birds were chirping outside, the sunlight peaking in through small sections of the white blinds. the room was untouched as you guys left it, both your luggage still packed, the food containers sealed and untouched on the coffee table. 

your head was resting on daiki’s chest when you heard a grumble echo inside his ribs and daiki’s hand lying by the side of your waist, wrapping around it.

“morning.”

you looked up at him, a smile creeping onto your lips, “morning.”

daiki leaned down and left a kiss on your nose causing you to scrunch up your nose.

you sat up and got on top of him, letting your butt rest against his pelvis. you his hands on either side of him, yours fingers intertwined as you played with them.

“we have a mission to accomplish,” daiki reminded you.

you nodded, “i know. i just need to know something.”

daiki brought your hand to his face to leave a kiss against your knuckles, “mhm?”

“will you be my spotter today?” you asked.

daiki sat up at that, getting a hold of his semi-hard length from around your waist, his other hand moving your body accordingly to help you sit on his length. your breath hitched audibly, it hurt less than last night but that feeling of becoming full was unmistakable. also, you can swear his length got bigger or something because it felt like the tip was reaching all the way up to your cervix. he really was extremely gentle with you last night.

daiki pushed your hair from your face and held your face gently like he was going to sculpt art.

“always,” he mumbled against your lips, his forehead connected to yours, his lips brushing against yours as his hips started thrusting up into your tight walls.

︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶༉‧₊˚.

post script: daiki is like two years older than reader. reader is 22 when they have sex while daiki is 24.

feedback is deeply appreciated.✨

masterlist | KnB masterlist | rules | ask box

- jaimie

© 𝟫𝟫𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝟐𝟎𝟤𝟣. 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐃.

#knb smut #aomine smut #aomine daiki smut #daiki smut #knb x reader #knb angst #aomine x reader #aomine angst #aomine daiki x reader #aomine daiki angst #aomine daiki scenarios #aomine daiki imagines #aomine daiki oneshots #aomine scenarios #aomine imagines #aomine oneshots #daiki x reader #daiki oneshots #daiki imagines #daiki scenarios #knb scenarios #knb imagines #knb oneshots #anime smut #anime angst #anime scenarios #anime x reader #the sniper and her spotter #tshs #❃―「jaim writes」