#''bad is subjective'' i know but also. come ON

[raayllum]

Moon Arcanum Callum + Sun Arcanum Claudia in S7?

Callum getting the Moon arcanum has been a fandom... not theory, but shall we say, prospect, since even before S4. Some of this was because of the seeming set up in previous seasons, such as:

Callum having a hunch that the cube wasn't glowing due to the Moon, and being our first hint at illusions on the Cursed Caldera (1x09)

Lujanne explaining the secret of the arcanum (as she understands it) to him in 2x02

Callum doing moon arcanum spells (3x08, Through the Moon) much the way he did Sky spells before unlocking that arcanum

Callum employing aspects of the Moon arcanum in his plans (3x01 with tricking Sol Regem, creating the illusion pearl in 6x01)

His growing relationship and understanding with Rayla, and potential involvement with her family/village

But especially:

This is of course already reflected in spades in his arc as a mage. Everyone, Lujanne included, believes that humans can't do magic. She treats this as absolute fact and destiny, but Callum perceives it as subjective truth; why can't he just make his own connection and do magic anyway? And in doing so, he changes the world. He creates a radically new, better reality.

With season seven's synopsis on sacrifice and life and death, both things we see tied heavily to Moonshadow culture and the Moon itself, I could see Callum connecting to the Moon arcanum next season for a few reasons (and potentially Claudia with the Sun arcanum, which I'll get to after). So let's get into it.

Precursor

Previously, if Callum was going to connect to the Moon arcanum, I'd speculated it'd mostly be around ideas of the consistency of Love (light or dark, the moon is always the moon) and his love for Rayla being his light in the darkness / the one constant truth of his life. I don't think this anymore, obviously, because we got all those things through the Star truth light ritual beat for beat and we're not going to be repeating, but I did think it'd be worthwhile then to revisit what a Moon arcanum could mean for Callum under new context / emotional epiphanies. I've also always thought either Earth or Sun would suit Claudia, but leaned more towards the latter, so we're gonna talk about that, too.

Truth and Lies and Aaravos

As Lujanne explains in 2x02, the Moon arcanum is understanding the true nature of the relationship between appearances and reality, and we can only understand the appearance itself. This feels like a very fitting idea to come back to with Aaravos, who ostensibly never lies but routinely withholds or presents not entirely correct information. "How may I serve you?" when you're just going to be a pawn. Not telling a mourning Claudia that he was indeed the one who killed Viren so that she'll continue to do his bidding, with Claudia asserting that Aaravos "didn't lie" about the ritual in 6x01, and he didn't. We also see him wield the truth as a weapon with people like Khessa ("would you like to know the truth of her fate before you meet yours?") and Sol Regem (more on that here.)

Everything that he says is truth to him, and then he lifts it up as being objectively true (i.e. you're destined to play into my hands) even when it isn't necessarily true. We can also see Callum veering into mindsets that Claudia and Viren have had, where he believes he's past the point of saving ("I'm ruined, it's too late for me" "Promise me you'll kill me") or removing his own agency by admission ("Finnegrin was going to kill you, I didn't have a choice" / "Every step forward is a choice").

Callum understanding Aaravos' or others' actual truths versus their lies and the ones he's believing could be very fitting in S6, especially if he might be learning more about the existence of the Cosmic Council and who made their world the way it is. I think his existence may help lead to that "slow spiral of chaos" but that it won't be just or even Bad at all the way they'd feared, etc.

Claudia is also linked to lies and truth. She lies to others, but Aaravos notes that "If you tell the truth you will lose her," and she goes looking for her own deep truth in S6, but doesn't seem to fully find it. Terry asks her "What do you need to find your one deep truth?" and Claudia says that she needs her dad, but she and her mother have also made it clear that she "needed to stay with Soren" and her family (vs Viren telling her to pick the egg over Soren). With Viren gone and Aaravos manipulating her, Soren could easily be one of her guiding lights next season or in future seasons.

The Pearl

The moon is analogous, framing/appearance wise, to the prison. This is alluded to in 5x09 through framing, and then made even more direct in 6x09: Aaravos escapes his prison thanks to Claudia and (unbeknownst to her) she has become the prisoner, much like how Callum may physically free himself from chains in 5x08 but magically/emotionally chains himself further to Aaravos, or Viren shouting while in chains that he's finally free of the dark puppetmaster.

Basically, when Callum says in 6x01 that he's inside the pearl, I don't think (as of S6 / probably first half of S7 at least) that he's ever gotten out of it. Aaravos uses him even after his nightmare, and we know thanks to the pawn intro that Aaravos' final machinations for Callum also haven't yet come to play. I've been wondering if the Aaravos intro is going to change in S7, since he's out of his prison — and it still may — but if we look at it from the angle of Callum and Claudia both being stuck within the moon/pearl rather than just Aaravos himself, maybe it could stay.

And if Callum is stuck inside the moon-pearl, shattering it by understanding the arcanum ("the whole world is like a giant primal stone, and we're inside of it, and it's also in us") and/or with Claudia moving to the opposite of the moon could be useful, especially since Karim is a corrupted sun in his own way. Speaking of which let's talk about

Light and Dark

We know thanks to Claudia that black and white, or light and dark, are not always clear cut. Her hair thanks to her dark magic use changes like phases of the moon, with the light being bad and the dark being good. Conversely, her path is a dark one with the path of truth and light being withheld from her. In a similar manner, we see Callum's light (Rayla) being what led him into dark magic use and what led him out of it, and will likely see this pattern play out again. Aaravos is a representation of a path of darkness, but we also see the cube flashing a bright light in the pawn intro, tying light and darkness together for him as well.

Callum's understanding of himself that he gained through the Ocean arcanum can not simply become untrue or disappear, so I think recognizing that darkness isn't all he is ("I'm ruined" / "your heart's not full of darkness" "Neither is yours") even if there are dark parts of him and of his life would be fitting. It also seems that could be helpful with Claudia as well, and even characters like Ezran, who will have to wrestle with darker parts of his emotions/personality next season as well with Runaan. They've all got light and dark inside them, and learning how to walk in that balance and still break away from the Cycle / Aaravos is useful. As Ezran said in 4x03:

I just want to yell stop. But that’s not enough. It won’t work. I think about a positive vision, a faith we can all share, that we might build a future together in hope. A future where we can be safe with each other.  But… It’s not that easy or simple. Because people are still hurting and they are still angry. We can’t ignore that, or pretend it will go away. Somehow, we have to hold it all in our hearts at the same time. We have to acknowledge the weight of the pain and loss, but open up our eyes and allow ourselves to hope and maybe forgive and love again. We have to give today’s children a chance to inherit a future filled with peace. To give them that, we have to hold pain and love in our hearts at the same time.

Claudia's love for her family led her to ruin, but it can also save her through Soren. Callum's love for Rayla led him to ruin, but it has also saved him (and again, we'll likely repeat this pattern). Ezran's love for his father will lead him to anger but also pull him out of it, just as Viren's love for his son caused him to begin his journey of terrible things, but also guided him to do one final, truly right thing by the end.

Love is light and dark. Claudia, who's been walking in shadow, needs the full light - the sun, in the form of her brother. She needs to accept and see the truth of what's happening and step fully into the light. Callum, who has been routinely worried of the dark within him, needs to the reminder that he's not all he is, that he has light of his own inside. In doing so, he can break Aaravos' control over him and give hope to any other dark mages / humans in general that no level of corruption is too late to come back from, and that there is always light amid the darkness.

Life and Death

The stakes have never been higher as Aaravos and Claudia are on the warpath, determined to destroy the Cosmic Order and invert life and death. With the world’s fate on the line, our heroes must be ready to sacrifice everything to save it.

In Bloodmoon Huntress, we get a very different peek into how the secret of the Moon arcanum can be thought of through Runaan, who is peak Moonshadow-sacrifice elf man:

Moonshadow form is only achieved when we understand the balance of life against death. Balance is weight against weight, and to understand the weight of death you must feel the weight and value of another's life. Think of those you love, of who you hold most dear. Now think of the souls who have touched your life. Understand that each time your weapon meets its target, each time we fulfil our duty, the potential for that soul to change a life—to love another—is gone. We may remove hate, but we remove the potential for love as well. Moonshadow form is only achieved when we reconcile this balance between life and death.

While Claudia with her hair and dark mage-assassin parallels could unlock the Moon arcanum—especially if her perspectives continue to change—I think Callum as the Protagonist is better placed at this time to be the one to understand the balance between life and death in a season where the antagonists are trying to invert/destroy it. Him therefore understanding appearances and changes, how to control his own and see through others', understanding that balance between life and death, feels very fitting.

Callum's fear of Aaravos and dark magic comes from the fear that he's changing—"I hope you're careful, cause [magic] can change people" / "the corruption takes innocent creatures and changed them"—and that death would be better for him than life if he goes too far. Learning these things aren't the case and that he can get back to the middle (and indeed, "real trust is about accepting even the dark parts we will never know" could be about Rayla accepting he may not entirely swear off dark magic again, the same way Viren kept that door open to do Good) would be useful.

It would also mean the two mage characters most drawn into Aaravos' darkness get the Moon and Sun—the arcanums most associated with light—to banish said darkness as well. Claudia finally being an uncorrupted light and chasing life, not death, and Callum, learning how to be balanced and that he can maintain his identity / use Aaravos' book and key without fearing that he'll lose control.

The fact that Claudia's eclipse imagery only started the same episode she lost her brother, and that her Laurelion dragon-scale necklace is very Sunfire-y looking...

Conclusion

TDP for Callum and Claudia has always felt like a parallel coming-of-age mage story between the two of them, leading to the amount of similarities and diverging plot beats the two have, down to doing the same spell at the same time but in different locations in S6. The Sun arcanum is associated with truth, light, and healing, whereas the Moon arcanum is associated with change, life + death, and secrets/love. All of these things could be nicely brought to a head with Callum and Claudia each unlocking an arcanum of Moon and Sun respectively, showcasing their differences, their continued room to grow, and light amid the darkness.

While I could see alternatives like Sun for Callum and Moon for Claudia, Stars for Callum or no arcanum for either of them, I think these are the ones that fit best at this time / Stars will likely get saved for arc 3 given that arc 3 will probably focus more on rewriting destinies and the Cosmic Order as antagonists.

As always hope you enjoy and Dragons out!

[raineandsky]

Hello, I was wondering if you could please write something where Villain thinks they are under a love potion slipped by hero’s allies. After every moment they see hero they feel they are in love with them. But when they confront the teammate they find, to their surprise that they gave them a ‘speak your heart’ potion to get them to confess their crimes and never expected them to have feelings for their friend. Coming to the shock and realization that they had indeed fallen for hero but had been ignoring it/suppressing it. Now they are at the point where they can deny it no longer. Thank you for your consideration and for reading this! I hope you have an absolutely lovely day! 💕

this was.... such a cute idea??? i liked writing this one, i hope you enjoy reading!! thank you as always for the request!!

Heroes are liars. The villain knows this well. They’ll lie, cheat and bribe their way into anything that might mean another villain in jail, another victory under their belt.

There are telltale signs of lying, of course. Looking away, shifting about, smiling awkwardly. The villain has learnt all of these, because they know that heroes are liars, but also tend to be bad liars.

This hero, from the villain’s deduction, is either an incredibly good liar or telling the truth. God, the villain wants it to be the former.

“Love potion turns blue,” this hero is saying. “When I poured the heart-speaker in your drink it went orange.”

The hero’s looking right at them, stock still, face blank except for what seems a little like horror. Liar, surely. He’s just a damn good one. “Bullshit. You’re— You’re fucking with my head.”

“I’m not doing anything!” the hero cries. “I’ve been following you around with a recorder because I was hoping you’d admit to your crimes! I wasn’t expecting any of this.”

The villain turns away from them—a mistake most villains know not to make, not that the villain particularly cares right now—and heaves a deep sigh. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Does it?

The villain is no stranger to love potions and their effects. How they noticeably warp their victim’s perception of reality, of who they can trust. The villain, subject to one such potion for one of the supervillain’s strange experiments, noticed that everything felt different, that their feelings on certain people had inexplicably changed. The effects also wore off after a day.

The villain’s been feeling like this for a week. Loose, almost detached, like honesty is the best policy even though their colleagues would scream for them to stop talking.

They’ve seen their hero more than once this past week. Carefully stamped-down, begrudging respect has blown up into desperate infatuation. Their hero says some well-practised lines about taking them down, the villain stutters out some of their own about never being caught, and then they fight, the physicality of it entirely overwhelming sometimes.

That’s more than a simple love potion has ever done to the villain.

Their hero is— how long has the villain been calling them that? That hero isn’t the villain’s anything except their nemesis. They need to get out of their own head before the heart-speaker drowns them in their own emotions.

“How… how long does it last?” the villain asks faintly.

“Well,” the hero says, “at least a week.”

“Oh my god. You don’t even know.” The villain scoffs in offence. “Jesus, I— I can’t see [Hero] again like this.”

“You’re freaking out, [Villain],” the hero butts in carefully. “You’re recognising your own feelings for the first time. It’s a lot. I get it.”

The hero doesn’t get it. The villain feels like the world’s about to end. “What the hell am I meant to do?”

“You could tell them.”

“Are you insane? No!” The villain wrings their hands, pacing thoughtlessly. “No, this isn’t right. The heart-speaker will wear off and everything will go back to normal. It’s fine.”

“I mean…” The hero glances down at the little audio recorder in their hand. It looks ancient, as most hardware does that comes from the agency. “I still have a ton of free space on this thing.”

“I’m not saying it out loud and I’m certainly not letting you record it.”

The hero shrugs, the lightest smirk weaving its way onto their stupid face. “I didn’t think you would. I do have some heart-speaker left. Enough for… someone else.”

On any normal day, the villain wouldn’t care too much about knowing what their hero thinks of them. But this day isn’t normal, and with this goddamn potion working its magic on them, the villain is painfully, embarrassingly desperate to know every little detail of their hero’s thoughts.

The villain squints at the hero to make it clear they’re not agreeing to this immediately, although their body language probably suggests otherwise. “Okay, well, it’s not your worst idea.”

The hero nods sagely. “I think I know which idea of mine you think is the worst. I’ll make sure this one isn’t to your detriment, though—it’ll be fun working with you, partner.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why, saving it for someone else?”

The villain wants to snap back at them for the tease as the hero laughs, but they can’t deny what the heart-speaker is forcing them to admit.

Yes.

[dseval]

ArchiveVerse Delta

Finally, he's here.

More under the cut.

Although It's a bit half-assed, Delta's character intro is finally completed. I feel a sense of satisfaction for myself because.... Well... His old design was ugly asf and I felt bad. Anyway, expect Dream or Reaper next because I think their designs are also terrible (though probably in like a week or more sksksks)

Infos are subject to change. Who knows maybe next morning I'll be extremely dissatisfied by this.

To understand most of the things I write here, please refer to my ArchiveVerse post.

★Info★

Delta is a student from Ordenance. He is a hot-headed person with a strong sense of justice... Whose method of solving injustice seems to be jumping head first into fist fights.

(That's all about his backstory... Actually.)

Quick Facts:

His height is 173 cm

The energy coefficients of his powers: Physical and Fire. Meaning he has exceptionally strong physique and... A little bit fire powers, I guess.

Whenever he's frustrated or flustered, puffs of smoke can come out of his mouth, occasionally even actual fires.

Had wanted a cool jetpack.

He is initially not a fan of Ordenance's fancy dresscode, but eventually relents and finds himself liking these frilly shirts.

Has a very stiff face, as in most of the time it's a smile plastered onto his face.

Can get lost very easily in places he's unfamiliar with.

He had won every single arm wrestling competition... For now.

Character Relationships:

He and Color are both students from Ordenance, the academy has a dorm system, and they're neighbours

He and Epic often talked about action animes a lot

Delta, along with Cross, Color, and Epic, often hung out at the arcade during after school hours on in the weekends.

Is very skeptical about most students from Juvie, due to the fact that they are criminals. Even so, unless they do something bad, he wouldn't act out on it

Sometimes bumped into Horror and Cross at the gym, they also spar sometimes

Bonus: delta in a skirt jumpscare, this is his alt design lmao

Credits (please tell me if there's a typo or if i missed anyone!):

Delta Sans by AnimatedZorox

AU Inspired and heavily based on Blue Archive. Artstyle heavily influenced by Mx2j, one of the artists for Blue Archive

Mentioned characters: Color (Superyoumna), Epic (Yugogeer012), Cross (Jakei), Horror (SourAppleStudios)

[jeannereames]

Do you have any thoughts/theories on what it would've been like if Alexander ever returned to Pella? (sorry if this was already asked, tumblr's search system isn't really helpful)

What if Alexander Had Lived to Turn West?

First, I agree on Tumblr’s search system. It’s become increasingly bad. Even I can’t find posts I KNOW I made and tagged. I’m starting to compile a list of the more important (and lengthy) posts on various subjects, for my own reference. I wish Tumblr would let us pin several posts, not just one. (I’ve also sent a complaint feedback to Tumblr about this.)

Anyway, to the question: before we get to the “fun” (speculative) part, let’s address how likely it is he’d GO back. And as part of that, we need to ruminate a bit on what he might have done, if he’d returned west. So, let’s play a little “What-if?”

We must also keep in mind travel time. In the modern world, we can forget how long it took back then to get from Point A to Point B. Had he lived to attack Carthage (as I think he planned to do), or at least circumnavigate Arabia—both are on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. (See my tweaked map with significant places I mention below marked in purple, and recall that they tended to sail along a coast, not straight through the middle.) Macedonia is in the NW corner of the Aegean Sea. Such a side-trip would have eaten up a couple months. There might have been a sneaky reason for him to do that very thing: to come at Carthage from the north. (See discussion below.) But only if Arabia was a ruse all along. If he did mean to attack Arabia (and I think he intended that too), he'd go the southern route, then after, check on the progress of Alexandria (and visit the shrines for Hephaistion that he’d ordered built), before heading west.

If he did choose that southern route, he wouldn’t have returned to Pella before attacking Arabia or Carthage. And after…well, Italy was on the way back, so he’d probably have gone there first. And yes, I think after dealing with Carthage, he’d have used avenging the death of his uncle (Alexandros of Epiros) as an excuse to attack the Greek colonies in S. Italy. If he’d been successful against Carthage, I’m pretty sure south Italy, and possibly the north too, would have capitulated to avoid being leveled. Even Rome. At that point, Rome was in no position to fight such a titanic military powerhouse. Too many think of Rome later and backread the extent of Roman resistance into earlier periods.

Depending on the length of the campaign (e.g., how hard was any opposition), he’d have been in his mid-30s by then. Incidentally, if you’d like a speculative “What if Alexander went West,” I recommend A Choice of Destinies by Melissa Scott. (Ignore the cover.) She does have him return to Greece first, but because Thebes is in revolt (which called him back in the first place; he never reaches India). That’s the sort of event that would get him back to Greece.

There’s been speculation in both fiction and history that he didn’t want to go home because he was avoiding “his terrible mother” (as Tarn put it). I’ve written before on why Oedipal Complexes are both very modern and very wrong to assign to Alexander. I can’t now locate that post (annoyingly), but did find this one about Alexander’s relationship with Olympias in later years. So, I don’t think avoiding Olympias would have kept him from Greece/Macedonia before going west. If anything, the opportunity to see his family would have been a draw, not a dissuading point.

So, we can postulate two possible return scenarios. The first would be a side-trip on his way to Carthage as trickery to conceal his real target. After leaving Pella, he’d circumnavigate Greece to the Peloponnese, then cross the Ionian Sea to Sicily (a typical Greek trade route), and then sail around the southern edge of the island to pop across to Carthage from the north.

In this scenario, he’d be in “swing-by” mode. He’d already asked Antipatros to bring him fresh troops, so he’d have been picking them up, or acquiring more. As a recruiting campaign, it would have been short, but he’d no doubt make several religious sacrifices at Dion, Aigai, and Pella, and perhaps even visit Delphi for a prophecy about the west.

He would not bring his Asian wives with him in either scenario. First, it’s a campaign, not a family visit. But also, he intended them to stay in Babylon (or Susa). By that point, Roxane and probably also Statiera would have given birth. If both infants were male, Statiera’s would be designated heir in Asia. If only Roxana’s was male, he’d still be the “spare” by dint of his mother’s lower birth, but better than nothing in the meantime.

It’s quite possible that he intended a divided but hierarchical rule not so different from Assyrian patterns, where one heir was sent to Babylon while Daddy ruled in Nineveh and trained the other. He almost certainly meant his son by Statiera to rule in Persia/Asia, but perhaps a different son to rule in the west—one likely not even conceived yet.

I do not think he’d have married a Macedonian. He’d be looking for another political marriage, maybe to a Greek (Athenian, Syracusan…), but more likely, he’d marry a Carthaginian after any war (or as part of any peace treaty with Carthage). At that point, Carthage was the powerhouse in the Western Med. Remember, Rome had only begun her consolidation of the Italic peninsula in the wake of the Gaulic sack of the city. Alexander in Italy might have stopped that cold.

Anyway, whatever marriage he made in the west (or couple of marriages) would have been intended to produce an heir to reign there, probably subservient to any son by Statiera after Alexander’s own death, but it’s hard to know for sure. Roxana’s son (and Herakles by Barsine) would have been third and fourth fiddles. That’s WHY Roxana killed Statiera. Her status wasn’t high enough, and her son would have been destined to be regional governor in the NE territories (where his family was from): e.g., troublesome Baktria/Sogdiana. Herakles would probably have been given Asia Minor (where his Persian family was from). (More on Herakles in another post.)

But back to this scenario: if he visited on the way, it would have been a quick trip until he was off again to another campaign. (Not unlike Daddy who, in his latter years, didn’t spend much time in Pella.)

Now, let’s look at scenario #2: a visit after any victories in Arabia, Carthage, and possibly Italy. That would be a different homecoming, less pressed for time.

That said, he wouldn’t have intended to stay. After securing the eastern/middle Mediterranean, he might have driven up into Europe, to re-secure Thrace to the Danube and scout for river connections between the Black and Caspian Seas. There aren’t any, but they didn’t know that. In fact, late in his campaign, he’d already sent somebody north to do that very scouting, so this would be a follow-up.

Thrace had fallen away from Macedonian control in in his later years, thanks to the powerful Odrysian King Seuthes III. Also, Alexander hadn’t forgotten those Celts who’d been singularly unimpressed by him early in his reign. (ha) Alternatively, he might have decided to go South of Egypt to Meroë, or west of Italy to Spain. But as he was centered in Greece, my bet is north into Eastern Europe. He already had incentive from a rebellious Thrace.

What would this homecoming have been like? STUPENDOUS, of course. All the stops pulled out. Macedonia was a gift-exchange society, so bringing home a fair bit of booty would be important. We’re told he sent presents home regularly, but this would be above and beyond. It would serve two functions:

First, he’d get to claim to be the wealthiest, most successful Macedonian king EVAR, and then some. So personal fame and honor would be on the line.

Second, throwing around oodles of wealth would be a great recruiting tool. His constant warring meant he was also in constant need of new troops. In his last years, it was clear he was happy to get troops from a variety of peoples, but the Macedonian core remained (as in the Successor Wars). Of course, continually draining Macedonia of men was bad for the future population, but “sustainability” was not in any way an ancient concept, whether in resources or in manpower. Early in his career, he did show a little awareness of this, sending back men for a “conjugal visit,” but as the campaign continued, he stopped worrying about it.

Anyway, he would also probably take the opportunity to build that giant tomb for daddy that was part of his Last Plans. Hard to know how much of those plans were either exaggerated or entirely invented, but that sounds like something he’d do. He might also have taken time to improve on local religious structures (such as at Dion), and set up something (no doubt monstrously large) at both Delphi and Olympia, as panhellenic sites.

As for the reunion with his mother and sisters, as indicated, I don’t think he was staying away to avoid Mommy Dearest. So, I expect he’d have been happy, maybe even overjoyed, to see them again.

[rosakuma]

Possible Parallels to Ace/Nico and Arei/Eden? Spoilers for Ch. 2

Okay so with the next episode approaching us fast, I wanted to get out this post that is something that could connect to the case via the similarities between Arei and Eden with Ace and Nico. This is a mixture of character analysis and theory through the eyes of Culptrit Eden view.

Note: Just because there similarities doesn’t fully cement that Eden is the culprit + I’ll be giving an interpretation on some parts that could be a possible connection. So take this subjectively 😋

Let’s get to our big meanies! To start out, let’s compare two of the biggest jerks of DRDT’s cast, Ace and Arei.

When it comes to their role as a bully to their respective target, both are different while being similar to their approach. Ace and Arei verbally bullyies Nico and Eden with insults or assumptions on them.

When it comes to Ace, his insults and assumptions are based off his own insecurities and paranoia on how others see him. While we still don't know what causes him to feel this way, we can see how this affects others like Nico and also bites him in the back with everyone hating him because of this.

Nico being the victim of these outbursts affects them hard to take things too far due to Ace’s behavior to them reminding them of unsavory memories in their past. Nico seems to had moments similar to what Ace would do of yelling at them for saying something wrong bluntly(though to them, they don't mean it in a bad way) or getting at them for either “Wanting Pity” or “Can’t defend themselves “. Knowing how Nico’s identity of being nonbinary has cause bullies to come after them with throwing rocks/mud at them or being accused of trying to get attention in a derogatory way, this is why Ace’s accusations towards them trying to get pity got to them hard. Enough to commit murder as while I don't think Nico before the killing game tried to kill their dad or any of their peers/teachers, I do think this reflects that Nico wishes they had power over them or maybe thoughts of harming them just to get back at them. Being able to have that temporarily over Ace, it was probably the first time they were able to take action back to others who treated them awful just for who they are as a person.

Getting back to Ace. Ace is aware of this behavior being too much when it comes to his anger, but still goes ahead with it regardless. Even though deep down, he wishes he both was and wasn't the things he claims Nico is. That someone would save him from this situation of the killing game/his self sabotage behavior and care about him. But he also doesn't want to let his guard down with being in this scary situation and refuses to let anyone talk shit to him to his face. That's why it hurt so much when his projection of this person being Levi was shattered the moment Levi reveals he does not care about anyone, including Ace who could live or die for all he cares. This is just speculation, but with this chapter showcasing everyone’s flaws or hints that there’s more to them. I believe Ace in a way like Arei, probably went through something to cause his paranoia on everyone thinking that he’s hot headed idiot and the need to “fight back” to show he’s not weak either. That no one really cares about him except for one person(Taylor) who’s presumably dead now. If I had to guess, it could relate to his talent of being a jockey in perhaps the competition would get to his head and knowing he can’t fail(maybe perhaps thanks to his family whether to disappoint them or fail to support them). Resulting in the Ace we know today as the hot headed all bark, but no bite jockey who doesn't care that his body is failing him as who’s going to care? He only got himself and he can’t go out until he dies on his own terms. He truly lives up to his secret quote of “I don’t know what to do with myself anymore” as he cannot figure out if he wants to just isolate and hurt himself in the process or to let others in to help him out and change this harmful behavior of his.

Going onto Arei, her way of bullying Eden is more out of a mixture envy and concern for her. Before we knew Arei was her manipulative self who would fake being nice and cry during ch.1 before revealing herself and started insulting others. After Min’s death in ch.2 we see how her feelings about what happened cause to her act out in this chapter.

When Eden was searching for her to have her join her clock activitity with her and Teruko, Arei burst out in disgust about this invitation. Eden confused as Arei wanted to join last activity, gets hit with Arei blaming her for Min’s death. For pretending to be all sad about Min dying, before returning to her usually happy self. Telling her that acting this way and trying to do these “friendship” bonding activities is just going to cause more people to die. And it’ll will be all your fault.

This pushes Eden to tears and she runs away. To where we get in the conversation with Arei, David, and Teruko that she reveals her world view. That thanks to her sisters, her life been hell. That she used to be a nice person who tried being kind to others, but that kindness was only met by hate and manipulative jerks who take their sick kicks out on her because they had more power over her. Arei had no one who cared about her or show her kindness, only those who taught her its a dog eat dog world and you better get with it if you want to survive.

In a way, her bullying towards Eden unlike Ace’s towards Nico is because in her own way, she’s trying to help Eden. Eden probably reminds Arei of her old self that she had to disregard to survive during her childhood to adulthood. She doesn't wish any actually harm on Eden, she just wants Eden to not end up hurting like she did. But at the same time while not enjoying making Eden cry over this, she does feel something towards her. Envy

Arei feels envious towards how someone like Eden can exist. That she can be kind in this cruel world and no one takes advantage of her for it. That she can be this way and not experience any hell that Arei did despite not wanting to always be this way.

This makes me feel the connection between Ace and Arei. Both are envious towards their victims with what they have that they never gotten. Both Nico and Eden have people who cared about them and doesn't think of them being less than who they are. They can be themselves in this killing game with no one taking advantage of them(well until I guess the David reveal but nevermind that). While these two are trying to survive in a terrible situation with their own survival instincts they develop to survive in the world before this game. Although Arei before her death was trying to break out from this, to where she was given a hand from both Eden and David. Arei wanted to change even if she thought she was far too gone too. To be a good person like Eden and David. Even when getting her view of them shattered with David being a crappy person, she was glad as she’s not alone. Arei is thankful that there is no bad or good person, that she can change to be less shitty as there’s no impossible standards to live up to achieve it. Though Ace never got to get this as he had no David or Eden to reach out for him, to realize that he may be a shitty person like everyone else, but he could change his ways.

Now you’re probably wondering “Where does Eden come into all of this?” “How does this possibly connects to her being the culprit?” The thing is since both our bullies here have connections in similarities of how they treat their targets and how both murders are similar in how they’re done. What about the targets?

As we established with Nico earlier, Nico was driven to murder Ace because Ace reminded them of their past trauma right? What if Eden did the same to Arei because she reminded her of her past? Full speculation on possible Eden lore based off the little tidbits we know.

Now I don't think how Arei bullied Eden was the reason why Eden would plan to kill Arei her especially since they made up. Rather I think the reason why Eden killed her is because of when they made up. Remember, this is just speculation, so take this with a grain of salt.

I think with Eden’s secret being “Ever since you kissed her, you were afraid your sexuality would ruin your friendships” is connected to Arei’s friendship towards Eden. Whether this girl in the past was actually Arei maybe during their time at Hope’s Peak or someone else, I think when Arei promised to be Eden’s friend brought back memories to her. To someone who promised to be her friend, to protect her, to do stuff with her like baking dumb cakes, and to be someone she could rely on. We can tell with how that secret sounds, it might’ve ended badly for Eden’s crush on this girl who she felt like she ruined their friendship with.

When Arei promised to be this type of friend to Eden for now on, it caused Eden to think back to her and that Eden didn't want to be attached to someone like that again. It was already painful enough to lose that person because of who she was, she doesn't want to relive what happened to her. So she rather cut off what could’ve been a beautiful friendship that has the potential of becoming more just to prevent the hurt of losing someone like that again. With being inspired by Nico’s murder attempt, Eden was able to have the idea to have her plan in action.

Along with this, I think this could explain Eden’s behavior throughout this chapter with how strange she’s been acting about Arei’s death during the investigation to trial. She does clearly care about Arei and wanted to be her friend, but she doesn't want to be too attached to feel regret. Maybe if Arei’s words about Eden being sad about Min and then returning to her cheery self means anything, Eden is trying to do that with Arei of showing grief for a split second before trying to focus on “solving” the case to avoid feeling responsible to her death. Eden does regret doing the murder if she is the culprit as shown how she is so hurt about how she could’ve been friends with Arei, how Arei wanted to change to be a better person, and that she doesn’t want anyone to think any less of Arei that she willingly killed herself. But unlike Nico, who was able to finally speak up for themselves and admit their wrongdoings of almost committing murder, to acknowledge that they are not the victim in this situation. Eden is instead hiding and doing what she always done, rely on others to help her because she is too weak to do so. Her fatal flaw that prevents her from acknowledging that she did wrong and isn’t the ideal good person that Arei looked up to. Unbeknownst to her that Arei already knew Eden wasn’t perfect as she seemed to be.

Also it would make Charles’ conversation with Teruko in thinking that the secret he got(Eden’s) is actually important to the case as tragic but also kinda funny foreshadowing.

Essentially to boil down the connections between both parties in a nutshell:

The bullies are individuals who went through a tough life that formed their way of survival and takes it out on those who they perceived weaker than them.

The targets have to rely on others to protect them or fight their battles(Nico doesn’t do this on purpose as Hu defends them whether they want her or not, but still it happens).

The murders done to the bullies were because the targets were reminded of their past, which pushed them to commit murder.

The murder method are the same with the pulley method and making it seem like a suicide.

The target’s secrets are related to their identity(Eden being a lesbian and Nico being nonbinary) With all of this being said, I think this is the best way I can come up with how Culprit Eden could work motive wise as one of the many reasons why people believe that she couldn’t be the murder is because of no motive we can think that makes sense for her to kill her new friend. Because to be honest I do believe that Eden is the culprit based off the evidence against her with most of the things(the tape, learning the method, the note, the clothes) connecting more to her than Ace. But only reason why I’m still not 100% sure in her being the culprit is the motive. But now if this is true, then this can cement that Eden Tobisa, the ulitmate clockmaker, is the murder of Arei Nageishi!

Anyways, this case can go either way and I just know we’re all going to be destroyed this Friday when the episode airs. One of our gays is going to be buried and there’s nothing we can do about it 🥲

[in1-nutshell]

I don't know why but I really want wobbles to meet Red cross and Deadloop

A portal opens and sends wobbles to tfp universe completely lost wandering around like a lost puppy until the prime bots find them

Tfp ratchet and red cross can't even figure why wobbles wobbles so they aren't allowed to leave the base until they go home

Deadloop keeps wobbles out of danger when wobbles does get out of the base

Wobbles has returned!

Hope you enjoy!

Wobbles meet Red Cross and Deadloop

SFW, Platonic, Slight Angst, Cybertronian reader

MTMTE/TFP

Red Cross was trying to repair one of Ratchet’s tools, that may or may not have been trampled by a certain green Wrecker.

The team was out on patrol, and she was handling most of the controls and monitors.

Thankfully Raf had offered to be an extra set of optics and audials in case there was trouble.

Jack and Miko were talking about a shared class and something about finals.

Suddenly a portal came from the wall behind her.

Raf: “Red Cross behind you!”  Red Cross dropped the tool and held her servos in fighting position, prepared for anything that came— THWUNK! Red Cross looked at what hit her helm. It was an arm. Red Cross: “WHAT IN THE ALLSPA—” WHAM! Another frame came out and slammed into the medic. The portal closes. Jack, Miko, and Raf all run over to check on Red Cross. The mystery bot groan as they roll to their side. Red Cross also groans sitting up, holding her side. Both bots look at each other. Wobbles: “Hey! You found my arm! Thanks!” Red Cross: “… I’m going to be punch-drunk by the time this war is over…”

The new bot, Wobbles, happily explained their situation while Red Cross patched their arm back.

Red Cross was still trying to wrap her processor around… everything, she didn’t notice the bots had called in a groundbrigde.

Raf took the liberty of opening the groundbrigde for the bots.

Everyone was surprised to see a new bot in the med bay and a slightly stressed-out Red Cross.

The kids helped Wobbles explain to the others about their situation.

Deadloop: “You’re a simp kid.” Miko spits out her drink. Jack and Raf: “A simp?” Deadloop: “A foolish person.” Wobbles: “Hey!” Deadloop: “You just told us that you WILLINGLY allowed yourself to be someone’s test subject for teleportation and didn’t think that something bad would happen!?” Red Cross: “Deadloop! That’s enough.” She places a servo on Wobbles shoulder. Red Cross: “Wobbles has had enough excitement for one day. Let them be, there isn’t much we can do about the past, can’t we?” Deadloop grumbles a bit but stays silent. Miko under her breath: “You’re the simp.” Deadloop: “What was that kid.” Miko: “Nothing!”

Optimus granted Wobbles permission to stay at the base until their team came and got them.

Wobbles is surprised to hear that this universe’s war was still going on.

They immediately told everything they knew about the ending of the war to Optimus.

It wasn’t much help, but if there was a chance to help these kind bots they were going to do just that.

Red Cross did not like Wobbles leaving her sight.

Red Cross: “Deadloop, Bulkhead where’s Wobbles?” Deadloop: “Their with Miko.” Red Cross: “Miko?” Bulkhead: “Yeah, they mentioned something about sparring.” Red Cross: “Come again?” Deadloop: “Don’t get your bolts twisted. Its just a friendly—ACK!” The smaller medic grabbed both mech’s chassis and brought them to her height. Red Cross: “Did you just say Wobbles is SPARRING? WITH MIKO?! You might as well ask them to stand in front of Big Bertha!” Bulkhead: “She has the Apex Armor! Don’t worry!” Deadloop: “Leave the lass alone Red. The pair can make their own decisions.” Red cross glares at Deadloop. Red Cross: “Its not Miko who I’m worried about!” CLANK! CRASH! THUNK! Miko: “WOBBLES DEAD!” Red Cross, with sudden strength tosses the pair aside and runs to the sparring room, Ratchet soon following behind. Bulkhead notices Deadloop still looking in the direction Red Cross ran off. Bulkhead: “Hey, Deadloop… have you… you know talked to her about…” Deadloop: “No.” Bulkhead: “Are you planning on it?” Deadloop stays silent. Deadloop: “… I don’t know…”

Ratchet and Red Cross could not figure out how Wobbles could keep on falling apart without much notice or injury.

Wobbles mentioned that their Ratchet and medical team never knew why either, they just lived with it.

Red Cross keep Wobbles a few feet away from her.

She has saved them from 5 falls, 10 trips, and 6 limbs from falling out.

The team can see how worried Red Cross is for this bot and do their best to help make things for her are easier.

Deadloop has made it his job to watch over Wobbles when Red Cross can’t.

Deadloop standing behind Red Cross. Deadloop: “Red Cross, you need to rest.” Red Cross: “And like I told Ratchet, no.” She begins to walk away but Deadloop grabs her servo. Deadloop: “Red, you need to get off your pedes, the pede injury is going to start acting up again.” Red Cross stays quiet. Deadloop: “…Its already started acting up hasn’t it?” Red Cross: “…maybe?” Deadloop: “For Primus sake Red.” The medic yelps a bit when the Seeker suddenly picks her up and places her on the med slab, elevating her pedes. Red Cross: “I don’t need your help. I’m a medic Deadloop.” Deadloop: “Well, you sure not acting like one.” Red Cross stays silent. Deadloop: “…Just stay off the pede for a while. I’ll keep on optic out for the kid.” Deadloop walks out of the med bay, missing Red Cross’s sad smile.

Deadloop, thankfully, doesn’t have to worry about Wobbles going too far.

After sharing some stories, the young bot was willing to stay near him to hear more.

Did Wobbles start to grow on him?

Maybe?

Was he ever going to tell anyone?

No.

Wobbles then starts telling Red Cross about the stories.

She chuckles a lot at the theatric the bot puts on… except when their servo nearly came off…

Soon enough the same portal came back.

Wobbles, after making sure all their parts where with them, said their goodbyes and hoped right in.

Red Cross: “As much as that bot made my energon levels spike, I’m going to miss them.” Ratchet: “I am not going to miss tracking down their missing servos again…” Red Cross: “You’re going to miss them Ratchet, no need to lie.” Red Cross briefly makes optic contact with Deadloop before looking back down. Red Cross: “I’ll be fixing that tool.” Deadloop: “Red.” Red Cross looks over at the Seeker. Red Cross: “Deadloop? What is it?” Deadloop:” I… I…” Red Cross: “Yes?” Deadloop: “…How long is it going to take? I need someone monitoring my flight path.” Red Cross: “Get one of the Wrecker’s to watch you.” Red Cross walks back into the med bay. Bulkhead:  “Deadloop…” Deadloop: “Just… just watch my flight will ya.”

Meanwhile… Brainstorm, Ambulon, First Aid and Ratchet are in the lab. Ambulon: “Where are they?” Brainstorm: “They should be here any moment now.” First Aid: “This is the last time I’m letting them near the lab without supervision.” Brainstorm: “I was here.” Ratchet: “You don’t count.” Brainstorm: “What does that mean—Oh! Here they are!” The portal opens. Ratchet: “Well?” Wobbles goes flying towards the medics at full speed. CRASH! Wobbles is sitting on a pile of medics. Wobbles waves at Brainstorm. Wobbles: “That was fun! You have no idea what was on the other side! When can I go again!” All the medics: “NO!” Ratchet is the first to get out of the pile. Ratchet: “And to the medbay with you.” Wobbles happily waves good bye to Brainstorm as the medics bring them to the medbay.

wobbles waving at everyone

[youcouldmakealife]

Stuff that Helps me Write: Pacing (no, not that kind), and burnout avoidance

So this was supposed to be about something entirely different., but every time I started making a point, I got distracted by a second, bonus idea (ways to trick your brain when it's not cooperating with you! things I've tried (I will try everything) and what worked and didn't! what to do with writer's block!) and then start writing about that, and I've got half a dozen unrelated paragraphs going in my drafts, so I think I'm just going to make this a mini-series of 'stuff that helps me write and may also help you (or maybe they won't, I don't know, this shit's all subjective)'.

If there's anything in particular you'd like to hear about, or something about my process you're curious about, absolutely feel free to reply or shoot me an ask and I'll do my best to address them as I go.

But yeah, pacing. And more specifically, not burning out. I figured it was important I hit this one first, because I think it's the most important one, or at least, the one that makes the biggest difference.

With the caveat that I am someone who has repeatedly driven myself into burnout, I'm also someone who now knows why that is, and have been teaching myself how to, you know, not do that.

So. Here's how I, you know, don't do that.

Will preface this by again mentioning that most writing advice (and advice in general) never seemed to work for me, and I mostly thought I was just Bad at Doing Things, until I learned my brain's literally wired differently, and that I'd been trying to apply processes that didn't actually work for said wiring.

So instead, I figured out what worked for me. And what works for me isn't necessarily what will work for you, or even what will work for me a month or five years down the line, but it's going okay right now.

I'll straight up say that, contrary to all the Writing Advice, I don't write every day, and I don't think it's necessary, or even necessarily a good idea -- I have at times, but I no longer do, because if I write for more than six days straight I find the proverbial well dries up and I write less than I do had I just taken a break when I needed it.

Cognitive energy and the sort of ephemeral ~inspiration (work that's been done on a subconscious level) are fundamentally no different than physical energy: if you don't replenish it, you will run out. If you overdo it, you will run out. If you consistently overdo it without replenishing it, you will burn out.

Taking a page from hockey players here: if you did an intense workout right before a game they'd ask what the fuck was the matter with you. You need a nap and a meal and to get some stretching and light work in. Running at 100% all the time will burn you out in every single field, including this one.

That's not me saying not to run at 100% at all. I generally try to pace myself now, but if I'm really in it, and the words are coming easily, I don't stop until they stop -- I wrote just shy of 4k of later scenes for SAIT last week (my 2024 record!), all in one sititng, by hand, when I was supposed to be sleeping, because that's when the inspiration came. I didn't fall asleep until past 6am that night, and my hand is still mad at me.

But you know how much writing I got done the follow day? (None, I was busy transcribing 4k of handwriting). The rest of this week? (Not much more than that). Those bursts of energy are awesome, and honestly can make you feel like a writing god, but the well's the well, and I've learned my personal well is about 5000 words a week deep.

Before my most recent scrape with autistic burnout, which I'm still sort of climbing my way out of, that well was closer to 7500 words. But honestly, it probably wasn't; I was likely just siphoning words from future wells and then it all caught up with me when I was looking at a horizon of dry-ass wells ahead of me. (I'll admit this isn't a perfect metaphor.)

But seriously, my advice for basically everything, not just writing (and something I wish I'd learned before I hit my 30s), is 'figure out what pace you can work at sustainably'.

Please note that 'sustainably' is not 'without literally dying'. Because my literal ass thought when people said 'give everything 100%' they meant, you know, 'give everything 100%' (I know! absurd of me), rather than 'give the best effort you can give in this moment considering your current resources'. So I gave it my all (also interpreted that one wrong I guess?). And then I wondered why I kept hitting a wall all the time. And why, eventually, I stopped being able to climb that wall entirely.

I don't think I'm ever going to reach that 7500 word threshold again. There will be weeks I'm so inspired I write that much, but the next week I probably won't manage more than 2500. Or maybe I'll have two 7500 weeks in a row, but I'll need to take a whole week off after that, or spend several weeks working at a lower tempo while I let the well replenish itself.

I've been tracking some metrics quite closely as I sort of tweak my life into its new shape (said shape being 'do the best you can given your resources') , and during my most productive month of this year I wrote 3x as much as the worst (writing wise, I was finalising publication at the time), my current weekly average is about 4800 words. Sometimes it's a bit higher or lower, sometimes much higher or lower, but that's what I can sustainably do right now.

Frankly, I'm a little cranky about this: I know I can do more, because I did do more. But my priority now is not to send myself straight back into burnout again, so when I sprint, it's just that, rather than my previous 'trying to run a marathon at the pace of a sprinter'. I'm writing less than I used to, but it's honestly not that much less: because the pace is sustainable rather than boom and bust, I don't run myself ragged enough to desperately need a break.

I'm aware this advice only works if you have control over your own time, and a schedule that doesn't force you to focus on writing say, one day a week, or around other obligations, but the only real workaround for burnout is consistency, and that consistency cannot be your maximum.

Or, it can, but I guarantee you that will bite you in the ass at some point, and the pain of not getting enough done is nothing compared to the pain of not being able to get anything done because your nervous system threw up its hands and decided if you weren't going to listen to their clues (feelings, symptoms) or their warnings (Feelings, Symptoms) that you were overdoing it, they were going to shut your ass down until you listened.

0/10 do not recommend.

Next week: how to trick your brain into doing shit that it doesn't feel like doing, even though it's onto all your tricks by now. Or at least, how I trick mine.

[inariyazaki]

The Prophecy

Atsumu Miya x Gn!Reader

Warnings : self hatred, self doubt, js plain old negativity, mentions of self harm, alcohol, suicide, please scroll away if this is sensitive to you. I guess implied female ( Only implied with the nickname "Nee" meaning older sister in Japanese, however the pronouns are they/them )

Synopsis : Y/n Sosogi, someone who has many troubles, even as a child. Growing up, she had a hard time trusting others, and takes everything to heart. Their encounter with a certain someone did not go well.

PART [1][2] A/N : possible grammatical typographical errors hhh I apologize for that, I would like to apologize for giving Atsumu such a shitty character but its for the plot pls I also would like to apologize if the ending was not expected LMAOO

wc : 3,089

First year, and first day of high school. Y/n Sosogi doesn't know what to feel, ever since the death of their mother, they have been independent, but that doesn't mean they don't have limits.

Walking through the halls, they have never felt this overwhelmed, it's exactly like their first day of elementary school, where their brother was still present. I wonder how Ashitaka's doing? Did he finally go pro athlete? Brother's really old now. I hope he can visit.

Y/n Sosogi's first class wasn't that bad, it was just navigating through the rules, the names of the teachers, the different subjects and other things. There were clubs, and clubs aren't Y/n Sosogi's forte, they refuse to talk to anyone and get close with people.

The day has finally ended, Y/n Sosogi can't wait to just walk back home and sleep. There wasn't much to do since it was the first day, but the day after tomorrow is Club Festival, where people promote their clubs. While Y/n Sosogi isn't a fan of festivals like this, they had to attend.

The day of the festival has arrived, and luckily all the students could wear anything they want. Y/n has picked something comfy. Walking through the grounds of the High School and looking at the banners of the clubs, they sigh, none of the clubs felt ecstatic– well to be fair, it's hard to feel ecstatic nowadays.

Walking past club after club, they didn't find anything that caught their eye. While they had deep interest in volleyball, they didn't join the club. For one; they don't have the experience nor athleticism, and for two; they'd much prefer to be well and rested rather than training and coming home tired.

“I feel like I'm the only one without a club..” Y/n Sosogi thought to themselves, their eyes narrowing as they looked at the festival grounds from all the way at the end, “This is tiring..” They mumbled, brushing off their outfit, and they continued to walk, until the coach of the volleyball boy's came up to them, “Hello, excuse me.. I'm going around asking for students if they have clubs, and I'd like to ask if you have signed up for one yet?” He asked, Y/n Sosogi looked up at the coach, and shook their head, “No.. I haven't found a club yet.” The coach sighs in relief, “Would you like to sign up for the volleyball boys as our manager?” The coach offered, handing at the poster advertising the club, Y/n Sosogi takes a look at the poster, then looked up at the coach, quickly hummed, and nodded. “Sure.”

"It's such a relief finding someone who's willing to join the club. For now, you'll only be observing the team and get used to the atmosphere." the coach, who he introduced himself as 'Kurosu Norimune'. Y/n Sosogi slowly nodded their head and looked at the records in their arms. "Ah, I forgot to ask. What is yer name? And what year yer in?" He asks, Y/n Sosogi hums as they close the record book and hugged it, as a way to keep their arms preoccupied. "Sosogi.. Y/n. 1st year in class 5." They replied back, coach Kurosu nods. "Great to know. I'm sure you'll get along with the other 1st years, and you might like them, there's a fascinating duo, too." The coach muses with a chuckle, stopping in front of the gym doors and placing his volleyball shoes on. "Have you met twins before?" He asked, attempting to make small talk with the first year beside him, Y/n Sosogi shakes her head, and the gym doors open. "Gather! Gather!" The team captain exclaims and surrounds the entrance of the gym.

"Everyone, this is Sosogi Y/n, 1st year class 5. Today, they will be trying out for the position of being our manager. Please continue practicing normally, as Sosogi will only observe before making a decision." Coach Kurosu announced, and everyone just let out a loud "Understood", making Y/n Sosogi slightly winced at the loud volume. Kurosu had led Y/n Sosogi to the bench to explain the things to do as a manager.

"As the manager, in every practice and match, you will be recording every set and plays- for example, any quick shots and write if it is successful or not. This way, we will be able to analyze and calculate the percentage rate of the move or not." Coach Kurosu informs and explains, Y/n Sosogi just listens attentively while watching the drills. "Oh, and during the drills, you will also keep note of everything." He adds, Y/n Sosogi hums and they turn their head to the coach. "Do I have to remember anything about the uh rules in volleyball or..?" They mumbled, coach Kurosu nods. "Indeed you do, you'll also write down every out of bounds, or touch nets. et cetera. This role is quite demanding, so I'd understand if you'd want to back down." He says with a reluctant expression, clearly hesitant to let a potential manager go. Y/n Sosogi shakes their head. "It's alright. I made up my mind anyways." They mutter, coach Kurosu sighs in relief, and nods. "That is absolutely great news, Sosogi. I'm sure the team will welcome you."

oh the team was welcoming alright, there was just on asshole who was pissed at Y/n Sosogi for some reason, sending glares at them every time they'd hand him a towel or his bottle, muttering a "I can get it myself, thank ya very much." Bitterly, a dialect can be heard; clearly grew up in Hyogo. Curiosity got the better of them, and so they turned their head to the coach, and so does the coach. "Who's that?" They asked, pointing at the boy and the coach hums. "Ah, that's Atsumu. Miya Atsumu, he's a promisin' player, he'll surely go far." The coach says, clearly prideful of his players, and a vein pops on Y/n Sosogi's forehead as their eyebrows furrows. "He's annoyin' as hell."

Months passed, and their rage over the certain Miya has gotten exceedingly bad to the point they'd ignore him whenever talking to the team. The reason why Atsumu is being an asshole? "Why do we have a manager when we can already handle ourselves? That's useless!" word by word. In short, Atsumu looks down on Y/n Sosogi, and Y/n Sosogi is NOT letting that slide. Every training, they'd deliberately give Atsumu some half-assed attempt in helping him, almost dropping his bottle because of how little to no effort Y/n Sosogi is giving, making Atsumu more annoyed with them. But even though Atsumu was clearly being an asshole, Y/n Sosogi knew that as a manager, they'd still help every player.

But they'd definitely be lying if they say that his words and demeanor didn't affect them mentally.

Once again, months had pass, and the 1st years were now second years. Not to mention, Atsumu had probably gotten more obnoxious. Not to mention, he had gotten extremely well known for being unfortunately attractive and playing for a power house, Y/n Sosogi had to limit her nasty looks or they'd get flamed by Atsumu's fangirls. But this doesn't mean they haven't been studying Atsumu; they're aware that Atsumu prefers his serves quiet to avoid any interruptions, they know Atsumu cares for his spiker than any setter, delicately sending his spiker a perfect set. They're also aware that Atsumu is disliked, too, by other people. Aware at the fact Atsumu hates people who slack off, saying that his sets deserves more "respect" in them. Y/n Sosogi couldn't help but think about something though, how Atsumu would always brush off those comments. Well, not that they'd understand emotions, that's what they lacked growing up, after all.

But Y/n Sosogi did something they didn't even think about doing. It was when they were closing up since training finished, only to return to the gym's doors opened and someone hitting a ball aggressively; "Probably Atsumu again." they thought to themselves, climbing up the steps and looking in the gym, and what do you know? Miya Atsumu in his full glory.

"What're ya doin'?" Y/n Sosogi speaks up, crossing their arms and tilting their head with their eyebrows furrowed, Atsumu stops in his serve practice and clicked his tongue. "Nun' ya damn business, Sosogi. Thought ya were cleanin' up already?" He grumbles under his breathe, grabbing a ball from the pile and raising his arm to toss the ball up in the air, Y/n Sosogi was about to speak, not until he tossed the ball up and Y/n quickly closed her mouth. Atsumu took notice of this, and grew curious as he practically violated the ball, hitting it out of bounds and clicking his tongue. Y/n slightly winced at the force in that spike and her eyes subtly narrow, "Are ya tryna blow off some steam off 'r what?" They mumbled, walking over to the other side of the net and grabbing the stranded balls, and rolling them over to the pile, "Huh? What're ya tryna say?" He spat in an offended tone, was his spike in your eyes or something? "I meant that yer hitting the ball more harder than you usually do. Like yer stressed or somethin'. I dunno." They mumble, walking to the pile and placing the left balls in and facing Atsumu. Atsumu sends her a glare and looked away with a huff. "Whaddya know?" He mumbles as he ran his fingers through his golden-yellow locks, Y/n frowns at his statement, he was clearly in distress about something but refused to open up. "Look I know ya aren't my biggest fan, but 'm still yer manager in the end. Ya've been playing shitty plays since the start o' trainin', an' it's clearly botherin' ya, so spit it out." They point out, crossing their arms, Atsumu gives them an offended yet intimidating glare, causing Y/n to avert their gaze for a few seconds but looks back at him again, blinking twice. "Well?" They say, cocking their head to the side to try to at least annoy him to pry the answer out.

"Christ, yer nosy as hell." He huffed, grabbing a ball from the pile out of frustration and serves once again, hitting out of bounds and cursing at himself, "Alright, 'm gonna bet those comments got inta yer head." Y/n said, looking at him with raised eyebrows and his head whips to their direction. "Shuddap will ya? Ya don' know shit." He spits gingerly and Y/n cringed at his tone, clearly not used to it. "So it did, huh. It's okay to be honest with yer feelings." Y/n Sosogi muttered, placing both of their hands in their uniform's pocket and Atsumu's brows furrowed, letting out a scoff and staring at Y/n in irritation. "Please, what do ya know?" He mumbles, rolling his eyes as he walks over to he astray balls. Y/n growing silent, as they watched him pick the balls up.

"Like.. everything? How the people would always mutter how yer so full of yerself and yer so arrogant?" Y/n started, walking and pacing around the court as they look around, humming in thought. "I'm pretty sure yer twin also mentioned he wouldn't want to be ya." They added, clearly hitting a nerve on Atsumu in which he clearly tried to stop himself from throwing the ball in his hand to them. "Okay, chill bro." Y/n muttered, giving him a side eye and sighing, walking over to the net and leaning on the pole. "Yer just gonna let it pass? I mean- ya aren't gonna do anything?" They mused, furrowing their brows as they watch him throw the balls in the pile. "If ya really aren't gonna be verbal about it, then just start setting those balls fer yer spiker out of spite, be a perfectionist if ya want." They continued, Atsumu just huffing in response and turning around to face Y/n. "As if that's what I wasn't doing in the first place? It just get's distractin' an' annoyin." He huffs, pushing the cart of the balls in the storage room. "Right, okay. Just get home, will ya? I'll clean the gym, get outta here." Y/n mutters, pushing themselves off of the pole and walking towards the storage room as well.

Atsumu had observed something for a while though, and curiosity got the better of him. "Yer always here late." He mutters, looking up from the pile of volleyballs and looked at Y/n who grabbed the mop. Y/n looks up from the mop, raises an eyebrow in confusion, "What?" They asked, confused at the boy's statement, Atsumu lets out a puff- he didn't like being repeated, after all. "I said, yer always at school at this time. Don't you have a family to go home to?" He asked, and that hit Y/n's nerves this time, their brows furrowing and giving an unintentional glare at the boy, causing Atsumu to give them a side eye. "T'was a genuine question, 'ey! Givin' me that look as if I killed'ya family or sum.." He grumbled as he looked away, clearly too prideful to have admit he was ( most ) probably in the wrong for asking that to cause such reaction from them.

"To answer yer question, I don't." Y/n answered back, turning around with their heel and mopping the court, leaving Atsumu baffled at the honest answer, whipping his head to their direction and blinked twice. "Wai-- wha?--" He stuttered, confused at the answer given to his question. "Well? Ya asked, right? I don't. Simple as that." Y/n mumbled, mopping the place near the nets because that's where normally the blockers would be. "Can you.. I dunno, elaborate? 'Cause that's sucha vague answer, can't blame me fer being shocked!" He exclaimed in defense, walking out of the storage room to continue the conversation they were having. Y/n lets out a sigh, looking up from the ground to give Atsumu a deadpanned expression and blink idly. "Look whose being nosy now." They retorted back, in return, Atsumu also giving them a deadpanned expression. "I'd like ta call it curious." He says in a taunting tone, Y/n tsk-ed at his remark and had no choice but to elaborate because he wouldn't stop staring at them. "I meant it literally. My mom's dead, took 'er own life, my dad died to a heart attack due ta too much alcohol consumption, I live with my step mom but we barely interact. Plus, 'er boyfriend gives me the heebie jeebies. There, happy?" They quickly explained, leaving no room for the emotions to start pouring out, and to avoid literally having a mental break down right there and there, it was sudden for both Atsumu and Y/n Sosogi indeed, both minds not even registering the facts that Y/n opened up to Atsumu no one else, and it was her first time, nothing less.

"Well uh that was er.. deep." Atsumu mumbled, he really wasn't good at this peculiar aspect of "comforting" and "empathy" in a sense, so he didn't know what to do-- but suddenly he felt conscious about his behavior towards to her, so that flipped a switch in him. "Yeah, no shit." Y/n muttered, finishing up with the mop and walking over to the storage room to return the mop. "Look- I er.. 'm not the best with comforting but uh.. Kita is good with words so you can probably go to im'.." Atsumu suggested, looking down at his shoes to sheepishly rub his nape, though he did wanted to do something, but his pride says otherwise. "Yeah, I know. Thanks, I guess?" Y/n mumbles with a shrug, fixing the mops so that none of the players or coach would trip on it. Atsumu just watched, clearly having an internal dilemma whether if he should or shouldn't do something. But, ultimately, he just gave in. "Sosogi.." He called, Y/n turns around and raises an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "It's hard for ya.. well, obviously, when ya don't have anyone ta rely on.. uh but if ya really need someone to hear ya out, the teams 'ere fer ya. Even if we aren't that empathy.. uh.. you can do it..?" He mumbles very awkwardly, receiving silence from Y/n. A few seconds of silence passed, and Y/n lets out a snicker, "Is that yer way of comforting me, Atsumu? Well aren't I delighted. Thanks." They say in a smug and sarcastic manner, walking over to him and patting his shoulder. "That made me chuckle, at least a bit. Made me feel better." Y/n muttered with a small grin, Atsumu scoffs and rolls his eyes, going back to his signature obnoxious tone and expression as he watches Y/n walk past him. But he did notice the small smile, something he didn't notice throughout the almost 2 years they've been Inarizaki's manager.

well, that was a start for both of the individuals for their character development.

the very next day, Atsumu had been acting more.. nicer and more respectable, mumbling a quiet "thank you" whenever he was handed a towel or water bottle. Leaving Osamu and Y/n very perplexed. "Is yer twin doing okay? Is he sick?" Y/n mumbled to Osamu, Osamu shrugging and placing the water bottle down. "Dunno.. something probably possessed him or sum.." He mumbled as well, giving Y/n a look and they both stifled a laughter. "Let 'im be, I guess. S'not all the time he's willin' ta be nice ta ya." Osamu says, shrugging a shoulder and Y/n nodding in agreement. "Good point. Okay, back to practice ya go."

even after being treated well by Atsumu nowadays, Y/n still makes sure to keep their distance, in the back of their mind, the thoughts that he'll leave like everyone else lingered the back of their mind, whatever they do. So they still make comments about him and his tendencies, however also apologizing afterwards since it'd make them sound insensitive.

Atsumu was offended. But he let it slide, after all, he did wanted to become friends with Y/n after all that opening up. And he made an internal promise to himself that he'll continue treating Sosogi fairly.

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[cherrygarden]

i also think the whole ''let's make three versions of one album and bonus tracks and a deluxe edition and a rerelease and and and" mentality artists/labels have been pushing is just polluting the music industry with bad music. songs that should have been left as forgotten demos are being released in favour of what? mere numbers? mindless, meaningless adoration? sometimes less is more and saturation is very real and i'm tired

[misiahasahardname]

i have no idea how the american school system works so i’m currently trying to figure out what kind of subjects the tales turtles would choose for their highers

[aro-culture-is]

quick note - this blog is gonna be sparse again for at least this week. trying new medications and tbh initial side effects are not super pleasant + actual effects build up. as a result: currently as if unmedicated for mental health, with anxiety+ side effect, extra fatigue, dizziness, and fatigue. it's uh, sure something.

totally recognize that most of y'all know we're absent at times due to health things, just wanted to give a heads up that this one is at least anticipated.

[chasingfictions]

i know we all already did trying to cut down ttpd to a listenable playlist but . alternate universe where ttpd was called prophecy

[hunsa-jars]

Howdy peepers, I've been feeling pretty down lately but I think I'm on the right path to snap out of it!

See yall on monday hopefully

[milk-lover]

(Writing yet another paper on Stanly Milgram) I can’t believe the Harvard Dept of Psychology websites bio on Stanley Milgram is like. 45% factual errors by volume.

[bancaishi]

didn't want to put this rant in the tags of that last post but honestly i feel like a lot of people hate toshiro disproportionately compared to what he actually did in-story. and if we're being real it's most likely because of racism

[batemanofficial]

hello upper middle class northern usamerican tumblr user. i want to play a game. you will notice that you are in a super america convenience store in rural kentucky - you have three minutes to purchase a snack and drink of your choice and make normal small talk with the cashier. however, if you use the word "cryptid" or generally make reference to appalachia and its inhabitants as "wild", uncivilized, or lacking restraint around alcoholic beverages during your time here, i will personally tie you to the chassis of a four wheeler and tip it into the river. live or die. make your choice