#💘 The Redemption I Seek is with You

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Me rambling about my ship with Henry + being emotional about a specific song from my self ship playlist with him.

click the keep reading if you’re interested looking over my incoherent ramblings!!!

GOD. Listening to Sleep Token’s Jaws really strikes a specific emotional chord with me that’s hard to explain other than THAT CRESCENDO of instruments is so powerful.

ALSO THE LYRICS. CRYING SCREAMING LOOK AT THE LYRICS!!!

JUST THE PASSAGE OF “show me those pretty white jaws / show me what you’ve lost / show me what wounds you’ve got / show me love” IT MAKES ME ALLL FERAL INSIDE JUST AHRRRGGGH!!!!!.

IT SHOULD be mentioned that again, this is just one of (MANY) songs that perfectly encapsulates my ship with Henry, esp. in context of NMH3 + Henry’s whole character arc (that’s running around in my head) is of him slowly recognising that he is more than an assassin, that he more than a weapon to be used by his family, and that with this new found freedom he can potentially carve out his own individual path without having to listen to the order’s of other people.

And yet after all this time in his life, it’s someone like Shallow Candy, who is the one of the few people he meets that takes the time to see him as a flawed, traumatised human being that is more than an assassin. She cares about him, she worries about him because she’s one of the few people who knows the true extent of his upbringing. She loves him regardless of his flaws, and that even after his disappearance in between nmh2 and TSA, she is still devoted and in love with him. She doesn’t give up on him, even if people in the assassin world keep telling her that he’s not coming back.

And when he does come back in TSA, she desperately wants answers from him, she loves him but god it almost broke her when he left; and when she finally gets the answers she needs and the he’s been doing this to protect her (and jeane) from the Cooldown Family’s grasp. She’s emotionally torn because she knows Henry is a man capable of anything but that she wants him to know that he doesn’t have to do it alone. Henry knows that deep down he doesn't have to take on his adopted family alone, but there's a part of him that wants to keep his personal and professional life separate. Plus in his mind, this is his problem to deal with (even if its not the most healthy decision).

When the Flesh and Blood episode in NMH3 happens, it utterly pains her to see Henry in such an emotional state but god her heart still aches for him. And although she isn’t the same naive 20 year old lady in NMH1, she does insist on showing Henry that there are ALWAYS other options, other choices that Henry can make that aren’t self destructive. Shallow wants him to know that he doesn’t have to go through such mental and emotional torment like this alone, that there are people who would be happy to share a part of the so called ‘burden’ and help him get back on more healthier path compared to the one he’s going down.

Her unconditional devotion and love for him, is what keeps bringing him back to her even if he fears that returning to her could potentially put her in danger. He doesn’t want to risk losing someone like Shallow, because for most of his life he’s never really had any semblance of proper control of his life, and now that he does have that freedom, he doesn’t want to risk having those things ripped away from him again. That’s why he’s so distant in TSA and NMH3, it’s his messed up coping mechanism that makes him believe that he’s doing the right thing when really it’s as the major cost of his own mental well-being. He does want to come back but again that fear of placing those he cares about in danger haunts him day and night, to the point of genuine exhaustion.

And so when Shallow accept him back into her life, he almost wants to fall part because so much of his assassin training has made him internalise toxic and harmful rhetoric. Its to a point where Henry kind of has a hard time comprehending as to why Shallow would still love him after all these years and would wait for him for SO LONG until he came back. And honestly she just believes the fact that people are complicated, that even if you’re an assassin, you are a human being with their own life, personal problems and it still comes as a complete shock to him that Shallow is still so deeply in love with him, despite the fact he's left her and the people he cares about for SO LONG. But honestly a more simple reason for her to wait for Henry for SO LONG, is that she wants to do is to help him. She wants to be a shoulder that ze can lean on and just… spill out his emotions. That he doesn’t have to maintain this cold stoic facade around Shallow, or anyone else. he doesn’t need to listen to orders of other people anymore, he finally has the power to take his life back and be control of his own destiny. He can finally just REST for once and be in company of people who care about him genuinely.

LIKE IDK HOW TO SAY THIS, but like. Paradise isn’t a place or a feeling. It’s a person. A person you want to spend your days with, through the good, the bad, the ugly and everything else in between.

Anyways. I’m just going to sit in a corner and cry and scream about this (internally) because goddamn I have SOOO MANH EMOTIONS ABOUT THEM . JUST ARRRRGGGGHHHH

[sheyshocked]

Ship that is unpopular but you still like: 💘

I think Daniel/Leo is kinda cute. I like the idea of them seeking redemption together, getting over their pasts and traumas as they go (and ngl, I find it funny that both Manfred boys would be dating the same android model 😂). Shame people don’t like this ship as much. I think it has a lot of potential.

Controversial Shipping Asks

[malewifehenrycooldown]

haveyoueverseenanunhingedmansodamnattractive.mp4

[video ID: a cutscene from NMH3, in which the side character, Henry Cooldown confronts the player character/protagonist, Travis Touchdown, who is also his brother. They are standing in the parking lot of the No More Heroes Motel, but the surrounding area is seemingly covered in a fog or orange tinted haze.

The dialogue between Henry and Travis goes as follows:

Henry: “How many times must I say this? I saw a movie about God, and it just flowed through me like electricity. I realised the anguish of having such a good for nothing-for-nothing little brother, and came to the conclusion that I have to stop you.”

Travis: “Yeah, no thanks. Quit getting in my way with your personal bullshit.”

Henry: “Hey, do you remember?”

Travis: “Nope.”

Henry, while approaching Travis: “Listen, little brother. It was a snowy day. We three siblings made our escape from our serial killer father.”

The video ends abruptly. End of video ID].

[malewifehenrycooldown]

TW for slight mentions of henry’s emotionally abusive parents + big warnings for those with tokophobia as this post is a decently indepth discussion of fankids.

HHHHH OKAY. So. I’ve been sitting on this idea since April, and only now I’ve felt a little comfortable talking about it since I’ve mentioned it to @eris-ships. But also the developments that occur in TSA/NMH3ms narratives have def made me a bit more confident in my decision to talk about having fankids with Henry. Like look. I don’t want to have kids myself (it’s a whole can of worms that’s basically just: ‘I can barely take care of myself, how do you expect me to raise a whole human being from scratch?!’).

Anyways what kinda spurred this was from NMH3’s peculiar ending + these images [one, two and three] and the third one particularly made me want to throw my phone because it triggered my baby fever BIG TIME but also just the thought of Henry being a good dad made me so happy 😭😭

But also at the same time it’s so sad too especially With knowing the implications of his backstory and how his own childhood was taken from him, and so that’s what makes the thought of him being a dad SOO appealing to me. To me, he’d do anything to make sure his own kids don’t experience the same horrors and trauma he did as a kid. It’s like. Him making up for lost time that he never got and. GAH THAT MAKES ME SO EMOTIONAL?! [I’ve made an entire post about this here if you’re interested]

OKAY ON TO THE ACTUAL FANKIDS IN QUESTION:

Amelie (on the left) and Rhys (on the right). Before you ask, yes Amelie is named after the film ‘Amelie’ and it’s important because that film was like a special date night for Henry and Shallow.

The reason that they pop up in NMH3 is that they’ve time travelled back into Shallow’s present bc. Henry has gone on a destructive path and that if he ends up permanently dead, it would result in their own existence being erased by the universe and they don’t want that to happen.

Oh yeah, I should mention they’re on their tenth try to make sure that their parents and future selves are saved. Which is at odds of the (known) time-space rules put in place to keep abilities like this in check. If Rhys keeps resetting the timeline, the more imbalanced and fragile the fabric of space-time becomes - and that could just jeopardise the entire fabric of the universe itself. So yeah. The two are kinda at the end of their rope in regards to options, and honestly causing timeline paradoxes is the least of their worries at the moment.

Amelie is a bit of an odd one out in her family as her personality is a lot more sociable and outgoing. While she does wear a similar fashion aesthetic to her mother, but specifically takes a liking to ‘yami-kawaii’ subculture. her abilities as an assassin are more so from her father. She particularly has her own version of Henry’s ‘barrage mode’ and additionally a beam katana that’s similar to Henry’s Vosmir.

Rhys, is more so the quiet, reserved one much like her parents. They are more comfortable wearing suits, and more masculine attire, but xyr abilities are more so from their mother. Rhys is… kinda responsible for their current journey of doing time travel to secure their future existences + correcting the main course of the timeline in general. Much like their mother, they wield a dual set of beam katanas, but it should be noted that they also use military grade knives + can pack a surprising punch when in close combat.

Before anyone asks, no they’re not twins. Amelie is born first, and she’s about 2-3 years older than Rhys, who is the younger sibling - although they are both younger than Jeane Cooldown. I should stress that they aren’t assassins either but have been trained by parents, but even then their appearance in NMH3 is just two university students trying to save their parents, and this is while the fabric of space-time hangs in the balance and it’s not made any better when your dad was the one to bring aliens into the equation [which has kinda fucked with the main timeline that was put in place to begin with.]

Amelie uses she/they, Rhys uses xe/they/it pronouns.

Picrew one (LINK) and Picrew two (LINK)

[malewifehenrycooldown]

[ID: tumblr tags that read: #knife against throat #against a wall #but like consensually. End of ID.]

youve heard of missionary position. now get ready for MERCENARY position

[malewifehenrycooldown]

I know I talk about how much I love and adore Henry, but I say it when I mean I absolutely fully embrace this new interpretation of Henry, no matter how pathetic he is - I don't care. I love his stupidly inconsistent hairstyles, I love his coat, I adore the fact he has a little cult comprised of his own clones that back him up, I love his overpowered abilities (literally the hottest thing about him), I find it adorable that he's so angry that he refuses to die, I love his ridiculous cross sabers, and that silly forehead marking is perfectly kissable.

what i'm saying is:

[malewifehenrycooldown]

sometimes i forget Henry is an incredibly scary man.mp4

video id below

[video id: nmh3 gameplay footage on easy mode. the battle setting is the no more heroes car-park lot, and the boss character is Henry Cooldown. Henry is imbued in this green light colouring, indicating he is in a much more powerful state, which is communicated through his attack patterns, that range from projectile energy spheres, projectile slashes, a multi-slashing move and using himself and his powers to create a wheel of energy to lunge and attack the player. throughout the video he is also consistently teleporting. the player character Travis, is doing their best to avoid these attacks, and make their own strikes when there is an opening/pause in Henry's attack patterns. end of video ID].

[malewifehenrycooldown]

oh, what I would do to be called ‘darling’ by henry cooldown…

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Our New World: Sounds the title for the next Nine Inch Nails Concept Album. Probably about a Utopian world that’s too good to be true and the main characters trying their best to make the world a better place. Ending is left ambiguous as to if they succeed or not.

Lullaby for a Solider: Sounds like a animated movie with war like themes. There’s a love story in there where the main characters are in love and are soul mates but it ends tragically.

The Redemption I Seek with You: a pretentious drama/thriller movie with an absurd runtime, a slow burn relationship and a dark academia aesthetic. Probably has inspirations from or is an adaption of a Jane Austen novel. Really wants to get a Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Patchwork Heart: a one hit wonder of a pop song that’s about a two people giving love a second chance and wanting to move on from past relationships.

In the Name of the Moon: an anime series with a similar art style and aesthetic to Studio Trigger and their works. Definitely a love letter to the many shonen and Shojo series that came before it and has their own unique take on the many tropes and cliches they’ve popularised. The series would have an odd emphasis on absurd humour, surreal visuals and just overall visual storytelling.

Your ship tag is now the title of a piece of media starring you and your F/O. What's the medium and genre?

Mine:

Too Close to the Edge - Oh great, this is one of those angsty modern action movies where half the cast dies and the good guys only kinda win, isn't it?

That's My Emotional Support Clown - Definitely one of those weird manga-style webcomics with the surrealist humor.

Crystals and Diamonds - Okay, this sounds like one of those tween girl fantasy novels where a normal girl finds out she's a princess in another dimension and I'm not okay with how accurate that is.

How to Court a Magician - Disney/Pixar's attempt at an adult rom-com.

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Having very normal thoughts about Henry <- desperately wants to be in his arms and kissing them

[malewifehenrycooldown]

A disadvantage of marrying Henry is that other assassins in the industry would constantly refer to Shallow as ‘the second wife’, which would then be immediately followed up by ‘you’re much better/more nicer than Sylvia’, and they obviously are well intentioned and mean it in a more… positive way. But also… Shallow is just standing there like “Hey, I have a name. Please use it, it’s not that hard!!!”

[malewifehenrycooldown]

UMMM UMMMM UHHHHHHH UMMMMM does... does he... does he know that I would do anything for them..... 😳👉👈

[malewifehenrycooldown]

me, whenever I hear Henry's voice:

[image by pastelpaperplanes]

[malewifehenrycooldown]

[video ID: a cut-sene from nmh1, where the protagonist, Travis Touchdown (the one in red) and his twin-brother Henry Cooldown (the one in grey/silver), are dueling in the No More Heroes Motel parking lot. Henry says the following: "But Travis, my brother... We're similar in many ways." End of video ID].

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Paradise isn’t a place. It’s a person that you want to spend your days and nights with, all the while being held in their warm embrace.

[malewifehenrycooldown]

*Bernie sanders voice* I am once again asking for Henry Cooldown’s hand in marriage.