#sorry I don't have anything more to add it's just

[blessedbygookim]

The Queen Of Busan.

Part one: the meeting.

Part two: defeated.

16 year old Gun and Goo getting they asses whooped.

It must be done by someone. Sorry, not sorry.

That meeting happened one week ago.

Since then, they did some digging, although not finding out much. Her last name is unknown, so is where she is from originally and so her fighting prowess, which wasn't just a pain in the ass, but also unfortunate, adding to the mystery of the girl.

All they found out, is that she’s is 19 years old, same age as Sinu Han, meaning she is a part of the first generation.

Now they both sit in front of Charles Choi, in the rundown shack that he has been hiding at for a good while now. Gun is sitting in a pretzel, back straightened with his usual seriousness, and Goo is slightly slouched over in a more relaxed manner.

"So the strongest person in Busan is a woman... and she refused to join the Four Major Crews?"

Charles asks as his eyes dart between both younger man.

Gun sighs, finally speaking up as he rubs his temples, the memory of the meeting still giving him a headache.

"Not only that: she outright refused to help us in any way, shape, or form. I guess we're gonna have to try and find another business to extort."

Goo nods his head, remembering how his shot was shut down so fast.

Yes, that was his biggest concern.

His eyes dart between Charles and his partner as they speak. There is a tinge of disappointment stirring up in his chest, she could've been a fantastic asset to the crew with her smarts and charm.

And money, of course.

"Might I add, she seems to have taken some of Big Deal's territory under her control as well in the meantime. She seems surprisingly influential in the country as a whole, like scattered bubbles rising on surface, popping up everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if she started taking over more businesses in the meanwhile."

Gun continues his train of thought.

"Jake Kim, and her have made an alliance and she's helping Big Deal and its street... so in a sense she is working for us... Not directly, but she is of help... she seems to have a soft spot for Big Deal, you can't deny her abilities and influence."

Goo thinks over Gun's words as he speaks, unable to argue with his logic in that regard. He sighs as he places a hand on his hip, his other hand pushing his glasses up slightly.

Maybe the reason why she gets along so well with Jake and the Big Deal members...well, with most; because eventually her goals and their goals are the same.

Protect.

Big Deal is the epitome of being a family, filled with passion. No wonder how well she gets along with them, and took it upon herself out of the goodness of her own heart to help them run their businesses on Big Deal's street.

"If her soft spot gives us a loophole from which we can exploit, I don't have a problem with her having a soft spot for Big Deal. That just makes it easier for us to take advantage of.”

Gun concludes, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he speaks, looking over at Charles expectantly.

Still, Charles lets out a small grunt.

"Even if she's in an alliance with Big Deal, and as much as their sales went up, one single business of hers in Busan makes 3 times more than Big Deal alone. We need her businesses."

When Charles says his thoughts out loud, Gun can't help but have his eye twitch slightly, his eyebrow raising at his words. Both knowing exactly what Charles is saying but still having the same thoughts they've had before: this Nova woman is not making their job easy by any means.

"As beneficial as having her businesses for you would be, you've heard how quickly she shut us down. The woman said herself that she wanted to remain uninvolved in anything relating to either or any of us. It would take a miracle if she is somehow convinced to cooperate with us in any way."

Goo lets out an agreeing groan, nodding in agreement with his partner.

"Before I make a decision, tell me more about this woman."

Charles utters as he looks off, pondering, ready to hear what they know so far of Nova.

Both of them sigh and cross their arms, their faces giving off an air of disappointment and irritation.

"All we were able to get from what research we did and since the brief meeting we had with her was her age: 19, her place of birth: unknown, and so is her last name."

Gun lists off as he closes his eyes momentarily, his voice carrying an irritated tone to it as he speaks.

“She's literally running dozens of businesses with a perfect 0% corruption rate. She's also incredibly smart and charismatic, her charisma and kindness alone is already enough to make anyone obey her immediately."

Goo continues with a tone more carefree, perhaps a little more boastful than intended.

"Zero corruption, no shady business practices... a kind person in a world of grime..."

Charles repeats his words, trailing off as he visibly ponders, rubbing his bearded chin.

"A gentle heart like hers won't survive for too long in this world. We should teach her that lesson sooner rather than later."

Gun can't help the small, sadistic chuckle he lets out at Charles' words, his mood instantly shifting into amusement as soon as he hears the other man's plans. He always admired when Charles had his ruthless tendencies come out, it always was interesting to see.

"Especially since she's the Queen of Busan. Who would've thought someone her age would be able to take over such a large city on their own? It's both hilarious and admirable at the same time really."

Goo immediately frowns again as he hears Charles and Gun say such things, he's not afraid to admit it but he genuinely feels protective of this woman now.

"I don't know how you plan to teach a woman like that a lesson in this world, she's like an absolute angel of light. You can see in her eyes just how kind she truly is, we should really be careful before she shows us how dark she can be behind that bright exterior.”

To his words, Charles sends Goo an empty stare, and Gun nudges him softly with his shoulder.

"Joongoo, you should drop your personal feelings towards the girl. This is only business."

They were both all about business and raking in the money, empathy had no place in their plans. In the world of HNH group, there is no such thing as kindness, there isn't any place for a soft soul here. Even though from a moral standpoint Gun also happened to take a liking to the girl, his loyalty towards Charles Choi was still far greater.

But Goo will make sure to keep her in his thoughts regarding his own future.

Charles' words and the way both he and Gun look at him make him let out a defeated sigh, a hand rubbing his hair in frustration.

"Fine... you guys win, I'll try to keep my thoughts on her to a minimum. Doesn't change the fact that she's absolutely perfect though, the way she could've easily won that fight in the restaurant, the way she stood up to both of us... I guess it's hard for me to not be slightly entranced by her."

Goo admits with a slight shrug.

This was expected from him, all Gun can do is mentally roll his eyes.

"Enlighten me on her fighting prowess then.”

As that question slips from the man's mouth, both of the boys glance at each other.

Even as Gun remembers back at how taken aback he felt when she managed to throw a fork perfectly aimed at his eye and how it pierced his sunglasses, he cannot help but shiver at the sheer agility she displayed out of nowhere in that moment. But other than her terrifying aura in that moment and her precision, and speed, not much else is known. It's really a mystery how this 19 year old woman became who she is.

Goo’s eyes light up the very second Charles asks what her fighting prowess is, smile widening with excitement as he really has been itching to start talking about just how insanely talented Nova really is. He starts off almost before Charles had even finished in asking his question.

"Her precision, agility, and speed are on a whole other level. A normal human shouldn't even be able to accomplish a fraction of what she's capable of. It’s safe to say to admit that she might be on the same level as Gun and I."

Goo was nothing further than ecstatic, having a free opportunity to flap his guns.

“She whipped a fork at him and it pierced right through his sunglasses, but just enough to not actually pierce his eyes. She seems to have the speed and agility of a cheetah while having the precision of a sniper. She's a true, perfect masterpiece in a woman's body."

Charles ponders for another minute, humming once to himself as he shifts his eyes back on the two in front of him.

"So she's quick... but speed is nothing if she doesn't have the power. I will send a crew to ransack some of her businesses."

Goo can't help but feel iffy about the situation, he felt a strange feeling welling inside him as Charles says that. But ultimately, he isn't surprised by his plan. He had been a part of so many of Charles' plans over time, so it was no surprise to him that his plan to get Nova to cooperate involved violence. His face immediately goes neutral again as he remembers that there is no place for empathy here. It was all about business and profits for this organization and they couldn't let this woman get in their way of that. Or is how he tried to soothe his nerves with.

While Gun's face hardens, he nods his head. They both know what the outcome of all this will be in that regard.

"That would be wise, her businesses would be completely defenseless. Even if fast, speed is nothing if it doesn't have the power backing it."

So sending a few men he did. An hour and a half passed since then, and there was still no update about how it all has progressed.

Goo fiddles with his thumb with his lips pursed as he sits on a bench. Eyes casted on the pavement as they're now outside of the house, as Gun smoked a cigarette.

"I've never been so conflicted about something like such before...”

Goo mutters out, glancing at Gun who seemed as unbothered as ever.

Though Goo's words made him wonder what was really going on here. Was Goo getting soft on them? Or was his loyalty to the organization getting less and less? He didn't have the answer to that but one thing was for sure, he needed to shut Goo up before he started acting too soft.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting now? I can literally hear you overthinking it. You aren't actually soft for her, right?"

Gun questions with a slight tone of menace, taking another exhale of his cigarette as he gives him a hard look, his eyebrow rising just slightly.

"... I don't know...or at least I don't think so." Goo shrugs, his mind for sure running marathons. "I know we've also done the same with countless businesses all throughout South-Korea without any remorse and whatsoever... this is the first time I feel like we wronged the nicest person in the worst way possible."

Gun was starting to get a little worried now, Goo was beginning to let his feelings influence him. It was only natural since this woman was so kind and empathetic, but that kind of quality was not welcome in the world of gangs. If he let this get to him anymore, he could very well turn against them. He didn't want to have to deal with dealing with Goo's betrayal as well. This is honestly starting to get ridiculous to him, he's never seen his partner get so upset over something like this before.

"It was inevitable that we were going to have to do that. You already know that her kindness wouldn't keep her alive in this world, so I don't know what you're so worried about. It's nothing we haven't done to anyone else before."

Goo lets out an exhausted sigh as he leans back on the bench, staring up at the sky.

"I just have a bad feeling about this, is all..."

Gun's eyebrow raises slightly, slowly raising a hand and rubbing the bridge of his nose as he just lets out a groan of frustration.

"Listen, I've been working with you long enough now to know when you get these ‘bad feelings’ about stuff. If you're worried then we'll just go over there ourselves, how about that? If we deal with some of the trouble on our own, it might get that bad feeling out of your system and get you to calm down again."

"Fine..."

The blonde mutters out with a slight pout, sitting up slowly.

As soon as Gun finished his tangent, is the same moment he gets a message to get back in. His expression lights up as he hears that they finally have an update, him reaching down and stomping his cigarette into oblivion with his hand as he looks over at Goo with a confident look on his face.

"We have updates on the situation. Come on."

As he speaks, Gun looks over at Goo for just a small moment before he turns back around and starts walking and Goo follows with a crease between his eyebrows..

The crease between his eyebrows deepen even more when they step foot into the office. Gun is getting a little worried, he has never seen his boss so puzzled and taken aback in a good while. They could tell by his facial expressions, and the uneasy atmosphere as well with the tension now rising up in the room.

"The men I have sent have been defeated in every bar, store and establishment of hers. None of my men could return."

Once they hear those words from Charles, their eyes both widen in disbelief and shock. Both of them stare at the older man in disbelief as the two of them stand with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"You're saying... nobody came back?"

Gun questions slowly, blinking slowly at Charles as he lets what he had just said sink in, his eyebrow raising in complete bewilderment as does Goo's, hardly able to suppress the smirk that was threatening to stretch out on his face.

"Her men has single handedly defeated all and everyone... and apparently it was her alone who took out my most skilled men by herself... Not only her men are skilled, but so is she. I did not expect that at all."

Charles mutters out with a groan. Eyes closing with his brows knitted together, clearly frustrated at the turn of events, and the smirk now fully lifted both corners of his lips when he hears the news that it was Nova that did all that, but Gun's expression looks much less enthusiastic.

"That’s sounds unbelievable.."

Gun mumbles out with a baffled look on his face, his shoulders rising as he gives Charles a look of shock, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Either way, desperate times call for desperate measures." Charles responds, eyes opening with a furious glint in them. "I will send the two of you and a few more men to dissect the whole of her businesses in the city. Attacking from all and every angles. Your main target is Nova. Finish the job for me, and make sure to break that woman in so she has no other choice but to oblige."

The two boys were monsters for a reason. The best of the best, if not the best, among all of the Ten Geniuses as of yet. The two of them should have no problem taking down one single person so she has no choice to bend to their will at the end.

As soon as Charles's words finish, Goo's face pales slightly as he looks over at Gun beside him, the two of them staring at each other for just a moment as they absorb the message that Charles had just given them.

"We got it, we won't let you down, Sir..."

Goo replies calmly, the two of them giving Charles a calm, collected look, his words sounding far too calm for the situation that they had been handed.

"Go now. I believe the two of you should be able to handle her. The other men I have sent are already in Busan. If everything goes as planned this time, it will only be her left.”

Both of the boys give a single nod of understanding to the instructions, and with that they both walk out of the room without another word, leaving Charles alone as they go get prepared for their trip to Busan.

"Alright, looks like we're headed back to Busan."

Goo comments as he looks over at Gun, a slight smirk on his face.

"You seem way too excited to see her even under these circumstances..."

Gun comments, eyeing him suspiciously, but shakes his head softly at the end.

Even though Goo is somewhat excited, he can't help but feel a ripple of fear run through him. As much as he had some personal feelings for the girl, her skills were still unknown.

The blonde just grins even more when Gun remarks about how excited he looks to see Nova again, him just giving the other a playful roll of the eyes in response.

"Hey, you know me, I like strong women. And a woman like her? Well, she's a whole other level of powerful... and a whole lot sexier too-"

"Whatever, just make sure you focus. Idiot."

He lets out a laugh, the tension melting away as they begin to focus on what they need to do instead of their emotions.

Maybe an hour later as they arrive in Busan, the atmosphere certainly doesn't feel as welcoming as the last time.

There is a certain tension in the air all around, the clouds are more gray, and the streets are eerily empty.

"Why did you bring a katana...?"

Gun asks Goo, spotting the weapon on his back in its sheath.

The latter just smiles when the questions is thrown his way, a smug look on his face.

"What? I wanted to make sure I'm extremely well equipped. Plus, I'm a man of style, and what's even more stylish than a Katana, right?”

He says in his usual, laid-back tone, his eyes filled with glee and excitement as they approach Nova's buildings.

"You're annoying.." Gun rolls his eyes at that as they keep walking through the streets, muttering under his breath.- "It's just a girl going on a rampage anyway... nothing more, nothing less."

Perhaps his own delusions will also calm his own discomfort as well about the situation. If only he knew what they were really in for, he'd have probably been much less dismissive.

"You said it, White Ghost. Just a simple girl on a rampage, nothing to worry about, right?~"

Goo chuckles out, his pace remaining steady as he walks along beside Gun, giving him a laid-back look as the two of them approach Nova's buildings. Gun's words actually got his nerves to calm down a little bit, if he started to think of her as just a woman then it would be easier to deal with her…But that woman is far from just a normal woman, even if Gun doesn't believe that she is, he did.

They remain mostly silent for the rest of the walk, as they approach their first location. The bars and establishments were all filled with all Charles' men taken out. Bodies upon bodies, the eerie smell of blood a little too strong for their likings. Goo noticed a pattern with all of the locations they went to so far, it was the same thing everywhere. The whole location would look trashed, bodies lying around, and yet the woman herself was no where to be found.

"God damn... this isn't just rampage, but a straight up massacre..."

Goo exclaims softly, nose pinched together as he nudges a body with his foot

"It's a damn bloodbath..."

Gun mutters out, looking around the room at all the men sprawled on the ground, their bodies looking beaten into a pulp as his expression darkens slightly at the sight of it all.

"It might be a good idea if we stick together, this chick isn't someone to mess with alone. We need to stay together at all times if we don't wanna end up like these guys are."

"Yeah, let's leave now, it smells like straight up death in here..."

Goo mutters out a response, leaving the establishment first.

Until nothing else but the restaurant where they first met a week ago remain.

The moment they enter the street, is the moment it all becomes so real.

Trails of blood scattered all around the road and pavement. Bodies mutelated, mauled, Goo swears he just saw a body torn in half from the jaw down. A cold shiver creeps up their necks, especially when their eyes land on the person they have been looking for all along.

Standing in the sea of bodies is Nova. White dress stained with blood, hands covered in the same crimson substance up to her elbows, skin and flesh under her nails. Hair disheveled, an eerily blank face paired with a blood thirsty gaze as her eyes glow luminously white. Barefoot as she stands, emitting nothing but a pressuring aura.

"Well... isn't she beautiful?"

Goo remarks, his eyes locked onto her just a few feet away, a smirk forming on his face as he looks at her blank expression combined with the blood- thirsty look in her glowing white eyes.

...is he dumb?

"You did... all of this?"

Gun aims his question towards the woman, who slowly turns her head towards their direction.

Goo's heart almost drops right out of his asshole, smirk faltering lightly.

She definitely wasn’t as happy to see them again as he was..

She lets out a long exhale, breath so warm the fog of it filters visibility into the frigid air... and it wasn't even winter time.

“So it was you two behind this all along... huh?..”

She asks, tone empty. Monotone, no hint of emotions in her words, but the way she was practically staring at Gun like he was a prey about to be hunted down, told them more than enough

"Guilty as charged.~"

Goo replies with a chuckle, his smirk still plastered on his face as he looks at the girl, a gleeful tone in his voice. Gun looks just as confident, staring at Nova.

"Don't take this personally, it's nothing but business."

Gun states firmly, his eyebrow raising slightly as he keeps his expression calm, his hand slowly moving to grab a pack of cigarettes.

He could barely take the pack out of his pocket, his eyes widening. As the last syllable leaves his lips is the same moment she lunges towards him like a catapult. Arms extended, nails looking like they're about to tear him into shreds.

Gun barely manages to dive away just as she reaches him, rolling over the ground before he looks up at her once again, his eyes flashing with both surprise and amusement as she skids away slightly, nails digging into the concrete, ploughing it up.

"Oh, that was fast..."

He mutters under his breath as he pushes himself up to his feet, his eyes locked on her with a determined gaze.

"Fast?? It was like she teleported the fuck??"

Goo was horrified by the speed she moved with and it almost got him shocked into not knowing what to do next.

While still on the ground, she digs her limbs into the pavement to use as leverage to catapult a flying split kick used in Kyokushin Karate to send a heavy blow towards Goo this time as she flips with her leg extended.

Taken aback by the sheer velocity that simple kick had, he manages to block it above his head with his arms crossed, making him grimace, he for sure hasn't felt a blow this heavy, in a long while.

He for sure felt and heard his bones crack, a hiss of pain escaping his lips while he grimaces slightly, giving Nova a look of disbelief.

"That actually hurt..."

He mutters softly to himself, his eyes remaining locked on her even as he takes a step back, trying to ignore the pain in his arms as Gun suddenly takes a step towards Nova, trying to land a punch at her from behind.

While foot still printed hard against the blonde's arm, the other top of her feet lock behind Gun's head after he is in closer proximity, she now uses them as a lunch pad to push herself away, not just dodging his punch, but in the mean time making them headbutt each other. Hard.

Letting out a shout of pain in unison as they both smash their heads into each other, their faces colliding in a brutal collision as they both stagger back, a pained look on both of their faces.

"God damn it...."

Goo mutters under his breath as he holds his head in his hands, Gun doing the same as he slowly wipes the small trickle of blood flowing from his nose.

Charging at her the same time, their fight continues.

Unfortunately to them, one sidedly for the most duration of the time.

Neither of them seen someone who has so many martial arts abilities, skills and techniques under their belts. Some they haven't even experienced before.

Sheer power and skills blending perfectly. Speed almost teleportational, countless times disappearing out of their peripheral visions just to appear right behind them, and send such blows that stung like needles, or were heavy like tons of weight were just dropped on them. Every move is impossible to expect and predict, every move she makes sends shivers down their spine.

It was like she was the perfect mix of all the fighters they have since met, be it in the second or first generation.

"DUDE JUST LAND A PUNCH!"

Goo exclaims in a hastily manner, in the midst of throwing his own heavy blow, only for his wrist to be grabbed, his own flow of power be turned against him as she makes him eat hard concrete, the pavement denting under him, almost swallowing him up whole.

"I'm trying!!"

Gun shouts loudly, his voice filled with a mix of both impatience and frustration, his expression desperate as he tries to come up with some sort of a plan.

Deciding to just straight up go for it, at this time not really having even a second to spare, and throws a straight blow her way, it was scary, with how much ease she evades it, almost like flowing with the air.

“Leave.”

She speaks as takes a very firm hold of them both, flipping them in the air and slam them back down into the pavement by their throats.

“Leave Busan and never return.”

Hoisting them up in the air in the midst of their concussion, not even giving them a chance to recover, kicking them both down once again like a soccer ball, Gun flying right into a brick wall, and Goo eats concrete once again a few feet away.

“This is my city.”

Both men lay motionless on the ground, clearly beaten, still for several moments, trying to process and recover from the beating they've just received, before eventually Gun lifts his head up a bit, a pained but satisfied expression on his face as he pushes himself up onto his knees.

"Damn... I don't think... I've ever been beaten like that..."

He mutters softly, his breath coming out in labored puffs with a wide smile, the pain making it hard for him to form a coherent thought, other than knowing it felt exhilarating.

She's far beyond human at this point, she isn't someone to be underestimated at all.

While taking steps closer to Gun specifically, the only thing he can do at this point is just to watch her near, and attack when the time is right.

“I will not let you destroy what I have created.”

She utters out flatly, a hand inching towards Gun's face slowly.

“Cool eyes... mind if I take them as souvenirs?”

A look of disbelief and horror appear on Gun's face the moment he hears those words, his eyes widening slightly as he hears Nova's intentions. It's clear that both of them have never met someone stronger than them until now, never even considered such a possibility before this moment. Without much time to react, Gun tries to dodge back, but she's too fast, her hand grabbing his face in one quick, swift, almost instantaneous move.

He sits knees on the ground, jaw almost breaking in her grasp,looking at her like she's some kind of otherworldly monster, as he starts to wonder if he will even be able to hold out any longer.

This was a feeling neither of them were used to at all. Gun had never truly experienced fear like this before from a fight with someone, he always knew that no matter what he could always win. He always had such confidence that he would always win, but this time he was genuinely afraid. She didn't just overpower them. This time, they were completely outmatched. They were the prey and she was the predator in this situation. In that moment, all the cockiness and arrogance he usually possessed was gone, replaced with pure dread. This wasn't just a girl on a rampage, she was a monster.

Meanwhile, Goo, although going in an out of consciousness, and through gritted teeth as he already feels all and every bone in his body broken, the moment he notices the woman standing above Gun's body, is the same moment in a blink of an eye, he rushes forward.

Katana pulled out of its case, a deadly glint in his eyes as he makes one swift moment, stabbing the girl right through her abdomen from the front as he now suddenly stands behind Gun.

Perhaps his katana and swordsmanship actually came into good use.

For a moment, it looked as though Goo had managed to land a decisive blow...

But her expression made it clear. She wasn't even phased by it, her face remaining as blank and expressionless as ever as she simply turns her head to look back down at Goo, who was now staring back up at her in shock and disbelief.

"Oh... I am so fucked."

Are his only words as she takes a step forward.

Yes, forward.

While the blade still piercing right through her, discarding Gun aside like a measly ragdoll as she walks even deeper into the blade, and grips the sharp edge with her hand so he can't even think about moving the blade any way.

Of course nothing budges. Every time he tries to push her, or lever her off the blade, she doesn't even move at all. Not with her holding the shaft of it with such grip it was denting the metal. She doesn't look in any pain, or even show any reaction at all. She just keeps moving forward slowly despite the huge blade piercing into her stomach.

In fact, as she slowly pushes forward, the sound of the katana tearing through flesh can be heard in the empty city street, making both Goo and Gun tense up as a look of realization passes through their expressions.

What the hell was this woman made of...??

Blade broken by the tight grip of her hand after it had enough of warping and twisting her other hand is already up in the air. Hands flat like a spear, extended, ready to strike.

What happened after that is unclear.

After several moments, it was over. Goo and Gun both lay on the ground motionless, both of them completely unconscious and completely beaten for the first time in their lives. Everything hurt, and the shock from the whole ordeal was weighing heavy on them.

It went against everything they believed had ever known in their lives, the belief that no matter what, they would always win. But she changed that belief forever. Now, they would live the rest of their lives knowing someone more powerful and stronger than them was out there somewhere.

It is a story no one really talks about, since how unbelievable it sounds.

Two of the best, most powerful fighters in SK getting taken down by none other than a woman, in mere minutes.

Perhaps that was a good choice, that no one mentioned it since then, and did their best to keep it a secret. At least some of their ego stayed in tact, but couldn't help how bruised, and a broken they both felt after that.

#big deal IS my softspot idc #my literal roman empire #lookism webtoon #comics #goo kim #webtoon #gun park #lookism fanfic #lookism x reader #goo kim x reader #lookism #gun park x reader #gungoo #charles choi #four major crews #big deal #jake kim #queen of busan

[lightlycareless]

I had the high school au on my mind and since Jujutsu tech has forms I was thinking what shenanigans can ensue. I can imagine maybe earlier in their relationship, Y/N would invite/sneak Naoya to her dorm after hours to watch a movie with her. Naoya is obviously excited to hang out with his gf so maybe he mentions it to his friends and they’re like ‘ooh you know what that means. And oh she just wants to make out etc’ something along those lines that puts that idea into Naoya’s head when in reality Y/N’s invitation had completely innocent intentions with the only desire to watch the movie, maybe even cuddle while they watched(I can imagine cuddling might fluster her bit at this stage). So when Naoya eventually gets there, maybe he’s been like prepped to the max expecting his and Y/N’s first make out session only to realize that she really only wanted to watch the movie(either to his relief or slight disappointment). I could see it either going with Naoya trying initiate and it causing problems with him getting embarrassed for his misunderstanding or each time he tries to initiate Y/N is like extremely oblivious to it to the point he gives up. I just wanted to share this with you since the thought kept giving me the giggles and I love young love stuff like this. It’s probably why I’m so obsessed with the high school au.(Feel free to write a little something to this though if you get inspiration from it 😊)

Heya anon!!

I'm sorry it took me a while to get back to you; with prompts that are usually a bit longer, especially those that I have an idea of what I want to write but don't know how to land it?

Though I have to admit that your ask by itself was perfect. It was so cute!!!! I didn't think I could add much, but I still hope you liked what I prepared for this occasion :>

warnings: naoya might be a pervert, no surprise there. fluff. highschool AU. he's a dork too. mentions of smut, very light. just implications.

Happy reading!!

Naoya doesn’t like admitting it, and you’ll never catch doing so either—certainly not when it comes to you, the only person he’s ever tried his hardest to appear as confident, seemingly untouchable, above all problems regardless of their nature: a reliable man you could always lean on.

But the truth is, he still gets nervous. Very nervous, indeed. To the point you’d think he was about to attempt a life-or-death type of endeavor, not a silly thing! (it’s not silly, Naoya just says that in order to feel better)

“Do you want to watch a movie…” it’s how it started—at that point, Naoya wasn’t that flustered. Sure, he was excited to spend time with you, as much as any loving boyfriend would! If it were him, the two would be together, every day, every hour, everywhere!

“…in my dorm?”

It’s only when you say these words that he effectively becomes an utter mess, unable to do anything else besides allow heat to form on his cheeks, throat tightening as he squeaks a quick:

“Yes!”

Before going back to his class, to torment himself with what just transpired, and what wonderful things it actually represented.

Still early in the relationship, this would be the first time you and Naoya… saw each other in a more private setting.

Far from seeing each other at cafeteria to eat lunch together, training when the other’s usual partner wasn’t available, going on missions whenever teachers sought it necessary, studying if you didn’t get something from a class he already had (he’s a year older—before your being your boyfriend, Naoya was actually your senpai.), amongst other things.

In other words, his mind saw it was step forward in what he considered the rest of his life with you, and such statement brought him so much happiness, he literally couldn’t do anything else but spend his time imagining just what you had in store for him; undoubtedly something good, he quickly assumes.

Naoya prided himself for being quite reserved when it comes to personal matters, but such was his excitement this time around, that he was unable to hide it from his prying friends, the same ones that were always eager to tease him simply because he made it too easy, often entertained by his outlandish reactions…

Or amusing discoveries.

“What’s got you in such a good mood, Naoya?” One of his friends, Kiyotaka (probably someone he could replace with someone infinitely better, as you’ve once hinted.) says once taking a seat before him.

“What are you even talking about.” Naoya responds defensively, like he always did.

“Tsk, come on… you don’t really believe we’re going to fall for that, are we?” Another friend of Naoya’s, arguably of the same nature as Kiyotaka, Hideki, adds with a teasing tone.

“I don’t need to believe anything, you can do whatever you want.” He hisses, still avoiding the subject, if he wanted to push them away, he fails miserably.

Unfortunately, they knew it would only take a few more shoves to get Naoya talking.

And when it finally happened, oh, was he regretful he ever said anything.

“I’m going on a date with Y/N.” Is the sentence that pushes them over the edge, a smirk plastered on their faces as they seem to catch on to your “ulterior motives” way before him.

“Really? Where are you two going?” Kiyotaka asks.

“What do you care?” Naoya frowns, but they knew well to take his intimidation with a grain of salt. “…We’re watching a movie.”

“Oh, you’re going to the city?” Hideki wonders.

“No, not really—we’re staying in, at her dorm.”

With that, their theories were effectively confirmed.

“Oooooh, her dorm.” Kiyotaka teases. “Is that so?”

“What? What about it?” Naoya scowls, he never liked bringing you into his conversations with his friends for this precise reason—they always seemed to have something to say about you, or his relationship. And like the ever jealous, overprotective man he was, he simply couldn’t allow that!

But as experienced as he proclaimed to be, there were still things he had to learn, such as the obvious intentions behind your suggestion. So they were trying to hint.

“Come on, you can’t be that blind.” The other insists, Naoya’s frown (as well as intrigue) deepens.

“It’s so clear why she’s inviting you to see a movie in her dorm—” Kiyotaka continues.

“If it’s so obvious, then spit it out!” Naoya demands.

“She was to make out, of course! No, actually, I think she wants to do something more.” Hideki proclaims.

“Oh, most definitely! You guys have been dating for what, a few weeks? I’d say it’s long overdue!”

At the prospect, heat spreads across Naoya’s face, heart quickening as he carefully considers their words… before annoyance and jealousy overrules him once more, quick to demean them back, especially after they continue mocking him.

“Not that our virgin friend would know, too busy jacking off to anime girls— probably hasn’t even gotten his first kiss!”

“At least I have a girlfriend, losers!” Is what Naoya scowls before storming out the classroom and into the hallways, just before he did anything that he’d come to regret; their hyena-like laughs disappearing in the distance.

But nonetheless, their work was done, for their words would remain in Naoya’s mind for the rest of the day, those that were of any use of course.

Because jokes often harbored truth behind them.

Deeply enthralled by the excitement of spending an evening with you, maybe he did fail to recognize the true meaning behind your invitation.

A notion that the more he thought of it, the more he considered it to be… plausible.

Naoya didn’t think it was going to happen now—though he won’t deny he’s been longing for it. It’s just that… he hadn’t done anything in fear of scaring you. Up to that point, all you’ve done together is hold hands, kiss, hugs, and that’s about it. Nothing more, nothing less, and both seemed happy with it.

Until now.

Once these thoughts made way to his mind, and after placing these erroneous pieces together… Naoya can’t help but wonder, is this your way of telling him… you wanted to do more? Formalize this relationship?

If so, another insecurity arises within Naoya, one that stems from the erratic notion that as the man, he should’ve been the one taking initiative, not you.

He should’ve been preparing everything for that special moment, anything beneath that would only catalog him as someone foolish, and thus, undeserving of your affection—you can blame the Zen’in for those beliefs.

Because ever since meeting you, all Naoya has ever wanted to do is give you the world.

But in order to continue doing that, once you took the lead… what must he do?

“Do you really think she wants to do… that?” Naoya eventually resorts to the only other person he trusts enough to bring some clarity to the situation, though sometimes, for matters of avoiding getting too much information, wishes he didn’t. Yet, he’ll always stand by his side.

“I guess?” Ranta cringes, the thought of you and his best friend getting physical is one he wishes to erase from his mind!

On a more assertive approach, even when you’ve been dating his best friend for a few weeks, he has to admit he doesn’t know much about you. Or at all, really—outside of your excessive affinity for mochi, videogames, and wanting to be with Naoya at all times. Ranta rests easy knowing you mean well above all.

However, at this moment, he’s very concerned, simply because this is a delicate subject that if handled wrongly, could gravely wound his relationship… and all thanks to his supposed friends getting under his skin!

Ranta is tired of telling Naoya that he needs better friendships, that they’re only there because they want to get a rise out of him!

Though, a tiny, almost undetectable part of him does think they might be right. Because being invited to someone’s room is often an opening for something more private… right?

So, the possibility of you wanting more isn’t that farfetched, and considering how clingy the two are…

“Do you know what movie you’re going to watch?” Ranta suddenly asks, a necessary question in his mind.

“Hm? No, not yet. Y/N said that she’s ok with whatever, she just wants to spend time with me.”

Oh.

…

Oh.

It’s too obvious now, enough for Ranta’s mouth to fall agape and skin go pale, a reaction that startles Naoya, rushing to frettingly ask what was going on, why did he react that way?! Did he know something he didn’t?

Well, simply put… yes. He did. It’s just too obvious now to deny: the reason why you hadn’t chosen a movie, or even suggested something, when you were the one to invite him, was because that’s not what really matters! In fact, it never was!!

The only reason this date was happening was because you definitely, undoubtedly, clear as water, or like the sun rising, wanted to do something else!

And the movie was just an excuse to get him where you wanted—with Naoya taking the bait as soon as it was casted.

“What is it, Ranta?!” Naoya asks once more. “Will you speak up already?!”

The poor kid sighs.

He just hopes Naoya is prepared.

When the fateful day finally comes, Naoya can’t help but be all too attentive to your behavior, or more like the oddity of it.

Sure, you were still the giddy, loving, albeit a bit weird girl he fell in love with—but there was something… different about you. Almost as if you’d suddenly forgotten you were his girlfriend and got all shy with him.

And he didn’t mean the the adorable way he loved teasing—no, he meant the glance away from him whenever you’d catch him staring type of way, refusing to smile back whenever he’d do so, or straight up avoiding him in the hallways.

Naoya worried that perhaps he’d done something wrong without noticing, said some stupidity and angered you…

But that proved to be wrong when you approached him at the end of the day, rushing over to his locker and softly calling out his name, which he promptly responded to by swiftly turning around to see you, eager to fix whatever issues unwittingly grew between the two—

“Are you ready… Naoya?” it’s what you’d say, with the quietest tone he’s probably ever heard you use, after your confession of course.

“Huh? Oh; Ye—yeah.” He responds, swallowing. “I’m ready. …For the movie, right?”

You nod frantically. “Yes! Haha, what else?”

“I thought you’d… forgotten about it.” Naoya admits. “Since you hadn’t spoken to me at all.”

“Oh, no—it wasn’t that! I… didn’t mean to ignore you, I was just… actually preparing some things between classes and all that.” You confess, his shoulders relax, tension leaving his body alongside one of his worst fears. “I’m sorry.”

“Had me worried there, mochi. Thought I did something to anger you.” he says, you don’t notice it, but he tightly clenches his fist, an attempt to ease his nerves.

“…No, you could never.” You pout, looking away embarrassed. After a few seconds of silence, you return to him. “I already got snacks for the movie, by the way. I made sure to bring your favorite’s too, so need to worry about that! Though I was still hoping we could get something to eat first? Or if you want, we can also get some other snacks if you don’t like the ones I—"

“I don' I’m—I’m ok with whatever you picked.” He frets back, you blink. “Just getting to spend time with you is enough for me.”

“Oh, well then—” you blush. Looking around and noticing no one was near, you proceed. “Do you… want to go… now?”

Naoya nods before taking your hand; it’s only then that he notices the first symptoms of your anxieties: through the warmth of your skin and the dampness of it too—seems he might’ve miscalculated how nervous you’d be, yet he was not surprised, because if his assumptions were to be true, it was only natural you’d be in such state prior doing… that.

Well, it was good to know both were on the same page. If only it helped him to not feel as nervous as he did.

Or at least, make him realize not everything was what it seemed.

Naoya didn’t know what he was anticipating when arriving at your dorm. That his anxieties disappear? Perhaps. Should he have expected that? Probably not, if anything, he should’ve foreseen that his emotions were to spiral even further once getting there.

It’s as if the notion of what was happening finally settled into his mind! Turning him a nervous, sweating mess that you couldn’t help but notice as well—though it was more likely that you were on the same page as him.

Your boyfriend mentally scolds himself for his reaction, thinking that he was supposed to be ready for this moment, he did all the preparations, after all! (don’t ask)

But when he’s here, before you, in your room, alone—it’s like it was all for nothing; efforts thrown out the window as all he can do is look at you oversee the last details for the date in a seemingly assertive manner than makes him feel even smaller.

Oh, but if he only knew…

“You can change out of your uniform in the bedroom, if you like. I’ll go to the bathroom.” You suggest, face bright as a tomato as you gesture to said location. “Get comfortable, and all that…”

“Don’t be silly, I’ll use the bathroom.” Naoya responds immediately, his instinct to please you still intact. “It’s your room…”

“Oh—okay, then. I guess I’ll just wait over here…” You then turn around, heading over to the bedroom.

On Naoya’s way to the restroom, he’s able to get a peek into your room, the place the rest evening was to be spent in, taken aback by the sight that received him, demonstrating just how serious you were to have a perfect date:

After moving the bed to the corner, you’ve set up various blankets on the floor to work as some kind of futon, alongside some fluffy pillows to comfortably sit down and lean back on. After that, you place a neatly folded blanket by the corner to use in case either ran cold, though Naoya doubt’s it’ll be used at all…

Nonetheless, Naoya was impressed by your commitment, giving him the impression you were most definitely striking to achieve something more—in for the kill, as some may say.

He should’ve assumed you capable of so, considering how this relationship came to be. If anything, he should be wondering if he even has the means to keep up? And if he doesn’t… what will this mean for the relationship?

Naoya doesn’t want to lose you.

“What snacks do you want?” you’d ask him once he’s out of the bathroom.

Naoya notices you to be out of your uniform as well, dressing in a matching sweatsuit he normally would’ve considered you looked adorable in, as usual— if his mind wasn’t threading into something a bit more… private.

He made sure to freshen up in efforts to distract all intrusive thoughts, but once again, it was all for nothing when it comes to you; it has always been that way, and it seems will always be.

Attempting to push down his nerves, Naoya eventually makes way towards the makeshift futon, taking a seat there before you join him soon after, bringing along popcorn and sodas you remembered to be his favorite.

“Here, for you.” You say, inching closer to him to the point where your arms are touching his. Naoya tenses up, doing everything in his power to prevent his mind from going somewhere it shouldn’t be, such as holding his breath, or focusing on…

“Is that my hoodie?” Naoya notes, which immediately makes you blush, looking away embarrassed.

“Oh—yeah, I—I guess that’s where it came from.” You chuckle nervously; though it’s not like you didn’t know it was his. In fact, might’ve lied to Naoya about it’s whereabouts that one time he asked you just to keep it around for a bit longer… but could he blame you? It was soft, comfortable, and most importantly, it smelled like him. “…Do you want it back?”

“No!” he shrieks. Your eyes widen in surprise. “I mean—it looks… good on you.” Perhaps a bit too good. “Keep it.”

You turn impossibly redder.

“Th—Thanks…” you whisper, returning your gaze to him, staring at him absolute silence, as if processing the closeness in which the two were, the privacy of it all…

But once it finally settles, oh, does it fluster you even more. Breath hitching to your throat the moment you realized you spent too much time staring at him, quickly turning around and reaching over for the remote control, turning the TV on and attempting to move the evening forward—yet your thoughts would remain behind.

“What movie are we going to see…?” Naoya manages to ask, as if your reaction didn’t affect him further.

“Just one that Shoko… suggested.” You quietly admit; the CD was already set up on the player, all that was left to do was… press play.

Once the movie begins, the two are quickly captivated by it; Shoko wasn’t lying when she said this was something you’ll definitely like, the type of film that won’t let you peel your eyes away from the screen due to its epic storytelling (her words)—and it had been that way up to that point, if it weren’t for the occasional reminder of the other being there.

Whether through a quick exhale, a whine when stretching their legs or arms, or even the warm pressure of your head resting on Naoya’s arm… even with an intriguing movie as that one, neither could refute acknowledging the other’s presence.

Or the supposed reason behind this invitation, which only grew heavier in his mind the same time his insecurities flourished, ignorant of when to take the next step, trying to make out if this was your way of telling him to hurry up or perhaps, something else entirely??

You’ve taken liking to the position you were in, with your head over his shoulder, intertwining his arm with his, occasionally reaching out for a handful of popcorn and asking him if he’d like some before going back to your previous comfortable position, attention completely focused on the movie once again.

Naoya commends you for being able to appear this calm, completely unaware of his turmoil. In a way, he was happy you were.

But your boyfriend knew better than to rely on comfort, and once motivated to act, he was able to quickly intercept the true motives behind your insistency, a wake-up call for him to act and do what he must—as a man, he’s the one responsible to provide a solution to your desire; anything less than that is shameful.

And so, after mentally uttering few more encouraging words to himself… Naoya finally proceeds.

It starts slowly, carefully, with him releasing the arm in your hold to drape it over your shoulders. You don’t seem to put much of a resistance at first, though you did seem startled—but when you realized you could be more comfortable this way, with your head resting over his chest and his arm hugging you, you quickly accepted your new disposition, a smile on your face (alongside a bright blush) as you continued watching the movie.

Naoya remains that way for a few more moments, torn between enjoying your closeness or continuing, perhaps hoping you’d tell him something. But when you don’t, he simply takes it as you being shy.

Thus, he pushes forward, for your introverted sake.

He senses you tense up the moment his hands finally trail down your arm and onto your waist, yet you don’t stop him. Naoya quietly sighs as he keeps his hand there, occasionally giving you soft squeezes here and there, before leaning further and further down, ending by your hips.

Naoya swears to feel his heart (and yours consequentially) to be just a few minutes away from bursting out his chest when doing this—this contact being the most intimate he’s gone with you. And yet, his mind can’t help but wonder why you hadn’t reciprocated his advances, because at that point, his intentions had to be nothing but clear!

But you remained quiet, reserved, with the tightening of your grasp over his chest whenever he moved closer to a particularly sensitive area, softly whining in response, being his only indicative.

Did he need to be more assertive with his actions? Or perhaps he wasn’t doing the right things? Not… touching you the way you liked?

You must excuse him from not knowing, this was… the first time he’d do such a thing with you, and naturally, he’s bound to make some mistakes—but he still wants to make it right.

So, he goes with the one thing he knows won’t fail, considering how you’ve left it clear countless times before that you always enjoyed his kisses—whether through verbal and physical reassurance.

The answers were always there, Naoya just… needs to be bolder about it. Secure. You must enjoy having an assertive boyfriend, right?

Taking another deep breath and in one swift movement, Naoya uses his free hand to grab your chin, carefully turning you to him, leaning forward to take your lips into a kiss before you could even react.

The action undoubtedly catches you off guard, enough to have you tensing, eyes widening as you try to process why the sudden approach—not that it would take you long before you succumbed to it, but still. It had come so out of the blue, you almost felt like it wasn’t truly happening, that perhaps you imagined it, always desperate to dive in Naoya’s gestures.

And it would’ve been quite wonderful too, if only he’d remained in the realms of what he knew, stopped his fingers from travelling up to your stomach and hooking around the edge of your hoodie, gently nudging it upwards in what he thought a clear understanding of what’s to happen, leaving no room for anything else—

Just your shock, which immediately prompted you to place your hands over his chest and push him away from you, with great unprecedented force, so different from the gentle touch you always use on him that Naoya almost didn’t recognize you.

Nor yourself, for that matter.

"Wh—what are you doing, Naoya?!" You breathe, trying your best to hold back the pounding of your heart from deafening your ears, alongside the scrambling of your thoughts, failing to understand what just happened, or more like why. "Why did you—why did you do that???"

"I'm— I'm confused, Y/N" Your boyfriend quickly responds, voice trembling upon seeing the horror in your face, a sight he never wished to see on you again, less be on the cause of it. "I thought you—I thought you wanted this."

“I wanted—wh—what??” you fret. “What are you even talking about?? Want what?!”

“You know…that” Naoya murmurs, and for the first time that evening, the notion that he might’ve miscalculated your intentions invades his mind, bringing along great sorrow that only worsens when all you do is continue to stare at him, surprised. “The…. The thing couples… do…”

“What—…What gave you that idea?” you dared to ask, and then, at that precise moment, is when realization finally settles inside him, making his heart sink to his stomach and his worst fears come true.

“I'm so sorry, Y/N. I thought—I thought you inviting me over was for something else!” Naoya the takes you into his arms, pressing you tightly against him as he continues to mutter endless apologies, silent prayers that he hadn’t hurt the only relationship he has cared about in his entire life, beyond repair."I’m so sorry, please don't break up with me—"

"Huh?! Naoya?? Why would you even say that?!” You cry, whatever you felt for his unusual actions folded immediately in favor of your confusion. “I’m not going to break up with you!”

“Are you not… mad?—Hurt, because of what I did?”

“I mean—I am startled.” Naoya frowns, ashamed. You try to reassure him with a tight smile, he does not budge. “But… I wouldn’t leave you. Never!’

“…Then… what’s going to happen?” he fearfully asks, unwilling to believe that no punishment, no reproach was to occur—you can blame the Zen’in for that.

… Were you truly not angry, not one bit?

“Well, I guess we should… talk about it.” You say, fidgeting with your fingers. A conversation you didn’t think would occur so soon, and like this too—but it did, and with it, came along questions (or more like insecurities) about your own standing in this relationship.

Guess now is just as good as any other time.

“…you don’t want to do it, isn’t it?” Naoya assumes, your eyes widen.

“That’s not true, Naoya. Of course I do!”

“But…?”

“…Not like this.” You murmur. A question crosses your mind. “But… you wanted it… right?”

Naoya remains silent, guess after all that happened, the teasing of his friends, Ranta’s suggestions… he eventually came to hope that maybe you did want more. He would’ve definitely liked that, but then, who wouldn’t want to be intimate with the love of their life?

“You did.” You breathe; now it was your time to lament. “Oh, Naoya, I didn’t mean to confuse you—”

“No, Y/N. I was the one that misunderstood your invitation.” He says, hugging you tighter against him. “I guess I was too excited to spend time with you, that… I might’ve gotten ahead of myself. Might’ve allowed others to that too…”

“What do you mean?” you ask, curiously lifting your gaze to his.

“… I guess… I might’ve… let my friends influence me on what was going to happen…”

“You mean—did they tell you this was for something more?”

“Well—I mean—it’s not every day that you invite me to your dorm, you know??” Naoya gasps.

“Because it’s not really permitted, Naoya!” you cry back. “…and because my room is a mess most of the time, and I don’t want you to see that...”

At the silliness of last, he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, invertedly lifting some of the tension that had begun to weight heavy on your shoulders, allowing you relax soon after.

“Is that what you’re most worried about?” Naoya jests. “That I might not like what your room looks like?”

“I gotta look good for my boyfriend, after all!” you fuss. “…and that’s not the only thing I worry about. I don’t want you to get in trouble for sneaking in either.”

“…I’d be more satisfied if you were… well, happy with me.” Naoya silently admits, placing a kiss on the top of your head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“It was just a misunderstanding, nothing more.” You say, leaning into his touch. “…And a reminder that you need better friends too…”

“Yeah, that’s definitely something I have to do.” Naoya frowns, but he doesn’t let this issue take much space in his mind. “And make it up to you.”

“Naoya—I’m just happy that you’re here with me!” you grin, wrapping your arms around him, squeezing him. “It’s been soooo loong since we last had a date, it’s going to take much more than that to ruin it!”

“…But I was pretty close, wasn’t I?” he laments.

“Don’t torture yourself about it.” You lean to kiss his lips, the gesture warming his heart as his worries begin to disappear. “It’ll happen, in time, I hope… and when it does, it’ll be special, for both of us. Because it’ll be just how we want it!”

“It sounds like you already had something in mind, though.”  Naoya recalls, mentally preparing himself to take notes. “…Do you mind… telling me… what?”

“Well, you’ll definitely have to take me out on a date—somewhere nice for dinner. From there, I’d like to go for a walk around the city, or maybe a drive, I don’t know. We can go to a viewpoint and watch the stars, or to the park and just… relax. After that, we can go back to anywhere but a place we could be caught.” You shiver. “I’d rather die than let that happen!”

Naoya laughs, finding your enthusiasm to be both refreshing, adorable, and informative in two matters:

One, that you are just as eager as he was when it comes to that, effectively removing any doubt he had about the ordeal. It was just a matter of being ready, that’s all.

And two, just how silly it was to even consider you wanted to do it in a place like a school, where strictness was only expected. It was difficult as it was having to sneak him around the dorms just to spend this evening together, now imagine that? Some were shameless, amongst them Naoya, but you were out of the question.

What was he even thinking?!

Naoya feels like an absolute idiot for having trusted his supposed friends. Perhaps he should’ve taken Ranta more seriously, take it slow as he suggested.

But there was no use in agonizing about that when he had more pressing matters to tend to, such as…

“…Do you still want to watch the movie?” Naoya asks, hopeful. But you give him a smile that erases all doubts.

“Yes. Of course I do! I still want to spend time with you, you know? With the boyfriend I love very, very much.”

Naoya blushes.

“And you’re the girlfriend I love very much too.” He stammers, verbal affection is something he still struggles with, but it does not abstain it from being genuine. “I’ll make it up to you—whatever you want. Don’t hesitate to tell me.

…And once we get to do that too, it’ll be special; beyond anything you imagined—I promise you.”

“It’s not necessary, Naoya—just spending time with you is enough for me.” You lean forward once more to peck his lips. “With you, I don’t need to worry about anything because I know everything will fall into place by its own.

….

Though there is one think I want you to do, if you really wanna make it up to me.”

“Anything, it’s yours.”

“…Do you think… you can spend the night here, with me? My roommate is going to be away for a few days, and my siblings are out on a mission; I normally wouldn’t mind staying on my own, but tonight… I don’t feel like doing that.” you shyly ask, and while it’s a far cry from what Naoya initially anticipated, it’s still enough to rile him up.

“Su—Sure, Y/N—I just… I think I just need to go to the bathroom first.”

You don’t say anything else, too flustered to do so, aside from reassuring him you’ll be there when he comes back, understanding that this was a situation that, well, honestly speaks for itself.

And yet, you didn’t think much of it—because at the end of the day, one way or the other, it just showed how much Naoya wished to be with you, and how eager you wished the day you were ready to give yourself to him eventually came to be.

Until then, you’d worry about enjoying the rest of the evening, wondering if Naoya would be thirsty after coming back, perhaps wanting to eat something else than popcorn—you sure brought lots of snacks just in case, highly meticulous for a simple movie night. You shouldn’t be blamed, though; it was your first date in a setting like this!

While Naoya tended to some personal issues—but the most important one was the final acceptance that he needed better friends, deciding to drop them soon after this miscalculation almost cost him his relationship (Not really, just a very upset girlfriend) and God knows what else; Ranta being the only one that remained, because he was the only genuine friend he ever had, that much he could still asses.

But when it comes to your happiness, though he’ll sometimes go to him for suggestions, Naoya decides to only trust his heart—no one else.

The rest of them could disappear, for all he cared. Because the moment you stepped into his life, you were all that mattered to him.

All that will continue to matter, until the end of his days. Luckily, he has a lifetime to prove that to you.

Naoya's growth from dorky boyfriend to husband will be satisfying journey to observe.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little something I did!!! Whenever I get HS AU stuff I get really excited, I literally couldn't stop thinking about this!!!

Either way, it was fun to write awkward Y/N and Naoya, this is way before the latter grew up to be the arrogant bastard we all know; and though he does end up like that, I like to think that because of Y/N he's not as bad lol.

Now, I don't have anything else except that I really do hope you liked this :> Thank you so much for sending in this ask; take care, and hope to see you soon!!

#ask #naoya zenin #naoya zen'in #naoya x reader #naoya zenin x reader #naoya zenin x you #jjk naoya #naoya zen'in x reader #jjk x reader #jjk fluff #jjk x you #prompt series: jujutsu kaisen

[nathaniel-underwood-is-an-intj]

Looong rant about chapter 16 Ptolemy's Gate and how being passive can add to the cycle of ab*se.

oof so I just read when Nat goes to see Ms Lutyens and I can't help but be absolutely furious at her??

I know that's maybe a little bit unfair given she's frightened of him as a magician and is obviously angry when she finds out the department he's responsible for, but honestly it kinda brings up the problem with inadvertent bystanders to child ab*se in my mind.

And I'm definitely not blaming her solely for who Nat becomes but it makes me think of all those people in huge child ab*se cases who give interviews to press about all the things they noticed that were wrong but they just...never do anything?

She stood up for him against Lovelace, and when Nat thanked her- "I wanted to say that I know you were trying to save me, and-"

''Yes, and I'm sorry I didn't" Like girl be for real did you really think that alone would undo the years of indoctrination and abuse he's already suffered and prevent years worth of the same in the years to come? And she won't take responsibility - "My job is with children, not the adults they become" and again while it seems harsh to blame her for who Nat becomes, it's so much easier to pass the blame to people who are more directly responsible rather than acknowledging you also play a part.

I think it hurts so much more because it's her specifically- Nat goes to her in sheer desperation, it almost seems like a goodbye- he wants to thank her, tries to set her up in a job that will pay well and struggles to communicate he's trying to help. At this point he thinks Bartimaeus has been summoned by another magician and his birth name will be revealed. He's sure he's about to die and if not he'll be stood on trial and lose everything.

He goes to her because she represents the peaceful moments from his childhood when he got away from his master. He's scared and feeling lost and really it's call for help; but he doesn't ask for anything he just wants to make her feel proud of him- he's looking for that validation that he's been chasing since childhood.

And that shows he still does have that little bit of childhood innocence in him; he thinks she will be proud, thinks she'll see him as the same little boy in the garden gazing up at his teacher in adoration. He can't quite grasp why she's separated the man stood before her from that little boy. Because in that moment the child inside Nathaniel is seeking comfort AND THAT'S WHY it makes me so angry. She's completely given up on him when he's at his lowest ebb, because she doesn't want to be associated with the magician he's become. As if it isn't a massive step in the right direction that he saught her out in the first place- what other magican would bother? I wonder if that's why she reacted so strongly to seeing him again? Before that moment she could go about her life wondering if /pretending her attempt to protect him was enough, and now she realises it wasn't, of course it wasn't, and the image she had of Nathaniel's childhood innocence is completely ruined in her mind.

Or was her contempt for him even grater than Nat realised? She was naturally disgusted by the rhetoric he'd started to repeat from a young age, and gently tried to correct him although she was clearly angry- was she just resigned to the fact that there is little else she could do to change his future? I always thought- couldn't she have looked for him? The Underwood house fire was in the papers and they mentioned the apprentice was being searched for. Did she ever worry about him? Surely something must have been in the papers since- an announcement of new ministers, ANYTHING! Look at how much research Kitty did to find out about Bartimaeus and Ptolemy. I just don't think Rosanna Lutyens cared enough, realistically Nathaniel wasn't hard to find- but he was no longer her responsibility so she could turn a blind eye.

And sadly it's not just her- I know everyone loves Martha Underwood including Nat; but I think her submissiveness to her husband has a negative effect on Nathaniel as well. In AOS when Nat is locked in his room for ages after setting the mites loose, and is forbidden to have any contact with anyone and she won't talk with him. I know she's been told by Mr. Underwood she can't, but it still boils my blood. She's an adult and going along with ignoring Nathaniel because her husband told her to...I can't even begin to imagine the psychological damage that would do to a 10 year old child. (It could be argued she's frightened of the consequences if her husband finds out she's disobeyed him which is fair, he could always be watching through magic- but this is Arthur Underwood we're talking about. He's lazy, oblivious and weak I doubt he'd expend all that energy each day to check up on her.)

And It's even more painful that Nathaniel is often described as fiercely loyal to her and I think to Ms Lutyens as well- he doesn't expect to be treated well by Arthur Underwood but he loved Mrs Underwood and Ms Lutyens so much he started to view them through a rose-coloured lense. He never feels betrayed by either of them, even though they absolutely let him down, because the pedestal he's put them on is too high AND THAT ABSOLUTELY DESTROYS ME.

Would things with Nathaniel have been any different if Mrs Underwood hadn't died? I don't really think so. Do you think she'd see Nathaniel's temper at 14 years old and be reminded of Arthur Underwood? He was awful, absolutely awful to Nat and to her; but he was under so much stress in an underfunded departement, where pressure was being put on him by superiors to accomplish far more than they knew him to be capable of, and he took it out on the easiest target. Nathaniel ends up in exactly the same place and he starts to take it out on the only person around him- Bartimaeus. Would he snap at Mrs Underwood all the time if she were still there? Because he's learnt that behaviour from his father figure, and subconsciously learnt from his mother figure that she'll put up with it. He learnt from the woman he loved so deeply, that if you don't resist, people will walk all over you. So you have to maintain control even if it ends up hurting people you care about because no one will step in to stop the suffering no matter how much you love them, no matter how much you want them too.

It's easy to blame Arthur Underwood and Simon Lovelace and the magicians that actively hurt Nathaniel but I just feel like it's a bit disingenuous not to acknowledge the role of those doing passive harm. It's really mean to say it but even Bartimaeus plays a role- he knows Nat is clinging on to him because he can't 'bring himself to break this last connection' (to his childhood) but instead of bringing it up properly he 'taunts' Nathaniel- a boy who has been taunted for his weakness by his master for years. And even in AOS when Nathaniel tells Bartimaeus he was beaten for the mites incident Bart just kinda shrugs it off. Like I get it, why should Bartimaeus do anything, he's suffered way worse due to the system so he doesn't owe Nat anything right? But from Nat's point of view this is the first and only time he's mentioned to anyone what has happened to him and nothing changes. It's like another lesson learnt: telling someone about it doesn't help. Another nail in the coffin.

And I like all these characters, I feel bad for them. They're all victims of the system, I think the chapter with Ms Lutyens is just the straw that broke the camel's back for me. All of those little opportunities that are insignificant to the narrative over all; the commoners have it worse, Nathaniel is in a privileged position in society, exerting control over others. He's very morally grey, crossing over into objectively bad person territory but I love him with my whole heart and all of those insignificant moments would have been massive to him whether he was conscious of it or not.

And it goes all the way back to the beginning with Nat's parents giving him up to the magicians at 5 years old. I can't get the image of that little boy sat crying all alone in the government building. And he's not going somewhere safer, or somewhere he'll be happier and more loved. Giving your child over to a total stranger, oh he'll be totally fine won't he? He'll grow up to be a magician and far richer than you'll ever be, he'll be happy and comfortable and be grateful he got to grow up in luxury. There's no way a stranger you've never met, who the majority of society is terrified of would ever hurt a vulnerable little kid right? And if they do? Well you aren't responsible anymore, how could you know? What could you possibly do against the magician taking care of him?

Every little thing is another grain of sand tipping the scale. Did anyone else have to analyse An Inspector Calls in school? It feels like that to me- those BIG moments and all the little moments in between that add onto the pile.

And it goes on to cause problems in wider society too- ab*se is so normalised to the magicians, they casually ask Underwood if he hits Nathaniel like it's nothing. Because to them it is nothing, they've all grown up in the same circumstances and are repeating what they've learnt as children. I can't help but feel a little sorry for them all, especially when they aren't looked at through the black and white lense of 'argh these people are the evil arseholes look at how they treat everyone around them, screw these guys.' When we see those little glimpses of humanity like Simon's anxiety with the amulet; looking to his master and father figure Schyler for reassurance, and what's sad is that Nat is "reminded...of his own master's cold impatience" It's clear Simon looks up to his master, wants to make him proud and loves him. But it seems like Schyler has just trained Simon up so he can get power through him later on. I love the little hints of similarities between Simon and Nathaniel; the anxious mannerisms like fiddling with his hair that Nathaniel starts to develop, the way their master's talk to them. Even though they're actively working against each other in AOS and Simon is placed firmly in the baddies category and Nat in the goodies category at this point in the series; these things always hinted to me they had similar childhoods, how was Simon treated? When he had the imp beat Nat into unconsciousness, was it because he'd had the same punishment used against him? Did he know the magicians in the room would do nothing to stop him because no one stopped it from happening to him? Did he ever have a teacher stand up for him only for it to change nothing in the end because all the negative influences were so much stronger? Is the reason he loves Schyler like a dad because he's almost developed Stockholm syndrome? It looks like love because he's never known anything else.

And Arthur Underwood- who doesn't think his upbringing, and being taken away from his family ever did him any harm- doesn't realise the harm done is that he doesn't even know another way of raising Nathaniel, because he was never shown another way. His childhood may also have been filled with people who hurt him and the people that didn't do enough to intervene.

There are so many psychology studies that show children copy everything they see the adults in their life doing. Nathaniel copies the magicians behaviour towards spirits and on a subconscious level I think he copies all the submissive people in his life. How many times does he end up upset and frustrated with the fact he seems to be going nowhere and how many times does he just hope things will be different rather than taking postive action.

I dislike the actions the magicians end up taking but I also find them fascinating to analyse. I tend to prefer villains in media because they're usually slightly more complex individuals and I love to think about how they ended up that way. They can all be seen as victims of their circumstances in a way, despite all the power and privilege they have had terrible and traumatic childhoods, and if the commoners had no valuable worldy possessions at least they had a sense of togetherness; of love and understanding and selflessness. I wonder if the magicians hated them at least partly because of that. Because out in the sea of faces of the commoners talking about nothing important, doing nothing great and noble- could be the parents that abandoned them. And when your life is on the line daily because of working with spirits, and your colleagues want to stab you in the back, sometimes not being responsible for anything important looks good. But you can't leave your life as a magician, it would be too difficult; you have nowhere to go, no real friends, no one who really loves you. So it's better to stay and be a submissive bystander in your own life because it's so much easier.

Doing nothing is doing something- being passive can be just as harmful.

#Oh boy if I was in Nat's life I'd've packed him into a box and shipped him off to therapy long ago #Listen I'm not a magician apologist per se.... #But I do find playing devil's advocate for well -written baddies fun #And I am Nathaniells defence lawyer #I will not hear a word said against him #Just stressing that I do in fact like Mrs Underwood and Ms Lutyens I just wish they were a little stronger in sticking up for Nat #and I do hate mr Underwood #Simon lovelace tho.... I quite like him he can have a little space in the therapy box #I have a softspot for him because of the mannerisms that compare him to Nat okay??? #Is it obvious I studied psychology at school 😅 #Or that I am a huge Nat kinnie😅😅 #Please don't hate me for this take #If anyone takes anything from this please let it be children copy everything they see you do including when you do nothing #This is quite tangential #bartseq #bartimaeus sequence #bartimaeus trilogy #bartimaeus #nathaniel underwood #liveblogging

[sauron-kraut]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you so much for tagging me, @nihil-ism 🖤

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 15.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

9,329 - you see, my works posted so far are either shorter one shots or ficlets/drabbles.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The Silmarillion and adjacent works by Tolkien. :) And within this fandom it's almost exclusively about rather niche ships with Mairon. Let's see when/if I will write for other fandoms; I'd love to at some point.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Of Gods And Monsters

Sacrificial

Plaything

Sugar

Sacred

All of these are Mairon/Ar-Pharazôn. lmao

5. Do you respond to comments?

I will respond to every single (first) comment someone leaves on a fic of mine. I thorougly enjoy these little interactions and I want to show my appreciation to people who show me theirs.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

That must be my double drabble Plaything I guess. At least if we talk about the very moment ending the fic. Throwing up from negative emotions and alcohol alike seems pretty... angsty.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That must be Of Being Born and Little Deaths. Everyone (well...) is having a good time and it literally ends with an orgasm.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

So far I haven't and I'm very grateful for that.

9. Do you write smut?

I love writing smut. And I love weaving character analyses/studies and some poetry into it.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I don't, personally not a fan of crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I haven't, but sharing headcanons and ideas with others has endlessly inspired many of my fics.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Angbang (Melkor/Mairon). I love them, I will never be over them; they've been with me for ten years now, I could ramble on forever about how important this ship is to me and what it means to me. It's rather popular in fandom though and I feel like there's many great writers out there who have graced us with their brilliant work. That makes me feel like I don't necessarily need to... add to that somehow. I'd love to write (more) Angbang at some point but as far as writing goes my favorite ship is Mairon/Ar-Pharazôn (which many of you might have guessed at this point lol). It's rotten, it's biblical, it's a playground for all things terrible to me. And it's a rarepair (why??) and therefore (in my mind) lies like a bare field before me, ready to sow and play in. 🖤

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

No such thing. My WIP are my children and I will not abandon them. It might take many months but they will see the light of day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Building atmosphere, pretty lines, poetry, in some parts characterization. (Very) short formats are my strength in general.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Not really able to write anything plot-driven, sometimes dialogue (though I might have started to improve a little), prioritizing pretty imagery and rhythm/sound over meaning/sense sometimes, having difficulties writing longer stuff.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Not really my thing; could get awkard quickly imo.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Visual Kei bands (Moi dix Mois) when I was 14.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? 

Easily my little double drabble Reverence. It illustrates nicely what I talked about regarding my writing strengths for question 17 imo.

Tagging @lvsifer, @curufiin, @cilil, @saintstars, @gardensofthemoon, @elevenelvenswords , @crackinthecup , @swanhild , @a-world-of-whimsy-5 and @i-did-not-mean-to (no pressure ofc and sorry if I forgot anyone, in that case: that's just my forgetful brain at work)

#tag game

[gotham-daydreams]

Hi! I love your gothan platonic batfam series, but every time I read it I can't help but wonder what Duke's reaction to all this would be. He's one of my fave batfam characters, do you have any plans to add him in later chapters?

Just curious, no pressure. Hopefully I didn't come off as pushy. (sorry if i did)

Have a good day! <3

Hello! And you didn't come off as pushy, no worries :]

I'll be honest and admit that I have thought of adding Duke to the series- but if I was going to do that in a more organic manner, and just generally in a way that makes sense- that would've been in Chapter 2 or 3. Though trust me I am still debating... and the only reason I'm hesitating is because I don't think I'd be able to capture his personality, or really just him as a person very well.

Granted, I do inherently view yandere versions of characters as OOC for... various reasons (some of which are obvious, especially when it comes to the Batfam and DC characters in general), but I do try to keep very close to the character (or my general understanding and interpretation of them for things like DC, who have multiple canons and such) and write them in a way that does still compliment or adhere to parts of their personality or overall mindset... if only generally. Like Bruce and his closeness to those around them yet the distance he so desperately tries to keep - not for himself, but rather those around him. His strive for justice and to do good to make up for a sin, a fault that isn't his to forgive or one he hardly had anything to do with and so on. How that makes him inherently protective if only at a distance and in silence. How he tries to keep himself away from others, if only to protect them, and yet finds himself surrounded anyway. Etcetera etcetera.

Case and point- I don't have a really good graps of Duke's general character and aren't confident enough to write him into the Not Series at the moment- and by the time I do, it may feel shoehorned in and just not as great as it could be (even if a line I wrote in Chapter 1 was meant to be him..). Though I am learning more about him! And if anyone would like to share what they know and their interpretations of his character they have and such while I still have asks open, I'd love to read and see them :]

In future series', oneshots, and just general things I plan to post and share on this blog, Duke will very much make an appearance and we'll reach 10 yanderes for the Batfam instead of just 9. (Some series' which will definitely be longer than the Not Series.)

On that note, I have thought of how Duke would feel (and some others earlier on have asked a bit as well), and from the little I know of him, this is how I think at the moment he would generally react/feel (though it may be inaccurate and such because of what I mentioned previously 😅):

I think he would start out as one of the many others that actually live in the manor or just so happened to be there at the time — and that being he feels guilt first (unlike the only person in that house who doesn't/didn't) and just... wouldn't know what to do. The time passed and everything the reader has done sort of leaves him stumped, and just stuck processing until everyone's rushing out and around to find you and before he knows it- he's following out with them to do the exact same thing.

I think he leaves before everyone else, and considering that he does daytime patrol, it isn't as odd to see him out and about anyway. Though the frantic-ness of his movements and actions are weird, and for once, more outwardly, Duke panics.

He feels bad, of course he does, and more similarly to Cass- he can only wish that he could do things with out. That he wants to be in the room when you got your awards or had been there through the hardships he knows you undoubtedly faced without even having to see the medkit like Bruce does in Chapter 2. So he goes out to look for you, but not so much for your safety and more so to just... apologize. To say every little thing he can in hopes to make things better, to lessen the damage.

And of course, just to see you.

More than anything Duke wants to make it up to you right away, but has half a mind to know he'll have to take things slow. He's still sensible to some degree, if not only partially of half-insane just like the rest of the fam (minus a certain blonde and red head who are only a sliver of the way there), he knows it'll take time, that you probably won't forgive him right away. But that's okay! He can live with that, he understands that, but he just needs to see you. Just once- if only to see who you are now and the person you've become. If only to say an apology that might fall too flat or feel too empty considering the little he knows about you.

Just once. No matter how awkward it is or how much he regrets it later. Just once.

Though, despite that he is divided on bringing you home. It would be nice, sure, but by the time that discussion comes up he isn't sure that's the best idea. Even less so with how those that do want you home seem to want to go about it, and just generally the kind of people they are. Impulsive. Strong. Threatening- they'll scare you and do more damage then help ease tensions, and he doesn't want that to happen. You don't deserve that- even if he barely knows you. Duke can feel it, you don't. Even then, they help people out, not hurt them, not like they did with you.

Duke wants to spend time with you, but he's willing to do that outside of the manor if it means making you more comfortable and warm up to him a little more. As long as he sees you he can't complain...

So when Dick messes up, he's upset. Like everyone else besides Cassandra he doesn't know what happened but knows that something absolutely went wrong. Dick usually wasn't so obvious about things like that either, but with how hurt and just... broken he looks, they could all tell. Duke could tell.

Granted, he's not upset enough to change his mind, and if anything it definitely makes him more adamant about not bringing you home yet, but he can’t find it in himself to be fully against the idea, even then.

The one thing he wants to do after that, if anything, is more determined to make things right.

If Dick of all people couldn't make it up to you, then hell, maybe Duke can.

#talking daydreams #not series #platonic yandere batfam #yandere duke thomas #yandere batfam #yandere dc

[abyssalzones]

What's your comic writing process like? I'm starting to get into making my own comics and I really admire your work!!! Any advice?

Ah, intrepid traveler, you've done well to journey to this secluded mountaintop spire, in search of the answers you seek. I indeed can provide such forbidden comicmancy knowledge... at the cost of your mortal soul...

coughs. anyway, I'm going to warn you immediately that what works for me does not work for everyone else, and in my experience the way I do things can prove very slow and discouraging for anyone who is more interested in the actual "drawing the damn comic" part of the process. I only do it this way because I enjoy weaving a narrative web that feels not only fully contained but re-readable, but my projects are often so long and my memory so shitty that I can't just keep all of it in my head! It would spill all over the place and make a really embarrassing mess of brain-juice. Not ideal.

but as for my own process, uhh... I suppose a comic would be fitting, right?

a little choppy but you get the idea.

as for turning words into art, I've been experimenting with figuring out the best way to do that for a little while now. Originally what I was doing for something like Ad Astra Per Aspera was to take my "script" and sketch it out on paper very loosely, before transposing that onto my canvas and working from there:

...but, I've found that can make it kind of difficult to space everything around on your standard page-size, and the thing I'm having the most problems with currently seems to be finding the sweet spot of panel-size proportions. So, I've taken to printing out standard thumbnail templates (you can just find these on google) and sketching very tiny panels in those, which seems to give me a slightly better sense of scale... (mild chapter 5 spoilers, sorry ad astra fans)

but I have yet to totally pull through on this, so who knows, maybe I'll try something else in the future!

As for advice, this is probably most applicable to me, but as a disabled artist I have a very hard time managing my workload without literally working myself into injury. I don't think I talked about this publicly but when I was working on that ten year anniversary comic I was literally drawing every single day for 3 solid months. Sometimes, in my case, I really can't bring myself to stop once I've latched onto an idea, and sometimes I find the most rewarding thing I can do with my time is to draw- but I seriously cannot overstate: Do not fucking do this.

You will fuck up your wrist, your back, your neck, your eyes, and probably your mental health. It's a well-known fact that mangaka have a lower life expectancy than the average japanese person due to the intense workload imposed on them by deadlines and personal expectations. Comics are a very demanding artform, and even though I'm not on any sort of mandated schedule there are times where I've toiled away at something when I likely should have been exercising or taking vision-breaks. Therefore the best advice I can give you is to chill the hell out.

Namely, find parts of the process you can be lazy about, and embrace the laziness! You don't like digitally sketching? Don't do it! Skip it, or maybe find a way to traditionally sketch things out in advance like I do. Hate lineart? Don't fucking do it. You really don't feel like wasting your time writing 72k words of comic scripts? ...then, don't be like me. skip that part. I'm a flawed human being and what works for me might not work for you.

The second most important piece of advice I could give is to read comics. Of all kinds. The reason for this is pretty self explanatory: In order to figure out your own comic-making style, you should first pick out bits and pieces from the artist's buffet to add to your plate. Manga, graphic novels, american comics, european comics, weird niche little webcomics, funny papers, anything and everything. This advice rings true of pretty much any art form, but I find it to be essential to honing comic-making skills because so many things you feel will just come intuitively often don't. and that's okay! nobody is born knowing how to leave space for speech bubbles or shape their panels in a way that imitates stretches of time. The best way to figure out stuff like this, in my experience, is to study the "masters", and then after becoming well accustomed to the basics, figure out what rules you want to bend or break to create your own style.

I consider myself to be in equal parts a writer and an artist, which lends itself well to making narrative comics, but maybe you're a bit more of an artist and want to focus on panel-by-panel visual storytelling. Or, conversely, maybe your talents lean closer towards writing, and the art itself is more of a secondary skill. Regardless of your unique blend of talents you can and should make a comic, you should just also be aware of your strengths and try to hone in on those- there will always be opportunities to build up skills you lack, but focusing on what you do best will always lead you in the right direction.

Anyway, that being said, here are some recommendations in no particular order:

Monster, Naoki Urasawa (!!)

Bone, Jeff Smith

Witch Hat Atelier, Kamome Shirahama

The first IDW run of Transformers comics (namely More Than Meets the Eye and Lost Light)

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (!!)

Through the Woods, Emily Carroll (really any Emily Carroll comics)

Kill Six Billion Demons (webcomic) (!!)

Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo

The Third Person, Emma Grove

Tintin, Hergé (can be super racist please be wary)

Dungeon Meshi, Ryoko Kui

Calvin & Hobbes, Bill Watterson

Maus, Art Spiegelman

Cucumber Quest (webcomic)

Jellyfish Princess, Akiko Higashimura

Golden Kamuy, Satoru Noda (!!)

Note that I did not grow up with manga so I am seriously behind on a lot of extremely influential japanese comics such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, basically any of the original Shonen Jump comics, but they're widely considered building blocks of the genre so if you love the artform I think you should give them a try! Same goes for classic non-shonen manga genres like various Shoujo, Josei, Yuri, Gekiga, ETC.

same as above applies to a lot of classic DC and Marvel works, I unfortunately am just not a big fan of superhero comics... but I'm sure there's good stuff in there. a couple of my mutuals talk about booster gold and the blue beetle all the time so I'm assuming there has to be something worthwhile.

...and many, many, many more that I'm forgetting! I noticed as I made this list that, to my knowledge, hardly any of these are made by black or just non-japanese-mangaka BIPOC artists, which makes me sad about the gaps in my own comic collection. Therefore, anyone is welcome to add their own recommendations in the replies!

now go forth, and combine images with text!!!!!!!!!!!

#lab notes #long post #lab creations #askbox #not hiding all this shit under a readmore. look at my advice #hopefully this helps ? I'm not a professional and I'm still fairly new to making comics but this is what I've found works for me #I'll add alt text to this later! very busy right now!

[rawliverandgoronspice]

So let me get this straight. TOTK!Rauru had repeatedly requested that the Gerudo join the ‘protective embrace’ of his kingdom, to serve him. Protection from whom? The monster clans? If anything, the Gerudo seem at the peak of their power! They have some measure of control over the molduga, the fiercest of the desert’s monsters. It’s also established elsewhere that the Secret Stones merely amplify one’s existing power—that one would catapult Ganon to near-unstoppable heights speaks of his already formidable might. With him at the helm, the Gerudo were ready and willing to invade Hyrule. Until Rauru demonstrated a superweapon that quite literally vaporized any notion of a military assault—a superweapon that Rauru (and his cohort) brazenly wears. Ganon is entreating a party wearing nuclear launch codes around their necks! And those aren’t even the only Secret Stones in Rauru’s possession, later handing those out as he sees fit to the Sages. Of course, the narrative portrays Rauru as someone who would never abuse that kind of power—he’s a Good King. But that’s a terrifying Sword of Damocles.

Yep. Pretty much.

Also I'd like to point out that apparently, Rauru's "sin", and what passes off as his character arc (so far, I haven't finished the whole game yet), is that he was too confident that he'd keep Ganondorf under control as a vassal? Like, okay what were the options otherwise? What should he have done that he didn't do? Like in OoT/TP beforehand: was Rauru supposed to simply imprison the king of a foreign nation just because he didn't pass the vibe check --or worse, kill him off? And then what happens to the gerudo? I feel like we've gone down this road before, and it didn't lead anywhere pretty...

This is what I mean about the poor character writing in this game: I think Rauru is supposed to be the emotional core of the story, and he might be the only one with an "arc" so far, but his flaw/regret is... a whole bunch of nothing? Unless you think he should have commited genocide to protect his kingdom from evil, according to the game that refuses to examine his actions/power, there's nothing he should have done differently besides... not having his wife be murdered? That's not a character arc, that's just an unfortunate event you participated in unwillingly!! To make a comparaison that is worth being brought up: the king of Hyrule in BotW worked much better in that regard, because he is indeed partially responsible for the fall of his kingdom through the pressure he inflicted upon his daughter and the prideful belief that he could control a force of nature (Calamity Ganon being treated as such in that game) through technology; both of these attitudes costing him everything, condemning his daughter to a century-long fight and said technology ruling the lands through terror in his stead. As a ghost, he haunts the wreckage waiting for the hero to wake up to try and finally correct his mistakes through Link.

I think they kind of wanted to do that again in TotK, but it extremely doesn't land in my opinion because Rauru has no flaw --beyond, apparently, not being bigoted enough?

#totk #totk spoilers #thoughts #asks #sorry I don't have anything more to add it's just #Yea #I completely agree #you see three Guys murdering an army of moldugas while giggling like teenagers #you think about your options for sure #rauru #ganondorf #totk critical #don't get me started on the title of this game also #zelda has even less of a character arc than rauru #and that she gets to embody the whole kingdom for some reason #while crying because??? I don't know nothing had anything to do with you why are you crying girl #I mean yeah it sucks to become a dragon I suppose but that has nothing to do with hyrule nor the emotional core of the plot #it's all quite poorly constructed narratively imo #the game deserved better narrative work and I think opinion will turn on this aspect over the years #botw

[piningpebbles]

the dream smp journey: attempting to make the lore of the dream smp more accessible.

so back when i first wanted to get into the dream smp i had absolutely no idea where to start. i asked some people and they told me pretty much “look up dream smp + [insert youtuber name] and start there” and so i did, but i quickly came to realize how much i was missing from the story by not seeing all the different points of view.

so i decided to make my own playlist.

it was just for myself at first, but as i got more obsessed with the story, i also gave the link to some friends of mine so they could have the full experience, and they loved it. so i kept updating it.

my goal was to try and make a capsule of the entirety of the lore on the dream smp across almost every single POV, because while i do appreciate those who make recap videos, they always miss something and it’s usually with peoples’ POV who aren’t considered to be “main characters” which sucks because one of my favorite things about the dream smp was how everyone was their own main character with their own individual storyline you could get invested in.

i’ve seen every single video in the playlist, and did my absolute best to discern what should be included and what didn’t need to be. 

for instance, while i personally enjoyed streams where they’d just goof off, this is a lore-centric playist so i didn’t include all of them unless one of the jokes or such gets mentioned/becomes important later on. or if there is a lore event happening but two people have almost identical streams to one another then i decided between the two of them which one to keep. or if the cc themself made an edited version of their experience, i would decide whether to go with that or keep the original vod

it’s far from perfect. i tried to keep up with it as long as i could I STILL HAVE VIDEOS IN MY WATCH LATER THAT I PLANNED TO ADD but simply put while the dream smp storyline got longer and longer it became harder to keep up with. i watched pretty much all the streams when they happened but failed to update the playlist accordingly so right now it has almost everything up until ”Hitting on 16.”

i always wanted to finish it before i posted it, but i’ve been seeing people talk about how they miss the experience of watching the dream smp and while i obviously can’t provide the full interactive experience that the dream smp offered as it came out, i knew i couldn’t just keep this in my back pocket and thought i could at least offer a good chunk of the experience for you guys to still be able to keep!

here’s the playlist, spanning over 300 videos.

there’s also a semi-canon playlist (not nearly as thorough) for events that get mentioned by the cc’s a lot or are just cool to have and i wanted to include them somewhere so here it is also!!

to go along with it i also made a masterpost (can you tell i love making lists) which is what every single video on the playlist is supposed to be (and was last i checked, but videos get taken down every so often so there might be a couple missing here and there).

i hope to update this one day and have it fully finished, but with my schedule (full-time college student babyyyy) and simply the hundreds of hours of content i’d need to sift through it just seems impossible (and frankly just really intimidating) to challenge alone right now. so i also wanted to give this to the community to maybe be able to do what i couldn’t!

my hope with this is that if someone in a year or two (or whenever really) is interested in the dream smp they won’t have to sit through recap videos and instead can watch the real thing in a single playlist connected to the doc. my dream is for the masterpost and the playlist to go hand-in-hand, being like a guide people can follow that would also link to other moments and lore that is saved but just not avaliable on youtube, so we don’t have all these moments just lost to time.

i want to make this collaborative, i’m hoping this will maybe spark others to share what videos/moments they have saved and stored with each other for the dream smp and maybe together we could complete this thing somehow!! make the playlist and masterpost i dreamed of (the one right now is scuffed, but at least it’s something). the dream smp is one of my absolute favorite pieces of media out there and i want to share this with people but (as you can probably tell) i have no idea what i’m doing!! any step to help make the story more readily accessible is a good one, though!

i know i’ve missed things but i’ve done my best. and while not the perfectly polished thing i hoped it would be when i sent it out to the world maybe it could be a good building block for the community to use. so please share this!! reblog it!! all that jazz!! i want this to be for everyone!!

anyways, this is a long post. but the whole reason i got into the dream smp in the first place was because of the awesome fan content i saw and this crazy and creative community and i want to be able to give back, if i can.

#dream smp #the dream smp journey #dream smp lore #mcyt #tommyinnit #jack manifold #c!tommy #c!jack #(sorry jack and tommy gotta use you to cross-tag) #(is it even crosstagging if they're IN the playlist?.... lot to think about) #i really wanted to add more to this #my goal was to catch up on all the videos and then go back and transcribe each one (or link pre-existing transcriptions) #and then add content warnings if need be #i had this idea too where say you just finished up the nov.16th lore after that it would be cool to link you to sad-ist's animation!! #just things like that! i had a lot of things i was thinking about #anyways thanks for reading my c!jack analysis posts throughout all this time now you may have my massive lore bank i've been holding onto #cheers!!! #rambling rocks #like.. holy shit #will this even turn into anything? i don't know. i hope so #i want to come back to this and give it the TLC it deserves #but until i find the time + motivation for that i didn't want to keep it just to myself #i just hope this is a good step towards making the dream smp story more accessible to people #pebble post

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

talking to a friend who didn't vibe with TTPD and said she can't get over the Matty of it all and the album gives her the ick and she isn't enjoying it and I'm just like... I respect that and you feel what you feel and shouldn't apologize for it... but I'm glad that after the initial 😵‍💫 of it all I was quickly able to appreciate the music for music's sake and the story being told because I find the album beautiful lyrically and sonically and narratively.

#like don't get me wrong the matty stuff gives me the ick #but more as in 'i'm really sorry taylor had to go through that because it sounds really painful' #and also i'm ngl i absolutely do generally think about the connections and muses and whatnot #but on a surface level I am also able to listen to the music for its own sake #like I do for every other artist who isn't taylor lol #also my friend is like 'i want to hear what you thought' but i don't know if i want to get into it #because i just generally love most things taylor does as an artist and i don't want to have to defend myself #and also think i'm really terrible at doing so in general #like 'i get it you think she's a terrible person and also you don't like anything she's released in the last decade' #'unfortunately i was born with the 'enjoys everything taylor makes' gene so i don't have much to add to this conversation' lol

[pianapplez]

Hello there 👋👀,

So I just found your blog and had a lot of fun scrolling through all the pjo show crit😂 I couldn't help but notice that one tag you left on a post where you said you had some beef with Annabeth's portrayal in the books 👀 Would you mind elaborating on that if you're comfortable with it🙈? Because I absolutely share that sentiment, but it's sooo veeeery rare that I see other people express anything like it... I've found that trying to be a part of the fandom can be pretty alienating most of the time, if you're not exactly the biggest most devoted Percabeth shipper...😅 And often any criticism leveled at Annabeth just gets you a smack with the "internalized-misogyny" hammer... it's even worse in the tv show now due to... obvious reasons...

Again just if you're comfortable with answering of course🙈 There is a reason I stayed on anon after all...😅😂

Really glad you asked because i finally get to ramble about this heheheh (going forward, know that i skimmed over The Last Olympian to have a clearer sense of what I meant because that's the book where Rick fumbles her character more than the others)

i'm gonna try to make as much sense as possible but short answer would be, she's underdeveloped. Long answer:

She really got on my nerves in the last two books, with the whole Rachel debacle and then the Battle of New York. I can't really remember a single moment in those books where she and Percy aren't bickering or having heated discussions, which really made me question their friendship status. Of course, it's not like friends can't fight and it obviously builds up the (romantic) tension between them, but it got unbearable at one point.

I understand she's a teenager in an incredibly stressful situation that didn't even get to have a normal upbringing- she grew up way too fast (run away at 7, head counselor at 12) while also not really maturing, which is not a problem for a character, if it is handled properly. Given the fact that I am writing this, Riordan did not.

On the surface, my biggest beef is that Annabeth is not exactly held accountable for her actions (ie. treating Rachel a bit like shit and going off on Percy for a bunch of stuff.) I know Percy is to blame a bit here: as far as we know, in TLO he basically cuts the greek world out of his life as much as he can as a coping mechanism. And while yes, he never apologizes either, he doesn't give her nearly half the hard time she gives him: always either giving him the cold shoulder (there must be at least one example of this in the entire series but i cant be bothered to look it up sorry) or starting an argument only to then storm off (see the "you're a coward, Percy Jackson!" scene, which is not the fairest example since she was confronting Percy about ignoring camp but also was a bit too harsh about it) (especially after finally reading the prophecy and being under the impression that he was absolutely going to die when he turned 16 lmao) or just straight up storming off (see, Annabeth reacting when Rachel shows up for the first time during the battle of new york). While most of these feel, at least to some degree, fairly justified given how the entire situation does an absolute number on her emotions, she comes off a bit brattish and like she's trying to rile Percy up, especially when it comes to Rachel, which in the context of a battle that could mean the destruction of the world.... Well, it reads as a bit childish to me, and i wouldn't exactly have that much of a problem with it if it was dealt with in some way (a two-way apology would be nice).

After that first impression, i realized that Annabeth is barely ever anything else other than a plot device (when relating to Luke) or a love interest (when relating to Percy). This might be because the books are on Percy's POV. Hell, on the third book he's even conflicted when Annabeth is considering joining the Hunters of Artemis, aka, when making a choice for herself would mean he loses her (which is fine and dandy but it feels like Percy is more upset about her choosing her own path rather than being sad about not seeing her as often); we really only get a few glimpses of her, as in, actually her when she's on her own.

Obviously it's impossible to talk about Annabeth without touching on percabeth, which also is, in my opinion, what hinders Annabeth's character the most. On paper they sound great. The guy whose fatal flaw is loyalty falls in love with a girl whose been let down by people over and over, and she decides to never give up on the boy whose always had people give up on him (can't find one of the million posts that talks about this right now but it always goes something like that) And yeah, the bickering is really well written! But that's literally as far as it ever goes: they don't ever seem to have fun together, because 8 times out of 10 the bickering ends up being passive aggressive, and mostly done by Annabeth. My biggest gripe about percabeth is that their friendship seems to be based off... shared trauma. Literally. Other than going on quests together we are given no examples of them hanging out, nor a reason why they would want to spend time together in the first place, not even a shared hobby. Yes, in the fourth book they had a movie "date" planned but of course they didn't even get to it, and surprise surprise, they had a minor discussion, and surprise surprise, Annabeth was passive aggressive again. It's hard to picture them having fun together when even the author doesn't write in any scenes in which they get along smoothly (and before you say anything, a scene in which they get along where neither of them is about to die, and they're not talking about previous adventures. Gets a bit hard then, doesn't it?) It's even harder to picture them as a couple when the moment she gets upset about something, she starts coming off as emotionally manipulative (see, again, literally any conversation with Rachel or about Rachel)

To be fair, the books are relatively short and don't allow many "filler" chapters, if you will; there's always something happening to keep the main plot or a minor plot point moving forward, but it's not like there is no room to develop the characters' relationships, especially when we're talking about the main char and what is essentially his endgame. As an example we have Percy and Clarisse, or Percy and Beckendorf. Their interactions are brief but still hold so much weight.

Worst of all, Annabeth could be one hell of a character; what's most interesting of all is how being a daughter of Athena she is still incredibly emotionally driven, which is displayed very clearly with her fatal flaw being pride: her telling the Sphynx that her questions were too easy was not smart nor strategic: it was completely impulsive. I seriously think she wasn't far from being the best character in the series had she been given more time.

I guess i have as much beef with Annabeth as i have with Rick for doing her dirty. I really could sum this up with: while her emotions are justified, she acts upon them quite poorly. And this is what i mean when i say she's underdeveloped, because it would've been nice to see her come to her senses a bit.

Would love to read anyone's opinions on her character though, feel free to comment, even (or especially) if you don't agree with me!

#pjo crit #anti percabeth #annabeth chase #percy jackson #tbotl #pjo tlo #the last olympian #percy jackson and the olympians #congrats anon on being my first ask!!! #sorry if it's too long or rambly i just have so many thoughts about her. #i dont hate her i dont even dislike her im just conflicted about her. sad that half of her conflict was being jealous over a boy #like yeah i guess said boy was the first real friend she ever had but also rick wrote it in a very “girls fighting over boy” kind of way #didn't really write it to make it seem like annabeth's reasons were anything more than just a hormonal teen acting out. there were no layer #sometimes i feel like im being unfair to annabeth and that maybe her being emotional and mean sometimes is her character and #she's actually written well and i just don't like her? but then i think over it and im not ready to give rick that kind of credit lmao #i truly believe he wrote her beef with rachel to entertain middle graders without really thinking twice about it #annabeth adds to the drama with her passive aggressive comments but at what cost.... maybe im reading too much into it idk #maybe i just find boy drama annoying.. #but making it so that rachel is bound to maidenhood was such a lazy way to get rid of her as a romantic interest #the way rick butchered her character and any char dev for any of them in the tv show by rushing so many things... god. that's another story #if there are any typos i'll edit them later but my eyes are dry af right now and its late jdsjdfh anyway i hope my takes were interesting? #maybe i don't have that much beef with annabeth herself but the fact that percabeth is seen as the best endgame couple when i don't see it

[daz4i]

how and why is there discourse about whether or not certain queer identities exist/if people should be allowed(???) to use them. why is "people know their own identity better than you ever could, and they're the only one who get a say on what they are" such a tough concept to grasp

i think if you find yourself offended by the label someone uses (especially if they're a stranger) or think it invalidates your own, it's a good idea to look inside yourself and question why that may be. more often than not, it's a result of insecurity or uncertainty of your own identity (or many other things, but i won't make a whole list here). whatever reason it is, until you resolve it, you shouldn't take it out on people for having an identity you don't understand

many have said it before but it's worth saying over and over. infighting only helps our oppressors. conservatives don't care if you're a cis gay or a xenogender aegosexual aplatonic lesbian, they hate all of us either way. trying to fit in by going for people who are easier targets for them isn't gonna help you, it'll just alienate you from your own community, and you're never gonna please them. the momentary rush you get from hearing you're not like "one of /those/ gay people" is not worth it and is gonna do more harm in the long run, i assure you

also, it is important to me to say this, but having some less than nice kneejerk reaction caused by confusion about an identity you don't understand doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything. as long as you aren't mean to that person, and you take a second to think smth along the lines of "wait a minute, this isn't any of my business" after having said reaction, you're good 👍 a lot of reflexive reactions we have to things are ingrained into us simply by. well. living in a society 🤡 and you're not terrible for having those thoughts. it's your actions that matter, and your second thought (the "wait, why did i just think that?") is more defining of your actual character and morals than your reflex. i know that having thoughts like this, even tho they're unwanted, can very easily make one spiral, so it's important to me that whoever needs to hear this knows this doesn't make you a bad person 🙏 you're good, keep taking actions to be good, accept other people even if you don't understand them, and you're on the right track :)

#i considered adding that last part in the tags but i figured it'll be too long for that 😭 #i noticed i'm posting a lot of rants lately. sorry. but i do wanna make sure no one's actually feeling bad over them #if i complain about something that you do or call it mean and such. that doesn't make you a bad person #you can always work to change and grow 👍 it's not easy but it starts with smaller steps than you'd expect #and now i just switched to a whole other topic from my original point. oops #i do firmly believe that any discourse about someone's identity is dumb as fuck #seeing it in poll blogs always makes me 😐😬 like how is it any business for any of us. why is this up for debate #if a person says they're queer then they are. they don't need to pass some test or go through initiation to be accepted #if they feel comfortable with a certain word that's awesome. why does it matter to *you* which word they use #'they're only using this microlabel to feel special' so? is there anything wrong with that? #'this label contradicts [insert other identity that falls under the same umbrella]' ok. but does that hurt anyone in any way #a lot of identities can even be self contradictory. does it matter tho? does it affect anyone in any way? #'they might realize that label is wrong later' again. what's the harm in that. #i don't blame anyone for these thoughts bc like. this is how cishets view a lot of the even more common labels #so you're basically taught to think this way from day one. that doesn't mean you need to stick to that thought process #you might have these reflexes forever no matter how hard you try. but you'll get quicker about moving on from them #but you do have to try. you do have to realize that other people's identities aren't about you #anyway. this post feels like batting at a hornets nest. really hope i don't get some bad faith readers here lol #(i noticed a lot of places one could apply bad faith but like it's 3:30 am i'm too tired to add this many disclaimer. #so i'm gonna trust you to not jump to conclusions and to approach this in good faith okay? mwah 🖤) #also my whole ramble abt morality (in the tags too) is relevant to. any topic really #i may just make a separate post about it really. .....tomorrow tho.

[irritablepoe]

Little rant about my friend and consuming media lmao

Ok how do you consume media and still have NO IDEA who even the main character's name is? I recommended tma and bsd to a friend - well he started both. I ask him about it - like who his favourite character is or what he thinks of it - and he's so.... Confused almost? Like he just shrugged and said that he actually had no idea what was going on - which ok is kinda fair with bsd but like. you know the characters at least. Each one of them is introduced in some dramatic way, you can't MISS any of that and surely there's at least one character that gets your attention/that you relate to/that you find interesting. I mean ok maybe you forget the name or sth, but you at least remember the characters when I describe them to you, right? But no, my friend had no idea who for example Dazai was - DAZAI?! Like. What???? Or Atsushi.. the fucking main character???? Or chuuya???? Or - anyone??? I was so perplexed. How can you watch something and still have no idea about what you're watching?

The same happened with tma. I recommended it, he listened to the first few episodes. I asked him what he thought of Jon. HE DIDN'T KNOW WHO JON WAS I MEAN WHAT???? Oh idk he's just the guy reading the fucking statements. Before every statement he says "audio recording by Jonathan Sims" like how can you... miss that?

Idk, am I just consuming media so intensely or is he just... I don't even know.... Disinterested in engaging with the media one is consuming? It's not even that he doesn't like it. I asked him and he said it was good. But what exactly does he find good when he has no idea about. like. anything.

#vent post #personal #ranted to my mum about it as well and she said it might be bc he's stoned out of his ass the whole time #hhhhh #but i think more and more people don't have media literacy anymore #like they don't consume media critically they just watch whatever gets their attention first #it feels so dystopian.... #like wasting your time on those types of media just so that you're passing the time and not engaging with it #idk if that makes sense #i think I'm kinda hurt as well bc i thought we could talk about these series together #i even watched some of the things he enjoyed but he doesn't have a clue about them either #he always says that i become the “expert” on those mediums anyways so he doesn't have sth to add to the conversation #but that's not at all what i want? like I'm not the expert of anything i just want to talk about what he enjoys #and maybe get him to talk about things i enjoy as well #this all feels so bitchy I'm so sorry #ok rant over ig #thank you for reading all of that🙏💕

[ace-driver]

Been thinking more about the Elmer, JoJo and Henry friendship but regarding language/culture-

Elmer's canonically Polish, JoJo has a Spanish name and I hc Henry with at least some German heritage (hence with he's the most confused by Race saying "the world's your ester", bc to Henry it sounds like "the world's your first"???)

Anyways all three of them try to teach each other their native languages. JoJo is Awful at Polish pronunciation but other than that all three are able to hold decent conversations. They like messing with the others by having conversations all talking in their native languages and still understanding each other

God, I love this idea so much; you are *so* correct

#sorry i don't really have anything of substance to say here #my brain is not braining atm and i am in a. not inconsiderable amount of pain #also when i say my brain will not shut up about these characters #it's really more of a no thoughts head empty just ✨the boys✨ type of situation #i'm not sure i could add onto this if i tried lmao #newsies #newsies headcanons #jojo newsies #elmer newsies #henry newsies #emmy's inbox #this world will remember you

[rotisseries]

omg guys my narines playlist fucks so hard

#LIKE. THIS IS NASTYYYYYYYYY #<-sorry I'm just saying that cause unpunishable by miss ethel herself is on #and this is the first time in 3 and a half weeks that I've listened to anything other than unreal unearth btw #anyway I'm listening to the playlist both because I really want to but also cause whenever I make a playlist #I need to listen to the whole thing at least once. see it in action #to make sure it's actually good #cause I have this tendency to get powerhungry with the song adding and I'll just add more and more songs I like #while getting looser and looser about whether or not they actually fit the prompt #and I check if they fit just by pulling up the lyrics which is sometimes different from actually listening to the song #like sometimes you look at lyrics and you're like yeah I could interpret this my way #or yeah it mostly fits but the few lines that don't are ignorable #and then when you actually listen to the song you're like oh no you CAN'T interpret it that way and those lines AREN'T ignorable #so yeah I gotta do playlist editing basically because I lose my mind #like do I really need six of the kim petras halloween songs on here. debating on if turn off the lights really fits. I'm not sure #also btw tbostuals I am taking critique on the playlist. tell me if I've lost it please tell me if I need to get stricter on a song #but it does fuck. this playlist does fuck I'm having so much fun

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"Emily..." Randall began, almost tearfully, but it was June and Wilhelm who spoke up over him-not to agree, not to rush her out the door and warn her not to come back, but instead to ask her to stay.

"Please," Wilhelm began, as June reached out to take the young woman's cold hand, stopping her as he continued, "W-Would you stay, just a little longer, lass? Really, we...we'd like it if you stayed. I-I promise, y-you're not intruding; Junie and I weren't able to sleep anyways..."

"You saved our son's life, and you brought him back home to us," June continued gently, as Randall sat up a little, just as surprised as Emily was at this sudden turn of events, this change in reaction in his parents. "We...we can't thank you enough for that. Please, won't you sit down? I...I think we have a lot to talk about...and a lot to apologize for."

At this, Randall's eyes widened further, as he looked between Emily, his mother, and his father, that surprise turning to a sort of tentative relief, as his mother encouraged Emily to make herself comfortable, while June moved to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea, to perhaps soothe their frazzled nerves. She hoped the young woman (not a monster, she thought to herself, but a young woman) would accept, and hear out what the Pace parents had to say.

#((i'm sorry: an a.i. just isn't nearly as threatening as the soul of a serial killer!)) #((the terror of 'child's play' is defidently that andy is so little-he's this adorable little six-year-old who makes your heart melt)) #((watching him make his mom breakfast on his own birthday and getting excited about having a good guy of his own)) #((and so you don't want anything to happen to him! he's being preyed upon by what he thought was his friend)) #((his talking good guy doll-even worse; chucky told andy that he was sent by andy's dead father to play with him)) #((which adds a cruel twist to things-andy just wanted a friend; and now he's in danger; and no one believes him)) #((not until the end! so having andy be older; be attacked by an a.i. doll who should NOT be that strong like you said)) #((and have more allies on his side; it really does take away that fear factor; that level of suspense!)) #((and there really is so much love in the main franchise; as opposed to the 2019 reboot)) #((which feels more like your standard cash grab! it's almost a family affair)) #((considering the actress who played andy's mother in the first film married kevin yagher)) #((who designed and built the chucky animatronic; i think alex vincent's little sister played chucky)) #((for the scene where he runs behind andy's aunt maggie shortly before she goes pushed out the window)) #((and of course brad dourif's daughter fiona is a part of the franchise now; having played nica pierce)) #((and even playing a young charles lee ray in flashbacks for the tv show!)) #((there really is so much love and care behind it; the kind of love and care you just don't see in the reboot!)) #outofhatboxes #beatingheart-bride #V:Dark Shadows

[blue-bird-lamentation]

Looking at some screenshots from accomplice vs golden ending (or bad vs good endings, in general) I noticed that in the first case Yosuke is the last element in the group to speak, while in the second case he is the first one (and he really does not have much to say cause he knows they’ll meet in the future):

In bad endings, Yosuke is the last person to speak. He thanks the main character for the help, yet the vibes are just depressing and sad. The fog wasn’t lifted, the real culprit wasn’t caught (or they believe they caught him but it wasn’t the right person. tbh it gets more disturbing in the accomplice ending case, because the main character found the truth, but he decides to hide it from the others and to reject it (by burning the piece of evidence), and, Yosuke’s words will hit harder “You really helped us out with lots of stuff. Thanks, partner.” <- Yosuke always there, making me feel bad every single time i try to reach Adachi - rightfully tbh), no Dojima nor Nanako nor Teddie there at the station. It’s all gloomy, everyone is sad...because of Nanako’s situation, because of their own actions (if they kill Namatame they kinda do the same he did, manipulated by the killer, and in the name of self proclaimed “Justice” <- Nanako’s arcana, which is just revenge and has severe consequences), and/or a feeling of uselessness because the mystery wasn’t solved. No one runs for the train (the mood is really heavy, and the fog also reduces the visibility).

In the good endings, Yosuke is actually the first one to talk and... he does not even have much to say. He had previously said that he wouldn’t even saying goodbye, cause Yu/Souji would be probably come visit them soon. The mystery was solved, the sky is clean, Dojima Nanako and Teddie are there too, and even if saying goodbye is hard, they all feel like their bonds are strong and that their friendship is stronger than ever. It’s a sad moment but with happy tones, and they will surely meet again (the same won’t probably happen in the bad endings, because even if not revealed to them, the fog will spread and everyone will become shadows).

Yosuke’s expression is kinda similar in both cases, but knowing what has happened in the bad endings gives another meaning to his expression in the bad ones (it also makes me think about the scene where he catches Yu/Souji coming from the TV at Junes, after visiting Adachi, because it begs the question of how much does Yu/Souji trusts the team).

Yu/Souji’s stare is a bit different in both cases, looking more relaxed and calm in the good scenario, although in the bad ending he seems to be staring with some kind of affection (like, appreciation for their friendship and for believing in him, even if, in the accomplice ending he basically fucked everything up).(well, truth be told, they decided to recycle this part for every bad ending, so Yu/Souji will always look like that, being it his belief that Namatame is the killer or his hidden secret about Adachi. And the team looks the same, be it because of the unfortunate circumstances, or because they may feel Yu/Souji might have been hiding something <- which also reminds me how in many game options Yosuke keeps reminding him that he should not be the one carrying all the weight of the investigation and he should trust the team too)The accomplice ending final scene even adds an Adachi roaming aimlessly (or purposely crossing the line when the train Yu/Souji’s in is passing), and it is terrifying, kinda creepy (tbh it felt like he had became a shadow at that point and that he had been able to cross the line without being caught by the train because of that...at least it was what i felt first time watching it).He is waiting for the world as they know to simply end, and even if Yu/Souji decided to burn the piece of evidence, he does not even care about him as a person.On the other hand, completing his social link in a good ending route rewards you with a letter from him (and he calls Izanami bitch in the final final final final battle <3 certified Adachi moment).You can take his words however you want, but it feels like he truly appreciated the times he spent with Dojima, Nanako and Yu/Souji, even if he would still rather see the world burn than try to improve as a person. It does not mean he becomes a better person afterwards, but i guess he understands the concern some people still had for him, which is something he does no feel with Yu/Souji betraying everything he fought for until that moment (also cause going accomplice route is giving up the world, basically).On a final note, I also love how Dojima’s dialogue at the end (before leaving the house) changes depending on which bad ending the player gets, and how his questions are so on point, as if he was acting like some kind of conductor for the player to reflect on their choices.

#persona 4 golden spoilers #persona 4 spoilers #includes the good ending and accomplice ending #having a brainrot about this #i shamelessly did the accomplice ending the other day #not cool but at the same time the OST was so right and the final scene is just perfect...sorry for being kinda obsessed with it #anyways the good true golden ending is amazing i am glad they see each other again. yosuke is happy which is good #but hmmm. i spent 1 hour or more in call with a friend talking about this and now i decided to write this instead of sleeping #sorry for any spelling mistakes i just had to take a portion of my brainrot out of my head #p4g spoilers #p4 spoilers #feel free to comment or add. these are just some of my thoughts #i personally think the bad endings have not that much detail to them but i still like some of the differences between them. #and i especially love they added the accomplice and let you max the SL while saying in your face that you fucked up this time #not even Adachi rewards you anything special. yu gets his number so he can control him #the dialogue was so good tho... #also sorry for how messy this text may look/be #i messed up with the post format and i don't wanna copy and put the pictures again so i had to add the ones at the beginning #in order to be able to post ( i suck at this) #long post