#just uh don't try to think about how he's having this flashback as he dies

[daily-suyao]

[thelov3lybookworm]

Hello. I was wondering. If u could write something where reader is mayed to the bat boys. She has a sickness that her father died from and she has and hasn't told her mates nor her younger siblings. They find out and are frantic. You can add flashbacks of how her father was loving, single dad, and his final moments with her. ( I was hoping it could be a small series). U can add whatever u think looks cute. Thank you!

Why Don't We Celebrate? (part 1)

Summary: New revelations leave Y/n shook.

•○●⛦●○•

A/n: I'm gonna make this hurt 😌

(also, make sure to check out @readychilledwine's losing forever as it is based on the same request!)

Anyways, enjoy bbs!❣️

•○🌑○•

Y/n almost nearly flew with her nonexistent wings as she walked up to the door of the town house. She and her new lover were supposed to go to a new restaurant that he had found, and she had told him she would meet him at the town house.

It hadn't been all that long since she saw him. Maybe a day or two.

They had only met barely over six months ago, while she was walking around Velaris picking up groceries.

The two of them were taking it slow. They had only slept together once, and that was the last time she saw him. It also didn't help that they'd met just before Rhysand became high lord, and then Cassian had mostly become busy with helping his brother handle the court.

Y/n didnt mind. In fact, she was proud of him for it. But she couldn't say she wasn't jealous or possessive of him sometimes. After all, she should be allowed to spend time with her love.

But the fact that she loved how important Cassian was also did not mean she liked Rhys much. She almost hated him, and would have given him an earful long ago if he hadn't meant so much to her lover. She always pushed it down, trying not to let her anger at not being able to have her lover all to herself cloud her judgement and kill Rhysand the first chance she got.

Y/n knocked on the front door of the town house, smiling at the thought of meeting her lover.

The door opened after a moment, and Azriel, Cassian's other friend, smiled at Y/n from the doorway. "Hey. It's been so long since I last saw you. How have you been?"

Y/n smiled at Azriel, trying not to let the impatience show. "I'm good Azriel. Uh, how are you?"

Azriel gave her a knowing smirk. "I'm good I'm good. Are you here to see Cassian? I think he's a little busy."

Disappointment crashed through Y/n, and she deflated. Now that she thought about it, she should have confirmed with Cassian. After all, they had made the plan to go out a week ago. He might've forgotten or something important might have come up.

Y/n shook her head, smiling at Az. "It's nothing much. We had plans to meet and go out, but I guess not. Just let him know I was here and tell him to come home as soon as he can."

Az looked dumbfounded. "I think Rhys can get someone else to do the work, I- I will talk to Rhys-"

Any other time, Y/n would have gladly taken up that offer, but right now she was pissed at Rhys and wanted to make him feel guilty.

"It's okay, nevermind. Just let him know I was here for Cass and that he ruined all the plans." Y/n winked at the spymaster, on whose face a smirk spread.

"Sure."

•○🌑○•

Y/n stared at her father who lay on the bed for a moment, coughs wracking his body before she went to his side, settling on the edge of the bed.

She had walked directly to his home after she found that Cassian was busy. She had nothing else to do, and it had been over ten days since she saw him, so she had to go meet him anyways.

But the moment she entered, she heard him coughing from his room, and she had run up as fast as she could.

"Father? Are you okay?" She questioned as she placed her palm on his forehead.

He was burning up.

He continued coughing as Y/n filled a glass of water for him, bringing it over from the table in the corner. She helped her father sit up, wondering what the hell was going on.

After drinking the water, he calmed down a little, leaning back against the headboard.

He lived alone, all his kids having moved out when they came of age. He'd been pretty happy to have his space all to himself too, always grumbling about his clingy kids and cursing their late mother for not being around to go through the torture alongside him.

"Paa? Are you alright?" Y/n asked after a moment when he remained silent.

He sighed at that, patting the space next to him. "How have you been, my darling child?"

Y/n leaned against him, holding his hand. "I'm very happy, father. But that's not the important thing right now. Have you seen a healer?"

She did not say anything else, waiting for him to tell her what the hell was up.

After a moment, he spoke. "Do you know how your mother passed?"

Y/n's blood chilled, and she sat up straight to look at her father.

"Why are you asking me that?"

He smiled ruefully, ignoring her question. He ran his shaking hand through his thinning dark hair through which his scalp was visible, now turning white at the edges.

"She had been so healthy." He mumbled, more to himself than her. "It was all going so well. But one day, she fell sick. We thought it was a normal fever, that it would go away soon."

He shook his head, laughing a little as he let his hand fall limp at his side, only increasing the bad feeling in Y/n's stomach. "What are you trying to say paa?"

Again, she was ignored. "Her condition only worsened. I should not have listened to her and got a healer. Alas, I was madly in love and did not want to upset your mother. Curse her for being so selfless."

Tears shone in the eyes Y/n had inherited, and her heart squeezed at the longing in that all knowing gaze. Her father had always been a strong male, never showing emotions considered negative in front of his kids, so watching him cry now was like a bolt directly to Y/n's heart.

He hadn't even shed a tear at his wife's death, and Y/n, being an angsty adolescent, had resented him a little for what she assumed was the lack of love for her mother. She had grown to understand that all he wanted was to be strong for his kids and he thought that shedding tears with them would make him weak.

"She did not want a healer to come see her, because back then, we were not as well off. It was either get a healer, or feed the four kids. For her, suffering was a better option than starving her kids."

Y/n's father coughed again, and Y/n rubbed back until he calmed. With a sigh, he continued.

"When her sickness worsened to the point where she started begging for the sweet release of death, I dragged a healer back home. I had fought her, yelling at her for being so- so uncaring." A sob ripped out of his chest, tears slipping down his sagging cheeks. Y/n did not move to wipe them, despite how much she wanted to for fear of breaking this moment.

"But it was too late by then. On my way back with the healer, I had planned to apologise for yelling at her. We were both so young, and you were an unplanned surprise. We did not know what to do. And then you grew up so fast, and your mother wanted more kids. We had no idea how to navigate life. It was hard. And sometimes these feelings would just... burst out. And I know it is no excuse for my harsh words, but I have nothing else to blame but myself."

Her father lifted a weathered hand to rest upon her head, and she leaned her head down, laying her head on his lap to hide her tears. "When I reached home, you told me your mother had stopped coughing. I thought it was some miracle and that she'd healed. But then I went to check on her and she... she'd passed." His voice broke on that, and Y/n's throat constricted at the pain in his voice.

"The healer found out that she'd acquired a rare disease, even for mortals, who acquire diseases left and right. It was highly contagious, so that meant I was at high risk-"

Y/n didn't let him complete, sitting up straight faster than she could think. "What? Don't tell me you-"

"Are sick with with the same disease? Yes. It had apparently been lying low in my body, and now it's acting up."

"Paa..." Y/n spoke on a broken breath, the tears finally spilling over her cheeks.

Her father smiled sadly. "I've sent letters to all the kids to come visit me. They don't know that I'm sick, just that I want to see them. I do not think I have much time, but-"

He coughed, and Y/n watched helplessly, knowing she could do nothing but watch and curse the mother.

"Papa, why did you not tell them that you're sick?! They would have raced home if they knew-"

"Yes, but I did no want to bother them. I am old as it is. I would have died no matter what. I'm just dying today instead of tomorrow. What's the big deal? They anyways have more important things to do and care about than this old skeleton covered with flesh."

His entire body shook at the next fit of coughs, and he doubled over.

Y/n, unable to sit and watch his misery any longer, stood. "Papa, I will go get a healer. I'm sure there's a solution."

Her father glanced at her with a small, knowing smile as he settled back, slithering down to lie on his back. "Alright my child. I will just rest for a minute here. Sleep a little." He grunted before he finally settled down, calm overtaking his features. His next words were soft, mumbled on an exhale. "I love you, my little princess."

Despite not wanting to believe the fact, Y/n knew his soul had left his body before that final sigh did.

Y/n knew that the sweet embrace of death had claimed him before sleep could.

•○🌑○•

The door creaked open, soft light from the lanterns outside spilling through the crack in the door as Cassian shouldered his way in, mumbling to himself.

"I fucking hope Rhys gets burning diarrhea. Bastard." He muttered under his breath as he shut the door softly behind him, trying to make as little noise as possible in the darkened house, the only light source the lamps outside.

In the dark, Y/n could not see what he was doing, but she did not have to wait long. The faelights came on, and she found Cassian standing in the middle of the foyer, his hands outstretched out towards the lights.

He jumped when he realised that Y/n was sitting against the wall nearby, staring at him. He grinned wide before faltering, taking in the state of his lover. He quickly made his way over to where Y/n sat, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"My love, are you aright?"

Y/n could do nothing but stare, her eyes vacant and body numb. She had no more tears to give, so she simply stared at her lover as he tried to fuss over her. "He's gone."

Cassian gave her a cautious look, and Y/n could see the wheels churning in his head as he tried to think of a way to get more information out of her.

She spared him the effort.

"My father. He passed."

•○🌑○•

General Taglist: @bubybubsters @eos-princess @nightless @harrystylesfan2686 @cassie6392 @kennedy-brooke @tele86 @miluiel1 @hnyclover @minnieoo @sidrapotter @piceous21 @mybestfriendmademe @saltedcoffeescotch @berryzxx

Cassian Taglist: @moonlwghts @samslittlespoon

[tizzyizzy]

I'm dissatisfied, and not just for the obvious reason.

"You're surrounded by family."

Uh, no, Ed isn't surrounded by family. Most of the crew haven't properly forgiven him. They just tolerate him. Them becoming family is possible with more development, but not yet.

And this doesn't matter anyway because Ed left the Revenge to start an inn with Stede.

Stede gives up piracy??? Ed literally broke up with Stede on the last episode due to fear of their incompatibility, and then they talk about it and Stede gives up piracy literally off-screen?

Ed's 1-2ep rampage and its consequences did not receive a proper resolution. Like, at the beginning of ep6 he was still having flashbacks about shooting Izzy.

Honestly, Izzy's death seems to have been used as a narrative shortcut for a lot of Ed's development. He doesn't have to deal with the guilt of having hurt Izzy and trying to make it up to him because Izzy forgave him anyway and died. No more lingering guilt.

Also Stede seems like he... didn't get development? A proper arc? Idunno, he just humiliated himself over Ed leaving in ep7. But he's perky in ep8? Why isn't he depressed about his failure, the capture of the crew, and Ed leaving him all in a short span of time?

Ed never told Izzy he loved him? Like, how can you have a scene where Ed only confessed his love for Izzy only after Izzy isn't there to hear it, then NOT have him say it at Izzy's death bed in the finale? I don't mean that just from an edizzy perspective. Ed's struggle to express love to Izzy was part of his character. Yes, he called Izzy family, but the word "love" still should have been used.

I genuinely think that e8 could have been a series of scenes of characters having conversations and it would have wrapped up better.

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 47 Yaoibachi Posting

Hokazono-sensei really slammed the gas this chapter, man. No search and rescue mini-arc here- just going back to the series' roots by having our good guys slaughter nameless mooks in suits. Excellent decision! But goodness it feels like he's trying to rush through this set-up to get to what he really wants to say this arc. I trust the emotional impact to land so I guess this really is the Kunishige lore/flashback arc since that's where the narrative focus went.

First off, I got the official arc name wrong last post. It's actually The Sword Bearer Assassination Arc. So, uh, maybe don't get too attached to any of the guys Chihiro will be trying to save. Might be difficult though if they're all as endearing as Uruha.

This Fucking Manga, Man

I just can't even this chapter. I CAN'T. I'm sitting here drafting this on Thursday and I'm in awe of the spreads. Cover and color pages? Stunning. Fanservice? Immaculate.

Yes, we got onsen fanservice after all!

Now accepting bets on who Uruha will be shipped with more: his personal guard guy or Kunishige.

Of course it pulls double duty to give us insight into Uruha and, by proxy, Kunishige. I was right on the money about Uruha being a free-spirited dude with a unique perspective last week... but I didn't imagine he'd basically be a wholesome AF version of Sojo. The Kunishige worship from this guy is off the fucking charts (and so are the Hakuri-Chihiro parallels)!

"This blade suits you" from Kunishige is a callback to Hakuri's words to Chihiro in chapter 20. I love it when authors do this shit. Can we infer that Chihiro felt the same level of awe for Hakuri? Probably not, but he did need to hear that affirmation quite badly, so it's still significant.

You don't get to comment on other guys being weirdly obsessive over a Rokuhira on sight like that, Hakuri.

THESE DUMBASS GOOBERS. Poor Chihiro's still collecting weirdos while Hakuri has no self-awareness at all. I'm in tears this is just too good. Hakuri, I love you. You're perfect.

I don't wanna get hyped after just one chapter for something that probably won't be happening. I get just about everything wrong week after week anyway! But I wouldn't mind Chihiro and Hakuri's relationship being compared to and developed through Uruha and Kunishige, just sayin'... Please... Hokazono-sensei went through the trouble of making sure we know that Uruha is obviously meant to parallel Hakuri, so that won't go to waste right?!

TFW the light of your life dies and leaves you behind.

'Cause this feels like a set up... I don't know, man. It's impossible to guess how the story's going to go but I get the sense that Uruha is going to have a lot to teach both of these guys- Hakuri in particular.

Neither Hakuri nor Uruha put a lot of value on their own lives until a Rokuhira showed up to praise them. And they're both freakishly devoted to the image of their savior to the point that they're willing to fight and possibly die for them. So we could be exploring that aspect of Hakuri's mindset as a subplot while the larger machinations swirl around them, since it's a pretty potent character flaw and all. I need Sazanami "defend to the death" Hakuri being convinced to give a shit about himself so, so badly.

Goddamnit, please stop hurting yourself.

Hakuri's also unable to use Isou due to burnout, as expected. Still wondering if the Kamunabi knows he can use two sorcery techniques but I won't hold my breath on getting answers for that. It's not necessary for this to be addressed unless it would cause some kind of friction, after all. And for as much as I would like to see the council's reaction to Hakuri and his circumstances, I don't think it'll be relevant. We'll just have to assume they either don't know his last name or are completely fine with a Sazanami being included in the plans. I wanna be wrong though. I really do.

Contract, Powerscaling, and Naming Conventions

We learned some interesting things this chapter. One, the theory of the Lifelong Contract erasing a Bearer's innate sorcery is confirmed. So if we are ever going to learn what Chihiro's sorcery is, Enten will have to be an exception to the other six swords, or he has two sorceries and the contract only nullifies one. I'm not sold on the second one since Hakuri only overworked the storehouse but is limited using both of his, implying there's a common pool of spirit energy they draw from. Looking forward to more details on how this works!

It also seems that the Bearers weren't tucked away in "safe" locations until Kunishige's death three years ago. So they probably got to live their lives as they wished until the Hishaku ruined things... which would explain how Sushi guy ended up at a restaurant. I feel like each location could have special meaning to each Bearer so hopefully we see more about how and why they ended up where they did.

Hiyuki also wasn't lying about the Kamunabi's forces being spread thin. Just 14 talented sorcerers to defend each Bearer, and even then Uruha would have felt more reassured if Azami or Hiyuki was there.

Nice going, Azami! So we know you're hella strong since Hiyuki's the best fighter in the Kamunabi- the only one in the force who can contend with Kunishige's WMDs (ch. 18). I think a Bearer would know how strong an enchanted blade is, so we can assume that Uruha's assessment of Azami's strength is accurate. Azami can't be sent out on the ground like the rank and file as a higher up now, but I'm highly anticipating him demonstrating that fearsome sorcery of his.

We also got another name! Kuregumo's original bearer was named Misaka (巳坂). This is most probably a family name like Uruha (more on him in a bit). 巳 (mi) means "snake" for wisdom and intelligence and 坂 (saka) means "slope/hill" or "embankment" for steady progress, a peaceful life, security, and/or strength and resilience. We'll definitely learn more about them- it's just a matter of when. The upside of Hokazono-sensei being stingy with names is that we all know to sit up and pay attention when one gets dropped.

We also got Uruha's given name this chapter (Youji [洋児]) and the name of his blade (Kumeyuri [酌揺]). Strange names for a strange fellow, but that's expected of someone whose family name implies a free-spirited nature with a unique outlook I guess. 洋 (you) is a kanji that specifically describes the ocean in an expansive, almost foreign sense. Not just the sea in general, but vast waters extending far away from one's current location. It has a ton of possible interpretations, naturally: courage, ambition, adaptability, limitless possibilities, harmony, inclusiveness... on and on. 児 (ji) means "child" in a straightforward way and carries connotations of joy, hope, and potential. So Uruha Youji [lacquer feather ocean child] is quite the character in his name alone.

Kumeyuri's name doesn't really give us any insights into it's potential abilities or theme, unless Kunishige was drunk (or wanted to be) when he made it. 酌 (kume) is the kanji used for pouring sake and implies generosity, abundance, and celebrating joy. 揺 (yuri) means to shake, sway, or jostle and connotes a sense of energy, playfulness, enthusiasm, and fun. I'm getting a lot of entertainment value trying to imagine how a sword named after a shaky pour of sake works, let me tell you. Somehow it seems very apt for Uruha already though.

Dead Dad Trivia

So Kunishige himself requested to hold on to the blades- it's very certain now that whatever happened during the war changed him into the man we met in chapter 1. Seitei war flashbacks please, I'm dying over here! But keep up the layering and scattering of little details! Don't feed me too fast! Make me wait and get all impatient every week! Torture me-

Curious that many people who seem to have known Kunishige doubted his potential as a father. Whether they see him as a savior or a selfish prick, most of them scoff a the idea of him having a kid. Maybe Kunishige was just a guy with layers like his son, so only those who actually knew him well would believe he could be a decent dad. We saw him goofing off with Shiba and Azami when they were Chihiro's age in chapter 12 so it's not like he was a stoic since birth (he said himself that Chihiro inherited that trait from his mom). We're going to slowly piece together the real Kunishige this arc and I can't wait!

Also a bit odd that few people see the resemblance between Chihiro and Kunishige until Chihiro's passion shines through or they get a good look at how he carries himself. Won't hang my hat on the blood test showing that Kunishige wasn't his bio dad after all, but the groundwork is there if it does. Regardless of what happens, though, it's pretty obvious that Chihiro is Kunishige's son thanks to the ideals he took to heart.

Hishaku Theory

RIP bandanna guy you were too cool to live.

Yeah, "enemies of the state" isn't a term you use for a regular criminal gang, no matter how threatening they are. I'm more convinced than ever that the Hishaku are primarily a political threat to all of Japan (though still very willing to admit that I might be reading too far into things).

Kyora's conversation with an unknown Hishaku member in chapter 22 referred to "dissidents". That's also a very pointed descriptor for people with differing political ideologies, especially ones agitating against the "legitimate" ruling group.

Could Soya come back to finish what his dad started? Meh.

This implies that Kyora and the Sazanami clan were aligned with the Hishaku's goals beyond merely business. The Hishaku probably have sympathizers in and outside of mainstream society, and likely within the Kamunabi itself as well. And then there's the kiku flower -which has strong ties to Imperial imagery- in the vase that's shown up twice now, arraigned alongside other flowers symbolizing deep desire and patience.

So I think the Hishaku lost the war and have been plotting their comeback for a long time now. How does this tie into Chihiro's personal journey beyond the revenge mission? We'll have to see. John Hishaku's goals and methods are shrouded in secrecy right now, so I look forward to learning about why he needed to foster Chihiro's hatred to enact his plans. Cool job making the core plot hook so compelling, author-san!

HakuHiro Brainrot

I have to, I'm sorry. This chapter was a godsend.

Give me an inch and I'll run a thousand miles with these two.

Chihiro acknowledging that Hakuri is special! Feels like a very deliberate reference to the language used in Chapter 33, especially by Tenri. Makes sense since Tenri was a parallel of Chihiro's devotion to his father and his legacy.

"Hakuri- my older brother by a year- is different." would have flowed a little better, but it's a clunky sentence no matter what...

The reference was probably made in order to imply that Chihiro sees Hakuri as a brother (or family in general) via the Tenri connection. However, that won't stop me from shipping them romantically because I'm illiterate as fuck.

ANYWAY.

FOOD IMAGERY WITH HAKURI FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE ICE LADY!!

Hakuri's sharing snacks with Chihiro on the train- he feels so safe with his samurai! And this is the first time we've seen Chihiro accept food since he reluctantly (metaphorically) shared dango with Sojo in chapter 17! He's rejected Shiba's offers, provided one-sidedly for Char, resigned himself to connecting to Sojo to understand him, skipped getting ice cream, and missed the gaming session, but he accepted Hakuri's small gesture...! I'M GOING FERAL

Hakuri is canonically the only character Chihiro's accepted emotional comfort and support from since his dad died. On screen so far, at least.

Hakuri, who was deeply traumatized when he last tried to connect with someone, feels secure enough to do it with Chihiro...

Chihiro, who is only at ease with providing comfort, accepts it for the first time from Hakuri...

The first time we see them exchanging the comfort/security visual metaphor is while they're on their own...

And it's just so casual for them to do this...!

I sounded confident when I called Hakuri the heroine of Kagurabachi in that long-ass post I made a few months ago, but... I was actually right?! Hakuri is Chihiro's first and only emotional safe haven. He's got plot-related utility and can hold his own in a fight, but he's not going to be outshining the likes of Chihiro or Hiyuki any time soon. His faith in Chihiro has been his most valuable contribution to the story- even moreso than awakening to his storehouse ability. The only thing that's missing at this point is the chance of HakuHiro being canon! Seriously!

Alright void... thanks for letting me yap again. Definitely not going to go back to writing fan fiction for the first time in 10+ years because this stupid edgy sword manga broke me. Nope, never, not me...

[crowroboros]

!!! Opinions on: chase.

There is a very solid chance that Chase is my favorite character not just in Echo VN, but in any Echo Project work. He might just be. I just think that he is such a boyfailure in all the best ways. He's such a sopping wet man and he captivates me. I've written and rewritten this so many times because it is so hard for me to even explain why (it's also 3am at the time of me writing this. I'll put it in queue when I'm done)

I think back to how characters in-universe (Chase included) say that he's dull or lacks personality, and I've seen people in the fanbase say that too. And I don't know if I agree with that. Though I do think that his personality is subdued thanks to the presence of the Samulation. He's kind of awkward, easy going, a bit of a pushover, and somewhat friendly. He really is a normal guy. His communication skills are non-existent, especially when he was younger, but he does grow over the course of the VN in most routes. And he seems at least somewhat introspective. A lot of his inner monologue is him reflecting on and being ashamed of his past actions.

Let's talk about those actions. Sydney oh boy oh god. I think a lot of people focus on Chase drowning Sydney but don't look at their relationship leading up to that. It's fucking sad all around. Sydney is said to have considered Chase a close friend, which really just....ow, you know? From all the interactions between Chase and Sydney we see in flashbacks, and from Chase's own words toward the end of Flynn's route, I really don't think Chase liked Sydney but I also don't think he hated him either. I see Chase's thoughts about Sydney and I see a kid going way too far with his efforts trying to protect a friend.

Chase said himself that he was a fucking asshole as a child and I believe him fully. He spread around the rumor that Sydney killed his father, manipulated Carl's fear of ghosts to get what he wants, drowned Sydney, etc. But in the ~12 years since Sydney died he really has grown as a person and I think that's part of what makes Chase so captivating to me and why I like him so much. He did several fucked up things. He was a dick when he was younger and in his teenage years. And to see him during the events of the main game, it's kind of remarkable. Even with that change though, he says himself that he fully believes that Sydney was a danger to TJ and to others and that he's glad he's dead. Yet he still feels a lot of guilt for killing him and has repressed those memories enough to where it is debatable that he even remembers that he did it in the routes where it isn't directly brought up. I find his complexity so intriguing especially when layered with the fact that ever since Sydney died, Chase has been possessed and influenced by the Samulation.

This is hard to write haha. Chase has so much going on that it's just so difficult to get my thoughts in working order to talk about him. Uh to put it simply: I'm a massive Chase fan. I really like this otter. He's so interesting in every way, from his thought-process, to this past, to the little tendencies he has. Fucking love this guy. Maybe I'll make a series of posts talking about different aspects of Chase from his relationships with other characters, to the things he does and the decisions he makes cause there is just SO MUCH to talk about with this otter.

[13eyond13]

Hii! I don't know if you were asked this before, but I'm curious whether you prefer the manga or anime ending of death note and why? Also, your berserk meta posts are always such a delight to read!

Hi hi! It's admittedly been a long while since I've either read or watched the series at this point, so I took some time going back over my asks to see if I could find one where I'd talked about this before. Didn't come across one, but I've definitely contemplated this before, so I'll just do my best to remember what I thought.

So I like both of them in different ways, basically. But if I had to choose one over the other I'd choose the manga ending as the one that I prefer.

Here is a quick rundown of what I think are the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the anime ending:

The best things about the anime ending to me:

-Portrays the horrific awkwardness and tension in the warehouse between everybody leading up to and including Light's confession extremely well. I get so on the edge of my seat and anxious during the buildup to his big breakdown every time!

-Excellent voice acting and iconic laughter during Light's big dramatic Kira confession scene. Who DOESN'T remember that moment, it's definitely one of the anime's best

-Takes a slightly more gentle and merciful and quiet and melancholy approach to Light's death scene with the sorrowful music and the pretty sunset behind him, and takes the time to do things like flashback to his pre notebook innocent self, which is actually the only scene in the series that always makes me cry. Lets Light have a certain dignity and sadness to his death by allowing him to escape off by himself from the others and look as though he's drifting off slowly to sleep. For audience members who still empathize with Light on some level or see the sad side of how he was corrupted by the notebook this can be a choice that they prefer

-Gets so ridiculous and campy at certain points with things like Mikami stabbing himself to death with a pen and then exploding like a bag of blood that I can't help but laugh through the pain a bit

-Makes some nice aesthetic choices like having Light die symbolically on a staircase (which seems like a nod to the fact that he's going to Mu / an in-between or "nowhere" sort of place after he dies, or that he was stopped halfway up in his journey before he could truly attain the "godhood" he desired, and also seems like a bit of a parallel to the rain scene of him sitting on the staircase with L – also gives a little visual flashback nod to L during Light's final moments).

The worst things about the anime ending to me:

-Cuts a lot of important moments and stuff out of the conversations between Light and Near that really enhanced the overall meaning of the story and added to making Near a much more interesting and sympathetic character to me in the manga (particularly stuff like Near talking about what they have in common, and about letting other people have agency and freedom of choice, something that Light was uh not super great at)

-Did Mikami pretty dirty and cut most of his awkward interactions with Light in the warehouse (I feel like he doesn't even get to yell "you're not God!!" at Light in the anime, does he? I'm kinda forgetting now)

-Makes the SPK and the Task Force look a bit dumb and useless in how they're just saying stuff like "there's nothing we can do, he will be dead in a few minutes" while Mikami's bleeding out on the floor and just letting Light escape and run away from them all... also kinda makes it look like Light was SO wounded by the gunshots that he would've died soon anyway. Which takes away some of the dramatic impact that comes from Ryuk writing his name in the notebook!

-In the anime Ryuk seems almost to be writing Light's name in the notebook as a mercy killing, or like he's trying to put him out of his wounded misery, which I find detracts a bit from the whole idea in the manga that Light is forced to experience the same cold and cruel fate of somebody deliberately taking his remaining years of life from him with a death note against his will... something that he remorselessly inflicted upon so many others previously himself. The two of them also don't have any discussions before Light's death in the anime like they do in the manga, which were some pretty interesting and chilling parts of the ending to me (especially Ryuk saying stuff like "you're no longer entertaining me, so you should die right now" to him)

-There is no flashback in the anime to Light and Ryuk talking about EVERYBODY going to Mu after they die no matter how they behaved on earth, which was kinda hugely important as part of the point of the story to me (because I think it forces the audience to draw their own conclusions about who they think was truly good/bad or right/wrong in this story without pigeonholing any of them into one category or another, or by sending anybody to rewarding or punishing afterlifes... I also like that it doesn't treat the notebook users as any special category of person)

-As brutal as the manga ending is in how humiliated and frightened and alone Light is while he dies, I also think there's a certain poetic justice to the horror and embarrassment he experiences during that time. He was constantly taking other people's lives and treating them like pawns in his games, backstabbing and deceiving and discarding them once they were no longer useful to him, and even cruelly gloating over watching them die. I don't particularly enjoy watching him suffer except for how it is a bit narratively satisfying, in a tables-turning "you live by the sword you die by the sword" sort of way

-In general the anime kind of gave me the vibe that it thought Light losing in the warehouse was more about L's team finally winning against Light and getting revenge on him for L's death than about the deeper and more interesting philisophical/ethical questions and themes at play, and about all the entire cast of characters' journeys as a whole

--

Overall I'd say if you want a more narratively satisfying and logical ending with more food for thought and cruel irony and deeper character interactions and existential dread and poetic justice going on then the manga is superior in basically all of these ways

HOWEVER I do still also love the final episode of the anime, I think it's one of the best and most memorable episodes of the entire show, and if you decide to turn off your nitpicking brain a bit and simply enjoy the emotions that it conjures there are some very good dramatic/aesthetic/symbolic choices that it makes

[cho-aaacho]

Deception

Masterlist I Archive Of Our Own

Tags : Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Build, True Love, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Soft Gojo Satoru, Designer Gojo Satoru, Alternate Universe.

Summary : Following the harrowing event with Kashimo Hajime, your late boyfriend, that led to his untimely departure from this world, you embarked on a quest to mend your wounded heart.

But just when you thought you had managed to leave the past behind, a mysterious meeting with Gojo Satoru sent your world falling down. His smile, the way he graced his gaze upon you, and the magnetic allure of his presence sealed your heart to your past life with Kashimo Hajime.

(Prologue)

"Haji... me-chan?"

Never in your wildest dreams did you imagine meeting him in your life again, never thinking that you could see him once again. Your heart raced rapidly, beating so hard that it made you sweat. It was as if God had played a trick on you and placed you in a difficult situation, and it felt so surreal.

You reflected, gazing deeply into his presence, trying to draw him into your universe and reach him through your connection. You immersed yourself in a tranquil evening, stumbled upon reality, and daydreamed. The cold sensation hung in the air, floating like a lullaby at midnight.

The man in front of you frowned; his expression maintained a friendly connection, but you could notice that he was trying to hide his confusion. 

"Hajime-chan?" He inquired. "Are you mistaking me for someone else? Eh, I'm not Hajime!"

Suffocating. You leaned back, and a cruel twist of flashback collection meandered into your mind, evoking your bad memory.

Oh... of course he wasn't Hajime. How could you think he was Hajime? 

Because Hajime is...

"My name is Gojo Satoru; I thought Nanami already told you my name." With a twinkle in his eyes, he tapped your shoulder playfully. "Has he forgotten about that? Oh, but just leave that alone. Why don't you sit down so we can start our conversation?"

"Thanks."

He winked. "Eh, where's Nanami? I thought you were with him."

...already died.

You clenched your fist, trying to calm yourself. But the world around you seems like a black veil without anything bright around you. Oh, how could it be?

With a shy smile, you lift your head, gazing at that face once again, scanning that face for a moment, and trying to solve your puzzle. 

"I'm sorry, it's just slipped in my head. I don't bring my glasses; that's why I am confusing you with someone else."

You lied. A perfect lie. Those words just hanging between your heads trapped you in a beautiful lie.

Satoru giggled, but this time you could sense that he wasn't forcing his laugh. You could feel his care in the air. You swear to God, his smile is a warm smile that you've never seen from a man like him. Too friendly and feels like you are already close to him. 

His azure orbs resembled the blue sky fixated on you, inviting a seductive warmth, and then he allowed his eyes to roam over the entire cafe, drumming his nails to the wooden table and humming.

With a gentle grace, he shook his head and giggled. "Uh, no need to apologize! We are here because Nanami is asking us, correct?" He paused and sipped the tea. "But isn't it quite unusual for Nanami to keep us waiting this long? Do you know where he could be?"

"I don't know; I'm sorry."

Too many questions, and Satoru makes you nervous even more, like trapped in a web of his magnetic presence.

You have no idea if he could notice your gesture, your anxiety, or the way you looked at him with such a gaze. He could be irritated, or perhaps he is already angry but hiding it behind the facade of his charming side.

He breaks the tension. "Oh, don't be so nervous around me. I don't bite; except if you ask me to bite you."

He was giggling with closed eyes, warming your presence with his cute smile. The atmosphere was full of Satoru, full of his vibrant yellow, so warm, yet you struggled to divert your focus. You try to distract it by drinking your coffee, but the liquid seems to linger in your throat, which makes you frustrated. 

You're just freezing like a stupid girl, amazed by how he did that in front of you. Satoru's smile, the way he gazes at you, the way he talks to you—all of this only makes you remember him. Hajime.

But... why were you meeting Gojo Satoru in such situations? Leaving such a pain in your memory. How could it be? Is your fate laughing at you right now?

What would Satoru think when he discovered this truth? Does he know the resemblance between him and your late boyfriend? Your fear of being labeled a freak or, worse, gnawed at the edges of your consciousness.

You can't blame Nanami Kento, do you? It's not fair to blame him alone, because deep down you knew it wasn't his fault. Your fate with Satoru is already written by God Himself. After all, Kento isn't the one responsible for your own emotions.

"Hey," Satoru started, sweat beading on his forehead as he stared intently at his phone. His eyes met yours with concern. With a sigh, he said, "It seems Nanami has some trouble in his office."

"I'm sorry, but why? Nanami said he would come here and bring us the designs for our products."

"Well, you don't know Nanami very well, do you? He's a workaholic, and his annoying boss keeps him in the office all day long. I wanted to show him my design too, but now I can't brag about my design to him."

He escaped an irritating sniff, pouted his lips childishly, and was wrapped in an air of irritation as if he were bathed in a flame of anger. His eyes wandered to the entire cafe as he ran his fingers through his tousled hair.

"Well, we couldn't barge to his office, were we? So how about we do something to satisfy ourselves?"

"What do you mean, Gojo-san?"

"Uh, I mean—yeah," he paused, trying to find the right words to charm you. Despite his sweet-talking nature, he struggled to find the perfect words to amaze your presence.

"Listen, I think we need to exchange our numbers, and I'd love to know where you live. For the time being, I'd like to meet you once more, and we could discuss our project without Nanami. What do you say?"

But why does God place these feelings in your heart? Does He have the right to do so when you can't act upon them?

No... you can't.

"Okay..."

[lumpywhump]

Hidden Scars #2: Pline

still don't know how to do the fancy word link think so boom here ya go

tw: flashbacks

"Hey, are you okay?" Kane stared at the boy. This kid, clearly no older than 12, was out in the middle of nowhere talking to a beaten up stranger who was just laying on the ground. "Mister?" "Uh—" Kane went to talk but was cut off by his own coughing and had to sit up. The boy moved to help, but Kane put up a scarred hand. "I'm fine," they coughed out, finding his pride again. He didn't need help from a child. "Where are your parents?" "Me and my mom live right over there," the child pointed to his right. "Do you guys live near a town?" Kane tried to scratch under the thick metal collar around his throat. "Yeah! Our town is really fun. Trust me, I've been to Farinsburg. We've got an ice cream store right in the center. Can I show you!?" The kid was practically jumping at the idea. "Uh… sure?" Kane shifted and all his muscles ached. "Ow ow ow," they chanted and they slowly stood up. "I have to go tell Mom where we're going and then we can go," the boy began walking. "Oh," he stopped, "my name is Pline, what's your's?" "Kane," he answered as he attempted to keep up. The twigs and bushes scraped his barely covered skin. "Wow, that's a really common name. Mine's a lot less common. My mom named me after this guy who died," Kane nodded, unsure how to reply to that. They approached a house. It was a decent size with yellow sidings and two floors. Pline pulled Kane up the stairs of the deck and opened the glass sliding door. "Mom!" Pline yelled, making the boy jump. "I found someone out in the woods! I'm going to go show them Mermaid's!" Carpeted footsteps echoed through the house until a woman appeared. "Pline, what did you find this time…" the woman trailed off as she took in Kane's appearance. He didn't know how he looked but he was sure it wasn't a pretty sight. "What happened?" She gasped. "I dunno," Pline shrugged, "found him like this. Oh! I forgot about my Lego house!" The kid ran over to the swarm of legos on the floor. "Come in," the woman beckoned.

The woman, Tammy, gently held Kane's chin as she cleaned their relatively fresh wound dragging from their nose and touching his neck. "Where are your parents?" She asked. Kane could tell she was trying to distract him from the pain. "They're in the capital," "What's your last name?" "I—" "Mom!" Pline yelled as he appeared in the doorway. "I finished my house! Can I show you?" "In a minute, I'm trying to help our friend here." Tammy poured more hydrogen peroxide on the rag. Kane hissed as rag touched his skin. "When can I show them Mermaid's?" "When he's feeling better." Tammy reached for a square bandaid to put on the first half of the wound. As she put it on, she folded the bottom so the sticky part wouldn't touch his wound. "Can you hold that?" She grabbed the second bandaid and put the top bandaid over it. "How old are you?" She picked up the rag again and moved onto his arm. "I don't know," Kane whispered. "Last I knew I was 18. What year is it?" Tammy gave him an odd look. "It's 2024," His stomach dropped and his breath quickened. It was as if a thousand bricks landed on him. "It's been two years?" He felt his eyes begin to water, but quickly wiped them away. "Heh, wow," he put on a smile and looked at Tammy. "I've been gone a while," The boy watched Tammy's face go from concern to full blown panic. "What happened?" She quickly schooled her face. "Where were you?" His voice caught in his throat for a second. "I— I don't know," he whispered as he began to stare at the wall. "There was— I didn't— oh my god." He bit his lip and began to scratch around the collar. "Hey," Tammy gently lowered the boy's hand, "why don't we get that off you, yeah?" Kane nodded, his ratty hair bouncing with the movement. He tensed as he watched Tammy's hands slowly reached for his neck. His skin throbbed under the collar as the woman felt around the back for a release button. With a satisfying click, Kane could finally breathe. Without the weight of the collar, it finally sunk in what he had done. He was free. "Holyshi— sugar!" Tammy blinked. "Uh…" she looked down at the collar. The thing was brown on the outside and black on the inside. There was a metal ring in it. The ring matched the patterns of burns on his neck. Kane stared at the floral shower curtain. He didn't want to meet the woman's gaze, afraid of what he might find.

"No one wants you now. Think about it." The boy's captor chuckled. "Why are you still here? With your family's resources they should have found you easily," Kane looked around although the blindfold was snug around his eyes, he still tried to catch a hint of light. "You're not hidden that well. They just don't want you back. They know you're ruined." A smooth finger traced the large scar on his arm. "Can't have you seen all mangled, hm?"

"Kid?" Kane blinked and returned Tammy's gaze. "You okay?" Kane was about to nod before he was interrupted. "What kind of question is that? Of course you aren't. Listen, when you're all patched up we're going to find your parents, okay?" "Uh, sure." Kane didn't want to argue with her that he was an adult. Especially because he did in fact live with his parents

[eyesontheskyline]

Hiya! I’ve been seeing this hc circulating around for a while and I wanted to hear your opinion about it. I don’t know if you’ve seen it before, but someone posted a long analysis about how when Emily mentioned killing someone in the Doyle arc, she wasn’t referring to Declan but to some person she might’ve actually killed, a civilian maybe (possibly while undercover). It’s difficult for me to imagine a situation other than Emily trying her absolute hardest to keep someone away and failing, which is what would cause an untimely death completely unrelated to her involvement. Idk just the idea of her killing is so against her character and so against everything she stands for in the show, I think it’s more she thought she had something to do with someone’s death - in an impossie situation - rather than actually having a hand in it.

Hi! So I'm not 100% sure if we're thinking about the same post, but if so I think I might've replied to it at some point. And disclaimer before I say anything: many interpretations are valid, and one of my favourite things about this arc is that it introduces so much complexity.

Personally, I think he's talking about Declan. Not because of any particular character thing about Emily - just because it makes narrative sense. The entire arc is this slow unveiling of what he is actually getting revenge for, and it's Declan. So from memory here's kind of how the 'reveal' of Declan goes. I am definitely going to miss things.

"You took the only thing that matters to me." - we have no idea what he's talking about here, just that whatever it is, he wants Emily to pay with her life.

"Happy birthday, my love." - again, we don't know who he's talking to, but he's in a Catholic church lighting a candle at a side altar so they're probably dead.

The whole reveal about the gimmel ring and the flashback to him giving it to her - we learn they were in a committed relationship and that he wanted to marry her. (This is another place the fandom differs but it's at least complicated for her, and he does seem to genuinely love her in his own fucked up way.)

Some members of the team are used narratively to try to plant the idea with the audience that maybe this ruthlessness actually does say something Bad about Emily. Whether you think this is clumsily done or a logical place for Morgan's mind to go is up for interpretation, but the things he says are there in the script to plant the question 'is she bad, actually?'

"This won't be the first time you've killed an innocent, but it will be the first time you have to watch". We're like 'omg what is he talking about', because we still don't know about Declan. [[From his POV, as far as he knows, she was the only person who knew about his son, and his son was killed by someone else to break him. She caused his son's death, but didn't have to watch. It just feels overwhelmingly more likely that this is what he's referring to here than anything else, because getting her to confess to this is the entire point of capturing her and torturing her.]]

That weird hammy scene between Rossi and Ashley where Ashley is like "WHY FAMILIES???" that leads to the team realising Doyle killing a child he could've chosen to spare could be the key to figuring out why he's taken Emily. Clyde wonders, if Doyle had a kid, why Emily would've kept that from him, and we don't know the answer.

Doyle tells Emily if she knew where to find him she knows "what this is about", and it's time for her last confession. She says "take me to where he died" - this is the first time we hear her acknowledge Declan at all and it's like 15ish mins from the end of Lauren.

The flashback of her with Declan. She clearly loves this kid and cares about protecting him. Uh oh did she actually get this child killed????

Doyle shows her the photo of Louise and Declan. They very much appear to be dead, she is the only person who knew Declan was his child, she admits to putting him in the profile and Doyle says the photos were what broke him and got him to talk. She's crying about it. It very much seems like this child is dead and she is responsible. (I honestly think as long time fans and people obsessed with this arc, we forget how late this reveal comes and how much the audience does not know what really happened yet at this point.)

"There's something you don't know about those photos" etc etc etc where we hear Emily fill in what Doyle (and the audience) didn't already know, and makes her behaviour fit with what we already knew about her - she put a lot on the line to protect this kid, even kept him a secret from Clyde, who has been established as Even Shadier Than Her, and all is well with our understanding of our ruthless fave.

Narratively, almost every single thing Doyle says to or about Emily is slowly revealing to the audience what he understands of what happened to his son, and then from 'there's something you don't know about those photos', it's Emily telling us what Doyle didn't know. It doesn't really make any sense (to me) for this one thing to be totally unrelated to that, especially for him to choose this particular moment to not to make it about Declan. Fahey isn't a stranger - Ian is about to have her choose the life of one innocent person she knows over another. As far as he knows at this point, she bonded with his kid and then had him killed as a means to her own end. Pointing a gun at two friends and an acquaintance and making her choose who to kill is the perfect moment to torture her with that fucked up choice he fully believes she already made.

I think with hindsight, looking back when we already know the whole story, it's easy enough to spin it another way. But in the context of this whole arc being a slow unveiling of Declan, it just doesn't make any sense to me for that to be an unrelated statement about some other shady thing she did, because all Doyle cares about is getting revenge for her getting Declan killed.

(That said, I think Emily is a pretty morally grey character, and I always think about what Reid says about the undercover cop in Retaliation - "good guy doing bad things". I'm sure Lauren did plenty of bad things because you need to if you're not going to blow your Bad Guy cover. I think Ian does that fond 'hello, Lauren' when she says to shoot Fahey not because he's familiar with her making the choice to kill someone, but because he's familiar with the ruthless logic she uses, and the way she protects the people closest to her first. It's very Emily, and apparently very Lauren too.)

[kyros-tha-soldier]

💥 ONE PIECE 1012 SPOILERS 💥

Fresh page of 1012's OFFICIAL release under the cut by the legendary Pewpiece (don't click if you don't wanna be spoiled)

This is the official release, and no i don't think it's the official translation tho:

We have an explanation for how was Dragon going to go help Luffy escape from loguetown, notice how he said nothing about Luffy because:

1- he's not supposed to let even his subordinates and comrades know about their relationship

2- let's say he even mentioned it to sabo, Sabo wouldn't understand since by then he had amnesia and didn't remember until after a while (after the marineford and Ace's death)

also, there's a very nice detail about Smoker: Loguetown is basically his own turf because as we saw in the gol d roger execution flashback, Smoker has been there, therefore he used to mainly work in Loguetown and nearby islands and places, yet he still followed the strawhats through reverse mountain and even into the grandline by himself instead of waiting for another marine to do that ESPECIALLY after Luffy got away from him in loguetown, he just wants to get that rubbery bot so bad in jail!

Ace is a cute brother, taking pride in his lil bro's shenanigans and flexing the fact that his brother is strong... Jinbe is more angry that Luffy beat Arlong out of all people especially when you remember their relationship

Remembering what happened in thriller bark, this panel of Kuma looks somewhat creepy since he has been following luffy up close for so damn long, but once you follow the context of his flashback, his beliefs, his relationship with dragon and the world government, it starts to make sense, however the way Kuma handled the strawhats in sabaody, the eerie and scary way he just made them disappear, making them think they had died also somewhat makes a bit of sense because by that time he was 97% modified by then, and what little humanity left in him was spent on protecting the sunny and helping the strawhats even in a way that felt inhumane and cruel to them

Bonney is now sailing with her friends and fellas, she seems to be getting into the whole piracy stuff by pillaging, looting and just overall causing trouble. However we should note that according to pewpiece, the translation here is wrong, she didn't say "steal em all", she actually said to not steal from the broke. Maybe this is how she became very notorious that easy!

gyogyo being such a sassy guy telling her "yaaaas qween you slay", we stan a guy who recognizes his queen uh huh!

apparently bonney might be trying to disguise herself by changing her looks since she mentioned that her father may not recognize her, but maybe that's because of the piercing. Don't worry bon bon, he WILL recognize you!

Overall that's it for the recent page reveal, i guess the next chapter will be released on 25th december, keep your eyes peeled off for any new spoilers i might drop

[dante-winning-archive]

I feel like the only I'd be Even Remotely okay with Sparda coming back is like if some evil alchemist or something brought him back through necromancy, possibly as part of some Take Over the World (or Hell) scheme. Like, he died before Eva and the twins were attacked by Mundus' forces, and then after DMC5, some necromancer fucker built him a new demon body and shoved whatever was left of his soul (probably harvested from the Underworld) into it to try and use him as a meat puppet, but that uh. Did Not Go Well for them, and Sparda broke free.

Sparda doesn't just waltz back into his sons' lives, either: he knows he's got a lot of apologizing and making up to do, even if he didn't leave them on purpose. He'd be devastated to find out what happened to Eva and to his sons after his death, but also so happy that they're both alive. Apologizing wouldn't be enough to make up for everything that happened, and neither would letting them punch him in the face, but he'd try it anyway.

Having a grandson would be a pleasant surprise, at least until Sparda found out the poor boy had been raised in a cult that worshipped Sparda as a god, in which case Sparda was just like, "Ah. Another descendant that I'm obligated to let hit me. Alright, Nero, go ahead. Don't hold back. I'm so sorry."

As for how Sparda died originally:

I've got a personal theory that he died for the same reason we see V's body breaking down after Vergil uses the Yamato to split himself in 5- when Sparda separated the Human and Demon Realms, he also split his soul. It just took longer for his body to "degrade"/break down because he's all demon, whereas Vergil is half human. Sparda further splitting his soul into the Sparda, Rebellion, Yamato, and the Perfect Amulet, and then the amulet halves, also didn't help things.

As for why he didn't just re-absorb them and live for another idk, 2000 years:

My best guess is that it wouldn't of been enough to save him because his body was just too far gone by that point, like how you can only stretch something so many times before the elastic just wears out too much and the whole thing just snaps and falls apart. And, if we go with this theory, maybe he thought leaving his sons the swords/powers that he did was more important, since if he was going to die anyway, the least he could do would be to TRY and take care of his sons. I think he just wandered off to die, too, somewhere where any "vultures" that were drawn to his corpse (or whatever was left of him) wouldn't be anywhere near Eva and his sons. This means Eva and his sons might not of had any remains to bury/ashes to scatter, but he did TRY to keep them safe for as long as he could.

As for why a necromancer alchemist brought him back NOW, instead of earlier in the timeline:

-Doyalist explanation is because otherwise the plot would be different and I don't wanna think about that rn, but anyway.

-Arius and Agnus were able to create fully artificial demons*, and before them, the only other person (as far as we know) that could do that was Mundus himself. Which is horrifying, since it means that alchemy (or at least alchemy focused on creating and controlling demons and demonic energy) has officially reached the level where normal human beings can play God with the souls and lives of men and demons. Hence the whole Sparda/necromancy clusterfuck.

[*= Human shaped demons in Aruis' case, and ones that had a certain amount of free will and sentience, like Lucia and the Secretary demons, although Lucia was considered "defective", presumably because she had too much humanity/free will. Agnus had a specialty in constructs powered by demonic energy and piloted by a person or persons' soul(s), and turning humans into demons via his Ascension Ceremony.]

Anyway, mainly, I'm just fine with Sparda being dead, tho I would like more info on his. Some archive of his past or something, y'know? Some flashbacks from the twins, or Matier. More info on Eva would be nice too, tbh, given we know even less about her than Sparda.

Sorry I took so long to get to this!

This scenario kind of falls into "came back wrong", which I'd be okay with. Maybe the necromancer was successful, until they pit Sparda against his own sons. Somehow Sparda is fine and it's one hell of an awkward reunion.

I like your theory about how Sparda died, how he was essentially weakened from all the soul splitting. Wouldn't it be something if Vergil had inadvertently followed in his father's footsteps?

I'm not sure I vibe with Sparda just going off to die. It seems more fitting to me that it was an honest attempt to defeat Mundus' forces and he died in the attempt. It's more tragic to think he always meant to come back, always wanted to come back. And I like that sort of tragedy, I guess. When you try your best and you don't succeeeeeeeeeeed....

I'm gonna wrap this up here bc it's raining and losing power for a second is a definite possibility and I'd be real pissed if I had to write everything again lol

[somewhat-insane]

Shadows of the Beach: Chapter Two

Here's the masterpost

.

Tethered

Pairing: Ao Lie/Sun Wukong/Macaque

Rating: Teen and up Audiences (for mild language, mildly disturbing topics (mentioned))

Tags: Playful Banter, Teasing, Awkwardness, Slow Burn, Jealousy, Possessiveness (not like, yandere level or nothing, Macaque just gets in his feels and is kind of a jerk about it,) Unreliable Narrator (just for like... one part where Macaque is comparing how Wukong is acting about Ao Lie to how he thinks Wukong acted when he found out Macaque was alive,) TW mentions of death and corpses (not anything too detailed, just a part where Wukong says he thought Ao Lie was executed and a part where the narration goes off on a slight tangent about how Wukong refused to part with Macaque's corpse for a few days so... fun times.)

A/N: So, this was going to be longer but it's already like... 2,000 words over what I had originally planned so, uh... I decided to just cut it off here. I was also going to go harder with the argument in the flashback but I decided I was getting sidetracked and should probably focus more on furthering the plot than just making them scream at each other. I'm not super happy with how this chapter turned out but I'm glad to be done with it. Don't worry, we'll get to happy gay times eventually.

Summary:

For a long time, Macaque hadn't known who to be angrier at, Wukong for leaving him or the pilgrims for taking him. Wukong being the only one still alive when Macaque was revived, the choice seemed fairly obvious.

But now that he's learned one of the old pilgrims might be alive and just when Macaque and Wukong had started not trying to kill each other? Oh, ho ho, he's not happy.

Now the only thing he needs to figure out is how to keep Wukong from leaving to search.

Macaque almost wanted to laugh. Life was indeed a cruel, cruel mistress and Macaque had eternity to deal with it, unlike the brief deal he had entertained with the Lady Bone Demon. 

Still, Macaque was eager for life’s touch despite the misery it brought. 

Idly, Macaque wonders if Wukong was glad for the past panic the younger version of him had felt over mortality, if he was glad he hadn’t died yet, or if he regretted the precautions he took. 

Maybe Wukong still fears death but knows he would be better off gone. And wasn’t that such an amusing thought? Macaque tried to convince himself of such but his tail flicked in irritation at the thought and he didn’t feel like unpacking why.

Personally, Macaque felt that, perhaps, he now understood where the younger Wukong was coming from. Macaque’d gone without life once and wasn’t keen on doing so again. 

His magic still bore the mark of death. A potent, unshakable thing, one that is useful in terrifying his victims but tends to… push people away even if they don’t notice it happening. Not that Macaque necessarily minded the distance.

The instinctive urge to survive is such a strong thing in most beings that they avoid death without even knowing it, only registering it as this odd sense of unease around Macaque because of his “demeanor” as they had called it. 

MK, having listened to Macaque talking about this when the dark-furred monkey was explaining why it was probably best he didn’t go to the group hang-out they were having, snorted and said Macaque definitely didn’t help anything by being such a grump all the time, but he hadn’t pushed any more than that, willing to respect Macaque’s boundaries. ‘Unlike a certain someone,’ Macaque thought distastefully.

He had moved to sit on the ground, his elbow propped up on his knee and his chin cradled in his palm as he watched Wukong return to his hoard. 

Silence sat heavily between them, Wukong well aware that Macaque wasn’t exactly happy with this news but not wanting to elaborate out of fear of sparking a fight that he just really didn’t have time for right now. 

Though, of course, neither of them could stay quiet forever. And both of them knew that.

Wukong tensed, silently cursing his fate at the sound of Macaque sighing and shifting to cross his arms, “so the dragon pony boy’s alive then?”

‘Maybe,’ was heavy on Wukong’s tongue, eager to correct the other but the words carried an uncertainty with them that he wasn’t willing to face at the moment so instead, after stepping out of the piles and dusting himself off, Wukong shrugged, obviously trying to look nonchalant, a front he tended to put up around others because if you care too much about anything it will be exploited as a weakness or brutally torn away from you, both Wukong and Macaque had first-hand experience with this and weren’t keen on having it reiterated for them.

Still, Macaque, with his experience from knowing Wukong for years both as his friend willing to help and his enemy looking for a weak spot, quite easily saw through the facade. 

How could he not? He put on the same mask, after all. 

Besides that though, for all the grandeur Wukong pretended to house, his confidence had waned over the years, and Macaque had to admit it no longer took such expertise to read Wukong like a book, the small signs he had shown before the battle with the Jade Emporer growing more prominent. And right now, Macaque easily noticed the not-so-well-hidden tell-tale signs of Wukong’s nerves, namely the way his tail jerked from side to side and curled and uncurled around his legs with the barely restrained need to be moving, (idly Macaque mused that if you forced Wukong’s tail still he might start vibrating from all the pent up energy,) and the way he scratched at his wrist, something that had been common when he was nervous or thinking when they were younger. 

Macaque was helpless against the bittersweet concoction of memories that plagued him as he recalled gently prying Wukong’s hands away from each other and calming him down by gently rubbing his thumb over his knuckles, cleaning away any blood that was drawn. But he couldn’t do that now. A part of him was still eager to lie and say he didn’t want to even as his fist clenched, fighting back the urge to assist his old friend. 

Either way, he felt if he tried to touch Wukong while he was like this, he would end up getting his other eye clawed out. 

A bitter feeling rose up Macaque’s throat like bile as a part of his mind wondered if any of the pilgrims had taken his place and soothed Wukong in his absence. He wondered if they took Wukong’s hands in theirs and told him it would be okay. If his master had helped groom his fur or if Sha Wujing and Zhu Bajie had made sure he ate when he got into those moods where he wouldn’t want to take care of himself. He wonders what Ao Lie did to make Wukong so… eager to see him. He wonders if they took care of him.

Macaque doesn’t know whether he’d be more mad if they did or didn’t and that thought has him clenching his jaw and digging his claws into his palm. He hated the idea that Wukong, his friend–his sun–had been stolen from him by people who probably didn’t see him as anything more than a weapon and he hated himself for not wanting them to care because them caring meant they got to have with Wukong what he desperately craved but could probably never have back. But at the same time… would he rather Wukong suffer? His instinctive answer was yes, that Wukong deserved to suffer. But at the same time… Macaque shakes the thoughts from his head. That was all unimportant right now.

The fact that Wukong was so… jittery over just the idea that one of his old friends might be alive had Macaque’s stomach tying itself into knots, a mass of emotions he refuses to unpack festering in his soul like a storm contained only by a fragile glass bottle, destined surely to shatter.

Not that he was too keen on exploring the concept of ‘destiny’ right now, Macaque huffed, nose wrinkling in distaste. Or anytime soon.

Wukong clears his throat, averting his eyes to the ground to avoid Macaque’s sharp, angry gaze, “Um… so, anyway, I kind of need to get back to-”

“You said he ‘might be.’”

“Wha-”

“You said he ‘might be alive,’ you don’t know??” Macaque asks, his voice coming out sharper than he meant it to, silently berating himself for being so easy to read. Wukong is quiet for a moment, a contemplative look on his face as he chews on his lower lip.

“Tang… uh… he… he says it’s possible and I-…” Wukong finally said, his words hesitant as if embarrassed to admit the urgency he felt at just the possibilities he had been presented with. Hilarious, Macaque mused, Wukong getting all worked up over the possibility of one of his old pilgrim friends being alive but he didn’t remember Wukong acting this way about him.

Macaque wills himself to calm down, think, and keep his cards close to his chest, he can’t lash out at Wukong now or he risks exposing all the things he can’t admit. He risks exposing that he cares. He risks letting that weakness be taken advantage of… again.

More than he already has, at least, he muses distastefully as he looks around at the cabin he had helped build.

Wukong’s already pretty tightly wound from a mixture of his own urgency and Macaque’s sharp tone… he’ll need to change the topic if he’s going to keep Wukong from blindly throwing himself into a possibly dangerous situation. Years ago, distracting Wukong from his impulses was a regular occurrence for Macaque, he hopes he isn’t too rusty.

The shadow monkey’s nose twitches in thought as something occurs to him, something perfect to derail the conversation even if only slightly, “You called Tang by his name.”

Wukong looked momentarily startled, most likely not expecting the sudden change in topic and surprised Macaque would’ve noticed such a small detail. However, it’s probably something he should be used to by now, Macaque always has had a way of picking him apart. It brought butterflies to his stomach just as much as it brought anxiety to his brain.

“Oh- I- uh… it’s…” The jerky movements of Wukong’s tail began to slow as he pursed his lips, considering the best way to say, ‘I’m tired of living in the past’ without saying that, probably knowing Macaque would snark back with something about how ‘isn’t looking for Ao Lie technically living in the past?’ 

But it’s not. Wukong knows it’s not. Because if Ao Lie is alive that makes him a part of the present. And just like how he wanted Macaque to be a part of his present, Wukong wants Ao Lie to be a part of it too.

“Just seemed more… respectful…?” He lies through his teeth.

Macaque raises a brow, “‘respectful’?” he asks, scoffing, “When have you ever cared about being ‘respectful’?”

Wukong frowns, it is in times like these that he remembers that, even if they’ve succeeded in not killing each other and are on close enough terms that Macaque is willing to help build Wukong a new place to stay, they still haven’t really… talked about anything. 

Sure, both of them had come to their own conclusions about the big bad and the bigger bad, but as far as sitting down and clearing everything up? Nada. The best Sandy had been able to get from them during their little ‘couple’s therapy sessions’ back after they defeated the Lady Bone Demon is their agreement not to fight in front of MK.

~

“So…” Sandy started, looking between the two monkeys sitting in front of him on opposite sides of the couch, glaring at each other with their hackles raised like cornered cats, he wouldn’t be surprised if they started hissing at each other. 

He hoped that wouldn’t be the case because it would most likely irritate the cats he had on board, and while they probably wouldn’t lash out, being trained as therapy cats, it would still be sad to see them frightened.

“This is stupid,” Macaque is quick to grit out, finally looking away from Wukong and directing his furious gaze to a random spot on the ground. Wukong’s hackles rise further as if personally offended by Macaque’s words.

The reaction Macaque was able to pull from Wukong, despite only being able to see it out of the corner of his eye, made a grin spread over his lips, sharp teeth glinting in the light though Wukong didn’t seem offput. If anything, he looks like he’s about to say something but Sandy interrupts, if only because of their penchant for getting into physical fights and, as much as he wanted them both to be able to express themselves, they could schedule a time to do something like that when they aren’t on Sandy’s boat or near the city.

“If it’s something that could help, it’s worth giving a shot, don’t you think?” Sandy said carefully, taking a sip of his tea as a soft smile appeared on his face at the sight of Wukong glancing over at him uncertainly before slowly relaxing back down into a more defensive position rather than an offensive one, which still wasn’t ideal but Sandy would take what he could get. As he understood it, the two had been fighting for years, it was clear that wasn’t working. They needed to talk but neither one of them was willing to let their guard down. Especially not in front of the other. 

Macaque scoffed but didn’t argue any further, his eyes narrowing at that one spot, a small crack present in the wood there. (It wasn’t until the next morning when Sandy woke up and noticed it had been repaired that he understood why Macaque was staring at it. Despite the fact that Macaque had technically broken into his house, he was appreciative of the action and attention to detail. He made sure to give Macaque some tea to bring home during one of their one-on-one sessions as thanks, to which Macaque seemed surprised that his small efforts were noticed, much less acknowledged, and Sandy had to wonder how much Macaque had done for people in the past that went unnoticed.)

“Yeah, Macaque,” Wukong huffed, straightening his posture and plastering a grin on his face, most likely to try and seem less vulnerable though it was clear he was uncomfortable with the situation. Whether that was because he was in such close proximity to Macaque or because he was expected to talk about his feelings, Sandy didn’t know, “The only thing stupid here is you.”

“Now, now let’s-” Sandy tries to intervene, only to stop as a low snarl from Macaque makes some of the nearby cats swivel their ears around to listen, some even prematurely skittering off, and despite Sandy’s willingness to give the monkeys the second chance they both needed, he wondered if it was a smart idea to do this in his home.

“That’s hilarious,” Macaque chuckled lowly, lifting his gaze from the ground to glare at Wukong, “because I’m looking at something pretty fucking stupid right now.”

Wukong gasps, the comment hitting Wukong in his clearly already wounded ego, and his fur puffs up more as a low growl starts in his throat, “Why, you-”

“Stop,” Sandy says, sternly but not yelling, observing as a spark of fear flashes in Wukong’s eyes, and almost instinctively his growl cuts off (tapering into a whine he does his best to stifle out of embarrassment and shame) as he sinks back into the couch. Macaque notices too, his brows furrowing slightly in contemplation. Sandy hoped it was because Macaque cared and not because he was filing this away as another of Wukong’s weaknesses.

Macaque rolled his eyes and put his hands behind his head as he pretended not to think about it anymore, the only tell that he actually was, in fact, thinking about it, being the thoughtful crease in his brow and the way his tail flicked idly. Finally, he sighs and looks up at Sandy. 

“Well, as you can see, big guy, there isn’t a chance this will help since his royal asscheeks over there,” Macaque said, gesturing with his head toward Wukong who gives an indignant huff at the name, “is too much of a uneducated troglodyte to admit to any wrong doing.”

“Oh, because you’re so good at holding yourself accountable,” Wukong huffs, trying to seem disengaged from the conversation with his elbow propped up on the armrest of the couch and his head turned away from the other two, but his ears were angled back towards Macaque as if hanging onto his every word. Because he had to be, that was the only reason Macaque was so easily able to chop away at Wukong’s ego because Wukong cared what he thought.

“I’m better at it than you,” Macaque grumbled, smirking slightly when Wukong whipped his head around to glare at him, “at least I wore the villain title with pride, you were just always trying so hard to be the hero. Well, guess what mr-”

“When did I ever say I wanted to be a hero!? I just wanted to protect my people and spend the rest of my life with-” Wukong cuts himself off, fur poofing up and his cheeks flushing slightly as he looked away and curled his tail around himself. This wasn’t some cheesy romcom where Wukong would curse at himself and deny caring about the other, he wasn’t stupid. He knew he cared about Macaque, he always had and he felt almost certain he always would. But he couldn’t just say that. It wouldn’t fix anything and would most likely blow up in his face as Macaque used it as yet another thing to tease him about. Macaque had made it clear where the golden-furred monkey stood with him and it wasn’t anywhere advantageous. Plus, Wukong had done a lot more harm than just killing him. It took a long time for Wukong to realize he had been hurting his friend for so much longer than he thought, maybe even for the entire time they knew each other. He had Macaque wrapped around his finger and he hadn’t even noticed…

“Oh, don’t make me laugh,” Macaque said through grit teeth, “you were always going on about how much power you would have and how people would remember you forever-”

“I was a stupid kid-”

“THOSE AREN’T APOLOGIES, WUKONG!” He spat, his eyes flashing violet before his glamour settled back down into place, hiding them behind a hue of gold.

Both Sandy and Wukong flinched from Macaque’s outburst, and Sandy was about to step in but paused when Macaque heaved a heavy sigh and started speaking again, calmer this time but still not entirely pacified, that much was obvious in the way his tail lashed at the couch and his eyebrow twitched, “I didn’t come here to listen to your pathetic excuses, I came here to prove to the kid that no amount of talking could fix…”

‘Us,’ is on the tip of Macaque’s tongue, but he shook his head, “no amount of talking could fix… this.”

A bitter feeling welled up in Wukong’s throat at the idea Macaque had only come to prove a point, but, in a way… wasn’t Wukong doing the same? Sure, he wasn’t exactly trying to prove it to anyone else, but he was trying to prove it to himself. He needed to know for sure that he had damaged this relationship beyond repair, otherwise, that hope would keep festering in his soul. He needed to know, even if he knew he was going to spend the next week curled up into a despondent ball while his subjects cooed worriedly and combed their fingers through his fur, straightening out knots and restoring his coat to the radiant fluff that was one of the many reasons he was regarded as a sun.

“What exactly do you want Mr. Monkey King to be taking accountability for?” Sandy asks, trying to bring the conversation back on the track of ‘couple’s therapy.’

Macaque scoffs out a cruel laugh, “Oh, where to start!” Macaque crows mockingly but pauses when he realizes he doesn’t actually know where to start. There are the obvious things, his death, the fact that Wukong hadn’t listened to him when he told him crossing the Jade Emporer was a bad idea, but there was so much more than that, wasn’t there?

Eventually, Macaque just looks away from the both of them and grumbles, “it doesn’t matter anyway, he wouldn’t take accountability for something to save his life.” 

The golden monkey’s fur bristles, but before he can say anything, Sandy speaks up, “This working relies on you cooperating just as much as it does on Wukong, why don’t you just give him a chance.”

A moment passes while Macaque considers his response to this before eventually saying, “he doesn’t deserve a chance.”

Scoffing, Wukong glares at Macaque, “and you do?”

“I never said that-”

“You implied it.”

Repressing a sigh, Sandy ran his fingers through his hair and looked between the two of them. MK said this would be a challenge, but perhaps Sandy had underestimated how much pent-up hatred could build over the thousands of years the two monkeys had been alive. Yet they still act like toddlers, he mused. 

“Okay, maybe we’re going about this the wrong way,” Sandy sighs, “we should consider our goals. Both of you came because MK suggested this, right?”

Macaque and Wukong nodded.

“And MK seemed like he wanted the two of you to mend your relationship, but is that what you want?”

The two of them pause, glancing at each other with a frown. Both of them want to say no, possibly out of spite, but they’re smart enough to know that will drive an even larger wedge between them, and as much as they may lie and say it is, that’s not what they want. Wukong finally looks back at Sandy with a nervous chuckle, “Let’s just put a pin in that and come back to it later.”

Sandy nodded understandingly, “but clearly you both care about MK and MK cares about the two of you. I can imagine seeing the two people you care about constantly at each other's throats isn’t amazing.”

Both of the monkeys guiltily look away from Sandy, Wukong sheepishly scratching the back of his neck while Macaque frowns.

“I… guess you do have a point…” Wukong mumbles.

Macaque sighs, “yes, you do have a point. I… may be willing to not antagonize Wukong as much… for the kid.”

“And I won’t try and rile Macaque up…” Wukong mumbles before quickly adding, “in front of MK at least.”

Wukong’s eyes widen as he hears the amused snort this pulls from Macaque, and he can’t help the way his heart flutters at the sound.

Perhaps, he thinks, the hope he’d been feeling wasn’t as unfounded as he originally thought.

~

Wukong frowned, pulling himself back to the present and reminding himself that he was supposed to be offended that Macaque had insinuated he was disrespectful and pretended to be shocked at the idea he was trying to be. 

‘Let’s see how you act when you have a stupid piece of metal spot wielded to your head that gives you a splitting migraine whenever you step out of line,’ Wukong thinks sarcastically. The impulse to say it aloud was strong, just to prove to Macaque how wrong he was about, well, everything, but he bit his tongue, not entirely wanting to bring it up right now. Knowing Macaque would just use it as a reason to try and convince Wukong not to go looking for Ao Lie. 

He understood Macaque’s hesitation, but couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt. He really wanted to formally introduce them to each other so they had more to go off of than just ‘one of the people who stole Wukong,’ and ‘the person Wukong killed.’

Seeing as Wukong wasn’t going to respond anytime soon, Macaque allowed his gaze to drift over to the treasure pile, brow furrowing as he considered the best way to get more information on the situation without Wukong getting so urgent again. He needs to be careful and play his cards right. The only problem was that he was used to knowing Wukong’s hand and having a good guess of what he would play. Things had, undeniably, changed, even if he loathe to admit it, Wukong had become less impulsive. He’d always been mildly secretive, he’s only grown more so over the years.

Finally, after a moment of idle contemplation in which Wukong once again began to fidget slightly, Macaque cautiously asks, “What about Mei?”

Wukong stops fidgeting and raises a brow, “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t she the reincarnation of Ao Lie? Shouldn’t that mean he has to be dead?” 

Admittedly, Macaque wasn’t exactly joking when he said Mei was the dragon girl he’d ‘heard so little about,’ but it made sense to him that Mei would be Ao Lie’s reincarnation since, well… all of the others were reincarnations, so shouldn’t she be? 

She didn’t look as much like her supposed past iteration as any of the others did though…

Macaque frowned, watching as Wukong’s tail began to twitch restlessly again. Wukong shook his head, seeming mildly annoyed though more at himself for not having noticed sooner than at Macaque himself, “She’s the only one who isn’t a reincarnation, hence why Tang had his theory in the first place. She’s his like… a thousand times great-granddaughter or something, she’s just a descendant while the others are direct reincarnations. He could still be alive and I-”

Shit… Macaque needs to change the subject, Wukong is getting panicked again.

“What were you looking for?” He asks, gesturing toward the pile behind Wukong.

Wukong blinked at Macaque for a moment at the sudden subject change but he easily got back into his rhythm, theatrically huffing and turning to glare at the treasure pile distastefully as if it had personally offended him.

“A few different things, most importantly something to bribe Ne Zha with… but looks like he took everything that belonged to him when he left with the scroll and the Jade Emporer’s power.”

Before Macaque can even ask why he needs to bribe Ne Zha, Wukong continues, easily following Macaque’s train of thought from the years he had known them. As much as they both had changed, Macaque continued to be the more thoughtful and logical of the two while Wukong’s mind jumped quickly between topics and conclusions that for a long time he had just expected people to be coming to as well, only to be told by Macaque himself that no, most people don’t, in fact, follow his weird line of thinking. Having to explain things to people was a rough adjustment but nothing the monkey king couldn’t handle.

“Ne Zha was the one responsible for returning the scroll and releasing the people trapped inside. Admittedly, I’m not sure if-”

“The scroll? Why does that matter,” Macaque interrupts, earning a glare from Wukong followed by an annoyed sigh at having to explain, okay, maybe it was a little something Wukong couldn’t handle considering it’s been centuries and he still hasn’t gotten the hang of it but, hey! Cut him some slack, he was living as a hermit for a few years. 

Irritation wells up in Macaque, this is what he gets for not wanting Wukong to get trapped in that damn thing again, he supposes, frowning. Sure, Wukong didn’t know that was why he asked, but he was still being a little-

Macaque shook the thoughts from his head, he needed to focus right now.

“Tang’s theory is that the version of Ao Lie that Mei talked with when she was in the scroll was actually Ao Lie since, y’know, Pigsy, Sandy, and Tang all became their past variants and then they weren’t there when they changed back, but Mei never was Ao Lie so she didn’t become him, but he was still there.”

Admittedly, the logic made sense, but Macaque had to ask, “Why would Ao Lie be in the scroll?”

Wukong opens his mouth to respond before closing it and sitting down with a huff, running his hands through his fur anxiously. 

‘Checkmate,’ Macaque thinks, and he can’t stop the triumphant grin from spreading on his lips. The celestial realm could be strange and cruel in their punishments sometimes but as far as Macaque was aware, Ao Lie hadn’t done anything to deserve being trapped in the scroll. 

Macaque was about to open his mouth again to offer some snark, maybe add insult to injury but paused when he heard Wukong mumble something, a look on his face like he just had a realization.

“What was that?” Macaque asked condescendingly.

“To contain the Samadhi fire…” Wukong answers, a far-away, almost dazed look on his face before he shakes his head, covering his face with his hands and cursing loudly as he leans back and falls to the floor with a thump, dust being kicked up around him, “They shoved him in there because of something I did and I didn’t even know about it!!”

Macaque raised a brow and scoffed, of course, Wukong didn’t know what happened to his so-called ‘best friend’. Did he ever even wonder about it before now? 

“Yeah?” Macaque starts, clear offense in his voice, “Well, what did you think happened to him?” He asked, ready to berate Wukong for how crappy it was of him not to know, “because it didn’t really seem like you were worried until-”

“They told me he was executed!” Wukong snapped and Macaque immediately closed his mouth, ears pinning back to his head with how suddenly loud Wukong was. 

A briefly apologetic look passed over Wukong’s face as he removed his hands to look at Macaque but it was gone before Macaque could even register it as such.

Frowning, Macaque tilted his head, “why would they say-”

“Ugh,” Wukong groaned, once again more irritated with himself than at Macaque as he covered his face again. How could he be so stupid? Why did he trust anything they said? Wukong sighs, “Probably because they knew I would try to get him out. Admittedly, a smart play on their part, but that doesn’t make me any less mad. I should’ve demanded to witness his burial or something- anything that would’ve given me proof or closure…”

“Why didn’t you?”

Wukong briefly uncovers his eyes again to glare at Macaque, “Why do you think?”

“Because you’re a wuss?” Macaque smirked, and all Wukong could do was roll his eyes and cover them again, this time with his arm as he took in a shaky breath.

“Something like that,” he grunted, not seeing the way Macaque raised a brow at the response. 

It wasn’t entirely a lie, Wukong mused self-deprecatingly. He was a wuss, he always had been but had somehow deluded himself into believing otherwise, but the real reason he hadn’t demanded to see Ao Lie was even harder to accept than that, and he couldn’t exactly tell Macaque about it, not now at least. 

He couldn’t tell him that the last time he had seen the corpse of his best friend he refused to leave its side for days, growing more hostile even to the point he almost bit his master’s hand off when the monk tried comforting him. 

Ironically, back then, it was Ao Lie who had finally convinced him to part with the lifeless shell of the friend he once knew and brought him over to a river to dutifully clean the stench of decay off of his matted fur.

He remembered how unafraid Ao Lie seemed back then, even as Wukong growled and snapped, words melting into a more primal mess of grunts and snarls. 

Wukong still doesn’t know if Ao Lie wasn’t afraid of Wukong hurting him or if he knew Wukong wouldn’t be able to, but he had approached, putting out his hand for Wukong, which Wukong, surprisingly, took the time to warily sniff, only then noticing who was in front of him, the red angry haze he had been seeing through for the past few days fading away slightly, his pupils dilating as he somehow managed to focus on Ao Lie’s face. And the absolute mortification that crashed into Wukong at that moment was palpable, the idea that he could’ve been protectively guarding two corpses instead of one making his throat tighten as he apologetically leaned into Ao Lie’s touch with a weak whimper, the anger of his own actions melting away into pure despair. That was the first time Ao Lie had seen Wukong cry.

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[thedragonchilde]

G Gundam meta/notes, episodes 17-20:

"Challenge! Mysterious Masked Fighter"

-there's nothing like Domon's relationship to Master to really highlight that he's naive and wants to believe the best of people at heart. Or at least that he's lost everyone else in his life and cannot handle the thought of this being another thing that's wrong. Either way he needs a damn hug.

-so there seems to be a real setup here of Chibodee and George crushing on Rain - they were both chivalrous enough to her before, but the thank-yous are something else! Chibs drops his voice like he's trying to sound sexy, and George, oh man! "Show your gratitude" like he needs coached? The single red rose? And leaving it there for her forlornly? Either he's stunningly bad with women and Raymond pushed him to thank her so he did it in the overblown way he's learned from example, or he's got it bad. (Or a combination.) Either way, these feel like a spin on the classic 'you were nice to me'/hero crush.

-Nastasha is so fucking interesting!! She's so professional and logical, but her relationship with authority (both her own and that above her) chafes in such a neat way that you just know there's some good conflict ahead

-this is quite jaunty music for an "evil Master plotting" scene

-"I'll smash you and the whole forest into tiny pieces" okay Domon that's a hilarious threat

-it only just occurs to me that only one of Domon's sleeves is slashed. So that's just as likely to be a slapshot mending job as a fashion statement! (Did Domon mend it? Or Rain? Either way it's kind of a shitty job)

-kind of a sexy way to finally lose a match, with his arms tied up like that

-Domon calls Guyana his "homeland". That has some REALLY interesting implications.

"Steal the Secret! Scheme of the Beautiful Warriors"

-"Sparks fly between Shining and Maxter" ehehe

-"his destined rival" will never get old

-Schwarz hooking them up specifically is hilarious, and his affectionate referrals to their youth ("the cubs sharpen their claws" and all that)

-drunk Chibodee is funnier when you realize that timeline-wise he may have just turned 21, and sad when you realize he was probably trying to drink the flashbacks away

-"I have no chance against Master if I can't overcome a simple waterfall" what is that logic?

-"the first time anyone ever treated us like real people" oh my god, poor girls, I love you

-"I can feel great energy from him, but what's he actually doing??"

-between Chibodee awing at the scenery and Bunny freaking out at the snake, I'm just reminded that they're city slickers

-uh, Chibodee, how long have you been watching Domon train exactly? I don't think the weather changed that quickly

-oh, I so love that they're on the same wavelength, just immediately both "yeah this fight is great, he's so good at this :)"

-Shirley just like "ughhh FML"

-Domon enjoying the fight so much that he doesn't notice the SOS - is that the gay or the autism?

-"I have to beat this thing" what, nature??

-Domon is so excited about Chibodee's power level

-oh my god, Shirley thinks Chibodee's gonna throw them aside for a minute, doesn't she

-Bunny just openly weeping though

"Fierce Battle! Dragon Gundam vs. Bolt Gundam"

-Sai is a little shithead and I love it. I know it's played for laughs and is actually pretty disturbing when you think about it, but this could also tell us some neat stuff about how he was raised (presumably away from women) and what happens is exactly what the fuck you expect to happen when you loose a hormonal teenage boy on women for the first time.

-Domon throwing himself into the water rather than answering Rain, like,,, yeah, me too, dude

-do we get an explanation for Sai and Argo being there? Were they compelled by the crests and didn't realize it?

-it says something that Nastasha's first reaction is to shoot

-"where's the intruder?" and Argo just looks up at the sky like "he fucking died probably"

-Seriously, Nastasha arguing with the higher-ups!! Good, good stuff ahead

-Sai, you chose the one person whose ego isn't bruised by being called a coward

-"you can't get away no matter where you go" why do I feel like there's some projection going on here, Nastasha?

-man, Sai keeps getting into situations where others pose as him

"George, Beat the Nightmare!"

-Raymond has been with the family for 45 years, which presumably puts him in his mid sixties

-I want Raymond Bishop to be my grandpa

-George is actively fighting being helped, even moreso than the others. That's interesting.

-interesting that Neo France has a tournament to decide their Gundam Fighter, meaning several Gundams are built for this

-"more coffee"

-We appear to be ambiguous on whether George has living family. Presumably if they were around we'd know, but they're not explicitly dead either. The bond with Raymond seems to suggest he raised George more than his parents did; very interesting canon fodder

-Rain "envies" Domon's friendships... that he doesn't seem to be aware he has

-I feel some kind of way about the undertones, esp in Chib and George's eps, that, like,,, trauma is weakness/cowardice? And it's especially interesting with who it's coming from, and who it isn't. Schwarz seems to be the main mouthpiece for this, and I guess he's using denigration as a motivating tactic, but idk. Meanwhile Domon seems more compassionate (and contrasts with the narrative "having traumatic flashbacks is the same thing as choosing to be a cowardly piece of shit actually" in a way I can't quite articulate).

-Mirabeau can join Michelo in the "fashionable asshole" club

-oh yeah, George is fighting this all the way down

-oh, now all of a sudden Shuffles can heal DG infections without sacrifice

[totalcharliespringsimp]

HEY GUESS WHAT I'M DOING AGAIN

I'm writing a view! Yay cause the other one failed miserably SO WHY NOT DO IT AGAIN!?

So here's my review of 2017s IT chapter 1

Tw: Violence, Racism, Spoilers :)))

OK LET'S GET RIGHT INTO THIS!

So the movie begins with Georgie running outside and getting eaten by a clown...

Yayayay!

Then you get a little intro to each Loser.

Ben a new kid in Derry who's a big boy and that makes him very much bullied. By Henry.

Bill lost his brother (Georgie) and can't fucking talk like a fucking person GOD DAMMIT. He was in the group originally with Richie, Eddie and Stanley. Bullied by Henry.

Beverly the town whore (not actually a whore just rumors) has a super creepy Dad and is all on her own. Bullied by (not Henry!) some bitches. Jesus Christ.

Richie a class clown making jokes not being taken seriously and is head over heels for his best friend (not necessarily canon but come on) but is definitely straight heterosexual dude bro. I have a lot to say about this little dip shit. Bullied by Henry.

Eddie. Hypochondriac. I have more to say. Extremely overprotective Mother who made him think he would die if he touched grass. Feed him pills that didn't do shit. But at least he has Asthma. Bullied by surprise surprise Henry.

Stanley little Jewish boy. I don't really have much to say about him except that he's a year younger then the rest... OH and he's also bullied by Henry ✨.

Mike like the only black kid in Derry and just so coincidentally the character with the least amount of screen time. Wow. You guys failed miserably trying to fix his fear.

So eventually after killing a kid and saving Ben and Mike the group got together and became the losers club yay!

Slowly each Losers learns that they're all being chased by a killer clown named Pennywise. Hooray! Jesus Christ. They also learn that each one has a fear

Ben: Fear of being the new kid in a new town

Bill: Fear of being an only child and living without his brother

Beverly: Fear of her creepy perverted father who sexually abused her

Richie: Fear of only being seen as a class clown and never taken seriously (definitely not being a total homosexual at all)

Eddie: Fear of germs and illnesses once more 🫴🏼 hypochondriac.

Stanley: Fear of disappointing his father (that... Sure Wikipedia sure)

Mike: Fear of living in a racist town without his parents

And in order to beat pennywise they needed to beat there fears turns out they failed because he came back 27 years later!

Side note: I have a bone to pick with Stephen King. Why 27 years? Why not 30 or 25 why specifically 27!?

Now the group bonds "overcomes" there fears and hooray Pennywise dies! 🎉

But now where's the gay I was promised

Why do I have to wait until I watch chapter two to get my flashbacks of Rich's gay panic? Huh? BULLSHIT

I'm very mad about this.

The movie was known for being gory and scary I didn't flinch once. Ok maybe a bit when Henry slits his Dad's throat but uh HEY let's ignore that... Because unless you're really sensitive to clowns or blood this isn't scary I was more scared of Leonard throwing up on Eddie... Yeahhhh.

I'm also mad that there's a Beverly, Ben, Bill love triangle. PICK ONE. And pick Ben the poor guy needs a break.

I also wanted more warnings like people said shit like of Georgie got his arm ripped off! No. I much rathered a warning about Henry CARVING AN H INTO HIS STOMACH! Beverly's Dad. And Urgh I just hate how gross this movie was with the fucking piss water and shit like that.

Gore: no

Generally yucky things: yes

Get it the fuck out of the movie I nearly threw up when Leonard threw up on Eddie 🤮

There also wasn't any homophobia that I could tell in this Chapter which upset me deeply because in Stephen King's original novel Richie was going through a really hard Gay crisis but it wasn't much in Chapter one so yeah I'm not really happy that it was more prominent in Chapter 2 and barely there in chapter 1

I would like to point out little things I noticed from cross overs that were there before Chapter 2 was even made for example:

Right as Ben was being pinned to the fence and having an H carved into his stomach. There's a wide shot and you can see the R + E carved into the wood meaning that Richie put that there before the Losers club was made. I thought that was interesting.

I also saw that and I think this one was super obvious but when Stanley runs up to the arcade and tells Richie that Pennywise took Beverly he's wearing the same outfit and playing the same game as a scene in chapter 2. Richie was playing the game with a boy who turned out to be Henry's little brother (fucking fantastic). After the game finishes Richie and this boy have this little hand touch and wow it's making Rich feel some things and asks if he wants to play another game but Henry shows up! (Womp womp) He sees Richie calls him a faggot cause apparently wanting to play a game makes you Gay and Richie runs away. Now here's the thing. Since this happened Richie ran away and came back to play the same game. 🤦🏼 Idk correct me if I'm wrong but idk yet I haven't seen Chapter 2 yet.

Anyway yeah that's my opinion and I'm still deeply obsessed with Reddie. This didn't help. I just want more.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s10e16 paint it black (w. brad buckner, eugenie ross-leming)

so i gather there's recaps before these episodes, but they're not on netflix? i've seen mention of music or whatever in the recap. but i'm gettin none. going in blind and more confused than usual 🥴

crowley and rowena snapping at each other in this little throne room is getting a little tiring

s10e16 / s2e13

these church steps look like the houses of the holy ones, but maybe it's just the framing of the shot being down low. aha, it is indeed noted the same church on the wiki. only reason i noticed probably because i took a lot of screenshots of that scene, twice

sam's sure being a grumpy grumperson. what crawled up his ass and died. being worried about dean is coming out bitchy? is he still worried or was that 2 episodes ago? :p

steve elliott / henry thomas

thought this was the dude from the flanagan shows for a hot second

deep thoughts, why do the demons smoke out but not visibly smoke... in (to be sneaky and so we have to something to see when they leave, i know i know)

weren't there evil nuns in that church where... they killed lilith? trying to dredge up the memory. ah no, possessed priest who killed the nuns. i knew (a) nunnery was involved. these nuns sure are all dolled up and pretty, swanky dark gray habits

i don't understand what's going on here between sam and dean. lot of faces being made, dean is not exactly flirting with the nun but sam's acting like he is? i'm lost. and not even a little bit intoxicated!

DEAN I got a question. How does someone, uh, like you end up, you know…? SISTER MATHIAS Cloistered away from the world? [Chuckles] Are you making fun of me, Agent Allman? DEAN No. No, No. I, Uh… I guess I’m just wondering how somebody quits one life for something completely different and – and then believe in it so much. SISTER MATHIAS Well [sighs] in my case, I felt I had no choice. My life had become painful. There was hopelessness. I felt I had to find something larger than myself to focus on. A kind of mission, I guess. You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure.

are we trying to do something with dean and the mark here *squints* dean and sam join a monastery!

DEAN Tell me you didn’t think that nun was hot. I think she had a little thing for me too. SAM Dean, she was married to Jesus.

speaking of mentioning jesus :p i guess that was supposed to be flirting. it did go there bit more once sam went to wave around his little meter.

s1e14 boop boop

do we ever talk about the time when they had a thing with fake green lasers in s1? i'm embarrassed whenever i think about it lol. so awkward, never to return

all right rowena's over the top fake bow made me laugh

olivette / the x-files s2e11 - teryl rothery as michelle charters / stargate: sg-1 - teryl rothery as dr jane fraiser

this olivette actress i definitely know, but i'm not sure what from. she was in the xfiles and the killing, but maybe from sg1? she was in a lot of episodes. maybe caprica but i'm convinced i've forgotten 95% of that show

are rowena and olivette gonna make out? conflicting vibes

losing my mind over this ridiculous nun/painter man drama sideplot. and the makeup on these ladies is a lot more obvious than tv makeup on someone so young like this usually is

lot of coverage and visibly powdered down matte. odd. what time is this flashback occurring? olden times?

spn s10e16 / hannibal s3e6

are they in florence? lol was like this reminds me of hannibal and bedelia in front of that window. haha if i had waited literally 1 second, i would have had my question answered. yes. anyway, go me. identifying landmarks left and right today

guess we know who's whackin the dudes. god i just need to finish this episode but i'm dragging my feet. sigh. rowena, the ~grand coven~ and beef with the men of letters now. great

well at least this can't be as awkward as when he was making all the people horny in that purity pledge group

DEAN What if I said I…I didn’t want to die…yet, you know, that I wasn’t ready? FATHER DELANEY Are you expecting to? DEAN Always. [Chuckles] You know, the life I live, the work I do…I pretty much just figured that that was all there was to me, you know? Tear around and jam the key in the ignition and haul ass until I ran out of gas. I guess I just thought sooner or later, I’d go out the same way that I live – pedal to the metal, and that would be it. FATHER DELANEY But now? DEAN Now, um… recent events, uh… make me think I might be closer to that than I really thought. And…I don’t know. I mean, you know, there’s – there’s things, there’s…people, feelings that I-I-I want to experience differently than I have before, or maybe even for the first time.

um. okay. taking off the wincest goggles briefly, is that like. wanting to settle down with someone? what feelings/people he wants to experience differently or for the first time? having kids or being in love-in love (implying that he wasn't with lisa, so i dunno). it's vague enough you could surely apply it to your ship of choice. but i'm trying to Be Reasonable about what they're implying

FATHER DELANEY Go a little deeper, perhaps, than with Gina. DEAN Yeah. Yeah, I’m just starting to think that… maybe there’s more to it all than I thought. FATHER DELANEY Learning there’s more to the universe than your tiny world can be a frightening discovery. Do you truly believe in God, Agent? Because that can be a comfort DEAN I believe there is a God. But I’m not sure he still believes in us.

what about the gods in religions that also have large followings currently that aren't christianity? presumably they'd be powerful too. i mean. i should be thankful they're not trying to drag them into the show

fucking fuck stupid startle reflex TWICE they've cut over to rowena slapping this woman and startled the shit out of me. i like her red dress though

perpetually the winchesters, indeed

so is sam reading 16th century ghost lady's journal in italian?

ISABELLA [VOICE OVER] But it wasn’t enough. [ISABELLA cuts off her own finger.] I told Piero to gind the flesh, blood, and bone into the pigment.

excuse me. i laughed. nonsense

SAM You know… you were in that confessional a long time. Look, man, I’m just saying, I’m your brother, Dean. If you ever need to talk about anything with anybody, you got somebody right here next to you. DEAN Okay. SAM I heard what Sister Mathias was saying about, you know, hiding pain by taking on a mission, and I-I know that’s what you’re doing a little bit. And it’s okay. I mean, it’s fine. I get it. I’ve done it before, too. But… I don’t buy for one second that the Mark is a terminal diagnosis, so don’t go making peace with that idea. There has to be a way. There will be a way, and we will find it. That’s what we do. So, believe that. DEAN Okay, Sammy.

reminding me a bit of dean's speech from s7e2 with sam and the hallucifer psychosis

s7e2 DEAN I am your flesh-and-blood brother, okay? I'm the only one who can legitimately kick your ass in real time. You got away. We got you out, Sammy. Believe in that. Believe me, okay? You gotta believe me. You've gotta make it stone number one and build on it.

just, it's difficult to see talking of relationships and feelings to be about people outside of the sam and dean bubble, since at the end of the day that's where they draw the line. i mean, you could have a relationship with sam where you do actually go to him to talk about the important things, novel concept :P (but same goes for you, sam).

and another thought was just they seem to be nudging dean away from his self destructive tendencies, which is also some growth. maybe. i say that now so surely that means he's about to do something spectacularly stupidbad. i dunno, man. i need to sleep.

[birbfeeder2artisticboogaloo]

thousand autumns donghua, episode 14~

(episode 14 already??? IS IT ALMOST OVER?? OH NOOO I’M HAVING TOO MUCH FUN ;A;)

AH our intrepid duo have arrived at bixia sect!!!

aww the cute bby likes the scener--OH MY GOD EVERYONE IS DEAD

OH NOOOO THIS IS TERRIBLE!!! WTF???!??

i am glad that shiwu is getting some extra trauma btw, it'd be a shame if he had a normal childhood after all this

YAN WUSHI'S EYES WENT ALL PURPLE!!

he frowmn >:( like dis >:(

oh!!! my son is here MY SON IS HERE HI BBY!!!!

UH. wow the old man wiping blood off his mouth in a. kinda sexy manner??? hawt. 😳😳😳

yu shengyan all worried about him ;A; the letter, all symbolically splattered with blood ;A; wHAT A SCENE

is this a flashback??

ruan hailou!!! idk u yet but my opinion is low bc u and pu anmi are killing these ppl who seem v nice

AAAAHHHH TOO MANY NAMES!!! i'm getting a bit overwhelmed by all the introductions!! i’ll try my best, but pls forgive me if i get names wrong or miss a few ;A;

yue kunchi, ok he's a disciple here....that miniature chinstrap beard thing on him is....a choice 👀

also some of these other dudes have got like,,,,,,,sort of khitan style hair arrangements?? they look rad tho 💅

GIRL NO DON'T PROTECC HIM WITH UR BODY!!!

OHHH it's not a flashback!! SHEN QIAO ARRIVES JUST IN TIME TO HELP!!!!

lmao ruan hailou thinks he's the main character, it's very cute

ahh is pu anmi from the south then?? his animations are rly good actually, like i can just FEEL the disdain dripping off him, i can imagine him as an actual human in a live-action drama like, i've seen ppl do these....movements!! I LIKE IT!!!

ooh they gonna fight?? they gonna fight 😤

EWWWWWW HE LICKED THE SWORD!! DONT LICK UR SWORD MAN!! DO U KNOW HOW MANY DISEASES ARE BLOOD-BORNE. DO U WANT EVERY HEPATITIS. UR NOT SAFE FROM PLAGUE SIR

aww yisss now they fighting >:D

OH SHIT SHEN QIAO IS SHOWING HIM UP

FIGHTING TWO AT ONCE???? GET EM SHEN QIAO!!!! U ARE SUCH A BADASS SHEN QIAO!!!!

shen qiao is the epitome of 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' today with his gentle winds ability!!! such beautiful martial arts!! 🤩

i love how there's always a guy describing the fight for us, the audience lmao 🤣 like a sports announcer or something, but for martial arts 🤣

FUCK YEAH THIS FIGHT SCENE GOES SO HARD!!!! THIS IS GREAT!!!!

WOOOOOO!!!!

Zhao Chiying!!! A LADY SECT LEADER!!! she is beautiful omg ;A; she is so pretty and graceful ;A; they all respect her so much ;A;

bixia disciples: great to see u zongzhu!! ur killing it zongzhu!! :D

lol ruan hailou looks like he just saw his ex at a party. awwwkwarrrrdddd

OH SHIT ZHAO CHIYING IS KNEELING TO THIS LOSER?????

she is so polite!!! she's a better man than i tbh!! i would never bc i am impolite as fuck :D couldn't be me luv, couldn't be me 😌👌

SUCH HONOUR. SUCH DIGNITY.

ohhh was........was ruan hailou accused of assaulting the previous master's daughter?? but he didn't do it, and he was wrongfully exiled from bixia sect?? maybe the subtitles are a bit unclear, or maybe i'm a bit dumb, or maybe it's both (it's probably both lol)

aaaawwwwww the disciples love her so much ;A;

OH GREAT EVERYONE IS NOW CRYING

wtf is even happening anymore??? im so confused lol

lol yeah girl u could have intervened BEFORE ur disciples got killed but whatever

now pu anmi is a prisoner to bixia sect!!! they have ONE DUDE, one SKINTY DUDE, taking him away, unrestrained. that won’t end poorly at all (unless the plot declares otherwise lol 🤣)

pu anmi: U GUYS SUCK!! MY SHIZUN WILL RESCUE ME!! AND UR STUPID BOYFRIEND YAN WUSHI IS GONNA DIE!!! >:(

shen qiao: :(  but we're not friends anymore :(

OH SHIT IS THIS GUY GONNA KILL HIMSELF???? DON'T DO IT BRO WAIT WAIT

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OH MY GOD HE JUST

HE JUST WENT OVER THE CLIFF LIKE

THAT WAS SO FUCKING SAD???? IDEK WHAT HIS DEAL WAS BUT WAS THIS REALLY THE ANSWER??? poor fucking man, he was a twat but like........i feel quite bad for the man!! nobody deserves to feel that there's no way out besides taking their own life ._. even if u have done really bad things....u can do better! as long as ur alive, things can change!!!

poor shiwu....standing by the table, wiping his tears....he's seen SO much ;A; my poor bby boyyyy i wanna hug him ;A; COME TO BIRB'S WINGS, CHILD!! I SHALL SHIELD YE FROM HARM!!! :V

shen qiao: well i brought shifu's kid all the way here :)

zhao chiying: yyyeah about that. can u keep him actually??

shen qiao: u couldn't have told me this BEFORE WE WALKED ALL THE WAY HERE?? :) whatever fine i'll keep him, he's mine now :)

AWWWW SHIWU'S KOWTOW WAS SO EXCITED!!! HE'S SO HAPPY OMG!!!!! SWEET CUTE BABBY ;A;

HE SNATCH THE TEA FROM ZHAO CHIYING BC HE'S SO EAGER TO HAND IT OVER OH MY GODDDD ;A;

btw are his parents and sister dead now?? his old man's probably in gaol for taking another child hostage but his mum and sister were starving to death on a bridge. do u suppose they sold him to zhu lengquan. do u think they got a good price

shen qiao: btw can i stay over ur place?? i need to kill a man :)

zhao chiying: sure why not lol