When I was a wee thing, my parents moved out the the Highly dubious condo in East Palo Alto and into a relatively nice suburban neighborhood, into a house immediately across the street from my new elementary school. Immediate, as in, less than 40 feet from the traffic circle. Mom would wave at me from the driveway sometimes while I was in class. This should have made getting me to and from school easy, but there was an issue:
I still had to cross the street, and because I was living in the over-caffeinated heart of silicon valley at the time, that meant dodging the local commuters barreling through the school zone at upwards of 40 miles per hour with no regard for the stop signs.
The flashing “School Zone” signs were ignored. The city refused to put in speed bumps or devote extra patrol cars. One of my classmates grandmother’s volunteered as crossing guard, and some jackass in a BMW ran over her foot on the first day.
Now, mom declared as we drove Mrs. Manchez to the hospital her foot in a beer cooler full of ice, Would be a good time to take the law into my own hands.
So after dropping Mrs. Manchez off at the hospital, we drove to the thrift store, where my mom found a navy blazer, aviator sunglasses, a pilot’s cap and an old, clunky-looking hair dryer.
The next morning, mom went out to the sidewalk in her new “uniform”, with the hair dryer and a legal pad so she could write down the grocery list. Every time a car would come roaring down the road, Mom would look up, point the hairdryer at them, and, and write something down.
I remember listening to brakes squeal all day the first time she tried it, Mercedes and BMWs screeching to a crawl as they passed the school, glaring at her. By that afternoon, cars were creeping along at an over-cautious 10mph, and I was able to get home without taking my life into my hands.
After that, Mom went out “in uniform” every couple of days, because intermittent re-enforcement is what REALLY gets a change in behavior going, and point the hair dryer at anyone speeding through the school zone, usually while writing down grocery lists or short stories, or drawing unflattering caricatures of the other PTA moms.
Eventually, however, one of the cars that came through was a patrol car, and he slowly pulled to a halt in front of mom, glaring at her though his own reflective glasses.
She smiled an waved the hair dryer. “Good afternoon!”
“…What’re you doing?” he groaned, 3 in the afternoon entirely too early for this shit.
“Writin’ a grocery list.” She beamed, and when that failed to satisfy him, she explained about the speeding problem and that if they couldn’t send a partol car out here to ticket people regularly, she figured that a hair dryer would be the next best thing. Working like a charm so far. They didn’t even notice the little airplanes on the Pilot’s hat.
The officer stared at her for a moment longer before his face broke out into a slow grin. “Y’know, when we’re out of a car, we usually wear visibility vests. So more people see you and your… Phaser.”
And that’s the story of how Mom and Officer Brown met and started the neighborhood watch program.
In my opinion, Takao sometimes uses teasing and laughing as a sort of a defense mechanism. The manga, being a shonen jump series and all, following some stereotypes; shows a rather more typical approach to the characters so they usually use the same “characteristics” and act the same most of the time in the manga. Like, Midorima is often shown as this “horoscope freak and usually grumpy tsundere” and Takao is shown as this “teasing and bubbly, happy-go-lucky” character. So I am forever grateful for all these extra stuff, because you get to see the depth of the characters. And that’s why the more I read about Midorima and Takao’s interactions, the more I see that Takao is often the one who barely shows his true feelings. He either uses humor and teasing, or he just freaks out and stutters. Midorima is much bolder about that in my opinion, so that’s why I’ve always found it easier to write Midorima in fics, compared to Takao.
Also from what I’ve gathered in these recent 3ds game translations, Midorima can be highly cooperative and caring. So I can’t just put him in a typical “tsundere” category, because he openly shows his caring side at times. I mean, compared to Takao, who do you think shows his true intentions and feelings more? I would definitely say Midorima. He is open, direct, somewhat bold; even when he is in denial, because you can understand when he is in denial and when he’s not. But with Takao, it’s not always completely crystal clear. He teases Midorima, but does he always do that because he likes it? I don’t believe it, because he also knows his boundaries and knows when not to push it too far, he knows when to stop. So he is aware of things happening around him, and for him to take a step back when necessary shows that he truly cares. That’s why I can’t be sure of his actions most of the time. But it’s obvious that he can get serious and can read Midorima so well, that’s a side of Takao I truly love.
Compared to Midorima, who usually hides his caring side more and covers it with boldness and harsh attitude; Takao hides his serious side more and covers it with teasing and humor. And that’s another thing I love about them, because it shows that they are not one dimensional characters, and there is much more to them than just being stereotypes.
I knew I did from that first moment we met. It was… Not love at first sight exactly, but – familiarity. Like: oh, hello, it’s you. It’s going to be you.
One of my neighbours slipped this under my door while I was practising, I thought they were going to make a noise complaint but they just had a request. I played it with my windows open and I heard really loud clapping come from a balcony a few stories up which was super lovely. I’m in such a lovely mood now it’s so nice to be appreciated.
I want to see a world that’s… well, let’s start like Harry Potter, with the secret magical and separate muggle worlds, with muggleborns and halfbloods and purebloods, and kids who make a surprise discovery one day. Only, I want to see a world where the most powerful magic users, consistently, are the muggleborns.
It’s not a guarantee, it’s not like every muggleborn is stronger than every pureblood, but there’s a definite pattern, and everyone knows it. Because magic is power, but it’s also wonder; magic is the impossible made real and the awesome spread of all that could be. And there is no moment in any life more magical than the moment a muggleborn child discovers magic is real. They will go through their lives forever in the echo of that moment, that knowledge that magic can do absolutely anything and they can do magic.
The purebloods keep up, because they have milennia of history and tradition behind their spells and rituals, and belief is a kind of magic too. Their magic is dependable, reliable, easy to predict, and that’s useful.
But the big magic, the magic that rips the world apart and puts it back together, the magic that warps time and makes legends, that is the realm of the muggleborns.
Because purebloods view magic like clouds; sometimes they’re pretty, sometimes they’re powerful, sometimes they’re just “ugh I hope it doesn’t rain today, I planned a picnic.”
Muggleborns look at magic and they see wonder, potential, power; they see magic.
There is no more powerful believer than a convert.
…So apparently I needed way fewer words than I used, but yes, that exactly.
just moving along like everyone else 